FORGOTTEN AGE VILLAINS

These are the villains that operated during the period between the end of the Golden Age of super-heroes and the Modern Age that began with the arrival of Superman.

Contents

A to CD to FG to IJ to LM to OP to RS to UV to Z

A to C

ABRA CADAVER

HISTORY

The creature called Abra Cadaver was once a talented stage magician and escape artist named Gareth Trelawny, who went by the stage name Trelayne. Ambitious and competitive, Trelawny continually pushed the envelope with his death-defying escape stunts. Secretly he also studied the true mystic arts in an attempt to find a way to beat death. When performing his most dangerous escape trick yet, Trelawny realized in the last seconds that he was not going to make it out. In desperation he used a dark incantation he had recently uncovered. When the rescue workers finally reached Trelawny, the magician was dead, but this was not the end. Before a terrified Las Vegas crowd Trelawny's ashen corpse sprung back to life. At first ecstatic that the incantation had worked, Trelawny was then horrified to see that while the dark magic had indeed saved him from death, it had given his body a cadaverous appearance. With no way to resume his old life, Trelawny attacked his rescuers and fled.

From that point on Trelawny set out to find a way to restore his body to normal, or find some other way to return to his old life. He turned to crime to finance his efforts to search out mystic secrets and the press dubbed him Abra Cadaver. He began to develop a hatred for the living, especially other performing magicians and as Abra Cadaver would occasionally decide to target an escape artist in a twisted revenge plot.

Abra Cadaver was a frequent foe of the Illusionist, whose own mystical powers helped him combat the undead magician. Cadaver was seemingly defeated for good when the Illusionist found a way to sever Trelawny's soul from his animated corpse. With that accomplished the magician's body finally died permanently and Trelawny's spirit was sent to its final destination, which was not somewhere nice.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Abra Cadaver was a living corpse, which meant that he could not really be killed as he was already dead. This meant he could put his body into situations that would normally be lethal and emerge unscathed. Cadaver was a talented stage magician and escape artist, skills he turned to his crimes and revenge schemes, often concocting macabre scenarios to place his victims in. Cadaver had also studied the dark mystic arts, but was not a practised spellcaster; he relied on complex rituals found in ancient tomes and scrolls when he needed to perform any true magic.

The BARON

HISTORY

The Baron's true name is unknown, though some sources have indicated his family name might have been Reiter. A vicious Nazi officer, after an accident deformed his face and nearly blinded him the Baron was experimented on by German scientists and given superhuman powers. He took the name Baron Blitzkrieg and, wearing a suit of special armor including a full face helmet, he served the Nazis as a super agent, battling the Allied forces including the wartime team of Mystery Men and Women called the All-Star Squadron. In the final days of the war Blitzkrieg was one of many senior German officials who were taken by the Soviet Union. He began working for the Soviets, now going simply as The Baron. He would continue to operate as a Soviet agent for much of the Cold War, though would also operate on his own. The Baron founded the secretive Shadowspire organization during this time as well. Though usually operating in secret during the period of the Forgotten Age, the Baron would sometimes be involved in plots that brought him into conflict with the super heroes of that era. The Baron often worked with a Soviet agent named Kodrescu who had the psychic ability to project illusions and would later work with the Baron in Shadowspire.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The experimental procedure performed on the Baron by Nazi scientists gave him the ability to harness the full potential of his body and mind. He had superhuman strength, agility and durability as well as the ability to fly and move at superhuman speed. The Baron could also project beams of energy from his eyes. The enhancements to the Baron's physiology also meant that he aged more slowly than a normal human. The Baron's primary weakness was psychological, a result of the trauma of the accident that scarred him. If his vision was impaired or he saw his scarred face the Baron would suffer severe flashbacks to the accident and be muddled and irrational until he could calm down.

D to F

DISCO KNIGHTS

HISTORY

The Disco Knights were a team of criminals who used a disco-themed gimmick during robberies. The team's longevity was mainly due to their ability to quickly replace members who were caught and arrested during the crimes. The Disco Knights operated mainly in Washington DC and occasionally Metropolis and were frequently confronted by the patriotic duo of Mr. America and Liberty Lass. The Disco Knights eventually succumbed to attrition once too many of their number had been arrested.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The Disco Knights were a gang of professional thieves. The group would dress in white spangled jumpsuits wearing Afro wigs and used motorized roller skates for quick getaways. Rather than conventional firearms the Knights carried large pistols with what looked like disco balls on the end that projected dazzling stroboscopic lights and blasted out deafening music that they would use to incapacitate people.

DOCTOR COBALT

HISTORY

Doctor Myron Brenner was a brilliant but eccentric, some would say insane, scientist and engineer. Myron had achieved breakthroughs in nuclear physics and controlled use of radiation, but his peers were rarely able to replicate his results and often criticized the reckless and dangerous nature of many of his experiments. Ostracized, Myron dedicated himself to proving his critics, and society at large, wrong. He became an almost stereotypical Mad Scientist, creating giant robots, flying machines, and radiation-powered monsters with which to terrorize Superior City. Calling himself Doctor Cobalt, Myron was frequently opposed by rival genius and tech-based hero Mr. Fix-It.

Doctor Cobalt would usually escape capture, working remotely through his creations, but would occasionally be apprehended. He would often use his genius to escape, but eventually he imprisoned in a Federal prison to serve several consecutive sentences. He was released after serving twenty years and immediately set out to take revenge against his old enemy. Mr. Fix-It was long retired from the hero game and was teaching shop at a high school, but he would wind up mentoring a group of new teenage heroes to help fight off Cobalt's renewed attacks.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Doctor Cobalt is a brilliant scientist and inventor. Unfortunately he decided to use his brilliance for nefarious purposes. As part of his campaigns of crime and terror Doctor Cobalt has produced atomic-powered robots equipped with laser guns, flying saucer-like craft with lasers and tractor beams (which he once used to steal an entire bank building); and he has invented a means to use radiation to produce controlled mutations in animals. The latter technology he preferred to use to create giant monsters which he would send to attack the city.

DOCTOR RADIATION

A radiation-powered villain born from atomic testing.

DOCTOR TRAP

HISTORY

Lawrence "Larry" Trapp was just a normal man living his mundane life when he saw his girlfriend killed, an innocent bystander in a fight between the Justice Experience and their enemies the House of Pain. He swore revenge on all costumes, heroes and villains alike, blaming them for his loss and determined to make them pay. Trapp had surgery to replace his mouth and jaw with a metal prostheses with sharpened teeth and set out to kill all the costumed heroes and villains he could find, calling himself Dr. Trap. He started with those directly responsible for his girlfriend's death, trapping and killing the House of Pain and doing the same to the Justice Experience, with only one of the heroes surviving. He then proceeded on to attack other heroes and villains, killing several more. One of his last victims was the second Tarantula and his death drew the Justice Society out of retirement to finally stop Dr. Trap. Trap's murderous cross-country crusade is generally considered to be the primary cause of the end of the Forgotten Age of heroes.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Dr. Trap became adept at creating death traps and other gruesome methods of killing his targets, turning his engineering skill to becoming a serial killer of costumed heroes and villains. Trap had his jaw replaced with a sharp-toothed mechanical metal prostheses that was strong enough to bite through steel.

The FRATERNITY OF FEAR

HISTORY

The Fraternity of Fear were part of a larger group of people across the United States who adopted super hero and super villain identities as part of a brief fad that spun out of a retro nostalgia for the heroes of the 1930s and 1940s. Four twenty-something yuppie men in New England decided they would become super-villains and formed the Fraternity of Fear, later joined by the girlfriend of one of the members. Their crimes were generally harmless, mostly attention-getting public antics, but occasionally they would commit robberies, often targeting businesses or events that would draw publicity. More often than not the whole point of their crimes was to draw out the members of their larger group that had chosen to be super heroes and have public confrontations. The Bachelor and Crystal were frequent opponents for the Fraternity of Fear. The fad slowly faded and the Fraternity of Fear quietly retired from being super villains.

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FUTURION and The TIME TERRORS

A time-travelling villain from the future and his chosen warriors.

G to I

GAS MASTER

HISTORY

The Gas Master was a terrorist who frequently tried to cause chaos in Superior City. Gas Master's attacks were usually countered by some of the city's heroes, including Nightracer and the Shadow on separate occasions. Frequently apprehended, the Gas Master would inevitably escape to terrorize the city again. Gas Master was eventually killed by Dr. Trap, who sabotaged the villain's equipment so that he was poisoned by his own chemicals.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Gas Master was a chemical weapons expert who wore an armored, environmentally-sealed suit and carried a special backpack canister that held a variety of chemicals the villain could mix as needed to produce different aerosol weapons. The desired chemical mix would then be dispersed via a spray gun attached to the canister. Among the chemical concoctions used by the Gas Master was a simple smoke screen, tear gas, acid spray, hallucinogens, and lethal poisons. Gas Master would also carry grenades that could produce similar effects.

HAMMER and SICKLE

HISTORY

Hammer and Sickle were super-powered Soviet operatives, sent to the United States to counter the resurgence of masked heroes in America, something some officials in the USSR saw as a form of Western propaganda. The duo would usually make public spectacles, openly challenging heroes to do battle. They usually focused on the more explicitly patriotic heroes like Mr. America and Liberty Lass, and Patriot and Lady Liberty of the Freedom Brigade; but would sometimes face off against other heroes. They would often flee if it looked like they might be captured, but on occasion they would get arrested after being defeated by some heroes. In those cases the Soviet government would intervene and the duo would usually get deported, only to be smuggled back into the country. They were permanently recalled to the Soviet Union when it was realized that the hero resurgence was more limited than initially believed.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Soviet scientists granted Hammer and Sickle superhuman strength and resilience. They could also fire explosive blasts. When the two held hands they could also generate a powerful blast wave.

HOUSE OF PAIN

The House of Pain were the archenemies of the Justice Experience. They were mostly a group of violent thugs, known for their public confrontations with the heroic Justice Experience rather than any particular crimes. Today they are mainly remembered for the fight with Justice Experience where the girlfriend of the future Dr. Trap was killed in the crossfire as she tried to flee the scene. The House of Pain were the first victims of Dr. Trap's murderous crusade of revenge.

J to L

KOMMANDER KRUËL

HISTORY

The man called Kommander Kruël was the leader for an anarchist terrorist group called HOOD (though what the name was an acronym for was never revealed). HOOD operated from a secret island base in the Atlantic Ocean from which they would launch operations on Europe and North America. After the first few attacks on American soil were foiled by some of the newly emerging super heroes of the era, Kruël took an interest and began personally leading strike teams against those heroes. His frequent target was the Wyvern, a costumed vigilante operating in Empire City. Despite the organization's resources, the Wyvern continually thwarted HOOD, including defeating Kruël in one-on-one combat on several occasions.

Kruël's obsession with Wyvern ultimately spelled the end for HOOD when the drain on the organization's troops and equipment weakened it enough that an international Special Forces strike team was able to infiltrate and destroy the island base. With its headquarters destroyed and most of its members killed or apprehended, HOOD effectively ceased to exist. Kommander Kruël was arrested after a final confrontation with the Wyvern and remains incarcerated in an undisclosed location.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Kommander Kruël was a veteran soldier and gifted military strategist. He was highly trained in multiple forms of armed and unarmed combat and could operate a wide variety of military vehicles.

LAVOID

HISTORY

The creature called Lavoid claimed to be from an underground society of molten rock beings. It emerged from Mount Superior and immediately attacked nearby Superior City, declaring that the city was guilty of crimes against its homeland and must be punished. Driven back underground by Shadow, the creature would return time and time again, facing many other heroes from the area including Sparrowhawk and the marksman Quarrel and his sidekick Scattershot. The last time the Lavoid launched an attack and was beaten back, Shadow used his phasing power to follow the creature underground. Shadow located the subterranean tunnel that the Lavoid appeared to use to reach the surface from deep beneath the Earth and, using a device given to him by Mr. Fix-It, the hero permanently sealed the tunnel. The effort appears to have been successful as the Lavoid has not been seen since.

POWERS & WEAPONS

The Lavoid was a large humanoid creature made of something akin to molten rock. It had superhuman strength and durability, and its outer skin was as hard as rock. The Lavoid could generate blasts of intense heat, and was virtually invulnerable to damage from heat and fire itself, though it appeared to be susceptible to cold which would slow it down.

M to O

MR. PEPPERMINT & CINNAMON GIRL

HISTORY

LMr. Peppermint was the nickname of candymaker Neville Parks, who operated a small but successful confectionary business in Superior City. When Parks turned down a buyout offer from a multinational candy company seeking his recipes, the company instead used predatory business practices to drive Parks out of business and buy up the assets in a bankruptcy sale. Driven mad, Parks swore revenge on the people that had destroyed his dream. He turned his skills in chemistry and engineering to developing candy-themed weapons and trick candies. His first act was to murder the CEO of the company that had driven him out of business using an exploding gumdrop.

Mr. Peppermint continued to terrorize and murder those he felt had wronged him. The once beloved local figure was now a source of fear for Superior City and he was finally stopped by the marksman Quarrel. Mr. Peppermint would break out of jail and set his sights on getting revenge on Quarrel. When Quarrel acquired his sidekick Scattershot, Mr. Peppermint decided he needed a sidekick as well. While in jail the villain had received mail from an obsessed teenage girl who said she was his biggest fan, so Mr. Peppermint sought her out and she became his junior partner, the Cinnamon Girl.

The duo continued to plague Quarrel and Scattershot for several years. Finally a court ordered that both Mr. Peppermint and Cinnamon Girl be committed and the pair were sent to the Sefton Asylum. Cinnamon Girl responded well to treatment and was eventually released, but Mr. Peppermint remains institutionalized to this day.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Mr. Peppermint was a skilled chemist and engineer. His chemistry skill was initially born of his love of making candy, which led him to study the chemical reactions that went into the art and use that to create the recipes he built his company on. He also perfected his engineering skill building custom machines to help him make his candies. When he turned to crime, Mr. Peppermint used his chemistry talent to create dangerous candies like poisonous mints, exploding gumdrops, expanding cotton candy that trapped his opponents, and extendable licorice ropes. With his engineering he built a disc gun that would rapid fire rock-hard candy, a candy-can shaped machinegun, and a rocket-powered bicycle he used as a getaway vehicle. The Cinnamon Girl was a skilled acrobat and learned to use many of Mr. Peppermint's weapons and equipment.

P to R

The PIPE

HISTORY

Bertrand Gustavson was a psychiatrist who specialized in art therapy. After years of treating the upper crust of Empire City society for what he perceived as trivial, egotistical issues Bertrand decided to take these so-called elites down a peg. Inspired by surrealist art, Bertrand used his skill to manipulate the unconscious mind of some of his patients into revealing their secrets. Bertrand began stealing his patients' treasures, using his ill-gotten knowledge to bypass the security measures in their mansions. He paired this with blackmail using other secrets he had learned and his crimes attracted media attention. Bertrand sent a calling card to the authorities, introducing himself as the Surrealist. Unfortunately for Bertrand, on his card he had chosen to use an image of The Treachery of Images, the famous surrealist painting of a pipe with the phrase "Ceci n'est pas un pipe" ("This is not a pipe"). Rather than use the Surrealist name Bertrand had intended for himself, the authorities and media started referring to the mystery criminal as The Pipe.

Realizing that it was too much to expect the general public to appreciate the subtlety of his criminal achievements, Bertrand decided to lean into the crude moniker of The Pipe. He used the proceeds from his initial crimes to fund development of a series of pipe-themed equipment. With these garish gadgets The Pipe launched a crime spree in Empire City. He was stopped by the Wyvern and afterward would take pleasure in engaging the hero in battles of wits. Each time The Pipe would attempt more and more extravagant crimes, until he finally realized the ridiculousness of what he was doing. Allowing himself to be caught, Bertrand was tried and sentenced to several years in prison for his litany of crimes. Since going to prison he had dedicated his efforts to penal reform, submitting papers on the psychology of prisoners from the perspective of one on the inside.

POWERS & WEAPONS

Once he settled on The Pipe as his criminal identity, Bertrand would commission many varieties of pipe-themed equipment for his use. Among the most notable was a three-wheeled motorcycle shaped like a calabash pipe, a machinegun shaped like a hookah pipe, and a large long-stemmed pipe that doubled as a shillelagh Bertrand would use to strike his enemies. The Pipe also wore a utility belt holding a number of conventional-looking varieties of pipes that were nothing of the sort. Some of these included a standard billiard pipe that would emit an obscuring smoke screen when blown into, a corncob pipe that emitted a shrill sonic blast to stun opponents, and even a toy bubble pipe that produced giant bubbles that would envelope and trap his foes.

S to U

SINISTER SOCIETY

A quintet of dangerous villains.

V to Z

VENDETTA (II)

HISTORY

Vendetta was a team of super-powered villains assembled by the former Nazi agent known as the Swastika. The aging villain needed assistants for his latest scheme when he discovered he no longer had the strength to deal with the new generation of heroes on his own. Swastika named the team after the team of Axis super villains he had led in the Second World War, but they were defeated by the Freedom Brigade on their first appearance. Years later, early in the Modern Age of heroes, the Swastika would bring the villains back together in an attempt to gain some revenge but they would again taste defeat, this time at the hands of the children of the Freedom Brigade who had formed their own team.

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