WORLD ARMY
Membership: Amar Khan, Atom, Bartholomew, Captain Steel, Hawkgirl, James Lockhart, Red Arrow, Red Tornado, Robert Crane, Samuel Lane, Sandman, Sonia Sato, Stormy Foster, Terry Sloan, Vodchenko
Base of Operations: Amazonia, formerly The Sentinel, Arkham Base, Moscow Base, Earth 2
First Appearance: Earth 2 #2 (August, 2012)
History: (Earth 2 #2) - Darkseid invaded Earth 2, plunging the world into war. The World Army was formed as a cooperative of Earth’s militaries, and aided the Wonders of the World, the greatest superheroes of Earth 2, in repelling Darkseid, although the war cost the lives of several of the Wonders. The World Army, anticipating the return of Darkseid, remained intact, and started recruiting metahumans. The Roman god Mercury, aware of a new threat to Earth and dying, passed the last of his powers to Jay Garrick, who became the Flash. The World Army wanted him in custody, and when Flash ran he became a wanted man. World Army member Hawkgirl was assigned to track him down, and confronted him in Poland.
(Earth 2 #4) -<five years ago> The World Army scoured the wreckage of Papa New Guinea, now an atomic wasteland littered with the corpses of Parademons in hopes of finding Apokoliptian technology in case Darkseid ever invaded Earth again. They found Al Pratt, unconscious and laying in the impression of a giant handprint.
(Earth 2 #4-6) - The Green chose Alan Scott as its' champion Green Lantern to defend the world from a coming threat, and the Grey responded by waking its' champion Solomon Grundy. Grundy’s revival caused plant life around the world to wither and die, and he attacked the White House to draw Green Lantern’s attention. Grundy went on a murderous rampage, saying the world had its’chance and it was time for life on the planet to end. Hawkgirl and the Flash raced to Washington and engaged him in battle. Hawkgirl told Flash to focus on rescuing survivors because he was far too inexperienced to deal with Grundy. Green Lantern sensed Grundy’s presence and joined Hawkgirl in combating him, but every time they wounded Grundy he instantly regenerated. The World Army dispatched Atom to the scene to make his public debut, and after growing to giant size Atom stepped on Grundy, crushing him. Hawkgirl panicked when she saw Atom, saying she wasn’t going back to the World Army, but he said he had his orders and grabbed her. The Green chose Alan Scott as its’ champion Green Lantern to defend the world from a coming threat, and the Grey responded by waking its’ champion Solomon Grundy. Grundy’s revival caused plant life around the world to wither and die, and he attacked the White House to draw Green Lantern’s attention. Grundy went on a murderous rampage, saying the world had its' chance and it was time for life on the planet to end. Commander Amar Khan coordinated the World Army response, with Wesley Dodds and his Sandman extracting the President from the White House to safety. AWOL World Army wonder Hawkgirl and new wonders Flash and Green Lantern fought Grundy, and Amar dispatched Atom, who stepped on Grundy, disabling him, and grabbed Hawkgirl telling her she was coming back to the World Army whether or not she wanted to. Grundy revived, wrapped Atom in fungus, and began absorbing his lifeforce. Flash freed him and the wonders continued their battle, with Green Lantern entering the Grey to face the power behind Grundy. The Grey tried to convince Green Lantern that it was time for life on Earth to end so new life could arise and evolve, even offering him a place by their side as a servant, showing him an image of Sam Zhao and saying they could reunite Lantern with his love. The World Army determined that Grundy’s presence would mean the end of life on Earth within the day, and having no other choice called in Terry Sloan as an advisor to assist Khan. Khan called him a genocidal lunatic, refusing to work with him, but the World Army council told him he had no choice. Sloan said the only solution was a tactical nuclear strike, and over Khan’s objections nuclear missiles were launched at the White House. Khan had to be physically restrained from attacking Sloan, who said he saw none of the guts of the Amar he knew who fought Parademon’s with only the kirpan given to him by his father figure. Sloan showed him that cities the world over were succumbing to the Grey, still insisting that a nuclear strike was the only option, and saying any loss of life would be an acceptable trade-off. Green Lantern shook off the Grey’s illusion, and realized most of the Grey’s power was tied up in Grundy, so he flew Grundy into space and launched him at the moon where there was no life for him to corrupt and draw power from. He also managed to divert the missile strike, sending the nuclear missiles into space. Khan was relieved that lives had been spare, but Terry Sloan merely found the unfolding events interesting.
(Earth 2 #7) - The World Army council made Terry Sloan their head of the World Army Science Directive over Khan’s objections. Amar disliked the degree of autonomy the council decided to give Sloan, and warned Terry he’d be keeping an eye on him. As part of his working agreement with the world Army Sloan revealed his various hidden bases and hideouts, but Khan suspected he was holding out on the World Army, and with the help of sandman Wesley Dodds he located Sloan’s base in Paris. Wesley and his Sandman raided the base, which was protected by Mr. Terrific, who was now under Sloan’s control. The Sandman subdued him, copied the scientific work Sloan was working on, and then blew up the labs and scientific equipment in the base. Terry Sloan called the World Army Wonder Initiative a failure, and took over the Red Tornado project, assuring Khan that he could get her operational in no time. Sloan told Khan he’d outwitted him at every turn, and wondered if he was playing a game or just stupid, and Khan replied that his advantage was that if the world every found out that Terry Sloan was back people would be calling for his blood. Khan shared drinks with Sandman, reminding him that they were committing treason by going behind the World Army’s back to go after Sloan, and Sandman said that he was dedicated to building a better world, which didn’t involve working with mass murderers.
(Earth 2 #9) - Flash dropped his cell phone during his confrontation with the World Army and after ascertaining his identity Sandman visited his mother, Mrs. Garrick, and asked her to urge her son to turn himself in. Flash visited his mother to assure her he was safe when she told him about meeting the Sandman. The next thing they knew Atom ripped the roof off their home. Atom was accompanied by Major Sonia Sato and a group of World Army soldiers, who warned Flash to stand down. Flash fought them until Sandman teleported behind Mrs. Garrick and grabbed her by the neck. Flash was distracted enough for Sato to hit him with a sidekick, and Sandman said that if he didn’t surrender the world Army would charge Mrs. Garrick with aiding and abetting him. Khalid Ben-Hassin, who’d been keeping an eye on Flash, smashed a board over Sandman’s head, allowing Mrs. Garrick to get free. Khalid introduced himself and fled with Flash and Garrick with the World Army in pursuit, but they were whisked away to another dimension, the realm of Nabu. Sandman was befuddled and offered anyone who could tell him what he’d just witnessed a field promotion.
(Earth 2 #12) - New Wonder Dr. Fate clashed with the evil magician Wotan in the skies above Boston and the world Army mobilized to contain them. They were held back by Flash and Green Lantern, and Dr. Fate banished Wotan using the power of the Egyptian deities Menhit and Horus. Ever since Steppenwolf took over the country of Dherain and installed himself as leader he began a massive buildup of the military. The World Army could no longer ignore Steppenwolf’s aggressive intentions and declared war on Dherain.
Comments: Created by James Robinson & Nicola Scott.
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