Super-Villain Team-Up | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Schedule | Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up: Quarterly Super-Villain Team-Up: Bimonthly (#1–14) Irregularly (#15–17) Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11: Monthly |
Format | Super-Villain Team-Up: Ongoing series Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11: Mini-series |
Publication date | Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up: March 1975 – June 1975 Super-Villain Team-Up: August 1975 – June 1980 Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11: July 2007 – November 2007 |
No. of issues | Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up: 2 Super-Villain Team-Up: 17 Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11: 5 |
Main character(s) | List
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Creative team | |
Written by | List
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Penciller(s) | List
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Inker(s) | List
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Collected editions | |
Essential Super-Villain Team-Up | ISBN 978-0785115458 |
Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 | ISBN 978-0785119920 |
Super-Villain Team-Up is the name of two American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Both series featured supervillains as the protagonists.
The first series started in 1975 with two giant-size issues [1] before launching as a regular series, [2] [3] and was mostly bi-monthly during its existence. It initially teamed up Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner, who had lost his own series, from which it picked up the unresolved plots, especially that of the comatose Atlanteans. After a succession of writers and artists and a crossover with The Avengers, 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 and Doctor Doom, was billed as the final issue of the series [4] and its plotline was resolved in The Champions #16. The following year, SVTU continued with issue #15 (Nov. 1978), a reprint of Astonishing Tales #4–5. Issues #16 (May 1979) and #17 (June 1980) featured the Red Skull and the Hate-Monger. 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". [5]
The series saw the death of the Sub-Mariner's 1940s sweetheart Betty Dean and the death of her murderer, Doctor Dorcas. Steve Englehart created The Shroud, [6] a character partly inspired by Batman, [7] shortly before he started to work for DC Comics on Detective Comics. [8]
Issue | Cover date | Character | Character | Notes |
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Giant–Size #1 | March 1975 | Doctor Doom | Sub-Mariner | new framing story by writer Roy Thomas and artists John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. Reprints Sub-Mariner #20 (December 1969) and Marvel Super-Heroes #20 (May 1969). |
Giant–Size #2 | June 1975 | vs. the Doomsman | ||
#1 | August 1975 | vs. Attuma, Doctor Dorcas, and Tiger Shark | ||
#2 | October 1975 | |||
#3 | December 1975 | |||
#4 | February 1976 | |||
#5 | April 1976 | vs. the Fantastic Four | ||
#6 | June 1976 | vs. the Fantastic Four and the Shroud | ||
#7 | August 1976 | vs. the Shroud | ||
#8 | October 1976 | vs. the Ringmaster | ||
#9 | December 1976 | vs. Attuma. Crossover with The Avengers #154–156 (Dec. 1976–Feb. 1977) | ||
#10 | February 1977 | vs. the Red Skull | ||
#11 | April 1977 | Red Skull | ||
#12 | June 1977 | |||
#13 | August 1977 | Sub-Mariner | vs. Warlord Krang | |
#14 | October 1977 | Magneto | crossover with The Champions #16 (November 1977) | |
#15 | November 1978 | Red Skull | reprints Astonishing Tales #4 (February 1971) and #5 (April 1971) | |
#16 | May 1979 | Red Skull | Hate-Monger | |
#17 | June 1980 | also featuring Arnim Zola |
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.
This 2009 miniseries features Doctor Doom working with other villains.
After two giant-size issues, Super-Villain Team-Up switched to a thirty-two-page format in August [1975].
The revival and annual publication of SVTU was part of the legal maneuvering on Marvel's part to keep DC from trademarking the term 'Super Villain' as in ' Secret Society of'. For that, annual publication was enough, and by the second year, the legal tussle was resolved.
My creation of the Shroud in #6, to be a third force somewhere between the villains and the heroes. He was a combination of the Shadow and the Batman, both favorites of mine, and since I was a Marvel writer I was never going to get a chance at the real Batman...