Great Ten
Encyclopedia
The Great Ten, or (十豪侠) are a team of fictional Chinese
comic book
superheroes in the DC Comics Universe, who are sponsored by the government of the People's Republic of China
. Appearing in comics published by DC Comics
, they were introduced in 52
#6 (June 2006)., and were created by Grant Morrison
, J.G. Jones, and Joe Bennett
. Several of the characters have a basis in Chinese mythology
. Unlike conventional superhero monikers, their names are close to literal translations from the Chinese language. The development of the Great Ten may have been influenced by the Ten Brothers
an unattributed 14th century Chinese myth, and the Superiormen of Fengshen Yanyi
(The Investiture of the Gods) created by 16th century author Xu Zhonglin.
:
According to DC Comics’ Director of Sales Bob Wayne, the Great Ten will also return in their own title. On August 11, 2009, it was officially confirmed on the DC Universe blog website, "The Source," that the new title would be a 10-issue monthly mini-series, beginning in early November 2009 and produced by writer Tony Bedard
and artist Scott McDaniel
, with covers by Stanley Lau.
and John Stewart
because they had not completed the required paperwork. Following the events in the Infinite Crisis
story arc, as a signatory of the Freedom of Power Treaty China has entered into a Coalition with Khandaq, Iran
, Uzbekistan
, and Pakistan
, leading the Great Ten to join forces with Black Adam
on the battlefield. Later, in week #32, the Accomplished Perfect Physician saves Ralph Dibny from his rampaging teammate Yeti, and gains his help subduing and restoring him to his human self. The Accomplished Physician then shares with Dibny details about his life and powers, his role as a "super-functionary", and some cryptic advice about a coming crisis in the Middle East
. The Great Ten later battle Black Adam
when he invades China as part of his vendetta after the death of Isis
in World War III. This also involves confrontations with several American based superheroes, as the Chinese government was willing to go so far as to launch nuclear missiles if their territory was violated. This portion of the stand-off was ended when the Great Ten lost contact with Beijing, leaving August General in Iron with the authority to allow international help - against his own wishes.
#3, the Checkmate ground team, on an infiltration mission in China, is discovered and cornered by The Immortal Man in Darkness. In Checkmate #4 the August General in Iron, Celestial Archer and Yao Fei the Accomplished Perfect Physician show up to support the Immortal Man in Darkness, after a brief skirmish both sides declare a truce. Later after Yao Fei prevents Count Vertigo
(acting under secret orders from Amanda Waller
) from stealing Chinese state secrets, the August General decides that Checkmate has betrayed the truce and orders their deaths, only the timely intervention of Green Lantern Alan Scott
and the Chinese Ambassador
saves the lives of Sasha's ground team.
In Checkmate
#13-15 and Outsiders
#47-49, the Checkmate team and the Outsiders are on an infiltration mission Oolong Island. In Outsiders #48, they are attacked by The Immortal Man in Darkness and Chang Tzu
has re-appeared, ready to experiment on the captured Sasha Bordeaux
of Checkmate and Captain Boomerang
, in the presence of August General in Iron.
ous, nine-issue limited series
written by Tony Bedard
, which is intended to provided a detailed origin of the group's members.
Issue #1 details the Accomplished Perfect Physician's origin, and introduces eight deities from Chinese mythology
led by the Jade Emperor
. The pantheon includes Yu Huang the Jade Emperor and King of the Gods, Lei Kung the God of Thunder, Feng Po the God of Winds, Kuan Ti the God of War, Lei Zi the Goddess of Lightning and wife of Lei Kung, Chu Jiang a minor God of the Dead who rules the second level of Diyu, Gong Gong
the God of Floods, and Chu Jung the God of Fire and father of Gong Gong.
Issue #2 details the Celestial Archer's origin, has the Old Chinese Gods have returned for vengeance. With the citizens of Lhasa
caught in the middle, the Old Gods battle against the Great Ten, but the super functionaries are no match for the angry, ancient gods, not when one member – the Celestial Archer – chooses to turn against his team and fight alongside the gods.
Issue #3 details Thundermind's origin, he appears in times of need to defend China against evil and injustice. But when Thundermind joins the Great Ten in their battle against the Old Chinese Gods, he learns the startling secret that the Old Chinese Gods have been hiding – a secret so massive it could destroy all of China.
Issue #4 details the Immortal Man-in-Darkness' origin, while he battles Feng Po in Shanghai
. Immortal Man-in-Darkness finally defeats Feng Po, and the Great Ten discover Feng Po is using Durlan technology and that the Old Chinese Gods are false.
Issue #5 details the August General in Iron's origin, explaining the classified Qinghai
incident, fifteen years ago. In the Kunlun Mountains
, the Old Chinese Gods plan to invade Hong Kong
. Celestial Archer realizes that the Old Chinese Gods are not the actual gods and sends a message to the Great Ten from their headquarters.
Issue #6 details the Ghost Fox Killer's origin and early history as a deadly crime fighter in Hong Kong, introducing an informant she uses to gather information about the Chinese triads in China. It also introduces links between the Old Chinese Gods, Taiwanese triads and the Taiwanese government
; resulting in escalation of conflict between the mainland and Taiwan
, and an attack by Chu Jiang on the Hong Kong waterfront.
Issue #7 details the Seven Deadly Brothers's origin, as he and Accomplished Perfect Physician battle the gangster fight in Hong Kong while trying to apprehend Taiwanese government official, Ma Saihung. This issue also introduces a fight between the remaining Old Gods and Great Ten members August General, Ghost Fox Killer, and Shaolin Robot following the death of Chu Jiang.
Issue #8 details the Shaolin Robot's origin, continues the fight that was introduced at the end of the previous issue, concluding with the Jade Emperor's beheading by Shaolin Robot, Great Ten Directorate. The issue concludes with the telepathic interrogation of Taiwanese government leading to the discovery of the robot factory in the Gobi desert
.
Issue #9 details the Mother of Champions' origin, and wraps up the series from the viewpoint of one of her latest children, sired by Socialist Red Guardsman. Socialist Red Guardsman's origins are only hinted at throughout the series, however, it is established he was the first Super-functionary and that he felt betrayed by his country. The Great Ten unite at the end, and team with the remaining "false gods" to destroy the robot army created by a rogue Taiwanese general.
complex. This massive complex houses the team's command and support technicians as well as facilities for the creation of more Chinese superhumans. The bureaucracy must approve every action the Great Ten take during combat.
. Yao had dreams of becoming a doctor but lacked the money for medical school. He enlisted in the army instead. When his unit was sent to suppress an uprising in Gyantse
, Tibet, Yao killed a monk named Tenzin Cering. Horrified at what he'd done, he deserted his unit and was fatally shot by his commanding officer. He was saved by a local medicine man who told Yao that his son, Tenzin, was supposed to be the seventeenth man to hold the position of the "Accomplished Perfect Physician"; since Tenzin was now dead, Yao was forced to take his place by Tenzin's father. Tenzin tossed Yao through a magical portal, wherein he was filled with the memories and powers of the past Physicians. As the new Accomplished Perfect Physician, Yao was branded an outlaw and an enemy of the state for many years before he willingly joined the Great Ten.
With simple vocal sounds, the Accomplished Perfect Physician can produce variety of magical effects, such as physical or mental paralysis, force fields, the redirection of energies, healing, destruction of matter, and earthquakes. The diplomat of the team, the Physician appears to be a collected individual with well-developed people skills. He does not get along well with his team leader, August General in Iron, who sees Yao only as an irreverent deserter.
province. The Durlans wiped out his unit with a flesh-melting pathogen weapon. Fang barely survived by injecting himself with an a counter-agent that slowed the degeneration. Chinese scientists subjected him to special treatments which saved his life, but also endowed him with superhuman strength and caused his skin to grow iron-like plates. He was then recruited into China's new metahuman division. He wields a staff that can easily slice through metal.
August General in Iron is the field leader of the Great Ten and while he commands the Great Ten, he must still run all command decisions in the field by the Central Committee
. He also serves as the Black King's Bishop in Checkmate
. He met Ghost Fox Killer in Hong Kong. For some reason, he was immune to her deathly touch, and the two became lovers instead. As a fanatical soldier, he despises the Accomplished Perfect Physician for his irreverent attitude and for deserting the army.
Fang Zhifu habitually quotes from Sun Tzu's The Art of War
.
Following the New 52
, August General in Iron is invited to join the new Justice League International
, with the United Nations
council that assembled the group noting that he was selected because he represents "The world's most populous nation". His comments about the superiority of Chinese engineering quickly draw the ire of Rocket Red
.
. As a teenager, Xu Tao sold souvenirs at the foot of Mount Tai
. After his father's business was shut down by corrupt police, he joined a gang to support his family. He was not a good thief, however, and a botched robbery landed his fellow gang members in jail. When they were released, they sought his death. They chased him to an old temple below Mount Tai. While hiding behind a tree, Tao was swallowed up by the earth, and found himself in a cavern where he found the Celestial Bow of Yi
. The magical bow begged Tao to take it as his own, as it was dying after four thousand years of disuse. When Tao picked it up, he was transformed into the Celestial Archer and granted Yi the Archer's godlike archery skills. After chasing away his former gang, he instinctively fired an arrow at the moon, creating a magical bridge that took him to the home of the Chinese gods. The gods tasked him to serve as their agent on Earth, to inspire the Chinese and remind them of the old gods, whose worship was suppressed by the Communist government.
The Celestial Archer has unerring aim capable of shooting arrows charged with a mysterious energy, or that can turn day into night.
Xu is an irreverent character, disrespectful of August General's authority. He considers his role in the Great Ten as secondary to his divine mission, something which landed him in trouble when he foolishly defected to a team of metahumans posing as Chinese deities.
ship crashed in China's Qinghai
province. The Chinese reverse-engineered the craft and used the technology to build the Dragonwing, the most advanced fighter plane in the world. The pilot sits in a cockpit filled with a sort of amniotic fluid, bonding himself to the craft. This type of bond gradually breaks down a human's molecular structure; each flight takes a year off the pilot's life. The Dragonwing has been flown by a succession of PLAAF
pilots, all of whom knowingly sacrificed themselves to serve China as the Immortal Man-In-Darkness or 永生男黒暗 (Yǒng Shēng Nán Hēi Àn). The current pilot is Chen Nuo. He operates from http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=List_of_People%27s_Liberation_Army_Air_Force_airbases¶ms=41_6_17_N_122_51_21_E_type:airportAnshan Air Base
] but makes him home in Shanghai
.
The Dragonwing is a powerful shapeshifting aircraft. It can take the form of diffuse smoke and handle hurricane force winds.
when she was briefly exposed to a theoretical "god particle
". Exposure to this particle mutated her system by triggering her metagene. At first she was unable to bear children, but eventually discovered her super-fecundity
powers by accident. She no longer needs to eat, and has to remind herself to breathe, and she is immune to radiation poisoning
from ionizing radiation
. She can now birth a litter of twenty-five genetically identical supersoldier
s about every three days. These children however are short-lived, only lasting one week, ageing ten years every twenty four hours. She has at times used a metallic chair with six insect-like legs to remain mobile during her pregnant state. In Nightwing #146 she pretended that the alias "Niang Guan Jun" was her real name.
One of her superstrong and tough children named Number Four appeared in The OMAC Project: Infinite Crisis Special #1. In Nightwing #144, Mother of Champions is kidnapped from the Great Wall Complex by operatives of Talia al Ghul
; in this same issue it is revealed that she has had thousands of children, and that each batch of superhuman children are conceived by suitors whom she hand picks. Her children appear to demonstrate a fairly standardized superhuman abilities, save for when she has the children of fellow Great Ten members. She has had children with Seven Deadly Brothers, Accomplished Perfect Physician, at least one Immortal Man-in-Darkness, and most recently with Socialist Red Guardsman.
，a Chinese animation, the seven Calabash Brothers can split into seven and join one, just like Seven Deadly Brothers） was born in Fujian province over 300 years ago in poverty. He was a soldier in service to Emperor Yongzheng in 1723, and took part in the destruction of the Shaolin Temple. One of the temple's kung fu grandmasters, Bak Mei
, defected to the Emperor and helped destroy the second temple. Yang was impressed with Bak Mei's skill and wanted to learn kung fu himself, but Bak Mei laughed at him and thought him unpromising. He deserted the army and headed to the school of the Seven Scribes of the Cloudy Satchel, seven taoist sorcerers in the mountains near Song Shan. Yang begged to become a pupil and fed the sorcerers all manner of excuses and lies, but the sorcerers saw through him and placed a curse on him as punishment for his evil actions. They placed in his mind complete knowledge of all seven schools of kung-fu and a lust for violence, and sent him back to slaughter Bak Mei and the soldiers who had destroyed the Shaolin temples. Centuries later, he was incorporated into the Great Ten and fabricated his origin, claiming that he received his powers from an old mystic whom he saved from a beating.
When entering battle, Yang splits into seven identical clones, each a grandmaster of one of the seven schools of kung-fu.
commissioned the construction of his tomb, a brilliant engineer by the name of Lao Yuqi built a hundred clockwork automatons to serve as tomb guards. The vain and jealous emperor ordered that Lao be entombed with him upon his death so that his genius would never serve another patron. Before dying of thirst, Lao reprogrammed one of the automatons with his own insights, values and priorities and gave it a semblance of free will. Thousands of years later, when the tomb was uncovered by archaeologists, the automatons went on a rampage in an attempt to topple the Communist government and restore imperial rule. These automatons were defeated by the Super Functionaries. Only Lao's reprogrammed automaton remained inactive back at the tomb. The Chinese government reactivated it and upgraded it with Durlan technology.
Shaolin Robot speaks in simple I Ching hexagrams
, but can express more complex thoughts using written pinyin
. It was seen using hexagrams
from I Ching
to speak. In 52 #50, Shaolin Robot 'speaks' three times. Springing forward to attack Black Adam
, it speaks
, Hexagram 38, which is 睽 (kui2), and represents opposition or contradiction. In the next frame, while actively attacking Black Adam, it speaks 
, Hexagram 6, 訟 (song4), which represents contention or arguing. Finally, as Black Adam destroys Shaolin Robot, it speaks 
, Hexagram 23, 剝 (bol), which represents deterioration or 'splitting apart'. Later while battling the Shield, it speaks 
, Hexagram 18 which is '蠱' (correction), 
, Hexagram 39 which is '蹇' (obstruction), 
, Hexagram 25 which is '無妄' (pestilence), and finally 
, Hexagram 1, which is '乾' (force).
. His body is highly radioactive, so he is forced to wear a special suit of containment armour reverse engineered from Durlan technology. He has since become bitter and disillusioned as China abandons Mao Zedong
's vision and embraces market economics. Lives like a hermit in an isolated stretch of the Gobi Desert
due to the possible threat of a nuclear meltdown. Mother of Champions is immune to his radiation, and was the first person to touch him in over fifteen years.
who, on a tour of the Beijing Museum
, accidentally recites aloud a sanskrit
"trigger phrase" from an ancient Buddhist
artifact: "All hail the jewel in the lotus". Afterwards, he transforms into Thundermind whenever he recites his trigger phrase and unlocks what he calls his full human potential, becoming a Bodhisattva
with the power to access metahuman analogues of the powers listed in the Buddhist siddhis. He saves a fellow teacher named Miss Wu, who happens to be in love with his alter ego
Thundermind. According to 52 #45 he also has super-senses akin to telepathy, and fancies himself the team's conscience. He is the most loved of the Great Ten, especially in his hometown of Beijing
.
by Thundermind, Chang Tzu and his Science Squad are members of the Great Ten that provide, among other things, the funds to operate the organization and the technology they use.
to retrieve the fallen OMAC satellite, he demonstrated superhuman strength, invulnerability and heightened reflexes, Number Four is a reference to the 14th Century Chinese myth of the Ten Brothers, the fourth having super strength.
trigger gene that transforms men into monsters. This discovery enabled him to transform into a powerful white furred yeti
-like monster plagued with an uncontrollable rage. While in his Yeti form, Hu Wei must wear a special electronic amulet around his neck that keeps him from going berserk. His origin bears similarities to that of the Hulk
, and Sasquatch
from Alpha Flight
. He was apparently killed in 52 #50 by Black Adam.
, known as "The Most Unworthy Ten".
event, August General in Iron is a member of the H.I.V.E.
council. He voted for innocent civilians to live in Western European between Aquaman and Wonder Woman before using nuclear weapons to end the war.
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
superheroes in the DC Comics Universe, who are sponsored by the government of the People's Republic of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Appearing in comics published by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
, they were introduced in 52
52 (comics)
52 was a weekly American comic book limited series published by DC Comics that debuted on May 10, 2006, one week after the conclusion of the seven-issue Infinite Crisis. The series was written by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid with layouts by Keith Giffen...
#6 (June 2006)., and were created by Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison
Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer, playwright and occultist. He is known for his nonlinear narratives and counter-cultural leanings, as well as his successful runs on titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four, All-Star Superman, and...
, J.G. Jones, and Joe Bennett
Joe Bennett (penciller)
Benedito José Nascimento , better known as Joe Bennett, is a Brazilian comic book artist.-Biography:Joe Bennett was born in Belém....
. Several of the characters have a basis in Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
. Unlike conventional superhero monikers, their names are close to literal translations from the Chinese language. The development of the Great Ten may have been influenced by the Ten Brothers
Ten Brothers
Ten Brothers is a Chinese legend known to be written around the time of the construction of the Great Wall of China, most likely during the Ming Dynasty...
an unattributed 14th century Chinese myth, and the Superiormen of Fengshen Yanyi
Fengshen Yanyi
Fengshen Bang, also known as Fengshen Yanyi in Chinese, and translated as The Investiture of the Gods or The Creation of the Gods, is one of the major vernacular Chinese epic novels written during the Ming Dynasty...
(The Investiture of the Gods) created by 16th century author Xu Zhonglin.
Publication history
Grant Morrison has explained the background to his creation of the team, in a pitch which also contained the outline for the Super Young TeamSuper Young Team
The Super Young Team is a fictional Japanese superhero team in the . The team first appears in Final Crisis Sketchbook #1 , and was created by Grant Morrison and J. G. Jones.-Publication history:...
:
According to DC Comics’ Director of Sales Bob Wayne, the Great Ten will also return in their own title. On August 11, 2009, it was officially confirmed on the DC Universe blog website, "The Source," that the new title would be a 10-issue monthly mini-series, beginning in early November 2009 and produced by writer Tony Bedard
Tony Bedard
Antony "Tony" J. L. Bedard is a writer and editor who has worked in the comic book industry from the early '90s through the present. He is best known for his work at CrossGen Comics, where he was under exclusive contract, and for his run writing Marvel Comics X-Men spin-off Exiles.-Career:Tony...
and artist Scott McDaniel
Scott McDaniel
Scott McDaniel is an American comics artist who has drawn numerous books, including Marvel Comics' "Fall from Grace" storyline for the Daredevil series...
, with covers by Stanley Lau.
52
First appearing in 52 #6, the Great Ten's actions are hampered by bureaucracy. Three of the team's members were forced to sit out a battle with Green Lanterns Hal JordanHal Jordan
Harold "Hal" Jordan is a DC Comics superhero known as Green Lantern, the first human shown to join the Green Lantern Corps and a founding member of the Justice League of America. Jordan is the second DC Comics character to adopt the Green Lantern moniker...
and John Stewart
John Stewart (comics)
John Stewart is a fictional character, a comic book superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2, #87 , and was created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams.-Publication history:...
because they had not completed the required paperwork. Following the events in the Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis
Infinite Crisis is a 2005 - 2006 comic book storyline published by DC Comics, consisting of an eponymous, seven-issue comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez, George Pérez, Ivan Reis, and Jerry Ordway, and a number of tie-in books...
story arc, as a signatory of the Freedom of Power Treaty China has entered into a Coalition with Khandaq, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
, and Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, leading the Great Ten to join forces with Black Adam
Black Adam
Black Adam is a fictional comic book character, created in 1945 by Otto Binder & C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. Originally created as a one-shot villain for Fawcett Comics' Marvel Family team of superheroes, Black Adam was revived as a recurring supervillain after DC Comics began publishing Captain...
on the battlefield. Later, in week #32, the Accomplished Perfect Physician saves Ralph Dibny from his rampaging teammate Yeti, and gains his help subduing and restoring him to his human self. The Accomplished Physician then shares with Dibny details about his life and powers, his role as a "super-functionary", and some cryptic advice about a coming crisis in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. The Great Ten later battle Black Adam
Black Adam
Black Adam is a fictional comic book character, created in 1945 by Otto Binder & C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. Originally created as a one-shot villain for Fawcett Comics' Marvel Family team of superheroes, Black Adam was revived as a recurring supervillain after DC Comics began publishing Captain...
when he invades China as part of his vendetta after the death of Isis
Isis (DC Comics)
Isis is a DC Comics superhero, as well as a separate Egyptian goddess also living in the DC Universe. The recent superhero character is modeled closely after the main character of The Secrets of Isis, a live-action American Saturday Morning television program that served as the second half of The...
in World War III. This also involves confrontations with several American based superheroes, as the Chinese government was willing to go so far as to launch nuclear missiles if their territory was violated. This portion of the stand-off was ended when the Great Ten lost contact with Beijing, leaving August General in Iron with the authority to allow international help - against his own wishes.
Checkmate
On the final page of CheckmateCheckmate (comics)
Checkmate, a division of Task Force X, is a fictional covert operations agency within the DC Comics universe. It first appeared in Action Comics #598 and proceeded to have its own ongoing title in Checkmate!...
#3, the Checkmate ground team, on an infiltration mission in China, is discovered and cornered by The Immortal Man in Darkness. In Checkmate #4 the August General in Iron, Celestial Archer and Yao Fei the Accomplished Perfect Physician show up to support the Immortal Man in Darkness, after a brief skirmish both sides declare a truce. Later after Yao Fei prevents Count Vertigo
Count Vertigo
Count Werner Vertigo is a DC Comics supervillain. First appearing in World's Finest Comics #251 , Count Vertigo is the last descendant of the royal family that ruled the small eastern European country of Vlatava that was taken over by the Soviets and later became devastated by the Spectre.-Starting...
(acting under secret orders from Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller
Dr. Amanda Blake Waller is a character published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne...
) from stealing Chinese state secrets, the August General decides that Checkmate has betrayed the truce and orders their deaths, only the timely intervention of Green Lantern Alan Scott
Alan Scott
Alan Scott is a fictional character, a superhero in the and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern.-Publication history:The original Green Lantern was created by young struggling artist Martin Nodell, who was inspired by the sight of a New York Subway employee waving a red lantern to...
and the Chinese Ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
saves the lives of Sasha's ground team.
In Checkmate
Checkmate (comics)
Checkmate, a division of Task Force X, is a fictional covert operations agency within the DC Comics universe. It first appeared in Action Comics #598 and proceeded to have its own ongoing title in Checkmate!...
#13-15 and Outsiders
Outsiders (comics)
The Outsiders are a fictional DC Comics superhero team. As its name suggests, the team consists of superheroes who allegedly do not fit the norms of the mainstream superhero community, namely the Justice League....
#47-49, the Checkmate team and the Outsiders are on an infiltration mission Oolong Island. In Outsiders #48, they are attacked by The Immortal Man in Darkness and Chang Tzu
Egg Fu
Chang Tzu is a fictional supervillain published by DC Comics. Originally a Silver Age creation named Egg Fu who battled Wonder Woman, his character was revamped for the weekly 52 series...
has re-appeared, ready to experiment on the captured Sasha Bordeaux
Sasha Bordeaux
Sasha Bordeaux is a fictional character in the DC Universe. She was at first primarily associated with Batman, and has subsequently evolved an association with Checkmate in two of its incarnations...
of Checkmate and Captain Boomerang
Owen Mercer
Captain Boomerang is a comic book superhero existing in the DC Comics' main shared universe. He is the son of the original Captain Boomerang and Meloni Thawne....
, in the presence of August General in Iron.
Limited series
The Great Ten returned in their own eponymEponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous, nine-issue limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
written by Tony Bedard
Tony Bedard
Antony "Tony" J. L. Bedard is a writer and editor who has worked in the comic book industry from the early '90s through the present. He is best known for his work at CrossGen Comics, where he was under exclusive contract, and for his run writing Marvel Comics X-Men spin-off Exiles.-Career:Tony...
, which is intended to provided a detailed origin of the group's members.
Issue #1 details the Accomplished Perfect Physician's origin, and introduces eight deities from Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
led by the Jade Emperor
Jade Emperor
The Jade Emperor in Chinese folk culture, is the ruler of Heaven and all realms of existence below including that of Man and Hell, according to a version of Taoist mythology. He is one of the most important gods of the Chinese traditional religion pantheon...
. The pantheon includes Yu Huang the Jade Emperor and King of the Gods, Lei Kung the God of Thunder, Feng Po the God of Winds, Kuan Ti the God of War, Lei Zi the Goddess of Lightning and wife of Lei Kung, Chu Jiang a minor God of the Dead who rules the second level of Diyu, Gong Gong
Gong Gong
Gong Gong is a Chinese water god or sea monster, said to resemble a serpent or dragon. He is responsible for the great floods together with his associate, Xiang Yao , who had nine heads and the body of a snake....
the God of Floods, and Chu Jung the God of Fire and father of Gong Gong.
Issue #2 details the Celestial Archer's origin, has the Old Chinese Gods have returned for vengeance. With the citizens of Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
caught in the middle, the Old Gods battle against the Great Ten, but the super functionaries are no match for the angry, ancient gods, not when one member – the Celestial Archer – chooses to turn against his team and fight alongside the gods.
Issue #3 details Thundermind's origin, he appears in times of need to defend China against evil and injustice. But when Thundermind joins the Great Ten in their battle against the Old Chinese Gods, he learns the startling secret that the Old Chinese Gods have been hiding – a secret so massive it could destroy all of China.
Issue #4 details the Immortal Man-in-Darkness' origin, while he battles Feng Po in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. Immortal Man-in-Darkness finally defeats Feng Po, and the Great Ten discover Feng Po is using Durlan technology and that the Old Chinese Gods are false.
Issue #5 details the August General in Iron's origin, explaining the classified Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
incident, fifteen years ago. In the Kunlun Mountains
Kunlun Mountains
The Kunlun Mountains are one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending more than 3,000 km. In the broadest sense, it forms the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau south of the Tarim Basin and the Gansu Corridor and continues east south of the Wei River to end at the North China Plain.The...
, the Old Chinese Gods plan to invade Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Celestial Archer realizes that the Old Chinese Gods are not the actual gods and sends a message to the Great Ten from their headquarters.
Issue #6 details the Ghost Fox Killer's origin and early history as a deadly crime fighter in Hong Kong, introducing an informant she uses to gather information about the Chinese triads in China. It also introduces links between the Old Chinese Gods, Taiwanese triads and the Taiwanese government
Government of the Republic of China
The Republic of China was formally established by Dr. Sun Yat-sen in 1912 in Nanjing under the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China but this government was moved to Beijing in the same year and continued as the internationally recognized government of China until 1928. In the history...
; resulting in escalation of conflict between the mainland and Taiwan
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
, and an attack by Chu Jiang on the Hong Kong waterfront.
Issue #7 details the Seven Deadly Brothers's origin, as he and Accomplished Perfect Physician battle the gangster fight in Hong Kong while trying to apprehend Taiwanese government official, Ma Saihung. This issue also introduces a fight between the remaining Old Gods and Great Ten members August General, Ghost Fox Killer, and Shaolin Robot following the death of Chu Jiang.
Issue #8 details the Shaolin Robot's origin, continues the fight that was introduced at the end of the previous issue, concluding with the Jade Emperor's beheading by Shaolin Robot, Great Ten Directorate. The issue concludes with the telepathic interrogation of Taiwanese government leading to the discovery of the robot factory in the Gobi desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
.
Issue #9 details the Mother of Champions' origin, and wraps up the series from the viewpoint of one of her latest children, sired by Socialist Red Guardsman. Socialist Red Guardsman's origins are only hinted at throughout the series, however, it is established he was the first Super-functionary and that he felt betrayed by his country. The Great Ten unite at the end, and team with the remaining "false gods" to destroy the robot army created by a rogue Taiwanese general.
Membership
This team of "super-functionaries" (the communist Chinese ethos rejects the word 'heroes' for a humbler one) is based in China's Great WallGreat Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
complex. This massive complex houses the team's command and support technicians as well as facilities for the creation of more Chinese superhumans. The bureaucracy must approve every action the Great Ten take during combat.
Accomplished Perfect Physician
Accomplished Perfect Physician or 達医者完 (Dá Yī Zhĕ Wán), Yao Fei was born a peasant in the Anhui ProvinceAnhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
. Yao had dreams of becoming a doctor but lacked the money for medical school. He enlisted in the army instead. When his unit was sent to suppress an uprising in Gyantse
Gyantse
Gyantse is a town located in Gyangzê County, Shigatse Prefecture. It was historically considered the third largest and most prominent town in the Tibet region , but there are now at least ten larger Tibetan cities.-Location:The town is strategically located in the Nyang River Valley on the ancient...
, Tibet, Yao killed a monk named Tenzin Cering. Horrified at what he'd done, he deserted his unit and was fatally shot by his commanding officer. He was saved by a local medicine man who told Yao that his son, Tenzin, was supposed to be the seventeenth man to hold the position of the "Accomplished Perfect Physician"; since Tenzin was now dead, Yao was forced to take his place by Tenzin's father. Tenzin tossed Yao through a magical portal, wherein he was filled with the memories and powers of the past Physicians. As the new Accomplished Perfect Physician, Yao was branded an outlaw and an enemy of the state for many years before he willingly joined the Great Ten.
With simple vocal sounds, the Accomplished Perfect Physician can produce variety of magical effects, such as physical or mental paralysis, force fields, the redirection of energies, healing, destruction of matter, and earthquakes. The diplomat of the team, the Physician appears to be a collected individual with well-developed people skills. He does not get along well with his team leader, August General in Iron, who sees Yao only as an irreverent deserter.
August General in Iron
The August General in Iron or 钢铁圣将 (Gang Tie Sheng Jiang) is Fang Zhifu formerly a member of a "Xeno-Team", an elite Chinese spec ops unit trained for encounters with aliens. 15 years ago, his unit was sent to investigate a Durlan ship that crashed in QinghaiQinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
province. The Durlans wiped out his unit with a flesh-melting pathogen weapon. Fang barely survived by injecting himself with an a counter-agent that slowed the degeneration. Chinese scientists subjected him to special treatments which saved his life, but also endowed him with superhuman strength and caused his skin to grow iron-like plates. He was then recruited into China's new metahuman division. He wields a staff that can easily slice through metal.
August General in Iron is the field leader of the Great Ten and while he commands the Great Ten, he must still run all command decisions in the field by the Central Committee
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the highest authority within the Communist Party of China. Its approximately 350 members and alternates are selected once every five years by the National Party Congress....
. He also serves as the Black King's Bishop in Checkmate
Checkmate (comics)
Checkmate, a division of Task Force X, is a fictional covert operations agency within the DC Comics universe. It first appeared in Action Comics #598 and proceeded to have its own ongoing title in Checkmate!...
. He met Ghost Fox Killer in Hong Kong. For some reason, he was immune to her deathly touch, and the two became lovers instead. As a fanatical soldier, he despises the Accomplished Perfect Physician for his irreverent attitude and for deserting the army.
Fang Zhifu habitually quotes from Sun Tzu's The Art of War
The Art of War
The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu , a high ranking military general and strategist during the late Spring and Autumn period...
.
Following the New 52
The New 52
The New 52 is a 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero books, in which all of its existing titles were cancelled, and 52 new series debuted in September 2011 with new #1 issues. Among the series being renumbered are Action Comics and Detective Comics,...
, August General in Iron is invited to join the new Justice League International
Justice League International
Justice League International is a DC Comics superhero team written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, with art by Kevin Maguire, created in 1987.-Publication history:...
, with the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
council that assembled the group noting that he was selected because he represents "The world's most populous nation". His comments about the superiority of Chinese engineering quickly draw the ire of Rocket Red
Rocket Red
The Rocket Red Brigade is a DC Comics superhero team. They first appeared in Green Lantern Corps #208 , and were created by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton.-History:...
.
Celestial Archer
The Celestial Archer or 体射手 (Tĭ Shè Shŏu) is a figure with ties to Chinese mythologyChinese astrology
Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. The development of Chinese astrology is tied to that of astronomy, which came to flourish during the Han Dynasty ....
. As a teenager, Xu Tao sold souvenirs at the foot of Mount Tai
Mount Tai
Mount Tai is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The tallest peak is the Jade Emperor Peak , which is commonly reported as tall, but is described by the PRC government as .Mount Tai is one of the...
. After his father's business was shut down by corrupt police, he joined a gang to support his family. He was not a good thief, however, and a botched robbery landed his fellow gang members in jail. When they were released, they sought his death. They chased him to an old temple below Mount Tai. While hiding behind a tree, Tao was swallowed up by the earth, and found himself in a cavern where he found the Celestial Bow of Yi
Houyi
Houyi , also called Yiyi or simply Yi, was a mythological Chinese archer and the leader of Dongyi. He is sometimes portrayed as a god of archery descended from heaven to aid mankind, and sometimes as the chief of the Youqiong Tribe during the reign of King Tai Kang of Xia Dynasty...
. The magical bow begged Tao to take it as his own, as it was dying after four thousand years of disuse. When Tao picked it up, he was transformed into the Celestial Archer and granted Yi the Archer's godlike archery skills. After chasing away his former gang, he instinctively fired an arrow at the moon, creating a magical bridge that took him to the home of the Chinese gods. The gods tasked him to serve as their agent on Earth, to inspire the Chinese and remind them of the old gods, whose worship was suppressed by the Communist government.
The Celestial Archer has unerring aim capable of shooting arrows charged with a mysterious energy, or that can turn day into night.
Xu is an irreverent character, disrespectful of August General's authority. He considers his role in the Great Ten as secondary to his divine mission, something which landed him in trouble when he foolishly defected to a team of metahumans posing as Chinese deities.
Ghost Fox Killer
The Ghost Fox Killer or 鬼狐杀手 (Guǐ Hú Shā Shǒu) is a female emissary from the hidden colony of "Ghost Fox Women". She is charged with killing evil men, and has power over the ghosts of those dead men. Apparently her home city is powered by the souls of evil men, and her touch causes instant death. She is typically accompanied by a rui shi (or Imperial guardian lion) of living jade. It is revealed that if Ghost Fox Killer does not kill off evil men for her colony, her society will fall. She encounters August General in Iron early in her career, and is stunned to discover that she can touch his body without killing him. She has demonstrated undefined feelings of loyalty towards him.Immortal Man-in-Darkness
Fifteen years ago, a DurlanDurlan (DC Comics)
The Durlans are a fictional extraterrestrial species, a race of shapeshifting beings from the planet Durla, as depicted in DC Comics.-Fictional history:...
ship crashed in China's Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
province. The Chinese reverse-engineered the craft and used the technology to build the Dragonwing, the most advanced fighter plane in the world. The pilot sits in a cockpit filled with a sort of amniotic fluid, bonding himself to the craft. This type of bond gradually breaks down a human's molecular structure; each flight takes a year off the pilot's life. The Dragonwing has been flown by a succession of PLAAF
People's Liberation Army Air Force
The People's Liberation Army Air Force is the aviation branch of the People's Liberation Army, the military of the People's Republic of China...
pilots, all of whom knowingly sacrificed themselves to serve China as the Immortal Man-In-Darkness or 永生男黒暗 (Yǒng Shēng Nán Hēi Àn). The current pilot is Chen Nuo. He operates from http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=List_of_People%27s_Liberation_Army_Air_Force_airbases¶ms=41_6_17_N_122_51_21_E_type:airportAnshan Air Base
Anshan Air Base
Anshan Teng'ao Airport is an airport serving Anshan, a city in Liaoning Province, China. It is located in the town of Teng'ao, 11.8 kilometers southwest of the city center....
] but makes him home in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
.
The Dragonwing is a powerful shapeshifting aircraft. It can take the form of diffuse smoke and handle hurricane force winds.
Mother of Champions
Wu Mei-Xing, the Mother of Champions or 冠軍母亲 (Mǔ Guàn Mu Qin) （which has been translated in 英雄母亲 by a Chinese amateur group,means Mother of Heroes） was a theoretical physicist, working on a particle acceleratorParticle accelerator
A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams. An ordinary CRT television set is a simple form of accelerator. There are two basic types: electrostatic and oscillating field accelerators.In...
when she was briefly exposed to a theoretical "god particle
Higgs boson
The Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
". Exposure to this particle mutated her system by triggering her metagene. At first she was unable to bear children, but eventually discovered her super-fecundity
Fecundity
Fecundity, derived from the word fecund, generally refers to the ability to reproduce. In demography, fecundity is the potential reproductive capacity of an individual or population. In biology, the definition is more equivalent to fertility, or the actual reproductive rate of an organism or...
powers by accident. She no longer needs to eat, and has to remind herself to breathe, and she is immune to radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
from ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation is radiation composed of particles that individually have sufficient energy to remove an electron from an atom or molecule. This ionization produces free radicals, which are atoms or molecules containing unpaired electrons...
. She can now birth a litter of twenty-five genetically identical supersoldier
Supersoldier
Supersoldier is a term often used to describe a soldier that operates beyond normal human limits or abilities. Supersoldiers are common in science fiction literature, films, TV programs, computer, conspiracy theories, and video games, but have also made appearances in other related genres, such as...
s about every three days. These children however are short-lived, only lasting one week, ageing ten years every twenty four hours. She has at times used a metallic chair with six insect-like legs to remain mobile during her pregnant state. In Nightwing #146 she pretended that the alias "Niang Guan Jun" was her real name.
One of her superstrong and tough children named Number Four appeared in The OMAC Project: Infinite Crisis Special #1. In Nightwing #144, Mother of Champions is kidnapped from the Great Wall Complex by operatives of Talia al Ghul
Talia al Ghul
Talia al Ghul is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe, the now-estranged daughter of the supervillain Ra's al Ghul, a love interest of Batman, and the mother of his son Damian Wayne, the fifth Robin...
; in this same issue it is revealed that she has had thousands of children, and that each batch of superhuman children are conceived by suitors whom she hand picks. Her children appear to demonstrate a fairly standardized superhuman abilities, save for when she has the children of fellow Great Ten members. She has had children with Seven Deadly Brothers, Accomplished Perfect Physician, at least one Immortal Man-in-Darkness, and most recently with Socialist Red Guardsman.
Seven Deadly Brothers
Yang Kei-Ying known as the Seven Deadly Brothers or 致命七兄弟 (Zhì Mìng Qī Xiōng Dì) （a Chinese amateur group translate it as 葫芦兄弟, which refers to Calabash BrothersCalabash Brothers
Calabash Brothers is a Chinese animation TV series produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio. It is also referred to as "Bottle Gourd Brothers", "Hulu Brothers", "Seven Brothers" and "Pumpkin Brothers".-Background:...
，a Chinese animation, the seven Calabash Brothers can split into seven and join one, just like Seven Deadly Brothers） was born in Fujian province over 300 years ago in poverty. He was a soldier in service to Emperor Yongzheng in 1723, and took part in the destruction of the Shaolin Temple. One of the temple's kung fu grandmasters, Bak Mei
Bak Mei
Bak Mei is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders — survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the Qing Dynasty imperial regime — who, according to some accounts, betrayed Shaolin to the imperial government...
, defected to the Emperor and helped destroy the second temple. Yang was impressed with Bak Mei's skill and wanted to learn kung fu himself, but Bak Mei laughed at him and thought him unpromising. He deserted the army and headed to the school of the Seven Scribes of the Cloudy Satchel, seven taoist sorcerers in the mountains near Song Shan. Yang begged to become a pupil and fed the sorcerers all manner of excuses and lies, but the sorcerers saw through him and placed a curse on him as punishment for his evil actions. They placed in his mind complete knowledge of all seven schools of kung-fu and a lust for violence, and sent him back to slaughter Bak Mei and the soldiers who had destroyed the Shaolin temples. Centuries later, he was incorporated into the Great Ten and fabricated his origin, claiming that he received his powers from an old mystic whom he saved from a beating.
When entering battle, Yang splits into seven identical clones, each a grandmaster of one of the seven schools of kung-fu.
Shaolin Robot
When the First Emperor of ChinaQin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
commissioned the construction of his tomb, a brilliant engineer by the name of Lao Yuqi built a hundred clockwork automatons to serve as tomb guards. The vain and jealous emperor ordered that Lao be entombed with him upon his death so that his genius would never serve another patron. Before dying of thirst, Lao reprogrammed one of the automatons with his own insights, values and priorities and gave it a semblance of free will. Thousands of years later, when the tomb was uncovered by archaeologists, the automatons went on a rampage in an attempt to topple the Communist government and restore imperial rule. These automatons were defeated by the Super Functionaries. Only Lao's reprogrammed automaton remained inactive back at the tomb. The Chinese government reactivated it and upgraded it with Durlan technology.
Shaolin Robot speaks in simple I Ching hexagrams
Hexagram (I Ching)
The I Ching book consists of 64 hexagrams.A hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines , where each line is either Yang , or Yin . The hexagram lines are traditionally counted from the bottom up, so the lowest line is considered line 1 while the top line is line 6...
, but can express more complex thoughts using written pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
. It was seen using hexagrams
Hexagram (I Ching)
The I Ching book consists of 64 hexagrams.A hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines , where each line is either Yang , or Yin . The hexagram lines are traditionally counted from the bottom up, so the lowest line is considered line 1 while the top line is line 6...
from I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
to speak. In 52 #50, Shaolin Robot 'speaks' three times. Springing forward to attack Black Adam
Black Adam
Black Adam is a fictional comic book character, created in 1945 by Otto Binder & C. C. Beck for Fawcett Comics. Originally created as a one-shot villain for Fawcett Comics' Marvel Family team of superheroes, Black Adam was revived as a recurring supervillain after DC Comics began publishing Captain...
, it speaks
, Hexagram 38, which is 睽 (kui2), and represents opposition or contradiction. In the next frame, while actively attacking Black Adam, it speaks , Hexagram 6, 訟 (song4), which represents contention or arguing. Finally, as Black Adam destroys Shaolin Robot, it speaks , Hexagram 23, 剝 (bol), which represents deterioration or 'splitting apart'. Later while battling the Shield, it speaks , Hexagram 18 which is '蠱' (correction), , Hexagram 39 which is '蹇' (obstruction), , Hexagram 25 which is '無妄' (pestilence), and finally , Hexagram 1, which is '乾' (force).Socialist Red Guardsman
Real name Gu Lao, is one of the oldest Chinese heroes. He used his solar powers to carry out the Cultural RevolutionCultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
. His body is highly radioactive, so he is forced to wear a special suit of containment armour reverse engineered from Durlan technology. He has since become bitter and disillusioned as China abandons Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's vision and embraces market economics. Lives like a hermit in an isolated stretch of the Gobi Desert
Gobi Desert
The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...
due to the possible threat of a nuclear meltdown. Mother of Champions is immune to his radiation, and was the first person to touch him in over fifteen years.
Thundermind
Thundermind or 雷念 (Léi Nyan) （a Chinese amateur group translate it as 雷念大师，in which 大师 means the master with knowledge） is Zou Kang, a history teacher at Beijing No. 8 Middle SchoolBeijing No.8 Middle School YiHai Branch
Beijing No.8 Middle School YiHai Branch, or YiHai 8 Zhong, YH8Z, founded in 1998, is a primary secondary school located in YiHai Garden, FengTai District, Beijing, People's Republic of China.- Miscellaneous :*In 1998, the founder of Beijing No.8 Middle School...
who, on a tour of the Beijing Museum
Beijing Museum of Natural History
The Beijing Museum of Natural History is located at 126, Tian Qiao Nan Street, Chong Wen District, Beijing, 100050, and is the most popular natural history museum in China. It was originally founded in 1951 as the National Central Museum of Natural History, and its name changed to the Beijing...
, accidentally recites aloud a sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
"trigger phrase" from an ancient Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
artifact: "All hail the jewel in the lotus". Afterwards, he transforms into Thundermind whenever he recites his trigger phrase and unlocks what he calls his full human potential, becoming a Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
with the power to access metahuman analogues of the powers listed in the Buddhist siddhis. He saves a fellow teacher named Miss Wu, who happens to be in love with his alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
Thundermind. According to 52 #45 he also has super-senses akin to telepathy, and fancies himself the team's conscience. He is the most loved of the Great Ten, especially in his hometown of Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
Chang Tzu
As revealed to Alan ScottAlan Scott
Alan Scott is a fictional character, a superhero in the and the first superhero to bear the name Green Lantern.-Publication history:The original Green Lantern was created by young struggling artist Martin Nodell, who was inspired by the sight of a New York Subway employee waving a red lantern to...
by Thundermind, Chang Tzu and his Science Squad are members of the Great Ten that provide, among other things, the funds to operate the organization and the technology they use.
Number Four
Number Four was one of Mother of Champions superstrong and tough children. He first appeared in The OMAC Project: Infinite Crisis Special. Number Four was sent into Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
to retrieve the fallen OMAC satellite, he demonstrated superhuman strength, invulnerability and heightened reflexes, Number Four is a reference to the 14th Century Chinese myth of the Ten Brothers, the fourth having super strength.
Shen Li Po
Shen Li Po was formerly the Black King’s Bishop in Checkmate, he debuted in Checkmate vol. 2 #1. Shen Li Po later returned to the Great Wall Complex on a leave of absence in Checkmate vol. 2 #16, and was replaced by the August General In Iron.The Yeti
Real name Hu Wei. The Yeti is a scientist who unlocked an atavisticAtavism
Atavism is the tendency to revert to ancestral type. In biology, an atavism is an evolutionary throwback, such as traits reappearing which had disappeared generations before. Atavisms can occur in several ways...
trigger gene that transforms men into monsters. This discovery enabled him to transform into a powerful white furred yeti
Yeti
The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
-like monster plagued with an uncontrollable rage. While in his Yeti form, Hu Wei must wear a special electronic amulet around his neck that keeps him from going berserk. His origin bears similarities to that of the Hulk
Hulk (comics)
The Hulk is a fictional character, a superhero in the . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 ....
, and Sasquatch
Sasquatch (comics)
Sasquatch is a fictional character, a superhero in Marvel Comics' universe. He first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 and was created by John Byrne.-Fictional character biography:Dr...
from Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight is a fictional superhero team published by Marvel Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few Canadian superhero teams. Created by John Byrne, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 ....
. He was apparently killed in 52 #50 by Black Adam.
Anti-Matter Universe
There is an evil counterpart to the Great Ten in the Anti-Matter UniverseQward
Qward is a fictional world existing within an antimatter universe that is part of the . It was first mentioned in Green Lantern # 2 .-Fictional history:...
, known as "The Most Unworthy Ten".
Flashpoint
In the alternate timeline of the FlashpointFlashpoint (comics)
Flashpoint is an American comic book crossover story arc published by DC Comics. Consisting of an eponymous core limited series and a number of tie-in titles, the storyline premiered in May 2011...
event, August General in Iron is a member of the H.I.V.E.
H.I.V.E.
The H.I.V.E., which stands for the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination, is a DC Comics supervillain organization.-1st Incarnation:...
council. He voted for innocent civilians to live in Western European between Aquaman and Wonder Woman before using nuclear weapons to end the war.
Miscellaneous
- A version of the Great Ten appear in issue 8 of the Batman: The Brave and the BoldBatman: The Brave and the Bold (comics)Batman: The Brave and the Bold is an American comic book series published by DC Comics. It is based on the TV series of the same name.-UK Title:The UK version is published by Titan Magazines and the first issue was released on 11 March 2010...
comics. They help BatmanBatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
fight an army of YetiYetiThe Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology...
s.
External links
- Cosmic Teams: The Great Ten
- DC’s The Great Ten Preview Gallery, NewsaramaNewsaramaNewsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews and essays about the American comic book industry.-History:Newsarama began in Summer 1995 as a series of Internet forum postings on the Prodigy comic-book message boards by fan Mike Doran. In these short messages. Doran shared...
- Straight (and Not) Out of the Comics, New York Times, May 28, 2006