Secret Society of Super Villains

History

An organisation that has gone through a number of incarnations, the overall roster of the Secret Society of Super villains reads like a Who's Who of the Super Criminal World.

Originally formed by Darkseid to pave the way for a takeover of the Earth, a clone of Manhunter gathered Captain Cold, Mirror Master, Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro, Copperhead, Shadow Thief, Captain Boomerang, The Wizard and Hi-Jack to become a team that would rid the earth of its Super-heroes. The group eventually rebelled against Darkseid and his minions, preferring to rule the earth themselves if and when they achieved their purpose.

Upon the seeming demise of Darkseid and the end of his scheme, the group was taken ove by Funky Flashman, who sold them on the idea that with the right publicity, they could go about their business without interference. He recruited a number of Super-villains including the Trickster, Captain Stingaree, Matter Master and Felix Faust to carry out various plans. He also withstood an attempt by Lex Luthor to take over the organisation. But Lex was patient - the day would come when he would lead the group.

Gorilla Grodd was the next to take control of the society, albeit briefly. He recruited Angle Man, Bizzaro, Sinestro, Star Sapphire and Poison Ivy in an attempt to slay the JLA - an attempt that failed.

When Flashman tried to take over the group for a second time, he found himself foiled by the Wizard, who had acquired new powers. The Wizard recruited the Floronic Man, Professor Zoom, Blockbuster and Star Sapphire and took the team through the dimensional barrier to Earth 2 to engage in a battle with the Justice Society. In the process, they also ended up fighting the Crime Syndicate of Amerika from Earth 3.

Meanwhile on Earth one, Mirror Master called together another team of Super-Villains at the request of the Silver Ghost with the purpose of killing the Freedom Fighters. This team included Copperhead, Sizematic, Quakemaster, Chronos and Killer Moth.

During the early part of this group's activity, it was first infiltrated and then constantly battled by Captain Comet and he must be credited for more than one defeat of the Society.

The next incarnation of the society was formed by the Ultra-Humanite in an attempt to rid Earth 2 of all its super heroes. He recruited Killer Frost, Signalman, Floronic Man, Cheetah, Psycho-Pirate, the Monocle, the Mist, Rag Doll and Brainwave to battle 10 specific heroes of Earths one and two and banish them into limbo. The Earth 1 villains, however, realised they had been duped and decided to get even with the Ultra-Humanite, involving other members of the JLA in the case. The combined forced of the JLA and JSA defeated the plans of the Ultra Humanite and his cohorts.

After the defeat of the last incarnation of the SSoSV, time would pass before villains would band together in any sort of large organization. Fueled by rumors of the mindwiping of Dr. Light, a new Society emerged. This Society was founded by Alexander Luthor, Jr. posing as Lex Luthor, along with five other supervillains:  Calculator, Dr. Psycho, Deathstroke, Talia al Ghul, and Black Adam.

Alexander Luthor's intent was to gather together a cadre of supervillains to retrieve several key superheroes who have ties to the Multiverse , in order to harness their residual temporal vibration to recreate the multiverse, through a giant "tuning fork" tower similar to the ones seen in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Only Psycho-Pirate, who remembered the multiverse, knew of this plan, as Alexander Luthor lied to the members of his inner circle, telling them that he was building a massive mind-erasing machine to use against all of the heroes in the DC Universe.

Playing on the fear of superheroes, retaliation for refusal, and the desire for power, Alexander created a Society the size of which (over 500 members) is larger than all previous incarnations combined. Out of all the villains in the DC Universe, the only one not even offered an invitation is the Joker, on the grounds that he was 'too wild'.

The group, referred to simply as The Society, was featured in the mini-series Villains United as background characters and foils for the new Secret Six (Consisting of six villains recruited by the real Lex Luthor who refused their invitation to join the Society). The follow-up one-shot Villains United: Infinite Crisis Special focused on the Society itself as they enacted Alexander Luthor's back-up plan to conquer Earth in the event his main plan failed. This led to a final battle, referred to as the Battle of Metropolis, where the Society, led by Dr. Psycho and Doomsday, made their final battle against the various heroes of the DC Universe. Many heroes and villains died that day.

Alexander Luthor, Jr. was killed by the Joker and Lex Luthor at the end of Infinite Crisis , the Joker angry that he was never invited into the Society. Black Adam, betrayed by Alexander Luthor, fought the Society in the Battle of Metropolis, tearing off Amazo's head, and returned to rule Khandaq full-time.

One year after the Crisis, most of the Society's inner circle is either in prison or has resigned from the group. Dr. Psycho was captured by the authorities after the Battle of Metropolis and is on trial in the Manhunter series; he has also appeared in Secret Six and Wonder Woman. Deathstroke was apprehended by Green Arrow but escaped and started recruiting members for Titans East.

With Talia returning to rule the League of Assassins, the Calculator remains the only original member of the 'inner council' left running the Society.

Not long after the Society's dissolution, Checkmate instigated a crackdown on all villains in the DC universe, who were captured and exiled to a prison planet. The group included almost every villain in the DC universe, with rare exceptions. The group returned to Earth as a new Secret Society of Super-Villains thirsty for vengeance, led by the mysterious Libra, and played a major role in Final Crisis. The writer, Grant Morrison, has stated that they "become almost a terrorist sect. Under Libra's guidance, they start doing quite bad things, even to superheroes' wives and families, crossing the line." It has been indicated that the rise of the villains in the form of the Society is linked to the rise of Darkseid and the birth of the Fifth World.

Libra has selected Doctor Sivana, Gorilla Grodd, Lex Luthor, Ocean Master, Talia al Ghul, and Vandal Savage as the Society's Inner Circle. In order to bring the Society to his side, he brutally slaughtered the Martian Manhunter for the Human Flame. When Lex Luthor still refused to join him and dared him to hunt Superman, Libra used Clayface to blow up the Daily Planet building, badly wounding Lois Lane and removing Superman from the playing field. With most of the Society now answering firmly to him, Libra revealed himself as a Prophet of Darkseid and forced the Human Flame to hear the Anti-Life Equation, turning him into a mindless slave warrior known as a Justifier. As Lex Luthor attempted to ambush him when Superman was a no show, Libra instead surrounded Luthor with Justifiers (including Human Flame). Libra tells Lex Luthor to make a final choice: swear an oath to Darkseid or be turned into a Justifier. Libra is leading the Secret Society of Super-Villains at a public execution. Some savant with access to their computers has been breaking codes for the Resistance and Libra has condemned Calculator for the action. Lex Luthor is silent on the matter, but has been picked to lead the rear-guard action against the heroes at Blüdhaven. He assumes it's an honor, but he doesn't look very pleased. A hole in the sky opens over the hanging, and as Libra tells the Society of the "night of anguish that lasts forever", Darkseid gains the fullness of his power. Libra, having discovered that Lex Luthor was the actual mole, attempts to kill him only for Doctor Sivana (who wasn't pleased that his daughter became brainwashed by the Anti-Life Equation) use a device to disable the Justifier helmets (which turned out to be a combination of Apokoliptian technology and Mad Hatter's mind-control devices). Lex Luthor then blasts Libra, seemingly killing him. Lex Luthor then uses the Justifiers to fight the Female Furies.

In Final Crisis: Revelations, the third Spectre kills Doctor Light and melts Effigy before trying to take on Libra. Sister Wrack of the Religion of Crime impales Vandal Savage with the Spear of Destiny causing Vandal Savage to be reborn as Cain. Cain then seeks out Spectre and easily overwhelms Spectre followed by Cain impaling Spectre with the Spear of Destiny. It separates Spectre from Crispus as Renee and Radiant carry his body into the church. Cain later controls Spectre and has it receit the Anti-Life Equation which recreates the world in Darkseid's name. Cain manages to stab Renee with the Spear of Destiny. Renee manages to grab the spear and use it's powers to restore the world and Crispus' life. Reuniting with Spectre, Crispus uses his judgement to kill Cain's followers but couldn't kill Cain. Spectre casts Cain out into the world with no chance of peace until God decides to grant him otherwise.

In Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge, the Rogues withdraw from Libra's society and plot to take revenge on a movement-restored Inertia before they retire. However, Libra uses his New Rogues to target the Rogues and force them to join up with Libra by doing various things to those close to them. Even with the New Rogues slain by the Rogues, Libra doesn't give up that easily. They still turn down Libra even after Zoom is depowered by Inertia who is then killed by the Rogues.

From an idea by T.O. Morrow, Libra and Cheetah III assigned several scientific members of the Secret Society (such as Professor Ivo and Doctor Poison) to collect soil samples from various regions of Earth in which acts of genocide occurred. They plan to use the soil to form a new villain named Genocide. Genocide is brought to life through a combination of science and the magic of Felix Faust.