Infinite Crisis (Villains United)
The next version of the team was introduced in Villains United #1 (July 2005). Unlike previous versions of the team, the new Secret Six consists mainly of villainous characters who undertake missions of dubious moral quality and often resulting in a high body count. The team consists of the pre-existing DC characters Catman, Deadshot, and Cheshire, and the newly created Rag Doll, Scandal Savage, and a Parademon. Another member, the Fiddler, is killed by Deadshot on order of Mockingbird. Later, the Parademon is killed and Cheshire betrays the group to the Secret Society of Super Villains, and was shot by the Society's Deathstroke, who does not trust her for being a traitor (Cheshire eventually turns up alive, plotting revenge). The Mockingbird for this version of the team is eventually revealed to be Lex Luthor.
In the 2006 Secret Six limited series, (written by Gail Simone with art by Brad Walker and Jimmy Palmiotti), Knockout, who was revealed as a mole infiltrating the Society in Villains United, has officially joined the group to be with her lover, Scandal. At the end of issue #1, Catman asks the Mad Hatter to be the sixth member of the group. While Catman meets with the Mad Hatter, Doctor Psycho orchestrates a series of attacks designed to wipe out the Six. The Hatter is literally kicked off the team by the Rag Doll, who says that one eccentric fop in the group is enough. His replacement is Harley Quinn, [6] who later quits. [7]
In Birds of Prey #104–108, the Secret Six face off against Oracle's Birds of Prey in Russia for the soul of Tora (Ice). After Harley Quinn quit the team, they disbanded. Subsequently, in Birds of Prey #109, Knockout was attacked and killed by the same assassin who had been stalking the New Gods and killing them off, one by one. Earlier in the issue, Knockout comments in passing that Catman was going soft, and Deadshot had returned to the Suicide Squad. Harley Quinn is reformed in Countdown #43. Scandal Savage, Rag Doll and Catman were later seen in Salvation Run .
Ongoing series
DC launched a new Secret Six series in September 2008, reuniting Catman, Deadshot, Scandal, and Rag Doll, and adding Bane (hinted at by Simone months earlier as "an A-list Batman villain" [8] ) and an original character named Jeannette, who appeared in the third issue. The Six have been hired to retrieve Tarantula from Alcatraz Island, and find a card which she stole from "Junior", a mysterious villain who supposedly runs the entire West Coast mob. This Junior has practically the entire villain community at her beck and call, all afraid of her, even those in Arkham Asylum. The Six later learn that the card in question was made by Neron, and says "Get Out of Hell Free". [9] Soon, the Six are attacked by a small army of supervillains, all wanting to recover the card and collect the reward of $20 million for each of the Six, under the orders of Junior, who captures and tortures Bane, whose strong principles and moral convictions, paired with his fatherly fondness of Scandal, keep him from betraying his new team. It is later revealed that Junior is, in fact, Rag Doll's sister and a daughter of the first Rag Doll. She has the ghastly appearance of an old clown, with sliced skin and eyes stitched wide open to give the appearance of a clown. [10] The Six escape and head for Gotham City, with Deadshot seemingly betraying them and leaving with Tarantula. [11] The Six manage to catch up to Deadshot and are attacked by Junior, the supervillains, and the Mad Hatter, who is revealed to be the one who hired them simply so they would be killed. Tarantula sacrifices herself by pulling herself and Junior in front of the supervillains' combined attack, seemingly destroying the card along with them. It is later shown that Scandal is now in possession of it. [12]
Although the current incarnation of the Secret Six are technically supervillains, several members of the team are treated sympathetically and come across as heroic, if only on the virtue of the team encountering individuals who are even more bloodthirsty and villainous.
In a new storyline starting with issue #10 titled "Depths", the Six have been hired by a new villain named Mr. Smyth, a slave trader. [13] He is building what he hopes will be the world's biggest and only prison. He is also holding the Amazon Artemis of Bana-Mighdall prisoner. Jeannette breaks her out and was met with opposition from the rest of the team, who in the middle of battling with each other are interrupted by Wonder Woman. [14] The Six one-by-one turn on Smyth and free all the slaves he possessed on his Devil's Island, ending with Deadshot killing Smyth in cold blood. Disappointed in the repetitive failed progress the team's missions have had since joining, Bane decides to take over as team leader with the approval of half the team. His first directive was to remove Scandal Savage as a team member and replace her with Black Alice. After Catman flees to find the murderers of his son, he is followed by Rag Doll, Alice, Deadshot, and Scandal. Bane and Jeanette replace them with King Shark, Dwarfstar, Lady Vic, and Giganta.
John Ostrander guest-wrote Secret Six (vol. 3) #15 (January 2010), featuring Deadshot, [15] [16] and #23 (September 2010), a super-powered version take on "The Most Dangerous Game". [17]
The series has also had three crossovers with other DC titles. In 2010, Simone teamed with John Ostrander for "Danse Macabre", a crossover with Ostrander's acclaimed 1980s title Suicide Squad , which had been "resurrected" and given one additional issue as part of DC's company-wide Blackest Night crossover event. The crossover involved the Six being hired by an anonymous party (in reality Amanda Waller) to break into Belle Reve prison in order to rescue an inmate, only to discover that the mission was a trap set in place so that the Suicide Squad could apprehend the team and kidnap Deadshot. The crossover began in Suicide Squad #67 and subsequently ran through Secret Six (vol. 3) #17-18, and eventually reached a climax where both teams were forced to work together to fight off a Black Lantern invasion. In January 2011, Simone collaborated with Paul Cornell on a two-part crossover which began in Action Comics #896 and ended in Secret Six (vol. 3) #29, which saw the Six being hired by Lex Luthor to assassinate Scandal's father Vandal Savage. In February of the same year, Simone took part in another two-issue crossover, this time with Keith Giffen's Doom Patrol for a storyline entitled "Suicide Roulette". The crossover, which took place in Secret Six (vol. 3) #30, and Doom Patrol (vol. 5) #19, saw the Secret Six come into conflict with the Doom Patrol after being hired to forcibly take over the team's home country of Oolong Island.
The book's final storyline featured Bane leading the Secret Six on an ill-fated mission to Gotham City, where they plan to kill Catwoman, the Red Robin, Batgirl and Azrael. However, upon their arrival the team is met by a veritable army of superheroes ranging from Green Lantern and the Huntress to the Justice League and the Teen Titans. Despite the overwhelming odds, the members of the Secret Six make one last stand, and were defeated and incarcerated. [18]
