The Man Defender

Danny Adam Stark was just a regular guy in his early twenties until a chemically-infused pollution cloud caused a strange atmospheric disturbance and a bolt of lightning struck young Danny. After some time in hospital, his life continued. Over time he began to notice he was changing. He’d grown stronger and faster. He discovered he could jump almost a mile and shrug off a bullet to the face. Danny decided to use his powers to help those most in need to help: men. Danny sees society’s attempts to emasculate men as the primary cause of all the problems and if only the roles of the genders can be fixed, things will return to the way they were in the good old days. With this goal, the Man Defender will strike out against prominent feminists and lawmakers (especially females) who are trying to change things. He will break accused rapists out of jail, because the women were obviously asking for it. As far as he is concerned, he is the only hero addressing these issues of misandry and all the others are pathetic failures.

I’ve been doing a lot of world building stuff with the Supervillain Sunday sketches, which I enjoy, but I haven’t done as much addressing issues as I did with the Superhero Sundays. One of things a superhero story can do is use villains to represent real problems in the world. ‘Cause then we get to have a superhero beat up those problems, and that can be fun.

Hekkar

The demon-sorceress Hekkar is obsessed with gaining more power through a process known as “eating magic users”. Merging with the mystically altered flesh of those who use magic, Hekkar grows stronger, though what her goals may be beyond that are not known. But there is one who Hekkar can’t devour for power: the Conjuroid. The demon-fighting robot hero is the ideal defense against this demonic glutton, though as she is quick to point out, isn’t the Conjuroid just another being that destroys demons in its own quest to become stronger? Are they so different?

I admit, this one isn’t addressing an issue, really. I mean, sure, I worry about the threat of magicians being devoured as much as the next person, but the next person doesn’t care that much either.

The Monster Serpent

Snakes have a bad reputation. It’s a shame, really, ’cause plenty of them are pretty nice.

The Monster Serpent, however, is not nice. This monstrous snake is as cruel and cunning as any stories snake has ever been. The countryside around her lair is unusually empty, for even the animals have come to fear the dire snake that feasts on any who come within its range. When hungry, the serpent will leave her grounds to hunt for any animals, including wolves, bears, and even humans. The only being brave enough to defend the nearby animal population from this beast is another beast, the Horribloid.

The Horribloid is one of the ideas I had during the superhero year that I came to like more than I ever expected. I built up this whole superhero/Lord of the Rings/Watership Down sort of setting and it took off in my mind. I wanted to come up with a villain for that setting that is not a human and this was the result.

The Phantom Rabbit

When Chuck Grosnington was bombarded by radioactive space energy, he mutated into a hulking pink rabbit man strong enough to shatter steel and leap miles at a time. Calling himself the “Phantom Rabbit” he has decided he can do whatever he wants now, so he rampages around and acts like a total jerk.

I can still remember the day when I was in my late teens, working at my summer job and, quite bored, I drew the Phantom Rabbit. I just liked the idea that, in spite of their being nothing remotely “phantomy” about the character, he insisted on being called “The Phantom Rabbit”. Anyway, when I realized that I managed to do two rabbit-related heroes last year, I knew I had to get at least one rabbit villain, so the memory of this character came back.

“Monster Serpent” and “Phantom Rabbit” seemed like a good pair to put up in one post.

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.

The Violence Sisters

In the battle that was the dawn of time, The Great Genitor, the Space Spirit of Creation and founder of the Astrolympians, banished the Twin Emptinesses to allow room for existence to exist. But Genitor’s victory did not mean there was an end to battle. Even to this day, Genitor’s daughter, the Space God of Courage Valia, has to deal with several enemies powered by the negative influence of the Emptinesses. Lord Terryr, the Space God of Fear, for instance is the son of an Emptiness, but not all of their servants are their direct offspring. The Astrolympians’ Space God of War has many children, some among them allies to Valia, but a set of triplets begotten by War and the Space God of Hatred are among the most problematic foes Valia has to face.

The Violence Sisters, Cruelty, Brutality, and Ferocity. As with all gods, Space or otherwise, they are the living embodiments of the things they symbolize. While Lord Terryr is out for his own goal of domination of humanity, the triplets are loyal to the Emptinesses and their goal of destroying creation. The sisters dwell in the Caves of Emptiness, a sort of pocket dimension full of portals through which they can view and travel to the Earth. By influencing events, often taking the form of mortals to influence events so that any potential conflict escalates to the deadliest outcome they can.

There is no hierarchy among the group, each contribute to their cause as needed without any need for discussion. Ferocity is most likely to incite a crowd to violence, Brutality is the one who works to ensure that that violence is as savage as possible, and Cruelty exists to make sure the violence lasts as long as possible. It is up to Valia to show the mortals that sometimes the braver way to act is not to resort to violence. But luckily for her, she also gets to beat up on this terrible trio to further that cause.

I guess I can also mention that I originally sketched Brutality and Ferocity separately without any intentional connection between the two. When I picked up on their similarity, I added Cruelty because I felt like a trio would work even better. With that done, seeing they were named after concepts, I figured they’d fit into a pantheon of gods and it turned out I already had one of those lying around. The triplets were a perfect fit for the Astrolympians. I had already given Valia one villain in the form of Lord Terryr, and I hadn’t planned on spending so much time building up her supporting cast like this, but I do find that the Astrolympians are one of the things that have come up in my Super Sundays that have best stuck in my mind. I will possibly return to them at some point. But considering that neither these nor Terryr were intentionally created for that purpose, it will probably have to happen unintentionally.

Underchampion

In the city of Cemeteria there is a competition. Every year the city’s greatest warriors gather for contests of strength, speed, and intelligence with the winner gaining the title of Underchampion. Traditionally the Underchampion has been awarded a position as top soldier of the royal army, but the latest winner is not particularly pleased with the current government. Rejecting the traditional post, the Underchampion is actively leading a rebellious group against Queen Deathknell with intent to make the Underchampion the ruler of the sacred city.

I like this idea because in addition to stories about the Underchampion sending his forces against those of Queen Deathknell, I could also do stories of the two of them competing in the Cemeteria contests. On some level, I’m confident that this was inspired by the rivalry between T’Challa and Erik Killmonger in Black Panther comics.

Xaxhak

Mentions of Xaxhak can be found in ancient scrolls in the Mystical Library of Vodin, on stone tablets discovered in the ruins of a Scottish castle, and carved onto a wall at the scene of a massacre in the middle of Los Angeles. Cave paintings have even been discovered depicting an angry mouth eating human figures. Since as long as humanity has known, every 28 years, Xaxhak arrives on Earth with the intention of devouring 72 human beings. Unfortunately for Kelly Doukas, the twenty-eighth year has just come again.

When I drew Xaxhak (done with intention of having an easy drawing in addition to filling the supernatural being niche), I looked at the thing and though “This thing should be called ‘The Carnivortex'”. Unfortunately, looking the word up on Google, I found out that that was the name of some band’s album. Oh well. The choice to make her the villain for Kelly was just a whim of putting some things together that I didn’t intend, which has worked out well for me so far.