What are your thoughts on squire? The second squire and current knight is my favorite superhero ever and it drives me crazy how often shes ignored especially by batman family specific articles and fictionalized retellings. I'd love to hear your thoughts on her and her knight, especially their time in the ultramarines, and their interactions with the larger superhero community, in britain and in other countries
I mean the opening line is the same whenever anyone asks me what I "think" of any superhero. I respect the hell out of anybody who puts themselves at risk for others in the way heroes do, I wish them nothing but luck and good health in their every endeavor and I proudly stand behind them and their legacy in particular and the additions they make to the superhero community in general.
ALSO I'm pretty sure that if I said about word about Knight and Squire I would be very roughly glassed the next time someone of English stock came across me and as I've said before I live in New York.
That being said!
(A photograph of the 2nd Knight and 3rd Squire published by the Sunday Times)
The Knight and Squire is not a story of two, but indeed of 3.
The original Knight actually got his start using the name Squire, inspired by a rescue at the hands of the Shining Knight the original Squire became a founding member of the Young Allies serving alongside his fellows across various fronts in the second World War. He took something of a leadership role in that ragtag group and marked himself out as someone truly special after the war when he graduated into the role of The Knight.
After the war, the Knight was one of the leading voices, alongside Dr Mist and his Young Allies comrades that called for an international organization to be founded to further hone and support superheroes as they appeared around the world. Tentatively named the "Club of Heroes" and operating under a initially secretive UN project called The Dome, the Knight helped to hone and forge what would become the Global Guardians joining as the team's first English member.
It would be later in his career he would take on an apprentice of his own, using his own former codename Squire. We do know from pretty extensive observation that the 2nd Squire was the Knight's son, biological or not is immaterial. The two of them would become the center of Britain's wide and deep heroic community facing off against criminals of every shape and size especially the duo's nemesis Spring-Heeled Jack.
It would be that demonic demagogue who would, in their final confrontation, claim the life of the first Knight. A massive explosion leaving the hero dead but his son and sidekick unharmed. One can only imagine that the chivalrous hero wouldn't have had it any other way.
The former Squire, now the 2nd Knight, despite and upgrade to a high tech suit of armor inspired by the Batman who was making waves across the pond did not start out his career on a good foot. Understandably traumatized by the death of his father, and hammered by an overwhelming sense of survivor's guilt the 2nd Knight fell into endless cyclical benders of drugs and alcohol leaving what had once been England's proudest champions as a sad, pitiable joke just waiting for one drink too many to be his last.
That was, until he stumbled upon a girl. We obviously don't know who, or how. But this sardonic redhead, like many sidekicks before her, anchored and uplifted the hero she was attached to and soon, despite the gripes of an incredulous public the Knight and Squire were back in top form not just as the heroes of their home nation either.
During the 2nd Knight's strung out period, the heroic title of England within the Global Guardians was handed to the now equally respected heroine Godiva. So instead the Knight and Squire joined a nascent group calling itself the Ultramarine Corps (the short lived team would require a story in themselves) but it just further showed the two working in full sync the world over. They were also recruited into the nebulous organization called "Batman Incorporated", a team of vigilantes inspired by or modelling from the Batman of Gotham.
It was during his work with this group that the 2nd Knight would ultimately lose his life in a knock down, drag out, multi hour battle against the masked terrorist known as The Heretic. The entirety of Batman Incorporated, doing their best to keep the Heretic away from the trigger of a powerful explosive device was beaten down one after another but, as stated by his comrades who were there, the Knight continued to rise. Again, and again and again he struck at The Heretic even as his armor was shattered off his body and he was left a bloody wreck.
Eventually, distracted by a seemingly fatal injury to his young Squire, the Knight resuscitated his sidekick and was caught off guard by his opponent. Leaving his ward with the final words "You made me believe I could do anything. Don't let them win." his neck was broken and the 2nd Knight was left dead at the scene. The Squire, taking advantage of the Heretic's exhaustion was able to put out his right eye with a single shot, a debilitating injury that eventually lead to the Heretic's final defeat.
It would be...and understatement to say the world, and England herself was left in a state of shock. Despite the quick turn around of the state funeral, only 4 days between the 2nd Knight's death and his burial. Hundreds of thousands lined the streets of London to see his armor carried to its final resting place by horse drawn carriage (the man's body, of course, was not buried publically but returned quietly to those that loved him behind the mask) Heroic comrades, heads of state, even former enemies made themselves visible not only to the live crowd but to the millions who watched the procession from around the world.
Heroes as diverse as Godiva, Dr. Mist and the Batman himself spoke at the Knight's funeral but the words spoken by his Squire rang out as both promise and warning to those who imagined for a moment that Blighty's streets might ever go undefended.
"They haven't beaten us yet."
Some weeks later the 3rd Knight appeared in full regalia, the 3rd Squire stepping not only into the legacy that her mentor left behind but also her birthright if anyone could be considered to have been progeny of the 2nd Knight. She has slotted directly into the shadow her mentor left behind, taking not only a role but seemingly a leadership position within Batman Inc.
Her career is yet young, however no one expects her to falter. Indeed England, Britain, the world are rooting for her to hold aloft Britain's banner for the whole world to see as any Knight might do.