This page is for characters who are featured within the All-Star Squadron series itself. As the All-Star Squadron was formed from the JSA and returned to being the JSA afterward, entries for JSA members can be found on the JSA character page.
All-Star Squadron Members
Amazing Man
Born in the south in the 1920's, young William Everett changed his family's sharecropping lifestyle when he grew angry at their money-grubbing landlord and slugged the guy into unconsciousness. Packing up quickly, the family moved to Detroit, where Will's father got a job in the auto industry and helped his son pay for school and running training, only to be laid off after the stock-market crash of 1929. Will's mother, to his chagrin, had to get a job as a scrubwoman. Will almost quit college to get a job and help out, but his parents refused to let him and continued providing financial support.
Will persevered and not only graduated, but won a gold medal in the 1936 Olympics. Alas, as an African-American in 1930's America that didn't exactly change things for him—as he put it, the Tigers weren't looking for black shortstops.
He eventually hired as a janitor by a scientist named Curtis who suddenly disappeared for weeks. But he'd paid in advance, and one day Will was dutifully cleaning up the laboratory when a two armed thugs showed up and demanded he help them load lab gear into their truck. After one too many racist slurs, however, Will impulsively lashed out at them with his water bucket, knocking the guns from their hands. Luckily for him, the third thug who'd snuck up on him only knocked him out instead of shooting. As he passed out, he heard one of them say they worked for a lady named Ultra.
Waking up strapped to a bed and in a strange costume, surrounded by equally bizarrely clad people, he saw the lady called Ultra, who told him she had big plans for him before flipping a switch and sending waves of energy through his body. There was an explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Will was free, made of metal and none too happy.
After he calmed down, Ultra (actually the Ultra-Humanite) explained her scheme, and Will went along because the money she'd promised him, which he could use to repay his family at last.
His part in the plan was to steal Dr. Fate's helmet, which lay in Fate's tower as the good doctor had been having some Loss of Identity issues when wearing it and was using a less-powerful version most of the time. Passing through the wall of the tower, he encountered Fate's wife Inza, who accidentally knocked herself out, and was about to take the mask when Dr. Fate and the Atom entered the tower and intercepted him.
After he awakened, he and the All-Star Squadron had another tussle, and though Commander Steel had him in a back-breaking hold, refused to surrender until Liberty Belle spoke to him, telling him that in spite of everything, he was an American, and surely he couldn't let its cities like Brooklyn, L.A., and Detroit be destroyed as the Ultra-Humanite had threatened.
Ultra, in telling William his mission, had sworn to leave Detroit—where his parents lived—out of her plan.
Reluctantly, William agreed to work with the Squadron to save Detroit from the treacherous lunatic, but it took their defeat of a racist villain called The Real American a bit later for him to accept their offer to join the team.
- Berserk Button: Shockingly, he isn't too thrilled with the constant stream of racism he encounters as a black man in the 1940s.
- Discard and Draw: During Young All-Stars he loses his Material Mimicry powers and gains Magnetism Manipulation instead.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: During his days with the Ultra-Humanite, he was an "Angry Black Man" Stereotype who only cared about helping his family. The fact this mentality almost got them killed gave him something to think about, though.
- Heel–Face Turn: Used to be employed by the Ultra-Humanite, but after interacting with the All-Star Squadron and realizing that they were genuinely good people, he warms up to them and officially joins the group after they help him save his hometown of Detroit.
- Life Will Kill You: Lives into old age, dies of cancer.
- Magic A Is Magic A: If he's using his copying power, he'll gain the properties of whatever his hands touch, even if that's a normal flesh-and-blood person who's intercepting him or someone says "think fast" then tosses a delicious cheese wedge at him and he catches it.
- Material Mimicry: His original powerset allowed him to copy the properties of whatever he touched, as per usual, but also let him perform Power Copying.
- Only in It for the Money: He only agreed to work for Ultra because he could send the money she promised to pay him back to his folks.
- Power Copying: He can copy powers if they're inherent to the individual or object he's touching, since those are part of their properties.
- Super-Strength: In typical comic-book fashion, if he copies a substance harder than flesh, he'll get super-strength as well.
- Wallbonking: By imitating a substance and concentrating while doing this, he can gradually pass through that substance.
The original Steel series only lasted 5 issues, ending in November, 1978. The cancellation was part of the so-called DC Implosion, the abrupt end to over 24 series. The character was not forgotten, though, as Roy Thomas brought him to the All-Star Squadron. Using the alternative codename Commander Steel. In the "present" day, Hank reappeared in the 1980s tales of the Justice League of America. He went on to become one of several heroes fighting against Eclipso, in a series spotlighting this villain. He was finally killed in Eclipso #13 (November, 1993).
- Captain Patriotic: A flag-wearing patriot. He started off as an embodiment of this trope, but became a subversion when his grandson took up the mantle as a member of the JLA. The original Steel is now shown to be quite an ultra-conservative and a bit of a bigot (although he did get better eventually), and his fierce patriotism is played as a negative character trait.
- Cyborg: He was a heavily wounded biology student under the tutelage of Doctor Gilbert Giles, and his former professor performed extensive surgery on him, enhancing his damaged body with mechanized steel devices that gave him superhuman strength, speed, and durability.
- Killed Off for Real: He was a member of the Shadow Fighters in 1993 and was killed fighting their Arch-Enemy, Eclipso.
- Military Superhero: A US Marine who, after being injured during WWII, volunteered for special bionic upgrades that turned him into a Captain America Expy.
- Remember the New Guy?: He was created in the 1970s, but was established as having been active during the 1940s and was established as having fought alongside the members of the JSA.
- Super-Soldier: A cybernetically enhanced World War II soldier.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: The original Steel uniform displayed the colors red, white, and blue, along with a prominent white star on his chest. Rather clearly based on the flag of the United States.
- We Can Rebuild Him: He was supposed to die but was rebuilt as a Cyborg.
She had many adventures with the team, eventually having a relationship with the Shining Knight and marrying him. It was revealed in the Stars and Stripes mini series that she died killed by the Dragon King. It was never explained how she died.
- Action Girl: Even before getting her powers, she wasn't afraid of getting into a fight.
- Contrasting Replacement Character: She took over the Firebrand name from her brother after he was forced to quit because of his injuries. Unlike Dan, who was a Badass Normal, Danette got superpowers during her first adventure.
- Fiery Redhead: She has red head and fire powers.
- Killed Offscreen: Her death was only mentioned in the Stars and Stripes miniseries and it was never explained how she died.
- Official Couple: During World War II, she married Shining Knight. Unfortunately, shortly after he was sent back in time by the Nebula Man, she was killed by the Dragon King.
- Playing with Fire: Danette has the power to generate fire.
Guardian I
Jim Harper was a Metropolis city police officer whose beat was the downtrodden neighborhood of Suicide Slum. During WWII he donned a superhero costume to fight crime in a less rigid way after hours and joined the All-Star Squadron.
In his day job Officer Harper came across a group of four hooligans known as the Newsboy Legion and upon learning of their circumstances as a bunch of orphans trying to provide for themselves he got the judge to agree to allow the boys to become his wards rather than go to a juvenile detention center. All four of the boys quickly figured out Jim's secret identity though he denied their accusations of him being the Guardian for decades and only admitted the truth on his deathbed. The Newsboys did very well with a roof over their heads and an adult providing for them and all four of them ended up being important Cadmus employees and eventually directors of the government cloning program. On Jim's deathbed he gave them permission to clone him, though it's unlikely he realized just how many clones, and partial clones, containing his DNA would be running around in the near future.
Jim had two brothers and one sister, through whom he's got a several notable relatives living in the modern day. His great-nephew named Roy Harper is also known as Speedy, Red Arrow and Arsenal and is most commonly associated with the Teen Titans and Green Arrow. His great-niece Jamie Harper became a police officer herself and was Robin's point of contact on the GCPD before she moved to Metropolis. His youngest great-niece Roberta "Bobby" Harper becomes a member of the modern Newsboy Legion and ends up the legal ward of Jim's most prominent clone.
The Earth-Prime Jim Harper debuted in Superman (Brian Michael Bendis), as a Metropolis street vigilante who is offered Leviathan membership; it is not known if he was still connected to Cadmus (which was destroyed in Leviathan Rising with all the other secret government groups).
- Badass Normal: The original Guardian has no superpower, but possesses exceptional combat and tactical skills.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Jim is a really nice guy, who goes out of his way to check up on kids and the unfortunate, he's also a really good fighter whose reaction to being mugged while in civilian wear was to take up a secret identity so he can keep fighting bad guys even when he's off the clock as a cop.
- Cool Bike: Guardian rode a custom motorcycle that was fitted with a slot at the front that could store his shield.
- Cool Helmet: He wears a golden helmet.
- Friend to All Children: He's got a soft spot for kids that leads him to requesting the privilege of becoming the legal guardian of four rather out of control trouble-making orphans from Suicide Slum.
- Legacy Character: Other people who took the Guardian alias are Mal Duncan in the Silver Age and Jake Jordan, the Manhattan Guardian.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He carries a golden heater shield on his wrist.
- Parental Substitute: Jim became the legal guardian of the original Newsboy Legion.
- Proto-Superhero: He was this in-universe in Pre-Crisis days, being one of the very few costumed heroes who were canonically around before Clark debuted as Superboy on Earth-One. note
- Shield Bash: Uses his small shields for combat.
- Stock Superhero Day Jobs: Jim Harper was a police officer outside of his Guardian costume.
- Tangled Family Tree: In addition to the several individuals descended from his siblings and the fact that one of them was adopted by Oliver Queen where do his multiple clones even go on a family tree? His grandniece Jamie then somehow had a kid with the time-traveling Daxamite Lar Gand despite Kryptonians in the setting not being biologically compatible with humans (Daxamites are descended from Kryptonian colonists).
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: He has a strict rule against killing when he's in uniform as the Guardian, and as a Police Officer he will only discharge his weapon if the situation demands it.
- Throwing Your Shield Always Works: He can use his shield as a projectile although he usually keeps hold of it to use for defense and bashing.
Robotman I
Fatally shot by a group of thugs while trying to stop them from robbing his laboratory, brilliant scientist Robert Crane's brain was placed into the highly-sophisticated cybernetic body they'd been working on by his assistant Chuck Grayson.
Realizing that he could use the great physical abilities of the robot in fighting crime, Crane crafted the identity of Paul Dennis as a legal identity, allowing the world to continue believing that he was dead.
Ultimately, Chuck Grayson would discover that he was dying of a brain disease that left everything else untouched and donated his body to his old friend and partner, thus allowing Robotman to just become "man", man.
Since then, this incarnation of the character has become overshadowed by Robotman II (Cliff Steele) of the Doom Patrol, although he and his boring human body have occasionally cameoed, most notably when giving Pat Dugan parts of his old body to help him design S.T.R.I.P.E.
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Angst? What Angst?: Depends on the era. In the Golden Age comics he'd say things like: "Gosh all fishhooks, Joan sure is crying up a storm at my funeral. Shucks!" or "Gee willikers, I guess I'll never have the right to marry Joan now that I'm no longer human. That's pretty sad." and then shrug his shoulders and go on a wild adventure. Later writers would explicate more on his grief at losing his human body. - Brain Transplant: Chuckie just pops the top of his his head open and lobs it into the robot's brainpan and it just works. Kind of makes you wonder if they were always planning on using a living human brain for the robot.
- Emergency Transformation: Crane would be a goner if he'd been an entomologist or chemist instead of a roboticist.
- Faking the Dead: Although technically still alive, he allows his killers and fiancée to think he's still dead and makes a new identity for himself.
- Gratuitous Laboratory Flasks: As a scientist, he and Chuck's lab have them, natch.
- Lightning Bruiser: Pretty standard stuff for a robot. Several hundred horsepower of running speed, capable of lifting a car full of people over his head at once, tough enough to easily shrug off bullets.
- Logical Weakness: His first body, at least, was highly vulnerable to magnetism.
- Master of Disguise: Capable of crafting realistic masks and gloves which looked like real skin, and apparently a pretty good actor, too. How does he make expressions? Isn't his skin cold? What about hair? Look, we're talking about a guy's brain in a robot here.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Technically a roboticist, but he also had the means on hand to made a realistic flesh mask and gloves. And no, he doesn't say he was planning to make flesh masks for the robot he was developing or anything like that, he just had the stuff on hand and the capability to create it. Also, he and Chuck are often shown looking seriously at beakers, which could mean all kinds of science. Bonus points to his assistant Chuck Grayson for combining the job skills of robotics and incredibly delicate brain surgery.
- Robosexual:
- Inverted. After allowing her to believe that he's dead, Crane has the nerve to try dating Crane's fiancée Joan as "Paul Dennis", and allows Joan to fall for Robotman, too. A little tacky.
- Later he falls in love with the cyber-siren Mekanique, who turns out to be both deliberately causing the Bad Future she came from and working with Per Degaton. Harsh.
He eventually joined the All-Star Squadron and had many adventures with them. Years later, he became one of Nightwing's neighbours in Bludhaven. It is thought that he died in a fire caused by Blockbuster.
- Badass Normal: Like many mystery men of the golden age, he only relied in his combat skills and some gadgets like a webgun or suction cups in his boots to attatch himself to walls.
- Becoming the Mask: Basically his origin story. John Law wanted to learn more about mystery men for his book, so he obviously took the logical option of becoming a mystery man himself.
- Costume Copycat: His initial costume looked a lot like the one that the Golden Age Sandman wore for a time. He later got a more original costume by the time he joined the All-Star Squadron.
- On the Rebound: He was married for a time with Liberty Belle after she and Johnny Quick separated. It didn't last.
- Never Found the Body: Although it is said that he died in the fire caused by Blockbuster, alongside 21 other victims, his body was never recovered.
- Wall Crawl: Thanks to some suction cups in his boots, Tarantula could walk up walls or hang from ceilings.
The Young All Stars
Iron Munro
The illegitimate son of Hugo Danner, who fought Nazi supervillains during World War II as part of the Young All-Stars.
- Archnemesis Dad: Upon discovering his father's diary, Arn learned that his Dad had faked his death in the Yucatan, tracked him down and learned that Hugo used his superpowers to convince an isolated tribe of local natives that he was a god, and replicated Grampa's Super Serum to create a generation of superhuman army-cultists called the Sons of Dawn. Is it one of those nice army-cults that cuts peoples' lawns and holds peoples' place in line for them? It is not. Turns out Hugo wants to destroy and rebuild human civilization. But the Super Serum doesn't protect from diseases and having an army consisting entirely of an isolated culture who never developed immunity to the to the common cold doesn't work out well for Hugo, who kills himself to join his surrogate sons in death. And Arn never got any birthday cards from him, either.
- Big Brother Instinct: Felt this way toward Dan the Dynamite, three or four years his junior, after rescuing him from the Nazi attack which killed his mentor. For his part Dan became something of a Hero-Worshipper toward Arn.
- Cool Old Guy: Born in 1924, looks maybe fifty in the modern age, and actively superheroing.
- Disappeared Dad:
- Hugo Danner had a one-night stand with an old high-school girlfriend and then disappeared, leaving his mother to quickly marry a local businessman with the last name of Munro and claim Arn was his.
- Until very recently, he was unaware that (before they were married) he had conceived a son with his future wife Sandra Knight (aka Phantom Lady), whom she'd secretly given away. That child would grow up to be a homicidal maniac. Darn! But his grandkid turned out to be Katherine Spencer, aka the latest Manhunter, and the two of them seem to get along quite well after they meet. (Oh, and the homicidal maniac got cut in half. C'est la comic-book vie.)
- Expy: Meant to replace the Golden Age Superman who was wiped from the timeline by the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Specifically the Lightning Bruiser early Superman, with Green Lantern I being considered as replacing the version with a wider array of powers.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Struck up a friendship with Dan the Dyna-mite after rescuing the younger boy from the Nazi attack which killed Dan's mentor TNT. One of the reasons he reluctantly agreed to join the Squadron was because he saw Dan needed someone to look after him as he recovered from his trauma and grief.
- In a Single Bound: Since he's an Expy of the early Superman he can leap tall buildings something something.
- Kid Hero: 17 going in 18 during YAS
- Lightning Bruiser: He's got the powerset of the Golden Age Superman with bonus longevity, at roughly the same level.
- Like a Son to Me: For a while he semi-adopted the young hero Damage, believing that this kid with a seemingly very similar powerset to his and vague resemblance to himself might be a descendant of the lost child Sandra had given away or from another relationship. Both the saga of Damage's parentage and Arn's child turned out to be considerably weirder than that, but this filial relationship is likely still valid.
- Long-Lived: A member of the Young-All Stars, implied to have been a part of the JSA, still kicking ass in the modern age.
- Magic Pants: Since he's more invulnerable than his civilian clothes and doesn't bother with a costume, he has a tendency to end up in rags after particularly rough fights. The one time he decided to give wearing a (somewhat gaudy) costume a try, it got wrecked.
- Mark of the Supernatural: He has a shock of white hair on top of his head, likely as a sign of his non-mystical but certainly peculiar ancestry.
- Mythology Gag: He's literally the bastard son of Hugo Danner - the theorized inspiration for Superman - and serves as a stand-in for Superman during the JSA days.
- Not Wearing Tights: Starting out, he wasn't interested in being a superhero, only staying with the team for the sake of his friends, though he eventually got more into it. He also gave up on super-uniforms after the only one he tried ended up destroyed.
- Really Gets Around: As a youth, he had a reputation around his high school. Being tall, muscular, handsome, and nice to boot really helped with that. However, he eventually fell for the Fury and later Sandra Knight.
- Refusal of the Call: After concealing his super-abilities from others at the behest of his mother, Arn found himself forced to use them to save Dan the Dyna-mite from a Nazi attack and soon after helping defend the All-Star Squadron from an attack on their base. Although he wanted to go back to his normal life afterward, the President asked him to join the group and he reluctantly did so on the condition that no one pry into the origin of his powers. Even then, he planned to bail after Dan recovered from his grief.
- Retcon: The Crisis on Infinite Earths fused Earth-1 and Earth-2 leaving the New Earth without a Golden Age Superman. Iron Munro was devised to take the place of Superman in all the erstwhile Golden Age Superman stories.
- Second Love: After some teasing as youths, he and Helena Kosmatos apparently married and then fell apart. Afterward, he fell in love and with Sandra Knight aka the Phantom Lady who turned out to be much better for him except for the part where she jettisoned their only child into the adoptive system without ever ever telling him the kid even existed. They ultimately drifted apart and divorced.
- Ship Tease: He and Helena fall in love in YAS, and are said to have had a brief, disastrous marriage as adults.
- Shirtless Scene: Usually to show how invulnerable he is.
- Super-Speed: Runs faster than an express train, and is only barely outclassed in swimming by Neptune Perkins and Tsunami, who have specific powers geared toward that.
- Super Serum: He's the illegitimate son of Hugo Danner, whose father altered him in the womb with one of these. The benefits pass down to Arn's son Walter and great-grandson Ramsay (and maybe his granddaughter Kate to some lesser degree).
- Super-Toughness: Nothing less than a bursting shell could break his...father's skin, but Arn has equal toughness.
- Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Although Arn was always big for his age and good at sports, he was only beginning to show his true potential when one blustery day when he was around twelve he and his mother were out walking when they were blown by a gust of wind onto a rocky outcropping which collapsed under Mrs. Munro, sending her falling forty feet into a crevice. With her leg broken, she began to cry out in agony, and Arn jumped down, grabbed her and jumped out again without even thinking about it. Mrs. Munro theorizes that his adrenaline burst fully activated his powers all at once.
- Young and in Charge: Arn's good charisma and leadership qualities cause him to unconsciously order around the Young All-Stars, something Neptune Perkins (age 20 to Arn's 17) and Fury (who sees him as something of a rival) find a bit annoying, though they usually do little more than complain about it.
Flying Fox
Early in WWII Nazis suddenly turned up at an isolated First Nations village near the Arctic Circle looking to recruit help conquering the other locals. The village chief, Flying Fox's father, told them to stick it. They shot him.
They also shot Flying Fox, but his grandfather (a shaman) used magic to bring him back to life and taught the young man several magical spells, as well as gifting him a mystical cloak that let him fly and also not freeze to death zipping around high in the sky above the Arctic Circle without a shirt on.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: In a roundabout way. He's meant to replace Batman in the Golden Age Batman stories, and he's indigenous Canadian.
- Animal Superheroes: Yup! Lysidice boholensis, a bristle worm discovered in 1878, which—what? Don't be ridiculous, foxes don't fly, they don't even have wings! Maybe it's some kind of bat-type thing?
- Back from the Dead: Nazis shot him, but his grandfather (a shaman) brought him back.
- Blinded by the Light: Can blind a foe by using illusion to project light in his eyes.
- Detect Evil: One of his mystical abilities.
- Doomed Hometown: Nazis attacked his village and killed a bunch of people, including him, for a bit. Tip: Get a mystical shaman grandfather.
- Expy: Meant to replace the Golden Age Batman. His magic powers such as stealth and illusion and so forth, allow him to roughly mimic the abilities of the Golden Age Bats. The flight mostly makes up for the lack of Bat-vehicles.
- Flight: Thanks to the magical cowled cloak his grandfather gave him.
- Invisibility: A natural outgrowth of his illusion powers. Can affect himself and others.
- Magical Native American: North American! He's actually Canadian. His grandfather, a powerful shaman taught him several magical abilities, in addition to gifting him the magical cloak he uses to fly.
- Mark of the Supernatural: His grandfather put the Mark of the Fox on his chest, a mark which cannot be washed away.
- Master of Illusion: His main power, which seems to have a mental factor as at least one enemy was unable to resist them even after being told they were fake.
- Retcon: The Crisis on Infinite Earths fused Earth-1 and Earth-2 leaving the New Earth without a Golden Age Batman. Flying Fox was devised to take the place of Batman in all the erstwhile Golden Age Batman stories.
- Secret Public Identity: Flying Fox, dressed as a flying fox, is Flying Fox, flying foxily (if you're into dudes).
- Walking Shirtless Scene: His cloak protects him from the heat and cold. Which is lucky for him.
Fury I
Greece was taken over by Nazis in World War Two, and in the city of Athens, many innocent citizens were killed by their cruel conquerors, among them the father of fifteen-year-old Helena Kosmatos.
However, even worse than the death of her father was that fact that Helena's brother Michael had begun to willingly collaborate with the very monsters who had killed him, even going so far as to embrace their beliefs!
One day Helena's anger boiled over at last and she confronted Michael in front of their mother, yanking the Nazi blood money from his pockets and proving his betrayal once and for all.
Their poor mother suffered a heart attack, dying on the spot, and as Michael fled the scene Helena called down all the curses of the ancient land of Greece upon him for what he had done, swearing her revenge.
She began to pursue her brother, heedless of the Nazi curfew, and soon found herself chased by soldiers, fleeing to Areopagus, the hill of Ares, where she fell into a crevice.
Deaf to the jeers and mockery of the soldiers above her, all Helena could see was the face of her brother in the darkness, her vengeance seemingly lost forever she stomped her foot upon the ground, cursing him by all that was holy.
The earth quaked, and she fell yet further into the mountain into a cavern where she could see three creatures, who introduced themselves to the girl as the Furies, who once punished the crimes of the ancients, particularly those against women, now imprisoned within the hill by Zeus.
Although her sisters feared to break the strictures Zeus had laid upon them, Tisiphone, the blood avenger, who punishes crimes of kinship, knew that Helena had invoked her aid, albeit unknowingly, and offered her the opportunity to slay her brother, at a price.
With only a second of hesitation, Helena agreed.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: She and Arn had a minor rivalry since he was a bit stronger than her. However, they were also attracted to each other.
- Berserk Button:
- Just after gaining her Scion form, she's overpowered by a group of Nazis due to being unfamiliar with her powers and nearly killed until one of the Nazis says he'll mess her up so bad her mother won't recognize her. This reminder of the mother who died because of her brother's corruption at Nazi hands triggers her rage. Things don't go well for the Nazis.
- She takes on her Blood Avenger form and becomes Tisiphone whenever her loved ones need avenging or are in deadly danger (and thus about to need avenging). This could be dangerous for her loved ones, since Tisiphone might start lashing out at anyone Helena happens to be peeved with at the time.
- Broad Strokes: Neil Gaiman says that Helena eventually becomes one of three old ladies whom Rose Walker encounters in a nursing home and who briefly represent The Three, but that's the Vertigo universe, which may or may not be canon.
- Broken Bird: Life isn't very kind to Helena, and with everything that happens to her she grows up to be a little unstable and bitter. Wonder Woman II eventutally takes her to Themyscira in the hopes that the company of her once-Parental Substitute Hippolyta and the other Amazons can straighten her out.
- Cain and Abel: By killing their mother with his greed and selfishness, Helena's older brother Michael spilled family blood. Helena gets possessed by one of the Greek Furies. What happens next, kiddos?
- Detect Evil: Helena's connection to Tisiphone gives her visions and prophetic dreams regarding people who pose a genuine danger to those she loves or who have performed (or are planning) crimes which need avenging.
- Doomed Hometown: The Nazis conquered Athens, killing her dad and many other people she knew in the process as well as alleged resistance members afterwards. I don't think I like these guys!
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Young All-Stars #1 opens with her having a horrible dream of a potential future in which a gigantic Mekanique (at the time of her dream a trusted ally of the All-Stars and love interest to Robotman) rampages through a city and kills the All-Stars, whom she towers over. When Helena tells her uncle Johnny and aunt Libby about them, she learns that the crazy parts of the dream where they were superheroes was actually true and they zoom off to see if there's something to these visions. Later, whenever she's around Mekanique she freezes up and starts having visions of her dream, which prompt her to begin taking Blood Avenger form around the cybernetic siren. As it turns out Mekanique was working with Per Degaton all along and attempts to kill the All-Stars by shrinking the group down and attacking them in a model city.
- Expy: Meant to replace Wonder Woman, with roughly the same level of power. Later, the more powerful Hippolyta would actually get a Retcon into the Golden Age Wonder Woman, but Lyta/Fury II would remain Helena's daughter.
- Eye Beams: Tisiphone has them, and uses them to incinerate Michael.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: One glove, some gaps on the left side of her armor.
- Give Him a Normal Life: At one point (well after her marriage to Arn fell through) she fell deeply in love with a still-unknown man, who was murdered shortly before she gave birth to her daughter Hippolyta. Giving her to her dear friend Joan Dale Trevor, she told Joan never to reveal the truth of Lyta's parentage and started hunting the murderer. In spite of Helena's efforts, Lyta did not, in fact, end up living what one would call a particularly normal life.
- Happily Adopted: "Uncle" Johnny and his wife Libby take her in after she loses her family. Though they aren't blood relations, Johnny saved Helena from drowning and basically adopted her afterward. As it turned out, they were the superheroes Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, something Helena learned via a prophetic dream.
- Henshin Hero: Shifts from her teenage form into an adult "Scion" form.
- In a Single Bound: In Scion form.
- Insane Equals Violent: Justified. Though she's a sweet kid, the trauma Helena has suffered has left a bit off-kilter, particularly when it comes to her temper. That's not including the actual Greek Fury who lives on the edge of her headspace.
- Instant Armor: Helena's "Scion of the Furies" alter-ego is covered in golden chainmail. There are a few, uh, exposed spots, but It's not really a problem.
- Kid Hero: 15 During YAS.
- Lightning Bruiser: She's got the Golden Age Wonder Woman's powerset.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "Tisiphone, the blood avenger, who punishes crimes of kinship."
- Nothing Left to Do but Die: After leaving her daughter with her friends, knowing that she would never see her again and killing the man who had murdered her lover, Helena just sort of...gave up and sank into old age, ending up in an English nursing home for quite a long while.
- Older Alter Ego: Helena (at least when she first gets her powers) is a skinny 15 year old girl. Her super-powered "scion" form is a tall knockout who looks twenty-five.
- Parental Substitute:
- After Johnny Chambers (aka Johnny Quick) saves her from downing, he and his wife (Liberty Belle) essentially take her on as a ward, and she refers to them as uncle and aunt.
- When Hippolyta travels back to WWII and takes the Wonder Woman mantle, Helena comes to believe that the Amazon Queen is actually the reincarnation of her deceased mother. While Hippolyta doesn't learn this much, she does become close to the troubled teen. Later in life, Helena would come to see Diana, the modern Wonder Woman, as a sort of surrogate sister, albeit in a sense tainted by jealousy.
- Retcon: The Crisis on Infinite Earths fused Earth-1 and Earth-2 leaving the New Earth without a Golden Age Wonder Woman. Fury I was devised to take the place of Wonder woman in all the erstwhile Golden Age WW stories. Also, Golden Age Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor couldn't be the parents of Hippolyta "Fury" Trevor anymore due to inconveniently no longer existing (Rude!),so Helena becomes Lyta's mother instead and Lyta becomes Fury II, who got adopted by people with the surname Trevor and randomly chose the sobriquet "Fury" without knowing of her familial connection to the Kindly Ones. Whew! And the Crisis was supposed to make things less confusing!
- Riddle for the Ages: With the New Earth officially ending publication, it seems unlikely that we'll ever know the identity of Lyta's father, except possibly in an alternate-Earth story. Don't hold your breath.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Tisiphone would rise up and destroy anyone who presented a deadly threat against those Helena perceived to be family...but then she'd stick around and attack anyone whom Helena had a grudge against, even her allies, and it took multiple people to restrain her.
- Ship Tease: She and Arn fall for each other in YSA, and are said to have had a brief, disastrous marriage as adults.
- Superpowered Alter Ego: Scion form is this for Helena.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Normally, Helena has an array of impressive superhuman physical abilities derived from her connection to the Furies, specifically Tisiphone. Under the right/wrong conditions, Tisiphone takes over at full power and demonstrates just why the Furies are so feared.
- Super-Strength: In Scion form.
- Super-Toughness: Helena's Scion form has this, though of course the parts protected by armor have it a little better.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: Averted, She has no qualms about killing Nazis, who slew her father and whose corruption of her brother had killed her mother.
- Victory-Guided Amnesia: At first at least, Helena believed her Scion form and its powers to be a dream, though she later remembered everything in both forms. The activities of her Blood Avenger/Tisiphone form, on the other hand, usually only come back to her in the form of dreams she has later.
- Walking the Earth: After giving up Lyta, she hunted down the man who killed her lover, slowly destroyed his life and then killed him painfully.
Neptune Perkins
Due to being conceived in the presence of a concentration of a great amount of Vril, Neptune Perkins was born as a human with many qualities of a dolphin.
After the war, he got involved in politics, eventually becoming Hawaii's state senator and with Dan the Dyna-mite, he formed a committee to oversee Young Justice, until they proved themselves.
He was killed by King Shark and The Shark while defending Atlantis during the Infinite Crisis.
- Archnemesis Dad: Or grandfather in this case. Arthur Gordon Pym discovered the hidden Antarctic civilization of Dzyan
, a group of alien colonists who had mastered the mysterious magical power known as Vril. Living among them Arthur gained power over Vril itself which, alas, magnified the evil parts of his psyche until they took him over and he became a despot, using mind control to keep the Dzyan under his mastery. Renaming himself "Captain Nemo" Pym had the aliens construct a powerful submarine (the Nautilus) and became a dreaded pirate, until the Nautilus was destroyed. In 1890, Pym moved back to the US, took the name of "Perkins" and married a young woman who died in childbirth. Taking his son to Antarctica, he sent the boy away after ten years because little Ross hated daddy's evil insanity. In 1910, Pym got German help to create another deadly submarine (the Leviathan) and sank the Titanic. Ross, now a newspaperman, tracked down the Leviathan, suspecting his father might be up to his old tricks. Discovering a young female Titanic survivor, the pair married and deliberately conceived Neptune in the presence of Vril energy. Nazis killed Ross and his wife in front of young Neptune, whom they hoped would lead him to Pym. Later, Hitler just invaded Anrarctica and found Pym and the Dzyan himself, with Pym ironically sacrificing his life to save Neptune and stop the Nazi plans for vril. So, summing up, Neptune was conceived to stop Pym's evil plans, but ended up re-awakening enough of Pym's good nature so that the villain sacrificed his life for his sake. Comics, baby! - Deadpan Snarker: Pretty mouthy and usually ready with a wry/sarcastic comment.
- Expy: A replacement for the Golden Age Aquaman, who was ret-conned away by the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- It's Personal: The Nazis killed his parents in front of him in the hopes that Neptune would seek out Arthur Gordon Pym, thus leading them to him. Neptune actually had not been informed about anything relating to his grandfather and just went to the ocean.
- Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb: His parents conceived him in the presence of great Vril energy, hoping that he would be gifted with the power to stop Arthur Gordon Pym/Captain Nemo's piracy. They're pretty lucky he got sea-related abilities, really.
- Long-Lived: Seems to have aged at around half the rate of a normal human after puberty.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Debbie (aka Deep Blue), the daughter he raised with Tsunami (Miya Shimada) is almost certainly actually the child of, oh boy, either Rhombus—an energy construct based around a sentient, magical gemstone from space which took human appearance and seduced her—or Atlan aka Aquaman's magical daddy, who banished Rhombus and restored Debbie to youth and granted her new powers. And I guess also boinked her at some point since he showed up later claiming to be Debbie's real father? Although since Miya was still in a relationship with Neptune at the time of both of these affairs, Debbie might be his after all as he and Debbie believe? ...Comics, baby?
- Mutant: Born with the webbed fingers and toes, a resistance to underwater pressure, the ability to hold his breath for extended amounts of time, superhuman stamina and the ability to communicate mentally with sea life. He also needs regular exposure to sodium salts to survive, which necessitated a move to the seaside on his parents' part.
- Official Couple: He and Tsunami hooked up during Young All-Stars, and later married, though they eventually broke up.
- Removed Achilles' Heel: He eventually got a suit which retained seawater within it, allowing him to survive for a longer term outside of saltwater.
- Super-Speed: Within the water, he can swim faster than Arn, who has Super-Speed as one of his powers.
- Super-Strength: Downplayed, but a lifetime of swimming around in the ocean and playing in the high-pressure depths has made him rather stronger than most.
- Telepathy: Only with sea life, with an order of Mind Control on the side.
Tsunami
A young Japanese-American woman who left America to join Japan after facing racial prejudice following the events of Pearl Harbor and gained her powers by being modified in experiments.
However, she found herself shocked by the cruel and dishonorable lengths some among the Imperial Japanese were willing to go to destroy their enemies and began to feel remorse for aiding them, ultimately being persuaded to join the All-Star Squadron by Neptune Perkins to redeem herself.
- Daddy's Girl: Part of the reason she joined the Japanese was due to seeing the mistreatment of her father by the American government, and in one of her initial adventures, she flipped out when it seemed he'd been killed.
- Driven to Suicide: After declining an invitation to join Axis Amerika, she felt driven by her conflicting feelings to make a wave large enough to drown herself. This didn't work, but it did get the attention of Neptune Perkins, who counseled her and urged her to try a different path.
- Fountain of Youth: After her ordeal with Rhombus, Atlan, Aquaman's wizard dad gives her a serum which restores her youth and expands her powers.
- Heel–Face Turn: Miya started having second thoughts when her purely defensive mission to defend Japanese waters was altered by superiors into being more of a government agent, attaching her to Prince Daka, which put her into actual conflict against people like the All-Stars, whom she came to respect.
- Lightning Bruiser: Received an overall physical enhancement in addition to her water-based abilities.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: See the same section under Neptune Perkins.
- Making a Splash: Tsunami has the power to control water. As per her name, she can use it to create giant waves or in more subtle ways.
- Official Couple: She and Neptune Perkins pretty much fall in love at first sight and she eventually marries him. They drift apart in time.
- Oh, Crap!: Although Miya had planned to leave the All-Stars for good after discovering her family in an internment camp, the mention of Kamikaze, another altered soldier with a much more violent mindset than hers, quickly had her scrambling to put her uniform on again.
- Playing with Syringes: Modified by Japanese scientists with hydrokinetic abilities and the ability to survive in the ocean long-term.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Seeing Prince Daka's ruthlessness versus the All-Stars nobility led her to quit helping him.
- Super-Soldier: Enhanced by the Japanese military.
- Super-Speed: Within the water, she can swim faster than Arn, who has Super-Speed as one of his powers.
- Super-Strength: Downplayed, but much like Neptune, she's a lifelong swimmer, who's also received physical enhancement. In fact she's a little stronger than Nep.
- 10-Minute Retirement: After discovering that 1) there were internment camps for Japanese people and 2) her mother and sister were among those imprisoned, a furious Miya shed her costume and membership to join them. However, upon hearing that Kamikaze, a particularly violent and powerful member of the same program that empowered her, was part of the group that had captured some of her friends she quickly made ready to save them.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She directly brings up the plight of the Japanese-Americans in internment camps to FDR, who uncomfortably promises to look into it.
Dan the Dyna-mite
A young star student of high school science teacher Thomas N. Thomas, Dan and Thomas were performing experiments after school when their hands brushed against each other and they discovered that the chemicals they had been working with had somehow infused their bodies with differing energies which when combined created an explosion which gave them temporary superhuman abilities.
Recognizing that unstable energy-based superpowers probably weren't the safest thing in the world, Thomas made two rings each designed to collect the energy they generated during the day, and which when slammed together would release another empowering explosion.
Deciding to use these powers for good, they became TNT and Dan the Dyna-mite, and participated in many adventures before Thomas was killed in a targeted Nazi ambush while driving with Dan to the scene of a purported crime. Dan only survived because Arn Munro, who happened to be nearby on a date, pulled him from the wreckage.
Believing that without Thomas, he couldn't activate his powers, Dan was dejected and miserable, with only his new young friends among the All-Stars giving him solace, until he learned that by clapping the rings together he could regain the powers he once had—it seems constant exposure to his energy had permanently altered TNT's ring, enabling his young protégé to continue the fight in his place.
Many, many years after the war, Dan would join several of his fellow sidekicks in a group called Old Justice which opposed the presence of teenaged superhero teams, and even got Senator Neptune Perkins to pass legislation for a committee to monitor the group Young Justice, though the young heroes would eventually prove themselves to their senior seniors' satisfaction.
- The Baby of the Bunch: Just barely in high school when he became a hero, Daniel is slightly younger than the fifteen-year-old Sandy the Golden Boy and thus the youngest member of the Squadron.
- Dead Sidekick: Inverted. Dan's mentor TNT dies, leaving him bereaved and rudderless for a while.
- Depower: Subverted. At first it seemed this way, Dan believing that since activating his inherent powers required touching rings with his mentor TNT that upon TNT's death his ring was useless. Then one day while wearing both rings he slammed his fists together in frustration and created a small explosion, later discovering that he possessed all his abilities, and was able to create a Hand Blast.
- Expy: A replacement for the Golden Age Robin, who was ret-conned away by the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Dan, like Robin of the lost Earth-2, is a former sidekick who operates as a hero independently of his former mentor.
- Hand Blast: As mentioned Dan has the power to project powerful blasts of force from his hands by slamming the rings together and channeling the energy in a direction instead of just letting the explosion go outward from himself.
- Hero-Worshipper:
- Felt this way toward his mentor Thomas N. Thomas (AKA TNT), and was devastated upon learning he was killed.
- After Arn Munro pulls him out of a burning car and saves him from a Nazi attack, he quickly grows to admire the older boy, to the point of being unwilling to hear a critical word said about him.
- Hour of Power: Dan's empowered state lasts for only a few minutes.
- Kid Hero: About 14 as of the series, and already a hero for quite some time.
- Lightning Bruiser: When powered up, he gains a boost to his overall physicality in addition to his blasting power.
- Wonder Twin Powers: When his mentor was alive, they'd slam their rings together to create an explosion which activated their innate powers and gave them a physical boost. Now he slams alone.
