Superman Emergency Squad

The Superman Emergency Squad (sometimes called the Super"men" Emergency Squad) is a fictional superhero team in the DC Comics universe. They first appeared in "Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen" #48 (October 1960).

Fictional background

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imagesize=
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team_name=Superman Emergency Squad
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen" #48 (October 1960)
creators=Otto Binder (script)
Curt Swan (art)
base=Kandor
members=Dor-El
Van-Zee
Other unnamed members
memberlist=
subcat=DC Comics
hero=y
villain=
sortkey=PAGENAME|

Pre-Crisis

Prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, the Superman Emergency Squad is a group of miniaturized Kryptonians from the bottle city of Kandor, which is housed in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. The Squad provides assistance to Superman when he is incapacitated or otherwise occupied. Members of the squad include Superman's look alike cousin Van-Zee ["Superman" #148 (October 1961)] (who also uses the secret identity Nightwing), and Don-El, the captain of the Squad ["Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen" #60 (April 1962)] . In the early appearances of the Squad, the members were specially selected due to their close resemblance to Superman ["Action Comics" #276 (May 1961)] ; later stories dropped this concept ["Superman" #167 (February 1964)] .

The Squad goes into action whenever they receive a signal from Superman, or see that he is in trouble while monitoring him. To leave the shrunken city of Kandor, the Squad uses a small rocket ship to fly up to the cork that seals the mouth of the bottle. They then expose themselves to a special enlarging gas that causes them to grow from their regular microscopic size to several inches in height. This gives them the ability to force the cork out of the mouth, allowing them access to the outside world ["Action Comics" # 276 (May 1961)] (in later stories, the Squad installs a door in the cork, to facilitate exits and entrances). ["Superman" #179 (August 1965)] Once outside the bottle city the Squad members, like all natives of Krypton, gain the same powers and abilities as Superman.

Post-Crisis

A new version of the Squad appeared the Crisis reboot, now renamed Kandorian Emergency Squad. Instead of providing emergency assistance to Superman, it now acts as a policing unit in Kandor. The Squad is led by Cerizah, sister of Superman's ally Ceritak. In "Superman: The Man of Steel" #100 (May 2000), the Emergency Squad leaves Kandor to help Superman defeat Hank Henshaw. As time passes at a faster rate in Kandor, the current status of the squad is uncertain.

Notes

External links

* [http://superman.nu/wiki/index.php/Superman_Emergency_Squad Supermanica entry on the pre-Crisis Superman Emergency Squad]
* [http://comicbookdb.com/team.php?ID=131 Pre-Crisis Superman Emergency Squad at Comic Book Database]