SCHUTZ HEILIGGRUPPE
Membership: Blitzkrieger (Franz Mittelstaedt), Vormund/Hauptmann Deutschland (Markus Ettlinger), Zeitgeist (Larry Ekler)
Purpose: Superhuman defense force of Germany
Affiliations: Captain America (Steve Rogers)
Enemies: Red Skull (Johann Shmidt), Skeleton Crew (Crossbones/Brock Rumlow, Machinesmith/Samuel Saxon, Mother Night/Susan Scarbo, Fourth Sleeper), Arnim Zola
Aliases: "Group of Protecting Saints", Helden-Liga, "League of Guardian Angels"
Base of Operations: Germany
First Appearance: Captain America I#389 (August, 1991)
History:
(Captain America I#387/2 (fb) - BTS) - The Schutz Heiliggruppe were responsible
for the destruction of Arnim Zola's clones of the Red Skull kept at
Zola's castle in Switzerland.
(Captain America I#387/2 - 388/2) - Hauptmann Deutschland successfully captured the Red Skull by infiltrating the ranks of Taskmaster students the Skull sparred against, and having Zeitgeist teleport them away.
(Captain America I#389/2) - As Hauptmann Deutschland informed the Red Skull that they intended to place him on trial for war-crimes in Germany, Blitzkrieger sensed that the Skull had a homing device, which the Skeleton Crew would use to track him; they set out to prepare for the villains' arrival.
(Captain America I#390/2) - At an airfield outside of Berlin, the Schutz Heiliggruppe confronted the Skeleton Crew when they came to save the Red Skull, and successfully defeated the entire team.
(Captain America I#391/2) - The Schutz Heiliggruppe guarded the Skeleton Crew as they prepared to hold the war-crimes trials at the airfield.
(Captain America I#393) - When Machinesmith broke himself and the rest of the Skeleton Crew free, the Schutz Heiliggruppe prepared to battle them; but the German heroes were tricked by Zola's bioplastoids--which were disguised as Thor, Iron Man and Captain America--who took the Skeleton Crew into their custody. Hauptmann Deutschland subsequently set out to America to investigate the Red Skull's whereabouts.
(Captain America I#442) - Schutz Heiliggruppe set up a temporary base in Buenos Aires to investigate the serial killings of South American heroes and villains, including Captain Forza, Defensor, La Bandera, Machete (Ferdinand Lopez), El Condor, Ojo Macabra, and Zona Rosa. However, the killer was actually Zeitgeist, who then slew Blitzkrieger. Hauptmann Deutschland, now called Vormund, eventually learned that Zeitgeist was responsible, and killed him to avenge Blitzkrieger's death.
Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Larry Alexander and Bud La Rosa.
In Germany, the Schutz Heiliggruppe and its members had to be renamed because
their names were too closely connected to things from World War II,
which even could've become a legal problem--Germans are still
extremely sensitive about stuff connected to World War II, and
many things connected to it are not even allowed to be
published if they support Nazism. In my opinion, this is not really a bad thing, but
sometimes they go too far and censor or ban things which weren't
even intended to be pro-Nazi.
At the Frankfurter Buchmesse 1991, in a long conversation
between Condor Interpart's (at that time German publisher for
Marvel Comics) editor Michael Nagula and Mark Gruenwald, it was
agreed that the Schutz Heiliggruppe and their problematic
members would get different names in Germany.
Hauptmann Deutschland became Freiheitskämpfer (Freedom Fighter)
and Blitzkrieger became Generator. Even the team's name was
changed from Schutz Heiliggruppe to Helden-Liga (Heroes League)
and the story was changed so far that they weren't especially
hunting World War II criminals, but generally terrorists all
over the world.
Gruenwald even asked Condor's editorial to inform him about the
new names so that he could probably change them in the US as
well to their German versions.
Source of the above was the Captain America Pocketbook #19
(1994) (wherein the first storyline with the Schutz Heiliggruppe
was published in German)
But in the end, only Hauptmann Deutschland received a new name, and
although it wasn't the one he got in Germany, it was a little
bit better then the one before--only problem with the name
"Vormund" was that it mostly meant the legal guardian for a
child or somebody else who can't legally talk for himself.
And Blitzkrieger--whose name wasn't changed--was killed off
anyway. Problem solved!
--by Markus Raymond
Schutz Heiliggruppe has an entry in Marvel Legacy: The 1990s Handbook.
New main image by Ron Fredricks.
Thanks to Loki for the beautiful main image, which consists of the main images of the individual members profiles. Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions I#1, p20, pan1 for Blitzkrieger, Captain America: America's Avenger, Vormund profile main image and Captan America I#390/2, p6, pan7 for Zeitgeist.
Profile by Prime Eternal.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Schutz Heiliggruppe should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Main image (see comments)
Captain America I#390/2, p6, pan8 (Hauptmann Deutschland,
Blitzkrieger, and Zeitgeist standing over defeated Mother Night,
Machinesmith, Crossbones; inactive Fourth Sleeper [left])
Appearances:
Captain America I#390/2-391/2 (August-September, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Larry Alexander (pencils), Dan Panosian (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#393 (October, 1991) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Larry Alexander & Rik Levins (pencils), Bud LaRosa & Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Captain America I#442 (August, 1995) - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Dave Hoover & Sandu Florea (pencils), Danny Bulanadi (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
First Posted: 07/07/2004
Last updated: 01/04/2025
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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