The team was resurrected in the seventies in Justice League of America #100-102. During the celebration of the 100th meeting of the JLA, the tea
m was summoned to Earth-Two by the Justice Society of America, where a giant ethereal hand controlled by the Iron Hand threatened to destroy their world. The only way to stop the hand was to find the legendary Seven Soldiers of Victory, who defeated a similar menace in the form of the Nebula Man many years previously, though at the seeming cost of their existences, since no one could remember who they were. An unearthly Oracle revealed to the JLA and the JSA that the Seven Soldiers had been scattered through time, and the multitude of heroes were sent back to find them.
Doctor Fate, the Atom and the Elongated Man found the Crimson Avenger in Mexico, where he had amnesia and believed he was the Aztec Sun God. Superman, The Sandman and Metamorpho rescued the Shining Knight from the hordes of Genghis Khan. Hawkman, Doctor Mid-Nite, and the Golden Age Wonder Woman found the Golden Age Green Arrow in medieval England, where he had been mistaken for Robin Hood. Batman, Hourman and Starman retrieved Stripesy from ancient Egypt. The Silver Age Green Arrow, Black Canary and Johnny Thunder and Thunderbolt saved the Vigilante from a tribe of Indians in the Old West. Aquaman, Wildcat and the Silver Age Green Lantern rescued the Star-Spangled Kid, who was 50,000 years in the past. Zatanna, the Silver Age Flash and the Red Tornado freed Speedy (and themselves) from the clutches of Circe (comics) in ancient Greece. The Golden Age Green Lantern, Mister Terrific and the Golden Age Robin went on a quest to discover the identity of the Unknown Soldier of Victory, whose tomb lay in the mountains of Tibet, where the Seven Soldiers had fallen after defeating the Nebula Man.
The Seven Soldiers were reunited and created a new Nebula Rod to deal with the giant hand that the Iron Hand devised. Unfortunately, whoever used the Nebula Rod to destroy the Hand was certain to perish (as did the Crimson Avenger's partner Wing, revealed to be the Unknown Soldier of Victory, when the Nebula Man was stopped). While the heroes argued over who would sacrifice themselves, the android Red Tornado took the Nebula Rod and destroyed the Hand, apparently destroying himself in the process.
The only other modern meeting of the team (either in pre- or post-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity) took place in Infinity, Inc. #11, in which the Vigilante, the Shining Knight, Green Arrow, Speedy and the Star-Spangled Kid gathered at the grave of Lee Travis, the man known as the Crimson Avenger. It had taken two years for the team to confirm his death (having died saving Gotham City from a boatload of explosives in DC Comics Presents #38).
In the original Post-Crisis retcon of the team, both Wing and the Vigilante's sidekick Stuff, the Chinatown Kid were promoted to full membership, to replace the Golden Age Green Arrow and Speedy, who had been removed from active continuity. Stuff had never appeared with the team during the original Leading Comics run, while an older man named Billy Gunn helped out the Vigilante on his cases in the comic.
That particular retcon was yet again changed in the late nineties, in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9. While Stuff remained a full member (and the Vigilante's mentor Billy Gunn was also present), Wing was not an official Soldier (because his mentor the Crimson Avenger wanted him to do something more important with his life). The remaining spot on the team was filled by the Spider, an archer who had originally appeared in Quality Comics' Crack Comics in a feature called Alias the Spider. The twist on the new Spider was that he was really a villain - and in this particular adventure, had been working with the team's arch-enemy the Hand, who created the original Nebula Man. The Spider sabotaged the Nebula Rod that the Soldiers had built to stop the Nebula Man and sent the team off to fight a fruitless battle. The villain then killed Billy Gunn (who had discovered his deception) and tried to kill Wing, but failed. Wing reached the other Soldiers and repaired the Nebula Rod, using it to destroy the Nebula Man. Wing died, and his teammates were again tossed through time and later retrieved by the JLA and JSA. The only major difference between this story and the original was that this time the Vigilante had been found after he had spent nearly 20 years fighting crime in the Old West.
The Seven Soldiers have not reformed in the Modern Age (partly due to Grant Morrison's project; see below). Three of the originals--Shining Knight, Vigilante and Stripesy (now STRIPE)--remain. The team has inspired a few legacies. The first is Stargirl, who at first carried the mantle of Star-Spangled Kid in memory of Sylvester Pemberton. She is now a double legacy, as she also carries on the legacy of Starman. The second SSoV legacy is the new Crimson Avenger, who has appeared sporadically in the series JSA. She has yet to make an appearance One Year Later, though she was seen towards the end of Infinite Crisis. The third one is Gardner Grayle, the Atomic Knight (see below). The last one is the new Sir Justin in Grant Morrison's project. (The current Green Arrow and Speedy, as well as Arsenal, could also count as SSoV legacies, but due to retcons, Green Arrow and the original Speedy were never members of the team.)
Post-Crisis 2nd team
Another group took the name of the Seven Soldiers of Victory in the Showcase issue of the limited series known as Silver Age. This group, brought together to help the Justice League of America and the other major heroes and teams of the sixties to battle the menace of Agamemno, consisted of: Adam Strange, Batgirl, Blackhawk, Deadman, Mento, Metamorpho, and a new Shining Knight.
This group's Shining Knight was Gardner Grayle, from the Silver Age feature The Atomic Knights; in previously published stories that occurred after the Silver Age limited series, he became the Atomic Knight and joined the Outsiders. This was the only appearance of this particular assemblage.
The New VersionIn 2005, Grant Morrison and artist J.H. Williams III launched a retooled version of the Seven Soldiers, in what Morrison terms a "megaseries" of seven interrelated miniseries and two bookend titles. While some members of this new team are long-running DC Universe superheroes, none were affiliated with the previous incarnation of the team. Together, they fight to save Earth and its environs from the Sheeda.
The maxi-series won the 2006 Best Finite/Limited Series Eisner Award
Fictional history
In the first issue of this story (which was part of a two-issue framework for the project), the Vigilante gathers together a new Spider (called "I, Spyder" and apparently the son of the original), Gimmix (the estranged daughter of Merry, the Girl of a Thousand Gimmicks), a new Boy Blue, Dyno-Mite Dan (owner of two "working fakes" imitations of the explosive rings of T.N.T. and Dan the Dyna-Mite), and Whip IV, the granddaughter of the Golden Age Whip. The team sets out to battle the Buffalo Spider (later on, the Sheeda are betrayed by Spyder in SSoV#1 in another nod to the original), only to be killed during an event known as the Harrowing.
The seven miniseries follow seven other characters with indirect connections to the first group, each with their own art styles, genres and character arcs. A central part of Morrison's idea for the current series is that although the seven characters in question are each a part of the same struggle, they never actually meet (although there are references to each other in the various titles). Thus, the team is actually not a team.
An explanation for this is presented in Manhattan Guardian and Zatanna. In the first, a man named Ed Starsgard (aka Baby Brain) tells Guardian that the Sheeda have been attacking humanity in periodic waves, taking everything of value (physical & mental) and leaving behind just enough for the survivors to rebuild for next time. It is prophesied that the Sheeda will eventually be stopped by seven soldiers, so they target teams of seven, including the Ultramarine Corps and the Justice League of America (JLA: Classified #1-3) But, because the Seven Soldiers have never met, they stand a chance of doing the job.
In Zatanna, a ghost remarks that there are too many coincidences in the story and it feels like there is a 'mystery string tying it all together'. It eventually emerges that the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp are driving the Seven Soldiers to stop the Sheeda.
In an interview, Grant remarked that this series of stories, (which he calls a "megaseries", also known as a metaseries), takes place after Infinite Crisis. (This may explain some apparent plot holes or inconsistencies in the series.) Dan DiDio has stated that, after careful consultation with Morrison, the series is now considered to take place a week before Infinite Crisis.
The comic Seven Soldiers of Victory #1 was originally scheduled for release on April 1, 2006, but was delayed and eventually released on October 25, 2006.
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