Rainbow Raiders - History

History

After the death of the first Captain Boomerang, a funeral was held that every villain ever to face the Flash attended. Among the large crowd was an eclectic group of metahumans calling themselves the "Rainbow Raiders," in honor of the late Flash villain, the Rainbow Raider. Their sentiments, expressed during the service, seemed to denote that the group was relatively new to the scene, had little exposure, standing, or experience working together.

It was during the Crime Syndicate's second invasion of Earth that the Raiders got to see some heavy action. In JLA #110 (2004), they attack the Missoula County, Montana S.T.A.R. Labs facility. Johnny Quick and Power Ring who are disguised as the Flash and Green Lantern for an undercover mission, fight the group on the grounds of the facility. The battle goes badly for the two. Nearby civilians, believing that their beloved heroes are in trouble, attack the villains, allowing Power Ring and Johnny Quick time to rally and subdue the group.

A deleted page from Blackest Night: Director's Cut- later released in Untold Tales of the Blackest Night- revealed that the Raiders committed mass suicide in order to join the Black Lantern Corps, believing that, with the dead attacking, it was best to be on the 'winning side'. However, they lacked any emotional ties sufficient enough to draw the attention of the black rings- which focused on resurrecting people who would inspire certain emotions in Earth's heroes and villains, such as Lex Luthor's various murder victims, or fallen heroes and villains like Maxwell Lord and Elongated Man-, and therefore remained dead.