The Candy Crew

The Candy Crew is a villain team with a history dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s. Debuting in Freedom City by staging a crime spree against a major candy company, the oddball criminals were thwarted by The Freedom League. They returned to plague the city several times over, their membership shifting over the years, though almost always led by the Candy Czar. Their reputation diminished as their membership changed over the decades, going from sig­nificant adversaries to easily defeated mooks. The gang was pretty much finished following a brutal defeat at the hands of FORCE Ops in the 1990s. Most of the original members are in prison, dead, or retired from costumed villainy.
Now a new incarnation of the Crew has emerged, with a re-motivated, re-equipped Czar at the helm. Far more dangerous than before, the team includes four other for­midable bad guys: the density-shifting strongwoman, Gobstopper; the adrenaline-junkie speedster, Gumball Rally; monstrous psi-caster, Cinnamon Styx; and the dark-fey Wicked Licorice, a longtime supervillain in his own right. Together, they are out to earn riches and respect, and woe to the heroes who underestimate them!

Structure

THE CANDY CZAR

An old and, some would say, classic villain, the man known as The Candy Czar is Cary Czar­nowski. He was a brilliant food scientist who turned to crime after Pop’s Workshop, the company he worked for, tried to cheat him out of patents on his greatest discoveries. Creat­ing a colorful costume and an arsenal of candy-themed gim­micks, he formed the Candy Crew and sought revenge against his former employers. His efforts were thwarted by the Freedom League, but he returned several times over, launching one scheme after another. Nearly crippled by vigilantes during the early 1990s, Czarnowksi languished for years in prison, growing angry and embittered.
He escaped during a mass prison break-out at Lockdown and went underground, where he developed new, more powerful, weaponry ... with a twist. He combined his advanced chemistry with what little Lenni Lenape (Delaware tribe Native Americans) shamanistic magic he could learn from his maternal grandmother, a Native American medicine woman. He then went on a recruit­ing drive to re-form the Crew, better than before. He is determined to rebuild his reputation and grow rich in the process!

GOBSTOPPER

Amber Gumm was the much-younger trophy girlfriend of Professor Rand Buckley, AKA The Phenom, a superhero from the 1990s who retired years ago and turned into a wealthy tech entrepreneur. Vivacious and ambitious, Ms. Gumm traded on her looks and charming personality to rise from England’s working-class North, re-inventing herself as model “Giada Summer.” While she was successful, Amber wanted to rise higher, to break into the A-list. When her efforts to establish a significant acting career stalled out, Buckley offered a solution—his com­pany’s experimental physical-enhancement process. Amber eagerly accepted because the process promised to physically enhance her and perhaps give her superpowers!
The initial results were wonderful, but unwanted side-effects followed. Gumm became ravenously hungry and began to eat ... and eat ... and eat ... until she was a mas­sively obese, stocky tank of a woman. Buckley broke off their relationship at that point and told her he’d warned her of the possible side effects. When legal action proved fruitless due to the waivers she’d signed, she went on a rampage, trashing Buckley’s research center. She was in AEGIS custody awaiting trial when the Candy Czar read about her and decided she would make a good recruit. Gobstopper joined the Crew as soon as they rescued her from AEGIS, with the Czar promising easy money and (possibly) a cure for her condition.

GUMBALL RALLY

As a whip-smart but undisci­plined young scientist working for The Atom Family's research foundation, Rollye Parker ac­quired her powers by way of heroic actions she took when she helped The AlterniTeens with Black Anubis when they first arrived on Earth-Prime. Her efforts helped them defeat the villain and in gratitude they gifted her with a couple items they’d recovered during their parallel world adventures—an ultra-speed harness and “magic gumballs.” They assumed she’d use the gifts responsibly, and for a time she did, becoming a fledgling superhero. Unfortunately, her reckless and selfish nature brought her into conflict with more es­tablished costumed champions and she soon switched sides entirely, finding super-crime more rewarding and fun. The Candy Czar recruited Gumball Rally when she was robbing the same bank targeted by the Crew, and she’s been a member ever since.

CINNAMON STYX

Sinclair Van Meter is the “black sheep” of the well-known Van Meter family of Emerald City, both because he was born to the family patriarch’s Japanese-American third wife and because he chose a career as a performer instead of a “respectable” role in law or business. He gained success as a stage magician, combining tricks with comedy and theatrics. Sinclair was secretly aided by genuine psychic abilities— his family counted an exiled Farsider among their recent ancestry. While not very pow­erful, his pyrokinesis and bio-manipulation abilities served him well. Sinclair scored lucra­tive gigs in major cities, but spent most of his money on women, parties, and recreational drugs. Always in need of funds, he turned to petty theft and drug dealing to finance his lifestyle.
While making a rare visit back home to Emerald City, Sin­clair was caught in the Silver Storm, which transformed him into a copper-colored demon and greatly increased his psi-powers. At first horrified, Sinclair eventually re­verted to human form and realized the potential his new situation held. Debuting as the Copper Devil, he enjoyed a stint as a solo villain, but decided it made more sense to be part of a super-criminal team and joined the Crew after creating a new candy-themed moniker.

WICKED LICORICE

Exiled from the Unseelie Court by orders of the Winter Queen, the hobgoblin Jack Malice is an unrepentant burglar, drunkard, liar, and thug. His sordid history on Earth stretches back many years, to the day he arrived, es­corted by the Queen’s guardsmen. His various inhuman traits—elastic limbs, night-vision, and nauseating breath—made him an in-demand henchman for criminal organizations as soon as he made a few connections on the street. A well-known super-crook in France and Germany, he fled to the United States when the heat got to be too much of a bother in Europe. Wicked Licorice is a veteran Candy Crew member, having served with the gang back in the 1970s. He readily joined the newest incarnation.

Public Agenda

The Candy Crew are in crime for profit; they commit smash-and-grab robberies, take muscle-for-hire jobs, and execute lucrative heists. The Candy Czar wants to rebuild the Crew’s reputation, while embarrassing the heroes responsible for past defeats. Gobstopper wants enough cash to finance a return to normal, but settles for expen­sive clothes, luxury apartments, and plenty of gourmet food until that happens. Gumball Rally is a thrill-seeker, while Cinnamon Styx needs wealth to indulge his lifestyle. Wicked Licorice is a greedy, malicious thug who enjoys the opportunity to cause pain and chaos.

Assets

The Candy Crew are frequently on the move, either chasing their next meal-ticket or going to ground when they’re pursued by the authorities or costumed do-gooders. The Czar knows of plenty of old safehouses and even a few abandoned villain lairs in which the Crew can hide out. The streetwise Wicked Licorice can also find them refuge in seedier neighborhoods if it comes to that. While their criminal enterprises can take place any­where, the Crew members have connections to Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Emerald City, Freedom City, and New York City.

Type

Illicit, Gang