The massive amount of characters featured in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore.
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The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
See here.Other Teams
Les Hommes Mystérieux
Captain Jean Robur
- Source: Robur the Conqueror, Master of the World
The leader of Les Hommes Mysterieux, and French counterpart to Captain Nemo, Robur is the captain of the airship Albatross, one of, if not THE first machines capable of heavier-than-air travel.
- Alas, Poor Villain: His airship is shot down during the Battle of Somme during the first World War.
- Cool Air Ship: The Albatross. His son has his own version, the Terror.
- Expy Coexistence: He's generally considered to be a Captain Nemo Copy and here his son went on to marry Nemo's granddaughter.
- How Unscientific!: How he views the cavorite-powered airships from the first series and other such esoteric flying machines. The Albatross is powered entirerly through mundane means.
- Non-Action Guy: Unlike Nemo, he doesn't involve himself in the action much personally, from what little is known of his activities.
- Overlord Jr.: His son is married to Janni's daughter, unifying the two bloodlines.
- Red Baron: "Robur The Conqueror"
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: France's counterpart- Evil Counterpart wouldn't be quite accurate- to Captain Nemo. Though Nemo wasn't even on the League at the time Les Hommes Mystérieux were active. note
- Unwitting Pawn: Unbeknownst to him, his fight against the British League played right into the hands of Germany and the Twilight Heroes.
- Science Hero: One of the earliest ones at that.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Was specifically hired to counter Nemo and his technology.
The Nyctalope
- Source: Le Mystère des XV (1911)
An early cyborg and one of Les Hommes Mysterieux's most deadly members, the Nyctalope possesses several superhuman abilities, such as night-vision, the ability to breathe underwater, and an artificial heart.
- Cyborg: Possibly the first one in fiction.
- Hero Killer: Comes close to killing Mina during the Opera House battle, but is stopped by Raffles.
- Immune to Bullets: During the battle in the Phantoms tunnels beneath the Paris opera house, the Nyctalope is shot in the heart by A.J. Raffles, who later reports that the bullet made a "clanging" sound when it hit the target. We find out later that, yup, the Nyctalope's heart can't be injured by bullets and all Raffles did was give him a flesh wound.
- Innate Night Vision: The Nyctalope's most famous ability is the power to see perfectly in the dark, which makes him a nightmare to fight.
- Secret Identity: His real name is Léo Saint-Clair.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: One of the Nyctalope's main abilities. You can probably guess why it's useful for a stealth specialist.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A minor case, but as the only member of the team originally written as a hero (unless you count Lupin), he may be France's answer to Quatermain.
Monsieur Zenith The Albino
- Source: Sexton Blake, The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
A master swordsman and gentleman thief, Zenith is an exiled Romanian nobleman, and originally the arch-enemy of French detective Sexton Blake. As a member of Les Hommes Mysterieux, his role in the battle was to confront Orlando.
- The Dreaded: Orlando doesn’t realize this until its too late, as Zenith and his sword managed to kill a version of him who was Roland at the time in a previous life.
- Eldritch Abomination: Not him specifically, but Stormbringer is very much this with its constant howling and hunger for human souls. It's frightening enough to freak Orlando out.
- Evil Counterpart: He's France's answer to Orlando - an immortal (albeit by reincarnation, not eternal youth) whose weapon of choice is a mystic sword.
- Gentleman Thief: Not as iconic as his team mate Lupin though.
- Master Swordsman: Is able to give Orlando, who had 3,000 years of experience, a run for his money. It’s revealed that this is because he was wielding Stormbringer, and his speech of how Orlando was just as harmful to humanity as his enemies was enough to freak Orlando out into submission.
- Reincarnation: It’s revealed that he’s the latest incarnation of the Eternal Champion through his weilding of Stormbringer and remembers meeting Orlando in his life as Elric.
Arsène Lupin
- Source: Arsène Lupin (1905)
Arguably the most infamous gentleman thief of all time.
- Gentleman Thief: He could be the page image.
- Master of Disguise: His second most famous ability.
- Non-Action Guy: Doesn't participate in the Opera House battle. The text mentions that he's involved in some sort of cat-and-mouse games with his rival A.J. Raffles across the rooftops of Paris while the fight goes down, but is completely absent when Raffles show up to save Mina.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Was likely recruited to counter Britain's A.J. Raffles.
- Token Good Teammate: By far the most benevolent member of his team.
Fantômas
- Source: Fantômas (1911)
Arch-criminal, mass murderer and sadist, Fantômas is by far the most monstrous and dangerous member of Les Hommes Mysterieux, to the point that one wonders how the French government managed to recruit him at all.
- Ambiguous Situation: There are heavy implications that Fantômas is also The Phantom of the Opera.
- Humanoid Abomination: In this regard, Mina considers him to have been even more disturbing than Dracula, who had at least been human at some point, while Fantômas "was a thing. Had always been a thing".
- Malevolent Masked Men: Wears a black hood that completely covers his face.
- The Nondescript: None of the League members can recall any of his defining characteristics, save for his mask. Robur describes him as broad and stocky, Mina remembers him being around 7’ tall and eerily thin. Raffles even says that something about Fantômas' body language and voice suggested he might actually be a woman.
- Oh, Crap!: Mina has this understandable reaction when she finds herself alone with Fantômas.
- The Sociopath: Openly and proudly.
- Suddenly Voiced: One of the more unsettling aspects of Fantômas is the way he remains completely silent, which is why it's a shock to Mina when he suddenly speaks a single line before detonating the explosives in the Phantom's tunnels. Equally startling is that he has no trace of a French accent at all, alluding to the literary Fantômas and his uncanny ability with languages.Fantômas: I win.
Die Zwielichthelden
Dr C.A. Rotwang
- Source: Metropolis
The brilliant mastermind behind the Berlin Metropolis and its technological wonders.
- Hidden Villain: Rotwang and his teammates operated in secret for most of their existence, manipulating their French and British counterparts from behind the scenes.
- Mad Scientist: One of the first of his kind.
- Posthumous Character: Is already long dead by the time of Nemo: River Of Souls, presumably in a similar manner as shown in Metropolis. His creation carries on his twisted designs.
- Red Right Hand: Had a mechanical hand to replace the one he lost in a failed experiment.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler: He provides science fiction technology to the Hitler-equivalent of this universe.
The Man Machine
- Source: Metropolis
The ultimate creation of Mad Scientist Dr Rotwang of Metropolis has taken her creator's place as a member of Germany's "Twilight Heroes" after his death, and is responsible for producing the technological marvels that keep the city modern.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: While she's exactly as intelligent as Rotwang had intended, this turns out to be far too intelligent for the tastes of Hynkel and his party, as she has Turned Against Their Masters and is effectively running Metropolis. Rotwang's work was later used for the creation of the Ayesha clones and The Stepford Wives, with their intelligence turned down so they're unable to rebel.
- Does Not Like Men: Doesn't seem to think much of her aging, decrepit allies, an attitude she shares with Ayesha.
- Hero Killer: She kills Broad-Arrow Jack by bashing his head in with her bare hand.
- Never Given a Name: Like in the movie, the android has no name. Maria is the name of the woman she originally impersonated.
- More Dakka: Mabuse reveals that while she is highly resistant to damage, to the point where she just shrugs off an explosive, she might be vulnerable to this type of attack. This is how she meets her end at the hands of Dr Caligari's Sleepwalker soldiers, after Caligari is killed mid-order, they indiscriminately open fire on the closest target.
- Robotic Reveal: She initially appears as a beautiful blonde woman, albeit with a creepy expression, but after Janni shoots her with an incendary weapon, her skin begins to melt, revealing her true nature.The Man Machine: This form has lost its propaganda purpose.
- Terminator Impersonator: She references Terminator, in a panel where she wades through fire after losing her synthetic skin. Considering she helped codify the idea of robots in fiction in the first place, it seems fair enough.
Dr Helmut Caligari
- Source: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The second surviving member of The Twilight Heroes, Dr Caligari serves as the backbone of Metropolis security forces, as he is responsible for the creation of their Sleepwalker shock troops, hypnotized soldiers who robotically follow all orders with near-superhuman endurance and agility, based on his sleepwalking assassin Cesare.
- Boom, Headshot!: Janni kills Caligari mid-order, leading to his Sleepwalker soldiers gunning the android to pieces.
- Evil Cripple: Due to his age, Caligari is restricted to a Steampunk wheelchair and is forced to wear a gas mask-like breathing apparatus.
- Evil Old Folks: Caligari was already pretty old by the time the movie took place, and that was in the 1910's. By the time of Rose Of Berlin, he's positively ancient.
- Keystone Army: The Sleepwalker soldiers are useless without Caligari around to give them instructions, and upon his death they mindlessly open fire on the closest target, the android, then collapse into catatonia.
- Mass Hypnosis: Caligari has created an army of hypnotized soldiers to serve as security for Metropolis. While asleep, the soldiers will obey any order, and posseses nearly superhuman senses.
- Named by the Adaptation: He didn't have a first name in the movie, he's named "Helmut" here.
- Real After All: The original movie ended with the reveal that it was All Just a Dream the insane protagonist was having, explaining the surreal setting, and Caligari was just the head doctor at the asylum. Here, it seems the events of the movie really happened.
Cesare
- Source: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
- The Unfought: Is long dead before Janni gets to Metropolis.
- Uniqueness Decay: Was originally a member of the German league per the black dossier, but by the time we actually see the German league in action, they have an entire division of mesmerized soldiers doing their bidding.
Dr. Werner Mabuse
- Dirty Old Man: Janni and Jack finds him in the Metropolis Staatbordell (state bordello).
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's decided he doesn't much like working for the Nazis.
- Evil Old Folks: Though ironically, he's probably the youngest human member of the Twilight Heroe
- Fish Eyes: Mabuse has an incredibly unsettling pair of huge, staring eyes. Presumably, this is a reference to his Hypnotic Eyes from the movies, but he never uses hypnosis during the story, as that is Caligaris specialty.
- Family Eye Resemblance: A middle-aged woman, presumably his daughter, appears in River Of Souls, and a young man, possibly his grandson, 12 years after that. Both share his distinct, bulging eyes.
- Heel–Face Turn: Sure, he doesn't turn good, but he does turn against both the other Twilight Heroes and the Reich because their continued existence and the death of Janni Nemo does not suit his own purposes. He gives Janni vital information and leads her to the location of the Moloch Machine where her son-in-law is held prisoner.
- River Of Ghosts reveals that a woman with the same creepy eyes as Mabuse, presumably his daughter, is an ally of Janni 30 years after Rose Of Berlin, and she mentions that the "House Of Mabuse" is loyal to her.
- Karma Houdini: Gets off scot-free for all the horrible things he's done both on his own and as part of the Third Reich. He can be seen alive in the ruins of Metropolis, having survived Janni bombing it to pieces at the end.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Was likely recruited as a counterpart to Les Hommes Mysterieux's Fantomas.
The Seven Stars
Captain Universe
Source: Captain Universe comics by Mick Anglo
A man named Jim Logan who can give himself powers via electricity that he can summon by shouting "Galap". He was given this ability by a group of science-mystics that have transcended reality.
- All Your Powers Combined: All the powers of Earth's greatest scientific minds (Earth's greatest scientific minds have Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence and have godlike power over the fundamental forces of nature, so that's a lot better than it sounds).
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: He can survive in space unaided.
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Has a giant "U" on the front of his costume.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: Shouts "Galap" to gain many superhuman abilities.
- Chekhov's Skill: Mentions at one point that he could fill the universe with duplicates of himself. He later contains a nuclear explosion by surrounding the bomb with thousands of duplicates.
- Crossover Relatives: Jet-Ace Logan, a Captain Space, Defender of Earth! from various British comics is now his brother.
- Expy Coexistence: Universe was a Captain Marvel expy that only lasted one issue. As well as Marvel existing, the Marvelman family is mentioned and another short-lived expy, Ace Heart appears.
- Flying Brick: He has the strength, flight and invincibility.
- Grey Goo: Claims he could fill the entire universe with duplicates of himself.
- Old Superhero: He transforms for the first time in nearly 50 years in 2010. It's implied he became young again from his recreated Fountain of Youth at the end.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: He finds the idea of Vull the Invisible being effeminate troubling (Not knowing that Vull is really a woman).
- One-Steve Limit: Jet-Ace Logan, revealed to be his brother, is also named James Logan. Moore seems to get around this by making "Jet" Jet's real name.
- Post Modern Magick: The source of his powers.
- Self-Duplication: He can make clones of himself with all his powers. Including the ability to make a clones of themselves.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Was more scientifically-inclined and studious than his hotshot pilot brother Jet.
- Superman Substitute: Is an expy of Shazam, himself an expy of Superman. Captain Universe seems to be the main caped Flying Brick superhero in this universe with Superman implied to fake government propaganda.
- Superpower Lottery: "Cosmic perception" (including sensing the invisible), self-duplication, controlling the whole electromagnetic spectrum...
Vull the Invisible
An identity assumed by Mina after killing the original, villainous Vull and appropriating his equipment at MI5's order.
See "Wilhelmina Murray" in Murray's League.
Mars Man
Source: Marsman Comics
A Martian explorer who came to Earth to study its social life and civilization, and ended up fighting crime.
- Adaptational Origin Connection: Wasn't around long enough to get much backstory from his original creators. Moore ties him in to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series.
- Alliterative Name: His name back on Mars was Garath Ganzz.
- All of the Other Reindeer: On Mars, he was discriminated against for being half-red and half-green. Ironically, he lands in Britain during the Big Brother days and is singled out as an undesirable "colored alien".
- Fantastic Racism: Mars had colour barriers for pink martians back in the forties but his superpowers got him a job with Intelligence reporting from Earth.
- Humanoid Aliens
- Humans Through Alien Eyes: He originally came to Earth to study humans.
- Jedi Mind Trick: Uses it frequently.
- Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: He's a "Pink Martian". His father is a Green Martian and his mother a Red from the John Carter of Mars series.
- Sufficiently Advanced Alien: He has superpowers.
Zom of the Zodiac
Source: Big Win Comics
Sorcerer whose magic grants victims of crime the power to stand up to criminals.- Adaptation Expansion: In the sense that Moore actually bothers to give him a backstory.
- Biomanipulation: Gives victims of crime large muscles and super-strength.
- Catchphrase: something something "... of the Zodiac!"
- Functional Magic: Uses this.
- Mysterious Past: No one knows anything about his past. He reveals it in a backup feature of Vol. 4.
- Vengeful Ghost: Killed by his own employer because he did not heed his horoscope, the power of the Zodiac! brought him back from death to avenge the wronged.
Satin Astro
Source: Whizzer Comics
A glamorous criminal from the future.- Adaptational Origin Connection: Moore ties her backstory into the book We, and the government she's resisting is implicitly backed by the Legion Of Superheroes.
- Classy Cat-Burglar
- Fish out of Temporal Water: She comes from the year 3000 AD.
- Future Slang: Apparently by her time, "zitz" has become a suitable substitute for virtually any expletive.
- Just Like Robin Hood: Is described as a "female Robin Hood". She's actually a freedom fighter from Earth's dystopian future
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The Tempest reveals the real reason why she's in the past; to prevent the cataclysm that had reduced the world to a wasteland as seen in the dystopian novel We. She couldn't remember her true purpose until a few months before the story starts due to the effect of the time jump.
- Spy Catsuit: Is shown wearing one.
Flash Avenger
Source: Dynamic Thrills
A hero with super-strength and flight.
- Batman Parody: Moore's backstory for him? He was walking home from a servant auction with his parents when they stumbled upon a beggar. Disillusioned to learn that lower-class people existed, he swore to fight exclusively crimes committed by the poor.
- Civvie Spandex: Wears a regular (albeit fancy) suit along with his insignia mask.
- Expy Coexistence: His origin here makes him a Batman Parody. Batman himself makes a cameo in London near the end of Volume 4.
- Flying Brick: This is his superpower.
- Interdimensional Travel Device: When the Stars get banished to another dimension, Zom turns Flash into an Interdimensional Zeppelin to get them home.
- Mr. Vice Guy: Is shown smoking in every panel he's in, and is eventually revealed to have died of lung cancer.
- Upper-Class Twit: A dim-witted Idle Rich hero who specifically targets bad guys who are impoverished or tied to organized labor note
Electro Girl
Source: G-Boy Comics, Whizzer Comics, Super-Duper comics
A superheroine who got electrical powers from her father's experimental machines.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: She makes money after her retirement by selling her surplus electricity to the national grid.
- Freak Lab Accident: Got her powers from a machine in her father's lab. The danger is lampshaded as she says she was "wondering what would happen if I fiddled with the machine that had incinerated Dad".
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Her condition makes it difficult to be intimate, so she is desperate for any kind of affection- she's propositioned several male teammates and even her own archenemies. Eventually she gets married to Captain Universe, who is immune to electric shocks.I'd have to check my schedule but sure. How about tonight? Tonight's good.
- Mundane Utility: She used to get a lot of "last request" letters from death-row inmates asking if she'd have sex with them so they can go Out with a Bang.
- Old Superheroine: Comes out of retirement in 2010. The end implies Captain Universe made her young again with his recreated Fountain of Youth.
- Painted-On Pants: Her costume has these.
- Power Incontinence: Can't control the electricity arcing off of her.
- Red Is Heroic: Most of her costume is red.
- Shock and Awe
Lincoln Island
Janni Dakkar
Jenny Diver, Captain Nemo II
Source: Original Character for the most part, but initially patterned and referred to as Pirate Jenny from Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera.
Janni Dakkar is the daughter of Captain Nemo. She resented her father's conservative nature and his Heir Club for Men attitude. However, he nominates her as his successor after his death and despite initial reluctance, she becomes his successor as the second Captain Nemo.
She becomes the star of her own spin-off trilogy - Nemo: Heart of Ice, Nemo: Roses of Berlin, Nemo: River Of Ghosts.
- Arch-Enemy: Her main nemesis is Ayesha, Queen of Kor... "She who must be obeyed...".
- Born in the Wrong Century: She felt out of place in the sexist world of her father and the Victorian world, but she's equally out of place and on the margins in the 20th century. Her ideas of science and adventure is closer to that of her father (i.e. nature full of wonders, discoveries and the chance for adventure) than to the 20th-century dystopian vision of science.
- Captain Nemo Copy: As Nemo's daughter and successor, Janni took the name Captain Nemo along with command of the Nautilus which he died, continuing his activities with the crew of Submarine Pirates.
- Daddy's Little Villain: She is conflicted about becoming this and taking on the Nemo mantle but she sets about going her own way doing it.
- The Dreaded: She becomes a terror to rival that of her father and perhaps exceed him... even the likes of Dr. Mabuse is impressed with her.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: She is the daughter of The Dreaded Captain Nemo but she becomes The Runaway and tries to work as a waitress in London's docks. After she's beaten and gang raped, she takes up her Daddy's mantle and indeed seems to be worse than him.
- Happily Married: To Broad Arrow Jack, who served on her father's crew. She cites her love for her husband, who dies in Nemo: Roses of Berlin as the real reason for not wanting to live forever.
- Hero of Another Story: Her crew has a series of adventures and Crisis Crossover hijinks that mirrors and parallels those of the Mina Murray led League.
- I See Dead People: In River of Ghosts as a result of brain tumor, she takes pills but they don't work anymore.
- The Last Dance: River of Ghosts is this. She admits to Hugo Hercules, that she's suffering brain tumor, that her pills don't work and she expects to die at the end of this adventure, and she does.
- Legacy Character: She refuses to become this, disliking her father's cold nature and violent lifestyle. But alas, The Call Knows Where You Live. Her grandson ends up taking up the mantle after her death at the end of the Nemo trilogy.
- Meaningful Name: She is known as Jenny Diver in the expanded lore of Volume 2 and takes the name in Vol 3, Part 1 as an alias. It's the same name from Brecht's Threepenny Opera and the one who sings the famous "Pirate Jenny" ballad in the play.
- Pet the Dog: A more noble figure than her father, Janni has more Pet the Dog moments alongside her wanton slaughter of enemy ships by the dozen. She returns the corpse of King Kong to Skull Island and fights on the side of the Allies during World War II.
- Pirate Girl: She is Pirate Jenny herself.
- Rape and Revenge: She is raped by bar patrons at her place of work and in retaliation, fires a signal flare to the Nautilus in the Estuary and becomes Pirate Jenny.
- Refused the Call: Didn't want to take her father's mantle, choosing instead to work as a lowly waitress. At first...
- Retired Outlaw: At the end of Nemo: Roses of Berlin.
- Science Hero: A more direct example than her father, since she becomes a Techno Pirate that fights all kinds of science fiction monsters and threats in the 20th Century, including Godzilla.
- Shed the Family Name: When she runs away from her father, she calls herself Jenny Diver to disassociate herself from her father's legacy.
- Skinny Dipping: When we first see her in the first part of the Century trilogy, she is swimming in the nude.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Ayesha offers her immortality and a We Can Rule Together but Janni refuses, strongly. She finally dies at the end of River of Ghosts, at the age of 80, on her own terms and with a smile on her face.
Jack Dakkar
Captain Nemo III
- Source: Original character. Derived from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne.
Janni's grandson, and the third to bear the name Nemo.
- The Ageless: It's implied he used the recreated Fountain of Youth as he's an active Space Pirate in 2164.
- Captain Nemo Copy: Like his grandmother, he continues the work of the original Nemo, eventually moving from being a Submarine Pirate to a Space Pirate.
- Dead Guy Junior: Named for his grandfather.
- Diabolical Mastermind: One of the foremost science-criminals of his time, alongside such illustrious associates as Helmut Mabuse and Hortense and Eloise, the Scaramanga siblings.
- Generation Xerox: He's quite a bit like his grandmother and great-grandfather.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: Look, nobody's denying that he's a science criminal. But with shady characters like Jimmy Bond in control of the government, you could do worse for allies.
- Middle Eastern Terrorists: Well, Indian. He's carrying on with the original Nemo's work, which in a modern setting makes him seem a bit like Osama bin Laden.
- Space Pirate: Works as one with Orlando in the 22nd century.
- Submarine Pirates: Naturally, he's got a Nautilus of his own. Until the end of Volume 4, where he upgrades to Space Pirate.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Was a curious, friendly, trusting child. His experiences in "River of Ghosts" harden him up a bit.
- Wicked Cultured: A notorious terrorist, but also a very gracious and sophisticated host.
Ishmael
- Source: Moby-Dick
- Old Retainer: He served the original Nemo, and Janni after her.
- Legacy of Service: His son Tobias served as first mate after him, and his granddaughter Tacarigua is first mate for Jack Dakkar.
- Those Two Guys: With Broad Arrow Jack, until his death.
- Undying Loyalty: To Nemo and his heirs.
Broad Arrow Jack
- Source: Broad Arrow Jack by E. Harcourt Burrage
A notorious English outlaw, crewmember of the Nautilus, and eventually a consort of Janni Dakkar.
- Happily Married: To Janni, to whom he becomes The Lost Lenore.
- Mark of Shame: He bears a large arrow brand on his back, the source of his outlaw name.
- Silver Fox: Noted by a reporter to be one well-muscled septuagenarian.
Hira Dakkar
- Source: Original character. Derived from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne.
Janni's daughter, never became Nemo.
- Wrench Wench: Defied the odds by fixing her husband's fallen aircraft at the bottom of the ocean.
Armand Robur
- Source: Original character. Derived from Robur the Conqueror by Jules Verne.
- Arranged Marriage: To Janni, to solidify an alliance between the Dakkar and the Robus clans.
- Legacy Character: For his father, Jean.
- Patriotic Fervor: He may have been a notorious criminal, but he was a patriot.
Manfred Mors
- Source: Original character. Derived from The Air Pirate and His Steerable Airship, author unknown.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: ...A descendant of a notorious air pirate, now allied to the Dakkar family, and romantically involved with Hira.
Hugo Coghlan
Hugo Hercules, Cu Chulainn
- Source: Hugo Hercules by Wilhelm Heinrich Detlev Körner, Cu Chulainn from Celtic Mythology
The very first of America's iconic superheroes, now making a living as a mercenary and bodyguard for hire. Is hired by Janni Nemo for her expedition in River Of Souls.
- Alliterative Name: The Americans called him Hugo Hercules.
- Berserk Button: Was once hired to kill a man on that man's wedding night. He disliked the idea, and turned on his employer instead.
- Big Eater: Eats enormous amounts of food in a single sitting. For breakfast he ate an entire bull baked into a Desperate Dan-style cow pie, much to the anger of Janni's Hindu crew. After being forced to leave behind his beef, he ends up killing a dinosaur and keeping its meat for food.
- Bodyguard Crush: He propositions Janni at one point but she turns him down.
- Hitman with a Heart: Not at all ashamed about killing people for money, but he has some very definite rules as to what he won't do, is fiercely loyal to his employer, and actually quite friendly.
- Immortality: Or close to it, as he has barely aged for almost a century.
- Invincible Hero: Excalibur can't even scratch him, he murdered Godzilla, and the closest anyone ever came to hurting him was Hugo Danner who gave him a bloody nose before Coghlan bashed his brains in with a headbutt.
- It Is Dehumanising: When Mina says not to antagonize it, Hugo furiously says it's already antagonized and to tell it why they're on his island or it'll murder them.
- Likes Older Women: He finds the elderly Janni attractive.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: Was annoyed at being stamped in by a Tyrannosaurus Rex because of the damage it did to his hat, was able to be a Bullet Proof Human Shield for Janni and claimed that he could stay in Ayesha's exploding lair without being harmed.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. There was another super-strong guy named Hugo whom he killed a while back.
- Proto-Superhero: Quite possibly the first super-powered crime fighter.
- Really Gets Around: Is shown to have a very active sexuality, and it's implied that his sleeping around is responsible for America's disproportionate amount of metahumans. He even hits on Janni, who is in her 80's at this point. She politely declines.
- Related in the Adaptation: He mentions siring an illegitimate son in Cactusville, Texas. He's later seen showing Desperate Dan Nemo's spaceship.
- Semi-Divine: A quarter god, heavily implied to be son of the half-god Cu Chulain.
- Small Reference Pools: Invoked. He went by the name Hugo Hercules in America because most Americans hadn't heard of Cu Chulainn.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: He took one breath then spent three hours clearing away underwater ruins to make way for the Nautilus.
- Superpowerful Genetics: As stated under the entry for Really Gets Around, it's implied that America's numerous metahumans are a result of Hugo's having bedded a lot of women.
- Super-Strength: Is incredibly strong, to the point where he kills a charging T-Rex with a single punch.
- Undying Warrior: Started out as the legendary Celtic demigod Cú Chulainn, fighting off whole armies with superhuman strength and near-invincibility; by the early 20th century, he's still alive and kicking, destroying legendary monsters, serving as a bodyguard to Jani in her war against Ayesha, and moonlighting as a hitman.
- Use Your Head: He beat Hugo Danner by headbutting him in the face.
Professor Augustus Van Dusen
- Source: ''The Problem Of Cell 13'' and other stories by Jaques Futrelle
Known widely as "The Thinking Machine", Augustus Van Dusen is regarded as one of the most intelligent of his, or possibly any generation. After many adventures solving mysteries using his intellect and wit, Van Dusen would join Janni Nemo in her expedition to the Mountains Of Madness in 1925.
- Brain Uploading: Using punch cards of all things
- Heroic Sacrifice: Allows himself to be killed by Tom Swyfte to trick him into going further into the Mountains, allowing Janni to escape
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Appears alongside many others of Janni's long-dead friends and allies in River Of Souls. It's ambiguous whether he's actually a ghost, or if it's Janni's brain tumor playing tricks on her. Maybe proven the latter, as we learn his consciousness has been preserved as an AI. It depends on how one thinks ghosts work.
- Prison Escape Artist: Famously escaped from the reportedly inescapable Chisholm Prison.
- Red Baron: "The Thinking Machine"
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Is the only one of Janni's crew to wear glasses, and is also one of the most intelligent men of his time. Even his ghost wears them.
Greta Mors
- Source: Original character. Derived from The Air Pirate and His Steerable Airship, author unknown.
Daughter of Hira Dakkar and Mannfred Mors, Jack Nemo's younger half-sister and part of his organization.
- Ace Pilot: Unlike her brother, she seems to favor her father's side of the family.
British Government
General
The ruling class of Great Britain and the wider British Empire, the British Government has existed in one form or another since the country's beginnings as a settlement by survivors of the Trojan War.
- Adaptational Villainy: In real life, the Labour party is, generally, the left-leaning party of Britain. In the League world, they're the original name of the Ingsoc Party!
- Face–Heel Turn: After the end of World War 2, a conspiracy within the Labour party seized power in Britain, installing a fascist dictatorship with Big Brother at the helm.
- The Good King: A few decades after the Roman Empire withdrew from England, King Arthur arose and founded Camelot, described by Orlando as one of Britains greatest eras. Sadly, it didn't last long, collapsing after Arthur's death in battle with Mordred.
- Government Conspiracy: There's one, probably more, going on at any given time, such as the use of biological weapons during the Martian invasion, the Ingsoc coup, up to modern day where it's implied that they're covering up the existance of the supernatural under the guise of fiction.
- Karma Houdini: Other than a few of the highest-ranked members, such as O'Brien and Big Brother, being assassinated, the Ingsoc regime never answers for any of the horrific events during their short-lived reign, and simply return to being the Labour party by the mid-50's.
- The Magic Goes Away: During the reign of the puritanical James VI, all supernatural races were purged from England, eventually leading to the fairy realms severing contact with Earth.
- Outside-Context Problem: Thanks to the purges of King James, modern Britain often lacked the knowledge and resources to deal with supernatural or otherdimensional threats, forcing them to rely on extraordinary individuals such as the various Leagues.
- Puppet King: While not outright powerless, since they are still the legitimate authority of the Empire, the British Government is heavily influenced by their Intelligence agencies, who have the resources to dispose of rulers who are becoming a hindrance, as experienced by Big Brother. It's implied to have been this way since the days of Queen Gloriana.
Queen Gloriana I
- Source: The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, Gloriana by Michael Moorcock.
Queen of England in the 17th century, part-fairy. Had Prospero form the first version of the League to watch over her kingdom.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With Prospero in The Tempest.
- The Fair Folk: Is related to them.
- The Magic Goes Away: Forms the first League at least partially to stop this from happening. It doesn't work until about 400 years after her death.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Is a magical version of Queen Elizabeth I.
- Inadequate Inheritor: She's succeeded by her puritanical nephew Jakob, who became King James VI, the man behind the King James Bible, who proceeded to purge all supernatural creatures from Britain, leading to the fairy realms severing contact with Earth.
- Public Domain Character
- Uneven Hybrid: Her mother was a Half-Human Hybrid of human and fairy.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: The illustration provided here is just about the only picture of her, at least in the League universe, where her breasts aren't exposed.
Big Brother
General Sir Harold Wharton
The all-powerful leader of the brutal Ingsoc government that took over Britain after WW2, Big Brother ruled the country with an iron fist with the help of his Inner Party and the Thought Police. His death is the beginning of the end for the Ingsoc regime. In reality he was Harry Wharton of the Famous Five from Greyfriars, and was assassinated by his old friend Bob Cherry, AKA Harry Lime.
- Big Brother Is Watching: The Trope Namer, yet ironically most of the actual watching was done by Bob Cherry, his old schoolmate.
- Deconstruction: A rare case where one of Moore's deconstructions is (relatively) optimistic: while the original novel had the Party victorious and having completely subjugated the protagonists' free will and morality in the mother of all Downer Endings,note in the League-verse, how utterly shitty the society the Party and Big Brother created collapsed upon itself.
- Dystopia Is Hard: Found this to be the case, as the Party's brutal methods were ultimately inefficient, and Ingsoc crumbled after less than a decade.
- Fascist, but Inefficient: Unlike in the novel, Ingsoc's methods don't work. This leads to Wharton getting fatally deposed, and the party dialing its policies down to acceptable levels of covert surveillance and repression.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Harry Wharton was just a popular, adventurous school boy before resurfacing as Big Brother at the end of the war.
- Happily Married: Surprisingly, yes; he was married to Billy Bunter's sister Bessie.
- Klingon Promotion: It's heavily implied that he was assassinated and replaced with O'Brien as leader in a last-ditch effort to salvage the failing Ingsoc government. It didn't work.
- Puppet King: It's implied that for all his power, the true authority of Ingsoc lay with the Thought Police like O'Brien and Bob Cherry.
- The Unfought: Despite presenting a considerable threat, the League never actually fights him, or any of the active Ingsoc operatives, since they're not in the UK during its reign.
- The Unseen: Never appears on-page, as the surviving League members abandon Britain at the end of the war, having been warned of the Government Conspiracy plans by the then-Prime Minister. By the time they return, Big Brother is already dead.
- Vestigial Empire: In the novel, Oceania is — or, for propaganda purposes, claims to be — comprised of the Americas, the United Kingdom, the southern African continent (including Madagascar), Australia, and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Here, it's revealed that Ingsoc never spread beyond Airstrip One, and even then, the attempt to create an absolute fascist surveillance state in Britain was a doomed failure.
Colonel Cuckoo
- Source: Whatever Happened to Corporal Cuckoo? by Gerald Kersh
An immortal soldier who fights alongside Orlando in Q'Mar during 2009.
- Ax-Crazy: Not shown onscreen, but see the entry for "Who Wants to Live Forever?".
- Cloudcuckoolander: Averted, despite his name.
- Colonel Badass: He's a Colonel in the British army at the time he meets Orlando.
- The Confidant: Is an ancient, immortal soldier, and as such is the only one Orlando can talk to that truly understands the price of living much longer than natural.
- Covered in Scars: Much like he was in his short story, Cuckoo is covered in too many scars to have been gained in one war.
- Immortality: Was made immortal at the Battle of Turin by a Paracelsus formula.
- Undying Warrior: As with his short story, he's an immortal who's spent most of his eternal life in the military, though by now, he's finally been promoted beyond the rank of corporal.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Is no stranger to the bouts of bloodlust that immortality brings.
Malcolm Tucker
- Source: The Thick of It
Director of Communications for the Government of the United Kingdom in 2009.
- The Cameo: Appears in a television interview that Orlando is watching.
- Celebrity Paradox: As shown above, the Doctor also exists in this universe, and both characters have been portrayed by Peter Capaldi... Though Capaldi hadn't taken the role by the time 2009 was written.
- Cluster F-Bomb: On TV, no less!
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Per the norm.
Billy Bunter
- Source: Greyfriars by Charles Hamilton
- Being Evil Sucks: Calling him evil is probably stretching it, but he's still a member of the Ingsoc regime... because he's too weak to be anything else. He knows it too, he thinks the only reason his former "friends" never bothered to ship him off to a camp somewhere is because even they felt sorry for him.
- Break the Haughty: One of the biggest running gags of the Greyfriars books was that Billy Bunter had a massive ego and inflated view of himself, seeing himself as much smarter, popular and athletic than he could ever dream of. Black Dossier heavily implies that he's long sinced realized how pathetic and comical he really was, completely breaking his spirit.
- Exact Words: He mentions that he still gets post orders from "mother" to support himself, which was a Running Gag in the original Greyfriars stories. However, what he means here is that he gets paid by Mother, AKA M of British Intelligence. Who in this case happens to be Harry Lime/Bob Cherry.
- Fat Bastard: Downplayed, he betrays Mina and Quatermain, but he's portrayed as a broken, pathetic figure instead of a treacherous one.
- Mr. Exposition: Having spent most of his adult years as a faculty member and eventual caretaker of Greyfriars, he's the one who fills in both the main characters and the readers on the history of the school.
British Intelligence
General
The handlers of the League in its many incarnations. The League's various individuals regard their motives with mistrust which is usually justified.
Associated Tropes
- Face–Heel Turn: From the point of view of Nemo, their casual acceptance of civilian casualties when they used biological weapons against the Martians was this. Later, the rest of the team, who didn't have any inkling about that plan, cut off all ties with MI5 after its leader, Harry Lime, orchestrated Big Brother's coup.
- Faking the Dead: Their specialty is to fabricate someone's demise.
- Government Agency of Fiction: A real life organization that literally plays this role, locating and identifying exceptional characters, creating whole new lives for them and making them agents. They are rather fictionalized in additionally taking on MI6's role in foreign intelligence and operations, and appropriately employing James Bond and a series of director's codenamed M.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: They're technically opposed to the bad guys, but they're very shady. And honor bound to serve the government, even when Big Brother's in charge of it."The British Empire has always encountered difficulty in distinguishing between its heroes and its monsters."
- Manipulative Bastard: Every person to hold the office of 'M' has been one.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Occasionally, their need to go by regulations inconvenience others.
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: We don't know who runs MI5, but the various Ms tend to have their own plans and schemes. For some reason, 'M' is also usually a criminal, like Moriarty and Harry Lime.
- Our Founder: British Intelligence was founded by Sir John "Jack" Wilton, Queen Gloriana's spymaster (a stand-in for Queen Elizabeth's real-life spymaster Sir Francis Walsingham). The title of "M" is in honor of him, as it's an upside down version of his iconic "W" emblem.
- Spies Are Despicable: While some are worse than others (and Jimmy is the very worst), as a whole the group and especially its leadership tends towards being racist, remarkably callous with lives, and untrustworthy even if you're working for or aiding them.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Their general idea is to ally with difficult and unpleasant individuals like Hyde and even political enemies like Nemo to deal with graver threats. Ironically, they're far more restrictive about who they employ than the French and German counterparts, who staffed their teams with monsters to a man.
Directors
Sir Jack Wilton
Source: The Unfortunate Traueller: or, The Life of Jacke Wilton by Thomas Nashe
A spymaster in Queen Gloriana I's court, and as contemporary of Prospero had an influence of the foundation of the league.
- Fictional Counterpart: Is used as a fictional stand-in for Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I's spymaster.
- Our Founder: He used an inverted second initial as his sigil, setting the trend for heads of British Intelligence to be known as M.
M (18??-1898)
Prof. James Moriarty
Source: Sherlock Holmes adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
"It's James. Call me James."
A criminal mastermind famous for his adversarial involvement with the great detective Sherlock Holmes. He was secretly a British intelligence agent trying to exercise control over the criminal underworld on behalf of the crown. After surviving his fall from the Reichenbach falls, he ended up becoming head of British intelligence as M.
- Arch-Enemy: Arch enemy of Sherlock Holmes and in Vol. 1 to the Doctor/Fu Manchu.
- Bad Boss: Not above using his sergeant as a human shield.
- Bald of Evil: Bald and evil.
- Becoming the Mask: Discusses this with Campion Bond. He was recruited by MI5 to serve as a criminal to keep the London Underworld under his thumb but over time seems to have confused his vocation."Am I, for example, a director of military intelligence posing as a criminal or a criminal posing as a director of military intelligence or both?"
- Big Bad: He is the main villain of the first volume.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: He most closely resembles the description of Moriarty in the book but the way he's drawn is also heavily reminiscent of Emperor Palpatine.
- Cool Airship: Owns a nice one, powered by Cavorite.
- Disney Villain Death: An interesting variation: he "falls" up into space while holding onto the Cavorite.
- Entertainingly Wrong:
- He notes that Sherlock Holmes understood his activities as a criminal but somehow never reached the conclusion that his criminal empire was on a scale that could only be enabled by The British Empire, never realizing that he, the Great Detective, was ultimately an Unwitting Pawn for MI5.
- On the flip side, Moriarty himself seems to think he did away with his old enemy at Reichenbach. Not so much, though he doesn't get a chance to learn this.
- Evil Versus Evil: His conflict with the Doctor, since neither of them are good people.
- First-Name Basis: Insists Campion Bond refer to him as "James".
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His obsession with the Cavorite ends up being his undoing as he refuses to let it go when Mina destroys the containment glass, leading to him "falling" into the sky, eventually suffocating to death when the Cavorite leaves the atmosphere.
- Ironic Nursery Tune: He sings "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" as he prepares to bomb Limehouse.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: There is absolutely no way you can read everything following Volume 1 without knowing that Moriarty was M.
- The Man Behind the Man: To Campion Bond.
- Only You Can Repopulate My Race: 70 years after his death at the end of Vol. 1, his embalmed corpse is harvested for sperm to repopulate the Amazon Women on the Moon's population. Watch this space...
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Expresses scorn towards Mina, and calls her a "lesbian" for her position as leader of the league. He also flips out and calls Sherlock "a drug addicted sodomite" when the latter defeats him.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite his personal opinion, he's quite sharp about what can make a team work, even arguing to the sexist Campion Bond for Mina to lead the team on the grounds that a woman in a squad of strong males would be ideally placed to keep a lid on the inevitable Dysfunction Junction.
- Public Domain Character: He's Moriarty.
- Crossover Relatives: Here he's an ancestor of Dean Moriarty from On the Road by Jack Kerouac here.
- Running Both Sides: The government hired him to help control the criminal underworld. He says himself that he can't decide if he's a government agent pretending to a criminal or a criminal pretending to be an agent or both.
- The Spymaster: Somebody in Her Majesty's government thought it would be a good idea for the world's most notorious crime lord to have this post.
- Villainous Breakdown: After falling down Reichenbach Falls and before realizing that he's Not Quite Dead, he goes quite berserk, even more so at the end of Vol 1.
- Wicked Cultured: Likens Reichenbach to Olympus.
- Worthy Opponent: His relationship to Sherlock Holmes.
M (1898-19??)
Mycroft Holmes
Source: Sherlock Holmes adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Griffin: "Aheh. Well, that solves the mystery of the detective's disappearance: his brother ate him."
Sherlock Holmes' brother, replacing Prof. Moriarty as M.
- Adipose Rex: Head of British Intelligence, and extremely fat.
- Everyone Has Standards: In Century, he's absolutely disgusted when the deranged Earl of Gurney takes the credit for Jack the Ripper's murders (the Earl WAS guilty of murder, but just one), forcing the authorities to let the Ripper go without punishment.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: He's not an outright villain like Moriarty, but he's still a pretty amoral character. In the supplemental material of Vol 2, Mina comments that he's a kind of intellectual monster.
- Sibling Rivalry: It's implied that he and his brother do not get along at all.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's willing to use biological warfare to stop the Martians, even if it risks deaths of other Londoners. In Vol 3. Part 1, he orders an execution of Jack MacHeath for the Ripper murders without a trial and is appalled when the Earl of Gurney takes the blame for all the killings (he had only killed one) letting Jack become a Karma Houdini much to his disgust.
M (1950s)/Mother
Robert Kim Cherry, Harry Lime, Mother
Head of British Intelligence in the mid-sixties, M, from around the end of WWII to the mid-sixties.
- Allohistorical Allusion: His middle name is Kim after his famous grandfather. It's also a reference to real-life Soviet spy Kim Phillby, a friend of Graham Greene who wrote the screenplay of The Third Man of whom Harry Lime is an Expy. Kim Phillby by the way was in fact named after Kipling's Kim. Yup, Alan Moore thinks things through with his allusions.
- Big Brother Is Watching You: Harry Lime does the watching for Big Brother and even watches him in turn and later kills him to replace Ingsoc when he realizes that it's not working.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: While he looks a bit like Orson Welles (who played Lime in the movie), some have also noted a resemblance to Michael Caine, possibly a reference to Harry Palmer. note
- Faking the Dead/That Man Is Dead:"Jimmy, you can call me M. Behind my back, you can even call me Mother. But Harry... Harry died a long time ago in the sewers under Vienna. Let's leave it like that, shall we?"
- Famous Ancestor: He's descended from Kimball O'Hara.
- Fat Bastard: A bit overweight, and approaching Mycroft's body type in 1964 (possibly a reference to Orson Welles, who played him onscreen).
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Formerly Bob Cheery of the Famous Five. He and his gang go on to install Ingsoc and create a Stalinist dictatorship in England.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Of The Black Dossier, though he doesn't actually fight the League, preferring to work behind the scenes.
- I Have Many Names: He is known to the League as that "viper" Harry Lime. He's M in intelligence, and Emma Night calls him Mother. Big Brother calls him Bob. His real name is Robert Kim Cheery
- Karma Houdini: He remains M after Mina and Allan leave for the Blazing World. The backup feature of Vol. 4 reveals he was still in charge at least five years later.
- The Man Behind the Man: Served as this to Ingsoc and the Big Brother regime. Big Brother being Harry Wharton, his old classmate from Greyfriars.
- Mean Boss: He allows Jimmy Bond to keep his job in deference to his past successes (or at least for propaganda value), and doesn't rein in his more brutal behavior. However, he makes it very clear that this is not out of personal respect.Don't overestimate your own importance. Let's face it, Jimmy. You're no Sidney Reilly. You're just a bit of fun.
- The Team Benefactor: In the early 60s, he created a second-string British super-team to combat Mina's Seven Stars, intending them to show the Stars up via Engineered Heroics. It did not go as planned.
M (????-2009)
Emma Peel nee Night
Daughter of an industrialist and an MI5 agent, ultimately becoming M in the 2000s.
- Action Girl: Mina realizes that Emma knows Indian wrestling and Judo.
- The Atoner: How she feels in Volume III, Part 3, especially after learning that her father was murdered by Jimmy who was an American spy the whole time.
- Cruel Mercy:
- She eventually discovered that Bond murdered her father, and, by 2009, is forcibly keeping him alive despite his STD-ruined body and declining health to ensure he suffers.
- Defied at the end of Tempest when she notes she could easily just make Jimmy immortal and leave him braindead forever, but decides not to.
- Expy: Not only of Emma Peel, but also Tracy Bond, both of whom are played by the same actress, Diana Rigg; her appearance in Vol III makes her resemble the Judi Dench M in the Bond films.
- Heel–Face Turn: Is an antagonist in Black Dossier and a grudging ally in 2009 and finally a full-on friend to Mina and Orlando in Tempest.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Her Cruel Mercy ensures that Bond lives to succeed her as M, get rejuvenated, then destroy Ayesha's pool, ensuring he'll be the last.
- Skewed Priorities: At the beginning of the last issue of The Tempest, she is quite delighted to learn that the MI5 building has been destroyed, as it means the end of "sixties espionage" ... right as they're about to leave Earth to escape the apocalypse.
- Writing Around Trademarks: She's referred to exclusively by her maiden name, with alternate spelling to further obscure her.
M (2009)
Sir James
- Source: Ian Fleming's James Bond stories
A descendant of Campion Bond, "Jimmy" is the same kind of weaselly slimeball that the League dealt with in the Victorian era though even more unpleasant and smug than Campion. He served the government during the Big Brother regime and is a well regarded secret agent. After Emma Night's disappearance, he is tapped as the new M.
- Adaptational Villainy: The original James Bond in the books had noble intentions and was often shown to value the girls he slept with as more than just one-night stands. This one is a rapist at worst, pick-up artist at best, and absolutely without any scruples. Even the original literary Bond was never depicted as a traitor.
- The Ageless: The Fountain of Youth made him immortal but he was still able to be killed by Emma Night.
- Ax-Crazy: Most notable when he hijacks a civilian's hovercar and charges after Mina and Allan with an absolutely batshit insane look on his face.
- Dirty Old Man: The glimpse of him in Century 2009 being attended by a ridiculously bosomed blonde nurse suggests this. Hardly surprising.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: His overhyping of his adventures and selling out specifically to Americans might be a jab on Moore's part to the Bond franchise selling out to Hollywood.
- Expy Coexistence: Black Dossier implies Basildon Bond to be an ancestor of Champion Basildon was a James Bond parody played by Russ Abbot.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: He's touted as a great secret agent but his use of gadgets in a fight are shown to be Awesome, but Impractical and only make him look foolish. It's revealed in the end that "Jimmy" is in fact a traitor to England, having murdered Emma Night's father and being in the pocket of Americans. He later realizes he was in the wrong line, and he's far more effective and capable as an outright villain than he ever was as a hero.
- Flanderization: His reliance on absurd gadgets and his complete lack of discretion about his job are played way up. His misogynistic tendencies, however, aren't too far off the mark.
- For the Evulz: His implied motivation for his actions in The Tempest.
- Fountain of Youth: Was old and wheelchair-ridden until he tracked it down and returned to his prime.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: He becomes the new M in The Tempest. He's also gone from the guy who claimed a miss was a warning shot to the guy who nuked the Fountain of Youth. He's gone from being a parody of Bond, to a Bond villain complete with nuclear submarines, henchmen, creepy sex, and sadistic sociopathy, fully capable of mad plans like dropping nuclear bombs on micro-nations, and carrying it out with precision.
- Handsome Lech: A good-looking guy who also happens to be a misogynist rapist.
- Hate Sink: He more represents the character's toxic misogynist fan base than the actual character from the books and movies.
- He-Man Woman Hater: In Alan Moore's view, this was the unpleasant undercurrent of the original stories and Jimmy makes even The Comedian seem like a feminist by comparison, being a rapist who uses torture instruments as foreplay.
- Karma Houdini: Zigzagged.
- Murders Emma Night's father, betrays England for America, rapes many women and is a thug, and when confronted by Bulldog Drummond rubs it in that he's going to kill him and get away with it and have sex with Emma Night too. He has even become an institution by the time of Volume III.
- However, by 2009, he's a crippled old man, riddled with painful STD's, and there's the implication that Night is keeping him alive to ensure he suffers.
- However, the teaser for Volume 4 shows him becoming the new "M" of MI5 who is implicitly in charge of hunting down Orlando, Mina and Emma (the previous M). However, Night finally kills him in a particularly embarrassing way by the end of that volume.
- Legacy Character: He's such an institution that MI5 use his name and identity for different agents (all the Bond actors from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig).
- Overt Operative: You know how in the movies, Bond would inexplicably travel with absolutely no cover identity? This version is even worse, openly blabbing about being a secret agent to impress girls at bars. Sterling Archer would be proud.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: A government agent finds a working Fountain of Youth that turns old people young, makes them immortal and heals any previous injury. He uses it once then blows it up.
- Spies Are Despicable: Probably the biggest example in the series. A morally abhorrent and charmless backstabber and rapist.
- Take That!: Jimmy is essentially Alan Moore's attack on the myth of James Bond, especially the idea that a misogynist dinosaur of the Cold War became England's greatest adventure hero despite having a career where he spies for the government, kills and lies to people for a living, neither being heroic from the author's anti-authoritarian perspective.
- Appears to be somewhat alleviated in The Tempest where Moore seems to concede that while he despises spies and especially James Bond, at the very least the Tuxedo and Martini spy flicks of the 60s were fun in high contrast to the highly morose and "realistic" modern spies. Additionally, the J-Series agents that bear his name don't seem to be too evil-J-R4 in particular is portrayed as being awkward and overly trusting, which leads to his death at the hands of the original Bond.
- Truer to the Text: Moore's take on Bond is a lot closer to the original Fleming version, and mainly highlights why exactly Bond needed Adaptational Heroism since there's no way a faithful take on Book Bond would ever have been franchise material.
- Villain with Good Publicity: He's a traitor to England and a rapist but is also considered a honored establishment figure, so MI5 keeps younger stand-ins like J3 and J6 to do field work, while the original is tended to by a buxom blonde nurse.
- Writing Around Trademarks: It's pretty clear who he is but for copyright reasons isn't actually referred to as James Bond, or 007.
Agents / Operatives
The J-Series (J1-6)
- Source: James Bond film series
- Death by Adaptation: J1 is used by "Jimmy" as a human shield (which J1 does himself in Thunderball) when King turns on him.
- Decomposite Character: The above "Jimmy" is the original, but they've all contributed to the "James Bond" identity. Even the Sean Connery version (J1) is separate from the original.
- Legacy Character: All of them have adopted the name of James Bond at one point or another, and were all far more competent than “Jimmy” had ever been. J6 is the most recent to bear the name.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: While the J-series seemed particularly loyal to Emma, and one can assume J6 was especially close to her, they are all still very loyal government agents who won’t hesitate in following Jimmy’s hunt for their former leader.
- The Runt at the End:
- Jimmy Bond / Dr. Noah appears in Tempest as "J-R4", a reserve agent and neurotic weakling that the original Sir James considers expendable enough to kill without hesitation. A line of his suggests that all Bonds considered non-canon have been relegated to this status, though he reassures Sir James that they're all still white, of course.note
- Another "botched" clone appears to be Austin Powers, whom they've decided to keep in cryosuspension.
- Only Known By His Nickname: They each have a nickname that is a subtle reference to the actor they were modeled on.
- J1 is "Jock", slang for a Scottish man, which Connery famously was.
- J2 is "Fry", alluding to Lazenby appearing in ads for the chocolate brand Fry's before being cast as Bond.
- J3 is "Eyebrows" and Moore was the master of the Fascinating Eyebrow.
- J4 is "Lovey", alluding to Dalton being a classically-trained stage actor.
- J5 is "Posh" and J6 is "Scary". Brosnan could be said to be more posh or suave than some others, and Craig goes for Darker and Edgier than everyone else, but "Posh" and "Scary" are also cheeky nods to the Spice Girls.
- Take That!: J1's dying grunt, "Uk..." may be a subtle dig at Connery's advocacy of Scottish independence away from the U.K. Plus it's probably no coincidence that Moore had Quatermain beat up and belittle Jimmy decades before in The Black Dossier, and Connery played both Bond and Quatermain in the movie adaptation of the comic, and this was an indirect jab as well.
Campion Bond
Source: Original character. Though you can probably guess whose ancestor he is.
"We live in troubled times, where fretful dreams settle upon the Empire's brow."
Campion Bond is the liaison between the league and the mysterious M. A fat slob with no redeeming qualities.
- Adapted Out: Was absent from the movie but appeared in the novelization. His role in the film is given to Sanderson Reed.
- Fat Bastard: He's overweight and not the least bit pleasant.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: He alternates between a thin beard with a pencil line mustache, and a simple handlebar.
- In the Blood: The Bond family, whether Sir Basildon Bond in Prospero's time or his more famous grandson in the 20th Century are generally shifty scumbags who are condescending, macho and full of themselves, without the chivalry or honour of James.
- Jerkass: He's not especially evil or rude but he's very condescending, manipulative and a real toady. He also condescends to Mina and thinks she's not fit to lead the League because she's
a woman. The public story of Dracula's attack on her is that she was "ravished by a foreigner" and he all but blames her for it. - Obstructive Bureaucrat: He's corrupt and careerist but isn't otherwise a villain.
- Smug Snake: The size of his ego isn't justified.
- Vetinari Job Security: He seems to have this in Vol. 1; even after basically being a henchman to James Moriarty, he keeps his position in Vol. 2 with no rebuke. Averted in The Black Dossier and Vol 3. Century; the former book has him noting his loss of favor while the latter book has him serve as waiter to the second M and the League, with nothing to do but sulk off-panel.
Sir Hugo Drummond
Source: The Bulldog Drummond series by Sapper.
A WWI hero, private detective, and friend of the industrialist Sir John Night.
- The Brute: He's quite large and quite ready to dish out punishment.
- Cool Old Guy: Was active on the frontlines in WWI, and still active in the late fifties as an MI-5 agent.
- Family-Values Villain: He objects to Allan swearing in public as there could be kiddies listening.
- Honorary Uncle: To Emma.
- Made of Iron: Completely unaffected by the Golliwog beyond a bloody nose while Jimmy and Emma are floored.
- Morality Pet: He's an extreme far-right nutter, but his fondness for the heroic Emma humanizes him some.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: As befitting the source material.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a brutal one to Jimmy and by extension the spy genre for only being interested in deception and gadgets rather than being able to fight.
- Writing Around Trademarks: Never actually called "Bulldog Drummond", and his first name, Hugh, is disguised as Hugo.
Jason King
Source: Department S and Jason King.
Formerly of Divison S, appointed head of operations when Jimmy becomes M.
- Adaptational Sexuality: Jason King was a ladies man in his series, but Moore makes him a potentially closeted gay man, perhaps taking a note from his actor Peter Wyngrade.
- Crossover Relatives:: Tara King from The Avengers (1960s) is now his sister here.
- Disco Dan: Retains his 70s hipster fashion sense into 2010.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: He poisons M's tea but M gives it to the cat.
- X-Ray Sparks: He rewires M's office hoping to electrocute him. M ends up wanting to trade offices leaving King to be electrocuted in this fashion.
Cathy Gale, Tarsy King, Patsy
Source: The Avengers (1960s) and The New Avengers.
School friends who later all partnered up with the same man. In 2009, they're operatives of the new M (Emma Night).
- Actor Allusion: Both Joanna Lumley and Honor Blackman were Steed's companions in The Avengers (1960s) in addition to being in James Bond movies. Here they're caught up in the feud between Bond and Mrs. Peel.
- Composite Character
- Purdey from The New Avengers and Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous, both played by Joanna Lumley.
- Cathy Gale and Pussy Galore, both played by Honor Blackman.
- Everyone Went to School Together: They all went to Cliff House, the girls' counterpart to Greyfriars.
- Never Suicide: For helping Emma, all three are interrogated and tortured by MI5 and later made to look like
- Related in the Adaptation: Tara with Jason King.
Antagonists
Major Antagonists
Oliver Haddo
Adrian Marcato, Dr. Karswell Trelawney, Mocata, Kosmo Gallion, Charles Felton, Tom Marvolo Riddle
- Source: William Somerset Maugham's The Magician.
An occultist who first confronts the League in Century 1910, he goes on to be the recurring Big Bad of Volume III.
- Big Bad: He is the main threat for Volume III as a whole.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: He shares his position as the central antagonist in Century 2009 with the Moonchild or the Antichrist.
- Body Surf: This is how he attains immortality, bringing a disciple/inheritor next to him on his deathbed then switching bodies, the previous one dying a few seconds later.
- Depraved Bisexual: Don't get in his way, or you'll find yourself on the end of his blasting rod. No, not the magical kind.
- Didn't See That Coming: His convoluted plans collapse when Jack Carter shoots his body in the head while his spirit is in the Astral Plane trying to possess Terner. As a last resort he possesses the body of a creepy dude named Tom Riddle.
- Disappointed in You: He expresses this constantly and frequently to The Antichrist, Harry Potter.
- Evil Sorceror: For much of his appearance he is this. He undergoes severe Badass Decay in Century 2009.
- Fate Worse than Death: After the Antichrist plot fails, Harry Potter keeps his still-living severed head with him in a cage at Grimauld Place. On top of everything else, it appears to be decaying and is infested with flies.
- Grand Theft Me:
- He keeps hijacking different hosts through the centuries, each of them being an expy of him. He pulls a very dickish one on Kosmo Gallion, hijacking him on his own death bed and then boasting of sleeping with his fiancee while Gallion dies in Haddo's decrepit body.
- Though eventually he becomes a victim of this. His plan of hijacking Terner's body at Hyde Park fails when he's killed by Jack Carter and is forced to take over the body of Tom Riddle, a.k.a. Lord Voldemort. He regrets this since the Antichrist was a total failure, at least for him.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Oliver Haddo was a No Celebrities Were Harmed version of Aleister Crowley who appeared in W. Somerset Maugham's The Magician. Crowley being a
Fountain of Expies inspired several works in the 20th century and Volume III and the expanded lore has him taking on several alternate guises and forms of each of his expies throughout the century; a short list includes Karswell from Montague Rhodes James' Casting the Runes, Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff) from Edgar G. Ulmer's film The Black Cat, Adrian Marcato from Rosemary's Baby and Kosmo Gallion from a famous episode of The Avengers (1960s).- As Gallion, he is also a nod towards some of Crowley's real-life disciples, including Karl Germer (Crowley's immediate successor as OHO, note the initials), Jack Parsons (both he and Gallion were rocket scientists), and Kenneth Anger (with Terner's concert standing in for Anger's experimental films).
- Parasitic Immortality: Haddo has done this for centuries to keep himself alive: he brings a disciple/inheritor next to him on his deathbed then switches bodies as the previous one dies a few seconds later. It's finally put to a stop when his plot to create the Anti-Christ fails and said Anti-Christ ([[spoiler:Harry Potter) instead kills Haddo's last body and keeps his still-living severed head with him in a cage at Grimauld Place, rendering Haddo unable to transfer to a new host. After the Anti-Christ is dealt with, this severed head is taken away by Mary Poppins as she leaves the scene of the fight.]]
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He claims that the occult is a way to get away from conservative sexual repression but tends to regard his women followers as concubines. He even makes vulgar misogynist remarks to Mina, even threatening to take advantage of her by pulling a Grand Theft Me on her body, though Mina stops him from achieving that.
- Really Gets Around: Haddo tends to be surrounded by lots of semi-naked followers and even makes creepy overtures to Mina.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: He noted that his plan on starting a new aeon failed and that the Moonchild he wanted turned out to be a whiny Spoiled Brat strung out on prescription drugs.
- Victory Is Boring: He thwarts the League in Vol. 1 and 2 and manages to create The Antichrist but is sorely disappointed and even regretful at the entire thing, though it's hard to say if what he achieved could be counted as a victory since his plans for the "new aeon" were a total flop.
- Uncertain Doom: Haddo's ultimate fate is unknown; he is still alive after the Antichrist's destruction, but is still trapped as a rotting head, and Mary Poppins takes him with her as she leaves, with Haddo begging her not to.
- Wizards Live Longer: Is basically immortal due to Body Surfing. He'll train an apprentice mage and the last part of the training is a "Freaky Friday" Flip where he'll take the apprentice's body and leave them in his old dying one.
The Moonchild/The Antichrist
The Moonchild or the Antichrist is one half of the Big Bad Duumvirate of Volume III. He was a young wizard apprentice from a secret school for magic users in Scotland; when he discovered his true nature, he killed everybody in the school and went into self-imposed exile as his fate is to bring about the end of the world.
- Adaptational Villainy: Unlike his counterpart in the original books, this incarnation of Harry Potter was destined to be the Antichrist, and he became a murderous psychopath after learning of this.
- Alas, Poor Villain: He never had a chance at a normal life. His life was never in his control and someone made the choice for him to be The Antichrist. He was groomed to be The Antichrist by those he called friends and when he found out the truth, he killed them all and hid from the world, burying himself with anti-depressants.
- The Antichrist: Also known as "The Moonchild".
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: He transforms into a giant once he decides that there's no point in him holding off the apocalypse.
- Bald of Evil: His adult form is shaven bald.
- Because Destiny Says So: He holes up in his abandoned old home in the hopes of preventing the apocalypse, but he ultimately realizes that he's only delaying the inevitable and goes out to fulfill his destiny.
- Big Bad: He serves as the main threat in the final part of Century.
- Bloodbath Villain Origin: He started off as a hero, but upon learning what he was meant to do, he burned down Hogwarts, razed Hogsmeade, and mutilated everyone on the Hogwarts Express.
- Buffy Speak: Thinks being The Antichrist is special because he's "like, in The Bible".
- Cosmic Plaything: Nothing in his life, up until learning the Awful Truth, was his own decision, and he never asked for any of this. Upon learning that his entire life was based on lies, it's no wonder that he takes a hard Face–Heel Turn.
- Dark Messiah: Was intended to be this and bring about The End of the World as We Know It.
- Evil Former Friend: Murders Ron and Hermione when they beg him to spare their lives. His other onscreen victims include Ginny, Dumbledore, Malfoy, Snape, and McGonagall, along with Haddo.
- Excrement Statement: Not played for laughs. He pisses lightning on Allan Quatermain, killing him.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Eyes tend to sprout all over his head, among other places.
- Fallen Hero: Had the makings of a young hero, but ultimately became a monster upon learning of his intended nature.
- Freak Out: Hoo boy, did he not take learning that he was the Antichrist well.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Let's say he didn't take the revelation of his true nature and his purpose in life very well. Specifically that all his adventures were a ruse to prevent him from facing his true purpose.
- Healing Factor: Grevious injuries that he suffers can be healed in a few moments. To finally beat him, Mary Poppins turns him into a chalk painting and then causes the rain to wash it away.
- Hero Killer: Starting with the entire population of Hogwarts (and then some) and ending with Allan Quatermain.
- Historical In-Joke: When the Harry Potter books entered the mainstream and became a children's favorite during the The '90s and early 2000s, they were accused of promoting satanism and other bad things by hardcore and fundamentalist Christians in the United States. In this universe Harry Potter is literally the Anti-Christ.
- Humanoid Abomination: Was initially a normal black-hair bespectacled boy; after he goes nuts he cuts off his hair, scratches off the "mark on his head" with his fingers, and starts sprouting eyes all over his body and becomes giant size.
- Important Haircut: Has a significant buzz of shorn hair and the room he is in is filled with cut black hair and a pair of broken glasses.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: His entire life was a lie and he was chosen by Voldemort to be the Antichrist. His archenemy made the Invisible College stage all his adventures and made Harry's classmates venerate him so it would strengthen his role in the apocalypse. When Harry found out the truth, he massacred everyone in the college and the neighboring town for ruining his life. By the events of the story, Harry tried to delay the apocalypse but eventually gave up and surrendered to the role because he saw it as inevitable.
- Jerkass: Even aside from the terrible things he does, he's a whiny little ingrate drugged up on prescription pills and looks down on Mina and Orlando for not being great heroes, "like Jesus" and that they're "just women".
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: His name is never said for copyright reasons.
- Leave No Survivors: Murders the entire Harry Potter supporting cast, and the people of Hogsmeade including Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Draco, Hagrid, McGonagall, Snape, Dumbledore and Hedwig.
- No-Sell: When facing against Mary Poppins, he boasts of being The Antichrist:"I'm well famous, actually. I'm in a book of the Bible."
- Resigned to the Call: In the end, he bitterly takes his role as the Antichrist because he sees it as inevitable.
- Super Sex Organs: Kills Allan with a beam fired from his penis.
- Take That!: His appearance and form is Moore's opinion of modern fantasy franchises with their male adolescent protagonists who tend not to be especially intelligent and are frequently Unwitting Pawns.
- Teens Are Monsters: Of the School Shooter variety.
- That Man Is Dead: The fact that he erased all visible traces of his former identity suggests that the Moonchild no longer identifies himself as Harry Potter.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: To a huge degree, upon learning that he was meant to be the Antichrist and that everyone at Hogwarts was only pretending to like him. Snape, however, argues that he was always "a little shit" before being killed.
- Tragic Villain: Sure, he's a bit annoying to listen to, but a point is made that he never wanted to be the Antichrist, and kind of snapped after learning he was. His first appearance is him squatting in his godfather's decrepit house, vainly trying to cover up his various hideous mutations, with his only company being his archenemy's decaying head.
- Truer to the Text: Zigzagged. Moore's portrayal of the character does bring out aspects of his personality neglected in the movie adaptations, especially the fifth book, namely his greater stress, short temper (which he unleashes on his friends), and general paranoia about not having control and being a Pinball Protagonist. In the novel, however, this was played for pathos and dramatic tension, while Moore pushes it to extreme Flanderization. Likewise, this version of the character has green eyes which the movies removed because of the actor having issues with the contacts.
- Underestimating Badassery: Looks down at Mina Murray and Orlando as being ineffectual heroes against him because they are "just women"; you know, people who have fought the likes of Dracula, James Moriarty, the Martians and The Trojan War.
- Unwitting Pawn: His entire life, and all of his adventures, were meant to set up his role for bringing the end of the world. He didn't take well to learning the Awful Truth.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He's Harry Potter the Kid Hero for a generation... who turned into the Antichrist.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He was basically created for a purpose and function he did not ask for and tried to resist with anti-depressant pills and hiding from the world. Even though they know they have to kill him, Mina and Orlando both mention that they feel bad for him, knowing what he went through.
- Writing Around Trademarks: His appearance is completely different from his popular identity. For one thing he's bald, he's broken his glasses and there's a band-aid in place of the lightning bolt scar of Harry Potter. The only thing left are his distinct green eyes.
Ayesha, Queen of Kor
- Source: She by H. Rider Haggard.
The Queen of Kor, the immortal Ayesha is a recurring figure in the Nemo series, serving as the antagonist to Janni Dakkar. She also appears in the backstory of The Black Dossier.
- Adaptational Villainy: Ayesha wasn't a saint in the books, but she was at least partially redeemed by her love for Leo Vincey. Here, she kills Leo without hesitation because he was unable to stop the government from seizing some of her possessions and tears the heads of doves while bored.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Janni's grandson Jack Nemo thought one of the Ayesha clones was truly good and tried to save her, but then she tried to kill him as well, until Tacarigua/Ishmael II saved him just in time.
- Ax-Crazy: She has an apetite for violence, and enjoys breaking the necks of birds as a form of relaxation.
- Arch-Enemy: She serves as the nemesis of Janni Dakkar.
- Beauty Is Bad: Her beauty is proportionate to how vile she truly is.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Why does she hate Janni and wants her dead at all costs? She stole some of her things in a pirate attack, sixteen years ago.
- Foil: To her Arch-Enemy, Janni Dakkar, who is a genuinely feminist and multi-cultural Action Girl and Science Hero, whereas Ayesha, despite being a woman, perpetuates the patriarchy, being a brutal ruler of her people, and then allying with wealthy tycoons, fascist dictators and mad scientists.
- Greater-Scope Villain: In the Nemo Trilogy. The only time she and Janni actually fight is in Roses of Berlin, while in River of Ghosts, Janni fights against attempts to revive her legacy via android duplicates.
- Hot Consort: Apparently to Charles Foster Kane.
- Mighty Whitey: Though so tyrannical her subjects apparently depose her, according to Janni Dakkar.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: Years after her death, ex-Nazis try and create clones of her, via the same method they created The Boys from Brazil and The Stepford Wives.
- Off with His Head!: Her present fate as of the end of Nemo: Roses of Berlin. Hildy Johnson asks if she could have survived that considering her immortality, but Janni assures her that she's dead, and Vol 3 confirms it. Also counts as something of a Karmic Death, considering her habit of beheading innocent doves out of apparent boredom.
- Villain Team-Up: She forms an alliance with Adenoid Hynkel.
Adenoid Hynkel
"... And then we will see if they still think I look ridiculous."
- Source: The Great Dictator directed by and originally played by Charlie Chaplin.
The "Fooey" of Germany and the man who ignited WWII in the League-verse. He's an ally of Ayesha, and a bit preoccupied with trying not to look too foolish.
- Adolf Hitlarious: As portrayed in the movie, and like his real-life counterpart, while Hynkel is a despicable monster, he's only dangerous because of his power base. As a person, he's a buffoonish little man full of pretensions and delusions. As pointed out by Mabuse, alone he is just one despot, he needs allies to be a true threat to the world.
- Expy Coexistence: The only mention of the actual Hitler in the series is The Roses Of Berlin mentioning a silent movie star called Addie Hitler who appeared in a movie making fun of Hynkel, a reference to how Hynkel originated in a movie parodying Hitler.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: He is quite obviously a Adolf Hitler stand-in.
- No Swastikas: The "Double Cross" of the Tomanian flag is this world's equivalent of the Nazi swastika.
- Villain Team-Up: Aside from his alliance with Ayesha, he's also formed an Axis Power with Meccania and Bacteria.
- You Cloned Hitler!: In a reference to The Boys from Brazil, several clones of the original Hynkel are being raised by survivors of the Reich in a hidden jungle base. They're killed trying to flee Nemo's attack after they accidentally stumble into the nesting ground of the Creatures of the Black Lagoon.
Minor Antagonists
The Doctor
Fu Manchu
Source: The "Fu Manchu" series by Sax Rohmer.
A mysterious Chinese Doctor who rules over the Chinese population of Limehouse.
- Ambiguously Human: The Doctor does not look entirely human, but no explanation of his nature appears (His more inhuman features, like his creepy eyes, are in fact mentioned in the original Rohmer books).
- Cool Airship: Was in the process of constructing one.
- The Dreaded: Quatermain, who's Seen It All, is utterly terrified just by a glimpse of him.
- Good Hair, Evil Hair: Sports a classic "Fu Manchu" mustache.
- Hellish Pupils: Has semi-rectangular, goat-like eyes.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Quite obviously supposed to be Fu Manchu, but never referred to by name.
- Torture Technician: We first meet him punishing a subordinate... by practicing calligraphy on said subordinate's skin in acid paint.
- Yellow Peril: Chinese and very perilous.
Jack MacHeath
- Source: The Threepenny Opera, Jack the Ripper
The infamous Ripper of Whitecastle, who returns from his exile in 1910 to resume his grissly work as London prepares for the corronation of King George V. Jack the Ripper is in reality working-class anti-hero Mack The Knife, and a namesake descendant of highwayman Jack Macheath.
- Anti-Hero: Is portrayed as an unusually dark version.
- Composite Character: Combines Jack the Ripper with Macheath from The Threepenny Opera.
- Generation Xerox: His ancestor, Macheath the highwayman, seems to have been approximately just as bad.
- Historical Domain Character / Public Domain Character: Is a combination of the two, see the Composite Character entry.
- Karma Houdini: Is never punished for all his horrible crimes, as the demented Earl Of Gurney takes credit for all the murders, despite only being responsible for one.
- Musical World Hypotheses: Type 1 ("Musical Alternate Universe"), but used to contrast everything else. All his dialogue is in song, in tune to various songs from The Threepenny Opera, as is that of other characters sourced from the musical, unlike everyone else. But everyone else doesn't seem to notice.
- Red Herring: Has absolutely nothing to do with the overarching plot about Oliver Haddo and the Moonchild.
- Teens Are Monsters: His identity as Mack The Knife reveals that his actions as the Ripper were committed when he was around 19-20
- Serial Killer: Kills a number of prostitutes.
- Society Is to Blame: The character is used to highlight that, as awful as his crimes are, they pale in the face of the atrocities committed by the wealthy elite and the pretensions and snobbishness of his self-proclaimed social betters, and he is little more than a symptom of their opression. Even his victims tend to agree with him.
Tom Swyfte
- Source: Strattlemeyer Syndicate's Tom Swift books.
The hero of the Edisonade genre, the young inventor is assigned by Charles Foster Kane to recover a McGuffin stolen by Janni Dakkar and capture her.
- Adaptational Villainy: Presented in a much darker light than his original stories, with Moore following on the darker implications of the books as per Values Dissonance.
- Allohistorical Allusion: Thomas Swift's Electric Rifle was the real world inspiration for the Taser note . It's featured here and Swyfte boasts of how it will one day be used for urban law enforcement.
- Dirty Coward: He will fully abandon colleagues to save his own life.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: His eventual fate when he confronts the Shoggoths At the Mountains of Madness. He survives the events of the novel and makes it back to civilization, but has been driven irrevocably insane and is abandoned in an asylum by his employers
- It's All About Me: He doesn't care about anyone but himself.
- Only in It for the Money: His inventions are made for this, in contrast to the For Science! attitude of Wright, Van Dusen and others.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: His portrayal highlights the racism in his original stories. He also looks down on Janni for being a woman and refers to her as "darkie".
- Writing Around Trademarks: Tom Swyfte instead of Tom Swift.
Charles Foster Kane
- Source: Citizen Kane
Newspaper tycoon and one of the richest men in the world, Charles Foster Kane plays host to Ayesha, and at her requests, funds a team to get revenge on Janni Dakkar and retrieve her stolen belongings.
- Collector of the Strange: Fancies himself one at least, among the items seen in his collection are The Steam Man Of The Prairies and The Maltese Falcon.
- Foregone Conclusion: Since he doesn't die in the story, his fate likely played out the way it did in the movie.
- Non-Action Guy: His role in the story is limited to financing Tom Swyfte and hosting Ayesha at Xanadu, his giant mansion.
Count Zero
Source: Greyfriars by Charles Hamilton
Italian master criminal and one-time foe of the failed Warralson League.
- Adaptational Villainy: Unlike his original appearance in Greyfriars where his crime mostly boiled down to committing a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax, here he's become enough of a criminal threat to warrant goverment investigation.
- Villain Team-Up: With fellow Greyfriars villain, the pirate-slaver James Soames
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Is only battled once by an inferior League and disappears afterwards.
Doctor Sachs
Source: Doctor Sax by Jack Kerouac
Grandson of Fu Manchu, he kidnaps Dean Moriarty, descendant of his grandfather's enemy James Moriarty, and partakes in a plan to help the Great Old Ones unleash a virus into the world.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the original book, he was a good, if sinister, guy.
- Grandfather Clause: In-universe, his rivalry with Dean Moriarty is because of his grandfather's rivalry with James Moriarty, Dean's grandfather.
- Red Right Hand: His skin turns mossy green at night.
- Related in the Adaptation: To Fu Manchu.
- The Rival: Dean Moriarty, whom he kidnaps to continue their grandfathers' rivalry.
- Villain Team-Up: With the Great Old Ones.
- Writing Around Trademarks: Doctor Sachs instead of Sax.
Lamarr the First
A warlord from the moon, and founder of a dynasty that rules our whole solar system in the distant future.
Source: original; ancestor of a character from Whizzer Comics
- Arch-Enemy: Maybe Satin Astro, who fights against his descendant and come back a thousand years in time to stop him. But as far as we know, they never even got the chance to meet.
- Diabolical Mastermind: Well, consider his pedigree.
- Galactic Conqueror: Conquers the moon, Mars, and Venus; his descendant will add Earth to the fold.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: The epilogue to Tempest suggests he or his empire is defending Earth from much bigger threats like the Romulans and the Daleks.
- Related in the Adaptation: The biological son of Professor James Moriarty and an Amazonian moon woman, conceived via artificial insemination.
Other Characters
Sherlock Holmes
- Source: Sherlock Holmes adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The world's first consulting detective. A minor, but important, player in the first volume.
- Demoted to Extra: Only appears in a flashback to his duel with Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls. This was deliberate, as Moore didn't want hugely iconic characters like Holmes or Dracula to completely overtake the story if they appeared in person.
- Entertainingly Wrong: According to Moriarty, Holmes never figured out that he was working for the MI-6 and the British Empire, seeing him as a simple criminal mastermind.
- Expy Coexistence:
- Charles Auguste Dupin helps the the League in Volume I and is considered to be the inspiration for Holmes.
- Carnacki the Ghost-Finder was inspired by Holmes and was on Murray's second League.
- Faking the Dead: Faked his death despite Sebastian Moran attempting to make it a real one, and retired to Sussex where he spent his later years keeping bees. Mina eventually finds him there.
- Gag Nose: Is drawn with a pretty big schnozz.
- Pretender Diss: If Moriarty is to be believed, he disliked Allan Quatermain seeing him as a disgrace to the idea of the "British adventure hero", seeing him as a downgrade from him, in the same way Quatermain saw Bond and Harry Potter as downgrades from him.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: He and Mycroft apparently don't get along very well. Mina Harker in one of her notes in The New Travellers' Almanac speculates that this is because both of them are too similar.
Count Dracula
- Source: Dracula by Bram Stoker
An ancient vampire from Mina's past.
- Death by Origin Story: Mina's origin story, to be exact.
- Eldritch Location: Castle Dracula in Romania. Mina and Allan explore it in the early 1900's, with Mina half-dreading, half-hoping that Dracula might wait for her there. The castle turns out to be long-abandoned and in ruins, but there is one unsettling find left: someone has left several letters written in blood behind, reminiscing about atrocities committed in the castle when the Count was still living there.
- Hallucinations: Appears to Mina during her Mushroom Samba at the end of 1969, which is the final straw in pushing her into a nervous breakdown.
- Humanoid Abomination: Mina describes him as such. She also calls him "beautiful, dreadful".
- Posthumous Character: Is dead before the comic starts, and his memory haunts Mina throughout.
Miss A. L.
- Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol.
An unfortunate young girl who disappears to other dimensions, which eventually gets her killed.
- Alice Allusion: She's implied to be Alice from Alice's Adventures In Wonderland .
- Arc Welding: Her two adventures and Snark Island from The Hunting of the Snark are combined into unsettling inter-dimensional events that are investigated by MI5. There's little they can do about it, as whatever dimension "Wonderland" is part of is very difficult to reach and any hapless travellers are pretty much on their own.
- Body Horror: While having the side of your hair switch places is one thing, having your entire biological makeup reverse is another. Not only did all her organs move, the way they work did as well.
- Death by Adaptation: After her internal organs are reversed by going through the looking glass.
- Dimensional Traveler: Deconstructs the entire idea of a normal human person suddenly thrust into dimensions where the laws of physics and reality are vastly different from that of Earth's. The end result is surreal Body Horror upon return at best and painful death at worst.
- Hotter and Sexier: A teenage, topless version of her appears in Mina's hallucination in Century: 1969.
- No Name Given: A.L. probably stands for "Alice Liddell", a child Lewis Carroll knew and is thought to have named Alice after.
The Doctor (Doctor Who)
- Source: Doctor Who
A time-travelling alien and vigilante who changes his appearance when he is close to death.
- The Cameo: His second incarnation appears in a street scene in Century: 1969, and both his first and eleventh incarnations appear together in Century: 2009.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Is only ever scene or hinted at, and never explicitly identified. Same with the TARDIS, which is never referred to as such and looks only like a police box in the Blazing World.
- My Future Self and Me: In 2009, both his Eleventh incarnation and First incarnation are seen together.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, Fu Manchu is often referred to as "the Doctor".
- The Nth Doctor: Several of his various regenerations make appearances.
Santa Claus
- Source: Santa Claus legends
A mystic shaman who lives at the North Pole and delivers gifts to all homes on Earth on the winter solstice.
- Accidental Murder: His familiars kill ambassadors from the Coca-Cola company when they breach a yearly ritual. Santa gets very upset about it.
- Badass Santa: Is a powerful shaman with an army of spirits at his command.
- Death by Adaptation: In supplementary material for Volume II, his skeleton and sleigh can be seen on the moon. It's unknown if this actually happens or not, or if it's just a joke.
- Familiar: Has several spirit familiars, which he calls his "little helpers".
- No Name Given: Is never actually referred to as "Santa Claus".
Hogwarts Residents
- Source: J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter
The students and staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They are all slaughtered by the Antichrist.
- Adaptational Villainy: It's stated that they were training Harry to fulfil his true purpose as the Antichrist with most of his adventures being staged by the personnel of the school by the orders of Voldemort, and that the students were forced to shower Harry with adulation.
- Adaptational Ugliness: Snape is older than in canon and bald, but you can immediately tell it's him by his dismissal of Harry as he's killed.
- Adaptational Wimp: Dumbledore and McGonagall don't even put up a fight, and beg for their lives. Hermione and Ron do the same.
- Asshole Victim: While the children didn't deserve to die, the teachers and personnel still collaborated with Voldemort to make the Antichrist.
- Canon Foreigner: Worzel Gummidge, Thomas & Friends, Ivor the Engine, Will Stanton, Anjelica Button and others all have small appearances or references. Justified as Moore is using Hogwarts to comment on a lot of children's literature, not just Harry Potter.
- Composite Character: Snape’s physical appearance is based on Filch, as he’s old, has long grey hair with a bald spot and wears similar clothes to what Filch wore in the series. However, he still wears his signature black cloak and has personal hatred for Harry, while Filch simply hated everyone around him.
- Continuity Snarl: It's stated that the Anti-Christ was a young adult when he discovered his true nature and slaughtered the entire school yet Hermione and Ron appear as pre-teens when Harry killed them.
- Death by Cameo: Malfoy, Ron, Hermione, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbeldore all briefly appear and get killed by the antichrist.
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner:
- Snape gets one by calling Harry "a little shit" right to his face, even when he's about to kill him.
- Tom Riddle/Oliver Haddo gets one as well, though in his case it turns out to not be quite fatal, as the Antichrist takes his still-living severed head with him.
- Fan Disservice: We get a brief shot of McGonagall's exposed breasts as she's being tortured by the Antichrist.
- Greater-Scope Villain: They planned to bring the apocalypse by training Harry into becoming the Antichrist. However, a horrified, disgusted, and rage-filled Harry killed them all instead for ruining his life and for giving him a role he never wanted.
- I Want My Mommy!: Hermione sobs this right before the Antichrist kills her.
- Kill It with Fire: Harry used a fire spell to massacre Hogwarts; kids are on fire when we're shown, and the school itself and everyone in it are nothing but charred husks.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: None of their names are said, and the school itself is only called "the invisible college".
- Leave No Survivors: They are all killed by the Antichrist. Except for Harry, of course, who is the Antichrist. It's not just Hogwarts either; the Antichrist wipes out every living thing in Hogsmeade, and the train station, including magical beings like the living trees and the portraits. The dialogue implies that either it's a reflection of the modern world's lack of magic, or that its destruction led to its lack of magic, Orlando can only guess.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The massacre of Hogwarts is explicitly compared to the school shootings happening in America, like Columbine.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Their role in the story is quite small and everyone is already dead by the time of the investigation. However, they trained Harry to become the Antichrist and paid the price when he rejected the role.
- We Used to Be Friends: Not even Harry's friends are spared in his rampage.
The Rutles
- Source: The Rutles, Yellow Submarine
A wildly popular band of the 1960s, stand-ins for the real-life Beatles.
- All There in the Manual: While the Rutles appear in 1969, Nemo's chronicles in The New Traveler's Almanack discuss the yellow submarine and related events.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: As always, they are a parody of The Beatles.
- The Rival: Are rivaled by Terner's Purple Orchestra, mirroring the rivalry of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
- Sub Story: Nemo glimpses the yellow submarine while traveling the ocean floor, which startles him as he thought the Nautilus was unique.
The Pirates' Conference
- Source: Doctor Syn: A Tale Of the Romney Marsh by Russel Thorndike (Captain Clegg), Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor by Mervyn Peake (Captain Slaughterboard), Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (Long John Silver), the Captain Pugwash series by John Ryan (Captain Pugwash), Peter Pan by James M. Barrie (Captain Hook), Captain Blood: His Odyssey by Rafael Sabatini (Captain Blood), Zap Comix (Captain Pysse-Gummes)
A gathering of the seas' most powerful pirates at Rose Island.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul / Adaptational Sexuality: In the original storybook, Captain Slaughterboard and the Yellow Creature are master and servant, here it is revealed that they are "bunkmates".
- Hook Hand: Captain Hook, of course.
- My Nayme Is: Captain Pissgums is here spelled "Pysse-Gummes" making it slightly more realistic. The original character originates from the very sexually explicit Zap Comix series "Captain Pissgums And his Pervert Pirates".
- Mysterious Past: Hook is strangely evasive about exactly where it is he comes from.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Clegg wonders why on Earth Captain Pugwash decided to become a pirate, as he's far too nice and meek for it.
- Slap Fight: Clegg mentions that the Conference ended after the captains all got drunk and rowdy and got into a "foppish slap fight":
- Villain Team-Up: Many of them are evil, and they're all... well, pirates.
- Would Hurt a Child: Heavily implied with Hook, who is shown next to a terrified cabin boy, and obvious if you've ever read Peter Pan.
Billy Batson/Captain Marvel
- Source: Shazam! comic books
An American superhero who shifts from a little boy into a superpowered man with an incantation.
- Black Comedy: Last seen in a Bleak Abyss Retirement Home for superheroes, senilely muttering "Zam". An orderly notes that a certain film company won't allow him to die in case his franchise becomes valuable again someday.
- The Cameo:
- Is briefly shown in the Black Dossier files in his Billy Batson form, and later he appears as Captain Marvel in the Blazing World.
- Later appears in The Tempest as an old man in a retirement home for superhumans. In an ironic twist, he's only capable of saying the second half of the magic word that turns him into a superhero.
- The Cape: One of the few genuine examples in the League-verse.
- Cousin Oliver: To Mina and Allan.
- Expy Coexistence: His lawyers threaten to sue his expy Mr. Apollo for having a similar Chest Insignia. Short-lived Shazam expy, Captain Universe features prominently in volume four and his more famous expy Marvelman is mentioned.
- Funny Background Event: Whenever Batson says his catchphrase to become Captain Marvel, the sound of thunder accompanies his transformation, and vice versa. When he poses with Allan and Mina for a picture, seemingly having just transformed, there is a crowd of people in the background who are pulling out their umbrellas and puzzled why there's no rain.
- Kid Hero: In his Batson form.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Is never named, and his transformations are not directly shown.
- Old Superhero: Is last seen in a superhero retirement home unable to remember the word to transform.
- A True Story in My Universe: Implied as Batson is seen in a superhero retirement home where it's said that most of them get their bills paid by media companies who like to use them in TV shows and movies based on their own adventures.
Stardust the Super Wizard
- Source: Stardust the Super Wizard comics by Fletcher Hank
An alien who used interplanetary science to defeat his enemies and put them through creatively sadistic living deaths. He was eventually stopped by Captain Universe.
- Adaptational Villainy: He is treated as a sadistic monster in this comic book, though the things that make him villainous were arguably there from the start.
- Allohistorical Allusion: He is mentioned to be drunken, which enabled Captain Universe to defeat him and freeze him. His creator, Fletcher Hanks, was purportedly an an abusive drunk who, after abandoning his family, became a vagrant and froze to death.
- Ambiguously Human: In his original comics, Stardust's proportions seemed bizarre because Fletcher Hanks was just a very bad artist. In League, he actually does have such bizarre and disturbing proportions.
- And I Must Scream / Fate Worse than Death: What he did to his enemies in various ways.
- Human Popsicle: After defeating him, Captain Universe froze him.
- Shout-Out: Ended up being frozen in Ice-9.
- Take That!: His whole appearance was one both to his comic and its creator, see the entry for Allohistorical Allusion.
- Uncanny Valley: In-universe: Both Moore's text and O'Neill's illustration for the piece emphasize just how warped a Fletcher Hanks creation would look in real life, with its enormous stature, tiny head, and compacted rippling muscles.
Queen Olympia and Frankenstein's Creature
- Source: The Sandman (1816) by E. T. A. Hoffmann (Queen Olympia), Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (Frankenstein's Creature)
The Princess and Prince of Toyland.
- Adaptation Origin Connection: It is revealed that Doctor Frankenstein was inspired to make the Creature by Doctor Coppelius from The Sandman (1816).
- Ascended Extra: They were at best only a section of the New Traveler's Almanac but soon were given a physical appearance and role in Volume 4.
- Belated Happy Ending: Moore gives this to Frankenstein's Creature, while the original novel ended with him wandering the Arctic preparing to kill himself, here it is revealed that he found Toyland, met Queen Olympia, fell in love with her, and became her prince.
- Crossover Ship: In-Universe: Olympia and Frankenstein's Creature rule Toyland as Prince and Princess.
- I Am Not Shazam: Discussed. Mina points out how many arguments have broken out about what to call the Creature as the true Frankenstein is his creator. The Creature himself seems to have never given a second thought to this, and calls other monsters like him "Frankensteins". He rather glumly tells Mina that people's insistence of calling him "Frankenstein's Monster" doesn't make him feel any better about his existential crisis.
- Meta Origin: Multiple incarnations of Frankenstein's Monster, such as Frankenberry, the Dell Comics superhero, the traditional Universal Monster Frankenstein, the Robert De Niro version, and the one that appeared in Van Helsing are all efforts by Queen Olympia to alleviate her husband's loneliness. The original Monster himself calls them "Frankensteins".
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Justified, given their different origins.
Deputy Barney Fife
- Source: The Andy Griffith Show
A sheriff's deputy in the small town of Maybury, North Carolina, who encountered Galley-Wag and the Rose of Nowhere.
- Clueless Deputy
- Dissimile: He describes the Rose of Nowhere as "exactly like one of them there hot air balloons, ‘ceptin it weren’t".
- No Name Given: Is only referred to as a sheriff's deputy.
- Small-Town Tyrant: He and the sherrif's office are implied to be this when they accuse Galley-Wag of morals charges and imprison him.
- Writing Around Trademarks: The town he lives in is here spelled Maybury, instead of Mayberry as in the TV show.
Jack Carter
- Source: Get Carter', Callan
- Composite Character: He associates with a petty criminal called "Lonely", from ''Callan, taking the place of David Callan from that show. Lonely only calls him by the first couple letters that both names share.
- Hero of Another Story: His appearance in Century takes place just before he leaves to avenge his brother's murder.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: His name is never fully said, the furthest ever gotten is "Mr. Ca—". This also allows the Composite Character element above.
Terner Purple
- Source: Performance, Mick Jagger
The lead singer and song-writer of the Purple Orchestra. He's bored by his lifestyle of casual hedonism and has an interest in occultist Kosmo Gallion and the works of Oliver Haddo.
- Allohistorical Allusion: The climactic concert at the end of Century 2: Paint It Black is a recreation of the famous Hyde Park Concert (of which a documentary video exists), with Terner dressed in the same costume as Mick Jagger at the time. This was the first post-Brian Jones Stones concert and as a tribute Jagger unleashed a flurry of moths after reciting Percy Shelley's Adonais. Here it's live bats...
- Epic Rocking: He may be a fop and pretentious tosser but like his real-life counterpart he sets the stage on fire with Alternate Universe "Sympathy for the Devil".
- Grand Theft Me: The original target for Oliver Haddo, he's foiled by Mina and settles for the poor replacement of Tom Riddle. Weirdly, Terner laments the defeat, feeling he had "lost his daemon". This is a Whole-Plot Reference of course, to Performance whose famous Gainax Ending finally gives Terner the transformation he wanted.
- The Hedonist: Oliver Haddo as Kosmo Gallio is visibly jealous of his lifestyle...which is why he wanted to hijack it.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Well, he's imported wholesale from Performance but he and The Purple Orchestra are quite obviously Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones.
- Prequel: His sub-plot essentially serves as one for the events of Donald Cammell and Nicholas Roeg's Performance showing the manner in which Turner "lost his daemon".
- Writing Around Trademarks: For copyright reasons, Turner and Pherber from Performance are renamed Terner and Phurber...
Professor Bernard Quatermass
- Source: The Quatermass series
- The Cameo: Appears once in the Black Dossier's supplemental material, and is vaguely alluded to in the backup feature to Vol. 4, but there's no doubt about whom he's supposed to be.
- Cool Old Guy: Loves taking his nephew and niece to the interplanetary zoo on Blackgang Chine, but he probably should keep them under closer supervision.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: In his Trump comic appearance, he sees nothing wrong with keeping sentient aliens imprisoned in a zoo, and he chuckles heartily as his nephew is mauled by a Triffid.
- Mad Scientist: Has saved the world before, but seems a bit... detached.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: After saving the world from space fungus in The Quatermass Experiment, he had no idea the British government would save cuttings of the creature to use as a bioweapon.
Creatures and Species
The Martians
- Source: The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (1897)
A race of alien creatures that invade Earth in 1897, and serve as the main antagonists of Volume II
- Accidental Misnaming: The main characters belive that the invaders are Martians due to the strange eruptions observed on the surface of Mars prior to the invasion. They're right in the sense that the aliens CAME from Mars, but thats only because they had been occupying that planet before leaving. The true origin of the invaders is never revealed.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Major ones, and it's not even just against humans. Before attacking Earth, they had been occupying Mars for years, but are eventually forced to abandon the planet due to the actions of John Carter and Gullivar Jones who rallied the native Martian races against them.
- Aliens in Cardiff: The Martians first land in Horsell Commons in Woking, England.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: With the traitorous Invisible Man.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: While Britains forces have some initial luck destroying a few of their Tripods with artillery, this is short-lived, and the majority of the fights against the military are complete massacres.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": When Mr Hyde survives getting shot with a heat ray, destroys the Tripod that hit him, and eats the alien inside.
- No Biochemical Barriers: The invasion is thwarted when it turns out the Martians have no immunity to basic Earth viruses like the common cold. This is a coverup: the British government actually released a bioweapon created by Dr Moreau in London, killing all the Martians alongside any remaining humans.
- Playing with Fire: Their preferred weapon is their invisible heat rays, which can torch hundreds of people at a time.
- Starfish Aliens: They basically look like red brains with tentacles.
- Weaksauce Weakness: While their Tripod vehicles are powerful, they have two major weaknesses; they can be trapped fairly easily by rubble, and because they only have three legs, they collapse if one is disabled.
- And of course, their famous weakness to the common bacteria of Earth which is just a lie by the government.
Moreau's Hybrids
- Source: Rupert Bear, The Wind in the Willows, Tiger Tim, and various other works with anthropomorphic animal characters
Dr. Moreau's creations, who are all animals transformed into barely humanoid forms.
- Adapted Out: While the hybird panels contain a whole slew of Shout-Out characters there is no sign of any of Moreau's original beast men from the actual book.
- Bears Are Bad News: H-9, who is a more ferocious incarnation of Rupert Bear. He's very ill-tempered and tries to assault Allan and Mina.
- Beast Man: They're human/animal hybrids.
- Bestiality Is Depraved: See the entry for Shout-Out.
- Body Horror: While their bodies work better than they have any right to, the hybrids are monstrous and twisted, nothing at all like the graceful humanoids from the novel. Among other things, a giraffe hybrid requires a neck brace because his spine can't support his neck weight.
- Death by Cameo;
- If you keep your eyes peeled, you can see Peter Rabbit getting eaten by wild foxes.
- Mr. Toad is later seen preserved in a jar of formaldehyde at the secret annex.
- Rupert's stuffed corpse appears aboard the Nautilus in Volume 4.
- Killed Offscreen: By the time of Century, they are seen stuffed in the Secret Annex, indicating that they were killed some time after the events of Volume II, possibly having been euthanized after Moreu died of old age.
- Meta Origin: Their creation is this for several Funny Animals.
- Shout-Out: Dr. Moreau mentions that he keeps H-9 in check by hiring a Gypsy grandmother to "placate" him, which is a reference to the obscenity trial of an underground magazine called "Oz"
, which got in trouble for its "Schoolkids" issue featuring a comic strip that depicted Rupert Bear raping an unconscious "Gypsy Granny". - Speech-Impaired Animal: Some of them can't talk especially well.
- You No Take Candle: The hybrids' grasp on grammar is tenuous at best.
Great Old Ones
- Source: The Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft
Cosmic horrors beyond the known universe, rarely directly seen but always out there...
- Adaptational Abomination: One is mentioned to have manifested in Springfield, Massachusetts... as The Cat in the Hat.
- All There in the Manual: Supplementary material in "The Black Dossier" written by Oliver Haddo reveals a lot about the Great Old Ones history in the League's world. According to Haddo's theories, the Great Old Ones were among the first extradimensional beings to make contact with Earth, where they came into conflict with another pantheon entirely, the ethereal forces of the Elohim, which became the foundation of the Judeo-Christian faith. The conflict between these two forces is what eventually gave birth to the various gods, monsters and Titans of human myth over the course of millions of years.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: They're utterly monstrous by human standards, but are essentially alien forces beyond our understanding. However, this doesn't apply to the Old Ones who are in regular contact with humanity like Yog-Sothoth and Nyarlathotep, who have their own agenda.
- Composite Character: Blended with the Nova Mob from William Burroughs' Nova Trilogy.
- Eldritch Abomination: They're the originals.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Nyarlathotep appears in the Blazing World on a diplomatic mission for Yuggoth.
- Grand Theft Me: One does this to Allan in the text story "Allan and the Sundered Veil".
- Greater-Scope Villain: Despite their power, they only make short infrequent appearances, usually just in the text pieces accompanying the main comics.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Like their age-old enemies, the Elohim, the Old Ones created hybrid offspring with humanity.
- The Legions of Hell: It's heavily implied that they're the true source of demons and other malevolent spiritual entities, and if Haddo's theories are correct, the Abrahamic myths about God and Satan might be inspired by vague ancestral memories of the war between the Old Ones and the angelic Elohim. This would also fit with Haddo's theory that both pantheons originate from some other, singular creation.
- Meta Origin: See the entry for All There in the Manual.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Allan really doesn't like these creatures, both due to the events of The Sundered Veil (which Allan doesn't remember much of), and because of his and Mina's encounter with one in Arkham in the early years of the 20th century, which made Mina extremely ill. He's obviously displeased to see Nyarlathotep in the Blazing World.
Mi-go
Ape-like servants of the Great Old Ones, they attack the Time Traveler's League.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Not beautiful by any means, but their conflation with the Morlocks has them look a lot more natural and humanoid than Lovecraft's original Mi-go (who are described as half-etheral dragon/crab/molusk things).
- Animalistic Abomination
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: Are implied to be the sources of Yeti myths.
- Composite Character: They are a combination of the original Mi-go from Lovecraft's stories and the Morlocks from The Time Machine, along with Yetis.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: They have these.
- Killer Space Monkey: They resemble large apes.
- Mooks: For the Great Old Ones.
- The Morlocks
Elohim
- Source: The Bible
An ancient pantheon who dwelt in Earth before the Great Old Ones arrived.
- Meta Origin: The conflict between them and the Great Old Ones is what eventually gave birth to the various gods, monsters and Titans of human myth over the course of millions of years.
- God: Haddo theorizes that the Elohim and Great Old Ones might both originate from the same source, possibly an omnipotent deity, but can only guess about this. Their connection to God/Mary Poppins from Century is anyone's guess.
- God Is Good: Haddo describes the Elohim as "generally benevolent", which is saying a lot considering how gods in this setting tend to act.
- Götterdämmerung: By the time the Great Old Ones arrive on Earth, the Elohim had allegedly already undergone one of these, reducing them to "mere" Elder Gods, which is the reason for why the Old Ones invasion didn't result in a Curb-Stomp Battle. The war reduces them even further, creating the pagan gods of Earths early prehistory in the process. The Great Old Ones gets it even worse, as they're defeated and sealed away for millions of years, leaving only a handful of them free outside normal reality.
- Half-Human Hybrid: According to Haddo, a certain class of Elohim interbred with early humanity, creating supernatural bloodlines that would have great impact over the aeons.
- The Old Gods: Were on the planet before the Great Old Ones or mythological deities.
- Our Angels Are Different: They resemble angels and beings from the Bible.
- Power Degeneration: Gradually lost power until they became the Elder Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos, the Lords of Order from The Elric Saga, and finally the gods of more recent mythology.
- Precursors: They are inactive by the time of the League, but they have left a lot of influence on the Earth.
Giants
- Source: Celtic Mythology, The Brothers Grimm fairy tales, Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, and various other works with giants
The various mythical gigantic beings of the League world. Many of them are extinct by the time of the League, but some live on in secret.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The bigger ones are this.
- Crossover Cosmology: Giants from almost every mythology and literature with giants in it is mentioned at some point.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Many of them are hybrids of humans and the Great Old Ones or Elohim.
- Masquerade: Officially, they're extinct, but several are still alive and hidden in various places around the world.
- Not So Extinct: At the time of Mina's world tour. However, it's implied in "Tempest" that they were purged by Hugo Danner, so they may be extinct for real now. The final issues of The Tempest reveal that they're not extinct.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: They vary greatly in size.
- Tempting Fate: When Mina hears about sightings of giants during her travels, she is alarmed, but her guide assures her that giants are all extinct.
Gill-men
Humanoid Fish People in various places in the League universe. Some inhabit the Black Lagoon in South America, which the Creature from the Black Lagoon was one of. Others dwell near Innsmouth, Massachusetts.
- Bullying a Dragon: The New Traveler's Almanack tells of a group of explorers cheerfully kill one and keep its body as a trophy. None of them survive their expedition.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Nemo and her crew see them while traveling, they show up later to destroy the escaping clones.
- Fish People
- The Music Meister: The Deep Ones were taught to sing and dance by the captain from H.M.S. Pinafore, and have adapted human musical culture as part of their own.
- Last of His Kind: When they appear in River Of Ghosts, it's revealed that this is their last remaining breeding ground (or at least the last breeding ground for the variation the Creature belonged to). When the fleeing Hynkel clones stumble into their nest, the Creatures tear them to shreds for harming their eggs
- Related in the Adaptation: It is implied that the Black Lagoon Creatures, the Silurians, and the Deep Ones are all related.
Inhabitants of the Moon
A Lunite warrior
- Source: True History by Lucian (the Hippomyrmices), The First Men in the Moon by H. G. Wells (the Selenites), The Clangers (the Clangers and the Soup Dragon), Harold Hare's Own Paper by John Donnelly (the Moonies), Amazon Women on the Moon (the Lunites), Planet Comics (Mysta), Maza of the Moon by Otis Adelbert Kline (Maza and the Nak-Kar), Moonbird series by Mike Higg (the Moon-Fowl), Marvel Comics (Uatu the Watcher)
The various tribes and creatures that live on the Moon. Mina and the Galley-Wag are sent to stop an imminent war between them.
- Adaptational Skimpiness: The Lunites are completely nude, as opposed to wearing minidresses in their source material.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: When the Lunites attack Earth's colonies throughout the solar system, they don't bomb any spaceports in order to claim them and the spaceships.
- Amazon Brigade: The Lunites.
- Amazonian Beauty: Many of the Lunites.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: The Clangers appear to be made out of fabric.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Selenites resemble giant insects, and the Hippomyrmices look like hippo-sized ants.
- Bug War: Mina and Galley-Wag are sent to prevent one, with the Selenites being the bugs.
- Dying Race: The Lunites are dying out without their males, who were wiped out by plague.
- Exposed Extraterrestrials: The Lunites wear little clothing.
- The Ghost: Despite his influence and references, Uatu is never actually seen.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: Besides the green skin, the Lunites are all this.
- Hive Mind: The Selenites. It's the reason for why they're obsessed with Cavor's body as he is the only mind they have ever met that wasn't part of their own.
- Human Aliens: The Lunites all look like human women.
- Insectoid Aliens: The Selenites and Hippomyrmices.
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Many of the creatures from copyrighted works aren't actually named and only briefly described.
- Mars Needs Women: The Lunites need male sperm in order to breed.
- One-Gender Race: The Lunites are all women. Justified, as all the males were wiped out by a plague.
- No longer the case as of their final appearance in The Tempest: their efforts to use sperm from Moriarty's frozen body to impregnate themselves and prevent their extinction by birthing a new generation prove to be completely successful, and male and female Lunites are seen participating in their assaut on the solar system... many of whom closely resemble Moriarty.
- Only You Can Repopulate My Race: The Lunites intend to use the preserved body of Selwyn Cavor to impregnate themselves, they end up using Professor Moriarty's body instead. Prior to this, they had hoped to ask the Galley-Wag for help, but while he was certainly willing, it turned out to be impossible due to him being biologically incompatible with the Lunites (the same issue prevents them from asking Uatu the Watcher). They also couldn't nab a few human men from the nearby moonbase as this would expose their secret existance, which the Lunites feared to do due to humanity's poor track record with non-human species.
- Sand Worm: The Soup Dragon is described as a friendly variety of this trope.
- Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Selenites, who have formed a religion around the frozen body of Professor Cavor. This has led to war between them and the Lunites who desperately need his genetic material to replenish their race.
- Shapeshifting: The Moonies can do this.
- Stalker without a Crush: The other inhabitants of the moon view Uatu as this.
- The Watcher: Uatu is the Trope Namer.
Inhabitants of Mars
A Green Martian
A Hither soldier
The Sorn
(Not to be confused with the Martians, see above, which on Mars are called "Molluscs".)- Source: Gullivar of Mars by Edwin Lester Arnold (the Hither People), John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (The Green Martians and Red Martians), The Space Trilogy by C. S. Lewis (the Sorns)
The various tribes and creatures of Mars. The Mollusc invasion leads them to combine forces to fight them off.
- Big Damn Heroes: When the Hither and Green Martian forces are losing against the Molluscs, the Sorns show up and turn the tide.
- Composite Character: The Sorns are implied to be the same race as one the Martians used for food in War of the Worlds.
- Descriptively-Named Species: The Green and Red Martians.
- Enemy Mine: They usually fight and war amongst themselves, but the Mollusc invasion forces them to team up to save their own skins.
- Expy Coexistence: Gullivar is generally thought to be the inspiration for John Carter. The two appear together here.
- Human Aliens: The Hither People are this.
- Humanoid Aliens: Almost all of them.
- Little Green Men: Zig-zagged with the Green Martians, who are green, but definitely not little.
- Sdrawkcab Speech: If you look at the alien language mirror-reversed, you can make out some English words.
- Sufficiently Advanced Alien: The Sorns.
- Whole Costume Reference: Gullivar Jones and John Carter both dress like characters from Lawrence of Arabia.
Toys of Toyland
- Source: Babes in Toyland, Noddy Goes to Toyland by Enid Blyton
A society of Living Toys and Nursery Rhyme characters that live in a town near the North Pole, ruled over by Queen Olympia and Frankenstein's Creature.
- Animate Inanimate Object: They all are this, specifically toys.
- Ascended Extra: They were at best only a section of the New Traveler's Almanac but soon were given a physical appearance and role in Volume 4.
- Beary Friendly: The Teddy Bears, of course.
- Bizarrchitecture: All of Toyland's buildings are made of toy building blocks.
- Land of One City: Toyland consists of one town.
- Living Toys
- Namedworld and Namedland
- Nursery Rhyme: Many of the toys are based off these.
- Sliding Scale of Living Toys: They fall on the "Real and Living to Everyone" end of the scale.
- Teddy Bear: Some of them are this.
- Utopia: Toyland appears to be this.
Vril-ya
- Source: The Coming Race by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
A race of winged, humanoid beings that live in a ravine beneath Newcastle.
- Beneath the Earth: Where they live.
- Boldly Coming: How Gulliver's League, especially Fanny Hill, greets them. They are happy to reciprocate.
- Green-Skinned Space Babe: They seem to play this role despite being... well... unconventionally attractive. Fanny Hill and Gulliver used to enjoy orgies with them, and a Vril is performing at a live sex show in 1969.
- Pun: After Fanny's... interactions with them, she realizes the real reason why they're called "the Coming Race".
- Take That!: "Nania" is their word for evil or sin.
- Utopia: Their country is this.
- Winged Humanoid: Their species looks like this.
