Masters of Evil

Masters of Evil (Zemo)
The original Masters of Evil on the cover of The Avengers #6 (Aug. 1964) Art by Jack Kirby and Chic Stone.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Avengers #6 (July 1964)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Base(s)	Various
Roster
See:List of Masters of Evil members

The Masters of Evil is a name for a number of fictional supervillain teams that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first version of the team appeared in The Avengers #6 (July 1964), with the lineup continually changing over the years.

Publication history

Original

The original Masters of Evil, consisting of existing Marvel Comics supervillains the Melter, the Radioactive Man, and the Black Knight, was gathered by former Nazi scientist Baron Heinrich Zemo. Despite attempting to capture the Avengers with Adhesive X and spreading it over the city, the Avengers find an antidote with the help of Paste-Pot Pete, and give it to the Masters in secret, causing them to accidentally free people, and then the Avengers send most of the members to jail. Zemo is tricked into opening a container filled with tear gas inside his helicopter, but despite this escapes.^[1]

Baron Zemo leads the team in his revenge on Captain America and the Avengers. The team had been joined by the Enchantress and the Executioner, whom found Zemo in their exile to Earth, imposed on them by Odin for attacking Thor. The Enchantress hypnotizes Thor into attacking the Avengers while Captain America has been lured to South America to fight Zemo, but Iron Man breaks him out of the trance. Captain America returns on Zemo's helicopter and stops Zemo from shooting the Avenger. However the Enchantress casts a spell which gets the helicopter to the rooftop she and the Executioner are on. The Executioner knocks Captain America out by striking his shoulder, and takes him out of the helicopter, after which they all try to escape. The Masters are sent to another dimension in a Space Warp generated by Thor.^[2] Two issues later the Enchantress returns them to Earth with a spell. Wonder Man is created by Zemo and given superhuman strength with an ionic ray, though told he will die in a week unless given an antidote Zemo has. He captures the Wasp and lures the Avengers into a trap, but sacrifices himself to save the Avengers.^[3] Immortus appears and offers to help the Masters by defeating an Avengers member, and succeeds on taking Captain America to 1760, to the Tower of London. The Masters attack the Avengers, but Captain America then returns and the Enchantress turns back time to prevent this happening. Zemo kidnaps Rick Jones with an attractor beam and the releases the Black Knight and Melter using the Enchantress and Executioner, the Radioactive Man having been deported back to China, who force Captain America to go alone to Zemo's kingdom by attacking the other Avengers. The Executioner tells the Avengers that a battle in the city would hurt many people, meaning they should surrender. Zemo dies in the battle with Captain America when he accidentally triggers a rockslide after being blinded by Captain America's shield.^[4] The rest are then captured after Thor transports them to another dimension with different scientific laws, meaning their weapons rebound; only the Enchantress and Executioner escaping by running away before the transportation happened.^[5]

Ultron

The Masters of Evil featured in Avengers #54 (vol. 1, Jul. 1968) Art by John Buscema.

The next version, organized by the robot Ultron under the alias of Crimson Cowl, consisted of Klaw, Melter, Radioactive Man, Whirlwind, and the second Black Knight (who joined with the intention of betraying the Masters).^[6] This incarnation made one more appearance.^[7] Ultron used this incarnation to blackmail New York.

Egghead

Criminal scientist Egghead organized a third version, consisting of Beetle, Moonstone, the original Scorpion, Shocker, Tiger Shark, and longtime members Radioactive Man and Whirlwind.^[8] Egghead uses this incarnation to assist him in making technological breakthroughs.

Baron Helmut Zemo

A fourth version was formed by Baron Helmut Zemo, the son of the original. This team uses over a dozen villains consisting of Absorbing Man, Blackout, Black Mamba, Fixer, Goliath, Grey Gargoyle, Mister Hyde, Moonstone, Screaming Mimi, Tiger Shark, Titania, Whirlwind, the Wrecking Crew (Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver and Bulldozer), and Yellowjacket, created with the goal of overwhelming the Avengers with sheer raw power where others had attempted to match the current line-up.

The villains storm Avengers mansion in a multi-issue storyline titled "Avengers Under Siege."^[9]

Doctor Octopus

The fifth team was organized by Doctor Octopus, but bore little resemblance to previous incarnations. Its roster included Absorbing Man, Gargantua, Jackhammer, Oddball, Powderkeg, Puff Adder, Shocker, Titania, and Yellowjacket.

The Guardians of the Galaxy, a superhero group from an alternate timeline, defeated the villains.^[10]

Masters of Evil/Thunderbolts

The Masters of Evil: (from top) Screaming Mimi, Goliath, Baron Zemo, Beetle, Fixer, and Moonstone.

Main article: Thunderbolts (comics)

The sixth incarnation was again assembled by the second Baron Zemo, and posed as superheroes under the alias the Thunderbolts^[11] In addition to Zemo, the team consisted of the Beetle (as MACH-1), the Fixer (as Techno), Goliath (as Atlas), Moonstone (as Meteorite);, and Screaming Mimi (as Songbird). With the exception of Zemo and the Fixer, all eventually became heroes and renounced their criminal ways.

Crimson Cowl

The seventh^[12] incarnation was recruited by the second Crimson Cowl (Justine Hammer). These versions consisted of villains including Aqueduct, Bison, Blackwing, Boomerang, Cardinal, Constrictor, the third Cyclone, Dragonfly, the second Eel, Flying Tiger, Icemaster, Jackhammer, Joystick, Klaw, Lodestone, Man-Ape, Man-Killer, Quicksand, Scorcher, Shatterfist, Shockwave, Slyde, Sunstroke, Supercharger, and Tiger Shark.

The eighth^[13] incarnation led by Crimson Cowl consisted of Black Mamba, Cardinal, Cyclone III, Gypsy Moth, Hydro-Man, Machinesmith, and Man-Killer.

Both versions of Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil sought to master and control Earth's superhuman mercenaries. They even tried to get the Thunderbolts to join them.

Membership

Main article: List of Masters of Evil members

Other versions

Golden Age

In All Select Comics #7 (Spring 1945), Captain America fought a team of ghosts, including Jesse James, Frank James, Captain Kidd, and Jack The Ripper, in a story titled "Masters of Evil."^[14]

Young Masters

Main article: Young Masters

During the Dark Reign storyline, a young version of the team - controlled by criminal mastermind Norman Osborn debuts in the limited series Dark Reign: Young Avengers.^[15]

Bastards of Evil

Main article: Bastards of Evil

A group calling themselves the Bastards of Evil debuted in the 2010 Heroic Age storyline. All members claim to be the children of super-villains who were discarded and disavowed by their parents. They include Aftershock (the daughter of Electro), Warhead (the son of Radioactive Man), Mortar (the daughter of Grey Gargoyle), Singularity (the son of Graviton) and Ember (the son of Pyro).^[16]

It was later revealed that the Bastards are led by a child genius known as Superior (who claims to be the son of the Leader). It was also revealed that the Bastards were actually normal teenagers who were mutated by exposure to radiation by Superior as well as given false memory implants. The surviving Bastards are held in the Raft after their capture.^[17]

In other media

Television

• The first version of the Masters of Evil appear in The Marvel Super Heroes episode "Zemo and his Masters of Evil."
• The Masters of Evil appear in The Avengers: United They Stand episode "Command Decision". The team consists of Baron Helmut Zemo, Tiger Shark, Absorbing Man, Moonstone, Whirlwind, Boomerang, Cardinal, and Dragonfly.
• The Masters of Evil appear in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This version is brought together by the Enchantress. As the series goes on, more villains are enlisted. In the episode "Living Legend", the Enchantress and Executioner recruit Baron Heinrich Zemo to their side when they appear in Arnim Zola's laboratory. In "Everything is Wonderful", Enchantress gets Wonder Man on his side after reassembling him promising him that she will restore Wonder Man to normal form. The episode "Gamma World" Pt. 2 shows them having recruited the Crimson Dynamo and adding Abomination when they find him in the desert. In the episode "Masters of Evil," Baron Heinrich Zemo leads the villains he and Enchantress gather into taking out the Avengers one by one. When it came to Hawkeye and Black Panther's attempted rescue mission, they revealed to Baron Heinrich Zemo that they picked up Ant-Man in Wakanda enabling him enough time to gather some weapons. When the Avengers are freed, they end up fighting the Masters of Evil and nearly defeat them until Enchantress uses her magic to get herself and the Masters of Evil back to Arnim Zola's lab. In the episode "This Hostage Earth," Baron Zemo and Enchantress recruit Grey Gargoyle, Chemistro, and Living Laser to help them when Enchantress steals the Norn Stones from Karnilla. The Masters of Evil are each positioned at different parts of the world to guard a Norn Stone in order to make Earth one with the different Asgardian kingdoms.
• In the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Titanium vs. Iron," Pepper hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D. Database and tells Tony that S.H.I.E.L.D. has suspected Justin Hammer has done illegal businesses with the Masters of Evil.

Video games

• The Masters of Evil appear in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. They are led by Doctor Doom and members of the group include Baron Mordo, Loki, Enchantress and Ultron as their lieutenants. Other members include Arcade, Attuma, Bullseye, Byrrah, Crimson Dynamo, Destroyer, Fin Fang Foom, Kurse, Lizard, MODOK, Mysterio, Radioactive Man, Rhino, Scorpion, Shocker, Ulik, Warlord Krang, Winter Soldier, the Wrecking Crew and Ymir. Mandarin was a member of this group as well, but left when he failed to take leadership from Doctor Doom.

References

1. ^ The Avengers #6 (July 1964)
2. ^ The Avengers #7
3. ^ The Avengers #9
4. ^ The Avengers #15 (April 1965)
5. ^ The Avengers #16
6. ^ The Avengers #54 - 55 (July - Aug. 1968)
7. ^ The Avengers #83 (Dec. 1970)
8. ^ Avengers #222 (Aug. 1982) & #227 (Jan. 1983)
9. ^ Avengers #270 -277 (Aug. 1986 - March 1987) & West Coast Avengers #16 (Jan. 1987)
10. ^ Guardians of the Galaxy #28 -29 (Sep. - Oct. 1992)
11. ^ First appearance Hulk #449 (Feb. 1997)
12. ^ Thunderbolts #3 (June 1997)
13. ^ Thunderbolts #24 (Mar. 1999)
14. ^ Grand Comics Database
15. ^ Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1 - 5 (July - Dec. 2009)
16. ^ Young Allies Vol. 2 #1 (June 9, 2010)
17. ^ Young Allies Vol. 2 #5 (October 6, 2010)

External links

• Masters of Evil at Marvel.com
• Masters of Evil I at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Masters of Evil II at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Masters of Evil III at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Masters of Evil IV at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Masters of Evil V at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
• Masters of Evil VII at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe