Slightly Misplaced Comic Book Characters Case File #449: Sarge Steel

I was doing some light internet research (i.e. watching YouTube) to see if I could find the next character for this feature when I heard writer Tom King, a controversial figure whose work I generally like but many others really don’t, took over Wonder Woman’s book.  He had some long term plans.  So, who is going to be the face of Wonder Woman’s opposition?  She doesn’t have the same sort of prominent rogue’s gallery as Batman or the Flash.  There’s Circe, Ares, Dr. Psycho, Cheetah, and even the more recent Veronica Cale.

Then I learned, apparently, the bad guy is longtime minor DC character Sarge Steel.  Huh.  I thought he was a good guy.

I should probably cover him then.

Actually, about the only thing I knew about Sarge Steel was he was a high-ranking government operative of some kind with a metal hand.  I assumed the “Sarge” was a military title.  He popped up in various DC books from time to time.  And that was about it.

Well, imagine my surprise that first, he wasn’t originally a DC character.  He was a Charlton Comics character created by Pat Masulli, first appearing in Sarge Steel #1 in December of 1964.  He was originally a private eye who lost his hand in Vietnam, making him one of the first fictional characters to be connected to that war.  Over time, he became less of a P.I. and more of a spy.  That series ran for eight issues, and Sarge would appear in different Charlton books from there until he, along with the rest of the Charlton characters, were bought up by DC.  Oh, and his full name was Sargent Steel.  “Sarge” wasn’t a military rank.  It was his actual name.

Once integrated into DC, Sarge became something of a spymaster for different fictional agencies like the Central Bureau of Intelligence, putting him in charge of agents like King Faraday, Richard Dragon, and Bronze Tiger–man, that’s like a whole lotta potential entries in this series in one list.  Later, Sarge would be given a Cabinet level position as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs, making him Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad’s boss.  Basically, he was the top spy sort of character at DC.

How, then, does he become a bad guy?

That’s a good question, actually.  It looks like in the pre-New 52 days he was once replaced by the villainous Everyman as part of a plot from Circe since Wonder Woman, in her Diana Prince guise, was working for him.  Dr. Psycho took control of him for a period.  But at least that creates a Wonder Woman connection.

In the New 52, he reappeared as a Checkmate agent hunting the newest OMAC, making him more of an antagonist but not quite a villain since OMAC was a more Hulk-like character in that incarnation.

So, that makes him Wonder Woman’s enemy now?  I haven’t read the lone issue of King’s run yet, but my understanding is King is looking to say something about the patriarchy with Steel as the leader of a violently anti-Amazon unit working for the U.S. government.  I guess if you want a guy who can be the face of some of the uglier aspects of what the American government does, Sarge Steel is an option, but all I know is…he’s come a long way since his time as a simple private eye.