THE STATUS CREW

Membership: Major ?? (none of the Crew are named, and the Major at the monitoring station in Marvel Superheroes#387 is the only one even given a designation)

Purpose: To maintain the Status Quo in the U.K. of Earth 238, mainly by eliminating any superhumans who may emerge.

Affiliations:  The Police and Army, Home Secretary Wilcox-Smyth, the Fury

Enemies: Captain Britain, Jackdaw, Saturnyne, Dimples, the Avant Guard, the Crazy Gang, superheroes in general

Base of Operations: Earth 238

First Appearance: (mentioned) Marvel Superheroes#378 (October 1981);
(actually appear) Marvel Superheroes#381 (January 1982)

History: (Marvel Superheroes#378) - Captain Britain and Jackdaw flee the police. After their quarry has eluded them the police state "Costumed characters. Must've special powers." "Probably a job for the Status Crew".

(Marvel Superheroes#381) - Home Secretary Wilcox-Smyth, upon hearing of Captain Britain's antics, orders the Status Crew in to eliminate him. With their high-tech equipment the Status Crew soon locate Saturnyne's hidden base. They blast their way into it from above, and a squad drops down intent on wiping out all below.

(Marvel Superheroes#382) - In spite of comments before they broke in of wiping out everyone in the base, the leader of the Crew starts the assault by informing everyone in the base they are under arrest. He and Captain Britain have a heated conversation, where he declares that the Captain is guilty of treason under the treason act of 1971 because he took the law into his own hands by fighting the Junkheap that Walked Like a Man. When the hero answers back defiantly that he "stands for whatever is good for the people of Britain" the Status Crew open fire.

Realising that Captain Britain's forcefield is protecting all their opponents, the leader of the Crew calls for an analysis of his powers. In the corner of the room two members of the Crew are flashing up a piece of equipment that hasn't been used since the superhero purge ten years earlier. The machine swiftly devines that Captain Britain's powers come from his costume and that they depend on his concentration to work.

Meanwhile the Avant Guard flank the Crew, and send two of the Crew through a dimensional warp. Convinced by the advanced technology around them that they must be facing "the Reds", and angered at the loss of their friends, the remaining Crew members gun down the Guard ruthlessly. Saturnyne too faces some of the Crew, who make the mistake of taking her on with their bare hands because she is unarmed . She makes short work of them.

The Crew fighting Captain Britain use a high pitched directional sonic beam to disrupt his concentration, finally gaining the upper hand in their battle. As he loses his focus his forcefield wavers and the Status Crew members pile on him with batons. With a last surge of strength he manages to throw them off, so they bring up a bazooka to finish him off. Knowing his friend will die without his forcefield, Jackdaw blocks the missile, but appears to die doing so. Severely weakened, Captain Britain falls to the floor, unable to move.

(Marvel Superheroes#383) - Still unable to focus with the sonic beam aimed at him, Captain Britain manages to explain his plight to Saturnyne, who uses one of the fallen Avant Guard's umbrella weapons to send the agent with the sonic device into another dimension. Holding the Status Crew back with the threat of sending their leader on "a one-way trip to Cthonos", and seeing that all the Avant Guard in this sector are dead, Saturnyne presses Captain Britain to formulate a plan to take on the overwhelming forces of the Status Crew. They back out the room, and then while she and Dimples race ahead to prepare, Captain Britain fights a running battle with the pursuing Crew. Having reached her objective, Saturnyne throws the Captain a batch of the evolutionary enhancing fluid, with which he douses their pursuers. Although no physical change is evident, the Status Crew present suddenly realise that they have been fighting for the wrong cause, and beg Saturnyne's forgiveness for their actions. This battle is over.

(Marvel Superheroes#384) - While preparing for the Push, the forced evolutionary jump Saturnyne is on Earth 23 to engineer, Captain Britain reminisces about the recent battle he had with the Status Crew, whom he envisages as puppets of Wilcox-Smyth.

(Marvel Superheroes#387) - As the madness of the Jaspers' Warp spreads across London, England and the world, the Status Crew watch in horror at one of their monitoring stations. The Major in charge of the station decides that the Warp, combined with the intelligence he has received suggesting that Captain Britain, Saturnyne and her men are agents from a parallel world, signals an attack from another dimension. He orders his men to unleash the Fury.

Forced out their base by the effects of the Warp, the heroes are confronted by the Status Crew, this time accompanied by a giant killer cyboite, the Fury. The Status Crew stand back while the Fury makes short work of their opponents.

(Marvel Superheroes#388) - Captain Britain is rescued from the battle by the flying Teapot of the Crazy Gang, and the Fury sets off in pursuit, watched by two members of the Crew. On board the Teapot, one of the insane visions visited on the hero is of a tea party with almost everyone he has met on his visit to Earth 238, including one of the Status Crew.

(Daredevils#1) - Merlyn is mixing memories to put back into the resurrected body of Captain Britain. Among the memories we see him preparing from the Crooked World is his battle with the Status Crew.

(Mighty World of Marvel#10) - In the full throws of the Earth 616 Jaspers' Warp, Captain Britain is temporarily made to believe he never left the Crooked World, and that he and his allies are under attack by the Junkyard that Walked Like a Man, the Status Crew and the Crazy Gang.

Comments: Created by David Thorpe and Alan Davis.

I would think that the Status Quo was part of a division initially set up by Mad Jim Jaspers, to keep the world clean of super-humans--Snood.

by Loki

CLARIFICATIONS: No known connections to:

images:

Other appearances:
Marvel Superheroes#382-384
Marvel Superheroes#387-388
Daredevils#1 (1982) - Alan Moore (writer), Alan Davis (pencils/inks), Bernie Jaye (editor)
Mighty World of Marvel#10 (March, 1984) - Alan Moore (writer), Alan Davis (pencils/inks), Tim Hampson (editor)

 Last updated: 08/17/02.

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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