The first Super Team to appear in the wake of the Tempest Attack, The Equalisers were originally assembled and funded directly by the Australian Defence Force, under the auspices of ARMOUR (Australia and Region Metahuman Organised Unilateral Response) to defend the country from Super threats. The initial team was made up of civilians that had acquired their powers through misadventure. After a couple of international incidents, an attempt to arrest the Equalisers under international law was made by Pendragon Security and the resulting damage to Melbourne forced the ADF to cut the team loose.
Not wanting to lose their premier Metahuman Defence Force under the Metahuman Soldier Treaty, the Australian Government hastily introduced laws enabling The Equalisers to operate inside Australian borders. The team is now privately funded and remains a major Metahuman force in the world, with a large rotating roster and increasing goodwill.
Back Row: Wildcat, The Scarlet Blade, Mindstorm
Front Row: The Anachronism, The Machiavellian, Colonel Quantum
The Scarlet Blade (Ruben Flynn): An internationally famous actor before he acquired powers, Flynn had a reputation for performing his own stunts in the increasingly fantastic and action-packed “Scarlet Blade” series of swashbuckling films. An accident on set forced Flynn into a lengthy and painful recovery that looked set to kill his career. Flynn spent years burning through his private fortune as he sought a method of recovery from increasingly larcenous sources. Out of desperation, Flynn underwent an experimental and illegal process designed to create superhumans, which granted him increased agility, speed and almost supernatural luck. Flynn was quickly arrested and offered clemency by participating in the Equalisers. Having long since commuted his sentence, Flynn has remained with the team, finding it more exciting than any film.
Mindstorm (Doctor Paul York): Dr York was working on a project for Averie Labs that was attempting to find a biochemical means for awakening latent psychic talents in humans. York was shocked to find that once he had a viable serum, his employers attempted to assassinate him. Taking his own serum, York used his new telekinetic abilities to escape and ran straight to ARMOUR for help.
As Mindstorm, York was the nominal leader of the Equalisers for years, until Wildcat’s ousting allowed York to semi-retire from hero work. These days, York only suits up when the situation is truly dire, or to put new recruits through their paces.
Wildcat (Edward Caan): Caan flirted with heroics long before he became a public member of the Equalisers; as a member of the ill-fated first incarnation of Next-Gen, a teenaged Caan learned the value of anonymity and training. Caan spent most of his adult life in the Australian Army, keeping his mutant abilities secret until during the Timor Conflict in 1998, when he used his powers to save the life of another soldier. ARMOUR was created around Caan and a squad slowly built from newfound recruits.
Following the Tempest Attack on Melbourne, and the resulting deaths of half of Cann’s team, Caan was moved to a liaison position and placed in command of the Equalisers, operating behind the scenes until he was ousted as a mutant by then Next-Gen leader, Athena. When the Equalisers became a private entity, Caan stayed on to lead the team. As Wildcat, Caan is a controversial figure, his history of black ops soldiering and his occasional murder of dangerous Methumans make him a target for public scrutiny. Despite this, Caan has made the Equalisers
one of the most feared Superhuman teams on the planet.
The Anachronism (Sir John Falstaff): Falstaff claims to have been one of King Arthur’s knights, sent on a crusade to recover the Holy Grail. After drinking from the Grail and being granted eternal life, Falstaff claims to have been ensorcelled by Morgaine Le Fey and sealed in a sarcophagus. The only real evidence that supports Falstaff’s contentions is that he was
found, perfectly alive and well, though sleeping, in a stone sarcophagus that had been sealed for centuries. Falstaff was unable to cope with the 21st Century until he was offered a chance to “battle evil” with the Equalisers.
Falstaff is not fond of the Modern World and its secular ways, he copes by focusing on his hero duties, even taking up the position of Richard the Lionheart in the EUSS when the original was killed. As well as immortality, Falstaff is able to regenerate from any injury and
is an expert in hand-to-hand combat.
Colonel Quantum (Glenn Sheppard): A former astronaut on an ill-fated Apollo mission, Sheppard was thought to have sacrificed his life manually separating part of the Saturn Rocket that failed during lift-off. What was not known at the time was that Sheppard encountered an alien entity
during his EVA and the two somehow merged. It took years for Sheppard to regain his individuality and return to Earth, discovering, in the process, that the entity enabled him to control light and transform into light. Sheppard sought protection from ARMOUR, who welcomed him into the then-new Equalisers team. With his incredible powers of teleportation, space travel and intangibility, Colonel Quantum was a major asset for the Equalisers until his death battling Argon during the latter’s attempt to destroy the Earth.
Miraculously, Sheppard survived in the form of a being of pure light. Returning to the Equalisers after an absence of over a year, Quantum discarded his human name and began spending more and more time exploring space. Quantum remains a valuable asset for the team, though they are often forced to fend without him.
The Machiavellian (Jennifer Bendis): Bendis first encountered the Equalisers as an enemy, when she was a member of Athena’s Next-Gen. When Bendis learned that Athena was intent on global mutant domination, she turned against her former leader. Later, Bendis started the 3rd iteration of Next-Gen with fellow former member, Thermo. During the Mutant Scion’s campaign, Bendis was headhunted by ARMOUR and asked to join a new Equalisers team that was being assembled to stop the Scion. Since the Scion’s defeat, Bendis has remained a member of the Equalisers.
Bendis’ unique mutant brain enables her to read, broadcast and relay thoughts, turning her into the world’s most secure channel of communication. Far from being a glorified piece of equipment, Bendis is a keen strategist and more than capable of holding her own in a fight; even being able to “broadcast” thoughts in a torrent that can overwhelm foes.
