The Brave Or The Bold: When Good Guys Go Bad!

Martinex1: It is hard to deny that the Justice League of America is one of the two premiere teams in all of comicdom.  Between the JLA and the Avengers, the most recognized and powerful characters of all time are represented, but even I must admit that the JLA may be even more iconic than the Marvel powerhouses.   Surely everybody growing up knew Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash (perhaps only Green Lantern was a bit of a mystery).  While on the other side, Iron Man, Thor, Ant Man, and the Wasp may have been less known in the common household (although that has changed dramatically due to the cinema these days).

So it should have come as no surprise that creators in the fields would eventually create analogues for the DC characters and give them less than honorable characteristics.   Today in The Brave Or The Bold, we are going to compare and contrast those villainous mirror characters - the Squadron Supreme and the Crime Syndicate of America.

In 1964, with issue #29 of Justice League of America, writer Gardner Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky introduced us to the bad guy versions of the JLA from Earth 3.   The team consisted of Ultraman, Superwoman, Power Ring, Owlman, and Johnny Quick.  The explanation was quite simple, in the DC Universe there are parallel worlds and in this particular dimension the "heroes" believe in following a polar opposite path.

Over at Marvel in 1969, Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema introduced their version of an evil JLA in the pages of the Avengers.   The team consisted of Hyperion, Nighthawk, Dr. Spectrum, and the Whizzer.  At this point there was no counterpoint for Wonder Woman, but she would appear many years later as Warrior Woman.

In story, the team of the Squadron Sinister was the creation of the Grandmaster in a battle with Kang;  each overlord had a team representing them in an evil game of chess over the power of life and death.  Making their initial appearances in Avengers #69 (the final page) through a major battle in issue #70 with the Avengers and into #71 with a brief recap, the Squadron Sinister truly hit the mark with the fans.

DC's Crime Syndicate was the result of a world gone mad.   Everything that occurred was in opposite and reverse from the world we know.   Colonial England seceded from the United States, Lincoln assassinated President John Wilkes Booth, and the main super characters embraced crime.

 In recent times, both of these negative groups have headlined in titles the Squadron Sinister and Forever Evil.

Over time the Squadron Sinister has run afoul of others in the Marvel Universe including the Defenders and the Thunderbolts.  Nighthawk changed his ways and became a member of the Defenders and paid for many of their activities as billionaire Kyle Richmond.

But the team concept became even more convoluted when a parallel example of the team, the Squadron Supreme, also started to appear (beginning in Avengers #85). In fact even the publisher confused the two, when Marvel mistakenly identified the "Supreme" as the "Sinister" on the cover of Avengers #141.  The Supreme team was more fleshed out with additional members like Golden Archer (Green Arrow), Lady Lark (Black Canary), Nuke (Firestorm), American Eagle (Hawkman), Power Princess (Wonder Woman), Tom Thumb (Atom) and others.   It hinted that the Sinister may also have variations as such.

The Crime Syndicate stuck to the core team for a while, but they also started adding some other characters to flesh out the team like Deathstorm (Firestorm), Atomica (Atom), Grid (Cyborg), Sea King (Aquaman), and even Scarab (Blue Beetle) and Frostbite (Ice).

So today, let's compare and contrast these villainous constructs.   And feel free to talk about other Marvel and DC analogues from Gladiator to Quasar.  For that matter, consider the creation of Quicksilver, Moon Knight, Rocket Red, and Sentry.

Are these valid characters worth watching, or does the construct limit the exploration?   Who is the better team?   And what did you think of them back in the day?  Was it exciting to see an evil Superman?  Or did it try your credibility knowing what they were designed to be?