Freedom Phalanx
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| Freedom Phalanx | |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | NC Soft |
| First appearance | City of Heroes # 1 (2004) |
| Created by | Sean Michael Fish |
| In story information | |
| Base(s) | Paragon City, Rhode Island, United States of America |
| Member(s) | Current The Statesman Manticore Positron Sister Psyche Numina Synapse Citadel Back Alley Brawler Historical Maiden Justice The Dark Watcher Elementar Vambrace Comet Queen Wavelength Luminary I |
The Freedom Phalanx is a fictional coalition of superheroes in the universe of the MMORPG City of Heroes. This group, lead by the Statesman, is in charge of protecting fictional Paragon City from the various groups that wish to do harm to it. They primarily fight the evil group Arachnos led by the Statesman's once good friend and ally, Stefan Richter, also known as Lord Recluse.
The Freedom Phalanx was founded in the wake of World War I and the Great Depression to fight the Arachnos organization and the villain known as Nemesis, the Prussian Prince of Automatons. The original group consisted of the superhuman Marcus Cole (the Statesman), his superpowered wife Monica Richter (Maiden Justice), magically empowered young Devon Wilcox (the Dark Watcher), weather manipulator Raymond George Washington (Elementar), and the high-tech-suit-wearing Brandon Warfield and wheelchair-bound suit controller James St. John-Smythe (collectively known as Vambrace). This group gathered to defeat Nemesis on 1932-07-11, a day known as "Brass Monday".
Sometime before the 1980s the Freedom Phalanx disbanded, later coming back together with the Statesman, Dr. Raymond Keyes (Positron), Justin Sinclair (Manticore), Steven Berry (Synapse), and Shalice Tilman (Sister Psyche) to battle evil in Paragon City once again. With the Rikti War, their numbers dwindled until the current line up, known as the Surviving Eight, formed. They are assisted by the Vindicators, a group led by Statesman's granddaughter and sidekick Jessica Cole (Ms. Liberty), and comprising the sidekicks of the Freedom Phalanx: Lena Elliot (Swan), Valerie Kellum (Valkyrie), Aurora Scott (Aurora Borealis), Jean-Pierre Lourdin (Malaise), K'Varr D'Shall (Infernal), Katherine Stevens (Mynx), and the second Luminary.
The Freedom Phalanx is in many ways a reflection of the Avengers, Justice League of America and Justice Society of America, in that it is a grouping of the most prominent heroes in the medium and, as with the Avengers and the JLA, has been disbanded and reformed at least once. This similarity may be deliberate or may have been a subtle nod to the above groups, as the City of Heroes and City of Villains games are based on the idea of players being able to become player-created superheroes or supervillains, in a comic-book type of environment.
