It’s hard to believe that the initial trade paperback for Bring On The Bad Guys came out 50 years ago! To celebrate, Marvel is “bringing them on” again!
BRING ON THE BAD GUYS ONCE MORE!
The House of Ideas is gathering the biggest baddies in Marvel for a seven-issue miniseries with the same name! So, what’s going on this time?
>>THE BALANCE OF POWER IS FOREVER CHANGED! Mephisto seeks enough souls to power an ancient artifact called THE SOUL FORGE—destined to give him dominion over ALL human souls! Doom must stop him at all costs, but who is the mysterious Sister Sorrow, and what is her connection to Mephisto’s ultimate scheme?<<
Besides her, the cast of characters sounds pretty familiar, including Doctor Doom, Mephisto, Loki, the Green Goblin, Dormammu, the Red Skull, and the Abomination.
Writer Marc Guggenheim and artist Stefano Raffaelle bring the initial chapter focusing on Doom on June 5, followed by issues highlighting Green Goblin, Abomination, and Loki in July, then Red Skull, Dormammu, and Mephisto to wrap things up in August. Of course, there will be plenty of variant covers and other creators involved in this miniseries as well.
“As someone who grew up with the original BRING ON THE BAD GUYS on his bedroom shelf, this project is particularly exciting to me,” Guggenheim said. “It’s been a while since I had the chance to work with other writers on a crossover event and I’m truly enjoying the collaboration. Marvel has such a rich roster of antagonists and it’s a huge amount of fun to not only give them their time to shine but also add a new villain to their ranks — Sister Sorrow — who is every bit as dangerous and formidable as these classic villains.”
My biggest question is: Will Marvel reprint that original trade around this time, too? Or will fans have to go to the secondary market to find it?
DOCTOR DOOM
Of course, the biggest (and probably baddest) of the bunch sure seems to be Doctor Doom, who has on many levels achieved what all other villains wish they could—he has united the planet under him in the current “One World Under Doom” event.
This long-time foe of the Fantastic Four and many others in Marvel is what every baddie in the House of Ideas longs to be, so it is appropriate that the event kicks off with him. I imagine that Doom is already finding that wanting to control the world is easier than actually maintaining it after one has accomplished it.
OTHER BAD GUYS!
What makes the villains so interesting is their diversity, seems to me. You have the physically intimidating (like the Abomination) to the more intellectual ones (like the Red Skull, for example), all apparently interested in imposing their will on others.
They do have different ideas of how to attain that goal, so it will be intriguing to see how they are contrasted as well as compared in this event.
I’m sure their egos won’t let them actually team up or work together (they would all want to be in charge), so the Marvel Universe might not have to defend themselves from such an enigmatic situation.
We’ll see how all this shakes out!
MEPHISTO!
It will also be appropriate that this event will end with the most demonic of the villains, Mephisto, who is probably best known for reversing Peter Parker’s hitching up with Mary Jane, who is now the new Venom.
I still think his kind of underhanded manipulation of the lives of heroes and other people in the Marvel Universe makes him one of the most difficult to fight against. Often we don’t know what he’s up to until it seems like it is too late.
Now THAT is a bad guy!
Still, just like Doom’s current villainy, even if he gets control, it likely will not last long! Then, too, that new Sister Sorrow will be interesting to watch since she is the only female in the bunch! Is the female the deadliest of all? Again, we’ll have to read to find that out!
I also find it interesting that there has been no mention of any Marvel heroes in the publicity regarding this event. Will we see other, less heroic characters rise to challenge the bad guys? If so, that could be the longest-lasting results of what is coming soon!
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