Heroes of the Golden Age:

ANT MAJOR (real name unknown):
Ant Major appeared shortly after the end of World War 2 and became one of the first popular post World War 2 heroes. He was able to shrink down to the size of an ant at will, wore light bullet-proof armor, and had a variety of useful devices at his disposal. He was responsible for creating a precursor of the Neighborhood Watch program called the Ant Militia. For this he was looked down on by both sides of the Communist movement. Pro-Communists believed that he had created the Ant Militia as a way to give approval for neighbors to spy on and report each other, Anti-Communists called him the Red Ant - and claimed he was trying to organize the citizenry into a subversive organization. Despite this opposition his ideas were well regarded by local and national law enforcement agencies, and J. Edgar Hoover gave him a special citation.

Ant Major is a very well rounded, disciplined man with a great deal of compassion for those he fought and for those he protected. He announced his retirement in 1959, his identity remains a secret to this day. His current status remains unknown, but it is rumored that he is linked to a government project called the "Ant Farm".

KESTREL (Rachel Bartholomew):
An independent heiress who took it upon herself to fight for freedom in World War 2. Her father was British flying ace in World War 1, and taught her to fly from an early age. At the beginning of World War 2 she attempted to enlist herself as a pilot in the RAF, but was turned down because she was a woman. So instead of flying a British plane she had several prototype fighter planes built to her specifications and took to the air as Kestrel, flying personal missions both to help protect British airspace and cripple the German air offensive.

Most private citizens were unaware of Kestrel's real identity, but in 1941 after being shot down near the British coast the RAF rescued her and became aware of it. Unofficially they accepted her assistance and began to feed her intelligence data that they had gathered for missions that had been abandoned for various reasons. She was an important part Britain's defense til the end of the war.

Her most noted rival on the German side was Sperber, the Sparrow Hawk. They squared off on more than one occassion, and he was the one who shot her down in 1941.

NACHTWULF (real name unknown):
NachtWulf, or Night Wolf, was a German-American street vigilante that first appeared in the early 1930's. He was dressed in black street clothes, round mirrored glasses, and trenchcoat, and was accompanied everywhere by a large black wolf. He was able to see in complete darkness, and was able to communicate with his companion non-verbally. He fought street crime and minor supervillains until 1942, when he was attacked by a mob who believed he was secretly a Nazi spy working to undermine the US. He was thrown into a river and believed drowned, while his wolf disappeared into a nearby alley never to be seen again. There are rumors that he lived and went to Germany. If this is true, he may have actually been a German agent, may have gone to join the Allied war effort, or joined the Axis in response to the mob attack on him.

PENNY DREADFUL (Margaret Lucas):
A pulp fiction author, who wrote under the pen name of Victor Hammer, turned masked crime fighter. She learned most of her crime fighting skills from her father, a New York Police detective, and her husband, a Chicago cop. When her husband was killed by criminals she decided that what Chicago needed was a crime fighter like those she wrote about. So she created the identity of Penny Dreadful, and became the first female crime-fighter of the early 1930's. She concealed her identity with a black domino mask and veil, fighting crime with her keen mind and a loaded tommy gun.

STEEL JOE (Joe Shooter):
One of the first known accidental superhumans, he became public in 1928. Joe was a lucky detective in the Pittsburgh area who fell into a vat of charged chemicals during a case. Somehow the chemicals changed him, he became invulnerable, and could survive without food or air for days. He continued fighting crime until the '50's when he retired to Phoenix, Arizona. He died two years later of unknown causes.

TOMBSTONE (Miles Chalker):
A pale white complexion, an iron fist, and a nose for trouble. Chalker was a private detective killed by organized crime. He somehow rose from the grave as a vengeful spirit, bringing criminals to justice - or to their just reward. Very little is known for sure, but it was said he could walk through walls, suffer great damage with little effect, and had a "chilling touch" that would paralyze an opponent. And, he always wore the same two piece suit. He first appeared in 1929, at the onset of the Great Depression. His whereabouts today are unknown.


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