Pretend you are the persons writing/editing Trinity.
You must select an "anti-Trinity" of villains to oppose the Trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. You may not use the obvious choices (Joker, Cheetah, Luthor), but you may use anyone else, resurrecting them if need be.
Whom do you choose and why?
45 comments:
Darkseid for Superman, Ares (in full George Perez blue/black armor mode) for Wonder Woman, and Ra's Al Ghul for Batman.
Two gods and their mortal agent with godlike resources and reach.
well, these are a couple obvious ones too, but less obvious then the restricted ones.
Ra's, Doomsday and Ares.
Those guys are all pretty iconic for their respective heroes, and i think a book with all three of them woudl be great. This isnt assuming they would work together to take out the trinity in unison, but having all three working at the same time.
Amazo, batzarro, Dr. Domino
Riddler/Brainiac/Hercules
Bizzaro, The Penguin, Egg Fu.
Bizzaro is the Anti-Superman. He's dumb and almost always naturally destructive. His appearnce is monsterous and alien as well.
The Penguin is really a monster of the night actively trying to create an illusion of idle, rich, upper classman. His connections are worldwide yet he focuses his efforts on a single city.
Egg Fu, at least nowadays, seems to be a relentless cold force of science. He is, in all the egg shaped irony of this statement, the reality to Wonder Woman's myth.
I think they actually make a neat trio.
"Amazo, batzarro, Dr. Domino"
Now that would be interesting...
Black Adam, Deathstroke and Starro.
Black Adam is all about the entitlement that comes from having godlike powers- he enforces his vision of right and wrong on those around him. He's a good contrast to Superman's sense of responsibility.
Like Batman, Deathstroke has advantages that set him apart from the common man, yet he uses them in the most selfish way possible. Batman is about saving people- Deathstroke is about killing them.
Wonder Woman, is, ultimately, an inspirational figure. Her message of hope makes a good contrast to Starro's mission of enslavement and grinding conformity.
Getting these three to work together might be a problem, I admit.
Terra-Man, Egg Fu and Crazy Quilt.
...
OK. Brainiac, Circe and either Prometheus or Ra's.
"egg shaped irony" is my new favorite phrase.
It's ivory green bicycle brilliant.
How about Ares for Superman, The Joker for WW, and Luther for Batman??? This plays to each of their strengths to match the best of evil against the best of good in brawn, intellect, and in WW's case character schizophrenia.... Or if we are sticking to the whole "can't use them" thing go back to their roots Joe Chill for batman, Zod for Superman, and Ares for Wonder Woman. Each one who has their comic roots in the roots of each hero... i think it would be cool if they set them up as kind of like a trinity responsible for creating the other trinity kind of like a catalyst..........
TJ
Ha!
But seriously, The Penguin, Bizarro, and Egg Fu need to team up.
The best part? It is SUCH a DCU team-up.
No where in Marvel would you get a team so... awkward, but still be possible.
Of course the Egg Shaped, man-monster, super-scientist would need a person to inact his plans on American soil. Who better then that Egg Shaped, foul-fowl, mini-mobster?
I mean birds of a feather flock together.
Plus, hey, Bizarro is Egg Brained. He'd go along with it for a chicken sandwhich.
My first question is, why these three heroes? What exact threat would motivate exactly these three heroes to band together? And all I can come up with is a secret conspiracy of some kind that's aiming to change the nature of American society. One could throw in any number of fist fights with Bizarro / Egg-Fu / Riddler as the series progresses, but the ultimate villains would need to be Amanda Waller, Maxwell Lord, and Director Bones.
I know: The Glory Hounds! Silver Swan, Blackrock, and ...
Huh. Surely there must have been a Bat-villain who was in it just for the attention?
Captcha: "qahoi" - Klingon for "I congratulate you"?
Killer Moth?
Gotta say I'm intrigued by Busiek's selection, but I'll play.
Felix Faust, the most selfish villain in the DCU, balanced against Wonder Woman, the most altuistic.
The Floronic Man, the poster-boy for the pursuit of knowledge gone to extremes, versus Batman who would be the flip side of that poster.
Kanjar Ro, the would-be alien conquerer, balanced against Superman the alien benefactor.
Obviously all three of these guys would need a bump on the competancy meter before they could seriously tangle with the Tres Grandes.
Dr. Doom. Jacob Greene. Funky Flashman... just because.
The Demons Three reinvented for the 21st century. Rath, Ghast and Abnegazar.
Lauren
Captain Wonder, Star Sapphire, and Zeiss. The two dudes have a Sapphire sandwich. Superman and Wonder Woman make babies while Batman watches. No fighting, lotsa sex. Comic is never released, writer gets fired, wonders what the hell he was thinking.
I'd count the Riddler as a glory hound foe of Batman. Why else announce your crimes before hand?
As for ,my anti-Trinity, how about a friends of the Earth consisting of Ras, Circe and Terra Man.
I'm thinking of the eco-warrior Terra-Man who fought Superman as part of a gauntlet of villains sent at Superman by Manchester Black a few years back.
Terra-Man can act as a Catspaw and do something mindlessly violent in Gotham that would recquire both Superman and Wonder Woman to contain, with Superman most likely hampered by Terra Man's solar energy sapping super-algae, and he could be taken out by Batman planting a bunch of explosives at key points in his armor.
This wouls serve to distract the Trinity from Ras and Circe setting up a ritual that destroy all technology more sophisticated than what existed during the Bronze Age, with Ras' resources providing the material components and Circe providing the raw mystic power.
Obviously: Brother Power, Grodd, and the Sun-Eater. Because that precise combination of villains reciprocates the amount of deep consideration that went into stuffing SM, BM, and WW into a "Brave and Bold and Boobs" rehash. "Hey Dan, you know who needs another regular series? Batman! You remember, the guy with the bat on his chest? Our version of Wolverine. Yeah, that guy. And let's give him some back-up, coz he doesn't talk very much these days. How about that guy we killed off a few years back? And the woman. The one we haven't stuck in a refrigerator yet."
I'd second whomever mentioned that there needs to be a motivation for the evil trio outside of killing WW, Bats and Supes. As such, my Trinity would consist of Ra's Al Ghul, General Zod and the de facto leader of the group, Ares.
(I'd almost replace Zod with Darkseid or Doomsday but I just can't see either of those two working well with others.)
Ares could plan a total takeover of the world with Ra's army of followers and Zod's power behind him. Their combined military mindsets might cause Bats, Supes and Wondy to lose the battle before it even begins.
Cary Bates, Marv Wolfman, and Fred Hembeck.
One killed the JSA, one destroyed the multiverse, and one destroyed the Marel Universe!
Very constructive and fun, Steve! I hope you feel better now.
But conceptually, your suggestion makes a lot of sense. The Sun-Eater, who threatens the source of Superman's power; Grodd, who is Batman's opposite because his brains and brawn are devoted to domination rather than liberation; and Brother Power, who, like Wonder Woman is an inanimate object brought to life with an ostensible message of peace.
I might replace the Sun-Eater with Starbreaker in your Anti-Trinity, but otherwise your suggestion shows great insight into Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, or, as I like to think of them, The Guy Who Doesn't Talk Much, The Guy They Killed Off A Few Years Back, and the Woman Who's Not in a Refrigerator.
Dr. Psycho, Mxyzptlk, and The Mad Hatter. Short, crazy, unpredictable, and potentially quite evil and malicious. The visuals would be great. And each really is a kind of opposite number-- the enslaver of women, the purposeless destroyer of the status quo, and the deliberate corrupter of memories of an innocent childhood.
Lana Lang, Steve Trevor, and Vicki Vale. 'Cause there's no evil that can compare to the poison lurking in the hearts of lovers cast aside. ;-)
Silver Swan, Pulsar Stargrave and Inertia. Silver Swan has opposed Wonder woman before and Stagrave is a Legion of superheroes foe. Inertia would be cool to see against Batman.
Anna
Mr. Mxyzptlk for Superman, Bat-Mite for Batman.
I don't know of a Wonder Woman analogue, but I'm sure Kanigher must have created something similar for her.
Going with something I talked about on my blog a while back, I choose the following for my anti-Trinity: Atomic Skull (not the version who showed up in Manhunter this week), Doctor Cyber, and the Monk.
The Atomic Skull I'm referring to is the crime boss version that Busiek used a while back. The Monk, of course, is the vampire that was one of Batman's first villains (I know he's dead, but that's easy to fix).
So what we have is the Atomic Skull (as Superman villain) who is a crime boss (a typical foe type of Batman), Doctor Cyber (a Wonder Woman villain) who is science fictiony (a typical foe tppe of Superman) and the Monk (a Batman villain) who is a supernatural creature (a typical foe type of Wonder Woman).
I think that'd be fun.
Gorilla Grodd, Cheetah and Killer Croc, for no other reason than it would be animal-themed. Oh, and you can't go wrong with talking apes.
Scip: Killer Moth, definitely.
The Riddler is admittedly a glory hound, but not just a glory hound. He's a little too competent to be hanging with the Swan and Blackrock. (Ideally the latter would be in his original purple-and-green number, with the not-at-all-dated television aerial weapon... )
I consider Bizarro and R'as both to be out because of their appearances in Matt Wagner's previous Trinity book.
I'd go with:
Ares (a solid mastermind capable of igniting war, which is really WW's best enemy if you want to work her diplomacy angle) and laying superman flat on his ass, Grundy (gotta have something for Superman to eventually punch) and Penguin (someone has to finance this operation, hire pretty much any guest stars you want to work in).
Either that, or... Fuck it, dude, let's go bowling: Lobo could take all three of them... for a while.
Blackrock. (Ideally the latter would be in his original purple-and-green number, with the not-at-all-dated television aerial weapon... )
If nobody at DC is planning a story where Blackrock returns to destroy all digital technology as revenge for the demise of analog TV signals...why on earth not?!?!?
Prometheus, Conduit, and Dr. Light.
Ok, but seriously...
General Zod (Pocket Universe Version), The KGBeast, and Maxwell Lord. The three villians bad enough that one of the Trinity broke (or at least severely bent) their general code against killing to stop...
This is a fun exercise. I have 3 suggestions:
My serious one:
Faora, Talia and Paula Van Gunther (possibly substituting Granny Goodness or the Enchantress for Van Gunther to make up for the lack of power). Three kick-ass, brainy female foes that would make for a dramatic conflict.
My fun one:
Composite Superman, Calendar Man and the Invisible Un-Thing
My import Marvel villains one:
Loki, Dr. Doom and Green Goblin
Hold the phone; the Invisible Un-Thing was a foe of Aquaman, not Wonder Woman. (I nearly put him in Aquaman's Villain Tarot as Mental Challenger.)
My suggestions would be Toyman, the Riddler, and Dr. Poison.
Hush, Conduit, and a newly-shoehorned-in Amazon who has resented Diana for years because she won the silly contest?
no, even better:
Bane, Doomsday, and Giganta! But this could only work after Giganta got built up (so to speak) in a story in which Wonder Woman acted like an addled twit, allowing Giganta to win and do her grievous bodily harm.
[yoda]Much anger there is in these responses. Anger leads to fear. Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to self-loathing. And self-loathing leads to Frank Miller.[/yoda]
It has finally dawned on me, that you said we couldn't use Cheetah. I am slow, but I get there eventually. Instead of Cheetah, use Catman, Grodd and Killer Croc. They'd probably end up killing each other, but what the hey.
Villains of Their Own Creation:
Metallo
Jason Todd
Silver Swan
The Ones Outshined:
Etta Candy
Pete Ross
James Gordon
Obviously, the answer is:
King Tut, Terra Man, Dr. Domino.
Superman: Doctor Spectro
Wonder Woman: Angle-Man
Batman: Mr. Polka-Dot
I can't get past these three:
Titano the Super-Ape - all the power in the hands of the Least able to handle it.
The Mutant Boss from DKR - the crime lord just for the sake of doing harm.
Granny Goodness - the corrupter. (Though Glorious Godfrey is probably a better pick for the anti-Diana.)
I think it's because there's nothing to be done about them except kill then.
Blast it. Try as I might, I simply cannot think of gorilla-themed villains for all three of them.
Because everything's better with monkeys, of course.
Oh, that's easy!
Batman: The Gorilla Boss of Gotham
Wonder Woman: The King of the Space Gorillas
(http://www.thefifthbranch.com/gorilladaze/?p=231)
and
Superman: Yango the Kryptonian Gorilla
http://www.comicbookdb.com/character.php?ID=6434
Joker
Luthor
Giganta
Pretty effective piece of writing, much thanks for your article.
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