Brotherhood of Evil

The Brotherhood of Evil is a group of

The Brotherhood of Evil first appeared in Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964) and were created by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani.^[1]

Fictional team history

Origins

The Brotherhood of Evil was founded by the enigmatic villain the

Now aided by escaped Nazi war criminal Captain Zahl, Madame Rouge captured the members of the Doom Patrol and forced them to choose the horrible death of dying in a nuclear explosion in order to save a small Maine fishing village. The Doom Patrol reluctantly chose death and were apparently killed in the explosion.

Return

Madame Rouge and Zahl (now calling himself "General" Zahl) stayed in hiding for many years, gathering an army of minions for their next big plan, the invasion and conquest of the country of Zandia. Meanwhile, the Doom Patrol had reformed with Robotman as the only surviving original member. Along with Doom Patrol hanger-on

The New Teen Titans went looking for Robotman and Mento when Beast Boy had not heard back from them, which ultimately led to conflict with Rouge and Zahl. Surprisingly though, the heroes were aided by the Brain and Mallah and their new version of the Brotherhood of Evil. Brain and Mallah had predicted Rouge's betrayal and went into hiding, leaving decoys that Rouge ultimately destroyed. Rouge and Zahl both died while fighting Beast Boy and Robotman respectively. The Brain's new Brotherhood left the Titans, knowing that they would soon come into conflict.^[volume & issue needed]

The Brain and the new Brotherhood of Evil came into conflict with Brother Blood, whose life-restoring blood pits Brain sought to use to prolong his own life. To deal with Brother Blood's inhuman powers, the group repeatedly attacked the Titans in order to kidnap Raven and force her to aid them in defeating Brother Blood. They ultimately succeeded in kidnapping Raven with the Brain's influence and the fear manipulating power of Phobia, briefly turning Raven to the Brotherhood's side. Unfortunately, in doing so, Raven's demonic father Trigon was able to gain control over Raven's body and nearly killed both the Titans and the Brotherhood, if not for the intervention of Donna Troy (who had been teleported outside the battlefield by Warp at the start of the fight).^{[volume & issue needed]}

The Brotherhood resurfaced again in

Meanwhile, Mr. Morden, now transformed into Mr. Nobody, attempted to reform the Brotherhood in Paris, but eventually decided (having gone basically insane) that the name and focus of the group be changed to reflect the fact that "the universe is a drooling idiot with no fashion sense" - the Brotherhood of Dada was born. The Brotherhood of Dada would fight the Doom Patrol on two separate occasions before being permanently defeated.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Meanwhile, Brain and Mallah made their way to America, without the help of the Brotherhood of Evil. The two broke into the lair of the latest incarnation of Doom Patrol, in order to steal one of Robotman's spare bodies for the Brain. Now with a body, Brain declared his undying love for Mallah just as the spare body exploded (the robot body had gained sentience, a fact the two were unaware of, and had vowed to destroy itself rather than have a human brain inserted into it again).^{[volume & issue needed]}

The rest of the Brotherhood meanwhile rechristened themselves the "Society of Sin" and recruited a new female member named Trinity. This incarnation of the Brotherhood would only exist for one battle with the Titans before the group returned to their existing name and dropped Trinity from its roster.^{[volume & issue needed]}

In The New Titans #97-99, Brain and Mallah apparently returned to the Brotherhood with a shocking new member: Rita Farr, the sole member of the original Doom Patrol who had not came back to life at the time. The return was bittersweet though, as Brain was suffering from severe mental deterioration and Mallah proclaimed that only Mento's new Mento helmet could save the Brain. The group forced Changeling to steal the helmet for them in exchange for Brain helping restore Cyborg's mental capacities (Cyborg had become a brain dead automaton at this point in time). Changeling stole the helmet but quickly changed his mind about giving it to Brain, leading to "Rita Farr" to make her presence known and attack her son from behind while "Mallah" distracted Changeling with energy blast powers that the ape never possessed beforehand. This caused the Brotherhood to realize that the three were not who they claimed to be, leading to Warp escaping and bringing the Titans in to save Changeling and his teammates from the fake Elasti-Girl, Brain, and Mallah. Several weeks later, the three imposters attacked the Titans again and this time, they brought in an army of Titan villains with them, including a doppelganger of Plasma. This time the identities of the villains were revealed: they were energy beings who served a sentient alien computer called Technis which needed to assimilate Cyborg in order to survive.

Brotherhood lives again

The Brotherhood of Evil were not seen during the second half of the 1990s and would not return until 2005, in JSA Classified #1-3. Brain and Mallah themselves were magically resurrected a year prior to this during a

After the one-year gap, between the end of Infinite Crisis and Teen Titans (vol. 3) #34 (the first issue of Teen Titans after the "One Year Gap") the Brotherhood has gained members "Elephant Man" and "Goldilocks" while losing Phobia, who opted to stay a freelance villain but still kept ties with the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood then returned to their independent roots and launched a massive crime wave independent of the remains of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Their goals included cloning a new body for the Brain as well as creating unstable clones of existing super-heroes to sell to third world dictatorships in Africa, putting the team in conflict with the Teen Titans, Doom Patrol, and the Outsiders.

The Brain, Monsieur Mallah, General Immortus, Phobia, Plasmus and Warp were later seen in the

as a power source for a teleportation device, and are seemingly killed when it self-destructs.

The New 52

In September 2011,

La Dama's agents to obtain the scarab. It ends up in the possession of Jaime Reyes who becomes Blue Beetle.^[4] Blue Beetle manages to fight off both villain groups.^[5] To ensure that Phobia, Plasmus, and Warp succeed in reclaiming the scarab, a robotic gorilla called Silverback is sent to meet up with them. Silverback warns the three villains that if they fail again, he will be the one who will "clean up the mess".^[6]

Membership

Here is a list of the Brotherhood of Evil members:

Brotherhood of Evil

• The Brain
• Monsieur Mallah
• Madame Rouge
• Garguax
• General Immortus

Second Brotherhood of Evil/Society of Sin

• The Brain
• Monsieur Mallah
• Phobia
• Houngan
• Plasmus
• Warp
• Trinity
• Elasti-Girl - Revealed to be an impostor in The New Titans #103

Third Brotherhood of Evil

• The Brain
• Monsieur Mallah
• Gemini - Revealed in Batgirl #61
• Houngan
• Phobia - No longer a member as of Teen Titans (vol. 3) #34
• Plasmus
• Warp
• Elephant Man - Revealed in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #35
• Goldilocks - Revealed in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #35

Fourth Brotherhood of Evil

• Phobia
• Plasmus
• Silverback
• Warp

In other media

Television

• The Brotherhood of Evil appear in
  Private H.I.V.E., and Cheshire to help them flash-freeze the "next generation of heroes" around the world. However, they are eventually defeated and flash-frozen themselves by the Teen Titans
  .
• The Brotherhood of Evil appears in
  Garguax
  as former members from the 1940s and Madame Rouge attempting to join them until the Brain betrays her.