Secret Society of Super-Villains and Mephisto (And More!)

 

For this Anniversary Issue, I thought I would go with a theme of villain team-ups.  I was delighted to see Frog-Man appear in the trailer for Disney's She-Hulk: Attorney at Law series. I can't wait to see how he is realized and I love that Marvel is digging deep into their character files for the show.  I can't help but laugh that Frog-Man will show up in the MCU before Mephisto, who remains a no show after multiple rumors.

Spider-Man and The Secret Society of Super-Villains

 

This is a story I could see working.   Spider-Man has often been unjustly tagged as a criminal, and it would be cool to see him use that status to go undercover in the underworld - sort of a reverse Thunderbolts set up.  I'm sure there's some real life comic book equivalent of this plot, but I can't recall one right now.

Secret Society of Super-Villains Vs. The Marvel Universe

OK, you see the match ups presented here - who wins this battle?  I think it would be pretty even (well maybe not Cap Vs. Penguin...) If I were on the Marvel side, I'd make sure to take out the worm first!  What say you?

The Avengers Vs. The Secret Society of Super-Villains in: "The One That Got Away!"

I loved team comics when I was a kid, and Justice League of America was my favorite.  My favorite issues of those were the yearly JLA/JSA team-ups, and my favorites of those was the three part tale where both teams tackle a Secret Society made up of Super-Villains from Earth One and Earth Two.  I was the perfect age for it and George Perez made everyone look great (I'm sure most will recognize his part of this cover).  It made me a fan of villains that I had never paid much attention to before like Ragdoll, Signal Man and especially the Psycho-Pirate.

These two teams first clashed back in STF #312...

Fantastic Four Vs. Secret Society of Super-Villains (and more!)

There's something about groups of bad guys banding together that always appealed to me.  It would probably be impractical for them, but the infighting while trying to work with one another to defeat the heroes usually made for a cool story.  Maybe it strikes a chord with me because I loved seeing The Legion of Doom on Super Friends, I'm not sure.  Marvel's Acts of Vengeance crossover, in which the villains swapped heroes to gain advantage was also a favorite of mine.

Thunderbolts Vs. The Secret Society of Super-Villains

Ever since I was a kid watching The Legion of Doom on Super Friends, I have always liked seeing villains joining together to make teams of their own.  It's cool to see so much power amassed together and the conflicts that arise when a group of evil, self-serving personalities attempt to work as one.  The Thunderbolts took the concept one step further by having the villains pose as heroes, and explored the effect that had on all of them - making it one of my favorite Marvel series.

The Prowler Joins The Secret Society of Super-Villains

The Prowler was teased with the appearance of Donald Glover as his alter ego Aaron Davis in Spider-Man: Homecoming.  He was seen to be trying to purchase high tech equipment, so the seeds have been set for a full costumed appearance in the future.  A deleted scene had him mentioning his nephew Miles, so perhaps he will be back in an Ultimate Spider-Man movie down the line instead.

Galactus joins The Secret Society of Super-Villains

While Justice League missed the mark for me, I did like the tease at the end that an Injustice League/Secret Society of Super-Villains type of team will be formed to take them on in the future.  It would be a nice change from the "powerful would be ruler and his army of cannon fodder troops" plot that we have seen a few times now.  If only they weren't being led by Jesse Eisenberg's Luthor... if they're going to recast Batman, can't they recast him as well?

The Avengers Vs. The Secret Society of Super-Villains

The latest news on the Justice League film is that the script has been scrapped and the producers are going back to the drawing board.  This is not a bad thing to me, as it seemed that the film was being rushed into production to capitalize on the success of The Avengers.  The script had the JLA facing off against Darkseid, which sounded a little too close to the alien invasion and plot from Marvel's film, not to mention the visual similarities to Thanos.  The JLA needs to stake out its own territory, so what could be cooler than an all out JLA vs. The Secret Society movie?  Yeah it would be a lot of characters, but the writers on the Justice League animated series did it more than once and made it work. It might even be cool to see an adaptation of Justice, the great mini-series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Doug Braithwaite. It would also remind older viewers of the Challenge of the Super-Friends cartoons from their youth, which would add in a nostalgia factor.  I would still prefer solo films for Flash and Wonder Woman at least before a JLA movie, but if they just want to dive right in, it might be fun to see them go crazy with a big concept like a battle with the Society.

Batman and The Secret Society of Super-Villains

I always loved the Secret Society of Super-Villains from their appearances in their own title as well as Justice League of America and of course the Legion of Doom in the Super Friends Cartoon. I had seen plenty of villain teams before, but this one was made up of the arch-enemies of all of DC's top heroes - each of whom posed a formidable threat on their own! A team so ruthless and powerful that they were nigh unstoppable... if their own interpersonal conflicts would stop getting in the way!

This cover uses an image from one the SSOSV's appearances late in the run of the original Justice League of America series, my favorite storyline featuring them. I also loved how they were used in the Justice league and Justice League Unlimited cartoons. Finally, the Alex Ross/Doug Braithwaite maxi-series Justice in must reading for any SSOSV fans.