What’s your favorite villain team-up?
The Suicide Squad isn't the only supervillain team-up in town
Film Features For The Boys
From top: Batman (1966), Back To The Future Part II, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. (Screenshots) Graphic: Libby McGuire
DC’s supervillain team-up spectacular The Suicide Squad premieres in theaters and on HBO Max this weekend. To celebrate, we’re looking back at our favorite villain team-ups across pop culture with this week’s AVQ&A:
What is your favorite villain team-up in pop culture?
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So there’s some kind of editorial fiat that says the Gawker sites have to post a minimum of five slideshows per day, y/y?
There’s also the Secret SixAnd the iteration of the Sinister Six from Superior Foes of Spider-Man
Superior Foes had so much hype and praise and I read it and it was… fine. Well made, definitely better than the average Marvel or DC book, but it didn’t stick with me at all. A while later I read Secret Six after seeing a fair amount of praise for it also, and I loved it. I still think about it regularly, especially Simone’s take on Bane. It wasn’t even sunk by the art turning to shit with Jim Calafiore in the last few volumes (seriously, it wasn’t just that the art was unimpressive, there were multiple times where it felt like it got in the way of the writing and messed up story beats). The whole “Get Out of Hell Free Card” arc is one of my favorite mainstream super-book stories ever. The bit where KIND OF SPOILER-YDeadshot stabs, shoots, or runs over ALL of his teammates and then you find out it was actually the most altruistic thing he has ever done in his life to try and save them just perfectly encapsulated how delightfully fucked up that book and its characters were.
The Revenge Society from The Venture Bros. especially around the Gargantua-2 heist.(No shade on the early OG members, Chuck, Wisdom, and Lady Nightshade)
Honorable mention goes to the dreaded Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
“And then we use that to get more psychedelic mushrooms, ya feel me?!”“More?”
is one of my favorite moments in that show (and perhaps all of TV) of all time.
My label keeps on droppin’ me ‘cause I keep on gettin’ killed but I’m like, “I’m gonna come back! I’m gonna come back!”
Here’s the thing about Rita and Zedd, they were WAY more successful married than apart.
Rita managed to destroy the Green Ranger powers and temporarily disable the Megazord and Dragonzord.
Zedd managed to destroy the Green Ranger powers for good (until Super Megaforce) and… that’s it.
After they got married though? They destroyed the Thunder Megazord and White Tigerzord, rendered the original Power Coins inoperable for years, kidnapped Kimberly and Ninjor, captured the Falconzord (which rendered the rest of the Ninja Zords inoperable), successfully turned the Earth back in time (kinda), destroyed the Ninja Power Coins completely, blew up the Command Center, create arguably the strongest monster the Rangers ever had to face (as it was able to stand up to even the Zeo Ultrazord!), and then destroyed the royalty of the Machine Empire before taking over Treforia and defeating the original Gold Ranger.
Speaking of Power Rangers, how can one forget Countdown to Destruction? Astronema’s army, Rita & Zedd’s army, Divatox’s army, and the Machine Empire all launched a mass invasion across the galaxy and easily overwhelmed all of the Rangers’ allies up to that point (Gold Zeo Ranger, Blue Senturion, Phantom Ranger, and the Aquitian Rangers), captured Zordon and was draining his energy, and despite the Space Rangers assisting with Bulk & Skull’s rebellion, they were being overwhelmed as well. They literally had to have Andros outright kill Zordon in order to deus ex machina a victory.
I think maybe I only saw two seasons of original flavor. Most of that is unfamiliar to me, though I think I saw the first movie?
Most of the Zedd stuff is from Season 3, and admittedly he had help from his brother-in-law and father-in-law.The mass villain takeover was the Season 6, Power Rangers in Space, finale: Countdown to Destruction, which was supposed to be the series finale except ratings were so good it go extended.
I stopped watching Power Rangers as a kid sometime after the first movie and Season 2 (I basically “grew up” from my Power Rangers/TMNT phase to my X-Men/BTAS/Comics phase). I’ve been vaguely aware of the many other incarnations over the years but passed them off as targeted too young for me to watch (and my kids haven’t really gotten into them).
All that is preface to say, dang this “Countdown to Destruction” story line sounds awesome and like a big reward for whoever stuck with the series up to that point!
In Space is actually one of the best seasons of the show. Most of the villains get development, the plots are intelligent, it features lots and lots of callbacks to older seasons, and it features arguably the greatest instance of “evil Power Rangers” ever in the Psycho Rangers. That being said, this is also the season that crossed over with Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, so it’s not ALL winners.
Wait, why are there five of them? Am I that old?
Next Mutation brought in a 5th Turtle, Venus De Milo, in order for the other four to fawn over her as a love interest. She was also the only competent member of the cast, defeating Shredder in mere seconds with literal ninja magic.
Ah, I figured as much. I thought I was seeing double for a second. Ten Ninja Turtles!
As a Power Rangers-obsessed kid, that arc blew my mind. I didn’t know you could do things like that on television. I’d hesitate to go back and rewatch it because I’m sure it’s corny and terrible, but the Astronema reveal especially just blew my tiny mind.
It may not be the best villain team-up, but Penguin and Catwoman in ‘Batman Returns’ has to be in the running for the horniest.
Gotham’s Penguin and Riddler say “Hold my beer”
Maybe not my favorite but the first one that came to mind – because we must honor Christopher Walken for his self-possessed NY accent (despite the character’s origins) and the somewhat perverse jollity he brings to a villain’s career. Sorry: I forgot the topic: Christopher Walken and Miranda Richardson were almost unstoppable in Sleepy Hollow, which is impressive next to Johnny Depp’s persistent gnawing on every piece of scenery in sight.
Ooh, good question. Probably Blackwater and Dick Cheney.
Yeah, I was just running a bunch of real-world examples through my head, many of which aren’t particularly funny:The Taliban and Al QaedaNazi Germany, fascist Italy, and imperial JapanDonald trump and the Christian Right
Yeah, for real world examples, it’s hard to top Hitler/Mussolini/Tojo (especially if you also throw in Stalin before his face turn after Hitler invades the USSR).
I’d make a case, however, for the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 carving up Africa among the various western powers.
AV Club and G/O Media
after decades of being bullied by successful capitalist asshole George McFly.Yeah, that mean bully who… firmly asks him to do the job he’s being paid to do when he tries to slack off doing it. What an asshole.[Checks byline] Yep, Sam Barsanti wrote that one. How am I not surprised.
Biff bullied George first AND tried to rape his future wife. He deserved to become a bitter old man with a piece of shit grandson.Also, George was a sci-fi novelist. How is that the same as a capitalist asshole?
C’mon! The Tick had the Terror, Human Ton, AND Joe Stalin on the same team!
“READ A BOOK!”
Recently, Harley’s crew on HBO’s Harley Quinn is a blast.Hobbs and Shaw was a stupid movie that was fun, but arguably they were both villains and maybe super, so maybe?
Does Journey to the West count? Because they were all pretty damn villainous before being recruited to help Sanzang. If you won’t count Wukong, Bajie and Sha Wujing, then I’m still sticking with it and going with Wukong and the Bull Demon King when they take on heaven. More contemporary, I have to go with the uneasy alliance between Gorilla Grodd and Lex Luthor, and a host of other villains, in Justice League Unlimited. I’m particularly fond of Luthor’s coup following Grodd’s failed attempt to turn everyone on earth into apes.
I was going to mention this, also when Grodd forms the Secret Society and they actually manage to work together to bring down the Justice League by subtly amplifying League’s own hang-ups and misgivings toward each other, ending in a spectacular televised arena battle.
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How about Tywin Lannister, Roose Bolton and Walder Frey?
Now that’s a team-up that could do some damage.
I’m still partial to “Beyond Good and Evil” the “should have been the series finale” 4-part crossover from the X-Men animated series of the 1990s. Apocalypse masterminds a plot that incorporates Magneto, Mr. Sinister, Sabretooth and Mystique (as you can see from the screen shot, not all of them stay allied for long). Not to mention so many Marvel (not just X-related) cameos than I still haven’t identified them all (Immortus!).
The Traveling Wilburys.
If there was a 90s Suicide Squad, the closest thing might be Cyrus the Virus, Diamond Dog, Billy Bedlam, Johnny 23, and the rest of the scumbags that team up to take over the plane in Con Air. Whoever Steve Buschemi’s masked sociopath is supposed to be is also a lot of fun, and that’s the movie, but it never forgets that these are bad guys, so there’s always a sense of danger and unpredictability persists throughout the film.
For cartoons, I genuinely watched a lot of Captain Planet when I was little, and they had a decent little rogues gallery with each villain tying into a different environmental problem. It was always exciting when they teamed up, and when they combined their powers, it even gave us the “Reverse Flash” version of Captain Planet called Captain Pollution. I couldn’t let this Q&A go without giving my childhood memories a shout out.
Jimmy and Gretchen in You’re the Worst.
I remember that era of wrestling and might have gone to a couple of those shows. The Rock was a great villain, especially with SCSA doing his anti-hero bit.
* Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula and the Wolfman in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, though they don’t exactly team up as much as meet up.* Namor the Submariner and Doctor Doom, pretty much every time they meet in the comics.* Gotham City Sirens* Keanu Reeves and Halle Berry in John Wick 3 — we are aware that there are no good guys in those movies, right?* The Reservoir Dogs* The Wild Bunch* The Legion of Doom, both in comic books and in wrestling
You’re talking about the original Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, & Riddler and take the time to name-check Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith, but NOT Lee Meriwether & Frank Gorshin? That’s like Giilligan’s Island “…and the rest” levels of lazy.
Bullseye and Kingpin from Daredevil.Any villain team-up in DuckTales.Do the Ex’s Scott Pilgrim had to fight count?
DS9’s Gul Dukat and the Dominion when they manage to retake Terok Nor.
I’ve always liked supervillain teamups that failed because the hero team all had common goals, but the villains all only hate their arch-rival and feel indifferent about everyone else.
I’ve only seen this done twice (the Justice League cartoon and the game JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven), but it’s still really funny because it feels like what would realistically happen. Of course Lex Luthor would have no real reason to try and defeat The Flash, he has such a hateboner for Superman that he doesn’t really have space to try and defeat anyone else.
Gotta go with Ghidorah and Gigan, defeated by a deadbeat artist, his deadbeat hippy buddies, and his kickass Girlfriend with a Job.
While not terribly effective, this remains my favorite villain team-up to this day. Starscream’s ghost and Unicron’s head being a close second.
The correct answer is, of course, Treehouse of Horror IV’s “Jury of the Damned”: Lizzie Borden, Benedict Arnold, Blackbeard, Jon Dillinger, John Wilkes Booth, the starting line of the 1976 Philadelphia Flyers, and Richard Nixon.
Honorable mentions:- Saddam Hussein & Satan: South Park BLU- Sauron, Agent Smith, King Kong, Voldemort, the Wicked Witch, Creature from the Black Lagoon, & Joker: Lego Batman Movie- Madeline Wuntch, Capt. CJ, & The Vulture: Brooklyn 9-9
Lex Luthor and Zod in Superman II.
winter on fire is nazi propaganda.