History ComicBook / TheInvaders

[[redirect:ComicBook/TheInvadersMarvel]]

[[redirect:ComicBook/TheInvadersComicBook]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/invaders.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: From left to right: [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]], The Mighty Destroyer, Spitfire, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, ComicBook/BuckyBarnes, Union Jack II, Toro and Jim Hammond.]]

''The Invaders'' is a Creator/MarvelComics series about a team of superheroes that fought against the original Axis of Evil during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The team originally consisted of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Bucky]], Jim Hammond/the Original Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner. They first appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' in TheSixties, debuting in #71 (December, 1969). They were co-created by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, Bill Finger, and Martin Goodman. They later gained their own comic book series in 1975. The original series lasted for 41 issues (August, 1975-September, 1979). It was followed by a miniseries of the same name which lasted for 4 issues (May-August, 1993).

A newer series was published in the early 2000s, in which several of the surviving Invaders came out of retirement and joined up with some new members to fight terrorists inspired by their old enemies. This series was called ''New Invaders'' and lasted for 10 issues, including #0 (August, 2004-June, 2005).

Although the team's members have varied several times, the most widely-agreed lineup (as seen in the page image) consists of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, ComicBook/BuckyBarnes, [[ArtificialHuman The Original Human Torch]], [[PlayingWithFire Toro]], Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner, [[LegacyCharacter the second Union Jack]], [[SuperSpeed Spitfire]] and [[LegacyCharacter the third]] [[SuperStrength Mighty Destroyer]], as well as [[BeamSpam Golden Girl]] and [[SuperSpeed Human Top]] forming [[KidSidekick the Kid Commandos]] with Toro and Bucky, plus [[SuperSpeed the Whizzer]], [[DistaffCounterpart Miss America]] and [[ManOnFire Blazing Skull]] as unofficial members.

A new volume dubbed ''All-New Invaders'' was launched in 2014 as part of the [[Comicbook/MarvelNOW All-New Marvel NOW!]] initiative, featuring several of the surviving members reuniting to deal with mysterious events linked to their past. ''All-New Invaders'' lasted fifteen issues, with the finale published on March 2015.

In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', this team was combined with the ComicBook/HowlingCommandos. Essentially it's the Howlers but includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth (who was the first Union Jack in the comics).

Not to be confused with the TV show ''Series/TheInvadersTVSeries'' or the comic book series of the same name made by Creator/DCComics.
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!!Tropes found in the original series and the 2000's revival include:

* AbsoluteCleavage: Lady Lotus.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Jim Hammond had a humongous crush on Spitfire, but she only had eyes for Captain America. Davey Mitchell, the Human Top, was strongly implied to be crushing on Golden Girl, but decided to be friends regardless.
* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: The members of the Super-Axis are all [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of members of the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. Master Man is Franchise/{{Superman}}, Baron Blood is Franchise/{{Batman}}, Warrior Woman is Franchise/WonderWoman, and U-Man is ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}.
* BadassNormal: Union Jack initially had no superpowers whatsoever, only his training and combat skills. It's Deconstructed, however, by that he feels weak and inadequate compared to the other superpowered Invaders and even considered retiring during a mission in Russia.
* BattleCry: Ok, Axis... here we come!
* BuryYourGays: Poor, poor Roger Aubrey. His hidden romance with Brian was going perfectly fine until the fatal car accident killed Brian. And even when all the Invaders were revived, Brian stayed dead.
* TheCameo: The Howling Commandos show up in Issue 34 in Times Square, admiring Namor, Cap and the Torch outside a theater.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The short-lived 2000's revival, which dealt with topics like UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror.
* DragonLady: Lady Lotus again.
* FrozenInTime: The series will always be focused on World War II, but Marvel has given many different explanations on how these characters survived in the modern day era.
* {{Kid Hero}}es: The Kid Commandos, a team which consisted of Bucky, Toro, Golden Girl, and the Human Top. They were pretty dangerous on their own, too-and as All New Invaders revealed, wrecked the Invaders in a CurbStompBattle.
* LegacyCharacter: U.S. Agent (the fifth Captain America) and Joey Chapman, the third Union Jack.
* ManlyGay: Both Brian and Roger Aubrey are excellent examples of this trope.
* TheMole: [[spoiler:Tara was created by the Red Skull to infiltrate the modern team]].
* MultinationalTeam: We've got Cap and Bucky on the American side, of course, but also Toro, Miss America, The Whizzer and the Human Top. The British team has Union Jack, Spitfire and the Mighty Destroyer. Then there's [[{{Atlantis}} Namor]] and Jim Hammond, who's a completely synthetic android. And Golden Girl was Japanese-American.
* OneHitKill: In Issue 33, Thor, BrainwashedAndCrazy by Hitler, managed to one-shot Namor.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Golden Girl and the Human Top were {{retcon}}ned into being allies of Captain America and Bucky, but didn't actually exist during the real life [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]], until the actual run of the Invaders in the 1970s began. Although there were Golden Age heroes with those names, they were completely separate from these versions.
** The Invaders themselves. Though most of its members were actual Golden Age heroes, the team itself didn't actually exist until they were introduced in an issue of ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' thanks to a TimeyWimeyBall. Then, they got their own series in the 70s.
** Union Jack as well.
* RetroactiveLegacy: The series revealed that the Destroyer, an obscure Golden Age hero Marvel published during the '40s, was actually Brian Falsworth before he'd donned the Union Jack costume. Later series solved the discrepancy of the Destroyer having a completely different name ("Keen Marlowe") by saying it was simply an alias Brian had used while infiltrating Nazi Germany. Although Marvel has been inconsistent on whether or not there really WAS a Keen Marlowe Destroyer active at the same time whose name Brian had used... the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe indicates that there was, as does the Destroyer MAX series, which has questionable continuity.
* RobotGirl: Tara, Jim Hammond's successor.
* TheBaroness: Warrior Woman.
* ShockAndAwe: Thor reviving Brian Falsworth after nearly killing him gave Brian the ability to fire beams of lightning as Union Jack.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple / MsFanservice: Spitfire fills this role while still being as badass and lethal as the others.
* SuperBreedingProgram
* SuperSpeed: Spitfire's power.
* TheHeart: Jim helps keep the team together and is practically the emotional center of the group. And in Issue 11 of All New Invaders, Namor even names this trope as his role.
-->When we were the Invaders of World War II, I was the team's might, and Steve, the strategist and natural leader, was its brain. You were the ''heart'', Jim.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The Axis of Evil only grudgingly work together-in particular, Warrior Woman views Master Man as a dunderheaded oaf. Hitler's attempt to [[ItMakesSenseInContext make them marry each other]] after their first meeting didn't help either.
* TokenEnemyMinority: Golden Girl, before she was {{retcon}}ned into a hero.
* UndignifiedDeath: As part of Warrior Woman and Master Man's wedding celebration, Hitler has the weakened Invaders dragged out to be machine-gunned in public. Apart from Cap and Spitfire, the rest are barely conscious and are slumped against the wall. [[spoiler: This nearly succeeds until Union Jack violently interrupts the wedding.]]
* UnfinishedBusiness: The miniseries ''Invaders Now!'' implies this is the reason for all the various freezings, deagings, and resurrections that allowed Namor, Captain America, Bucky, Spitfire, Torch, and Toro to make it to the present day. Aarkus explains that he'd been steering their various reemergences and resurrections because he sensed that an unspeakably terrible mission of theirs was going to have consequences due to a magical force being invoked around it. It becomes this trope when Aarkus says that he can't reach the second Union Jack, Brian Falsworth, because his soul is at peace. Brian turns out to be the only one of the Invaders who flat-out refused to participate in that mission.

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!!Tropes found in ''All-New Invaders'' include:

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: The new series is set in the present rather than UsefulNotes/WorldWar2.
* BandOfBrothers: And they're not ashamed of it, it's not at all uncommon to see the characters address or refer to each other as "my brother."
* BigDamnHeroes: During 1944, the Axis of Evil ''finally'' defeated the Invaders, but unfortunately, they forgot about [[http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/1404/18/allnewinvaders45.jpg Namor.]]
** Jim pulled one off too, for Phil Coulson's grandfather at Omaha Beach. His grandfather's unit was annihilated by a German machine-gunner, and Phil's grandfather was an instant away from getting gunned down too...until Jim flew by and blew up the machine gun nest and its occupants in a hit-and-run attack. Phil thanks him for this, as if Jim wasn't there, Agent Coulson wouldn't exist.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: What the God's Whisper does to whatever deity it controls-it simply lets the wielder use the god as a weapon, until the device is dropped.
* CastSpeciation: Metatextually, this is why Toro has only been shown in a flashback so far: he, the original Human Torch, and the ComicBook/FantasticFour's Human Torch all have the exact same powers. James Robinson has said in interviews that one of his goals is to make it so that if you saw Jim Hammond and Johnny Storm standing right next to each other with their flames on, you'd be able to tell them apart, and part of this will apparently involve redefining Toro's power set as well.
** Eventually it was revealed that Toro is a latent Inhuman whose heritage was partially activated by his blood transfusion where his powerset allowed him to subconsciously mimic Jim's. His new appearance is him with purple flames on and his new abilities include chemical transmutation of himself and the air around him.
* CurbStompBattle: In order to stop the Invaders from sinking Japan with a giant tsunami, the remaining Kid Commandoes-Toro, Gwenny Sabuki and Davey Mitchell-attacked the Invaders' boat. The Invaders expected to win, but they were furiously curb-stomped by the Kid Commandoes until only Gwen and Namor were left fighting. Despite Namor's various powers, Gwen actually defeated him.
* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Ryoko Sabuki, aka Radiance.
-->'''Human Torch''': Anyway, Japan's love for Radiance borders on hysterical worship, especially amongst a certain demographic of young men and women.
* FauxDeath: [[spoiler: The Winter Soldier pulls one in issue #5]].
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: "Friend" is definitely pushing it, but Namor is this to the Marvel heroes at large. Even Cap admits that most people hearing he'd been captured by the Kree would say good riddance, the Kree can keep him. Jim actually seems to be the only classic Invader who still tolerates Namor, but that's only him.
* HeroicBSOD: Jim, as revealed in Issue 11, has ''lots'' of guilt over the countless things he's done-most notably helping with the bombing of Hiroshima and abandoning Phineas Horton, his creator, to a life of poverty and robbing him of the fame the scientist deserved, and not being able to defend him from Ultron, who murdered Horton.
** Namor, too, has several-most notably when he thinks that he got [[spoiler: Bucky]] killed and how his infamous second assault on New York killed thousands of people in the tsunami.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Over time, Namor and Jim Hammond have become this trope, and they are very fond of each other, which is really something considering Namor's past actions.
* LegacyCharacter: Tanalth the Pursuer, the [[AffirmativeActionLegacy female successor]] to the Kree villain Korath the Pursuer.
** Radiance, the granddaughter of Golden Girl.
** The new Iron Cross, as well.
* MemoryGambit: In order to hide the location of a device that allows its user to control Gods, the members of the original Invaders all allowed themselves to be {{Mindwipe}}d.
* MythologyGag / ShoutOut / {{RetCanon}}: [[spoiler: Bucky]] [[FakingTheDead fakes his death]] using a drug developed by [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] to control his Hulk-outs. Ya know, ''exactly'' like [[spoiler: ComicBook/NickFury]] does in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''.
** WordOfGod from James Robinson via Twitter is that it was a 100 percent intentional ShoutOut.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In ''Comicbook/OriginalSin'', we learn that [[spoiler: the Invaders are partially responsible for use of the A-Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as the Kid Commandos sabotaged a previous attempt to defeat Japan without having to use nuclear weapons, and they refused to try again]]. Radiance is not pleased when she finds this out.
* OhCrap: Bucky, Namor and Jim have a big one when Major Liberty, their best hope at defeating a BrainwashedAndCrazy Hela, gets killed trying to attack her.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Thanks to long stints as a HumanPopsicle, being an android, having a blood transfusion from an android, being an Atlantean, and straight-up coming back from the dead, the Invaders are all chronologically in their 90s, but not a damn one of them looks a day over 25. 30, at most.
* RememberTheNewGuy: Major Liberty, a previously-unseen member of the Invaders who died during his first mission with the team. The character ''was'' actually an existing Golden Age hero, just a rather obscure one who hadn't appeared in decades, and was ''not'' part of the original Invaders series.
** Radiance is stated to be the most popular hero in Japan, even beating out the Big Hero 6 and Sunfire from the ''Comicbook/UncannyAvengers''. She'd also never appeared ''at all'' before the issue that made that proclamation.
* {{Retcon}}: One that contradicts years of calling Toro a mutant to making him an inhuman with partially activated powers, much like Quake.
* SmallNameBigEgo: Namor (as always) and Tanalth have quite the ego. Major Liberty also appears to have let fame go to his head near the end of his career.
* SuicidalOverconfidence: Major Liberty, after beating the crap out of several thousand Nazis, is confident enough to go after Hela directly. This results in him getting KilledOffForReal.
* TakingTheHeat: Namor, after the Invaders refuse to use their powers to send a tsunami at Japan, knowing he's known as a wild card, takes the heat for the team.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Jim Hammond went into retirement after angrily quitting the ComicBook/SecretAvengers, but is forced to reveal himself as the Human Torch once the Kree attack.
* TokenMinority / AffirmativeActionGirl: Radiance, a Japanese heroine who will be joining the team in the second arc.
* WhamEpisode: Issue #5 ends with the revelation that [[spoiler: The Eternals have found ComicBook/{{Galactus}}, who was cast out into the Negative Zone after the events of ''[[Comicbook/CataclysmTheUltimatesLastStand Cataclysm]]'', and are planning to control him with the God's Whisper to get revenge on the Kree.]]
* TheWorfEffect / DroppedABridgeOnHim: Fang from the Shi'ar Imperial Guard is shown dead in the first issue, just to underscore that the Kree soldiers aren't playing around. For the matter, they had to empty their guns into him ''three'' times to make sure that he actually died.
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Not to be confused with the TV show, ''Series/TheInvaders'' or the comic book series of the same name made by Creator/DCComics.

* BadassGay / BattleCouple: In recent years, the second Destroyer (Roger Aubrey) and the second Union Jack (Brian Falsworth) were revealed to have been lovers back during the war.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The short-lived 2000's revival, which dealt with topics like TheWarOnTerror.

''The Invaders'' is a Creator/MarvelComics series about a team of superheroes that fought against the original Axis of Evil during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The team originally consisted of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Bucky]], Jim Hammond/the Original Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner. They first appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' in TheSixties, debuting in #71 (December, 1969). They were co-created by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, Bill Finger, and Martin Goodman. They later gaining their own comic book series in 1975. The original series lasted for 41 issues (August, 1975-September, 1979). It was followed by a miniseries of the same name which lasted for 4 issues (May-August, 1993).

''The Invaders'' is a Creator/MarvelComics series about a team of superheroes that fought against the original Axis of Evil during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The team originally consisted of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Bucky]], Jim Hammond/the Original Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner. They first appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' in TheSixties, debuting in #71 (December, 1969). They were co-created by Roy Thomas, Sal Buscema, Bill Finger, and Martin Goodman. They later gaining their own comic book series in 1975. The original series lasted for 41 issues (August, 1975-September, 1979). It was followed by a miniseries of the same name which lasted for 4 issues (May-August, 1993). A newer series was published in the early 2000s, in which several of the surviving Invaders came out of retirement and joined up with some new members to fight terrorists inspired by their old enemies.

''The Invaders'' is a Creator/MarvelComics series about a team of superheroes that fought against the original Axis of Evil during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The team originally consisted of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Bucky]], Jim Hammond/the Original Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner. They first appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' in TheSixties, later gaining their own comic book series in 1975. A newer series was published in the early 2000s, in which several of the surviving Invaders came out of retirement and joined up with some new members to fight terrorists inspired by their old enemies.

''The Invaders'' is a Creator/MarvelComics series about a team of superheroes that fought against the original Axis of Evil during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The team originally consisted of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Bucky]], Jim Hammond/the Original Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner. They first appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' in TheSixties, later gaining their own comic book series in 1975. A newer series was published in the early 2000s, in which several of surviving Invaders came out of retirement and joined up with some new members to fight terrorists inspired by their old enemies.

''The Invaders'' is a Creator/MarvelComics series about a team of superheroes that fought against the original Axis of Evil during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The team originally consisted of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Bucky]], Jim Hammond/the Original Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner. They first appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' in the sixties, later gaining their own comic book series in 1975. A newer series was published in the early 2000s, in which several of surviving Invaders came out of retirement and joined up with some new members to fight terrorists inspired by their old enemies.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Golden Girl and the Human Top were {{retcon}}ned into being allies of Captain America and Bucky, but didn't actually exist during the real life [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]], until the actual run of the Invaders in the 1970s began.

* RetroactiveLegacy: The series revealed that the Destroyer, an obscure Golden Age hero Marvel published during the '40s, was actually Brian Falsworth before he'd donned the Union Jack costume. Later series solved the discrepancy of the Destroyer having a completely different name ("Keen Marlow") by saying it was simply an alias Brian had used while infiltrating Nazi Germany.

In ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'', this team was combined with the HowlingCommandos. Essentially it's the Howlers but includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth (who was the first Union Jack in the comics).

* TheSmurfettePrinciple / MsFanservice: Spitfire fills this role while still being as badass and [[http://www.writeups.org/img/inset/Spitfire_wartime_Himmel_h.jpg lethal]] as the others.

* UnexpectedCharacter: In Issue 33, it's revealed that Dr. Olsen's bandaged assistant is actually [[spoiler: a young Victor von Doom]].

** Jim pulled one off too, for Phil Coulson's grandfather at Omaha Beach. His grandfather's unit was annihilated by a German machine-gunner, and Phil was an instant away from getting gunned down too...until Jim flew by and blew up the machine gun nest and its occupants in a hit-and-run attack. Phil thanks him for this, as if Jim wasn't there, Agent Coulson wouldn't exist.

''The Invaders'' is a Creator/MarvelComics series about a team of superheroes that fought against the original Axis of Evil during WorldWarII. The team originally consisted of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Bucky]], Jim Hammond/the Original Human Torch and his sidekick Toro, and Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner. They first appeared in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' in the sixties, later gaining their own comic book series in 1975. A newer series was published in the early 2000s, in which several of surviving Invaders came out of retirement and joined up with some new members to fight terrorists inspired by their old enemies.

* {{Badass}}: '''EVERYBODY.''' The Invaders went up against the Wehrmacht and their best technology, HYDRA and the Red Skull, robots, monsters, fighter planes, battleships, Thor, the Super-Axis, everything the Axis threw at them...and with the exception of Cap and Bucky, all of the rest survived to the end of the war and helped the Russians capture Berlin.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple / MsFanservice: Spitfire fills this role while still being as {{Badass}} and [[http://www.writeups.org/img/inset/Spitfire_wartime_Himmel_h.jpg lethal]] as the others.

* AndNowForSomethingCompletelyDifferent: The new series is set in the present rather than WorldWar2.