#Yes their ship is named Laws of Robotics cause ones a writer the other- you get the joke

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It's late, I should be asleep, but instead have a crappy meme I made with one of my recent self ships.

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Deconstruction

Worldbuilding: Geography

Full disclosure: I hated doing this post. Not because the writing was difficult or the topic was boring—far from it. No, the reason I hated doing this was because I got sucked into a wikihole. I started out researching climate zones, and ten hours later I was reading an article about Icelandic hot spring rye bread (which is called hverabrauð by the way and you should absolutely check it out). I only realized what time it was when I looked out my window and saw the sun starting to rise. Try to picture what my sleep schedule has looked like for the last few days, and you can see why I might be just a smidge upset.

Sorry. Where was I?

Ah, yes: geography. The bane of cartographers everywhere. If you’ve ever dabbled in writing stories with a non-Earth setting, you’ll know that one of the most fundamental aspects of worldbuilding is the lay of the land. Even before you’ve started working on the cultures of your fictional people (or hell, even the plot), you need to develop the locations. Any writer worth their salt will correctly tell you that geography dictates who the characters are, what the story’s about, when major actions occur, where the major story beats take place, why things progress the way they do, and how certain steps are achieved.

Want an example of this? Take a look at the geography of Avatar: The Last Airbender and how it influenced the Fire Nation’s culture and resulting imperialistic conquest: [1]               

A geographic map of Avatar: The Last Airbender depicting the four major countries: the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and Air Temples. | Source: Imgur.

The Fire Nation, being located on a volcanic archipelago, was able to jumpstart its industrial revolution decades before anyone else, courtesy of access to natural resources such as coal and metal ore deposits (which were disproportionately scarcer in the other countries). This abundance of minerals was reflected in gold being commonly incorporated into Fire Nation royal attire, and the Fire Nation boasting some of the most proficient blacksmiths and swordfighters in the world (like Piandao).

Being an island nation, their culinary staples included aquatic and marine species such as waterfowl, fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, bivalves, and seaweed.

The mountainous regions of the Fire Nation made the land ill-suited for agriculture, which likely influenced the development of an oceanic trade route. This allowed for the import of otherwise-unavailable resources from the Earth Kingdom.

The trade route helped to reinforce a unified state by connecting all seaports, trading outposts, and settlements in the archipelago to the major urban capital. This interconnectivity created economic advantages, and solidified a sense of cultural unity and loyalty to the nation by making communication (via ship and messenger hawk) direct and expedient.

The navy emerged as a natural outgrowth of the oceanic trade route. Martial vessels would have been necessary for protecting merchant ships from pirates, collecting taxes from provincial settlements (because navies have steep operating costs), and enforcing the laws of the central authority. Similarly, as an island country, the only way the Fire Nation could have feasibly been harmed is through a naval attack, which would have given it the incentive to cultivate a naval defense.

At the beginning of the Hundred Year War, the Fire Nation seized control of the northwestern Earth Kingdom because the region was rich in resources that they would need to sustain themselves if they were going to survive without international trade.

Their technologically-advanced navy and control of the major oceanic trade routes allowed the Fire Nation to orchestrate blockades, quickly transport troops and equipment between places, and limit the tactical movements of the other countries.

To say that geography dictates the story is an understatement—without it, the story wouldn’t exist. Good writing and likeable characters can only do so much to save a story that lacks this crucial component of worldbuilding.

So, how does this apply to RWBY?

In order to talk about that, first we have to address the unusual way that Remnant’s map was designed.

Back in 2012, while out at an IHOP with Shane Newville, Monty Oum had the idea of squirting a ketchup bottle into a napkin, crumpling it up, and then unfolding it to reveal the blotchy proto-topography of Remnant. His reason for doing so, as he explains:

“The philosophy behind [making the map that way] is that, I feel like, as a 3D animator […] utilizing all this technology, our process—all these computers, all these numbers and stuff—our process is so artificial, it’s riddled with so much artifice, that not only for that, but for everything else I do, I try to imbue kind of like an anarchy, an anarchic-like chaos, just to give it some sense of, like, randomness. Like, you need to preserve that sense of chaos because the process we do is so robotic. […] But the important thing was, like especially with everything that we just raise in our production value, that you have to preserve that anarchic energy that influences everything you do.” [2]

The original terrain map created by Monty Oum. | Source: RWBY Wiki contributor user:Sgt D Grif.

You’d be hard-pressed to disagree with the artistic merit of this design approach. There’s a simplistic elegance to be found in a creator forfeiting a degree of their control over a project, in order to watch how it might organically evolve.

But here’s the thing: this isn’t like leaving slime molds in a petri dish and letting them network until they resemble Japanese subway lines. While anarchic chaos can work for some disciplines of art, it creates glaring issues when applied to worldbuilding. Nature, although it appears outwardly random, is actually rather ordered. The reason why we don’t leave our houses every day carrying umbrellas is because we don’t have to—we have meteorologists that can anticipate the forecast days or weeks ahead. Plenty of natural phenomena can be predicted: weather systems over vast areas, environmental selection pressures converging on similar traits…

And, of course, plate tectonics.

You see, the problem with Monty’s method is that it didn’t account for the movement of Remnant’s continents. Because the planet’s continents were born from artistic randomness rather than methodical and deliberate forethought, we have no reliable access to certain information, like atmospheric circulation, ocean currents, or plate boundaries. All three of these planetary subsystems—the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere—and their dynamics shape the geography of a planet.

Without this information, we can’t answer certain questions.

Was Lake Matsu formed by glacial retreat?

Are Vale’s mountains sitting on a convergent plate boundary? Or are they more like the Appalachians, which are the remains of the Central Pangean Mountains?

If Vale’s mountains were formed by convergent plate boundaries, then why don’t we see evidence of it in the forms of volcanism and earthquakes?

Is Vacuo’s interior desert formed by a rain shadow?

If Solitas’ geography is based on a polar ice cap, then how did early settlers survive long enough to excavate the Dust? How would they have dug through the ice and permafrost?

Has climate change ever resulted in changes in sea level that submerged or exposed the continents? Did early humans and Faunus move between continents by land bridges? Have rises in sea level ever hidden continents (like Earth’s Zealandia)?

Does Mistral’s capital rely on meltwater from the surrounding mountains for irrigating crops?

When the Younger Brother shattered the moon, did the lunar debris alter the landscape when it fell to Remnant? Was it like the Chicxulub asteroid that caused the K-Pg extinction? Did the lunar debris leave craters on the planet’s surface, or cause phenomena like impact winters and ocean acidification?

It bears mentioning that these questions pertain to real-life geographic concepts. This isn’t even touching upon fictional geographic concepts that RWBY introduced, like largescale Dust deposits altering the local environment in such a way that it functionally becomes its own ecosystem (like Lake Matsu’s floating islands). We’re also assuming that RWBY’s continental plates are capable of drift, and weren’t magically glued in place by the gods during the formation of the planet.

Given the scale of these problems, I think it’s safe to say that—while I can appreciate the artistry behind Monty’s design philosophy—the way he designed Remnant ultimately did more harm than good.

While I could spend all afternoon debating the pros and cons of condiment cartography, there are more productive things I could be doing with my time. Instead, I want to discuss Remnant’s geography as it currently is. Specifically, there are three questions I want to test:

How well does the geography hold up?

Does the geography have a realistic influence on society?

How well does the show integrate foreign geographic features into its worldbuilding?

As a quick disclaimer, I’m not an expert on any of the aforementioned subsystems. And because I don’t have any canonical information on Remnant’s atmospheric circulation, ocean currents, or plate boundaries, it becomes impossible to prove or disprove the realism of its geography. For now, we’re going to err on the side of caution and assume that Remnant is a planet with a functionally-analogous lithosphere to Earth’s, and that Remnant’s features are byproducts of such a system.

The current geographic map of Remnant. It boasts five major continents (of which only four have been named) and multiple islands. | Source: World of Remnant, Volume 4, Episode 1: “Vale.”

How Well Does the Geography Hold Up?

To answer this, I used the Köppen-Geiger climate classification to categorize Remnant’s main landmasses (with the exception of the unnamed continent). This model organizes areas into distinct climatic regions based on seasonal precipitation and temperature patterns. The results I cobbled together are based on approximate latitude, ecosystems that we’ve seen in the show, canon maps, and comparisons between the continents and their real-world sources of inspiration (Asia for Anima, North America for eastern Sanus, Australia for Menagerie, etc). Here’s what I came up with:

SANUS: Tropical savanna (Aw/As), cold desert (BWk), cold semi-arid (BSk), hot-summer mediterranean (Csa), warm-summer mediterranean (Csb), humid subtropical (Cfa, Cwa), hot-summer humid continental (Dfa), warm-summer humid continental (Dfb)

ANIMA: Tropical rainforest (Af), area of tropical monsoon (Am), tropical savanna (Aw/As), desert (BWh), hot semi-arid (BSh), humid subtropical (Cfa, Cwa), subtropical highland (Cwb), hot-summer humid continental (Dfa), warm-summer humid continental (Dfb), subarctic (Dfc), Mediterranean-influenced subarctic (Dsc)

SOLITAS: Tundra (ET), subarctic (Dfc), ice cap (EF)

MENAGERIE: Tropical savanna (Aw/As), desert (BWh), hot semi-arid (BSh), humid subtropical (Cfa, Cwa), temperate oceanic (Cfb)

VYTAL: Subpolar oceanic (Cfb)

This isn’t perfect by any means, but I think it satisfies some lingering doubt about the credibility of the geography. Sanus’ interior desert, for example, could easily be a cold desert climate. The exterior band of foliage on the northern and western sides appears to be indicative of a rain shadow effect caused by a mountain belt (the conditions necessary for creating this climate type). We have evidence of there being nearby western mountains courtesy of the earthquakes in Vacuo, [3] as earthquakes often occur near mountain ranges created by subduction boundaries. Similarly, oases (like the one once found in Vacuo) tend to form in cold desert climates as the result of rain shadows (similar to the el-Djerid oases near the Atlas Mountains).

All things considered, I’m inclined to give the climate regions a tentative pass. Like I said, they’re not perfect, but they seem to be holding up so far.

Does the Geography Have a Realistic Influence on Society?

Ehhh. It depends. With Vale it’s hard to say, given how little we’ve seen of the areas outside the capital (like the Emerald Forest and Forever Fall), and the fact that we haven’t visited any other cities in the kingdom. We know that Vale makes use of a massive port for trade and travel due to the nearby body of water. But there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly unique about the capital’s culture that can be directly attributed to its geography. Despite being a coastal city, it doesn’t have any signature delicacies derived from the abundant seafood. The architecture is largely generic urban-Western, and doesn’t incorporate the mountains in any way. Vale’s geography is little more than a convenient buffer against the Grimm.

Mistral, on the other hand, is heavily influenced by the geography. All of its houses and shops are directly integrated into the mountains, with an emphasis on vertical building to accommodate the limited space on the cliffs. Stairs, bridges, and electronic lifts are used for getting around the city. Unlike Vale, Atlas, and Mantle, which use motor vehicles, Mistral doesn’t have the space to accommodate modern roads, and instead relies on railroad transport (like the Argus Limited) to move around the continent. Compared to Vale, Mistral is a vast improvement on how well the writers used geography to influence the culture of a city. However, I still think the show could’ve done more to strengthen this connection. For instance, we see evidence of cave systems in Mistral, which briefly appear on-screen and are never brought up again. [4] Talk about wasted potential. Additionally, the show never addresses how the Council keeps its citizens from falling to death. No joke, the only place in the city that has railings is the safehouse where Qrow and the kids stay. What the hell do people do in the winter when the stairs and paths ice over? How do they not slip and fall and plummet to their deaths? And while I’m thinking about it, why doesn’t the city have a system of ziplines or ski lifts for getting around? Are native-born Mistrali people adapted to the lower oxygen found at higher elevations? And what about Mistral’s agriculture? Do farmers live outside the capital? How do they protect themselves?

Like I said, Mistral is better than Vale in this department, but it could still do with more worldbuilding.

Atlas and Mantle are more akin to Vale when it comes to noticeable geographic influence—or rather, a lack thereof. While the technology accommodates its residents via the heating grid, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of how the geography shaped the people of this continent. You’d expect a circumpolar indigenous group to have very distinct cultural traits, but there’s none of that. It’s just rampant technological growth. Now, you could argue that any aspect of geographic influence on culture was wiped out around the time of the Great War. But if the show wants me to believe that, it needs to show me proof. Whether it’s a conversation between two characters, or a political movement spearheading cultural revitalization. Something—anything—that might hint at how geography influenced pre-industrial Mantle.

And forgive me if I don’t feel like speculating about Vacuo, given that it’s only appeared in After the Fall and Before the Dawn. When the show decides to unveil it, then I’ll have more to say.

As for Menagerie? Another resounding meh. The inherent intrigue of a settlement that shelters aquatic Faunus is never fully explored. We get to briefly visit the Shallow Sea district of Kuo Kuana, but the scene is too focused on Blake’s and Sun’s conversation to let us fully explore the area. Which is a shame, because a concept like that could easily be taken to some really cool extremes. Like, what about entirely underwater settlements that are built on coral reefs? How cool would that be for Faunus that have gills, webbed appendages, or caudal fins? I’m not expecting Zootopia or anything like that, but it’d be neat if settlers had gone to creative extremes to accommodate the wide variety of Faunus traits.

How Well Does the Show Integrate Foreign Geographic Features into Its Worldbuilding?

In Volume 5 we’re introduced to Lake Matsu, an area rich with naturally-occurring superterranean Gravity Dust. What makes this place so intriguing is the fact that the Dust is in a constant active state, causing the islands to float in the air. Given that Dust is usually inert unless activated by an Aura, the existence of this place is frankly astonishing, and for the life of me I don’t get why the show treated it as little more than set dressing.

This phenomenon—which I’ve taken to calling a Dust vortex—has so much worldbuilding potential. What if Remnant had pseudo-ephemeral lakes created by concentrations of Water Dust? Or how about a cave system with an abundance of Electricity Dust that causes magnetic charges in the surrounding minerals, creating a place similar to Unova’s Chargestone Cave? Maybe Sanus’ southeastern desert has large pockets of Steam Dust that enshroud the area in permanent fog?

Dust vortices wouldn’t just be aesthetically cool, either; they’d have important implications for the lore. Let’s use Lake Matsu as an example.

If the Dust vortex has been there for a long time (upwards of thousands of years), then the organisms in this ecosystem would’ve adapted to it. You would have endemic wildlife—agamid-like gliding lizards, plants with wind-dispersed fruit, lianas and mosses draped from the underside of the islands, diving birds that nest on the outcrops, microbial detritivores found exclusively in the islands’ soil. Maybe Lake Matsu is an important stopover for migrating birds. Maybe the shadows from the overhead islands are important for predatory fish, which hide in the shade to ambush flying insects. Because the wildlife would be endemic to this ecosystem, perhaps the Mistrali government would designate it a protected area and prevent Dust companies from excavating the site. What if there were fishing towns on the shore that depended on tourism to sustain the local economy? Would they ever come into conflict with Dust companies that lobby the government to open up the area to selective mining?

I’m sure I must sound like a broken record at this point, but the worldbuilding possibilities on display here are nothing short of incredible. And the failure of RWBY to explore even a single one feels like getting repeatedly kicked in the stomach by a feral horse.

We’re now 3,000 words in and I didn’t even get to include ideas for tautological place names. It sucks, but sometimes you have to compromise and go with the idea that make sense to include, rather than the idea that exists just to be novel.

Sound familiar?

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[1] Hello Future Me. “Avatar: A Study in Worldbuilding — the Fire Nation [ The Last Airbender ]” YouTube video. October 26, 2019. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa2BD13VzxY&t=3s]

[2] Rooster Teeth. “RT Podcast: Ep. 191.” YouTube video. November 14, 2012. 7:52 - 12:01. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymVnsIUWLY]

[3] Myers, E. C. RWBY: Before the Dawn (Book 2). Scholastic Inc, 2020. Online preview. “The city of Vacuo had some order to it, with different districts for residences and businesses, and a wide street down the center for the market. But the outer edges of it were periodically wiped out, because of sandstorms or sinkholes or earthquakes.”

[4] Volume 5, Episode 1: “Welcome to Haven.”

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Sixty fun & fascinating facts about the classic Supergirl (2 / 4)

Welcome to part two of a fun four part series to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the classic Kara Zor-El’s debut in DC Comics in May 1959 -- sixty fascinating facts, one for each year since her introduction.

Compiled below is the second set of surprising or unusual trivia super snippets about the original intrepid Argo City teen who leapt from that crumpled Midvale rocket ship. Covering her original Silver and Bronze Age incarnation, in comics and on screen, each factoid is calculated to intrigue and delight – hopefully even seasoned Kara fans will find a few morsels of trivia that had previously escaped their attention.

Enjoy…

16. She has a criminal record.

One of the nice things about being a superhero is that you get to smash up entire city blocks, throw large vehicles around with gay abandon, and generally cause billions of dollars worth of mayhem to major public infrastructure – all without consequence. That is, assuming you don’t do any of those things in San Francisco. In Adventure Comics #399 (Nov 1970) Supergirl detains some fleeing gangsters by using her super-strength to block the ends of a road bridge. At the story’s close, after dealing with urgent matters elsewhere, she returns to the bridge to be met by members of the San Francisco Police Department, who charge her with criminal damage to public property and obstruction of traffic. (The cops do at least thank her for capturing the gangsters, but only after they insist she fixes the bridge..!)

17. Her mother didn’t originally have a name.

The bond between Kara and her deceased Kryptonian mother is a big part of modern Supergirl mythos, but surprisingly when Supergirl was first introduced Kara’s mom played such a small role in her origin that writer Otto Binder didn’t even give her a name. In the original telling (and subsequent re-tellings) of Kara’s origin story, Kara’s mom was simply “Zor-El’s wife”. The name “Alura” first crops up in Action Comics #291 (Aug 1962), but subsequent stories couldn’t decide on a consistent spelling: one L or two(?) When reader Glen Chihara complained in Adventure Comics #384 (Sept 1969), DC standardised the name as Alura with one L. Readers then had to wait until Krypton Chronicles #3 (Nov 1981) for Alura’s full family name, Alura In-Ze, to be revealed in a Roots-inspired mini-series dealing with Superman’s family origins.

18. She was originally intended to be a major character in the Superman III movie.

Flushed with the success of the Christopher Reeve Superman movie, and with a sequel close to completion, producer Ilya Salkind started to sketch out a potential future direction for the movie franchise. His initial story outline for Superman III, penned in November 1980 then updated in March 1981, envisioned a tale centred squarely around romance -- romance between Superman and Supergirl..!

A flashback reveals another escapee from Krypton, a young Kara Zor-El, crash landing on Brainiac’s planet (”all black and sinister”), where she is raised to be his future bride. Preferring to seek romance elsewhere, the adult Kara flees to Earth, where her attempts to blend in among the locals are unsuccessful, drawing the attention of the Man of Steel. Kal-El falls in love with Kara, but their courtship is cut short when -- inevitably -- Brainiac shows up to claim his bride. Of course Superman wins the day, with help from Supergirl, and the movie ends with the suggestion that the cousins will likely marry.

19. It is against the law for her to marry Superman.

Around the world the law varies regarding whether cousins can marry, but Krypton law, it seems, has no such ambiguity. Action Comics #289 (June 1962) saw a young Kara play cupid by trying to find a love-match for her cousin. Naturally all her attempts fail. “If I ever did marry, it would be to someone super and lovable like... you!”, announces Kal-El as he looks deep into Kara’s eyes, “We can’t marry because we’re cousins! [...] We’re both from the planet Krypton, where the marriage of cousins was unlawful!”

(It is worth pointing out that, at the time the aforementioned tale was published, DC claimed Kara was only sixteen years old.)

20. Her Supergirl costume is super-flexible.

As the 1960s wore on, and DC allowed the Girl of Steel to age from a schoolgirl into a college student, Kara’s Linda Danvers identity took on a more contemporary look. Thanks to 60s fashions, this meant short sleeves and even shorter skirts. Inevitably fans started to ask how Kara could conceal her superhero attire beneath her increasingly diminutive mod wardrobe, prompting one of DC’s trademark ad hoc and post hoc explanations in Action Comics #342 (Oct 1966.) Her costume, it seemed, was super-flexible -- the sleeves could be rolled up tight to fit snugly under whatever swinging 60s threads Kara happened to be wearing at the time, even t-shirts.

21. She liked her men to be rugged.

The Silver Age was full of wonderfully strange stories, and the one featured in Action Comics #320 (Jan 1965) was no exception. Laying a trap for the Maid of Might, a genius in robotics named Skoll secretly scans Kara’s mind to create a perfect robot mate. The scans expose her various likes and dislikes, including the fact that young Kara has a thing for rugged looking men. An unwitting Supergirl falls in love with her manufactured mate, of course, but its robot programming is a little too good -- it exhibits genuine affection for Kara, causing it to betray Skoll and sacrifice itself to help Supergirl.

22. She owned two cats, both named Streaky.

Streaky the Super Cat arrived in the Supergirl canon just a few short months after the Girl of Steel’s comicbook debut. Readers had already begun to write in to DC to ask when Linda (Supergirl) Lee would be getting her own super pet like Superboy’s Krypto, and in Action Comics #261 (Feb 1960) DC obliged. The oft-impetuous Streaky was Kara’s faithful companion throughout her 1960s adventures, last appearing in Adventure Comics #394 (June 1970), after which writers simply forgot about him. What happened to the Feline of Fortitude is a mystery, but by Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #6 (Apr 1983) Kara seemed to be referring to Streaky in the past tense. During this issue Linda adopts a new stray cat (or was it the other way around?), christening her Streaky because, "she reminds me of a cat I used to own!"

23. Helen Slater auditioned for the role of Supergirl wearing a home-made costume.

As a test of invention and imagination, director Jeannot Szwarc asked all potential Supergirls to improvise a costume that symbolised their own idea of the Maid of Might. Slater rose to the challenge, quickly pulling together a basic superhero outfit that apparently wowed Szwarc: “She had improvised a costume with tights and sort of cloak. I just looked into those blue eyes, with that jaw-line and everything. She had it. There was just no contest with anyone else.”

24. Technically, she’s a cyborg.

In the early 1970s Supergirl narrowly dodged death when a treacherous boyfriend tricked her into drinking a potion that stole her super-powers, then lead her into an ambush of a hail of bullets. The Girl of Steel survived, but as a consequence she suffered from sporadic bouts of super-powerlessness for months afterwards. In Adventure Comics #402 (Feb 1971), scientists from the Bottle City of Kandor -- ever keen to help -- devised various bionic replacements to compliment Kara’s unreliable abilities, including an external exo-skeleton for strength, jet-powered boots for flight, and surgical implants to replicate some of her other former abilities. Eventually the effects of the potion wore off, and Kara’s true Kryptonian abilities returned, but there’s no record that she ever had the bionic surgery reversed.

25. Superman didn’t trust her with his secret identity.

Many fans agree that the Silver Age Superman was not always be nicest of guardians to the teenage Kara Zor-El, but even by the cruel standards of the time, the tale that unfolded inside Action Comics #258 (Nov 1959) was particularly harsh. Superman had thus far not trusted the secret of his dual identity to Kara. When Kara reveals her own identity to Krypto the Super Dog, Superman punishes her with banishment to an asteroid for a year. (Yes, a year!)

A crisis back on Earth, however, saw Kara return temporarily to help her cousin, after which Kal-El arranges a test to prove definitively that Kara can’t be trusted to keep her own (and therefore his) secret identity. His plan backfires, however, as not only does Kara manage to successfully protect her own dual identity, but in the process she exposes Kal-El’s own secret. Her cousin admits defeat, and Supergirl’s asteroid exile is rescinded.

26. She was a great student, but a lousy employee.

Kara’s everyday life during the Bronze Age can best be summed up as restless and volatile. She tried her hand at a variety of careers, but usually stormed out spectacularly after clashing with her bosses. Kara sought employment as a news camera operator in San Francisco, a student councillor in Santa Augusta (Florida), and a daytime soap actress in New York. Each time she quit in a fury, often uprooting herself to a new location to start afresh in the aftermath.

In-between her failed career attempts Kara returned to education. After quitting her camera operator job she enrolled on a Drama course at Vandyre University (San Francisco), and then after spectacularly abandoning her acting career she became a mature student majoring in Psychology at Lake Shore University (Chicago.) These bouts as a student seemed to be the only times that Kara was content with her life as Linda Danvers, although she never quite mastered balancing her private life with her duties as Supergirl.

27. The flying effects in 1984′s Supergirl movie were superior to the Superman movies.

Despite them wowing audiences, and making a whole generation believe that a man could fly, Jeannot Szwarc wasn’t happy with the flying effects done on the first two Superman movies. Szwarc, who directed Helen Slater’s Supergirl, recalled in a 1999 interview with Scott Michael Bosco: “They were very much in love with this guy who had worked on Superman, but I felt that what we wanted to do, the image quality was not sharp enough. It looked too fuzzy. The whole system relied on being able to use zooms and I don’t like zooms. I wanted to achieve a more graceful flying style.”

Szwarc instigated a re-engineering how the effect worked, and, after a lot of experimenting, was able to devise a new system of screen trickery to make his Girl of Steel swoop majestically over the Midvale landscape. The end result was so impressive, it even drew plaudits from Superman director Richard Donner according to Szwarc: “I know that when Sidney Furie was going to do Superman IV: The Quest For Peace he called Dick Donner for advice, who told him to talk to me because he thought the flying in Supergirl was unbelievable.“

28. She inspired the writing of the Wizard of Oz.

In a magical tale published in Adventure Comics #394 (June 1970), at a time that marks the borderlands between the Silver and Bronze Ages, Kara and Streaky are whisked by a tornado into a strange land. There they meet three other stranded characters: a robot, a cowardly monster, and a creature without any memory. To get home the five must journey into the Emerald Pyramid to find the Mysterious Motr of Doom. In the pyramid they encounter a human who was transported into this strange dimension from 1898′s Chicago. It is only after the adventure is over, and everyone is returned to their rightful time and place, that Kara reflects that the human she saved was likely L. Frank Baum, the author who would go on to write the Wizard of Oz books.

29. Her creation was inspired more by Fawcett Comics‘ Mary Marvel than Superman.

DC and Fawcett had famously engaged in a long and bitter legal battle during most of the 1940s over the character Captain Marvel (no, not Carol Danvers -- the character today known as Shazam!) At one point the lawsuit even threatened to see DC Comics stripped of its Superman copyright thanks to a legal slip-up by the syndicate handling Superman’s newspaper strips. By 1959 DC had come out on top and Fawcett had ceased to publish the so-called Big Red Cheese and all his spin-offs, including the character Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel’s superheroine sister.

But DC couldn’t help but note how popular the Marvel Family had been with both girls as well as boys -- at its height outselling even Superman. So, while looking for ways to revive flagging superhero sales, DC took a leaf out of Fawcett’s book by introducing their own version of Mary Marvel. They even assigned the former Fawcett Comics writer who had created Mary Marvel, Otto Binder, to work on her. The result was, of course, Supergirl !

30. She was actually created by Mort Weisinger.

The names most closely associated with the creation of Supergirl are, as every fan knows, writer Otto Binder and artist Al Plastino -- but are these two DC contributors the true originators of the Girl of Steel..? Interviewed in fanzine Comic Crusader #15 (1974), Otto Binder gave Martin Greim a glimpse into the true origin of the Maid of Might. “Mort [Weisinger] kept pooh-poohing Captain Marvel, saying it was a bunch of junk. Mary Marvel was a crazy idea! So, a couple of years went by and one day Mort said to me, ‘I’ve got a great idea! … Supergirl!’ Of course, I didn’t say, ‘You don’t mean Mary Marvel, do you Mort?’ To me, it was like reliving the past.”

So it seems it was Superman editor Mort Weisinger who invented the Girl of Steel -- Binder and Plastino deserve all the plaudits, of course, for turning Mort’s idea into a reality.

We’re half way through the sixty now. Remember to check out part three when it’s published for even more cool Kara content.

[godstaff]

Batso is outdated.

Batso comes from a time when rules where more relaxed, women weren’t so outspoken and underage protection wasn’t strong enough. In the first half of the twentieth Century, when Batso was born, it was still okay to treat women like trash and children like hired help. Everybody did it and show it in entertainment in those days.

Problem is he still does it today: In the name of tradition, he can get away with sexism and teenage abuse. 

Yeah, you can say there are a lot of women  doing the batwork, but men are still majority and, in the end, they all have to answer to Bruce all mighty, the owner of the brand and writer of the holy scriptures of the Bat. From time to time, all women have to bow down to male superiority, engaging in sex with one or more of the Batmales: Babara with Dick and Bruce, Stephanie Brown dating Tim Drake, Catwoman and her fixation with an obsessed man in a Bat costume, etc. Even Wonder Woman fell under the spell of the Bat aegis and was hungry for bat-dick.

If that isn’t sexism, I don’t know what sexism is.  What bat-fanboy writers (yes, it is a thing), I was saying: what bat-fanboy writers understand as equality is Bruce saying “Justice is unisex” before punching a lady. Very cool. In the 1940s b&w film-noir perhaps. The only thing missing is Batso calling the women “a dame” or “a broad”.

We’ve all read Dickens and his tales of, basically, child abuse in mid 1800s, when child labor was not banned and orphaned kids had no one to defend them. Well, a century later, Batso enlisted for his cause a boy, now a boy-band, to help him in his gruesome mission. Exposing them to so much danger, they all died at one time or another. Thanks to comic magic, they all came back from the dead, but still. His excuse? “So they don’t turn out like me”,  which makes them exactly like him: hungry for vengeance and violence, under his strict guidance and incontestable rules. What option do they have? It’s always “my way or the highway” with Bruce. It is, still, child abuse under current laws, but, who cares? Batso is all about the law. His law.

And he’s never satisfied with any of his friends and associates. If they draw him with a more disgusted expression in his face, his squared jaw would probably fall from his face.

I bet they still write him like he believes the criminal element are “a superstitious, cowardly lot”, so he can cosplay as a bat to spook them. Turns out real life criminals are way cooler than that: they don’t believe in Frankenstein or Dracula anymore and will never submit to someone who doesn’t kill, even if he’s dressed like a sexy bat. Batso can beat the shit out of them, even send them to IC, but if a criminal is patient enough, he’ll be rich after a moderated short period in a hospital. The people Batso incarcerates never stay for too long behind bars. Of course they can’t: they have to return to make Gotham a living hell in the next or so issue.

Aah, Gotham City. Always puts a smile on my face...

In the era of globalization, Batso devoting his efforts to just one city in particular is a thing of ancient history. See, before global communications and transportation, one city was the entire world for any person, for most persons: their whole life could be constrained by the city limits, never dreaming on moving out or traveling the World. Not today, where a kid from the mid west could listen and follow a boy band from South Korea and any person on the planet can spend their vacations in Thailand, Iceland or Tanzania, because travel options are more affordable,available  and varied. Still, Batso aches for the crime in his city (which he could easily end, by the way, but doesn’t). Yet, crime today does not subscribe to the same rules: like good business men, criminals go where the money goes, which is all over the World: contraband in Hong Kong, weapons trafficking in Middle East, drug smuggling in South America, money laundering everywhere, etc., so his focusing on Gotham is ineffective and pointless. It’s like a mosquito trying to stop a locomotive biting the conductor. Bruce traveled the Globe enough to know this. He also tried to finance others like him to combat this (which was a move in the right direction) but, personally, his main concern is his city. Yet, he also had traveled throughout the galaxy with the Justice League, still, he worries for a little spot on the map of a little spec of dust in the universe. Narrow minded? You bet!: It’s narrow minded bat-fanboy writers and too complacent bat-fanboy readers, willing to accept an old status quo, so their self insertion fantasy gets untainted with realism. 

The guy still has a traditional English butler, for crying out loud! What is this? Batown Abbey? Even Iron Man’s Jarvis became an AI assistant.

The idea of modernization for bat-fanboy writers is giving Batso more technology: space ships, giant robots, voice commanded computers, touch screens (all things that where old in the 1960s SciFi shows) and making him all-powerful in comparison to other heroes thanks to it. But when it comes to update the mentality of the whole series, they are still in the days of post depression America.

[premierjvalrie]

THE FINAL FRONTIER

Chapter 2- Old Soldiers Going Above The Law.

 YEAR: 2092

Location: Planet Z’varia

  Just one year after the successful uprising against the corrupted members of the U.S.S Atelius, the insurgency group named Black January, sought out a comfortable planet to settle and colonize. Finally, after just one year they found a planet to settle in. It was perfect for humanity’s survival.

 However, this moment of peace would be interrupted by the Psychonians a race of powerful beings that can control the human mind by bringing up bad memories and even brainwashing humans. But this is before they began their attack…

 The U.S.S Atelius landed safely with everyone grabbing their things and grabbing masks due to the oxygen being poisonous due to the gases from deep within the Planets core.  Ken was guiding people on how to create houses,  Aeliah was overseeing the operations for the cargo to be off the Atelius, and as for James he was on the bridge looking at the window outside.

 “James.” An engineer said catching his attention.

 “Oh Hey, I just want to say.. what are we gonna do with the ATELIUS?” The Engineer asked causing James to think for a bit

 “We should return the ship along with you guys.. so you can explain to the council about the corruption on the Atelius and other related GDF corrupted ships” James said giving out instructions.

 “Yes Sir!” The Engineer said leaving the Bridge.

 “James are you sure it’s a good idea? To send the Atelius back to Earth?” Aeliah asked.

 “It’s a good idea for a reason, if we just keep the ship we would be arrested and sentenced to death. If we return it and inform the council about the corruption we can help many people and even more!” James said.

 “Alright, I’m putting my trust on you James.” Aeliah replied.

 “C’mon. you always have.” James said with a calm smile.

    YEAR: 2107 Soon to be 2108.

Month: December, 24th

Time: 8:55 PM

Location: Planet Z’varia’s Core, Humanity’s Last Stop Cemetery.

 James stood in front of Aeliahs grave looking at it with weary eyes almost as if he stayed there sobbing all day and all night.  

 “Aeliah, if you can hear me…I failed you. After you died Ken and did our best to keep Jiyu safe, we made sure she wasn’t being attacked by anyone. After a year. I took a job by the Psychonians to expose a fighting ring… and I saw Jiyu. she was arrested by those aliens.” James said collapsing to his knees with tears coming out as his face grimaced.

 “I FAILED YOU AELIAH!!! I FAILED YOU AND JIYU!!!!” He said sobbing with tears flowing out as he sobbed he could feel a gentle touch on his shoulder as he looked up to see a young woman with a nose ring who wore a hijab and the traditional muslim clothing.

 “Are you James Willow?” she asked

 “Yes.. I’am and how’d ya find me.” James said sniffling and wiping away his tears.

 “I told her where you were Boss. Sorry she’s our next client and this one’s an emergency.” Ken said standing next to James as the homunculus of vengeance stood up.

 “Ok let’s Go.” James said as he walked away

 -BACK AT THE WILLOWING FLOWER-

 Inside James’ office he looked at the young woman observing her carefully while he carefully thought about something.

 “So, Mr. Willow I- “The Young Woman said as James grabbed his pistol and aimed it at the door and fired at it hitting a target outside of his office that target being his window near the entrance of his bar.

 “DAMN IT JAMES! THAT’S THE 18th TIME YOU DID THAT!!!” Ken said downstairs in an angered tone as he got back to cleaning and once again having to use some of the credits to pay for another window. Back in James’ office the young woman sat there in shock just trying to process what just happened.

 “Sorry about that... Sabburah? Wasn’t it? I have to test my aim every now and then to make sure I’m hitting my targets right. It just feels off for some reason” James said

 “Anyways, As I was saying. I’m here because, My girlfriend.. has been missing ever since May” Sabburah said in a saddened tone causing James’ face to change a little.

“What’s her name” James said causing his tone changing from calm to nervous

 “Her name is… Jiyu” Sabburah said causing James eyes to rise and flare with anger and this time in an intense manner.

 “I know who did it….” James said in a determined tone.

 “Who Then?” Sabburah said in a surprised tone.

“Promise me, you won’t hate me for this.” James asked.

 “I promise” Sabburah said

 “It was the Psychonians after I exposed a fighting ring… I felt so terrible when I did that because I had to keep a promise to her mother to make sure she was kept safe and I. I-…” James said with his voice breaking once again as he felt a gentle hug as James looked downwards at Sabburah who was hugging him tightly.

 “I understand, you may have broken a promise to Jiyu’s mother. but you can rekindle it… you’re going to save my Jiyu, I don’t care how long it takes you just get her back home unharmed.” Sabburah said in a determined tone as well.

 “You got it… this one is free… cause it’s for Jiyu..” James said.

  -1 Hour later-

   “Ok so here’s how the plan goes. On the day of the new year the psychonians come to get everyone’s newborn as part of the deal. Usually guards would be seeking around the city looking for those newborns. Ken this is where you come in.”

 “I’ll lie to the guard claiming that theres a newborn here, but James here will take him out in one go, thus James will utilize the Pynchonian guards armor as part of a distraction while arresting me. “Ken said.

 “Sounds good, seems like both of you can work together a lot.” Sabburah complimented.

 “Yeah, we always plan things out if its something big….”  James replied.

“My scanners detect that our probability of success will be high! If we do this right…” Ken said.

 “Alright lets do this. We’ll meet back here in the afternoon of the first day of the New Year.” James said.

 “Got it” Sabburah said.

“Wait a second James! I live with you asshole!!!” Ken said

 “Oops sorry!” James said scratching his head sheepishly.

   January 1st 2108

Time: 12:00 PM

Location: Core of Planet Z’varia, The Willowing Flower.

 The sound of the Elevator shaft was heard from all over the entire city as friends and family couldn’t help but, show shame and sadness giving away their tiny bundles of joy.

 “ALL CIVILIANS… GIVE US YOUR NEWBORNS. YOU MUST COMPLY. OR FACE DEATH.” A Psychonian commander said as he sent guards to check around the city gathering newborns.

   As if dread itself came around, it swept the entire city. People holding their loved sons, daughters, and even newborns one last time as some people complied and gave away their babies who weren’t even a month old.

 At the Willowing Flower however one team was ready to kick some ass…

 “Ken are you in position?” James said through the communicator.

 “Yeah I’m in position target is approaching the bar.” The GDF robot replied as the guard approached him.

 “Kendrick-11201, do you have any newborns inside the bar?” The Psychonian guard asked.

 “Its Kenneth and yes come on in.” Ken said leading the guard inside the bar only to  be met with a boot to the face and a bullet through it’s throat.

 “Nice going Sabby!” James said grabbing the deceased Psychonian and starting to undress him from his armor.

 “Thanks, I really tried my best..” Sabburah said grabbing her boot that she thrown at the Psychonian guard.

 “So James… how does the armor feel “ the intuitive robot inquired his comrade in arms as he dragged the corpse into a closet where the Psychonians wont find him.

 “Feels a bit tight, but it’ll have to do” James said  grabbing the aliens gun and walked out along with Ken being in a hurry up prisoner stance.

 -1 Hour later-

 As all the guards returned to the  elevator shaft and the air being refueled for everyone to breathe once more the Psychonian commander had some parting words.

 “ALL OF YOU ARE SPECIAL. YOUR YOUNGLINGS WILL ENSURE BOTH OUR AND YOUR SURVIVAL. NEVER FORGET THE CODE AND THE DEAL REMEMBER IT ALL.” The alien commander said through a telepathic voice.

 “Now then let us return to the surface. With this prisoner….” The psychonian commander spoke with intuition as the elevator shaft whirred as it went up all the way to the surface.

 Finally the surface was in sight.. everything was still snowy as the day it was created with two ships waiting as the guards separated and entered the first ship while James and Ken followed the commander into the second ship.

 “Hmm…” The Psychonian thought.

 “Is there something wrong sir?” James said to the alien commander.

 “No its nothing just a slight feeling about something?” the Alien commander said as he was punched through his TV like face by  James who used the Psychonian M156 Pulse shotgun on the two pilots.

 “DAMN that was close” Ken said breaking the rope that James tied as the robot and the homunculus rushed over to the controls activating the spacecraft as it floated off the ground.

 The first spacecraft sensed their commander and a bit of their flight crew gone and just before they could activate its flight functions the first spacecraft was obliterated by James and Ken as the two inside the floating ship cheered with joy.

 “WE DID IT!!!!” James shouted with joy.

 “Yes! Also guess what we have cargo we need to deliver to that prison!” Ken said looking at the cargo bay status as he activated the functions for the ship to leave Z’varia’s atmosphere…

 “Time to break the rules.. and the Final Frontier once more….” James said with a grin on his face.

Another Chapter of my fanfic for @just-a-writer-artist-person I decided to hurry up and get this fanfic finished before the end of the morning because I was really in a good mood and wanted to see this get finished asap.

Sabburah, The Psychonians belongs to- @just-a-writer-artist-person

Ken and James belongs to me. 

[aion-rsa]

15 Supervillain Teams You’ve Completely Forgotten

Supervillain teams are unique groups in the world of superhero comic books. When it comes to superhero teams, you typically have to come up with a reason for why a specific group of characters have decided to team up. Either there’s a shared interest or sometimes an outside force poses a common threat for them to defeat. Supervillains, however, almost never need a good reason to get together outside of “fighting superheroes” or “committing crimes.”

RELATED: 15 Superhero Teams That You Probably Forgot

As a result, you often end up with some rather bizarre configurations on certain supervillain teams that don’t last very long or teams where it seems like the writer of the issue just picked villain names out of a hat. On top of that, there have been a number of more logically put together supervillain teams that have just faded away because no one was particularly interested in doing anything with them going forward. Here, then, in chronological order, are 15 supervillain teams that you’ve probably totally forgotten ever existed (if you ever knew they existed in the first place).

GAS GANG

The Gas Gang first showed up in 1963’s “Metal Men” #6 (by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito). The issue opened with the shocking revelation that following a mission in outer space, Doctor Will Magnus (the creator of the Metal Men) had been exposed to cosmic rays and had been transformed into a robot himself! Unlike the Metal Men, however, Magnus was now devoid of emotions and would not let the Metal Men rescue another space ship in distress. When they disobeyed him, he decided that he had to destroy him. They locked him into a room at their headquarters while they tried to come up with a way to return him to his normal self.

Foolishly, they locked him into an area of their base where he had access to his robot-building tools, so he built a new group of robots, each based on a gas rather than a metal. Oxygen, Helium, Carbon Monoxide, Carbon Dioxide and Chlroform made up the membership of the Gas Gang. Luckily, when the Metal Men found a way to destroy the Gas Gang, the same technique also turned Magnus back to his human self!

LEAGUE OF CHALLENGER-HATERS

When you think about the Challengers of the Unknown (the group of adventurers who banded together after they each survived a deadly plane crash), you rarely think of them as having many recurring villains. However, in 1964’s “Challengers of the Unknown” #42 (by France Ed Herron and Bob Brown), the Challengers gained their own rival group, the League of Challenge-Haters (odd that they hate “challenges” rather than “challengers”).

The group consisted of Kra, the self-proclaimed “King of the Robots,” who had conquered his own planet until the Challengers showed up and freed his people; Dranby, a thief who stole inventions from the future to conquer the world today (his most powerful weapon was his Elemental Helmet that allowed him to control the Earth around him); Volcano Man, your typical, run of the mill lava monster; and Multi-Man, the villain who gains a new superpower every time he is killed. Multi-Man would actually become a popular member of the Injustice League and Justice League Antarctica during the “Justice League International” years.

BIG GANG

In 1968, “The Atom” and “Hawkman” would see their comic book titles merged into one series. You would not be surprised that the series were running out of steam when you saw the new villains introduced in 1967’s “The Atom” #34 (by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane and Sid Greene). That issue saw the Atom fight against the Big Gang. The Big Gang consisted of a group of supervillains who all had the word “big” worked into their name.

There was the super-intelligent Big Head, the super-strong Big Bertha, the “really good at synchronizing the timing of robberies” Big Ben, the man whose wigs are also his weapons, Big Wig, the man with a special gun, Big Shot, the man who makes deadly cheeses, Big Cheese and finally, a master card sharp named Big Deal. They were obsessed with stealing “big” items, which in this issue meant a giant emerald, a giant coin and a giant stamp that were all improbably on display in Ivy Town. Taking them down was not a very big to-do for the Atom and since they haven’t really appeared since, they likely just weren’t ready for the big leagues.

THE AWESOME THREESOME

One of the things that really galls people about supervillains is that they don’t only ignore your traditional laws like “Don’t rob” or “Don’t kill,” but they also flaunt laws like “truth in advertising.” This was the case with the boldly named Awesome Threesome, who debuted in 1967’s “Aquaman” #36 (by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy). The each member of the trio was a robot. Their leader was Torpedo Man, who could go super fast while in his torpedo form. The other two were the powerful fighter, Claw, and the master of magnetism, Magneto (yes, four years after the famous Marvel villain debuted, DC still was like, “Eh, why not just call our guy Magneto, too?”).

While Aquaman, Aqualad and Aquagirl battled the robots, they soon discovered that they were being controlled by someone else. As it turned out, there was an alien who had been banished to Earth many years ago and he had created these robots to free him from his captivity. It did not work out, and sadly no matter how awesome these robots were, they did not appear as a team ever since (although Torpedo Man at least has made a cameo appearance since then).

CRIME WAVE

It’s interesting to see how certain themes continue to arise in the works of certain comic book writers. In the case of Steve Englehart, he often would write about the corruption of political figures and that was the case behind the creation of the short-lived “pick a name out of a hat” supervillain team, the Crime Wave. Debuting in 1972’s “Captain America” #159 (by Englehart and artists Sal Buscema and John Verpoorten), the Crime Wave consisted of established (but unconnected) Marvel villains the Porcupine, Plant-Man, Eel and the Scarecrow. They were working under the direct command of the Viper and were all directed by the mysterious Cowled Commander.

In the end, it was revealed that the Cowled Commander was a New York City police sergeant who had created the Crime Wave to help prove that there needed to be a stronger police force created to deal with superhuman threats. This whole “the bad guy is secretly part of the establishment” approach would be revisited by Englehart at the conclusion of his famed “Secret Empire” storyline.

COLD WARRIORS

The Cold Warriors are a tricky team for this list, because they mostly just exist in the world of the DC Animated Universe. They debuted in “Justice League Adventures” #12, consisting of Mister Freeze, Captain Cold, Killer Frost, Minister Blizzard, Icicle, Snowman, Cryonic Man, and Polar Lord. Another version of the team also appeared in the more recent “Super Powers” comic book series based on the kid’s toy line.

However, before you dismiss this group as merely a joke team introduced in an out-of-continuity kiddie comic, note that a team basically just like the Cold Warriors (without a name, but we’re going to retroactively dub them the Cold Warriors) showed up in 1976’s “Justice League of America” #139 (by Steve Englehart, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin – the very first issue of Englehart’s run on the title). That team consisted of Captain Cold, Icicle and the old Wonder Woman foe, Minister Blizzard. What they didn’t realize was that they were being roped into a plot by the Shadow Thief to cause a new Ice Age on Earth, which the Thief would avoid by going to his shadow dimension.

MUTANT FORCE

There is always work available for henchmen who are just powerful enough to make the heroes have to sweat a little bit, but not so much that the henchmen can pose a legitimate threat on their own. This was the case with a group of mutants who made their debut in 1977’s “Captain America Annual” #4 (by Jack Kirby). In that book, they were Magneto’s latest incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They consisted of Burner, Lifter, Peeper, Shocker and Slither (Kirby wasn’t spending a lot of time on names that day).

After Magneto dropped them, they showed up again working for the Mandrill, now calling themselves Mutant Force. They then added Mist Mistress, Quill and Rust to their team, along with Mentallo (calling himself Think Tank) to form a new group called the Resistants, created to protest the Mutant Registration Act. They then went back to calling themselves Mutant Force before finally disbanding. Being such a forgettable group of cannon fodder villains, they still lasted a whole lot longer than anyone likely ever expected them to.

LUCK LEAGUE

One of the earliest foes of the Justice League of America was Amos Fortune, the famed gambler who discovered the existence of so-called “Luck Glands” that could control ones luck. He formed the Royal Flush Gang, consisting of old members of his gang from when he was younger. In 1977’s “Justice League of America” #151 (by Gerry Conway, Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin), he discovered a way to leech power from superheroes, beginning with Wonder Woman.

He then used that power, combined with his amazing “luck wheel” to empower seven extraordinarily lucky people (who were therefore already predisposed to be given more luck) and gave them the powers of the Justice League, using them to form the Luck League (they each had “lucky charms” that gave them their powers). The members of the group were Acrobat, Racer, Strong Man, Crier, Cyclone, Shrinking Man and the Water King. Luckily for the Justice League, the captured Wonder Woman hypnotized Fortune into reversing his luck wheel, thus giving the Luck League bad luck and making them easy to capture.

WEATHERMEN

The Weathermen first appeared in 1981’s “Avengers” #210 (by Bill Mantlo, Gene Colan and Dan Green). As it turned out, the government had created a super-computer that was designed to be the most accurate monitor of weather patterns in the world. It stationed this computer on a space station that had once been used by the villainous Egghead. It was dubbed Samarobryn. However, the computer somehow gained sentience. It then became obsessed with not just monitoring the weather, but controlling it! It then brainwashed the five meteorologists working on the station into becoming the Weathermen.

They were each equipped with powerful armor and hovercraft, and sent around the world to cause the disruptive weather demanded by Samarobryn. While the Avengers were busy fighting the Weathermen, Jocasta went directly to the station and, after turning down a marriage offer (boy, robots could not get enough of Jocasta. They were always falling in love with her), she erased the sentience of the computer. Interestingly, the space station remained in operation afterwards. The Thunderbolts once used it to hide out when Baron Zemo had brainwashed the rest of the world.

ANI-MEN OF REPLI-TECH

Debuting in 1983’s “Justice League of America” #221-223 (by Gerry Conway and Chuck Patton), the Ani-Men of Repli-Tech were a deadly threat to the world and opponents of the Justice League that were created by a company known as Repli-Tech. The genetic research company had been in financial distress and was headed for ruin, so the CEO of the company, Rex Rogan, convinced the rest of the company’s board to allow their chief scientist, Dr. Lovecraft, to run genetic experiments on them, turning them all into animal-human hybrids.

Rex became the lion-like Maximus Rex and used the Ani-Men to steal the supplies needed to keep the company going, while also then forcing Ani-Men to fight each other to the death in gladiator combat. The Ani-Men (not to be confused with the also-obscure Ani-Men of Marvel Comics) were surprisingly strong. A whale-like creature actually defeated both Superman and Wonder Woman and a scorpion-like creature nearly killed Hawkman. Luckily, Rogan’s assistant (and lover) decided that she had seen enough. She broke free and warned the Justice League of what was going on.

DEATH-THROWS

In Mark Gruenwald’s acclaimed mini-series, “Hawkeye,” he had Hawkeye fight against Crossfire and his associates, the deadly Bombshell and Oddball, who were jugglers that used their deadly accuracy to nearly kill the hero. Amusingly enough, where others would see two juggling-themed villains and say, “That’s two too many,” Gruenwald looked at them and said, “That’s not enough!” So in 1986’s “Captain America” #317 (by Gruenwald and artists Paul Neary and Dennis Janke, an issue known for its striking cover featuring Captain America firing Hawkeye’s bow and Hawkeye wielding Cap’s shield), Bombshell and Oddball were revealed to be part of a team of juggling villains known as the Death-Throws.

As it turned out, Oddball had been part of the Death-Throws before he went to work for Crossfire and recruited Bombshell. The group included Ringleader, Tenpin and Knicknack. Oddball and Bombshell joined the group and they helped break Crossfire out of prison. They were then defeated by Captain America and Hawkeye. They were later hired, along with a bunch of other villains, to take off Hawkeye’s right arm. The Death-Throws have appeared a few times over the years, even managing to outlast the death of the original Oddball.

ASSEMBLY OF EVIL

During the “Acts of Vengeance” crossover, the supervillains of the world were recruited by a small group of major villains consisting of Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin, Mandarin and Red Skull (who were themselves being manipulated by Loki) to wreak havoc on the world of superheroes by attacking them with villains that the heroes were unfamiliar with. In other words, a Hulk villain would attack the X-Men while an Iron Man villain attacked Spider-Man and so on and so forth, with the intent that they would all catch the heroes unaware.

In “Cloak and Dagger” #9 (by Terry Austin, Mike Vosburg and Don Cameron), the Jester was given the opportunity by Doctor Doom to recruit his own supervillain team, the Assembly of Evil, consisting of villains of various heroes. It was hard for people to take the Jester seriously, so the Hulk villain the Leader wouldn’t join, but did lend him one of his subordinates, the Rock. Daredevil villain Typhoid Mary shot him down, but the X-Men villains Fenris agreed to join. Doctor Doom lent Jester his Hulk robot. Hydro-Man joined, as well. Things took a turn for the strange, though, when Jester tried to sign Cloak and Dagger to the team, thinking that they were Spider-Man villains.

They went along with the plan but then turned on the team when they attacked the Avengers, helping to defeat them.

AVANT GUARD

The Painter was a powerful villain who debuted in the pages of “Strange Tales,” in the Human Torch lead feature (it is interesting to note that during the early days of Doctor Strange, he was the back-up feature in the title behind Human Torch and later Human Torch and Thing as a duo). Pretty much anything he painted could come to life. When his paints were destroyed, though, he lost his powers.

Years later, though, he re-discovered his powers and recruited two struggling artists (a performance artist named Spark and a mutant ballerina known as Bora) and they performed a ritual that increased their abilities. The Painter was now inspired and the group debuted in “Web of Spider-Man” #75 (by Tony Isabella, Alex Saviuk and Keith Williams) as Avant Guard!

Spider-Man ultimately defeated them with the help of other New York City heroes including the Avengers, Fantastic Four, New Warriors and X-Factor (the New Warriors and X-Factor being involved was fun, as it led to the first in-continuity team-up of Spider-man, Iceman and Firestar, who were a team on the animated series, “Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends”).

NEW ENFORCERS

When Steve Ditko and Stan Lee invented the original Enforcers, including Ditko’s greatest creation, Fancy Dan (can you think of a cooler villain than a dude named Fancy Dan? No, you cannot), fans probably thought that there was never any way that you could top that group. Somehow, though, Terry Kavanagh, Alex Saviuk and Joe Rubinstein tried in a storyline leading up to “Web of Spider-Man” #100.

The “new” villain known as Blood Rose was being hunted down by the Foreigner (quotes because Blood Rose was the same person as the original Rose, Richard Fisk) who had enlisted a group of villains known as the New Enforcers. They included new villains Blitz, Thermite and Tangle as well as classic villains Plantman, Dreadnought, Dragon Man, Eel, Super-Adaptoid and Vanisher. Spider-Man ended up creating special Spider-Armor (just in time for him to have a foil cover featuring the armor) specifically to take the villains down and keep them from killing Blood Rose.

At the end of the issue, it was revealed that the New Enforcers were the outer circle of a larger group, whose inner circle included Mentallo, Fixer, Controller, Mister Fear and Madame Menace, but nothing ever came of that story.

KILLER ELITE

The Killer Elite made their first (and almost only) appearance in “Justice League America” #105-106 (by Gerard Jones, Chuck Wojtkiewicz, Drew Geraci and John Dell), a tie-in to “Underworld Unleashed.” The event was a crossover where the demon Neron would appear to villains and offer them power upgrades in exchange for their souls. This was an attempt to upgrade a number of old-school villains, but for the most part, the “upgrades” weren’t actually upgrades (a notable exception was Blockbuster, who gained super-intelligence to go with his super-strength and became the main villain in Chuck Dixon’s “Nightwing” series).

The Killer Elite, though, did not even seem to get any sort of upgrades. This team of famous assassins, consisting of Deadshot, Merlyn, Bolt, Chiller and Deadline, just apparently sold their souls for the hell of it. All of them were cool characters in their own right, but as a team, it seemed like too much of a good thing. They were each diminished by throwing them together. It also did not help that Deadshot was typically best used as an anti-hero and not an outright villain. The whole thing was a mess and unsurprisingly did not last long.

Can you think of another obscure supervillain team that you wish had made the list? Let us know in the comments section!

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