The Squadron Sinister is a supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Sinister first appeared in the final panel of The Avengers #69 (October 1969), created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema. The team is a pastiche of DC's Justice League. Publication history The first version of the Squadron Sinister is formed by the Elder of the Universe known as the Grandmaster as pawns to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror, the superhero team the Avengers. The Grandmaster creates four villains—Doctor Spectrum, Hyperion, Nighthawk, and the Whizzer—to face heroes Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Goliath (Clint Barton). In interviews, Thomas and Jerry Bails have stated that the Squadron was based on the DC Comics superhero team the Justice League of America, evoking the DC characters Green Lantern, Superman, Batman and the Flash. Fictional character biography Grandmaster's Squadron Sinister The limited series Squadron Supreme, written by Mark Gruenwald, explains that the Grandmaster creates the Squadron Sinister modeling them on the already-existing Squadron Supreme of the Earth-712 universe. The similarities also caused confusion in Marvel's production department, as the covers of The Avengers #85 (February 1971) and #141 (November 1975) "cover-blurbed" appearances by the Squadron Sinister, when in fact it was the Squadron Supreme that appeared in both issues. The Avengers eventually defeat the Squadron and the Grandmaster abandoned them as a result. The Squadron reappear in the title The Defenders, reunited by the alien Nebulon. The villains receive greater power in exchange for Earth, and create a giant laser cannon in the Arctic to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the entirety of Earth's surface in water. The superhero team the Defenders are alerted to the scheme by Nighthawk and defeat the villains and Nebulon, with Nighthawk reforming and joining the Defenders the following issue. After this defeat the three remaining members of the Squadron Sinister are teleported off-world by Nebulon, returning with an energy-draining weapon. The villains plan to threaten Earth again, but are defeated once more by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket. During another brief encounter with several members of the Avengers, who seek a way to separate Doctor Spectrum's Power Prism from fellow Avenger the Wasp, the characters are revealed to have disbanded. While Nighthawk becomes an ongoing character featuring regularly in the Marvel Universe, two of the other members of the Squadron make isolated appearances.