Fox Universe

The Seven Soldiers of Wonder (Fall 1941)

After centuries of being mystically frozen in time, the immortal Sir Richard, Earl of Warwick, who legend knew as the Golden Knight, awoke in the summer of 1941.

Finding his wife, Alice of Warwick, who had walked the centuries without him, he became acclimated to this new age - although much of it baffled him, there was one appeal. He had found himself in a new Age of Heroes - men and women that this era knew as "science heroes" After a few encounters with modern criminals, the Golden Knight found himself lauded by the newspapers as the latest science hero. Many admired him but dismissed his claim to be the same knight who had fought under Richard the Lionheart during the Crusades.

Alice, guilty that she had abandoned her husband to his fate in the time of the Tudor queen, Elizabeth I took him in despite the love they once shared being a distant memory. She contacted The Dart, a science hero who was similarly frozen in time until awakening in the spring of 1940. Caius Martius had acclimated to America, though he still held true to the ways of ancient Rome - he was glad to help out another "warrior of reknown" and so, Sir Richard ended up staying a while with The Dart and his 12 year old modern day sidekick, Ace.

Ace was also acquainted with several teen and pre teen heroes, including Buddy, the young Eagle and Sparky, the kid sidekick of the Blue Beetle.

Through these connections, the Golden Knight met The Eagle and the Blue Beetle, and when a threat arose that required a gathering of heroes, Sir Richard called upon The Dart and Ace to "summon more champions." The Eagle and Buddy, and the Blue Beetle responded and the case took all six heroes to the midwest, where they encountered the modern day cowboy hero, The Black Rider.

That day in October 1941, realising there were seven champions or soldiers, the Golden Knight declared that these men of wonder were "like unto the Seven Soldiers of Christendom" - he proposed the "Seven Soldiers of Wonder" form a pact to act as brothers and never refuse the clarion call to action in the cause of justice.

Over the next several months, the Soldiers did exactly that, being active in the midwest, once in Chicago to aid the Blue Beetle and several times in and around New York City, where five of them dwelt - Sir Richard was still staying with Alice in her Manhattan penthouse.

Sparky was declared the unnofficial 8th Soldier.

On December 6th 1941, the Soldiers joined most of the science hero community of America to defend New York against an attack by The Sorceress of Zoom, who had allied with "dread foes" that the knight knew well - creatures from the Realm Beyond, an extra-dimensional vast universe of connected spheres, which housed old enemies like Lucifer and the Demi-Things.

The Soldiers helped valiantly, but suffered injuries, with the Eagle ending up in hospital with broken legs.

They met a few times in the coming months, but when a government initiative to form every science hero into a vast organization expansion of the Mystery Men, as The Mystery Men of America, not only were all eight heroes invited to join, but The Eagle was named co chairman alongside The Green Mask, a position he held until the group disbanded on the anniversary of its founding - active March 8th 1942 to March 8th 1946.

Although the Soldiers grouped together for a few missions during the war, the team mostly ceased to exist until after the global conflict. Later in the war they suffered their first loss with the death of Sir Richard. As a result of her grief, loss and guilt, Alice donned his armor for the last year and a half of the war, as the second Golden Knight, but retired immediately after VJ Day.

From 1945 to 1946, the team gathered a handful of times, but mostly went about their separate lives.

But in October 1948, after having relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada a while earlier, The Eagle and Buddy, the Young Eagle were embroiled in what appeared to be a routine case involving local mobs - but as they got deeper into it, they realised that an old enemy, empowered with cosmic energy was involved. For the first time in years the call went out to the Soldiers, with The Dart and Ace speeding through the air to the Eagles assistance. Closer to Nevada, the Black Rider galloped through the night to reunite with his old friends, and in Chicago ... The Blue Beetle was too busy, but he sent Sparky in his place. Alice point blank refused to come and hung up on the Eagle.