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    Royal Flush Gang

    Team » Royal Flush Gang appears in 185 issues.

    The Royal Flush Gang is a group of card-themed supervillains in the DC Universe.

    Short summary describing this team.

    Royal Flush Gang last edited by Belmonte3 on 12/30/22 02:10AM View full history

    Origin

    Created by Professor Amos Fortune, a group of five villains (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten) used the Professor's luck-altering technology and had costumes resembling the suit of clubs.

    Creation

    Created by Mike Sekowsky and Gardner Fox, the Royal Flush Gang is a group of usually incompetent super-villains based on a suit of playing cards.

    Team Evolution

    The Original Gang

    When Fortune left the Gang, and they attempted to go on without him, but were stopped by the Joker's manipulations. Later, while battling the Justice League and their successors, the second Royal Flush Gang, the original King, Queen and Ten were killed.

    The Second Gang

    Started by Hector Hammond, the second Gang was the only one with full identities for nearly everyone. He changed the suit to spades and recruited new members:

    *Ace (real name Derek Reston) was an android with super-strength in the form of a man.

    *King (real name Joe Carny) became immortal due to the metagene bomb and had the power of mind control.

    *Queen (real name Mona Taylor) could create realistic illusions and had a wrist shooter that fired spades.

    *Jack (real name unknown) had one real eye and one eye which was a laser weapon. He also had an energy-charged sword.

    *Ten (real name Wanda Wayland) had energy blasters in her gloves and carried explosive playing cards.

    Ten also had pre-teen henchmen that extended the Royal Flush Gang called Ten's Little Indians. Danny Chase went undercover for the New Titans.

    Third Gang

    In Superman: The Man of Steel, the Royal Flush Gang had expanded all across America. Instead of only five members, each group had fifty-two, and four suits.

    Infinite Crisis Gang

    The Royal Flush Gang joined Alexander Luthor's Secret Society of Super Villains. The Joker, after being rejected from society, kills all fifty-two members of a Gang in a casino.

    Post-Crisis Gang

    In Justice League of America Vol. 2 # 35, a new version of the Royal Flush Gang appears. This new gag works under Amos Fortune's authority, who is addressed as "Wild Card" by his other members. He gives a history of the gang that combines the first and third gang's histories/characteristics, with Amos indicating that he was always running the group in some capacity.

    There are multiple active, costumed members as some of them derive their outfits and code-names from with pip values lower than ten. Members can also raise in numerical ranks as a reward for their success, or be "dealt out" at the discretion by their leader.

    It's unclear if there are still 52 cells throughout the country, or that there are 52 members it total as a lower ranked member mentions that there are four Queens, but Amos states that the group is constantly growing.

    The latest Royal Flush Gang has gone toe to toe with Zatanna when she took her show to Las Vegas. This gang has designed their motif to represent Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack for the exception of Queen. Jack looks alot like Sammy Davis Jr. but he calls himself "The Candyman." King, of course, bears a striking resemblance to Frank Sinatra, the Chairman of the Board and Ace represents Sinatra's right hand man Dean Martin. Zatanna defeats the gang when she summons the neon lit cowboy on the Vegas Strip, to do her bidding. The cowboy grabs the gang and tosses each of them into a different corner of Vegas thereby knocking them out for the authorities.

    New 52

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    In the New 52, a new version of the Gang appear and battle the Rogues during the events of Forever Evil.

    Other Media

    Super Friends

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    The Gang appear in the final season of the show, led by the Joker (disguised as Ace). In this show, Ten is a young African-American girl and a former friend of Cyborg.

    Justice League

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    In the episode "Wild Cards," five super-powered kids were freed from a government facility by the Joker and Harley Quinn in exchange for becoming the Royal Flush Gang. Ten had invulnerability and super strength, Jack had an elastic body, Queen could manipulate metal, King could blast fire, and Ace, the most powerful, could create illusions and drive people insane just by looking at them.

    Justice League Unlimited

    In the season 2 finale episode "Epilogue," Amanda Waller recounts Bruce Wayne's final confrontation with the Royal Flush gang. This version of the Gang was lead by Ace, the illusion casting young girl from previous Justice League episodes. Ace uses psychic abilities to wreak havoc on Metropolis and imbue ordinary people with special abilities, making them her Royal Flush Gang. This version showed different versions of the Gang, all based on some sort of popular culture reference: King was a large floating head, much resembling Marvel's supervillain MODOK, a villainous creature created by Jack Kirby (often referred to as "the King of Comics"); Queen was a man who had been transformed into a large, operatic, drag-queen style woman with a powerful scepter; Jack wielded a samurai sword and sported kabuki style makeup, resembling the then-popular Cartoon Network Series character Samurai Jack; and Ten was based on Bo Derek's iconic performance in the 1979 movie "Ten," with prehensile braids that could be extended from her head. Once Batman convinced Ace to stop using her powers and return Metropolis to its former state before dying of an impending brain aneurysm, the Royal Flush Gang were returned to their former selves as well.

    Batman Beyond

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    The gang in this series was a family of thieves. King and Queen are married, and their children serve as Jack and Ten. They are also accompanied by a super strong android called Ace.

    After the gang was arrested, a new Royal Flush Gang makes a sudden appearance on the Deuce's Wild Floating Casino. Batman (Terry McGinnis) was outnumbered and the the gang escapes but he did learn a few things that seemed out of place. This gang travelled without Ten, Ace's body seemed soft when Terry laid a few punches as if he were human rather than an android and the actual Royal Flush Gang was still in prison. Terry goes to the newly renovated Blackgate Penitentiary in order to find out if the Royal Flush Gang has found a way to sneak out of prison to conduct their crimes before their parole. Terry observes King and Queen having a private call with Melanie aka Ten, who is currently serving time in juvie. Melanie had heard about the copycat Royal Flush Gang and wanted know if her parents were behind it but King abruptly ends the call because he was still disappointed in her for her disobedience.

    Bruce calls in Terry, telling him to quit the recon and to react to a break in at the No Trump Jewelry Store. Someone that looks like Ten is stealing the Broken Heart Diamond. Terry intercepts Ten's escape. She reacts by throwing sharp playing cards at Terry but Terry dodges them with a manhole which causes the cards to ricochet back at Ten. One card slits Ten's left cheek and Terry makes his way to apprehending her. As Terry gets close, Ten slips an electrical playing card that shocks Terry and Ten makes her escape. Terry destroys the card and heads to juvie hall where Ten is being held. Terry arrives to notice Ten walking as part of a chain gang back to her cell block. Terry also notices that Ten doesn't have scar on her left cheek.

    Bruce figures out that King and Queen have twin siblings. Each King married a Queen but their offsprings turned out different. The original King and Queen had Melanie and Jack Walker while the copycat King and Queen only had one daughter that looked similar to Melanie. Both families had criminal tendencies and the copycat King shared a cell with two men that looked similar to Jack and Ace. Terry figures out what the copycat gang is up to. They were ridiculing the original gang in prison with their thefts and now the copycats will kill the original gang at their parole hearing.

    Terry manages to save three members of the original gang and defeats the copycats but King screws up the parole hearing when he holds Batman as well as the parole board hostage. Fortunately, the gun that King held only responds to the fingerprint recognition of a prison guard. Terry detains the original gang and heads toward juvie hall. The guards at juvie hall try to break into Melanie's cell but it was locked from the inside. Terry uses his suit's super strength to kick down the door and begins to console Melanie because she has her copycat cousin kneeling on the floor. Melanie wants to bash in her cousin's head with a scepter for all the misery her uncle and aunt brought her family but Terry's words get through to her. Melanie drops the scepter and her cousin is apprehended.

    The next day, Terry learns that the copycat gang are being processed for their crimes while the Walkers await the parole board's decision. The parole board deems the Walkers except for Melanie unfit for parole at this time. Melanie experiences mixed feelings. For instance, she is overjoyed to be released from juvie but she is saddened that her mother and brother will continue to be incarcerated at Blackgate because of King's actions. But most of all, she feels let down because as she looks back at the courtroom, she notices that Terry wasn't present at her hearing. However, Terry was there but Bruce convinced Terry to leave so there would be no second thoughts of rekindling a lost love affair.

    After Jack was released from prison, Melanie got him a job at the restaurant where she worked at, as a dish washer but that didn't last for too long. Jack usurped his father's position as King and started a series of tryouts for local street punks who wanted to become the new founding members of the Royal Flush Gang. Terry tails one street punk named Gary that has just committed a burglary. Terry beats up Gary and leaves him for the police. The next day, Bruce gets intel from Barbara and relays it back to Terry. According to Barbara's interrogation, Gary was bragging about how his burglary was an initiation to become a member of the Royal Flush Gang.

    Terry goes to Melanie for help and she agrees to end this nightmare once and for all. Melanie goes to visit King at Blackgate to learn about any hideouts that the gang used to meet at after Melanie was cast out of the gang. At first, King refuses to help Melanie and begins to taunt her about how rehabilitation has rewarded her as well as Jack. Melanie informs King that Jack has taken his position of power and is starting a new Royal Flush Gang. King becomes infuriated and tells Melanie everything.

    Jack and his new Queen welcome the new members to their gang. Since the software in the Ace android was outdated, Jack initiated a techno savy midget named Chet who can control Ace by via remote control body suit. As for the new Jack, a street punk named Wyatt takes the position. As for Jack's new Queen and Ten, their identities remain unknown. However, its possible that Ten is Melanie's identical cousin who has also not been named while Queen maybe Sable Thorpe, King's replacement Queen who double crossed Paxton Powers during Bruce's attempted assassination. Suddenly, Melanie and Terry crash the party. Melanie expresses her disappointment in regards to Jack's relapse into crime but Jack tells her that he has no regrets. Terry and Melanie easily defeat the new gang while the police arrive to cart the gang off to Blackgate.

    Batman: The Brave & the Bold

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    In the opening scene of an episode called "Return of the Fearsome Fangs," the gang in this series are a gang of bandits in the Old West fighting Jonah Hex. Hex is caught and the Gang plans to tear him apart with scattering horses; however, Batman frees him and the two apprehend the Royal Flush Gang.

    Arrow

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    The Royal Flush Gang appear in the episode "Legacies." In the show, they are a family who turned to crime after their father lost his job at Queen Industries due to outsourcing.

    Justice League: Doom

    The Royal Flush Gang appear in the film, which is based off of Tower of Babel and Justice. Here they test intangibility technology given to them unknowingly by Vandal Savage, but are take down by the Justice League and Cyborg early in the film.

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