Master Menace is afictional character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Two different versions of the character appear in two separate (but related) continuities,Squadron Supreme andSupreme Power. Both bear the real name ofDr. Emil Burbank, though the former character has the middle name of "Zebediah".

Master Menace is an analogue ofLex Luthor with elements ofDoctor Doom. This Master Menace is a supergeniusinventor and is gifted in numerous fields of physical science. He usually wears a suit ofpowered armor with an arsenal of built-in weapons,^{[volume & issue needed]} which enables him to fightsuperhumans on a more equal basis (especially his nemesis,Hyperion).

Master Menace first appeared inThor #280 (Feb. 1979), and was created byRoy Thomas andWayne Boring.

Originally, Hyperion encountered Dr.Emil Burbank (a.k.a. Master Menace) onEarth-712 (sometimes called "Earth-S"). In his first appearance, he battles Hyperion while the hero was filming a movie directed by Burbank's brother, L.L. Burbank.^{[volume & issue needed]}

On this occasion, Burbank works with the evil Hyperion of the mainstream Marvel UniverseEarth-616, and imprisons the visitingThor. Burbank is taken captive but later found himself in an interdimensional vacuum as he attempted to escape confinement.^{[volume & issue needed]}

When the Squadron are rebuilding America after the devastation caused by theOvermind, Master Menace concentrated his efforts on conquering the Middle East. He gave shelter to three supervillains:Remnant,Pinball, and theMink, sending them toEarth-616. He later supplied theRedeemers with a way to reverse the brainwashing technology of the Squadron.^{[volume & issue needed]}

InSquadron Supreme: Death of a Universe, Emil Burbank ages fifteen years after going into the 41st century with Scarlet Centurion to build a device to stop theNth Man.^{[volume & issue needed]}

InSquadron Supreme: New World Order, Emil Burbank is an old man at the mercy of large, multi-national corporations and using the Squadron's own Utopia technologies.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Emil Burbank is a man with many aliases and possibly the greatest intellect on the planet. He hasdoctoral degrees inbiology,chemistry,metallurgy,psychology,economics andliterature from three different universities. As a child, he sexually abused his older sister by drugging her unconscious with chemical compounds, eventually leaving her in a permanent catatonic state. At 18, his parents died in a car accident, which he arranged and boasts about even while trying to say it was an accident. Emil is noted for malicious and homicidal retribution against those he feels have wronged him. A school bully and a professor who accused him of cheating were both caught in fires started by Emil.^{[volume & issue needed]}

After Emil agrees to work for the government, General Alexander sends Emil,Nuke,Arcanna, andShape to apprehend or destroy Hyperion. While fighting Hyperion, Arcanna's quantum powers, Nuke's radioactive blast, and Hyperion's flash vision combine to create an effect that sends them all to an alternate reality, where Hyperion and most of the other heroes wage war against Earth's governments, to "save" humanity. However, the "alternate" reality is actually their reality, only years in the future. Emil and Hyperion are the only two members of the Squadron aware of this information after the five are returned to the correct time stream.^[1]

Emil was to be on thecovert operations team after Hyperion's return to America, but after Hyperion informs a reporter of the project and gives him a list of the super-humans working for the government, the U.S. President gives a press conference and announces the formation of Squadron Supreme.^{[volume & issue needed]}

The team is sent toUganda to apprehend John M'Butu, a fast-rising tribal leader gifted with a powerful verbal suggestion ability, who calls himselfthe Voice. Burbank reveals that he has developed counter measures to defend himself from everyone on his team, except forHyperion andDoctor Spectrum. BeforeAmphibian attacks him, he defeats her with a powder he designed to kill her by suffocation.^[2]

On a mission codenamed "Long Walk", to take down insurgents of the Ilam Province in Iran, Emil developed technology that disrupts the functionings of theinner ear, incapacitating the soldiers, who Emil then proceeded to shoot. AfterEdith Freiberg found a little girl whose mother had been stoned by relatives for the perceived dishonor of being raped, Edith, using Emil Burbank as a translator, finds the relatives and buries them up to their necks. She then gives the girl a steel bar with which to kill them. After "Long Walk", Emil Burbank is at the conference to act as a bodyguard.^[3]

Emil Burbank was recruited to the Squadron because he was tested by the military and found to have been exposed to theretrovirus that had been released fromHyperion's spacecraft and bestowed superhuman abilities on numerous people around the world. Even though Emil's enhanced intellect is a direct result of the retro-virus, Emil denies it, insisting that his genius is his own doing.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Though not displaying any physical super powers, Emil demonstrates that he can defend himself in combat situations by the use of certain types of technology.^[4]

• Marvel Heroes Classic Roleplaying Game page on Master Menace
• Marvel.com page on Master Menace

• Characters created by Roy Thomas
• Comics characters introduced in 1979
• Characters created by J. Michael Straczynski
• Fictional inventors in comics
• Marvel Comics male supervillains
• Marvel Comics scientists
• Marvel Comics supervillains
• Squadron Supreme

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Comics articles needing issue citations
• Articles with unsourced statements from February 2019
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Comics infobox without image
• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2013