Da Li (Team Nippon character)

The staff of my local comic shop back in the day used to have nicknames for certain comics, and Team Nippon was Team Nipples. Apparently Blair was inspired by Japanese manga, which I guess I can see in the shape of the characters' faces if not elsewhere. Team Nippon are heroes, some with superpowers, who have formed with the stated aim to clean up Chinatown. They are all Asian, but it's unclear (at least at first glance) whether they are Chinese (given their goal) or Japanese (given their team name) or a mix of both. They have deeply uninspired codenames - Nightwynd/Nightwind, Nunchaku, Samurai, Thrasher. It is interesting to note though that Thrasher rides a skateboard, a year before the debut of Marvel's Night Thrasher. There are also two other vigilantes, who are depicted on the covers like they are members but who aren't - Bo and Sai. The second issue features a crossover with another independent character that Aircel was publishing at the time, Shuriken.

In terms of associations - Shuriken appears in #2. She was an independent comics character, though from what I see online her creator eventually sold the rights to Malibu, which in turn means she's probably owned by Marvel now. The Ultraverse character of the same name may therefore be a version of her (there's speculation that is the case on Comicvine), but if so it's a different reality from the one who showed up in Shuriken's own titles I think, based on them having different civilian identities. Anyway, Shuriken apparently doesn't cross over with any other characters, so her presence alone wouldn't prevent Team Nippon being 616. However, the Team Nippon members do have appearances outside their own series - specifically, Nunchaku, Thrasher, Night Wynd and Samurai are regular supporting characters in another Barry Blair series, Samurai (the Team Nippon Samurai is the sister of the original and takes up his codename), and also make appearances in Dragonring and Dragonfire (themselves connected to Dragonforce), Demongate, Kimura, Born to Kill, Serpentyne, Leather and Lace, and Warlocks, all by Barry Blair - it seems he tied his various titles together. Without reading them all, I can't say for sure that they wouldn't still fit in 616, but the more titles we have the better the odds that something would arise to make that problematic.

In #4 Samurai mentions that she's learned Bo and Sai are wanted in San Francisco, the implication being that is a different location from where they and Team Nippon currently are, but the solid proof is the second to last page of #5. They mindwiped Ling, the guy who captured Nunchaku and stole his uniform, but now notice that Ling is missing; Night Wynd says that (given Ling's mental state) he must have sleepwalked away, and the recently rescued Nunchaku comments "well, he won't get far in New York."

Earth-85920 Shared reality of Born to Kill, Demongate, Dragonring, Dragonfire, Kimura, Leather and Lace, Samurai, Serpentyne and Team Nippon, the latter of whom formed to clean up Chinatown. Samurai #1 (1985)

This profile was completed 03/13/2026, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary 's celebratory event.