Victorian Masters of Evil

I did the first one of these years ago because I was sick of seeing half-arsed attempts at Victorian Science Fiction/Steampunk superhero projects on the Lead Adventure Forum, which were kind of the flavour of the month. What I wanted people to do was to put more thought into the concept than just gluing cogs on Iron Man and calling it a day, which was something that was happening quite a bit. Perhaps it was due to my background in Film and Literature, but I just thought there was way more to the concept than just "Bruce Waynesworth" donning a costume to battle "Jolly Jack the Joker". So I pulled out some of my Victorian Literature notes and Silver Age comics and got to work mashing together the JLA and various texts relevant to the era. 

Years later, my brain seems wired for this shit now, as I can't stop coming up with more ideas for the same concept. Is it because I just keep reading comics and Victorian Literature? Probably, but that's not going to stop me. Hopefully though, I'm coming to the end this time. I mean, I've dipped down to the B-list pretty hard to get some of this to work, what's next, mashing up Sam Weller and Wong? Actually, that's pretty good. Maybe a Victorian era, British take on SHIELD, with Samuel Pickwick as Nick Fury and Weller as Dum-Dum Dugan? Sam already has the bowler hat and mustache, so it kind of works, right? Anyway, let's just get going before I do even more of these.


Masters of the New World 
For all the heroes that the new age of reason, discovery and technology has brought, there has come with it those who would stand for the causes of destruction, ignorance and greed. Individually powerful, some of these self-styled "Masters" have whole armies at their beck and call, a few even ruling over entire countries. The nightmares of all right-thinking subjects of Her Glorious Majesty came to fruition when, one day, it was discovered that several of these foreign devils had banded together to battle against the Empire. May God save the Queen.

Adam (Ultron) 

Created by some deranged mind, a German, no less, "Adam" is a man-made monster, born of alchemy and other foul practices, it killed its creator and vanished into the icy North. Many thought that was the end of the macabre tale, until similar creations started to be discovered wandering the streets of major cities across the world. It transpired that neither Adam nor his creator's methods were truly lost and that Adam had begun creating his own "monsters" with which to gain his revenge upon the world. Just how many creatures Adam has created and how far his influence has spread cannot be determined, but armed polar expeditions are being formed to try and gauge the scope of the threat.


Fu Mandarin Chu (Mandarin) 

A veteran of the Opium Wars, the Mandarin sorcerer known alternatively as The Daemon, David Lo Pan and Fu Manchu has made it his life's mission to bring down the British Empire. Manipulating organised crime, drugs and prostitution rings, Fu has garnered a great deal of temporal power to go along with his mystical might, gathering allies and followers from around the world to build a veritable army of Evil. Operating from the shadows, few know that they even face the threat of Fu Mandarin Chu until it is far too late to do anything about it.


Helmut Robur-Zemo (Baron Zemo)

The eldest son of French and Prussian nobility, Hemlut Robur-Zemo embraced the technology of the new century with a gusto most young, wealthy men apply only to the pursuit of drink and women. Quickly becoming an accomplished areonaut and big game hunter, Helmut grew bored of the legal fun that could be had in Europe and moved out to the colonies, where less oversight would enable him to hunt the most dangerous game, Englishmen. Swooping down from the skies in his ornithopter, Helmut harried British troops and farmers across Africa and Asia for the mere sport of it, robbing where he had to to keep himself in fuel and ammunition. Helmut's skills attracted the attention of foreign warlords and he soon found himself a solider-for-hire, taking on British Colonial interests for the coin and challenge. 

Professor Lindenbrock (Mole Man)

Thought to have vanished into an Icelandic volcano on a misguided quest to find the Hollow Earth, Professor Lindenbrock survived his foolhardy escapade and found himself in a world he could have scarcely imagined. Inside the Earth, lit by a mysterious "internal sun", ancient creatures still survived and many terrestrial forms grew to incredible size, creating a veritable world of monsters. His mind gradually warped by the unearthly light and strange new foods he was forced to eat to survive, Lindenbrock became convinced that the life of the Hollow Earth was superior to that which dwelt on the surface, and that only he could correct this imbalance. Using his newfound affinity for the monsters with which he shared his subterranean world, Lindenbrock began raids on major surface cities, sowing destruction wherever he went, retreating to the Hollow Earth only when he was opposed by the heroes of the Empire. 

Pharaoh En Sabah Nur - (Apocalypse)

When archaeologists and explorers first suggested that the process of Ancient Egyptian mummification was an attempt to prepare the body of the Pharaoh for a return to life, little did they know that it would work. A forgotten Pharaoh of a dynasty erased from history by those wanting to forget the horrors wrought by En Sabah Nur, the God-King, the Living Apocalypse. Awoken when his tomb was disturbed, En Sabah Nur began a rampage of death and destruction until military forces were able to take advantage of his weakened state and drive him into the desert. Swearing vengeance and his intention to conquer the new world he had awakened in, En Saba Nur began to gather fanatical followers to his banner, building an army with which to raid Egypt before turning his attention to the world.