WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.439 Welcome to the deep dive. We have a really fascinating 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:05.639 mission for you today, especially if you spend 00:00:05.639 --> 00:00:08.800 any time navigating the sprawling and honestly... 00:00:09.130 --> 00:00:10.949 Pretty messy continuity of comic book history. 00:00:11.230 --> 00:00:13.050 Oh, yeah. Messy is definitely the right word 00:00:13.050 --> 00:00:15.490 for it. Right. So we're looking at a Wikipedia 00:00:15.490 --> 00:00:17.910 article we pulled from our sources detailing 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:22.730 a deeply obscure but incredibly complex DC Comics 00:00:22.730 --> 00:00:25.350 character. Named King Standish. Yes, King Standish. 00:00:25.670 --> 00:00:28.350 And our goal today is to examine how a wealthy, 00:00:28.510 --> 00:00:31.710 sophisticated master of disguise from the 1940s 00:00:31.710 --> 00:00:34.350 operated in the criminal underworld, fought off 00:00:34.350 --> 00:00:36.829 supernatural entities, and left this bizarre 00:00:36.829 --> 00:00:39.609 modern day legacy. Did it all without ever actually 00:00:39.609 --> 00:00:42.369 showing his true face to anyone, including the 00:00:42.369 --> 00:00:44.689 reader. Exactly. It's wild. It is a really unique 00:00:44.689 --> 00:00:46.630 slice of the archives we're opening up for you 00:00:46.630 --> 00:00:48.950 today. When we examine Golden Age superheroes, 00:00:49.429 --> 00:00:52.350 we're looking at an era that laid the foundation 00:00:52.350 --> 00:00:55.049 for everything we read now. Yeah, the 1940s. 00:00:55.049 --> 00:00:58.210 Right. The 1940s publishers were throwing entirely 00:00:58.210 --> 00:01:00.829 untested concepts at the wall to see what resonated 00:01:00.829 --> 00:01:03.710 with readers. And King Standish is a prime example 00:01:03.710 --> 00:01:06.609 of that unfiltered experimental pulp energy. 00:01:06.750 --> 00:01:09.680 He exists. Right at this intersection of noir 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:12.859 detective tropes and the emerging superhero genre. 00:01:13.099 --> 00:01:15.060 Okay, let's unpack this right from his very first 00:01:15.060 --> 00:01:17.439 appearance. Yeah. According to the source. King 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:19.859 Standish debuts in the pages of Flash Comics, 00:01:20.019 --> 00:01:22.620 issue number three. Which it newsstands in March 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:26.180 of 1940. March 1940. And he was created by the 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:28.319 team of writer Gardner Fox and artist William 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:30.579 Smith. And since we were talking about Gardner 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:32.959 Fox, and we already know the pedigree here. Oh, 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:35.340 absolutely. We're looking at the exact same creative 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:38.959 DNA that gave us the original Flash, Jay Garrick, 00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:42.620 Dr. Fate, Hawkman, and literally the very concept 00:01:42.620 --> 00:01:45.299 of the Justice Society of America. That is a 00:01:45.299 --> 00:01:47.260 crucial piece of context for you to keep in mind 00:01:47.260 --> 00:01:49.519 as we analyze Standish. Because if you look at 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:51.859 the footer of this Wikipedia article, the sheer 00:01:51.859 --> 00:01:54.959 volume of foundational lore Fox generated is 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:57.359 staggering. It's massive. Standish isn't just 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:59.519 some random throwaway character by a freelance 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:02.379 writer. He shares a creator with the heavyweights 00:02:02.379 --> 00:02:05.439 that still anchor the DC universe today. He was 00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.799 conceived by an architect of the medium. Which 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:10.240 makes his relative obscurity all the more interesting 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.370 to dissect. It really makes you wonder why he 00:02:13.370 --> 00:02:16.169 didn't achieve the same lasting household name 00:02:16.169 --> 00:02:19.289 status as his peers. Yeah, why did Hawkman survive 00:02:19.289 --> 00:02:22.469 and Standish fade away? Part of it might honestly 00:02:22.469 --> 00:02:25.030 be his aesthetic. Yeah. Which is definitely a 00:02:25.030 --> 00:02:28.409 product of its time. When he isn't actively disguised 00:02:28.409 --> 00:02:31.409 as someone else, his default recognizable hero 00:02:31.409 --> 00:02:34.490 look isn't tights. Or a cape with a family crest. 00:02:34.830 --> 00:02:37.430 Right. It's a tuxedo, an opera cape, a top hat, 00:02:37.590 --> 00:02:40.689 and a domino mask. He looks like a high society 00:02:40.689 --> 00:02:43.090 socialite stepping out of a gala rather than 00:02:43.090 --> 00:02:45.210 a brawler patrolling the docks. It perfectly 00:02:45.210 --> 00:02:47.629 captures that wealthy vigilante trope of the 00:02:47.629 --> 00:02:49.990 1930s, you know, the bored rich guy looking for 00:02:49.990 --> 00:02:52.349 a thrill. But what's fascinating here is his 00:02:52.349 --> 00:02:54.789 moniker, the man of a thousand faces. The man 00:02:54.789 --> 00:02:57.889 of a thousand faces. Yes. The text explicitly 00:02:57.889 --> 00:03:00.590 states a truly staggering narrative choice made 00:03:00.590 --> 00:03:03.590 by Fox and Smith. His actual face and his actual 00:03:03.590 --> 00:03:07.039 real name are never revealed. Never. Not once. 00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:09.460 Think about the narrative mechanics of that for 00:03:09.460 --> 00:03:11.960 a moment. You are reading a comic book where 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:14.939 the protagonist is fundamentally lying to you, 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:18.099 the audience, in every single panel. That is 00:03:18.099 --> 00:03:21.099 a massive creative risk because you usually build 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:23.979 a connection with a character by seeing their 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:26.340 vulnerability, by seeing who they are when the 00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:29.120 mask comes off. Exactly. You need the Bruce Wayne 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:32.020 behind the Batman. Right. But with King Standish, 00:03:32.120 --> 00:03:35.259 there is no unmasking. He is a total cipher. 00:03:35.629 --> 00:03:37.669 The article notes that he was actually considered 00:03:37.669 --> 00:03:40.069 a criminal by both the police and the underworld. 00:03:40.289 --> 00:03:42.870 Which makes sense. It does. He operates in this 00:03:42.870 --> 00:03:46.689 completely isolated, paranoid space because nobody 00:03:46.689 --> 00:03:49.169 can verify his identity. It creates a unique 00:03:49.169 --> 00:03:51.370 type of dramatic tension that you don't often 00:03:51.370 --> 00:03:54.810 see, even in modern books. Because his methods 00:03:54.810 --> 00:03:57.590 rely on total deception, he cuts himself off 00:03:57.590 --> 00:03:59.569 from the society he is supposedly protecting. 00:03:59.629 --> 00:04:02.659 He's on his own island. He is. He exists in a 00:04:02.659 --> 00:04:05.280 liminal space between the law and the lawless. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:08.159 If you place yourself in the shoes of a reader 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:11.340 in 1940, you are conditioned to trust the hero 00:04:11.340 --> 00:04:14.180 implicitly. But how do you trust a hero who might 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:16.180 be the cop in one scene, the mob boss in the 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:18.800 next, and a random bystander on the street? You 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:21.540 can't. You are forced to constantly question 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:24.220 the reality of the narrative. And when push comes 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:27.079 to shove, his methods aren't exactly clean either. 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.620 The source notes he was a skilled hand -to -hand 00:04:29.620 --> 00:04:32.600 combatant, a master illusionist, and he made 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:35.800 occasional use of guns. Ah, yes, the occasional 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:39.060 use of guns. That last detail. really firmly 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:41.639 plants him in that early golden age era. You 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:44.120 know, before the editorial mandate scrubbed lethal 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:46.360 weapons from the hands of primary protagonists. 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:48.879 It highlights the blurred lines of the era. The 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:51.079 distinction between a pulp magazine detective 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:53.639 who would absolutely carry a firearm and a comic 00:04:53.639 --> 00:04:56.279 book superhero was practically non -existent 00:04:56.279 --> 00:04:58.360 in 1940. They were basically the same thing. 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:01.199 Standish used whatever tools were necessary to 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:03.660 neutralize a threat. Which brings us to the kinds 00:05:03.660 --> 00:05:05.980 of threats he was actually neutralizing. That 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:08.740 transitions us perfectly into his rogues gallery, 00:05:09.019 --> 00:05:11.459 or at least his most prominent recurring rival. 00:05:11.740 --> 00:05:14.060 He frequently clashed with a character simply 00:05:14.060 --> 00:05:16.639 known as the Witch. The Witch? Yeah, and her 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:19.100 gimmick wasn't magic. She was actually a fellow 00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:22.300 master of disguise. Her abilities basically rivaled 00:05:22.300 --> 00:05:24.800 his own. A mirror image villain is a classic 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.689 narrative tool. But applying it to the concept 00:05:27.689 --> 00:05:29.930 of disguise elevates the conflict immensely. 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:32.410 You have this cat and mouse game between two 00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:35.610 individuals where neither combatant has any idea 00:05:35.610 --> 00:05:37.509 what the other truly looks like. It's just two 00:05:37.509 --> 00:05:40.290 fake people fighting. It is a battle of pure 00:05:40.290 --> 00:05:42.910 espionage and psychological deduction rather 00:05:42.910 --> 00:05:45.689 than just physical force. What stands out to 00:05:45.689 --> 00:05:48.540 me is how that conflict resolves. The source 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:50.660 states that Standish didn't just defeat her. 00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:53.139 He actually convinced her to switch sides and 00:05:53.139 --> 00:05:55.220 help him in his fight against the criminal underworld. 00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:57.480 Wow. Yeah, instead of a punitive resolution, 00:05:57.860 --> 00:06:00.620 we get rehabilitation. That is a brilliant observation, 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:03.439 and it reflects a uniquely Golden Age optimism. 00:06:04.060 --> 00:06:07.180 It is a stark contrast to the highly cynical, 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:10.139 punitive justice we often see in modern comic 00:06:10.139 --> 00:06:13.060 narratives. Where villains are just perpetually 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:15.540 locked up in Arkham Asylum only to break out 00:06:15.540 --> 00:06:17.870 again next month. Exactly. The rehabilitation 00:06:17.870 --> 00:06:20.310 of the witch tells us that Standish, despite 00:06:20.310 --> 00:06:23.149 his shadowy, deceptive methods, viewed crime 00:06:23.149 --> 00:06:25.949 as a behavioral puzzle that could be solved and 00:06:25.949 --> 00:06:28.949 redirected, not just an inherent evil to be punished. 00:06:29.230 --> 00:06:31.149 That's a great way to put it. It gives us a glimpse 00:06:31.149 --> 00:06:33.709 of a strong moral compass beneath all the masks. 00:06:34.009 --> 00:06:36.889 But that moral compass gets a massive test when 00:06:36.889 --> 00:06:39.529 the world changes around him. As we move into 00:06:39.529 --> 00:06:42.189 the World War II era, the scope of comic book 00:06:42.189 --> 00:06:45.290 storytelling shifted globally, and Standish shifted 00:06:45.290 --> 00:06:48.180 with it. The war changed everything. It really 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:50.439 did. The article mentions he was contacted by 00:06:50.439 --> 00:06:53.360 a mysterious figure known as Control, and he 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:55.019 was recruited to join the Office of Strategic 00:06:55.019 --> 00:06:58.560 Services, the OSS. This represents a pivotal 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:01.470 evolution in his publication history. We see 00:07:01.470 --> 00:07:03.829 his in -universe reputation completely transform. 00:07:04.149 --> 00:07:06.350 He goes from being an illegal street vigilante, 00:07:06.430 --> 00:07:09.149 actively hunted by local police, to a sanctioned 00:07:09.149 --> 00:07:11.069 intelligence operative for the Allied forces. 00:07:11.470 --> 00:07:13.389 It actually makes perfect sense when you look 00:07:13.389 --> 00:07:15.990 at his skill set. If you need someone to infiltrate 00:07:15.990 --> 00:07:18.589 enemy lines, gather intelligence, and sabotage 00:07:18.589 --> 00:07:21.910 operations without being detected, you don't 00:07:21.910 --> 00:07:24.230 send a guy who shoots lasers from his eyes. No, 00:07:24.329 --> 00:07:26.870 that would be terrible espionage. You send a 00:07:26.870 --> 00:07:29.769 guy whose entire life is built on deep -covered 00:07:29.769 --> 00:07:33.000 deception. Precisely. The very skills that made 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:35.620 him a menace to the domestic underworld made 00:07:35.620 --> 00:07:38.560 him an invaluable asset for international espionage. 00:07:39.069 --> 00:07:41.670 The text notes he remained with the OSS until 00:07:41.670 --> 00:07:44.490 the war concluded. Which is a cool real -world 00:07:44.490 --> 00:07:47.170 tie -in. It anchors King Standish firmly in the 00:07:47.170 --> 00:07:50.430 real -world history of the 1940s. It serves as 00:07:50.430 --> 00:07:52.389 a reflection of how comic book publishers adapted 00:07:52.389 --> 00:07:55.269 their characters to support the war effort. Here's 00:07:55.269 --> 00:07:57.209 where it gets really interesting, though. Because 00:07:57.209 --> 00:07:59.529 once the war is over, he doesn't just go back 00:07:59.529 --> 00:08:02.689 to busting local mob bosses in his tuxedo. His 00:08:02.689 --> 00:08:04.990 narrative takes a sharp turn into the supernatural. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:09.040 The weird stuff. Yes. The source details a specific 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:11.699 encounter with an antagonist named Jacob Toltzman. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.680 This is where the pulp espionage genre collides 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.759 abruptly with Golden Age fantasy. The Justice 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:20.420 Society of America is involved in this specific 00:08:20.420 --> 00:08:24.199 storyline. But the situation is dire. Very dire. 00:08:24.750 --> 00:08:27.529 The source points out that two major JSA figures, 00:08:27.850 --> 00:08:30.550 the Wesley Dodds incarnation of Sandman and the 00:08:30.550 --> 00:08:33.250 Star Spangled Kid, have been knocked completely 00:08:33.250 --> 00:08:35.710 out of commission by this supernatural threat. 00:08:35.909 --> 00:08:38.070 The heavy hitters are down for the count, so 00:08:38.070 --> 00:08:39.870 the responsibility falls to their sidekicks, 00:08:39.970 --> 00:08:43.080 Sandy the Golden Boy and Stripesy. Alongside 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:46.240 King Standish. What a trio. If you're those sidekicks, 00:08:46.259 --> 00:08:48.759 the panic has to be setting in. Your mentors 00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:50.759 are unconscious, there is a literal supernatural 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:53.919 entity on the loose, and your only tactical support 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:56.460 is a guy in an opera cape who solves problems 00:08:56.460 --> 00:08:59.940 with prosthetics and spirit gum. It is a decidedly 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:03.179 desperate scenario. Stanish doesn't possess superhuman 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:06.000 strength or mystical abilities. He cannot simply 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.820 overpower a supernatural force like Tolsman through 00:09:08.820 --> 00:09:10.779 physical combat. You can't just punch a ghost. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:13.519 No. He has to rely entirely on his intellect 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.500 and his specific mastery of illusion. And the 00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:20.590 tactic he employs is wildly creative. He doesn't 00:09:20.590 --> 00:09:22.990 try to disguise himself as a more powerful monster. 00:09:23.230 --> 00:09:26.309 He uses his skills to disguise himself as Jacob 00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:28.570 Tolsman's father. That is just incredible. He 00:09:28.570 --> 00:09:31.450 impersonates the villain's dad to create a distraction. 00:09:31.769 --> 00:09:34.750 And it actually works. It works long enough for 00:09:34.750 --> 00:09:36.710 Sandy and Stripesy to deliver the winning blow. 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:39.639 If we connect this to the bigger picture of tactical 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:42.919 combat in comics, this is a masterclass in psychological 00:09:42.919 --> 00:09:45.899 warfare. It really is. Standish recognized the 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:48.720 futility of a physical confrontation and instead 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:51.299 targeted the enemy's emotional and psychological 00:09:51.299 --> 00:09:54.759 vulnerabilities. Weaponizing family trauma to 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:57.600 disorient a supernatural threat is undeniably 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.990 dark. Yeah, that's messed up. It is, but it is 00:09:59.990 --> 00:10:02.429 highly effective. It elevates Standish from a 00:10:02.429 --> 00:10:05.110 simple master of disguise to a deeply calculating 00:10:05.110 --> 00:10:08.029 cerebral tactician. He understands that a well 00:10:08.029 --> 00:10:10.529 -placed emotional shock can be just as devastating 00:10:10.529 --> 00:10:13.509 as a physical punch. He effectively neutralizes 00:10:13.509 --> 00:10:15.370 a supernatural being by playing on its daddy 00:10:15.370 --> 00:10:18.090 issues. That is top -tier strategic thinking. 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:20.850 Absolutely. Now, after the Golden Age, characters 00:10:20.850 --> 00:10:23.049 like Standish often get relegated to the dusty 00:10:23.049 --> 00:10:26.370 archives of DC history. But the source outlines 00:10:26.370 --> 00:10:29.929 how his legacy was unexpectedly revived decades 00:10:29.929 --> 00:10:33.049 later. The modern revival. Yes. We fast forward 00:10:33.049 --> 00:10:35.690 to the modern era, specifically Justice Society 00:10:35.690 --> 00:10:39.169 of America, Volume 3, Issue 29, published in 00:10:39.169 --> 00:10:42.850 July 2009. The JSA roster gets a new edition. 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:45.639 A guy named King Chimera. The introduction of 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:48.080 King Chimera serves as a crucial bridge between 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:51.240 the experimental pulp of the 1940s and the structured 00:10:51.240 --> 00:10:54.600 legacy of modern comics. Chimera drops a significant 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:57.039 piece of lore, revealing that his father was, 00:10:57.259 --> 00:10:59.879 in fact, King Standish. And the backstory Chimera 00:10:59.879 --> 00:11:02.000 provides regarding his father is fascinating. 00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:04.279 He explains that Standish traveled to a distant 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:06.360 island to meet with a member of a secret order. 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:08.940 specifically to perfect the art of illusion. 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:11.539 A secret order on a distant island. That's a 00:11:11.539 --> 00:11:13.820 classic comic book trope. It tells us that Standish 00:11:13.820 --> 00:11:15.799 wasn't just relying on natural talent or some 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:17.860 makeup kit he bought at a pharmacy in Gotham. 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:20.940 He was actively traveling the globe, seeking 00:11:20.940 --> 00:11:23.779 out esoteric knowledge to master his craft. It 00:11:23.779 --> 00:11:26.080 adds a layer of global mythology to the character 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:29.299 that didn't exist in his original run. Modern 00:11:29.299 --> 00:11:31.700 writers often utilize these obscure Golden Age 00:11:31.700 --> 00:11:34.659 figures to anchor new characters. It gives a 00:11:34.659 --> 00:11:37.120 fresh face like King Chimera, immediate historical 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:40.399 weight, and a sense of belonging within the broader 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:43.220 DC lore. It also brings up a rather humorous 00:11:43.220 --> 00:11:45.940 continuity issue, which the comic itself actually 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:49.100 addresses. If you track the timeline, Standish 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:52.919 was an active adult crime fighter in 1940. King 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:56.360 Chimera debuts as a young man in 2009. The math 00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:59.159 doesn't quite work. It doesn't. And Chimera casually 00:11:59.159 --> 00:12:01.740 mentions in the text that his mother quote unquote, 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:05.559 had a thing for older men. It is a clever, somewhat 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:08.000 dark piece of meta commentary by the writers. 00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:10.759 Comic book timelines are notoriously fluid and 00:12:10.759 --> 00:12:13.700 addressing a 60 year age gap with a dry quip 00:12:13.700 --> 00:12:16.100 acknowledges the absurdity of comic continuity 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:18.399 without completely derailing the narrative. Right. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:20.299 They just lampshade it and move on. But it also 00:12:20.299 --> 00:12:22.840 inadvertently enhances the mystique of Standish. 00:12:23.059 --> 00:12:26.120 How did he maintain his vitality? Did his time 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:27.960 with that secret order involve life extension 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:30.080 techniques? Oh, that's a good point. Or perhaps 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.139 was the King Standish who fathered Chimera simply 00:12:33.139 --> 00:12:36.179 a successor who took up the mantle? The source 00:12:36.179 --> 00:12:39.019 leaves that entirely ambiguous. Which is exactly 00:12:39.019 --> 00:12:40.779 how you want a master of disguise to operate. 00:12:41.179 --> 00:12:43.299 Always leaving you with more questions than answers. 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:45.240 But the comics aren't the only place we've seen 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:47.240 this legacy explored recently. You made it to 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:49.799 the screen. You did. The Wikipedia article notes 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:51.879 that Standish actually made the jump to live 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:55.679 -action television in the Stargirl series, specifically 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.360 in the episode titled Frenemies. Chapter 12, 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:02.799 The Last Will and Testament of Sylvester Pemberton. 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:05.600 Adapting deeply obscure Golden Age characters 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.139 for modern television is always a delicate process. 00:13:08.539 --> 00:13:11.460 The Stargirl series was heavily invested in exploring 00:13:11.460 --> 00:13:14.580 the legacy of the JSA. making it a logical place 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:16.700 for Standish to appear. It makes sense he'd show 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:18.700 up there. However, the iteration portrayed by 00:13:18.700 --> 00:13:21.460 actor Alan Andrews meets a decidedly grim fate. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:23.679 Yeah, the television universe does not offer 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.539 him a heroic send -off at all. The article details 00:13:26.539 --> 00:13:29.299 that in this adaptation, Standish is depicted 00:13:29.299 --> 00:13:32.299 merely as a socialite, and he is murdered by 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:34.580 the classic villain, the Ultra -Humanite, who 00:13:34.580 --> 00:13:36.539 is operating at the time through the body of 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:39.409 Dolores Winters. It is a brutal narrative choice. 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:42.710 It strips away the enigmatic triumph of his comic 00:13:42.710 --> 00:13:45.090 book counterpart and just reduces him to collateral 00:13:45.090 --> 00:13:47.529 damage. He's basically just cannon fodder. However, 00:13:47.710 --> 00:13:49.929 from a screenwriting perspective, sacrificing 00:13:49.929 --> 00:13:53.009 a legacy character like Standish serves to immediately 00:13:53.009 --> 00:13:56.590 establish the lethal stakes. It shows the sheer 00:13:56.590 --> 00:14:00.129 power of the ultra humanite. It utilizes the 00:14:00.129 --> 00:14:02.470 historical weight of the King's Standish name 00:14:02.470 --> 00:14:04.669 to signal to the audience that the new generation 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:07.409 of heroes in Stargirl are facing a genuinely 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:10.210 severe threat. It's the ultimate sacrifice for 00:14:10.210 --> 00:14:12.509 the sake of the plot. But returning to the source 00:14:12.509 --> 00:14:14.590 material, the comic book iteration of the character 00:14:14.590 --> 00:14:17.590 has a much more fitting, if pretty unsettling, 00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:20.450 conclusion. Unsettling is right. The biography 00:14:20.450 --> 00:14:22.649 section of the article ends with a single sentence 00:14:22.649 --> 00:14:26.350 regarding his current status. Quote, King Standish's 00:14:26.350 --> 00:14:28.669 current activities and whereabouts were not recorded, 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:31.610 unquote. That is perhaps the most narratively 00:14:31.610 --> 00:14:34.149 satisfying conclusion possible for a character 00:14:34.149 --> 00:14:36.250 defined by his absence of identity. He really 00:14:36.250 --> 00:14:38.830 is. There is no grand final battle. There is 00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:41.950 no public retirement or unmasking. A man whose 00:14:41.950 --> 00:14:44.889 entire existence was predicated on anonymity, 00:14:44.990 --> 00:14:47.470 deception, and the spaces between identities 00:14:47.470 --> 00:14:49.990 simply fades back into the margins of the universe. 00:14:50.289 --> 00:14:53.289 So what does this all mean? We've tracked a character 00:14:53.289 --> 00:14:55.629 through the very DNA of the DC universe today. 00:14:55.889 --> 00:14:58.710 We started with a nameless street vigilante in 00:14:58.710 --> 00:15:02.409 1940s pulp comics who isolated himself from society 00:15:02.409 --> 00:15:05.629 to fight crime. And rehabilitated villains along 00:15:05.629 --> 00:15:08.149 the way. Right. We followed him as his unique 00:15:08.149 --> 00:15:10.190 skill set was co -opted by the government for 00:15:10.190 --> 00:15:13.289 OSS espionage during World War II. We saw him 00:15:13.289 --> 00:15:15.850 utilize deeply unsettling psychological tactics 00:15:15.850 --> 00:15:18.610 to defeat supernatural threats alongside the 00:15:18.610 --> 00:15:21.330 JSA sidekicks. Pretending to be a monster's dad. 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:25.659 Still iconic. Still iconic. And finally, we explored 00:15:25.659 --> 00:15:28.379 how his legacy was revived to anchor a new generation 00:15:28.379 --> 00:15:32.679 in 2009 with King Chimera. And adapted for television 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:35.759 just to raise the stakes. What it means is that 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.899 King Standish operates as the ultimate blank 00:15:37.899 --> 00:15:40.840 slate in superhero fiction. In a genre populated 00:15:40.840 --> 00:15:42.960 by characters who are rigidly defined by their 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:45.679 tragic origins, their specific moral codes, and 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.340 their brightly colored emblems, Standish is defined 00:15:48.340 --> 00:15:50.919 entirely by his adaptability. He is whatever 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:53.299 the story needs him to be. Because he possesses 00:15:53.299 --> 00:15:55.879 no fixed identity, he can seamlessly transition 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:58.620 into any narrative space. He can be a noir detective, 00:15:59.120 --> 00:16:02.580 a wartime spy, a supernatural tactician, or an 00:16:02.580 --> 00:16:05.379 elusive father figure. He is the ultimate chameleon, 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:07.679 reflecting whatever the writers and the era required 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:10.039 him to be. He is a fascinating reflection of 00:16:10.039 --> 00:16:11.620 the medium's history. It has been incredibly 00:16:11.620 --> 00:16:13.659 rewarding digging into the archives with you 00:16:13.659 --> 00:16:16.639 all to map out the bizarre hidden life of the 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:18.990 Man of a Thousand Faces. Before we conclude, 00:16:19.210 --> 00:16:21.029 this raises an important question for you to 00:16:21.029 --> 00:16:23.590 consider. If an individual spends their entire 00:16:23.590 --> 00:16:26.690 life from fighting gangsters in the 1940s to 00:16:26.690 --> 00:16:29.789 engaging in global espionage to traveling the 00:16:29.789 --> 00:16:32.450 world seeking out secret orders constantly inhabiting 00:16:32.450 --> 00:16:34.830 the faces, voices, and lives of thousands of 00:16:34.830 --> 00:16:37.070 other people. It takes a toll. It does. What 00:16:37.070 --> 00:16:39.629 remains of the original person underneath? After 00:16:39.629 --> 00:16:42.110 decades of flawlessly executing perfect illusions, 00:16:42.509 --> 00:16:45.250 does the real King Standish even exist anymore? 00:16:45.429 --> 00:16:48.210 Or did the man himself simply evaporate, leaving 00:16:48.210 --> 00:16:50.789 nothing behind but the ultimate disguise? That 00:16:50.789 --> 00:16:53.389 is a haunting concept to wrap up on. Thank you 00:16:53.389 --> 00:16:55.450 for joining us on this deep dive into the obscure 00:16:55.450 --> 00:16:58.370 corners of comic lore. Keep questioning the continuity, 00:16:58.629 --> 00:17:00.909 keep exploring the archives, and we will catch 00:17:00.909 --> 00:17:01.549 you on the next one.