DC Histories: Secret Society of Super-Villains

Here at DC Histories, we try to make sense of the continuity that perplexes, befuddles, and intimidates. We discuss what worked and what didn’t. This week, we’re talking about the underground offenders known as the Secret Society of Super-Villains.

DC Special Series #7 (1977) Cover

DC Special Series #6 (1977) Cover

With no real fanfare, the Secret Society of Super-Villains made their debut in the pages of their own self-titled comic series in 1976. Part of the so-called “DC Explosion” which resulted in fifty-seven new series launched between 1975 and 1978, the Secret Society was a group of rogues dedicated to taking over the world. Made up of various DCU villains, the team was brought together by a mysterious benefactor. Originally, the group’s membership included Captain Boomerang, the Wizard, Mirror Master, Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd,  Copperhead, Shadow Thief, a well-dressed Sinestro, and a brand new Star Sapphire. Catwoman was mentioned in a text box typo. She never was a part of the group.

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #1 (1976)

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #1 (1976)

The question of just who brought this group together hung over everything. As the group began its first adventure, a clone of Paul Kirk, an old hero named Manhunter, arrived and told them that he was working for the person who was funding their operation.

From the beginning, the Secret Society’s roster was fluid. Shadow Thief and Copperhead left after the first issue. An amnesiac hero named Captain Comet joined the group and eventually became their sworn enemy. Hi-Jack, a member of the Royal Flush Gang, came on board for an issue or two. The Creeper joined but only because no one realized he was a hero. Keeping track of who was who required readers to keep handwritten notes and a flow chart. The passable but uninspired art didn’t help matters any.

Shortly after the Secret Society formed, they learned of who had put them together. Darkseid, in one of his many plans to destabilize Earth and get it ready for his eventually takeover, had hired Manhunter to create the group. However, as the group members wanted Earth for themselves, they quickly set about working against the ruler of Apokolips.

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #3 (1976)

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #3 (1976)

After Darkseid was ousted as the group’s leader, a power vacuum formed. The first to attempt to fill the role of leader of the Secret Society was Lex Luthor. In a stunning coup, Lex just wandered into the Secret Society’s lair and declared himself to be in charge. Cooperhead, who had recently rejoined the Society, the Wizard, and a Jack Kirby creation named Funky Flashman, appeared startled.

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #7 (1977)

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #7 (1977)

Lex Luthor was out of the group by the issue’s end. No one liked the idea of Lex in charge and when he left the Society’s secret HQ, a small army of police officers took him into custody. Every leader of the Secret Society succumbed to rebellions from within the organization. It seems that villains like the idea of working together, but no one liked the idea of being told what to do.

Eventually, it was the Wizard who took a small subset of the Secret Society under his control and gave them an actual mission: Return with him to Earth-2 and defeat the semi-retired Justice Society of America. There, they’re rule that alternate world. Alongside Professor Zoom, Star Sapphire, the Floronic Man, and Blockbuster, the Wizard attempted to jump the group straight to Earth-2. Unfortunately, a bit of a mix-up resulted in the group ending up on Earth-3.  Luckily, the Wizard was able to produce a useless chart that explained how they’d jump from Earth-3 to Earth-2.

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #13 (1978)

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #13 (1978)

Meanwhile, back on Earth-1, the super-villains that had been left behind were getting antsy. Not knowing that the Wizard had jumped across dimensions with a group calling itself the Secret Society of Super-Villains, someone named the Silver Ghost decided to use that name with the goal of destroying the Freedom Fighters, a pretty obscure group of super-heroes.

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #15 (1978)

From Secret Society of Super-Villains #15 (1978)

This meant that two groups were now using the Secret Society name. One group was comprised of mostly villains from Earth-1 who were currently on Earth-2 in an attempt to destroy the JSA, while the other was on Earth-1 attempting to kill the Freedom Fighters. Got that? Good. Now forget it because the Secret Society of Super-Villains series was cancelled at issue #15 right as these parallel plot-lines were being set up.

Secret Society of Super-Villains‘ sudden cancellation was a result of the DC Implosion. While DC had gone about publishing dozens of new series in the years prior to 1978, they suddenly found themselves in a tailspin. Poor sales were rampant across many titles and twenty series were gone in quick succession. Endings to various story threads in these cancelled titles were reworked into the pages of series that remained. This was true of the Secret Society’s Earth-2 story, which was wrapped up awkwardly in recap form when the Wizard and his crew battled the Justice League of America in 1979.

From Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #166 (1979)

From Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #166 (1979)

No one bothered to mention whatever happened to the Silver Ghost’s attempts to wipe out the Freedom Fighters. It was a good choice.

The Secret Society’s clash against the Justice League after their return to Earth-1 is best known as the story in which the minds of the biggest powerhouses in the JLA were switched with the members of the Society. Using his magic, the Wizard swapped minds with Superman, Zatanna and Star Sapphire switched bodies, and so on. Only Superman’s weakness to magic saved the world from being destroyed.

This mind-swapping tale influenced later stories such as 2004’s Identity Crisis and several of the events leading up to 2006’s Infinite Crisis. These tales attempted to take seriously what was originally just a fun, weird Bronze Age tale.

From Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #168 (1979)

From Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #168 (1979)

With their defeat here, the Secret Society broke apart again. The Wizard was out as the leader and no one seemed willing to take up the name. No one, that is, until the Ultra-Humanite.

The Ultra-Humanite was a Golden Age opponent of Superman. Older than even Lex Luthor, the Ultra-Humanite was the first reoccurring villain in super-hero comics. He was originally a mad scientist who had the knowledge to put his brain in another person’s body. In his original appearances, he hopped around from person to person. However, a regular looking man or woman in a lab coat was sort of boring to look at, so when he showed up to battle both the JLA and the JSA in a 1981 tale, his brain was now in the body of a giant albino ape with a freakishly large cranium. Alongside a few choice residents of both Earth-1 and Earth-2, Ultra-Humanite reformed the Secret Society of Super-Villains in a bid to wipe out all super-heroes. He very nearly succeeded in his task.

From Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #197 (1981)

From Justice League of America (Vol. 1) #197 (1981)

After the defeat of Ultra-Humanite’s Secret Society, the name fell into disuse. Other teams of super-villains came and went with names like the Injustice Gang and the Legion of Doom, but they didn’t stick around for very long. It wasn’t until after Identity Crisis that the need for a large, amorphous group of super-villains became necessary.

When it was revealed to the super-villain community that the Justice League had magically invaded their thoughts on more than one occasion, a sort of union formed. Realizing that calling themselves “super-villains” was a little silly, this new group simply called itself “The Society.”

From JSA #70 (2005)

From JSA #70 (2005)

Headed by some of the major players in the DCU like Deathstroke, Black Adam, and someone pretending to be Lex Luthor, the Society quickly set about recruiting seemingly every single villain in the DCU. Only a few people refused to join Society. Dubbed the Secret Six, these rogue villains soon learned that people like Dr. Psycho and Talia al Ghul don’t easily take no for an answer. While attempting to further their goals against the Justice League and its various heroes, the Society also sent a huge cadre of its members in an assault against the Six.

From Villains United #5 (2005)

From Villains United #5 (2005)

Much of the Society fell apart after the events of Infinite Crisis. There it was revealed that the Lex Luthor in the Society was actually an alternate universe character named Alexander Luthor. His plans for the Society differed greatly with everyone else’s, and the whole thing collapsed due to this conflict.

The remnants of the Society were still in place after that particular Crisis resolved itself. The Calculator, an old Batman villain, gained a new career when he became the information broker of the crooked set. Deathstroke cemented his place as the most dangerous bounty hunter in the DCU. The real Lex Luthor became the head of the remnants of the Secret Society. His control over the organization was challenged when a forgotten criminal named Libra showed up and killed the Martian Manhunter while everyone stared. Quickly, Libra became the Secret Society’s de facto leader.

From Final Crisis #3 (2008)

From Final Crisis #3 (2008)

As it was originally revealed during the very first Secret Society story in 1976, the power behind Libra was Darkseid. Again, Darkseid was attempting to take over the Earth and was trying to use villains to achieve his goals. Eventually, his plans were thwarted but it was as close a call as one could get.

That’s where the Secret Society was left before Flashpoint. The group was in pieces, having been used and abused by one too many massive egos, none of whom proved to be up to the task of successfully channeling the raw power and poor social graces of dozens of DCU villains towards a single goal.

But recently, the New 52 wiped all the past away and a new Secret Society has formed. Shortly after the Justice League first debuted five years ago, some sort of shadow organization quickly followed. Only a few of the followers of this new group are known, one of which is the android expert Professor Ivo. The true power behind the scenes remains illusive.

From Justice League of America (Vol. 3) #1 (2013)

From Justice League of America (Vol. 3) #1 (2013)

This new Secret Society of Super-Villains appears to be tied into the upcoming Trinity War. What their goals are and who their boss is remains to be seen. In any case, it seems like the Secret Society is going to be a major player in the New 52 for the foreseeable future. I’m looking forward to seeing who has tried to lead this completely unmanageable group this time. We’ll just have to find out together.

 


Jeff Reid hopes that the Ultra-Humanite is in charge of the New 52’s Secret Society. He misses that overdeveloped ape. Jeff discusses other things he misses on Twitter.

Comments

  1. I’ve always loved the idea of a secret society of super-villains. I loved what was done with them around Infinite Crisis, and am definitely looking forward to their involvement with Justice League of America.

  2. The original series actually sounds like something fun to read (for me), hope it got collected in tpb or something. For some reason, series with villains as the main characters don’t seem to last long generally (Joker’s solo series only lasted 9 issues. The Joker, 9 issues!). I think instead of a central leader, the Society is controlled by a chairman who answers to a committee with Veto power for 1 week then a new chairman is appointed the following week, or however that bit goes in “Quest for the Holy Grail”.

    • Avatar photo Jeff Reid (@JeffRReid) says:

      The SSOSV’s titular series was released in two hardcovers. Both volumes are prohibitively expensive at $40 each. But, if you’re interested, the first volume is here and the second volume is here. I’d recommend checking them out from a library though, if that’s an option for you. If your library doesn’t have them, try to Interlibrary Loan them from somewhere else.

    • “For some reason, series with villains as the main characters don’t seem to last long generally (Joker’s solo series only lasted 9 issues. The Joker, 9 issues!).”

      Unless I’m terribly mistaken, and someone feel free to correct me, but a lot of the villain books came out in the Seventies during the Bronze Age when the Comics Code or at least elements were still in place. Because of this, the bad guys couldn’t win (“Good ALWAYS triumphs!”) and a book where your protagonist is always losing is a hard sell.

    • Thanks @JeffReid, I’ll look into the library rentals.

      @Pyynk, you’re absolutely right. I think the Joker series came out in the early 70s (not long after Denny O’Neil had breathed new life into the character in “Batman”), and the reason given for the cancelation was that in every story the Joker had to be foiled because of the Comics Code. It’s just funny to look back at that with today’s eyes and say “The Joker had his own series and it lasted less than 10 issues, TRUE STORY!”. The Eddie Brock Venom had his own series too and I think that only went to 12 issues, but that was him being an Anti-hero not a villain. I don’t know tho, I find the idea of a comic starring a villain kinda appealing. But maybe not the Joker, and not like “Gotham City Sirens” (I love Paul Dini and that series, but they didn’t act like villains). The Rogues seem to have a good following, and DC seems intent on having 52 series so why not? And I know that Marvel is publishing “The Superior Foes of Spider-Man” but to me that’s just another Spider-Man book.

    • @IthoSapien I always liked how Marvel handled it with Tomb of Dracula, where while the focus was on Dracula he was clearly the villain. That enabled them to have a good guy you could root for, while not taking away the edge that made Dracula interesting.

    • I hate how DC sells overpriced Hardcovers. They do stuff like keep their books at 2.99 and then they overcharge on HCs. I want them to be a company I can love. They also jacked up the price on the Infinity Inc collection and the George Perez JLA books. Why? Greed? I don’t like it. I expect more from DC.

  3. Just love this. Bought the originals from the newsstand in the 70s.

  4. Lots of purple and green in there, lots…

  5. I loved JLA 197. One of my favorite comic books ever as a kid. I found issue 195 and 196 at my LCS not long ago – pretty sweet.

    I always wanted a new SSSV series.