LEGION
Real
Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial,
presumably extra-dimension/extra-temporal being
--possibly Gallifreyan mutate
Occupation: Mercenary
Affiliations: Special Executive; Saturnyne
(former employer),
Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), Technet (sub-contracted with
them on occasion);
Cobweb (lover); uncertain connection to Thug
Enemies: Fury
Known Relatives: Rassilon (possible creator);
Aliases: The loom-born are also known as The Bastards of Rassilon
Base of Operations: Unrevealed
First Appearance: Daredevils#5, 6 (June, 1983)
Powers/Abilities: Legion can double back on his own timeline, thereby summoning countless future counterparts, each separated by a split second. As such, Legion can form ten to twelve seeming duplicates of himself to accomplish multiple tasks at once, or to increase his/their fighting power. Legion is powerfully muscled and is usually engaged in hand-to-hand combat, but it is unclear whether he has any superhuman physical abilities.
HISTORY: Legion's origins are unrevealed. He may be, like other members of the Special Executive, a Gallifreyan mutate, spawned in the Looms of Rassilon, or he may be an unrelated extra-terrestrial. His time-based powers make him a likely candidate to be a creation of the Gallifreyans. See comments.
(Dr. Who anthology: Walking in Eternity - p285 - 287: "Executive Action" (fb)) -possibly behind the scenes, if he is one of the "Bastards of Rassilon."
(Daredevils#10(fb)) - Cobweb and Legion first meet.
(Captain Britain II#12) - The leader of the Special Executive, "the Steward," sought to bring Fascination into his group, despite the fact that Cobweb predicted that it would not occur for another 300 years. Thug accompanied them on this adventure and was reunited (or first met?) Thug, whom he embraced as a friend or relative.
(Dr. Who#51-BTS) - Hundreds of years later (perhaps 300), the Special Executive, now led by Wardog, were working for the Gallifreyans. Wardog recovered Fenris the Hellbringer and the Gallifreyans learned that the Order of the Black Sun were their enemies in the War in Four Dimensions.
(Dr. Who#57-BTS) - Ten years later, the Special Executive tried and failed to prevent the development of bad relations with the Order of the Black Sun.
(Excalibur#47-BTS) - The Special Executive again traveled back to the modern era, on Earth-616, and re(?)-recruited several members of the Technet to the Executive.
(Dr. Who anthology: Walking in Eternity - p285 - 287: "Executive Action"-BTS) - The Special Executive left Gallifrey after an uprising by the Newborns.
(Daredevils#10(fb) - Legion and Cobweb began their romantic affair.
(Daredevils#5) - Legion was present as Wardog
explained the plan to capture Brian Braddock/Captain Britain, to
force him to testify on Saturnyne's behalf.
(Daredevils#6) - Braddock went berserk upon
awakening in the Dimensional Development Court. Legion was one of
the SE who tried, and failed, to subdue Braddock. After punching
one of Legion's counterparts and seeing them all develop
nosebleeds, Captain Britain said, "Let's see what happens
when I break one of your backs!" Legion was not in favor of
the idea.
He was also present at the trial of Saturnyne, in which Mandragon
obliterated the entire dimension of Earth-238 from existence.
This not only killed trillions of trillions, but also wiped out
any evidence of Saturnyne's innocence.
(Daredevils#7) - Saturnyne was sentenced to death, and Braddock went berserk, battling the security forces of the DDC. At Wardog's direction, Legion leapt to Braddock's side.
(Daredevils#8) - Legion and the rest of the SE continued the struggle until Wardog led them to teleport to Earth-616 to escape. They took up temporary residence in Braddock manor.
(Daredevils#9) - The events on Earth-616 began to parallel those of Earth-238, the Crooked World. Mad Jim Jaspers power and influence began to affect reality, and the deadly Fury closed in on Captains Britain and UK. Meanwhile, Legion played himself in chess, which ended in stalemate after stalemate. Cobweb was most annoyed.
(Daredevils#10) - Legion and the SE joined the battle against the Fury. Correctly fearing the deadly power of the Fury, Oxo instructed Legion to back off and lose himself in the crowd. Legion responded, "But I am the crowd," as the Fury slew one of his counterparts. Legion and the others realized that he would only have days to weeks until his timeline caught up with that of his deceased future counterpart.
(Daredevils#11) - Legion sat in shock over the body of his future counterpart during the struggle with the Fury. Zeitgeist figured that he had three months at most "before he snuffs out forever." After the conclusion of the battle, Legion left with the rest of the SE.
(Daredevils#10(ff)-BTS) - Cobweb sees the future image of herself scattering Legion's ashes.
Comments: Created by Alan Moore and
David Lloyd.
His series were published in the UK as part of Marvel Comics Ltd,
which I guess is what evolved into Marvel UK.
Because Legion was present alongside the "Steward," which seems to occur as the SE's earliest appearance, I'm listing him as behind the scenes in all of the adventures between that one and Daredevils#5. However, it may well be that he took a leave of absence, or that there is more to the chronology than we (Loki and I) have accounted for.
Legion is virtually identical to the Technet
member Thug. Whether they are from the same alien race, or a
result of a similar mutation process is not clear. Thug refers to
his as an "other brother," but whether this is to be
taken literally is unclear. There are a number of members of both
the Special Executive and the Technet who share similar
appearances. There are members of the SE who are not identified,
but appear virtually identical to Numbers and Ringtoss. Elmo and
Waxworks are virtual duplicates, as are Ferro and Ferro2 (or
Ferro2 and Ferro4, depending on which issue you read). Loki also
thinks that the member of the Technet seen in the Captain Britain
series is NOT Thug, who is seen and identified in Excalibur and
subsequent issues.
I'd love to see Davis, or better yet, Moore and Davis, do a saga
involving the two groups, and clear this up once and for all. The
easiest explanation would be that they recruit a member of the
same race each time a member is quit or killed. Another thought
is that all of the members were created via genetic
engineering--After the death of one, a replacement is made, but
either the process is imperfect, or some changes are deliberately
made, resulting in different abilities.
This whole Crooked World saga by Alan Moore and Alan Davis is THE BEST I have ever read, in my collection of nearly 20,000 issues.
See the profile on the Special Executive for a more detailed discussion of their timeline, their time serving the Gallifreyans, and for Alan Moore's discussion on their creation.
I'd place Legion and the Special Executive in a distant portion of the Multiverse, if not the Omniverse.
Descriptions of time between events probably should not be taken literally when discussed by a time traveler.
Doctor Who and the related characters are the
property of BBC (or at least they were in 1981).
The good Doctor has also encountered Death's Head (The Freelance
Peacekeeping agent, yes?), @ Dr. Who#135 and 137--It was the
Doctor who shrunk Death's Head from 30' (from his Transformers
days) to @ 6' tall via his tissue compression eliminator.
In addition, Justin Alphonse Gamble, @ Power Man and Iron Fist#79
and Avengers Annual#22, is definitely based on the good Doctor.
Much thanks to Loki, Jeph York,
Per Degaton, Mark Caithness, and Silver Acre Comics, who
identified the Dr. Who stories, and helped me get the original
issues.
Loki wrote the summary to the Anthology issue, since I don't have
it, and he also helped make sense of the Special Executive's
timeline.
CLARIFICATIONS: No known connections to:
Fenris the Hellbringer has no known connection to:
First Posted: 08/17/2002
Last updated: 08/17/2002
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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