Inferior Five
A parody superhero group.
Name:
Inferior Five
Publisher:
Aliases:
- Superior Six
First issue:
Origin
The Freedom Brigade (a Justice League of America parody) was a successful superhero team. Many of the members of the original Brigade had children, and they expected these children to eventually take up their parents' roles as superheroes. However, while the parents were competent and powerful superheroes, the members of the Inferior Five were incompetent, none of them able to fight crime without the assistance of the others.
Creation
The Inferior Five team was created in 1966 by E. Nelson Bridwell, Joe Orlando, and Mike Esposito.
Team Evolution
Silver Age
The membership of the Inferior Five is composed of Merryman, Dumb Bunny, The Blimp, White Feather and Awkwardman, each the child of a super-powered parent or parents. It was later revealed that their adventures took place on Earth-Twelve.
Modern Age
After the Crisis, the team have appeared briefly in the background of other comics, with an unchanged membership, suggesting that they continue to exist in the post-Crisis universe.
New 52
The team remains unchanged, save for the brief membership of Bat-Mite.
Major Story Arcs
The Inferior Five
The team has a number of adventures together that result, much to their surprise and the surprise of those around them, in victory. They occasionally appear in the background of other events.
Angel and the Ape
The team joins Angel O'Day and Sam Simeon in fighting Gorilla Grodd. During their clash, Grodd is able to use a temporary reality warping machine to turn the team into gorillas. After the team is turned back into humans, Dumb Bunny attacks Grodd, and he snaps her neck, paralyzing her. Sam is able to use the machine to permanently fix Dumb Bunny, and the team successfully defeats Grodd.
The Brave and the Bold
The Inferior Five are picked up in 1972 by the Legion of Substitute Heroes. The two unlikely groups of heroes team up. When their battle is done, the Legion of Substitute Heroes drop the Inferior Five off, accidentally leaving them in 2010.
Bat-Mite
During a fight with Gridlock over the unaired pilot of Galaxy Trek, the team is visited by Bat-Mite, who assumes leadership and reboots them into more successful, but also more vicious, versions of themselves. Realizing that they are not as they should be, Tough Bunny convinces Bat-Mite to return them to their previous, incompetent state.
Alternate Versions
The Superior 5
An alternate version of the team was introduced in Villains United. Called the Superior 5, this serious version of the team is composed of villainous versions of the original Inferior Five.
Other Media
Television
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
The Inferior Five were referenced in the Batman: The Brave and The Bold episode "Mayhem of the Music Meister!" where their name appeared on a poster in the death trap scene.
