For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog we’ll take a look at the early stories of the Legion of Superheroes’ archenemies the Fatal Five. For my recent review of 1970s Legion tales click HERE.
ADVENTURE COMICS VOL 1 #352 (January 1967)
Title: The Fatal Five
Legion Roster: Superboy, Cosmic Boy, Princess Projectra, Sun Boy and Ferro Lad
Villains: The Fatal Five (Emerald Empress, Tharok, Validus, the Persuader and Mano)
Synopsis: In the 30th Century, a space entity called the Sun Eater devours a star, causing the destruction of all life on the planet that orbited it. The Science Police had charted the Sun Eater’s path and warn Earth that its sun is next on the menu for the being.
The only Legion of Superhero members that are not already away on missions are Cosmic Boy, Ferro Lad, Sun Boy, Princess Projectra and Superboy. With a mere two days before the Sun Eater arrives to feed on Earth’s sun, the Legionnaires convince the United Planets to let them recruit the Fatal Five, the collective nickname for the most dangerous criminals in the universe.
The Fatal Five are Tharok, a cyborg whose cybernetic brain makes him more intelligent than Brainiac 5; Validus, a huge purple monstrosity whose insanity drives it to perpetual violence; the Emerald Empress, evil ruler of an entire planet whose populace recently won a war to overthrow her; the Persuader, a killer and plunderer whose armor and Atomic Axe make him unstoppable; and Mano, a mutant whose hand wields energies so powerful that the hand destroyed his entire home planet. Continue reading
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