Samurai Squad

[johnreiter902]

All this great discussion of the UBA, got we thinking of another Axis superhero team in WW2, the Samurai Squad from Japan.

In All-Star Squadron #42-43, the Squadron fought a team of Japanese villains called the Samurai Squad. The members where Sumo the Samurai, Tsunami, and Kung the Assassin of a Thousand Claws. Prince Daka, scientific genius and spymaster, was the team leader. I imagine that Kamakazi was probably also a member, though maybe later.

What would the dynamics of that team be like? I imagine that Sumo was the de facto field leader, since Tsunami and Kung's loyalties would always be slightly suspect since they are Nisis (Japanese-Americans) not native born Japanese.

[dans]

We call them villains, but they were not villains in their own minds (most of them, at least). Some of them should have noble intent, although their idea of nobility may be different than ours... The Nisis may not be trusted, and they may have some resentment of this mistrust, and their motives and ideals might be more inline with democratic ideals and this may cause friction in the team.

[DocQuantum]

Unfortunately, Sumo was never the same after exposure to radiation, and he died by mid-1942, so who would've taken over for him as field leader?

June 30-July 1, 1942: In Japan, Sumo the Samurai survives but has gained a radioactive death touch due to his exposure to an atomic bomb. At a War Bond ball in Manhattan, Wonder Woman defeats a costumed crook called the Bouncer. Meanwhile, Lila Brown becomes engaged to a man named Pierre Marchand. Wonder Woman battles the Bouncer again, while Sumo watches and waits for his chance to strike. Instead of killing Wonder Woman, Sumo kills the Bouncer when that villain threatens the life of a young child. Sumo reveals himself to Wonder Woman and dies, consumed by radiation. The Spectre watches these events, narrating them. Note: The subplot with Pierre Marchand is never followed up or explained, but it seems to be the same plot as The Masked Menace, an Axis agent who was engaged to Etta Candy in 1943; perhaps Marchand was engaged to Lila Brown, not Etta Candy, but skipped town before his plans could come to fruition, then later returned and became engaged to Etta Candy under a new identity, secretly also acting as the Masked Menace. ["Three Roads to Destiny," Wonder Woman #241 (March, 1978)]

[redsycorax]

There's always Princess Maru (Doctor Poison), Wonder Woman's Japanese scientist opponent. Her first canonical appearance is in Sensation Comics 2 (February 1942): dc.fandom.com/wiki/Princess_Maru_(Earth-Two)

Or Tetsujiro Yoneda (Kamikaze), who also first appeared in 1942, although he may be more affiliated to the UBA than the Samurai Squad: dc.fandon.com/wiki/Tetsujiro_Yoneda_(New_Earth)


There may be differences of caste or philosophical inclination that could lead to divergent (albeit positive) attitudes toward Imperial Japanese service. Tetsu Yoneda might be more entrepreneurial and modernist in his inclinations than (say) someone like Prince Daka. Might  Princess Maru also share Prince Daka's possibly more conservative traditionalist attitudes toward the cult of the Emperor and Japanese Shinto culture, perhaps?