SORRY I’M LATE. Real life intervened. Just in, so here’s a 2015 look at Australia’s superheroes mostly from the 1970s to the 1980s. The success of this post inspired me to go on to cover the superheroes of several other countries and time periods.
DARK NEBULA
Debut Year: 1982
Secret Identity: Mark Medula, an astronaut in Australia’s fictional space program.
Origin: Returning from a flight to Mars, Colonel Mark Medula docked at the Threshold Space Station, which had just been seized by the alien warlord Cerellus.
Medula tried to stop Cerellus and the resulting chaos killed Medula’s body, but, amid all the cosmic energies being unleashed, that body became inhabited by both Cerellus’ soul and Medula’s soul.
Mark Medula’s body gained incredible superpowers and went on to battle Earthly and interplanetary menaces as the superhero called Dark Nebula. Cerellus often challenged Mark for control of their shared body, further complicating Dark Nebula’s adventures.
Powers: Dark Nebula has super strength and can fly, both in space and in a planet’s atmosphere. He is invulnerable and wields a combination of potent cosmic energy and dark mystical energy. Those combined scientific/ supernatural forces can be used to fire Darkfire energy beams from his hands and employ force fields. He also has psionic abilities like telepathy and ESP.
Comment: Dark Nebula’s adventures combine the cosmic head-trips of Jim Starlin’s Adam Warlock/ Magus storyline with some of the surreal mysticism of Dr Strange at his best.
Arguably the greatest Dark Nebula story arc was the one where he was off in deep space having a “deep” adventure while back on Earth his archenemy the Grandstander (Think of the Joker but with powers on Sinestro’s level at least) was impersonating him to ruin his reputation.
It endangered his marriage, too, since his wife had no idea why the man she thought was her husband never came home anymore after his public escapades. When Dark Nebula at last returned to Earth he had to tangle with the Aussie superteam the Southern Squadron who were out to bring him down for the crimes the Grandstander had framed him for.
When the misunderstanding was finally straightened out the Southern Squadron joined forces with Dark Nebula to tackle the Grandstander. This crossover was as much a milestone in Australia as the Avengers/ Defenders War in the 1970s was in the U.S. Continue reading
BEARCATS! (1971) – This unique action-adventure series was set in the American West of 1914 and starred Rod Taylor (who also produced) and Dennis Cole as renowned trouble-shooters who commanded huge fees for their services. “If you can put a price on it, you don’t need them badly enough” was the program’s tagline. 
PILOT MOVIE: POWDERKEG (April 16th) – Mercenary trouble-shooters Hank Brackett (Rod Taylor) and Johnny Reach (Dennis Cole) are hired by a railroad tycoon to rescue 73 hostages being held aboard a moving train. Their captors are led by a Mexican bandit chief who demands his brother’s release from prison in exchange for the hostages. Guest stars were Michael Ansara, Fernando Lamas, Luciana Paluzzi and Tisha Sterling. 
Charles Buchinsky, better known as Charles Bronson, was a World War Two veteran who went on to superstardom as one of the most iconic “tough guys” in film history. 
SOMEONE BEHIND THE DOOR (1971) – This Eurothriller directed by Nicolas Gessner was also released as Two Minds for Murder. Charles Bronson stars as an amnesiac patient of sinister brain-surgeon and psychiatrist Laurence Jeffries (Anthony Perkins himself). 
Anthony Perkins tones down his twitchiness a bit and Bronson is credible as the manipulated amnesiac thinking he’s met the wife his memory loss wiped from his mind. 
*** This unit was active from March 1916 to February 1918, at which time it was disestablished and its pilots were absorbed into the official United States armed forces because America had by then been one of the belligerent nations for nearly a year. 
NORMAN PRINCE – This founding member of the unit was a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. He was an early enthusiast of the new field of flying and earned his pilot’s license in 1911. 
Veterans Day is tomorrow, so here’s another World War One post. 
Here’s a Monday current events roundup from 
Balladeer's Blog 