VIGIL
Vigil was a team of super-heroes based in Virginia that operated across the East Coast of the United States, mainly in the region near Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. Vigil travelled to Superior City in pursuit of one of their enemies, the Element Master, who was heading there to participate in the crime wave sponsored by the Silver Path. With the help of the Enforcers of Justice, Vigil were able to capture the Element Master, and they elected to stay in Superior for a while. They were joined by a field agent from Knightwatch calling himself Patriot when they battled a team of Chinese metahumans called China Force. Shortly after this Vigil were ambushed and brutally murdered by the Enforcers of Injustice, who attempted to frame the heroic Enforcers for the crime.
The members of Vigil were:
Overdrive
Millionaire inventor Mark Redding designed and built his
Generator-class Overdrive Power Armor in a bid to expose the criminal activities of his own
brother, who had usurped control of the family business from him and was using it as a front for arms
smuggling. After retaking control of his company, Redding decided to keep acting as a hero and used
his wealth to fund Vigil while leading the team as Overdrive.
Monolith
Renowned biochemist Dr. Franklin Marks invented a serum that gave
him the power to increase his size and mass. He used this ability to fight crime, adopting the masked
heroic identity of Monolith. He helped found Vigil shortly after beginning his career as a hero.
Hornet
While participating in a raid on a criminal biotechnology company,
attorney Vincent Davies was kidnapped by rogue scientists and used as a guinea pig for their
genetic experiments. Exposure to a strange combination of radiation treatments and experimental
serums derived from mutated insects activated Davies' metagene and he gained insect-like powers.
He escaped his captors and adopted the heroic identity of the Hornet. As the Hornet, Vincent could
shrink to only a few inches in height. When he did he would sprout insect like wings that allowed
him to fly. The criminals' experiment had also given him the ability to communicate with and control
insect life, and the power to fire stinging electrical blasts. Hornet was a founding member of
Vigil.
Champion
Millionaire adventurer Harold Campion was in reality the Greek
god Heracles, who had adopted this new identity in a bid to seduce Wonder Woman. When she rejected his
advances, Heracles chose to continue acting as a hero on Earth, but left Gateway City for
Philadelphia, where he joined Vigil. Champion survived the attack that killed the rest of Vigil, but
was badly wounded and had fallen into a coma. Wonder Woman took him back to Mount Olympus where his
injuries could be healed.
Patriot
The hero called Patriot was actually a field agent of Knightwatch
who was in Superior City on a mission when he joined Vigil. The agent had adopted the identity of
the World War II hero Patriot in order to hide his true purpose in the
city, which was to investigate possible criminal activity on the part of the Enforcers of Justice
(the criminal activity was actually part of Death Spider's plot to frame
the team). Patriot survived the ambush that killed the other members of Vigil, but died a short time
later from his injuries. His sacrifice inspired another man to adopt the
Patriot identity.