The 1970s

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Though his existence only became public knowledge some time after the Cold War, Red Act was a mutant with great shape-shifting powers, and one of the greatest agents the KGB ever had. During the early 1970s, he discovered the existence of Shadow, and spent a long time studying them, discovering who in the USSR was working for them. Once he had compiled enough information and gathered sufficient proof, he went to those among his superiors whom he knew weren't in on the conspiracy. What ensued was a massive purge in which Shadow's Soviet branch was exterminated.

This sudden turn of events caused Shadow to panic and forced them to step up their plans, anxious to act quickly before the same could happen to their American branch. They launched a coup d'Etat in the USA, using advanced weaponry, elite troops, super-powered forces, and a vast infiltration of American infrastructures. The coup came dangerously close to success, but was foiled by superheroes across the nation (and from beyond) uniting against Shadow, with the Avatar at their head. Following this disaster, Shadow faded into the background. They would go on to remain a threat over the following decades, constantly running a number of plots, and occasionally attempting something massive.

One of the long-lasting effects of Shadow's attempted coup was convince the Avatar of the need for greater teamwork among superheroes. With the help of several other heroes who had fought off Shadow, he went on to found the Global Champions, Earth's premier "supergroup".

While teams of superheroes had existed before, the Global Champions united several among the world's best. They got enough attention that the FMAB began officially recognizing such teams (effectively making the Global Champions "the world's first supergroup"), and that many other superheroes across the world followed suit, uniting into groups of their own.

Years after the Shadow coup, a second contact with alien life was made. This time, it was Garzor, the Gashren warlord. Having placed his battleship in Earth's orbit, he proceeded to use technology far beyond anything previously seen on Earth to destroy Madagascar as a show of force. With the island nation turned into smoldering ruins, Garzor declared that he would do the same to any nation that did not surrender to him.

This was the first major challenge of the Global Champions, who had to fight Garzor's forces in space. As the public only learned decades later, the Global Champions were assisted in this battle by Red Act, who infiltrated the battleship and sabotaged it from inside, allowing the Global Champions to destroy it. Garzor managed to flee; Red Act requested that the Global Champions not reveal his existence to the world.