Honor Guard
HistoryThe Early YearsIn 1959, Max O' Millions brought together a group of fellow heroes to combat the Legions of Midnight. After defeating the villains, the group decided to stay together as Honor Guard. At the time, most people weren't sure if the group would stay together very long. Shortly afterwards, the team allied with the Bouncing Beatnik and the Old Soldier to prevent Shirak the Devourer's worshipers from establishing a portal through which their master could invade our dimension("The Scoop"). Their first big clash with Pyramid happened a few weeks after that, when the organization tried to capture NASA's first team of astronauts that constituted the Mercury project. 1970s and the Dark AgeThe era from the early 1970s into the mid-1980s is often referred to as The Dark Age in the history of Astro City. Honor Guard would be affected by these times, taking part in some of the more memorable events of the era. 1973 proved to be one of the toughest years for the group as events conspired and led to the loss of two of their members. The infamous tragedy leading up to the death of the Silver Agent was painful, but not as much as the shameful ploy of El Hombre. By hiring the Assemblyman to build a robot that would attack Los Angeles, El Hombre set in motion a scheme where he would arrive, defeat the robot in staged combat, and enjoy the fawning attentions of a grateful public. But the Assemblyman pulled a double cross. He built a robot too powerful for El Hombre to overcome, and it proceeded on a destructive and deadly rampage. Eventually, Honor Guard arrived to vanquish the robot. Easily tracing events back to the Assemblyman, they discovered their own teammate's devious involvement. El Hombre was now tarnished as a hero. His shame so great, he went into complete seclusion, never returning to face public ridicule and scorn. His action was one among many that set the stage for the turbulent times awaiting all the heroes during this dark age of Astro City's history. It was only a few weeks later that many of the team members, past and present, aided in the defense of Astro City against the hordes of minions serving Madame Majestrix's grand invasion of North America. In that same time frame, adding to the dark mood of the times, their most illustrious teammate, the Silver Agent, was executed for his alleged criminal act of assassinating a foreign diplomat, the Mad Maharajah. On May 3, 1982, a date that the Silver Agent told Honor Guard to meet him at the Falls on his previous time jump during the 1977 Gang War, the Agent did indeed show up. He warned of a grave danger that ended up being the Rise of Kerresh the Devastator in which Honor Guard played a major role in trying to stop alongside the First Family and the Omega Rangers. The 1990sBy 1995, the team's main roster consisted of the Black Rapier, Samaritan, Quarrel, MPH, the modern day Cleopatra, the N-Forcer, and Beautie. This line-up would remain relatively stable for many years to come. 1997 witnessed the Enelsian Invasion in which Honor Guard played a major role in repelling the aggressive aliens. Despite the public's near paranoid distrust of the superhero community, the heroes never gave up on the world. When the brunt of the Enelsians attack on Astro City was unleashed, most of the group was positioned to defend the city, alongside a vast horde of other heroes. Working together, they staved off the attack and with the help of Augustus Furst's technical weaponry , the heroes went on the offensive, eventually ending the alien threat. 2000 and Beyond2013 witnessed long time holdouts, Winged Victory and the Gentleman joining the team, along with newcomer Wolfspider. The team thwarted Lord Volcanus's take-over attempt on the surface world and fought Kroseth the Invader. Joined by the Assemblyman, they also laid siege to the Skullcrushers' hidden HQ in Ecuador. Members were finally able to get inside when the Assemblyman created a portal by homing in on the ID badge of Honor Guard employee Marella Cowper, who was within. Longtime chairman, The Black Rapier announced his retirement and soon after Quarrel stepped away as well. In the following years, American Chibi was granted a membership and The Living Nightmare has rejoined the ranks for a third and hopefully permanent time. EquipmentRepli-Matrix: A crystal seized from Tritonian slavers early in Honor Guard's career. The device possesses replication powers of some sort, and Honor Guard regularly used it for reconstruction purposes after super-battles. Some time prior to late 2001, the alien conqueror Kroseth IV of Antares merged his essence with the Repli-Matrix. Though he then escaped the device the next time it was used, it is unknown whether Honor Guard has permanently retired the crystal in light of these events. Honor Guard HeadquartersWhile originally based in Astro City, as the group became more and more involved with global and other worldly endeavors, the team moved its base of operations to a floating headquarters. Honor Guard's Headquarters is a cloaked flying base that is usually located somewhere over the American Midwest. It is invisible from the ground and undetectable by most aircraft. Packed with advanced technologies, including cloaking technology, shielded armor made of high density, heavily reinforced alloyed metals including sensors that maneuver it out of the way of any other aircraft. The Techsperts managed to break into once, but security upgrades were made and the former supervillain Steeljack has been the only person or group that has managed to infiltrate it since then. It contains a meeting room, as well as a trophy room featuring memorabilia and trinkets from past cases and adventures. There is a technology center(complete with an extraterrestrial-alien detector) and other areas necessary for controlling and maintaining this all important headquarters.
Honor Guard's Emergency Call CenterA complex and highly sophisticated organization for gathering intelligence information, screening incoming emergency calls and monitoring world crisis situations.
Other TimelinesHonor Guard Cases and Adventures
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