A COMPLETE and EXHAUSTIVE History

of the Challengers of the Unknown

Or try...

Hero History
Jeff Satterella's
"Living on Borrowed Time"

Quick History
Painless One-Page
Overview

Challengers of the Beginning

Showcase, New Frontier,
Adventure, Issues 1-8

Issues

History

Notes on History-Making

This recitation lists the Challengers adventures in best-guess chronological order. It includes major events and editorial fill-ins. For further details, see the characters' bios and the individual story accounts.

Parentheses cite the source where chronicled (COTU 14). Events only referred to or implied are, for example, (Not recorded). Additional clues help pinpoint the chronology. Such as, (Their pants have cargo pockets, so this is an early adventure.)

Much text was generously supplied by DarkMark's Comic Indexing Domain. Thanks!

For a quick rundown, see the short one-page history of our boys and girls.

This history is a work in progress. Some parts are incomplete. We appreciate your patience.


World War II - An End and a Beginning

In an incident that will eventually stamp the Challengers' lives, on August 6, 1945, an atom bomb obliterated Hiroshima in Japan. Two young US soldiers, Paul Hemmings and Ted Sands, witnessed the explosion from Okinawa. Coincident with the explosion, a vast stunning otherwordly light filled the sky - and changed the two men forever. (COTU V3 11.)

Paul Hemmings is "swept away by time" and disappears. Unhinged in time, he seesaws back and forth around the light-vision, revisiting it time and again. On his swings, he plays with time as if it's a toy (COTU V3 12).

Ted Sands stays and witnesses the light. He gains an unknown wisdom and a unique second sight: he knows when anyone else witnesses a similar light. (COTU V3 12.) Upon his discharge, Sands amasses a fortune. (Unrecorded, but he's wealthy.) He begins his search for "others" who've seen the light. (COTU V3 12.)

Four such men will become the first Challengers...

More Than 13 Years Ago

They Were Famous
Before They Were Challengers

Matthew "Red" Ryan wins fame first. He and his brother Martin are "circus daredevils" before Red is five years old (mentioned in COTU 74). (Wonder if Red ever met that other circus acrobat, Boston Brand, AKA Deadman?) One trick was to vault onto a running horse, grab an overhead rope, swing up by their knees, and catch a partner (COTU 5). His other passion is climbing mountains, which he's doing by age 10! (DC Comics Presents 84.)


Kyle (not-yet Ace) Morgan joins the US Air Force. (Not recorded.) He rises quickly through the ranks. In Korea, he flies combat missions and shoots down five planes, earning the nickname "Ace" (not recorded). Colonel Ace Morgan saves Hal Jordan's life over North Korea (New Frontier 1.) (Hal Jordan goes on to become Green Lantern.) Ace becomes the most heavily decorated pilot of the Korean War (newsreel in New Frontier 3). For more on Ace's family, see Ace's bio.

Walter Mark (Prof-to-be) Haley joins the Navy and becomes a frogman (precursor to the SEALS) (newsreel in New Frontier 3). Prof accomplishes many feats of underwater daring, killing sharks, overcoming deadly divers, and mastering rapture of the deep. (Flashback in COTU 52. See also Prof's bio.)

Leaving the Navy (not recorded), not-yet Prof leaves the Navy (not recorded). He enters college (not specified) and lives off government research grants (Adventure 495). He graduates with degrees in Aeronautics and Oceanography (newsreel in New Frontier 3), earning the nickname "Prof".

At age 17, Rocky Davis stuns the world by winning a gold medal in the 1948 Olympic decathlon. Four years later, he does it again (newsreel in New Frontier 3).

In the 1956 Olympics, Rocky wins a medal in Wrestling. (Many references but not recorded.) He visits the White House and meets the president (Eisenhower or Kennedy? COTU V3 16). Adventuring and/or stunting, he wrestles crocodiles and grizzly bears (mentioned in COTU 5). In one bout in Cleveland, Rocky loses a tooth. Yet for years after, Rocky's missing "trouble tooth" would warn him of trouble coming (COTU 45).

Quitting the circus, Red Ryan pursues his hobby of mountain climbing. He gets a taste of immortality while climbing Mount Fujioka in Japan. An avalanche buries him for 12 hours - yet he survives. (Secret Origins 12. See Red's bio.). High in some mountains (Himalayas? Washington State? Alaska?) Red Ryan tosses an abominable snowman off a cliff (flashback in COTU 52. See Red's bio.). Red climbs a mountain in Borneo (mentioned in Adventures of Superman 508).

On detached service, Ace test-flies jets for McDonnel-Douglas. (Flashback in COTU 52 and Secret Origins 12. See Ace's bio.) Ace shoots down an unreformed Nazi, the Black Baron (COTU 56). On military orders, Ace bombs an Italian castle (recalled and revisited in COTU 44). He's no slouch on the ground either. Jumped in an alley, Ace punches out three plug-uglies single-handed. (Flashback in COTU 52. See Ace's bio.)

Rocky invests his prize money in the stock market and amasses a fortune. He takes up exploring (many references) and writes about his exploits. His books top the bestsellers list (newsreel in New Frontier 3).

Rocky Davis takes up professional boxing. (Did he ever fight Ted "Wildcat" Grant?) He excels as a heavyweight, gaining more titles, fame, and wealth. (One bout is shown in Adventure 494.)

Since climbing mountains doesn't pay, Red Ryan becomes a stuntman. He gains fame as the "King of the Daredevils" and a "teen heartthrob" for his death-defying stunts on a WWII Harley-Davidson Liberator motorcycle (NFAE annotations). He boasts, "I've broken most every bone in my body crashing everything from motorcycles to powerboats" (New Frontier 3).

He also makes a name for himself climbing office buildings (mentioned in Adventure 493).


Ace retires from the Air Force but remains in the Reserves (Not recorded.) He joins a stunt-flying outfit. Buzzing an air show in a biplane, he inadvertently shares air space with Superboy. (New Adventures of Superboy 1.)

After years of impecunity, Prof inherits "millions" (lettercol COTU 52) from his Uncle Cyrus (mentioned in COTU 31). Through a mix-up in wills (Adventure 495), Prof inherits over his Cousin Freddie. With money to burn, his new goal is to become "the American Jacques Cousteau" (also Adventure 495).


Another member-to-be is making a name for herself.  At the F.Y.I Show (Future Young Inventors) in Las Vegas, June Robbins exhibits a gadget useful for "programming computers or archaelogical digs" intended for "any challenger of the unknown".  (Metal Men 1)

Fame Proves Fleeting

Ace Morgan opens Morgan Flying Service at a small Texas airfield. (COTU 31 and Adventure 495.)

Ace is hired to fly a batch of nitro to prospectors in Alaska for $5000. The shipment breaks loose. Ace can't risk a landing, so risks his life to buzz the prospectors and drive them clear, then slips his plane to dump the load. Unexpectedly, he exposes a vein that will make the miners rich. The $5K fee Ace invests in a new jet. Unfortunately, he's angered a tribe of Eskimos because he blew open a sacred burial ground (Adventure 495). But he gets a call: he's won a place on the TV show "Heroes", AKA "Incredible People".

Prof buys a big cabin cruiser on the Mediterranean. Goofing, he swamps a sailboat, but finds the victim is his personal hero, Sir Lawrence Revere, who's lost his gear because of Prof's foolishness! Prof offers his own gear and help. Sir Lawrence is trying to rescue a statue sacred to local fisherman, and is hurt doing it. Prof rescues him - and is awarded a chance to appear on the TV show "Heroes". Prof scoffs. "Me a hero? All I've ever been is a rich delinquent - but not after what I've learned today!" (See Prof's Bio for full details. Also COTU 31 and STF 8.)

A reporter shows up at the hospital to get the story from Sir Lawrence and Prof. He's Harold Moffet of the Tattletale, a supermarket rag owned by TriCorp Media. Moffet's story, probably elaborated, becomes the first of many that make the Challengers a national sensation (COTU V2 2).


Red Ryan, a gambling addict, gets in debt $50K to the mob. Eager to leave the country, Red accepts a job to erect a radio tower in Santa Florida, South America. A local millionaire named Domingo wants a radio transmitter atop Mount Blanco to educate his poor countrymen. But a local kid sneaks into Red's tent. He claims Domingo wants to broadcast propaganda to become dictator. Uninterested in politics, Red shoos the kid, who is gunned down by an assassin. Making it his fight, Red climbs the tower after the assassin, who is electrocuted. Red is hailed as a hero for saving the country from slavery - but inside Red knows that brave kid is the real hero. (See Red's Bio for full details. Also COTU 31 and Adventure 495.)


Rocky Davis, the "Bayou Battler" (STF 8) of the WFW (COTU V2 2), fights his most famous battle against a challenger named Barton. (Which Barton? One is a white wrestler, the other a black boxer. Since Rocky is sometimes accused of spinning tall tales (COTU V3 16), details are often fuzzy.) The syndicate bet heavily against the champ and doped his water so he sees triple. Never daunted, Rocky closes his eye and flattens his rival. He's a hero, contend the reporters, but Rocky sneers. He's only after money. (See Rocky's Bio for full details, COTU 31, and Adventure 494). But something is lacking in his life, and he begins to feel hollow...


Then comes the crash...