"For generations, life on Earth-8 passed like it does on our world. Largely uneventful, and when problems did arise, they were handled easily by the world’s large population of super heroes. Until a day finally arrived like no other, and Earth-8’s strongest heroes were forced to unite against a common threat. The Retaliators were born!"

Not quite what you were expecting?

Creation

The Retaliators were created by Grant Morrison during his Final Crisis multiverse epic, and later re-appeared in The Multiversity. The name is a play on The Avengers, Marvel's premier super-hero team. Each member is based on a corresponding Marvel character as they exist on Earth-8.

As with the heroes of Earth-0, their adventures are fiction published in other parallel worlds under the Major Comics editorial label.

History

Final Crisis

"Retaliators, retreat!"

Briefly seen in Final Crisis, (where they were wrongly described as from Earth-6), the Retaliators and other heroes of their world were amidst a civil war instigated by a group of secret invader shapeshifting aliens. Apparently, they overcame those crises to return to a happier status quo.

Traditionally, the Retaliators had been lead by American Crusader, an ages-old supersoldier and their membership includes the technological armored Machinehead, the axe wielder Wundajin, the quick to rage Behemoth, the beauty and deadly Red Dragon, the cosmic-powered Major Max, the accurate blind bowman Deadeye, the athletic Ladybug and the aerial Kite.

Multiversity

"Retaliators, rampage!"

The Retaliators, (along with the rest of Earth-8) were heavily featured in Multiversity as one of the Earths attacked by the Gentry, using a brainwashing Nix Uotan as their conduit. The Retaliators had to use all their resources and the help of their world's other teams (G-Men and Future Family) to stop the attack from another reality, which includes the zombie versions of alternate doppelgangers from the Retaliators themselves. Only with the help of Thunderer (Wundajin's doppelganger) and Aquawoman from Earth-11, the Retaliators had a chance to stand against the Gentry attack.

After foiling the invasion of the Gentry, Machinehead chose to stay with the extradimensional peacekeeper force to thwart any further attack on their earth. Since then, they had been seen in events related to multiversal crisis.

Flash Forward

Recently the Retaliators were fighting against an infection of dark matter in the form of strange beasts from the Dark multiverse. During the battle they seached for the origin of the attack and were transported to earth 23 along with their allies, the Zen-Men were they fought against the lost Flash, Wally West, believing him to be the cause of the attack. But when Flash was able to attack the dark matter with an staff given to him by the Tempus Fuginaut, the Retaliators and the Zen-men understood than him was not their enemy. they had to return to their universe before the portal was closed.

Infinite Frontier

After repeated attacks from other universes and after a devastating secret war against other reality, the Retaliators grew disillusioned of multiversal adventures and believed that the only solution to protect their world is to isolate themselves from the Multiverse. They made a treacherous deal with Darkseid to support his cause in exchange for protecting their reality. Their pact with Darkseid only ended with their world devastated and several of their members dead at the hands of their archenemy Tartarus, who also made a deal with Darkseid to keep him out of earth 8. A deal than Darkseid didn't respected. This deal however impulsed them to get estranged from Dr. Multiverse and Machinehead got apparetely killed by Darkseid himself.

In Suicide Squad, the Retaliators, with new versions of American Crusader (Silver Eagle in his role) and Machinehead in their line-up, face an attack unit from the Suicide Squad of earth 0, with most of them falling to the uncpontrolable powers of Major Force. Only the new member Purple Rain saved the team when with magic, the Lightning Strikes were summoned, leaving the Retaliators time to go away.

Other Versions

The precedent of the Retaliators were the Champions of Angor, a direct answer to Marvel's Squadron Supreme. Another parallel was the Maximums, more closely inspired in the Ultimates. Several concepts of the Champions of Angor are still present in the post Flashpoint Earth-8. The superheroes from Earth-7 also resemble not only Marvel characters but from other publishers as well.