Seven Soldiers of Victory

The Seven Soldiers of Victory is the name of multiple super-hero teams in DC Comics and is always made up of seven members.

Pre-Crisis Team

The Seven Soldiers of Victory
First Appearance	Leading Comics #1, Winter 1941
Creators	Mort Weisinger, Mort Meskin
HQ	None
Members	Green Arrow, Speedy, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, The Shining Knight, The Vigilante, The Crimson Avenger, Wing (unofficial)
Rallying Cry	None
Paraphenalia	None
Aliases	Law's Legionaires

The original team consisted of Green Arrow, Speedy, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, The Shining Knight, The Vigilante, and the Crimson Avenger. The members of the team acted as crime fighters before forming a team, though they operated independently with the exception of the duos of Green Arrow and Speedy and The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, who had mentor/sidekick relationships before they banded as one.

Origin

The Seven Soldiers of Victory first came together when the enemies of individual members came together to form their own team of villains. After teaming up to defeat them and the villain The Hand, the team decided to stay together to fight for justice.

History

The team first formed after the villainous Hand (who in later stories was refered to as the Iron Hand) gave 5 of his most villainous schemes to other villains after he discovered he was dying. The villains (Red Dragon, The Dummy, The Needle, Professor Merlin, and Big Caesar) formed "The Hand's Five Fingers and began committing crimes across the U.S.A. The Hand challenged 7 super-heroes (who were also the enemies of the criminals to whom he sold his plans) to stop them to show that it was his plan that would be the true defeat of the heroes. However, individually the heroes (or in the case of the mentor/sidekick teams, together) defeated the villains and converged on the Hand's base. At this point, the Hand had discovered a cure and had intended to defeat the heroes himself, but working together the heroes were able to overcome the Hand. Deciding they worked together well, they decided to remain a team: the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

Over the years, the team met repeatedly and had many other adventures. Together they battled colourful and outlandish villains such as the Black Light, Dr. Wilfred Doome, The Sense-Master, The Copperhead, the Wizards of Stanovia, The Dummy (who returned and used a time machine to gain powerful weapons from the past), Mr. X, Babyface Johnson and the Barracuda.

In their last adventure, they faced the seemingly unstoppable foe the Nebula Man. The Seven Soldiers were able to overcome their enemy, but it came at the cost of their unofficial 8th member, The Crimson Avengers sidekick Wing, who died defeating the Nebula Man with the Nebula Rod. However, as a consequence, the heroes were scattered across time, which lead to the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America to travel in time and retrieve them. When they returned, little time had passed for the members, even though they had been missing for several years in their own time. Once they returned, all three teams defeated their final enemy, the Hand, once more, but at the cost of Justice League member Red Tornado. This was the last adventure of the original Seven Soldiers of Victory. They did, however, once reunite at the grave of Lee Davis, the Crimson Avenger, 2 years after his death.

Post-Crisis Team 1

The Seven Soldiers of Victory
First Appearance	Leading Comics #1 (December, 1941)
Creators	Mort Weisinger, Mort Meskin
Members	Crimson Avenger, Dyna-Mite, Shining Knight, Spider, Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, Stuff the Chinatown Kid, TNT, Vigilante
HQ	None
Rallying Cry	None
Paraphernalia	None
Aliases	None

A following the recreation of the universe's history following the event known as the Crisis, this team was created, with a history similar to the team of the Pre-Crisis continuity with some notable changes. This team's membership consisted of the superheroes Crimson Avenger (and his sidekick Wing), Dyna-Mite, Shining Knight (as well as his sidekick The Squire and his horse Winged Victory), Spider, Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, Stuff the Chinatown Kid, TNT, and the Vigilante.

In other Media

The original line-up of the Seven Soldiers (with one exception) appeared in "Patriot Act", an episode of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. The team was composed of the DCAU versions of the original Golden Age Seven Soldiers, including Green Arrow, Vigilante, Shining Knight, S.T.R.I.P.E. (formerly known, in comics continuity, as Stripesy), Stargirl (formerly known, in comics continuity, as the second Star-Spangled Kid), Speedy, and the Crimson Avenger. While representing Superman at a parade in Metropolis, seven members of the Justice League faced General Wade Eiling, a rogue super-soldier. Crimson Avenger and Speedy arrived in the middle of the battle as reinforcements.