The Force of July

World War Two
When the U.S. became actively involved in the second world war an effort was made to conserve resources and make the nation into an efficient factory for producing soldiers and weapons. One step in this program was the reorganization of the armed forces. Another was the formation of a superhero team. While the mystery men had been around for some time, they had never really been organised. The government saw their exploits as well meaning but uncoordinated. To that end the Office of Strategic Services was established in June 1942 with a mandate to collect and analyze strategic information required by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and to conduct special operations not assigned to other agencies. Next President Roosevelt sent out a direct request by radio to America's mystery men asking them to band  together in helping oppose the axis menace both at home and abroad. Thus the Force of July was created, organised loosely along the lines of the armed forces with a special liaison officer and answering solely to FDR and the war department.

In 1944 a German scientist Dr Volkmann defected to the U.S. with information on the Uberman supersoldier program he was working on. This was then used to start up Project Sentinel. A few months later Michael Johnson a major in the army, is the only volunteer to survive the supersolider transformation. However the project is abandoned after Dr Volkmann is killed by a Blitzkrieg, who also then destroy his lab and all his notes. Johnson spends the next several months training to become the costumed hero Major Victory. The U.S. military issues press releases that Major Victory is intended to be a hope and shield against those who would oppress the helpless. He spends most of the year breaking up Nazi spy rings in America. 

In 1945 the Force of July joined up with the Liberty Squadron and Allied forces for the final assault on Germany. Neither group however was used against Japan with the Allies opting to use the bomb instead. 

Post War
In January 1946 President Harry S. Truman established the Central Intelligence Group, directing it to coordinate existing departmental intelligence, supplementing but not supplanting their services. This was all to be done under the direction of a National Intelligence Authority composed of a Presidential representative and the Secretaries of State, War and Navy. 

In 1947 these bodies were replaced with the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency. They were charged with coordinating the nation's intelligence activities and correlating, evaluating and disseminating intelligence which affects national security. The Force of July also came under their control. But then in 1954 the communist witchhunts began. Eventually as a result of this and in the wake of police strikes and public antimeta sentiment, all heroes in the U.S. were forced to abandon their activities. This included the Force of July. 

The 60's
This era saw a change in government attitude. In 1960 the CIA was tasked with secretly resurrected Project Sentinel to try to recreate the supersoldier program. The crash of a UFO a few months later led to the creation of Project Prometheus for the purpose of retrieving and studying extraterrestrial technology and lifeforms. 1961 saw a sudden growth in metahumans appearing around the world. In response Project Ego was created in 1962 to study the meta gene and the powers it bestows. In 1965 Project Armour was established to create robotic power armours for use in the Vietnam war. 

The 70's
1970 saw this Project Armour expanded to include bionics. In 1972 Congress decreed that an American security group be established immediately, so that there would be no need for Legion's services in the U.S. Several hundred recruits were selected for their right thinking attitudes. The result was an intensely proud, overly patriotic organisation which prided itself as the best America has. The Force of July was recreated. 1975 saw the formation of Project Arcane for magical research. Then 1977 saw two things happen. First Project Sentinel was finally successful in recreating the supersoldier program. The initial recipient was Timothy Johnson, the son of Major Victory. Second, many in the military began to fear the potential future threat of superhumans. To that end Project Genocide was formed for the express purpose of researching on how to exterminate anyone with a meta gene. Eventually in 1978 Johnson now calling himself Super Patriot became the head of the Force of July.

The 80's
1980 saw the start of the Iran Iraq war. The CIA supplied Iraq much in the way of equipment and research on metahumans. In the same year the new Force of July launched an assault on M.S.I. New York headquarters in an attempt to kill a renegade Patriot who had fled with information on Project Genocide. They are repulsed and publicly humiliated by the intervention of the local Legion branch. The same year Project Armour built Cyber One, the first true self aware android. A year later it decided that humanity was a disease that must be eliminated. To that end it slew most of the staff of Project Armour, ran away, built a nuclear bomb and detonated it in Fresno. 1981 was not a good year for the Force. 

In 1983 Force of July agent Eternal Warrior (Gilad’s new name) rescued Dragoon from a Siberian military lab while on a covert mission there. He kills Red Doom’s Crimson Avenger during their escape.

1984 saw the CIA attempt to introduce the metahuman registration act but it was defeated by congress. Soon after one of the Force's Patriots defected to Russia after finding out about Project Genocide and became the Crimson Avenger II.

In 1985 the Stronghold prison for metahumans was finally completed. Also the final two sections of the Force were launched; Project Factory tasked with retrieving mystical artifacts and Project Occult with studying mythical races. The same year the Legion publicly humiliated the CIA by providing evidence that the organisation had been operating outside of the United States to further American interests. In retaliation the Legion is banned from U.S. soil. 

1986 saw Project Genocide publicly exposed in Oliver Stone’s first movie. The public backlash forced the president to disband it despite CIA protests. Geomancer destroyed Cyber One in Scotland.

In 1988 the CIA entered into an alliance with the Tong. The Tong sent Redblood to the U.S. as their representative in the Force of July.

The 90's
1991 saw the release of Oliver Stone’s JFK movie exposing the CIA’s involvement in his assassination. Stone flees to Italy to escape the CIA’s vengeance, he takes refuge with the recently moved Parliament of Nature now residing in Rome. 

In 1993 a Force of July strike team sent to Italy to kill Stone was defeated by visiting Excalibur Agents. This led Super Patriot to put forward a proposal for a special covert meta assault team separate to the public face of the Force. 12 more supersoldiers survived the new process to become Patriot section leaders. Finally 1995 saw the creation of the new Crisis Intervention Unit section of the Force of July. 

Enemies