Super Fiends: The 10 Greatest Supervillain Teams In Comic Books

Comic books have given us so many iconic superhero teams over the years: Avengers, Justice League, X-Men, Teen Titans, etc. However, as any superhero fan knows, where there's good there's also evil. For every superhero team, there's a supervillain team to constantly keep them on their toes. Yes, the superheroes nearly always come out on top in the end, but that doesn't mean you should write off the bad guys. The best - or rather worst - of the united forces of evil out there have caused untold death and destruction and have even occasionally managed that most coveted of supervillain goals: world domination. Here, we've whittled down the many supervillain teams from across the Marvel and DC universes to bring you the ten best in comic book history. Our only rule is that we're looking at those teams that consist of recognizable villains coming together. So sinister organizations like HYDRA or the League of Assassins do not count. With that in mind, let's forget the Super Friends for a moment. These guys are the Super Fiends... 10) Secret Six There've been various versions of the Secret Six rolling around the DC universe over the decades, but the most well-received is the third version of the team. Created by Gail Simone in 2005, this Secret Six departed from the previous incarnations of newly-minted heroic characters and was instead comprised of various pre-existing supervillains. The team is assembled by the mysterious Mockingbird to undertake missions of dubious morals that usually involve a big body count. Naturally, there's some crossover with the Suicide Squad here, and the two teams even share a number of members - most notably, Deadshot and Harley Quinn. Usually, though, the team features the likes of Bane, Catman, Ragdoll, Scandal Savage and Cheshire. Even the Joker has joined the ranks in one version. What really lifted the Secret Six above being just a Suicide Squad knock off was the quality of the comic they appeared in. Simone brought a lot of wit and exciting twists to the book and the volatile dynamic between the Six was always interesting to explore. 9) Thunderbolts Marvel's Thunderbolts are an interesting twist on the supervillain team. Founded by Baron Zemo, the HYDRA leader recruited a group of villains to masquerade as heroes, believing that they could gain the public and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s trust and go on to achieve ultimate power. Eventually, however, the team grew to like being heroes and overthrew Zemo. That's not to say that they became goody-two-shoes, as the Thunderbolts are often portrayed as fugitives from the law or an ultra-violent anti-hero unit. Their central concept, though, is that they're a team for villains wishing to redeem themselves. Some of the most famous members include Norman Osborn, Bullseye, Venom, Juggernaut and Crossbones. In recent years, the team has become closer to a straight-up hero squad, as the roster has featured the likes of the Punisher, Luke Cage, the Winter Soldier and Deadpool. The most interesting version of the Thunderbolts, though, has to be when they straddled the line between hero and villain. 8) Rogues It's not unusual for a superhero's rogues gallery to team up in order to increase their chances of winning. Few of these uneasy alliances, though, have developed such a long-standing camaraderie as the Rogues, the collective foes of the Flash. The scourge of Central City, the group usually consists of Captain Cold, Heatwave, Mirror Master, Weather Wizard, the Trickster, Abra Kadabra and Captain Boomerang. What separates the Rogues from many supervillain teams is that they have a strict code of conduct. These guys are mostly just thieves and forbid murder, drug abuse or other such serious crimes. Just because they're interested in their own personal gain first and foremost doesn't mean they have no standards, you know. Just about all of the Rogues have appeared on The CW's The Flash, with various team-ups forming between the villains over the show's three seasons so far. There are also rumours that the Rogues will feature in the upcoming Flash movie, too. 7) Dark Avengers The Dark Avengers are essentially the opposite of the Thunderbolts. Whereas that team consisted of supervillains who intended to be evil but grew to love being good, the Dark Avengers aimed to change their evil ways but eventually fell back into old habits. In Brian Michael Bendis' Dark Reign storyline, Norman Osborn is put in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. due to his role in dispelling the Skrull invasion of Earth. The Avengers are disbanded and in its place he recruits a bunch of villains to take up established superhero identities. Osborn himself becomes Iron Patriot. Logan's evil son Daken becomes Wolverine. Venom calls himself Spider-Man. Moonstone masquerades as Captain Marvel and so on. Osborn's Dark Avengers represent pretty much a nightmare scenario for Earth's Mightiest Heroes. They're not only a team of villains vindicated by the government, but they're doing evil in their name. 6) Injustice Gang/League Though the Legion of Doom are possibly the most iconic DC supervillain group out there, the organization has never really been a big deal in the comic book world. The Legion of Doom is actually an invention of the Super Friends animated series and have appeared surprisingly few times in the DC comic universe (most notably, Alex Ross' Justice). Instead, their comic book counterpart is the Injustice League (also known as the Injustice Gang). Founded by Lex Luthor and the Joker in modern comics, the League has featured just about every major DC supervillain you can think of. And they've come pretty close to bringing their enemies down a couple of times. Versions of the team have appeared in various TV shows, too, like Justice League Unlimited, Smallville and Young Justice. One of the Injustice League's most notable storylines occurred in Forever Evil, when Lex Luthor reformed the Injustice League in order to act as heroes to help take down the Crime Syndicate. Speaking of whom... 5) Crime Syndicate Of America Who could pose a bigger threat to the Justice League than a union of their greatest enemies? How about a team of their evil doppelgangers from another Earth? Yep, that'd do it. Hailing from Earth-3, the Crime Syndicate of America (or CSA) is made up of twisted analogues of Earth-1's heroes - Ultraman (Superman), Superwoman (Wonder Woman), Owlman (Batman), Johnny Quick (The Flash) and Power Ring (Green Lantern). Other members include Grid (Cyborg), Sea King (Aquaman, duh), Deathstorm (Firestorm) and Atomica (Atom). Psychopathic, violent and rotten to the core, the CSA are the exact opposite of the Justice League but with all their powers. Which makes them a far greater threat than most. The team are a popular one for adaptations and have featured - though usually with a different name - in TV series like Super Friends, Justice League and Batman: The Brave and the Bold and animated movies like Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Ultraman also appeared in a couple of episodes of Smallville. 4) Masters Of Evil Whereas the Justice League have the Injustice League, the Avengers have the Masters of Evil. Founded by Baron Heinrich Zemo (the father of Helmut Zemo, the founder of the Thunderbolts), the Masters are a union of several of the Avengers' recurring enemies. Typically, the Masters of Evil are comprised of secondary level villains who become a whole lot more dangerous when they're part of a team. These include Black Knight, Radioactive Man, Enchantress, Scorpion, Absorbing Man, Yellow Jacket and many, many more. Some versions, however, have been led by other major MU antagonists such as Doctor Octopus, Ultron and Doctor Doom (at least in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance video game). The version of the team led Baron Helmut Zemo is the most successful, however. Under his guidance, the Masters of Evil managed to destroy the Avengers Mansion in the classic 'Under Siege' storyline. They might often be defeated by Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but that doesn't mean the Masters of Evil don't cause a whole lot of damage in the process. 3) Suicide Squad The most famous supervillain team in the world at the moment has to be the Suicide Squad. A few years ago, the anti-hero squad was a fairly obscure but beloved property only known to DC fans. Since Warner Bros. released the commercially-successful - if critically-reviled - Suicide Squad, however, the team's popularity has gone through the roof. If you've seen the movie, you'll know the drill. Assembled by fierce government agent Amanda 'The Wall' Waller, Task Force X AKA the Suicide Squad is comprised of super-criminals forced to go on covert missions thanks to the deadly chips placed in their necks which will kill them if they rebel. Retooled by Marv Wolfman into the team we know today in 1987, the Squad is usually led by Colonel Rick Flag with the members commonly including Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Killer Frost, King Shark, Bronze Tiger, Plastique and, in recent years, Harley Quinn. 2) Brotherhood Of Mutants Few supervillain team are more synonymous with their superhero rivals than the Brotherhood of (Evil) Mutants. First appearing all the way back in 1964's Uncanny X-Men #4, the Brotherhood are of course the darker, more militant counterpart to the X-Men. Just as they're mentored by Charles Xavier and follow in his beliefs of peace and unity, the Brotherhood follow Erik Lensherr AKA Magneto and share his view that mutantkind is superior to humanity. Over the years, the Brotherhood has grown from the likes of Toad, Mastermind and even future Avengers Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to include just about every major mutant threat to the X-Men. Notably later members include Mystique, Sabretooth, Blob, Pyro, Black Tom Cassidy and Sauron (not The Lord of the Rings one). In that way, the Brotherhood are often presented as a more understandable, even sympathetic, group than most comic book supervillain teams. On many occasions, Magneto's men have allied themselves with the good guys. Just like the X-Men, the Brotherhood only want to save their own people. They just have a more violent way of doing it. 1) Sinister Six Marvel and DC have come up with so many seminal supervillain teams over the years, but the best archetypal example of a rogues gallery teaming up to take on the hero has to be the Sinister Six. First appearing in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 from 1964, the Sinister Six were formed by Doctor Octopus, who decides that Spider-Man's enemies might stand a better chance against him if they work together. The original team included Sandman, Vulture, Kraven, Electro and Mysterio. Over the years, however, the group has featured just about every major enemy of Spider-Man at one time or another. These include Venom, Shocker, Chameleon, Hydro-Man, Hobgoblin and, of course, the Green Goblin. On some occasions, the villains have decided that six is not enough and have expanded their group to become the Sinister Seven, the Sinister Twelve and even the Sinister Sixty Six. The strength of Spider-Man's rogues gallery is what makes the Sinister Six such an awesome supervillain team. Each of them are great antagonists on their own, which ensures they're much more of a threat when they come together. Thanks to the cancellation of The Amazing Spider-Man franchise, we likely won't be seeing them assemble on the big screen just yet, but you can bet that they won't be halted forever.