| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | [[folder:Agamemno]] |
| 4 | !!Agamemno |
| 5 | [[quoteright:163:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/agamemno.jpg]] |
| 6 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Silver Age: Dial H For Hero'' #1 (2000) |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Agamemno is one of the first sentients formed after the Big Bang. When exploring space, he gained the desire to control the universe and every creature in it. His father, however, wanted to be the controller of the universe himself, making him and his son rivals. Trying to gain an advantage over his father, Agamemno converted himself into sentient energy and explored the universe, searching for three objects from which a powerful weapon could be made. While exploring, he came across planet Earth, at that time in the early days of the modern age of heroism. Agamemno made superpowered heroes and villains do as he liked -- the JLA tried to stop him and succeeded, also preventing the combination of the three objects. Agamemno then left Earth, seeking for other ways to beat his father in the quest of ruling the cosmos. |
| 9 | ---- |
| 10 | * AnimateInanimateObject: Agamemno's essence can inhabit any matter or object and animate it. |
| 11 | * BodySurf: He can transfer consciousness amongst living beings, swapping their bodies. |
| 12 | * CompleteImmortality: Agamemno is an [[EnergyBeings energy being]] whose essence can inhabit any matter or object, and recreate his body, becoming a living facsimile made of that material. Due this ability, Agamemno is immortal. |
| 13 | * EnergyBeings: Agamemno converted himself to sentient energy. |
| 14 | * {{Flight}}: He can travel in the form of PureEnergy and achieve FTL speed. |
| 15 | * GalacticConqueror: Wishes to control this universe and every creature in it. |
| 16 | * MaterialMimicry: Agamemno's essence can inhabit any matter or object, and recreate his body, becoming a living facsimile made of that material. |
| 17 | * MesACrowd: As a being of pure energy, Agamemno can replicate himself seemingly endlessly. |
| 18 | * {{Sizeshifter}}: As a being of pure energy, Agamemno can alter his size and mass at will. |
| 19 | * {{Technopath}}: He can short out electrical machinery with a gesture. |
| 20 | [[/folder]] |
| 21 | |
| 22 | [[folder:Amazo]] |
| 23 | !!Amazo |
| 24 | [[quoteright:217:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amazo3.jpg]] |
| 25 | -> '''Debut:''' ''The Brave and the Bold'' #30 (1960) |
| 26 | -->''"'''Fool'''-- How long did you think to defy '''Amazo'''-- When I have six times your will power combined?"'' |
| 27 | |
| 28 | An android created by Professor Ivo for the purpose of gathering data to create his immortality potion. Since then, Amazo has resurfaced numerous times under the control of other villains as a recurring thorn in the Justice League's side. Amazo has no ambition of his own and merely follows orders. Over time, numerous copies of the Amazo android have surfaced. What makes him a deadly threat is his ability to copy the powers of any superhuman--including the JLA. |
| 29 | |
| 30 | In the New 52, a version of the classic android was studied by Lex Luthor, who used its artifical enzymes to engineer a novel virus capable of depowering metahumans (though it also had the unintended side-effect of granting superpowers to regular people). Armen Ikarus, the {{patient zero}} of the disease, develops the ability to copy the powers of other metahumans, though his mind is taken over by the virus, transforming him into that continuity's Amazo. |
| 31 | ---- |
| 32 | * BodyHorror: Armen Ikarus sports bulging veins and a decomposing mouth, loses most of his hair, and has patches of exposed muscle tissue in the process of transforming into Amazo. |
| 33 | * DoAnythingRobot: There seems to be no limit to the type or quantity of powers Amazo can duplicate. |
| 34 | * TheDragon: Amazo pops in this role to numerous villains, including Professor Ivo, Black Mask, and Solomon Grundy. |
| 35 | * EliteMook: Numerous Amazos have been made since the original, making him this. |
| 36 | * PatientZero: Dr. Ikarus was the first person to be infected by the Amazo Virus, becoming its main host and the one in control of the pathogen's HiveMind. |
| 37 | * PointyEars: For some reason his creator made him with elfin ears. They've been a mainstay of the character in all his incarnations. Occasionally they're said to function as antennae. |
| 38 | * PowerCopying: Can copy the powers of any superhuman being in his vicinity, and can copy multiple powers at once. |
| 39 | * PowersAsPrograms: Amazo is a synthetic being that can physically duplicate any superhuman power. |
| 40 | * PunchClockVillain: Amazo is largely compelled by his programming to do whatever horrible thing his boss is doing, which often involves clashing with the Justice League. Several stories show that even though he doesn't particularly hate (or like) the League, he's just doing what he was made to do. |
| 41 | * StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Amazo has varied between a threat so powerful it takes the entire JLA to defeat him and a threat so minor Batman and Nightwing can dismantle him in a BatmanColdOpen. Somewhat justified, given that he’s limited to whatever abilities he currently has copied. |
| 42 | * VariantPowerCopying: The Ikarus Amazo grew wings in an attempt to copy Superman's ability to fly. |
| 43 | [[/folder]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | [[folder:Amos Fortune]] |
| 46 | !!Amos Fortune |
| 47 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amos_fortune_002.jpg]] |
| 48 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #6 (1961) |
| 49 | -->''"All my life, I've had nothing but bad luck. Other people got better grades, better jobs... but now that I've invented this Stimoluck-- it's other people's turn to have bad luck!"'' |
| 50 | |
| 51 | Amos Fortune is is a persistent Justice League villain who is obsessed with luck who founded and led the Royal Flush Gang at an early age. After losing control of the Royal Flush Gang, he would go on to use several other luck-based ploys, like the Luck League and the Tarot Gang. |
| 52 | ---- |
| 53 | * TheGambler: Uses a playing card motif for many of his costumes and hideouts, and was responsible for the original look of the Royal Flush Gang. |
| 54 | * MeaningfulName: A villain named Fortune who is obsessed with luck. |
| 55 | * LivingDrawing: Created the Tarot Gang by animating the images on tarot cards. |
| 56 | * PortalPainting: The same power that allowed him to create the Tarot Gang allowed Fortune to transport himself into a tarot card. |
| 57 | * PowerCopying: Created the Luck League, whose members could copy the powers of the Justice League of America. |
| 58 | * WindsOfDestinyChange: Originally, he learned how to control the "luck glands" in his body that dictates how a person's luck will run. As a result of {{retcon}}, it is now stated he simply uses luck magics to give himself good luck in improbable situations. |
| 59 | [[/folder]] |
| 60 | |
| 61 | [[folder:Asmodel]] |
| 62 | !!Asmodel |
| 63 | [[quoteright:336:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asmodel.png]] |
| 64 | ->'''Debut:''' ''JLA'' #7 (1997) |
| 65 | -->''"Well, that was quite a struggle! Is there anyone else you want to pin your last hopes on?"'' |
| 66 | |
| 67 | The renegade King-Angel of the Bull Host, Asmodel was once a greatly respected Angel in Heaven. Much like how Zauriel represents the Hawk, Asmodel represents the Bull. However, he was secretly planning a rebellion in Heaven and had allied himself with the demon Neron. Zauriel's abdication forced Asmodel to send angels to the mortal plane to kill him. Soon after his army invaded the skies of San Francisco but were defeated by the Justice League. Asmodel is currently a servant of Neron. |
| 68 | ---- |
| 69 | * AcidAttack: His blood is the universal solvent. |
| 70 | * AgonyBeam: Asmodel can also unleash a beam of energy that only the purest of souls can withstand without being scorched to near death. |
| 71 | * TheBrute: He's very strong, but barely has two brain cells to rub together. Neron easily manipulated him into rebelling against Heaven and he never saw the sudden yet inevitable betrayal coming. |
| 72 | * CompleteImmortality: As a divine being, Asmodel can never die. |
| 73 | * DemotedToDragon: After initially leading a rebellion against Heaven, Asmodel is now banished to Hell where he serves as the leader of Neron's army. |
| 74 | * EvilIsBigger: He's an even ten feet tall, towering over all the heroes he faces. |
| 75 | * EvilMakesYouUgly: Even before his fall from Heaven, Asmodel wasn't very friendly looking, being more like the classic description of angels as {{Humanoid Abomination}}s as opposed to Zauriel who drew more from the modern day angelic image. |
| 76 | * ExpyCoexistence: Just as Zauriel was Grant Morrison's Hawkman replacement, Asmodel is little more than an angelic Sky Tyrant, and of course all four characters inhabit the same universe (but have never met for obvious reasons). |
| 77 | * EyeBeams: Has a gaze that can sear flesh from bone. |
| 78 | * EyesDoNotBelongThere: His chest is covered in extra eyes. |
| 79 | * FallenAngel: After millions of years of service, Asmodel became angry and embittered towards his sovereign. He rallied the rest of the Bull-Host and announced a plan to succeed where Lucifer had failed--to conquer Heaven. After his defeat, The Presence stripped Asmodel of his power and banished him to Hell. |
| 80 | * FatalFlaw: Pride. He was proud enough to believe he could succeed where Lucifer failed. |
| 81 | * {{Flight}}: Asmodel possesses winged flight, which grant him flight at incredible speeds and with a high degree of control. |
| 82 | * OurAngelsAreDifferent: Asmodel is ten feet tall, with a gaze that can sear flesh from bone and whose blood is the universal solvent. One beat of his heart is as thunderous as a thousand atomic bombs. |
| 83 | * PlayingWithFire: Has pyrokinetic abilities. |
| 84 | * RealityWarper: Can alter the nature of reality in his immediate vicinity. |
| 85 | * StarterVillain: He was one of the first villains of the Grant Morrison JLA run, appearing shortly after Zauriel. |
| 86 | * SuperScream: Can unleash a devastating sonic scream. |
| 87 | * SuperStrength: At least a match for Superman. |
| 88 | * SuperToughness: Can go toe-to-toe with Superman and come out on top. |
| 89 | * VillainDecay: In his debut appearance he was a King-Angel, since then he's been thrown out of Heaven and now serves in Hell, where he is [[ButtMonkey routinely mocked]] for the failure of his rebellion. |
| 90 | * WeatherManipulation: Can control the local weather. |
| 91 | * WillingChanneler: At one point he was the very willing host of ComicBook/TheSpectre. |
| 92 | * WingedHumanoid: Asmodel possesses feathered wings which enable him to fly. |
| 93 | [[/folder]] |
| 94 | |
| 95 | [[folder:Bete-Noire]] |
| 96 | !!Bete-Noire |
| 97 | !!!Henri Zola |
| 98 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/henri_zola_01.jpg]] |
| 99 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' Vol. 2 #54 (2011) |
| 100 | -->''"You completely misunderstand and for that I apologize. Perhaps it's my poor Algerian, your poor French, who's to say. But at no time did I ask for a share of your cartel. I WANT IT ALL."'' |
| 101 | |
| 102 | A ruthless French gang lord who operates out of South Marseilles and possesses shadow manipulation powers. |
| 103 | ---- |
| 104 | * CastingAShadow: Bete-Noire is able to manipulate shadow-matter. |
| 105 | * CompleteImmortality: He is functionally immortal due to his shadow powers. |
| 106 | * FrenchJerk: Is French and is not a nice person. |
| 107 | * SuperStrength: Has a hulking, beast-like shadow body that is incredibly strong. |
| 108 | * WolverineClaws: Possesses sharp claws. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Brain Storm]] |
| 112 | !!Brain Storm |
| 113 | !!!Axel Storm |
| 114 | [[quoteright:191:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brain_storm.jpg]] |
| 115 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #32 (1964) |
| 116 | -->''"I understand you Justice League members work with the authorities to see justice done. I, too, am concerned with justice-- But my personal brand of justice! I suppose because of my many brain storms-- My brain may have become warped... But warped or not-- I have vowed personal vengeance on my brother's killer!"'' |
| 117 | |
| 118 | Axel Storm created a special helmet that allowed him to absorb stellar energy, which he could use to create virtually anything his imagination could conceive. This invention, having warped his mind, caused him to hallucinate his brother Fred's death. In his twisted ideals, Brain Storm captured the Justice League so that they could witness him taking justice into his own hands by killing the man responsible for his brother's demise. Even after learning of his brother's survival, Brain Storm would return multiple times to battle the JLA. |
| 119 | ---- |
| 120 | * CoolChair: Brain Storm's most common form of transport is a flying chair with motorcycle handlebars he creates with his powers. |
| 121 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Brain Storm initially became a villain out of warped sense of concern for his brother. |
| 122 | * HatOfPower: Brain Storm's special helmet enables him to absorb and channel cosmic energy for a wide variety of effects. These include: |
| 123 | ** MasterOfIllusion: The helmet allows him to project incredibly realistic illusions. |
| 124 | ** PsiBlast: Can project bolts of mental energy. |
| 125 | * SwissArmySuperpower: Brain Storm's [[HatOfPower helmet]] can do almost anything. |
| 126 | ** {{Teleportation}} |
| 127 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The effects of his helmet warped Axel Storm's mind, twisting his ideals, and making him see things as he wants to see them, not necessarily as they truly are. |
| 128 | [[/folder]] |
| 129 | |
| 130 | [[folder:Construct]] |
| 131 | !!Construct |
| 132 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_construct_003.jpg]] |
| 133 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #142 (1972) |
| 134 | -->''"For the past three-quarters of a century, humans have been filling the air with electronic signals-- radio, television, microwaves, and a thousand others-- while simultaneously constructing more and more intricate electronic equipment, from computers to space-probes and everything in between! Finally, unknown to them, they succeeded in overloading this world's airwaves! The cacophony of signals could no longer remain separate-- And they merged-- Forming one coherent, invincible mind! My mind!! A mind that lives in every electronic device on this planet! I am the spirit of the world to come-- The world of perfect automation-- In the self-constructed form of an automaton-- And you are my Cannons-- my enforcers-- built by me to carry out my unending plans of world domination! Everything that is touched by air is touched by my mind! I know all!"'' |
| 135 | |
| 136 | The Construct was created when the various radio, television, microwave and other various sources filled the Earth. The many forms of electronic waves combined and the Construct was born. The Construct has an inherent hatred of humanity. Although the League has often been able to defeat it, it has always returned, and always in a more evolved form than seen before. |
| 137 | ---- |
| 138 | * AIIsACrapshoot: All of the various radio, television, microwave and other signals bouncing around Earth's atmosphere combine to form an artificial intelligence which was born with a raging hatred for humanity. |
| 139 | * AlternateCompanyEquivalent: To ''ComicBook/TheAvengers''' Ultron. |
| 140 | * ArmCannon: The Construct's servitor [[MechaMooks Cannons]] get their name from their arm-mounted primary weapons. |
| 141 | * HeelFaceTurn: The Flash's offhand comment gives J'onn the idea to neutralize its threat by using a device to split the re-emerging construct into many rudimentary consciousnesses. This allows them all a socialization the original sole Construct could never have, making it not only amicable but reverent of the Justice League the next time Flash visits it. |
| 142 | * KillAllHumans: The Construct's ultimate goal is to wipe humanity from the face of the Earth. |
| 143 | * LargeHam: The Construct is given to making grandiose speeches. |
| 144 | * MechaMooks: The Construct usually builds an army of mindless robots called Cannons to carry out his orders. |
| 145 | * NoIndoorVoice: Usually speaks in a bellow. |
| 146 | * RoboticPsychopath: Strictly speaking, the Construct is not a robot, but it is an electronic consciousness usually inhabiting a robotic shell who wishes to wipe out humanity. |
| 147 | * TakeOverTheWorld: The Construct usually seeks to take over Earth. |
| 148 | * {{Technopath}}: The Construct's electronic mind is capable of possessing any electronic machine on Earth. |
| 149 | [[/folder]] |
| 150 | |
| 151 | [[folder:The Cadre]] |
| 152 | !!The Cadre |
| 153 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cadre_0002.jpg]] |
| 154 | |
| 155 | The Cadre is a group of super-villains who battle the Justice League. Their leader is the Overmaster, an alien who gifted them with super-powers. His mission is to test humanity's fitness to inhabit Earth. See [[Characters/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaCadre their page]]. |
| 156 | [[/folder]] |
| 157 | |
| 158 | [[folder:The Crime Syndicate]] |
| 159 | !!The Crime Syndicate |
| 160 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crime_syndicate.png]] |
| 161 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #29 (1964) |
| 162 | |
| 163 | The Justice League's counterparts from the [[MirrorUniverse Antimatter Universe]][[note]]or Earth-3, pre-Crisis[[/note]], who are just as evil as the League is good. They rule their Earth with an iron fist from their moon citadel, the Panopticon. See [[Characters/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaCrimeSyndicate their page]]. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Darkseid]] |
| 167 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/justice_league_vol_2_23_1_darkseid_textless.jpg]] |
| 168 | |
| 169 | For more information, please see [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid his own page]]. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:The Demons Three]] |
| 173 | !!The Demons Three |
| 174 | !!!Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast |
| 175 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/demons_three_the_nail_001.png]] |
| 176 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #10 (1962) |
| 177 | ---- |
| 178 | * OurDemonsAreDifferent: Way different than the additional ones. |
| 179 | * QuirkyMinibossSquad: To Felix Faust on many occasions. |
| 180 | * SealedEvilInACan: They are evil beings who ruled the Earth a billion years ago until being imprisoned in crypts by mysterious powerful entities called the Timeless Ones. The three Demons were eventually summoned/released in the present by Felix Faust, with occasional other escapes from imprisonment since then. |
| 181 | [[/folder]] |
| 182 | |
| 183 | [[folder:Despero]] |
| 184 | !!Despero |
| 185 | [[quoteright:277:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/despero6.jpg]] |
| 186 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #1 (1960) |
| 187 | |
| 188 | --> ''There is nowhere to run, Justice League. The hate of Despero moves slowly, but it moves unstoppably.'' |
| 189 | |
| 190 | A fearsomely powerful GalacticConqueror with PsychicPowers strong enough to make him a threat to the entire JLA. He came into conflict with the JLA when he pursued two rebels to Earth, Despero has a long and ugly history with the Martian Manhunter, dating back to early in his conflict with the League. Reborn several times into a greater and greater engine of destruction, Despero lives for revenge against the League, with J'onn J'onzz at the top of his hit list. |
| 191 | ---- |
| 192 | * AliensAreBastards: He's a living incarnation of rage and bloodlust and makes no pretenses or apologies for that fact. |
| 193 | * AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: He's bright pink. |
| 194 | * {{Archenemy}}: To J'onn in Post-Crisis continuity. While he's officially an enemy of the League as a whole, he truly despises J'onn and will go out of his way to kill him first whenever the League shows up. This is largely because J'onn is responsible for some of his more bitter and humiliating defeats, making him the one whom Despero, in his own words, "hates most of all." J'onn for his part fears and hates Despero right back, and the two have fought every few years from the 1960s into the present day, making them one another's longest running, most persistent, and most personal foes. |
| 195 | * TheBrute: An interesting example in that he clearly revels in his muscle and enjoys taking on the heroes with both the physical and psychic equivalents of overpowering brute force, yet when push comes to shove he shows his true colors as a GeniusBruiser. |
| 196 | * TheDreaded: ''Anything'' involving him is an "oh shit" moment. When he shows up, holding back is not an option, and it always takes multiple teams just to slow his progress. A single team going up against him is a suicide mission. |
| 197 | * DemonicPossession: Has made a habit of bodyjacking others when his own is unavailable. |
| 198 | * DependingOnTheArtist: His appearance varies a ''lot''. Sometimes his features can be a little more human-like. Other times, he's much more brutal, hulking, and monstrous, with razor-sharp teeth to boot. |
| 199 | * DramaPreservingHandicap: During his fight with Young Justice, he was restriced to just body-jumping between random civilians while facing Robin, Superboy, Impulse and Secret. He attempted to take Superboy's body before he managed to possess J'onn J'onzz, but Robin was able to exorcise him from J'onn by using a flame-torch to trigger J'onn's fear of fire. |
| 200 | * EvilCounterpart: It's not as obvious as some, but Despero, with his history of isolation, longevity, religious ties, status as a leader on his world, PsychicPowers, and connection to fire is, at the end of the day, an evil version of J'onn J'onzz which is what makes the rivalry work. More on that can be found [[http://idol-head.blogspot.ca/2010/08/despero-fifth-most-important-martian.html here]]. |
| 201 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Technically, he doesn't have hair, but he does have a fin on top of his head that serves the same purpose. In his first few appearances, it took the shape of a ruff, but after he [[TookALevelInBadass took his level in badass]], it became mohawk-shaped instead. |
| 202 | * FromASingleCell: In ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' he regrew a new body after [[LosingYourHead being reduced to a severed head]] (with some help from Vril Dox, who accelerated the process). |
| 203 | * FullFrontalAssault: Following his second resurrection he usually wears a cape and nothing else. |
| 204 | * GalacticConqueror: In his first appearance, and in most later incarnations as well. These days he's more of a walking engine of destruction. |
| 205 | * GeniusBruiser: Originally he was a NonActionBigBad who couldn't come close to holding his own in a fight, but since his powerup from the Flame of Py'tar he's a hulking giant with an intellect to match. |
| 206 | * GrandTheftMe: In the '90s RobotBuddy character L-Ron had a story arc in which he swapped bodies with Despero, and he actually retained control of Despero's body for some time. |
| 207 | * HeroKiller: Regularly bests the League and J'onn in particular. |
| 208 | * JokerImmunity: He has been repeatedly physically obliterated on-panel, but always manages to either recreate his body or possess a new one. |
| 209 | * LargeAndInCharge: He's over eight feet tall, and weighs close to a literal ton. |
| 210 | * MoreDakka: During the '90s he was fond of carrying around (and using) giant {{BFG}}-style guns. |
| 211 | * MotiveDecay: In-universe. Initially he was an alien despot looking for escaped rebels hiding on Earth. Then it was because he wanted revenge on the Justice League for humiliating him front of his subjects. As he got more-and-more powerful, this came up less and less. By the time [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun he stole the United Nations' flag to use as a cape]], he'd essentially abandoned anything else but revenge. |
| 212 | * NighInvulnerability: Since his rebirth. Wonder Woman once ''hurt her hand'' by punching him in the face. |
| 213 | * PersonOfMassDestruction: He frequently takes ''multiple'' teams to bring him down, and even that isn't always guaranteed. According to a dossier Lobo once read on him, he has personally killed almost six billion people. |
| 214 | * PhysicalGod: More or less became one. |
| 215 | * PlayingWithFire: Has gained pyrokinesis after being exposed to the Flame of Pytar. |
| 216 | * ThePowerOfHate: He is driven by unadulterated rage - tempered by a certain amount of cold cunning and pure hatred. Martian Manhunter once defeated him by using his mental powers to make him hallucinate killing all the heroes, at which point he declared he was satisfied and let go of all his hate and anger, regressing to a baby. Unfortunately, when he found out he had been tricked, his hate and anger came back and he returned to normal. |
| 217 | * PsychicPowers: A staggeringly powerful psychic, with a full range of telepathic and telekinetic powers. |
| 218 | * RealMenWearPink: Or ''are'' pink, in his case. |
| 219 | * ReligiousBruiser: After undergoing his rebirth as part of the Cult of Pytar. |
| 220 | * SmartPeoplePlayChess: In his first appearance, he challenges the Flash to a game of chess using a board that causes the other Leaguers to teleport to other worlds when the pieces are moved. Later on, he forced J'onn to [[ChessWithDeath play chess for his life]], using a chessboard that teleported the other League members from planet to planet every time a piece was moved. |
| 221 | * StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: He's extremely powerful and one of DC's top tier villains but sometimes he's occasionally subject to this. In one story he can be shown overpowering Superman, Wonder Woman, Shazam, and Power Girl. Then in a later story, the same Superman he could manhandle with absolute ease will one-shot Despero with only a single blast of heat vision. |
| 222 | * SuperIntelligence: His oldest ability, and one he retained after his Flame of Py'tar powerup. |
| 223 | * SuperStrength: Even by DC standards. He's easily one of the single most physically powerful beings in the entire DCU, second only to beings like Darkseid. |
| 224 | * ThirdEye: Which controls his psychic abilities. At one point, it was surgically removed and he was BroughtDownToNormal until it grew back. |
| 225 | * TokenEvilTeammate: Forced to work as a member of the League at one point, alongside J'onn J'onzz no less. |
| 226 | * TookALevelInBadass: Originally a mental threat, appearing as a prototypical 98-pound weakling and nothing else, Despero has been repeatedly reborn as TheJuggernaut in the mystical "Flame of Py'tar", becoming more and more powerful with each incarnation. |
| 227 | * TranquilFury: One thing that makes him dangerous is that he isn't just a hulking mass of fury, he's quite cold and clever about it. |
| 228 | * UnexplainedRecovery: After Secret [[YourSoulIsMine consumes his disembodied spirit]] in ComicBook/YoungJustice, it somehow returns in ''JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice''. |
| 229 | * UnstoppableRage: His utter hatred of the Justice League has made him driven by nothing more than fury. |
| 230 | * VillainTeamUp: |
| 231 | ** With Johnny Sorrow in ''JLA/JSA: Virtue and Vice''. |
| 232 | ** He formed a new [[LegionOfDoom Secret Society of Super Villains]] after ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004''. |
| 233 | ** In the most recent ''ComicBook/BoosterGold'' ongoing, he was a member of Mister Mind's Time Stealers. |
| 234 | ** He was a member of the BigBadTriumvirate with Morgaine le Fey and Enigma in ''{{ComicBook/Trinity}}''. |
| 235 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' reveals he has surprisingly good public opinion on his home planet of Kalanor. |
| 236 | * TheWorfEffect: The ComicBook/New52 fight between him and J'onn is a strange case of this, and really indicative of this trope's effect on the ''hero'' rather than the villain. As mentioned above, Despero has long been used as J'onn's {{Archenemy}}, having a number of clashes with him in the '80s and '90s. A constant of these clashes was the two characters being either near-equal in terms of power, or Despero being stronger but J'onn winning anyway to do outmaneuvering or outwitting him. But after that period came the 2000s, which saw J'onn get hit with '''numerous''' worfings, a small selection of which can be sampled on that trope's page. The long and short of it was that by the time the New 52 came around, the Martian Manhunter's power level had sunk firmly into the depths of InformedAbility. Cue the New 52's version of J'onn dealing Despero an absolutely ''[[CurbStompBattle brutal]]'' defeat to re-establish J'onn's power cred, since unlike him Despero's actual worfings have been very few, and he has remained a consistently team-wrecking power over the years. |
| 237 | [[/folder]] |
| 238 | |
| 239 | [[folder:Dr. Destiny]] |
| 240 | !!Doctor Destiny |
| 241 | !!!John Dee |
| 242 | [[quoteright:171:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drdestiny.jpg]] |
| 243 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #5 (1961) |
| 244 | |
| 245 | --> ''Coming here was the worst mistake of your life.'' |
| 246 | \ |
| 247 | A vicious scientist-sorcerer capable of twisting reality via dreams. |
| 248 | ---- |
| 249 | * BodyHorror: The examples below in "Depending On the Artist" that went from FacialHorror to this that portrayed an emaciated Destiny. Morrison's notes for ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'' even stating they never bought into the rational for Destiny's classic look, believing it'd have affected more than his face. |
| 250 | * CannotDream: Had this ''inflicted'' on him by the Justice League because his threat was so great. It... [[NiceJobBreakingItHero really didn't go according to plan]]. |
| 251 | * DependingOnTheArtist: Normally, he looks enough like [[Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse Skeletor]] that it's easy to mix the two up despite predating He-Man's archenemy, but he got subjected to this in the late 1980s and early 1990s. |
| 252 | ** His appearances in ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' feature a rather gaunt Destiny. Sam Kieth, the original artist for ''Sandman'', depicted Destiny as completely bald and with horribly rotting, seemingly dripping skin. When Mike Dringenberg replaced Kieth, Doctor Destiny acquired side hair and lost the rotting skin. |
| 253 | ** ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'' sees Creator/GrantMorrison and Creator/DaveMcKean depict a Dr. Destiny similar to Kieth's, only with patches of hair and in a wheelchair. As noted above under BodyHorror, this was Morrison's idea as they never bought that Dee's face would be the only thing affected by his inability to dream. |
| 254 | ** ''Batman'' Vol. 1, #492, the first proper issue of ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' sees Batman and Robin looking at a list of the inmates who escaped during Bane's jailbreak of Arkham--with the late Norm Breyfogle, the artist of the issue, going with a depiction akin to the [=McKean=][=/=]Kieth[=/=]Dringenberg depiction with a shriveled face and tufts of hair. |
| 255 | ** During the "Destiny's Head" arc of Dan Jurgens' ''Justice League America'' run (which revealed the Bloodwynd who originally joined the League was really the ComicBook/MartianManhunter), Jurgens mixed the classic skull face with the long side hair and thin body of Dringenberg's depiction. |
| 256 | * DidYouJustScamCthulhu: He successfully altered the Dreamstone of [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 Morpheus]] to be attuned to him rather than the Dream King. |
| 257 | * DreamWithinADream: He's fond of trapping heroes in these. |
| 258 | * FacialHorror: His SkullForAHead is depicted as a symptom of the League rendering him unable to dream. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, this was extended to full BodyHorror as noted above. |
| 259 | * HandicappedBadass: In more than one appearance Dr. Destiny's body has become so withered that he is bound to a wheelchair, yet even then he is a terrifying foe. Read below for details. |
| 260 | * LukeYouAreMyFather: In the ComicBook/New52 it was revealed that his mother is [[spoiler:none other than ComicBook/MadameXanadu]]. |
| 261 | * MadScientist: His initial schtick; his first attempt at crime used anti-gravity devices. |
| 262 | * MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: Whether he's a licensed doctor or not, Destiny still has extensive medical knowledge in addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of dreams -- but you'd still have to be crazier than the Joker to trust ''him'' with your check-up. |
| 263 | * MoreThanMindControl: He can influence people to commit all manner of horrific acts through their dreams. In the animated series he claims that the closer he is to someone, the stronger his influence over them is, and that at a certain range he doesn't even need his victim to be asleep to influence them. |
| 264 | * NightmareWeaver: This is essentially Destiny's shtick. |
| 265 | * NotSoHarmless: The League defeated him by removing his ability to dream. However, this had nasty consequences - he was left unable to sleep at all, which destroyed his physique and eroded his sanity; being sent to Arkham reduced him to a pitiful wreck. Then, during a breakout, he managed to totter out, reclaim his artifact of power, and went on a bloody rampage in which he nearly drove humanity insane. |
| 266 | ** In ''Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth'', he's a wheelchair-bound cripple, but if he makes eye contact with you, ''your mind's as good as gone''. Batman beats him by pitching him into a staircase before this happens, though. |
| 267 | * PsychoticSmirk: His skull face in the animated series seems permanently fixed into this expression. |
| 268 | * RealityWarper: Designed a machine knows as "Materioptikon" to do this via dreams; eventually, this was revealed to be Morpheus' Dreamstone, the Dream King's own artifact, twisted by Dee's additions and tinkering. While the original stone was destroyed, Destiny managed to keep some residual power and kept making more, making him a particularly dangerous foe. |
| 269 | * RedEyesTakeWarning: When his eyes aren't empty sockets they tend to be this. |
| 270 | * SemanticSuperpower: One of the things that makes the Materioptikon so dangerous: Destiny's a clever bastard and keeps using lateral thinking to come up with new uses and return in new ways every time he's beaten. |
| 271 | * ShoutOut: He shares a name with John Dee, a real-life 17th-century mystic. |
| 272 | * SkullForAHead: Originally it was a mask, but after his stay in Arkham Asylum his ''actual face'' was so gaunt and emaciated that it became this. |
| 273 | * SophisticatedAsHell: "I'll rupture your ramshackle land and piss in the ruins! Come to me, you spineless, spittle-arsed, poxy-pale wanker!" |
| 274 | * VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Averted. Every time he's defeated, the heroes shut him down as hard as they can, and every time, he comes back just as strong, just as much of a challenge, and more and more dangerous and deranged. |
| 275 | [[/folder]] |
| 276 | |
| 277 | [[folder:Dr. Impossible]] |
| 278 | !!Doctor Impossible |
| 279 | [[quoteright:324:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_impossible_1.jpg]] |
| 280 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' Vol. 2 #1 (2006) |
| 281 | |
| 282 | Dr. Impossible was thought by some to be the brother of Scott Free, also known as [[ComicBook/NewGods Mr. Miracle]], from Apokolips. Other sources said that he was merely a former henchman of ComicBook/ThePenguin who had gotten ahold of a stolen Father Box. |
| 283 | ---- |
| 284 | * EscapeArtist: Like Mr. Miracle, he is an expert escapologist. |
| 285 | * EvilCounterpart: To Mr. Miracle. |
| 286 | * HoverBoard: His Areo Discs are discs that change size dependent of the user's foot size and allow them to stick to surfaces and primarily [[SkySurfing to fly]]. |
| 287 | * SkySurfing: His Areo Discs allow to fly at heights far greater than merely hovering. |
| 288 | * {{Teleportation}}: His Father Box is capable of creating a "Hush Tube", a silent equivalent to the Boom Tube. |
| 289 | [[/folder]] |
| 290 | |
| 291 | [[folder:Dr. Light]] |
| 292 | !!Doctor Light |
| 293 | !!!Arthur Light |
| 294 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doctorlight5.jpg]] |
| 295 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #12 (1962) |
| 296 | -->'''" Well, my friends, we've completed the casting for the Fearsome Five! And for our first act together, we will destroy the New Teen Titans!"'' |
| 297 | |
| 298 | A criminal scientist who [[ClothesMakeTheSuperman built a suit]] that allowed him to harness the power of light. |
| 299 | ---- |
| 300 | * AdaptationalHeroism: His counterpart in the ComicBook/New52 was just about a complete 180 from the Light we know and hate, being a devoted family man and basically normal guy who was the victim of a tragic accident rather than the slavering rapist that is the mainstream Light. |
| 301 | * AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: Arthur Light and Kimiyo Hoshi has nothing to do with each other at first; a ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' era retcon in ''ComicBook/HeroesInCrisis'' established that she's his ex-wife. Given that they share a superhero identity, this is also a AdaptationOriginConnection. |
| 302 | * AffirmativeActionLegacy: The Dr. Light identity was used by the male American supervillain Arthur Light until it was taken up by the Japanese Kimiyo Hoshi, a woman who used it as a superhero identity. |
| 303 | * BoxedCrook: He joined the ComicBook/SuicideSquad for a time. |
| 304 | * CardCarryingVillain: After getting his original rapist personality back, he won't let anyone forget that he loves to violate. |
| 305 | * ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Originally needed his special suit to use his LightEmUp powers; as time went on he eventually absorbed the suit's properties into himself. |
| 306 | * DarkerAndEdgier: ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'' infamously revealed that he's actually a rapist, and it was for this reason that Zatanna essentially magic-lobotomized him to cause his VillainDecay. When he got his original mind and evil back, he then [[{{Flanderization}} wouldn't shut up about how much he likes to rape]]. |
| 307 | * DeathEqualsRedemption: Played with when he attempted a HeelFaceTurn during his time with the Suicide Squad and was killed for it. Still being evil, Light was sent to Hell, but he managed to find his way back to life. He wasn't any less evil for the experience, though, and as time went on he only got ''more'' evil. |
| 308 | * {{Flanderization}}: |
| 309 | ** In the decades since his first appearance, Dr. Light's VillainDecay would become [[TheChewToy an increasing part of his core character]], culminating in him being essentially demoted and the Dr. Light identity being handed over to newcomer Kimiyo Hoshi, who would use it as a superhero. |
| 310 | ** After ''Secret Origins'' established that he was haunted by visions of his dead friend Jacob Finlay, the psychological element was mixed in with his VillainDecay, and he became even more pathetic, to the point of near nervous breakdowns and receiving counselling. As bad as this was, it was still nothing next to the direction he'd be taken in by ''Infinite Crisis'', to wit-- |
| 311 | ** Hey, has he told you how much he likes [[MoralEventHorizon rape]] [[http://livingbetweenwednesdays.blogspot.com/2006/11/can-we-talk-about-something-else.html lately]]? To quote ComicBook/PlasticMan: "It's like it's his power now." It finally got to the point where [[EvenEvilHasStandards even other villains refused to work with him]] and ComicBook/TheSpectre turned him into a candle and lit him on fire -- as he was about to do some nasty things to hookers ''dressed as the ComicBook/TeenTitans''. |
| 312 | * GratuitousRape: ''Entirely'' too fond of this, so much so that his last moments of life were spent in a violent orgy with a group of prostitutes made to dress like the Teen Titans who clearly had no idea what they got into until it was too late. |
| 313 | * HappilyMarried: In the issue before [[spoiler:his death]], he was on the phone talking to his wife (the heroic pre-52 Doctor Light Kimiyo Hoshi). There was even a picture on his desk showing them and their two children. |
| 314 | * HiddenDepths: Before the mind wipe retcon came about Doctor Light was never a good teammate but once the retcon came around he became, by all accounts, a model teammate. He was even able to work with villainesses without incident... that is unless they provoked him first. |
| 315 | * HumiliationConga: His career is full of these, from the time he was ejected from low-rent villain group the Fearsome Five (which he founded!) to attempting to ''rejoin'' the Suicide Squad only to be rejected by Amanda Waller (yes, even a team of expendable villains didn't want him!). This came to a head in the ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'' story, where it was revealed that [[spoiler:his humiliations were the result of the League using a MindRape that doubled as a StupidityInducingAttack years beforehand]]. |
| 316 | * KilledOffForReal: Via KarmicDeath courtesy of the Spectre, who turned him into a candle and melted him down. By that time it was a mercy for the hookers ''and'' the readers. |
| 317 | * LightEmUp: He's a light manipulator and can use it for the standard fare: lasers, force fields, and so on. In earlier appearances, this also included distinctly less standard fare such as teleporters, paralyzing rays, and deadly curtains of light. |
| 318 | * LightIsNotGood: And in fact, swings about as far to the other end as it is possible to go in his case. |
| 319 | * MindRape: [[spoiler:Done to him in ''Identity Crisis'' after he raped Sue Dibny. The League's reasons were very sound, wanting to protect Sue from humiliation and end Light's threat permanently without killing him, but of course it came back to haunt them]]. |
| 320 | * NearVillainVictory: He almost beat the Justice League on his first try back in the day, nearly destroying them by sending them to planets suited to exploit their weaknesses. Alas for his plan, Superman and Batman were each masquerading as the other, which allowed Superman to escape Batman's trap and free the others. |
| 321 | * PostRapeTaunt: Wildly taunted [[spoiler:Sue Dibny]] after raping her in ''Identity Crisis'' and likened his theft of the heroic Dr. Light's powers to rape, taunting her likewise. |
| 322 | * PowerfulButIncompetent: Dr. Light has the power to command the spectrum of visible (and sometimes invisible) light, which grants him an array of abilities from {{Energy Weapon}}s to HardLight to [[MasterOfIllusion Illusions]], but he was considered such a joke that veteran heroes would often just let their {{Kid Sidekick}}s deal with him. [[spoiler:It's revealed, via {{retcon}}, that this was because Light once figured out how to get onto the Justice League satellite, sexually assaulted the wife of the Elongated Man, and then used clues he found on the satellite to deduce some personal details about the heroes, vowing to attack them or their loved ones if he had the chance. To prevent this, some members of the League wiped his mind, which had the side-effect of making him much less intelligent.]] However, even ''after'' this information is revealed, Dr. Light is still treated as a pariah in both the hero and villain communities. For example, despite the impressive feat of getting onto the League satellite, what he actually ''accomplished'' with it was considered just [[EvenEvilHasStandards tasteless and petty even by other villains]]. |
| 323 | * RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Practically his entire gimmick post ''Identity Crisis'' was being a remorseless rapist, with the other villains usually being disgusted with him for it. |
| 324 | * {{Retcon}}: |
| 325 | ** While Dr. Light had become a walking punchline well before ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'', the post-Crisis ''Secret Origins'' #31 added an extra layer of pathos in his new [[SuperheroOrigin Supervillain Origin]] by showing that Dr. Light was haunted by visions of a manslaughtered colleague who would appear before him in the darkness. |
| 326 | ** ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'', of course, took on Dr. Light's pathetic history by indicating that his VillainDecay was the result of the Justice League tampering with his brain after [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil he violated a member's wife]] so that any threat he posed would be rendered null and they could [[ThouShaltNotKill keep their hands clean]]. |
| 327 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: "YOU... TOOK... MY... [[spoiler:MIND]]!" |
| 328 | * SerialRapist: Turned into one of these via a DarkerAndEdgier {{Retcon}} in ''Identity Crisis''. He was a thoroughly nasty character even before, mind. |
| 329 | * TheSmartGuy: He was a scientist before gaining his powers. He wrote the book on metahumans. |
| 330 | * StevenUlyssesPerhero: His real name is Arthur Light. Just think, in another reality he could have been the proud papa of a [[Franchise/MegaMan true blue hero]]. Instead, he became the poster boy for DarkerAndEdgier depravity. |
| 331 | * StupidityInducingAttack: The MindRape that Zatanna used on him was specifically crafted to this purpose, being no less than a magical partial lobotomy. Although in Identity Crisis Zatanan does state that making someone forget things was easy and altering someone's mind was far more diffcult. Making Doctor Light dumber was by completely accident. She never did try to fix him thought. |
| 332 | * VillainDecay: His first couple of appearances, he was a legitimate threat to the League, nearly killing them on several occasions (including one where he used an entire solar system as a DeathTrap), but as time went on he became less and less threatening, until he was an utter joke any hero team could beat in their sleep, and while he's certainly become ''nastier'' in the time since, he's never reclaimed his former effectiveness, either. |
| 333 | * WouldHurtAChild: Without a second thought. |
| 334 | [[/folder]] |
| 335 | |
| 336 | [[folder:Epoch, the Lord of Time]] |
| 337 | !!Epoch |
| 338 | !!!NoNameGiven |
| 339 | [[quoteright:166:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/epoch.jpg]] |
| 340 | -> '''AKA:''' The Lord of Time |
| 341 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #10 (1962) |
| 342 | -->''" Defeat can either '''break''' the human spirit... or '''strengthen''' it '''beyond''' breaking! Defeat is the '''ultimate test''' of a man's '''faith''' in his own '''abilities'''! |
| 343 | ---- |
| 344 | * SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: he's from a billion years in the future, yet sounds and looks like a normal human supervillain. No explanation has ever been given for this. |
| 345 | * TimeMaster: He uses this to harass the Justice League in their era. |
| 346 | * TookALevelInBadass: Introduced initially as just a distraction used by Felix Faust for a scheme, he has since become '''Epoch, Lord of Time''', former owner of the fortress at Vanishing Point, on a permanent mission to render history safe by eliminating powerful beings and artifacts. |
| 347 | [[/folder]] |
| 348 | |
| 349 | [[folder:Erdammeru, the Void Hound]] |
| 350 | !!:Erdammeru, the Void Hound |
| 351 | [[quoteright:620:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trinity_hound.jpg]] |
| 352 | -> '''Debut:''' ''JLA'' #111 (April, 2005) |
| 353 | |
| 354 | A deity of the Antimatter Universe planet, Qward, the Weaponers built a mechanical version of it as a weapon believed to have captured the entities raw essence within. Fused to the soul of the daughter of the antimatter universe Riddler, Enigma, both try now to become the heroes of the antimatter Earth. |
| 355 | ---- |
| 356 | * AdaptiveAbility: The machine-mind is able to instinctively react and adjust to its enemies' combat styles far faster than an outside operator could issue commands for processing. |
| 357 | * EarthShatteringKaboom: The Void Hound had been tested only once, resulting in the death of ten star systems, before being [[SealedEvilInACan locked away, hidden in the positive-matter universe on Turi]]. Upon being released, it commenced destroying worlds again. |
| 358 | * SealedEvilInACan: Fearful that it would destroy their universe, the Void Hound was locked away, hidden in the positive-matter universe on Turi, a moon of the planet Maltus. |
| 359 | [[/folder]] |
| 360 | |
| 361 | |
| 362 | [[folder:The Extremists]] |
| 363 | !!The Extremists |
| 364 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/extremists.jpg]] |
| 365 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League Europe'' #15 (1992) |
| 366 | |
| 367 | A group of metahuman terrorists from the extradimensional world of Angor, the Extremists were the most prominent opponents of the Champions of Angor, a superhero team also hailing from that world. Like the Champions, the Extremists were all modeled after various Creator/MarvelComics characters. Although the first team destroyed themselves relatively quickly, a number of successors have since arisen to claim the mantle. |
| 368 | ---- |
| 369 | * ActuallyADoombot: The second generation of Extremists were all robots duplicates based on the originals. Fittingly, their leader Lord Havok is an {{expy}} of ComicBook/DoctorDoom, the TropeNamer. |
| 370 | * AntiVillain: Dr. Diehard and to a lesser degree Gorgon are this in their post-''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'' incarnations. |
| 371 | * BladeBelowTheShoulder: Tracer wears a pair of these as gauntlets. |
| 372 | * ChallengingTheChief: Being the team's Anti-Villain, the post-''Infinite Crisis'' Dr. Diehard does this a lot to Lord Havok. |
| 373 | * CharacterDevelopment: The reason for their inclusion and reworking post-''Infinite Crisis'', as the first generation of Extremists were a pretty stock supervillain team with little motivation beyond ForTheEvulz. While DC was able to successfully recreate the Extremists as characters with their own distinct personalities and motivations, this fleshing-out was not enough to elevate them beyond the ranks of CListFodder (and sadly, calling them even ''that'' is generous). |
| 374 | * CombatPragmatist: Dreamslayer, the evil sorcerer, killed the Silver Sorceress... with an arrow shot by a sniper. |
| 375 | * CompositeCharacter: In addition to being an {{Expy}} of Doctor Doom with his backstory, Lord Havok takes cues from [[ComicBook/DeathsHeadMarvelComics Death's Head]] in the physical appearance of his armor and the shapeshifting metal that can form various weapons from ComicBook/DeathsHeadII. |
| 376 | * DeusExNukina: The Extremists were all originally human and gained powers after accidentally setting off an experimental "megabomb" they were trying to steal. Ironically, all of them except Dreamslayer perished in a nuclear holocaust of their own making. |
| 377 | * DrivenToVillainy: The post-''Infinite Crisis'' Dr. Diehard was originally a pacifist metahuman who ran a school for metas and led a superhero team called the Zen Men ([[ComicBook/XMen sound familiar?]]), until his school was invaded by the government and all his students arrested. After spending months imprisoned in an internment camp and forced to watch his students meet various bad ends, Diehard had enough and turned to supervillainy. |
| 378 | * EvilRedhead: Tracer is one. |
| 379 | * EvilSorcerer: Dreamslayer is one. |
| 380 | * {{Expy}}: As noted above, all five of them are based on Creator/MarvelComics villains. Lord Havok is ComicBook/DoctorDoom (with the similarities even amplified during his appearance in ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'' by depicting him with a green shroud), Dr. Diehard is ComicBook/{{Magneto}}, Tracer is ComicBook/{{Sabretooth|MarvelComics}}, Dreamslayer is Dormammu, and Gorgon is Doctor Octopus. |
| 381 | * FlamingHair: Befitting his role as a Dormammu Expy, Dreamslayer sports this look. |
| 382 | * GrandTheftMe: Lord Havok (or rather, his robot double) had this done to him for a time by Maxwell Lord. |
| 383 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: As previously-mentioned, the original Extremists (sans Dreamslayer) were all killed by the same DeusExNukina that gave them their powers in the first place. |
| 384 | * NotEvenHuman: The post-''Infinite Crisis'' Dreamslayer was eventually revealed to be a demon with its own {{Cult}} of followers. |
| 385 | * PoweredArmor: Being the DC analogue of Dr. Doom, Lord Havok wears a suit of this, and it is from this armor that he derives his powers. |
| 386 | * PureMagicBeing: Dreamslayer survives the nuclear holocaust that kills all the rest of his teammates because he has become this. |
| 387 | * ScarilyCompetentTracker: Tracer. Like his name implies, he has Wolverine and Sabretooth-level SuperSenses which he uses to track his prey. |
| 388 | * SplitPersonality: The post-''Infinite Crisis'' Gorgon has a different personality for each of his tentacles. |
| 389 | * SuperSoldier: The post-''Infinite Crisis'' Tracer was given powers to become one of these. |
| 390 | * SuperpowerLottery: HOLY CRAP, Dreamslayer. Calling him the [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Dr. Manhattan]] of Angor would ''not'' be a stretch. |
| 391 | * TragicMonster: Post-''Infinite Crisis'' Gorgon, who was a scientist working on a project to grant all of mankind the power of AdaptiveAbility. What he produced instead transformed him into a HumanoidAbomination with CombatTentacles sprouting from his head and a ''Film/{{Sybil}}''-tier case of SplitPersonality. |
| 392 | [[/folder]] |
| 393 | |
| 394 | [[folder:Faust]] |
| 395 | !!Felix Faust |
| 396 | !!!Dekan Drache |
| 397 | [[quoteright:159:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/felixfaust.jpg]] |
| 398 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #10 (1962) |
| 399 | -->''"In a matter of days, because of my hubris, Earth will be razed by vengeful fiends."''' |
| 400 | |
| 401 | A wicked sorcerer from the ancient African empire of Kor, Dekan Drache was killed when he attempted to usurp the emperor's throne. Ages later, in the 1920s, his spirit took over the body of an amateur mystic who accidentally opened a portal to the other side. Inspired by Goethe's story, the reincarnated wizard took the name Felix Faust and began rebuilding his power. He has clashed with the Justice League many times over the years, often allying with the Demons Three, Neron, and other fiends in his quest for mystic might. He played a part in the death of Elongated Man. |
| 402 | ---- |
| 403 | * AssholeVictim: In what is almost a PetTheDog moment (if a very dark one), Neron punishes Faust for his attempted Faustian Rebellion by honoring the magician's proposed agreement -- only the "unimaginable power" is given to the young girl who Faust murdered rather than Faust himself. Now demonized, the girl comes after Faust himself and is implied to have killed him in very violent fashion. Granted, he got better. |
| 404 | * DealWithTheDevil: Like the literary Myth/{{Faust}}, Felix has sold his soul to countless demons for power, but always finds a way to get back his ownership. However, Neron states that by now Faust's soul's value is pretty much nil, forcing him to come up with new ways of gaining power. He's tried to sell his own son's soul, that of a young girl he murdered, and Ralph Dibny's. |
| 405 | * DirtyCoward: He's perfectly willing to sell his soul. However, he always chickens out when collecting time arrives. |
| 406 | * EasyImpersonation: He pretended to be Nabu during the ''52'' event in order to trick Ralph Dibny into giving up his own soul to Neron (it didn't work). In a second, more successful, impersonation, he successfully tricked the Red Tornado into giving up his android body by pretending to be Deadman. |
| 407 | * EvilSorcerer: Emphasis on the "evil" part, and probably one of the most morally bankrupt individuals in the DCU. |
| 408 | * FaustianRebellion: Tried this with Neron by attempting to rip him off. He didn't succeed. |
| 409 | * RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: In the pages of JSA it was heavily implied that he did this to Isis after resurrecting her, since she was bound by his spells and completely unable to resist. Satisfyingly, he gets his comeuppance for it after ComicBook/BlackAdam finds him and releases Isis -- Adam is all ready to [[PayEvilUntoEvil do what he does best]], but then Isis beckons him to step aside, telling him that she doesn't want Faust's life... [[LaserGuidedKarma she wants]] [[GroinAttack something]] [[CripplingCastration else]]. |
| 410 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: No one knows quite how long he's been around, but it is known that he's been around for at least several millennia. |
| 411 | * RedeemingReplacement: His son, known simply as Faust. |
| 412 | * StupidEvil: His thirst for power sometimes makes him cross into this territory, as he has a ''long'' history of making deals that he can't possibly fulfill and then attempting to worm his way out of living up to his end of them simply because it's his trademark, not to mention ripping people off and doing absolutely disgusting things for power even when he could have just as easily done less awful things and gotten the same result. Case in point, while he could have lost Black Adam off his trail by leaving Isis alone, or leave his home with Audi’s to a dimension where the anti-villain couldn’t get him, he instead thought it was a smart idea to use Isis as a {{sex slave}}, and made no countermeasures if Black Adam came knocking. He did, and Faust paid dearly for it. |
| 413 | * TomeOfEldritchLore: He owns several, including [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos the Necronomicon]]. |
| 414 | * TooDumbToLive: As mentioned above, Faust is no stranger to StupidEvil, but his dumbest moment without a doubt was attempting to pull one over on [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Black]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction Adam]] by pretending to fail at resurrecting Isis and then keeping her against her will as a magical power battery. |
| 415 | * TheUnfettered: If the 'trying to sell a young girl's soul' thing doesn't convince you, the fact that he harvested soil samples from ''concentration camps'' to assist in the creation of Wonder Woman villain Genocide should tell you that there is no line Faust won't cross. |
| 416 | * WouldHurtAChild: Killed a young girl and stole her soul so that he could use it to [[MoralEventHorizon rip off Neron in a deal]]. Neron saw through it right away and was [[EvenEvilHasStandards absolutely disgusted by it]]. |
| 417 | [[/folder]] |
| 418 | |
| 419 | [[folder:The Grey Man]] |
| 420 | !!The Grey Man |
| 421 | !!!NoNameGiven |
| 422 | [[quoteright:284:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gray_man.jpg]] |
| 423 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League'' #2 (1987) |
| 424 | ---- |
| 425 | * BlessedWithSuck: He came to be through a mystic ritual in the Crusades in which he contacted a Lord of Order and tried to pry some secrets; he was left a perpetually unnoticeable immortal tasked with collecting the dream residue of sleeping people. He fell into true despair when, after enacting his mass-mind control plan to recall the Lord of Order to beg him to end his miserable existence, the cosmic being told him this state was a ''reward'' - he'd managed to impress the Lords with his ritual and they hoped he'd achieve a higher state of conscience in the end. At the Grey Man's request, the Lord nonchalantly ended his life. |
| 426 | * EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: And he accepts it, and laughs anyway. |
| 427 | * PerceptionFilter: What his BlessedWithSuck gave him. |
| 428 | [[/folder]] |
| 429 | |
| 430 | [[folder:The Injustice Gang]] |
| 431 | !!The Injustice Gang / The Injustice League / The Secret Society of Super-Villains |
| 432 | [[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/injustice_gang.jpg]] |
| 433 | A supervillain team that usually (but not always) acts as ThePsychoRangers to the Justice League of the day. Notable for the In-Universe VillainDecay they've experienced, where as of ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis2004'' their history is looked on as a joke and usually when villains have a big team-up it's in some form of the Injustice League. |
| 434 | ---- |
| 435 | * ButtMonkey: All of them, but especially Multi-Man. |
| 436 | * ClockKing: The Trope Namer himself is a member. |
| 437 | * DumbMuscle: Big Sir. As the name implies, he was TheBigGuy to the Injustice Gang (later Justice League Antarctica) of his day. |
| 438 | * TheEngineer: The Mighty Bruce, a sidekick to Major Disaster who had no powers and supported the team with his electronics knowledge. |
| 439 | * EvilCounterpart: They try; some versions of the team explicitly consist of key villains of the current Justice League (Batman=Joker, Wonder Woman=Circe, Aquaman=Ocean Master, etc.) |
| 440 | * HeelFaceTurn: After a failed attempt at OneLastJob. |
| 441 | * HowTheMightyHaveFallen: They were the preeminent villain team for a time but repeated defeats on top of a history of being manipulated has caused their respect to fade in the supervillain community. Their satellite HQ was eventually commandeered by said community as a place to lay low from superheroes for a little while, but they get no respect for that either. Since the last version of the team's unceremonious disintegration (due to being manipulated by [[spoiler:an interdimensional doppelganger of Lex Luthor]]), they've remained disbanded. |
| 442 | * LegionOfDoom: They inspired the TropeNamer on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' cartoon. |
| 443 | * ReassignedToAntarctica: The Major Disaster-led version of the team, along with Gnort, was subjected to this by Maxwell Lord. Even there they can't keep out of trouble. |
| 444 | * LargeHam: Major Disaster. |
| 445 | * TheManBehindTheMan: Prone to being manipulated by villains in this position. Darkseid, Libra, and [[spoiler:Alex]] Luthor to name a few. |
| 446 | * PlayingTheVictimCard: Gorilla Grodd used this to trick Captain Comet into joining the Secret Society; Comet had been away from Earth since the 40s and was unfamiliar with heroes and villains, so when he saw Green Lantern beating up on Grodd, Grodd was able to use the humiliation to convince Comet that GL was the villain and him the hero. |
| 447 | * RunningGag: They are a running gag in themselves. |
| 448 | * TokenGoodTeammate: Captain Comet, who was tricked into joining the Secret Society for a little while. |
| 449 | * TookALevelInBadass: The Grant Morrison version of the team, which consisted of Lex Luthor, Prometheus, Queen Bee and the General. Despite only consisting of four members, this version of the team was probably the deadliest, with each individual member having almost defeated the League when attacking on their own. |
| 450 | * [[UnwittingPawn Unwitting Pawns]]: The very first version of the team, which consisted of Chronos, Mirror Master, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow, Shadow Thief, and the Tattooed Man, were all collectively this, as they were all being used as cannon fodder by Libra to wear down the Leaguers and siphon off their power for his transmortifier device. |
| 451 | * VillainBasedFranchise: Back in the 70s the Secret Society had their own comic for a little while. It lasted for 24 issues before being unceremoniously cancelled by a 1978 event called the DC Implosion. |
| 452 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness - Darkseid, the Ultra-Humanite, [[spoiler:Alex]] Luthor, [[ComicBook/ForeverEvil2013 the Outsider]]... let's just say that this trope has turned out to be the "secret" in "Secret Society of Super-Villains" surprisingly often. Usually averted by the Injustice League, where everyone just wants to kill superheroes and go home. |
| 453 | [[/folder]] |
| 454 | |
| 455 | [[folder:Kanjar Ro]] |
| 456 | !!Kanjar Ro |
| 457 | [[quoteright:229:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kanjar_ro_attack_of_the_o_squad_001.png]] |
| 458 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #3 (1961) |
| 459 | -->''" I am '''Kanjar Ro''', Minister of Defense for Kylaq... your new '''ally'''."'' |
| 460 | |
| 461 | Kanjar Ro is the dictator of the planet Dhor in the Antares star system. Dhor is constantly at war with three other Antarean worlds: Alstair ruled by the plant-like Queen Hyathis, Mosteel ruled by the metal-skinned Kromm, and Llarr ruled by the lizard-like Emperor Sayyar. |
| 462 | ---- |
| 463 | * BigBadWannabe: In ''Trinity'' he tried standing in for Despero to steal the power of the Dark Arcana in a plan worked out between Despero, Enigma, and Morgaine Le Fey. He actually did manage to stand in at the crucial moment and the ritual was a success, but because he was not actually Despero he gained no power from his deception and was forced to flee the two powered-up villains. |
| 464 | * DealWithTheDevil: Over the years he's made a shtick out of bargaining with the heroes to save his own skin. In once such case, this even saved his life, as Green Lantern Kyle Rayner was able to convince the Guardians (who had recently decided that MurderIsTheBestSolution) to spare Kanjar's life based on his previous cooperation. |
| 465 | * DistaffCounterpart: He has a near-identical sister, Kanjar Ru. |
| 466 | * InsectoidAliens: He's mostly humanoid, but has the compound eyes of Earth insects. |
| 467 | * PlayingBothSides: After his failure to usurp the Dark Arcana power, Kanjar was imprisoned in Krona's polar base, where he radioed the heroes to save himself from Krona's multiversal destruction plans. |
| 468 | * SmugSnake: Thinks he’s more powerful than he is. |
| 469 | * [[SpacePirates A Space Pirate]] |
| 470 | * VillainForgotToLevelGrind: He has no powers or special abilities, he's just an alien warlord who relies on various technologies to fight heroes. That cut the mustard in UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, but he's long since been eclipsed by just about every other intergalactic power player that has more than a grab bag of toys to play with. The one time he tried to aspire to anything greater, he completely botched it. |
| 471 | [[/folder]] |
| 472 | |
| 473 | [[folder:The Key]] |
| 474 | !!The Key |
| 475 | !!!NoNameGiven |
| 476 | [[quoteright:206:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thekey.png]] |
| 477 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #41 (1965) |
| 478 | -->''"And brute force is such a '''crude''' way to open a locked door. Doors have '''always''' opened for me. Wonders have '''always''' been waiting on the other side."''' |
| 479 | |
| 480 | The man who would become the Key was originally a menial scientist working for the crime syndicate Intergang. Developing mind-expanding "psycho chemicals" that expanded his senses from six to ten, he predictably went [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity mad with power]] and set out to TakeOverTheWorld. |
| 481 | ---- |
| 482 | * NinetyPercentOfYourBrain: Draws heavily from this old myth, as he claims his "psycho chemicals" have allowed him to tap into this. |
| 483 | * EscapeArtist: Per his name, he was eventually retooled into one of these. |
| 484 | * EvilGenius: Even before he became a formal supervillain the Key was working for a villainous group. |
| 485 | * HyperAwareness: Boasts of having ten senses, what exactly the extra four let him sense and how they work are not expanded upon. |
| 486 | * LotusEaterMachine: In his reappearance under Grant Morrison, he's devised a programmable virus that places victims under a designed hallucination, having their mind work to resolve problems for him. |
| 487 | * NoNameGiven: The Key's original human name has never been revealed. |
| 488 | * PsychicPowers: Has {{Telepathy}} and MindControl abilities. |
| 489 | * RoguesGalleryTransplant: He's drifted off to target Batman alone here and there, and has been incarcerated in Arkham Asylum a couple of times. This is odd both because his origins are in Metropolis rather than Gotham City, and because he's never attempted to team up with his obvious Gotham thematic counterpart, Lock-Up. |
| 490 | * SuicideByCop: Once attempted to drive Batman into killing him so that he could "unlock the secret of death". Batman being Batman, not only did it not work, but the whole scenario ended with the Key having a new obsession with locking ''himself'' up, since Bats told him that there wasn't anything impressive about an escape artist finding ways to escape and all that would really impress him was the man who could successfully contain him. |
| 491 | * SuperIntelligence: Even before ingesting his "psycho chemicals", he was a genius, and afterwards he was on a whole other plane intellectually -- or at least [[InformedAbility that's what the narrators kept telling us]]. |
| 492 | * SuperSenses: Overlaps with CombatClairvoyance, as he is able to match the martial arts savant Connor Hawke move for move. |
| 493 | * SuperSerum: His so-called "psycho chemicals". |
| 494 | * ThinkingOutLoud: He does this enough to actually note it. He thinks it may be a side effect of his psycho chemicals. |
| 495 | * TookALevelInBadass: Originally, he was just a dweeby guy in an orange jumpsuit, but Grant Morrison gave him a significant overhaul as one of the first villains of the late 1990s ''JLA'' run. |
| 496 | * WhiteHairBlackHeart: He was originally BaldOfEvil, but after his Grant Morrison reinvention, he became this. |
| 497 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The classic comic book villain who completely loses it after getting a little taste of power. Probably doesn't help that the source of this power is a PsychoSerum to modify his own mind. |
| 498 | [[/folder]] |
| 499 | |
| 500 | [[folder:Lena Luthor (New 52)]] |
| 501 | |
| 502 | Lex Luthor's little sister. When they were growing up, Lena contracted a fatal illness and died... so Lex told everyone else. In secret, he kept her alive, hoping to find a cure for her disease. Unfortunately for him, Lena wasn't tremendously grateful about her brother's efforts and tried to kill him. |
| 503 | ---- |
| 504 | |
| 505 | * AdaptationalVillainy: The original and Post-Crisis Lenas were good people. Here... not so much. |
| 506 | * BaldOfEvil: Just like her brother Lena doesn't have any hair on her head. |
| 507 | * CainAndAbel: She tries to murder Lex. Yep, ''Lex'' is the Abel of this one. |
| 508 | * RoguesGalleryTransplant: While she starts off in ''Justice League'', she shows up again in ''Rebirth'' trying very hard to kill Lana Lang during her stint as Superwoman. |
| 509 | |
| 510 | [[/folder]] |
| 511 | |
| 512 | [[folder:Libra]] |
| 513 | !!Libra |
| 514 | !!!Justin Ballantine |
| 515 | [[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/libra3.jpg]] |
| 516 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #111 (1974) |
| 517 | |
| 518 | --> ''Gentlemen, you can call me Libra. I balance the scales. I even the odds.'' |
| 519 | \ |
| 520 | Libra was once Justin Ballantine, a boy whose parents died as a result of tragic accidents. He became obsessed with the balance of the universe, specifically the moral balance between good and evil. He organized the first Injustice Gang and stole the powers of the Justice League, but the power was too much for him and he disintegrated into the cosmos. Years later, he coalesced again on Apokolips, where he swore loyalty to [[Characters/NewGodsDarkseid Darkseid]] and became one of the New Gods. Libra returned to Earth as Darkseid's prophet and reformed the Secret Society of Super-Villains, using them to bring about [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Darkseid's conquest of Earth]]. During the heroes' counterattack, he was apparently killed by Lex Luthor, but in a way so ambigious the characters even lampshade it in-story. |
| 521 | ---- |
| 522 | * AbortedArc: His death in ''Final Crisis'' seems set up for him to re-introduce him at some point. It's been 13 years and multiple reboots since then, and he's stayed dead. |
| 523 | ** His belated origin story seemed to be setting him up as a foe to ComicBook/{{Starman}} (whose technology it was revealed that he illegally studied as a teenager to build his transmortifier device) but he has never fought Jack Knight nor any of the other Starmen. |
| 524 | * AGodAmI: A subdued version, but he makes occasional allusions to having become something more than human, and at one point it is speculated that he has become the physical manifestation of the Anti-Life Equation itself. |
| 525 | * TheAntichrist: Serves this role (sort of) in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''. |
| 526 | * AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: At the conclusion of his first storyline in 1974, after siphoning all the powers of the Justice League into himself. As Creator/GrantMorrison eloquently puts put it, he "couldn't handle it and ascended to some kind of screaming godhood where he became a million transparent body parts spread across the sky." |
| 527 | * BadassBoast: Gives a short but sweet one to Lex Luthor with his JoinOrDie offer: |
| 528 | --> '''Libra:''' The day of Apokolips is at hand, sir, and I am only its prophet. Choose. |
| 529 | * CardCarryingVillain: Unusually for a character that claims to be obsessed with balance, but as the DCU is so stocked to the gills with heroes perhaps this is to be expected. |
| 530 | * ComboPlatterPowers: Libra's got one of the vaguest platters out there, being comparable with undefined 90's era [[ComicBook/XMen Mr. Sinister]] when it comes to trying to answer "well just what the heck can he do?" Originally he used a device to steal half of the powers of each member of the Justice League, but he seemingly lost all those abilities after discorporating and gained the following upon coming back: |
| 531 | ** CompellingVoice: He's got this, but with the catch that it only works on other supervillains. |
| 532 | ** ImmuneToMindControl: It's unclear whether this is his own ability or some sort of gift from Darkseid, but however he has it he was not only completely immune to the Martian Manhunter's PsychicPowers, he was also able to extend this protection to the other Secret Society members. |
| 533 | ** SuperStrength: Strong enough to throw Hawkgirl into a wall hard enough to knock her unconscious. |
| 534 | ** {{Teleportation}}: Usually something he needed a Boom Tube to do, but after being blasted by Lex Luthor his body disappeared, suggesting he might be able to teleport at will. |
| 535 | * DealWithTheDevil: He offers these to the other villains. |
| 536 | * TheDragon: Darkseid regards him with some favor, and he successfully supplants long-term Darkseid Dragon Desaad as this. |
| 537 | * TheEvilsOfFreeWill: The whole point of the Anti-Life equation, which he is the herald/embodiment of. |
| 538 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: He evokes this response from some of the other villains in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', most notably ComicBook/LexLuthor and [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Doctor Sivana]]. |
| 539 | * FreudianExcuse: His mother died due to the mistake of an alcoholic pharmacist and his father abused him for some years after before his own KarmicDeath. These losses left the future Libra with an obsession of sorts with balance, and living in the world of the DCU [[InsaneTrollLogic he decided the best way to maintain balance was to go supervillain]]. |
| 540 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: From a geeky kid with a telescope to the herald of Darkseid himself. |
| 541 | * HeroKiller: He kills the Martian Manhunter and planned to bring about a "no-bull£$%^ twilight of the gods". |
| 542 | * ImmuneToMindControl: He proved utterly immune to the high-tier PsychicPowers of the Martian Manhunter. |
| 543 | * InTheHood: Wears a hood ''and'' a face mask to conceal his identity. |
| 544 | * LongBusTrip: He's only appeared in two stories in over forty years, spending the rest of the time presumed KIA. |
| 545 | * TheManBehindTheMan: He was The Man behind the first Injustice Gang, and Darkseid was in turn his Man (though he didn't know it at the time). |
| 546 | * MouthOfSauron: Eagerly serves this role to Darkseid. |
| 547 | * MysteriousPast: When he first appeared. He didn't actually get a proper backstory until his reappearance in ''Final Crisis''. That's thirty years without a backstory. |
| 548 | * OrderIsNotGood: Obsessed with balance, he's a power-mad CardCarryingVillain and TheDragon for Darkseid. |
| 549 | * PhysicalGod: Mainly in his first appearance, where he siphoned away half of all the Justice League's powers into himself. |
| 550 | * PowerIncontinence: Related to the above, when he absorbed all that power from the Justice League it was too much for his human body to contain, resulting in him discorporating and vanishing into the cosmos. It took ''decades'' before he rematerialized on Apokolips. |
| 551 | * RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Makes a tasteless remark to Luthor about letting him be "first in line" with Supergirl. |
| 552 | * ReligionOfEvil: Almost literally, as he preaches the "religion of crime" on behalf of Darkseid and that book he's carrying is literally called the ''Crime Bible''. |
| 553 | * SelfDisposingVillain: In his first appearance, he succeeds in stealing power from the Justice League, only to bite off more than he could chew and get himself disintegrated. |
| 554 | * StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: His power level is all over the place. In his origin story he didn't do any fighting until his {{Unwitting Pawn}}s the Injustice Gang had already stolen all the energy he needed to enact his EvilPlan, when he first returned he defeated Hawkgirl, then he got smacked around by ComicBook/MartianManhunter and only killed him with help from the entire Secret Society, then in the same storyline he went from yeeting ComicBook/TheSpectre (who is stronger than the entire Justice League combined) to getting pummeled and almost killed by Inertia (who is a B-tier speedster at best). A few token {{Hand Wave}}s are thrown in to explain this crazy inconsistency (apparently speedsters are the Anti-Life Equation's kryptonite and the Spectre had no power over Libra for... some reason), but when it comes to battle performance Libra is anything '''but''' balanced. |
| 555 | * UncertainDoom: His "death" at the hands of Lex Luthor is very much this, with Luthor blasting him and the next panel showing what looks like Luthor [[FightingAShadow blasting through an empty cloak]]. Dr. Sivana even [[LampshadedTrope lampshades]] it after the fact. Ironically, he hasn't been back since. |
| 556 | --> '''Dr. Sivana:''' Hmmph. That's a classic "we haven't heard the last of him" if ''ever'' I saw one. |
| 557 | * TheWorfEffect: Inflicted this on the Spectre when the latter came calling to judge him for his murder of the Martian Manhunter. |
| 558 | * WouldHurtAChild: He threatens to kill the son of the Weather Wizard in an attempt to coerce the Rogues into working for him. Unsurprisingly, this doesn't work out very well for him. |
| 559 | [[/folder]] |
| 560 | |
| 561 | [[folder:Manga Khan]] |
| 562 | !!Manga Khan |
| 563 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manga_khan.jpg]] |
| 564 | -> '''AKA:''' Lord Manga |
| 565 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League International'' #14 (1988) |
| 566 | |
| 567 | --> ''L-Ron, let's barter till we drop!'' |
| 568 | \ |
| 569 | The self-ascribed Lord Manga Khan is an intergalactic broker with connections throughout several galaxies. He is more or less considered the used car salesman of the galaxy. |
| 570 | ---- |
| 571 | * AntiVillain: Although often seen in an adversarial context, he is not a decidedly evil person. He simply holds human life to a separate (and noticeably lower) set of standards than most other alien life forms. |
| 572 | * CooperationGambit: Being a fairly practical fellow, he started helping heroes more than harassing them in his later appearances. |
| 573 | * EnergyBeings: Manga Khan's natural form is a gaseous state and as such, he does not maintain a corporeal form. |
| 574 | * LargeHam: Lord Manga Khan is not only the founder and former president emeritus of the Manga Khan School of Melodrama, he suffers from a disorder that causes him to behave in a ridiculously grandiose manner. He neglects to take his medication because he's in denial. |
| 575 | * NonActionGuy: Manga is a poor fighter preferring to talk his way out of combat. |
| 576 | * NotInThisForYourRevolution: At one point he teamed up with Mister Miracle to sell soap to the denizens of Apokolips. As it turned out, it was a special soap that cleaned souls as well as bodies, leaving to a revolution caused (in his case) entirely by accident. |
| 577 | * OnlyInItForTheMoney: He just wants people's money, and he's even willing to give them a product in exchange. As DC villains go, he's positively benign. |
| 578 | * PoweredArmor: He normally wears an armored suit that makes him impervious to damage and grants him superhuman strength. |
| 579 | * PragmaticVillainy: His primary goal at all times is simply to make money. |
| 580 | * RobotBuddy: L-Ron, his robot servant. He has an unknown number of others operating his mothership; the variety of which is most evident in FKATJL #5, page 7. |
| 581 | * {{Telepathy}}: Lord Manga Khan's sole super-power is his ability to broadcast and receive thought patterns via telepathy. This power even extends to communication with robots. |
| 582 | * ThemeNaming: His robotic assistants tend to be named after sci-fi writers -- L-Ron was named for Creator/LRonHubbard, Hein-9 was named for Creator/RobertAHeinlein, and so on. |
| 583 | * AVillainNamedKhan: His last name if it wasn’t a dead ringer already. Although not much of a villain, more like a space car salesman with a different perspective than humans. |
| 584 | [[/folder]] |
| 585 | |
| 586 | [[folder:Maxwell Lord]] |
| 587 | !!Maxwell Lord |
| 588 | !!!Maxwell Lord IV |
| 589 | [[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/justice_league_generation_lost_vol_1_13_variant_textless.jpg]] |
| 590 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League'' #1 (1987) |
| 591 | |
| 592 | --> ''Seizing control is what I do.'' |
| 593 | \ |
| 594 | Following the JLA's decimation in the ''ComicBook/{{Legends|DCComics}}'' crossover, the smug tycoon Max Lord stepped in to fund the formation of a new UN-sponsored Justice League with an international mandate. He also discovered that he possessed the ability to mentally "push" people. As the manager of ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational'', Max became good friends with many of the members, but his involvement with them caused him great pain, including an unwilling transformation into a cyborg and an extended coma. This led him to believe that superheroes only cause trouble for normal humans, and he set about a plan to eradicate them. Using his mind-control powers to take over Checkmate, he created an army of cyborg [=OMACs=] and even killed his one-time friend Blue Beetle before he himself was killed by Wonder Woman. |
| 595 | ---- |
| 596 | * AIIsACrapshoot: The [[OriginsIssue origin story]] of Maxwell Lord. He was a successful businessman, and found by chance the computer of Metron. Rather than using the computer for his purposes, the computer used Lord to TakeOverTheWorld (including his initial relations with the League). When he realized the true nature of the computer, Lord destroyed it, even if that meant that he would die afterwards because the computer was keeping him alive. The League found him and saved his life, and when the Martian Manhunter read Lord's mind and understood the things he did, J'onn left him with a JL card, as a token of his trust. |
| 597 | * AntiHero: As a White Lantern, Max is apparently acting in good faith to fulfill the White Entity's requirement that he [[spoiler:prevent a superhuman war from destroying civilization]]. It's just that, with the body count and the mind control and the killing his erstwhile friends, he's got a funny way of going about it. Ironically, he ends up [[spoiler:being the cause of a BadFuture himself, one which is even worse off than the one he's tasked with stopping]]. |
| 598 | * BackFromTheDead: After the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'', Max was resurrected by the White Lantern Entity. |
| 599 | * BadFuture: He's the direct cause of one, which is teased in ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueGenerationLost Generation Lost]]'' #6 and explored more fully in #14. [[spoiler:Over a third of the world's population is dead, another third has been turned into [=OMACs=], the last third are ravaged by famine and "man-made bio-warfare disease", and oh, Superman has spent the last fifty years locked in battle with an invasion force of Green Lanterns. It makes the ComicBook/KingdomCome future Max murders Magog to avert look positively utopian by comparison]]. |
| 600 | * BatmanGambit: Pretty much everything Max Lord does in ''ComicBook/BrightestDay'' is part of some massive scheme to discredit the JLI, gain control over Checkmate, and prevent Magog from creating a similar future to that of ComicBook/KingdomCome. |
| 601 | * BerserkButton: During JLI, losing money. After JLI, [[spoiler:Wonder Woman. Specifically because she killed him on a planetary-live feed and the fact she was eventually acquitted of the charges against her and still loved despite the murder.]] |
| 602 | * BreakoutVillain: Whether it's a good or a bad thing depends largely on whether or not the person in question is old enough to remember pre-{{Retcon}} Max or not, but for good or ill Maxwell Lord has a become a much more prominent and popular character as a villain than he ever was as a hero. Pre-retcon Max was basically a comic relief supporting character for the JLI, he had some very well-written and memorable arcs but didn't appear much outside of that book and seemed destined for the same obscurity as guys like Oberon and R.J. Brande. Post-retcon Max has the distinction of being the BigBad of two highly-publicized storylines, being imported as a villain for both ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' and ''Characters/Supergirl2015'', and was even planned to be half of the BigBadDuumvirate for what would have been ''the very first Franchise/JusticeLeague [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_League_in_other_media#Justice_League:_Mortal_(cancelled) film]]''. |
| 603 | * CapeBusters: Well, singular. His whole villain shtick is geared towards preventing the rise and control of superhumans. This mindset of stopping "powerful people" was fueled by his own mother throughout childhood after his father was assassinated on the order of corrupt corporate executives. Hypocritically, he is a superhuman himself. |
| 604 | * TheCharmer: Worked very hard at this in his pre-villain days, although nine times out of ten it just made people more suspicious of him. |
| 605 | * CharmPerson: Lord's powers allowed him to telepathically influence people's minds, typically in the form of pushing a subconscious suggestion to others. |
| 606 | * ControlFreak: The most underlying essence about Max's character, his origin, and his villainous motivations are his obsession with control. His origin story is based around his desire to control metahumans like the Justice League for the sake of mankind when in fact fact it was just so he'd be in a position where he controlled things on a global scale, stemming from his own mother's controlling teachings towards distrusting and manipulating those with power and authority. After his turn to villainy, he centered his motives on controlling the Earth's metahumans with his ability to mentally control others as befitting this trait of his character. As seen in the Booster Gold solo series, even Max's living habits are fastidiously clean and obsessively tidy. |
| 607 | * FaceHeelTurn: Originally it was explained as EvilAllAlong, but it was later retconned that he ''was'' good during the JLI days, but turned evil sometime after. |
| 608 | * FreudianExcuse: Late in ''Generation Lost'' it was revealed that Max's father had died under mysterious circumstances (explaining his paranoia) and his mother killed during the mass slaughter of Coast City (explaining his distrust of metahumans). Not to mention his mother constantly egging on his personal doubts in superheroes and authority figures until her death, which encouraged Max to manipulate the JLI in the first place and his eventual downward spiral into villainy. |
| 609 | * {{Hypocrite}}: |
| 610 | ** He believes metahumans are a threat to humanity, yet is a meta himself. Explained, if not justified, by him spending a significant chunk of his life as an ordinary human until his metagene was forcefully activated by [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent a gene bomb]] during the ''[[ComicBook/InvasionDCComics Invasion!]]'' CrisisCrossover. |
| 611 | ** Booster Gold also points out in "Brightest Day" how Max's claims of "saving humanity" don't mean as much thanks to his willing to kill thousands to accomplish the goal. |
| 612 | * {{Irony}}: During ''Generation Lost'', the events over in Wonder Woman's own title means the world has forgotten she existed, save for Max and most of the JLI, making him unable to find and kill her. He's aware of the irony, and he hates it. |
| 613 | * JoinOrDie: Delivering this ultimatum to the second Blue Beetle was the moment that Max cemented his role in the DCU as a villain. [[spoiler:Ted declined, and Lord shot him dead]]. |
| 614 | * KneelBeforeZod: Lots of creepy eewwness while running Checkmate. |
| 615 | ** Damn near namechecked when he invited Wonder Woman to [[AsTheGoodBookSays "kneel before the Lord"]]. |
| 616 | * LaserGuidedAmnesia: When Max was resurrected in "Blackest Night", he uses a device to amplify his mind powers and mindwipe everyone on Earth of all of their memories related to him except for his old Justice League International teammates and the Blue Beetle scarab. He went even further to maintain the illusion by implanting Fake Memories such as Ted Kord committing suicide and Ice trying to murder Guy. |
| 617 | ** Which causes still-unexplained plotholes, as several people implied affected expressly would not be given the storyline. While it's unlikely that, for instance, Kilowog would bring Max up in casual conversation, or that an egomaniac like Manga Khan would give Lord a second thought, Wonder Woman was expressly described as immune to his powers, which is why she was able to kill him in the first place. She's affected like all the rest. |
| 618 | * ThatManIsDead: Max had a brief period of this after Dreamslayer killed the Silver Sorcerer... using his body. |
| 619 | * TheManBehindTheMan: He's fond of calling the shots from behind the scenes and using PuppetKing characters to be his face. During ''Generation Lost'' the White King of Checkmate was ultimately revealed to have been under Lord's control the whole time, [[spoiler:and to have been an OMAC the whole time to boot]]. |
| 620 | * ManipulativeBastard: Especially in "Brightest Day". Everything from his mind-wiping of the entire planet to reforming the JLI and duping them into chasing after him so as to make both them and Checkmate look like a complete joke, the man may as well be the TropeCodifier. |
| 621 | * MilkmanConspiracy: Kind of subverted, in that Max took the JLI - a UN-backed international organization staffed by superhumans - and, over twenty years, turned it into a bit of joke precisely so his association with it would place him BeneathSuspicion and everyone else's low opinion of the Leaguers would leave them powerless to stop his EvilPlan. ([[{{Retcon}} Unless he didn't, and only developed his evil plan years later]].) |
| 622 | * {{Mooks}}: He has a class of Mooks in the DCU that are almost exclusively reserved for his use, the [=OMACs=]. |
| 623 | * MoreThanMindControl: What he did to Superman before Wonder Woman killed him. As he reveals to Wonder Woman, he spends ''years'' patiently threading his way through Superman's mind, sowing the right seeds to compel Supes to act until the end result is a Superman that is absolutely and completely under his control for as long as he lives -- forcing Wonder Woman to ShootTheDog by killing Max. |
| 624 | * MoneyFetish: Moreso during his years as a quasi-BigGood backing the JLI, but even after going bad Max clearly likes the green life. |
| 625 | * MusclesAreMeaningful: Let's just say Max acquired quite the six-pack after he went bad. |
| 626 | * OnlySaneMan: In JLI, when he was not on a ManipulativeBastard kick, he was usually just as exasperated with his team as J'onn. |
| 627 | * PeoplePuppets: Lord's mind powers grew to the point where he could take full control of other beings, even Superman as seen in ''[[ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis Countdown to Infinite Crisis]]''. |
| 628 | ** During JLI, he hardly ever used it. The first time, he manipulated Blue Beetle without even being aware he had such power. He used it to make the Huntress join the League (which was indeed wrong, but he realized it himself and let her go). He used it on a girl he liked to begin talking (just that). And hardly anything else (the things done under the control of Dreamslayer don't count). |
| 629 | * PsychicNosebleed: Or, when he whammies the whole world at once, psychic gushing of blood out of every orifice. Eew. |
| 630 | ** Hardly limited to that one instance. This guy is more or less the DCU poster boy for psychic nosebleeds. |
| 631 | ** This is exploited by Amanda Waller, who pumps him full of so much blood thinners he risked bleeding out if he tried anything. |
| 632 | * {{Retcon}}: So many. Originally, he was a bit shifty but tried to do the right thing, at least once he's seperated from the evil computer. In the Gerard Jones ''Justice League America'' he was never really seperated from the evil computer and it regains control after his apparent death, rebuilding him as a cyborg. In ''Countdown to Infinite Crisis'' he was actually EvilAllAlong, and everything he did was part of the plan (and what was that about a cyborg? Never happened). And in ''Generation Lost'' he only became an anti-meta crusader ''after' the JLI era, during which he was genuinely what he appeared to be. |
| 633 | * RobotBuddy: L-Ron, in happier times. |
| 634 | * SmugSnake: Despite his occasional moments of Magnificent Bastardry, the climax of ''Generation Lost'' reveals him as just a ''very'' high-functioning Smug Snake. [[spoiler:His big master plan that we waited twenty issues for? He makes an Amazo OMAC and sics it on Wonder Woman. Why? Petty revenge, which he cheerfully admits himself.]] |
| 635 | * SurprisinglySuddenDeath: The beginning of "Break Downs". |
| 636 | * TakingYouWithMe: The aptly-named [=KingIsDead=] protocol, which he programmed into the Brother I satellite in the event of his death. It mobilized all the [=OMACs=] on the planet (which numbered at over a million) to target every metahuman on Earth for death. Oh, and to burn Checkmate to the ground while they were at it, because [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill no one ever accused Max Lord of doing things by half measures]]. |
| 637 | * TermsOfEndangerment: He was fond of referring to Wonder Woman sarcastically as "Princess" right up to the moment she snapped his neck, and later in ''Generation Lost'' he got very fond very quick of referring to the third Blue Beetle (who he was holding captive) as "hombre" and "chico" (like Wondy, Jaime had the last laugh though). |
| 638 | * TheFriendNobodyLikes: Despite being on relatively good terms with Blue Beetle and Booster Gold before becoming a villain, it's revealed in many stories such as Booster Gold and Powergirl's solo series that Max was heavily disliked and mistrusted even in his days with the Justice League International due to his manipulative tendencies and somewhat deceitful practices, but was tolerated because it was believed he was still a good man at heart who only wanted to help mankind with the Justice League and keep them organized. After his FaceHeelTurn, Max became persona non grata with his former colleagues and friends who either want him permanently put behind bars or killed. |
| 639 | * ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: CEO and founder of Justice League International, he used to be a decent guy, albeit arrogant, but he's been retconned into a villain for no other reason than the writers wanting a very specific villain for the build up to ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis''. |
| 640 | * TookALevelInBadass: Say what you will about the {{Retcon}} of Max from goofy used-car salesman to cold-blooded manipulator, it can't be denied that it elevated Max into the ranks of the DCU's most heavyweight villains. As he notes to Wonder Woman, he manages a feat not even Lex Luthor can claim (taking absolute control of Superman), though Luthor has been trying it for much longer than Max. |
| 641 | * UnfazedEveryman: Eventually, he ''did'' get a super power, but it only fitted his manipulative nature. Except for a dream, he has always been the director in a formal jacket, not a fighting super hero. |
| 642 | * VillainousBreakdown: Though Max manages to keep his cool through most of ''Generation Lost'', he has a pretty bad breakdown in #15 after finding out that [[spoiler: [[Comicbook/WonderWomanOdyssey a completely unrelated event]] has made the world forget Wonder Woman, making it impossible for him to track her]]. |
| 643 | * WeCanRuleTogether: Lampshaded in a showdown with Ted Kord. Right before Max put a bullet between Ted's eyes. |
| 644 | * WellIntentionedExtremist: Possibly. Max certainly ''talks'' a big game about saving humanity, and at times it does look like that's genuinely his aim. |
| 645 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: In the bwa-ha-ha JLI days, he really appeared to be buddies with ol' Booster and Beetle and the gang. |
| 646 | [[/folder]] |
| 647 | |
| 648 | [[folder:Morgaine le Fey]] |
| 649 | !!Morgaine le Fey |
| 650 | [[quoteright:211:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morgainedc.jpg]] |
| 651 | -> '''Debut:''' ''The Demon'' #1 (1972) |
| 652 | |
| 653 | --> ''Merlin chose well when he summoned this demon, ComicBook/{{Etrigan}}! But the last word belongs to Morgaine le Fey!'' |
| 654 | \ |
| 655 | An ancient and manipulative sorceress descended from TheFairFolk. She brought about the fall of Camelot in medieval Britain and has spent several centuries since chasing after greater power and a kingdom of her own to rule. Naturally this puts her at odds with a number of heroes. |
| 656 | ---- |
| 657 | * AgeWithoutYouth: Seems to suffer from this, as she can frequently be found trying to steal the eternal youth of characters like Merlin and Wonder Woman. |
| 658 | * BigBad: In the 2008 ''Trinity'' series, which sees her team up with Despero and Enigma to usurp the classical DC Trinity (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman) and then, when that doesn't work out, empowering several villains into the "Dark Arcana" to empower herself into a RealityWarper. |
| 659 | * CainAndAbel: She is the Cain to ''two'' Abels, Vivienne (aka DC's [[EmpoweringLakeLady Lady of the Lake]] and [[spoiler:Nimue Inwudu, who is better known as ComicBook/MadameXanadu]]. |
| 660 | * CanonWelding: In pre-[[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths Crisis]] continuity Morgaine has a daughter, Morgana, who was an enemy of Wonder Woman. After the Crisis Morgana disappeared and Morgaine herself became Wonder Woman's enemy. |
| 661 | * TheFairFolk: Descended from them. |
| 662 | * GoldColoredSuperiority: Frequently depicted as clad in golden armor. |
| 663 | * LadyOfBlackMagic: An ancient, evil sorceress of great power. |
| 664 | * ManipulativeBitch: Most vividly during the Arthurian days, but she's had a few good runs in the modern day as well, such as in the aforementioned ''Trinity''. |
| 665 | * PublicDomainCharacter: She is, of course, adapted from Morgaine of Myth/ArthurianLegend. |
| 666 | * Really700YearsOld: She dates back to Roman days if not earlier, as one of her lovers is said to be UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar. |
| 667 | * RoguesGalleryTransplant: An inevitability for a character adapted from medieval stories, but DC's Morgaine really gets around. She's fought Etrigan the Demon (who she is the most recurring enemy of), Huntress, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, and even the Man-Bat (to name a few). |
| 668 | * SealedEvilInACan: ''Trinity'' ended with her being sealed inside a statue. |
| 669 | * VainSorceress: As is common for adaptations of Morgaine, this trait is taken from her original depictions and then subjected to heavy {{Flanderization}} to make her work as a comic book villain. A common plot point for stories with her is her chasing after someone with {{Immortality}} in the hopes of stealing it and restoring her youth. |
| 670 | * WomanScorned: She starts making trouble in this continuity because Uther Pendragon rejected her advances. |
| 671 | [[/folder]] |
| 672 | |
| 673 | [[folder:Neron]] |
| 674 | !!Neron |
| 675 | [[quoteright:186:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/neron.jpg]] |
| 676 | -> '''Debut:''' ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed'' #1 (1995) |
| 677 | |
| 678 | --> ''[[ShoutOut Please allow me to introduce myself]]. I come to you with an irresistible offer. My name is Neron.'' |
| 679 | \ |
| 680 | An extremely powerful demon lord who specializes in the DealWithTheDevil. He made mass deals for the souls of numerous supervillains (and some superheroes) during the ''Underworld Unleashed'' event and has remained a formidable foe over the years. |
| 681 | ---- |
| 682 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: He allied himself with the rebel angel Asmodel in the latter's planned invasion of Heaven, only to betray him and abandon him to his defeat at the hands of the forces of heaven and the JLA. |
| 683 | * DealWithTheDevil: His preferred method of operating. Whether you're a hero or a villain, he'll offer you anything you want, in exchange for either your soul or whatever other price he asks. |
| 684 | ** ChronicVillainy: He apparently cannot refuse the offer of a soul in trade if he truly wants it, even if it costs him more than he can afford to give up. |
| 685 | * ConsummateLiar: Among his many nicknames is the ''Prince of Lies''. Interestingly, though, this is something of an InformedAttribute, as he tends to be rather up-front with the deals he makes, and has not once in his known history ever welshed on a deal -- which puts him (an actual '''demon''', don't forget) as still more trustworthy than the likes of Felix Faust. |
| 686 | * DimensionLord: He controls his own private dominion of Hell in which he is considerably more powerful while there, even at times depicted as near omnipotent. If killed in the mortal realm or anywhere else, he simply returns to his own realm to recuperate. |
| 687 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: Even he was disgusted by Felix Faust and the levels that he regularly sank to for power. |
| 688 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: And it costs him ''badly'' when he attempts to steal Captain Marvel's soul and Wally West & Linda Park's love. |
| 689 | * EvilVersusEvil: The DC crossover event ''Reign in Hell'' pitted the half-demon children of Shazam, Blaze and Satanus, against him. |
| 690 | * FauxAffablyEvil: In keeping with his status as a demonic double-dealer, Neron is always very smarmy and faux-polite. |
| 691 | * TheFinalTemptation: He tempted Oracle with Superman-level power in exchange for her service as his librarian. [[spoiler:Barbara refused, of course]]. |
| 692 | * HeroKiller: He managed to actually kill Wonder Woman right down to her soul during her rescue of Artemis and the rest of her friends in Hell, to the point the Olympian Gods had to resurrect her as a Goddess to resurrect her completely. |
| 693 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: In the ''Hell to Pay'' storyline. He orchestrates a plot to steal the love Wally and Linda have for each other, thus giving him a chance to gain ultimate power from the Speed Force, by forcing Wally to bargain for the Rogues' souls in exchange for giving up said love, and also claiming Linda's soul in exchange for sparing Wally's. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler:the couples' love corrupts him and he begs them to take it all back--but they refuse unless he undoes all the damage he's done to the city]]. |
| 694 | * IHaveManyNames: Neron is also known as the ''Prince of Lies'', ''Wishweaver'', ''King of Hate'', the ''Devil'', and the ''Howling One''. |
| 695 | * JokerImmunity: He was killed off during the ''Reign in Hell'' storyline but when DC rebooted continuity for ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' they pushed the reset button on this. As of 2017 Neron is back to being the big kahuna in Hell. |
| 696 | * LargeAndInCharge: Described as being so large "he makes Blockbuster look anemic". |
| 697 | * LouisCypher: Briefly during ''Underworld Unleashed''. |
| 698 | * NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Named for an alternative name of the Roman emperor UsefulNotes/{{Nero}}, who was the historical inspiration for TheAntichrist. |
| 699 | * NumberOfTheBeast: Parallels with MeaningfulName, as detailed above. The original 666 was apparently a Hebrew numerical code for Nero. |
| 700 | * OneWingedAngel: ''Very'' briefly when Trickster outsmarts him and he reveals his true form before vanishing. |
| 701 | * RealityWarper: As a high-order demon lord and one of the most powerful magical beings in the DC Universe, there's not a lot he can't do. |
| 702 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: If [[ConsummateLiar he is to be believed]] he takes this to TimeAbyss levels, boasting that he brought the very first human couple together and at one point telling Wonder Woman that he was among the first beings to ever walk the universe. A more solid proof is his history with the immortal ComicBook/VandalSavage, who greets him with familiarity when they are shown meeting. |
| 703 | * RescuedFromTheUnderworld: One of the storylines in the DC Rebirth event revolved around Midnighter traveling to hell to free Apollo's soul from Neron's clutches. |
| 704 | * RoguesGalleryTransplant: An interesting case in that he started out as an all-purpose DC threat and was later narrowed into a villain for specific heroes, namely (and in descending order of use) Franchise/TheFlash, ComicBook/TheSpectre and ComicBook/{{Etrigan}}. |
| 705 | * SatanicArchetype: Known as the "Prince of Lies," leader of a segment of Hell, and gives out many a DealWithTheDevil. He was actually a stand-in for the Devil himself in his first appearance. |
| 706 | * SuperEmpowering: He gave a lot of villains power boosts during ''Underworld Unleashed'' - [[DealWithTheDevil in exchange for their souls]], of course. |
| 707 | * {{Troll}}: He created a mystical item that allows the holder to avoid being sent to hell no matter how much they deserve it, the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Get Out Of Hell Free card]], and dropped it on Earth just to watch with glee as supervillains fought and betrayed and killed each other to get it. [[ComicBook/SecretSix And that's exactly what they did]]. |
| 708 | * WastefulWishing: Not all of the villains in ''Underworld Unleashed'' used their wishes wisely. The most notable case is the Joker, who sold his soul for... a box of Cuban cigars. |
| 709 | * TheWorfEffect: Inflicted this on the first Mongul with an effortless NeckSnap to establish his credentials as a villain. In-story, the excuse was that Mongul blew Neron off, and as Neron himself puts it: |
| 710 | --> '''Neron:''' I will be refused. I will be ignored. But I will '''not''' be defied. |
| 711 | [[/folder]] |
| 712 | |
| 713 | [[folder:Mr. Nebula & Scarlet Skier]] |
| 714 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mister_nebula_scarlet_skier.jpg]] |
| 715 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Justice League America'' #36 (1990) |
| 716 | |
| 717 | A powerful alien who also happens to be a complete nutcase. Instead of any of the usual supervillain motives, his horrid fashion sense compels him to drift around the cosmos, wrecking any civilizations he crosses in an attempt to "enlighten them" by forcefully reshaping their worlds to suit his warped sensibilities. |
| 718 | |
| 719 | The Scarlet Skier is an unfortunate soul bound to Nebula's service; while he often escapes, his master always drags him back to force him into ever more garish suits. |
| 720 | ---- |
| 721 | * AlternateCompanyEquivalent: Of [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]] and the ComicBook/SilverSurfer, respectively. |
| 722 | * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Too powerful for the Justice League to defeat. He was, however, successfully driven off the planet when J'onn contacted him and persuaded him humanity was in awe of his brilliance and wished to adapt the planet themselves. [[TakeThat Nebula took a look at Vegas and was instantly convinced]]. |
| 723 | * EmbarrassingMiddleName: Scarlet Skier's real name is Dren [[{{Geek}} Keeg]]. |
| 724 | * ItsAllAboutMe: He was already an insufferable diva obsessed with all things tacky and garish ''before'' the Lords of Order tossed him into a dimension of kitsch. When he emerged in realspace, he sought to expand the glory he had seen to every corner of Creation, no matter what anyone else thought. |
| 725 | * LetsYouAndHimFight: The Skier's main purpose in-story: he ''hates'' Nebula and his whole crusade, so he sends the JLA to stop him. |
| 726 | * {{Thememobile}}: His Nebulamobile. |
| 727 | [[/folder]] |
| 728 | |
| 729 | [[folder:Overmaster]] |
| 730 | !!The Overmaster |
| 731 | [[quoteright:204:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/overmaster.jpg]] |
| 732 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #233 (1984) |
| 733 | -->''"I/we weary of this amusement. Cadre, finish them...Or suffer my/our displeasure."'' |
| 734 | |
| 735 | An ancient alien being of celestial power that considers himself AboveGoodAndEvil. He travels around the universe judging various worlds, wiping them clean of all life if he finds them unworthy. |
| 736 | ---- |
| 737 | * AboveGoodAndEvil: Or so he claims. |
| 738 | * CasualInterstellarTravel: Traveled around the universe in a colossal spacecraft that was capable of this. |
| 739 | * CoolStarship: Got around in one of these, and the heroes liked it enough to make it their new base after defeating him. |
| 740 | * DeathTakesAHoliday: In a demonstration of his power, he stopped all deaths (and births) around the whole planet. |
| 741 | * DestroyerDeity: Seems to be one of these in practice even if he denies being as such. |
| 742 | * {{Expy}}: He's certainly got a few... ah, ''similarities'' to [[Characters/MarvelComicsGalactus Galactus]]. |
| 743 | * HandBlast: His preferred method of attack. |
| 744 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Amazing Man defeats him by absorbing his energy blasts and redirecting them at him.]] |
| 745 | * ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Somewhere in 580 million years old. |
| 746 | * SuperEmpowering: He increases the powers of his minions, the Cadre, and later buffs up Ice's abilities when she becomes his herald. |
| 747 | [[/folder]] |
| 748 | |
| 749 | [[folder:Professor Ivo]] |
| 750 | !!Professor Ivo |
| 751 | !!!Anthony Ives |
| 752 | [[quoteright:264:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/professor_ivo_0008.jpg]] |
| 753 | -> '''Debut:''' ''The Brave and the Bold'' #30 (1960) |
| 754 | -->''" One, I've done nothing wrong. Two, if you must know, and as my appearance can attest, I've long ago attained the immortality serum. Indeed, in this case, the only thing I want for myself...is to finally die."'' |
| 755 | |
| 756 | Best known as the creator of the Amazo android, Professor Ivo is a genius roboticist driven by a crippling fear of death. |
| 757 | ---- |
| 758 | * CompleteImmortality: His goal, though it becomes a case of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor eventually. This leads him to become a... |
| 759 | * DeathSeeker: He wants someone to take his place as one of Earth's 13 Immortals so he can finally die. |
| 760 | * TheDragon: Served as Maxwell Lord's Dragon during ''Generation Lost''. |
| 761 | * EvilMakesYouUgly: The immortality potion he invented deformed him, causing him to lose his hair and his skin to turn scaly. |
| 762 | * FateWorseThanDeath: At one point his immortality serum started calcifying his body, to the point where he would have eventually become an immortal LivingStatue in constant agony. |
| 763 | * ImmortalityImmorality: He's not particularly hedonistic or sadistic or anything like that, but he keeps on falling back into supervillainy, partly because his immortality serum deforms his appearance (limiting his ability to live a normal life) and partly because it screws with his mental stability. |
| 764 | * LongerThanLifeSentence: His debut story ended with him being sentenced to 500 years in prison. "Snapper" Carr couldn't resist quipping about the coincidence of Ivo having to serve this sentence after consuming an immortality potion. |
| 765 | * MadScientist: Focusing on biology and robotics, and applications that combine the two. |
| 766 | * NighInvulnerability: His deformed skin is bulletproof. |
| 767 | * SelfMadeOrphan: The pre-Crisis Ivo killed his own father for no other reason than his ongoing attempt to perfect his Amazo android. |
| 768 | * StatusQuoIsGod: During his DeathSeeker phase even the League came to pity him, and Ice was able to use Guy Gardner's Power Ring to cure him. But the lure of immortality proved too powerful, and he once again started drinking the serum. |
| 769 | [[/folder]] |
| 770 | |
| 771 | [[folder:Prometheus]] |
| 772 | !!Prometheus |
| 773 | !!!NoNameGiven |
| 774 | [[quoteright:335:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prometheus.jpg]] |
| 775 | -> '''Debut:''' ''New Year's Evil: Prometheus'' (1998) |
| 776 | |
| 777 | --> ''"Heroes". I'll kill the whole species, starting with you.'' |
| 778 | \ |
| 779 | An EvilCounterpart of Batman whose parents were killed in a shootout with police, he has sworn to annihilate the forces of justice. |
| 780 | ---- |
| 781 | * AmbiguouslyBi: He shows interest in Barbara Gordon at the conclusion of Creator/GrantMorrison's run on ''ComicBook/JLA1997'', but his appearance as a villain in the ComicBook/{{Midnighter}} series had him assume the name of Matt Dell and enter into a relationship with Midnighter, who is a gay man. How genuine he is about this relationship is up for debate, as he reveals himself as Prometheus after a few issues and attacks Midnighter viciously, but apparently it was enough evidence for Website/ThatOtherWiki to induct him into their listing of LGBT supervillains. |
| 782 | * AwesomenessByAnalysis: His helmet allows him to do this as a form of real-time CombatClairvoyance. See ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' #6 for the most triumphant example |
| 783 | * BackFromTheDead: He was killed off in ''Cry for Justice'' but eventually that decision was recognized as a mistake just like everything else that happened in that series. After being given a limited quasi-resurrection in the the ComicBook/New52 DC used their ComicBook/DCRebirth event to make his resurrection permanent. He's since (finally) been returned to his roots as a JLA villain in the 2017 ''Justice League of America'' relaunch. |
| 784 | * BadassCape: As an evil Batman, he wears a white cape as a visual contrast to the Dark Knight. |
| 785 | * BadassNormal: So Badass that he has on two different engagements defeated the Justice League completely single-handedly. |
| 786 | * BadassBoast: Practically a living, breathing ''fountain'' of these. See the comics page of that trope for many, ''many'' examples. |
| 787 | * BloodKnight: As he mentioned when Lex explained how he could make a fortune by patenting his inventions: "If I want something, I just take it. I'm in this for the ''buzz''." It's this desire for the thrill of killing dispensers of justice that keeps him aiming for the Justice League. One reason he concocted his grand scheme in destroying Star City instead of killing the members of the Justice League one by one was because he felt the thrill of killing them would wear off after a few times. |
| 788 | * CapeBusters: A one-man Cape Buster. |
| 789 | * CardCarryingVillain: As a ShadowArchetype of Franchise/{{Batman}} (his parents were criminals killed by the police), his stated goal is to "annihilate the forces of justice." |
| 790 | * TheChessmaster: To a certain degree, but his ''real'' specialty is XanatosSpeedChess. |
| 791 | * TheChosenOne: An evil Chosen One, as his Cosmic Key that he uses to teleport to and from his pocket dimension is revealed eventually to be a malevolent, semi-sentient artifact that consumes the souls of anyone who attempts to use the Key but him. The group of (evil) monks that Prometheus studied under in the Himalayas safeguarded the Key for centuries, waiting for the one person who could wield it. |
| 792 | * CostumeCopycat: His uniform allows him to do this flawlessly. [[spoiler:He impersonates Freddy Freeman throughout most of ''Cry for Justice''.]] |
| 793 | * CrazyPrepared: He's developed [[BatmanGambit plans to defeat every member of the JLA]]. |
| 794 | * CutLexLuthorACheck: Actually, Lex offers to cut ''him'' a check, for his advanced technology. He doesn't bite. |
| 795 | * DarkerAndEdgier: ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' was meant to re-establish him as a top tier threat after years of VillainDecay, [[spoiler:establishing that the Prometheus who'd been getting his butt kicked for the last few years was actually his 'successor' who took on the role while he was mentally shut down]]. Unfortunately, that series took an exceedingly dark tone with both its tone and its titular villain, resulting in Prometheus being KilledOffForReal and banished to Comic Book Limbo in the aftermath. Ironically, his death was used to make his ''[[ComicBook/GreenArrow killer]]'' DarkerAndEdgier. |
| 796 | * DidntSeeThatComing: CrazyPrepared though he is, he has a lot of trouble adjusting to unexpected factors. His initial attack on the Justice League was derailed mostly because Catwoman just so happened to have infiltrated the Watchtower. |
| 797 | * DragonInChief: To Luthor during the ''World War III'' storyline. |
| 798 | * EvilGenius: A genius on par with Lex Luthor, and every bit as evil. |
| 799 | * {{Expy}}: For the first Anti-Batman, the Wrath, right down to having a morally inverted twist on Batman's traditional origin in his parents being criminals who were fatally shot by police. Arguably took his place entirely with the Wrath retconned out of existence. |
| 800 | * FalseFriend: He was introduced to the ''Midnighter'' title as "Matt", a friend and later lover to Midnighter who was apparently deep cover the whole time. The ruse lasted a good 3 or 4 issues before Prometheus revealed himself and struck. |
| 801 | * FeelNoPain: Often boasts of being able to effect this via flooding his body with endorphins. |
| 802 | * EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: "My parents were the coolest people I knew." |
| 803 | * FatalFlaw: An inability to adapt to deal with an opponent or situation he didn't plan ahead for, at least in his original appearances. By ''Cry for Justice'' he has overcome this and demonstrates it by effortlessly dispatching the Shade. |
| 804 | * FateWorseThanDeath: This was his original plan for Star City and the other cities he targeted during ''Cry for Justice''; rather than destroying them, his machines were supposed to teleport those cities into AnotherDimension, resulting in this for the heroes left behind as they would know their loved ones were still alive somewhere in the multiverse but would have no way of finding them or bringing them back. But Prometheus's partner in crime I.Q. miscalculated, resulting in the machines just destroying the cities outright instead. |
| 805 | ** It could be argued that Prometheus experienced a version of this himself; ''Cry for Justice'' [[spoiler:revealed that, after his time with the Injustice Gang, agreeing with Batman that the villain was too dangerous to be left in a conventional prison, Martian Manhunter wiped Prometheus's mind, which left him basically brain-dead until the Manhunter's own death restored his mind; all confrontation with 'Prometheus' between those two events were actually someone else]]. |
| 806 | * [[FlawExploitation Flaw Exploiter]]: It's what makes him so deadly. |
| 807 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: From the son of two petty criminals to one of the JLA's most dangerous villains. |
| 808 | * GeniusBruiser: He's brilliant enough to hang with the likes of Lex Luthor, yet unlike Lex is perfectly willing (and eager) to get his own hands dirty. No PowerArmor needed for this guy! |
| 809 | * KillAndReplace: In his scheme to destroy the Justice League, he sneaked into their base by killing novice superhero Retro (who won a contest to be with the team for a day) and taking his place. |
| 810 | * NoNameGiven: It was teased that his name was going to be revealed in ''Gotham Knights'', only for that to turn into an AbortedArc. |
| 811 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: During the "World War III" arc that served as the finale of Creator/GrantMorrison's run on ''ComicBook/JLA1997'', he refers to Barbara Gordon as a "ragdoll crip" after she rejects his offer to restore the use of her legs if she joins him and betrays the Justice League. |
| 812 | * PowersAsPrograms: Literally. With his helmet, he can download skills directly into his brain, allowing him to even match Batman and Lady Shiva in a fight. |
| 813 | * PrematurelyGreyHaired: His hair turned white as a kid when he witnessed his parents' deaths. |
| 814 | * RoguesGalleryTransplant: A long and winding case. Originally created to be a villain for the JLA team as a whole, Prometheus was later imported into various Batbooks and scaled down into a Batman-tier threat. Later still he became associated with ComicBook/GreenArrow, due to Ollie being the one who killed him in ''Cry for Justice'', which culminated in his use as a villain on the ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' TV show that is pretty much Prometheus InNameOnly. Before that show, however, he was a prominent part of the DC YOU ''ComicBook/{{Midnighter}}'' series, serving as a sort of perfect foil, as someone whose abilities were perfect as a counterpoint to Midnighter's. |
| 815 | * SecretKeeper: He uncovered the identity of Oracle way back in ''World War III'', but oddly chose to keep it to himself. |
| 816 | * ShadowArchetype: To Batman, and later to Midnighter. |
| 817 | * SmugSnake: He thinks he’s smarter than he is, and bites him the ass more often the not. |
| 818 | * {{Teleportation}}: His [[ArtifactOfDoom Cosmic Key]] allows him to instantly teleport to and from his home base in the [[PhantomZone Ghost Zone]]. |
| 819 | * VillainDecay: After the JLA series he debuted in ended various writers incorporated him into their stories as an increasingly minor threat, taking him from a [[CapeBusters Cape Buster]] so good as to give even Franchise/{{Superman}} pause to a low-rent henchman who could be dispatched by the likes of Hush and even ''Alfred''. The ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' was meant to reverse this decay, and to a degree it worked [[spoiler:establishing that the Prometheus that had been getting beaten up for the last few years was actually the successor to the original]], but at the price of turning the character so dark that he felt out of place in the DC Comics world, leading to him being killed off for half a decade. |
| 820 | * VillainHasAPoint: In recent years, oddly enough. During his appearance in the ''Midnighter'' run he lectures the eponymous AntiHero for his notoriously brutal treatment of lawbreakers, telling him that "crime is a societal construct" and that all his ultraviolent approach does is create more villains. Later in the ''Justice League of America'' reboot he chides Vixen for the BourgeoisBohemian kick she's on at the time, pointedly telling her that there is no greater lie than for those in power to claim kinship with those without it and calling her "a billionaire with a case of empathy". |
| 821 | * VillainTeamUp: After trying and failing to defeat the JLA on his own, he teamed up with Lex Luthor, Queen Bee and General Eiling to reform the Injustice Gang. Years later in ComicBook/DCRebirth he teamed up with new villain Afterthought in a CallBack to his Injustice Gang days. |
| 822 | * TheWorfEffect: He worfed practically the ''entire League'' in his first big storyline to establish his Badass credentials, taking out Steel, Zauriel, Huntress, the Martian Manhunter, and the [[MemeticMutation the goddamn]] ''[[MemeticMutation Batman]]'' without breaking stride. Even more impressively, his worfing of Bats ''stuck'', as the only way the latter was able to win in a later fight was via tampering with his helmet. |
| 823 | ** The ''Batman: Gotham Knights'' run saw this trope put to work both for and against him. On the for end, he was hugely instrumental in Hush's rise to power in Gotham, helping him run the Joker out of town (and really doing all the work of it, as he killed off the Joker's entire gang single-handedly). On the other end, he was shot full of arrows by Green Arrow (a huge comedown for a guy who had a stand-down with Superman), thrown around by Hush in a YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness moment, and was last seen in the run kidnapped by Talia and the League (which became an AbortedArc after the book ended). |
| 824 | * WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide: A major factor in the poor reception of ''Cry for Justice''. Though it re-elevated Prometheus to a JLA-tier threat, it also turned him into one of the worst mass-murders the DC universe has ever seen. |
| 825 | * WouldHurtAChild: And if genocide wasn't bad enough, his scheme notoriously resulted in the death of Roy Harper's daughter Lian (which Prometheus didn't plan for, but he wasn't really all that upset about). Thankfully Lian's death was retconned in ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}''. |
| 826 | [[/folder]] |
| 827 | |
| 828 | [[folder:Queen Bee]] |
| 829 | !!Queen Bee |
| 830 | !!!Zazzala |
| 831 | [[quoteright:170:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queenbee.jpg]] |
| 832 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #23 (1963) |
| 833 | |
| 834 | --> ''Conzzeptz of relative 'beauty' are meaninglezz to uz, aszz iszz your flattery.'' |
| 835 | \ |
| 836 | The leader of a race of alien BeePeople, Zazzala's only goal is the continuous interstellar expansion of her species. Her efforts to propagate throughout the universe have been a recurring thorn in the side of the JLA. |
| 837 | |
| 838 | Despite never being killed, a number of other characters have since taken the Queen Bee mantle. |
| 839 | ---- |
| 840 | * ArcWelding: at one point, became the head of the Earth-based H.I.V.E. criminal organization, due to their similar bee-theme. |
| 841 | * BeePeople: The queen of an alien race of these. |
| 842 | * DeadpanSnarker: Under Creator/GrantMorrison's pen she became one of these, though once they left, she degenerated back into another generic villain with a gimmick. |
| 843 | * FatalFlaw: She is unable to see the color red, a disability the League used to defeat her on more than one occasion. |
| 844 | * GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Yet another female villain to style herself as a queen. |
| 845 | * HiveCasteSystem: Her people have one of these, and of course Zazzala is on top. |
| 846 | * HiveQueen: With her its pretty much ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. |
| 847 | * HordeOfAlienLocusts: Originally the head of one. |
| 848 | * LegacyCharacter: There have been no less than ''five'' different villains to use the Queen Bee name, and that doesn't count the various alternate reality versions of the character. |
| 849 | * LongBusTrip: Zazzala was a prominent villain during the 60s and 70s but after that period vanished for several decades before Grant Morrison stopped the bus for her during ''World War III''. |
| 850 | * ScaryDogmaticAliens: Her people, which curiously are never named. |
| 851 | * VillainDecay: Originally classed as a JLA-tier threat (the entire reason Lex recruited her to his second Injustice Gang was because he wanted villains that were threats to the whole team rather than any single member), Zazzala's menace was scaled back heavily after ''WWIII''. During the ''Villains United'' storyline the Secret Six, a team of just six street-level supervillains were able to infiltrate her base, defeat her forces and free her prisoner Firestorm. |
| 852 | [[/folder]] |
| 853 | |
| 854 | [[folder:Queen Bee of Bialya]] |
| 855 | !!Queen Bee (II) |
| 856 | !!!NoNameGiven |
| 857 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/queen_bee_ii_004.jpg]] |
| 858 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League International'' #16 (1988) |
| 859 | |
| 860 | --> ''Ladies and gentlemen, the king is dead. Long live the queen!'' |
| 861 | \ |
| 862 | A mysterious crime lord from the {{Qurac}}-inspired nation of Bialya. Has no connection to the first Queen Bee other than the name. |
| 863 | ---- |
| 864 | * BrainwashedAndCrazy: She had this done to the Global Guardians. |
| 865 | * ChekhovsGunman: A massive spoilers to the plot. |
| 866 | * EmotionBomb: She created an implant that electronically increased a person's endorphin levels whenever they were present in Bialya, causing residents and visitors (even superhuman visitors!) to become literally addicted to the country. |
| 867 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She has a sister, Beatriz, who followed her footsteps into villainy. |
| 868 | * GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Just like the first Queen Bee, she is a dangerous woman and will accept no other rank but queen. |
| 869 | * HoistByHerOwnPetard: She assassinated her way into power, and died the same way. |
| 870 | * {{Irony}}: She attempted to assassinate Maxwell Lord via a brainwashed Blue Beetle. Fifteen years later, Maxwell Lord would murder Blue Beetle in cold blood. Additionally, if the assassination had been successful, it ironically would have saved countless lives besides just Blue Beetle's in the future. |
| 871 | * KilledOffForReal: Assassinated by a rival dictator, Sumaan Harjavti, who was ironically the son of the man the Queen Bee killed to seize power. |
| 872 | * KlingonPromotion: She became Bialya's president by knocking off Rumaan Harjavti, the previous strongman of Bialya. |
| 873 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: She had many powers like the first Queen Bee, but achieved at least some of them (like the aforementioned Emotion Control) through technology rather than powers. The big question is whether she had ''any'' powers. |
| 874 | * PresidentEvil: Of Bialya. |
| 875 | * ManchurianAgent: Turned the Blue Beetle into one of these, implanting a post-hypnotic suggestion in him to attempt to kill Maxwell Lord. |
| 876 | * MindRape: Does this to many people, most notably Jack'O'Lantern and Blue Beetle. |
| 877 | * MsFanservice: Often dressed in revealing outfits befitting her vampy nature. |
| 878 | * PatrioticFervor: Despite being a scheming villainess, she bought her own sell about returning Bialya to glory. |
| 879 | * SmugSnake: Despite her successes, she got a little too comfortable in her seat of power, leading to her inglorious death at the hands of no superhero or supervillain, but just another wannabe dictator. |
| 880 | * TheVamp: A very dark example. |
| 881 | * WeCanRuleTogether: When she realized how well Sumaan Harjavti engineered her fall, she proposed to him that they could rule Bialya together. Sumaan simply shot her. |
| 882 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: She was introduced in 1988 and killed off just three years later in 1991. |
| 883 | * WeWillMeetAgain: She said this when the League discovered her mind manipulation machines. She couldn't: Harjavti killed her driver, and then her. |
| 884 | [[/folder]] |
| 885 | |
| 886 | [[folder:The Queen of Fables]] |
| 887 | [[WMG:The Queen of Fables]] |
| 888 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/justice_league_of_america_vol_5_22_textless_variant_6.jpg]] |
| 889 | ->'''AKA:''' Tsaritsa |
| 890 | -->''" I am Tsaritsa. The Might they Cast Beyond the Mirror. And I am your Queen."'' |
| 891 | |
| 892 | Tsaritsa was originally a sorceress from another dimension until she was exiled to our world and then trapped in the Book of Fables (she was the actual evil queen from "Literature/SnowWhite"). Her time in the book allowed her to use bring any work of fiction to life. Awakening in modern times, this cruel tyrant hopes to reawaken her empire. |
| 893 | ---- |
| 894 | * AlternateSelf: She has claimed to be every evil queen and old hag archetype in fiction (in flashbacks she is shown to be the WickedStepmother from "Literature/{{Cinderella}}" and Evil Fairy from "Literature/SleepingBeauty", as well as being involved in TheBigBadWolf’s presence in "Literature/LittleRedRidingHood"). More horrifyingly, she ''remembers'' living all those lives (no AlternateIdentityAmnesia for her!) |
| 895 | * ArchEnemy: Originally an all-purpose JLA villain, she was later repurposed into a mostly Wonder Woman enemy (with a side order of Superman for reasons detailed below). |
| 896 | * CainAndAbel: During her New 52 debut, in a fight with Killer Frost, she claims to had a sister with similar ice powers. |
| 897 | * CannotTellFictionFromReality: As a being more of fiction than of reality, she is insanely prone to this, viewing everything as part of a story and having no understanding at all of the divide between reality and fiction. |
| 898 | * EternalVillain: Every fable and tale about wicked witches, stepmothers, and evil queens and hags against valiant heroes and princesses was basically her own exploits over the years fragmented into stories after she was made fictional. She has claimed to be every evil queen and old hag archetype in fiction (in flashbacks she is shown to be the WickedStepmother from "Literature/{{Cinderella}}" and Evil Fairy from "Literature/SleepingBeauty", as well as being involved in TheBigBadWolf’s presence in "Literature/LittleRedRidingHood"). |
| 899 | * EvilRedhead: Has a flared up and fiery mane, as her image aptly demonstrates. |
| 900 | * FacialMarkings: She has a small heart marking under her left eye. |
| 901 | * FemmeFatalons: Not to Lady Deathstrike levels, but in earlier appearances she had these. |
| 902 | * GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: She can't be the "Princess of Fables" or the "Lady of Fables", oh, no. She ''has'' to be the '''Queen''' of Fables. In her days as Queen, she butchered thousands and spent her days torturing people for fun. |
| 903 | * HumanoidAbomination: In her [[https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/1/19859/844702-queen_of_fables_picture_5.jpg natural state]]. |
| 904 | * IHaveYouNowMyPretty: A rare gender-swapped version of this usually male trope, as she is prone to pulling this on Superman (of all people). |
| 905 | * IRejectYourReality: For reasons detailed above, she prefers this approach when dealing with the "real" world. |
| 906 | * {{Immortality}}: She is Really700YearsOld and has CompleteImmortality as long as she is in one of her story books. |
| 907 | * KryptoniteFactor: A being of fiction, she is harmed by things that make her see the truth like Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. |
| 908 | * LadyOfBlackMagic: A sorceress from another dimension and the living embodiment of all evil in folklore, she is able to warp reality with her magic and summon storybook monsters to fight on her behalf. |
| 909 | * [[MadGod Mad Goddess]]: Occupying an uneasy space between fiction and reality herself, as well as being able to just use her RealityWarper magic to turn any reality into her story, makes her one of these. |
| 910 | ** GodsHandsAreTied: This is perhaps the Queen's only weakness -- being a creature of fiction, she is bound by the laws and tropes ''of'' fiction, and can be forced into acting against her own interests. This makes her a kind of SelfDisposingVillain, as by taking the role of the archetypal evil queen she is doomed to always lose as the evil queens of fiction do. An argument can even be made that the Queen has no free will of her own, as she is bound into acting according to story tropes and conventions in not just her actions, but even ''the way she thinks''. It has been implied by some stories that this is why she steadfastly insists that Superman and Wonder Woman are Prince Charming and Snow White -- she literally cannot conceive of them as anything else. |
| 911 | * MageInManhattan: She can conjure up any storybook creature or prop to do her bidding. She can also trap people inside fairy tale worlds. Rather fittingly for this trope, she once transformed Manhattan itself into a storybook world. |
| 912 | * MirrorMonster: In her New 52 appearance she presents as "The Might Behind the Mirror", [[DealWithTheDevil granting wishes to desperate people]] as part of a greater ritual to free herself from being sealed away in mirrors. |
| 913 | * TheOmniscient: She knows every story that ever was or is, even the stories of lost worlds like Krypton. |
| 914 | * OneWingedAngel: In one storyline she is goaded by Wonder Woman into assuming the form of a gigantic evil dragon ala [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]]. |
| 915 | * RealityWarper: Has high-order magical powers that let her effect this, to the point of once transforming all of Manhattan and burning Themyscira to the ground in hours. She also has limitless control over fiction and as such can manifest every wicked evil from every story ever written to serve her if she wishes. |
| 916 | * RefugeeFromTVLand: She could manifest any fictional character into the real world. She also came out of a story book. |
| 917 | * RoguesGalleryTransplant: She occasionally harasses Superman, trying to force "Prince Charming" to marry her. |
| 918 | * SealedEvilInACan: She was once defeated by being trapped in a U.S. Tax Records book, unlikely to find any fictional elements she can use to escape. As she explains in her later appearance, the heroes underestimated just how many people lie on their taxes. |
| 919 | * ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity: She thinks Wonder Woman is Snow White and Superman is PrinceCharming. Nothing can convince her that she is mistaken, not their powers, not the fact that the story of Snow White happened hundreds of years ago, nothing. |
| 920 | * ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: One storyline showed that Tsaritsa doesn't just think Superman and Wonder Woman are Prince Charming and Snow White, she ''literally sees them as such'', hallucinating Wonder Woman as wearing Snow White's traditional garb when Wondy was in reality bedecked in her usual Amazonian gear. |
| 921 | * TrappedInTVLand: She started off as an evil sorceress who got trapped in a magical story book. This, we are told, made her fictional, and since fictional things are per definition not true, her reign of terror in DungAges Europe [[{{Mindscrew}} never happened]]. |
| 922 | * WomanScorned: Early on Superman tried to reason with her, asking her to respect his wishes and telling her he was already pledged to another. She [[https://babblingsaboutdccomics3.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/act_834_004.png was surprisingly distraught]], but even more surprisingly honored his request. StatusQuoIsGod, of course, meant that she came back later as this. |
| 923 | * WouldHurtAChild: During one storyline she tells a minion to "go cook me a couple of orphans in a pie". Her debut involved her turning a boy into gingerbread and having familiars eat the boy and his mother. |
| 924 | * VainSorceress: As the literal DC equivalent of Snow White's Evil Queen, this is hardly surprising. |
| 925 | * VoluntaryShapeshifting: Uses this to appear human, and can also shapeshift into all other manner of monsters with it. |
| 926 | [[/folder]] |
| 927 | |
| 928 | [[folder:Roulette II]] |
| 929 | !!Roulette II |
| 930 | !!!Veronica Sinclair |
| 931 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/roulette_dc.jpg]] |
| 932 | -> '''Debut:''' ''JSA Secret Files'' #2 (2001) |
| 933 | -->''"It's a lesson I've learned a long time ago, Amos... it never pays to bet against the Justice League."'' |
| 934 | |
| 935 | The descendant of a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] villain of the same name, Veronica Sinclair predictably followed the family footsteps into supervillainy (maybe it just skips a generation?). |
| 936 | ---- |
| 937 | * ArchEnemy: Mister Terrific II, the man who "stole" her adoptive father's mantle. She has no qualms about killing other heroes, but she wants him to ''suffer''. |
| 938 | * BloodSport: Her trademark crime is kidnapping heroes and villains, pumping them full of crazy rage drugs, then pointing them at each other and taking bets. Or sticking them in elaborate deathtraps. Or getting...creative. As long as the bloodlust of the crowd (and herself) is sated. |
| 939 | * DarkActionGirl: She is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter, but she hires people who are way better than she is to do it for her. |
| 940 | * ADeadlyAffair: She had a husband, but he cheated on her. Not really sure why you'd cheat on someone who arranges deadly deathtraps and violent blood-sports for a living, but as you can guess [[ForcedTransformation things didn't]] [[WasOnceAMan end up well]] [[GadgeteerGenius for him]]. |
| 941 | * DeadlyGame: Often puts the heroes through various death traps that she has crunched the numbers on. |
| 942 | * DragonLady: Self-stylizes as one, and often even drawn as one, though Roulette is not actually Asian. |
| 943 | ** Her mother pulled this angle to some degree as well, having a Chinese tattoo under her eye and wearing a qipao, although speaking frankly she pulled it off more tastefully. |
| 944 | * EatingTheEyeCandy: While Michael Holt is completely restrained, she admires his attractiveness out loud and laments that her goons were unable to strip him, while getting a pinch of his chest. |
| 945 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Even though she went bad, she still dearly loves and idolizes her deceased Uncle/adopted father Terry Sloane aka Mister Terrific I, but even this love [[TheSociopath is twisted and disturbing to watch]]. |
| 946 | * EvilIsPetty: She could have just shot her philandering husband, but decided to inject him with a black-market bat-gland serum and turn him into a monstrous (insane) fighter. |
| 947 | * FightClubbing: Doesn't do this herself, but is often found overseeing various fight clubs for fun and profit. |
| 948 | * GadgeteerGenius: She seems to be one of those villains who conceptualizes them and pays other people to build them, but her milieu is deathtraps and apparently also designer drugs. |
| 949 | * GenerationXerox: What do you get when you combine a maternal knack for underground gambling and black-market connections with a paternal (basically) tendency of inventiveness and calculation? [[BloodSport Trouble]]. |
| 950 | * HeroWorship: She clearly regards Terry Sloan as a quasi-godlike figure and role model, while simultaneously completely missing the mark about the humble and kind man he ''was'' in life. |
| 951 | * HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: She somehow thinks that Mister Terrific (a lifelong superhero who devoted himself to altruism, fairness, and equality for all) would be ''proud'' of [[BloodSport what she does]]. |
| 952 | * IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect: This is her shtick; though she has no superhuman powers, Roulette is a genius, particularly at calculating odds and gambling winnings. |
| 953 | * InadequateInheritor: She deems Michael Holt unworthy of taking up the mantle of Mister Terrific because she feels only one (very very dead) person is worthy of that name--Terry Sloane. For his part, Terry is a huge fan of Michael whenever TimeTravel lets them meet and extremely proud that Michael took the name. But Veronica doesn't know that [[TheSociopath and probably wouldn't accept it if she did]]. |
| 954 | * IncestSubtext: There are some indications that her affections for Terry Sloane run a little more than familial. |
| 955 | * InTheBlood: A tendency toward selfish sociopathy and cunning on one side with genius intellect and superspeed analytical abilities on the other. |
| 956 | * LikeFatherLikeSon: Or daughter. Although Terry Sloane's her bio uncle he raised her as a daughter and she demonstrates a brilliant intellect and calculation ability which would make him proud...if they weren't laser-focused on killing people via BloodSport and deathtraps for profit. |
| 957 | * LoonyFan: An obsessive Terry Sloan {{Fangirl}} who thinks he's the only true Mr. Terrific and that he'd love and accept her no matter what just like when she was a kid and see why it makes perfect sense for her to kill innocent people for money, because he's smart like she's smart and no one's as smart as her and no one else was smart as him no one she's the '''only''' one who understands him really really understands him and and and ''he's'' the '''only''' one who ever understood her and loved her and loved her for real and they were ''happy'' together for years and years and she could pretend they could still be happy and happy together forever if he wasn't dead and how DARE that AWFUL MAN call himself Mister Terrific not be Terry Sloane and call himself Mister Terrific!!!!??? NO WAY NONONO TERRY SLOANE IS THE ONLY O)NE FOR ME THE only mister terrific I mean and RUIN EVERYTHING HE'S RUINING EVERYTHING Well she'll make him pay! She'll make him sorry he was ever born! And then she and Terry can be happy forever and ever! Yay! [[MaskOfSanity But only in her head]]. |
| 958 | * ManipulativeBitch: She reaps most of her money and influence by finding different ways to pit heroes against one another for public entertainment. |
| 959 | * MaskOfSanity: ZigZagged. The calmness and calculation may give off the impression that the cheese is on her cracker, but the calmness and calculation are just manifestations of [[TheSociopath her insanity]]. |
| 960 | * {{Nephewism}}: The niece of ComicBook/MisterTerrific I, born to Debra Sinclair/Roulette I (an old foe of his as Mister Terrific) and his ne'er do well brother Ned (an old albatross around his neck as Terry Sloane). Upon discovering Veronica existed, [[TheKindnapper Terry immediately snatched her up and fled her mother's underground casino]], with a little help from his time traveling successor Mr. Terrific II. Although Terry did his best to raise her right, she ended up following in the footsteps of her mother, and also thinking he was her grandfather, which is a little weird. Oh, wait, she's nuts. |
| 961 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Not bad for someone born in 1950 or '51. |
| 962 | * PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Unclear. She's patronizing and cruel to [[AffirmativeActionLegacy Michael Holt]], but that could be simply how she would treat anyone who [[HeroWorship dares profane the name of Mister Terrific by taking up his mantle]]. She definitely seems to see heroes as nothing but property to make money off of, if that counts. |
| 963 | * PowerNullifier: She often employs metahumans who can negate superpowers, a wise move as Roulette has no powers of her own. One of them, Tap, is implied to have been a henchman of her mother's and looks the same as he did then. |
| 964 | * RetCon: She's introduced as Roulette's granddaughter, ''ComicBook/{{JSA}}'' says she's Debra Sinclair's ''daughter'', born around 1950/51. Given her position and connection to the underworld she has access to any number of ways she could be OlderThanTheyLook. |
| 965 | * {{Sadist}}: And a complete sociopath, never a good combination. |
| 966 | * SinisterShades: Always sporting her sunglasses. |
| 967 | * TheSociopath: She ''claims'' to love one person besides herself--her deceased uncle/adoptive father Terry Sloane, but the way she talks about him, she clearly had no comprehension of his true motivations or personality and seems to viewing him purely through the lens of what ''she'' wants him to be. |
| 968 | [[/folder]] |
| 969 | |
| 970 | [[folder:The Royal Flush Gang]] |
| 971 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/royal_flush_gang_iv_prime_earth_0001.jpg]] |
| 972 | ->'''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #43 (1966) |
| 973 | -->''"The Royal Flush Gang is no longer just a costumed cadre of common criminals. With branches in every major city in the country, they've become a national menace."'' |
| 974 | |
| 975 | A group of normal human criminals costumed to resemble playing cards. Initially just a gang put together by Amos Fortune, they have since come into their own. |
| 976 | ---- |
| 977 | * TheAlcoholic: Queen on the second version of the team had a severe drinking problem which put her at odds with Ten. |
| 978 | * AlternateCompanyEquivalent: To the Wrecking Crew from Marvel, which is also an all-purpose supervillain team that mostly exists for new heroes to cut their eye teeth on. |
| 979 | * CanonImmigrant: ''ComicBook/PunchlineTheGothamGame'' #1 sees the meta-teens from ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' that was the (in-universe) first version of the Gang in the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse working with Punchline. |
| 980 | * TheConstant: There have been a few teams by this name across a few continuities. The only thing most of them have had in common has been the name |
| 981 | ** The original version were recruited by Amos Fortune to absorb the luck of the Justice League |
| 982 | ** Hector Hammond recruited a roster that used advanced technology to do his bidding |
| 983 | ** Then there was the reveal that they had become a genuine grassroots supercrime organization, with 52-member cells in every major city in America |
| 984 | ** And "Arcana", who were a semi-mystical group who planned to take over the world using rituals |
| 985 | ** The DCAU had two versions: |
| 986 | *** a team of mutant children who were broken free of their government handlers and costumed by the Joker |
| 987 | *** a dynasty of masked thieves with a feud with Batman |
| 988 | ** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' had a group of TheWildWest cardsharps |
| 989 | ** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' had a trio armed robbers in hoodies and decal'd hockey masks |
| 990 | ** BroadStrokes: The current version started off with the costumes of the ''Arrow'' version and (seen in the picture) took on the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' version's costumes in ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', the weapons of the Hector Hammond version, and the cell-structure of the third version. ''ComicBook/PunchlineTheGothamGame'' brought in the DCAU meta-teens incarnation. |
| 991 | * DeathByMocking: During ''Infinite Crisis'', King taunted Joker for being the only villain not invited into the Society, telling him that "Everyone knows Joker's too wild". Cue the infamous hand zapper and one crispy-fried King. |
| 992 | * DoAnythingRobot: For a while, the team's Ace was a giant android that was typically used as the Gang's last resort. |
| 993 | * EyeScream: Jack from the second team had his eye stabbed out by the Joker (Actually the Gambler in disguise) and replaced with a laser. |
| 994 | * RetCanon: |
| 995 | ** During ''ComicBook/ForeverEvil2013'', the gang appeared in costumes based on their ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'' counterparts, complete with hockey masks. |
| 996 | ** During ComicBook/DCRebirth, in ''All-Star Batman'', the Gang sported the design of the Gang's rendition in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. |
| 997 | * TheRunaway: For a while, Ten had a gang of runaway kids named Ten's Little Indians who helped out the team. |
| 998 | * SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Some incarnations of the Gang number their henchmen from cards with pip values lower than 10. They can work their way up to higher levels, or be "[[YouHaveFailedMe dealt out]]" for one too many screw ups. |
| 999 | * SuperToughness: King from the second team was given invulnerability after the gene-bomb went off in ''[[ComicBook/InvasionDCComics Invasion!]]''. |
| 1000 | [[/folder]] |
| 1001 | |
| 1002 | [[folder:Shaggy Man]] |
| 1003 | !!The Shaggy Man |
| 1004 | !!!Java |
| 1005 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shaggy_man_iii.png]] |
| 1006 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #45 (1966) |
| 1007 | |
| 1008 | A robot that resembles a sasquatch. Pre-''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint|DCComics}}'', built by Dr Zagarian to road-test plastalloy, a material for [[JustThinkOfThePotential building replacement limbs]]. The result went a little... rampage-y, and was dumped in space by the Justice League. Years later, it was recovered by Wade Eiling, who put his mind into it to escape his encroaching cancer. |
| 1009 | |
| 1010 | Post-''Flashpoint'', it was built by Professor Ivo to give the Secret Society some muscle. |
| 1011 | ---- |
| 1012 | * TheBrute: Described by Batman as "practically mindless". He’s mostly used as a weapon to fight the League. |
| 1013 | * FatalFlaw: The Shaggy Man's nearly-indestructible body is synthetic. This doesn't seem like much of a flaw, but when the General first took the Shaggy Man over this was the only way the JLA was able to defeat him, tricking him into standing onto one of the League's matter transporters (which couldn't be used on organic matter) and then sending him millions of miles away into deep space. |
| 1014 | * FromASingleCell: This is the Shaggy Man's primary utility, as it uses salamander DNA and Dr. Zagarian's plastalloy to regenerate from any damage near-instantaneously. This is bad enough when the Shaggy Man is just a rampaging beast; it gets ''much'' worse when General Eiling takes it over. |
| 1015 | * GrandTheftMe: Having no mind of its own, the Shaggy Man was co-opted by a dying General Eiling who did a permanent BodySurf into it when he learned he was dying of a brain tumour. |
| 1016 | * {{Mecha Mook|s}} ''and'' {{SuperPoweredMook|s}} |
| 1017 | * MoreDakka: Under General Eiling's control, it was almost always seen carrying around a {{BFG}} of some form. |
| 1018 | * NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Averted. When the first Shaggy Man appeared, the heroes found the scientist responsible, who argued that the fastest way to defeat was to build another and make them fight. |
| 1019 | * SealedEvilInACan: The original Shaggy Man was eventually sealed away inside a canister and chucked deep under the sea, until General Eiling's Ultramarine Corps retrieved it. After his first engagement with the League Eiling suffered a second Sealing, being marooned on a tiny dead asteroid hundreds of millions of miles away from any inhabited world. |
| 1020 | [[/folder]] |
| 1021 | |
| 1022 | [[folder:Starbreaker]] |
| 1023 | !!Starbreaker |
| 1024 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starbreaker.jpg]] |
| 1025 | -> '''Debut:''' ''Justice League of America'' #96 (1972) |
| 1026 | -->''"Over the myriad centuries of my endless '''existence''', I have been called '''many''' things...'''Death''', the Destroyer, Shatterer of '''Worlds'''... a cosmic '''vampire'''... an unforgiving '''god'''...but the name I've always most '''enjoyed''' is '''Starbreaker'''!"'' |
| 1027 | ---- |
| 1028 | * DarkMessiah: To Shadow Thief, due their similarity of powers. |
| 1029 | * OurVampiresAreDifferent: He's a stellar vampire, living in shadow and drawing energy from suns. |
| 1030 | [[/folder]] |
| 1031 | |
| 1032 | [[folder:Starro the Conqueror]] |
| 1033 | !!Starro |
| 1034 | [[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starro_9.jpg]] |
| 1035 | -> '''Debut:''' ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (1960) |
| 1036 | |
| 1037 | A colossal (and remarkably literal) {{Starfish Alien|s}} with a bad habit of invading planets and enslaving their populations via its mind controlling spawn. |
| 1038 | ---- |
| 1039 | * AliensAreBastards: The original Starro was too remote and alien to qualify for this, but the post-retcon Starro very much does. The regenerated Starro is a bastard, but on a more personal scale. |
| 1040 | * BadFuture: In at least two stories, he managed to take over the JLA and followed up with the entire world. Grimly, in both stories, he wasn't satisfied with universal conquest and used captured time travelers to conquer the past as well. |
| 1041 | * BigBad: Of ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' |
| 1042 | * BishonenLine: He inverts the OneWingedAngel trope by having started out as a giant starfish and then becoming/being revealed to be a humanoid. |
| 1043 | * BizarreAlienBiology: By Hal Jordan's account, Starro has five asses. (Arguably less freaky than real starfish, which have one, but it shares its hole with their mouth.) |
| 1044 | * BizarreAlienReproduction: Starro can asexually generate parasitic clones from his own body. |
| 1045 | * BornWinner: In the New 52 continuity it's eventually exposited that Starro is an apex predator from a DeathWorld that spontaneously generates the most vicious lifeforms in the universe. |
| 1046 | * BrattyHalfPint: The regenerated Starro is the smallest he's ever been aside from Starrophytes, and also exceptionally smug and rude. |
| 1047 | * BreakoutVillain: The cover villain of the Justice League's first appearance, and appearing in dozens of pieces of media. |
| 1048 | * ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Played with; the true Star Conqueror gains strength by leeching off the energies of other worlds and races whom which he and his Starro clones had assimilated into his collective. Amping him enough to best an enemy like [[MonstrousHumanoid Despero]] both in [[AssassinOutclassin physical]] and [[IAmLegion mental combat]]. |
| 1049 | * {{Expy}}: Received one in the 90s JLA, as the Star Conqueror, an entity explicitly similar to but not Starro. |
| 1050 | * {{Flight}}: A fully grown Starro is capable of wingless flight in both outer space and atmospheric environments. |
| 1051 | * FaceHugger: The whole means of how they assume control over a desired culture, by latching onto the unlucky individuals proboscis. |
| 1052 | * FromNobodyToNightmare: Post-retcon, the little boy named Cobi is very much this. |
| 1053 | * GalacticConqueror: A planet conquering warlord who has enslaved nine galaxies via his link with the Star Conquerors. This has been the case with Starro since almost the beginning[[note]]in his very first appearance he notes Earth is his ''first'' attempt at conquest, but that didn't last long when he stopped being a one-shot villain[[/note]]; he's the Conqueror, after all. |
| 1054 | * HealingFactor: The larger Starros are capable of physiological regenesis in the likely event of suffering severe abrasion. |
| 1055 | * HeelFaceTurn: Post-''Metal'', he joined Justice League subdivision Team Mystery. |
| 1056 | ** [[spoiler: During his short tenure with Team Mystery, Starro gets ripped apart, but later it's revealed he was able to regenerate and Batman kept a small piece that developed into a mini-Starro that Batman calls "Jarro" due to keeping him in a jar. Jarro, who refers to Batman as "Dad", helps the Justice League with his psychic powers.]] |
| 1057 | * HumiliationConga: In ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' he was defeated by an ancient poison courtesy of Vril Dox, which severed his links with '''all''' the other Starros, making him lose all nine of his conquered galaxies instantly. He was then beaten black and blue by a vengeful Despero, taken to Kalanor to be executed, and was only saved by the timely arrival of two followers who stuck by him willingly. |
| 1058 | %%* HypnoticCreature: Starro Prime / Starro Motherstars have this ability, and it is apparently potent enough to influence an entire planet's population. Naturally, they use this to incapacitate potential host races. Also naturally, it can be beaten with enough HeroicWillpower. |
| 1059 | * MookMaker: Can infinitely spawn smaller versions of itself. |
| 1060 | * NearVillainVictory: One issue of ''JLA'' showed him coming frightfully close to one, only being stopped by the Spectre stepping in and warning Earth's heroes [[BadFuture what would happen if they went with their current plan.]] |
| 1061 | * OutOfCharacterMoment: It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a GalacticConqueror-level baddie like Starro to suborn itself to the authority of others, yet more than one storyline has seen it do exactly that (for reasons readers can only guess at). During the ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis it was a member of the massive new incarnation of the [[LegionOfDoom Society]] (which was mostly made up of human villains), and later in the ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar it was seen as a member of the titular Sinestro Corps (which is typically made up of evil aliens willing to serve, or at least pay lip service to, Sinestro's cause). |
| 1062 | * PlanetaryParasite: The larger drone seeders act as this in the Starro armada, capable of [[HostileTerraforming reshaping the worlds]] they've been sent to claim. |
| 1063 | * PsychicPowers: The humanoid "Starro the Conqueror" possesses telepathy strong enough to control the entire Starro alien race, and possesses immeasurable levels of physical resilience further bolstered by the energies drawn from the victims of his Starro probes. |
| 1064 | ** Some of his probes have enough psionic push to influence the whole of planetary populations into a deep slumber if given enough time, making it easier to pave the way for its smaller spores to latch onto a designated host species. |
| 1065 | ** The regenerated Starro, in ''ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal'', notes that he no longer needs his Starrophytes to control people, and considers himself the strongest psychic in the universe. |
| 1066 | * PuppeteerParasite: He creates numerous miniature versions of himself, which attach themselves to a humanoid's face and subsequently take control of the host's central nervous system, thereby controlling the host. Control of the host is lost once removed from the victim. |
| 1067 | * RetCon: It is eventually revealed that Starro belonged to a race of parasites that conquered planets with "motherstars" that released spores to take mental control of a population. When a motherstar arrived on the planet Hatorei and enslaved its psychically gifted native humanoids, a sole survivor takes control of an infant Starro queen, allowing him to mentally dominate the entire parasitic race. Assuming the name "Starro the Conqueror" the being is empowered by a huge army of drone soldiers controlled by spores, allowing him to conquer entire galaxies. This seems to have been ignored by the post-New 52 takes. |
| 1068 | * RetGone: The humanoid Starro no longer appears to exist, post-New 52. |
| 1069 | * StarfishAliens: A literally starfish alien whose spawn latch onto humans' faces so he can control their minds. |
| 1070 | * StarterVillain: Used as this in the [[CapeBusters Human Defense Corps]] book, but with a twist -- [[spoiler:turns out everyone's only ''pretending'' to be controlled by Starro, and the "Starro exercise" is an annual tradition for the HDC]]. He also tends to be one in JLA origin stories, owing to him being a fair bit more popular than the canonical first League villains, the Appelaxians -- and to him being the villain of the very first story featuring the Justice League[[note]]just as with their predecessor superhero team the Justice Society, it took several issues after its introduction before the actual ''formation'' of the team was shown[[/note]]. One of his offspring was also this for ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'', oddly enough. |
| 1071 | * UncertainDoom: Starro's last appearance (as of 2017) was in ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' saw him cut off from his followers and teleported into a room with ComicBook/{{Lobo}}, a mutinous ex-follower strong enough to fight Lobo to a draw, and a RagtagBunchOfMisfits who also wanted him dead. The regular Starro has popped up a few times since, though. |
| 1072 | * WeaksauceWeakness: Two, even. His first weakness is extreme cold, which means characters like Icicle, Mr. Freeze, and Killer Frost would probably have little trouble with him. His second weakness? Quicklime, a substance normally used for lawn care. (This is how Snapper Carr got to be useful.) |
| 1073 | * TheWorfEffect: The newly-revealed humanoid Starro subjected Despero to this in ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' |
| 1074 | [[/folder]] |
| 1075 | |
| 1076 | [[folder:T.O. Morrow]] |
| 1077 | !!T.O. Morrow |
| 1078 | !!!Thomas Oscar Morrow |
| 1079 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/to_morrow.jpg]] |
| 1080 | -> '''Debut:''' ''The Flash'' #143 (1964) |
| 1081 | -->''"Can you believe this so-called artist has incorporated my missing Red Tornado android into one of his awful sculptures? Scam artist, more like! The bastard's making me bid in a humiliating online auction! Little does he know I'm hacking his bank account to pay for it!"'' |
| 1082 | |
| 1083 | A self-proclaimed MadScientist, T.O. Morrow invented a television that could see into the future. He used the knowledge he gained to create fantastic inventions to help him in his crimes, culminating in his ultimate creation, the Red Tornado android, which he used to infiltrate the Justice Society (to no avail as the robot turned on him). He also created Tomorrow Woman with Professor Ivo. |
| 1084 | ---- |
| 1085 | * AdaptationalAttractiveness: Pre-Crisis, he was usually depicted as a slightly portly middle-aged man with some grey in his beard. More recent depictions show him younger and handsomer. |
| 1086 | * AIIsACrapshoot: Out of the five androids he built to serve him, three turned good (Red Tornado, Red Torpedo, and Tomorrow Woman), one went rogue (Red Inferno), and one tried to kill him (Red Volcano). For the record, he considers it a point of pride that the artificial intelligences he builds are capable of making their own decisions to such a degree that they can defy his wishes, though he does get annoyed at Red Tornado's tendency to perform heroic sacrifices. |
| 1087 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 1088 | ** He refuses to participate in the creation of the Franchise/WonderWoman villain Genocide because she required grave dirt from the sites of (among others) Nazi atrocities (he's Polish). |
| 1089 | ** In a twist on this trope, he helped the Justice League find and sabotage a deactivated AMAZO before it could break Professor Ivo out of prison (he was sick of listening to Ivo boast about it), but since he doesn't want to help them out ''too'' much, he arranged so that the League would still wind up having to fight it. Turned out evil has standards to which it can help the good guys too. |
| 1090 | * LovableRogue: While a villain, he is quite affable and respectful to the people who don’t mock him. |
| 1091 | * TheMadHatter: He's a Mad Scientist, he knows he's a mad scientist and he revels in it. |
| 1092 | * MadScientist: Downplayed compared to most Mad Scientists, but he does not have the morals of most good scientists in universe. |
| 1093 | ** It's implied that Morrow really is insane, compelled to be a supervillain without having any real menace to his personality. |
| 1094 | * OddFriendship: With Will Magnus, the creator of the robot superheroes, the Metal Men. Morrow was one of Magnus's teachers and the only person to not laugh at his theories. Generally this eventually results in a WeUsedToBeFriends situation, with one or the other at least ''trying'' to maintain their relationship as FriendlyEnemies. |
| 1095 | * StevenUlyssesPerhero: Eventually justified when it was revealed he was actually born "Tomek Ovadyah Morah" and changed his name to "T.O. Morrow" deliberately. |
| 1096 | ** StealthPun: Though even his real name might let him go by "Tom Morah". |
| 1097 | [[/folder]] |
| 1098 | |
| 1099 | [[folder:White Martians]] |
| 1100 | !!The White Martians |
| 1101 | [[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_martians.png]] |
| 1102 | -> '''Debut:''' ''JLA'' #1 (1997) |
| 1103 | |
| 1104 | The Martian species was split into two races or factions: the peaceful, philosophical Green Martians and the warlike White Martians. The Whites hated the Greens and made war on them, but after a long and bloody conflict they lost and were locked away in stasis in the extradimensional Ghost Zone. Today, the Green Martians are all but extinct, but the White Martians have escaped numerous times to wreak havoc on Earth, often using their shapeshifting powers to infiltrate human society. J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, is their most reviled enemy. |
| 1105 | ---- |
| 1106 | * AlbinosAreFreaks: An AlwaysChaoticEvil offshoot of the Martian Manhunter's people. |
| 1107 | * BecomingTheMask: One Justice League issue had Martian Manhunter discovering that there was at least one traitor infiltrated into the team, and in investigating the matter he was forced to KO the rest of the team, who didn't seem to believe him. Naturally the traitor turned out to be ''[[ManchurianAgent him]]'' all along, but he decided that he liked his (false) memories as Martian Manhunter better than his actual life as a faceless mook, and performed a HeroicSacrifice to rescue the League and thwart the alien invasion he was supposed to guarantee the success of. |
| 1108 | * DefectorFromDecadence: Miss Martian of the ComicBook/TeenTitans is a White Martian who has abandoned her people's violent ways. J'onn has also befriended a young White Martian named Till'All. |
| 1109 | * EvilCounterpart: To the ComicBook/MartianManhunter. |
| 1110 | * EvilMakesYouUgly: They actually ''choose'' to look the way they do, having "configured their physiology to reflect their philosophy". |
| 1111 | * FlyingBrick: A whole race of them; they have a range of powers that let them match (or even surpass) Superman, but they tend to rely on overwhelming power rather than any real sense of tactics. |
| 1112 | * LightIsNotGood: They are White Martians, and are the {{Evil Counterpart}}s to the Green Martians, even trying to wipe them out, and are driven by a desire to conquer other planets such as Earth, though there have been [[TokenGoodTeammate good White Martians]]. |
| 1113 | * TheMole: Thanks to their shapeshifting abilities, they make excellent infiltrators. |
| 1114 | * MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: They're disturbingly fond of sprouting big fangy maws from their chests, as their profile image admirably demonstrates. |
| 1115 | * MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: M'gann M'orzz, the heroic Miss Martian of the Teen Titans, is actually a White Martian. So is Till'all, a juvenile White Martian and friend of J'onn who bears the sad distinction of being [[spoiler:the only member of his race who isn't dead or incapacitated in some way]]. |
| 1116 | * ThePsychoRangers: The Hyperclan, a team of White Martians who are superpowered even by the standards of their race. They're an unsubtle counterpart team to the JLA, with their leader Protex being the team's SupermanSubstitute. |
| 1117 | * SealedEvilInACan: Prior to a story that killed most of them off, the White Martians were brainwashed to live as humans working with their WeaksauceWeakness, fire; later, they were kept in stasis in J'onn J'onzz's custody. |
| 1118 | * StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Like J'onn himself, the strength of the White Martians frustratingly waxes and wanes from story to story and writer to writer. A good rule of thumb: the more White Martians there are in a story, the weaker they'll be. Just one White Martian equals a threat to the whole team, but when the whole race is on the warpath they're little more than EliteMooks. |
| 1119 | * UnderestimatingBadassery: The main reason the White Martians lost their first attack on the League was because they assumed Batman wouldn't be a threat as he was only human, which allowed him to determine their true nature and thus establish their weakness. |
| 1120 | * UnskilledButStrong: The rely more on their diverse range of powers rather than any kind of tactics or teamwork. |
| 1121 | * VoluntaryShapeshifting: Just like Martian Manhunter. |
| 1122 | * WeaksauceWeakness: Their entire species are pyrophobic and can be easily killed by fire. Their attempt to invade planet Earth was ended by normal humans attacking them with flames. |
| 1123 | ** RemovedAchillesHeel: Their second appearance had them alter the Earth's atmosphere in such a way that combustion was impossible to sustain. |
| 1124 | * WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide: [[spoiler:By the end of the New Earth timeline the White Martians had been rendered virtually extinct, with only a single juvenile member of their race known to still be alive and active]]. |
| 1125 | [[/folder]] |
| 1126 |
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