A criminal organisation brought together and given super powers by the alien known only as the Overmaster, who pitted these transformed beings against the Justice League of America in a contest to determine the future of the human race. The membership of the Cadre included: Black Mass, a former M.I.T. physicist whose special wristbands give him complete control over gravitation particles, enabling him to transform himself from a 6feet 94pound weakling to a 9 feet half-ton monstrosity; Crowbar,a former street punk whose favourite weapon is transformed into an instrument of devastating power; Fastball, a former minor league baseball player, then syndicate assassin, whose exoskeleton armour and power gloves give him the ability to throw high velocity metal spheres of great explosive power; Nightfall, a former college student whose wristbands can create a null-field of pure darkness, absorbing all light and kinetic energy in a given area; Shatterfist, one of the world's greatest living martial artists, who can generate a destructive aura around his hands that can disintegrate solid matter; and Shrike, the Overmaster's most trusted aide, an escaped mental patient who possesses a shrill powerful shriek that can paralyze or kill her opponent, and wings with which she can fly at speeds exceeding Mach 3.

After a raging battle, the Justice League discovered that the Overmaster was not at all what he appeared to be, but merely an alien parasite of some sort, living off the dormant energies of a mountainous alien being of unknown origin. Learning of the Overmaster's plans from the Justice League, this mountainous alien removed the Overmaster and his Cadre from the field of battle, then returned to the stars once more.