Villainous Organizations
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Corporation
Corporation
A mysterious and powerful criminal organization centered in America that employs many supervillains. Though not as well-known as groups like HYDRA or AIM, it's proven to be a dangerous and recurring force that Captain America and company have faced many times. Known for disguising their supervillainy like your average big business.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Run by some execs and politicians of this type.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: They were introduced antagonizing Shang-Chi, but Cap has become their usual enemy over time.
- Villain Team-Up: They're known for forming these, which isn't surprising given how many supervillains they hire.
Cult of Knull
Cult of Knull
First Appearance: Venom Vol. 4 #8
A cult dedicated to the worship of the dark god Knull and his symbiotes, dating back to sixth-century Scandinavia.
- Apocalypse Cult: They are a cult dedicated to reviving the dark god Knull and facilitating the destruction of the cosmos.
- Path of Inspiration: Under the alias of the "Church of the New Darkness", the Cult of Knull established a temple and masqueraded as a legitimate religion.
- I Am a Humanitarian: The Old Norse and North American branches were cannibals who ate the victims they sacrificed to Knull.
- Religion of Evil: They worship the ancient god of darkness Knull and seek to facilitate his revival so that he can destroy the universe.
- The Symbiote: Old Norse stone carvings reveal that at least some of their members bonded to offshoots of the Grendel symbiote following its defeat by Thor.
Emissaries Of Evil
Emissaries Of Evil
The Emissaries Of Evil are a minor group of villains. There have been three incarnations and were opposed by both Daredevil, Alpha Flight, and the Defenders.
- Legion of Doom: The first incarnation was made up of Daredevil's lesser foes.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: The first incarnation fought Daredevil, the second fought the Flight while the third one fought the Defenders.
Enclave
Enclave
The Enclave is a small band of scientists who have dedicated themselves to using technology to create a benevolent world dictatorship under their rule. Their four main leaders are Carlos Zota, Maris Morlak, Wladyslav Shinski and Jerome Hamilton.
- Bald of Evil: Morlak, who has a Beard of Evil to boot.
- Best Served Cold: Hamilton dies knowing that while the Enclave will kill him, Carlos Zota will eventually be killed by himself thanks to time travel. He likes this.
- Captain Obvious: Shinski in their appearance in Marvel Team-Up. It annoys Morlak no end.
- Character Filibuster: Apparently Shinski had a habit of going on rants about how much the modern world was terrible, much to Morlak's exasperation.
- Comic-Book Time: Thanks to the retcons, they remain ageless, but broke off from mankind to try and create Adam a few years before "now".
- Composite Character: Marvel Comics #1000 reveals that Morlak, Hamilton and Zota were the Three Xs, a trio of one-off characters from the early days of Timely, as well as the gentlemen from the Scientist Guild Professor Horton showed the Human Torch to. Hamilton, meanwhile, is also Blind Justice, a vigilante Hawkeye tussled with during his LA days.
- Creating Life Is Bad: Hamilton began to feel this way about Him... and decided the best solution was kill Him before he was properly born.
- Dwindling Party: Between various screw-ups and disasters, by 2019 only Zota is alive. And even then, he eventually manages to do himself in, thanks to time travel.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Zota just never learns to stop tinkering with stuff. The whole of the 2021 Defenders is the un-team chasing him across time as he keeps screwing with various cosmic nasties. It eventually gets him killed... by himself.
- Evil Old Folks: All of them, though they look much younger than they are. Shinski was elderly by the time he joined up with them.
- Eye Scream: Hamilton was blinded as a result of Him's awakening.
- Famed In-Story: The four head members were so distinguished Alicia Masters had heard of them before their disappearance.
- Fan of the Past: Zota was a fan of the Wild West.
- Hero Killer: They might've killed the Dark Avenger. They also killed Blind Justice, who was once one of their own.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: From the massive pile of Kirbytech known as the Beehive in their first appearance, by their appearance in the 90s' Spider-Man Team-Up they're operating out of a converted dilapidated block in the Bronx, forced to scrounge up flunkies via mind-control. Shinski complains about that, too.
- I Control My Minions Through...: A promise of the slice of the pie when they inevitably take over the world, in their first appearance. Part of Morlak's panic about Him's turning on them was it would motivate the henchmen to turn on them as well. By their appearance in the 90s, it's by mind control.
- Long-Lived: They've been taking "longevity treatments", which is how three of them can still be around despite having been around in the 1930s.
- The Man Behind the Man: They might have had a hand in the creation of Adam-II, and his subsequent insanity.
- Motive Decay: Starting off with making a better world, after they got their hands on the Eternity Mask this devolved into taking over the world. Jerome Hamilton was the only one to notice or care.
- Multi National Team: The Enclave was founded by four scientists, each of whom had a different area of expertise. They were Maris Morlak, a Lithuanian nuclear physicist, Jerome Hamilton, an American medical biologist, Carlo Zota, a Spanish electronics technician, and Wladyslav Shinski, a Polish geneticist.
- No One Could Survive That!:
- Blind Justice's one and only encounter with Hawkeye ended with him plunging into a river. Once Hawkeye's back was turned, his hand popped out.
- At the end of Defenders, Zota is supposedly killed fighting the primordial cosmic evil Anti-All. However, the fact he'd just taken the Eternity Mask off his future self already showed he did, somehow, survive it.
- Not Me This Time: In an issue of Avengers, they're trying to fly a plane out of New York when it crashes into Jamaica Bay. As the Avengers clean up, they're attacked by a cocoon in the bay. When asked, Shinski explains it's nothing to do with them; their experiment was already destroyed in the crash.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Morlak and Shinksi talk about making the world a better place, but their behavior makes it clear benevolence isn't really their main drive, but rather supreme arrogance.
- Obliviously Evil: They just want to take over the world. What's so evil about that?
- Power Trio: As the Three Xs; Hamilton was the detective, Zota The Smart Guy, and Morlak the fighting expert.
- Rapid Aging: A favored method of killing for them, which helps hiding attempts to trace them.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: They started off bothering the Fantastic Four, but they've also tussled with Adam Warlock, Spider-Man, the Thunderbolts, and Golden Age hero the Thunderer (retroactively).
- Something We Forgot: When Him made his destructive exit from the Beehive, Hamilton was presumed dead. Actually, he'd just been blinded and buried by debris, along with the Eternity Mask.
- The Spock: Zota is more calmly logical than the others, and chides Morlak and Shinski for their pretty blatant egomaniacal power lust. Admittedly, he too wants to take over the world, but simply because he feels he's the logical choice for it.
- Taught by Experience: On the plus side, the debacle with Her taught them one thing; no more growing superhumans.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Happens to them an awful lot. First with Him, then Her. Proving they've learned nothing, the last time Zota was seen, he was tinkering with Korvak, a cosmically-powered being who can kill the Avengers with a wave of his hands. Surprise, he turned against Zota about the minute he woke up.
- Visionary Villain: Take over the world for the greater good. Also, inbetween, they've mucked around with trying to create the perfect human.
- We Used to Be Friends:
- With the Thunderer. However, he blamed them for Adam-II and the death of William Naslund, so he turned against them. They ended up killing him.
- Jerome Hamilton was left for dead and turned on the others by becoming Blind Justice.
- With Friends Like These...: By the time they created Adam, Morlak was pretty casual about just killing Hamilton for being too soft-hearted.
Femizons
Femizons
First Appearance: Savage Tales #1 (May, 1971) note ; Captain America #386 (June, 1991) note
In the alternate future of Earth-712, the Femizons are a group of Amazonian women led by Thundra. A second version would be formed on Earth-616 by Superia, a superpowered misandrist and the supposed ancestor of Thundra. Gathering a group of all-female supervillains, she would try and take over the world.
- Amazon Brigade: Superia's group of Femizons was this.
Femme Fatales
Femme Fatales
Alter Egos: Viper, Knockout, Bloodlust, Mindblast, Snake Whip, Sapphire Styx
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #340 (August, 1990)
- Amazon Brigade: They're an all-female mercenary group.
The Grapplers
The Grapplers
Alter Egos: Battleaxe, Letha, Poundcakes, Auntie Freeze, Cowgirl, Gladiatrix, Screaming Mimi (Melissa Gold), Screaming Mimi (Lanie), Sushi, Titania
First Appearance: Marvel Two-In-One #54 (August, 1979)
The Grapplers were a group of mostly female wrestlers, led by Auntie Freeze. The original group worked for Roxxon, and the second were a division of the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation.
- Amazon Brigade: They're all gals.
- C-List Fodder: Titania was killed by the Scourge of the Underworld.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: One issue of Captain America had a passing glimpse of Poundcakes trying to flatten another supervillain for hitting on her.
- One-Steve Limit: Their Titania isn't that other Titania, the one who regularly fights with She-Hulk.
- Spikes of Villainy: Poundcakes's outfit has spikes around her collarbone.
H.A.M.M.E.R.
H.A.M.M.E.R.
After the events of Secret Invasion, Norman Osborn disbanded S.H.I.E.L.D. and from the ashes, he founded H.A.M.M.E.R., a group built to cover Osborn's dirty schemes.
- Evil Counterpart: Serve as this for S.H.I.E.L.D. during the Dark Reign.
- Fun with Acronyms: According to Norman Osborn, he didn't apply an acronym to the name H.A.M.M.E.R. He assigned his assistant Victoria Hand the task of defining what H.A.M.M.E.R. actually stood for, although it has never been revealed what the real name of the organization is.
Headmen
Headmen
Alter Egos: Arthur Nagan, Jerry Morgan, Chondu, Ruby Thursday
First Appearance: The Defenders #21
Most likely one of the strangest groups in the Marvel Universe. Consisting of deranged scientists, they're bent on revenge against the world for making them outcasts. Each of them has a strange feature with their heads.
- Beast with a Human Face: Arthur Nagan has a human head, but the body of a gorilla from the neck down.
- The Blank: Ruby Thursday has a shape-shifting blob of red plastic for a head; its resting state is a featureless sphere. The closest she ever gets to having a face is a pair of glowing "eye" dots that only appear when she needs to indicate which direction she's looking.
- The Bus Came Back: With the exception of Ruby Thursday, each member of the Headmen first appeared in stories from Marvel's pre-superhero era anthology comics.
- Face–Heel Turn: In his debut, Chondu was a mystic who used his power to purge a criminal of his evil thoughts.
- Fan Disservice: Ruby Thursday's body is quite shapely, and her usual outfit features a Navel-Deep Neckline... but her head is a featureless red orb with glowing spots for "eyes".
- Gang of Hats: As signified by their name, they have a loose theme of having heads incongruous to their bodies.
- Head Blast: Ruby Thursday had her head replaced with a red mass of "organic circuitry". The spherical mass can alter its shape so she can form tentacles or fire projectiles and energy blasts. She can also cause her head to explode and reform; she once generates an explosion so powerful that it knocks out The Incredible Hulk.
- Karmic Transformation: Arthur Nagan used to traffic the organs of gorillas to use for human organ transplants, until the gorillas turned on him and grafted his head onto the body of a gorilla.
- Non-Human Head: Ruby Thursday replaced her head with a featureless sphere of red plastic that can change shape.
- Noodle Incident: It's never explained how Jerry Morgan became Shrunken Bones, nor how Chondu fell in with the Headmen.
- Theme Naming: The group's name comes from all of them having something unusual about their heads:
- Arthur Nagan had his head removed and attached to the body of a gorilla.
- Ruby Thursday's head is a plasticine computer.
- Chondu's head has been attached to multiple different bodies, including a clone of She-Hulk.
- Jerry Morgan's skeleton and organs were shrunk inside his body. This left his head looking grotesquely saggy and deflated.
- Wetware Body: Ruby Thursday has a malleable plastic computer replacing her head.
The Jury
The Jury
AKA: Orwell Taylor, Edwin Cord, Bomblast (Kenneth Parmenter), Firearm, Ramshot (Samuel Caulkin), Sentry (Curtis Elkins), Wysper (Jennifer Stewart), Screech (Maxwell Taylor)
Debut: Venom: Lethal Protector #2
- Orwell Taylor: I had a son—Hugh. Fresh out of the army, he became a guard at the federal prison called the Vault. He was the first man you killed when you escaped from that institution.Venom: We... we didn't want to hurt anyone...!Orwell Taylor: And that makes it all right?! You murdered my son! That's why I put together the Jury! These warriors—including the ex-Guardsman who holds you helpless—we're Hugh's friends in the military. But now they're sole purpose, like my own—is killing you!
During one of his escapes from the Vault, Venom murdered a guard named Hugh Taylor, having deemed the man "acceptable collateral." Hugh's grief-stricken father, General Orwell Taylor, proceeded to use his connections and resources to equip Hugh's brother and several of his comrades with enhanced Guardsman armor so that they could make Venom pay.
- A Day in the Limelight: The Trial Run backup story from Sinner Takes All.
- Amoral Attorney: Maxwell Taylor became the group's defence attorney.
- Anti-Hero Team: They're a squad of over-glorified prison guards aiming to kill Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote.
- Atrocious Alias: Nobody takes "Screech" seriously.
- Crusading Widower: Wysper applied for the Jury after her prison guard husband was murdered by the second Tarantula during a riot at the Vault that was instigated by Venom.
- Demoted to Extra: Despite all of their set-up, they only appeared thrice in Eddie's series, and two of those appearances were just in backup stories that did not involve Venom at all.
- Hanging Judge: The role of the short-lived member "Gavel".
- Kangaroo Court: After apprehending their target they try, sentence, and execute them without any real intention of finding them innocent.
- Knight Templar: They aimed to "judge" Venom, Tarantula II, Spider-Man,note and Abe Jenkins using lethal force, and while they've reformatted to be more representative of an American court of law they still use lethal force.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: Sentry was the leader, so he got to have unique armor while the rest dressed nigh-identically.
- Man of Kryptonite: Their suits were designed with symbiote weaknesses in mind, which is reflected by most of their codenames (Bombblast, Wysper, Screech, Firearm).
- Motive Decay: General Taylor eventually put the whole "gotta avenge my dead son" thing on the backburner and started caring only about the money that he could make whoring the team out as Hired Guns.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Firearm's real name is unknown.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: Their backup story in Sinner Takes All was obviously setting up a Jury series that never materialized.
- Powered Armor: They all wear modified Guardsman armor, which itself was based on blueprints for Tony Stark's Iron Man armour.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: They were demoted to this status while working for the Life Foundation in The Arachnis Project.
- Revenge: Their goal is to avenge the comrades who were killed during one of Eddie Brock's escapes.
- The Smurfette Principle: Jennifer Stewart is the only female member.
- Villain Has a Point: During his first run-in with the gang, Venom begrudgingly admits that General Taylor has every right to hate and want him dead, so he spends most of their fight doing evasive maneuvers and defending himself, rather than actually fighting them. He at some point got over this, though, going out of his way to try and kill them in The Arachnis Project.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Screech (Max Taylor) was The Unfavorite whose life revolved almost entirely around appeasing General Taylor.
Legion of the Unliving
Legion of the Unliving
The Legion of the Unliving has had many incarnations over the years. The Legion members have often been dead heroes and villains and have primarily fought the Avengers. The current team are all vampires.
Life Foundation
Life Foundation
- Spider-Man: Oh, man! Five enemies with the power of Venom and Carnage? Maybe I should've stayed in New York...
The Life Foundation believed that the conclusion of the Cold War would bring about a nuclear holocaust that would result in the mutually assured destruction of modern civilization. To that end, they constructed a large fall-out shelter and provide a place for their wealthy clients to live comfortably. In order to protect their future Utopian society, they created five symbiotes (Scream, Agony, Lasher, Phage, and Riot) forcibly spawned from the Venom symbiote.
- Abandoned Warehouse: Their hideout in Separation Anxiety.
- Back from the Dead: The symbiotes were seemingly aged to dust and the hosts killed in an explosion, but they returned through unknown means.
- Fusion Dance: After their hosts were killed by Scream, the Agony, Lasher, Phage, and Riot symbiotes merged into Hybrid.
- Hired Guns: The hosts were mercenaries before being bonded to their symbiotes.
- Jagged Mouth: The exceptions being Lasher, who had No Mouth, and Riot, who had normal teeth instead that looked like an extension of his face.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: They're symbiotes, so this is a given.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Four of the five, though two of those had Jagged Mouths.
Maggia
Maggia
- Expy: They're commonly used as a stand-in for The Mafia, which also exists in the Marvel Universe.
- The Mafia: The Maggia is an international crime syndicate aping off the real-life Mafia, with two of its most famous members being Silvio "Silvermane" Manfredi — a cyborg Italian don, and Hammerhead — who styles himself off Al Capone and the Mafioso of the Prohibition Era.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: While they have opposed several street-level heroes like Spider-Man, they have also faced the Avengers and Defenders as well.
Mindless Ones
Mindless Ones
A monstrous race of mindless slaves from the Dread Dimensions.
Mutant Force
Mutant Force
- AKA: Burner (Byron Calley), Shocker (Randall Darby), Lifter (Ned Lathrop), Peeper (Peter Quinn), Slither (Aaron Solomon)Debut: Captain America Annual #4
Former members of Magneto's second incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Shocker, Burner, Lifter, Peeper and Slither reunited as the Mutant Force.
- De-power: With the exception of Slither, they all lost their powers during M-Day, but somehow regained them a few years afterwards.
- One-Steve Limit: Shocker shares codename with the better known Spider-Man foe Herman Schultz.
- Snake People: Slither looks like a humanoid snake.
- Unwitting Pawn: They were agents of the Red Skull, though most of them didn't actually know that.
Power Elite
Power Elite
The Power Elite was a secret trust of influence brokers formed after Hydra's takeover of the United States in response to the political climate of the country. Acting under the belief that America had become weak and plagued by parasites, the Power Elite intended to strengthen the country to mark a new beginning.
The Redeemers
The Redeemers
AKA: Doctor Shep Gunderson (Redeemer); Claude Cramer (General Wolfram); Jenni Pate (Eleven); Jonathan N. York (Doctor Everything); Mrs. Fluffy Lumpkins (Hippo); Richard Earle Amtower IV (Dementoid)
Debut: Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #1
"All right, people! Let's go save Spider-Man!"
A ragtag bunch of criminals and supervillains with one thing in common: a grudge against Mac Gargan for "amputating" one or more of their limbs. Gathered together by the Redeemer, they swore to bring the Sinister Spider-Man to justice.
- Absurd Phobia: Dementoid develops one towards buttocks and anuses after Gargan turns his rear end into a set of jaws and nearly eats him in reverse.
- An Arm and a Leg: With the exception of Doctor Everything, they all had a limb or two eaten by Venom.
- Affectionate Nickname: In his diary-style summary of the previous issue in Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-Man #3, Mac has heart-shaped cutouts with photos of the Redeemers on them and little captions, referring to Redeemer as "Nerd", Hippo as "Lunch", Eleven as "Dessert", Wolfram as "Midnight Snack", Dementoid as "Gassy", and Doctor Everything as "Naked. It's weird."
- Back from the Dead: Despite being eaten by Venom, Hippo later reappears to fight Spider-Man and Luke Cage.
- Breakout Villain: Hippo is apparently popular with someone, as he somehow recovered from being devoured by Mac, and went on to become a minor recurring villain for the real Spider-Man.
- Captain Ersatz: Doctor Everything is a blatant parody of Doctor Manhattan.
- Catchphrase: Hippo's is "Pachyderm Power!" ... which doesn't make any sense given that he's not an elephant.
- Censor Box: Doctor Everything's junk is obscured by a small black censor bar.
- Eaten Alive: Hippo and Eleven are eaten by Venom during their first showdown.
- Evil Old Folks: General Wolfram is a World War II veteran.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Doctor Everything remarks he has no need for clothes to Eleven when she complains about his nudity.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Hippo is an anthropomorphic hippo created by the High Evolutionary, and wears a pair of Hulk-sized green pants.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Their cybernetic limbs were rentals, and their plan was to threaten Venom with legal action and kill him if he refused their list of demands, which were fairly reasonable if absurdly naive. To say they failed miserably was an understatement.
- Nemean Skinning: Wolfram wears the skin of a wolf... with glowing red eyes.
- No-Sell: Venom is immune to Dementoid's insanity-inducing touch, and when Doctor Everything covers his mouth with a metal plate he tries to use his ass to eat people.
- Reality Warper: Doctor Everything can warp reality, although his use of this power is limited to comedic effect, such as conjuring a metal plate over Venom's mouth. He's even arrested.
- Save the Villain: The Redeemer's professed goal is to save "Spider-Man"... by killing him.
- Sinister Schnoz: Doctor Shep Gunderson's nose was enormous.
- Skull for a Head: The Redeemer's mask is intended to invoke this.
- Smurfette Principle: Eleven is the only girl on the team.
- Those Wacky Nazis: General Wolfram was a Nazi scientist during World War II.
- Time for Plan B: In the aftermath of their failed attempt to redeem or kill Mac, Dementoid and Wolfram visit the now quadriplegic Redeemer, who has them enact the backup plan - sending pictures of "Spider-Man's" innumerable crimes to J. Jonah Jameson.
- Unreliable Narrator: Wolfram claims to have been a wolf humanized by the Nazis, though the Redeemer points out that there are a lot of holes in that story. A much more competent and science-oriented General Wolfram later appeared in a Wolverine story set during WW2, and it's entirely possible this one based his persona off of the original or even that they are the same person since the original was subjected to Weapon X.
- Uplifted Animal: Hippo is one of the High Evolutionary's New Men, or Beastials.
- Villain Team-Up: They're a self-help group for supervillains who lost limbs to Mac Gargan.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Eleven is introduced and killed within two issues, and none of the other members - except Hippo - have reappeared.
Roxxon
Roxxon Energy Corporation
First Appearance: Captain America #180 (September, 1977)
An American based energy conglomerate with a reputation for shady at best dealings, whose activities oft tend to bring them into conflict with superheroes.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: The typical head of Roxxon.
- Evil, Inc.: Typically. The tragic part is Roxxon executives seem to be more competent when they're deliberately evil than when they're not.
- Expy: Started off as a thinly-veiled knockoff of the real world company Exxon. In modern days they've branched out to also serving as evil knock-offs of things like Fox News and Facebook as well.
- Incompetence, Inc.: When they're not being evil, they tend to make staggeringly stupid decisions.
- Karma Houdini: No matter what scandal they create or are involved in, up to and including trying to betray mankind to alien invasions, they always seem to bounce back.
- MegaCorp: Starting off as an energy company, their portfolio has expanded since the 1940s to include television, social media, space exploration, weapons development, private security, and world domination.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Starting off as adversaries in Captain America, they've also tussled with just about everyone in the Marvel U.
Salem's Seven
Salem's Seven
Alter Egos: Brutacus, Gazelle, Hydron, Reptilla, Thornn, Vakume, Vertigo
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #186 (September, 1977)
A team of magical supervillains, children of Nicholas Scratch. Recently Salem's Seven have reformed and now protect the town of New Salem.
- Afro Asskicker: Vertigo
- Back from the Dead: They have been killed and revived a couple of times.
- Blow You Away: Vakume
- Fish People: Hydron.
- Heel–Face Turn: Eventually reformed and now protect their hometown.
- Making a Splash: Hydron has a water cannon on his left arm.
- Meaningful Name: Several of the team members. Reptilla is a reptile, Vakume (vacuum) has air manipulation powers, Thornn is covered in thorns, Gazelle has enhanced speed and agility, and Hydron is a fish person that can fire blasts of water.
- Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Brutacus is the son of a witch and a mutant.
- Our Werebeasts Are Different: Brutacus can transform into a lion-like form while Gazelle can transform into a fast deer-like form.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Reptilla is a snake-like humanoid and (usually) a villain.
- Rule of Seven: They are a group of seven magicians.
- Sibling Team: While they aren't seen together all the time, they do work together and are half-siblings through their father, Nicholas Scratch.
- Snake People: Reptilla.
- Spikes of Villainy: Thornn.
- Super-Speed: Gazelle.
Savage Six
Savage Six
Alter Egos: Vulture, Rhino, Cobra, Tarantula, Scorpion, Stegron (Kraven's), Crime-Master, Death Adder II, Jack O'Lantern, Megatak, Human Fly, Toxin (Crime-Master's)
First Appearance:
- Animal-Motif Team: Vulture's team is made up of only animal-themed villains.
Secret Empire
Secret Empire
This subversive organization has been headed by a number of different leaders, always known as "Number One", with each iteration's goals following the desires of its current leader. The Secret Empire was founded by a scientist who felt like an anonymous nobody. The organization began as a criminal enterprise, a subsidiary of HYDRA, which provided it with financial support. The Secret Empire served to distract the attention of authorities such as S.H.I.E.L.D. from HYDRA's activities, although the original Number One sought to break away from HYDRA.
Sinister Syndicate
Sinister Syndicate
Alter Egos: Lady Beetle, Scorpia, Lady Octopus, Electro II, White Rabbit (Current), Boomerang, Rhino, Constrictor, Electro, Dr. Octopus, Beetle, Tombstone, Shocker, Hydro-Man, Speed Demon, Hardshell (Original)
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man #280 (September, 1986) (Original), Amazing Spider-Man Vol 5 #25 (September, 2019) (Current)
- Amazon Brigade: Lady Beetle's Syndicate is made up of only females.
- Distaff Counterpart: With the exception of White Rabbit, all members of Beetle's Syndicate are female versions of male villains.
Sons of the Serpent
Sons of the Serpent
First Appearance: The Avengers #32 (1966)
A white supremacist group with occult roots that have used various means to achieve their ends, including media manipulation, blackmail, and bio-warfare — all with the unifying theme of racism.- Politically Incorrect Villain: They are white supremacists.
Spider-Man Revenge Squad
Spider-Man Revenge Squad
Alter Egos: Grizzly, Gibbon, Spot and Kangaroo
First Appearance:
Group of bottom-list villains against Spider-Man.
- Animal-Motif Team: With the exception of Spot, they're a group of animal-themed villains.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: They're so terrible at getting revenge on Spider-Man he calls the Legion of Losers.
Spider-Slayers
Spider-Slayers
Alter Egos:
First Appearance:
System Crash
System Crash
Alter Egos: Technospike, Wirehead, Steel Collar, Bitmap, Killobyte, Infomorph
First Appearance: Daredevil #326 (March, 1994)
System Crash was a group of informational terrorist or cyber criminals affiliated with HYDRA and led by Baron Von Strucker. The group consisted of Infomorph, Bitmap, Steel Collar, Kill-O-Byte, Wirehead and Technospike.
- The Cracker: They are a group of techno-based criminals working for Hydra.
- Legacy Character: The first Killobyte was killed and replaced by his brother.
- Terrorists Without a Cause: They're terrorists with an affiliation with HYDRA, and as such they fight for whatever HYDRA needs at the moment.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: They appeared in about a dozen issues before being promptly forgotten.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: They haven't reappeared since 1994 besides being included in a Marvel's Character Encyclopedia.
U-Foes
U-Foes
Undying Ones
Undying Ones
First Appearance: Doctor Strange #183
Ancient, non-humanoid demons from another dimension.
Watchdogs
Watchdogs
The Watchdogs are dedicated to restoring and preserving traditional American culture and values, and fighting against indecency, immorality, and sexual perversion. The Watchdogs seek to impose their conservative moral views on the general public; they believe in strict enforcement of family values and are violently opposed to pornography, obscenity, sex education, abortion, homosexuality, and the teaching of evolutionary theory. Their terrorist activities, which include vandalism, arson, intimidation, assault, kidnapping, brainwashing, and murder, are targeted primarily at people who produce material that the Watchdogs consider pornographic, including nude art and sexually explicit music.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The Watchdogs are basically what happens when you take the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and every white supremacy group under the sun and put them all into a blender.
- Unwitting Pawn: The Red Skull played some part in the Watchdogs going after John Walker's parents.
W.E.S.P.E.
W.E.S.P.E.
A terrorist organization which operates largely out of Europe, occasional enemies of the Blue Marvel due to following on the teachings of his arch-nemesis Evald Skorpion.
- Animal Motif: Wasps. Their name is German for "wasp", and they attack people with wasp robots. As the captions for Mighty Avengers say, they're thematically consistent.
- Beneath Notice: Apparently the major players of the spy game thought they weren't worth bothering with, "amateur bourgeoisie playing the great game".
- Berserk Button: They really don't like being compared to HYDRA.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Childish and not terribly threatening to any moderately competent hero, but the ones employed by Jason Quantrell managed to summon a Beyonder. And not one of the nicer ones.
- Broken Pedestal: At least some of them eventually lost their admiration for Skorpion, and it's implied they became W.H.I.S.P.E.R..
- Expy: Basically "HYDRA if they were nihilists instead of fascists".
- Fun with Acronyms: The full meaning of their name has never actually been given.
- Loony Fan: Of the maniacal nihilist Evald Skorpion. The few members we see of W.E.S.P.E. seem especially childish, but still moderately dangerous.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: In 2023's Wasp, Janet van Dyne wonders if their silly behavior was just an act.
- Villain of Another Story: Their first appearance in Al Ewing's Mighty Avengers even labels them as a threat "you've never heard of", but they've been around a while.
W.H.I.S.P.E.R
W.H.I.S.P.E.R.
An evil terror organization built by the Maker after the Incursions, supposedly for the purpose of scientific advancement, which brought them into conflict with Roberto Da Costa's version of A.I.M..
- Evil Counterpart: With A.I.M. having temporarily reformed, W.H.I.S.P.E.R. filled the role of science bad-guys.
- Fun with Acronyms: World Headquarters for International Scientific / Philosophical Experimentation and Research.
- Mook Carryover: They had a few defectors from A.I.M. who quit after Sunspot bought it out. Wasp also suggests they took the more intelligent members of W.E.S.P.E. as well.
- Nebulous Evil Organization: (Apparently) founded by the Maker for scientific advancement, but mostly what they seem to do is weird science stuff for the heck of it with no evident tangible benefit. When defeated, the Maker claimed WHISPER still existed and had another, actual purpose which would continue on without him.
- Nuke 'em: SHIELD dropped a big-ass nuke on their secret mountain base, courtesy of some misleading from Songbird.
- Oddly Small Organization: Membership seemed to consist of the Maker, some insect men and one henchman operating out of a hidden base.
- Order Reborn: Wasp reveals W.H.I.S.P.E.R. had actually existed since around the time of Ant-Man's origins, the Maker having simply seized control of the remnants and turned it into his own. Or possibly they let him do so for their own reasons.
- Resignations Not Accepted: Their true founder was Nadia Pym's grandfather, who'd grown tired of the spy game and sought to retire. The new W.H.I.S.P.E.R. tracked him down and fed him to the Creature from Kosmos.
- Was Once a Man: Standard W.H.I.S.P.E.R. goons are made by taking humans, extracting some of their organs and turning them into insect-men.
- You Cannot Kill An Idea: The Maker claims W.H.I.S.P.E.R. was bigger than one base and that their true plans boggled even his mind.
- You Have Failed Me: According to Fantasma, the new W.H.I.S.P.E.R. has no room for failures.
