Holy Unholy Alliance, Batman!
Last week we talked about what I called the “villain combo platter” with different types of villains that could make for multifaceted kinds of conflicts for the hero to face.
At the time, PaulEberhart mentioned the alliance between villains that happened at one point during Deep Space Nine, and I remembered it well as one of my favorite runs of episodes in that series.
It played out after several seasons that developed the villain named Dukat, who was in charge of the titular space station before the series began.
Hey, I've never used the phrase ‘titular something’ before. Firsts!
Anyway, Dukat was well established as an occasional Antagonist in the series. The Dominion (a force from the far side of the Galaxy that I talked a bit about last week) had been around for a short while. When the Dominion joined forces with the Cardassians (represented by Dukat), they became a formidable force, and in one of the biggest shakeups in the series, actually took over the…titular space station, taking the actual setting of the series away from the heroes.
Don't get me started on DS9. I do go on, eh?
The point is that different kinds of villains, in a longer-running series, can be brought together to great effect, creating a greater threat for the heroes, and showing a different side of them as characters. It can be a delicious kind of conflict to watch, as we saw in season five of DS9, and also in Better Call Saul.
Yes, it had to show up yet again!
In the 'Saul sequel, we actually got to see the beginning of the association between criminal Mastermind Gustavo Fring and ultimate soldier Mike who joined forces against a common enemy. 
Do you love it when villains come together? It doesn't always work I'm sure. But at the very least, it can be a lot of fun to see separate villains coming together and sharing the page or screen.
See you next time!
-Banes
The Unholy Alliance
Banes at 12:00AM, April 28, 2022
6 likes!
©2011 WOWIO, Inc. All Rights Reserved Mastodon
Corruption at 2:29AM, April 30, 2022
One example I like comes from the Forgotten Realm series of books. A woman was created as a homunculus. The one who knew how to make her was a Bard and skilled artesian, and was broken out of a prison he had been sentence to eternity in. He only wanted to make art. The person who broke him out was an evil sorceress, who wanted a younger body she could possess latter. Added to the mix was her lich of an ex-boyfriend (who provided necromancy to keep the body viable while being made), an order of assassins (who provided funding and materials), a fiend (who provided a captive Paladin for a pure soul to use and disguise the spiritual taints of what the weapon would do), and a God (to bring her to life). Each engrained commands into her very essence. One all made was to kill the other evil ones. And she did so, even the God's avatar and cult. (Bard offed the God and took its divinity latter) The bard was the only one left and he just wanted her to spread his songs, as well as making her own)
kawaiidaigakusei at 11:31AM, April 28, 2022
Always a fan of the villain alliances like the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in X-Men.
bravo1102 at 8:04AM, April 28, 2022
Jeffrey Combs, that actor is incredible and has played every character on Star Trek forever.
PaulEberhardt at 5:44AM, April 28, 2022
I certainly love a good villain alliance - as long as it isn't the "we've run out of ideas, so let's just throw everything we've left into the mix and see what happens"-kind. DS9 is one of the rare occasions where I believe it isn't, as the aforementioned alliance spices up things deliciously. (Dukat is one of my all-time favourite villains anyway - Mark Alaimo does a terrific job portraying the godfather of pragmatist a-holes (had to mention him; I hear he shaped his character a lot, if not the entire cardassian species) and watching it never gets old.). The same cannot be said for some superhero revivals.
marcorossi at 4:44AM, April 28, 2022
Nothing to say about the actual argument of the post but Yay the Batman movie with Adam West is awesome!!! Thinking about it, in that movie the main opponents (Jocker, Catwoman, Penguin and Riddler) all team up against Batman but, in practical terms, it's like they sum up their weaknesses rather than their powers; I wonder how often does this happen in a Unholy Alliance. (By the way the original Holy Alliance was the worst thing ever.)
cdmalcolm1 at 1:21AM, April 28, 2022
Spider-Man’s Sinister Six comes to mind here.
Ozoneocean at 1:00AM, April 28, 2022
I liked the Villain alliances in Captain Planet actually, haha, that was always fun. The competing objectives, rivalries and jealousies always tear them apart in the end.
Ozoneocean at 12:58AM, April 28, 2022
That brings to mind my fave "titular line" skit from UCB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiqPmsBYieA