Speed Demon (James Sanders) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema, the character made his first appearance in The Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969) as a member of the Squadron Sinister known as the Whizzer. Publication history James Sanders first appears as the Whizzer in the final panel of The Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969), the first chapter of a three-issue storyline by writer Roy Thomas and penciller Sal Buscema. The story arc introduced the supervillain team the Squadron Sinister, whose four members were loosely based on heroes in DC Comics' Justice League of America, with the Whizzer based on the Flash. Fictional character biography The Squadron Sinister are created by the cosmic entity the Grandmaster to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang – the superhero team the Avengers. The Whizzer battles Avenger Goliath, but the fight is interrupted by the Black Knight. The Avengers eventually defeat the Squadron and they in turn are abandoned by the Grandmaster. The Squadron reappear in the title Defenders, reunited by the alien Nebulon. The villains receive greater power in exchange for the planet Earth, and create a giant laser cannon in the Arctic to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the entirety of the Earth's surface in water. The superhero team the Defenders prevent the scheme and defeat the villains (and Nebulon), with Namor the Sub-Mariner humiliating the Whizzer. After this defeat the Whizzer and his teammates are teleported off-world by Nebulon, returning with an energy-draining weapon. The Squadron Sinister plan to threaten the Earth again but are defeated once more by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket. The character has another brief encounter with several members of the Avengers, who seek a way to separate the power prism of Doctor Spectrum from fellow Avenger the Wasp. The Whizzer disassociates himself from the Squadron Sinister and adopts a new costume and alias, Speed Demon. Writer Bill Mantlo and penciller Bob Hall revamped the character in the title The Amazing Spider-Man, with Sanders returning to crime with a new costume and the alias Speed Demon. The character makes a number of appearances in titles, including Marvel Team-Up against Spider-Man and Fantastic Four member the Human Torch, in The Amazing Spider-Man as a member of the criminal group the Sinister Syndicate, Marvel Tales, Quasar, and in the graphic novel Avengers: Deathtrap – The