We’re more than past the halfway point of the first season of Stargirl. Much like the original Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. upon which the show is based, it’s a love letter to the entire history of the DC Universe and brings to the forefront classic Golden Age comic characters. The first episode hit the ground running introducing the Justice Society of America. While promoting the series, actress Brec Bassinger, who plays the titular heroine, hinted in an interview with IGN that we’d be seeing yet another Golden Age superhero team, the Seven Soldiers of Victory.
Sure enough, in this week’s episode “Brainwave” Pat Dugan (Luke Wilson) shows his stepdaughter Courtney/Stargirl a photo of himself and his first superhero team…the Seven Soldiers!
Created by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin and originally called Law’s Legionnaires in 1941’s Leading Comics #1, the lineup for the Seven Soldiers, much like their predecessors in the Justice Society of America, consisted of characters from DC Comics’ anthology publications:
-Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), More Fun Comics #73
-Speedy (Roy Harper), More Fun Comics #73
-Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton), Star Spangled Comics #1
-Stripesy (Pat Dugan), Star Spangled Comics #1
-Shining Knight (Sir Justin), Adventure Comics #66
-Vigilante (Greg Saunders), Action Comics #42
-Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis), Detective Comics #20
Despite regularly fighting alongside the Seven Soldiers, Crimson Avenger’s sidekick Wing, an admittedly Chinese caricature typical for the times, is merely considered an unofficial 8th Seventh Soldier. As Courtney herself points out in the episode, the team name doesn’t make a lot of sense with eight superheroes.
Potential SPOILERS for those who aren’t caught up, but as most fans have already likely deduced since the first episode- Justin played by Mark Ashworth, the mysterious janitor with a penchant for quoting Don Quixote, is actuality an amnesic Shining Knight.
It’s a plot pointed adapted directly from the Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. comic that Stargirl creator/producer Geoff Johns wrote.
Whether or not the rest of the Seven Soldiers of Victory will appear by the end of Stargirl Season 1, we’ll have to wait and see. With the Stargirl renewed for a second season, here’s hoping Seven Soldiers are part of Season 2 plans!
New episodes of Stargirl currently arrive on DC Universe on Mondays, air on Tuesdays at 8 PM Eastern on The CW, and are available to stream via The CW app on Wednesdays.
DC’s Stargirl follows high school sophomore Courtney Whitmore as she inspires an unlikely group of young heroes to stop the villains of the past. This new drama reimagines DC’s Stargirl and the very first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, in an unpredictable series
