DC Reveals the True Fate of its First Canonical Superhero

Warning: contains spoilers for Stargirl: Spring Break Special #1!

DC Comics just revealed the fate of their canonical first superhero, Lee Travis, aka the Crimson Avenger. While the Crimson Avenger wasn’t the first adventurer to star in a DC comic, changes to continuity have made him the first costumed crime fighter in DC’s internal canon, where he remains a founding member of historic superteam the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Decades later, it is his spiritual successor who brings the Seven Soldiers back together over Lee Travis, specifically his fate and how they might be able to change it.

Created by Jim Chambers for Detective Comics #20 (1938) – published the same year as Superman’s debut in Action Comics#1, and before Batman’s first appearance in the same series – Lee Travis was the publisher of a newspaper called the Globe-Leader. Travis grew tired of the many injustices in the world and, with the help of his valet and sidekick Wing How, fought crime as the Crimson Avenger, originally using a pair of pistols to exact lethal justice. When they both joined the Seven Soldiers of Victory in 1941, Lee traded in his old costume and guns for a new red and yellow costume, with Wing donning a corresponding yellow costume to match as an early costumed sidekick. They fought alongside their fellow heroes until their adventures resulted in Wing’s death, with Lee’s death sometime after, his last act being maneuvering a ship of unstable chemicals away from innocent civilians before it exploded. His legacy would live on in Jill Carlyle, a lawyer who bought a pair of pistols to kill a guilty criminal she helped exonerate. She didn’t know that these pistols, formerly used by Lee Travis, were cursed, dooming Jill to track and kill anyone who’s taken an innocent life as the new Crimson Avenger.

It is Jill who motivates the Seven Soldiers of Victory to reunite in the present day in Stargirl: Spring Break Special #1, from Geoff Johns, Todd Nauck, Hi-Fi, and Rob Leigh. In this story, Jill cryptically reveals that Travis’ body was never recovered and they might be able to change that, before suddenly disappearing with the adult heroes. The teenage Stargirl and Red Arrow learn from the files that the ship Lee Travis was piloting that fateful day actually contained the time machine of Per Degaton, a seemingly immortal Nazi supervillain who Courtney has fought with the JSA. The villain Clock King is seeking to exploit this pivotal moment of time for his own gain, and it is revealed that Jill is attempting to do the same, hoping that saving Lee’s life may release her from the curse of the Crimson Avenger.

Sadly, Jill, Stargirl, and the Seven Soldier of Victory are unable to rescue the Crimson Avenger, with Travis insisting Stargirl blow up the time machine before it hits the beach and risks more lives. But while Travis dies in this heroic sacrifice, he first reveals that Wing didn’t actually perish as long believed, and can still be rescued, setting up further adventures based on these final moments of DC’s first costumed superhero.

Although he knew his fate, Lee’s decision remained unchanged as he implored the future heroes to save his sidekick Wing before the ship was destroyed at his own insistence. With this small change to the timeline, Lee Travis was able to get a proper hero’s funeral that, according to Courtney, was well attended by members of the Justice Society and Justice League. Thanks to Stargirl, the Seven Soldiers of Victory get the chance to find closure on the Crimson Avenger‘s death, and Travis gets to prove his heroism one more time, leaving Stargirl to untangle the mystery of his missing sidekick.

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