A Touch of Hellfire: The Hellfire Club Thread

[Shadowcat]

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Harry Leland: The Black Bishop. Leland, in his civilian life was a corporate attorney, who made his money through his interactions with other members. His connections through his law firm, as well as his mutant powers helped him obtain his position in the club. He had a brief interaction with Emma while she was homeless, but had that interaction erased from his memory by Emma. He didn’t have many interactions with the X-Men, as he was older and quite out of shape. During a skirmish in Central Park between the Inner Circle, the X-Men and Nimrod, he suffered a heart attack and died. He’d remain dead until Necrosha, but died again after the crossover.

[Shadowcat]

Isn't Betsy already affiliated? I think Warren has Hellfire Club status as well. I think it was revealed way back in the 90's written by Nicieza. It was the conversation that led to them hooking up I think.

She and Brian are members through the London Branch.

[Shadowcat]

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Jason Wyngarde: Mastermind. Was a long time villain of the X-Men, hadn’t been seen in quite awhile when he resurfaced years later surrounding Jean and her mind. Just a probationary member of the Lords Cardinal, but with the aid of technology provided by Emma, successfully corrupted Jean to their side. Jason let it be known that he had every intention of dethroning Sebastian as the new Black King. Being driven mad after Jean “regained” her senses and wouldn’t show up til years after her death trying to exact revenge on Scott’s new love, Madelyne Pryor. He’d eventually die from the Legact Virus, but left his own legacy with his 3 daughters.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Claremont's Hellfire Club was an interesting addition to the X-Mythos. After him, it fell in significance to the point of becoming a parody. While he ultimately wasted it in his Hellfire and Brimstone arc, I did enjoy Millar's more direct correlation to real world secret societies(Freemasonry, Illuminati, etc).







Given Emma's reapplication since Morrison as an X-Man, even if she has apparently gone 'bad again', I doubt modern Marvel will lean into the more obvious occult aspects of the concept in lieu of just 'rich people being naughty', as it is often positioned as, but in theory the Hellfire Club could be a very potent, and scary, antagonist for the X-Men.

I would love to see a re-imagined Inner Circle of Amahl Farouk, Selene, and straight up evil Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost just go hard with the debauchery and evil magick and all that, trying to enslave the world under their iron fist, but such a story is probably too much for Disney-Marvel at this point.

Given that Disney-Marvel has Blade and if Deapool 3 is to be Rated R than why not?

[ThomBoleyn]

I was just listening to a Secret Society podcast that had two episodes on the real Hellfire Club, apparently the first one was based in Ireland and created by a non royal Duke in the early 1700s. That chapter ended by the 1740s (?) I believe and a chapter (non affiliated) was opened in London and underway in the 1750s through the American Revolution, John Wilkes and Lord Montague, the Earl of Sandwich were members and their personal feud became a thing of national interest prior to the Revolution.
I found it fascinating so I wanted to see if it was the basis for CC's club, I guess it was the Avengers episode that did it.

Also, anyone ever notice that Sebastian Shaw was also the name of a character on Dark Shadows?

I guess inspiration comes from all places, but I found that all pretty interesting.

Here's hoping that Harry Leland and Lourdes Chantel are alive and well on Krakoa!

[Rev9]

Astra from Magneto not a Hero looks to be good fit for the club.I wish she was part of it.

[Devaishwarya]

I really liked the London Branch
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[Celgress]

Emma is my favorite member.

[TraneTrax]

I just found these unused designs for The Hellfire Club by Phillip Boutte Jr.
Shinobi Shaw, Emma Frost, Harry Leland, Red Lotus Gang, Freidrich Von Roehm and the Fenris Twins
Oh what could have been....
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[shooshoomanjoe]

Night Thrasher and Shinobi Shaw have always been my favorite Hellfire Club members.

[Dermie]

The Hellfire Club should expand into a general Marvel Universe concept so it can escape from the trappings of boring X-Tropedom and become a device to drive interactions between the MU's elite such as rich baddies like Fisk, rich heroes, and X-folks instead of cyborgs and vampires and strippers, but mostly strippers.

We've seen little bits of that here and there over the years. Tony Stark's Hellfire Club connections were touched on (very lightly) in the Frank Tieri run of IRON MAN in the early 2000s. Mockingbird went undercover at the Hellfire Club a few years back in the MOCKINGBIRD series. Carol Danvers also had a Hellfire Club encounter back in her Ms. Marvel days.

It would be interesting to see a bit more exposure in the wider MU though, for sure.