Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Oh Yeah, That Forum: The Titans In your opinion, just how fearsome were the Fearsome Five?

On your scale of whatever to whatever, or whatever.

Hm. You know, they weren't very fearsome at all. But you know what the really were? Cool. There was something cool about them as a villain team.

Obviously, there is nothing cool about Dr. Light now, and I wish at this point he was dead.

But in the 80's, the original Fearsome Five had something about them that made them different--in a good way. Just not fearsome

There was nothing fearsome about Shimmer's giant red afro. Hilarious, yes, fearsome... no.

Who are the Fearsome Five? As a kid I had a rpg villain team called the Fearsome Threesome! Now that is a fearsome name!

Ok, wait I know them. Cobalt's Dr. Light comment threw me off. I thought it might've been a loser team Light was on.

And I always thought they were cool as well. Now the talking gorilla and brain? eh.

Jorge, we'll have to agree to disagree on The Brain & Monsieur Mallah. They're among my favorite DC villains. Especially Mallah, who may be evil but is better-spoken and has better manners than most humans. That's what I love so much about the old talking ape characters from DC, and that's why I think Gail Simone completely missed the point with her modern talking apes in Wonder Woman -- IMO, the talking apes deserve better than to be used as fodder for toilet humor.

The Fearsome Five struck me as an obligatory team of villains created just to give the New Teen Titans an expanded rogues gallery. They were the equivalent of a manufactured pop supergroup. You've got the guy with name recognition (Dr. Light) and a bunch of unknowns who looked cool (in a 1980s sort of way, hence the red afro), but who lacked substance or anything that made them stand out as characters.

The only thing fearsome about this five was that they appeared more than once.

(Stealth: I agree about The Brain and Monseiur Mallah. I only have one or two of their Doom Patrol appearances, but there was something about them that seemed formidable.)

I dunno- I was pretty scared of what Shimmer might reach in and pull out of that 'do.

Aww- they're teen-apes, aren't they?. Give 'em a few years to acquire the polish of Grodd, Solivar and Mallah.

Though a teen-ape who pretends at the sophisticated veneer of Mallah would be kind of fun.

Cool. I've got the Doom Patrol Archives near the top of my list of books to get once my finances improve. I can't wait to read the stories you just mentioned.

One thing that I think Marv Wolfman doesn't get nearly enough credit for is that he used NTT to re-introduce the Doom Patrol to a new generation; the NTT/Doom Patrol arc (one of my favorite NTT arcs) was my introduction to all the awesome DP heroes & villains -- because while I didn't start reading superhero comics until the early 90s, I found Grant Morrison's "Aren't-I-clever?" take on the DP off-putting, but I've loved my back issues of the NTT/DP arc from the first read.

Not very. The Joker could beat them all by hisself...

Just like the Spice Girls, they answered an ad in a newspaper! Except Dr. Light, the Underworld Star ad-placer.

I thought Psimon was creepy. And his name puzzled me.

Guess who are going to be in Tiny Titans #2?

Plasmus instead of Dr. Light?

Can't have a rapist in the little kids' title, now, can we... danged Identity Crisis... :rolleyes:

Psimon's enormous throbbing brain intimidated me.

Plus he had insane powers. I mean gee willickers, what did he need a team for?!

Gizmo was the best. Anyone that can get his mitts on a fire extinguisher and use it first to take out some armed gunmen, and then use it as a jetpack to get away deserves some respect!

Mammoth and Shimmer had that creepy comic-book brother-and-sister thing (see Pietro and Wanda or Jean-Pierre and Jean-Marie) going on. Ick. *So* glad Garth and Ayla never went there.

I use to think they were amazing villains, but after awhile they just stopped being used. And when they reappeared in Outsiders, I was just, ok, next? Maybe they will appear in Titans, when it comes out. It would be cool to see that.

They gots Kryptonite!

Not terribly most of the time. But Shimmer's power was scary in practice and Psimon was on his way to turning someone inside out (Dr Jace). All bulging veins. Icky!

A cool group, with a by the number super hero RPG power set.

I was just reading that Perez didn't really like the way the look of Psimon turned out, so wasn't sorry to see the back of him.

Psiomon's sheer power made him a good bet to go up against Luthor and Brainiac in Crisis. Not that it turned out well for him.

The Fearsome 5 (IMO) transcended the villain-for-the-issue riff we see all the time now.
Mammoth and Shimmer - both had powers that other writers could expand on
Psimon - clearly more interesting than put out (at first)
Gizmo - pure awesome, for short and smart guys everywhere
Dr. Light - yeah, someone had to be a legacy villain

Since they were first introduced? Eh. haven't been used so well. Shimmer, Psi-Mon and Gizmo have great potential. We'll see...

I'd rank them whatever.

Powers-wise, Psimon, Shimmer and Jinx were pretty far up there.

But I'm trying to remember a time when they did something really threatening.

My biggest problem with the Fearsome Five is the same problem I have with the Fatal Five, and that's their numerical inferiority against their primary nemeses. Don't get me wrong, each team has really heavy hitters, but each team almost always deals with two to one odds against (at LEAST. The Fatals it's typically closer to three to one)

Some of them have had some pretty major turns as solo artists, but as a group? I don't think I've considered them formidable since I was old enough to have an informed opinion on the subject.

The More Fearsome Five: Psimon, Blackfire, Deathstroke, Cheshire, Terra

The Frightening Five: Doctor Light (Meltzer edition), Superboy Prime, Dark Angel, Extant, Terry Long

Terry Long is the Phobia of the group, but instead of bringing out your worst fear, he radiates a vague yet strong sense of unease.

Azrael could have joined as their version of Warp. His whining is so irritating that listeners wish themselves away so badly they actually teleport.