History
Two weeks later, the Dread Legion rescued their captured members from custody.
The following week, the Dread Legion launched another daytime robbery of the Michigan Safeguard Bank.
The Justice Rangers arrived and were once again about to engage the Legion in battle when the bank president stood between the super-powered groups and made an audacious offer. He said he would put one hundred thousand dollars in cash into a briefcase and have a courier bring it outside the city limits and let the Dread Legion have it if they would fight the Justice Rangers there.
After some confused looks and back and forth banter, the Dread Legion agreed to the terms.
Half the Dread Legion was captured after a swift defeat, but Michigan Safeguard Bank agreed not to press charges against them to show their appreciation for preventing unnecessary public destruction and potential loss of life.
Over time, a gentlemen’s agreement formed in which banks would allocate sums of money for “robbery” attempts.
An enterprising bank executive began hiring camera crews to cover the prearranged bank robberies. What was once an unpredictable and frightening event – a superhero battle – became the pinnacle of spectacle. Banks even began sending public invitations to super villains to come “rob” their bank. Former B-List super villains struggling to make a name for themselves and earn a career in larceny suddenly became media megastars.
The real winners were the super-powered women.
In September of 1986, a scheduled fight event between the Ameriteens and the Warmongers brought the popularity of televised super battles to a fever pitch. Most people today don’t even remember the rest of the roster of both teams – all that is remembered is the epic brawl that broke out between Lady Steel and Hell Kitty – which ended with Kitty choking Lady Steel into unconsciousness in a mud pit while both of their teams watched.
Rumors began circulating about Lady Steel having a torrid affair with Hell Kitty’s sometimes boy toy, Bronze Idol. The line between who exactly was the heroine and who the villainess became blurred as the populace began referring to her as “Lady Steal.”
Fans were begging for a rematch.
At the time, a fight purse of one hundred thousand to a quarter million dollars was typical for a super battle.
The rematch between Lady Steel and Hell Kitty earned the two women a combined paycheck of twenty-five million. It was the most-watched event in television history.
Lady Steel delivered a brutal knockout after a two hour fourteen minute slugfest that reduced most of an abandoned rail yard to rubble – and their costumes to tatters.
It became apparent that there was an enormous demand for superhumanly-beautiful women with the physiques of goddesses squeezed into revealing, skin-tight outfits punching each other in the face.
That event marked the launch of what is the modern Superheroine Battle League circuit.