SUPER-VILLAINS: BUILDING THEM TO LAST

And another one on deck...

Heads up: There’s an exclusive reveal at this end of this one. I figured I might as well not bury the lede and just let you know up front, in case some of you readers are into that sort of thing.

Released in 2009, DARK REIGN: ZODIAC was a three-issue mini-series published by Marvel Comics that introduced a brand-new super-villain created by myself and artist, Nathan Fox. That super-villain being the titular character, Zodiac.

Now, before I continue… I feel like a disclaimer is necessary right off the bat. Creating new characters in a corporate, work-for-hire environment -- to exist within previously established, shared universes -- is a perilous minefield unlike any other in the entertainment industry. It’s a situation that goes far beyond simple creativity and artistic expression (and if anyone really thinks that’s all it’s about… then they’re simply being naïve).

Given that, when an original idea would manifest itself in my creative brain that worked best in a shared universe -- one that I didn’t own or control -- I would tend to hedge my bets and come up with something that was, in a sense, somewhat dependent on that shared universe to exist, at least on the most superficial level (like a name). In a sense, it was the Roy Thomas approach to adding new characters to the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby/Steve Ditko Marvel Universe. Take the Vision, for example. The Vision that we all know and love -- from the Avengers series (and subsequent MCU films) -- was not a wholly original Roy Thomas/John Buscema creation. In fact, it’s an adaptation -- or perhaps even an update -- of an old Golden Age Timely Comics character also called the Vision.

I suppose I saw situations like that and I figured it was a decent compromise. Of course the corporation you happen to be creating for will undoubtedly exploit your creation and generally cut you out of the profits gained from said exploitation. I mean, you can 100% count on it. But at least, in this way, you didn’t feel completely bamboozled. It was a subtle signal to the world that, yeah, you knew the game you were playing.

So the previous “Zodiac” that existed in the Marvel Universe was actually a team of colorful super-villains, each one based on astrological signs (Libra, Taurus, Scorpio, etc.). Over the years, they’d shown up in issues of Avengers and Defenders but my feeling was that twelve characters were way too many for anyone -- readers and creators alike -- to really care about, let alone keep track of in a story. So, I felt fairly confident that I could take the name and create an all-new, single character, mainly by combining two much stronger influences that had recently made an impact in pop culture: the actual Zodiac killer from the early 1970’s (which had been recently dramatized in David Fincher’s brilliant 2007 film) and Heath Ledger’s intense portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s best Bat-film, The Dark Knight… and I basically cold pitched it as such. Luckily, editor Tom Brevoort agreed with both my rationale and my new character concept so we were off and running.

Nathan Fox was the perfect artist to bring this story -- and this character -- to life. It was the first time we worked together, but I was already a fan. And the collaboration didn’t disappoint. From the first sketches of the character, Nathan got exactly what I was going for. He got the “Zodiac killer” reference, hence the similar black hood. He understood the Heath Ledger Joker “agent of chaos”-angle, and his gritty art style effortlessly reflected that.

For my part, I wanted to be crystal clear about the character’s intention. No ambiguity at all. Zodiac was a super-villain that loved being a super-villain. He reveled in it. He wholeheartedly embraced the lifestyle. He was a student of the history of super-villains in the Marvel Universe… so when Norman Osborn (aka the Green Goblin) had fooled the world into believing he was actually a hero (the basic conceit of the “Dark Reign” publishing event taking place in the books at that time), our man Zodiac wasn’t having any of it. In fact, he saw Norman’s grift as the ultimate betrayal of the super-villain ethos he held so dear and was out to throw a major wrench into the machine. And he wasn’t shy about telling us about it…

I remember some folks asking at the time, “What makes Zodiac a SUPER-villain?” I get it. Was he all attitude but with nothing to back it up? As a matter of fact, he does have a superpower. As is fitting for his character, he stole it (as the page below relates). And of course, once he got his hands on the fabled “Zodiac Key” at the end of the mini-series, all bets were off.

The series practically wrote itself. And I could’ve probably gone on and written the character’s exploits indefinitely. But I wasn’t really deep in the Marvel trenches at that time. I wasn’t being invited to the creative summits or anything like that. My work life at that time consisted of a lot of non-comics work (as it still does) so when I did get a chance to write a WFH comicbook for the Big Two, it was always a temporary thing. At the same time, as I’ve always said, when I build something, I build it to last. And Zodiac was no exception.

About thirteen or so years later, Zodiac resurfaced as the main antagonist in the only Moon Knight monthly series to go the distance since the original Doug Moench/Bill Sienkiewicz series (in fact, I believe iterations of it are still going on to this day). I assume this was due, in part, to the fact that Tom Brevoort edited both the original DARK REIGN: ZODIAC and the Moon Knight series.

Regardless, it seems he made a pretty good impression and has proved his resilience as a concept and as a character. Like I said, I build ‘em to last. As this random cosplayer ably demonstrates…

Well, shit… I’m doing it again.

Last month, WEAPON X-MEN #1 revealed the main villain of the first batch of issues: Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, a classic Marvel bad guy -- created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby -- first introduced in Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #5 (1964) and later developed further in the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. strip that ran in Strange Tales. So he’s been around for a while. Over the subsequent fifty plus years, he’s shown up every so often with new -- albeit minor -- tweaks to his character but, to me, he’s been stagnant for quite a while. And he didn’t deserve to be. So, when I was finally cleared to use Baron Strucker, I immediately went to work on leveling him up a few notches.

The first step was the introduction -- in the pages of WEAPON X-MEN #2 -- of the next, much more dangerous iteration of the classic LMD (Life Model Decoy), rebranded as Wolverines of Mass Destruction (due to their adamantium makeup and programming that utilized AI copies of Wolverine’s patented “berserker rage”), or WMD, for short.

SPOILERS FOR WEAPON X-MEN issues #2 and #3 below…

The intention of these WMD’s is to serve as the most ruthless, destructive army on the planet. And, as an added layer of villainy, they’re much more than mindless drones. Baron Strucker uploads his mind (from an aged, dying body) into the WMD’s collective mainframe, creating a hivemind army controlled by a single consciousness (Strucker’s) in order for them to move as one, like a flock of birds or a school of fish.

Ultimately, as the result of events that I don’t want to completely spoil here, Strucker’s mind will end up in a single WMD… which will itself further evolve into a unique, autonomous, pure engine of destruction that he alone occupies. He even takes on a brand-new name to mark the occasion --

-- “Weapon Exile”.

Every superhero team needs an ultimate arch-nemesis, a villain that exists solely to test them on every conceivable level. The Avengers have Ultron. The Fantastic Four has Doctor Doom. The X-Men have Magento (when he’s not actually on the team, of course). The New Teen Titans have Trigon. And so on. Well, it was important for me to give Weapon X-Men their own dedicated enemy. And Weapon Exile is formidable, possessing all the berserker savagery of the WMD’s as well as the cunning mind and ruthless personality of Baron Strucker. Not to mention, he’s got Wolverine-style claws and he knows how to use them. And, as a cherry on top, he’s got additional adamantium-based powers unlike any ever seen before in Marvel Comics.

The intent, as usual, is to swing for the f**king fences. To create a villain that will stand the test of time. A character that could someday stand alongside the great pantheon of classic Marvel super-villains. A character with one foot in the past… and one foot in the future. Once again… built to last.

Here's what he looks like, from his very first appearance in WEAPON X-MEN #3 (on sale in April 2025):

Just remember, you heard it here first.

Joe Casey

USA