Crusaders (comics)

The Crusaders was the name of two superhero teams, both based in World War II, both created by a villain, and both dating from 1977. One team appeared in DC Comics' Freedom Fighters, the other in Marvel Comics The Invaders. Both were intended as a pastiche of the other company's team, creating a crossover of sorts.

These were neither the first nor the last pastiche superhero teams to appear. Both Marvel's Avengers and DC's Justice League of America had encountered duplicates of the other team in their own title in the form of Squadron Sinister (in Avengers) and the Assemblers of Angor (in JLA). A similar trick would later be used to team the Teen Titans with the DNAgents. During the seventies there was also a series of annual unofficial crossovers between Marvel and DC set around the Rutland Halloween Parade, which was hosted by comics fan Tom Fagan.

The Marvel team was:

• The Spirit of '76 (based on Uncle Sam)
• Dyna-Mite (based on Doll Man)
• Ghost Girl (based on Phantom Lady)
• Tommy Lightning (based on The Ray)
• Thunder Fist (based on the Human Bomb)

The DC team was:

• The Americommando (based on Captain America; actually the Freedom Fighters' archenemy, the Silver Ghost)
• Rusty (based on Bucky)
• Fireball (based on the original Human Torch)
• Sparky (based on Toro)
• Barracuda (based on Namor the Sub-Mariner)

The names of the DC team are actually taken from obscure Golden Age superheroes. The Spirit of '76 later went on to bve retconned into having been the man behind the Captain America mask in several post-WWII, pre-Silver Age comics, and the Dyna-Mite assumed the identity of the Destroyer.

There was also a short lived Christian comic called The Crusaders, written by Jack Chick, as well as the Archie Comics superhero team The Mighty Crusaders.