Yesterday it was announced the evil aliens The Dominators would provide the threat so large it would take Green Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and the Legends of Tomorrow to team-up to take them down in one epic week-long crossover. But who are The Dominators? If you don’t know, we’ve assembled a Crash Course to get you up to speed.

The Dominators were originally introduced as villains for The Legion of Super-Heroes in the pages of 1967’s Adventure Comics #361. The Dominion and United Planets had been at war for decades, and the Legion had to escort a secret Dominion diplomatic party through an alternate dimension to try and stop the war.

 

Invasion
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The Dominators later showed up as one of three alien threats in the 20th century as part of Invasion, where they attempted to unlock the secret of the metagene, and upon their defeat detonated the “Genebomb,” which messed up the powers of several of Earth’s superheroes. They reappeared in the 30th century during the “Five Years Later” storyline having secretly taken control of Earth’s government.

Recently, The Dominators appeared in Sam Humphries and Robson Rocha’s Green Lanterns, in search of The Phantom Ring, which is like the Green Lantern ring but can be wielded by anyone to utilize any aspect of the emotional spectrum. With their upcoming appearance in DC’s television universe, it’s wouldn’t be surprising to see them become an even bigger threat within the comics.

 

Supergirl
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Originally the aliens had blue skin with silver discs on their head, but they were redesigned by Todd McFarlane with yellow skin, long sharp teeth and fingernails, and a red circle on their forehead. In the announcement, producer Marc Guggenheim noted that the crossover will used advanced techniques to achieve a comics-accurate look for the aliens.

Hopefully the TV shows will take some liberties, as the McFarlane design has many of the hallmarks of a racist "yellow peril" stereotype.

 

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