The Big Villains Thread

Games Sentinel Comics RPG
361

Villain of the Day:  June 6 (Sponge)

Tim Ellis didn't plan on ever turning his unique abilities into a supervillainy, but it just so happened that it provided him quite the methodology.

You see, Tim was something of a human Sponge.  If he focused, Tim could absorb a massive amount of liquid--the current upper limits of Tim's powers are still yet unknown; the largest amount absorbed comprised the entirety of the Lindsay Chipman Reservoir, though he could only hold that much for a few minutes before releasing it.  Tim could hold that liquid within himself (or, more accurately, within a self-contained paradimensional space), then expel it at a later time.  Further, he could control the expulsion at any rate, from a slow trickle to a powerful geyser.  For years, this was a simply party trick for friends and family.  

However, a friend of a friend caught wind of Tim's party trick and offered him a deal he couldn't refuse:  absorb a still of homemade moonshine and walk it across state lines, so that it could be bottled.  Tim, having been eyeing up a new car for a while, and the three thousand dollars he was offered would make for a an ideal down payment.  Of course, with his unique abilities, this sort of smuggling was as discreet as one could ever imagine, and as easy as a Sunday drive.  These routes become a once-weekly outings, with sizable payouts each time.  

And, that's where Tim's greed got the better of him.  Under his street name of Sponge, Tim became the foremost in criminal smuggling.  Anything even remotely liquid could be transported across state and national borders with none the wiser, as Tim racked up the frequent flyer miles.  Within months, Tim had quit his day job, living the high life during the week, and spending his weekends ferrying illegal alcohol, narcotics, and more across borders.  After his first year, he had smuggled his first batch of rocket fuel, his first bioweaponry agent ("That one gave me a bit of heartburn, I'll be honest."), and his first batch of napalm.  It was on the last of those when he came into conflict with GLOBAL for the first time.  That incident led to the horrific burning deaths of fifteen GLOBAL agents before Sponge and his handlers made their escape.  While Sponge is now on their radar, Tim's non-descript appearance and lack of an official criminal record have led him to be difficult to track...

362

Villain of the Day:  July 7 (Excavator)

So many villains, so many secret societies...how do they manage to create bases, bunkers, hideaways, and strongholds?  The answer, of course, is Excavator.

Sandra McGinnis always was a touch jealous of those with 'true' superhuman abilities.  While born with the extraordinary ability to shape and re-crystallize earthen materials, she found that her abilities worked much too slowly to be of much use in combat.  Rather, her abilities seemed utterly useless for anything beyond parlor tricks.

That is, until she met Sean Dougal.  Sean was a contractor with a major San Alonzo-based construction firm who had come into contact with Sandra shortly after her high school graduation.  He offered her quite the deal:  change her major to architecture, complete her coursework and certifications, and she could walk into a job as head architect with his firm.  Sandra was confused until Sean escorted her around one of the work-sites for his constrution firm.  As they walked, he illustrated, "Excavation takes days, with all this equipment.  Then we need to pour footers; that's four trucks, over the course of a full week.  Then concrete pillars...all of which you could do in a day or two."

Sandra's eyes lit up.  Over the course of the next four years, she excelled in her coursework, graduating magna cum laude and with all manner of academic honors.  When she joined Sphinx Construction, she was the talk of the company....until the layoffs came.  After it became apparent that Sandra's talents all but replaced dozens of workers, Sphinx found themselves rolling in both profits and jobs, easily able to undercut any other construction or excavation bid in the region.  That, of course, is when the protests started.  The construction workers' union filed a civil suit against Sphinx for eliminating so many jobs, claiming that doing so violated the terms of their extant collective bargaining agreement.  Sphinx countered, arguing that Sandra was able to provide a service not replicable by any of the given workers, though it was clear that the writing was on the wall.  Sandra was given a hefty severance package, but found herself blackballed within the construction industry.

Operating as an independent contractor, Sandra proceeded to hire herself out to private individuals as an excavator, but she quickly grew frustrated with such work.  One job--a bomb shelter for a somewhat off-his-rocker doomsday prepper--piqued her interest, but that was a brief foray.  However, not long afterwards, another individual called, asking about the possibility of a bunker.  Then another, regarding the foundations for a castle in the Pacific Northwest.  Then, an underground laboratory space.  One after another, the job offers rolled in, and The Excavator, as she came to be known, became a very rich woman.

Sandra will be the first to admit.  She's hardly a threat and she's not interested in fighting anyone.  What her clients do or don't do with their new homes was entirely up to them.  She's purely the architect of destruction.

363

Villain of the Day:  July 8 (Shifter)

Progeny's deadly march from Rook City to Megalopolis caused irrevocable damage and a staggering loss of life.  When Progeny was finally defeated, while facing down a veritable legion of Earth's heroes, his head rocketed off into the cosmos, leading to a chase across the galaxy as KNYFE attempted to finally destroy the OblivAeon-spawned scion.

Dani Delaney had a front row seat to that climactic fight.  A Megalopolis native for years, Dani found themselves trapped in their apartment as the city itself shook with the thunder of battle.  Thinking quickly, Dani made for a fire escape, only to have that escape plummet three stories and nearly shake them off to a messy death.  Barely making it to the ground, Dani found themselves not 10 feet away from the battle itself, as the heroes landed their final onslaught.

Dani was among the first to congratulate the heroes, as Progeny's body steamed and dissipated away on the ground.  As police, fire, and paramedic crews rushed in, the liquid body of Progeny washed away...at least as far as anyone could tell.  Dani, however, learned otherwise.  Unwittingly, she had walked right through a puddle of Progeny-ooze, with molecules of it almost instantly retreating into their skin.

Shifter's appearance a few years after the OblivAeon affair was more than startling, due to its similarity to Progeny.  However, Shifter had several notable differences:  firstly, Shifter could not seem to remain in any given elemental form for more than 30 seconds to a minute.  Most often, Shifter would manifest several elemental forms at once:  its right arm would be surrounded in flame, while its left was oversized and rocky.  Within seconds, the stone had shifted to mist, and then to noxious fumes, while the right became as ice.  

However, Felicia Parsons was present for both fights...and she remembered Dani.  Calling out, she attempted to convince Dani into returning to their normal form.  She succeeded...for a moment.  Dani's face emerged from the constantly shifting elements, as they fell to their knees, crying.  "Please, help me..." Dani sobbed, "I can't stop.  I just want to be me again..."

Shifter fled the scene as the influence of the cosmic-madness overtook Dani once more.  The Sentinels of Freedom attempted to follow, but lost them in Megalopolis' labyrinthine sewer system.  Neither Shifter nor Dani has been seen since.

364

Neeeeaaaaat. :D

365

Villain of the Day: July 9 (The Man in the Ice)

He first appeared as the Greenland glaciers gave way. Almost imperceptible within a massive mound of floating sea ice, The Man in the Ice floats across the Arctic Seas, with no motion, no destination, no hint of who he is or what he might be doing.

Scientists who have studied the iceberg note that he has demonstrable life signs. His heart beats once every 3 minutes. He does not breathe, but he has blinked. Twice. However every effort to study him in depth meets with failure: storms, shipwrecks, madness and despair all cloud the various efforts to excavate The Man in the Ice.

Some have surmised that the Man is cursed, with several sorcerers noting a set of nigh-untranslatable runes carved in the underside of the ice. While the full passage had no known translation, one word has made it through. In a form of the ancient Lemurian, the ice is emblazoned with the word “Heretic”.

366

(Sorry on the short one yesterday--I've been under the weather since Sunday...)

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Villain of the Day: July 10 (Refractor)

Dr. Thomas Dowell was an invisible man.

An opthamologist by day, Thomas spent his days sitting in the dark, asking patients whether 1 or 2 were clearer, whether they could see the farmhouse out in the distance, or to read the fourth line down.  Every day blurred together.  He had no hobbies, no major love interests, no children.  His friends had scattered across the country.  He drove a gray sedan which blended right into traffic, and his fifteen minute commute often passed with no incidents.  Even his lunch was bland, often turkey and provolone on white, with just a touch of mayo.

As such, it may not be that surprisingly that Thomas actually became invisible.  That Tuesday--a cloudless winter day, with a cold and biting wind, Thomas drove into his office and began setting up his equipment.  However, this Tuesday, his assistant came walked in, glanced around the room, then left, calling "Dr. Dowell?  Dr. Dowell, did you leave?"  Thomas poked his head out of the door, claiming (truthfully) to have been within the entire time.   Daria shook her head, "I could have sworn that your exam room was empty...I was just in there."

That whole day, light seemed to work strangely around Dowell.  While diliting a patient's eyes, the light from his pocket flashlight bent around his fingers, almost like a pair of brass knuckles.  While on a break between patients, he stared intently at his desk lamp, which began to focus its light to the point where it caused a notepad on his desk to burst into flame.  Thomas had, in fact, become a human Refractor, able to bend and manipulate light with but a thought.

With newfound power in hand, Thomas' life became anything except normal.  Rather, Thomas became riotous and borderline-manic.  His powers enabled him to focus light down to a laser-like focus capable of dealing damage, warp and distort light to disorient opponents, and (if he stood particularly still) refract light around himself to become invisible.  For once in his life, Thomas had something that set him apart.  Reveling in his new life, Thomas immediately thought to join the Citizens of the Sun--"they're different, just like me!  They're beyond normality!"--but Citizen Dawn's defeat at Insula Primalis made that an impossibility.  However, as Hammer and Anvil begin recruiting once more in the wake of OblivAeon, Refractor may seek them out sooner than later.

367

Hope you feel better today!

368

I am, thank you. Don’t ask me how I ended up with a sinus infection in July, but I’m pretty well over it now.

369

Villain of the Day:  July 11 (Iniquity)

As he walks, he casts no shadow.  That's how you can tell him apart, they say.

The creature known as Iniquity was first located following a rash of disappearances at Kingsport State University.  Professor Arnold Madigan, chair of the anthropology department, had gone missing, along with a number of his graduate students.  While some believed this to be some sort of strange, spur-of-the-moment field trip, administration had other ideas.  And, when Emily Zarkonen was found four days later on the campus lawn, screaming about some creature eating the shadows, a manhunt for Madigan and the remaining students began in earnest.

Madigan's body was never found.  However, one by one, the graduate students began trickling in over the course of the next few weeks.  Not one of them, Emily included, cast any shadow.

From the students' testimony, detectives began to piece together what had happened.  Some black-cloaked creature, all too many teeth and claws, had kept them in a system of caverns underneath the Kingsport area.  Therein, over the course of a week, it subjected the students and Madigan to a psychic hellscape, inducing their worst fears over and over again.  Even on solid ground once more, Emily trembled with each step, as if she were about to fall from high tightrope.  Another student, JaRog, constantly scratched at his arms, claiming that he could feel something crawling just under their skin.  

Realizing the strangeness and esoteric nature of the crime, the Kingsport PD turned the case over to Dark Watch, who in turn set The Harpy on the case.  While no sorcerous record exists that details Iniquity itself, several texts link the human shadow to that of an alternate-self linked directly to human fears and insecurities.  Were a creature to directly feed upon those shadows, the arcane power available to the eater would be incalculable.  What's more, though, The Harpy detected something truly anomalous.  Madigan's anthropological work, which his graduate students had been assisting with, dealt with a sect of the Cult of Gloom believed wiped out during the late 1500s.  Atop Madigan's syllabus itself, though?  None other than an English translation of the Grimoire of Curses...

370

Villain of the Day:  July 12 (Firewalker)

Heidi Brennan was hardly the ordinary girl next door.  Raised by circus performers with the Ledbetter Brothers Three Ring Extravaganza, her parents spent the majority of any given year on tour.  As such, Heidi spent her days around lion-tamers, trapeeze artists, and juggling clowns.  Her parents, Frank and Becca, though, were fire eaters.  They performed various vapor tricks, such as blowing fireballs, extinguishing flames, fire-twirling, and "The Exotic Wonder of India:  the Crossing of Coals!"

While Heidi was given a traditional education, she knew she was ready to enter the family business.  As early as 14, she was fitted for a purple-sequinned leotard and started learning to walk across hot coals.  Now, while Frank and Becca, kept safety a highest priority, it quickly became apparent that something was particularly strange about Heidi.  Despite near daily exposure to open flame, she never blistered, her hair never charred, and she never received so much as a flash burn.  Heidi seemed completely impervious to flame.

At seventeen, Heidi joined her parents act on a trial basis and became an instant hit.  Her skill with the so-called "dragonstaff" and fire whips left audiences in awe, and her ability to dance and perform on the hottest fiery coals left audiences agog.  However, he piece-de-resistance became the trick she became best known for:  Heidi could leap literally into a roaring bonfire and emerge, completely unharmed, in a similar fire elsewhere.  Heidi was a literal Firewalker, able to teleport through open flames.

However, despite her impressive performances, Heidi alone was not enough to save the Ledbetter Extravaganza.  Owing massive debts to The Organization, who fronted the Ledbetter brothers money to legitimately purchase exotic circus animals, the circus declared bankruptcy.  However, that alone was not enough for The Chairman and his enforcers.  Both Gregg and Clark Ledbetter were found dead in a mysterious car accident three months after the bankruptcy, with another of their associates found dead of a heroin overdose a month after that.

Heidi was incensed.  Rage burned in her, hotter than any flame spun within her hands.  Her parents did their best to talk her down, to get a normal job, to leave the past behind, but Heidi was consumed.  Striking out on her own, the Firewalker has become a noted arsonist throughout Rook City, directly targeting areas frequented by Organization thugs.  Firewalker has been accosted by heroes on a number of occasions, though her stage training with various weapons, plus her tendency to confront these heroes within the still-burning target sites, has kept her on the lam for months on end.  Currently, The Chairman has set a $2m bounty on the Firewalker's life; it may only be a matter of time until Heidi's dreams go up in smoke.

371

Villain of the Day:  July 13 (Antaeus)

He claims to be one of the original Atlanteans, trapped and slumbering within a sphere of water deep within the bowels of now-ruined Atlantis.  He brooks no shame in his deeds, building a temple to the sea god Poseidon with the skulls of Atlanteans, Lemurians, and Thulians alike.  

He calls himself Antaeus.

Mythology remembers Antaeus as an opponent of Heracles, who confronted the belabored hero while Hercules sought the path to the Garden of the Hesperides.  Antaeus challenged Heracles, as he had with so many other travelers, to a wrestling contest.  Legend tells that, over the course of the match, Heracles learned Antaeus' secret:  by lifting the warrior off the ground, Antaeus lost contact with the earth, from which he drew his phenomenal strength.  Throughout antiquity, statues of Heracles lifting and crushing Antaeus to death featured across the Old World.  

Naturally, the fact that Antaeus still exists in this brave new world stands as testament to the fact that legend is not always based on truth.

On the rare occasions where Antaeus has emerged in the modern world, he inevitably seeks out the largest, the strongest, and the most physically powerful heroes he could possibly challenge.  Haka fought Antaeus to a standstill in the Ruins of Atlantis before Harka's disappearance, though the sudden appearance of a kraken disrupted the clash, allowing Antaeus to escape.  Since that day, Antaeus has grappled with Fanatic, Legacy, KNYFE, and The Hippo at various points, with the only clear victory for either side coming with Antaeus triumphing over The Hippo.  On all occasions, the longer that Antaeus stays in contact with earth, soil, or stone, the stronger he grows.  With some degree of effort, Antaeus can even armor himself with earth, covering himself in a rock-like carapace which exponentially increases his durability.

In recent days, some of the Sentinels of Freedom historians have suggested the possibility of seeking out Antaeus to serve as a resource:  that he might be able to provide true, accurate information as to the fall of Atlantis and its wars with Lemuria and Thule.  However, it is not likely that Antaeus would be willing to simply 'discuss' the ancient empires in any capacity...at least not unless he could be bested in a challenge!

372

Meh, I'll stick with the original.

373

Man, everyone beats the Hippo, that don't make you special! :V

374

Hence the only clear victory… :stuck_out_tongue:

Besides, my dude is the actual Antaeus; threat other one is just a statue come to life. It’d get smashed posthaste!

375

Villain of the Day: July 14 (Toxic)

Outside of a single incident with The Naturalist and Akash’Thriya, Professor Pollution has always been something of a laughingstock within the rogues gallery of the Multiverse. While her powers are formidable (and could be devastating inthe right hands), her general ineptitude for villainy and the outright absurdity of her plans ("really, you want to steal the whole Atlantic Ocean? The whole thing?) have led her to continual prison time and a number of hero-based concussions.

No longer.

After a long prison stint, Pollution decided that the true difficulty with her plans had been the lack of assistance. Toxic was her answer to this. Chartering a boat to the middle of the Pacific, Pollution enacted a ritual purchased from Hermetic atop the great mound of plastic floating in the ocean. The ritual, which would normally summon a water elemental, was corrupted by Pollution and the region of the summoning. Rather than a flowing blue elemental, Toxic emerged as a lurching, dripping monstrosity which gave off a stench that could make a pig farmer run for the toilet.

Toxic made its first appearance with Pollution in Rook City not long after the OblivAeon event ended, as Pollution sought to take advantage of the carnage by stealing a rare set of radioactive isotopes from a local chemistry laboratory. When Dark Watch showed up on the scene, things seemed to be going as per usual for Professor Pollution, up until Toxic charged through a wall, flinging Mister Fixer across the building and sending Expatriette soaring for cover from a corrosive spray. Setback, as his wont, charged ahead, only to find himself neck deep in the filth and excrement that made up Toxic. Pollution made her escape and, as Dark Watch regrouped to renew the assault, Toxic flowed away down a staff toilet.

Since that day, Pollution and her new partner have made several successful heists, leaving their targets a stinking, reeking mess afterwards. There may be more dangerous villains in the multiverse, but few are certainly as foul…

376

Today's villain of the day: With a taste of your lips I'm on a riiiiide~

377

Leave Britney alone!!! :wink:

378

Y'know, I had just gotten that song out of my head this morning. >:V

379

Villain of the Day:  July 15 (Wrest)

Tatiana Malloy never intended to rob that first bank.  She didn't even take anything that day.  But once the press gets hold of a metahuman ability like hers, hype and tabloid publicity did her the kind of favor that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

You see, Tatiana hated going to the bank.  While she was perfectly fine with Central United Trust's online service, she found herself having to go into the bank in person each month to move funds from her business savings account--Tatiana turned her side hobby of crochet into a semi-profitable Squeetzy store--over to her personal checking account.  No matter the hour, the bank always seemed to move as slow as possible, with pensioners filling out forms and listening to canned spiels about reverse mortgages, and some inevitable fool in front of her who wanted to cash in a massive jar of change.  That Thursday, though, Tatiana's frustrations just seemed to boil up around her.  Her boss saddled her with an unwanted project, Jerry from the third floor had taken her lunch by accident, and the bank was simply taking longer than ever.  Fuming, Tatiana tried to play a game on her phone, tried to inventory her yarn from memory, but nothing seemed to abate her anger.

That's when the vault door ripped itself off its hinges and soared towards her.  Reflexively, Tatiana threw up an arm as she dropped to the floor and covered her heard.  The vault door simply hovered above her arm, as faint blue discs of energy flickered above her fingertips.  Standing up, she found that she was able to move aside the steel door with ease...until one of the cashiers slammed his hand into the alarm button.  "No!  I'm not doing this on purpose!  I'm not stealing anything!" Tatiana protested, turning to face the cashier.  As she did so, though, the vault door spun away from her, slamming through three walls and into the exterior brick facade of the Groovie Smoothie store next door.  Crying in panic, Tatiana ran.

Now on the run from police, Tatiana took the first bus out of town, heading for her parents' Colorado ranch.  While her parents were at their summer home in Boca, Tatiana knew that she could find some privacy and let things settle down while she figured out what was really going on.  As it turned out, the stress of her bank encounter had unlocked a dormant metagene in her, allowing her to channel her natural bioelectricity into highly focused magnetic fields.  Such a field, as she soon realized, could be used to Wrest a vault door from its hinges, repulse metallic projectiles, and even turn herself into a living railgun, capable of guiding even the simplest objects into a deadly missile.

Already on the run, Tatiana took stock of her situation.  The press in Megalopolis were all over her already; headlines read "Central United Falls Beneath Metahuman Mayhem", with the surveillance footage showing her from the rear, holding the vault door aloft with her newfound power.  At that point, a decision needed to be made.  She could turn herself into the authorities, take responsibility for the carnage at Central United Trust, and likely get locked away for years....or she could steer into the skid.  The Colorado Springs bank where Wrest first appeared never knew what hit it; even when police arrived on scene, they found themselves under a phenomenal barrage of swirling, stinging nickels which beat upon them like a summer hailstorm.  Tatiana made her escape that day with over $600,000 in cash.  Four more banks came in swift succession, followed by a technologies lab and a private vault.  A new metahuman criminal was born...

380

Villain of the Day:  July 16 (Pallor)

To be clear, the creature currently referred to as Pallor has no known name.  Every believed investigative lead, every arcane scrying, every scientific testing, have all led to precisely nowhere.  Pallor's true identity remains a mystery.

With that said, there are a number patterns that have emerged upon Pallor's continued appearances, which has kept the case open as to this strange being.

Pallor appears as a featureless hominid with a vaguely feminine form made up entirely of wispy grey-black ash.  It is most often sighted roaming through areas of intense devastation, particularly those brought on by fires or radiation.  Pallor has been sighted a number of times in the ruins of San Alonzo, in burned out buildings in Rook City, and even in the foundation of the former Freedom Tower.  

If undisturbed, Pallor does not regard anyone who observes it.  It simply walks (floats?) through the area, pacing as if looking for something.  If disturbed, however, Pallor shrieks with an unearthly noise and immediately moves to attack any interloper.  While Pallor is incorporeal, it manifests gale force winds laden with choking, biting ash and soot capable of choking the life out of anyone lacking protection.  Pallor rarely attacks for longer than a few minutes, before fleeing into the wind, utterly discorporating before it can be trapped or incapacitated.

Some have theorized that Pallor might be some sort of ghost or otherworldly entity, the truth is actually somewhat stranger.  Pallor is actually no less than four separate alternate universe individuals, conflated together as realities began merging through the OblivAeon event.  Pallor's ever-shifting consciousness continually morphs between The Morrigan (a warrior-woman who channels the might of a Celtic amulet), Sirocco (an aerokinetic who joined her reality's Freedom Seven, Mistwalker (an infiltration expert and thief, held in the Freedom Nine's power-dampening cells), and Doug Berhold, a bystander trapped beneath a girder when a nearby building collapsed.  Because of this conflation, readings and scrying have been utterly fruitless.  Were someone to learn Pallor's true nature, perhaps this strange elemental creature may yet be separated into its portioned individuals...