The Crime League (G.A.)

The original Crime League was founded in 1942, when American super-criminals banded together for mutual protection and assistance and formed the first modern-day supervillain team. The League’s charter members were Doctor Zero, Marionette, Magnifico the Magician, Opal, and Tom Cypress, joined later by August Roman, the Maestro, the original King Cole, among others.
All Crime League members had previous clashes with various Freedom League “mystery men,” and realized America’s entry into World War II greatly increased their chances of winding up in prison or dead. The newly formed Liberty League, police, FBI, and ordinary civilians across the country were all on the lookout for any suspicious activity—the sort supervillains generate naturally. Making matters worse, these vigilant people were likely to shoot costumed criminals before they could explain they’re just out to line their own pockets, not help spread fascism.
The Crime League’s operations ranged from simple theft (bank heists and such) to complex schemes such as counterfeiting ration coupons or blackmailing the government with stolen super-weapons. When the opportunity presented itself, the League also tried to eliminate its rivals in the Liberty League. The Crime League never cooperated with the Axis powers, but cared little that its misdeeds frequently jeopardized the American war effort.

Structure

Doctor Zero

Doctor Anthony Maurice Edwards was regarded as one of the most promising minds in the medical field, but as an African American in the 1930s and ’40s he was frequently denied the opportunity to use his gifts. On one exceptional occasion, Dr. Edwards attended a seminar on the potential uses for freezing-cold temperatures in medicine. From that day onward, he turned his back on the medical profession that had excluded him and dedicated himself to harnessing the power of absolute zero.
Edwards became so enraptured with his experiments that when funds grew short, he didn’t hesitate to steal using the advanced freezing technology he’d already developed. Since he still sought eventual recognition from the scientific community, he perpetrated his thefts under the guise of the masked supervillain Doctor Zero.
Doctor Zero became a regular foe of the mystery man known as Envoy who, hailing from the aptly named Utopia, had no conception of the sort of prejudice Edwards had endured. Even as he sought to right the wrongs Doctor Zero committed, Envoy grew to sympathize with his foe and hate the injustices that helped push him into a life of crime. The feeling was far from mutual, however, as Doctor Zero regarded Envoy as a capable but hopelessly naive opponent.
The prospect of Envoy and the Liberty League ganging up on him led Doctor Zero to contact several other costumed lawbreakers and found the Crime League. He remained with the team throughout the war, later becoming a regular foe of the Bowman after Envoy returned to Utopia.
Doctor Zero continued his criminal career until the early 1950s, when the racial and political climate in America prompted him to relocate to Canada. He died in a snowmobile accident in 1955; his scientific breakthroughs were believed lost with him. The Canadian supervillain known as the Mad Maple discovered Dr. Zero’s secret laboratory in the 1990s, however, and uses Doctor Zero’s inventions to commit crimes in the present day.

King Cole I

Cole King longed to hear the laughter of children, and dedicated himself and his meager finances to staging plays for their amusement. As the Depression wore on and times got tougher, King retreated more and more into a fantasy world of nursery rhymes and storybook endings. Perhaps he’d have plunged into madness even without a severe blow to the head, but a falling piece of scenery rendered the point moot.
He abandoned his theatre to study mystic lore, searching for artifacts that could make his storybook world a reality. His quest to discover a more magical place was limited only by the greed of others and their constant demands for more money, so he resolved to take whatever funds were necessary to complete his search. In time, King Cole (as he now referred to himself) and his henchmen the Blackbirds (later called the Fable Gang) became famous for their enchanted fairytale robberies.
King Cole became an archenemy of the mystery man known as Midnight, and their rivalry continued after he joined the Crime League in 1944. Cole continued his criminal career in the postwar era, eventually becoming one of the original Raven's recurring foes. Over the years he became famous for transforming his foes into various residents of Oz, wooden puppets who want to be real live boys, beasts without beauty, elves, dwarves, ugly ducklings, and trios of bears and little pigs. On one very memorable occasion, he eschewed the Fable Gang in favor of a giant spider who favored robbing the nearest bank over tuffets.
The King ultimately abdicated his criminal throne in 1972 after learning his longtime (and much saner) assistant Rapunzel was carrying his child. Now with a daughter of his own to treasure and amuse, Cole made Rapunzel his queen and the two settled down in the Freedom City suburbs. The Raven, satisfied Cole had regained a passable amount of sanity, allowed them to live in peace as the wackiest neighbors on their block. Cole spent his remaining years as a much-beloved crazy uncle to all the neighborhood kids, staging incredible fairytale plays for them in his backyard just as he’d done in the 1930s. His spirit passed on to Never-Never Land in 1993.

Magnifico the Magician

Raymond Sager wanted to entertain the world with amazing feats of prestidigitationand legedemain, but more than that he wanted to get filthy rich in the process. Unfortunately for Ray, his ambition far exceeded his talents. As “Magnifico the Magician,” he wound up a moderately successful fixture at kids’ birthday parties all around Freedom City.
One kick to the shins too many sent Ray off in search of true sorcerous knowledge to punch up his stage act. When he finally discovered the power of real magic, though, Ray forgot all about show business and decided to skip ahead to the “filthy rich” part. Ironically, his criminal career based on magic and illusion most frequently brought him into conflict with the super-scientific mystery man known as Dr. Tomorrow.
When it became clear that tangling with Doc Morrow meant taking on the Liberty League as well, Magnifico sought the aid of his fellow costumed villains, leading to the formation of the Crime League. Repeatedly returning from one apparent death after another, Magnifico continued to confound his enemies and steal from the innocent through the early 1950s. His most recent seeming death occurred in 1954, but even fifty years later all who knew him still suspect it was just another of Magnifico the Magician’s disappearing acts. Dr. Tomorrow once commented his old foe’s return was “just a matter of time.”

Marionette

While a young undergraduate pursuing a psychology degree at Freedom City University, Allison Geller became ever more depressed about the human condition. The world remained moribund in the Great Depression and seemed poised to plunge into another global war. Those in power seemed incapable of relieving humanity’s burdens, and indeed they seemed to further the mass insanity overtaking the human race. She pictured a fervently wished-for world in which people of intellect and wisdom could take control until it became an obsession.
In time Allison believed she’d found her answers, both without and within. Under the tutelage of several dogmatic professors, Allison embraced Marxism as the answer to the world’s ills. She became one of thousands of Americans who eagerly joined the Communist Party during this era. At the same time, her willful introspection led her to discover and develop her ability to control the minds and emotions of others. Emboldened with both power and purpose, Allison abandoned her passive studies in late 1941 and began actively striking out at capitalist oppressors.
Her often callous disregard for those she enthralled, anti-democracy rhetoric, and attacks on American factories and banks during wartime brought her into conflict with the second Lady Liberty (Donna Mason). Their hatred for one another only multiplied over time, spilling over into the conflicts between their respective teams once Allison helped found the Crime League.
Allison never wanted to be a supervillain. She only grudgingly accepted her colorful costume and “Marionette” codename after her teammates convinced her they could serve as inspirational symbols for her cause. She rationalized that while her teammates weren’t committed revolutionaries, they were still engaged in a struggle against the wealthy exploiters of the masses. True to her rhetoric, she donated her share of the League’s criminal endeavors to the party and the poor.
While she left the grand stratagems to the likes of August Roman, Marionette was a cunning and ruthless tactician when it came to her own abilities. Her enemies knew what she could (and would) force them (and any innocent bystanders) to do and consequently feared her. It was this fear that apparently led to her eventual demise, as Allison was found brutally murdered in 1953. To this day, no one has ever been charged with the crime. Many conspiracy theorists suspect rogue elements in the U.S. government–terrified of a mind-reading Marxist–were responsible.

Opal

The Freedom Ledger's cub society reporter Amanda McKittrick had just gotten the biggest story of her young career: the unveiling of the legendary “Eye of Argon” opal at the The Hunter Museum of Natural History. Even as Amanda focused on “the five W’s,” she heard a mysterious whispering in her mind growing louder and louder as the day turned into night. By midnight she could no longer resist the voices in her head and made her way back to the Museum.
Bluffing her way past the night-watchman, the desperate Amanda obeyed her unseen master and smashed open the Eye’s display case. Clutching the fiery red gem in her bloody hands, she fled the scene. She was a mile away before she realized she had flown the whole way. By the time she reached her dingy furnished room, the change was complete. Gone was the mousy, bookish girl reporter, and in her place was the seductive femme fatale Opal, wielder of a mystical gem from fabled Atlantis.
The sentient Eye of Argon had lain dormant since the Atlantean cataclysm, waiting for a woman psychically vulnerable to its influence. Once it possessed Amanda, the Eye resolved to make up for the lost millennia and experience every wanton pleasure it had been denied. For the next decade, Amanda found herself a prisoner in her own body as the Eye hurt good people and stole whatever trinkets caught its fancy.
As if they sensed their common Atlantean bond, most of her criminal escapades led to battles with Siren until the latter left the surface world in 1946, at which point Beacon became her most frequent foe. When Siren began acting in concert with her Liberty League allies, the now-outnumbered Eye was not about to be put back on a shelf. Opal eagerly accepted the invitation to join the aborning Crime League.
Amanda was finally freed from the Eye’s influence in 1952 after being captured by the Liberty League and Master Mage Adrian Eldrich. On Eldrich’s advice, Opal was returned to Atlantis where a mystic ritual exorcized the Eye’s spirit from Amanda’s body. She returned to Freedom shortly thereafter, and—not wanting anyone else to seek the Eye’s corrupting power—never spoke of her time as Opal. Amanda married, raised her children, and is currently a proud grandmother living a quiet life in Ashton.
The Eye of Argon remains in Atlantis under heavy guard. It continues to wait and call out for someone... someone... someone....

Type

Illicit, Gang