Suppose that you’re the kind of person who is completely okay with identifying yourself as a supervillain. Your disdain for society has placed you in a mindset where you can happily say “I’m the bad guy” and your love of death rays keeps you from just being satisfied with drug dealing, tax evasion, or politics. You need to be a supervillain and that can be a lonely life. Superheroes keep beating you up and henchmen are unreliable. But the thirteen members of the Villainy Alliance prove that supervillains can work together and fight loneliness and the forces of good at the same time.

Major Crimewave

A cyborg with a variety of weapon arms, Major Crimewave was never really in the military, but he liked the idea of military rigor and discipline so much that he based his attempts to conquer the world around it. Eventually, though, he realized that world conquest was a bit out of reach for one guy with a platoon of crooks, so he joined the Villainy Alliance to make his goals more achievable.

Professor I

The result of a lot of genetic tinkering, Professor I is an incredibly talented little freak. It is unfortunate for society that I uses that talent for crime science. The builder of the Villainy Alliance’s headquarters and designer of many of their weapons, I doesn’t like to go on missions, but can always be found woring hard in the Alliance’s laboratory.

The Killer Corsair

The Killer Corsair is a feared pirate. She’s leader of a bloodthirsty crew of criminals who like to hijack ships and ransom crews, but the Corsair herself enjoys playing up the swashbuckling role and masterminding outlandish schemes. She provides the Alliance with her henchmen.

Multimonster

The Multimonster is used to working on a team, being a hive mind of alien creatures. On their world the group was the first to achieve this sort of gestalt unity, the rest of the population considering it abhorrent, but Multimonster grew strong. An insatiable urge to conquer brought the Multimonster to Earth and to the Villainy Alliance. Each segment of the Multimonster has different powers and they can separate to perform different tasks as needed.

Avian

On her own she was just a jewel thief in a bird suit that allowed her to fly, but since joining the Villainy Alliance, Avian has moved up in the ranks of infamy. And that is important to Avian. She is very interested in maintaining a reputation as a badass criminal, because as far as she’s concerned, if you aren’t tough, you’re weak, and that’s the worst thing you can be.

Jerboa

A wanted criminal tried to escape police pursuit by hiding in a science experiment, he wound up trapped there as it activated and became mutated with a Jerboa. With his newfound superhuman hopping abilities, combined with his previous streetfighting experience, he became a formidable fighter, but not so powerful that he can take out most superheroes. With the idea of safety in numbers, Jerboa took up with the Villainy Alliance.

The Rubber Bandit

It’s a simple concept: a criminal who can stretch like rubber. For years the Rubber Bandit has been a successful part of the supervillain scene. Using the profits from his crimes, the Bandit funded clubs for super-criminal networking that led to bringing together the Villainy Alliance.

Voidface

Some sort of sentient portal to an empty dimension, the being known as Voidface has commandeered a human form and joined the Villainy Alliance. With the ability to create suction or expel force through the void in his face makes him a powerful foe. His motives are not entirely clear, but he seems happy to do crimes with his friends.

Incinerato

Some people just love the dramatics that go along with supervillainy. Incinterato is one of those. With the ability to generate and control flame, Incinterato wasted no time dressing in an elaborate costume, building a fire-themed headquarters, and holding cities for ransom. When the opportunity to join a full-fledged supervillain team arose, he did not hesitate for a second.

Volley

Given the ability to generate bursts of energy at will, Volley served in the military for several wars, but eventually looked at his life and saw how little he had to show for it. Instead, he decided, he should be working toward more selfish ends. He became a supervillain, then joined the Alliance, and has had such a good time that he’d got no compunction to go back to the straight and narrow.

The Blue Brute

A criminal from an alternate timeline who escaped justice their by coming here, the Blue Brute is an extremely strong and violent offender. In a way it is fortunate for society that the Blue Brute has been recruited by the Alliance, because on his own the Brute would simply be following his own homicidal whims.

Pangolin

Wearing a suit of cybernetic armor modelled after the pangolin, the criminal called the Pangolin was a formidable force as a bodyguard for hire for various mob bosses. But when one of those bosses thought it would be a good idea to kill off the Pangolin because she knew too much, the Pangolin had no choice but to kill the mob boss off. That pissed off the entire crime syndicate and the Pangolin was on the run. At least, that was, until she found a home with the Villainy Alliance. The syndicates are not stupid enough to continue their vendetta against this group.

Crime-Diver

When you’re entire theme as a supervillain limits you to underwater crime, you have few options. Sure, the Crime-Diver is strong and tough and can hold his own in a fight with a superhero, but unless he’s underwater, he is just a thug on the low-end of the dumb muscle spectrum. But with the Alliance, there are always smarter villains around who can find a role for the Crime-Diver’s skill set.

I think I’m done doing Superheroes on Sunday for now. It wasn’t a year, as I said it would be, but since I started doing two a week at one point, I think I’ve earned the right to move onto villains when I feel like it.

But before I do that, let us review what has come so far. I said I would populate four universes with superheroes. With the creation of the Beam(s), I started fleshing those universes out a bit. But now I’ll go considerably further.

Let’s say that superhumans and supertechnology first appeared in the late 1800s. The sort of scientific advancements you’d expect to see in a novel by Wells or Verne contributed to a sort of steampunk society. As time went on, portals to other dimensions (like the Narnia or Oz books) allowed humanity glimpses of other worlds and allowed still more technological progress. By the 1930s, pulpish heroes had adventures all over the world and on other planets. By the time the 1940s rolled around we got heroes that resemble those of our Golden Age of superhero comics. With a history like this it is not a surprise that by the modern day humans are spread throughout the galaxy and Earth is a complex world of advanced cityscapes. Superheroes here are relatively common, employed by law enforcement agencies and governments, but also rogues and vigilantes.

This pulp/sci-fi/Golden Age world would be home especially to heroes that fill those niches. Gus Comet is definitely here, as are the Red Shark and the Green Camera. Other possibilities include Astro-Hero, Bludgeonak, ProboscAce, Halberd-Man, and the Scarlet Cannon.

Suppose that the coming of the superheroes happened during the Second World War. Their arrival ended the war years earlier than in our world, and the world had to adjust to all these colorful costumed characters. In the 1950s World War Three occurred, a war between superpower nations with superpowered soldiers. At the end of that war, William Block was the Secretary General of the United Nations and he created a unit called Block’s Elite Strike Team, which would grow to be the primary peacekeeping unit in a world filled with superhuman threats of all varieties. Through the 60s a slew of “super-criminals” came into being, many disillusioned WWIII veterans, and accordingly superpowered crimefighters came as a result. As society grew more accustomed to famous people with code names, it became common for celebrities who didn’t fight crime to take on aliases (a singer might call himself, the Mighty Voice or Songmaster or who knows what other nonsense). Supervillainy has had its effect on society as well: street gangs wear capes and masks to show their colors, and even some of the world’s military uniforms have been designed to look like super-costumes. On this Earth, superhumanity is a world-shaping force, and their constant fighting is starting to reach dangerous levels that could result in the end of humanity itself.

This is the world that is home to my Justice-Man character and all the supporting cast I made for him. Most of the other characters I made circa Junior High call this world home. That includes: Rhinoceros Woman and Rabbit, Helm, and the Strange Squad (including but not limited to Cut-Up, Forcefieldo, and Brain Pain). But it isn’t only the heroes I created then, many of the ones invented for Super Sunday would also be in here. Securer, Vanquisher, HAULER, and the Crew of the Cosmic would also be among this world’s multitude of heroes. The overall feel of this world, with its long history of superhuman activity and the overabundance of costumed chaos, kind of reflects what I would have seen in comics during my formative years (and today).

The bad universe. A world where bad guys are winning and good guys are few and far between. The coming of superhumans here has not been pretty. The world’s most advanced remaining societies are now dystopian nightmares and the countries that aren’t as lucky have been reduced to almost post-apocalyptic scars on the surface of the Earth.

The most prominent heroes here are Lex Techno and his Raid Force Zero (Captain Fire was a member of this group). The Blue Cloak and Killshadow. And to keep things organic, I’ll throw in some who were not specifically created to be in especially dark worlds, like Monstrona.

A universe where superheroes haven’t yet had a huge effect on society and the jury is still out about how they will change the world. Will they bring about an end to crime and warfare, or will society crumble? This is the universe where I’m placing most of the characters who have turned up in Super Sunday that I find the most interesting. In a way it is what I consider my ideal superhero universe to write about.

Home to: Noblewoman and the Surrealist. Skullserpent. The Orbzoid. Horribloid. Volcanocles. Queen Deathknell. Drona. Demonoclast. Securitaur. The Astounding Gunk. The Guild of Crime Fighters.

Here’s the final pair of characters from the Justice-Man supporting cast:

The Lupine

J. Aaron Stallone was an orphaned boy who had superhuman powers. He came to the attention of the the super-agency BEST. Given that Justice-Man had been through a similar experience, it was decided that the established hero should work with the boy to try to help him adjust. Though it was not the intention, Stallone was able to turn this into a position as a sidekick. Styling himself as Justice-Kid, Stallone was allowed to come along on some of Justice-Man’s simpler missions for a few years, while learning from BEST in his off hours. That wasn’t enough, though, and eventually Stallone created another secret identity, that of the Lupine, so that he could sneak out at night and fight crime on his own. The mysterious wolf-based vigilante made a big name for himself and Justice-Man and BEST had no reason to expect that anything was wrong with Stallone.

That continued until the day the Lupine was arrested after killing and eating a couple of criminals. BEST and Justice-Man were confused and horrified when the Lupine was unmasked. Stallone is now in prison, but still considers himself a good guy (he insists that the fact he only ever ate criminals makes it okay) and Justice-Man still visits once a month, hoping to find some way of helping him.

So anyway, the story of Justice-Kid is basically a worst case scenario of the whole teen sidekick thing. I mentioned that the Lupine still considers himself a good guy, and that’s true. For stories I hope to tell someday, that will be important. It is worth noting that Stallone’s powers are in no way wolf-like. He’s got glowing super punches, for example. His logic with his costume choice is that it would be nuts for him to use an identity that gave away the kind of powers he had. There’s a method to his madness.

The Old Sage

There is a mysterious old man who has been a mysterious old man since at least the 1930s. He hangs around on the edge of the superhero community appearing when there are problems of some mystical or cosmic significance, seemingly using magical abilities, though he won’t admit to it. They call him the Old Sage because his true identity is unrevealed (he insists that it is unimportant). Justice-Man, however, knows more than most. Over the years the two have worked together many times and Justice-Man has learned that the mysterious stranger is actually from another dimension, a fantastic realm of magic and monsters. He has travelled the cosmos to fight evil and uses the superheroes of Justice-Man’s world as a handy workforce. Perhaps his methods are a bit underhanded, but Justice-Man has grown to trust the strange wizard, and so the Old Sage continues to serve his purposes from the edges of rational thought.

There were times when young PDR was creating his superhero universes when he would decide that it would be best (or more “realistic”) if he tried to make his superhero universe Hard Sci-Fi, meaning having no magic or aliens or anything that didn’t really exist. That never ever worked out for long. “Realistic” superhero fiction is not what PDR actually wants out of superheroes. Anyway, during the times when PDR was creating his superhero universes, he was also creating fantasy universes. That’s where the Old Sage comes from, my fantasy universe, and he’s travelled to the superhero world to be the Dr. Strange-style magic man.

I have not read the Flash of Two Worlds story, but I know the basics. There’s two universes and there’s a Flash in each of them. They meet up and hang out. Probably punch some dudes. Good times. What I like about this concept is that this isn’t a mirror universe where the guy meets an alternate version of himself, but instead it’s two separate guys (Barry Allen and Jay Garrick) who both have the Flash identity in their respective worlds. I thought that was neat.

I said when I started this whole Super Sunday thing, I said I could come up with enough characters to populate four superhero universes. Well, let’s get that particular claim some backup. Here’s a superhero called the Beam from each of those four universes. To avoid the “Which universe gets to be Earth-1” argument, the Beams have taken to using a naming scheme that is based on the primary colors of their costumes. That’s how we get:

The Beam of Earth Green

Frank Goldsmith was a district attorney who discovered a magical gem. It turns out that this “Beam Gem” gave him the power to fly so fast that he appears as a bright green streak. He affixed the gem into a helmet and became the Beam, champion of justice and right.

This guy is the oldest of the Beams. He’s been doing it for decades and isn’t slowing down (You see?). I’m going for something of a Golden Age Beam feel with him (though he’s not a WWII hero or anything literal like that), but I picture the gem being green, as is his shirt, but he’s just got brown pants. And he probably carries a pistol most days.

The Beam of Earth White

Terry Tork was an astronaut who got caught in a space storm and was bombarded with space-warp energies. Consequently, Terry gained the ability to defy gravity and move so fast that he is just a white streak. He became a superstar space hero, but he got cocky and he hired an agent to help him make more money off of his superhuman status. Sadly, the agent was secretly a spy for an enemy nation and he used the Beam as part of a plan to sabotage a space station and several of Terry’s colleagues were killed. Now humbled and repentant, the Beam serves humanity instead of himself.

This would be the Silver Age-inspired Beam. The costume, I figure, is white with red highlights (his boots, gloves, emblem, etc). The tragic origin is especially typical of Silver Age Marvel styles, as is the alliterative name.

The Beam of Earth Red

Rick Delroy Lewis was a soldier in the British Army who was chosen to take part in a secret experiment. The army scientists injected hundreds of young men with nanotechnology. There were some successes, many failures, and there was the Beam. With the same powers as the ones above, the Beam was used for a variety of covert ops, but he is now a free agent.

This is the bad alternate universe, somewhat like the world of DC’s Crime Syndicate. Luckily I had already created a pretty crappy universe when I made Lex Techno, so it looks like that’s Universe Red. The Beam is a member of Lex Techno’s team. He’s got a mysterious past with the covert ops and all that. His costume is pure red except those black stripes.

The Beam of Earth Orange

Erika Daniels was a typical college student. Her father, however, was a world-renowned scientist. There was a quantum physics experiment, her father died, she got powers, her father’s partner turns out to have been behind the accident and becomes a supervillain and she fought him and he died. She continued her superhero career as the Beam. She is then recruited to the Megacavalry, the primary hero team on this Earth.

This is just a basic modern-superhero-movie-style origin story (except Hollywood, sadly, basically never goes with a female protagonist). In the current generation of movies there is always a villain in some way tied to the hero’s origin to make things personal, and the villain almost always dies. The recruitment to the Megacavalry would be the after-the-credits moment. Any part of the costume that isn’t shaded black is meant to be orange.

So there’s four heroes, each for a different universe. And that is without even factoring the Hover Head universe into this. And I don’t think I’m halfway through this year of superhero making either.