EMISSARIES of EVIL

Membership: Cobalt Man, Eel (Stryke), Egghead, Porcupine (Gentry), Power Man (Josten), Rhino, Solarr, Swordsman (DuQuesne)


Purpose: To do Egghead's bidding


Affiliations: None


Enemies: Defenders (Clea, Dr. Strange, Hulk (Banner), Nighthawk, Power Man (Cage), Red Guardian (Belinsky), Valkyrie (Brunnhilde)), the Flight (Groundhog, Saint Elmo, Smart Alec, Snowbird, Stitch, Wolverine)


Base of Operations: An orbiting NASA space station


First Appearance: Defenders I#42 (December, 1976)



History: (Alpha Flight Special II#1) - Egghead hired several costumed criminals including the Eel, Porcupine, Power Man, Rhino, Solarr and the Swordsman to work as his henchmen in a scheme to hold the United States hostage. They gathered in Canada, where Egghead had constructed a nuclear device. The group comandeered the television airwaves, and Egghead demanded that the President of the United States turn over his role of Commander-in-Chief to Egghead or the scientist would launch the nuke into New York City. James Hudson's team of Canadian adventurers, the Flight, saw the broadcast and rushed to stop the group. Even with little training, the Flight quickly took out Egghead's Emissaries before turning their attention to him. Egghead refused to disable the nuclear device, which had been set to go off, and Flight member Saint Elmo sacrificed his life to transmute it into light energy.


(Defenders I#42 (fb) - BTS) - Egghead equipped a NASA space station with an arsenal and reformed the Emissaries of Evil, this time with Rhino and Solarr, as well as the drifting Cobalt Man, whom he brainwashed to destroy the Defenders. He sent them against the Defenders to retrieve the Star of Capistan.

(Defenders I#42) - Rhino and Solarr attacked the Defenders and held their own until they realized that the Defenders did not have the gem. They returned to the space station and were punished by Egghead for their failure. Egghead sent the Cobalt Man to fight the Defenders, and activated his nuclear arsenal, hoping to see the Defenders destroyed.




(Defenders I#43) - Cobalt Man was freed from his brainwashing by Clea and Red Guardian. Solarr and Rhino were defeated by Red Rajah (Dr. Strange). Egghead attempted to defeat the Defenders on his own, but Cobalt Man turned his powers on Egghead instead, seemingly slaying them both.





Comments: Created by Gerry Conway, Keith Giffen, and Klaus Johnson.

In Alpha Flight Special II#1, the team is never called the Emissaries of Evil as such. Egghead does, however, refer to them as his "employed Emissaries." Given that two of the "original" members (from the Defenders story) are working with him here as well (just leaving Cobalt Man, whom he basically found by chance), Marvel has officially made this an earlier incarnation of the same group, as per Atlas's group membership in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 2006.  As they are both teams consisting of the same leader, two of the same villains, and with a few other villains mixed in, they are considered the same group, as per the precedent set by the Crimson Cowl (Hammer)'s Masters of Evil, which had two incarnations, but due to overlapping membership, are considered the same group.

Profile by Chadman and Madison Carter.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Emissaries of Evil have no known connections to

images:
Defenders I#43, p7, pan2
Defenders I#43, p17, pan3

Appearances:
Defenders I#42-43 (December, 1976 - January, 1977) - Gerry Conway (writer), Keith Giffen (penciler), Klaus Janson (penciler/inker), Gerry Conway (editor)
Alpha Flight Special II#1 (June, 1992) - Scott Lobdell and Simon Furman (writers), Pat Broderick (penciler), Bruce Patterson (inker), Rob Tokar (editor)

First Posted: 10/02/2006
Last updated: 12/26/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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