Fox Universe

Sagitarii the Archer (Fall of 1942)

First appearance - Samson 6, September 1941

Alter ego - Dirk Delancey

Group affiliation - Mystery Men of America

Note: Dirk Delancey was originally just a non costumed adventurer. His Sagitarii career, name and look is a unique addition to the Earth-F continuity.

PRISON AND ADVENTURE

Dirk Delancey, scion of a wealthy family, was still very young (barely twenty) when he was accused of murder. He was in fact innocent and railroaded after a drunken rival called Buck Zee attacked him with a cane, jealous of Dirk's engagement to the beautiful "Honey" Drexel. During the scuffle, Buck slipped and cracked his head - hostile witnesses made sure Dirk was charged with premeditated murder.

Later that year of 1941, Dirk was facing a swift death penalty, when he decided to break out of prison. Fortunately he had good friends - family retainer Gigget was waiting with a car and they had arranged to meet Honey aboard the Delancey family yacht.

And that could have been the start of Dirk's life as a fugitive, except a storm blew their vessel off course, into unknown waters, and they were boarded by Nazi sailors.

Punching the bad guys out, Dirk discovered that the Nazis were holding two American pilots aboard their boat, and he quickly came up with a plan to use the Nazi uniforms to get aboard the German ship and rescue the sailors. He does so, just in time as the Nazis were about to kill the fliers to prevent their spy mission from being discovered.

However, his case had been quite infamous and the pilots recognized Dirk. Never-the-less Dirk felt duty bound to safely deliver them to the American battleship they had come from, even though he suspected he would be taken into custody.

But it turned out the pilots had discovered a secret island base the Nazis were using to spy and conduct sabotage missions from. They had lost the exact location after being shot down, but Dirk's crew had passed it and he knew the coordinates.

The US Captain, fearing an international incident called Washington DC for instructions and was connected to Roosevelt himself, who authorized a raid to capture all enemy combatants. As a result of this, Dirk was given not only a pardon, but recruited as a special operative of the US government.

SCIENCE HERO

In March of 1942, Dirk was assigned to the support crew of the newly formed Mystery Men of America, along with other capable adventurers, pilots, scientists and military and intelligence personnel.

But his aspirations ran higher - inspired by the heroics of the costumed heroes, many of whom he quickly befriended, Dirk wished to join their ranks.

And one night as he was in deep discussion with his new friend, The Dart, a science hero who hailed from Ancient Rome, Caius Martius inquired about his skillset. Dirk told him he had grown up hunting and using all sorts of weapons. He had won medals for his bowmanship.

The Dart told him about the ancient archer corps of Rome known as the Sagitarii. Dirk was fascinated and with Dart's help fashioned a costumed identity, calling himself Sagitarii the Archer.

He then requested membership in the Mystery Men of America. Co Chairmen, Green Mask and The Eagle devised a raft of tests for their new applicant and he passed with flying colors, earning provisional membership.

In the spring of 1943, having served admirably as a science hero, Sagitarii was awarded full membership and stayed as a Mystery Man until the group's dissolution on the anniversary of their founding (March 10th 1946).

From 1946 onward he continued to work as a government affiliated solo hero, with relative autonomy. But in 1950 he was called to serve in a special unit during the Korean conflict, mustering out in 1953.

After that, Dirk continued as an independent solo hero through the period between what was known as the golden and silver ages.

He was still active when the silver age started in 1959, and a new smaller grouping of the Mystery Men of America was founded by Wonderman, Black Fury, Marga, The Lynx, Flame and Flame Girl, Navy Jones and Lunar, with Princess Coral as a reserve member.

Early in 1960, Sagitarii became the first non founding new recruit to the team, and remained with them for decades on and off.

In 1964, following a chronal incident, Dirk was one of dozens of science heroes who had their age altered by chronal energy. As he was de-aged over twenty years, he was able to continue his career well into the bronze age.