Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil

This page is about the Phase 1 incarnation of the villains. For other uses, see Zemo (disambiguation).

PHASE 1

Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil
Portrayed by Various
Known Aliases:	Baron Zemo, The Melter, Radioactive Man, the Black Knight, the Enchantress, Skurge the Executioner
Affiliations:	Masters of Evil
Socked By:	Various
Introduction:	Zemo

"The names are laughable, but they are not. For example, Radioactive Man could level your entire mansion and kill everyone inside in less than a minute with his powers. The Melter can destroy vibranium and adamantium. Black Knight once flipped a tank and then cut it in half. The second you don't respect the power the Masters of Evil possess, they kill you." Kane said warningly. "They terrified the powers of the world enough to make the United States and the Soviet Union to work together in the 60s. Nuclear weapons didn't even scare the politicians as much."

Driven by insanity and greed, Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil were prominent during the 60s and 70s. Now, thirty-plus years later, they're back to wreck havoc and threaten the world with bizarre doomsday devices.

First Appearance

May 25, 2008

Roster

Baron Zemo:	Baron Zemo was a Nazi scientist of great renown during the Second World War. During that time, he suffered an accident with a chemical called Adhesive X, which scarred his face and saturated the protective cloth he was wearing over it. Trapped with a bag stuck to his head, Zemo went insane, eventually going into hiding at the end of the war. He returned in the late fifties after having built a criminal empire creating weapons for anti-Allied forces. During the next nearly two decades, he gathered a group of villains around him, calling them the Masters of Evil, and building ever more complex doomsday devices to force the world's governments to bend to his will. He was believed killed when his Doom Fortress was destroyed by Christian Kane and his fellow agents, and his Masters of Evil scattered. Zemo is insane, but also a legitimate genius. He was able to create highly advanced devices, equal to Forge's own skills, with 1960s technology. A master engineer, physicist, chemist, and biologist, Zemo's mind is matched only by his insanity. His compulsive megalomania traps him to a ridiculous scheme to take over the world, and his genius makes the threat occasionally real. PB: Photomanip by Nexus6
The Melter:	Bruno Horgan was an industrialist who specializes in providing munitions to the United States government. Horgan was driven into bankruptcy when a government safety inspection team proved that he is using inferior materials. Horgan then discovered that one of his faulty devices is capable of casting a beam capable of "melting" anything. He used his machine to wreck vengeance on the government before going into hiding. Zemo recruited him, but when he was apparently killed, Bruno's melting beam was also seized. He spent three decades, half mad, reliving the last days of villiany in the last of Zemo's hidden fortresses, maintaining the small store of remaining devices. Bruno is quite mad; pathologically demented with a persecution complex a mile wide. He is the classic weakling who suddenly gets power and wants more. Once his ray is returned to him, Bruno will fight to the death to hold it. The ray destroys molecule's ability to hold together, reducing any material into either an organic ooze or pile of dust. PB: Gerard Plunkett
Black Knight:	Sir Percy of Scandia was once a noble example of a peerless knight, until jealousy and greed made him forget his vows and slowly obsess about acquiring power. He acquired a strange ebon blade, which earned him the name of the Black Knight. He was ritually cursed for his increasing brutality, and when he died, his sword was stolen from his grave and sold. His soul had been bonded to the sword, allowing him to infest the current owner, but he cannot seize control unless the owner allows it. In the Masters' of Evil time, he had possessed a former American general, who was happy to let Sir Percy indulge his passion for slaughter. He was killed when the Doom Fortress went down. He later took on the body of a young Carrib drug lord. The Black Knight is immune to psionic control, as the mind is split between two people. The sword is mystically cursed, and all but indestructible. The Black Knight possesses enhanced physical abilities, as well as being an expert swordsman. PB: Idris Alba
Skurge the Executioner:	Skurge is a legitimate Norse god, called on to execute the lowest and darkest of evil doers. Unlike his more noble brothers, Skurge delights in the killing. He also remains a hopeless thrall of the Enchantress, serving as her ally and muscle on each of her plots. When she spent the 60s on Earth, he followed closely, wrecking death and havoc when ever possible. After Zemo was believed killed, they both returned to Asgard, only to slip back to earth thanks to the magical fluctuations caused by the breaking of the astral plane. Skurge, as a god, is super strong, highly resistant to damage, and his great axe can cut through any material, even invulnerable characters or unbreakable materials, like adamantium. He is immune to psionics as his mind is not human, but susceptible to magic. PB: Conan Stevens
Radioactive Man:	Chen Lu, a Chinese scientist who infused himself with radiation. Since the Masters of Evil fell, he was drawn into the Chinese underworld, and has made a considerable fortune as a criminal. He is also an excellent card player and fond of gambling. His code of honour means he plays fairly, but once away from the table, all bets are off. He is missing following the fall of Zemo's Doom Fortress. PB: Simon Yam
The Enchantress:	See Amora, the Enchantress. PB: Virginia Madsen

Details

Gathered by Baron Zemo in the 1950s in an attempt to hold the world hostage, the Masters of Evil were involved in more and more elaborate plans. In 1973, four of the world's top agents faced down the greatest threat the planet has ever known. Christian Kane; Georges Batroc; Alejandro Montoya; Alexei Shostakov: once the finest operatives in the world, thwarted Baron Zemo and his Masters of Evil in their plot to hold the world hostage by threatening to destroy the moon using a hidden particle beam super-cannon. In that final confrontation, the Doom Fortress in Thailand was brought down on the Baron, and without his leadership, the Masters of Evil either fled or slowly faded out. The world moved on, and the carefully hidden history of the Masters of Evil remained nothing more than an intelligence and diplomatic rumour.

Thirty-five years later, the Baron resurfaced, regathered his Masters of Evil and again threatened the world, this time with the Thermal Giganinator which had the capability to tear the earth apart. Christian Kane again foiled the plan, this time recruiting a mixed group of X-Men and members of X-Force. Zemo's new Doom Fortress was destroyed, but the fate of Zemo and his Masters of Evil remains largely unknown.

Plots

Zemo

Meta

Socked by: Doqz (Zemo), Andrea (The Melter), Erin (The Enchantress), Nichole (The Black Knight), Da'mien (Radioactive Man), Frito (Skurge the Executioner)