Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Give the Dark Circle some love...

I always thought the Dark Circle had the potential to be THE evil adversary for the Legion, not so much the way it was shown in "Dark Circle Rising".

Imagine a dozen Board of Director types of a huge Mafia-type organization with their tentacles spread throughout the 31st century galaxy, virtually untouchable by the law. These 12 (not necessarily the Devil's Dozen) would convene around a circular table and command their powerful lackeys to do bad things.

Who would make up this supreme group of bad guys who secretly work together for universal conquest?

I have a bunch of nominees, but I'll hold off on these except for one to get the ball rolling...

1) A single survivor of the Blight

I like the Dark Circle as a philosophical movement/cult, as they were presented in the 5YL Legion stories. Given that some of the Legionnaires come from such different places ethics-wise, I think making the Dark Circle a legitimate movement is an interesting and different way to build character conflict.

Er...for a second there, when I saw the title, I thought this thread might be all-ages inappropriate!

For a while, I was trying to think up a way to make the Dark Circle (5YL version) the good guys - like the freedom fighter/terrorist argument, depending on one's perspective - but couldn't. Personal aversion to cults, I guess.

It would be great to see the Dark Circle back as a mafia or bankster type of organization. The Legion could be greatly challenged by such a group, since they're not a big, visible, punchable target. Could Brainy develop some forensic accounting skills? Even if crimes were exposed, the power of the group would put them beyond any legal proceedings and they would surely work to discredit the Legion.

It's a bit clichéd, but I'd add whoever has inherited the McCauley empire to the group.

The mafia thing would work a lot better with a Taurus/Scorpio gang revamp. Actually, imagine them as one big Zodiac gang with twelve subdivisions.

The thing I liked most about the TMK Dark Circle was the idea that they were ancient, and controlled a lot of unexplored space.

I liked the Dark Circle when they were first introduced, but later when it was revealed that the entire army/organization was a bunch of clones of the 5 inner circle members, it really lost street cred with me.

Dark Circle, White Triangle, who's next, the Fuchsia Rhombus, the Heliotrope Dodecahedron, the Incarnadine Moebius?

Somebody on this board once suggested Red Square.

Da, Comrade, 31st Century commies FTW!

Any of those would be a great name for a rock band.

I'd totally give Brainiac-4 some loving, if she wasn't so dang crazy.

Sprock it, I only now thought of Gates!

That was my favorite part about them too.

I think the DC, in order to be differentiated from the Taurus Gang and Starfinger, should have a strong political / religious theme to their actions as well.

The idea of a 'Secret History' spanning back thousands of years would make their motivations & actions very interesting. Especially if many of the members only had the slightest notions of what it was.

I also agree with Jim that the clone army thing was lame, which why I'm glad it was pretty much ignored by TMK.

Sounds good to me.

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The idea of a 'Secret History' spanning back thousands of years would make their motivations & actions very interesting. Especially if many of the members only had the slightest notions of what it was.

Another possible member I had in the high circle of 12 would be Vandal Savage - the possible original organizer?

Dark Circle - high circle list so far:

1) A Blight
2) McCauley (Leland V?)
3) Brainiac 4
4) Vandal Savage

Tellus. In 5YL, he was sympathetic to Dark Circle ideas. It could be played as divided loyalties between the Circle and the Legion, he is or has become a Circle spy (or vice versa), or he's a deluded dupe.

Vandal Savage reminds me of other immortals
from the present-day DCU.

How about Ra's Al Ghul, who was a foe of the Reboot Legion? [And the star of one of the great "Reveals" in the history of Legion comics.]

Etrigan's ancient antagonist, Morgan Le Fay?

Etrigan himself? Let's say after all those years of hosting Etrigan, Jason Blood finally succumbed to the dark side? So the duo wears Jason's form, but now Jason is as evil as his demonic partner?

I would suggest Neron, but he's too powerful, maybe mightier than Mordru. [Neron vs. Mordru could be epic, though.]

Maybe Darkseid, (another great "Reveal") at "Quiet Darkness" 5YL power level rather than "Great Darkness Saga" power level?

agreed. not Paul's best idea.

KC, I'd rather not stack the Dark Circle with earth immortals if possible. That, to me, would take away from some of its mystery.

I do like the idea of a completely evil Jason Blood about, either on his own, or on the Circle instead of Vandal Savage.

how about
-someone/thing from the Spider Guild?
-Nimbus, from Omega Men, gone bad?
-someone from a divergent line of the Mallor clan (or even a descendant of Mikaal Tomas)?

I do suggest steering clear of GL mythos, as it changes every five seconds.

I'm not big on the religious theme part.
Usually, that means anti-God, in just about everything, including comics.

However, there is a group existing in our world that might be interesting in this case.

They're called the Illuminate.
The Bush family are members, as are many others.

Anyway, believe it or not.

I would suggest that the now dead Chief Zendack was a member of the inner Dark circle.
His death could either be viewed as inner power stuggle games or as a surprise, uncontected event.

Perhaps the Durlan's are right, and Brande's death was a covert act by the Dark Circle and the Durlans just don't know how to get to them.

With Zendak now dead, a new recruite would be needed to fill his vital postion.

Since we're adding cross era/universe beings like the Blighted and Mearl Dox, how about that queen from Shooter's last arc?

I might suggest Ganthe, as the last of the OA Guardians. With the reimmergence of the Lanterns, he would now be torn between going back to his creation or remaining with the Circle.
He might do both.

Sorry, we were posting at the same time.

But, I still think Ganthe is a great character for adding to the Circle.
He thinks he's right, no matter what and he's willing to bend rules and he's been around for a very long time and he's not from Earth.
And I've always liked him, lune that he is.

Darkseid, Neron, Mordru, and even Ra's al Ghul impress me as being free spirits and not likely to play well in a grouping.

The idea of an evil Etrigan sounds intriguing as well as a Spider Guild nasty (Tangleweb?), and I could easily replace Ganthe for Vandal Savage. The Shooter Avatar Queen is also a neat idea.

I think Tellus as an unwilling dupe is a great idea, along with other agents like Ontirr, Tarik the Mute, Deregon, Universo, Grimbor and Starfinger, for example, who report to the High Dark Circle would make the DC a formidable Legion adversary.

Some other high circle candidates - Glorith?, a Brain Globe from Rambat (in humanoid trappings)?


Dark Circle - high circle list so far:

1) A Blight
2) McCauley (Leland V?)
3) Brainiac 4
4) <strike>Vandal Savage</strike> Ganthe
5) Etrigan
6) Tangleweb - Spider Guilder
7) Avatar Queen
8) Glorith
9) Brain Globe

One of the few things I liked about the reboot Dark Circle storyline was the inclusion of such stand-offish races as the Tyrazzians. They don't really play well with others, true, but they're just using the Circle to meet an ends. Inside Circle knowledge could help cover their own tail or better their defenses.

Perhaps Tyr could be a member, secretly playing the field between the LSV and the Circle and working them for or against each other when appropriate?

Tyr always had great potential. He was a formidable villain in his first appearance, taking on the entire Legion on his own.

I think, however, he is more on par with a Grimbor or Mantis Morlo, and would be better served as an Agent of DC rather than a leader. The Tyrazzian on the Dark Circle Rising made the circle, IMO, a weaker version than the members outed in the earlier Paul Levitz run (Tales of the LSH).

Side Note: I always thought it would be neat to have some kind of connection between Tyr and Tyroc (Devil vs. Voice who shouts down Devil?) and make them adversaries from the past.

That all said, let's add Tyr to the list and see what everyone thinks...

Dark Circle - high circle list so far:

1) A Blight - ancient knowledge, life experience
2) McCauley (Leland V?) - financial backing
3) Brainiac 4 - super intelligence/strategist
4) <strike>Vandal Savage</strike> Ganthe - precog?
5) Etrigan - Magicks/super-natural
6) Tangleweb (Spider Guilder) - spider workers/army
7) Avatar Queen - extra dimensional movement/transportation
8) Glorith - temporal manipulation
9) Brain Globe - telepathy, mind control, telekinesis, mental blasts!
10) Tyr - Super soldier, contacts with other supers