DC's current big event hasn't even wrapped up and we're already getting some big reveals about their NEXT story! Chatting with IGN, writer Geoff Johns dished out some huge pieces of info. So, if you want to go into DC's post-Trinity War world with as little info as possible, now is the time to back out!
Gone? Okay, good. So, September is being called Villains Month, but who will the "real villains" be in FOREVER EVIL? Feast your eyes on the image below.
That's right, it's Ultraman, Owlman, Johnny Quick, Superwoman, Power Ring and Deathstorm, a new member. As for the story itself, Johns tells IGN that "As far as the world knows, the Justice Leagues are dead. What happened to them and where they are will be revealed within the pages of FOREVER EVIL, which is focused squarely on the greatest villains in comics." As for the above slogan ("evil is relative"), the writer says, "what I mean by that, is that our villains are as complex, deep and as compelling as any of our heroes. Every antagonist in the DC Universe has a unique darkness, desire and drive. And the reason for being of Forever Evil is to explore that darkness." Additionally, Johns pointed out that the first issue will have the planet literally falling into darkness as power and communication are no more. This is when the Crime Syndicate "begins their plan for conquest."
Viners, how do you feel about these reveals? Are you stoked for Forever Evil or do you have event fatigue? Speak your mind below!
The designs for the Crime Syndicate look quite good. Interesting to see Deathstorm back in the fray. I take it Forever Evil will involve New Earth's villains fighting the Crime Syndicate with the Justice League on Earth 3.
@n1colaspr1me: I'd have said that I was originally going to say that perhaps GL20 had not happened yet, but Simon Baz being back suggests otherwise. Perhaps Sinestro owes them money
I am so looking forward to the Crime Syndicate. From the pictures I am wondering if Batman doesn't have to put a team of villains together with Luthor since the heroes are missing or unavailable. Either way, it will be fun trying to see him deal with an evil version of himself while wrangling a team of villains.
Those images look somewhat better than what I saw from Finch in JLA. Looks cool. I like the idea of Luthor showing people why he's the best villain in the DCU, any DCU.
So now we dont have to read the rest of Trinity War, great.
This isn't just villains vs villains. There is obviously a purpose and a meaning behind this madness. A picture showing characters doesn't mean you know everything that's going to happen. Unless were talking Marvel that is.
So now we dont have to read the rest of Trinity War, great.
This isn't just villains vs villains. There is obviously a purpose and a meaning behind this madness. A picture showing characters doesn't mean you know everything that's going to happen. Unless were talking Marvel that is.
It has nothing to do with it. Trinity War will end with all the Leagues missing and pressumed dead (save John and Batman... because out of all of the superpowerful people on the various Leagues, the two that are 'just human' just always tend to evade capture) and all the villains out and about.
But you are right, just as heroes vs heroes is boring, so is villain vs villain when not handled by a proper writer... which Johns obviously isn't.
Now I'm curious if this is actually going to take place on E3 and we could just be seeing the "good" villains vs the Syndicate. Or it could involve the JL being taken to E3 while the Syndicate is trying to take over E1 and the villains are fighting for their word and want to stop them.
SPOILERS for the upcoming Justice League #23 ahead.
Since the launch of the New 52, the mysterious presence of Pandora has been leading us to one massive conflict, Trinity War, which itself is merely a precursor to DC Comics’ first event series since Flashpoint in 2011: Forever Evil.
Forever Evil #1 kicks off DC’s Villains Month in September, where a series of one-shots will celebrate the ever-popular rogues community in the DCU. Up to this point, readers have assumed that Forever Evil would be about the usual suspects taking control of the world while the heroes flounder to recover from the events of Trinity War. However, writerGeoff Johns has told us that this isn’t the case. In fact, the situation is much, much worse for our heroes.
“As far as the world knows, the Justice Leagues are dead. What happened to them and where they are will be revealed within the pages of Forever Evil, which is focused squarely on the greatest villains in comics,” said the writer, who added that this event would be changing the status quo of the DCU in a major way. He said that the monthly comics would eventually reflect the changes that the universe undergoes by the time Forever Evil reaches its conclusion in issue #7. “There are some major events that happen to some of our heroes and villains, and those are all reflected in the monthly books at the end of [the series], except for the ones that tie-in directly like the Justice League titles, Suicide Squad, and Teen Titans. Those books will be up-to-speed monthly.”
What’s most surprising about Forever Evil isn’t its repercussions, however. It’s that everything we thought we knew about the series is wrong. Up to this point, we’ve believed that the Secret Society of Super Villains has been in control, manipulating the Justice League and turning public opinion against them.
The fact is that there’s an even higher power, one that will be revealed at the end of Trinity War in Justice League #23 – “The Crime Syndicate will be the ones leading the charge to take the world in Forever Evil.” The Crime Syndicate’s debut in the New 52 calls back to their roots – a team of twisted, evil incarnations of the Justice League that come from the parallel Earth-3.
“Evil is relative – and what I mean by that, is that our villains are as complex, as deep and as compelling as any of our heroes. Every antagonist in the DC Universe has a unique darkness, desire and drive. And the reason for being of Forever Evil is to explore that darkness,” explained Johns. “We start literally, in the first issue, when the whole world goes dark; communication and power are gone. And as our Earth is plunged into darkness, the Crime Syndicate begins their plan for conquest.”
“[They] make themselves known and they enact their mission to take over. They will lead an army of super villains, but not every villain sees things the way they do,” he continued. “Every villain in the DC Universe wants something different and not all of them want to rule the world. Or at least, not all of them want to rule the world in the way the Crime Syndicate do."
Interestingly, in the original Crime Syndicate stories from the 1960s, the hero that rose up to stop the villains on Earth-3 was that parallel world’s own version of Lex Luthor. Mirroring that sentiment, Johns has placed Luthor as the main protagonist in Forever Evil, who will be forced to take matters into his own hands and “form his own version of a Justice League to take them down. Who are we rooting for in this scenario? How bad are things if we are forced to rely on Lex Luthor they way he’s always wanted us to?”
It won’t just be Luthor in the spotlight, however. “From Sinestro to Black Adam to Captain Cold to Catwoman, we’ve never seen these villains team-up like this before. And for what some might say the right reasons. But they go about trying to ‘save’ the world in a very, very different way than our heroes might. They don’t have laws they follow. Their moral codes are all on a sliding scale. And their sense of justice isn’t going to be a jail cell. Or even something as simple as death. In the end, they too have their own reasons for doing what they do, and ultimately this story will change them as much as it changes the heroes.”
This new threat, the Crime Syndicate, will be the classic line-up that includesUltraman, Superwoman, Owlman, Johnny Quick, Power Ring, plus new member Deathstorm to start with. “For them, and Ultraman in particular, it’s not about good and evil. It’s about strength and weakness. They’re the strongest, most powerful people on their planet, therefore they have ruled it.”
Johns said that each member of the Syndicate has come to “our” DCU for very different reasons, which will be explored throughout Forever Evil and the Justice League titles. “They’re here for the thrills, or for simple survival, or for a chance at a new life. Although they work together, they’re as self-concerned as you can get. Their thinking is backwards; they’re wired wrong. And they view our world as backwards in so many ways – it’s a shock to the system. The culture and behavior is so alien to them. I’m not taking about flying around and being a ‘super hero’ – I’m talking about even the most basic concepts of good in our society, like a soup kitchen or a free clinic or fundraising -- they don’t make sense to them. Why are people sacrificing anything for anyone else? Something like sacrifice is a foreign concept to the Syndicate. It’s all about strength.”
Though he loves working with all of these characters for different reasons, Johns admitted that Ultraman has proven to be his favorite. “Ultraman is going to be the uber-villain. He doesn’t understand the laws of nature on this world. We’ll get deep into that, his brutality, and his lack of compassion. But he also has an agenda that is frighteningly understandable. I think that’s the scariest part of it all; you can actually see why Ultraman is doing what he’s doing, as horrific as it is. Like many people out there, he doesn’t believe in protecting the weak.”
Johns worked closely with Forever Evil artist David Finch to redesign the Crime Syndicate visually. “[We] talked about their personalities in great detail. We wanted a touch of old-school looks to them combined with the modern day, because we wanted them to look like heroes. Some might say that Ultraman’s costume looks more heroic than Superman’s right now. When Ultraman walks into a room, you think it’s Superman until he starts talking…and acting. I wanted to have this almost immediate sigh of relief, followed by absolute terror. ‘Superman is here!’ ‘That’s not Superman.’”
He continued, “It’s all about personality and individual story. With Power Ring, for instance, [David] has done an amazing job of illustrating how the ring affects the greatest coward the ring could find. And Deathstorm sees Power Ring as a fascinating experiment. Deathstorm is a scientist who’s been merged with the dead body of his lab assistant. It’s given him a cold demeanor and a clammy touch. He’s essentially a mad Nazi scientist with Atomic Power at his hand. Johnny Quick has his kills-for-thrills attitude is all over his face; he’s smiling, he’s excited. He’s finally found a place he can have some fun with again. And he’s been through hell. He wants to give that hell back to everyone he encounters. Owlman is searching for control, he knows the world can’t be plunged into chaos – it needs systems to function. And he wants to control those systems. He wants to control everything. Superwoman is probably the most manipulative of them all. She is the most frightening because of the secrets she has. We really wanted to twist our superheroes inside out.’”
Whether exploring characters he’s never worked with before, revisiting old favorites like Captain Cold and Black Adam, or digging into fan-favorites like Catwoman, Johns is excited to put all of these villains together and see how they interact with (or against, for that matter) Ultraman and company. “The Crime Syndicate will make some of our villains look like good guys. And then vice versa.”
The writer concluded, “Forever Evil is my love letter to DC super villains. It’s my chance to take all of the villains I’ve worked with and all the ones I’ve never worked with and put them into one gigantic, epic story that will bring together the bads of the DC Universe.”
Ever the tease, Johns added, “I’ve revealed a lot, but not everything. You can see Batman in this art. What’s that about? Why would Batman follow Luthor? Is that even Bruce Wayne?! There are many more surprises coming up. Because if there’s anything about villains you do know, it’s that they’re unpredictable.”
Forever Evil #3 coverForever Evil Poster by Ivan Reis
@ultimatesmfan: Ah man that would be fantastic. Really, if Lex were a hero comics would be so boring because there would be no crime. The man's a super genius. A beautiful, bald super genius.
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