Villain Teams Against Diana

[WonderScott]

I love a great villain team or organization and Diana, as a member of the trinity, should have more than a few to call her own. (What's good for Batman and Superman is good for the Amazing Amazon, IMHO.)

My question...which villainous teams do you most want to see oppose Diana? Do you prefer to focus on one team or do you think she can support many different syndicates that want her downfall? Which characters (whether in continuity yet or not) would you like to see as members of the different teams? What about the team's existence is important in opposition to Diana?

In the past she's had:

- Godwatch
- Villainy Inc.
- S.C.Y.T.H.E. (Bronze Age)
- Crimson Men

Personally, I prefer many different teams with different reasons for being.

Since it's already set up, I can see Cale continuing to lead Godwatch with Doctor Poison and Doctor Cyber somewhat involved. (I think Doctor Cyber needs to be reassessed about whether she'd stick with Cale or branch out on her own. A little bit of that happened in the last issue of Wonder Woman where Doctor Cyber appeared with Cale.) Godwatch might be interesting as additional human scientists, etc. join up in an effort to understand, take advantage of, and control the powers and threats of the newly exposed deities and demigods at play in the DCU.

I believe that Villainy Inc. can stand alongside Godwatch as a different collection of Diana's costumed foes. It's also one of the first supervillain teams ever published, so I'd like to see DC honor that by making them a threat. I haven't sorted it all out yet, but I also have been playing around with Villainy Inc. having a secret history in the DCU - like the Freemasons, etc. It's a unique team in that it's members are all female villains and, let's face it, villainesses don't get the notoriety they deserve in the greater DCU. There are a couple of levels to play with the villains who might ally themselves together for personal gain and the ruination of Diana, her friends, and the Amazons, and have a long, hidden history.

I like Saturna and the Crimson Men as an opposing organization to ARGUS in the collection of magical items, technological marvels, hidden locations of power, etc. in the modern DCU. I'd be up for someone digging into Saturna's backstory more and make her tremendous foe of Steve Trevor and vis-a-vis Diana.

I never read the SCYTHE story, so I don't know much of what it's goals were or if it makes sense to revamp it.

Past these teams, I have an idea in the Wonder Woman Bible I'm working on (my own thing about her continuity and characters for fun) that brings together some foes to combat Diana and Hippolyta as leaders of a nation/city-state, once the Amazons reveal themselves to Patriarch's World and make their decisions about how much they want to interact with other nations.

But, that's just my babbling on anti-Diana organizations...what do you think or what would you like to see in terms of teams against Wonder Woman?

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Personally I confess the premise of Godwatch doesn't very much excite me. Its focus was to get to the island and beyond that it seems like its kinda aimless.

Villainy Inc should certainly return. It had alot of potential, with a group of Wonder Womans greatest enemies banding together to not only destroy Wonder Woman, but to make a tidy profit in doing so. Eviless was pretty one note and bland, (though the psychic power to will people to not notice her is unique) But the premise of being a slave trader from a planet of satanists whose economy relies upon the slave trade is at least memorable if nothing else. Her whole plot to not only kill Wonder Woman but enslave the Amazons to sell to their greatest enemies, with Wonder Womans biggest non reformed foes banding together at her side has alot of potential. How many villain teams have shown up whose focus is not just killing the heroes but trying to use their villainy to turn a profit?

S.C.Y.T.H.E....The only thing that springs to mind is this one terrorist group that popped up for a single issue. They would create elaborate explosives and try to destroy whole cities in an effort to topple society. A good premise though aside from the leader, and the UN professor who was secretly the leaders father, I don't think anyone named was actually a member of it, though hundreds of members were mentioned to have existed.

As for other big groups to oppose Diana that I would like to see...
Well to name drop another big supervillain team, Ares and his family. Over the course of the past seventy five years several dieties have been established to be Ares children with them working towards his goals of furthering war (and trying to stab him in the back to claim power for themselves) Deimos, Phobos, Duke of Deception, Earl of Greed, Lord of Conquest, the crow children...The list goes on but alot could be done with a group of villains under Ares sway. And heck, it could extend even further with their champions and the like.
Back during the Golden Age it was established that Mars/Ares drew power from war and any war happening throughout the universe added to his power. That any who died during any of these wars would be enslaved by his minions, their ghosts tortured and turned to his slaves and restored to life so they might further sow the seeds of war.
Toss in characters who over the years have been established as minions of Ares such as Badra, Doctor Psycho, Crimson Centipede, and Silver Swan. Restore that universe wide presence for Ares, and you have a big bad whose one of the most powerful villains in the DC universe with a team of villains that would be more powerful than any other.



Though to turn things around and go another route....
Wonder Woman back in the olden days amassed something like fifty gangster type villains each with their own gimmicks and mad scientists whose schtick was outfitting gangsters with special tech to help them commit crimes easier. Id encompass the likes of Boss Bossman, Elektro, Thought Master, Mirage Maker, Gadget Maker, and the like into being under the thumb of Angle man. Keeping Angelette as the one with the angle and making her one of his minions, id push Angle man to be a sort of kingpin figure with the criminal underworld under his sway. Establish him to have this massive criminal empire. It wouldn't have the sheer power of the god-like enemies such as Ares, but it would be a very human problem for Wonder Woman to contend with which would give Wonder Womans supporting cast of heroes a chance to shine.

Doctor Cybers organization would be another one with big possibilities. The bronze age Doctor Cyber was essentially a james bond villain who was easily Wonder Womans greatest foe under that particular banner. Like Angle man with the criminals, id do the same to Doctor Cyber with Wonder Womans wide array of spy villains. Establish the twenty or so evil spy organizations Wonder Woman has fought over the years to be unknowingly cells of an even larger organization under Doctor Cybers sway. Reveal that all of their goals and efforts while seemingly unconnected were in fact all part of a bigger plan. While Ruckas take on Doctor Cyber was an interesting new villain, it frankly doesn't hold a candle to the original in all her hammy glory. I wanna see what she would do with the likes of Greg Trevor, Z-One, and Drasky the Deadly, and Lu Shan at her side.

And the Academy of Villains. As stupid and cheesy and hilariously dumb as it is, I NEED an evil group of veteran villains and mad scientists who sit around rating various acts of villainy, holding a special ceremony once a year and handing out evil emmys for catagories such as best theft, best rampage, and best murder of a superhero. No idea what one would do with it but I really badly want to see it pop up again. XD

Now to just make up an original team id want to see....
I don't know how it would go about occuring, but id like to see all of Wonder Womans more mystical foes gather. Circe, Morganna, Strogo, White Magician, Queen of Fables...They all have pretty grandiouse personalities that need to be the center of attention so I kinda want to stick them all together to see if they can actually do anything before trying to kill eachother.

[Mutant God]

Villainy Inc. - A group of criminals/"businessmen" that specialize in the black market and profiting from wars.

Earl of Greed
Warmaster
Kung
Hypnota
Warhead
Angle Man
Gentleman Killer
Drakul Karfang (secret founder)

Godwatch - A group of scientists that study Wonder Woman and the Greek Gods, hoping one day to destroy her and them and become Gods themselves.

Veronica Cale
Cheetah
Dr. Poison
Dr. Cyber
Dr. Cue/Agent X
Dr. Psycho
Egg-Fu
Genocide (created by Godwatch to destroy the Gods)

Crimson Menace - Satanic Space Pirates led by Saturna

Sorcery Sorority - A dark magical group wanting to control the world

Circe
Queen of Fables
Osira
Queen of Darkness/Mrs. Kobritz
Dark Angel

[Fuzzy Mittens]

It occurs to me that something I would also like to see as a team would be to get all of those 'dark mirror' takes on Wonder Woman together on a team in the hopes this would make some of the less interesting ones into something worthwhile.

Queen Clea
Genocide
Grail
Devestation
That evil Diana from Earth-3

Could even have a whole thing of Wonder Woman in order to stop them needing to call upon the Wonder Girls, Hippolyta and maybe a Wonder Tot to counter them.

[WonderScott]

I was chatting in a Facebook group yesterday about a team of superheroes called the Force of July who get revealed to be really conservative, militant characters.

I was thinking that with Diana's background in WWII and the ethics of her character, it'd be interesting to do some kind of story about supremacy and use those characters alongside other Nazi characters (Captain Nazi, Gundra, the Fourth Reich characters that Johns introduced in JSA) and update them for our current politics, albeit in a fictional and fantastical way.

The inequality and bigotry espoused by such a group is something I can see Diana jumping into to fight without hesitation and probably pulling a few like-minded colleagues of hers in with her.

If we ever get the JSA back, it might be a good to split the story with the time's past andcurrent story arc, where the JSA dealt with the issues in the past and pull Diana into the current confrontation.

[Mutant God]

I was chatting in a Facebook group yesterday about a team of superheroes called the Force of July who get revealed to be really conservative, militant characters.

I was thinking that with Diana's background in WWII and the ethics of her character, it'd be interesting to do some kind of story about supremacy and use those characters alongside other Nazi characters (Captain Nazi, Gundra, the Fourth Reich characters that Johns introduced in JSA) and update them for our current politics, albeit in a fictional and fantastical way.

The inequality and bigotry espoused by such a group is something I can see Diana jumping into to fight without hesitation and probably pulling a few like-minded colleagues of hers in with her.

If we ever get the JSA back, it might be a good to split the story with the time's past andcurrent story arc, where the JSA dealt with the issues in the past and pull Diana into the current confrontation.

I think Fourth Reich are more of a Justice League villain rather just a Wonder Woman villain (or with enough members in the group it could have Justice League team up with other hero groups to fight the entire Reich).

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Oh what if there was just a team of all the evil siblings the heroes uncannily just happen to have?

Steves evil older brother Greg Trevor
Martian Manhunters evil twin brother Malefic
Flash's evil twin brother Cobalt Blue
Meras evil twin sister Siren
Batmans evil younger brother Lincoln March
Wonder Womans half the time evil brother Jason
Aquamans evil brother Oceanmaster

[marhawkman]

It occurs to me that something I would also like to see as a team would be to get all of those 'dark mirror' takes on Wonder Woman together on a team in the hopes this would make some of the less interesting ones into something worthwhile.

Queen Clea
Genocide
Grail
Devestation
That evil Diana from Earth-3

Could even have a whole thing of Wonder Woman in order to stop them needing to call upon the Wonder Girls, Hippolyta and maybe a Wonder Tot to counter them.

How in the dark depths of Tartarus would you get THAT team to work together?

Grail wants to kill off Olympians, and thus would likely want to kill Deva and evil Diana.

Genocide... might or might not see Deva as WW since Deva has some of WW's blood in her.

All of them except Clea would pretty much see an evil Diana as well, their arch enemy.

The only way I could see this team forming in the first place is if it's Clea's idea, since the others just wouldn't want to work together.

I kinda see this as going down like the supervillain team-up in https://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Superman_Vol_2_225 IE the team holds together just long enough to start fighting WW, then falls apart when the team members decide they hate each other more than WW.

I REALLY want to see a comic where Grail and Deva throw down vs each other.

[Nyssane]

I'd personally love to see Villainy Inc. return. The team name is hokey, of course, but they could try to spin it in an ironic way (similar to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants; maybe Clea believes the world sees women as villains, who knows).

Membership:

• Queen Clea - I liked that they retconned Clea into being the leader in the Post-Crisis version of the team. It makes sense; she's completely capable of being one of Diana's "big bads."
• Giganta - She's not doing much of note lately, so making her into Clea's muscle would be just fine.
• Cheetah - Cheetah would be hard to tame, but she's not averse to working in teams as seen with the Legion of Doom. If Clea is able to offer her something worthwhile, I could see Barbara Ann working with her, especially if Clea is able to connect with her on a feminist level.
• Doctor Poison - After the number of flops and flubs that Godwatch has suffered recently, I could see Dr. Poison turning her alliance over to a new power.
• Blue Snowman - Would it be Villainy Inc. without Byrna? Her exosuit allows her to be secondary muscle while also using the blue snow for range.
• Zara - She's sort of a blank slate currently, but she has natural fiery powers so that could definitely prove her useful for Clea.
• Saturna - With her necromancy, she's unlike any of the other members of the team. She's a witch, plus she commands her own army of Crimson Men.
• Hypnota - This one I could take or leave, since she's the only one who isn't in the Rebirth continuity as of yet. But for completionist's sake, toss her in as a minor telepath.

That's right, the full Golden Age team reunited!

[SiegePerilous02]

I'd personally love to see Villainy Inc. return. The team name is hokey, of course, but they could try to spin it in an ironic way (similar to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants; maybe Clea believes the world sees women as villains, who knows).

Membership:

• Queen Clea - I liked that they retconned Clea into being the leader in the Post-Crisis version of the team. It makes sense; she's completely capable of being one of Diana's "big bads."
• Giganta - She's not doing much of note lately, so making her into Clea's muscle would be just fine.
• Cheetah - Cheetah would be hard to tame, but she's not averse to working in teams as seen with the Legion of Doom. If Clea is able to offer her something worthwhile, I could see Barbara Ann working with her, especially if Clea is able to connect with her on a feminist level.
• Doctor Poison - After the number of flops and flubs that Godwatch has suffered recently, I could see Dr. Poison turning her alliance over to a new power.
• Blue Snowman - Would it be Villainy Inc. without Byrna? Her exosuit allows her to be secondary muscle while also using the blue snow for range.
• Zara - She's sort of a blank slate currently, but she has natural fiery powers so that could definitely prove her useful for Clea.
• Saturna - With her necromancy, she's unlike any of the other members of the team. She's a witch, plus she commands her own army of Crimson Men.
• Hypnota - This one I could take or leave, since she's the only one who isn't in the Rebirth continuity as of yet. But for completionist's sake, toss her in as a minor telepath.

That's right, the full Golden Age team reunited!

I would be all over this.

For Hypnota, they could always tie her to Hindu mythology. Maybe make her a Rakshasa who can shift back and forth between human forms and more monstrous forms, which would make her challenging physically in addition to her mind control powers. I would also make the source of Zara's powers an Ifrit.