Marvel announces "Villains for Hire"

[sherkahn]

Yes, the "Distinguished Competition" clearly fumbled the ball and Marvel is picking it up and going for it.

The universe abhors a vacuum, and this one left a big one.

Newsarama has the interview as Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning talk Villains for Hire.



From the article.


Newsarama:
Dan, Andy, the obvious question that comes to mind regarding Villains for Hire is whether this shift was always part of the plan since the Heroes for Hire launch last fall — or did the inspiration for this come somewhere later along the way?

DnA:
We had always wanted to do a villain version of the H4H set-up, it offers so much potential for action and drama, but we wanted it to grow naturally from the story and character arcs we were developing. The image of the Heroes for Hire logo with “Heroes” scrawled through and “Villains” written over the top has been with us from the start it’s great that we’ve got to this point in the story arc that we can tell this tale.

Nrama:
Then, of course, there's the other obvious question, the juiciest one and quite possibly the one you'll want to hold back on the most: What villains will be a part of the cast?

DnA: There’s Stilt Man, Tiger Shark, Crossfire, Nightshade, Speed Demon and Bombshell — who are revealed on the #0.1 cover — and Misty’s new arch-enemy, The Purple Man. We have other surprises along the way that we won’t reveal just yet!




Yes, of COURSE it's the Secret Six, or Marvel's attempt to do them.

Guy that shoots.
A man that behaves like a shark.
A woman that has dark magic powers.
A female heavy hitter/bruiser.
Bad ass female leader.

All we need is the perverted, sometimes crazy, very disturbed individual with peculiar tastes in...
wait, where is Deadpool?

And you know what?

F U, DC.

You let a good thing go.

If I have to get similar stories to what I was enjoying with alternate characters, I will. If these misfits can recreate the magic that Gail had, I'll buy it.

As much as it is a rip off, I'd like to believe that somewhere DnA were inspired by the Secret Six and want the magic ride to continue. I'd like to believe the title would honor the labor of love that is the Secret Six with their own take. I have faith in Andy Lanning and Dan Abnett's abilities as story tellers in the comic format.

Comments

[bewareofgeek]

You may be right, but...

Dark magic powers? Female heavy hitter? I think you need to read up on some of these characters (particularly since you seem to be equating Stilt-Man with Blake)

[sherkahn]

Nope, there is no one to replace Blake or Bane on this squad.

But some of the others... c'mon.

[icon_uk]

Marvel's Nightshade isn't a magic user. Technically she's Dr Nightshade (her doctorate is in chemistry IIRC), a name she used in the 1980's and wish she'd kept.

[lucky_gamble]

Actually didn't her last run in similar group (name escapes me but one of the groups members was living laser. loved the run) say that she didn't have any degrees to speak of? No bachelors or advanced degrees but she was considered a genius by the group since she was entirely self taught. That was also her reason for staying in the business, having reached the point where she could've been a doctor or any well paying position but lacked the credentials. Also the long criminal record didn't help.

[salinea]

Modok's Eleven.

[lucky_gamble]

that's it, thanks! loved that series!

[salinea]

loved the concept & many of the characters (especially Nightshade, yeah) but I thought the story itself was a bit meh.

[lucky_gamble]

It was one of those comics where the character interaction was actually better than the story. an example would be when Nightshade dosed Puma with one of her "werewolf" patches, tricking him into believing that he regained his ability and snapped out of his funk.

[salinea]

yeah, it was a great scene! :D

[salinea]

though speaking of it and Secret Six, Puma from that series would make a good Catman analogue :3

[proteus_lives]

Loved it. Loved everything about it.

[lieut_kettch]

Hmm... Well, Catman was something of a joke in the caped community before he Took a Level in Badass, so maybe something similar will happen to Stilt-Man.

As to how this will happen, who knows? Maybe he'll settle in with a troupe of stilt-walkers who somehow end up horribly massacred.

[thanekos]

Y'sure you're not thinking of the other side's Nightshade?

[rainspirit]

Is there a reason why Misty's a villain now? Or is she Amanda Waller-ing it up with the best of them?

[crinos]

You know, before I read the interview, looking at the pic, I thought Misty was in fact Nightshade, the woman who turned Captain America into a werewolf.

Then I read it, realized it was in fact Misty, and that Nightshade was still a member of the team.

Huh.

[sherkahn]

Looks like she is Amanda Waller-ing in the private sector.

(Minds out of the gutter, you. You know who you are.)

[lieut_kettch]

(Minds out of the gutter, you. You know who you are.)

Don't you mean, "NOT REMOTELY WHAT I MEANT!"

[kusonaga]

Hell yes.

[mullon]

Misty should be ashamed of that afro.

[vitruvian23]

Why? Are you against afros in general, or do you just think that hers is too frazzled at the ends?

[mullon]

It's too frazzled. It's an embarrassment to afros everywhere.

[zenbro]

Sun, chlorine and villainy are bad for the hair.

[halloweenjack]

I think that you're stretching the comparison a bit. Yes, there's Crossfire, and Floyd has prior art on that (although his original costume, according to Wikipedia, was a top hat and tails), but the shark guy was a very recent addition to Secret Six, and the general idea of a mercenary group of villains is certainly nothing new.

[lucky_gamble]

So going to pick this up just because Nightshade is in it. The fact that she never seemed like an irredeemable bastard and turned people into werewolves always interested me.

[bluefall]

Well, hey, Heroes for Hire was doing a passably good job of being most of what Birds of Prey is supposed to be while Birds itself was failing to do so. No reason to give up the trend now.

[thebigapricot]

Last week I posted the cover of Heroes for Hire #12 with the Birds of Prey logo on it. Now I'll paste the Secret Six logo on Villains for Hire.

Money out of DC, money into Marvel.

[mrstatham]

I'm surprised more DC creators aren't having a 'wait, what?' moment here. Between this and the Season One books already beating the crap out of Earth One by sheer numbers alone, DC are looking increasingly dumb.

[turtlefu]

Heroes for Hire has been really good, and I'm more than happy to buy Marvel books now that DC has proven themselves to be hypocritical and not the least bit deserving of my dollars.

[detective_deathman08]

I think this is a little more then just a Secret Six replacement(thank god). I really liked Heroes for Hire and wanted to pick it back up after the spiderman and fear itself stories. I will gladly pick this up, but why in gods name is misty working with villians. Not to mention I thought stiltman was dead. I got worried when I saw purple mans name, glad he is a recurring foe I would hate to see misty work with someone who assaulted her best friends wife.

[detective_deathman08]

I like this ratio only one more male then female, and more then one black girl.

[shanejayell]

DC did it first. Hell, Titans was called 'villains for hire.'

[q99]

Yea, but I like the looks of this more!

[darkblade]

Thats what I thought when I read the name. I didn't think Secret Six until I saw the roster.

[thanekos]

The difference is, Misty's not going to put on an eyepatch and screw everyone over as part of some long-term plan to restore Danny Rand back to normalcy from.. ah, this week's Iron Man 2.0.

[marco]

I think I know where my money is going to go (besides w/Jason and crew) once the DC reboots kick in.

But this does make me wish even more that Misty had made it into Ultimate MvC3. She would have just looked so cool and been such a bad ass. (And her and Dante could run around look cool in all their red and shootin mofos up.)

[proteus_lives]

I'll give it a shot!