Freedom Fighters (comics)

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imagesize=
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team_name=Freedom Fighters
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Justice League of America" #107 (Oct 1973)
creators=Len Wein (writer)
Dick Dillin (artist)
base=Mobile (Currently "The Heartland")
members=
memberlist= List of Freedom Fighters members
subcat=DC Comics
hero=y
villain=
sortkey=Freedom Fighters (comics)|

Freedom Fighters is the name of a DC Comics comic book superhero team made up of characters acquired from the defunct company Quality Comics. The team first appeared in a Justice League of America/Justice Society of America team-up, which ran in "Justice League of America" #'s 107 and 108 (October and December 1973), written by Len Wein and drawn by Dick Dillin. Their own ongoing series premiered with "Freedom Fighters" #1 (April 1976), written by Gerry Conway and Martin Pasko, and drawn by Rik Estrada.

Fictional team history

The earliest version of the Freedom Fighters was assembled on December 7, 1941. This group, however, failed in its attempt to stop the devastation at Pearl Harbor. Magno was killed. This version of the group was a retcon and their deaths were depicted in the pages of Roy Thomas' two books chronicling that era: "All-Star Squadron" and the "Young All-Stars".

The DC version of the characters were said to reside on the parallel world of "Earth-X", where Nazi Germany eventually won a prolonged World War II due to a Japanese Empire invasion of California and successful Nazi nuclear weapon development (which implies that the successful Allied attack on Peenemünde never happened in this world).

In addition to the core members of the "second team" which were the members seen in the seventies comic book, other Quality heroes joined later: Red Bee, Miss America, Manhunter, Plastic Man, and Quicksilver.

Since the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Freedom Fighters have been based on the main DC Universe Earth, and were all members of the All-Star Squadron.

Years after the war, a third version of the team surfaced in the 1980s, with the rise of a new age of heroes. The Justice Society, Blackhawks and Freedom Fighters were captured by the alien Appellax creatures and placed in internment camps. They were freed by the new Justice League of America.

Then the Freedom Fighters regrouped for a brief time but soon called it quits again when Firebrand was killed in battle with the Silver Ghost.

A fourth, more modern version of the team appeared as an auxiliary of the new Justice Society of America. The Human Bomb, Black Condor and Phantom Lady were killed by the Secret Society of Super Villains in "Infinite Crisis" #1. Damage was critically injured, Iron Munro was not there for some reason, and the Ray was captured by the Psycho-Pirate, and connected to Alexander Luthor's dimension-altering tower.

Current team

A new team of heroes debuted in the limited series "Crisis Aftermath: The Battle for Blüdhaven", and later featured as Freedom Fighters members in the miniseries "Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters", which premiered in July 2006. This team consists of new incarnations of the Phantom Lady, the Ray (Stan Silver), the Human Bomb, Doll Man, Bigfoot, Destroyer and Face. It is part of S.H.A.D.E., a secret American government agency chartered under the USA PATRIOT Act, led by Father Time. The new team conducts assassinations and other illegal acts against criminal and terrorist organizations. As issue #1 of "Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters" begins, the team is tasked to capture the revived Uncle Sam, who is in the process of forming his own Freedom Fighters team; Sam subsequently recruits the S.H.A.D.E. members to his cause, openly disapproving of their use of deadly force (although they continue to kill people even under Uncle Sam's guidance). [According to Justin Gray's July 2006 interview with "The Kingdom" his team's members will ultimately include: Uncle Sam, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, The Ray, Firebrand, Human Bomb, the Black Condor and Miss America.]

This version of the team is based on notes by Grant Morrison. Uncle Sam is portrayed as an almost Christ-like figure, returning from the dead, with the new Firebrand filling a John the Baptist role. Father Time is shown as aiding in Senator Frank Knight's being secretly murdered in the midst of his successful campaign for the Presidency of the U.S. and replaced by a sentient robot double, Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard, who proceeds with an agenda to implant RFID chips in every U.S. citizen by law and control them to bring chaos to the world through war.

In "Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters" #3, a team created by Father Time called First Strike attacked the Freedom Fighters but not before being stopped by the new Black Condor.

In #4, Condor manages to weaken First Strike long enough for the Freedom Fighters to fight back. Human Bomb kills one First Strike's members, Propaganda, and the team heads back to S.H.A.D.E. headquarters.

In #5, The Freedom Fighters defeat First Strike, but are taken out by a young woman claiming to be Miss America. While they are being tortured, S.H.A.D.E. headquarters is attacked by a new Red Bee and an old woman claiming to be the real Miss America.

In #6, the Freedom Fighters defeat the new Miss America with the original's help, forcing Father Time to retreat. As he begins "molting" into a new body, he gives the order to "activate the traitor." This turns out to be the Ray, who attacks and kills the new Invisible Hood and calls down giant reinforcements.

In #7, The Freedom Fighters face off against the Cosmigods as Uncle Sam calls them. In the midst of the battle the traitorous Ray is confronted by the returning Ray Terrill. As predicted Gonzo turns on the newly rejuvenated Father Time, who proceeds to give Uncle Sam the evidence of to prove Gonzo's true identity. Sam presents the evidence to the world, and seemingly the final battle between First Strike and the Freedom Fighters begins.

In #8, The Freedom Fighters engage in battle against Gonzo's metahuman taskforce at the Washington Monument, and quickly gain support from the civilians. The public eye are now seeing them as real heroes, which was later revealed to be part of Father Time's plan all along. He tricked Gonzo into believing that S.H.A.D.E was against Uncle Sam, while in truth he was preparing the Freedom Fighters to help combat a major threat in the future. Father Time captures Gonzo and turns him into an 'Orphan Box' in the shape of a pair of spectacles. He plan to use it against Gonzo's creator, the Shadow Demons. All of the metahuman taskforce members disappear into the timestream along with Father Time shortly thereafter. A week later, the new President appoints the Freedom Fighters the new directors of S.H.A.D.E.

Further Adventures

In Countdown #38, the Freedom Fighters are seen trying to stop an unplanned nuclear missile launch, initiated by the Calculator.

In the new "Freedom Fighters" miniseries (September 2007) [ [http://www.newsarama.com/dcnew/Oct07/solicitations.html NEWSARAMA.COM: DC COMICS SOLICITATIONS FOR OCTOBER 2007 ] ] , Red Bee is captured by an alien insect swarm and transformed into a human/insect hybrid. At the same time, S.H.A.D.E. has planned to make the Freedom Fighters into media darlings to help increase faith in the government following the Amazonian incident.

Uncle Sam, Firebrand, Doll Man and Human Bomb refuse to go along with the plan, and return to the Heartland. For a time, the remaining Freedom Fighters become celebrities, part of a new group called the Crusaders. Red Bee later collapses in her apartment, and a swarm of insects suddenly rise out of her body.

Phantom Lady, unable to cope with the media attention goes on a binge spree, culminating in her drunkenly slicing a criminal in half on national television. Stormy is brought to the heartland, where her body is cleaned of toxins by Miss America.

Sam and Doll Man recruit the original Doll Man (Darrell Dane) from a micro-environment within the Pentagon. After the head of the Crusaders program, Robbins, tries to kill Red Bee, the Freedom Fighters confront him. It is revealed that Robbins has mental powers that he used to control the Crusaders — and Stormy — leading to her binge.

While the Crusaders and Freedom Fighters battle, Red Bee is overtaken by her insectoid side, and uses her pheromones to enslave the Crusaders and Freedom Fighters, and prepares to create a "hive" on Earth. Meanwhile, an attempt to cure the Doll Men and several other micro-sized individuals goes horribly wrong, as all of them are merged into a single mutant form. The mutant goes on a rampage until Emma Thompson reaches Lester. Red Bee is cured of her affliction by Langford Terrill, who had gained the powers of Neon the Unknown. The team then prepares to fight off an invasion by the insectoids. After their victory, the group go their separate ways, but Sam declares that they will be needed when the Crisis begins.

Other versions

*In the final issue of "52", a new Multiverse is revealed, consisting of 52 realities. Among the parallel realities shown is one designated "Earth-10", X being the Roman Numeral for 10. This Earth resembles the pre-Crisis Earth-X - it features Nazi counterparts to the Justice League and an alternate version of Freedom Fighters. Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-X, making these new characters unrelated to previous versions. [cite web|url = http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=111900|title = The 52 Exit Interviews: Grant Morrison|accessdate = 2007-05-12|last = Brady|first = Matt|date = 2007-05-08|publisher = Newsarama]
*The original Freedom Fighters appeared in "Justice League Unlimited" #17. A rogue US Government agency sends them against the Justice League. The roll call was Uncle Sam, Doll Man, Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, The Ray, and Black Condor. A line of dialogue in the story clarifies that the Ray included as a member of the Freedom Fighters is the father of the Ray who appeared in several episodes of the "Justice League Unlimited" animated series.
*In the Wildstorm miniseries ', the initial protagonists are a group called the "Sons of Liberty", a superpatriot group of the 40s and 50s. They consist of Paul Revere (super-strength and 'broadcast empath'), Minute-Maid (super-strength), Johnny Rocketman (supersonic flight), the Human Hand-Grenade (with the power to shrink, explode, and re-constitute his own body) and Fallout"'(a man with undefined nuclear powers who wears a shroud). The group is a pastiche of the Freedom Fighters.
*In the DC Comics universe, the "Sons of Liberty" were a paramilitary group that funded Agent Liberty.
*In "Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer: Superwoman/Batwoman" #1, Earth-11 was revealed to be an Earth home to gender-reversed versions of the heroes of New Earth. Among them were the Freedom Fighters, consisting of female versions of Ray, Human Bomb, Black Condor, and, strangely, Etrigan, as well as a male version of Phantom Lady named Phantom Man. They are led by Columbia, a female version of Uncle Sam.
*In an alternate timeline featured in "The All-New Booster Gold" #8, a group calling themselves the Freedom Fighters exists. It consists of Hawkman, Green Arrow, Anthro, Wild Dog and Pantha.

Other media

*Ray Terrill made background appearances in "Justice League Unlimited".

Allusions in pop culture

In "The Education of Jaime Sommers" episode of "Bionic Woman", Tom Gilchrist (played by Jordan Bridges) notes "One of my favorite comic books was The Freedom Fighters. There was a character called The Human Bomb" -- and pulls back his tuxedo jacket to reveal explosives strapped to his body.

ee also

*The Crusaders

References

Resources

* [http://www.fanzing.com/mag/fanzing23/feature3.shtml Freedom Fighters bio and timeline]
* [http://darkmark6.tripod.com/freedom_fighters_index.html Index to the FF's 1970s adventures]
* [http://www.mykey3000.com/cosmicteams/cosmic/FreedomFighters.htm Cosmic Teams - Freedom Fighters]
* [http://www.dc-kingdom.com/index.php?categoryid=26&p408_articleid=18 DC-Kingdom.com: Justin Gray describes the current team]

External links

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/freedomf.htm Toonopedia Freedom Fighters Page]
* [http://goodcomics.blogspot.com/2005/11/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-23.html Comic Book Urban Legends - Freedom Fighters]