The First Murray Group, also known as the League, was the iteration of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen lasting from May, 1898 to July of that same year. This incarnation of the league was created by Professor James Moriarty, acting as M for MI5, as a means of stealing the Cavorite from the Doctor in order to bomb the East side of London. The team was led by Wihelmina "Mina" Murray and consisted of Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Dr. Henry Jekyll, Mr. Edward Hyde, and Hawley Griffin. Their handler is Campion Bond.
After the Murray Group defeated Moriarty, their handler was now MI5's new M, Mycroft Holmes. Campion Bond was still working closely with the team as a means of keeping an eye on him. Holmes insisted that the team be kept on standby incase England should ever need their champions again.
Nearly hours after their first mission, the Murray Group's new assignment was to defend London against a Martian invasion. After losing several members during the invasion, the team disbanded. Lasting for only a few months, the First Murray Group ended up being one of the shortest lived teams in League History.
History[]
Origin of the Murray Group[]
In late 1897, Campion Bond was brought to the officer of his head superior Professor James Moriarty. The Professor at the time was the head of MI5, making him the most current user of the nickname 'M.' Moriarty relayed his fears to Bond about what envisioned to be an apocalyptic future for London caused by scientific advances and the sudden appearance of superhuman beings. He further explained to Bond that in the past, England had assembled groups of extraordinary individuals to fight for the Crown. His plan was to put together a new team.
Moriarty then passes files over to Bond containing five individuals he would like for his team. While Bond had agreed to most of them, he protested when he noticed the professor wanted Wilhelmina Murray as the team leader. Moriarty explains that Murray had survived an attack from a nameless inhuman species (presumably Count Dracula) earlier in the current year. He also notes that after the attack, Murray divorced her husband which resulted in her becoming a social pariah. Both of these events proved to Moriarty that Murray has the right physical and mental strength needed to lead a team with such dangerous men. He adds that she may also be desperate as being an outcast has left her with little money.
The next day, Bond sent a letter to Murray asking if she would be interested in a job. Murray replied very quickly after which Bond describes as almost desperate. They then meet at a lake by St. Jame's Park to discuss the job further. Murray was at first a little untrusting of Bond, but quickly agreed to to take the job once he mentioned her pay. She then asks what her first assignment would be to which Bond explains. He tells her how they will send her in a British navel vessel to South America where she would explore Lincoln Island for a member of the team.
Journey to the Mysterious Island[]
After eight days, Murray went down to the Government-maintained docks in Wapping where she soon went off for Lincoln Island. Murray was known for staying in her cabin on the ship almost all the time studying the files on her soon to be team members. Once arriving close to the island, Murray took a row boat to get closer. Murray and her row boat soon became invisible due to a thick fog that surrounds Lincoln Island.
Murray's journey to the island was not as smooth sailing as she had hoped. Heavy waves crashed against her tiny lifeboat. At one point she was underwater with no sense of direction. What saved Murray's life was clinging onto her waterproof suitcase which acted as a buoy for her. Eventually, she came back up to the surface, and onto the shores of Lincoln Island. Almost immediately after arriving on the Island, a group of men grab Murray and take her to an unknown location.
A group of five to six men interrogate Mina. Demanding to know who she is and why she's at Lincoln Island. Mina notices how all the men seem to come from all different races and nationalities. Believing honesty to be the best policy, Mina reveals who she is and that she's working for the British government. She says that she's come to Lincoln Island to find Prince Dakkar. All the men burst into laughter claiming there's "no-one" in the island by that name. The men ask if she knowns Prince Dakkar by any other name and Mina replies that she does not. They burst into laughter again and decide to bring Mina to their captain. One of the men, a New Englander, drapes his coat around her to wear.
Meeting No-One[]
The group of men escort Mina towards a cottage where she sees an Indian woman with her baby. She deduces that they must be Prince Dakkar's wife and child. Mina is then astounded by the sight of a small community that has been built on the island. An anarchist society where people from all different races, ethnicities, and sexualities live in freedom from prejudice. Mina describes the town as being utopian.
Eventually, Mina is taken to a stone temple surrounded by statues of various Hindu gods. At the temple, she meets Prince Dakkar who reveals himself to be notorious enemy of the British Empire, Captain Nemo. Though thought to be long-dead, Mina was full aware of the acts of terror Nemo had committed against her home country. Terrified but ultimately diplomatic, Mina attempts to explain to Nemo why she is there. Receiving no answer she apologizes and tries to leave. Nemo explains that while he still hates the British and is insulted by the idea of being paid by them, he reveals that he misses the adventures of his youth. He allows Mina to stay the night while he thinks over her request.
The next day, Mina is brought to a cave where she sees Captain Nemo's legendary submarine, the Nautilus, in its full glory. There, she meets Nemo who tells her he accepts her proposal. However, he explains that if he finds out that this is all a ruse, he will kill her and began another reign of terror on the British. Having recruited his first member, Mina and Captain Nemo head off for England to receive further instructions from Campion Bond.
Members[]
- Active: 1898-?
- Status: Alive
- Source Material: Dracula
After the defeat of Count Dracula, Mina Murray and Jonathan Harker get a divorce. This causes Mina to become somewhat of an outcast in society. Unbeknownst to her, Moriarty had been watching her. Due to surviving an attack from Dracula, as well as becoming a pariah, he choses her to lead the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moriarty sends Campion Bond to recruit Mina so she can begin assembling the team. They are officially known as the Murray Group. At first, Mina has troubling wrangling the team, due to their extreme personalities. With time they eventually see her as their leader. Mina and Allan Quatermain would eventually begin a romantic relationship which last for many decades. Despite his monstrous appearance, Mr. Hyde develops feelings for Mina as well. After the deaths of Hyde and Griffin, and the departure of Captain Nemo, the Murray Group disbands. Mina would eventually form a Second Murray Group in 1910.
- Active: 1898-2009
- Status: Deceased
- Source Material: King Solomon's Mines
Thought to be dead by most, though he might as well have been by the start of Volume I, Allan Quatermain is found by Mina Murray living in a drug den in Cairo, Egypt. The once famed British hero and adventurer was now hopelessly addicted to opium, emaciated, and on death's door. After initially refusing to join the team, Quatermain joins after being forced to save Mina. He becomes cured of his addiction while living aboard the Nautilus, and during their first assignment begins to prove that he really is the adventurer that the British Empire once adored. During the Martian invasion, Mina and Allan begin a romantic relationship. Despite Mina feeling ashamed of her. scars, Allan becomes attracted to them as his former wife had similar scars. After the first Murray Group disbands, Allan joins Mina's new team, albeit in a younger body.
- Active: 1898
- Status: Deceased
- Source Material: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Captain Nemo was once known as Prince Dakkar, he took to the seas after the British Empire ravished his home country of India. Swearing vengeance against the Crown, Nemo became known as Great Britain's most notorious nightmare. The antithesis of later League member Allan Quatermain. He spent most of his adult life traveling the sea in his technologically advanced submarine, the Nautilus. When Mina Murray found Nemo on Lincoln Island, her blood ran cool due to her knowledge of the crimes he's committed against her home country. He surprisingly accepts her offer to join the team claiming he no longer feels India is his home. The ocean is his only home now. Seen as a brilliant inventor and a madman, Nemo provides a base of operations and weaponry for the team. After the Martian invasion, Nemo left the team due to MI5's use of biological weapons against the aliens.
- Active: 1898
- Status: Deceased
- Source Material: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Henry Jekyll was a brilliant, yet guilt ridden scientist. He had what he believed to be impure thoughts and decided to find a way to get rid of them. The solution being a potion that could separate himself into two different people. Every time Dr. Jekyll drank the formula, he would transform into the evil Mr. Edward Hyde. This did not prove to be the solution as Jekyll hoped it would be. By 1886, Mr. Hyde had committed so many crimes in London, Jekyll was forced to fake a suicide and flee the country. Some years later he finds himself in Paris. However by this point his metabolism had changed so he no longer needed the formula to transform. Any amount of stress would trigger it. As Mr. Hyde, he began murdering prostitutes which eventually gains the attention of Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain. With the help of C. Auguste Dupin, they are able to capture Hyde and have him join the team. With Jekyll's genius and Hyde's brute strength, they become an invaluable pair to the Murray Group. The pair eventually died during the Martian invasion when Hyde sacrificed himself to save the team.
- Active: 1898
- Status: Alive (cloned)
- Source Material: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Mr. Edward Hyde was created by scientist Dr. Henry Jekyll in an attempt to rid himself of all impure thoughts. When Jekyll drinks the formula he created, Mr. Hyde comes out. Originally, Hyde started off as being shorter than Jekyll. Though still evil as he murdered so many people in London, Jekyll was forced to fake his death and flee the country. Over the years, Jekyll's metabolism changed. He no longer required to drink the potion to transform. Any amount of stress will do it. Each time he transformed however, Hyde took a little more and more of Jekyll with him, thus making him bigger and stronger each time. By 1898, Jekyll is living in Paris but Hyde is up to old routine. He has been murdering prostitutes which makes him the target of Mina Murray and Allan Quatermain. With the help of C. Auguste Dupin, they are able to capture Hyde. By this point though, Hyde has grown so large and strong it takes knocking him out with Laudanum to do it. He eventually becomes a valued member of the team. Most notably, sacrificing himself to save the team during the Martian Invasion.
- Active: 1898
- Status: Deceased
- Source Material: The Invisible Man
Brilliant but psychopathic scientist Hawley Griffin was able to create a potion that could turn anyone completely invisible. He used the potion on himself and an albino test subject. Griffin ended up committing so many crimes once he turned invisible that the townspeople tracked him down and killed him....or so they thought. The townspeople actually murdered the albino, while Griffin escaped. He is found by Allan Quatermain, Mina Murray, and Captain Nemo living in a boarding school for young women. They recruit him to the team where he seeks a cure for invisibility. His powers prove to be quite useful during missions that require stealth. However, during the Martian invasion, Griffin betrays the team. He alerts the Martians of the team's plan to defeat them. Griffin hopes by doing this the Martians will make him king of Earth. His betrayal is found out and is brutally murdered by Mr. Hyde.