MASTERS OF EVIL
Membership: Black Knight (Nathan Garrett), Crimson
Dynamo (Anton Vanko), Klaw (Ulysses Klawe), Melter (Bruno Horgan),
Radioactive Man/Chen Lu, Titanium Man (Boris Bullski), Whirlwind/David
Cannon)
Purpose: Fighting the Avengers (and gaining money,
fame and babes)
Aliases: "Grade Z jerks" (nickname used by Iron
Man)
Affiliations: Loki
Enemies: Atlanteans (Krang, unidentified others),
Avengers (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Hawkeye/Clint Barton,
Hellcat/Patsy Walker, Iron Man/Tony Stark, Thor/Thor Odinson) Doctor
Victor von Doom
Base of Operations: Chicago, Illinois,
Counter-Earth,
formerly New York City, New York, Counter-Earth
First Appearance: Avengers II#8 (June, 1997)
History:
(Onslaught: Marvel Universe I#1 -
BTS) - In order to save his family and their friends from the being
known as Onslaught, Franklin Richards used his reality altering powers
to create a pocket universe (Counter-Earth or Franklinverse) where
they could survive. This reality was like Earth-616 in many ways,
including a planet Earth populated with copies of its population. The
members of the Masters of Evil counted among the billions Franklin
Richards breathed life into.
(Avengers II#8 (fb) - BTS) - Eager for fame, fortune and the
attention of women, Black Knight assembled fellow supervillains Klaw,
Melter, Radioactive Man and Whirlwind. They decided to make a name for
themselves as the Avengers' number one foes.
(Avengers II#8) - Hours after the Avengers had faced and defeated the
Lethal Legion in their New York mansion, the Masters made their presence
known and attacked the team in their partially ruined headquarters. The
Black Knight started things off by firing a barrage of rockets from his
lance that briefly rattled the heroes.
(Avengers II#9) - Melter enjoyed initial success when he hit Iron Man's
chest piece with his sub-nuclear disruption beam. Klaw's sonic blasts
kept Thor at bay while Whirlwind moved in to tear apart Hawkeye. Black
Knight made short work of Hellcat, telling her to go home and do dishes.
This left Radioactive Man free to gather his energies to destroy what
remained of the team's base. However, Hawkeye caused Whirlwind to trip
and crash into the Knight and his winged horse who in turn slammed into
Radioactive Man. Iron Man got the drop on Melter and Thor eventually
defeated Klaw by shattering his headpiece with his hammer. Before Thor
could summarily execute the Masters, he was stopped by the arrival of
Captain America.
(Avengers II#9) - The Masters were placed in special restraints whipped
up by Iron Man.
(Avengers II#9) - Captain America and Iron Man attempted
to question the Masters. They failed to learn anything about their
motives, only Black Knight proved capable of stringing together more
than a few coherent thoughts that extended beyond "money, fame and
babes". When the heroes left to arrange a SHIELD prison transport, Loki
and his associate the Scarlet Witch appeared before the Masters. The god
of lies converted the hapless villains to energy, adding their lifeforce
to his own.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1
(fb) - BTS) - After the Avengers defeated Loki, the Masters returned
to human form. However, their time as energy coursing through an
Asgardian's body left a number of them altered. Klaw disappeared
altogether (see comments), while Melter was left comatose
and spouting seemingly nonsensical phrases that Black Knight deemed
part of a prophecy he obsessively tried to piece together. Radioactive
Man effectively became a mute while Whirlwind was desperate to figure
out a way to leave the group altogether.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1 (fb) - BTS)
- Once the Avengers, Fantastic Four and their allies left Counter
Earth for their native reality, the world came under the care of the
Celestial Ashema who could not prevent a series of cataclysmic
events from ravaging the planet. New York was flooded and overrun by
Atlanteans who claimed the city as their beachhead to rule the
surface.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Black
Knight moved the Masters to Chicago where they used their powers
to effectively take control of the city's criminal element. While
his Masters acted as enforcers and made sure they got a cut from
all the local racketeering, loan sharking, robbery and money
laundering schemes, the Knight himself spent most of his time with
the drooling, incoherent Bruno Horgan.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1 (fb) -
BTS) - Black Knight had multiple meetings with Warlord Krang, an
ambitious Atlantean who was eager to gain surface world allies.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1 (fb) ) - Black Knight had a
final meeting with Krang who left him a gift: the fabled
trumpet-horn of Atlantis which could call up the great whale
Giganto to do his bidding. Black Knight wondered why Krang would
freely hand him such a powerful weapon, but he did not receive a
satisfactory answer.
(Heroes Reborn:
Masters of Evil I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Krang returned to his ship
on the bottom of Lake Michigan convinced that the Black Knight
would be unable to resist using the horn. Krang had
purposefully neglected to mention that Giganto was long dead.
Instead, the siren call would summon a massive horde of sea
creatures whose emergence would cause a tidal wave that made
the city ripe for take over.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1) - Suspecting Krang was
trying to double cross him, Black Knight ordered Whirlwind and
Radioactive Man to Lake Michigan where Chen Lu used his
radioactive powers on the water to kill Krang's Atlantean
delegation. As an unexpected side-effect, all the fish in the
lake died as well.
(Heroes
Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1) - Bruno Horgan's prophetic
muttering offered up the name of Ashema and the mention of a
Celestial sleeping in the sand. Convinced of the worth of this
message, Black Knight planned to travel to New York City to
ally himself with Victor von Doom who had taken up the role as
Counter-Earth's savior. Garrett figured the trumpet-horn would
make a fitting gift, but to appear more imposing he had
Whirlwind hold auditions for appropriate bodyguards. This led
to the addition of Crimson Dynamo and the Titanium Man to the
Masters of Evil.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1) - Before departing for
New York, the Knight told Radioactive Man to kill Whirlwind
because he had heard rumors of him trying to leave the fold.
Doctor Lu waited for Dave Cannon in his apartment, ready to
blast him with a lethal dose of radiation. However, Whirlwind
managed to talk the ever silent Chen into letting him go so he
could start a new, quiet life someplace else.
(Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1) - Black Knight took Crimson Dynamo and the
Titanium Man to New York where Doctor Doom had
taken up residency at the Baxter Building. With
his armored escorts standing outside, Garrett had
his audience with Doom (secretly a Doombot).
The Knight was allowed to make his case for a
partnership until he brought up Ashema and the
Celestials. Acting on orders from his master, the
Doombot promptly assassinated Garret while the
Baxter Building's defenses electrocuted his
escorts. The Doombot turned to a hologram of his
master who was pleased with his faithful subject's
actions. After all, none may stand beside Doom as
an equal.
Comments: Created by Walter Simonson, Michael Ryan,
Saleem Crawford, Will Conrad, Norm Rapmund.
Bless Joe Casey for giving the Masters another go as part of
the 2000 Heroes Reborn event. Casey went above and beyond the call of duty
to flesh out characters that Walt Simonson purposefully established as
total jokes. It's interesting to note that Casey doesn't have the Masters
act as a team in their own special: they're only assembled on the cover.
Whirlwind and Radioactive Man are off doing their own thing and Black
Knight is with the Melter before leaving for New York with Titanium Man
and the Dynamo. Interesting stylistic choice for a 'team' book.
Loki was the reason these villains acted like barely coherent boobs: the
Asgardian was quietly draining all the energy in Franklin's pocket
universe, leaving less and less for other villains which led to this less
than impressive incarnation of the Masters of Evil.
No explanation is given for Klaw's absence after their encounter with
Loki. Perhaps Klaw's life force was already used up, maybe his nature as
being of solid sound made it harder for him to rematerialize. Or maybe
Thor fatally wounded him when he smashed half his head in. They're all
figments of Franklin's imagination to begin with.
Which makes it hard to explain why the "real" Whirlwind was suddenly
wearing the same outfit as his Heroes Reborn counterpart when he showed up
in Avengers III#4. The best No-Prize explanation I can offer is
that Whirlwind had already switched to this new armor prior to the
Onslaught crisis. Franklin was (sub)consciously aware of the change when
he created a copy of Whirlwind for his own pocket universe.
With Black Knight dead and Whirlwind out to make a new life for himself,
the Masters of Evil are no more. Though one does wonder what happened to
the delirious Bruno Horgan. Is Radioactive Man still caring for him?
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Masters of Evil of Counter-Earth should not be confused with:
images: (without ads)
Avengers II#8, p20, pan1 (main image)
Avengers II#9, p9, pan3 (converted to energy)
Heroes Reborn Masters of evil I#1 p1, pan1 (group shot)
Heroes Reborn Masters of evil I#1 p20, pan1 (Radioactive Man &
Whirlwind)
Appearances:
Onslaught: Marvel Universe I#1 (October, 1996) -
Scott Lobdell & Mark Waid (writers), Andy Kubert & Joe Bennett
(pencils), Dan Green, Art Thibert, Tim Townsend, Jesse Delperdang
(inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Avengers II#8 (June, 1997) - Walter
Simonson (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Saleem Crawford, Will
Conrad, Norm Rapmund (inks), Rachelle Brissenden (editor)
Avengers
II#9 (July, 1997) - Walter Simonson (writer), Michael Ryan
(pencils), Saleem Crawford, Sal Regla (inks), Rachelle Brissenden
(editor)
Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil I#1 (January, 2000) - Joe Casey (writer),
Charlie Adlard (pencils & inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
First Posted: 11/14/2024
Last updated: 11/14/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
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Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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