Axis Amerika! - retconned post CoIE "Golden Age" villain team Appreciation 2021

[MajorHoy]

First appearance = Young All-Stars #1 (June 1987)


with an image similar to the cover of All-Star Squadron #1 (September 1981):


And from Who's Who Update '87 Vol. 1 (August 1987),

[Lonewolf36]

I want to see a modern version of Horned Owl and Fledermaus redeeming the names as heroes of Germany and possible members of either or both Batman, Inc and the Global Guardians. They could also be paired with Wild Huntsman, Karl Zorn and Black Hole as a German based hero team.

[Jon Clark]

If the team hadn't been such a complete "Nazi counterparts of Earth-2 characters erased by Crisis" and used as a counterpart to the Young All-Stars who used the same concept (minus the Nazi), I think they might have worked better. As they stand the poor team is overshadowed by the poor reception YAS got as a title. If they'd been used earlier when the All-Squadron was at it's best, I suspect they'd be better remembered.

And 30+ years later I'm still wondering just how Hugo Danner connects to Ubermensch. I can take a pretty good guess that it was from some random encounter during Hugo's time in World War I, but I have to wonder if Roy Thomas didn't have some more interesting twist up his sleeve.

[Aahz]

They look actually more like the Nazi Counterparts for the JL.

Horned Owl and Fledermaus => Batman and Robin
Usil => Green Arrow
Gudra => Wonder Woman
Übermensch => Superman
Sea Wolf => Aquaman

Btw. they should really fix the spelling for "Großhorneule" and change Sea Wolf into "Seewolf".

[Jon Clark]

They look actually more like the Nazi Counterparts for the JL.

Horned Owl and Fledermaus => Batman and Robin
Usil => Green Arrow
Gudra => Wonder Woman
Übermensch => Superman
Sea Wolf => Aquaman

Btw. they should really fix the spelling for "Großhorneule" and change Sea Wolf into "Seewolf".

The team was Roy Thomas' way of replacing the Earth-2 versions of those characters after they were removed from use after Crisis. And each had a rough counterpart in Young All-Stars who also was a replacement for one of those 5 (6) characters.

Iron Munro + Ubermensch = Superman (Kal-L)
Neptune Perkins (existing character) + Tsunami + Sea Wolf= Aquaman (little seen Earth 2 version)
Fury I + Gurda = Original Wonder Woman
Horned Owl/Fledermuas + Flying Fox = Batman & Robin
Usil + Tigress (later villainess Huntress)= Green Arrow & Speedy

[DrNewGod]

If you grant GA's one appearance on the show, they're also Hitler's Superfriends.

[scary harpy]

I wish they hadn't killed Fledermaus. What a waste.

[MajorHoy]

They look actually more like the Nazi Counterparts for the JL.

And the reason you might think that is because the Golden Age / Earth-2 versions of Batman and Robin, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Superman, and Aquaman were removed from continuity because of their more recent "Earth-1" counterparts that were still current in DC stories at the time of CoIE.

[ducklord]

The team was Roy Thomas' way of replacing the Earth-2 versions of those characters after they were removed from use after Crisis. And each had a rough counterpart in Young All-Stars who also was a replacement for one of those 5 (6) characters.

Iron Munro + Ubermensch = Superman (Kal-L)
Neptune Perkins (existing character) + Tsunami + Sea Wolf= Aquaman (little seen Earth 2 version)
Fury I + Gurda = Original Wonder Woman
Horned Owl/Fledermuas + Flying Fox = Batman & Robin
Usil + Tigress (later villainess Huntress)= Green Arrow & Speedy

What amuses me about Axis America is that it somewhat confirms my pet theory that the Earth-2 Speedy survived the CoIE.

Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Robin, and Green Arrow all got Axis America "replacements" but not Speedy. He's alive, I tells ya!

[MajorHoy]

from Who's Who Update '88 Vol. 1 (August 1988):