The Red Bee is a fictional superhero from the Golden Age of Comics who first appeared in Hit Comics #1, published in July 1940 by Quality Comics. The character was obtained by DC Comics in 1956. The original version of the character has since fallen into public domain, while the subsequent versions of the character (see below), are still owned by the company.

The Red Bee's secret identity is Rick Raleigh, assistant district attorney in Superior City, Oregon. His superhero modus operandi is to put on a red and yellow costume and, with his trained bees and "stinger gun," fight Nazis and gangsters. His favorite bee is named Michael and lives inside his belt buckle for use in special circumstances;^{[citation needed]} the feature's writer was presumably unaware that male bees do not sting at all. He has a series of adventures which lasts all the way until issue #24.

The character never became very popular, and was largely forgotten until reappearing in DC Comics' All-Star Squadron. In the 'Squadron', it is learned he was killed by the Nazi supervillain Baron Blitzkrieg while saving the lives of Hourman and other allies. The group 'The Freedom Fighters' was formed out of the Squadron and the Red Bee was made an honorary member.

Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths just past this range are called infrared (below red) and cannot be seen by the naked eye although they can be sensed as heat. In some cultures, certain shades of red are used to symbolize anger or aggression.

It is the color of blood when it is exposed to sunlight. In western countries, it is most commonly referred to as a color of evil, love, and sometimes, though rarely, happiness.

The word red comes from the Old English rēad. The word can be further traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root reudh-. In Sanskrit, the word rudhira means red or blood. In the English language, the word red is associated with the color of blood, certain flowers (e.g., roses), and ripe fruits (e.g., apples, cherries). Fire is also strongly connected, as is the sun and the sky at sunset. Healthy, light-skinned people are sometimes said to have a "ruddy" complexion (as opposed to appearing pale). After the rise of socialism in the mid-19th century, red was used to symbolize and describe revolutionary movements.

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila. There are nearly 20,000 known species of bees in seven to nine recognized families, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher. They are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants.

Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae.

Bees have a long proboscis (a complex "tongue") that enables them to obtain the nectar from flowers. They have antennae almost universally made up of 13 segments in males and 12 in females, as is typical for the superfamily. Bees all have two pairs of wings, the hind pair being the smaller of the two; in a very few species, one sex or caste has relatively short wings that make flight difficult or impossible, but none are wingless.

The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crimefighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town" with psychic powers. One of the most famous pulp heroes of the 20th century, The Shadow has been featured in comic books, comic strips, television, video games, and at least five motion pictures. The radio drama is well-remembered for those episodes voiced by Orson Welles.

Introduced as a mysterious radio narrator by David Chrisman, William Sweets and Harry Engman Charlot for Street and Smith Publications, The Shadow was fully developed and transformed into a pop culture icon by pulp writer Walter B. Gibson.

The Shadow debuted on July 31, 1930, as the mysterious narrator of the Street and Smith radio program Detective Story Hour. After gaining popularity among the show's listeners, the narrator became the star of The Shadow Magazine on April 1, 1931, a pulp series created and primarily written by the prolific Gibson.

The Red Skull is a name shared by several fictional characters, all supervillains from the Marvel Comics universe. All incarnations of the character are enemies of Captain America, other superheroes, and the United States in general.

The first two Red Skulls are Nazi agents and the third is a Soviet agent. The Red Skull was first introduced in Captain America Comics #1 in 1941. The first Red Skull (George Maxon) to appear in comics was an American industrialist turned Nazi saboteur. Maxon turned out to be an agent of the true Red Skull (Johann Schmidt), considered (according to S.H.I.E.L.D.) as one of the greatest threats to humanity, and a long-time archenemy of Captain America. The third Red Skull (Albert Malik) is best known for causing the deaths of the parents of Peter Parker, and thus orphaning the boy who would become Spider-Man. The Red Skull was ranked number 21 on Wizard Magazine's Top 100 Greatest Villains Ever list and was also ranked as IGN's 14th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.