Royal Flush Gang

The first Royal Flush Gang, Mike Sekowsky

The original Royal Flush Gang was Professor Amos Fortune's childhood gang.[11] With Fortune himself as Ace, they fought the Justice League on two occasions, using Fortune's luck-altering "stellaration" technology to realize the fortune-telling significance of playing cards. After Fortune abandoned the Gang, a new Ace became the leader and they attempted to steal four paintings containing clues to a hidden treasure, but were thwarted by the Joker's manipulations.[12] Most of them then abandoned their criminal careers, although Jack briefly joined the Secret Society of Super Villains as "Hi-Jack". Fortune's gang wore costumes based on the suit of clubs, but when they fought the Joker, the second Ace convinced them to change them to the suit of spades.

In the pages of JLA Classified, it was revealed the original Royal Flush Gang (sans Amos Fortune) reunited to fight the "Detroit Era" Justice League and their successors in the second gang. In this battle, the original King, Queen and Ten were all killed.

The second Royal Flush Gang was set up by Green Lantern villain Hector Hammond in Justice League of America #203. Hammond led the group as "Wildcard". This version wore costumes based on the suit of spades. The gang split up and went on to have separate criminal careers before re-establishing themselves, without Hammond. They were twice hired by Maxwell Lord as part of his manipulation of Justice League International. Later, they were reorganized and reoutfitted by a successor to the Golden Age Green Lantern villain the Gambler masquerading as the Joker.[13]

The membership of this group consists of:

King (Joe Carny)

The so-called "King of the Hoboes", Carny also suffered from lung disease. As Hammond's agent, he wore a costume that technologically enhanced his natural charisma to the point of mind control. Following the metagene bomb in Invasion!, King became immortal. Although King is the highest-ranking member of the gang, in poker the Ace ranks as the highest card in a royal flush.

Queen (Mona Taylor)

Taylor was originally a Broadway star whose career was destroyed by her ongoing alcoholism. As Hammond's agent, she wielded a sceptre that cast realistic illusions. After the Gambler reoutfitted the team, she began employing a wrist shooter that fires razor sharp spades.

Jack (name unknown)

Originally a gigolo, he became a fugitive after inadvertently killing a client while attempting to steal her jewelry. As Hammond's agent, he wielded an energy-charged sword. The Gambler replaced his left eye with a cybernetically-activated laser weapon, making him a literal "one-eyed Jack". The removal of his eye to implant the laser initially impacted his sanity.

Ten (Wanda Wayland)

Wayland was a test pilot fired for refusing her employer's sexual advances. As Hammond's agent, she wore a costume with energy blasters in its gloves. She has enhanced reflexes, and carries explosive playing cards.

Ace

The first Ace ("Derek Reston") was a superstrong android in the form of an African-American man. A second Ace (Ernie Clay) was recruited by King and used a strength-enhancing exoskeleton provided by the Gambler. In more recent appearances in Starman and Infinite Crisis, however, the team was once again employing the robot Ace.

King, Queen and Ten also have blaster-pistols. The Gang fly on hovering playing cards. In the Gang's appearances in Teen Titans, Ten had organized runaways as "Ten's Little Indians", a gang of thieves dressed as the two through nine of spades and armed with bows and trick arrows.

Superman: The Man of Steel #121 revealed that the Royal Flush Gang had expanded. The Royal Flush Gang is now an organization that reaches across America, with cells in every major city. Instead of five members, each "cell" has fifty-two, split into four suits run by the "court cards". Each member has a playing card value, and those who rise or fall in the Gang's esteem gain or lose a "pip".[14]

Notably, Stargirl's father Sam Kurtis was a "Two of Clubs"; upon defeating him, she transitioned from the Star-Spangled Kid identity to Stargirl in JSA: All-Stars.[15]

Recently, in Infinite Crisis #2, the Joker tortures and kills the leadership of a local cell of the Royal Flush Gang from an unspecified city, after being rejected by the Society for his "instability". The King is the last one left alive and he mocks the Joker for being rejected. He kills the King with an electrical blast to the face. The dead gang is left in the ruins of a casino. However, given the fact that King is immortal, to the point that he has recovered from death almost instantly on numerous occasions, it seems improbable that he actually permanently died.[16]

Another cell of the expanded version, this one stylized as a street gang, appear as members of the Society in Villains United and several of its tie-ins in other comics. It is unclear what ties the third gang has or had—if any—to its predecessors and successors.

A new version of the Royal Flush Gang appears in Justice League of America (volume 2) #35. This version is working under the authority of Amos Fortune, who is addressed by other members as "Wild Card". In the following issue, Fortune gives a history of the gang. It seems to combine the first and third gangs' histories/characteristics, with Fortune indicating that he was always running the group in some capacity.[17]

Currently, there are multiple active, costumed members, some of whom are deriving their outfits and codenames from cards with pip values lower than ten. Members can rise in the numerical ranks as reward for their successes, or be "dealt out" at the discretion of Wild Card.

It is unclear if there are still 52 cells throughout the country, or 52 members in total. A lower ranked member mentions that there are four Queens, but Fortune states that the group is constantly growing.

A branch of the Royal Flush Gang based in Las Vegas, Nevada recently appeared in Zatanna #4. Rather than using a playing card motif, each member of the Vegas branch is modeled after a member of the Rat Pack (such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin).[18]

In "The New 52" (a 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe), the Royal Flush Gang appears in the "Forever Evil" storyline.[19] They appear as members of the Secret Society of Super Villains at the time when the Crime Syndicate arrive from their world.[20] While Heat Wave sacrifices himself so that the other Rogues can get away from Black Mask, Clayface, and Mr. Freeze, the remaining Rogues are confronted by the Royal Flush Gang who orders them to surrender if they don't want Golden Glider to die.[21]

In the DC Rebirth initiative, the Royal Flush Gang have their design from Batman Beyond, including traveling on a flying playing card. They are among the many villains aiming to kill Batman in order to stop Two-Face from revealing information. They descend on KGBeast and ask him the location of Batman and Duke Thomas. KGBeast throws a bomb onto the bottom of their playing card, presumably to take out his rivals in stopping Batman.[22]

In the miniseries Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross, King is a member of Lex Luthor's Mankind Liberation Front. He apparently has gone separate from the Gang, but carries a cigarette pack with playing card markings and speaks in metaphors drawn from card games. There is also a man in the Justice League's prison who appears to be a new version of the Ace of Spades. According to the Elliot S! Maggin novelization, King is also newly immortal, and Vandal Savage's protege.

In the crossover series JLA/Avengers, the group appears as lackeys of Krona who attack Green Arrow and Hawkeye. King is shown being defeated by Jack of Hearts.

• The Royal Flush Gang appears in The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians animated series episode "The Wild Cards", with King voiced by Eugene Williams, Queen voiced by Arlene Golonka, Jack voiced by Jerry Houser, and Ten voiced by Lynne Moody. This incarnation is a quartet of thieves recruited by the mysterious Ace, who is later revealed to be the Joker, who aligned himself with Darkseid. Batman deduces Ace's identity and foils the Royal Flush Gang's plot to use a dimensional warp from Earth to Apokolips disguised as a house of cards. In the end, Ten defects while Joker and the rest of the gang are captured.
• Three different incarnations of the Royal Flush Gang appear in media set within the DC Animated Universe:
  • The first incarnation appear in Batman Beyond, with King voiced by George Lazenby, Queen voiced by Amanda Donohoe in season one and Sarah Douglas in all subsequent appearances, their son Jack voiced by Scott Cleverdon in season one and Nicholas Guest in season three, and their daughter Melanie Walker / 10 voiced by Olivia d'Abo while Ace is silent. Introduced in the episode "Dead Man's Hand", this futuristic iteration of the Royal Flush Gang is a multi-generational family of criminals who use high-tech, playing card-themed weapons and an android serving as Ace. They have had several encounters with the original Batman and his successor Terry McGinnis, with the former nearly succeeding in disbanding their predecessors. Over the course of the Royal Flush Gang's introductory episode and "Once Burned", Terry and Melanie develop a romantic interest in each other. By the latter episode, Melanie found her loyalties tested by her parents, motivating her to leave the group. As of their final appearance in "King's Ransom", the Royal Flush Gang struggle to maintain their criminal power without Ten and resort to holding their employer Paxton Powers for ransom before he convinces them to assassinate Bruce Wayne so Powers can take over Wayne Enterprises and pay the gang with a rare art piece from his collection worth twice their ransom. Due to Batman's intervention however, the gang is thwarted, Ace is destroyed, and King is revealed to have been having an affair with Powers' secretary due to an inferiority complex stemming from Queen comparing him unfavorably to his late predecessor and father-in-law. King and Queen are arrested while Melanie bails out Jack and helps him get a job at the restaurant she works at.
  • The second incarnation appears in the two-part Justice League episode "Wild Cards", with King voiced by Scott Menville, Queen voiced by Tara Strong, Jack voiced by Greg Cipes, Ten voiced by Khary Payton, and Ace voiced by Hynden Walch. This iteration is a group of Project Cadmus-trained, metahuman teenagers each with their own unique abilities: King can generate fire blasts, Queen can manipulate metal objects, Jack has complete body elasticity, Ten has super-strength comparable to Superman, and Ace has powerful psionic abilities such as telepathy and illusions capable of driving people insane. They are found by the Joker and turned into his Royal Flush Gang so he can attack Las Vegas on live television. He attracts the Justice League under the pretense of a bomb threat and has the Royal Flush Gang hinder their efforts to defuse them. After capturing King, Queen, Jack, and Ten, the heroes discover Joker's bomb plot was a hoax and his real plot was to use Ace to drive millions of viewers insane. Batman foils this plot when he reveals Joker had a collar that Ace's government handlers used to control her as a child and which Joker had kept as insurance against her. Realizing that Joker was using her, an enraged Ace uses her powers on him, putting him in a catatonic state before disappearing. In "Fearful Symmetry", Supergirl, Green Arrow and the Question discover the Royal Flush Gang's connection to Project Cadmus.
  • The third incarnation appears in a flashback in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", with Walch reprising her role as Ace while the rest of the gang make non-speaking appearances. This version of the group was formed by a lonely and depressed Ace, whose powers had evolved to the point where she could warp reality, which she used to turn four random people into a new Royal Flush Gang to play with her. However, they chose to abandon her and use their powers for crime. Their aforementioned powers are puns based partially on their names: King was a massive head with small limbs that flew on a throne and fired beams from his eyes (visually an homage to Marvel villain M.O.D.O.K. and Egg Fu); Queen was a large man given the appearance of a woman with enhanced strength; Jack was a samurai; and Ten was a woman with long, extendible cornrows she could use like a whip. While the Justice League battled the empowered criminals, Amanda Waller - a faculty member of Project Cadmus - revealed that Ace was dying due to an aneurysm and a possible psychic backlash caused by her death could kill millions. Batman volunteered to kill her before that could happen and confronted her, but Ace knew he was not going to do so. After briefly explaining her backstory to him, she asked him to stay with her until she died. Batman accepted her request, allowing her to pass away peacefully without harming anyone as well as restoring reality and her Royal Flush Gang to normal.
• An Old West-inspired incarnation of the Royal Flush Gang appear in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series, with Ace voiced by Diedrich Bader and Jack voiced by Edoardo Ballerini while King and Queen making non-speaking appearances. Introduced in the episode "Return of the Fearsome Fangs", this version is a gang of bandits led by Ace who oppose Jonah Hex. While the gang succeeded in capturing their enemy, Batman frees Hex and helps him apprehend the Royal Flush Gang. In "The Siege of Starro" (Pt. 1), the gang attempt to rob a bank, only to be stopped by Hex and Cinnamon.
• Two incarnations of the Royal Flush Gang appear in media set within the Arrowverse:
  • The group first appears in the Arrow episode "Legacies", with Derek Reston / King portrayed by Currie Graham, Ace portrayed by Kyle Schmid, Jack portrayed by Tom Stevens, and Queen portrayed by Sarah-Jane Redmond. This iteration of the gang is a family of bank robbers who wear hockey masks marked with their respective playing card. It is later revealed that Reston worked for Queen Industries before its CEO Robert Queen outsourced jobs to China and the Reston family lost their home as a result. Feeling guilty, Robert's son Oliver tries to persuade Reston to right his own wrongs, but is forced to stop the Royal Flush Gang when they attempt to rob another bank. During the ensuing confrontation, Reston is fatally shot while the rest of the family are arrested. During Reston's final moments, Oliver reveals his secret identity to him to show the former that he always had his best interests at heart. Reston admits what he did was wrong and he should not have gotten his sons involved before dying in Oliver's arms.
  • The second Royal Flush Gang make a brief non-speaking appearance in The Flash episode "The Sound and the Fury". Consisting of King, Queen, and Ace, this iteration of the group are three, masked motorcycle thieves with specifically marked helmets who were swiftly apprehended by the Flash.[23]
• Sam Kurtis appears in the live-action DC Universe / The CW series Stargirl, portrayed by Geoff Stults. After disappearing in the pilot episode, he turns up in the episode "Shining Knight", ostensibly to reconnect with his daughter Courtney Whitmore, though he was really after her locket so he could sell it off for money. However, her stepfather Pat Dugan realizes Kurtis' true intentions and confronts him, telling him to never return.

The Royal Flush Gang appears in the animated direct-to-DVD film Justice League: Doom, with King voiced by Jim Meskimen, Queen voiced by an uncredited Grey DeLisle, Jack voiced by an uncredited Robin Atkin Downes, Ten voiced by Juliet Landau, and the robotic Ace voiced by Bruce Timm. This incarnation is a spades-themed group who have similar or altered abilities from the comics' original version. King wields a scepter capable of electrocuting targets at point blank range while Queen wields cards she can throw with incredible accuracy and speed as well as enough strength to cut through Batman's grappling lines. Additionally, Jack's laser eye, Ace's android construction, and Ten's energy blasts have not been changed, although Ten's explosive playing cards are not seen. The Royal Flush Gang attempt to rob a bank using dimensional phasing technology, but are halted by the arrival of Batman. They manage to overcome him, but the remainder of the Justice League arrive and foil the gang. However, the heroes are unable to find out who supplied the Royal Flush Gang with their technology as they did not know themselves. Unbeknownst to the Justice League, Vandal Savage used the gang as a distraction so Mirror Master could infiltrate the Batcave.

• The Royal Flush Gang appears in issue #02 of the comic book tie-in for Justice League Unlimited.
• The Royal Flush Gang appear in issue 6 of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold comics.
• Ace of the Arrowverse's first Royal Flush Gang appears in issue 23 of the tie-in Arrow comic book series.