| Fatal Five | |
|---|---|
 Cover art forLegion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #120, featuring four of the Fatal Five withBrainiac 5 andGates, byPhil Jimenez. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Adventure Comics #352 (January 1967) |
| Created by | Jim Shooter |
| In-story information | |
| Member(s) | Founders: Emerald Empress Mano Persuader Tharok Validus Substitutes: Flare Caress Mentalla Mordecai |
TheFatal Five is asupervillain team of the 30th century in theDC Comicsuniverse.[1] They were created byJim Shooter and first appeared inAdventure Comics #352 (1967) as enemies of theLegion of Super-Heroes.[2]
The Fatal Five first appear inThe Death of Ferro Lad story arc, as a band of criminals whom the Legion recruited to help destroy theSun-Eater, consisting of theEmerald Empress, Mano, thePersuader, and Validus, and led by Tharok.[3] The five are offered pardons for their assistance, but reject them and band together, confident that they are powerful enough to try to conquer the worlds they had saved.[2]
A later incarnation consisted of the Emerald Empress; the Persuader; Flare, aRimborian with the power of fire; Caress, who has a deadly acidic touch; and Mentalla, a Legion reject who is secretly working against the Five, trying to secure a spot in the Legion.
The 1993 seriesLegionnaires has theSW6 Legion face a Fatal Five comprising Tharok, Mano, the Persuader, a new Emerald Empress, and a monstrous being called Mordecai.
FollowingZero Hour: Crisis in Time!, which reboots the Legion's continuity, the original Fatal Five are reintroduced inLegion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #78 (1996), again assembled to help fight the Sun-Eater, which was later revealed to not exist. In this incarnation, the Emerald Empress is simply called the "Empress" and is more a skilled melee combatant than a magic user.
In theTeen Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover, the Persuader uses his atomic axe to recruit alternate universe variants of the Fatal Five, forming the Fatal Five-Hundred, before the two teams use theCosmic Treadmill to return them to their original universes.[4][5]
All five Fatal Five members were among the supervillains inSuperman-Prime'sLegion of Super-Villains.
InDC Rebirth, the Emerald Empress comes to the 21st century to destroy Saturn Girl, only to also fightSupergirl. To combat Supergirl after failing to take her down on her own, she forms a version of the Fatal Five consisting ofMagog,Brainiac 8, the sorceress Selena, and a clone ofSolomon Grundy.[6]
The Emerald Empress is a native of the planet Venegar who wields the Emerald Eye of Ekron, a magical artifact with immense power. The Eye is virtually indestructible and can project powerful energy blasts, generate force fields, hypnotize others, cast illusions, teleport over short distances, and alter reality.
Mano is a mutant born with the power to disintegrate anything that he touches by generatingantimatter from his right hand. A native of the polluted world Angtu, Mano must wear an environment suit because he can not breathe the atmosphere of most other planets. The suit's helmet obscures his face so that it can only be seen as a silhouette. Hating his people for mistreating him, Mano decided to destroy them all; "straining his power to the utmost", he obliterated Angtu, causing it to explode.[2]
Following theZero Hour reboot of the Legion, Mano was reintroduced, with his origin slightly altered; while he still destroyed his planet, the inhabitants had already been killed by chemical weaponry.[7] He then sought revenge on industrialist Leland McCauley, who had sold the weapons. While Mano later became a more conventional supervillain, his priority remained revenge on McCauley, and he continued to disapprove of the destruction of innocents, something that sometimes set him against the other members of the Five.
The Persuader originates from a high-gravity planet, and thus possesses enhanced physical abilities. Before becoming a supervillain, he was a gang enforcer and gained the Persuader moniker from his ability to intimidate others.[8]
The Persuader wields an "atomic axe" on a long shaft, resembling ahalberd. It is mentally linked to him and can cut through anything, occasionally including purely metaphoric or intangible things such as air, the force of gravity, and the barrier between dimensions.[9]
Tharok is a small-time crook who attempted to impress his superiors by stealing a small nuclear device. When the police fired on Tharok, the device detonated unexpectedly, vertically bisecting his body.[10] Tharok is converted into a cyborg, which greatly boosts his intelligence but leaves his evil tendencies unchecked.[2]
One of the Fatal Five's main attempts to defeat the Legion is masterminded by the Dark Man, a clone of Tharok. Tharok and the Dark Man are seemingly killed, resulting in the Fatal Five disbanding.[11][12][13] Tharok is resurrected following theZero Hour: Crisis in Time! event, which rebooted the Legion's continuity.[14]
The entire left side of Tharok's body is mechanical. It possesses great strength and durability and the arm can be configured into various weapon forms. Tharok's mechanical half has a cybernetic brain that is connected to Tharok's own, giving him genius-level intelligence.
Validus is a monstrous member of the Fatal Five who possesses superhuman strength and durability and the ability to generate electricity.[15][2] During one memorable altercation with the Legion, Validus killed Lyle Norg, the firstInvisible Kid.[16] Validus is later revealed to beGarridan Ranzz, the son ofLightning Lad andSaturn Girl.Darkseid kidnapped Garridan shortly after his birth, transformed him into a monster, and transported him back in time, where he became a member of the Fatal Five.[17][18]
Years later, Darkseid manipulates Validus against Lightning Lad, placing him in a situation where the Legionnaire would be forced to kill him to save the life of his other son, Graym. Thanks to the efforts of Saturn Girl, the plot is averted and she and Lightning Lad discover that Validus is their child. Soon after, Darkseid returns Validus to his original form.[19]
In the "Threeboot" continuity, Validus is aWinathian nature spirit known as the Lord of Lightning.Mekt Ranzz is part of a cult that worships him.[20] Furthermore, Garridan Ranzz appears as a separate entity, depicted as a child who was never transformed into Validus.[21]
Validus possesses immense strength and durability, enabling him to easily overpowerSuperboy. Superboy estimated that Validus is 12 times as strong as him.[8] In addition, Validus can generate energy bolts from his brain that are powerful enough to incapacitate aKryptonian orDaxamite with a single hit.
The original Fatal Five appear inJustice League vs. the Fatal Five, with Emerald Empress voiced bySumalee Montano, Tharok byPeter Jessop, Mano byPhilip Anthony-Rodriguez, Persuader byMatthew Yang King, and Validus having no dialogue.[25][26][22][23][24] After the Emerald Empress and Validus are taken to the 21st century to be imprisoned in Oa, Tharok, Mano, and Persuader travel back in time to forceJessica Cruz to lead them to their missing teammates. While fighting theJustice League andStar Boy, the Fatal Five are buried alive by Cruz.
The original Fatal Five appear as character summons inScribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure.[27]
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