History VillainTeamUp / ComicBooks

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' doesn't tend to focus on supervillians enough for Villain Team Ups to be the focus of stories, but there have been a few groups that have shown up as peripheral details:

** In the "Tarnished Angel" story arc, Steeljack has a brief flashback to when he was part of the Terrifying Three -- Cutlass, Steeljack, and the first Quarrel.
--->'''Steeljack:''' "We didn't last, and fought each other more'n' anyone else -- but we were friends, I guess."

* The ''ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar'' arc of ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' had something similar. While there was plenty of new baddies created as Sinestro Corps members, the main threat was the team up of the major DCU baddies Sinestro, Superboy-Prime, the Cyborg Superman, Parallex, the Manhunters, and the Anti-Monitor.

[[caption-width-right:348:[[Characters/MarvelComicsCarnage You'll]] make [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker me]] blush!]]

** In the 50th anniversary story that Creator/DonRosa did for Scrooge [=McDuck=], ''ComicBook/ALittleSomethingSpecial'', his three main foes--The Beagle Boys, Magica [=DeSpell=], and Flintheart Glomgold--all join forces, and are led by [[spoiler:Blackheart Beagle]]. This collaboration is made possible because their interests do not actually overlap: Magica only wants Scrooge's Number One Dime for her spell, the Beagle Boys want the rest of Scrooge's fortune and don't care about a single dime, and Glomgold doesn't want anything from Scrooge per se, just to see his business rival ruined. As a result, the three do ''not'' betray one another, but all live up to the deal they made at the start of the team-up. [[spoiler: Of course, once the team-up is over, nothing prevents the Beagle Boys and Magica from joining forces to plunder Glomgold...]]

* ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'':

* Several of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse's {{Big Bad}}s all teamed up in the 1980s ''Acts of Vengeance'' CrossOver in a large-scale EvilPlan to destroy each others' enemies by setting the heroes up against villains they'd never faced before. In effect, this was a Villain Team Up of almost '''all''' the human villains of the Marvel Universe, with a team of {{Chessmaster}}s manipulating dozens of lesser bad guys for their own personal agenda. The whole scheme falls apart for the simple fact that all of the villains behind the plot are so egomaniacal that they can't stand not being totally in charge, and they end up turning on each other while struggling for power.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* A fair portion of DC's ice themed villains--Icicle, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Mr. Freeze]], [[Franchise/TheFlash Captain Cold]], [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Killer Frost]], [[Franchise/WonderWoman Minister Blizzard]], Cryonic Man and Snowman--teamed up to form the "Ice Pack" in a ''Justice League Adventures'' story titled "Cold War".

** A strange example in ''ComicBook/WorldsFinest #169''. It looks like Supergirl and ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} are teaming-up to take Superman and Batman down. However, Batman unmask both women, who turn out to be ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} and Supergirl's enemy Black Flame. But then the real Supergirl and Batgirl arrive just in time to save both heroes from a dimensional trap, and both villains transform back into their real selves, Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite. It turns out both Imps were teaming up to see if they could trick Superman and Batman into trapping themselves in another dimension.

** In ''ComicBook/ThePlagueOfTheAntibioticMan'', Amalak the Kryptonian Killer and Nam-Ek joins forces to destroy Superman.

* ComicBook/DarkReign featured a lot of those:

** The ComicBook/DarkAvengers were in fact a team up of the more villainous members of the ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}} with antiheroes Comicbook/{{Ares}} and ComicBook/TheSentry, young and misguided Marvel Boy (who quit the moment he found out what he gotten himself into) and {{ComicBook/Daken}}

[[caption-width-right:348:[[ComicBook/{{Carnage}} You'll]] make [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker me]] blush!]]

[[caption-width-right:348:[[ComicBook/{{Carnage}} You'll]] make [[ComicBook/TheJoker me]] blush!]]

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Dodge gathers some fellow villains with grudges against Robin to carry out his revenge on the hero. His plot is doomed to failure rather quickly as Robin managed to insert [[TheMole a mole]] into their midst.

** In the "[[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogMegaManWorldsCollide Worlds Collide]]" crossover with ''ComicBook/MegaMan'', Dr. Eggman teams up with Dr. Wily to conquer both worlds... and surprisingly, they get along pretty well, with the only hiccup being that they [[RunningGag have trouble]] agreeing on what to name their joint creations. [[spoiler: At least until the heroes start winning; at that point, the two start plotting to betray and abandon each other.]]

** In ''[[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth "The Girl of No Tomorrow"]]'', [[ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} Emerald Empress]] recruits four other villains -Selena, Indigo, Magog and Solomon Grundy- to kill ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} after destroying her reputation.

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' had a major teamup after Dr. Eggman [[VillainousBreakdown had a bit of a bad day]]. [[TheStarscream Snively]] and the [[DragonLady Iron Queen]] managed to unite the [[MachineWorship Dark Legion]] and four {{Ninja}} clans ([[FaceHeelTurn including Espio's]]), and for a time had the Freedom Fighters on the ropes. But this team up eventually falls apart when several of the Freedom Fighters (with help from Espio, who was a FakeDefector) convince the clans to turn on the Queen; at the same time, the Legion's leader [[TheBaroness Lien-Da]] tries to play TheStarscream, which fails rather [[ExplosiveLeash explosively]] and results in the Legion retreating. With their power base crumbling, Snively flees with a recovered Eggman, leaving the Queen to be defeated.

** In the "World's Collide" crossover with ''Comicbook/MegaMan'', Dr. Eggman teams up with Dr. Wily to conquer both worlds... and surprisingly, they get along pretty well, with the only hiccup being that they [[RunningGag have trouble]] agreeing on what to name their joint creations. [[spoiler: At least until the heroes start winning; at that point, the two start plotting to betray and abandon each other.]]

* The original ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' had this as well -- Comicbook/{{Brainiac}} and Luthor took advantage of the chaos caused by the Anti-Monitor to gather an army of EVERY known super-villain on the remaining Earths -- and unleashed it on the worlds left unprotected when the heroes went off to battle the Big Bad. They also cut down on unnecessary duplicates (Earth-2 Luthor, anyone?).
* In ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' storyline ''ComicBook/LegionOfThreeWorlds,'' Comicbook/{{Superboy}}-Prime decides to strike at the 31st century that worships Superman by gathering ''every single Legion foe'' into a massive Legion of Super-Villains. While they may not all like each other, it's clear the LSV are united in their desire to finally see their long-time enemies dead.

* Comicbook/{{Daredevil}} actually suffered through this more than once. The first time saw Electro organize a group of villains defeated by Daredevil into the "Emissaries of Evil" to try and get revenge on DD, and the second time would occur a few decades later, when Typhoid Mary would gather several latter-day Daredevil villains into the "Daredevil Revenge Squad".
** It should be pointed out that Typhoid Mary's team was actually a ''subversion'' of this trope in that by cooperating [[TheBadGuyWins they actually succeed in taking down Daredevil]], and leave him bloodied and unconscious for Mary.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' had to fight the Sinister Six -- six of his enemies united for the sole purpose of killing him. In a variation, they fail not because they don't trust each other, but because they have such big egos that each one ''has'' to be the one to deliver the killing blow... so they make him RunTheGauntlet instead of ganging up. A later version did fight Spider-Man as a team, but they've had no better luck. The one time it worked and they had Spidey on the ropes, the [[OhCrap Fantastic Four and the Avengers]], all at once, swooped in to save the day. Heroes can play that game too.
** Another Spider-Man example is the Sinister Syndicate, a group of C-List Spidey villains. The difference between this team and the Sinister Six is that the Syndicate try to focus mainly on making money and would rather avoid having to fight Spider-Man.

** Which was a continuation Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn's history of teaming up, based on a rare supervillain friendship.

* Recent ''ComicBook/{{BPRD}}'' miniseries have focused on a VillainTeamUp between [[spoiler: the frog army led by the Black Flame and the slaves of Hyperboria led by the King of Fear]]. Unlike the average team up, this is proving very successful and has already led to the destruction of one major European city with more carnage on the way.

* ComicBook/DarkReign featured a lot of those

* Very quickly subverted in a Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica story. Franchise/GreenLantern calls into JLA and says that seven supervillains are trying to kidnap the President at the White House and that he and Franchise/TheFlash need support. The others assume it is this trope, but Franchise/GreenLantern quickly cuts them off: they all got the idea independently at the same time, and are currently trying to kill each other for "stealing my idea!" He and Flash need help saving civilians from their crossfire, the president is safe. This turns out to be one of many signs someone has been misusing powers of probability manipulation.

* Creator/ArchieComics's Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehog had a major teamup after Dr. Eggman [[VillainousBreakdown had a bit of a bad day]]. [[TheStarscream Snively]] and the [[DragonLady Iron Queen]] managed to unite the [[MachineWorship Dark Legion]] and four {{Ninja}} clans ([[FaceHeelTurn including Espio's]]), and for a time had the Freedom Fighters on the ropes. But this team up eventually falls apart when several of the Freedom Fighters (with help from Espio, who was a FakeDefector) convince the clans to turn on the Queen; at the same time, the Legion's leader [[TheBaroness Lien-Da]] tries to play TheStarscream, which fails rather [[ExplosiveLeash explosively]] and results in the Legion retreating. With their power base crumbling, Snively flees with a recovered Eggman, leaving the Queen to be defeated.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Dodge gathers some fellow villains with grudges against Robin to carry out his revenge on the hero. His plot is doomed to failure rather quickly as Robin managed to insert a ReverseMole into their midst.

** Villainy Inc. was a team up of villains headed by Eviless, they were all recruited from the Amazon's penal colony on Transformation Island and included Blue Snowman, Dr. Poison, Hypnota, Clea and Giganta. Later iterations of Villainy Inc. were more organized.

* A 1960s [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] comic had the Mandarin team up with the Sandman. It ended with Mandarin sending the Sandman into a molten vat turning him to glass.
* Paste-Pot Pete broke another Human Torch foe, the Wizard, out of jail, however they conflicted due to the Wizard trying to act as leader while Pete wanted them to be equal. They were captured by the Torch, but didn't seem sorry at the team-up ending. The two would nevertheless become founding members of the Frightful Four.

* In the [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Mickey Mouse]] 70th anniversary comic book story "The Past Imperfect," Mickey is captured by a team of his worst comics enemies, including Pegleg Pete, Sylvester Shyster, Eli Squinch, Dr. Vulter, and Profs Ecks, Doublex, and Triplex. Interestingly, the Phantom Blot is ''not'' included, as he was being saved for a different story also published at that anniversary.

* In the ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' book, there is the Intelligencia, a super villain team made of {{Mad Scientist}}s. So far they've managed to avoid infighting. In fact, they've been able to work perfectly as a unit.
** Not only that, but they apparently worked together for years, and various instances when they fought each other were retconned to be set-up so nobody would suspect a thing.
* [[ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica JSA Classified]] had an arc [[VillainProtagonist focused]] on the Injustice Society. Unlike some cases, they're very professional about teaming up, with the expressed belief that having a competent pro watching your back beats "every man for himself" any day.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' [[ComicBook/SupergirlRebirth 2017]] storyline ''The Girl of No Tomorrow'', [[ComicBook/{{Legion Of Super-Heroes}} Emerald Empress]] recruits four other villains -Selena, Indigo, Magog and Solomon Grundy- to kill Supergirl after destroying her reputation.
* Franchise/{{Superman}}:

** In ''Comicbook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'', Comicbook/LexLuthor and Comicbook/DoctorOctopus team up to destroy Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/SpiderMan.

** An ''X-Factor'' tie-in averts this trope when Loki tries to recruit ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} for his plan. Unlike the other villains involved, Apocalypse immediately realizes who Loki really is and rejects him.

* It should be noted that villains can and do form their own teams for reasons beyond simply getting vengeance on a particular hero. The Masters of Evil, one of the MarvelUniverse's longest-running supervillain teams, has had various incarnations formed over the years by {{Big Bad}}s who recruit other villains to share in the profits of the leader's evil scheme. The Serpent Society, long a thorn in the side of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, was a collection of snake-themed villains who essentially formed their own mercenary business, complete with health care coverage, room and board, and a guaranteed GetOutOfJailFreeCard from the team leader, who would use his teleportation powers to free any members who were arrested or captured.

[[caption-width-right:348:You'll make [[ComicBook/TheJoker me]] blush!]]