<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Outsiders (sometimes called "Batman and the Outsiders") are a team of fictional comic book superheroes owned by DC Comics and created by Mike Barr and Jim Aparo. They consist of an array of meta-humans that don't fit the public-friendly superhero mold, brought together by Batman to increase his ability to handle superhuman threats in a more pro-active way than the Justice League. Since its creation in 1983, the team has existed in various incarnations with and without Batman's control.

In addition to Batman, the original Outsiders consisted of

1) Black Lightning—Jefferson Pierce, a professional educator who originally used his electrical powers to support his local community.

2) Geo-Force—Brian Markov, prince of the country of Markovia, given his powers by a scientist when the villain Doctor Bedlam threatened his country. Geo-Force can control gravity, the Earth itself, and can expel "Lava Blasts."

3) Halo (DC Comics)—Gabrielle Doe, who can generate various colored auras that have different functions, such as flight, heat blasts, tractor beams, stasis beams, and so on. She is a composite of a human and an energy being known as an Aurakle.

4) Katana—Tatsu Yamashiro, a Japanese martial arts master and possessor of the "Soul Taker," a katana sword which absorbs the soul of whomever it kills, giving Katana the ability to communicate with that soul.

5) Metamorpho—Rex Mason, an adventurer whose exposure to alien radiation freakishly scrambled his chemical components and gave him the ability to transform his body into any substance within the human form.

Recently, Batman has taken control of the group again (it was formerly controlled by his long-time protégé Nightwing), firing the members that he feels he cannot trust to handle the kind of covert operations that he now has in mind for the team. Batman intends for the group to take on the kind of missions that might erode the public trust of the Justice League were they to do the same.

The current group of Ousiders consists of original members Batman, Katana, and Metamorpho, in addition to the following new members:

1) Martian Manhunter—J'onn J’onzz, one of the last survivors of the planet Mars, with an array of impressive powers including flight, invulnerability, intangibility, superhuman strength, telepathy, shape-changing, and invisibility.

2) Grace—Grace Choi, a powerful mutant who grew up a victim of a criminal prostitution ring that kidnaps children. Grace escaped when she developed superhuman strength, inhuman durability, and regeneration powers.

3) Catwoman—Selina Kyle, formerly the greatest cat burglar of all time, now uses her abilities to help the underdog.

4) Captain Boomerang—Former member of Flash's Rogues Gallery, Owen Mercer is a master of an array of trick boomerangs.

The membership of Batman's new Ousiders group is always subject to change. Recent issues have included Green Arrow and the Modern Age Batgirl on the team.