Opposites Attract

So…is that old saying “opposites attract” really true?

If we’re talking romance?  Probably not. 

If we’re talking about me and “Opposite Number” supervillains?  Absolutely!

Rest assured, I love all the obvious A-List Bad Guys like The Joker, the Green Goblin, the Doctors Doom and Octopus, and all the rest.  However, there’s just something about those Evil Duplicates, Dark Reflections, and Twisted Doppelgangers I can’t get enough of.

What could be the Deep Psychological Underpinnings for that fixation? Could Opposite Number villains mirror the struggle between good and evil that rages in every human heart?  Are they a symbolic representation of how easy power can corrupt? Is it the sense of cosmic symmetry these equally powerful yet morally twisted characters represent?

Frankly, I have no idea.

Here’s what I do know.  One of the first dozen comic books I’d ever read was Marvel’s Greatest Comics #57 (reprinting Fantastic Four #75), which dropped me right in the middle of nothing less than the Second Coming of Galactus.  As you can imagine, I had absolutely no idea what was going on…but thanks to the charismatic scripting of Stan Lee and the eye-popping Kirby-Sinnott art, it didn’t seem to matter.

Then, about midway through the story, the off-world Galactus creates an eerie distraction to occupy Reed, Johnny and Ben (Sue was pregnant and on bed rest at the time). Rising from the ocean shore like zombies, a trio of dark duplicates ruthlessly attacked the boys using powers identical to theirs.

Of course, the evil counterparts were eventually defeated, but not before sparking a fascination with Opposite Number villains that continues to this day.

So, what exactly is an Opposite Number Supervillain? As I see it, we’ve got four broad categories...

1) Opposing Teams: Though technically not an “opposite number” in the classic sense, this category includes the villain groups that use a negative spin of the opposing super team’s name. This includes such teams as The Injustice Society, The Injustice Gang, The Frightful Four, Omega Flight and The Legion of Supervillains. These teams seldom include bonafide Opposite Number villains (which we’ll get to in a moment) and are generally “opposite” in name only. In other words, they’re the evil Yang to the good team’s Yin.

2) Similar Powers, Different Look: This category includes the nasties that mirror a particular superhero’s powers and skills, yet have a distinctly different appearance. Their backgrounds and motivations are many. Some are fallen heroes (Sinestro), a few former mentors (Merlyn), others desperate imitators (Abomination), and some created for the sole purpose of countering a specific superhero (Master Man or the Crimson Dynamo).

Still others originate from alternate realities, where divergent twists of fate create warped versions of the heroes we know so well. A good example would be DC’s Crime Syndicate of Earth-3, composed of corrupted versions of Superman (Ultraman), Wonder Woman (Superwoman), the Flash (Johnny Quick), Green Lantern (Power Ring) and Batman (Owl Man).

3) Similar Powers, Similar Look: These villains are Opposite Numbers in the truest sense, in that they not only possess similar (if not identical) powers, but resemble their corresponding superheroes as well.

Their ranks include those who were duplicated versions of the original superhero through the use of sorcery or science…

Others are corrupted predecessors, contemporaries,
descendents, or even future versions of the hero….

…while still others are imitators from alternate earths or distant futures.

Our fourth and final group is kind of a
special case, so indulge me in a little set-up:

Remember wondering who would win in a
fight between Superhero A and Superhero B?

Well, sometimes those prayers would be answered when a publisher would pit two fan favorites against each other (usually the result of some kind of misunderstanding). But what if the characters you wanted in your match were owned by two different publishers? Even as a kid, I was aware of a mysterious, insurmountable barrier that prevented cross-company heroes from meeting, battling or even mentioning the other....so it looked hopeless.

However, as one of the very first fans-turned-pro, writer Roy Thomas figured out a clever solution to this seemingly intractable problem by creating evil analogues of the competing company’s characters!

In Avengers #70 (1969), Thomas pitted the Avengers against The Squadron Sinister, an obvious criminal version of DC’s Justice League of America.

Hyperion (Superman), the Whizzer (Flash), Dr. Spectrum (Green Lantern) and Nighthawk (Batman) later expanded their membership to include doppelgangers of other 70’s era Justice League members, including Tom Thumb (the Atom), the Golden Archer (Green Arrow) and Lady Lark (Black Canary).

A few years later, Marvel's WWII supergroup The Invaders battled The Crusaders, a pastiche of DC's Freedom Fighters, a team composed of recently revived Quality Comics characters. Their line-up included The Spirit of '76 (Uncle Sam), Thunder Fist (The Human Bomb), Captain Wings (Black Condor), Dyna-Mite (Dollman), Ghost Girl (Phantom Lady), and Tommy Lightning (The Ray).

Only a month or two later, DC answered back with another vaguely familiar team named The Crusaders. This time it was composed of Invaders analogues, including the shield-slinging Americommando (Captain America), Rusty (Bucky), Fireball (Human Torch), Sparky (Toro), and Barracuda (Sub-Mariner). Word has it the creative teams at both publishers planned this unofficial "crossover", obviously back before "fun" and "whimsy" were on the Endangered Species list.

Weighing in with the largest population of cross-company counterparts yet, Marvel’s X-Men title featured the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, an army of super-aliens that mirrored DC’s sprawling Legion of Superheroes. Their most powerful member, Gladiator (top left corner), went on to appear in other titles, playing out “proxy Superman” battles with Marvel heroes like the Fantastic Four and Thor.

So there you have it…Opposite Number villains in all their darkly-reflective glory. Whether they’re antithetical teams, evil approximations, twisted duplicates, or cross-company analogs, this special class of supervillain reminds us that evil is not only a force to be reckoned with, but can also be disturbingly familiar.

Hey…that’s it! My Deep Psychological Underpinning!   

Comments

[cinephile]

Interesting post. Two things i noticed from your scans:

1) I love how oblivious the rest of the FF are to the attack of the Frightful Four. I mean, there's the thing, dilligently looking out the window, and even getting his hands tied up, while the other three chat in the background, not even noticing: "Great hair, sue!" "thanks, johnny!" "Let me show you all my new invention...Hey, where's Ben? Ben?"

2) Dr. Impossible=Spawn?

[Mark Engblom]

1) LOL! Good catch, cinephile! You're right..they're pretty clueless, especially with the Sandman fully in view in their window. Maybe people passing by windows several stories up are just a normal occurance in the Marvel Universe.

2) I'm not sure what the deal is with Dr. Impossible. He just appeared in Meltzer's Justice League run, and according to all my research, there's not much known about him at this point. Still, he looked so cool, I couldn't resist including him. Putting him in the "scientific or sorcerous duplicate" category seemed like a pretty safe bet.

Glad you liked it!

[cinephile]

Oh, and totally off-topic, but this is hilarious:

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/06/hi-im-a-marvel-.html#comments

[David]

Actually, this reminds me of one of my favorite Batman stories. It's actually available in the Batman in the Eighties TPB. It's called "The Player on the Other Side" by Mike W Barr and drawn by Michael Golden.

In it, Batman comes across his mirror image or Doppelgänger called The Wraith. In this case, Wraith had his parents killed while they were burglarizing a home. The cop who shot them was none other than Jim Gordon!

It was a pretty cool story and the wraith actually had an outfit that was similar to Batman's, but completely different in color and style. However, when viewed as silhouettes, they looked exactly alike. I don't know if you ever read this, the original comic came with an essay about Doppelgänger and their origins in popular literacy...I'm not kidding, it was so cool. You should check it out if you haven't already!

[Mark Engblom]

You sold me, David! That sounds like just my kind of story....and the Doppelganger text piece is just icing on the cake! Does the TPB happen to list what issue that story was reprinted from? I'll probably just pick up the issue off eBay. Thanks!

[David]

The issue was actually Batman Special #1 and it came out in 1984. I found a webpage devoted to this single issue. Here's the URL.

http://members.surfbest.net/[email protected]/batmanspec.html

[Mark Engblom]

Hey, thanks alot, David! Like I said, I was already SOLD on the issue...in fact, I just got done ordering it from Mile High Comics! Can't wait to read it, and getting to see some of that rare Michael Golden artwork is an extra treat!

[ShadowWing Tronix]

Every season the Power Rangers have to deal with this situation. Sometime the "evil" Ranger ends up joining the good guys, either for revenge, because the spell has been lifted that made them evil, or they found out that the Rangers were the real good guys all along. Often, though, they're the usual alien monsters given Ranger forms and the Rangers have to destroy them.