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| Crusaders | |
|---|---|
 The Crusaders battleWorld War II superhero team theInvaders on the cover ofThe Invaders #15 (April 1977). Art byJack Kirby. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Invaders #14 (March 1977) |
| Created by | Roy Thomas Jack Kirby Frank Robbins |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | Captain Wings Dyna-Mite Ghost Girl TheSpirit of '76 Thunder Fist Tommy Lightning |
The Crusaders is a group offictional characters appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. The characters first appear inThe Invaders #14 (March 1977) and were created byRoy Thomas,Jack Kirby, andFrank Robbins.
The Crusaders were based on theDC Comics superhero team theFreedom Fighters.[1] The character associations are:Captain Wings and theBlack Condor;Dyna-Mite andDoll Man;Ghost Girl and thePhantom Lady; theSpirit of '76 andUncle Sam; Thunder Fist and theHuman Bomb; and Tommy Lightning and theRay.
At the same time that the Invaders were meeting the Crusaders in Marvel Comics, DC Comics' Freedom Fighters were also facing off against a team called theCrusaders,[2] with the DC version of the Crusaders based upon Marvel Comics' Invaders (several of the Crusaders that fought the Freedom Fighters were really "comic book fans" named "Lennie" (Len Wein), "Marvin" (Marv Wolfman), "Arch" (Archie Goodwin), and "Roy" (Roy Thomas), as shown inFreedom Fighters #9).
The Crusaders first appear in theWorld War II titleThe Invaders and capture the crew of a crashedGermanbomber. Accepted by theBritish people, the team (Captain Wings,Dyna-Mite,Ghost Girl, theSpirit of '76, Thunder Fist, and Tommy Lightning) becomes the official protectors of the currentking (George VI), thereby displacing theAmericansuperhero team the Invaders. The Crusaders are revealed to be guided by acab driver and apparent Britishspy called "Alfie", who can cancel their powers courtesy of a technological belt the character wears.
Dyna-Mite, who has no memory of his former life, becomes suspicious and spies on Alfie, learning that he is aNazi agent and is planning to use the heroes toassassinate the king. Dyna-Mite warns the Invaders, and Alfie instigates a fight between the heroes and the Crusaders. The Nazi is killed in a car crash attempting to escape from the androidHuman Torch. The Crusaders, now powerless, disband, although Dyna-Mite—revealed to be Roger Aubrey, the close friend of Brian Falsworth, the brother of InvaderSpitfire—remains trapped in a minute form.[3]
Aubrey is eventually restored to normal height and adopts Falsworth's former heroic identity as the Destroyer, now calling himself theMighty Destroyer (as Falsworth eventually succeeded his father, James Montgomery Falsworth, asUnion Jack II).[4]
