SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Doomsday Clock #5 by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson and Rob Leigh, on sale now.


The DC Universe is a big place with an extensive history, and losing that scope was one of the biggest problems with the publisher’s 2011 “New 52” initiative. A big part of the Rebirth line launched almost two years ago was bringing back those bonds between characters and the rich history of the DC Universe; restoring much of the abandoned continuity and addressing the missing heroes and the missing time.

On the surface, Doomsday Clock may be a story about the Watchmen characters crossing over into the DC Universe, but there’s so much more going on. Set a nebulous “one year from now” from the current DC offerings, Doomsday Clock presents a world much more paranoid and suspicious of superheroes and the prevalence of “The Supermen Theory” — which states that heroes and villains such as Metamorpho, Man-Bat and Firestorm were created by the United States government — has led to a metahuman arms race with multiple world powers forming their own super-teams.

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The back-matter of Doomsday Clock #5 gives more info on each of these teams, providing team rosters and highlighting significant members of each country’s super-team. With over seventy heroes listed, the metahuman arms race of Doomsday Clock has unearthed some of the most obscure international heroes in the DC Universe, helping to bring back that sense of scope and scale that was sacrificed in the 2011 relaunch.

So, who are the heroes protecting national interests across the globe, and where have we seen them before? We’ve done a deep dive into our back-issues to bring you everything you need to know about every hero conscripted into the metahuman arms race.

The People’s Heroes (Russia)

Given the parallels to the never-ending Cold War of Watchmen’s timeline and current geo-political tensions, it’s fitting that the most prevelant international superteam are Russia’s The People’s Heroes, led by Mikhail Arkadin aka Pozhar. Pozhar was a Russian hero who came into conflict with Ronnie Raymond and eventually found the pair found themselves merged to create a new version of Firestorm. Later, along with a artificially created Firestorm clone, Raymond and Arkadin became the Fire Elemental of Earth, teaming up with other Elementals such as Swamp Thing and Red Tornado.

Several more characters from John Ostrander’s run on Firestorm are on The People’s Heroes, including Arkadin’s niece Firebird, Morozko, Perun, Rusalka and Vikhor, who together made up the teenage team known as Soyuz. Also from this era is Steel Wolf or Stalnoivolk as he was named in his original appearances, a Firestorm villain who later became tangled up with the Suicide Squad. The most recognizable hero on the team would be Red Star, who has served as a Teen Titan on numerous occasions. Lady Flash was also a big part of Mark Waid’s run on the title in the 90s, serving as the right-hand of Savitar, Vostok is a member of the Aquaman-allied heroes, The Others and Negative Woman was a member of the second incarnation of the Doom Patrol, which we’ll get back to when we visit India’s superteam.

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The final members of the team are a touch more obscure; Snow Owl appeared in one issue of an Artemis miniseries and Tundra was Russia’s representative on The Global Guardians who debuted in an issue of Justice League Quarterly and only made two more appearances during Greg Ruck’s first run on Wonder Woman. Finally, Black Eagle was the name of an American pilot in World War II who was one of the Tuskegee Airmen, though it’s highly unlikely the two characters are one and the same. The name The People’s Heroes comes from Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo’s The Outsiders, though none of the original team-members make this line-up.

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Justice League Europe (France)

The original Justice League Europe was an offshoot of the classic Justice League International team from the eighties, but is more of a French superhero team than one for the whole EU, with every member hailing from the same country. Crimson Fox is the most recognisable as a former member of the Justice League and briefly appeared in the short-lived sitcom Powerless. Fleur-de-Lis was a member of France’s covert super-squad Operation Gamma and later joined Crimson Fox as a member of the Global Guardians.

The Hunchback and The Thief of Arts are perhaps the biggest deep cuts of all, with Johns reaching into the archive of Fawcett Comics to find this pair of Bulletman villains. There was also a heroic Hunchback from Fawcett who lasted for four issues, so it could be him.

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Finally for France, The Musketeer and Nightrunner are both former members of Batman Incorporated. The former was most recently seen as a retired hero living off the fame and profits of a tell-all book, while Nightrunner is a free-running parkour master.

Knights Inc (United Kingdom)

Speaking of Batman Incorporated, England’s own super-team seems to be patterned after Beryl Hutchinson, AKA The Knight’s, former allies. Beryl was The Squire until recently and became the new Knight after her mentor Cyril Sheldrake was killed by The Heretic. There is a new Squire mentioned in the team line-up, suggesting Beryl has taken on a sidekick of her own, but for now it’s one of the few heroes listed that doesn’t have a previous appearance. Also formerly of Batman Incorporated is The Hood, a super-spy who infiltrated the group on behalf of Spyral.

The Canterbury Cricket has yet to appear in proper DC continuity, but made his debut during Flashpoint in a one-shot detailing the effects of the Atlantis/Amazon war had on the UK; Mrs. Hyde is also from the Flashpoint UK and a member of the anti-Amazonian resistance. Godiva first debuted in the Super Friends comic and later made the jump to the mainstream continuity as a member of the Golden Guardians, and much later a member of Justice League International. Golden Pharoah also debuted as part of the Super Friends/Super Powers line of comics, but never made the crossover until now.

Jack O’Lantern is an Irish hero who should probably be on Justice League Europe, but American media often coflates the UK and Ireland into one citizenry. Looking Glass was one of the few survivors of The Dominators’ experiments during Invasion! Ridge is a fairly recent character, having debuted during “The Culling” event in the early days of The New 52, he went on to be a member of The Ravagers. Silent Knight is likely a new character, as the original incarnation was active in the 6th Century, is one of the many reincarnations of Prince Khufu and is also speculated to be an ancestor of Jonathan Kent.

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There are two Lionhearts in the DC Universe (and one in the Marvel Universe, too, but that’s not relevant here). It’s likely this is the Lionheart who debuted as part of Bloodlines, but there’s a chance it’s the Lionheart who is a soldier and former member of Strikeforce Europa. Templar was briefly a member of the Booster Gold-affiliated superteam known as The Conglomerate, but only ever made two appearances. Finally, Beaumont made only one appearance in James Robinson and Renato Guedes’ run on Superman shortly prior to the New Krypton event.

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The Outsiders (Markovia)

DC seems to be building towards a new incarnation of Outsiders led by Black Lightning, based on events in Justice League: No Justice and Detective Comics, but this Markovian-affiliated faction is led by another former member and Prince of Markovia, Brian Markov aka Geo-Force. Geo-Force was a surprisingly big deal for DC in the late 2000s and served as a member of Brad Meltzer and Ed Benes’ Justice League of America, but outside of one non-costumed appearance, he hasn’t been seen in over five years. The line-up lists also lists a Terra IV, who may be linked to the Markov family as the original Terra was but as of now there have only been three Terras in the DC Universe.

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The Eradicator is an interesting team-member for The Outsiders, but has a history with the team that goes back as recently as early this decade, though it’s likely to be a different incarnation than the one currently serving General Zod. Baroness Bedlam seems to be a new character, but one that likely has links to the Outsiders villain, Baron Bedlam. Knightfall is also a surprise to see listed among the team, as a Batgirl villain with no known ties to Markovia or The Outsiders. Finally, Wylde was a member of the 1993 relaunch of the team and hasn’t made an appearance in twenty-five years.

Hayoth (Israel)

The majority of Hayoth, including the name itself, can be traced back to John Ostrander and Kim Yale’s run on Suicide Squad. Ramban, Dybbuk, Golem and Judith all debuted in Suicide Squad #45 by Ostrander, Yale and Geof Isherwood as the national team of Israel who came into conflict with Task Force X before both teams realised they were after the terrorist Kobra and they teamed up to hunt him down.

The team’s leader Seraph first debuted alongside the original Global Guardians as a schoolteacher gifted by divine powers with the strength of Samson, the Ring of Solomon, the Staff of Moses, and the Mantle of Elijah. The final member of Hayoth is Pteradon, who debuted as a Teen Titans villain during Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s legendary run on New Teen Titans.

The Doomed (India)

The Doomed are named as such as their leader is Celsius aka Arani Desai, the ex-wife of Dr. Niles Caulder and one-time leader of the Doom Patrol. Johns actually used Celsius’ Doom Patrol during Forever Evil, though Arani was the only survivor of a run-in with the Crime Syndicate.

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Several members of The Doomed have a link to the Doom Patrol in one form or the other, such as Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, one of the team’s most bizarre enemies. A character named Son of Kalki is also mentioned as a member, with Kalki being Arani’s father Ashok who recruited Caulder to help extend his life, introducing the scientist to his daughter, so presumably this character would be Arani’s brother.

Though Beast Boy was originally a member of the Doom Patrol, he’s much more closely linked with the Teen Titans now, which is likely why this team has a Beast Girl. There isn’t a character in the DC Universe called Beast Girl, but there is a Beast Grrl in the comics based on the Ame-Comi Girl statues.

Speaking of Teen Titans, The Doomed features Solistice who served as a member of the team in the early 2010s both pre and post-New 52. Aalok of the Komeriah is a warrior from a race of elephentine people who first appeared in Geoff Johns’ run on Hawkman in the early 2000s, while Aruna is a shapeshifting stuntwoman introduced in a Batgirl Annual nearly twenty years ago.

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The Great Twenty (China)

Finally, The Great Twenty is mostly an amalgamation of The Great Ten, Zhuguan and the Justice League of China. The Great Ten first debuted in the weekly series 52 and went on to play big roles throughout the DC Universe in titles such as Checkmate and their own limited series. Their leader August General-In-Iron also served as a member of the New 52’s incarnation of Justice League International. He’s joined by Accomplished Perfect Physician, Celestial Archer, Ghost Fox Killer, Immortal Man in Darkness, Mother of Champions, Seven Deadly Brothers, Shaolin Robot and Socialist Red Guardsman on this new team.

Kong Kenan, the New Super-Man of China seems to head the team and is joined by Bat-Man, Wonder-Woman and The Flash, but neither the newly recruited Aqua-Man or any representative of the Lantern Corps of China make the cut. Guanxi, Ri and Dao were all members of Zhuguan who debuted in a Batman Confidential story arc, Gloss was one of the New Guardians created by the Guardians of the Universe and Zamarons during the Millennium event, Night Dragon is a Hong Kong-based hero as is Striker Z, who was a member of Josiah Power’s team of heroes-for-hire, The Power Company.

Who’s Missing?

While the team rosters from around the world represents a great details of research to bring back so many obscure heroes, there are some glaring omissions in countries and teams not namechecked. Perhaps the biggest is Japan’s Super Young Team, first introduced during Final Crisis and stars of their own aftermath series subtitled “Dance.”

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Super-Young-Team

In terms of areas of the world not covered by heroes, Australasia is completely unrepresented but boast characters such as Tasmanian Devil, Dark Ranger, Ultraa, Argonaut and Captain Boomerang who could protect their home interests. Similarly, Africa features no representation which might be down to a lack of cooperation between individual countries within the continent, but characters like the original Batwing, Vixen, Freedom Beast, Congorilla, Doctor Mist and Kid Impala mean that it isn’t without protection, even though it isn’t participating in the arms race.

What’s Next?

The map at the back of Doomsday Clock #5 is just a hint at the state of the world one year from now and things are only getting worse as the hysteria caused by The Supermen Theory continues to heat up. With the offer of asylum for any metahumans in Kahndaq issued by Black Adam, it’ll be interesting to see which heroes take up his offer with nearly twenty heroes already spotted in the region.

With all those superhero teams floating around, there’s also the presumed imminent re-emergency of both the Justice Society of America and the Legion of Super-Heroes to complicate things, meaning that Doomsday Clock is only going to get bigger and messier before it’s over.