The WIP "Whizz-verse"

I like the idea of there being a secret rule that all superheroes had to display their nationality just like a soldier's uniform is unique to his country. That would explain how the superheroes could move around warzones so easily.

This is what I was thinking of:

Wikipedia wrote:

In military conflicts, espionage is considered permissible as many nations recognizes the inevitability of opposing sides seeking intelligence each about the dispositions of the other. To make the mission easier and successful, soldiers or agents wear disguises to conceal their true identity from the enemy while penetrating enemy lines for intelligence gathering. However, if they are caught behind enemy lines in disguises, they are not entitled to prisoner-of-war status and subject to prosecution and punishment—including execution.

The Hague Convention of 1907 addresses the status of wartime spies, specifically within "Laws and Customs of War on Land" (Hague IV); October 18, 1907: CHAPTER II Spies". Article 29 states that a person is considered a spy who, acts clandestinely or on false pretenses, infiltrates enemy lines with the intention of acquiring intelligence about the enemy and communicate it to the belligerent during times of war. Soldiers who penetrates enemy lines in proper uniforms for the purpose of acquiring intelligence are not considered spies but are lawful combatants entitled to be treated as prisoners of war upon capture by the enemy. Article 30 states that a spy captured behind enemy lines may only be punished following a trial. However, Article 31 provides that if a spy successfully rejoined his own military and is then captured by the enemy as a lawful combatant, he cannot be punished for his previous acts of espionage and must be treated as a prisoner of war. Note that this provision does not apply to citizens who committed treason against their own country or co-belligerents of that country and may be captured and prosecuted at any place or any time regardless whether he rejoined the military to which he belongs or not or during or after the war.

The ones that are excluded from being treated as spies while behind enemy lines are escaping prisoners of war and downed airmen as international law distinguishes between a disguised spy and a disguised escaper. It is permissible for these groups to wear enemy uniforms or civilian clothes in order to facilitate their escape back to friendly lines so long as they do not attack enemy forces, collect military intelligence, or engage in similar military operations while so disguised. Soldiers who are wearing enemy uniforms or civilian clothes simply for the sake of warmth along with other purposes rather than engaging in espionage or similar military operations while so attired is also excluded from being treated as unlawful combatants.

Saboteurs are treated as spies as they too wear disguises behind enemy lines for the purpose of waging destruction on enemy's vital targets in addition to intelligence gathering. For example, during World War II, eight German agents entered the U.S. in June 1942 as part of Operation Pastorius, a sabotage mission against U.S. economic targets. Two weeks later, all were arrested in civilian clothes by the FBI thanks to two German agents betraying the mission to the U.S. Under the Hague Convention of 1907, these Germans were classified as spies and tried by a military tribunal in Washington D.C. On August 3, 1942, all eight were found guilty and sentenced to death. Five days later, six were executed by electric chair at the District of Columbia jail. Two who had given evidence against the others had their sentences reduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prison terms. In 1948, they were released by President Harry S. Truman and deported to the American Zone of occupied Germany.

The U.S. codification of enemy spies is Article 106 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. This provides a mandatory death sentence if a person captured in the act is proven to be "lurking as a spy or acting as a spy in or about any place, vessel, or aircraft, within the control or jurisdiction" of the U.S. Armed Forces or industrial plants and other institutions employed by the U.S. in aiding the war effort.

I get it now!

Without their patriotic uniforms, they could rightfully be executed for entering Germany.

Yeah, that's my justification for why so many different heroes in WWII wore brightly-coloured uniforms with their national flags/ colours on. That, and the fact that it helps them to provide an inspirational figure for the troops.

So in my universe, all the patriotic heroes like The Shield, American Crusader, Fighting Yank, etc, are all on the front lines, fighting in the war. Most of the rest of the heroes are at home, dealing with domestic crime and saboteurs. Some of them get used on special missions into neutral countries, generally trying to take on Nazi occultists like the Black Sun organisation, with some pulpy adventures.

That's really clever, Whizz. I don't think I've ever seen anyone take that tact before.

Thank you very much. I'm planning to have a division between military heroes and civilian heroes, with how the military ones deal with peace time, and also with my own take on the whole "superhero registration" debate.

Do any of you guys know about Romania in WWII? Basically, early in the war, there was a fascist coup, and a dictator took control of the country. Then towards the end of the war, there was a counter-coup, the king returned to power, and Romania joined the Allies.

In my version, Dracula is behind the fascist coup, having decided to side with Hitler in order to gain power for himself and more land for Romania.

During the war, Frankenstein's monster stays in Switzerland, where he can be largely removed from the petty wars of humans, but still gather information and pull strings behind the scenes as needed.

I had never heard of Romania in WWII until I read this.

Dracula is a nice choice for a fascist leader though considering his pride in being a descendant of Attila the Hun.

Very cool, Whizz. And toward the end of the war, Turkey came in on the side of the Allies, and Dracula HATED the Turks, which would increase his determination to defeat the Allies. And in Stoker's novel, Dracula was very much a behind-the-scenes manipulative type with and aristocratic streak a mile wide, so your idea TOTALLY fits the character. The fact that he'd help crush England, the place where he was handed his one defeat, would just be a plus...

Are you planning on including other PD literary vampires who might be Dracula's lieutenants?

I was trying to remember where I got the idea from about Vlad's connection to gypsies, and them being tied in to his becoming a vampire, as I felt that Dracula hating gypsies would tie in nicely with Hitler's views on them. But I think that I may have made that up, so it will probably get changed; Romani gypsies are more likely to be Vlad's "people", and perhaps he will offer them shelter in Romania, showing that his partnership with Hitler was based more on mutual gain than shared ideals.

I have been going through Wikipedia looking for suitable vampire characters to throw in. I will also be having the concept of "strigoi" and "moroi", the "immortal" and "mortal" vampires. Dracula with be strigoi, so even if killed, he will eventually return, and he is far more powerful than the moroi, who cannot return once staked/ beheaded/ burned up by sunlight. This vampire dichotomy will be tied in to the concept of bloodlines explaining a lot of superpowers, so Vlad will have been 'special' even before being turned into a vampire. So the strigoi are basically the super-vamps.

So, here's what I've got so far, my rough timeline:

The Creator(s)/ The Universe.

The Builders/ The Primordial Ones create the Earth and other planets. (First order of divine beings). Includes crazy, Lovecraftian gods.

The Titans and their equivalents. (Second order of divine beings).

The Rulers/ celestial civilisations - Olympians, Asgardians, Heliopolitans, Mesopotamian gods, Celtic gods, angels & djinn, etc. (Third order of divine beings).

The rise of humanity, and the gradual deterioration of the Earth's dimensional portals. Over time, celestial figures are forced to retreat into their own dimensions, and only the most powerful and determined (or else lucky/ unlucky) can cross the barriers. However, the impact of these powerful beings lives on in their bloodlines, thanks to many of them having relationships with humans and producing demi-god offspring. These celestial genes lead to many outstanding individuals throughout history.

c11,000 BC – The "Black Knight" satellite is placed into orbit around the Earth, with a dual role of observing the progress of humanity, whilst warning extraterrestrials not to interfere with the Earth's development until such time as humanity was deemed ready.

C6th – life of King Arthur.

C8th – voyages of Sinbad.

1095 - Pope Urban II declares the First Crusade with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the Holy Lands.

1096 - the First Crusade begins.

1101 – b. Count Zoraster Rorret.

1189 - the Third Crusade begins.

1192 - end of the Third Crusade.

1194 - Wilfred of Ivanhoe and Robin Hood compete at a tournament at Ashby de la Zouch castle.

1198 – Death of Robert, Earl of Huntingdon, believed to be the first Robin Hood. May have been Robert Paynel, half-brother of Simon de Senlis III, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, 5th Earl of Northampdon.

1199 - d. King Richard I (6th April).

1265 – Roger Godberd is outlawed for fighting against King Henry III at the Battle of Evesham.

1267 – Roger Godberd sets up a community in Sherwood Forest and adopts the identity of Robin Hood.

C14th – life of William Tell.

1476/ 1477 – Death of Vlad the Impaler, in unknown circumstances. It seems likely that he had foreseen that his death was close, and had invoked some dark force in order to transform himself into a vampire, but this event may have occurred earlier. It is reported that Vlad was beheaded, and displayed on a stake; perhaps his killers were aware that he was already a vampire, and believed that beheading him would prevent him rising again.

1534 – Henry VIII officially becomes the head of the Church in England, and creates the Knights of the Royal Order of St. George as the Church of England's equivalent of the Catholic Church's monster-hunting orders. They are known by the nickname “The Dragon-slayers”.*

1590 – Roanoke Colony found mysteriously abandoned (18th August).

C17th – Sir Francis Varney becomes a vampire.
Robert Benton becomes the Black Terror, believed to be the first of his line.

c1620 – Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed "Wichfinder General", is born.

C18th – Victor Frankenstein brings his Monster to life.

c1705 – b. Dick Turpin.

1721 – The landmass of Caprona is discovered (and named) by the Italian explorer Caproni.

1739 – d. Dick Turpin.

1749 – b. Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (2nd June).

1749 – The Bow Street Runners – perhaps London's first professional police force – are founded.

1788 – First recorded attack attributed to "The London Monster", reported to have attacked attractive, wealthy women by pricking or stabbing them.

1789 – Start of the French Revolution, during which Scaramouche is active.
The office of United States Marshal is formed (24th September).

1792 – The Scarlet Pimpernel is active during the French Revolution.

1795 – d. Count Alessandro di Cagliostro (26th August).

1799 – End of the French Revolution.

1801 – Marie Laveau, future Voodoo Queen, is born (10th September).

1803 – Sightings of the Hammersmith Ghost first recorded.

1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel born (9th April).

1817 – Birth of Allan Quatermain.

1821 – Don Diego de la Vega assumes the role of Zorro.

1823 – The creation of what would later become the Texas Rangers.

1829 – The Metropolitan Police Force is formed.

1837 – The first sightings of Spring-Heeled Jack in London (October).

1839 – The Bow Street Runners are disbanded.

1841 - C. Auguste Dupin solves The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Official reports state that the killer is an orangutan, but the truth is that the perpetrator was some sort of ape-man such as the Mangani, or possibly a primitive form of human as found on Caspak.

c1847 – Mycroft Holmes is born.

1847 – b. Thomas Edison (11th February).
Formation of the San Francisco Patrol Special Police.

1850 – The North-Western Police Agency – later known as the Pinkerton National Detective Agency – is set up in Chicago.

c1853 – Dr. John Watson is born.

1854 – Sherlock Holmes is born (6th January?).

1854 – Mysterious hoof-like tracks - referred to as "The Devil's Footprints" - are discovered in the snow in Devon, reportedly leading for a distance of between 40 and 100 miles, and on top of roofs and high walls (February).

1856 – b. Nikola Tesla (10th July).

1859 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel dies (15th September).

1863 – Professor Lidenbrock journeys into the depths of the Earth under Iceland.

c1865 – Escapees from a Confederate jail wind up on a mysterious island in the Pacific, and encounter (a) Captain Nemo – Prince Dakkar – who dies.

1865 – Confederate Officer John Gullivar and Union soldier Carter Jones find themselves transported to the planet Barsoom, which they mistake for Mars.*

1866 – The Nautilus is mistaken for a sea monster, and is hunted by the US Navy frigate Abraham Lincoln. The new Captain Nemo is possibly a Polish noble.

1867 – Suspected birth of the villain Fantômas.

1871 – The vampire Carmilla Karnstein is killed in Austria by vampire expert Baron Vordenburg and the rest of his party.

1872 – There are reports of "The Peckham Ghost", linked with Spring-Heeled Jack (November).

1873 – "The Park Ghost" in Sheffield is also identified as Spring-Heeled Jack.

1876 – A sea serpent is allegedly captured off the coast of Cornwall. It is given the name Morgawr (meaning "sea giant" in Cornish).

1877 – A sentry at Aldershot barracks claims that Spring-Heeled Jack shrugged off gunfire, slapped the soldier around the face, and then bounded off into the countryside (August). He is later reported in Lincoln, again seeming impervious to gunfire.

1881 – d. Marie Laveau (15th June).

1886 – Dr. Henry Jekyll first takes the potion that sees him transform into Edward Hyde.

1888 – Edward Hyde commits the Whitechapel murders, and is captured by the Order of St. George. His existence is kept secret, and so the true identity of Jack the Ripper is not released.*
John Clayton, the future Tarzan, is born (22nd November).
Sighting of Spring-Heeled Jack in Liverpool.

1889 – b.  Adolf Hitler (20th April).

1893 – Dracula travels to England. He is believed to have been killed.

1889 – Nikola Tesla's radio experiments appear to detect extraterrestrial transmissions, which are later connected to the theories about the Black Knight satellite.

1900 – b. Heinrich Himmler (7th October).

1904 – Sighting of Spring-Heeled Jack in Liverpool.
Van Helsing encounters vampires in rural China.

1906 – Morgawr sighted again.
Herbert West and his partner set up practice in the New England town of Bolton, MA.
The mysterious Dr. Omega, his assistant Fred, and his neighbour Denis Borel somehow travel to Barsoom in a vehicle called 'Cosmos'.
Sherlock Holmes encounters Arsene Lupin for the first time.

1908 – The Bureau of Investigation is founded.
First recorded appearance of the French hero The Nyctalope.

1909 – Formation of the Secret Service Bureau (October).

1912 – Professor George Edward Challenger, Professor Summerlee, Lord John Roxton, Edward Malone, and others discover Maple-White Land.

1914 – John Aman is amongst the orphans chosen by the Tibetan Council of Seven to be trained as protectors of humanity.
The Home Section of the Secret Service Bureau becomes Section 5 of the Directorate of Military Operations (April). The Foreign Section of the Secret Service Bureau becomes Section 6 of the Directorate of Military Operations.

1916 – The motley crew of the U-33 find themselves in Caprona/ Caspak.
Section 5 of the Directorate of Military Operations becomes Military Intelligence Section 5 (MI5) (September). Section 6 of the Directorate of Military Operations becomes Military Intelligence Section 6 (MI6).
b. Daniel Garret (6th December).

1918 – Captain John Battle is wounded on the Western Front.
Baron Eric von Emmelman is shot down, crashing in a swamp near the small town of Rodz in Poland (12th October).
Thule Society formed in Germany.

1919 – Doctor Q (Quentin Locke, Sr.) builds a suit of powered armour.

c1920 – Bart Hill's parents are killed on holiday in Australia. He is taken in by a travelling circus.
MI6 begins to be referred to as the Secret Intelligence Service.

1921 – Herbert West is reportedly disemboweled and then decapitated, but his body is not located.
An archaeological expedition led by Sir Joseph Whemple locates and revives the mummy of ancient Egyptian priest Imhotep.

1923 – The International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) founded.

1929 – MI5 becomes the Defence Security Service.

1931 – The Defence Security Service becomes the Security Service.
d. Thomas Edison (18th October).

c1933 – Richard Wentworth starts fighting crime as The Spider.
Nero Wolfe (possible son of Arsene Lupin) is active as a private detective, with his partner, Archie Goodwin.
An expedition to a mysterious island in the Pacific results in the crew returning to the United States with an incredibly large ape, likely related to the species Gigantopithecus blacki, remains of which have been found in China. The ape later becomes enraged, and is destroyed. The crew recount tales of dinosaurs and other creatures inhabiting the island, but their stories as dismissed as fanciful.

c1935 – Brian O'Brien begins operating as The Clock in Chicago.
Bart Hill returns to America as part of his circus' tour. Some of his relatives recognise the resemblance during a performance in New York, and he is reunited with his family.

1935 – The Ahnenerbe institution is founded in Germany on 1st July.
The Bureau of Investigation is renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1936 – Nazi agents locate and capture the Ark of the Covenant, despite the heroic efforts of an American archaeology professor, but are destroyed when they attempt to harness its power.

1938 – Germany annexes Austria, thus bringing the Holy Lance kept in Vienna – known as the Hofburg Spear, and thought by some to be the Spear of Longinus – under the control of the Nazis.
Nazi agents continue their quest to gather powerful artifacts, but are thwarted in their attempts to secure the Holy Grail.
FBI agent Ralph Payne feels that his hands are tied working inside the law, and begins operating as the vigilante known as The Arrow.

c1939 – Tony Quinn begins operating as The Black Bat in Boston.
Dan Garret joins the New York Police Department, then goes outside the law as The Blue Beetle.
John Perry begins operating as the Black Fury.
In the German-ocupied city of Prague, reports being to spread of Pérák, the Spring Man, a character with striking similarities to Spring-Heeled Jack.

1939 – Nazi expedition to Tibet. John Aman, intrigued by the happenings in the outside world, leaves his adopted home and sets out to protect humanity as he was trained.
A mysterious figure referred to only as The Shark/ Shark-Man - previously thought of as an old sailors' myth - is confirmed to be real, as he begins to interfere with shipping and naval engagements.

1940 – Bill Norris joins the French Underground, and becomes The Grim Reaper.
Radio newscaster Marc Holmes fights crime using the identity of London.
Masterminded by Dracula, the Iron Guard and General Antonescu take control of Romania's government.*
John Perry takes Chuck Marley, son of a slain policeman, as his ward, and also as his sidekick, Kid Fury.
Jack Knapp becomes the Blue Flame.
First appearance of the hero known as Silver Streak.
News photographer Paul Patton adopts the persona of The Fox.

c1941 – Pharmacist Bob Benton becomes the latest in his family's history to take on the identity of The Black Terror.
The V-Group operates in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Actor Alan Douglas joins MI6 as Agent 99.
Nathan Hale rescued from the Black Dragon.

1941 – Wealthy Socialite Marla Drake begins operating as Miss Fury.
When her husband Harry is killed by foreign agents, Shannon Kane dedicates her life to fighting crime as the Spider Queen.

1942 – The Office of Strategic Services is formed (13th June).
America sends its military super-heroes – including Fighting Yank, The Shield, American Crusader, and American Eagle – to the front lines, and sets up some homefront heroes to fight spies, saboteurs, and seditionists in the US; many of these were the female heroes who were not permitted to serve in the theatre of war, such as Miss America, Miss Liberty, Miss Patriot, Miss Victory, and Yankee Girl, as well as male heroes including Captain Freedom, Captain Victory, and Defender.
American counter-intelligence agent Lee Ainsley fakes his own death and adopts the identity of Black Friday.
Criminology professor and crime writer John Raymond, convinced he understands how the criminal mind works, decides to take up crime-fighting as The Web.

c1943 – Captain William Battle and Dutch-American Brad Hendricks serve as fighter pilots in Europe. Hendricks is reported dead on more than one occasion, but turns up alive and well, earning him the nickname “the Ghost”.
Swiss soldier Henning Greer defends his country from Nazis as Captain Swiss (Hauptmann Schweiz/ Capitaine Suisse).

1943 – d. Nikola Tesla.

1944 – Matty Martin first known to be operating as the Reckoner. He is soon forced to retire, and Michael Shayne takes his place.

1945 – The OSS is dissolved (20th September).
d. Adolf Hitler (30th April).
d. Heinrich Himmler (23rd May).
Egyptologist Peter Ward becomes The Scarab.
The International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) revived as the International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as Interpol.

1946 – Scientist Barry Dale is transformed into Atoman.

1947 – Formation of the CIA (18th September).
An alien observer, sent to assess humanity's development following the nuclear activity of the past few years, suffers a catastrophic breakdown in his ship, and is forced to eject in an escape pod before the ship is destroyed. This being - later known as the superhero Mercury Man - lands in New Mexico, and is taken into custody by the US government.*
Roswell incident statement released (8th July).

1949 – Operation Paperclip (originally Operation Overcast) begins, with the aim of securing German scientists, engineers, and technicians (including some confirmed war criminals) for the US.

1950 – Commencement of the Korean War (25th June).

1953 – Hitler's consciousness- believed to have been transferred to another body, codenamed "Schmachenburg", at or around the time of his death- is somehow housed in an advanced robotic body known as Cerebex. He goes on a destructive rampage, before the heroes of WWII reunite to stop him.
Countess Siroon is rumoured to be a vampire.
Project MKUltra- covert US experiments with mind-control drugs and other techniques- begins, continuing on from work done in Projects Chatter and Artichoke, and linked with MKDelta and MKNaomi. (13th April).
End of the Korean War (27th July).

1954 – The Castle Bravo nuclear tests are carried out by the US in the Bikini Atoll. (1st March)
A gigantic, reptilian monster attacks Tokyo. Nuclear testing is blamed for its appearance, although alternate explanations include suggestions that the monster could be linked to the fabled lost civilisations of Mu, Lemuria or Atlantis, or perhaps even that the creature could be extraterrestrial or extradimensional in origin.

c1955 – La Araña Verde (The Green Spider) starts his crime-fighting career in Mexico.

c1956 – The creation of SHARD, an independent agency of the US government dedicated to recruiting, training, and deploying superhuman agents into federal service.*

1959 – A group at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) produced for the U.S. Department of the Army a report entitled "Project Horizon, A U.S. Army Study for the Establishment of a Lunar Military Outpost." The permanent outpost was predicted to cost $6 billion and become operational in December 1966 with twelve soldiers. This beat the USAF's Lunex Project proposals, for a manned underground base on the moon. (8th June).

1960 – Captain Allen Adam is turned into Captain Atom, in a successful attempt to replicate the process that created Atoman.
A gigantic, reptilian monster – dubbed Gorgo – rampages through a fishing village in Ireland. It is captured and taken to London, where its mother tracks it to and breaks it free.
Konga, a test-chimp at lab in London, experiences unexpected effects from super-serum trials, including growing in size, strength, and intelligence. He breaks free from the lab, killing several doctors in the process, before rampaging through London, where the military is forced to kill him.

1965 – American combat troops deployed in Vietnam (8th March). In order not to risk antagonizing the Chinese or Soviet Union, no high-profile, high-powered supers are deployed to active duty in the region.

c1966 – Eve Eden becomes a CIA operative.
British hero The Steel Sentry - secretly the descendent of Isambard Kingdom Brunel - begins operating, using a highly advanced set of powered armour.

1966 – Ted Kord succeeds Dan Garret as the Blue Beetle.
The US establishes Horizon Base on the moon (November).

1967 – Tom Holton becomes the poster-boy for SHARD's military activities, becoming known in the press as the “Super Green Beret”.

1968 – A zombie outbreak occurs in rural Pennsylvania. Connections with Herbert West's work are suspected.

1971 – Vietnam veteran Brick Reese, unstable after physical and mental trauma, becomes the motorcycle-riding vigilante Hell-Rider in Los Angeles.

1972 – 4 members of a U.S. Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha are tried and sentenced for a crime they didn't commit. They escape from a maximum security stockade and into the Los Angeles underground, where they survive as soldiers of fortune.
Soviet plans to construct the Zvezda moonbase were abandoned due to excessive cost.

c1975 – As crime in New York City rises, so does vigilante activity.
Tom Holton, the former "Super Green Beret", goes rogue from the army and becomes the latest Reckoner.*

c1979 – Worried about the rise in superhuman, supernatural, and extraterrestrial activity, the five "nuclear-weapon states" (according to the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) - the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and China - agree to work together to create an international defence force free from reliance on anything other than normal humans and technology. Pooling their resources and their research, they develop superior powered armour based on the Steel Sentry's designs, and train operators to pilot the suits as a rapid-response team- the Steel Sentinels programme.*

1982 – After the programme for advanced tech police patrol cars is scrapped as too expensive, the rich owner of one company decides to put the prototype to work fighting crime rather than letting it go to waste. He enlists a former LVPD detective to drive the vehicle, and to fight crime.

1983 – The Strategic Defense Initiative (aka "Star Wars") is proposed, publicly as a nuclear defense mechanism, but secretly as a global defense network to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial threats.

1986 – A trucker gets caught up in - and helps foil - a supernatural plot in (and under) San Francisco's Chinatown.

1987 – The Steel Sentinels programme officially goes live.

1991 – The Sovet Union is formally dissolved. (26th December).

I like how you really delved into all of your character's backstories such as implementing Robert Benton, the Black Terror of the past. Are you going to focus on the major gods and give the minor gods a lower status among the heroes or use some of the lesser known gods in important roles?

I only ask because Thor, Hercules, Ares, and Zeus are all characters that are most identified with Marvel when it comes to comics.

Yeah, I liked that I could take that silly-seeming thing about the Black Terror of the 17th century and turn that into the Black Terror as a title handed from father to son for hundreds of years. It also explains why he dresses like a pirate

As for the gods, I'm not sure how much I'm going to have them involved at the moment. but I don't want to over-use them. But I do think that the lesser-known the character, the more likely they are to make recurring appearances.

Any chance of Black Terror of Mexico showing up?

Daredevil as a member of the circus got me interested more than all of the others. With your circus take on him, I envision that yours will be a Robin/Nightwing-like character who goes on to start his own Bat-family clan. Maybe even use the Little Wise Guys for that purpose.

I'm undecided on the Black Terror of Mexico at the moment.

I figured that Daredevil will be a real daredevil, a circus acrobat and boomerang/ knife-thrower. I think he will definitely have some Dick (Grayson) in him, but more Nightwing than Robin; I see my take on him being confident - even cocky - but also very sociable, someone that can bring some of the more gruff heroes together.

I need to add some wild west heroes in, and some more variety in terms of nationality. Some of the characters that were previously white men raised abroad will get a race-lift, maybe the Holyoke Cat-Man, Black Lion, in fact a few of the animal-themed heroes.

I like your take on Daredevil. Will he be a vigilante(only works at night) or a cape(works whenever)?

I'm trying to find some wild west heroes myself, the few that I like are all essentially rip-offs of each other though.

As for the race lifting, that's a smart idea considering not every person who went to Tibet and gained powers could have possibly all been white men, especially since most natives aren't Caucasian.

It seems like Golden Age Tibet just exists to give white guys superpowers...

I need to read more original DD comics, but he seemed to be pretty well off, so I'm probably going to go with his family was rich, so he inherited money. He will have some expectations placed on him by the family business, but he can operate day and night.

However, he gets brought into a special military group, so he's off doing special missions for some of the war.

I've added The Shark, and thrown the A-Team and Big Trouble in Little China in there, along with Indiana Jones. Not sure if I'm going to make stand-ins, or leave them as vague acknowledgements.

As well as adding to the timeline, I'm trying to decide my hero teams for the '40s and '60s.

I think the '40s will have a few teams- a street-level vigilante society, probably more of a network than a team, as well as the domestic and international government-sponsored teams.

Currently I'm looking at an Avengers/ JLA type of team, based around the Charlton '60s heroes of Captain Atom, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Nightshade, and Mercury Man. Might put some of the others in too, perhaps with some legacy characters and some originals.

I see Atoman and Captain Atom as filling a similar role to Superman, and The Ray as Green Lantern. Or possibly the other way around, I don't think they will be direct replacements anyway. Mercury Man (possibly renamed The Mercurian) will be a cross between Martìan Manhunter and the Silver Surfer.
The Shark should fit in nicely, maybe a speedster such as a legacy Silver Streak. A few female characters wouldn't hurt. I envisage them as an international team, planetary defenders. Fantomah as a Storm/ Scarlet Witch/ Zatanna could be good, and gets Africa represented. Along with the Shark, she'd have times where her instincts conflicted with those of the more human members.

Sounds good, Whizz. I find that superteams can be a bit of a challenge; you have to get just the right balance (men vs. women, powered vs. nonpowered, etc.). Basing your time (even partially) on an existing team eliminates that problem.

I would see your street-level vigilante society possibly also dealing with foreign spies on US territory. Another possibility to consider that based on the pulp, serials, and comics of the day, supernatural threats were apparently running rampant during the 1940s, so maybe a group of mages to deal with such menaces might make sense....

Thanks GB. I think it's probably best to learn from the successful teams, by looking at what made the various "classic lineups" successful.

I really like the concept of The Beyond, and a kind of creeping, insidious magical/ horror presence, rather than a high-profile one. I already have ideas for European, church-sponsored teams, based around Christian knightly orders, but I need to develop alternatives for other faiths. I like some of the concepts from the Van Helsing film with Hugh Jackman, as well as in John Carpenter's Vampires, where a team of slayers are hired by - but not part of - the Catholic Church.

But so far, I've thought about "the supernatural" rather than "the magical", so I might crack on with that...

In the '40s and '50s, I will have the "home team" patriotic characters, but from the late '50s onwards, I imagine that spies will be dealt with by either actual intelligence agents (super-powered or otherwise), or by the street-level heroes. Which might lead to interesting conflicts between government-sponsored supers and the independent ones.

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Name: Robert "Bob" Benton
Alias(es): The Black Terror

Year First Active: 1941
Age When First Active: early 30s

Powers/ Abilities: Superhuman strength, agility, and resilience.
Origin Of Powers: Chemical experimentation on himself. Possibly linked to some innate ability.

Brief Description: A chemist working on a "super-soldier" type project, Bob Benton was not having any breakthroughs until, after being roughed-up by criminals he owed money to, a drop of his blood combined with the formula, reacting differently to previous tests. He realised that something in his blood was the key to making the formula work.

Key Relationships: Kid Terror - sidekick.

Name: Allen Adam
Alias(es): Captain Atom

Year First Active: 1960
Age When First Active: Early/mid-20s

Powers/ Abilities: Can absorb various types of radiation and store it within his body, giving him incredible strength, speed, resilience, the power of flight, the ability to project energy as beams/ blasts, and other powers. His body no longer needs to breathe or eat/ drink- unless he is unable to fuel himself by absorbing radiation- but does these things out of habit/ enjoyment.

Origin Of Powers: Experiments by the US military to recreate the powers of Atoman.

Brief Description: An Air Force technician who volunteered for the procedure to replicate Atoman's powers after he was the only candidate found suitable.

Key Relationships: Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Nightshade.

So far, so good. I like the connection between Atoman and Captain Atom; very clever.

Cheers. With the name, costume, and powers, I couldn't resist. Plus, I get to contrast the personalities of the two of them- the same power-set, but one is a scientist, an independent hero, and the other is a military man, answerable to his superiors. I would like to explore the concept of the Earth's most powerful defender being replaced, and the replacement sometimes being torn between duty to his country, and to the planet as a whole.

Sorry, I'm filling these in as I go, like the timeline, so they're not always complete posts.

EDIT: if anyone else wants to use my little layout for character summaries, please feel free. It would be cool to compare versions of characters