Free the Earth of Scum 
The Elite are a group of powerful metahumans who took it upon themselves to "Free the Earth of Scum." The team consisted of Manchester Black the leader who is a powerful telepathic and possessed telekinetic abilities, Coldcast an American who can control electromagnetic spectrum, the Hat a magic wielding Japanese man and Menagerie a Puerto Rican woman bonded to an symbiote creature known as a symbeast.
History
The team's base of operation is a ship dubbed "Bunny" who is sentient bacteria colony which the Elite had high-jacked and enslaved. Bunny resides between dimensions. The Elite abide no laws and thus quickly came into conflict with Superman during their first mission in Tripoli, Libya. There they took out a renegade giant ape, but also thousands of Libyan troops. They quickly dispatched Superman then disappeared.
Superman attempted to negotiate with them and show them the error of their ways but failed. After this proves ineffective, he agrees to fight them on Jupiter's moon Io, where the Elite have already defeated God's Seed. When it appears they have beaten Superman, he manages to exploit the weaknesses in their powers to defeat them, apparently lobotomizing Black and killing the others. However, this turns out to be just a ploy to show them the futility of their approach, as well as to demonstrate to the world (the fight was being broadcast by the Elite) that heroes who kill are not fun, but terrifying.[1]
Suicide Squad
After a stint with the Suicide Squad, Manchester Black was betrayed by President Lex Luthor and so reformed the Elite.[2] However Menagerie revealed to Superman that the group was not in control of their own actions and Black crippled her. After Manchester Black's apparent death by suicide, his sister Vera lead the Elite against the Justice League (this time with Menagerie II) in what turns out to be an attempt to fool Gaea, the spirit of the planet.[3]
Justice League Elite
The Hat, being an Earth elemental, had spotted the fact that the planet was going to rise up and strike civilization down because her "children" were not united, which had given them time to devise a plan. The imminent apocalypse was confirmed by Manitou Raven's intuition and Major Disaster's channeling of the planet itself. However, it is then revealed that the Elite concocted a bogus threat to unite the world's governments and fool Gaea into believing the people of Earth were united. Not only did this save the world, but it also started the talks for a Planetary Peace treaty.
Eventually the Elite's machination helped cement the links with the Justice League, the result of which was Vera Black, Menagerie II and Coldcast joining the newly formed Justice League Elite, a superhero 'black ops' team created to hunt down and eliminate metahuman threats before they went public.
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
Teleporters
Transportation:
Bunny
Trivia
- The Elite are largely conceived as a response to Wildstorm's The Authority.
See Also
- 4 Appearances of The Elite (New Earth)
- 4 Images that include The Elite (New Earth)
- Team Gallery: The Elite (New Earth)