Help with some African Supervillains please !

[st barbara]

Okay so my long running "All The World's Heros" project has finally got to Africa and once again I find myself short of ideas for villains. I have some from northern and central africa but I need some ideas for some Southern African ( Angola, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Madagascar) super villains. Most of those countries can only muster one or two heros but Zimbabwe and South Africa have 4 and 7 heros respectively. I will use "Ironhorn" and "Pridemaster" from "Champions Worldwide" of course but I would like a few more; particularly some names that seem appropriate for an ex hero or two from South Africa who has turned to crime or a good name for a White Supremacist supervillain ! As in the past I hope that the Hero Board Community can assist.

[assault]

How about a character called Koevoet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koevoet)? Apparently that's Afrikaans for crowbar.

[Lord Liaden]

If you ever saw the old Champions villain compendium Enemies: Villainy Unbound, one of the villains was Lionslayer, formerly a radical Zulu revolutionary from Apartheid-era South Africa who became disillusioned with the cause and became a supervillain (joining the terrorist group VOICE).

Our board colleague Enforcer84 posted a fine Fifth Edition update of Lionslayer to the boards, including a HDC file: http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=761079

[David Johnston]

Voortrekker is Afrikaans I think. Good for a South African who isn't the city type.
Of course there's always Witchfinder. Finding and killing witches is big business all over Africa.
Blood Diamond?
Obviously you need a Tarzan/Sheena ripoff. Any random pair of syllables will do.
Umthakathi is a Zulu word meaning malign spell caster.

[Vestnik]

Anansi the Spider.

[Susano]

Anansi the Spider.

A.K.A. "Mr. Nancy." :D

[OddHat]

Generally, in Africa "Hero" and "Villain" should depend more on who you're asking than anything else, even more than in the West. When the governments are hopelessly corrupt or actively genocidal, knocking over a bank or two doesn't mean much.

That said, Viper's origins are now African. If you're CUing it, you can run with that. African myth is a rich source for potential characters, and a few African states have an Indian middle class, which opens the door for Indian Supervillains as well. There should be a few Japanese and Chinese Supers running around; both countries are looking at the resources Africa might be able to offer in the future.

[David Johnston]

Anansi is West African, though. Not really part of the more southerly parts of Africa

[TheQuestionMan]

African Comics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_characters_in_comics#African_Comics

List of Black Supervillains
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_black_supervillains

List of Black Superheroes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Black_superheroes

God Checker - The Gods Of Africa
http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/african-mythology.php

Champions Universe - African Supervillains
Viperia - (Super Girl) VIPER's Heavy Hitter
White Rhino - (Anthopomorphic) RhinoConfused Hero or Villian
Boer - Retired Apartite Superhero
Blaze - (Champions Universe)
Gazelle - (Speedster - Champions World Wide)
Ironhorn - ( , Champions World Wide)
Pridemaster - ( , Champions World Wide)
Ogun - ( , Champions World Wide)
Joseph Otanga - (Mystic Supervillian & President-for-Life , Champions World Wide)
Impala - ( , Champions Universe)
Anubis - ( , CKC & Champions World Wide)
VIPER - ( , Champions Universe & Champions World Wide)
DEMON - ( , Champions Universe & Champions World Wide)
The Warlord - ( , CKC, Champions Universe &Champions World Wide)
Ma'at - ( , Champions Universe & Champions World Wide)



Cheers

QM

[Karmakaze]

Anansi the Spider.

Anansi would be less a villain than an... adversary. Like most tricksters, he's not generally hostile, just troublesome.

I did a quick glance-over at wikipedia and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoikhoi_mythology
which has a few local legends to work with.

You'd have to do you own research to locate which tribes are in the region you're looking at, but there's also:
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/africa/african/articles.html

You might also look to the DeBeers cartel as a source of villainy:
http://www.fguide.org/Bulletin/conflictdiamonds.htm
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198202/diamond

(This is weird. Mom's been gone for over a decade, and I still want to ask her for input on this...)

[David Johnston]

Anansi would be less a villain than an... adversary. Like most tricksters, he's not generally hostile, just troublesome.

Doesn't he eat people?

[Karmakaze]

Doesn't he eat people?

Well, not as a life calling or anything.

[OddHat]

A little rape or murder doesn't stop any of the Greek gods from being among the comic book good guys. What's a little canibalism?

[Enforcer84]

A little rape or murder doesn't stop any of the Greek gods from being among the comic book good guys. What's a little canibalism?
toe nibbling.

[st barbara]

Thank you one and all. I have already used "Anansi" as the name of a hero in the Cote D'Ivoire (sort of an African Spiderman) and, oddly enough, my tough Zulu martial artist from South Africa (he uses the Burmese art of Bando and carries a shield and an asagi (spear) which has a limited E B attack) is named "Lion Slayer". "Blood Diamond" and "Witchfinder" both sound good and I will certainly be using the links that people have kindly provided.

[David Johnston]

You could also use Gertrude, the Jungle Queen.

[Balabanto]

Don't forget to use your resources. Somewhere out there is an awesome series of comics called "Captain Africa." Captain Africa rules. It's one of the coolest alternate histories I've ever seen for a comic, and it really kicks serious silver age ass despite this. Look it up.

[st barbara]

Don't forget to use your resources. Somewhere out there is an awesome series of comics called "Captain Africa." Captain Africa rules. It's one of the coolest alternate histories I've ever seen for a comic, and it really kicks serious silver age ass despite this. Look it up. "Captain Africa" was also the name given to a virtual remake of "The Phantom" movie serial from 1943 which was done in the 1950's !

[Vestnik]

It's not Sub-Saharan Africa, but there's always Ancient Egypt and the other North African ancient cultures to draw on. Ba'al makes a good villain. And the Nubians.

[Balabanto]

Yeah, but the one I'm referring to was actually written by African-Americans. It's fabulous.

Also check out the long deceased Milestone Titles, which included Icon, Static, and Blood Syndicate. Those were also very good.

(Regrettably, Xombi was not. Whoever was writing that spent too much time with Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol and a very large bong.)