I'm more familiar with the Marvel version from Peter David's
Hulk run, but DC took a run at it first: from 1983,
World's Finest #296, "The Pantheon, Part 1: A World Upheaval!" Written by David Anthony Kraft, co-plotted by Ron Fontes, pencils by Ross Andru, inks by Mike DeCarlo. Cover by Ross Andru and Klaus Janson.
Huh, we blogged the
previous issue last year, and snarkily hoped the last couple years of this title weren't
all about how Superman and Batman weren't bestest friends anymore. No, this was an era where they didn't hang out together and didn't say they were friends all the time, but have to note how much they still appreciate each other all the time. Much more natural-sounding, absolutely. This was a more Batman-centric issue, and the start of a three parter; mostly setting up the new threat of the Pantheon. They seem like techie, action-figure ready thugs at the start; but are being changed by exposure to, or possibly huffing on, "the warm glow of the
living diamond."
Not even once, kids!
Batman spots the crew, robbing the Metropolitan Museum; but has to let them go in order to save a shot guard. Later, Superman has a similar fix: still unseen, the Pantheon attack an airport, shoot up the place, and steal a plane. Supes is stopped from pursuing them, since he has to get the wounded to the hospital. Not yet realizing they were on the same case, Batman works the clues, while Superman has to contain earthquake damage, which is escalating to the point that he wonders if earth was going the way of Krypton. Batman discovers, the gang was going to Mount Ossa in Africa; but they were a step ahead: they allow themselves, to be forced to land by the local government, then kill everyone that gets in their way. Batman gives chase, but the jungle seems different, almost primeval; and Bats even thinks he might have seen a brontosaurus. He then fights several of the new Pantheon, who now seem to have a more finished, inhuman look. Batman is knocked out, while on the other side of the world, Superman discovers bizarre, diamond-like roots...
This almost feels like a good start; but I think this run had a lot of one-off or short-term villains. Good on them for not just trotting out the usuals, but these new baddies may have gained less traction than your typical Firestorm villain. I don't think there was even a Suicide Squad member in the bunch!
2 comments:
Idk about you or anyone else, but I have fond memories of Marvel’s version of the Pantheon, even if the Hulk definitely doesn’t. I think they were all written very well had good intentions, but you know how that goes. Ultimately Aggy caught Bruce during a very vulnerable time, thus why he was able to manipulate him into joining.
Anyhoo….
This version definitely had potential & could’ve further developed into something had they been allowed to. Oh well.
Huffing the diamond eh? Hmmmm.
Batman’s definitely not living down being beaten up by Mercury’s evil twin 😏
I think these guys were just meant to be special for the lead up to the 300th issue (I could’ve sworn this storyline was 5 issues long and 300 was the big crossover celebratory conclusion). Nobody was thinking of Bane or Doomsday-type stuff at this point.
But, there were actually a few recurring villains in this period- they just had the bad timing of showing up right while the book was winding down and Crisis was coming to wreck everything. I don’t think anybody introduced between ‘83 and ‘86 showed up again unless their book ran through the end of Crisis.
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