SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Doomsday Clock #6 by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson and Rob Leigh, on sale now.


While supervillains may have a reputation for being anti-social, the bad guys of the DC Universe always end up coming together, forming teams whose numbers put the heroes' groups to shame. While most teams of heroes clock in at single digits, the villains of the DC Universe know there’s strength in numbers, and when times are tough, they band together and watch each other’s backs.

With the world more distrusting of super-powered people than ever before thanks to The Supermen Theory, this week’s Doomsday Clock #6 sees a brand new team of evil come together to decide what the supervillain response should be to anti-metahuman sentiment around the world, but naturally it always go pear shaped when The Joker makes his appearance.

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Secret Societies

The concept of a supervillain team-up isn’t new; within DC Comics's history, it can be traced back to the Injustice Society’s debut in 1947’s All-Star Comics #37. However, through the 2000s and 2010s, it became a real staple of the DC Universe. The publisher reintroduced the concept of a Secret Society of Supervillains in a big way during the run-up to Infinite Crisis, establishing a leadership structure, hierarchy and membership drive that, honestly, should have made the Justice League somewhat embarrassed. The group endured beyond Infinite Crisis and played a big role across the DC, in stories like Secret Six, the wedding of Green Arrow and Black Canary and Final Crisis.

Geoff Johns explored the concept in more depth during the Forever Evil event, which saw the arrival of Earth-3’s Crime Syndicate of America who forcibly recruited the villains of the DC Universe into a new Secret Society based on the principles of their evil home dimensions. Currently in the pages of Justice League, we have a new Legion of Doom — technically the first canon incarnation of that group — but their membership is much smaller and much more focused on providing a one-to-one opposition for the Justice League’s current membership.

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The League of Villainy

Right now, or rather roughly one year from now, considering the setting of Doomsday Clock, the public has never had a lower perception of metahumans and the world in general is starting to turn on the very concept of super-powered protectors. The Supermen Theory has swept the globe leading people to believe these heroes are not just ordinary men and woman blessed with extraordinary powers, but covert agents of a government stockpiling powered individuals as part of a new arms race. While the world turns its back on superheroes, Black Adam has opened the borders of Khandaq as a safe haven for heroes and villains alike, with several people taking him up on his offer and relocating.

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With everything going on in the world, The Riddler has stepped up to assemble some of the most iconic villains in the DC Universe to band together and watch each other’s backs. There are representatives from all major rogues galleries as a part of Riddler’s League of Villainy, including heavy hitters like Hector Hammond, Giganta and the Court of Owls and one of the big topics of debate is whether or not they should take Black Adam’s offer and retreat to the safety of Khandaq. Captain Cold offers Mirror Master’s services for anyone that wants a quick ride through the mirror dimension to Khandaq, while his old Rogues running buddy Captain Boomerang warns the villains against trusting Adam as his teammates in the Suicide Squad have been MIA in the country for a week. However, the person there with the most information on Black Adam and the powers of Shazam — Doctor Sivana — assures the villains that while they should fear Adam, they can believe in him and that Khandaq is the answer to their problems.

Joke’s On You

A recurring motif in Geoff Johns’ repeated returns to supervillain team-ups and secret societies is that The Joker, quite naturally, is a wild card. Having not invited The Joker to join the assemblage, Alexander Luthor Jr of the pre-Crisis Earth-3 met his end at the hands of the Crown Prince of Crime’s hands but villains also need to consider that inviting The Joker can be just as dangerous, if he deigns to join in. He arrives at the meeting of the League of Villainy with Batman beaten, unconscious and tied to a wheelchair while his goons hold Mime and Marionette hostage but what they don’t know is that they’ve accidentally led The Comedian to the biggest assemblage of supervillains in years.

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When everything kicks off following The Riddler’s accusation that Typhoon is actually a government agent — something that the backmatter will reveal is actually true, lending further credence to The Supermen Theory — The Comedian makes his move and blows Typhoon’s face off, sending the villains scurrying. Amidst the chaos, The Rogues can be seen retreating through the window of a broken down subway car; have they decided to take Black Adam’s offer and retreat to Khandaq? Amid the chaos, The Riddler gets shot in the knee and Giganta gets hit by an exploding grenade — though likely survives — as Mime, Marionette and Joker all slip through The Comedian’s grasp.

The big question that this issue leaves unanswered is: what happened to Batman? He was drugged, unconscious and chained to a wheelchair when The Comedian attacked, throwing grenades all over the place. While DC isn’t going to kill off one of their most popular heroes off panel in a comic set one year in the future from the current DC Universe, it is conspicuously strange that we don’t see what happened to The Dark Knight. One thing’s for sure is that The Mime, Marionette and The Comedian have all made a dangerous enemy by stepping foot in Gotham City and while the League of Villainy may be done, this meeting assembled a pretty strong list of people for Batman to prioritize taking down next.