History Characters / TheBlackDossierVolumeII

* ImmortalityInducer: At his request, the League searches for [[''Literature/{{She}}'' Ayesha's Fire of Life]], and it's implied that he was hoping to improve his Lazarus Pits with it in some way.

* TheAllAmericanBoy: Tom was not to be an idealistic, if somewhat emissive and exploitative, spy. Due to his good looks, he was seen as the poster boy for the US Secret Service at the time.

* ActionHero: In keeping with the source material James T. West is basically the Franchise/JamesBond of the Wild West. [[spoiler:He proves it by surviving the League's shoot-out and killing Lulu and Maverick with a prototype hand grenade.]]

* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:The defection of Lulu, The Man, and Maverick is settled in a brutal ShowdownAtHighNoon that ended with everyone dying, except for him. He's completely unbothered by it.]]

* TakeOverTheWorld: Is noted for his megalomania and has his own desire for world domination.

* LadyOfWar: Is noted to be both exceptionally beautiful and an unmatched swordmaster. She only signs up for the League so she can study under Zatoichi.

* AmateurSleuth: Van Dusen is a university professor who solves 'impossible' crimes brought to him by his journalist friend Hutchinson Hatch.

* FakeAristocrat: He is not nobility by birth, but was given the title of "Baron" after having blackmailed the Emperor.

* PropagandaHero: While he is very skilled, his presence is mainly to build stronger ties with the European powers, and earn more respect for Japan

* * RetroRocket: How his personal ship, the ''Cosmos'', is described. [[spoiler:He leaves it behind for the League to use, which allows Madam Blanc-Sec to escape.]]

* RedemptionQuest: Powers had promised the family of a deceased friend of his to reform himself, and joined the League under the condition that Kane's media empire would help cover up his criminal past for good. [[spoiler:Becomes RedeptionEqualsDeath when he lures a pack of velociraptors away from Robur and Autry and is torn apart.]]

* OverlordJr: The son of the infamous attempted-conqueror, but he is nonetheless a more heroic figure, and only agreed to Kane's League because the mogul promised to stir anti-fascist sentiment within his newspapers to subtly convince the American people to come to the aid of the French should war break out in Europe.

* CultofPersonality: He stylized himself as the League's "[[DarkMessiah dark master]]" and encouraged their anti-social and criminal tendancies.

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: They were trying to stop Western imperialism in Asia, which is ''baaaaddd''.

[[folder:Cliff Secord]]]

* VillainTeamUp: Brought together by Fantômas to begin a reign of terror on post-war France.

* LatexPerfection: He uses his expertise in crafting masks made from preserved ''human flash'' to create disguises for his comrades.

* BreakingTheFellowship: [[spoiler:Discovering that one of their last missions helped facilitate the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved to be too traumatic for any of them to cope with, and they all went their separate ways.]]

[[folder:Anthony Rogers]]
--> '''Source''': ''ComicStrip/BuckRogers''
* ScienceHero: Woltz recruited him largely for his engineering talents, but also for his classical, square-jawed handsomeness.
* StableTimeLoop: Being brought back to his time by The Time Traveller he promised not to introduce any too futuristic technology that could mess with the timeline.

[[folder:Steven 'Speed' Gordon]]
--> '''Source''': ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon''
* ActionSurvivor: He was already famous for his battles with Ming the Merciless on Mogo.
* TheAllAmericanBoy: His chisled [=WASP=]y good looks made perfect for his League.
* CaptainPatriotic: Gordon accepted the invitation to the All-American League due to his staunch anti-fascism, and clear patriotism, which made him ideal for Woltz's cause.

[[folder:Cliff Secord]]]
--> '''Source''': ''ComicBook/TheRocketeer''
* AcePilot: With his 'rocket-pack'.
* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight: Inverted. Like Dr. Jones, he was somewhat irritated by the falseness of the American propaganda machine.

[[folder:Dr. Harry Jones Jr.]]
--> '''Source''': ''Franchise/IndianaJones''
* AdventurerArchaeologist: ''The'' [[TropeCodifier Adventure Archaeologist]].
* TheCynic: He was the most vocally cynical about the League, which put him into a similar camp as Secord.
* MrFanservice: He was noted to have a widely admired physical appearance.
* ScienceHero: Of the ActionSurvivor variety. His various adventures turned him into just as much of an adventurer as he was a scientist, and allowed him to become proficient with all manner of firearms and vehicles.

[[folder:Ellen Patrick]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/DominoLady''
* ActionGirl: With her skills as a crack-shot and University-educated chemist as well as an accomplished moonlighting vigilante, she was on-par with her male teammates.
* EthicalSlut: She was an unapologetic liberated woman, which conflicted with Woltz's attempt to mold her into a more conservative "girl next door" archetype.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: She was specifically selected out of the necessity for a female presence to even the overwhelmingly male presence within the group.

!!The Nazi League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
The third League to be formed in 1942, though this time from the opposite side of the World War II conflict, The Nazi League was formed by German-Tomanian leader Adenoid Hynkel after the defeat of the 'Twilight Heroes', aka the First German League, at the hands of Janni Nemo and her family in a 1941 incident which also brought down the great Berlin Metropolis. Although this massive setback was devastating for the German-Tomanian war effort, Hynkel and his ministers were quickly able to patch the hole in public morale both in Germany and Tomania, but also in the other Axis states in Italy (called 'Bacteria' in Tomanian), Japan, Freedonia, Moronika, Romania, Finland, Borduria and Meccania. The fascist leaders did this by stepping up on propaganda, and the creation of a new 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' was part of this. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was tasked with developing this League, and the club-footed Hynkel confidant immediately saw this as an opportunity to encourage the prioritizing of science and technology as Germany-Tomania's core strength and advantage over the Allies, and a rational foil to that enemy nations reliance on 'Masked Heroes' to provide dynamic reinforcement to their military.

It was by this philosophy that Goebbels chose the members of his League, as they were primarily scientists, or in the case of Capt. Krieger, was created with the aid of advanced science. It is worth noting that Goebbels was recorded saying that The Nazi League was not as strong as he had hoped it to be, as key Nazi science figures like Johann Schmidt and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen were unavailable due to their own commitments to other aspects of the Third Reich's eclectic research programs.
----

!!The Canadian League (1948)
[[folder:General]]
As World War II ended, with the first use of Nuclear Weapons forever altering the world, the so-called 'Atomic Age' began. This historical era, at least in its immediate post-war climate, could be characterized by a number of new factors present in the world. These included the increased number of radiation-derived mutations occurring in organic life across the world, giving rise to generations of so-called 'Mutants' such as, most famously, the many tutored by the telepathic Prof. Charles Xavier, and, on an even larger scale, countless 'Atomic Monsters', such as the colossal, bipedal saurian which terrorized Japan in this period. This era also gave birth to new technologies like the television (initially developed by Carl Rotwang in the German Metropolis) and other such communication devices. Ultimately though, the post-war fantasies of many intellectuals led to the Atomic Age playing home to many failed utopias, including those of deranged visionaries like Andrew Ryan, and similarly, the religious cults of those figures like Lancaster Dodd. England under Big Brother, aka Harold Wharton, seemed very much like a terrible combination of many of these Atomic Era trends, with modern communication technology used to oppress and unrelentingly spy on the people of 'Airstrip One', and a misled idea of a socialist utopia fuelling the INGSOC government to continue with their authoritarian state. The British Royal Family was so uncomfortable in this new, machine-like United Kingdom post-1945 elections, that King George VI relocated the monarchy to Canada, as had been the official plan laid by the previous government in the event of a successful German-Tomanian invasion of the British mainland. This proved a wise decision on behalf of the King, as the INGSOC party had planned to assassinate the Royals and erase them from history as 'un-persons' while they were still in their jurisdiction. After the successful shift to Canada, the British Commonwealth of Nations (the former colonies of the British Empire, excluding the USA) chose to sever ties with what they saw as a fascist new English government, and instead redefine their loyalty as being first and foremost to the crown. After the 'Big Brother' administration began a campaign of lies, torture, and intimidation toward King George's former British subjects, with help from 'heroes' like Mat Selwood, and to a lesser extent, Hugo Drummond, the horrified Monarch called a meeting between the leaders of the Commonwealth states in Ottawa. This summit was designed to determine how best to restore England and rid the British Isles of the totalitarian INGSOC party, with the gathering ending with the decision to wage a covert war through spies against Big Brother, with the goal being to accomplish England's freedom before Wharton brainwashed it's civilians beyond repair. At the forefront of this 'secret war', government agent Captain James Bigglesworth, having left Britain with the King, owing him an unwavering loyalty, proposed that nations in the Commonwealth should all establish their own 'Leagues' modeled off the former Murray group, which would be used to wage this campaign against INGSOC. Canada was able to comply with this order, with the other Commonwealth states unable to organize enough suitable figures, but instead offering resources and intelligence useful to the cause. It is worth noting that mutant and biological experiment James 'Logan' Howlett was almost recruited for the group, but he was unavailable.
----

!!The Fourth American League (1956)
[[folder:General]]
After the conclusion of World War II, the United States entered an almost 'golden age' of prosperity, optimism, and national cohesion, ushered in by the arrival of the post-war 'baby boom', and the resulting birth of suburbia throughout the nation. Aside from the presidency of communist Mike Thingmaker from 1945 to 1953 the immediate post-war world in the USA was also one of high consumerist extravagance, with the growth and success of Television, fast-food chains like [=McDowells=], and the cultural and technological milestone of Charles Dingo's aforementioned 'Dingoland' amusement parks. Just as strongly in the US, the post-war period played home to a gigantic push into outer space, with the American space program building on the footsteps of trailblazers like Sewlyn Cavor and Dick Seaton to explore and colonize the heavens in ways man had once merely dreamed of.

Back on Earth however, the US President and former military chief Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with his trusted servant and head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, began to feel the growing relevance in their plans for American domestic and foreign strategy for a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, following the Third US League's retirement. To best construct this new organization, Hoover acquired the help of his star G-man and perhaps America's most trusted lawman: Det. Richard 'Plainclothes' Tracy, a Central City police officer. Tracy was perpetually occupied with policing matters, and his persistently busy schedule made it impractical for him to lead the new League himself, but his expertise in handpicking his own allies on the force allowed him to be of great assistance in tracking down and securing the partnerships of its members.
----

!!The Drifter's League (1958)
[[folder:General]]
One especially notable development of the post-war era was the birth of the concept of the 'Teenager', particularly in America. The idea of adolescent culture first began to evolve in the 1930s, when the recognition of young adults subsequent to childhood but prior to college age first appeared to emerge. In the '30s the 'Teenager' concept seemed like only a mild one, applying to such model figures as famous young detectives Nancy Drew, and Frank and Joe Hardy, as well as vaudevillians like Patsy Barton and Mickey Moran, but by the early 1950s, when the western media began to first describe upon the idea of 'Juvenile Delinquency', and the conservative, post-[=WW2=] adult public panicked over their baby-boomer children manifesting a 'lost generation', the idea of the Young Adult evolved to embody a rebellious, volatile age-group, seen by their elders as rejecting parental control and values, and preoccupying over such new and revolutionary trends as Rock-and-Roll (Pioneered of course by musician mega-stars like Conrad Birdie) and automotive culture. A great deal of this counter-cultural movement was embodied by the so-called 'Beat Generation', a literary clique encompassing authors and poets like Sal Paradyse, author of 'On The Road' and 'The Crazy Wide Forever', and his close friends Dean Moriarty (a member of the influential Moriarty family), 'Old Bull' Lee and Carlo Marx. Despite predating the baby-boomers in age by sometimes several decades, Paradyse and his menagerie still encapsulated the feelings and frustrations of the post-war generation so intimately, that it is not at all surprising that they would lead the League that would come to symbolize the youth of the 50s and early 60s, a period of course ended by the horrors of the Sarkhan War (1964 – 1975), in which millions of these American youths would be either be terminated or traumatized.

The seeds of the League were first sewn when the beatniks Paradyse and Moriarty assisted League regulars Allan Quatermain Jr. and Mina Murray in 1956 during their battle against supernatural gangster (and grandson of The Devil Doctor) 'Dr. Sax', and his associates The Nova Mob in San Francisco. After the defeat of these counter-cultural criminals, Paradyse and Moriarty, inspired by their association with the United Kingdom's finest, felt that there needed to be a 'League' of some sort in order to battle the threats facing the world from within these subculture circles. To organize this group, seasoned travelers Paradyse and Moriarty went 'on the road' again in a coast-to-coast trip over the United States, searching for ideal recruits for their 'Drifters League'.
----

!!The Neo-Celestial League (1960)

At the end of World War II, the hugely influential Chinese crime lord and philanthropist known by names such as 'The Devil Doctor' and 'The Celestial' had reached his mid-80s, though he was still in surprising physical condition due to a carefully regulated diet and usage of traditional Chinese herbs. This elderly, but enormously powerful underworld figure had dominated international crime, sponsored insurgencies across European-controlled and aligned Asia since the 1890s, and remained as far-reaching, feared by his enemies, and celebrated by his followers as much as he had ever been even in his significantly old age. After playing a large role in sponsoring Asian resistance to Imperial Japan during the war, The Doctor's unceasing quest against Imperialism in the Eastern world continued as he refocused his resources on sponsoring the growing Communist rebellions within states like Sarkhan (led primarily by the same groups The Doctor had sponsored to fight Japan previously), after growing to believe that the nationalistic rhetoric offered by socialism to be an effective method in which Asia could resist Western influence.

When the Communist Red Army under Mao Zedong took power in The Doctor's homeland of China following the Chinese Civil War (1946 – 1950), a conflict that despite his emerging support for Communism, The Celestial chose to remain neutral throughout, the 'People's Republic of China' was established, and a great deal of stability returned to a nation heavily divided in bitter conflict since the end of the last Imperial Dynasty in 1911. The Doctor was impressed and relieved by Zedong's achievement, and felt strongly enough that his beloved realm was in safe hands, that he chose to ally with the Communist Leader, and return to China as his main base of operations (having had his forces purged out of the London Limehouse by INGSOC in 1948, and with Chinatown in San Francisco considered too visible).

Relations between Zedong and The Doctor initiated positively, despite Chairman Mao's misgivings about associating with a figure that was effectively a terrorist and gangster.

Zedong praised The Celestial for his aid of the Chinese Resistance in WWII, and The Doctor similarly praised the Chairman for his reconstruction of Chinese society.

From this point on, The Doctor acted as an agent of the Ministry of Public Security, assisting in carrying out assignments against the nation's enemies like Chinese-Nationalist-controlled Taiwan, Japan, and eventually the United Kingdom, and United States following the collapse of the socialist regimes under Wharton and Thingmaker in 1953, and the Soviet Union. The Celestial and his vast network also assisted Zedong in his sponsorship of the Communist factions fighting in the Civil Wars in Korea, Malaysia, and, again, Sarkhan. 'Doctor Sax', a young relative potential heir to The Doctor's empire (his own daughter had defected to the Allies in [=WW2=] after becoming disillusioned with her father's cause) joined his fellow Asiatic crime lord in many of these outings, until Sax's untimely 1958 death.

By the end of the 50s, as China began to find itself at odds with the USSR, the other largest Communist nation in the world, as well as its Western enemies, Zedong encouraged The Doctor to revive his legendary turn-of-the-century 'Celestial League' in order to maximize his capabilities in both defending the People's Republic, and providing a viable Propaganda vehicle as so many state-controlled Leagues had done previously. The Celestial complied with Zedong's suggestion, sensing a similar necessity for a group to represent China against the 'superheroes' and secret agents of its rivals, and spent the 1958-1959 period recruiting for what would be christened the 'Neo-Celestial League' out of prominent criminals and other rogue figures active across East Asia. This would be in addition to The Doctor's own, albeit aging 'Si-Fan' assassins' guild.

When The Celestial was ready to compile this new team in early 1960, he was aged 94, but had complete faith that his Second Celestial League would offer the physical presence he may have begun to lack in spite of his herbs and concoctions.

!!The First Magic League (1963)

After the dissolution of the Fourth American League in 1962, President Timothy Keegan, along with the Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (with whom Keegan had a difficult working relationship) their star agent Detective Richard Tracy, and a number of other U.S. government officials such as Director of the CIA James Christopher, swiftly became organized in forming a replacement group that was to be the Fifth American League. Det. Tracy had already profiled and screened a handful of possible candidates for this group operating within the United States; these included prolific con man Daniel Ocean (perhaps as a substitute for Thomas Ripley), former mistaken fugitive Roger O. Thornhill, and the Harry Jones Jr. inspired treasure hunter Harry Steele.

However, one of this committee's advisors, Gomez Adams, made a suggestion in November 1962 that proposed this new League be recruited in a significantly different area, that of the strong but mysterious subculture of 'magi' present throughout the United States. Adams had held the position of 'Supernatural Advisor' to the American government since 1954, after first offering his services just prior to World War II, providing it infrequently before receiving the official role. The Midwestern lawyer came from a long line of warlocks and other such 'magic' folk that had lived throughout the British Isles, before subsequently journeying to the Americas in a mass exodus after becoming forced into secrecy by the purges of King Jacob I in the early 1600s. Bizarre in his tastes, but forever optimistic, Adams had chosen to lend his services to the federal government out of a sense of patriotism, and an equated concern over whether the nation's enemies would begin to use similar forces as the ones Adams had at his disposal.

Mutually wishing for some form of unique advantage over the Soviets, Keegan, Hoover and Tracy agreed to Adams' proposal, while Christopher of the CIA gave the move his blessing. The Fifth American League would eventually come into being in 1977, but by the beginning of 1963, The First 'Magic' League was the American troupe of choice.

!!The Third French League (1966)

Since the disbanding of the Second French League at the end of World War II, the nation of France had been through a turbulent period, due to the failures of costly colonial wars in Algeria and Sarkhan, which had even led to a threat of a military coup d'état in the country in 1958. That same year, the former leader of the Free French in WWII, and of the nation's brief provisional government from 1944 to 1946, Charles De Gaulle, was elected President. Still highly popular in France, and with an eye to the country's future, De Gaulle withdrew France from its colonial conflicts, and brought in a new constitution, initiating the Fifth French Republic, in the hope it would revitalize the nation.

Though France's problems were not completely resolved by De Gaulle's reforms, the confidence he brought to the national economy rejuvenated the country, leading to a long boom period filled with social and cultural prosperity. While this occurred however, De Gaulle turned his sights abroad, hoping to secure France's place in the Cold War world, independent of the nuclear powerhouses in the East and West, both of which saw France as a potential ally.

As part of his effort to ensure France's international strength, De Gaulle was keen to implement a new League to inspire the nation's police and military as had been done twice previously as Les Hommes Mystérieux in 1909, and the Second French League in 1927. To De Gaulle, this was made even more of an imperative following the two assassination attempts on his life in 1961 and 1962 (notably, the notorious English hit man known as 'The Jackal' was credited with the latter of these) in retaliation for his granting of independence to Algeria. 1960s France was not as populated with the sort of 'mystery men' that had been the source of operatives for the earlier French Leagues as it had been in the belle époque and interwar era when they were formed, so De Gaulle tasked his most trusted spymaster, René Mathis of the SDECE, with the screening of possible candidates for the group in 1964. By January 1966, Mathis had organized a League that De Gaulle was reportedly enormously impressed with.

!!The Second Japanese League (1967)

!!The CIA Spy League (1968)

* KnightTemplar: He's a dedicated agent of the U.S. military, [[spoiler:which get his entire team killed with Lulu and The Man defect when the team goes too far.]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Ethan hates the Indians for killing his mother several years back and he's not afraid to show it.

* NonActionProtagonist: Maverick is more of a gambler than a gunslinger, and was recruited to infiltrate high-society missions.

* YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters: They're trying to stop Western imperialism in Asia, which is ''baaaaddd''.

* BoxedCrook: Downplayed. He agrees to join the American League when Roosevelt promises a presidential pardon from his activities as a costumed vigilante.

* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: When he eventually leads the third incarnation of the American League he tries to make up for the mistakes he made during his time in the second incarnation.]]

* HypnoticEyes: A master mesmerist.
* LovableRogue: Dubnotal had a very independent streak that made the other Leaguers wary that he'd betray them if given the chance. [[spoiler:However, Dubnotal proved time and again that he was an earnest, if very disagreeable, hero.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: All he wanted was to be loved, but under Fantômas' influence to wreak havoc on the French society that spurred him.

* BackAlleyDoctor: While it's unknown if he was an actual doctor, he was an accomplished surgeon specializing in altering people's likenesses through the science of "carnoplasty." He uses his expertise in crafting masks

* IWorkAlone: He was note a team player, and his colleagues often worried that he would either betray them or leave them for dead somehow. He and Dunot frequently clashed due to their respective egos.
* KungFuWizard: Was noted to be a powerful sorcerer capable of telepathy, levitation, and hypnotism.

* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:He's revealed to literally be a form of [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]], and disappears in the Tardis at the end of the League's adventures. While the Doctor Omega character predates The Doctor by decades, they're so similar that recent reprints of the novel include references to ''Doctor Who'' canon, alluding to the fan theory that they're the same character.]]

* EthicalSlut: She was an unapologetic liberated woman, which conflicted with Woltz attempt to mold her into a more conservative "girl next door" archetype.

!!The First All-American League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
As the United States entered the Second World War, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt realized early on that he would require a vast amount of help from the media, as he had during the Great Depression, in uniting the American people to his cause. To help him win the hearts and minds of the United States population, Roosevelt employed the temperamental, but highly successful Vinewood film producer Jack Woltz as his 'Propaganda Advisor'. Woltz, who was also head of the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry (W.A.C.), made a number of suggestions to the President, which Roosevelt then implemented, such as the founding of the 'Vinewood Canteen' along with film and theatre star Margo Channing. The most ambitious of these propaganda choices though was inarguably the founding of the first 'All-American League' (Not to be confused with the similarly named team from the period, 'The All-Star Squadron').

Woltz was inspired to have Roosevelt commission a secondary American League, to represent the patriotic, public side of the military the Government needed to promote, which came from his observations of American Football, as the Jewish entrepreneur witnessed how civilians embraced the All-American Team players such as Jay Garrick and Steven Gordon. Woltz then attempted to recreate this passionate public following in the form of a military team, by intentionally choosing members based on appeal, attractiveness, and embodiment of 'American values'. On a related sidenote, Woltz wanted to recruit 'super-soldier' Capt. Steve Rogers to this League, but commitments to 'The Invaders' kept him from Woltz's team.
----

!!The Nazi League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
The third League to be formed in 1942, though this time from the opposite side of the World War II conflict, The Nazi League was formed by German-Tomanian leader Adenoid Hynkel after the defeat of the 'Twilight Heroes', aka the First German League, at the hands of Janni Nemo and her family in a 1941 incident which also brought down the great Berlin Metropolis. Although this massive setback was devastating for the German-Tomanian war effort, Hynkel and his ministers were quickly able to patch the hole in public morale both in Germany and Tomania, but also in the other Axis states in Italy (called 'Bacteria' in Tomanian), Japan, Freedonia, Moronika, Romania, Finland, Borduria and Meccania. The fascist leaders did this by stepping up on propaganda, and the creation of a new 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' was part of this. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was tasked with developing this League, and the club-footed Hynkel confidant immediately saw this as an opportunity to encourage the prioritizing of science and technology as Germany-Tomania's core strength and advantage over the Allies, and a rational foil to that enemy nations reliance on 'Masked Heroes' to provide dynamic reinforcement to their military.

It was by this philosophy that Goebbels chose the members of his League, as they were primarily scientists, or in the case of Capt. Krieger, was created with the aid of advanced science. It is worth noting that Goebbels was recorded saying that The Nazi League was not as strong as he had hoped it to be, as key Nazi science figures like Johann Schmidt and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen were unavailable due to their own commitments to other aspects of the Third Reich's eclectic research programs.
----

!!The Canadian League (1948)
[[folder:General]]
As World War II ended, with the first use of Nuclear Weapons forever altering the world, the so-called 'Atomic Age' began. This historical era, at least in its immediate post-war climate, could be characterized by a number of new factors present in the world. These included the increased number of radiation-derived mutations occurring in organic life across the world, giving rise to generations of so-called 'Mutants' such as, most famously, the many tutored by the telepathic Prof. Charles Xavier, and, on an even larger scale, countless 'Atomic Monsters', such as the colossal, bipedal saurian which terrorized Japan in this period. This era also gave birth to new technologies like the television (initially developed by Carl Rotwang in the German Metropolis) and other such communication devices. Ultimately though, the post-war fantasies of many intellectuals led to the Atomic Age playing home to many failed utopias, including those of deranged visionaries like Andrew Ryan, and similarly, the religious cults of those figures like Lancaster Dodd. England under Big Brother, aka Harold Wharton, seemed very much like a terrible combination of many of these Atomic Era trends, with modern communication technology used to oppress and unrelentingly spy on the people of 'Airstrip One', and a misled idea of a socialist utopia fuelling the INGSOC government to continue with their authoritarian state. The British Royal Family was so uncomfortable in this new, machine-like United Kingdom post-1945 elections, that King George VI relocated the monarchy to Canada, as had been the official plan laid by the previous government in the event of a successful German-Tomanian invasion of the British mainland. This proved a wise decision on behalf of the King, as the INGSOC party had planned to assassinate the Royals and erase them from history as 'un-persons' while they were still in their jurisdiction. After the successful shift to Canada, the British Commonwealth of Nations (the former colonies of the British Empire, excluding the USA) chose to sever ties with what they saw as a fascist new English government, and instead redefine their loyalty as being first and foremost to the crown. After the 'Big Brother' administration began a campaign of lies, torture, and intimidation toward King George's former British subjects, with help from 'heroes' like Mat Selwood, and to a lesser extent, Hugo Drummond, the horrified Monarch called a meeting between the leaders of the Commonwealth states in Ottawa. This summit was designed to determine how best to restore England and rid the British Isles of the totalitarian INGSOC party, with the gathering ending with the decision to wage a covert war through spies against Big Brother, with the goal being to accomplish England's freedom before Wharton brainwashed it's civilians beyond repair. At the forefront of this 'secret war', government agent Captain James Bigglesworth, having left Britain with the King, owing him an unwavering loyalty, proposed that nations in the Commonwealth should all establish their own 'Leagues' modeled off the former Murray group, which would be used to wage this campaign against INGSOC. Canada was able to comply with this order, with the other Commonwealth states unable to organize enough suitable figures, but instead offering resources and intelligence useful to the cause. It is worth noting that mutant and biological experiment James 'Logan' Howlett was almost recruited for the group, but he was unavailable.
----

!!The Fourth American League (1956)
[[folder:General]]
After the conclusion of World War II, the United States entered an almost 'golden age' of prosperity, optimism, and national cohesion, ushered in by the arrival of the post-war 'baby boom', and the resulting birth of suburbia throughout the nation. Aside from the presidency of communist Mike Thingmaker from 1945 to 1953 the immediate post-war world in the USA was also one of high consumerist extravagance, with the growth and success of Television, fast-food chains like [=McDowells=], and the cultural and technological milestone of Charles Dingo's aforementioned 'Dingoland' amusement parks. Just as strongly in the US, the post-war period played home to a gigantic push into outer space, with the American space program building on the footsteps of trailblazers like Sewlyn Cavor and Dick Seaton to explore and colonize the heavens in ways man had once merely dreamed of.

Back on Earth however, the US President and former military chief Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with his trusted servant and head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, began to feel the growing relevance in their plans for American domestic and foreign strategy for a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, following the Third US League's retirement. To best construct this new organization, Hoover acquired the help of his star G-man and perhaps America's most trusted lawman: Det. Richard 'Plainclothes' Tracy, a Central City police officer. Tracy was perpetually occupied with policing matters, and his persistently busy schedule made it impractical for him to lead the new League himself, but his expertise in handpicking his own allies on the force allowed him to be of great assistance in tracking down and securing the partnerships of its members.
----

!!The Drifter's League (1958)

One especially notable development of the post-war era was the birth of the concept of the 'Teenager', particularly in America. The idea of adolescent culture first began to evolve in the 1930s, when the recognition of young adults subsequent to childhood but prior to college age first appeared to emerge. In the '30s the 'Teenager' concept seemed like only a mild one, applying to such model figures as famous young detectives Nancy Drew, and Frank and Joe Hardy, as well as vaudevillians like Patsy Barton and Mickey Moran, but by the early 1950s, when the western media began to first describe upon the idea of 'Juvenile Delinquency', and the conservative, post-[=WW2=] adult public panicked over their baby-boomer children manifesting a 'lost generation', the idea of the Young Adult evolved to embody a rebellious, volatile age-group, seen by their elders as rejecting parental control and values, and preoccupying over such new and revolutionary trends as Rock-and-Roll (Pioneered of course by musician mega-stars like Conrad Birdie) and automotive culture. A great deal of this counter-cultural movement was embodied by the so-called 'Beat Generation', a literary clique encompassing authors and poets like Sal Paradyse, author of 'On The Road' and 'The Crazy Wide Forever', and his close friends Dean Moriarty (a member of the influential Moriarty family), 'Old Bull' Lee and Carlo Marx. Despite predating the baby-boomers in age by sometimes several decades, Paradyse and his menagerie still encapsulated the feelings and frustrations of the post-war generation so intimately, that it is not at all surprising that they would lead the League that would come to symbolize the youth of the 50s and early 60s, a period of course ended by the horrors of the Sarkhan War (1964 – 1975), in which millions of these American youths would be either be terminated or traumatized.

The seeds of the League were first sewn when the beatniks Paradyse and Moriarty assisted League regulars Allan Quatermain Jr. and Mina Murray in 1956 during their battle against supernatural gangster (and grandson of The Devil Doctor) 'Dr. Sax', and his associates The Nova Mob in San Francisco. After the defeat of these counter-cultural criminals, Paradyse and Moriarty, inspired by their association with the United Kingdom's finest, felt that there needed to be a 'League' of some sort in order to battle the threats facing the world from within these subculture circles. To organize this group, seasoned travelers Paradyse and Moriarty went 'on the road' again in a coast-to-coast trip over the United States, searching for ideal recruits for their 'Drifters League'.

!!The Neo-Celestial League (1960)

At the end of World War II, the hugely influential Chinese crime lord and philanthropist known by names such as 'The Devil Doctor' and 'The Celestial' had reached his mid-80s, though he was still in surprising physical condition due to a carefully regulated diet and usage of traditional Chinese herbs. This elderly, but enormously powerful underworld figure had dominated international crime, sponsored insurgencies across European-controlled and aligned Asia since the 1890s, and remained as far-reaching, feared by his enemies, and celebrated by his followers as much as he had ever been even in his significantly old age. After playing a large role in sponsoring Asian resistance to Imperial Japan during the war, The Doctor's unceasing quest against Imperialism in the Eastern world continued as he refocused his resources on sponsoring the growing Communist rebellions within states like Sarkhan (led primarily by the same groups The Doctor had sponsored to fight Japan previously), after growing to believe that the nationalistic rhetoric offered by socialism to be an effective method in which Asia could resist Western influence.

When the Communist Red Army under Mao Zedong took power in The Doctor's homeland of China following the Chinese Civil War (1946 – 1950), a conflict that despite his emerging support for Communism, The Celestial chose to remain neutral throughout, the 'People's Republic of China' was established, and a great deal of stability returned to a nation heavily divided in bitter conflict since the end of the last Imperial Dynasty in 1911. The Doctor was impressed and relieved by Zedong's achievement, and felt strongly enough that his beloved realm was in safe hands, that he chose to ally with the Communist Leader, and return to China as his main base of operations (having had his forces purged out of the London Limehouse by INGSOC in 1948, and with Chinatown in San Francisco considered too visible).

Relations between Zedong and The Doctor initiated positively, despite Chairman Mao's misgivings about associating with a figure that was effectively a terrorist and gangster.

Zedong praised The Celestial for his aid of the Chinese Resistance in WWII, and The Doctor similarly praised the Chairman for his reconstruction of Chinese society.

From this point on, The Doctor acted as an agent of the Ministry of Public Security, assisting in carrying out assignments against the nation's enemies like Chinese-Nationalist-controlled Taiwan, Japan, and eventually the United Kingdom, and United States following the collapse of the socialist regimes under Wharton and Thingmaker in 1953, and the Soviet Union. The Celestial and his vast network also assisted Zedong in his sponsorship of the Communist factions fighting in the Civil Wars in Korea, Malaysia, and, again, Sarkhan. 'Doctor Sax', a young relative potential heir to The Doctor's empire (his own daughter had defected to the Allies in [=WW2=] after becoming disillusioned with her father's cause) joined his fellow Asiatic crime lord in many of these outings, until Sax's untimely 1958 death.

By the end of the 50s, as China began to find itself at odds with the USSR, the other largest Communist nation in the world, as well as its Western enemies, Zedong encouraged The Doctor to revive his legendary turn-of-the-century 'Celestial League' in order to maximize his capabilities in both defending the People's Republic, and providing a viable Propaganda vehicle as so many state-controlled Leagues had done previously. The Celestial complied with Zedong's suggestion, sensing a similar necessity for a group to represent China against the 'superheroes' and secret agents of its rivals, and spent the 1958-1959 period recruiting for what would be christened the 'Neo-Celestial League' out of prominent criminals and other rogue figures active across East Asia. This would be in addition to The Doctor's own, albeit aging 'Si-Fan' assassins' guild.

When The Celestial was ready to compile this new team in early 1960, he was aged 94, but had complete faith that his Second Celestial League would offer the physical presence he may have begun to lack in spite of his herbs and concoctions.

!!The First Magic League (1963)

After the dissolution of the Fourth American League in 1962, President Timothy Keegan, along with the Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (with whom Keegan had a difficult working relationship) their star agent Detective Richard Tracy, and a number of other U.S. government officials such as Director of the CIA James Christopher, swiftly became organized in forming a replacement group that was to be the Fifth American League. Det. Tracy had already profiled and screened a handful of possible candidates for this group operating within the United States; these included prolific con man Daniel Ocean (perhaps as a substitute for Thomas Ripley), former mistaken fugitive Roger O. Thornhill, and the Harry Jones Jr. inspired treasure hunter Harry Steele.

However, one of this committee's advisors, Gomez Adams, made a suggestion in November 1962 that proposed this new League be recruited in a significantly different area, that of the strong but mysterious subculture of 'magi' present throughout the United States. Adams had held the position of 'Supernatural Advisor' to the American government since 1954, after first offering his services just prior to World War II, providing it infrequently before receiving the official role. The Midwestern lawyer came from a long line of warlocks and other such 'magic' folk that had lived throughout the British Isles, before subsequently journeying to the Americas in a mass exodus after becoming forced into secrecy by the purges of King Jacob I in the early 1600s. Bizarre in his tastes, but forever optimistic, Adams had chosen to lend his services to the federal government out of a sense of patriotism, and an equated concern over whether the nation's enemies would begin to use similar forces as the ones Adams had at his disposal.

Mutually wishing for some form of unique advantage over the Soviets, Keegan, Hoover and Tracy agreed to Adams' proposal, while Christopher of the CIA gave the move his blessing. The Fifth American League would eventually come into being in 1977, but by the beginning of 1963, The First 'Magic' League was the American troupe of choice.

!!The Third French League (1966)

Since the disbanding of the Second French League at the end of World War II, the nation of France had been through a turbulent period, due to the failures of costly colonial wars in Algeria and Sarkhan, which had even led to a threat of a military coup d'état in the country in 1958. That same year, the former leader of the Free French in WWII, and of the nation's brief provisional government from 1944 to 1946, Charles De Gaulle, was elected President. Still highly popular in France, and with an eye to the country's future, De Gaulle withdrew France from its colonial conflicts, and brought in a new constitution, initiating the Fifth French Republic, in the hope it would revitalize the nation.

Though France's problems were not completely resolved by De Gaulle's reforms, the confidence he brought to the national economy rejuvenated the country, leading to a long boom period filled with social and cultural prosperity. While this occurred however, De Gaulle turned his sights abroad, hoping to secure France's place in the Cold War world, independent of the nuclear powerhouses in the East and West, both of which saw France as a potential ally.

As part of his effort to ensure France's international strength, De Gaulle was keen to implement a new League to inspire the nation's police and military as had been done twice previously as Les Hommes Mystérieux in 1909, and the Second French League in 1927. To De Gaulle, this was made even more of an imperative following the two assassination attempts on his life in 1961 and 1962 (notably, the notorious English hit man known as 'The Jackal' was credited with the latter of these) in retaliation for his granting of independence to Algeria. 1960s France was not as populated with the sort of 'mystery men' that had been the source of operatives for the earlier French Leagues as it had been in the belle époque and interwar era when they were formed, so De Gaulle tasked his most trusted spymaster, René Mathis of the SDECE, with the screening of possible candidates for the group in 1964. By January 1966, Mathis had organized a League that De Gaulle was reportedly enormously impressed with.

!!The Second Japanese League (1967)

!!The CIA Spy League (1968)

!!The Third American League (1925)
[[folder:General]]
Now in his fifties, the Great War veteran and former military poster boy Captain Tom Sawyer had become quite a different man than the one he had been during his service with the Second American League. Sawyer's guilt at his ruined friendships, manipulation of others, and war crimes had caused him a bitter depression, and to turn to religion as a method of finding solace.

However when Sawyer was asked by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover on behalf of President Calvin Coolidge to help organize a new League, the former Marine captain saw an opportunity to use his leadership position as a way of writing his old wrongs and finding personal redemption.

President Coolidge felt a new League was required to combat the high crime rates driven by the Prohibition, and the many cartels and gangsters thriving off the decadent 'Roaring Twenties'. Captain Sawyer saw this cause as morale good he could strive to enforce.
----
* SuperiorSuccessor: They were by far the most successful American League at that point.

[[folder:Captain Sawyer]]
* See above

[[folder:Richard Seaton]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/SkylarkSeries''
* TheAce: Not only was he an inventive genius, but he also owned his own steel company which made him a fortune.
* CanonWelding: The "element x" he discovers was actually just a variant of [[Literature/TheFirstMenInTheMoon Carvorite]].
* CoolStarship: The Skylark, which could travel at [[ArtisticLicensePhysics unbelievable speeds]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Noted to be the Captain Nemo of his League.

[[folder:Dorothy Gale]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''
* ChummyCommies: Her experiences in Oz gave her some socialist leaning that put her at odds with Hoover.
* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:After her League broke up and she was blacklisted for her socialist sympathies, she simply disappeared. Many believe she returned to Oz.]]
* TheWormGuy: Because of her trips to Oz, she was specifically recruited as a consultant on supernatural phenomena.

[[folder:Dr. Clark Savage Jr.]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/DocSavage''
* See above

[[folder:Lamont Cranston]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/TheShadow''
* TheCowl: As The Living Shadow, he was one of the [[UrExample orignals]].
* FlipPersonality: Was noted to suffer from violent mood swings, almost as if he had multiple different personalities.
* HypnoticEyes: A master of hypnosis using his jeweled ring.
* MasterOfDisguise: Was rebound for his stealth and ability to take on almost any role required for his mission.

[[folder:Nicholas Carter]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/NickCarter''
* CoolOldGuy: Despite being in his sixties, his age hadn't slowed him down at all.
* GreatDetective: He was basically a more rough-and-tumble Transatlantic Sherlock Holmes.
* PintSizedPowerHouse: Standing at about 5'4, Nick was surprisingly fit, almost as strong and tough as Doc Savage.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Was a distant cousin of [[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars John Carter]] and [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Randolph Carter]].

!!The Second French League (1927)
[[folder:General]]
As mentioned in the entry regarding 'The League of Horrors', in 1927 French government agent Léo Saint-Clair, aka Nyctalope, formed a new League out of necessity in order to defeat Fantômas and his cohorts and prevent them from beginning a new Black Death epidemic. This League may have been formed abruptly, but it included many legendary Frank heroes who stayed in service for their nation for many years after their recruitment.
----

[[folder:Madam Blanc-Sec]]
--> '''Source''': ''Film/TheExtraordinaryAdventuresOfAdeleBlancSec''
* TheLeader: Explicite comparisons were drawn between her and Mina Murray.
* LadyOfAdventure: Already known for her daring and often bizarre exploits.

[[folder:Sâr Dubnotal]]
--> '''Source''': ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A2r_Dubnotal Sâr Dubnotal]]''
* IWorkAlone: He was note a team player, and his colleagues often worried that he would either betray them or leave them for dead somehow. He and Dunot frequently clashed due to their respective egos.
* KungFuWizard: Was noted to be a powerful sorcerer capable of telepathy, levitation, and hypnotism.

[[folder:Doctor Omega]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/DoctorOmega'' / [[spoiler:''Series/DoctorWho'']]
* DoctorWhomage: A famous example that predated the character by sixty years. [[spoiler:There's a reason.]]
* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:He's revealed to literally be a form of [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]], and disappears in the Tardis at the end of the League's adventures. While the Doctor Omega character predates The Doctor by decades, they're so similar that recent reprints of the novel include references to ''Doctor Who'' canon, alluding to the fan theory that they're the same character.]]

[[folder:Marcel Dunot]]
--> '''Source''': ''[[https://ratmmjess.tripod.com/timeline5.html Marcel Dunot]]''
* AffablyEvil: He displayed mildly sociopathic traits, but he was nontheless had the chivalry of a sportsman, treating his friends and foes alike with respect and dignity, but perhaps not true friendships with anyone.
* BloodKnight: He ''loved'' to fight and was capable of beating the tar out of anyone in or outside the boxing ring.
* BoxingBattler: He went on several adventures fighting various criminals during his time as the "King of Boxers,"

!!The Kane League (1938)

Multi-millionaire media mogul, private landowner, and serial manipulator of politics Charles Foster Kane had experimented with having a 'League' of sorts in 1925, which according to record ended disastrously for the three poor 'Science Heroes' he had employed. In 1938, the more elderly Kane, who was suffering from failing health and what modern doctors would have diagnosed as the early stages of depression, along with a deteriorating business empire, decided to form a more formal League, this time modeled specifically on the 1898 Murray League, which the aging tycoon viewed as the most successful incarnation of the team due to their incredible defeat of the first Martian Invasion. Kane hoped to use his recreation of that League to intervene in world events as his publications had once been able to.

Kane sent his star reporter, the daredevil journalist Jane Arden, to assemble the private team.

* FailureHero: [[spoiler:Their one and only mission ended with nearly all of them dying save for Autry and Robur.]]
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Explicitly designed to be a near-identical recreation of the British League.

[[folder:Gene Autry]]
--> '''Source''': [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Autry Gene Autry]]
* TheGunslinger: Was an accomplished gunman on par with Allan Quatermain.
* IdealHero: Noted to be unfailingly ethical.
* MoneyDearBoy: He signed onto Kane's League because the mogul promised him a lucrative film contract.
* RealPersonFic: Zig-Zagged. Gene Autry was a real singer/actor, but in the ''League'' world, he had a twin brother named Orvon who took credit for his brother's exploits.

[[folder:Ann Darrow]]
--> '''Source''': ''Film/KingKong''
* ActionSurvivor: Darrow's survival physically, maturation, and courage gained from the incident mentally lent Darrow a Mina Murray quality which appealed to Kane.
* AdaptationDistillation: A mix of the 1933 and 2005 versions.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:She saves Robur, Autry, and Dunn from a Nazi firing squad using Robur's handheld artillery from their own camp.]]
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: She, next to Autry, was probably the kindest person on the team.

[[folder:Tom Powers/Thomas Masters]]
--> '''Source''': ''Film/{{The Public Enemy|1931}}''
* [[EvilCounterpart Good Counterpart]]: [[spoiler:Powers proved to be far more moral Invisible Man than his sociopathic British counterpart.]]
* InvisibilityCloak: Kane gives him a belt invented by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vanishing_Shadow Dr. Stanley Stanfield]] that turns him invisible save for his shadow.
* RedemptionQuest: Powers had promised the family of a deceased friend of his to reform himself, and joined the League under the condition that Kane's media empire would help cover up his criminal past for good. [[spoiler:Becomes RedeptionEqualsDeath when he lures a pack of velociraptors away from Robur and Autry and is torn apart.]]

[[folder:Armand Robur]]
--> '''Source''': ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' / ''Literature/RoburTheConqueror''
* CoolAirShip: The ''Terror''.
* ExpyCoexistence: An In-Universe one as Kane specifically sought him out to be his CaptainNemoCopy.
* OverlordJr: The son of the infamous attempted-conqueror, but he is nonetheless a more heroic figure, and only agreed to Kane's League because the mogul promised to stir anti-fascist sentiment within his newspapers to subtly convince the American people to come to the aid of the French should war break out in Europe.

[[folder:William 'Bill' Dunn, the Super-Man]]
--> '''Source''': ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reign_of_the_Superman The Reign of the Superman]]''
* ASharedSuffering: Dunn and Darrow briefly bond over their similar Depression-era struggles.
* JekyllAndHyde: As a side-effect of the super-serum he was given his mind became fractured between the pacifistic Bill Dunn and the megalomaniacal Super-Man. He was deliberately sought out by Kane for his Jekyll and Hyde qualities.
* PsychicPowers: As the Super-Man, he was a powerful telepath.
[[/folder]]

!!The First Japanese League (1941)

By the time of their entry into World War II in 1941, The Empire of Japan had very much become the European-style Imperial Power that The Devil Doctor had foreseen the rise of. Imperial Japan not only had vast amounts of occupied territory in Asia, but also a heavily industrialized military just as capable of war as any Colonial Power at the time.

As part of this German-Tomanian-backed push for war in the Pacific, the Japanese Diet under Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō commissioned another European-style military innovation: A League of 'Extraordinary Gentlemen'.

Newly ordained Secret Service agent, Taku 'Tiger' Tanaka, was employed to collate this Nipponese cell.

!!The Second Allied League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
As the Second 'Great' War commenced, the Allied forces, led mainly in the early stages by the United Kingdom but then restructured significantly after the later addition of the United States and Soviet Union to the cause, again organized a 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' to assist in their efforts. More than anything, as it was in World War I, the presence of such a League was primarily to set examples of unity, courage, and values through highly publicized, and thinly-veiled, propaganda heroes.

This group was in the works for most of the early part of the war, with leaders Winston Churchill, Albert Lebrun (although due to France's surrender to the Teutonic fascists, not for terribly long), and the prime ministers of England's commonwealth territories playing key roles in the organization. But once the USSR joined the war under Joseph Stalin in 1941, and the USA under Franklin D. Roosevelt later that year, the increased political pressure fast-tracked the implementation of the League design.
----

!!The First All-American League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
As the United States entered the Second World War, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt realized early on that he would require a vast amount of help from the media, as he had during the Great Depression, in uniting the American people to his cause. To help him win the hearts and minds of the United States population, Roosevelt employed the temperamental, but highly successful Vinewood film producer Jack Woltz as his 'Propaganda Advisor'. Woltz, who was also head of the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry (W.A.C.), made a number of suggestions to the President, which Roosevelt then implemented, such as the founding of the 'Vinewood Canteen' along with film and theatre star Margo Channing. The most ambitious of these propaganda choices though was inarguably the founding of the first 'All-American League' (Not to be confused with the similarly named team from the period, 'The All-Star Squadron').

Woltz was inspired to have Roosevelt commission a secondary American League, to represent the patriotic, public side of the military the Government needed to promote, which came from his observations of American Football, as the Jewish entrepreneur witnessed how civilians embraced the All-American Team players such as Jay Garrick and Steven Gordon. Woltz then attempted to recreate this passionate public following in the form of a military team, by intentionally choosing members based on appeal, attractiveness, and embodiment of 'American values'. On a related sidenote, Woltz wanted to recruit 'super-soldier' Capt. Steve Rogers to this League, but commitments to 'The Invaders' kept him from Woltz's team.
----

!!The Nazi League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
The third League to be formed in 1942, though this time from the opposite side of the World War II conflict, The Nazi League was formed by German-Tomanian leader Adenoid Hynkel after the defeat of the 'Twilight Heroes', aka the First German League, at the hands of Janni Nemo and her family in a 1941 incident which also brought down the great Berlin Metropolis. Although this massive setback was devastating for the German-Tomanian war effort, Hynkel and his ministers were quickly able to patch the hole in public morale both in Germany and Tomania, but also in the other Axis states in Italy (called 'Bacteria' in Tomanian), Japan, Freedonia, Moronika, Romania, Finland, Borduria and Meccania. The fascist leaders did this by stepping up on propaganda, and the creation of a new 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' was part of this. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was tasked with developing this League, and the club-footed Hynkel confidant immediately saw this as an opportunity to encourage the prioritizing of science and technology as Germany-Tomania's core strength and advantage over the Allies, and a rational foil to that enemy nations reliance on 'Masked Heroes' to provide dynamic reinforcement to their military.

It was by this philosophy that Goebbels chose the members of his League, as they were primarily scientists, or in the case of Capt. Krieger, was created with the aid of advanced science. It is worth noting that Goebbels was recorded saying that The Nazi League was not as strong as he had hoped it to be, as key Nazi science figures like Johann Schmidt and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen were unavailable due to their own commitments to other aspects of the Third Reich's eclectic research programs.
----

!!The Canadian League (1948)
[[folder:General]]
As World War II ended, with the first use of Nuclear Weapons forever altering the world, the so-called 'Atomic Age' began. This historical era, at least in its immediate post-war climate, could be characterized by a number of new factors present in the world. These included the increased number of radiation-derived mutations occurring in organic life across the world, giving rise to generations of so-called 'Mutants' such as, most famously, the many tutored by the telepathic Prof. Charles Xavier, and, on an even larger scale, countless 'Atomic Monsters', such as the colossal, bipedal saurian which terrorized Japan in this period. This era also gave birth to new technologies like the television (initially developed by Carl Rotwang in the German Metropolis) and other such communication devices. Ultimately though, the post-war fantasies of many intellectuals led to the Atomic Age playing home to many failed utopias, including those of deranged visionaries like Andrew Ryan, and similarly, the religious cults of those figures like Lancaster Dodd. England under Big Brother, aka Harold Wharton, seemed very much like a terrible combination of many of these Atomic Era trends, with modern communication technology used to oppress and unrelentingly spy on the people of 'Airstrip One', and a misled idea of a socialist utopia fuelling the INGSOC government to continue with their authoritarian state. The British Royal Family was so uncomfortable in this new, machine-like United Kingdom post-1945 elections, that King George VI relocated the monarchy to Canada, as had been the official plan laid by the previous government in the event of a successful German-Tomanian invasion of the British mainland. This proved a wise decision on behalf of the King, as the INGSOC party had planned to assassinate the Royals and erase them from history as 'un-persons' while they were still in their jurisdiction. After the successful shift to Canada, the British Commonwealth of Nations (the former colonies of the British Empire, excluding the USA) chose to sever ties with what they saw as a fascist new English government, and instead redefine their loyalty as being first and foremost to the crown. After the 'Big Brother' administration began a campaign of lies, torture, and intimidation toward King George's former British subjects, with help from 'heroes' like Mat Selwood, and to a lesser extent, Hugo Drummond, the horrified Monarch called a meeting between the leaders of the Commonwealth states in Ottawa. This summit was designed to determine how best to restore England and rid the British Isles of the totalitarian INGSOC party, with the gathering ending with the decision to wage a covert war through spies against Big Brother, with the goal being to accomplish England's freedom before Wharton brainwashed it's civilians beyond repair. At the forefront of this 'secret war', government agent Captain James Bigglesworth, having left Britain with the King, owing him an unwavering loyalty, proposed that nations in the Commonwealth should all establish their own 'Leagues' modeled off the former Murray group, which would be used to wage this campaign against INGSOC. Canada was able to comply with this order, with the other Commonwealth states unable to organize enough suitable figures, but instead offering resources and intelligence useful to the cause. It is worth noting that mutant and biological experiment James 'Logan' Howlett was almost recruited for the group, but he was unavailable.
----

!!The Fourth American League (1956)

After the conclusion of World War II, the United States entered an almost 'golden age' of prosperity, optimism, and national cohesion, ushered in by the arrival of the post-war 'baby boom', and the resulting birth of suburbia throughout the nation. Aside from the presidency of communist Mike Thingmaker from 1945 to 1953 the immediate post-war world in the USA was also one of high consumerist extravagance, with the growth and success of Television, fast-food chains like [=McDowells=], and the cultural and technological milestone of Charles Dingo's aforementioned 'Dingoland' amusement parks. Just as strongly in the US, the post-war period played home to a gigantic push into outer space, with the American space program building on the footsteps of trailblazers like Sewlyn Cavor and Dick Seaton to explore and colonize the heavens in ways man had once merely dreamed of.

Back on Earth however, the US President and former military chief Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with his trusted servant and head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, began to feel the growing relevance in their plans for American domestic and foreign strategy for a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, following the Third US League's retirement. To best construct this new organization, Hoover acquired the help of his star G-man and perhaps America's most trusted lawman: Det. Richard 'Plainclothes' Tracy, a Central City police officer. Tracy was perpetually occupied with policing matters, and his persistently busy schedule made it impractical for him to lead the new League himself, but his expertise in handpicking his own allies on the force allowed him to be of great assistance in tracking down and securing the partnerships of its members.

!!The Drifter's League (1958)

One especially notable development of the post-war era was the birth of the concept of the 'Teenager', particularly in America. The idea of adolescent culture first began to evolve in the 1930s, when the recognition of young adults subsequent to childhood but prior to college age first appeared to emerge. In the '30s the 'Teenager' concept seemed like only a mild one, applying to such model figures as famous young detectives Nancy Drew, and Frank and Joe Hardy, as well as vaudevillians like Patsy Barton and Mickey Moran, but by the early 1950s, when the western media began to first describe upon the idea of 'Juvenile Delinquency', and the conservative, post-[=WW2=] adult public panicked over their baby-boomer children manifesting a 'lost generation', the idea of the Young Adult evolved to embody a rebellious, volatile age-group, seen by their elders as rejecting parental control and values, and preoccupying over such new and revolutionary trends as Rock-and-Roll (Pioneered of course by musician mega-stars like Conrad Birdie) and automotive culture. A great deal of this counter-cultural movement was embodied by the so-called 'Beat Generation', a literary clique encompassing authors and poets like Sal Paradyse, author of 'On The Road' and 'The Crazy Wide Forever', and his close friends Dean Moriarty (a member of the influential Moriarty family), 'Old Bull' Lee and Carlo Marx. Despite predating the baby-boomers in age by sometimes several decades, Paradyse and his menagerie still encapsulated the feelings and frustrations of the post-war generation so intimately, that it is not at all surprising that they would lead the League that would come to symbolize the youth of the 50s and early 60s, a period of course ended by the horrors of the Sarkhan War (1964 – 1975), in which millions of these American youths would be either be terminated or traumatized.

The seeds of the League were first sewn when the beatniks Paradyse and Moriarty assisted League regulars Allan Quatermain Jr. and Mina Murray in 1956 during their battle against supernatural gangster (and grandson of The Devil Doctor) 'Dr. Sax', and his associates The Nova Mob in San Francisco. After the defeat of these counter-cultural criminals, Paradyse and Moriarty, inspired by their association with the United Kingdom's finest, felt that there needed to be a 'League' of some sort in order to battle the threats facing the world from within these subculture circles. To organize this group, seasoned travelers Paradyse and Moriarty went 'on the road' again in a coast-to-coast trip over the United States, searching for ideal recruits for their 'Drifters League'.

!!The Neo-Celestial League (1960)

At the end of World War II, the hugely influential Chinese crime lord and philanthropist known by names such as 'The Devil Doctor' and 'The Celestial' had reached his mid-80s, though he was still in surprising physical condition due to a carefully regulated diet and usage of traditional Chinese herbs. This elderly, but enormously powerful underworld figure had dominated international crime, sponsored insurgencies across European-controlled and aligned Asia since the 1890s, and remained as far-reaching, feared by his enemies, and celebrated by his followers as much as he had ever been even in his significantly old age. After playing a large role in sponsoring Asian resistance to Imperial Japan during the war, The Doctor's unceasing quest against Imperialism in the Eastern world continued as he refocused his resources on sponsoring the growing Communist rebellions within states like Sarkhan (led primarily by the same groups The Doctor had sponsored to fight Japan previously), after growing to believe that the nationalistic rhetoric offered by socialism to be an effective method in which Asia could resist Western influence.

When the Communist Red Army under Mao Zedong took power in The Doctor's homeland of China following the Chinese Civil War (1946 – 1950), a conflict that despite his emerging support for Communism, The Celestial chose to remain neutral throughout, the 'People's Republic of China' was established, and a great deal of stability returned to a nation heavily divided in bitter conflict since the end of the last Imperial Dynasty in 1911. The Doctor was impressed and relieved by Zedong's achievement, and felt strongly enough that his beloved realm was in safe hands, that he chose to ally with the Communist Leader, and return to China as his main base of operations (having had his forces purged out of the London Limehouse by INGSOC in 1948, and with Chinatown in San Francisco considered too visible).

Relations between Zedong and The Doctor initiated positively, despite Chairman Mao's misgivings about associating with a figure that was effectively a terrorist and gangster.

Zedong praised The Celestial for his aid of the Chinese Resistance in WWII, and The Doctor similarly praised the Chairman for his reconstruction of Chinese society.

From this point on, The Doctor acted as an agent of the Ministry of Public Security, assisting in carrying out assignments against the nation's enemies like Chinese-Nationalist-controlled Taiwan, Japan, and eventually the United Kingdom, and United States following the collapse of the socialist regimes under Wharton and Thingmaker in 1953, and the Soviet Union. The Celestial and his vast network also assisted Zedong in his sponsorship of the Communist factions fighting in the Civil Wars in Korea, Malaysia, and, again, Sarkhan. 'Doctor Sax', a young relative potential heir to The Doctor's empire (his own daughter had defected to the Allies in [=WW2=] after becoming disillusioned with her father's cause) joined his fellow Asiatic crime lord in many of these outings, until Sax's untimely 1958 death.

By the end of the 50s, as China began to find itself at odds with the USSR, the other largest Communist nation in the world, as well as its Western enemies, Zedong encouraged The Doctor to revive his legendary turn-of-the-century 'Celestial League' in order to maximize his capabilities in both defending the People's Republic, and providing a viable Propaganda vehicle as so many state-controlled Leagues had done previously. The Celestial complied with Zedong's suggestion, sensing a similar necessity for a group to represent China against the 'superheroes' and secret agents of its rivals, and spent the 1958-1959 period recruiting for what would be christened the 'Neo-Celestial League' out of prominent criminals and other rogue figures active across East Asia. This would be in addition to The Doctor's own, albeit aging 'Si-Fan' assassins' guild.

When The Celestial was ready to compile this new team in early 1960, he was aged 94, but had complete faith that his Second Celestial League would offer the physical presence he may have begun to lack in spite of his herbs and concoctions.

!!The First Magic League (1963)

After the dissolution of the Fourth American League in 1962, President Timothy Keegan, along with the Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (with whom Keegan had a difficult working relationship) their star agent Detective Richard Tracy, and a number of other U.S. government officials such as Director of the CIA James Christopher, swiftly became organized in forming a replacement group that was to be the Fifth American League. Det. Tracy had already profiled and screened a handful of possible candidates for this group operating within the United States; these included prolific con man Daniel Ocean (perhaps as a substitute for Thomas Ripley), former mistaken fugitive Roger O. Thornhill, and the Harry Jones Jr. inspired treasure hunter Harry Steele.

However, one of this committee's advisors, Gomez Adams, made a suggestion in November 1962 that proposed this new League be recruited in a significantly different area, that of the strong but mysterious subculture of 'magi' present throughout the United States. Adams had held the position of 'Supernatural Advisor' to the American government since 1954, after first offering his services just prior to World War II, providing it infrequently before receiving the official role. The Midwestern lawyer came from a long line of warlocks and other such 'magic' folk that had lived throughout the British Isles, before subsequently journeying to the Americas in a mass exodus after becoming forced into secrecy by the purges of King Jacob I in the early 1600s. Bizarre in his tastes, but forever optimistic, Adams had chosen to lend his services to the federal government out of a sense of patriotism, and an equated concern over whether the nation's enemies would begin to use similar forces as the ones Adams had at his disposal.

Mutually wishing for some form of unique advantage over the Soviets, Keegan, Hoover and Tracy agreed to Adams' proposal, while Christopher of the CIA gave the move his blessing. The Fifth American League would eventually come into being in 1977, but by the beginning of 1963, The First 'Magic' League was the American troupe of choice.

!!The Third French League (1966)

Since the disbanding of the Second French League at the end of World War II, the nation of France had been through a turbulent period, due to the failures of costly colonial wars in Algeria and Sarkhan, which had even led to a threat of a military coup d'état in the country in 1958. That same year, the former leader of the Free French in WWII, and of the nation's brief provisional government from 1944 to 1946, Charles De Gaulle, was elected President. Still highly popular in France, and with an eye to the country's future, De Gaulle withdrew France from its colonial conflicts, and brought in a new constitution, initiating the Fifth French Republic, in the hope it would revitalize the nation.

Though France's problems were not completely resolved by De Gaulle's reforms, the confidence he brought to the national economy rejuvenated the country, leading to a long boom period filled with social and cultural prosperity. While this occurred however, De Gaulle turned his sights abroad, hoping to secure France's place in the Cold War world, independent of the nuclear powerhouses in the East and West, both of which saw France as a potential ally.

As part of his effort to ensure France's international strength, De Gaulle was keen to implement a new League to inspire the nation's police and military as had been done twice previously as Les Hommes Mystérieux in 1909, and the Second French League in 1927. To De Gaulle, this was made even more of an imperative following the two assassination attempts on his life in 1961 and 1962 (notably, the notorious English hit man known as 'The Jackal' was credited with the latter of these) in retaliation for his granting of independence to Algeria. 1960s France was not as populated with the sort of 'mystery men' that had been the source of operatives for the earlier French Leagues as it had been in the belle époque and interwar era when they were formed, so De Gaulle tasked his most trusted spymaster, René Mathis of the SDECE, with the screening of possible candidates for the group in 1964. By January 1966, Mathis had organized a League that De Gaulle was reportedly enormously impressed with.

!!The Second Japanese League (1967)

!!The CIA Spy League (1968)

* See above

* ChasteHero: Doc, by personal choice.
* GeniusBruiser: Was both the muscle and the planner for the League's missions.
* NotSoStoic: He was very dedicated and stalwart, but he could be surprisingly amiable and humorous. He was basically TheHeart of his League.
* RenaissanceMan: Might as well call this "The Doc Savage." He was specifically raised to be the 'ideal specimen of human capabilities'.

--> '''Source''': ''Literature/DoctorOmega'' [[spoiler:''Series/DoctorWho'']]
* DoctorWhomage: A famous example that predated the character by decades. [[spoiler:There's a reason.]]
* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:He's revealed to literally be a form of [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]], and disappears in the Tardis at the end of the League's adventures. While the Doctor Omega character predates The Doctor by decades, they're so similar that recent reprints of the novel include references to Doctor Who canon, alluding to the fan theory that they're the same character.]]

!!The First Japanese League (1941)
[[folder:General]]
By the time of their entry into World War II in 1941, The Empire of Japan had very much become the European-style Imperial Power that The Devil Doctor had foreseen the rise of. Imperial Japan not only had vast amounts of occupied territory in Asia, but also a heavily industrialized military just as capable of war as any Colonial Power at the time.

As part of this German-Tomanian-backed push for war in the Pacific, the Japanese Diet under Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō commissioned another European-style military innovation: A League of 'Extraordinary Gentlemen'.

Newly ordained Secret Service agent, Taku 'Tiger' Tanaka, was employed to collate this Nipponese cell.
----

!!The Second Allied League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
As the Second 'Great' War commenced, the Allied forces, led mainly in the early stages by the United Kingdom but then restructured significantly after the later addition of the United States and Soviet Union to the cause, again organized a 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' to assist in their efforts. More than anything, as it was in World War I, the presence of such a League was primarily to set examples of unity, courage, and values through highly publicized, and thinly-veiled, propaganda heroes.

This group was in the works for most of the early part of the war, with leaders Winston Churchill, Albert Lebrun (although due to France's surrender to the Teutonic fascists, not for terribly long), and the prime ministers of England's commonwealth territories playing key roles in the organization. But once the USSR joined the war under Joseph Stalin in 1941, and the USA under Franklin D. Roosevelt later that year, the increased political pressure fast-tracked the implementation of the League design.
----

!!The First All-American League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
As the United States entered the Second World War, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt realized early on that he would require a vast amount of help from the media, as he had during the Great Depression, in uniting the American people to his cause. To help him win the hearts and minds of the United States population, Roosevelt employed the temperamental, but highly successful Vinewood film producer Jack Woltz as his 'Propaganda Advisor'. Woltz, who was also head of the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry (W.A.C.), made a number of suggestions to the President, which Roosevelt then implemented, such as the founding of the 'Vinewood Canteen' along with film and theatre star Margo Channing. The most ambitious of these propaganda choices though was inarguably the founding of the first 'All-American League' (Not to be confused with the similarly named team from the period, 'The All-Star Squadron').

Woltz was inspired to have Roosevelt commission a secondary American League, to represent the patriotic, public side of the military the Government needed to promote, which came from his observations of American Football, as the Jewish entrepreneur witnessed how civilians embraced the All-American Team players such as Jay Garrick and Steven Gordon. Woltz then attempted to recreate this passionate public following in the form of a military team, by intentionally choosing members based on appeal, attractiveness, and embodiment of 'American values'. On a related sidenote, Woltz wanted to recruit 'super-soldier' Capt. Steve Rogers to this League, but commitments to 'The Invaders' kept him from Woltz's team.
----

!!The Nazi League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
The third League to be formed in 1942, though this time from the opposite side of the World War II conflict, The Nazi League was formed by German-Tomanian leader Adenoid Hynkel after the defeat of the 'Twilight Heroes', aka the First German League, at the hands of Janni Nemo and her family in a 1941 incident which also brought down the great Berlin Metropolis. Although this massive setback was devastating for the German-Tomanian war effort, Hynkel and his ministers were quickly able to patch the hole in public morale both in Germany and Tomania, but also in the other Axis states in Italy (called 'Bacteria' in Tomanian), Japan, Freedonia, Moronika, Romania, Finland, Borduria and Meccania. The fascist leaders did this by stepping up on propaganda, and the creation of a new 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' was part of this. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was tasked with developing this League, and the club-footed Hynkel confidant immediately saw this as an opportunity to encourage the prioritizing of science and technology as Germany-Tomania's core strength and advantage over the Allies, and a rational foil to that enemy nations reliance on 'Masked Heroes' to provide dynamic reinforcement to their military.

It was by this philosophy that Goebbels chose the members of his League, as they were primarily scientists, or in the case of Capt. Krieger, was created with the aid of advanced science. It is worth noting that Goebbels was recorded saying that The Nazi League was not as strong as he had hoped it to be, as key Nazi science figures like Johann Schmidt and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen were unavailable due to their own commitments to other aspects of the Third Reich's eclectic research programs.
----

!!The Canadian League (1948)

As World War II ended, with the first use of Nuclear Weapons forever altering the world, the so-called 'Atomic Age' began. This historical era, at least in its immediate post-war climate, could be characterized by a number of new factors present in the world. These included the increased number of radiation-derived mutations occurring in organic life across the world, giving rise to generations of so-called 'Mutants' such as, most famously, the many tutored by the telepathic Prof. Charles Xavier, and, on an even larger scale, countless 'Atomic Monsters', such as the colossal, bipedal saurian which terrorized Japan in this period. This era also gave birth to new technologies like the television (initially developed by Carl Rotwang in the German Metropolis) and other such communication devices. Ultimately though, the post-war fantasies of many intellectuals led to the Atomic Age playing home to many failed utopias, including those of deranged visionaries like Andrew Ryan, and similarly, the religious cults of those figures like Lancaster Dodd. England under Big Brother, aka Harold Wharton, seemed very much like a terrible combination of many of these Atomic Era trends, with modern communication technology used to oppress and unrelentingly spy on the people of 'Airstrip One', and a misled idea of a socialist utopia fuelling the INGSOC government to continue with their authoritarian state. The British Royal Family was so uncomfortable in this new, machine-like United Kingdom post-1945 elections, that King George VI relocated the monarchy to Canada, as had been the official plan laid by the previous government in the event of a successful German-Tomanian invasion of the British mainland. This proved a wise decision on behalf of the King, as the INGSOC party had planned to assassinate the Royals and erase them from history as 'un-persons' while they were still in their jurisdiction. After the successful shift to Canada, the British Commonwealth of Nations (the former colonies of the British Empire, excluding the USA) chose to sever ties with what they saw as a fascist new English government, and instead redefine their loyalty as being first and foremost to the crown. After the 'Big Brother' administration began a campaign of lies, torture, and intimidation toward King George's former British subjects, with help from 'heroes' like Mat Selwood, and to a lesser extent, Hugo Drummond, the horrified Monarch called a meeting between the leaders of the Commonwealth states in Ottawa. This summit was designed to determine how best to restore England and rid the British Isles of the totalitarian INGSOC party, with the gathering ending with the decision to wage a covert war through spies against Big Brother, with the goal being to accomplish England's freedom before Wharton brainwashed it's civilians beyond repair. At the forefront of this 'secret war', government agent Captain James Bigglesworth, having left Britain with the King, owing him an unwavering loyalty, proposed that nations in the Commonwealth should all establish their own 'Leagues' modeled off the former Murray group, which would be used to wage this campaign against INGSOC. Canada was able to comply with this order, with the other Commonwealth states unable to organize enough suitable figures, but instead offering resources and intelligence useful to the cause. It is worth noting that mutant and biological experiment James 'Logan' Howlett was almost recruited for the group, but he was unavailable.

!!The Fourth American League (1956)

After the conclusion of World War II, the United States entered an almost 'golden age' of prosperity, optimism, and national cohesion, ushered in by the arrival of the post-war 'baby boom', and the resulting birth of suburbia throughout the nation. Aside from the presidency of communist Mike Thingmaker from 1945 to 1953 the immediate post-war world in the USA was also one of high consumerist extravagance, with the growth and success of Television, fast-food chains like [=McDowells=], and the cultural and technological milestone of Charles Dingo's aforementioned 'Dingoland' amusement parks. Just as strongly in the US, the post-war period played home to a gigantic push into outer space, with the American space program building on the footsteps of trailblazers like Sewlyn Cavor and Dick Seaton to explore and colonize the heavens in ways man had once merely dreamed of.

Back on Earth however, the US President and former military chief Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with his trusted servant and head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, began to feel the growing relevance in their plans for American domestic and foreign strategy for a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, following the Third US League's retirement. To best construct this new organization, Hoover acquired the help of his star G-man and perhaps America's most trusted lawman: Det. Richard 'Plainclothes' Tracy, a Central City police officer. Tracy was perpetually occupied with policing matters, and his persistently busy schedule made it impractical for him to lead the new League himself, but his expertise in handpicking his own allies on the force allowed him to be of great assistance in tracking down and securing the partnerships of its members.

!!The Drifter's League (1958)

One especially notable development of the post-war era was the birth of the concept of the 'Teenager', particularly in America. The idea of adolescent culture first began to evolve in the 1930s, when the recognition of young adults subsequent to childhood but prior to college age first appeared to emerge. In the '30s the 'Teenager' concept seemed like only a mild one, applying to such model figures as famous young detectives Nancy Drew, and Frank and Joe Hardy, as well as vaudevillians like Patsy Barton and Mickey Moran, but by the early 1950s, when the western media began to first describe upon the idea of 'Juvenile Delinquency', and the conservative, post-[=WW2=] adult public panicked over their baby-boomer children manifesting a 'lost generation', the idea of the Young Adult evolved to embody a rebellious, volatile age-group, seen by their elders as rejecting parental control and values, and preoccupying over such new and revolutionary trends as Rock-and-Roll (Pioneered of course by musician mega-stars like Conrad Birdie) and automotive culture. A great deal of this counter-cultural movement was embodied by the so-called 'Beat Generation', a literary clique encompassing authors and poets like Sal Paradyse, author of 'On The Road' and 'The Crazy Wide Forever', and his close friends Dean Moriarty (a member of the influential Moriarty family), 'Old Bull' Lee and Carlo Marx. Despite predating the baby-boomers in age by sometimes several decades, Paradyse and his menagerie still encapsulated the feelings and frustrations of the post-war generation so intimately, that it is not at all surprising that they would lead the League that would come to symbolize the youth of the 50s and early 60s, a period of course ended by the horrors of the Sarkhan War (1964 – 1975), in which millions of these American youths would be either be terminated or traumatized.

The seeds of the League were first sewn when the beatniks Paradyse and Moriarty assisted League regulars Allan Quatermain Jr. and Mina Murray in 1956 during their battle against supernatural gangster (and grandson of The Devil Doctor) 'Dr. Sax', and his associates The Nova Mob in San Francisco. After the defeat of these counter-cultural criminals, Paradyse and Moriarty, inspired by their association with the United Kingdom's finest, felt that there needed to be a 'League' of some sort in order to battle the threats facing the world from within these subculture circles. To organize this group, seasoned travelers Paradyse and Moriarty went 'on the road' again in a coast-to-coast trip over the United States, searching for ideal recruits for their 'Drifters League'.

!!The Neo-Celestial League (1960)

At the end of World War II, the hugely influential Chinese crime lord and philanthropist known by names such as 'The Devil Doctor' and 'The Celestial' had reached his mid-80s, though he was still in surprising physical condition due to a carefully regulated diet and usage of traditional Chinese herbs. This elderly, but enormously powerful underworld figure had dominated international crime, sponsored insurgencies across European-controlled and aligned Asia since the 1890s, and remained as far-reaching, feared by his enemies, and celebrated by his followers as much as he had ever been even in his significantly old age. After playing a large role in sponsoring Asian resistance to Imperial Japan during the war, The Doctor's unceasing quest against Imperialism in the Eastern world continued as he refocused his resources on sponsoring the growing Communist rebellions within states like Sarkhan (led primarily by the same groups The Doctor had sponsored to fight Japan previously), after growing to believe that the nationalistic rhetoric offered by socialism to be an effective method in which Asia could resist Western influence.

When the Communist Red Army under Mao Zedong took power in The Doctor's homeland of China following the Chinese Civil War (1946 – 1950), a conflict that despite his emerging support for Communism, The Celestial chose to remain neutral throughout, the 'People's Republic of China' was established, and a great deal of stability returned to a nation heavily divided in bitter conflict since the end of the last Imperial Dynasty in 1911. The Doctor was impressed and relieved by Zedong's achievement, and felt strongly enough that his beloved realm was in safe hands, that he chose to ally with the Communist Leader, and return to China as his main base of operations (having had his forces purged out of the London Limehouse by INGSOC in 1948, and with Chinatown in San Francisco considered too visible).

Relations between Zedong and The Doctor initiated positively, despite Chairman Mao's misgivings about associating with a figure that was effectively a terrorist and gangster.

Zedong praised The Celestial for his aid of the Chinese Resistance in WWII, and The Doctor similarly praised the Chairman for his reconstruction of Chinese society.

From this point on, The Doctor acted as an agent of the Ministry of Public Security, assisting in carrying out assignments against the nation's enemies like Chinese-Nationalist-controlled Taiwan, Japan, and eventually the United Kingdom, and United States following the collapse of the socialist regimes under Wharton and Thingmaker in 1953, and the Soviet Union. The Celestial and his vast network also assisted Zedong in his sponsorship of the Communist factions fighting in the Civil Wars in Korea, Malaysia, and, again, Sarkhan. 'Doctor Sax', a young relative potential heir to The Doctor's empire (his own daughter had defected to the Allies in [=WW2=] after becoming disillusioned with her father's cause) joined his fellow Asiatic crime lord in many of these outings, until Sax's untimely 1958 death.

By the end of the 50s, as China began to find itself at odds with the USSR, the other largest Communist nation in the world, as well as its Western enemies, Zedong encouraged The Doctor to revive his legendary turn-of-the-century 'Celestial League' in order to maximize his capabilities in both defending the People's Republic, and providing a viable Propaganda vehicle as so many state-controlled Leagues had done previously. The Celestial complied with Zedong's suggestion, sensing a similar necessity for a group to represent China against the 'superheroes' and secret agents of its rivals, and spent the 1958-1959 period recruiting for what would be christened the 'Neo-Celestial League' out of prominent criminals and other rogue figures active across East Asia. This would be in addition to The Doctor's own, albeit aging 'Si-Fan' assassins' guild.

When The Celestial was ready to compile this new team in early 1960, he was aged 94, but had complete faith that his Second Celestial League would offer the physical presence he may have begun to lack in spite of his herbs and concoctions.

!!The First Magic League (1963)

After the dissolution of the Fourth American League in 1962, President Timothy Keegan, along with the Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (with whom Keegan had a difficult working relationship) their star agent Detective Richard Tracy, and a number of other U.S. government officials such as Director of the CIA James Christopher, swiftly became organized in forming a replacement group that was to be the Fifth American League. Det. Tracy had already profiled and screened a handful of possible candidates for this group operating within the United States; these included prolific con man Daniel Ocean (perhaps as a substitute for Thomas Ripley), former mistaken fugitive Roger O. Thornhill, and the Harry Jones Jr. inspired treasure hunter Harry Steele.

However, one of this committee's advisors, Gomez Adams, made a suggestion in November 1962 that proposed this new League be recruited in a significantly different area, that of the strong but mysterious subculture of 'magi' present throughout the United States. Adams had held the position of 'Supernatural Advisor' to the American government since 1954, after first offering his services just prior to World War II, providing it infrequently before receiving the official role. The Midwestern lawyer came from a long line of warlocks and other such 'magic' folk that had lived throughout the British Isles, before subsequently journeying to the Americas in a mass exodus after becoming forced into secrecy by the purges of King Jacob I in the early 1600s. Bizarre in his tastes, but forever optimistic, Adams had chosen to lend his services to the federal government out of a sense of patriotism, and an equated concern over whether the nation's enemies would begin to use similar forces as the ones Adams had at his disposal.

Mutually wishing for some form of unique advantage over the Soviets, Keegan, Hoover and Tracy agreed to Adams' proposal, while Christopher of the CIA gave the move his blessing. The Fifth American League would eventually come into being in 1977, but by the beginning of 1963, The First 'Magic' League was the American troupe of choice.

!!The Third French League (1966)

Since the disbanding of the Second French League at the end of World War II, the nation of France had been through a turbulent period, due to the failures of costly colonial wars in Algeria and Sarkhan, which had even led to a threat of a military coup d'état in the country in 1958. That same year, the former leader of the Free French in WWII, and of the nation's brief provisional government from 1944 to 1946, Charles De Gaulle, was elected President. Still highly popular in France, and with an eye to the country's future, De Gaulle withdrew France from its colonial conflicts, and brought in a new constitution, initiating the Fifth French Republic, in the hope it would revitalize the nation.

Though France's problems were not completely resolved by De Gaulle's reforms, the confidence he brought to the national economy rejuvenated the country, leading to a long boom period filled with social and cultural prosperity. While this occurred however, De Gaulle turned his sights abroad, hoping to secure France's place in the Cold War world, independent of the nuclear powerhouses in the East and West, both of which saw France as a potential ally.

As part of his effort to ensure France's international strength, De Gaulle was keen to implement a new League to inspire the nation's police and military as had been done twice previously as Les Hommes Mystérieux in 1909, and the Second French League in 1927. To De Gaulle, this was made even more of an imperative following the two assassination attempts on his life in 1961 and 1962 (notably, the notorious English hit man known as 'The Jackal' was credited with the latter of these) in retaliation for his granting of independence to Algeria. 1960s France was not as populated with the sort of 'mystery men' that had been the source of operatives for the earlier French Leagues as it had been in the belle époque and interwar era when they were formed, so De Gaulle tasked his most trusted spymaster, René Mathis of the SDECE, with the screening of possible candidates for the group in 1964. By January 1966, Mathis had organized a League that De Gaulle was reportedly enormously impressed with.

!!The Second Japanese League (1967)

!!The CIA Spy League (1968)

!!The League Of Horrors (1921)
[[folder:General]]
After the disaster that occurred at the Opéra-Garnier in 1913, the mysterious, and highly dangerous former French League member known only as 'Fantômas', had seemingly disappeared. Fantômas had joined the First French League in 1909 for monetary reasons, which came despite the vastness of his criminal empire. Although he had been thought dead, French authorities had suspected his continuing existence after the check the phantasmal terrorist had been given by his League employers under one of his aliases, was cashed in at the Bank of France, and the almost one million francs Fantômas was entitled to were sent to an undisclosed location.

Fantômas then was not heard at all during the events of The Great War, indeed one could guess he was waiting it out in some safe location.

The disappearance may have been a relief to the French authorities, but this rest period could never last, and, after the conclusion of the war, Fantômas returned, being sighted visiting numerous locations in France and abroad, rebuilding his empire.

Fantômas had learned a great deal about the structure of League-type organizations during his service to the French, and as part of his new criminal syndicate, he devised his own, dubbed 'The League of Horrors' by the press after rumors of their existence began to circulate.
----

!!The Third American League (1925)
[[folder:General]]
Now in his fifties, the Great War veteran and former military poster boy Captain Tom Sawyer had become quite a different man than the one he had been during his service with the Second American League. Sawyer's guilt at his ruined friendships, manipulation of others, and war crimes had caused him a bitter depression, and to turn to religion as a method of finding solace.

However when Sawyer was asked by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover on behalf of President Calvin Coolidge to help organize a new League, the former Marine captain saw an opportunity to use his leadership position as a way of writing his old wrongs and finding personal redemption.

President Coolidge felt a new League was required to combat the high crime rates driven by the Prohibition, and the many cartels and gangsters thriving off the decadent 'Roaring Twenties'. Captain Sawyer saw this cause as morale good he could strive to enforce.
----
* SuperiorSuccessor: They were by far the most successful American League at that point.

[[folder:Captain Sawyer]]
* See above

[[folder:Richard Seaton]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/SkylarkSeries''
* TheAce: Not only was he an inventive genius, but he also owned his own steel company which made him a fortune.
* CanonWelding: The "element x" he discovers was actually just a variant of [[Literature/TheFirstMenInTheMoon Carvorite]].
* CoolStarship: The Skylark, which could travel at [[ArtisticLicensePhysics unbelievable speeds]].
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Noted to be the Captain Nemo of his League.

[[folder:Dorothy Gale]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''
* ChummyCommies: Her experiences in Oz gave her some socialist leaning that put her at odds with Hoover.
* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:After her League broke up and she was blacklisted for her socialist sympathies, she simply disappeared. Many believe she returned to Oz.]]
* TheWormGuy: Because of her trips to Oz, she was specifically recruited as a consultant on supernatural phenomena.

--> '''Source''': ''Literature/DocSavage''
* ChasteHero: Doc, by personal choice.
* GeniusBruiser: Was both the muscle and the planner for the League's missions.
* NotSoStoic: He was very dedicated and stalwart, but he could be surprisingly amiable and humorous. He was basically TheHeart of his League.
* RenaissanceMan: Might as well call this "The Doc Savage." He was specifically raised to be the 'ideal specimen of human capabilities'.

[[folder:Lamont Cranston]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/TheShadow''
* TheCowl: As The Living Shadow, he was one of the [[UrExample orignals]].
* FlipPersonality: Was noted to suffer from violent mood swings, almost as if he had multiple different personalities.
* HypnoticEyes: A master of hypnosis using his jeweled ring.
* MasterOfDisguise: Was rebound for his stealth and ability to take on almost any role required for his mission.

[[folder:Nicholas Carter]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/NickCarter''
* CoolOldGuy: Despite being in his sixties, his age hadn't slowed him down at all.
* GreatDetective: He was basically a more rough-and-tumble Transatlantic Sherlock Holmes.
* PintSizedPowerHouse: Standing at about 5'4, Nick was surprisingly fit, almost as strong and tough as Doc Savage.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Was a distant cousin of [[Literature/JohnCarterOfMars John Carter]] and [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Randolph Carter]].
[[/folder]]

!!The Second French League (1927)

As mentioned in the entry regarding 'The League of Horrors', in 1927 French government agent Léo Saint-Clair, aka Nyctalope, formed a new League out of necessity in order to defeat Fantômas and his cohorts and prevent them from beginning a new Black Death epidemic. This League may have been formed abruptly, but it included many legendary Frank heroes who stayed in service for their nation for many years after their recruitment.

[[folder:Madam Blanc-Sec]]
--> '''Source''': ''Film/TheExtraordinaryAdventuresOfAdeleBlancSec''

[[folder:Sâr Dubnotal]]
--> '''Source''': ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A2r_Dubnotal Sâr Dubnotal]]''

[[folder:Doctor Omega]]
--> '''Source''': ''Literature/DoctorOmega''

[[folder:Marcel Dunot]]
--> '''Source''': ''[[https://ratmmjess.tripod.com/timeline5.html Marcel Dunot]]''

!!The Kane League (1938)
[[folder:General]]
Multi-millionaire media mogul, private landowner, and serial manipulator of politics Charles Foster Kane had experimented with having a 'League' of sorts in 1925, which according to record ended disastrously for the three poor 'Science Heroes' he had employed. In 1938, the more elderly Kane, who was suffering from failing health and what modern doctors would have diagnosed as the early stages of depression, along with a deteriorating business empire, decided to form a more formal League, this time modeled specifically on the 1898 Murray League, which the aging tycoon viewed as the most successful incarnation of the team due to their incredible defeat of the first Martian Invasion. Kane hoped to use his recreation of that League to intervene in world events as his publications had once been able to.

Kane sent his star reporter, the daredevil journalist Jane Arden, to assemble the private team.
----

!!The First Japanese League (1941)

By the time of their entry into World War II in 1941, The Empire of Japan had very much become the European-style Imperial Power that The Devil Doctor had foreseen the rise of. Imperial Japan not only had vast amounts of occupied territory in Asia, but also a heavily industrialized military just as capable of war as any Colonial Power at the time.

As part of this German-Tomanian-backed push for war in the Pacific, the Japanese Diet under Prime Minister Hideki Tōjō commissioned another European-style military innovation: A League of 'Extraordinary Gentlemen'.

Newly ordained Secret Service agent, Taku 'Tiger' Tanaka, was employed to collate this Nipponese cell.

!!The Second Allied League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
As the Second 'Great' War commenced, the Allied forces, led mainly in the early stages by the United Kingdom but then restructured significantly after the later addition of the United States and Soviet Union to the cause, again organized a 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' to assist in their efforts. More than anything, as it was in World War I, the presence of such a League was primarily to set examples of unity, courage, and values through highly publicized, and thinly-veiled, propaganda heroes.

This group was in the works for most of the early part of the war, with leaders Winston Churchill, Albert Lebrun (although due to France's surrender to the Teutonic fascists, not for terribly long), and the prime ministers of England's commonwealth territories playing key roles in the organization. But once the USSR joined the war under Joseph Stalin in 1941, and the USA under Franklin D. Roosevelt later that year, the increased political pressure fast-tracked the implementation of the League design.
----

!!The First All-American League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
As the United States entered the Second World War, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt realized early on that he would require a vast amount of help from the media, as he had during the Great Depression, in uniting the American people to his cause. To help him win the hearts and minds of the United States population, Roosevelt employed the temperamental, but highly successful Vinewood film producer Jack Woltz as his 'Propaganda Advisor'. Woltz, who was also head of the War Activities Committee of the Motion Pictures Industry (W.A.C.), made a number of suggestions to the President, which Roosevelt then implemented, such as the founding of the 'Vinewood Canteen' along with film and theatre star Margo Channing. The most ambitious of these propaganda choices though was inarguably the founding of the first 'All-American League' (Not to be confused with the similarly named team from the period, 'The All-Star Squadron').

Woltz was inspired to have Roosevelt commission a secondary American League, to represent the patriotic, public side of the military the Government needed to promote, which came from his observations of American Football, as the Jewish entrepreneur witnessed how civilians embraced the All-American Team players such as Jay Garrick and Steven Gordon. Woltz then attempted to recreate this passionate public following in the form of a military team, by intentionally choosing members based on appeal, attractiveness, and embodiment of 'American values'. On a related sidenote, Woltz wanted to recruit 'super-soldier' Capt. Steve Rogers to this League, but commitments to 'The Invaders' kept him from Woltz's team.
----

!!The Nazi League (1942)
[[folder:General]]
The third League to be formed in 1942, though this time from the opposite side of the World War II conflict, The Nazi League was formed by German-Tomanian leader Adenoid Hynkel after the defeat of the 'Twilight Heroes', aka the First German League, at the hands of Janni Nemo and her family in a 1941 incident which also brought down the great Berlin Metropolis. Although this massive setback was devastating for the German-Tomanian war effort, Hynkel and his ministers were quickly able to patch the hole in public morale both in Germany and Tomania, but also in the other Axis states in Italy (called 'Bacteria' in Tomanian), Japan, Freedonia, Moronika, Romania, Finland, Borduria and Meccania. The fascist leaders did this by stepping up on propaganda, and the creation of a new 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' was part of this. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels was tasked with developing this League, and the club-footed Hynkel confidant immediately saw this as an opportunity to encourage the prioritizing of science and technology as Germany-Tomania's core strength and advantage over the Allies, and a rational foil to that enemy nations reliance on 'Masked Heroes' to provide dynamic reinforcement to their military.

It was by this philosophy that Goebbels chose the members of his League, as they were primarily scientists, or in the case of Capt. Krieger, was created with the aid of advanced science. It is worth noting that Goebbels was recorded saying that The Nazi League was not as strong as he had hoped it to be, as key Nazi science figures like Johann Schmidt and Karl Ruprecht Kroenen were unavailable due to their own commitments to other aspects of the Third Reich's eclectic research programs.
----

!!The Canadian League (1948)

As World War II ended, with the first use of Nuclear Weapons forever altering the world, the so-called 'Atomic Age' began. This historical era, at least in its immediate post-war climate, could be characterized by a number of new factors present in the world. These included the increased number of radiation-derived mutations occurring in organic life across the world, giving rise to generations of so-called 'Mutants' such as, most famously, the many tutored by the telepathic Prof. Charles Xavier, and, on an even larger scale, countless 'Atomic Monsters', such as the colossal, bipedal saurian which terrorized Japan in this period. This era also gave birth to new technologies like the television (initially developed by Carl Rotwang in the German Metropolis) and other such communication devices. Ultimately though, the post-war fantasies of many intellectuals led to the Atomic Age playing home to many failed utopias, including those of deranged visionaries like Andrew Ryan, and similarly, the religious cults of those figures like Lancaster Dodd. England under Big Brother, aka Harold Wharton, seemed very much like a terrible combination of many of these Atomic Era trends, with modern communication technology used to oppress and unrelentingly spy on the people of 'Airstrip One', and a misled idea of a socialist utopia fuelling the INGSOC government to continue with their authoritarian state. The British Royal Family was so uncomfortable in this new, machine-like United Kingdom post-1945 elections, that King George VI relocated the monarchy to Canada, as had been the official plan laid by the previous government in the event of a successful German-Tomanian invasion of the British mainland. This proved a wise decision on behalf of the King, as the INGSOC party had planned to assassinate the Royals and erase them from history as 'un-persons' while they were still in their jurisdiction. After the successful shift to Canada, the British Commonwealth of Nations (the former colonies of the British Empire, excluding the USA) chose to sever ties with what they saw as a fascist new English government, and instead redefine their loyalty as being first and foremost to the crown. After the 'Big Brother' administration began a campaign of lies, torture, and intimidation toward King George's former British subjects, with help from 'heroes' like Mat Selwood, and to a lesser extent, Hugo Drummond, the horrified Monarch called a meeting between the leaders of the Commonwealth states in Ottawa. This summit was designed to determine how best to restore England and rid the British Isles of the totalitarian INGSOC party, with the gathering ending with the decision to wage a covert war through spies against Big Brother, with the goal being to accomplish England's freedom before Wharton brainwashed it's civilians beyond repair. At the forefront of this 'secret war', government agent Captain James Bigglesworth, having left Britain with the King, owing him an unwavering loyalty, proposed that nations in the Commonwealth should all establish their own 'Leagues' modeled off the former Murray group, which would be used to wage this campaign against INGSOC. Canada was able to comply with this order, with the other Commonwealth states unable to organize enough suitable figures, but instead offering resources and intelligence useful to the cause. It is worth noting that mutant and biological experiment James 'Logan' Howlett was almost recruited for the group, but he was unavailable.

!!The Fourth American League (1956)

After the conclusion of World War II, the United States entered an almost 'golden age' of prosperity, optimism, and national cohesion, ushered in by the arrival of the post-war 'baby boom', and the resulting birth of suburbia throughout the nation. Aside from the presidency of communist Mike Thingmaker from 1945 to 1953 the immediate post-war world in the USA was also one of high consumerist extravagance, with the growth and success of Television, fast-food chains like [=McDowells=], and the cultural and technological milestone of Charles Dingo's aforementioned 'Dingoland' amusement parks. Just as strongly in the US, the post-war period played home to a gigantic push into outer space, with the American space program building on the footsteps of trailblazers like Sewlyn Cavor and Dick Seaton to explore and colonize the heavens in ways man had once merely dreamed of.

Back on Earth however, the US President and former military chief Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with his trusted servant and head of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover, began to feel the growing relevance in their plans for American domestic and foreign strategy for a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, following the Third US League's retirement. To best construct this new organization, Hoover acquired the help of his star G-man and perhaps America's most trusted lawman: Det. Richard 'Plainclothes' Tracy, a Central City police officer. Tracy was perpetually occupied with policing matters, and his persistently busy schedule made it impractical for him to lead the new League himself, but his expertise in handpicking his own allies on the force allowed him to be of great assistance in tracking down and securing the partnerships of its members.

!!The Drifter's League (1958)

One especially notable development of the post-war era was the birth of the concept of the 'Teenager', particularly in America. The idea of adolescent culture first began to evolve in the 1930s, when the recognition of young adults subsequent to childhood but prior to college age first appeared to emerge. In the '30s the 'Teenager' concept seemed like only a mild one, applying to such model figures as famous young detectives Nancy Drew, and Frank and Joe Hardy, as well as vaudevillians like Patsy Barton and Mickey Moran, but by the early 1950s, when the western media began to first describe upon the idea of 'Juvenile Delinquency', and the conservative, post-[=WW2=] adult public panicked over their baby-boomer children manifesting a 'lost generation', the idea of the Young Adult evolved to embody a rebellious, volatile age-group, seen by their elders as rejecting parental control and values, and preoccupying over such new and revolutionary trends as Rock-and-Roll (Pioneered of course by musician mega-stars like Conrad Birdie) and automotive culture. A great deal of this counter-cultural movement was embodied by the so-called 'Beat Generation', a literary clique encompassing authors and poets like Sal Paradyse, author of 'On The Road' and 'The Crazy Wide Forever', and his close friends Dean Moriarty (a member of the influential Moriarty family), 'Old Bull' Lee and Carlo Marx. Despite predating the baby-boomers in age by sometimes several decades, Paradyse and his menagerie still encapsulated the feelings and frustrations of the post-war generation so intimately, that it is not at all surprising that they would lead the League that would come to symbolize the youth of the 50s and early 60s, a period of course ended by the horrors of the Sarkhan War (1964 – 1975), in which millions of these American youths would be either be terminated or traumatized.

The seeds of the League were first sewn when the beatniks Paradyse and Moriarty assisted League regulars Allan Quatermain Jr. and Mina Murray in 1956 during their battle against supernatural gangster (and grandson of The Devil Doctor) 'Dr. Sax', and his associates The Nova Mob in San Francisco. After the defeat of these counter-cultural criminals, Paradyse and Moriarty, inspired by their association with the United Kingdom's finest, felt that there needed to be a 'League' of some sort in order to battle the threats facing the world from within these subculture circles. To organize this group, seasoned travelers Paradyse and Moriarty went 'on the road' again in a coast-to-coast trip over the United States, searching for ideal recruits for their 'Drifters League'.

!!The Neo-Celestial League (1960)

At the end of World War II, the hugely influential Chinese crime lord and philanthropist known by names such as 'The Devil Doctor' and 'The Celestial' had reached his mid-80s, though he was still in surprising physical condition due to a carefully regulated diet and usage of traditional Chinese herbs. This elderly, but enormously powerful underworld figure had dominated international crime, sponsored insurgencies across European-controlled and aligned Asia since the 1890s, and remained as far-reaching, feared by his enemies, and celebrated by his followers as much as he had ever been even in his significantly old age. After playing a large role in sponsoring Asian resistance to Imperial Japan during the war, The Doctor's unceasing quest against Imperialism in the Eastern world continued as he refocused his resources on sponsoring the growing Communist rebellions within states like Sarkhan (led primarily by the same groups The Doctor had sponsored to fight Japan previously), after growing to believe that the nationalistic rhetoric offered by socialism to be an effective method in which Asia could resist Western influence.

When the Communist Red Army under Mao Zedong took power in The Doctor's homeland of China following the Chinese Civil War (1946 – 1950), a conflict that despite his emerging support for Communism, The Celestial chose to remain neutral throughout, the 'People's Republic of China' was established, and a great deal of stability returned to a nation heavily divided in bitter conflict since the end of the last Imperial Dynasty in 1911. The Doctor was impressed and relieved by Zedong's achievement, and felt strongly enough that his beloved realm was in safe hands, that he chose to ally with the Communist Leader, and return to China as his main base of operations (having had his forces purged out of the London Limehouse by INGSOC in 1948, and with Chinatown in San Francisco considered too visible).

Relations between Zedong and The Doctor initiated positively, despite Chairman Mao's misgivings about associating with a figure that was effectively a terrorist and gangster.

Zedong praised The Celestial for his aid of the Chinese Resistance in WWII, and The Doctor similarly praised the Chairman for his reconstruction of Chinese society.

From this point on, The Doctor acted as an agent of the Ministry of Public Security, assisting in carrying out assignments against the nation's enemies like Chinese-Nationalist-controlled Taiwan, Japan, and eventually the United Kingdom, and United States following the collapse of the socialist regimes under Wharton and Thingmaker in 1953, and the Soviet Union. The Celestial and his vast network also assisted Zedong in his sponsorship of the Communist factions fighting in the Civil Wars in Korea, Malaysia, and, again, Sarkhan. 'Doctor Sax', a young relative potential heir to The Doctor's empire (his own daughter had defected to the Allies in [=WW2=] after becoming disillusioned with her father's cause) joined his fellow Asiatic crime lord in many of these outings, until Sax's untimely 1958 death.

By the end of the 50s, as China began to find itself at odds with the USSR, the other largest Communist nation in the world, as well as its Western enemies, Zedong encouraged The Doctor to revive his legendary turn-of-the-century 'Celestial League' in order to maximize his capabilities in both defending the People's Republic, and providing a viable Propaganda vehicle as so many state-controlled Leagues had done previously. The Celestial complied with Zedong's suggestion, sensing a similar necessity for a group to represent China against the 'superheroes' and secret agents of its rivals, and spent the 1958-1959 period recruiting for what would be christened the 'Neo-Celestial League' out of prominent criminals and other rogue figures active across East Asia. This would be in addition to The Doctor's own, albeit aging 'Si-Fan' assassins' guild.

When The Celestial was ready to compile this new team in early 1960, he was aged 94, but had complete faith that his Second Celestial League would offer the physical presence he may have begun to lack in spite of his herbs and concoctions.

!!The First Magic League (1963)

After the dissolution of the Fourth American League in 1962, President Timothy Keegan, along with the Director of the FBI J. Edgar Hoover (with whom Keegan had a difficult working relationship) their star agent Detective Richard Tracy, and a number of other U.S. government officials such as Director of the CIA James Christopher, swiftly became organized in forming a replacement group that was to be the Fifth American League. Det. Tracy had already profiled and screened a handful of possible candidates for this group operating within the United States; these included prolific con man Daniel Ocean (perhaps as a substitute for Thomas Ripley), former mistaken fugitive Roger O. Thornhill, and the Harry Jones Jr. inspired treasure hunter Harry Steele.

However, one of this committee's advisors, Gomez Adams, made a suggestion in November 1962 that proposed this new League be recruited in a significantly different area, that of the strong but mysterious subculture of 'magi' present throughout the United States. Adams had held the position of 'Supernatural Advisor' to the American government since 1954, after first offering his services just prior to World War II, providing it infrequently before receiving the official role. The Midwestern lawyer came from a long line of warlocks and other such 'magic' folk that had lived throughout the British Isles, before subsequently journeying to the Americas in a mass exodus after becoming forced into secrecy by the purges of King Jacob I in the early 1600s. Bizarre in his tastes, but forever optimistic, Adams had chosen to lend his services to the federal government out of a sense of patriotism, and an equated concern over whether the nation's enemies would begin to use similar forces as the ones Adams had at his disposal.

Mutually wishing for some form of unique advantage over the Soviets, Keegan, Hoover and Tracy agreed to Adams' proposal, while Christopher of the CIA gave the move his blessing. The Fifth American League would eventually come into being in 1977, but by the beginning of 1963, The First 'Magic' League was the American troupe of choice.

!!The Third French League (1966)

Since the disbanding of the Second French League at the end of World War II, the nation of France had been through a turbulent period, due to the failures of costly colonial wars in Algeria and Sarkhan, which had even led to a threat of a military coup d'état in the country in 1958. That same year, the former leader of the Free French in WWII, and of the nation's brief provisional government from 1944 to 1946, Charles De Gaulle, was elected President. Still highly popular in France, and with an eye to the country's future, De Gaulle withdrew France from its colonial conflicts, and brought in a new constitution, initiating the Fifth French Republic, in the hope it would revitalize the nation.

Though France's problems were not completely resolved by De Gaulle's reforms, the confidence he brought to the national economy rejuvenated the country, leading to a long boom period filled with social and cultural prosperity. While this occurred however, De Gaulle turned his sights abroad, hoping to secure France's place in the Cold War world, independent of the nuclear powerhouses in the East and West, both of which saw France as a potential ally.

As part of his effort to ensure France's international strength, De Gaulle was keen to implement a new League to inspire the nation's police and military as had been done twice previously as Les Hommes Mystérieux in 1909, and the Second French League in 1927. To De Gaulle, this was made even more of an imperative following the two assassination attempts on his life in 1961 and 1962 (notably, the notorious English hit man known as 'The Jackal' was credited with the latter of these) in retaliation for his granting of independence to Algeria. 1960s France was not as populated with the sort of 'mystery men' that had been the source of operatives for the earlier French Leagues as it had been in the belle époque and interwar era when they were formed, so De Gaulle tasked his most trusted spymaster, René Mathis of the SDECE, with the screening of possible candidates for the group in 1964. By January 1966, Mathis had organized a League that De Gaulle was reportedly enormously impressed with.

!!The Second Japanese League (1967)

!!The CIA Spy League (1968)

* BlindWeaponmaster:: ‘’The’’ blind swordmaster.

* TokenEvilTeammate: [[spoiler:He betrays his comrades in trying to [[Manga/DragonBall Monkey King’s Stone]] to halve the population.]]

* GeneralFailure: [[spoiler:His actions cause a captain of a Marine unit resulted in many of his men dying by enemy fire while he was safe far behind them. Sawyer was never punished for technically being a war criminal, but he was haunted by his actions and denounced by Irene Norton.]]

Brody set up this League with his good friend and colleague Dr. Harry Jones Sr., with the objective of creating a troupe of Archeologists capable of dealing with the more supernatural elements of historical finds.

Now in his fifties, the Great War veteran and former military poster boy Captain Tom Sawyer had become quite a different man than the one he had been during his service with the Second American League. Sawyer's own personal guilt at his ruined friendships, manipulation of others, and war crimes had caused him a bitter depression, and to turn to religion as a method of finding solace.

As World War II ended, with the first use of Nuclear Weapons forever altering the world, the so-called 'Atomic Age' began. This historical era, at least in it's immediate post-war climate, could be characterized by a number of new factors present in the world. These included the increased number of radiation-derived mutations occurring in organic life across the world, giving rise to generations of so-called 'Mutants' such as, most famously, the many tutored by the telepathic Prof. Charles Xavier, and, on an even larger scale, countless 'Atomic Monsters', such as the colossal, bipedal saurian which terrorized Japan in this period. This era also gave birth to new technologies like the television (initially developed by Carl Rotwang in the German Metropolis) and other such communication devices. Ultimately though, the post-war fantasies of many intellectuals led to the Atomic Age playing home to many failed utopias, including those of deranged visionaries like Andrew Ryan, and similarly, the religious cults of those figures like Lancaster Dodd. England under Big Brother, aka Harold Wharton, seemed very much like a terrible combination of many of these Atomic Era trends, with modern communication technology used to oppress and unrelentingly spy on the people of 'Airstrip One', and a misled idea of a socialist utopia fuelling the INGSOC government to continue with their authoritarian state. The British Royal Family was so uncomfortable in this new, machine-like United Kingdom post-1945 elections, that King George VI relocated the monarchy to Canada, as had been the official plan laid by the previous government in the event of a successful German-Tomanian invasion of the British mainland. This proved a wise decision on behalf of the King, as the INGSOC party had planned to assassinate the Royals and erase them from history as 'un-persons' while they were still in their jurisdiction. After the successful shift to Canada, the British Commonwealth of Nations (the former colonies of the British Empire, excluding the USA) chose to sever ties with what they saw as a fascist new English government, and instead redefine their loyalty as being first and foremost to the crown. After the 'Big Brother' administration began a campaign of lies, torture, and intimidation toward King George's former British subjects, with help from 'heroes' like Mat Selwood, and to a lesser extent, Hugo Drummond, the horrified Monarch called a meeting between the leaders of the Commonwealth states in Ottawa. This summit was designed to determine how best to restore England and rid the British Isles of the totalitarian INGSOC party, with the gathering ending with the decision to wage a covert war through spies against Big Brother, with the goal being to accomplish England's freedom before Wharton brainwashed it's civilians beyond repair. At the forefront of this 'secret war', government agent Captain James Bigglesworth, having left Britain with the King, owing him an unwavering loyalty, proposed that nations in the Commonwealth should all establish their own 'Leagues' modeled off the former Murray group, which would be used to wage this campaign against INGSOC. Canada was able to comply with this order, with the other Commonwealth states unable to organize enough suitable figures, but instead offering resources and intelligence useful to the cause. It is worth noting that mutant and biological experiment James 'Logan' Howlett was almost recruited for the group, but he was unavailable.

--> '''Source’’’: ’’Franchise/{{Batman}}’’

--> '''Source''': ‘’Radio/TheLoneRanger’’

--> '''Source''':''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''