Villainy Inc.

Last updated
Villainy Inc.
Ww2-180b.jpg
Top: Jinx, Giganta, Trinity. Bottom: Cyborgirl, Doctor Poison, Queen Clea.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Wonder Woman #28 (March–April 1948)
Created by William Moulton Marston
Harry G. Peter
In-story information
Member(s)

Villainy Inc. is a team of fictional characters appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as an alliance of recurring adversaries of the superhero Wonder Woman. [1] The group debuted in 1948's Wonder Woman #28, though each of its eight initial members had previously appeared as villains in earlier Wonder Woman adventures. Historically, Wonder Woman #28 holds a distinction as the final issue of the series to be written by the heroine’s creator William Moulton Marston before his death. [2]

Contents

Three different incarnations of Villainy Inc. have appeared in DC Comics publications: (1) the Golden Age version, led by Eviless, (2) the Modern Age version, led by Queen Clea, and (3) the Rebirth-era version, led by Doctor Psycho and masterminded by Hera. Of these, the Golden and Modern Age incarnations consisted exclusively of women characters, [3] although three Golden Age figures among them – Blue Snowman, Doctor Poison and Hypnota – would likely be construed by 21st century readers as gender non-conforming. Since 2021, Blue Snowman has been specifically presented by writers as a genderfluid character. [4]

The team was adapted for the 2019 Warner Brothers animated film Wonder Woman: Bloodlines , in which it was led by Doctor Cyber and masterminded by Veronica Cale.

Publication history

Golden Age

Villainy Inc. debuted in Wonder Woman #28, in the last story written by series creator William Moulton Marston. The villains, who were individually sentenced to and later escaped from a prison on the Amazon penal colony Transformation Island, teamed up to take down their common enemies, who are led by the Saturnine slaver Eviless, who tricked the Amazons into believing she had lost her evil nature and stole Wonder Woman's lasso. Eviless faked her death and tried to release the prisoners on Transformation Island, most of whom refused but some agreed with Eviless and joined her. Eviless captured Hippolyta using the lasso, Blue Snowman, Poison, and Hypnota luring her into a trap. Hippolyta was then taken from the island. Later, the villains captured Wonder Woman and took her away in a boat but Wonder Woman drags the boat underwater and saves Eviless, who cannot swim. Clea tried to buy a submarine from Steve Trevor to return to Atlantis but Trevor recognized Clea and captured her. Giganta knocked out Trevor, and Clea and her aide decided to capture the Holliday Girls and Wonder Woman to force him to give them a submarine. They imprison the Holliday Girls in Professor Zool's lab and Giganta attacks Wonder Woman but is overpowered. This partially worked and they forced Wonder Woman to steal a US Navy submarine for them but Clea and Giganta were recaptured before their sub could fully submerge. The escapees were returned to Transformation Island by Wonder Woman and the Amazons.

Modern Age

Following the retcons in Crisis on Infinite Earths , the group's history begins when they menace Hippolyta in the Golden Age. Cheetah, Zara, Doctor Poison and Hypnotic Woman (formerly Hypnota) were assembled by Queen Clea. The Atlantean monarch of the city Venturia enlists the others to defeat her rival city Aurania. They are repeatedly foiled by Hippolyta. [5] Later, Hippolyta's daughter Diana travels back in time and discovers them in battle. Clea is defeated by Diana, who disguises herself as Miss America, and Clea's daughter Ptra. [6]

In recent times, when all of Atlantis disappears from the Earth, Clea again sets out to assemble a new Villainy, Inc. and conquer a land to rule. Together they descend upon the other-dimensional land of Skartaris. Clea uses Cyborgirl to take control of the entire dimension. Clea's plan, however, is commandeered by Trinity, who is revealed to be a virus that was engineered by the founders of Skartaris. When the "Trinity Virus" is reintroduced into Skartaris' governing computer system, the and begins to regress and devolve to its origins. Wonder Woman stope the process from becoming permanent but some of Skartaris' inhabitants, including Clea, arere lost in the de-evolution. [7]

Members

Golden Age

MemberFirst appearanceDescription
Blue Snowman Sensation Comics #59 (November 1946)Byrna Brilyant is a small town school-teacher and scientist who disguises herself as a man called "The Snowman" and uses "blue snow", a substance invented by her late father, that freezes everything it touches. She later takes the name Blue Snowman when she joins Villainy Inc. In the Post-Crisis universe, Blue Snowman was never part of the original Villainy Inc.
Cheetah Wonder Woman #6 (October 1943)Priscilla Rich is a socialite whose feelings of inferiority periodically cause her Cheetah persona to seize control of her personality.
Doctor Poison Sensation Comics #2 (February 1942)Princess Maru is a leader of a Nazi spy ring, whose ultimate goal is to wreak havoc on the US Army by contaminating the army's water supply with "reverso", a drug that "confuses the brain centers ... [making] soldiers do the exact opposite of what they are told".[ citation needed ]
Eviless Wonder Woman #10 (Fall 1944)A slave driver from Saturn who is sent to Transformation Island for rehabilitation after her initial encounter with Wonder Woman. Eviless later forms the first incarnation of Villainy Inc. in Wonder Woman #28, the last story by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston, but never appears again in any continuity, though she may have inspired the Silver Age hero Saturn Girl and Saturn Queen.[ citation needed ]
Giganta Wonder Woman #9 (Summer 1944)A female gorilla who is artificially evolved into a human strongwoman by Professor Zool. In the Post-Crisis universe, Giganta was never part of the original Villainy Inc.[ citation needed ]
Hypnota Wonder Woman #11 (Winter 1944)A stage magician who conceals her gender using masculine dress and false facial hair. Hypnota is accidentally shot in the head during a rehearsal. Experimental surgery saves her life but also releases a "blue electric ray of dominance" from her "mid-brain", granting her the ability to mesmerize and control the minds of others by projecting "blue hypnotic rays" from her eyes and hands. Using this new power for crime, she enslaves her sister, the weak-willed Serva, and uses her as a pawn while selling hypnotized captives to the Saturn slave traders. In the Post-Crisis universe, she is known as Hypnotic Woman.
Queen Clea Wonder Woman #8 (March 1944)The cruel ruler of the Atlantean colony Venturia, a subsea realm situated beneath the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, until she is deposed by Wonder Woman.
Zara Comics Cavalcade #5 (Winter 1943)The self-proclaimed Priestess of the Crimson Flame. Her past is unknown but she claims to be "an Arab girl" and wears belly dancer attire. According to her tales, she is sold into slavery as a child, creating in her an intense hatred of mankind. Using a flair for pyrotechnics, she creates a new religion called the Cult of The Crimson Flame. Zara rigs up fire-based effects to dazzle her followers and keep them in her thrall. After her initial defeat by Wonder Woman, the Cult goes underground but Zara was able to scare at least one follower to do her bidding when she joins Villainy Inc.

Modern Age

MemberFirst appearanceDescription
Cyborgirl Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #179 (May 2002)LeTonya Charles is the niece of Dr. Sarah Charles, who requires emergency surgery after a reaction to the "super-steroid" Tar. Her cybernetic implants give her all the same abilities as Victor Stone (Cyborg) but she has none of his sense of responsibility.
Doctor Poison Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #151 (December 1999)The granddaughter of the original Doctor Poison who continues her grandmother's grudge against Wonder Woman, though she holds her grandmother in contempt.
Giganta Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #126 (October 1997)Doris Zuel is a scientist whose mind is transferred into the body of an ape and later into the body of a circus strongwoman. She has the ability to grow in size and s now a modern-age villain and did not exist in the Golden Age.
Jinx Tales of the Teen Titans #56 (August 1985)An elemental sorceress whose powers include the ability to command elements such as air, the manipulation of magical energy she can manifest as offensive force bolts and green flame, as well as the ability to dissolve matter and create earthquakes.
Queen Clea Wonder Woman: Our Worlds at War (September 2001)The cruel ruler of the Atlantean colony of Venturia, a subsea realm situated beneath the Atlantic Ocean, until she is deposed by Wonder Woman. In the Post-Crisis universe, she is the leader of the original Villainy Inc. instead of Eviless. She is also responsible for assembling the second Villainy Inc.
TrinityThe New Titans Annual #6 (1990)A woman with three faces which are Time, War, and Chaos, each of which possesses its own power.

Post-Rebirth Era

MemberFirst appearanceDescription
Doctor Psycho Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #54 (May 1991)Dr. Edgar Cizko is a powerful telepath and telekinetic who poses as a reformed supervillain-turned-pop-psychologist and "men's rights" advocate. A disturbed figure who revels in misogyny, manipulation and violence, Cizko assembles the post-Rebirth incarnation of Villainy Inc. at the behest of the vengeful Olympian goddess Hera.
Doctor Poison Wonder Woman (vol. 5) #13 (February 2017)Colonel Marina Maru is an expert on toxins and pathogens and the leader of an elite team of mercenaries known as "Poison". She has served as a security specialist and chief field operative of the criminal tycoon Veronica Cale.
Duke of Deception Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #4 (February 2007)Dolos is the Greek mythological deity of trickery and lies. He is a master of deceit and a powerful warrior with the ability to cast illusions. In Hera's thrall through undisclosed means, he is "gifted" like an object to Villainy Inc. by the goddess, arriving at Dr. Psycho's base of operations boxed in a wooden coffin.
HeraWonder Woman (vol. 4) #1 (November 2011)The unpredictable queen of the Olympian Gods and the bitter wife of Wonder Woman's apparent father Zeus, Hera is an enormously powerful deity with a vindictive resentment of Wonder Woman and the Amazons. Aided by her grandsons Deimos and Phobos, she serves as Villainy Inc.'s silent benefactor, referred to blithely by Dr. Psycho as "Management".
Professor CalculusWonder Woman #787 (July 2022)A disgraced mathematics professor dismissed from Etta Candy's undergraduate alma mater Holliday College, Professor Calculus is a brilliant, disheveled master of data and statistics. He uses an invention called the Probability Engine to predict future outcomes with perfect accuracy, and serves as Villainy Inc.'s chief strategist. This character has an eponymous Golden Age antecedent, an affable ally to Wonder Woman, first appearing in Comic Cavalcade #29, October–November 1948.
SweetheartWonder Woman #784 (April 2022)Sweetheart is a fractured but powerful duplicate of Wonder Woman created by the Image-Maker, the despotic ruler of the extradimensional Mirror World. Abused by Dr. Psycho, who bestowed her with her demeaning name and cowed her into a servile role attired as a 1950s housewife, Sweetheart ultimately rebelled against her abusuer, sacrificing herself to help Wonder Woman defeat Villainy Inc.

In other media

Villainy Inc. appears in Wonder Woman: Bloodlines , founded and secretly backed by Veronica Cale, who has Doctor Cyber and Doctor Poison serving as figureheads and Giganta, Cheetah, and Silver Swan as enforcers. This version of the group is a criminal organization that employs henchmen and uses enhancement drugs made by Poison to strengthen themselves. They seek to revive and weaponize Medusa to invade Themyscira and steal the Amazons' advanced technology for profit. However, Medusa betrays them, destroying Cyber and killing Poison before using the latter's drug to become bigger and stronger and go on a rampage until Silver Swan helps Wonder Woman defeat the monster.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wonder Woman</span> Comic book superheroine

Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston, and artist Harry G. Peter in 1941 for DC Comics. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being his inspiration for the character's appearance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Prince</span> Secret identity of the superhero Wonder Woman

Diana Prince is a fictional character appearing regularly in stories published by DC Comics, as the secret identity of the Amazonian superhero Wonder Woman, who bought the credentials and identity from a United States Army nurse named Diana Prince. The original Diana went to South America and married her fiancé to become Diana White. The character debuted in Sensation Comics #1 and was created by Charles Moulton and H. G. Peter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheetah (character)</span> DC Comics supervillain

The Cheetah is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a major recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. Like her nemesis, she was created by William Moulton Marston & H. G. Peter, originally debuting in the autumn of 1943 in Wonder Woman #6. With her distinctive sleek, spotted appearance, she is recognized as "one of Wonder Woman's most iconic enemies", and has been featured significantly as a persistent foe throughout every era of the hero's comic book adventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giganta</span> DC Comics character

Giganta is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman, and an occasional foil of the superhero the Atom. She debuted as a brutish strongwoman in 1944's Wonder Woman #9, written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter, and went on to become one of Wonder Woman's most recognizable and persistent foes, appearing during every major era of the hero's comic book adventures, and adapted frequently for television and animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jinx (DC Comics)</span> Comic book supervillain and leader of the Fearsome Five, part of the DC universe

Jinx is a fictional supervillain appearing in American books published by DC Comics. Created by Marv Wolfman and Chuck Patton, she first appeared in Tales of the Teen Titans #56. The character is often depicted as a skilled Indian sorceress and one of the leaders of the Fearsome Five, a group of super-villains most notable for being adversaries of the Teen Titans and its derivatives. This character bears no relation to the male character of the same name who first appeared in Adventure Comics #488 as an adversary of Chris King and Vicki Grant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doctor Poison</span> Comics character

Doctor Poison is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. A sadistic bioterrorist with a ghoulish face, she first appeared in 1942’s Sensation Comics #2, written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter, and holds a distinction as Wonder Woman’s first costumed supervillain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zara (character)</span> Comics character

Zara, Priestess of Crimson Flame is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. Created by writer William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter, the fiery character debuted in 1943 in Comic Cavalcade #5 as a fraudulent cult leader who used advanced pyrogenic technology to delude and intimidate her followers, and to imperil her opposers. Armed with an arsenal of fire guns, flaming swords, flaming chains, and devices that could create solid constructs of fire, the Golden Age Zara clashed several times with Wonder Woman, both in the United States and at her cult's stronghold on the Arabian Peninsula. She subsequently became a member of Villainy Inc., a team of supervillains consisting of several other of Wonder Woman's foes, including the Cheetah, Doctor Poison and Giganta. The modern Zara is a powerful pyrokinetic capable of flight who serves as a fiery field operative of the vindictive pharmaceutical tycoon Veronica Cale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hypnota</span> Comics character

Hypnota is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. Created by writer William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter, the character debuted in 1944 in Wonder Woman #11 as a stage magician and human trafficker with powerful superhuman mind-control abilities. The gender presentation of her stage persona, Hypnota the Great, was that of an ostensibly male figure in Orientalized Middle-Eastern costume, complete with a false mustache and goatee. Though initially appearing to disguise her gender to deflect criminal suspicion, Hypnota made subsequent Golden Age appearances in her masculine stage garb; even after her supposedly "true" gender identity was revealed, she chose to present as a man – a move that might be understood in the 21st century as genderqueer. The Modern Age Hypnota, renamed Hypnotic Woman, has abandoned her false facial hair and is now written and drawn as a cisgender woman, albeit one who wears a somewhat masculine costume similar to her Golden Age look: a closed-front vest, salwar and a man's turban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eviless</span> DC Comics supervillain

Eviless is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. A slave driver from the planet Saturn, she had several Golden Age clashes with Wonder Woman before founding the first incarnation of Villainy Inc., a team of supervillains composed of several of Wonder Woman's foes, including the Cheetah, Doctor Poison, Giganta and Queen Clea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Clea</span> Comics character

Queen Clea is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. The ruthless dictator of Venturia, a remote kingdom on the sunken continent of Atlantis, she first appeared in 1944's Wonder Woman #8, written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter. After several clashes with Wonder Woman, she became a member of Villainy Inc., supervillain team consisting of several of Wonder Woman's Golden Age foes, including the Cheetah, Giganta, and Doctor Poison. She made several Silver Age appearances, as well as several Post-Crisis appearances in which she was the leader of Villainy Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Snowman</span> Comics character

The Blue Snowman is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. Created by writer William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter, the character debuted in 1946 in Sensation Comics #59 as a high-tech extortionist named Byrna Brilyant who used a fearsome costumed persona to coerce money out of innocent victims. Brilyant's Golden Age gender identity was presented as that of a woman who disguised herself as an ostensibly male supervillain to deflect criminal suspicion – a genderplay trope Marston incorporated into several other foes he created to battle Wonder Woman, including Doctor Poison and Hypnota. Since 2021, the Modern Age Byrna Brilyant has been written as genderfluid, their Blue Snowman stylings part of their flexible nonbinary gender-presentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minister Blizzard</span> Comics character

Minister Blizzard is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. A would-be world conqueror from a hidden Arctic civilization, he debuted in 1948 in Wonder Woman #29, written by an uncredited Joye Hummel Murchison and illustrated by Harry G. Peter. One of two members of Wonder Woman's rogues gallery introduced in the 1940s to have an ice/snow motif, Minister Blizzard, was an early progenitor of the comics trope of the ice-gun wielding supercriminal, preceding more recognizable DC Comics antagonists such as Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold, as well as Marvel Comics' Blizzard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shim'Tar</span> Comics character

Shim'Tar is a fictional character owned by DC Comics and was co-created by penciler Chris Marrinan and writer George Pérez. According to the Wonder Woman comic book, the name Shim'Tar can also be a title given to the chief warrior of the fictional Bana-Mighdall tribe of Amazons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wonder Woman (Earth-Two)</span> Comics character

Wonder Woman of Earth-Two is a fictional DC Comics superheroine, from the original stories by Wonder Woman writer and creator, William Moulton Marston and his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston. After DC Comics established a multiverse in their published stories, which explained how heroes could have been active before World War II, retain their youth, and (subsequent) origins during the 1960s, this version of Wonder Woman was retconned merging with the original Wonder Woman who first appeared in All Star Comics #8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Children of Ares</span> Fictional characters appearing in DC Comics publications and related media

The Children of Ares are several fictional characters appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as recurring adversaries of the superhero Wonder Woman. Primarily based on eponymous Greek mythological figures, they are malevolent progeny of Wonder Woman's nemesis, the war god Ares. Three in particular – Deimos, Phobos and Eris – have emerged as especially enduring characters, appearing in every era of Wonder Woman's comic book adventures since debuting in 1969's Wonder Woman #183. Beginning in the Silver Age of Comic Books, these three characters have often been presented as Ares’ principal legates in his campaigns for universal conquest, and have also confronted Wonder Woman on their own, individually as well as with one another, as antagonists independent of their father.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula von Gunther</span> Comics character

Baroness Paula von Gunther is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a foe of the superhero Wonder Woman. She debuted in 1942's Sensation Comics #4, written by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston and illustrated by Harry G. Peter, and holds a distinction as Wonder Woman's first recurring adversary. Though in her earliest appearances she was a cold-blooded Nazi spy and saboteur, the Baroness would reform into Wonder Woman's ally, appearing in Wonder Woman stories throughout the Golden, Silver and Bronze Age of Comics. After DC Comics rebooted its continuity in 1985, Wonder Woman, her supporting characters and many of her foes were re-imagined and reintroduced. Though initially absent in this revised set of storylines, the Baroness would eventually be reintroduced to the continuity in 1998 by Wonder Woman writer/artist John Byrne who returned the character to her roots as a villainous Nazi mastermind. Re-imagined by Byrne as a devotee of the occult who placed her mystical knowledge at the service of the Third Reich, she became a vessel for the malevolent supernatural entity Dark Angel.

The Legend of Wonder Woman is a series starring Wonder Woman, published by DC Comics. The series was created by Renae De Liz, with colors, inks, and letters by her husband, Ray Dillon. It functions as a modern retelling of Wonder Woman's Golden Age origin, with heavy influence from the original comics by William Moulton Marston. The series was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best Digital/Webcomic.

Godwatch is a group of supervillains appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The group consists of several of Wonder Woman's major enemies.

"The Truth" is a seven issue comic book story arc written by Greg Rucka, with pencils by Liam Sharp and colors by Laura Martin.

<i>Wonder Woman: Bloodlines</i> 2019 film directed by Sam Liu

Wonder Woman: Bloodlines is a 2019 American animated superhero film focusing on the superheroine Wonder Woman and is the fifteenth installment of the DC Animated Movie Universe and the 38th overall film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. The film was released on digital platforms on October 5, 2019, and was released on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on October 22. It focuses on Wonder Woman facing enemies of the past who come together and form Villainy Inc.

References

  1. Jimenez, Phil; Wells, John (2010). The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. p. 434. ISBN   978-0345501073.
  2. Berlatsky, Noah (2015). Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics, 1941-1948. Rutgers University Press. p. 174. ISBN   978-0813564180.
  3. Daniels, Les (2000). Wonder Woman: The Complete History. Chronicle Books LLC. p. 75.
  4. DeLuca, Jude. "History of Violence: WONDER WOMAN, The Blue Snowman, and “Gender Issues.”" Comicosity, 15 February 2021, https://www.comicosity.com/history-of-violence-wonder-woman-the-blue-snowman-and-gender-issues/. Accessed 19 August 2022.
  5. Wonder Woman: Our Worlds at War #1
  6. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #184
  7. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #179-183