Comic Book / Team 7

aka: Team Seven

The Squad of WildStorm Universe

Team 7 is a comic book series by WildStorm created in The '90s about a paramilitary group sent by the Intelligence Operations (also known by the initials I/O) to destroy dictatorial governments and possible US menaces during The '70s. Then they were sent into a Suicide Mission where they were exposed to the "Gen Factor", a radioactive experiment that give them superpowers and convert them into metahumans. The surviving members of the team (that didn't die, go mad or get Driven to Suicide as a result of the Gen Factor) deserted from I/O and went undercover, being chased in a couple of times. They reunited a couple of times before they split up going every man by its own.

The title was fundamental to the beginning of the WildStorm Universe, the title being a kind of prequel for the various teams in the WildStorm Universe. Various surviving members of Team 7 either founded or joined teams, with some of their children being born metahumans and forming their own. The title has 3 miniseries: Team 7 in 1994 and two sequels, Team 7: Objective Hell in 1995 and Team 7: Dead Reckoning in 1996.

A couple of reboots were made in The New '10s for DC Comics, both as All-Star Cast of both DC and WildStorm members. The first team was seen in Flashpoint as a black ops group killed in Afghanistan with Grifter The Leader and the sole survivor of the attack. Grifter would later found La Résistance against the Amazons. The second one was part of one of the titles of the New 52, also a paramilitary group like the first incarnation but with the difference it was made to prevent future metahuman threats in the first years of metahuman appearances.

See also Gen¹³, composed by the offspring of various of Team 7 members; and Point Blank, where Lynch, Cash and Slayton were part as a team again. Some members of this team, Grifter and Backlash, have their own articles here in TV Tropes. Also, the New 52 incarnation has its own page here.

Members

Last active members

• John Lynch: Code-named Topkick and former member of I/O's Black Razors, Lynch is The Leader of the group, who was in constant struggle with the rest of the team because of his unquestioning following of orders and his strict adherence to the rules. He later became the angular stone of WildStorm Universe: he founded Gen¹³ with his son Burnout as part of the team, helped Holden Carver in Sleeper (WildStorm) and eventually became the new leader of I/O after the death of Miles Craven in actual era.
• Marc Slayton: Code-named Backlash, he's a Half-Human Hybrid who became part of the Team 7 who also was exposed by the Gen Factor, that only awakened his alien heritage, making him unleash psionic whips from his wrists. He's one of the few members who started alone as a Vigilante Man in his own solo series, also being part of Team Zero, the genesis of this group created in the World War II.
• Cole Cash: Code-named Dead Eye (later changed to Grifter), is a early-20s young soldier specialist in guns as a sniper. He gained Psychic Powers and Healing Factor, keeping his 20s appearance for decades. After the team was disbanded, he joined the WildCATS as one of his most important members. Also he has some collaborations with his ex-partners Slayton and Cray for certain missions with the WildCATS.
• Michael Cray: Code-named as Deathblow, he's The Big Guy and the Hair-Trigger Temper of the group, a big soldier who "shoots first and asks later" and crashed with Cash and Lynch during the first series. Apparently unaffected by the Gen Factor, decades later he became immortal thanks to his advanced Healing Factor, even more higher than Cash, discovered when he died and he came back quickly. With Cash and Slayton, he gained his own solo series.
• Jackson Dane: Code-named Arclight (later known just as Dane), is another member of the team exposed to the Gen Factor and gained even more powers than the rest of the crew, being captured and used as guinea pig by I/O but later rescued by Team 7. Finally he received a symbiote that made him golden metal, and with other symbiote users like him founded his own team: Wetworks. Also, he revived the Team 7 in some ocasions.
• Christie Blaze: Lynch's lover and also part of the Team 7, left apart by Craven, so she wasn't part of the Gen Factor. She joins Team 7 as a member in future appearances along with his lover.

Former members

• Philip Chang: Code-named Bulleteer, he was the bomber of the team and also was exposed to the Gen Factor. He left the group with destination unknown. He's also the father of Grunge from Gen¹³.
• Stephen Callahan: Code-named Wraparound. The team's only Marine, one of the primary reasons for his agreeing to join was that he wanted his service branch to be represented. Also exposed to the Gen Factor, Callahan faked his death to avoid the persecution. He's the father of Threshold and Bliss from DV8 and Sarah Rainmaker from Gen¹³, dying at the first number by saving Sarah when she was a child.
• Alex Fairchild: Code-named Slaphammer, he's the Life of the Party of the team, an easygoing soldier who was exposed to the Gen Factor. As most of the members, he went hiding from I/O for decades with destination unknown. He's the father of Caitlin Fairchild and Freefall from Gen¹³, who later rejoined his daughters in this series, and eventually dies defending this team in later volumes.

Other members

• Berckmann: Died from the side effects of Gen Factor exposure.
• Robert Diaz: Code-named Bloodmoon, was abandoned on a mission and joined the Kindred.
• Andrew Johnson: Shot by Cole Cash for abusing his powers in sadistic ways.
• Richard MacNamara: Code-named Boloround. Driven to Suicide after exposure to the Gen Factor.
• Lucius Morgan: Currently known as the Pirate King. Exact circumstances of his time with Team 7 are unknown, but he was not a member when the team was exposed to the Gen Factor.
• Jack Rhodes: Code-named Cyberjack, Rhodes was severely wounded and left the team before Team 7's exposure to the Gen Factor.

Team 7 provides the next examples:

• The '70s: The series is ambiented during this decade, being The Vietnam War one of the fronts they were sent by I/O.
• '90s Anti-Hero: The entire team classifies as this, since none of them can be called as proper heroes.
• Alien Among Us: Slayton/Backlash is the only member of the team who has an alien origin (a Half-Human Hybrid of a human mother and a Kherubin father) and was unaffected by the Gen Factor, but his previous powers were augmented by the exposure. Not to mention he's basically immortal thanks to his Kherubin heritage, having more than 300 years old at the time he joined Team 7.
• Because I'm Good At It: Most of the members don't like to be involved in war, but they do it because they're good at what they do.
• BFG: Used a lot in missions as seen in the main image. Deathblow especially have them as their weapons.
• The Cameo: Revealed in Lois Lane and the Resistance spin-off of DC's Flashpoint, Grifter was The Leader of his own version of Team 7◊, a paramilitary squad that counted with All Star members like John Stewart, Kate Kane and Frank Rock, being the only survivor in a mission during the Afghanistan War time before the event began.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Deathblow, the only member who didn't develop any powers after being exposed to the Gen Factor, or so it seemed . When he died during the Fire from Heaven event decades later, he revived, later revealing that his advanced Healing Factor made him almost immortal.
• Chromosome Casting: All the official versions of Team 7 were men, with the sole exception of Christie Blaze, Lynch's lover, who later joins the team for one of the ensembles.
• Crossover: Surprisingly, with Marvel's Team X, a paramilitary group formed by Weapon X project, with members like James Howlett, Victor Creed and Raven Darkholme fighting side by side with Lynch, Cray, Cash and Dane against an enemy in common.
• Dad the Veteran: Various of the members left Team 7 and their military careers to become family men and live the rest of their lives in peace. In an universe like the WildStorm one, that's too good to last.
• Driven to Suicide: The newly-gained powers drove various of the members of the team insane. Some ended their lives after being exposed to the Gen Factor. Cash almost suffered this when he got his Psychic Powers, making the decision to Fight Like a Normal and using it only in extreme cases.
• Elite Army: The team has selected members who can finish the job where others failed (and died.)
• Expy: Based on classic comic book army teams like Sgt. Rock and the Combat-Happy Joes of Easy Company and Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. Word of God that Lynch was made as a homage to Nick Fury from Howling Commandos, especially by getting an Eyepatch of Power and leading a big organization (I/O in this case.)
• Facial Markings: Every member has a mark in one or both eyes as part of their nicknames to be recognizable in battle. Cash's mark in left eye later would be used in his Cool Mask when he takes the identity of Grifter. Also Cray is the only one who maintains the markings after the war as part of his attire.
• Good Running Evil: Decades later this title, Miles Craven died and I/O got a new director in Lynch, who'll lead this organization to something better.
• Human Weapon: For Miles Craven, the main reason to ensemble the team and being exposed to the Gen Factor.
• Inadequate Inheritor: after Team 7 went AWOL, Team 8 was assembled at some point. It lasted one mission and about three pages.
• In Name Only:
  • The DC Comics' New 52 version has few to nothing to do with this one, returning only Lynch, Cash and Fairchild to this team, but with different motivations.
  • Also from DC, "Bulleteer" is the nickname of a superheroine member from Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers.
  • And from anime, the protagonist Power Trio from Naruto is grouped in the Team 7.
• Jungle Warfare
• Leave No Survivors: Going to extreme missions, this was the main order in their missions.
• Mean Boss: Miles Craven, the head of I/O, who sent the team to Suicide Missions where other teams can't survive, exposing them without advice to the Gen Factor, and even chasing them after they deserted (and decades later, going for their offspring.)
• Mildly Military: As seen in the main image, every member has liberties in their clothing, hair and general look, as long they can do the work. After the team disbanded, the only member that continued with the military clothes is Cray/Deathblow, even twenty years after.
• More Dakka: Deathblow, of all members.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Word of God. Apart of Nick Fury, Lynch was explicitly modeled after Clint Eastwood.
• Psychic Powers: Most of the members received psychic powers thanks to the Gen Factor becoming the first "Gen-Active" humans. But this came with a price: losing their minds and sometimes Driven to Suicide, so the survivors only used these powers in extreme cases.
• Race Lift: Cray reappears in The Wild Storm reboot and even has his own spin-off series, but now he's a black man instead a Caucasian one.
• Really 700 Years Old: Slayton as the Half-Human Hybrid he is, is around 300 years old at the time he joined Team 7 and was even part of the WWII era Team Zero. And as side-effect of the Gen Factor, members like Cash and Cray got longer lifespans thanks to their Healing Factor.
• Red Baron: Every member has his own In-Series Nickname to be easily identified and to avoid exposition of their names in the combat zone. Some of them maintained their nicknames after the team, others changed them for new ones and some others established their identity as their real names instead.
• Rogue Agent: After becoming Human Weapons against their will during one mission, all the survivor members of the team went rogue and deserted from I/O, killing all their persecutors that went after them. Eventually various of them became Vigilante Man or formed/became part of their own team, becoming the corner stone of groups like WildCATS and WetWorks.
• Secret Public Identity: Of all the surviving members, Lynch, Fairchild and Dane maintain their real names after the team disbanded, with the latter using his last name only.
• Shout-Out: Coming from former Marvel Comics creators, this is obvious:
  • As said before, Lynch looks like if Nick Fury was portrayed by Clint Eastwood.
  • Dane looks like a mixture between Wolverine and Sabretooth, but with brown hair.
  • Cray/Deathblow is as big, savage and volatile as The Incredible Hulk (but without the green).
• The Smurfette Principle: Christie Blaze, Lynch's lover. Also doubles as the only Badass Normal of the team.
• Spin-Off: Team Zero and Team One are known as this. Also Gen12, with the survivor members making team with Gen¹³, a mixture of Generation Xerox and the New Generation.
• Spiritual Successor: Wetworks became the new version of Team 7 in actual era. Also, Gen¹³ and DV8 count as this being these groups formed by the children of members from Team 7.
• The Squad: Of Wildstorm Universe.
• Turned Against Their Masters: Knowing they became guinea pigs for the Gen Factor, the whole surviving Team 7 deserted from I/O and became fugitives.
• Unwitting Test Subject: The Team 7 went to a mission which was supposedly to stop a nuclear weapon, but later was revealed as a set-up by Craven to expose the whole team to the "Gen Factor" radiation and give them superpowers to later use them as human weapons. It backfired him later.
• Walking Armory: Cash and Cray are the heavy weapon operators of the team, usually having a lot of munitions to use and misuse.
• War Is Hell
• You Don't Look Like You: Decades later, the surviving members of Team 7 (mostly Dane, Lynch, Grifter, Backlash and Deathblow) assembled the team on some special occasions, all of them with their actual superhero costumes. The only one who maintains the same clothing is Deathblow, keeping the military outfit he had during The '70s.

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