On last week’s Agents
of SHIELD, Cal (Kyle MacLachlan), whom nerds may know better from the
comics as Mr. Hyde, assembled a team of random supervillains (Angar the
Screamer!) in a revenge play against Director Coulson. It reminded me of
Marvel’s best-known team of random rotating supervillains, the Masters of Evil.
And with Daniel Bruhl (Inglourious Basterds) believed
to be cast as Baron Zemo in Captain America: Civil War, now seems like a
good time to familiarize oneself with the nasty brigade.
The basics: The Masters of Evil were created by Stan Lee,
Jack Kirby and Chic Stone and first appeared in 1964’s Avengers #6, during a
time when villain teams kept some variation of evil in their name to let obtuse
Silver Age readers know where they stood. See also the Brotherhood of Evil
Mutants (X-Men) and DC’s Legion of Super-Villains.
1. Seemingly anyone can be a Master of Evil: Past Masters
include both Barons Zemo (Heinrich and Helmut), two Black Knights, the Melter, Radioactive
Man (the green Chinese scientist, not the
Simpsons character), the Enchantress and her Executioner, Wonder Man,
Ultron, Klaw, Whirlwind, Egghead, Moonstone, the Scorpion, Tiger Shark, the
Beetle, the Shocker, the Absorbing Man, Blackout, Black Mamba, Fixer, Goliath,
Grey Gargoyle, Mr. Hyde, Screaming Mimi, Titania, the Wrecking Crew,
Yellowjacket, Doctor Octopus, Gargantua, Jackhammer, Powderkeg, Puff Adder, Justine
Hammer, Cyclone, Flying Tiger, Man-Killer, Aqueduct, Bison, Blackwing,
Boomerang, Cardinal, Constrictor, Dragonfly, Eel, Icemaster, Joystick,
Lodestone, Man-Ape, Quicksand, Scorcher, Shatterfist, Shockwave, Slyde,
Sunstroke, Supercharger, Gypsy Moth, Hydro-Man, Machinesmith, Max Fury,
Princess Python, Vengeance, Black Talon, Brothers, Grimm, Carrion, Crossfire, Diablo,
Firebrand, Griffin, Killer Shrike, Lady Stilt-Man, Pink Pearl, Squid,
Taskmaster, Bi-Beast, Madcap, Ringer, Madame Masque, Daimon Hellstrom, Cullen
Bloodstone and Lightmaster. Not gonna lie, I have no idea who half these people
are, but I assure you they’re all evil. EVIL!
2. They once trashed Avengers Mansion: The fourth incarnation
of the Masters, gathered by Helmut Zemo, was so large they managed to outnumber
and overwhelm the Avengers, taking over their base of operations, torturing
Jarvis the butler, beating Hercules into a coma, kidnapping Captain America and
leaving Wasp the only Avenger left standing. The team inevitably crumbled due
to clashing agendas and egos, especially between the younger Zemo and
Moonstone.
3. They turn good guys bad: In his very first appearance in Avengers #9, Simon Williams, aka Wonder
Man, was pitted against the Avengers as a pawn of Zemo. He originally died in
that issue but was brought back nearly a decade later in 1972’s Avengers #102. Another Avenger who once
joined the Masters was Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, who infiltrated the team
to defeat them from the inside. Whitman is the nephew of the previous Black
Knight, Nathan Garrett, who was one of the original Masters.
4. And bad guys good: After Onslaught, when the Fantastic Four
and Avengers got sucked into a pocket dimension for a year, a new superhero
team emerged called the Thunderbolts, who turned out to be the Masters of Evil
in disguise. Some of the team’s members went native and ended up becoming
legitimate good guys, including Songbird (formerly Screaming Mimi), and the
Beetle. Beetle, aka Mach V, is used to hilarious effect as Boomerang’s parole
officer in Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber’s much-missed Superior Foes of Spider-Man series. As the Thunderbolts, Zemo’s team
ended up fighting a separate Masters of Evil organized by Justine Hammer,
daughter of Justin Hammer, industrialist and foe of Tony Stark.
5. They made the Thunderbolts name stick: A book with the
Thunderbolts title has been published fairly consistently since the original
series by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley debuted in 1997, with slight tweaks to
the concept along the way (and a rather dubious one in which the book became
about an underground supervillain fight club). After Civil War, they became a team of unreformed supervillains on tight,
Norman Osborn-controlled leashes. After Siege,
they became Luke Cage’s team of reformed baddies. And after A vs. X, they became the Red Hulk’s team
of anti-heroes.
Read this: “Avengers Under Siege” by Roger Stern and John
Buscema (Avengers #270-276), the 1986
storyline in which the Masters trash Avengers Mansion. Also read Busiek and
Bagley’s original run on Thunderbolts.
Watch that: Avengers:
Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, which adapted a number of Masters of Evil
stories, including “Avengers Under Siege.”
Dan Grote’s new novel,
Magic Pier, is available however you get your books online. He has been writing
for The Matt Signal since 2014. He and Matt have been friends since the days
when making it to issue 25 guaranteed you a foil cover.
