''Super-Villain Team-Up'' is the name of two

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

series published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. Both series featured

supervillain A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...

s as the protagonists.

Publication history

The first series started in 1975 with two giant-size issues before launching as a regular series, and was mostly bi-monthly during its existence. It initially teamed up

Doctor Doom Doctor Doom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' The Fantastic Four'' #5 in April 1962, and has since endured as the arch ...

and the Sub-Mariner, who had lost his own series, from which it picked up the unresolved plots, especially that of the comatose

Atlanteans As an adjective, Atlantean (or Atlantian) means "of or pertaining to Atlas or Atlantis". Atlantean may also refer to: * Atlantean figures, a type of ancient artifacts * ''Atlantean'' (documentary series), a trilogy of TV films discussing the or ...

. After a succession of writers and artists and a crossover with ''

The Avengers Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...

'', the plot gets resolved in issue #13 when Doctor Doom revives the Atlanteans, thus dissolving his alliance with the Sub-Mariner. Issue #14 (Oct. 1977), which featured

Magneto A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...

and Doctor Doom, was billed as the final issue of the series and its plotline was resolved in ''The

Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...

'' #16. The following year, ''SVTU'' continued with issue #15 (Nov. 1978), a reprint of ''

Astonishing Tales ''Astonishing Tales'' is an American anthology comic book series originally published by Marvel Comics from 1970 to 1976. Its sister publication was ''Amazing Adventures'' (vol. 2). In 2008 and 2009, Marvel produced 11 webcomics starring differ ...

'' #4–5. Issues #16 (May 1979) and #17 (June 1980) featured the

Red Skull The Red Skull is the alias of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by France Herron, Jack Kirby, and Joe Simon, the character first appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March 1941), in ...

and the

Hate-Monger The Hate-Monger is the name of several different fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Publication history The original character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #21 (December, 1963) and was cr ...

. The irregular publishing frequency of the final three issues was due to a legal maneuver to prevent DC Comics from trademarking the term "super-villain". The series saw the death of the Sub-Mariner's 1940s sweetheart Betty Dean and the death of her murderer, Doctor Dorcas.

Steve Englehart Steve Englehart (; born April 22, 1947) is an American writer of comic books and novels. He is best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s. His pseudonyms have included John Harkness and Cliff Garnett. Early li ...

created

The Shroud ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, a character partly inspired by

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

, shortly before he started to work for

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

on ''

Detective Comics ''Detective Comics'' (later retitled as ''Batman Detective Comics'') is an American comic book series published by Detective Comics, later shortened to DC Comics. The first volume, published from 1937 to 2011 (and later continued in 2016), is ...

''.

Issues

''Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11''

In 2007 Marvel published ''Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11'', a five-issue miniseries featuring 11 supervillains in the manner of the movie ''

Ocean's Eleven ''Ocean's Eleven'' is a 2001 heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Ted Griffin. A remake of the 1960 film of the same name, it serves as the first installment in the ''Ocean's'' franchise. The film features an ense ...

''.

''Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil''

This 2009 miniseries features Doctor Doom working with other villains. * #1 -

collaborates with the

Sinister Six The Sinister Six are a group of supervillains in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, mainly those featuring Spider-Man. The members are drawn from the character's list of enemies, with the original members forming the team in ''T ...

(

Doctor Octopus Doctor Octopus (Dr. Otto Octavius), also known as Doc Ock for short, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and first appeared in ''The Amazin ...

, the

Chameleon Chameleons or chamaeleons (Family (biology), family Chamaeleonidae) are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of Old World lizards with 200 species described as of June 2015. The members of this Family (biology), family are best known for ...

Kraven the Hunter Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff; Russian: Сергей Николаевич Кравинов) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, th ...

Mysterio Mysterio is the alias of several supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #13 (June 1964). He is one of the super ...

, the

Sandman The Sandman is a mythical character originating in Germanic and Scandinavian folklore who puts people to sleep and encourages and inspires beautiful dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto their eyes. Representation in traditional folklore The San ...

, and the

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

) * #2 - Doctor Doom collaborates with the

Circus of Crime The comic book stories published by Marvel Comics since the 1940s have featured several fictional teams and organizations and this page lists them. 0–9 198 A A-Force A-Next A.I. Army The A.I. Army is a fictional organization appearing i ...

to beat

Baron Zemo Baron Zemo () is the name of two supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Heinrich Zemo and his son Helmut Zemo have both been depicted as a major adversary of Captain America and the Avengers, as well as the l ...

Masters of Evil The Masters of Evil is a supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first version of the team appeared in '' The Avengers'' #6 (July 1964), with the lineup continually changing over the years. Publication ...

to a Hittite temple. * #3 - Doctor Doom and his "Masters of Evil" clash with

Blastaar Blastaar (, ) (also known as the Living Bomb-Burst and Blasstaar) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #62 (May 1967). ...

. * #4 - Doctor Doom collaborates with

and Princess Python to steal an item from

Selene In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Selene (; , meaning "Moon")''A Greek–English Lexicon's.v. σελήνη is the goddess and personification of the Moon. Also known as Mene (), she is traditionally the daughter ...

Collected editions

* '' Essential Super-Villain Team-Up'' collects ''Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up'' #1–2 and ''Super-Villain Team-Up'' #1–17, 552 pages, September 2004, * ''Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11'' collects ''Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11'' #1–5, 120 pages, February 2008, * ''Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil'' collects ''Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil'' #1–4, 120 pages, July 2009, * ''Super-Villains Unite: The Complete Super-Villain Team-Up'' collects ''Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up'' #1–2; ''Super-Villain Team-Up'' #1–14, 16–17; ''

'' #154–156; ''

'' #16, 464 pages, March 2015,

References

External links

* * *
''Super-Villain Team-Up''
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators {{Namor, state=collapsed 1975 comics debuts 1980 comics endings 2007 comics debuts 2007 comics endings Comics by Fred Van Lente Comics by Keith Giffen Comics by Roy Thomas Comics by Steve Englehart Defunct American comics Marvel Comics titles Supervillain comics Team-up comics Doctor Doom