The Freedom Fighters Return: Punching Nazis on Earth-X

Black Condor, by Daniel Acuña (Courtesy DC Comics)

Black Condor

Orphaned after the murder of his archeologist parents while in Mongolia, Richard Grey was raised by a family of condors (a la Tarzan and his ape family), who also taught him to fly. After some further education from a hermit-priest, he took revenge on the raiders who killed his family, and then traveled to the US to fight crime. There, Grey adopted the identity of a murdered Senator Tom Wright, and spent the rest of his adventures trying to bring the criminals to justice.

Like most of the Quality Comics refugees in the 1970s, Black Condor was placed on DC’s Earth-X to punch Nazis. He also received an updated origin from comics historian and writer Roy Thomas that used a meteor to explain away his ability to fly.

Ryan Kendall, the second Black Condor, achieved his powers after being subjected to a lifetime of cruel experiments by the Society of the Golden Wing, whose mission was to grant humans the ability to fly. On the positive side, they achieved their goal with Kendall, a Native American of indeterminate tribal affiliation. On the negative side, those years of torture left him enraged and resentful. He abandoned them to hide out in New Jersey, where he just wanted to be left alone in the Pinelands Forest.

Kendall didn’t consider himself a superhero, but was nurtured into the role by the spirit of the original Black Condor. Unfortunately, he was killed soon after by the Yellow Lantern, Sinestro.

The most recent Black Condor is John Trujillo, a Navajo who received his powers from a Mayan spider deity’s totem called the Manitou Stone. Trujillo was recruited into the Freedom Fighters by Uncle Sam as the team’s secret weapon. There is a Black Condor listed on the team for the upcoming series, but no further details have been released about them.