The Marauders are a group of superpowered criminals working on behalf of the interests of the villain Mister Sinister. Sinister had long devoted his life to the study of genetics and mutations in particular. Knowing of the existence of an underground community called the Morlocks, Sinister decided that their existence was compromising and diluting the genetic gene pool. To remedy this, he made Gambit, a thief that owed Sinister a favor for restoring balance to his formative mutant powers, to form a group of mercenaries into a team of Marauders that would work for him.

In one of the Marauders' first known activities, based on Sinister's interest in the genetic lineage of the mutants Cyclops and Phoenix, several members of the team hunted Cyclops' wife Madelyne Pryor-Summers and child Nathan, killing Pryor and kidnapping the baby.

Gambit soon led the Marauders into the Morlocks' tunnels, whereupon the mercenaries began a systematic massacre of the population. Unaware of the Marauders' true intent, Gambit tried to stop them, but was only able to save a Morlock girl (the mutant known as Marrow) before escaping. The Marauders were confronted by the Morlocks' allies, the hero team X-Men, along with other heroes such as Thor and Power Pack. Ultimately, the X-Men and the heroes stopped the massacre, but not before significant causalities were sustained by both sides.

Later, another Marauder, Malice, attempted possession of the X-Men ally, Dazzler, but was defeated by Dazzler's friends in the X-Men. The Marauders went on to attack the X-Men's associate Polaris. Sinister had decided, unbeknownst to Malice, that the mutant would make a genetic match with Malice and allow the two to become permanently bonded. It seemed that Polaris had managed to single-handedly and ruthlessly defeat the team, but in fact it was Malice who had taken possession of Polaris and declared herself leader of the Marauders. Malice, in Polaris' body, led the Marauders on several missions, including a failed attempt to capture Madelyne Pryor, who reappeared in California and would be rescued by the X-Men.

When a demon invasion occurred in New York City, Malice/Polaris led a Marauder attack on the hero teams X-Men and X-Factor. Several Marauders who were believed to have died in previous battles had reappeared. The heroes defeated the Marauders, many of whom were killed during the battle, but Malice and Sabretooth escaped. (Both of whom would never regroup with the Marauders since then.) Months later, when investigating Sinister's facilities, the X-Men discovered that Sinister had kept genetic information of the mercenaries in order to create clones of them. Some of the clones were released, but the X-Men defeated them and they died.

With the genetic information readily available, Sinister activated several Marauders once more, this time to chase the mutant Threnody who was escaping her indentured servitude to Sinister. They were confronted by Nate Grey, the X-Man, and in the course of the battle, most of the Marauders were killed. The remaining member, Riptide, was sent back with implanted memories that Threnody was killed as well. Nevertheless, more Marauders later returned, and Threnody agreed to return to Sinister.

Various Marauders have reappeared since then. For example, Sinister disguised several Marauders as agents of the villain Apocalypse in order to try to trick the hero Cable into forming an alliance with him. Another time, Gambit needed to invade another of Sinister's bases, and Scalphunter revealed that all cloned Marauders were genetically programmed to never turn against Sinister on penalty of death. Gambit turned instead to Sabretooth, who was never cloned, and the two invaded Sinister's base after facing several Marauders as guards. Presumably, as long as Mister Sinister remains active, he will always have at hand a cloned army of Marauders in some capacity.

Recently, the Marauders joined forces with the Acolytes, to kill the X-Men and take the Mutant Baby. Several members died, in the process (some members were devoured by Predator X).

Leaders: Mister Sinister, Magneto, Susan Hatchi
Field Leaders: Formerly Chimera, Malice, Greycrow, Mystique

Former Members: Aries, Arclight, Azimuth, Blockbuster, Chimera, Coda, Gambit, Hans, Harpoon, Susan Hatchi, Lady Mastermind, Malice, Mister Sinister, Mystique, Prism, Omega Sentinel, Polaris, Riptide, Sabretooth, Sabretooth (Clone), Greycrow, Scrambler, Sunfire, Vanisher, Vertigo, unnamed human soldiers

Creators: Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr., and Dan Green. First Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #210.

****

The Marauders were a nasty group of villains. I always found them quite interesting from the standpoint of how they would fare against other super-teams. Personally, I think that they could take the FF. The Avengers? I don't know. It would be fun to watch. The Defenders with the Hulk? He's always the equalizer. But that would be an interesting match, as well. Of course, all of this would depend on the lineups for each side. Either way, they're one of my favorites.

10. The Forgotten Villains from DC COMICS PRESENTS #77-78



Atom-Master, who took on Superman, Batman, and Robin in WORLD'S FINEST #101! Enchantress, star of her own feature in STRANGE ADVENTURES #187, 191, 200! The Faceless Hunter from Saturn, who menaced humanity in STRANGE ADVENTURES #124,142,153! Kraklow, the ancient wizard who turned Rip Hunter into a "time creature"! Mr. Poseidon, who dared to face the Sea Devils! Ultivac, early foe of the Challengers of the Unknown!

Since I was a kid, I considered getting an official logo on the front of a comic as a special honor of formality, a promotion from the minors into the big leagues. That feeling still held sway with me in 1978 1984* when these guys ranked for cover billing alongside Superman, displacing the previously listed co-stars, The Forgotten Heroes, in the second of a two-parter. And I've always gotten a kick out of revivals of long-forgotten characters who held--even if ever so briefly--their own comics features (I'm still waiting for someone to revive Black Brother and Calvin at Marvel!).

So how could I not have a soft spot for this resurrection of bottom-of-the-barrel menaces, even if I'd never heard of most of them? But they got a logo, they were now legit in my eyes!

Enchantress I knew, from reprints of one or two of her solos in the 48-page era of ADVENTURE COMICS. All the others were ciphers to me, coming into comics when reprints of DC's lesser features like Sea Devils, Challengers, and Rip Hunter were extremely rare. With all the forgotten villains who had littered DC's history, Marv Wolfman went the extra mile by recruiting from the forgotten features, as well! I was delighted! The biggest treat was the Faceless Hunter from Saturn, one of the few menaces to make multiple return appearances in DC's science-fiction anthologies...and I'd always been fond of "faceless" characters like The Question and Red Tornado, don't ask me why!

DC must have agreed with me about the logo thing, because this team merited a page in WHO'S WHO, over who knows how many villains that were passed over. We may never see this team again...at least until a new generation searches through the library for more forgotten characters to revive, and the Faceless Hunter shall hunt again!


*Thanks for the correction, EdoBosnar! I had the issue number on my mind when I (mis)typed that!

They pop up on a semi-regular basis, as they are a good group to throw against a team. I can particularly recommend Justice League of America #203-205 by Len Wein; New Titans #68-69 by Karl Kesel, where they get played by the Gambler II (grandson of the original) masquerading as the Joker; and Zatanna #4 by Paul Dini, where Zee takes on a rat pack-themed version of the gang based in Las Vegas.

10: The Exiles (Captain America 104)

"From Out of the Past"*
 

Yet another group of one-time wonders (at least for me, anyway), this time assembled by the Red Skull to take out Cap once and for all and kill him dead.

You remember, in Cap 104, May 1968, the final issue of his title.

Anyway, I remember reading this one as I’d been able to get Marvel Comics more regularly since the change in distribution and the increase in the number of Marvels on the stands. The war which all of these bad guys had survived had ended all of 23 years before, but with one exception, they all looked in fairly fine fettle, though not as fine a fettle as one would need to take on America’s super-soldier. Oh, well, with all of them surrounding Cap, maybe they could do the job.

This group of Fascist felons sticks out in my mind because Kirby drew them as a gallery of grotesques, than which nobody did it better, and because of the parallels between them and those villains of 23 years before, whom I and my friends grew up seeing and hearing about all over the place, from TV shows and movies to holiday gatherings when the grown-ups couldn’t believe that it had been so long ago that the war had started.

Check out this roster of unredeemed totalitarian types (clockwise from upper left):

Angelo Baldini, he of the scarf and Blackshirt fez. Hmmm, I wonder whom he’s meant to represent.

Eric Gruning, the heavy-set German guy wearing a cloak and a medal-bespattered uniform. Armed with a whip. Can anyone say Göring?

Ivan Krushki, the Russian (must have been a Tsarist), complete with unkempt beard, traditional symbol of masculinity.

Iron-Hand Hauptmann, vying for the title of Most Classic Nazi of 1942 with his Uhlan-style helmet, an iron hand (see Iron Major, Our Army at War), though in this case it’s an iron glove with extra powers. Might have been the beta-version of the Infinity Gauntlet.

Jun Ching, who though Chinese, somehow is in league with the Axis Club, and…

Franz Cadavus, whose motorized, weaponized wheelchair was later modified by the Caulder-Xavier Corporation. Points for moxie, as going up against Cap, even with a wheelchair loaded to the gills with weaponry, is a tall order.

Add the Red Skull as their leader and you have the recipe for a serious helping of team super-villainy, as you can tell from their attack strategy: we surround the verdammte Captain and unleash our weapons at him simultaneously, because then none of us can possibly be harmed by our own weapons.

Well played, Exiles. 

*Astonishing 49

Now that's the shot I should have used, one of Georges many awe-inspiring covers of the era.

10. The Triumvirate of Terror

10. Evilheart and Mad Doctor Doom

I'm not really that big a fan of the Super-Teens, but I do enjoy occasionally the team-up of Reggie, in his Evilheart persona, and Mad Doctor Doom!

I considered doing a team-up of Reggie and Betty just as their regular selves, because they teamed up for some real underhanded schemes back in the 50s, but I decided to stick with the supervillain version of Reggie instead.