The Seven Soldiers of Victory (English)

Seven Soldiers of Victory Archives (DC, 2005 series) #2 [September] 2007

Disambiguation: Golden Age team First Published in: 1941 Creator List Creator Name List Issue List Cover List Series List Feature List Character List Sequences List Name: The Seven Soldiers of Victory Additional Names: The Law's Legionnaires

Description:

The master criminal known as The Hand learns he is terminally ill. He gathers together five other criminals (Big Caesar, the Dummy, the Needle, Professor Merlin, and the Red Dragon) to commit crimes across the U.S. as the Hand's Five Fingers. The Hand challenges the five criminals' enemies (the Crimson Avenger, the Vigilante, the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, the Green Arrow and Speedy, and the Shining Knight) to try and stop them. The heroes defeat the Hand's Five Fingers, and the Hand himself is apparently killed. Deciding they work well together, the heroes form the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

Notes:

The Seven Soldiers of Victory, also known as the Law's Legionnaires, first appeared in Leading Comics (DC, 1941 series) #1 (Winter 1941). The team consisted of the Vigilante, the Shining Knight, the Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy, the Crimson Avenger, Green Arrow, and Speedy. The Crimson Avenger's sidekick, Wing, was considered an honorary eighth member. They were also occasionally assisted by the Vigilante's friend, Billy Gunn.

In the Post-Crisis continuity, Green Arrow and Speedy were removed from the team's history. Different writers replaced them with various heroes. In Infinity, Inc. (DC, 1984 series) #51 (June 1988), Billy Gunn (the Vigilante's sidekick) and Wing were full team members (this is the only appearance where Billy Gunn was a full member). In Young All-Stars (DC, 1987 series) #27 (July 1989), Stuff (also the Vigilante's sidekick) and Wing were the replacement members, and the Squire (the Shining Knight's sidekick) was the unofficial eighth member. In Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. (DC, 1999 series) #9 (April 2000), Stuff and the Spider were the two final members. In DCU: Legacies (DC, 2010 series) #2 (August 2010), T.N.T. and Dan the Dyna-Mite were the sixth and seventh member. In Infinite Frontier (DC, 2021 series) #0 (May 2021), a time-displaced Green Arrow and Speedy returned the roster to its original line-up.

According to the checklist in DC 100-Page Super Spectacular (DC, 1971 series) #6 ([September] 1971), the Seven Soldiers of Victory were also called the Law's Legionnaires. However, the only time that name was ever used in their original Golden Age adventures was on the cover of Leading Comics (DC, 1941 series) #4 (Fall 1942). The two other times they were called the Law's Legionnaires were in Adventure Comics (DC, 1938 series) #443 (January-February 1976) and in the All-Star Squadron preview in Justice League of America (DC, 1960 series) #193 (August 1981). Oddly enough, the members were referred to as Legionnaires regularly in their Golden Age stories (Leading Comics #2-13 and Adventure Comics #438, #443), but there was no real indication as to why they were called that. Alternate names used were the Soldiers of Victory and the Seven Soldiers; they were also named the Legion of Seven in Leading Comics (DC, 1941 series) #2 (Spring 1942), the Seven Soldiers of Justice in issue #3 (Summer 1942), and the Seven Legionnaires in issue #4 (Fall 1942) and #5 (Winter 1942).