Everybody knows how controversial and divisive "The Superior Spider-Man" has been as of late, but I did see one good thing come out of this that could've also worked had we not gotten "Superior": the newest lineup of the Sinister Six, featuring veteran member Shocker (my #1 favorite Spidey villain); his fellow former members of the Sinister Syndicate, Boomerang and Speed Demon; new villain Overdrive; and the second woman to take on the mantle of the Beetle (who also happens to be my #4 favorite Marvel villain). Another obscure Spider-Man foe, the Living Brain, was also a member (before being reprogrammed by Octo-Spider *shudders*). After reading a preview of the forthcoming "Superior Foes of Spider-Man" by writer Nick Spencer, and partially inspired by the collaboration I did with ager for the cartoon fancast featuring villains of the Flash, I immediately started coming up with this idea:
+The Plot
"Fed up with losing to the wall-crawler, Boomerang and Shocker recruit four other villains to form a new incarnation of the Sinister Six, taking to the old idea of strength in numbers. And they won't just limit themselves to taking down Spider-Man--they'll take the Big Apple by storm!....That is, if they do manage to get along."
I picture this show as an animated ensemble sitcom--think "Friends" as costumed crooks. Here's how I imagine the rest of the details:
-The show would air on Disney XD (of course, since the House of Mouse now has a monopoly on Marvel properties) and on the Hub (which isn't afraid to air both DC and Marvel-based shows).
-The art and character designs would be done by one of two options, which you can decide on in the comments section: either Man of Action Studios, in collaboration with the art team from "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies", OR the art team from "Batman: The Brave and the Bold".
-For the show's writing and comedic style, I would want them to strike a balance similar to another show based on a comic book: the short-lived 1992 series adaptation of Steve Moncuse's "Fish Police".
-The show would be narrated by Harry Shearer ("The Simpsons") imitating Jack Webb as Joe Friday on "Dragnet", like he did in a classic episode of The Simpsons, "Mother Simpson".
-Absolutely NO connection at all to the goings-on of the current Marvel Universe--which means no Spider-Ock (which I'm sure will make a lot of people here happy).
-The theme music would be a combination of that of the "Bad Days" shorts on Stan Lee's World of Heroes Youtube channel, and the theme song for the cartoon based on "The Tick".
+A Sampling of Episodes
1. "Six Heads are Better Than One"
Boomerang and Shocker, Ocean's 11-style, recruit their former Sinister Syndicate partner Speed Demon, along with the Living Brain, Overdrive, and the new Beetle (Janice), to form a new version of the Sinister Six. On their first job together, they set out to swipe a collection of ancient and very valuable minerals on display at Empire State University.
2. "The Great Race of NYC"
In a parody of both "The Great Race" and "The Wacky Races", Overdrive, Shocker, and Living Brain enter a car into an auto race to take place across the entirety of 5th Avenue, with Beetle, Boomerang, and Speed Demon working to ensure their victory. But can they out-race Spider-Man when he enters the ill-conceived "Spider-Mobile"?
3. "The Cat's Meow"
Black Cat tries to worm her way into joining the Six (as an alternate), but most of the team, especially Beetle and Living Brain, are suspicious of her: is she genuine, genuinely spying on them for Spider-Man, or genuinely going to rob them blind?
4. "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"
In a homage to "Cheers", we see the Six hanging out one night at the Bar with No Name, a watering hole where B-and-C-list villains go to swap stories. Each member of the Six talks a bit of their origins and how they first fought Spider-Man. (Though Beetle is an exception, as her first outing involved Captain America and the Black Widow.)
*The bartender would be voiced by none-other-than "Cheers" regular George Wendt.
5. "Bowling for Supers"
The Six enter a bowling tournament (complete with matching shirts) where they compete against various groups of villains, including:
-The Brotherhood of Mutants (consisting of Magneto, Mystique, Sabertooth, Toad, Pyro, and Avalanche)
-The De-Spares (consisting of Ghost Rider villains Orb, Deathwatch, Blackout, Lilith, Blackheart, and Vengeance)
-The Lethal Legion of the Lanes (consisting of the Grim Reaper, Nekra, Whirlwind, Man-Ape, Living Laser, and Attuma)
-And the top team at the alley, the King-Pins of Crime (consisting of the Kingpin himself, Mister Negative, Hammerhead, Silvermane, Tombstone, and the Hood)
*In a homage to the movie "Best in Show", the announcers for the tournament would be modeled after (and voiced by) those played by Jim Piddock and Fred Willard.
6. "Crime and Punisher"
The Six desperately try to get out of the cross-hairs of the Punisher when he comes back to town, or to fight back when they get backed into a corner. When it seems like they're in the clear, they get hired by the Kingpin as protection when the Punisher comes gunning for him. (Beetle: "Oy vey...")
*In one scene, the Six duck into a costume shop and come out in various getups: Santa Claus (Boomerang), Elvis (Speed Demon), a gorilla (Shocker), a bunny (Beetle), a clown (Overdrive), and the Pope (Living Brain). As they walk by a small eatery hurriedly to escape the Punisher's pursuit, a couple eating at one of the booths (a veiled spoof of Peter and Lois Griffin) notices them. "Hey Lois?" "Yes, Peter?" "Am I drunk, or did I just see Santa, Elvis, King Kong, the Easter Bunny, J.P. Patches, and the Pope walk by?"
7. "They Only Come Out at Night"
The Six find themselves up against the duo of Cloak and Dagger, only to temporarily side with them against Deadly Nightshade's (voice of Karyn Parsons) werewolf horde.
8. "Time's Up!"
The Six sneak into the Baxter Building and hijack Doctor Doom's time platform (which was being held by the Fantastic Four). The travel back to gangland-era Chicago in the 1920's with one goal in mind: steal the loot of Al Capone (voiced by Maurice LaMarche imitating Edward G. Robinson) before he ever puts it in his vault. They manage to do so, and when they return to the present, they discover that they were unintentionally responsible for the nationwide disappointment that followed Geraldo Rivera's opening of the vault in the 1980's.
9. "MODOK's 11"
MODOK (voiced by Tim Curry) recruits the Six to join his team (which includes Deadly Nightshade, Living Laser, Mentallo, and Monica Rappacini), with the intent to suck Las Vegas dry of all its money.
10. "Venomous Vendetta"
Venom (the Eddie Brock version, voiced by Dominic Purcell) takes over leadership of the Six with one goal--take out Spider-Man once and for all.
Now we come to the heart of this fancast, the voice cast:
+The Sinister Six
BOOMERANG (FRED MYERS): "Fred Myers was born in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia and was raised in the United States. As a young boy he developed a love for baseball, and spent years training and perfecting his pitching arm. By the time he was a young adult, Fred had realized his dream of pitching for a major league team. However, he foolishly began accepting bribes, and was drummed out of the major leagues after being discovered. Shortly thereafter, Myers was contacted by the Secret Empire, an international criminal organization that saw the potential of his skills. Myers agreed and was given a new costume and an arsenal of deadly boomerangs, from which he derived his new codename."
The team leader.
CARLOS ALAZRAQUI: Not only is this guy a voiceover pro, he's also got the funny bone to match, being a cast member of Reno 911. He's also best known for voicing the lead wallaby on "Rocko's Modern Life", and fitting for this show, he voiced the one-off "Captain Australia" on The Super Hero Squad Show.
THE SHOCKER (HERMAN SCHULTZ): "Herman Schultz was born in New York City. He was a high school dropout who had brilliant talents as both an inventor and an engineer. Instead of using such talents to gain legitimate employment, he became a successful burglar and (according to him in later stories) the world's best safe-cracker. After finally being caught and incarcerated for his crimes, he developed a pair of gauntlets designed to shoot air blasts, vibrating at high frequency. Schultz uses his gauntlets to escape from prison and becomes the supervillain known as "The Shocker". He defeats Spider-Man in their first confrontation (Spider-Man was at a disadvantage due to having a bad sprain in his left arm from his earlier battle with the Lizard[1]) during a robbery. But he was later beaten and sent back to prison by Spider-Man while robbing a bank (who pinned Schultz's thumbs away from the gauntlets' triggers with his webbing then knocked him out)."
The team's second-in-command, and the most blue-collar of them (despite his genius).
TOM KENNY: Another voiceover whiz, and Alazraqui's co-star on "Rocko's Modern Life" where he voiced Heifer Wolf. He also voiced another character in the form of Bloaty the Tick in the show's "Bloaty the Tick and Squirmy the Ringworm" segments, and it's that character's voice I would picture for Kenny's take on the Shocker.
SPEED DEMON (JAMES SANDERS): "James Sanders first appears as the Whizzer in the final panel of The Avengers #69 (Oct. 1969), the first chapter of a three-issue storyline by writer Roy Thomas and penciller Sal Buscema. The story arc introduced the supervillain team the Squadron Sinister, whose four members were loosely based on heroes in DC Comics' Justice League of America, with the Whizzer based on the Flash. The Squadron Sinister are created by the cosmic entity the Grandmaster to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang – the superhero team the Avengers. The Whizzer battles Avenger Goliath, but the fight is interrupted by the Black Knight. The Avengers eventually defeat the Squadron and they in turn are abandoned by the Grandmaster. The Squadron reappear in the title Defenders, reunited by the alien Nebulon. The villains receive greater power in exchange for the planet Earth, and create a giant laser cannon in the Arctic to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the entirety of the Earth's surface in water. The superhero team the Defenders prevent the scheme and defeat the villains (and Nebulon), with Namor the Sub-Mariner humiliating the Whizzer.
After this defeat the Whizzer and his teammates are teleported offworld by Nebulon, returning with an energy-draining weapon. The Squadron Sinister plan to threaten the Earth again but are defeated once more by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket. The character has another brief encounter with several members of the Avengers, who seek a way to separate the power prism of Doctor Spectrum from fellow Avenger the Wasp. The Whizzer disassociates himself from the Squadron Sinister and adopts a new costume and alias, Speed Demon."
The team's wiseguy.
CHARLIE SCHLATTER: Picking him was a no-brainer for me, since he did voice two different versions of the Flash on two separate occasions for two separate TV shows. As for the wiseguy aspect, thank his take on Dr. Mindbender in "G.I. Joe: Renegades".
THE LIVING BRAIN: "A foe of the hero Spider-Man, the Living Brain was created by the fictional International Computing Machines Corporation and billed as the most intelligent computer and robot in existence, capable of solving virtually any question asked of it." In the show, the LB is the team strategist, and, in an unusual sense, the robot has a hobby: topiary art. He's also a bit like Marvin the Robot from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
The "Data" of the team.
DWIGHT SCHULTZ: This guy has a great amount of geek-cred, from The A-Team to Star Trek to even a few Marvel cartoons as of late, and with the latter a lot of voiceover work under his belt. I think he could do wonders playing the anti-Vision of the Six. And for that previously-mentioned costume gag where LB dresses like the Pope? Schultz voiced the Pope in an early episode of Family Guy.
OVERDRIVE: "Through nano-bacteria that he probably gained at least partially through the work of Mister Negative, Overdrive can alter motor vehicles to his liking (paint job and all). He has given them limited flight, higher power motors, and faster reflexes. It is unknown how well his power works on other vehicles. It is also unknown if the bacteria are released from Overdrive himself or his impressive costume."
The wheel-man of the team.
KHARY PAYTON: Another actor with a long resume of voice work, especially in the comic book realm, Payton's only dabbled in Marvel-based stuff on a couple of occasions, playing Blade in the first Marvel: Ultimate Alliance game and Luke Cage in the sequel.
THE BEETLE (JANICE): "Baron Zemo and the Fixer provided Janice [a Brooklyn native] with a suit of Beetle armor and a nano-virus as part of their plan to destroy the new Captain America. The all-new Lady Beetle fights Bucky and Black Widow in a short battle and is defeated. She is imprisoned in the Raft." In the show, after being broken out, she is recruited into the new Sinister Six. We later learn that she was an admirer of the first Beetle, Abner Jenkins, who later became the Thunderbolts co-founder Mach-V. Feeling he betrayed the reputation that came with the Beetle mantle, she willingly took Zemo's offer up and seeks to 'redeem' the good name of the Beetle in underworld circles.
The team's tomboy.
TARA STRONG: A fan-favorite VA with a long, long resume of characters who would be a great fit, in my opinion, for this relatively new character, especially with the Brooklyn accent I've given her.
+Recurring Guests
By now, everyone knows who Spider-Man is, but here's how he works in the show: this is the post-college Spidey, happily married to MJ (voiced by Lowenthal's wife and fellow VA Tara Platt, and owner of MJ's nightclub where Janice once worked as a bartender), and teaching at Midtown high. Lowenthal I believe would be a decent enough Spidey, he's certainly got the voice for it (thanks to two of the Ben 10 shows).
BLACK CAT: Black-and-white-clad thief, cat burglar, and occasional vigilante, who sometimes does some undercover work for Spider-Man. Like her DC counterpart Catwoman, the only side she's on is her own.
MELISSA DISNEY: The former Ginger Foutley has dabbled in the realm of comic -based cartoons before, both DC--she was Bobbi 'Blade' Summer (and the assassin Curare) on Batman Beyond, and Menagerie in the DTV film Superman Vs. the Elite.
SANDMAN (FLINT MARKO): The former member of the original Sinister Six, Frightful Four and the Sinister Syndicate reformed and became a member of Silver Sable's (voice of Lauren Cohan) Wild Pack. He occasionally visits his old Syndicate pals from time to time, but they tend to be unaware of his mercenary work.
MICHAEL CHIKLIS: Not the best big-screen Thing, but I think he's got the right 'tough guy' experience in his acting career for ol' Sandy. It's his voice that really sells it for me.
THE PUNISHER: Gun-toting vigilante bent on dishing out his revenge against all criminals after the gangland-caused death of his family.
DIEDRICH BADER: His Batman voice is what sold me on picking him for this character, as both he and Batman sounded so deadly serious (pun intended) whenever they spoke.
CLOAK AND DAGGER: Former runaways Ty Johnson and Tandy Bowen found themselves experimented on by the Maggia, which is where they developed their powers over darkness and light, respectively. Shown the ropes by Spider-Man, they become two of the newest heroes of NYC.
LEE THOMPSON YOUNG AND DIANA AGGRON: Young's already played a superhero before, Cyborg on "Smallville", while Aggron has yet to tackle a role like that. I figured this would be an interesting dynamic for the two of them to portray, and that they might be good at it.
+The Daily Bugle staff
*You see them in the show whenever one of the Six's escapades is going on, with JJJ sending out a reporter or two to cover it.
J. JONAH JAMESON: The VERY opinionated, loudmouth publisher of the Bugle and biggest opponent of Spider-Man.
CHARLIE ADLER: The third "Rocko's Modern Life" cast member I used here, he was mainly chosen because of the voice of his character Ed Bighead. Now, if you remember that voice, then you'd agree that Adler would play a great Jameson.
JOSEPH "ROBBIE" ROBERTSON: Editor-in-Chief of the Bugle, overall cooler head in the room, and possibly the only friend JJJ has.
JOE MORTON: Being a fan of "Eureka", I can definitely see him playing the character. A lot of users here must agree, since he's appeared in a few fancasts as this very same character.
BETTY BRANT: Former girl friday of JJJ-turned-one of the top reporters for the Bugle. A very dedicated journalist.
KRISTIN WIIG: The former SNL alum I feel would have a great voice for Betty, and with a humor present in the background of this show, she's got the comic timing for it.
NORAH WINTERS: In my show, Norah's a bit younger (let's say late teens), making her the cub reporter for the Bugle and the Jimmy Olsen to Betty's Lois Lane. She's still got the same kind of attitude her mainstream comics version has.
JENETTE MCCURDY: This Nick starlet I feel has what it takes to make Norah pop on the show--I could picture her stealing a few scenes here and there.
BEN URICH: The top investigative journalist for the Bugle, known for his sheer dedication to the job and his connection to Daredevil. Can be a bit Fox Mulder-ish at times.
NOLAN NORTH: I feel that North could easily portray Urich's ethical attitude and his deadly serious outlook on life.
+Other Villains
THE KINGPIN (WILSON FISK): "Wilson Fisk began his life as a poor child in New York City, bullied by his classmates due to his obesity. Fisk began training himself in physical combat, using his new-found strength to intimidate the bullies into joining his gang. He was eventually discovered by crime lord Don Rigoletto. Fisk became Don Rigoletto's bodyguard and right-hand man. Eventually, Fisk killed Don Rigoletto and took control of his criminal empire, immediately becoming one of the most powerful figures in New York's underworld. While the Kingpin enjoyed a long tenure in his new position, he had made enemies such as the Maggia crime syndicate and the terrorist group HYDRA. The two groups teamed together to oppose Fisk, causing him to flee to Japan. There, he started a spice business in order to regain his wealth. After earning enough money, Fisk returned to New York and started gang wars, in an attempt to bring down the Maggia. With the criminal world in chaos, Fisk was able to step in and take back control."
JIM CUMMINGS: A voiceover veteran with an equally impressive resume, I picked the guy (who I met this year) based on the James Bond villain-esque character Redeye that he played in the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Photo Finish" (who also happened to be a big, bald guy with a white blazer). Fittingly enough, Cummings voiced the Kingpin in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online. I picture him giving the Kingpin a bit of a Sydney Greenstreet influence (fitting, since John Romita Sr. modeled the Kingpin after Greenstreet).
MISTER NEGATIVE (MARTIN LI): "Martin Li is an illegal Chinese immigrant from the Fujian province who attempted to travel to America to be with his wife. However, his mode of transportation, the Golden Mountain, was a slave ship operated by the Snakehead gang as a way to sell Fujian captives as overseas slaves in Kenya. During a storm, the ship's crew evacuated, leaving the captives alone to make a break for the New York shores. Li was the only survivor and spent the following years building a large fortune and dedicating himself to helping those less fortunate.
However, this story is later revealed to be somewhat false, though only the Mr. Negative persona appears aware of it. It is revealed that Mister Negative was actually one of the crew members of the Golden Mountain and when the ship nearly crashed onto the New York shores, he stole the identity of one of the deceased Fujian slaves, the real Martin Li, who was heading to America for the aforementioned reasons. This gang member was eventually captured by the Maggia Don Silvermane and experimented on with a synthetic drug created by Maggia chemist Simon Marshall that could be more potent than heroin. He escaped with the help of two other experimental inmates and was soon transformed into two men, the kind-hearted Martin Li and the villainous Mister Negative. The Mister Negative side dedicated himself to becoming Chinatown's Kingpin of Crime."
DANIEL DAE KIM: He's no stranger to dramatic roles, as evidenced by both Lost and Hawaii Five-O, so I could see him really pulling off the two sides of this super-powered coin.
HAMMERHEAD: "Hammerhead's family immigrated from Russia to Italy when he was a child. His father ran a garage in Toirrano, where he insisted a young Hammerhead speak only in Russian, beating him severely with a mallet when he would not. Though not much is known about his life before he became an evil criminal and supervillain, he is known to have a sister.
All the while, Hammerhead dreamed of becoming a gangster. He is eventually recruited into one of the "families" of the criminal organization known as the Maggia, the Marvel Universe version of the Mafia, when a member oversees Hammerhead murdering a childhood bully and his girlfriend in a theatre showing The Godfather Part II. Originally a small-time hit-man, Hammerhead quickly rises through the ranks of the Maggia, while hiding the fact that he's actually Russian so he can be "made". In his final test, Hammerhead is brought to his father's garage (with the Maggia apparently unaware of their relationship), where he proceeds to kill his father, while telling him in Russian that he doesn't truly hate him, and that he made him (Hammerhead) this way.
One day, Hammerhead was found beaten, disfigured, and delirious with pain in an alley in New York City's Bowery by Jonas Harrow, a surgeon who had lost his medical license due to his illegal experiments. Seeing the opportunity both to save this man's life and to redeem his reputation, Harrow operated on the gunman for three days, replacing much of his shattered skull with a strong steel alloy. During the surgery, the unconscious Hammerhead fixated on the only memory he retained: an image of a poster for a movie called "The Al Capone Mob", which was hanging in the alley where he lay beaten and bloodied before Harrow found him. When he recovered, the memory of the poster and its images of 1930s-era gangsters prompted Hammerhead to start a gang of his own in the style of Capone and other mobsters of the 1920s. He even dressed as if he were living in that decade. Later on, Hammerhead's entire skull was replaced with or reinforced with some type of nearly unbreakable metal (possibly vibranium or secondary adamantium)."
STEVE SCHIRRIPA: I picked this guy for two reasons, one being that he's a former cast member of The Sopranos (as a way to honor the late James Gandolfini), and that a user here used him as Giancarlo Fortunato for a fancast of "The Spectacular Spider-Man's" third season (which was taken down--I wonder why....?). He seems like a good fit for this character.
SILVERMANE (SILVIO MANFREDI): "Silvio Manfredi, nicknamed 'Silvermane' for his near-white hair, is a professional criminal originally from Corleone, Sicily who has been a long-time nemesis in the Spider-Man comics. He started his criminal career as a racketeer in an organized crime group called the Maggia, eventually becoming a criminal organizer and mastermind. "
HECTOR ELIZONDO: I was really inspired by the character Elizondo voiced on the previously-mentioned "Fish Police" cartoon--the tentacled crime boss Calamari (who he voiced with an imitation of Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather"). That proves Elizondo would be a great Silvermane.
THE RHINO: "The character debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #41-43 (Oct.-Dec. 1966) as a thug-for-hire working for an Eastern Bloc country. He volunteered to participate in an experiment that bonded a super strong polymer to his skin, thus augmenting his strength and speed." He is a former member of both the Sinister Six and the Sinister Syndicate.
DAN CASTELLANETA: For picking Castellaneta, I was picturing something like a deeper version of his Assistant Superintendant Leopold voice from "The Simpsons" (see the episodes "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" and "The PTA Disbands"). Also, I don't think he's ever played any 'dimwit' villains before.
HYDRO-MAN (MORRIS "MORRIE" BENCH): "Morris 'Morrie' Bench gains his superpowers while as a crewman on the cargo ship the U.S.S. Bulldog, having been knocked overboard accidentally by Spider-Man (after the hero had finished a fight against Namor) while a powerful experimental generator is being tested in the ocean. The combination of unknown radiation and his immersion in a deep ocean dwelling bacteria turns him into Hydro-Man. When he realized that he had become a man-of-water, he blamed Spider-Man for his disgrace and started to hunt him (through many showers, sewers and water valves), in order to get revenge on the hero, but was defeated in combat." A former member of the Sinister Syndicate and currently a member of the Frightful Four.
ETHAN SUPLEE: He immediately came to mind when I was mulling over this characters VA. I think Suplee could easily bring out Bench's angry, hair-trigger temper.
And that's a fancast all spun up (pun intended)! Thanks for looking, and now in return...ladies and gentlemen, the BOBBY FULLER FOUR: