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All-Winners Squad
Aliases: All Winners
Continuity: Marvel Universe
Type: Superhero team
Status: Inactive
Founding members: Captain America (I) [1]; Captain America (II); Captain America (III); Bucky (I) [2]; Bucky (II); Sub-Mariner; Human Torch; Toro; Miss America; The Whizzer; Blonde Phantom
Former members: Angel (Thomas Halloway); Miss America (Madeline Joyce)
Base of operations: New York, c. 1940s
Allies: The Invaders; The Liberty Legion
Enemies: Future Man; Isbisa; Madame Death; Black Patch; Calcium Master; Cellini; James Flore; Porky; Professor Saba; Shut-Eye
1st appearance: All-Winners Comics #19

The All-Winners Squad is a fictional superhero team featured in comic books published by Timely Comics, and later their successor, Marvel Comics. They are considered one of the first superhero teams of the Golden Age of comics and debuted in the Fall of 1946 in All-Winners Comics #19.

Overview[]

From the beginning of time there has been crime! Evil men have stolen and murdered! But through the ages there have also risen protectors of justice, who have crushed infamy! Today, our champions of law and humanity are the most famous of all time -- The All Winners Squad.

The All-Winners Squad was a costumed superhero team that operated out of the state of New York and it's surrounding environs in the wake of World War II. Previously, the seven superheroes who made up the team were members of a group known as the Invaders, who had been commissioned by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve as the Allies' front line of defense during the war. After the war was over, the heroes elected to remain together, though no longer sanctioned by the US government. To reflect a more appropriate name than what they used during the war, they renamed themselves the All-Winners Squad. The team was primarily active during the late 1940s and may have even had some adventures in the early 50s. The group eventually disbanded however, though the circumstances behind which remain unknown.

Creators[]

There is some matter of conjecture over who actually created the All-Winners Squad. According to Marvel's former editor-in-chief, Stan Lee, it may have been Timely Comics' publisher, Martin Goodman, who first envisioned the concept behind the team. According to Lee, "I think he must have said to me one day, 'I wanna do a book featuring the Torch, Toro, C.A., etc. - and let's call it The All Winners Squad'. In which case I woulda just gotten the stuff together and sent it out. But honestly, although I remember the title, I can remember nothing else about it." [3]

The first All-Winners Squad story was written by Bill Finger, who is best known for his work at National Allied Publications, the forerunner to DC Comics, where he co-created the iconic characters of Batman and Green Lantern. It is largely believed, though not confirmed, that the first artist to work on the All-Winners Squad vignettes was Syd Shores. This was determined after analysis of the work had been conducted by late comics scholar Jerry Bails and longtime DC Comics artist Gil Kane. Other comic artists who contributed to the All-Winners' inaugural adventure include Al Avison, Vince Alascia and Al Bellman. [4]

The All-Winners Squad's second and final Golden Age adventure was brought to readers in All-Winners Comics #21 courtesy of legendary Captain Marvel scribe Otto Binder as well as artists Shores, Alascia and Avison.

Notes & Trivia[]

  • Although all characters from the All-Winners Squad made previous appearances in solo stories throughout the series, they did not become a group until All-Winners Comics #19.
  • In terms of publishing history, the All-Winners Squad is the very first Marvel Comics superteam. Canonically however, they were preceded by the World War II era adventurers, the Invaders.
  • Originally, the Captain America and Bucky featured on this team were Steve Rogers and James Buchanan Barnes. Avengers, Volume 1 #4 however, which is the first modern-age appearance of Captain America, establishes that Bucky "died" in 1945 and Captain America was missing in action. Retroactively, all appearances of Captain America and Bucky Barnes that appeared in this series following April, 1945 have been attributed to William Naslund and later, Jeff Mace in place of Steve Rogers and Fred Davis replacing James Buchanan Barnes.
  • The DC Comics analog to the All-Winners Squad is the All-Star Squadron. Like the All-Winners, the All-Star Squadron was a war time costumed superhero team that included veteran superheroes such as the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman, as well as less well-known adventurers like Liberty Belle, Johnny Quick and Robotman.
  • It was Miss America who first coined the name the All-Winners Squad since The Invaders was no longer an appropriate name for the team as they were not invading anything.

Members[]

Notable appearances[]

Canon appearances

Issue Details
All-Winners Comics #19 First appearance
All-Winners Comics #21 Last Golden Age appearance
All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 New story; Set in 1946
Captain America: Patriot #1 New story
Captain America: Patriot #2 New story
Captain America: Patriot #3 New story
Giant-Size Avengers #4 Flashback to All-Winners Comics #19
Sensational She-Hulk #22 Time travel story; with the Blonde Phantom
What If...? #4 Death of Naslund; Intro of Jeff Mace

Reprint appearances

Issue Reprinted from
Fantasy Masterpieces #10 All-Winners Comics #19
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners Comics #4 All-Winners Comics #19; 21
Marvel Super-Heroes #17 All-Winners Comics #21
Marvel Super-Heroes #18 All-Winners Comics #21

Reference profiles

Issue Page
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Volume 1 #1 Appendix entry
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: A-Z #1 Page 34
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Teams 2005 Page 1

See also[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. Apocrypha; see Notes & Trivia.
  2. Apocrypha; see Notes & Trivia.
  3. "They Were Winners, Every One!"; Timely Presents: All-Winners Comics #1; Roy Thomas; December, 1999
  4. "They Were Winners, Every One!"; Timely Presents: All-Winners Comics #1; Roy Thomas; December, 1999


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