Created by Robert E. Wronski, Jr.
Members:
Allorin Vonski
Doctor Deadly
Unknown
Peter Lebane
Danny "Blacky" Falkner
Doctor Mystery
Wonder Dog
Powerkid/Powerman
Angela, Princess of Another World
Zap, Master of Power II
Luke Devlin
Speed Demon
John Barstaman
Justice I
Space Hero
Phil Kowalski
Kristen Sherman
Captain Hero
Shon Crest
Volt Man
Powerwoman
Starfire
Lady Shiva
| Animal Man Aquaman Atom Black Canary Black Lightning Blue Beetle Blue Devil Booster Gold Captain Atom Captain Marvel Elongated Man Doctor Fate (Eric Strauss) Firestorm Flash (Wally West) Green Arrow Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) Guy Gardner Hawkman (Hawkworld) John Stewart Martian Manhunter Metamorpho Plastic Man Power Girl Vixen Wonder Woman Zatanna
|
Captain Zippy
Barbara Van Helsing
Powerkid II
Zap, Master of Power III
War Child
Icicle
Green Flame
Super Guy
Hell Child
Devil's Daughter
Mouse
Marvel
Justice III
First Appearance: Powerkid Police # 25, September 1984
Biography:
The team that has gone by the name Heroes of Earth has gone under a few different incarnations.
The first team actually began on an alternate world called Earth-5 by some. Allorin Vonski (one of the cosmic ones of Earth-B, the main Wronskiverse) knew of an upcoming Crisis that would threaten all of existence throughout the multliverse. He realized this other Earth needed it's own team of champions, much like Earth-B's Powerkid Police. Unlike Earth B, Earth-5 is a world without super-beings, but in their place are magical beings and nonpowered heroes.
The team Vonski chose consisted of Doctor Deadly, a hero whose mystical powers he used to protect the galaxy; the Unknown, a vigilante who operates in Worcester and was inspired by Vonki's brother the Great Unknown; Peter Lebane, a private investigator whose cases pit him against super criminals; Blacky Falkner, former sidekick of the Unknown and later parter of Lebane; Doctor Mystery, a very mysterious international adventurer; and Wonder Dog, a robotic dog who was a gift to Doctor Mystery from another vigilante who operated in a big city in the 1970s.
This team traveled to Earth-B to seek out the Powerkid Police, so they could join forces in the upcoming Crisis. The Heroes of Earth were part of the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths. While they were on Earth-B with the Powerkid Police their world was destroyed by anti-matter. (Actually, that's not really true, but it was what they believed.)
They were present on the Monitor's satellite, and battled the Anti-Monitor on the moon of Qward.
And they then joined with Earth-B's heroes to stop Doctor Deadly (the bad one) from destroying all reality.
In the aftermath, the Heroes of Earth found themselves without a home, stranded on a world where they did not exist. In order to help their transition, he maxed his powers by altering reality so that these heroes had always existed on Earth-B.
Following this, the Heroes of Earth, who had only joined forces for the Crisis, disbanded.
Doctor Deadly retired, after having seen a world where his name is used for evil.
The Unknown had the hardest time adapting. Unlike the other heroes, the Unknown existed on both worlds. Thus, Earth-5's Unknown was a duplicate. He had no place. He later joined a team called the Mystery Men and tragically died on a mission.
Peter Lebane also had a duplicate, but Vonski's spell had actually merged the two together since their lives had been so close to being the same (whereas the two Unknowns had a lot of different adventures). Following this, Peter rejoined the police force.
Blacky also merged with his other universe version. When he reached adulthood, he would join the police force.
Doctor Mystery and Wonder Dog had no counterparts, so their lives and history were fully integrated, though Doctor Mystery and his partner seemed to disappear for many years, not returning until the rise of Adam.
Just over a year after the Crisis, a new version of the team would form, which would be the most well remembered.
In the fall of 1986, Doctor Deadly (the bad one) was at it again, with another attempt to conquer Earth. Several heroes gathered together to defeat him. Since the Powerkid Police had recently disbanded, Allorin Vonski proposed the forming of a new Heroes of Earth to fill the void. Not all heroes involved in that adventure joined, but those who did were Luke Devil, Angela (Princess of Booer), Powerkid, Zap, and Speed Demon. Shortly after, scientist John Barstaman was recruited, and then the new vigilante called Justice. Three Space Heroes from the late 21st century came back in time to join the team as well. The final addition to this version of the team was a new hero called Captain Hero.
The team moved into an underground section of the corporate headquarters of Allen Industries, owned by Matthew Allen, an alter ego of Allorin Vonski. It was based in Hadenville, OH, which Vonski claimed was a mystical nexus.
In late 1988, the team went through some major changes. Powerkid retired from heroing after hurting emotionally from the betrayal of society during the time when super heroes were banned in America. Zap had lost his powers for unknown reasons (which were later revealed to be due to the death of his father, Zeus.) Justice took a leave to focus on finding the headquarters of the New Power Organization. And the Space Heroes had to return to their own time to deal with a threat from some evil (fake robot) Time Lords.
And then betrayal. Captain Hero turned out to be an agent of Doctor Deadly, meant to infiltrate the team to steal the Universal Transponder, a device old as time that has the power to create or destroy. Captain Hero did steal the transponder, but not before attacking Barstaman, where he ripped out his tongue and pulled off his arms and legs, which where all later replaced with robotics.
While most of the team left to Death Planet to retrieve the device, Speed Demon remained behind to help Vonski, who was distracted by something he couldn't reveal (which was actually a matter involving the near destruction of his race.) That was when, Shon Crest the Speed Demon found himself face to face with Shon Crest the Speed Demon.
It turned out that the person who had been on team, was not Shon Crest, but really his clone, who had also been called Jamie Crest. Shon, who had been thought dead, was so outraged at the identity theft he killed his clone brother, who then just dematerialized, since he was a magical clone created by Vonski.
Crest then replaced his clone on the team.
In 1991, Powerman, Zap, and Volt Man were temporarily on the team, until Powerman "died" (he got better) and Zap and Volt Man lost their powers. Then with the break up of Justice League International, Vonski saw a void to fill, and got international UN status for his team, and the Heroes of Earth then gained bases all over the world, with their main headquarters in Canberra, Australia. They also gained a very large membership, as every hero on Earth was made a member of the team, so that any one can be called to service when needed.
But they still had a core team, which now had consisted of Allorin Vonski, Luke Devlin, Angela, and Barstaman. Crest had left to take on his personal mission against the evil Master.
But their core membership was added to by Starfire, former member of the Teen Titans, and the martial artist Lady Shiva. They were also joined by a new hero called Captain Zippy, who was a heroic vampire. Barstaman even helped him overcome his aversion to sunlight. Also joining the team was Barbara Van Helsing, a vampire hunter who was watching Zippy closely to see if he was truly reformed. And Powerwoman was a member of the Boor race who joined under the recommendation of Powerman.
In the summer of 1991, Maureen Wrigley went crazy and blew up the Canberra headquarters, and this led the UN to revoke the Heroes' international status. The team was forced to move into a new headquarters...the home of John Barstaman's parents and five siblings (which included his sister Rachel aka Marvel). It was crowded and chaotic to say the least.
Sadly, this new team was killed by the Powerkid Haters at the end of 1992.
Three years later, the mutant Adam rose to power and took over the world. He reinstituted the Heroes of Earth as his personal honor guard. The new team was the former members of the Champions, led by the new Powerkid and the new Zap. The team served the evil Adam against their will due to his powerful mind control. However, when Powerman returned from a self imposed exile, he was able to free the Heroes from Adam's control, and Adam was defeated. The team was disbanded.
Two years ago, the classic team was reformed. During the Crisis of the year before, the Cosmic Ones had to resurrect all deceased super-heroes. Thus, Vonski, Luke Devlin, Angela, Marvel, Captain Zippy, Barbara Van Helsing, and the new Justice (Michelle Wrigley, formerly Powerkid II) joined together with headquarters back in Allen Industries in Hadenville. Though Michelle has retired from heroics, the remainder of the team is still active today.
Comments:
When I first created the Heroes of Earth, this was my first ever two part story. (I had done stories that later had sequels and stories that hinted at things to come, but never one story in two parts.) Their first appearance in the Powerkid Police was an homage to the JLA/JSA crossovers. I had no idea of course that the Crisis on Infinite Earths was coming and that this would unintentionally serve as a prelude.
Earth-5, the world they came from, was made different from my super-hero world by being the world of non powered vigilantes, detectives, and magic users.
The next incarnation was inspired by Keith Giffen's Justice League, which came out of Legends. This heroes of earth came out of a four month crossover event called Heroes, which took place in Doctor Deadly Vs., Powerkid, Vonski Presents, Star Patrol, Super Spotlight, and Heroes. At the end, Heroes continued on as Heroes of Earth (after one issue in between titled Heroes of the People.)
This series lasted from 1986 to 1992. They went international in 1991, as a tribute to the JLI that was going through it's "Breakdowns" storyline, and an homage to the All-Star Squadron, in that I allowed every hero on Earth to be a member. It truly was the heroes of earth.
The destruction of their headquarters was actually part of a storyline going on at the time in Powerman, but for the Heroes, it had comical repercussions as a normal family had to share their home with a super-hero team. (Perhaps funnier to me, since the Barstamans were based on a very real family that I was very close to.)
In December 1992, the team was killed as part of an event called Death of the Super Universe, which had a huge death count, but it's comics, so almost everyone has returned.
The four issue mini-series Timeline in 1998 was the next use of the name, but the team was very different.
And recently, I took advantage of the aftermath of Crisis to revive the Heroes of Earth as part of the Super Explosion. And it's been a lot of fun to have the old gang back together again.
