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The First Cabal
In General
When the Avengers beat him one time too many, Red Skull, then allied with M.O.D.O.K., decided to fight fire with fire, and sent invitations to several of the world's greatest super villains. Citing great respect for his fellow villains, he invited them to join him to form the Cabal, a coalition of villains who are all Big Bads in their own right, as well as their armies and resources. Over the course of the first season, the Cabal comes together, proving themselves as a capable threat not just to the Avengers, but even to non-aligned super villains as well. However, upon Red Skull's betrayal, the Cabal has splintered even under M.O.D.O.K.'s leadership.
- Aborted Arc: When M.O.D.O.K. took control of the group at the end of the first season, it seemed the Cabal would remain major antagonists in the second season. It's gradually and casually revealed that the Cabal disbanded off-screen, almost as an afterthought.
- Arc Villain: For the first season. Beneath the Surface reveals that the Cabal fell apart after Skull's defeat. After this, they each appear separately, only making occasional contact with one another.
- Avengers Assemble: They have their own counterpart to the classic Avengers battlecry. It's basically a shortened version of Professor Charles Xavier's old "To me, my X-men!" line.Red Skull: "Cabal! To me!"
- The Bad Guy Wins: They got better and better at this as the first season went on. Their biggest victory was taking the Tesseract.
- Big Bad: They're the primary villains of the first season, at least until Thanos shows up.
- Big Bad Ensemble: They're in direct competition with Doom during the first season.
- Breaking the Fellowship: The group disbanded sometime after Skull's defeat. HYDRA was still allies with Attuma and his followers for a little while longer.
- Enemy Mine: None of them really like each other, but Skull has managed to convince them to trust each other enough to form a competent team. In the first season finale, they banded together with the Avengers to defeat the Cosmic Skull.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Their numbers are made up of vampires, Atlanteans, Nazi's, giant floating heads stuck in a chair, aliens, and androids. Safe to say no one is getting turned away because things like race or gender anytime soon.
- Evil Versus Evil: Not just against Doom but practically every other villain who is not among their number.
- Know When to Fold Them: The group knows when to leave the fight for another day.
- Large Ham: All of them to one degree or another, bar Hyperion.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Despite a less than auspicious start, their numbers swelled and their powers extended from just science to the supernatural and undead as well. The Avengers realize they've underestimated how powerful the Cabal really is during an infiltration early into the season, while Doom realizes it later, openly asking the United Nations to stand with him against the Cabal to defend Latveria.
- The Psycho Rangers: The team in general is an Evil Counterpart to the Avengers, but to get more specific:
- Red Skull to Iron Man - the leaders of their teams, who tend to lose their heads when they gain the upper hand. Skull when in smart mode is also one for Cap, since they're both highly intelligent, pragmatic leaders.
- Dracula to Thor - Both are the supernatural powerhouses of their respective teams.
- Attuma to Hulk - The Blood Knight's and heavy-hitters of their team.
- MODOK also counts as Tony's Evil Counterpart, given his intelligence and often blinding ego. It only gets reinforced when at the end of the season, MODOK becomes the leader of the Cabal.
- Hyperion to Hawkeye - Both being incredibly immature and lacking common sense the majority of the time.
- The Adaptoid to Falcon - Both are the teams' main air support, and Falcon tends to go with the flow, much like the Adaptoid, albeit in a much less literal sense.
- Took a Level in Badass: They went from Skull and MODOK in a Big Bad Duumvirate to a powerhouse of a league of evil.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Averted during their biggest victory; when they get their hands on the Tesseract, the entire group smartly weighs their options and ultimately come to a practical decision on what to do with it.
M.O.D.O.K.
M.O.D.O.K.
Voiced by: Charlie Adler
Weapons designer for HYDRA, their resident Mad Scientist and right hand man to the Skull.
- Adaptational Badass: M.O.D.O.K.'s shown to be more powerful than he usually is in other media. He took down Iron Man quickly, took out the Avengers' jet and came within a hair's breadth of having them kill each other. Then comes By the Numbers and he kicks Thor's ass.
- Bald of Evil: Unlike his comics counterpart, this MODOK has no hair.
- Beam Spam: He has particle beam cannons built into his hover-chair.
- Big Bad Ensemble: He's retaken leadership of AIM in season two after the Cabal's dissolution.
- The Brute: When piloting the Adaptoid. The Avengers even call him out on trading brains for brawn.
- Chekhov's Skill: His ability to disassemble Tony's Iron Man armor comes in handy during the finale where he pulls the same trick on the Cosmic Skull's suit.
- Composite Character: He has more in common with the movie version of Arnim Zola than with the comic version of MODOK.
- Since he started using the Super-Adaptoid as his personal avatar the resemblance to Arnim Zola has become even more pronounced.
- Cephalothorax: He's mostly a head with tiny arms and legs.
- Chewing the Scenery: When he enters the fight for Molecule Kid's wand, he starts hamming it up with gusto.
- The Cracker: He hacks Stark's computer systems in Bring on the Bad Guys.
- The Dragon: Serves as this to Red Skull, having the most authority in the Cabal under him, and was his first subordinate. Skull even acknowledges him as his most loyal follower in Exodus.
- Dragon Ascendant: Briefly becomes leader of the Cabal after Skull's defeat, but the organization disbands not long afterward. He becomes an effective threat on his own though, stealing the mind stone and thinking he can do better than Red Skull.
- Disability Superpower: The process that gave him his super-intelligence, technopath powers, and his freakishly huge head left him confined to a high-tech hoverchair.
- Driven by Envy: He wants to outdo Tony Stark and he is pretty resentful of the fact that Red Skull is leading AIM and HYDRA and not him. He is still quite envious of Red Skull in Head to Head.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: One of MODOK's strongest character traits is that he craves respect and recognition for what he does. He has an almost heartwarming smile when he's praised by Skull during "Bring on the Bad Guys", and is giddy when Skull thanks him for being his most loyal follower. Which legitimately hurts MODOK when Skull is revealed to have planned to execute him and the Cabal, deeming them no longer of use. Determined to get revenge, he almost immediately allies with the Avengers to take down Skull, and honestly thanks them for their help by saving the fight for another day. When he next appears, he's still harping about Skull, proving just how badly Skull wounded him.
- Enemy Mine: Leads the Cabal into battle alongside the Avengers against the Cosmic Skull.
- Energy Absorption: One of his abilities, as Thor found out when he tried to fire some lightning at him in By The Numbers.
- Et Tu, Brute?: He is completely outraged by Skull's betrayal of the Cabal, and by far carries the biggest grudge against him in The Final Showdown.
- Evil Counterpart: To Tony. Especially evident in The Final Showdown when not only is he able to figure out a way to help defeat Skull, he becomes the new leader of the Cabal.
- Evil Genius: He's a cunning tech wizard but has no conventional combat prowess. He operates as a Flunky Boss most of the time.
- Evil Cripple: He is confined to what is pretty much a high-tech wheelchair.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He's the least popular member of the Cabal.
- Hate Plague: He uses nanobots to unleash one on the Avengers.
- Insufferable Genius: MODOK has an ego even bigger than Tony Stark, no mean feat there, and little impulse control. He also bitter about the fact that the Skull is in charge and views MODOK as little more than a technical adviser and supply officer.
- It's Personal: Well into the second season, he's still hurt by Skull's betrayal.
- Kick the Dog: He uses the Adaptoid to knock some fighter planes out of the sky. His next course of action? Take aim at the helpless pilots who ejected themselves in the nick of time.
- Mad Scientist: He's responsible for HYDRA's tech base.
- Man of Kryptonite: His technopathic abilities make him a dangerous enemy to Tony, since his suit and most of the Avengers' tech is vulnerable to his powers.MODOK: I thought you understood what a technopath does to machines, Stark? Anything I want.
- My Brain Is Big: So big that he can't use his arms and legs.
- No-Respect Guy:
- Save Skull, the Cabal doesn't think much of him.
- Appears to have finally gotten some respect from the others during The Final Showdown, after his quick thinking and intellect helped engineer Cosmic Skull's defeat. The others don't object (at least for now) when he takes leadership of the Cabal.
- Pet the Dog: When the alliance between the Cabal and the Avengers has success
- Pragmatic Villainy: When things get bad in The Final Showdown, he's the first to seriously consider allying with the Avengers, even saving them from certain death.
- Psychic Powers: With an emphasis on controlling, augmenting and dismantling tech.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Small, beady little ones too.
- Technopath: He can control any type of machinery with his mind.
- What the Hell, Hero?: he of all people wonders why the Avengers would go out of their way to protect Doom from the Cabal.
- When He Smiles: Believe it or not, he has an honest, sincere smile that lights up his malformed face when he's being praised by Skull during "Bring On The Bad Guys".
Dracula
Dracula
Voiced by: Corey Burton
The King of the Vampire Nation, Dracula is hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. He fought with Captain America against HYDRA and the Skull during World War II when they invaded his kingdom, but that alliance was only temporary, and now he seeks Cap's blood as he believes it will make him immune to sunlight.
- Assimilation Backfire: Dracula initially seems to have the advantage after draining the Hulk’s blood, since not only does it turn the Hulk into a vampiric slave, but also gives him the Hulk’s power. However, it turns out the Gamma-radiated blood is similar enough to sunlight that it starts burning Dracula from the inside, and also allows the Hulk to purge himself of the vampiric infection by getting angry enough. By the end of the episode, Dracula is forced to retreat and hook himself onto a machine to remove the Gamma-radiated blood from his body.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Hasn't been seen since the season one finale (save for briefly being seen as a holographic target in "Crack in the System"). He eventually reappears in Season 4's Halloween Episode.
- Casting Gag: Corey Burton uses his Christopher Lee impersonation (albeit with less of the British dialect Lee has) when voicing Dracula; fitting, since Lee is famous for his portrayal of Dracula.
- Composite Character: He has much more in common with Baron Blood, particularly his World War II background and his connection to Captain America.
- Dark Is Evil
- Deadpan Snarker: Gets in a good one on both MODOK and Attuma at dinnertime.(after witnessing Attuma's lack of table manners)
Dracula: The repugnant one does have a point. They're called "utensils", try one! - Enemy Mine: With Captain America by the past, and later with Skull. And with the rest of the Cabal, pulls this with the Avengers against Cosmic Skull.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He's quite confused when Captain America pushes him out of the way of a Cosmic Unibeam, mostly because he's spent a good deal of the season trying to suck his blood and turn him into an inhuman thrall.
- Evil Counterpart: To Thor since he is the supernatural powerhouse of the Cabal. When there is a battle, Thor and Dracula usually face off.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Already in effect thanks to Corey Burton, but he's given a chilling echo that helps the effect out.
- Faux Affably Evil: Being Dracula he can put on an affable facade when he needs to charm someone when he’s not a snarling beast desperate to get his fix of blood.
- Fangs Are Evil: He is Dracula, after all.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He thought drinking the Hulk's blood would make him more powerful. However, the Gamma radiation didn't agree with him.
- Insistent Terminology: Prefers to be called King Dracula and not Count Dracula.
- Knight of Cerebus: The other villains want to kill the Avengers and people. Dracula wants to drain their blood and life-force and convert them into his immortal minions. Being the king of vampires, he brings an aura of menace and horror just whenever he even speaks.Cap: Being right all the time really bites.
Dracula: Clever choice of words... meat. - Only Sane Man: Shares this role with Skull in the Cabal, compared to zealous Blood Knights Attuma and Hyperion, and the egotistical MODOK who gets easily carried away by his ego.
- Public Domain Character: Though not unfamiliar in Marvel territory.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Again this is Dracula we’re talking about. In his first appearance, he was willing to trade Black Widow for Captain America. Though this may have been subverted or even played with as Hawkeye took the shoot first, barter later approach so we’d never know if Dracula would have kept his word on the matter.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Swords and daggers created from his supernatural fog.
- The Starscream: Stated he only teamed up with Red Skull to take his power for himself, though in later episodes he's accepted Skull's leadership.
- Super Smoke: Has this standard vampiric power, along with other forms of smoke manipulation (like creating a bank of fog or pulling weapons out of the smoke). He usually transforms into green fog himself to escape a blow or just make a villainous exit.
- Underestimating Badassery: When he and his army want to kill a Hydra scientist and Hawkeye gets in their way, he dismisses the latter. Hawkeye then successfully spends the rest of the night planning and improvising to slim down Dracula's hordes, and buy time for the sun to rise.
- Villain Respect: Hardly be Dracula without it. Played With in “Why I Hate Halloween”, when it looked as though Hawkeye bombed himself and Whitney Frost, he stared giving praise for showing such steel, until he saw the escape door.
- Villain Teleportation: Perhaps Dracula's most dangerous trait is that he is infamously hard to even hit.
- Villainous Valor: On Battleworld he personally steps out into the sunlight, protected by the Venom symbiote, to face Black Panther one on one.
- Weakened by the Light: He can handle regular light just fine. Anything higher than sunlight and ultraviolet he can't handle.
- Wicked Cultured: The man may bite necks to feed himself on occasion, but that doesn't mean he (or anyone in the Cabal for that matter) approves of Attuma's abysmal table manners.
- Worthy Opponent: He seems to have an obsession with kicking Thor's ass. He also has it in for Captain America.
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Threatens to eat, destroy, steal, etc., people's souls when they piss him off. He even used this line against Red Skull, who is less than intimidated.
Super-Adaptoid
Super-Adaptoid
- All Your Powers Combined: He copies and adapts to his opponents powers. This led him to have all the Avengers powersets.
- The Brute: Of the Cabal, whenever MODOK controls him.
- The Dragon: Used to be this to Justin Hammer.
- Expy: Whenever someone uses its hologram projector to put their face on its torso, the Adaptoid bears a passing resemblance to the robotic bodies of Captain America foe Arnim Zola.
- Killed Off for Real: Thor beheads it in Exodus and by the look of horror on his face, MODOK has lost his strongest asset. But returns in Avengers Disassembled only to destroyed Ultron's AI escaped.
- Logical Weakness: While the Adaptoid is a wonder of nano-technology with the ability to change and adapt over time, it has a few weaknesses that are the result of both mechanical limitations and design limitations.
- The Adaptoid is a machine and a marvel of science HOWEVER this means that it cannot copy powers or abilities that are unnatural, necessarily biologically based, or super-natural. Basically, if the ability can't be replicated by science, like using magic or relies on an emotional/psychological component, then the Adaptoid can't replicate the ability.
- While the Adaptoid has advanced A.I. and can duplicate the movements, techniques and strategies of its opponents, it wasn't designed to actively anticipate scenarios not already observed and committed to memory. This means that while any tactic used on the Adaptoid will be less effective or ineffective if used again, the adaptoid is highly vulnerable to surprise attacks and unconventional strategies. Whether this was because it wasn't created to run hypothetical simulations or if creativity/imagination was simply beyond what could be reproduced in the Adaptoid is unclear.
- The Adaptoid grows and changes overtime but all of its abilities are gained by copying others which means the adaptoid copies the strengths and weaknesses of the ability set. While weaknesses in powers and abilities haven't been shown or exploited, it has been shown that it copies the movements, tells, and bad habits of those it observes. At one point, Captain America was able to stay ahead of the adaptoid because it moved the same way his teammates moved and Cap knew those movements inside and out.
- The Adaptoid is a machine and thus has limits. While it might be able to replicate an ability, that doesn't mean it can match the power-level of the being it copies. A good example is that while the Adaptoid can copy and match a calm Hulk's strength, it couldn't increase it's power like the Hulk and couldn't match the Hulk's upper limits of power.
- Mega Manning: A straight up example. The Adaptoid can scan, analyse, and replicate any ability it sees provided that the ability can be replicated by science and technology. This means it can't replicate unnatural (reality warping) or super-natural (magic) abilities.
Attuma
Attuma
Voiced by: Dwight Schultz (Seasons 1-2), Dan Donohue (Black Panther's Quest)
A psychotic Atlantean warlord, determined to bring all of Manhattan under the sea.
- Adaptational Badass: The comic book version of Attuma is a legitimate powerhouse in his own right, but this version is on a whole other level since he's the Hulk's equal and no longer loses strength when out of the water.
- Apparently Human Merfolk: Borderline example, if it wasn't for his skin-color he would look like an ordinary man in a suit of armor.
- Art Evolution: He's given a complete redesign for the Black Panther's Quest season.
- Bald of Evil: Turns out that big helmet is covering a bald head.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Is one of the show's recurring Big Bads after the Cabal's dissolution, though nowhere near as prominent as the Squadron Supreme or Thanos. He's later arrested after his first appearance since the fall of the Cabal.
- Bling of War: He wears what looks like gold plate-mail.
- Blood Knight: He's aggressive, has a short temper and loves a good fight.
- The Brute: Of the Cabal. He's got a bad temper, is strong enough to take on the Hulk, and is extremely arrogant.
- The Bus Came Back: After making only one appearance in season 2, he suffers a long absence from the series. He makes a reappearance in "Black Panther's Quest", in which by that point, Atlantis and the surface have signed a treaty.
- The Caligula: He's unsurprisingly a dictator ruling Atlantis as a tyrant, contending with a rebel cell.
- Composite Character / Expy: His characterization in Season 5 is reminiscent of Namor, who is both the traditional ruler of Atlantis and Black Panther's rival. His new design even includes a black ponytail, much like the one sported by Namor in The '90s.
- Defector from Decadence: The Cabal fell apart after the first season, and Attuma is explicitly mentioned to have left the group on his own terms.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He is genuinely terrified when Tony and Cap destroy Neptune's Trident.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Rightfully berates his teammates for entertaining the idea of killing the Avengers BEFORE taking their revenge on the Cosmic Skull.
- Evil Counterpart: He's the Cabal's answer to the Hulk.
- Fish People: A blue-skinned humanoid who can breathe underwater. Though this is downplayed compared to most other Atlanteans, who look more like humanoid fish.
- Four Is Death: He's #4 on SHIELD's Most Wanted List.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: One must wonder what his motives for flooding the planet were. It's shown he's not too intelligent, so he probably had no greater plans than destruction.
- Heel–Face Turn: By the time of season 5. He has opened up diplomatic relations between Atlantis and the surface nations, and no longer seems interested in conquest. However, it's shown not to be an easy process; relations between him and Black Panther were tense until they patched things up in "King Breaker, Part 2", and then he gets killed in the end.
- Killed Off for Real: He gets killed by Killmonger in "King Breaker, Part 2", causing his daughter Elanna to become queen of Atlantis and seek revenge.
- Lightning Bruiser: Even on land, he is an incredibly agile opponent.
- Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes are solid white.
- Not as You Know Them: When he returns in season 5, he has a new character design, a new voice actor, and is no longer out to conquer the surface world.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Had Attuma succeeded in defeating the Avengers, he would've likely flooded the planet.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Though it takes some convincing, and as murderous and brutish as he is, he ends up perfectly willing to aid the Avengers to defeat the Cosmic Skull.
- Progressively Prettier: He's depicted as a hulking, baldheaded brute in the first few seasons, but his Season 5 redesign makes him slimmer and younger-looking, and gives him a full head of hair to boot.
- Redemption Equals Death: He finally makes an honest effort to put his differences aside with Black Panther and for them to work together to save everyone, and just as he's ready to make peace between his people and Wakanda official, he's killed by his own trident by Killmonger.
- Smug Super: Everyone on the Cabal is this, but he's certainly the loudest in declaring his supposed superiority to everyone.
- Super-Strength: He kicked the Hulk's ass once. Not exactly a person to be taken lightly.
- Slasher Smile: Gives one that's ear-to-ear in Exodus upon hearing that Skull has hand-picked an ocean world for him to conquer.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: So long as there's water around, he's practically unbeatable.
- Ungrateful Bastard: In Season 5, after Black Panther did everything he could to unmask the Shadow Council to prove Attuma wrong about him breaking their agreement, how does Attuma repay him? Banning him from Atlantis with the threat of war if he's seen again.
- Worthy Opponent: Considers his rivalry with the Hulk to be "glorious".
- You Don't Look Like You: In season 5 he's given a redesign with the rest of the Atlanteans and looks more fishlike rather than a merely blue skinned human.
Hyperion
Hyperion
Voiced by: Brian Bloom
An alien protector from a destroyed planet. Though he arrives on Earth promising peace, it doesn't take long for his true colors (Smugness, violence, superiority) to surface and make him a threat.- Adaptational Villainy: He gained the villainy of King Hyperion, his Mirror Universe counterpart from Exiles. As such, he's depicted as a sociopathic Knight Templar who is revealed to have destroyed his own planet when they wouldn't submit to his rule.
- Attention Whore: He laps up the attention he gets. Any and all. Unlike Nighthawk who insists that they be feared, Hyperion wants a world where everyone admires them no matter how brutal their methods are.
- Ax-Crazy: Unlike other members of his true team, the Squadron Supreme, Hyperion is a barely-contained mass of psychotic fury who can and will kill anyone for anything that he deems "corrupt" or "chaotic".
- Badass Cape: A nice over-the-shoulder version, a la Shazam!. Later steals Thor's, because he thinks it's cool looking. Thor takes it back by force.
- Beware the Superman: As the Avengers and Earth quickly learn.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Especially when he's playing the part of hero.
- Blood Knight: Is he ever. In The Final Showdown, he's the least willing to ally with the Avengers against the Cosmic Skull, preferring instead to take every opportunity to attack them.
- The Cameo: He is briefly seen in "Prison Break", fruitlessly attempting to punch his way out of his cell.
- Casting Gag: Brian Bloom voices Hyperion, a corrupt Captain Ersatz of Superman, just like in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.note
- Combat Pragmatist: Unable to simply overpower the Hulk, he decides to impair his fighting ability by wounding one of his arms with his heat vision and then punching the injury really, really hard.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: This guy seriously injured the Hulk. Think about that.
- The Dragon: To Nighthawk among the Squadron Supreme.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: He and Nighthawk blew up their own planet out of spite when it refused their rule. When their plans to rule the Earth are foiled one too many times, they attempt the same on the Earth.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Heavily subverted in regards to the two scenes where he seems to show standards:
- First, while he proclaims Red Skull to be a "villain" for attempting to wipe out his entire army for kicks, Hyperion himself regularly attempts mass murder, and has no problem killing his own teammates when the need arises.
- Second, he wouldn't sell out the rest of Squadron Supreme when captured, something that legitimately surprises Iron Man and Captain America. However it is later shown that not only was Hyperion simply stalling for time until his partner released him, but, as mentioned above, he also has no problem leaving the rest of the Squadron, bar Nighthawk, to die when he tries to blow up the Earth.
- Evil Redhead: He has ginger (red) hair and is an outright bad guy.
- Expy: Of Superman. his voice actor even voiced Superman's Mirror Universe counterpart, Ultraman, before.
- Likewise Hyperion's actions and personality brings parallels to Drawn Together's expy of Superman, Captain Hero, albeit NOT played for laughs.
- Eye Scream: while charging up his Eye Beams, Captain America shoved his shield against Hyperion's face, causing a point-blank misfire.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's charming right up until someone defies him.
- Flying Brick: He is an evil version of Superman, what else did you expect him to be?
- Friend to All Children: As much as he has no problem harming children, he really knows how to relate to them. In an alternate reality, he goes out of his way to compliment a little girl's dog.
- Human Alien: he looks human, but most definitely is not from Earth.
- Knight of Cerebus: Well, he did blow up his home planet when the people didn't submit to his rule and has no problems with attacking children, which is pretty dark, to say the least. He has a grand total of one humorous moment note in the show, otherwise, he's a vicious, spiteful and cruel monster.
- Knight Templar: Thinks he's a hero combating the forces of evil. But if you oppose him or even disagree with his methods, he views you as part of the problem. However, said opposition and disagreement is just an excuse for him to seek more power over others.
- Logical Weakness: As an Expy of Superman, he also draws power from Earth's yellow sun. But a blue sun, on the other hand...
- Might Makes Right: He's stronger than everyone else, and he expects them to line up and obey him.
- Moral Myopia: Hyperion thinks committing mass murder is justified because he's doing so to force cooperation and obedience, while he doesn't like it if other villains like Red Skull do it for it's own sake.
- Mythology Gag: His antagonism towards Thor and his rescue from SHIELD by the Cabal darkly mirrors his friendship with the God of Thunder and liberation from the clutches of AIM in Jonathan Hickman's Avengers run.
- Named by the Adaptation: Downplayed. While Hyperion is known as "Marcus Milton" in the comics, his true name before he came to Earth has never been revealed in the comics. Here, it's Zhib-Ran.
- Never My Fault: Claims his people simply "Didn't deserve" him, and that justifies his annihilation of them.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: At first, Hyperion claims that his extreme methods are a necessity to deter crime and promote everyone's safety in exchange for their obedience, but he later reveals that he was only a part of Nighthawk's plan for taking over the Earth just because of his desire for power.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He makes a perfectly logical point when he pressures Skull to kill the Avengers, as they are "beaten, not broken."
- Psychopathic Manchild: He throws tantrums whenever he doesn't get his way, screams for attention, and can be viciously selfish and ungrateful. He craves attention like a child craves sweets, best seen in the alternate reality created by the Squadron Supreme, when he looks perfectly happy being adored by civilians, even children.
- Rage Quit: So the people of his home planet rejected him and rose up against his and the rest of the Squadron Supreme's totalitarian rule. His response? Blow up his homeworld alongside Nighthawk and start looking for a new planet where the Squadron could establish themselves as the top dogs.
- Superpower Lottery: Flight, heat vision, nigh invulnerability, super-hearing, etc.... Basically, all of Superman's abilities.
- Super-Senses: He has them and Doom uses the fact that he has super-hearing against him by cranking his translator's volume up to the maximum and yelling at him, giving him temporary hearing loss.
- Totalitarian Utilitarian: He wants to eliminate crime and make peoples' lives better. It's just that his idea of saving people is actually enslaving them and forcing them to worship him.
- Villainous Breakdown: Has many of these, with perhaps the most memorable being his first, which occurs when Iron Man calls him out as the villain he is for enslaving and eventually destroying his home planet.
- Vigilante Man: Hyperion is bent on enforcing the law onto all villains and criminals. However, he believes himself to be the Judge, Jury, and Executioner of anyone who disagrees with him or his ideals.
- Villain Team-Up: He gets busted out of prison by the Cabal and joins their ranks in Bring on the Bad Guys. After Skull's betrayal, he decides to go back to the Squadron Supreme.
- With Us or Against Us: There are two options in his mind: Bow before him and accept his idea of peace, or resist him, and bring your fate (Specifically death) upon yourself.
- Would Hurt a Child: He's got no problem with harming children.
The Second Cabal
The Leader
The Leader
Voiced by: James Arnold Taylor
A Gamma-infused mastermind who was a long time enemy of the Hulk.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Carrying on from Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., Leader can't seem to get there no matter how hard he tries, and gets usurped every time.
- Took a Level in Badass: Leader has come a long way from the Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain he was in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.. In his appearances here, he is more of a credible challenge to the Avengers.
Loki
Loki
Voiced by: Troy Baker, Vanessa Marshall
Thor's brother and the God of Mischief and Evil.
- Actor Allusion: Again, Troy Baker's is voicing a British-accented-villain in a Man of Action TV show.
- Alas, Poor Villain: His final moments are presented in a horrific light, with Thor unable to watch as his brother gets consumed by the All Dark. It's even more tragic considering that throughout the season, Loki had displayed potential to be a genuine hero, only for his lust for power to get the better of him and was what ended up causing his downfall.
- Cain and Abel: The Cain to Thor's Abel.
- Card-Carrying Villain: "By Odin's beard, I am evil!" Can't exactly call yourself God of Evil otherwise.
- Cool Helmet: Like his MCU counterpart.
- Composite Character: He's a mix between his pre-2010s comic and MCU counterparts, being a straight-up villain like the former while having the latter's appearance and trollish personality.
- Deadpan Snarker: Everything he says just drips with sarcasm from the moment we see him.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Thor warned him not to tinker with the All-Dark. Loki's actions nearly result in the destruction of everything.
- Enemy Mine:
- Thor brings him in to help defeat the Destroyer controlled by Doctor Doom, only for Loki to betray the Avengers and try and take the armor for himself once Doom surrenders control of it.
- He teams up with the Avengers during season 4. Just guess what Loki does the minute the Beyonder is defeated.
- Exact Words: He is genuinely sincere when he says he wants to help the Avengers stop the Beyonder and save Asgard. ... didn't say anything about what he planned to do afterwards.
- I Reject Your Reality: When the Eye of Agamotto shows him the consequences for his act, he goes on a screaming rant about how he's been tricked by everyone, rather than just admit he done screwed up royal.
- It's All About Me: "For myself!"
- The Man Behind the Man: He's the second Cabal's true mastermind, not the Leader.
- Omnicidal Maniac: By the end of season 4 he's so hell-bent on killing Thor he nearly destroys the entire universe, refusing to believe Thor's warnings and figuring even if it's true he'll survive somehow.
- Physical God: As per usual for Asgardians.
- Redemption Rejection: After helping the Avengers stop the Beyonder, Loki was given a chance to start anew as a hero, only for him to reject it and try to conquer the universe with his newfound powers.
- Shout-Out: Going with the show's heavily movie-inspired approach, this version is an almost complete copy of the MCU version. His first appearance is giving the same Kubrick Stare, and he's in the same pose as well.
- Smug Snake: While he's competent, he still looks down on the Avengers despite past events and is prone making the same mistakes.
- The Trickster: Well duh, he's the trickster god.
- True Final Boss: For season 4. Once the Beyonder's taken down, the Avengers have to deal with him.
- Truer to the Text: While he mainly takes his appearance and personality from his MCU counterpart until Season 4, he is more like his original comic counterpart in that he's a straight-up villain.
- Uncertain Doom: While he's consumed by the All Dark at the end of Secret Wars, its unknown whether it killed him or trapped him in an And I Must Scream situation. Either way, it was certainly an unpleasant way to go.
- Villainous Breakdown: Gets one at the end of Avengers: Secret Wars.
Kang the Conqueror
Kang the Conqueror
Voiced by: Steve Blum
The despotic ruler of Earth in the far future. His attention is drawn to the present after AIM uses a time portal to steal his tech.
- Conqueror from the Future: Pretty much the Trope Namer.
- Deal with the Devil: He dragged Falcon into the future to help him fix up a Negative Space Wedgie which Kang had caused. Once they're done, he reveals it was so he could weaponize it.
- Expressive Mask: One that perfectly matches the movements of his face.
- Make an Example of Them: Rather than simply destroying the Avengers when they are stuck in his time, he decides to have them on the run for a while, so as to demoralize the rebels.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: His typical reaction to Captain America's Kirk Summations.Captain America: You're just like HYDRA. And they were just like all the tyrants before them. They always fall.Kang: Not the empire of Kang!
- Smug Super: He considers the Avengers "primitives" compared to him.
- Trapped in the Past: Captain America leaves him stranded in the Jurassic era. Since he's practically immortal, it doesn't matter to him. By Season 4, he's back in the present. Either he managed to wait it out, or someone pulled him to the present.
- The Unreveal: Never seen fully unmasked, though season 4 has a brief glimpse of the underside of his mask when a future Red Hulk breaks part of it, revealing he's going grey and has a beard under there.
Arnim Zola
Arnim Zola
Voiced by: Mark Hamill
Hydra scientist from WWII who has transferred his mind into a machine.
- Back from the Dead: He was destroyed in Ultimate Spider-Man, but he was revived and repaired by the time of Secret Wars.
- Mad Scientist: He and Heinrich Zemo were Hydra's top scientists.
- Man Behind the Man: Not in a leadership sense, but his research was pivotal when Red Skull and Heinrich Zemo experimented on Bucky Barnes, turning him into the Winter Soldier. His research was also used by Baron Strucker to revive his own Black Widow Program.
- Technopath: Is able to control technology freely.
- Unexplained Recovery: In the "Spider-Slayers" arc of Ultimate Spider-Man, Spider-Man threw him in the ocean, but it hasn't been explained how his consciousness was recovered and how he acquired a new body.
The Enchantress
The Enchantress
Voiced by: Fryda Wolff
An Asgardian sorceress
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Her make-up is impeccable even when in a fight
- Charm Person: She bewitches Thor and makes him her bodyguard.
- Hot Witch: A magic user and a beauty.
- Ice Palace: Creates one on a comet.
- It's All About Me: Reappears on Battleworld looking for the Bifrost, simply so she can use it to get out. When the Avengers come looking for it, she tries to kill them, just so she doesn't have to wait to use it.
- Killed Off for Real: Completely disintegrated by the sabotaged Bifrost.
- Lady of Black Magic: A villainous sorceress who can even use her magic to have lava and ice exist on a comet hurtling through space exist at the same time.
- Ms. Fanservice: She, less so than her other versions, but she still has one of the most revealing outfits of the female cast with a green leotard, thigh high boots, and long fingerless gloves.
- Reclining Reigner: How she greets the Marvels in "Under The Spell of the Enchantress." She's even using Mjolnir as a footrest.
- The Smurfette Principle: Only woman of the second Cabal, and just as evil as her cohorts.
- Snowlem: Creates some Version III's to fight Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel. And they like hugs too.
Skurge The Executioner
Skurge
Voiced by: Travis Willingham
An Asgardian hunter who serves the Enchantress
- Blood Knight: Enjoys hunting and battle.
- The Brute: The physical strength of the second Cabal.
- Egomaniac Hunter: Takes great pleasure in hunting the Hulk, and later Black Panther.
- Horse of a Different Color: He rides a giant, flying, wolf.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: Hunts the Hulk and Black Panther through the Asgardian wilderness.
- Ignored Enamored Underling: Towards the Enchantress.
- Magical Enhancement: The Enchantress gives him a stone on top of his axe that allows him to use magic.
- Magical Incantation: Uses one to turn Bruce Banner into the Hulk and vice versa
- Savage Wolves: Has the ability to summon a very large white one.
