Squadron Sinister

:"This article is about the supervillain team the Squadron Sinister, For the similarly named superhero team see Squadron Supreme. [What adds to the confusion for readers is the fact that the covers of "Avengers" vol. 1, #85 and 141 promote the Squadron Sinister, when in fact it is the Squadron Supreme that appears on both occasions.] Superteambox


imagesize=
caption=Cover to "Avengers" #70 (Nov. 1969)
team_name=Squadron Sinister
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Avengers" #70 (Nov. 1969)
creators=Roy Thomas
base=Pocket Dimension
members=Original Team:
Doctor Spectrum
Hyperion
Nighthawk
Whizzer
memberlist=
subcat=Marvel Comics
hero=
villain=y
sortkey=PAGENAME|

The Squadron Sinister is a fictional supervillain team that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Sinister first appeared in Avengers #70 (Nov. 1969) and were created by writer Roy Thomas.

Fictional team history

The first version of the Squadron Sinister is assembled by the cosmic entity the Grandmaster as pawns to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror, the superhero team the Avengers. The Grandmaster creates four villains to match the heroes Captain America; Iron Man; Thor and Goliath - being Nighthawk; Doctor Spectrum; Hyperion and the Whizzer. [Unknown to the Avengers, the Grandmaster had in fact based the Squadron Sinister on an already-existing team - the heroic Squadron Supreme - from the Earth-712 universe. This was revealed years later in "Squadron Supreme" #8 (of 12) (1986). In "Avengers" vol. 1, #85 - 86 several of the Avengers encounter the Squadron Supreme and initially battle them, thinking that the team is in fact the Squadron Sinister. ] The four battle the Avengers, but are all defeated (the hero the Black Knight interferes in the battle between Goliath and Whizzer) and then discarded by the Grandmaster when he leaves Earth. ["Avengers" vol. 1, #70]

Several years later the Squadron Sinister is reunited when Hyperion encounters the alien Nebulon, and in exchange for freedom (Hyperion was miniaturized and imprisoned in a glass sphere by Thor) promises him the Earth. [Note! See the Dr. Spectrum entry re: a character change.] The team then creates a giant laser cannon in the Arctic and plans to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the entirety of the Earth's surface in water. Nighthawk has reservations and after trying in vain to contact the Avengers (Nebulon makes the Squadron Sinister invisible and intangible in the presence of the Avengers), he finds the Defenders, who agree to help after Nighthawk is discovered and teleported back to the Arctic.

The Defenders, comprised of Doctor Strange; the Hulk; Sub-Mariner and Valkyrie, journey to the Arctic and battle the Squadron Sinister and defeat them. Nebulon holds off the Defenders until overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers, and at the last moment morphs into his true form and teleports away with Hyperion, Dr. Spectrum and the Whizzer. Nighthawk decides to stay with the Defenders and joins the team. ["Defenders" vol. 1, #13 -14]

A year later, Nebulon returns the Squadron Sinister to Earth. Now in possession of an energy-draining weapon, the Squadron Sinister plan to conquer the Earth and battle the Defenders once again. Despite an initial victory, the Squadron Sinister is eventually defeated by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket. ["Giant-Size Defenders" #4 (1974)]

Several years later, a now disbanded Squadron Sinister are contacted individually by the Avengers, who are seeking to free fellow member the Wasp from Dr. Spectrum's Power Prism, which has bonded to her (the Prism was kept by Yellowjacket after the Squadron Sinister's last defeat and was found by partner the Wasp). Billy Roberts, the second Dr. Spectrum, deceives the Avengers and reclaims the Prism, but is defeated after a brief battle. ["Avengers" Annual #8 (1978)]

Endings and beginnings

The team then disappears into obscurity for many years. Hyperion battles Thor once again ["Thor" vol. 1, #280] and later the Thing. Hyperion then travels with the female warrior Thundra to the Earth-712 universe, where after impersonating the Squadron Supreme's version of Hyperion for several weeks he dies in battle. ["Squadron Supreme" #8 (of 12) (1986)] The Whizzer decides to return to crime, but wishing to cut ties with the Squadron Sinister first adopts a new costume and the alias Speed Demon. ["Amazing Spider-Man" vol. 1, #222] Speed Demon briefly joins the supervillain team the Sinister Syndicate ["Amazing Spider-Man" vol. 1, #280] before eventually reforming and being recruited to join the superhero team the Thunderbolts. ["New Thunderbolts" vol. 2, #1]

Soon after this the Grandmaster reappears and reforms the Squadron Sinister. An apparently resurrected Hyperion and new Dr. Spectrum (Alice Nugent, former lab assistant of Henry Pym) find and try and coerce Speed Demon and Nighthawk into joining, but both are initially reluctant. Ironically, the New Thunderbolts become responsible for the pair rejoining the Squadron Sinister. Speed Demon is ejected from the New Thunderbolts for committing robberies, while Nighthawk, who had begun working with the team, quits in protest when Baron Zemo joins and also learns that he was simply being used to finance their activities. Courtesy of a phenomenon known as the Wellspring of Power - an interdimensional source of superhuman abilities - the Grandmaster increases the Squadron Sinister's powers and they then battle the New Thunderbolts, as Baron Zemo also wishes to have control of the Wellspring. Zemo manages to defeat the Grandmaster, but in the ensuing chaos the Squadron Sinister scatter and escape. ["New Thunderbolts" #15 - 16 + Thunderbolts vol. 1, #102 - 108]

References

External links

*http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/squadronsinister.htm