Revamp a Villain

[Michael Watkins]

Frightful Four

I've written this a few times.

Bentley Wittman would be a disgraced scientist/inventor known for plagiarism, animal abuse, and falsifying results for pay. But there's a black market for everything. And he's just as brilliant as he is arrogant. Moving along, some shady organization hires Bentley to lead a expedition of the Negative Zone. It's he, some loser named Janus, Piotr Petruski (a sadistic dishonorably discharged soldier who had done industrial sabotage work for Wittman), and a small squad of mercenaries (think Jurassic Park villains).

This breaking into the N-Zone endangers New York; getting the Fantastic Four involved. A lot of Wittman's crew become food for the N-Zone locals. The Four rescue the others (including Petruski) and turn them over to authorities. Bentley runs further into the Zone; being uninterested in prison. He's found by a very old very malevolent entity that quickly sized Bentley as the perfect pawn. He just offers him what he's always wanted; fame, wealth, and the power to harm those who attacked his image. He becomes the Wingless Wizard. The ideas were suddenly flowing. His inventiveness was at an all-time high. And his ego followed suit. Wizard is sent back to Earth in order to get his revenge. He goes about recruiting others to achieve this goal. And he came back with some very exotic weaponry to impress and enhance others. When he fails to defeat the Fantastic Four, he starts the real work of pillaging other worlds and planets on behalf of the Negative Zone entity. He'd gradually lose his grip on reality from having part of his mind tethered to the Negative Zone.

Pete, w/ Wizard's aid, becomes the Trap-Master. Wizard gives him alien equipment that he's able to pimp into restraint devices of varying lethality. He sticks with Wizard because the latter doesn't judge him for his quirks.

Oh and though no one cared, Janus actually survived only to be killed by his higher functioning N-zone doppelgänger the Nega-Man.

[Decoy]

Professor Power......gets his hands on a old Iron Patriot suit, revamps it, finally realizes his plans for revenge never go well (against Cap, Xavier, Spider-Man) instead tries to hire himself out to Taskmaster or Hobgoblin.....

Institute of Evil (616 Version)
Ape X: Cynernetic Talking Gorilla, has robot legs instead of tank treads
Lamprey: energy absorber/ copier....has powers also include flight/ energy blasts, can use powers he absorbs, with the training/ control needed
Doctor Decibel: Sonic Weapons
Quagmire: has access to the shadow Realms in form of black tar
Shape: shapeshifter, smarter than Gruenwald Version
Gauntlet: Enhanced Inhuman Merc......former Dark Rider, Weapons expert brought in in case they tangle with any X Teams

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Professor Power......gets his hands on a old Iron Patriot suit, revamps it, finally realizes his plans for revenge never go well (against Cap, Xavier, Spider-Man) instead tries to hire himself out to Taskmaster or Hobgoblin.....

Institute of Evil (616 Version)
Ape X: Cynernetic Talking Gorilla, has robot legs instead of tank treads
Lamprey: energy absorber/ copier....has powers also include flight/ energy blasts, can use powers he absorbs, with the training/ control needed
Doctor Decibel: Sonic Weapons
Quagmire: has access to the shadow Realms in form of black tar
Shape: shapeshifter, smarter than Gruenwald Version
Gauntlet: Enhanced Inhuman Merc......former Dark Rider, Weapons expert brought in in case they tangle with any X Teams

Add
Remnant- Magic carpet and bag full of tricks
Mink- Wolverine claws and mink stink gas
Pinball- Inflatable suit

These guys were former instituters.

[Draegwolf]

Well they are all decent revamps. Scarecrow could definitely use something to set him apart from the distinguished competition. I guess that's why the supernatural angle was added in the first place. Limb/organ harvest-ing makes perfect sense for a scarecrow. Borrowing from the 80s horror 'Scarecrows' you could also give him the ability to reanimate the people he kills/making scarecrows of his own ; with limits, of course.

Pretty much my point, try to further separate him from DC's iteration of the moniker. Marvel did the right thing when they moved him over into being a Ghost Rider villain but they could go farther with the concept by including a few elements of classic movie monsters and themes. I think they could make something truly great by combining elements of Children of the Corn, Jeepers Creeper's, the Wicker Man, the Collection, maybe even Hellraiser into the concept and arcs of the Scarecrow to showcase him as a truly horrific character.

On that note.

Swarm: another character that could seriously benefit moving to the supernatural side of things (honestly not sure how he hasn't been already). Play his body off as being comprised of infernal wasp, perhaps over the remnants of his physical remains, in order to give him a few additional abilities. Given that the dude is supposed to be (another) Nazi scientist maybe adjust his appearance a bit to conceal the majority of body beneath something other than a cowl, with face generally obscured behind porcelain mask or featureless gas mask to give him this more menacing and Lovecraftian horror vibe. Basically just turn him into Candyman, maybe even pursue the descendants of holocaust survivors & WWII soldiers out of vengeance or spite.

[Michael Watkins]

Pretty much my point, try to further separate him from DC's iteration of the moniker. Marvel did the right thing when they moved him over into being a Ghost Rider villain but they could go farther with the concept by including a few elements of classic movie monsters and themes. I think they could make something truly great by combining elements of Children of the Corn, Jeepers Creeper's, the Wicker Man, the Collection, maybe even Hellraiser into the concept and arcs of the Scarecrow to showcase him as a truly horrific character.

On that note.

Swarm: another character that could seriously benefit moving to the supernatural side of things (honestly not sure how he hasn't been already). Play his body off as being comprised of infernal wasp, perhaps over the remnants of his physical remains, in order to give him a few additional abilities. Given that the dude is supposed to be (another) Nazi scientist maybe adjust his appearance a bit to conceal the majority of body beneath something other than a cowl, with face generally obscured behind porcelain mask or featureless gas mask to give him this more menacing and Lovecraftian horror vibe. Basically just turn him into Candyman, maybe even pursue the descendants of holocaust survivors & WWII soldiers out of vengeance or spite.

Nazi scientist (maybe an underling of von Strucker's) who veered off into the occult after falling ill and seeking some form of immortality. The look can change depending on the story. But I think a swarm of supernatural wasps housing themselves in a nazi uniform (no insignia) might work. the custom gas mask in lieu of a face. So basically a scarecrow made of "bees." But I think that Swarm could benefit from having more of a personality. Sometimes, he would walk around in a 3-piece suit. Maybe even a tuxedo when holding parties/kidnapping people. And his voice would be almost hypnotic; like thousands of voices speaking at once. He'd be a monster with pretensions of being a man; like Toulon from the Puppetmaster movies.

[Draegwolf]

Nazi scientist (maybe an underling of von Strucker's) who veered off into the occult after falling ill and seeking some form of immortality. The look can change depending on the story. But I think a swarm of supernatural wasps housing themselves in a nazi uniform (no insignia) might work. the custom gas mask in lieu of a face. So basically a scarecrow made of "bees." But I think that Swarm could benefit from having more of a personality. Sometimes, he would walk around in a 3-piece suit. Maybe even a tuxedo when holding parties/kidnapping people. And his voice would be almost hypnotic; like thousands of voices speaking at once. He'd be a monster with pretensions of being a man; like Toulon from the Puppetmaster movies.

On that note, you could make the Puppet Master more like Toulon from the earlier Puppetmaster films. Including killer puppets among other things

[Decoy]

Add
Remnant- Magic carpet and bag full of tricks
Mink- Wolverine claws and mink stink gas
Pinball- Inflatable suit

These guys were former instituters.

I forgot about them.......heck, I’m waiting for the Squadron to expand in Avengers (Golden Archer. Arcanna, Captain Hawk, Lady Lark, Amphibian, Skymax, Tom Thumb, Nuke....)

[Michael Watkins]

On that note, you could make the Puppet Master more like Toulon from the earlier Puppetmaster films. Including killer puppets among other things

I thought about it. But the guy is already at a level of creepiness that makes his relationship with Alicia unrealistic.

[Michael Watkins]

I forgot about them.......heck, I’m waiting for the Squadron to expand in Avengers (Golden Archer. Arcanna, Captain Hawk, Lady Lark, Amphibian, Skymax, Tom Thumb, Nuke....)

I kind of want characters like that to show up but as younger heroes (or villains); in the vein of the New Warriors. Some of them could benefit from the redesign imo. Same with the institute of evil. And I have always thought that they should introduce the squadron supreme's version of the teen titans.

[Michael Watkins]

Add
Remnant- Magic carpet and bag full of tricks
Mink- Wolverine claws and mink stink gas
Pinball- Inflatable suit

These guys were former instituters.

I could see someone like Roderick Kingsley or Power Broker trying to diversify their businesses; maybe opening a school of some sort...an institute... of evil. And upon graduation, they get their new villain identities. It'd be an easy way to introduce Mink, Remnant, and Pinball.

[Dreaded Porcupine]

I forgot about them.......heck, I’m waiting for the Squadron to expand in Avengers (Golden Archer. Arcanna, Captain Hawk, Lady Lark, Amphibian, Skymax, Tom Thumb, Nuke....)

Loved Gruenwald’s run. One of the best ever. He is still my favorite writer of all time. It would be great to see the entire cast of Squadroners again and the Institute. Don’t forget Redstone, Haywire, Inertia, Thermite and Moonglow. Great additional characters. To bad most of them died. It would be great to have another universe with all of them alive.

[Chris0013]

Adam Mann from the Thunderstrike limited series. He survives being eaten by Mangog and being transported to the other side of the universe because he is part Olympian. A grandson of Poseidon and has has demigod strength and can breathe underwater. He has an adamantine war axe. He comes back to Earth and is a super villain with a secret identity. He runs his business and uses an LMD to appear publicly when he is out destroying his competition with his godly powers.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

IMO a magnificent proposal. As far as I know, the last super villain with a secret identity was the comicbook character Phil Urich aka Hobgoblin

[Midnight_v]

The Terrible Tale of Mortimer Toynbee

"Toad? The lackey? Hahaha I haven't seen him or even thought about him, who cares. . ." - Exodus to Husk on Krakoa

Mortimer Toynbee was lost. In fact he'd felt he had spent his entire life lost. He was lost when his parents left him at the orphanage.
Lost among the other children that had been cast aside by wayward progenitors. Lost among his fellow so-called homo superior.
Lost in space among strange star gods and lost on earth cast aside by people he'd idolized and loved.
So he killed himself. Tried to discard his life like so many others had discarded him, like refuse, like trash... but as they say one mans trash...

and where the mutants lost their toadee. The Shadow council found Mortimer Toynbee.

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Mortimer Toynbee is the story of the mutant formerly known as toad and how he becomes a high level espionage asset/agent for any of the espianoge groups you can thik of really but his true allegiance is to the shadow council and himself

Thing about toad is that he's really a big ball of physical super powers nowadays but MORE importantly... toad is a genius can build ex-skeltons, and androids but really wasn't creative enbogh to become IronMan, but honestly his biggest thing was that he was ugly and ashamed and made miserable.

But now... he's probably one of the greatest assassins the world has never known (Thanks to Moira Mctaggert continually resetting everything).

His powers really lend themselves to this too and marvel just kept dumping them on him... Think of everything any amphian creature on earth "CAN" do and "The Monster" Mortimer Toynbee can do it.
He's spiderman + the purpleman + gorgan from hydra, and so finally someone comes in and puts ALL those powers to use.
Wall Crawling, camouflage, super-genius, pheromones, various chemical secretions. Agility and speed the way toads can react fast enough to catch flies he use guns... swords... knives... whatever's handy. He's been trained by some of the best money can buy, as well as the taskmaser who won't remeber him specifially because Mortimer is a master of hiding his mutation and skills, in fact being non-descript at will is one of his greatest abilities.

Visually he's Jack Hawskmore from the authority with a better suit, and better hair. Occasionally no shirt and a long coat...
Personality wise he's a smiley glad hand, well wishing, friendly and polite. Conversely he's also the villian character from not country from old men. "Why do you always say that.... You don't have to do this"

In the end though, he's not a character that misses the X-story. He doesn't care if sentinels ravage the planet, nor honestly if "Bad Guys" win, or the "Good Guys" win. . . he's finally found something that matters more than any allegiance, any plan, any ending...
He's found himself.

A new kind of man, a new kind of monster.

Mortimer Toynbee

[Otto Gruenwald]

Joker
Is dead.

Clayface
Vincent Price from House of Wax plus Vincent Price from Dr. Phibes. He's not a shapeshifter, he's an actor who murders everyone that ever wronged him in outlandish and attention-getting ways. He uses his knowledge of disguise to get close to his victims.

Mr. Freeze
Reforms. Serves his sentence in a special room in Ivy University while helping Ray Palmer come up with miracle treatments. Cryo super science plus microsurgeons can cure a lot. Feels a vague but tangible sense of satisfaction for the lives he saves.

Catwoman
Gets a sidekick after she happens to catch a runaway shoplifter. She takes the runaway under her wing to show her how its done.