Squadron Supreme = JLA?

[spydermann93]

Hello,

I was wondering, is the Squadron Supreme/Sinister like the Marvel version of the Justice League? I don't know much about them besides the fact that they eventually took over their own world, but it seems like when they were actual heroes, they had members that seemed like the Marvel versions of DC's Justice League of America.

For example:

Hyperion = Superman
Nightwing = Batman
Amphibian = Aquaman
Black Archer = Green Arrow
Doctor Spectrum = Green Lantern
Lady Lark = Hawkgirl
Whizzer = Flash
Power Princess = Wonder Woman
etc.

I was just wondering, do you guys think this uncanny similarity was on purpose or is it just a bizarre coincidence?

Also, sorry if I posted this in the wrong thread. I just thought this would be the best place.

[Podmark]

Others can go into more detail, but this was indeed on purpose.

[JKCarrier]

Yup. Back in the '70s, Marvel writer Roy Thomas and DC writer Mike Friedrich were pals, and got the idea to do a sort of unofficial crossover. So around the same time, you had the Avengers fighting the Squadron Sinister (a spoof of the JLA), and the JLA taking on the Champions of Angor (a knock-off of the Avengers). All in fun.

[laughing paradox]

What's interesting about Lady Lark is that she started off as an homage to the Black Canary and evolved into becoming an homage to Hawkgirl.

The original Imperial Guard from the X-men are also meant to be a pastiche of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Gladiator = Superboy, Oracle = Saturn Girl, Fang = Timber Wolf, Nightside = Shadow Lass, etc.

There are other, more obscure characters that are also homages to popular ones. The League of Super-Assassins, characters from Legion of Super-Heroes stories, were meant to be a reference to the X-men, for example.

[The Hitman]

As an almost derailment of this thread, the X-Man Nightcrawler was originally pitched as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Just though that was kinda interesting.

[spydermann93]

Yup. Back in the '70s, Marvel writer Roy Thomas and DC writer Mike Friedrich were pals, and got the idea to do a sort of unofficial crossover. So around the same time, you had the Avengers fighting the Squadron Sinister (a spoof of the JLA), and the JLA taking on the Champions of Angor (a knock-off of the Avengers). All in fun.

Wow, this is a very interesting fact. Thanks for the info

What's interesting about Lady Lark is that she started off as an homage to the Black Canary and evolved into becoming an homage to Hawkgirl.

The original Imperial Guard from the X-men are also meant to be a pastiche of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Gladiator = Superboy, Oracle = Saturn Girl, Fang = Timber Wolf, Nightside = Shadow Lass, etc.

There are other, more obscure characters that are also homages to popular ones. The League of Super-Assassins, characters from Legion of Super-Heroes stories, were meant to be a reference to the X-men, for example.

Yeah, I was wondering about that. They seemed so familiar yet different at the same time.

As an almost derailment of this thread, the X-Man Nightcrawler was originally pitched as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Just though that was kinda interesting.

Really? I never knew that. That's quite interesting.

[Cyber Burn]

As an almost derailment of this thread, the X-Man Nightcrawler was originally pitched as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Just though that was kinda interesting.

If I remember correctly, I believe that Storm was as well.

[lugaru]

BTW if you dig the Squadron Supreme = JLA analgoy, I cannot recomend SUPREME POWER enough. It was published under Marvel Max and it was a very adult story about what it would be like to have people like Superman, Green Lantern and Batman in the real world.

Hyperion (Superman) - A really interesting alternate take, basically he is taken away from the couple that find him and he is raised in an underground bunker, with a "perfect american upbringing". With his enhanced senses he knows it is all a sham though. As a grownup he is really scary, like a perfectly normal dude, but with that much power, you know he is one bad day away from going nuclear.

The rest are really cool too, Nighthawk and Doc Spectrum in particular. If you can read the Nighthawk mini or when he and hyperion go to Africa it is worth it, Nighthawk is a vigilante who had his parents killed by members of the clan. He is at least a little bit crazy, but at the same time is a Batman level planner, fighter and detective. Very much a self made man. Also he has a serious distrust of white people and the system, which leads to some great scenes between him and Mark.

[spydermann93]

That sounds really interesting.

Do you have any idea as to where I could find it?

[lugaru]

I bought a bunch of those in single issues and then went back and bought the first two trades for loaning to friends and all that. It is available in trades and is a fairly short story, so overal a small investment.

[Tomato]

I remember that book. I read most of the opening issues, but never actually saw it through and finished reading it (mostly because at the time I was mooching comics from my dad, and he kept hiding them from me so he could read them first, the jerk). I may need to go find a trade for it.

[mikehod]

Just to muddy the waters further, DCs Champions of Angor, introduced in Justice League of America #87, are a take off of The Avengers.

Both DC and Marvel did a lot of this sort of stuff in the late 60s, early 70s.

[lugaru]

Just to muddy the waters further, DCs Champions of Angor, introduced in Justice League of America #87, are a take off of The Avengers.

Both DC and Marvel did a lot of this sort of stuff in the late 60s, early 70s.

Likewise The Authority has an Avengers ripoff as villains. Planetary plays with a lot of heroes and a take on the "fantastic four" is fairly central to the plot.