Loners^[1]

Gallery

Official Team Name

Loners^[1]

Team Aliases

Formerly Excelsior^[2]

Status

Defunct

Identity

Secret

Alignment

Good

Universe

Earth-616

Base of Operations

Los Angeles

Benefactor

Rick Jones

Affiliations

Team Leader(s)

Turbo; formerly Phil Urich

Current Members

Hollow, Turbo, Lightspeed, Ricochet

Former Members

Darkhawk, Geoffrey Wilder (posing as Chamber), Mattie Franklin, Phil Urich, Red Ronin

Allies

The Runaways

Enemies

Ultron, Hollow, Green Goblin IV

Origin

Origin

Mickey and Phil started Excelsior as an outreach organization for former and current teen heroes.

Place of Formation

Los Angeles

Creators

Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona

First appearance

Runaways Vol 2 #1
(April, 2005)

History

Mickey Musashi never wanted to be a superhero, but a series of circumstances and a sense of begrudging responsibility caused her to walk that path for years as part of the New Warriors. Eventually she realized just how dangerous her 'hobby' was, and quit for good, joining her fellow former teen hero Phil Urich,Green Goblin, (the only heroic Green Goblin) as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

Musashi and Urich conceived Excelsior as an outreach organization, a 'support group' for teen heroes. Mickey contacted a number of former team heroes, and their first meeting was at a church in L.A. - which was interrupted by a phone call from a 'mysterious benefactor' who offered the team $1 million to hunt down the Runaways and "get them off the streets." This story coincided with the Runaways bringing new member Victor Mancha into the fold, who it was discovered was Ultron's son. It took the return of Darkhawk, after a mental breakdown, to defeat Ultron.

The last the team was seen, their "mysterious benefactor," now revealed to be Rick Jones, had asked them to continue their heroing duties as the "experienced" team on the West Coast. It was also revealed that Chamber was in fact the reincarnated Geoffrey Wilder, sent by the new Pride to spy on the latest Los Angeles-based team.

Lightspeed, Ricochet, Darkhawk, Turbo, Spider-Woman, and Green Goblin all are part of a self-help group, named The Loners, for teenage super heros who are addicted to their powers. The group is intended to help eachother refrain from using their powers and try live normal daily lives. However, many of the group tend to 'fall off the wagon' and use their powers anyway. Specifically, when Mattie Franklin (Spider-Woman) finds out who took her DNA to produce MGH, she enlists the help of Darkhawk and goes to find out more information. Darkhawk, who just wants to use his powers again, ruins their cover and they run into a woman named Nekra Sinclair who seems to be held captive by the MGH producers.

Excelsior

• Rick Jones, was asked to join the team as a request from Captain America
• Turbo - (Michiko "Mickey" Musashi), used to be a member of the New Warriors. Turbo decided to abondon her hero identity and concentrate on her education. Michiko retired the Torpedo armor and returned to investigative journalism.
• Ricochet - (Johnny Gallo), was one of the Slingers. He is a mutant who has an early warning sense much like Spider-Man's, as well as superhuman agility, targeting skills and coordination.
• Darkhawk - (Chris Powell), gave up his powers due to the intense nigtmares they caused. Chris Powell has a short-temper which always leads to violence in his Darkhawk form. He not only attacked his enemies at times he atacked his own teammates.
• Lightspeed - (Julie Power), was a member of the Power Pack. Julie believed that being a member of a superhero team at such a young age robbed her of a childhood. Originally came to California to be a actor.
• Geoffrey Wilder, is a time-displaced ennemy of the Runaways and leader of the Pride. He joined the team disguised as Chamber . Geoffrey Wilder used the team to gain intelligence on the Runaways. His false identity was hinted at by Molly Hayes when she asked who he thought he was fooling with his "fakey accent".

Recruits:

• Spider-Woman - (Mattie Franklin), was being exploited to produce Mutant Growth Hormone. After that event she decided to move to Los Angeles to start over and has been going to meetings regularly. Mattie Franklin later turned up in New York City but was captured by Ana Kravinoff and was later killed by Sasha Kravinoff
• Hollow, was the Mutant ward Penance who was a memeber of Generation X. It has not been revealed who now resides in this hollow body.
• Namie, a mysterious female character that is eventually outed as a cyborg and the new model for the Red Ronin; UJ1-XD
• Green Golin IV - (Phil Urich), the fourth Green Goblin is a hero unlike his predessors. After losing his costume and equipment , he finished college, earned a degree in journalism, and helped start Excelsior team. Phil Urich has been seen back in New York working for the Daily Bugle and has now taken up the identity of the new Hobgoblin.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.
Transportation: The "Excel", a Quinjet prototype modified by Tony Stark to be controlled in the same manner as the Green Goblin's Goblin Glider.
Weapons: None known.

Notes

• "Excelsior!" and "True Believers" (the name of the story-arc where Excelsior first appeared) are sayings of Marvel Comics creator Stan Lee.
• Team Consists of Former Members of New Warriors, Power Pack, Slingers, Generation X, Avengers West Coast and Avengers
  

Trivia

• No trivia.

See Also

• 10 Excelsior (Earth-616) Members
  
• 17 Appearances of Excelsior (Earth-616)
• 6 Images that include Excelsior (Earth-616)
• Team Gallery: Excelsior (Earth-616)
• Fan-Art Gallery: Excelsior (Earth-616)

Links and References

• Runaways Message Board
  

Footnotes

Chronological Bibliography

• Runaways Vol 2 #1-6
• The Loners #