Crimson Avenger

Crimson Avenger
The Crimson Avenger introduced in 2000. Cover to JSA #52 by Carlos Pacheco
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	(Travis) Detective Comics #20 (Elwood) World's Finest Comics #131 (February 1963) (Carlyle) Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. #9 (April, 2000)
Created by	(Carlyle) Geoff Johns Scott Kolins
In-story information
Alter ego	Lee Walter Travis Albert Elwood Jill Carlyle
Abilities	(Travis) Trained soldier Skilled martial artist (Elwood) None (Carlyle) Teleportation Intangibility

The Crimson Avenger is the name of three separate fictional characters, superheroes who exist in the DC Comics Universe.

The original Crimson Avenger made his first published appearance in Detective Comics #20 (October 1938). He was a wealthy newsman named Lee Walter Travis who took up the identity of the Crimson Avenger to battle crime.

Travis initially dressed in a red trenchcoat, a fedora, and a red mask covering his face; except for the red coloring, he was visually similar to The Shadow. He had an Asian chauffeur/crime-fighting partner, and used a gas gun to subdue criminals, similar to the Green Hornet. Later, when superheroes became more popular than costumed vigilantes, his costume was changed to a more standard superhero outfit, consisting of red tights, yellow boots, trunks and crest, and a "sun" symbol which was recently stated to have been a stylized bullet hole.

In a retconned origin story appearing in Golden Age Secret Files #1 (February 2001), Travis trained in hand-to-hand combat in Nanda Parbat after World War I. While there he saw the future and witnessed an "unnamed hero" (Superman), and the man's selflessness and death at the hands of a monster (Doomsday). This inspired him to return to America and combat crime, first as a corruption-free newspaper owner and later as a masked crime fighter.

In his costumed identity, Travis used both conventional handguns and a special pistol that dispensed a bright red smokescreen.

Years later, he died rescuing his city from an explosives-laden freighter about to detonate in its harbor; after convincing the crew to abandon ship, he piloted the ship to a safe distance.

The Justice League of America always has a version of his first costume present whenever they are inducting new members as a homage to the Crimson Avenger's status as the world's first masked crimefighter (Superman was the first superhero, and the world's first unmasked crimefighter, making his first appearance in June 1938 in Action Comics #1).