The Red Seven

This group is perhaps the most well known of the Soviet Variant Militia (SSM) teams active during the Cold War, at least within the Western nations. Their prominence was earned by several encounters with the Great Hunt. The Great Hunt was the variant team backed by the US government whose job was to stop aommunist activities in America and her allies. Since the Red Seven's goal was the destabilization of western governments and conversion of the world to Communism, you can see where the two might have had cause for a scuffle or two.
     Given the power of the two teams relative to conventional forces at the time, one of these "scuffles" demolished most of Houston. (Don't worry, the city was evacuated. Honest.)
     Usually the Red Seven were sent into the US and Western European countries with sketchy plans and vague objectives, often centering around the gratuitous destruction of property and national landmarks—attempting to destroy Mt Rushmore, for example. Propaganda victories, but flashy and noticed worldwide, as propaganda victories were supposed to be. Other plans focused around kidnapping prominent scientists for return to the USSR, or turning American agents. It was the prime era of the Cold War, and they were the embodiment of the Communist Menace.
    

Cosmonaut
Also known as "Soviet Superiority in Space you Filthy Capitalist Swine!", Cosmonaut was a cyborg of moderate power constructed by Nazi scientists captured by the Russians at the end of the war. Lacking Purifier's brilliant technology, Cosmonaut came out quite different from the WWII cyborg Commander Nazi. First, the arts used are much larger and more cumbersome, and Cosmonaut weighs nearly half a ton and stands at 3 meters high. Second, the pain of the process unhinged his mind quite a bit, and he's rather single minded and prone to excessive violence in combat. His monomania is helpful in some ways, as he was a dogged scientist in his own right, able to focus on technical problems until he solved them, regardless of the time involved. As you may have guessed, his power included rocket assisted flight and survival in space, as well as variant strength and durability, aided by his huge size.

Commune
A man of average height, average build and average appearance, Commune's power was that of self-duplication: he could generate up to 15 versions of himself at single time. Commune's bodies were mentally linked, working together flawlessly, with precision no normal human could mimic. His most dangerous ability was that his effective strength increased geometrically when multiple bodies coordinated. Thus two of them working together were as strong as three men, and so on. When all fifteen coordinated, they had the strength of 120 men, pressing over 11 tons. They once coordinated punching down a skyscraper with one blow. As long as one of Commune's bodies lived through an encounter, he could create his whole complement again within hours; the lives of his parts were inconsequential to his whole.

Propaganda
The closest to an ESPer ever allowed to enter the SSM, Propaganda's power was pheromone-based mind control; those with whom he made physical contact became very suggestible to Propaganda's influence. The longer the contact, the greater the control, until people would literally work themselves to death under his command. The effects of the contact wore off rapidly, especially if the target underwent adrenaline surges. A squat, bald man with a too-large head and neck, he was cunning, and possessed a knack for climbing, stealth and bursts of variant strength. As the years went on, Propaganda started using technological enhancements, such as guns or grenades, that dispersed his own biologically created pheromones. He claimed to be the next step in human evolution, at which claim American heroes laughed.

Hammer
Hammer's powers were based on highly focused Delta-level telekinesis, giving him flight, variant grade strength and reflexes, force blasts, limited pyrokinesis, telekinetic manipulation at a distance and personal invulnerability. He was a loyal Communist and not overly creative, relying on brute force and base cunning to resolve issues. The most immediately potent of the Red Seven, he was a perpetual enemy of Darkhawk, and even violated orders once to come to the USA and fight him in a very public duel. His telekinetic aura was strangely resistant to Darkhawk's energy manipulation powers, so his enemy could not simply stun him as he did other opponents. While he was probably slightly more powerful than Darkhawk, Hammer was always outsmarted by the canny American, leading to defeat after defeat. Take that, Ivan!

Sickle
The one woman member of the Red Seven, Sickle was beautiful but deadly; too educated for her own good but still subservient to the men of the team; perpetually unhappy herself but dangerously attractive to the unwitting Western male. Her powers revolved around her superhuman speed, allowing her to run at more than the speed of sound, and react with similar speed. She was well trained with bladed weapons, and used them to great effect in combat and assassinations—she could draw a blade and kill a man before his brain had even registered the possibility of a threat. Her mind also worked at super speed, allowing her to learn at a phenomenal rate, but preventing her from thinking clearly through a problem, as she would flit from solution to solution without bring any to a conclusion.

Atheist
One of the stranger variants to come out of SSM training, Atheist's power was his extreme self-containment: he was immune to the vagaries of chance, and invulnerable to magical effects. While the latter aspect of his power is easy to understand (he just could not be seen, hurt or altered by magic in any way shape or form), the former is harder to quantify. Atheist is essentially immune to luck, good or bad; his life was defined entirely by whatever actions he took and the immutable laws of probability. Exactly how the USSR discovered his peculiar abilities is unknown. In addition to this ability, he was a highly trained athlete and espionage agent, and used an array of high tech EM devices, most notably his dynamo pistol, which fired bolts of electricity at extreme range.

General Mayhem
The field leader of the Red Seven, he was the most highly trained soldier among the bunch, and the ultimate example of the perfect SSM soldier; his powers were entirely physical enhancement, and he was quite simply a super-soldier, loyal to the USSR and trained to follow orders. General Mayhem was significantly stronger, faster and tougher than human norms, with his strength and endurance reaching the variant range. Highly skilled in the arts of combat, he was Captain Awesome's opposite number in the same way that Hammer was Darkhawk's (save that Mayhem would never break orders to confront his enemy). While Mayhem was undoubtedly more powerful than Awesome physically, he lacked the tactical genius that makes Awesome so dangerous, and was therefore perpetually outmatched.

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