Uncle Sam (New Earth)

Uncle Sam is described as a spiritual entity created through an occult ritual by the Founding Fathers of the United States. This "Spirit of America" was initially bound to a powerful talisman and would take physical form by merging with a dying patriot. The Spirit of America had taken human form as the Minute-Man during the Revolutionary War, Brother Jonathan in later conflicts and, during the American Civil War, had been split in two as Johnny Reb and Billy Yank.

Freedom Fighters

The Spirit first assumed its now familiar Uncle Sam incarnation in 1870, when it resurrected a political cartoonist who had been killed by Boss Tweed. The second host of Uncle Sam fought in World War I. A third (the character's Golden Age incarnation) was a superhero during World War II, fighting alongside young Buddy Smith. After the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii brought his country into the war, Sam organized and led the Freedom Fighters and was a member of the All-Star Squadron but vanished at the end of the war; however, he was seen during the JLA's first year of activity, imprisoned by the Appellaxians along with other Golden Age heroes ^[1]. He was also seen during the Crisis on Infinite Earths when he helped the Earth heroes against the Antimonitor.

The Haunting of America

Later, the Spirit was misused by an evil organization named the National Interest; during this period, he wore an eagle-like armor and was named Sorcerer.^[2] After the Spectre investigated his origins and prevented the mystical plot, Sorcerer became vessel of a new embodiment of America, formed by a dozen American people. The Spirit was resurrected in a new costumed form called the Patriot.^[3] Patriot was active during the Imperiex War, but later reverted to Uncle Sam.^[4] A new incarnation of the Freedom Fighters was formed at this time.

An armored Uncle Sam flying — Uncle Sam as The Patriot

Infinite Crisis

During the Infinite Crisis, the Freedom Fighters were attacked by the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Uncle Sam was shown easily standing up to Black Adam, even knocking him away with one punch. Three of the Freedom Fighters, Human Bomb, Phantom Lady and Black Condor were killed in the battle. Uncle Sam himself seemingly dies at the hands of Deathstroke while the other team members are brutally injured but survive. Sam was not seen among the dead Freedom Fighters after they were found strung up on the Washington Monument.^[5]

One Year Later

By the end of the "Lost Year", the spirit of Uncle Sam was reincarnated and attempting to form a new version of the Freedom Fighters. This new incarnation of Uncle Sam emerged from the Mississippi River ^[6] while Father Time, the leader of S.H.A.D.E., was elsewhere planning the future of his organization by using new incarnations of Freedom Fighters members as recruits. Uncle Sam, disturbed by the deadly force used by the new versions of Phantom Lady, The Human Bomb, Doll Man and others, successfully recruits these metahumans into his new Freedom Fighters team, which results in Father Time ordering his remaining S.H.A.D.E. personnel to pursue and kill Uncle Sam and his team. Although Uncle Sam is shown to be against killing, particularly rebuking Doll Man for murdering a crime lord in front of the man's young grandson, Uncle Sam is not against using deadly force when necessary.

Due to circumstances, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters came into an alliance with S.H.A.D.E. against the evil entity Gonzo the Mechanical Bastard, which resulted in Sam becoming, briefly, the director of S.H.A.D.E. before control was of the organization was regained by Father Time, while under the watch of Checkmate.

During the Final Crisis, Uncle Sam was among the many super heroes that were corrupted by the Anti-Life Equation.^[7]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

American Idealism: Uncle Sam's powers are proportionate to the United States' faith in the ideals of liberty and freedom.
- Possession: The American Spirit will merge with a dying patriot to manifest physically. Uncle Sam will usurp all memories of the host. The possession is permanent until that Sam chooses voluntarily to leave the body.
- Immortality: Uncle Sam's appearance, though occasionally different, remains relatively the same in every year. He always appears as a middle-aged though able-bodied man with white hair and a white beard.
- Interdimensional Teleportation: He is also shown to be able to transport himself and others to a pocket of an alternate dimension called The Heartland. Pre-Crisis, he was also able to travel between Earth-Two and Earth-X at will, though he lost this ability when fatigued.^[8]
- Invulnerability
- Limited Clairvoyance: While on Earth-X in 1941, Uncle Sam received a vision of the attack on Pearl Harbor occurring on Earth-Two. The vision came unbidden, and was not something Sam could control.^[8]
- Super-Leaping
- Size Alteration: Uncle Sam can increase his size at will. He once increased his size to the point where he could grab two flying nuclear warheads and keep them from reaching their destinations.^[9]
- Superhuman Reflexes
- Superhuman Speed
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Strength
- Bio-Fission: In great American civil conflicts, Sam can split in two entities, each one supporting one of the sides. During the American Civil War, Sam had been split in two as Johnny Reb and Billy Yank. It's unknown if he can split in more duplicates.
- Sam can detect the whereabouts of patriotic objects, as the American Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and possibly others.^[10]

Abilities

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)
Charisma

Weaknesses

Spiritual Dependency: Uncle Sam's powers are grounded by the strength of the American consciousness. When the overarching spirit of America falters, Sam's strength and stamina decline. During the American Civil War, the country's faith was sundered completely, and Sam was split into two composite forms, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank.

Notes

Uncle Sam was created by Will Eisner, first appearing in National Comics #1. However, the Earth-Two version of Uncle Sam first appeared in Justice League of America #107 by Len Wein and Dick Dillin.
Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-Two era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and no longer apply.

In 1956, DC Comics obtained the rights to the Quality Comics characters, and re-introduced them 17 years later as the Freedom Fighters in Justice League of America #107 (October 1973).

The Freedom Fighters were relocated to a parallel world, one called "Earth-X", where Nazi Germany had won World War II. The team was featured in its own series for 15 issues (1976–1978), in which it temporarily left Earth-X for "Earth-One" (where most DC titles are set).

In 1981, some Quality Characters became recurring guest-stars of All-Star Squadron, a superhero-team title set on "Earth-Two", the locale for DC's WWII-era superheroes, and at a time prior to when the Freedom Fighters were supposed to have left for Earth-X. They later appeared with the rest of DC's superheroes in Crisis on Infinite Earths, a story that was intended to eliminate the confusing histories that DC had attached to its characters by retroactively merging the various parallel worlds into one. The Freedom Fighters became a mere splinter group of the All-Star Squadron.

Uncle Sam (New Earth)

Contents

History

Origin