Rick Flag is the name of three fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. They are father, son, and grandson. DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to the date or issue of a characters first appearance. ... Robert Kanigher (June 18, 1915 - May 6, 2002) was a prolific comic book writer whose career spanned five decades. ... Cover of The Amazing Spider-Man #136 pencilled by Andru. ... Suicide Squad is a name for a variety of organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. ... A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ... DC Comics is one of the largest American companies in comic book and related media publishing. ...

The father, Richard Flag was in the original Suicide Squad, a World War II unit. After the war he was a member of Task Force X. The son, Rick Flag Jr. was a member of the Forgotten Heroes and led two different incarnations of the Suicide Squad. Suicide Squad is a name for a variety of organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. ... The Forgotten Heroes were a team of DC Heroes who had faded from the limelight. ...

Rick Flag

Richard Montgomery Flag led a division in World War II called the Suicide Squadron. In his first mission, Flag was the only survivor. After that he enjoyed increasing success and decreasing mortality. After the war, he married Sharon Race. In 1951, with the disappearance of the Justice Society of America and other super-heroes, President Harry S. Truman again called on Flag when he created Task Force X. The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a DC Comics superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history. ... Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the thirty-third President of the United States (1945–1953); as Vice President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. ...

Task Force X would be comprised of two units: the military unit "Argent" (led by "Control"), which would deal with civilian matters — masked villains and the like. General J.E.B. Stuart would lead the military side to deal with national and international crises. Though Argent's recorded activity ceased after 1960, Stuart's Suicide Squad continued on. Eventually, Flag sacrificed himself in stopping the former Blackhawks' nemesis, the War Wheel. Blackhawk #12 (Autumn, 1946), Quality Comics. ...

Rick Flag Jr.

The second Suicide Squad

Flag was replaced in the Squad by his now-grown son, Richard Rogers Flag. Young Rick headed a new, public team which included his girlfriend, Karin Grace, Dr. Hugh Evans and Jess Bright. In one tragic mission in Cambodia, Evans died and Bright was lost for years. (Secret Origins vol. 2 #14)

Bright was found by the Chinese who nursed him back to health. He then passed onto the Russians who transformed him into the bionic monster called Koshchei the Deathless. With his expertise in engineering, Bright assisted in the creation of the Rocket Red Brigade and lent a hand to the nation of Qurac in assembling their metahuman team, the Jihad. Grace also secretly bore Flag's son and placed him with an adoptive family. Later, Rick was sent to infiltrate the Forgotten Heroes as a spy for the government. After the "death" of the Forgotten Heroes' leader, the Immortal Man, the team disbanded and Flag worked covertly for the U.S. government. The Rocket Red Brigade is a DC Comics superhero team. ... Qurac is a fictional country in the DC universe. ... The Forgotten Heroes were a team of DC Heroes who had faded from the limelight. ...

A new Squad

Rick Flag Jr. was then tapped by the government to lead the new Suicide Squad as formed by Amanda Waller, a role he reluctantly assumed. Immediately, Rick showed signs of instability, which were worsened when Karin Grace became the team's medic. Flag hated working with the criminals under his command, and resented the notion that he and Deadshot were alike in any way. Dr. Amanda Blake Waller is a fictional character from the DC Universe, first appearing in Legends #1 in 1986. ... Deadshot (real name Floyd Lawton), is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ...

There are bright points amongst the Suicide Squad however, as the team was not completely filled with criminals. Nightshade, although she resented Flag at first when she was forced to become an accessory to murder when she became an undercover operative in the Jihad, grew attracted to him. She was never able to admit her feelings to him however, and he was too determined to notice them. Nightshade (Eve Eden) is a fictional character, a superheroine who was owned and published by Charlton Comics and was later acquired by DC Comics. ...

Flag also held good relationships with Nemesis and the Bronze Tiger, even though both were in some ways opposed to Flag. Although Nemesis had feelings for Nightshade, something that Flag was also oblivious too, he stepped out of the way and respected Nightshade's feelings. Similarly, the Tiger was originally tapped to become the Squad's leader, but was instead replaced by Flag, something that the Tiger had no problems with. // Nemesis I Nemesis is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. ... Bronze Tiger (Ben Turner) is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ...

The loyalty Flag had towards his teammates and Waller was evident in the fact that he did not shy away from a conflict with the Justice League in order to free Nemesis from Soviet captivity, and his threatening of a superior, who himself threatened to usurp Waller's position. The Justice League is a DC Comics superhero team. ...

This did nothing to ease Flag's mental instability, and it worsened after the death of all of his Squad but him (although it was not the regular Squad, but a different group of criminals) in a covert mission. The death of Karin Grace also served to amplify this and it came to a head when US Senator Cray threatened to reveal the existence of the Suicide Squad to the public.

Unbeknownst to him, Amanda Waller had already dealt with the threat, and Flag set out to assassinate Cray in order to ensure the existence of the Suicide Squad, even though he loathed some of its members. The Squad set out to stop him, with the clearance to do so by any means necessary. The villain Deadshot found Flag and Cray, but instead of killing Flag however, Deadshot murdered the senator. Flag was forced to flee, and unwittingly, the existence of the Suicide Squad was still revealed.

Flag set out to destroy the Jihad team once and for all when he learned that his father had previously tried to destroy their stronghold, Jotunheim, which was at that time (during the war) occupied by the Nazis. The mission had failed but the explosives were still there, and Flag infiltrated their headquarters, a plan that he revealed to Nightshade through a letter. He was able to set off the explosives and died battling the Jihad's leader when Jotunheim exploded.

One Year Later

Main article: One Year Later

He later got better. In the pages of Checkmate (vol. 2) #6, Rick Flag is rescued from a secret Quraci prison by the Bronze Tiger. He had been imprisoned there for four years until Amanda Waller discovered him and alerted the Tiger to his whereabouts. Rick was later revealed to be leading a clandestine Suicide Squad unit at the behest of Amanda Waller, and against the expressed mandate of the Checkmate organization. One Year Later event logo. ... Checkmate is a covert operations agency within the DC Comics universe. ... Qurac is a fictional country in the DC universe. ... Bronze Tiger (Ben Turner) is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ... Dr. Amanda Blake Waller is a fictional character from the DC Universe, first appearing in Legends #1 in 1986. ...

Rick Flag III

Rick Flag Jr.'s young son by Karen Grace who also shared his name was introduced in Suicide Squad #50. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Trivia

• Bob Greenberger who co-created the Suicide Squad alongside John Ostrander, has publicly objected to the resurrection of Rick Flag. ^[1].
• According to Greg Rucka, Rick Flag's subsequent re-appearance had nothing to do with the Infinite Crisis.)

Greg Rucka is an American writer of novels and comic books. ... Infinite Crisis was a seven-issue comic book limited series published by DC Comics. ...

Other media

• In episode 69 of Justice League Unlimited, Colonel Rick Flag Jr. is the leader of Task Force X, the son of Rick Flag Sr. and a patriot to his country. He recruited Captain Boomerang, Clock King (Temple Fugate), Deadshot, and Plastique for a stealth mission to steal the Annihilator from the Watchtower for Amanda Waller and the rest of Project Cadmus. He was voiced by Adam Baldwin.

Justice League Unlimited (or JLU) was an American animated television series produced by and aired on Cartoon Network. ... George Digger Harkness and his son Owen Mercer, both known as Captain Boomerang, are fictional supervillains in the DC Universe. ... Clock King is a fictional supervillain in the DC Comics universe. ... Deadshot (real name Floyd Lawton), is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ... Plastique is a DC Comics character who has evolved over the decades from supervillain to superhero, one of a handful of DC characters depicted as Canadian in origin. ... Project Cadmus is a fictional government genetic engineering project in the DC Comics Universe. ... Adam Baldwin as Jayne Cobb in Firefly Adam Baldwin (born February 27, 1962 in Chicago, Illinois) is a 64 American actor best known for his role as Animal Mother in Stanley Kubricks Full Metal Jacket. ...

References