Masters of Disaster (comics) explained

The Masters of Disaster are a team of supervillains appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. They are presented as a group of mercenaries who prefer to work for money and metahumans with superhuman abilities corresponding to a force of nature: earth, wind, fire, and water.^[1]

The Masters of Disaster appeared in the second season of the live-action television series Black Lightning.

Fictional history

Throughout their appearances in Adventures of the Outsiders #34, Batman and the Outsiders Annual #2, and the Outsiders series, the Masters of Disasters fight and are defeated by Batman's Outsiders on multiple occasions and Looker on one occasion.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Eventually, Masters member Windfall develops sympathetic feelings for the Outsiders and secretly works to keep them alive until her teammates discover her treachery before capturing and cloning her.^[5] They subsequently send the clone to infiltrate the Outsiders, but Batman discovers the ruse before the clone is killed in battle while the original Windfall defects to the Outsiders.^[6]

As of Outsiders (vol. 2) #9, the remaining Masters were incarcerated in a prison nicknamed the "Slab" before joining forces with a wrongfully arrested Geo-Force to escape.^[7] However, New Wave disagrees with this, leading to her killing Shakedown amidst his attempt to calm her down.^[8] The Masters subsequently recruit Dust Devil and Mudslide before fighting the Outsiders once more.^[9]

Following the events of "The New 52" and during the "Forever Evil" tie-in Suicide Squad, Heatstroke and New Wave attack a prison transport carrying Coldsnap and Shakedown, only to be intercepted by jet-pack wearing S.W.A.T. officers.^[10] Coldsnap and Heatstroke are later recruited into the Suicide Squad to assist Katana in fighting the Kobra organization.^[11]

Members

• Rebecca "Becky" Jones / New Wave – The group's leader and older sister of Windfall who can transform into living water.
• Shakedown – The group's peacekeeper who possesses near-invulnerability and can generate powerful vibratory blasts.
• Darryl / Coldsnap – A metahuman who can generate extreme cold, is in love with Heatstroke despite not being able touch her due to his powers, and joined the group to raise money to cure a medical condition.
• Joanne / Heatstroke – A metahuman who can generate extreme heat, is in love with Coldsnap, and also joined the group to raise money to cure a medical condition.
• Wendy Jones / Windfall – New Wave's younger sister and a metahuman with aerokinesis who bears sympathy for Halo, which contributes to Windfall leaving the group.
• Dust Devil – A later addition to the group who can fly and also possesses aerokinesis.
• Mudslide – A later addition to the group who can cause earthquakes and generate heat in his hands, which allows him to liquefy objects.

In other media

• The Masters of Disaster appear in the DC Nation Shorts: Thunder and Lightning episode "Lightning Under the Weather".
• The Masters of Disaster appear in the second season of Black Lightning, consisting of New Wave (portrayed by Brooke Ence), Marcus Bishop / Shakedown (Hosea Chanchez), Joe / Heatstroke (Esteban Cueto), and Coldsnap (Derrick Lewis). This version of the group originated as part of an A.S.A. experiment called "Project Masters of Disaster", which aimed to turn violent inmates into a metahuman attack squad before they were put into stasis pods for twenty-five years. Throughout the season, Tobias Whale discovers the group's existence and steals their pods to build up a metahuman army. Over time, he gradually awakens them to help him terrorize Freeland and fight Black Lightning and Thunder, who eventually defeat them while Whale's former underling Lala shoots Heatstroke.
  • Additionally, a character loosely based on Windfall named Wendy Hernandez appears in the series, portrayed by Madison Bailey.

External links

• Masters of Disaster at DC Comics Wiki
• Masters of Disaster at Comic Vine

Notes and References

1. Book: Rovin, Jeff . The Encyclopedia of Supervillains . Facts on File . 1987 . New York . 0-8160-1356-X . 396.
2. Adventures of the Outsiders #34 (June 1986). DC Comics.
3. Batman and the Outsiders Annual #2. DC Comics.
4. Batman and the Outsiders #32. DC Comics.
5. Outsiders #14. DC Comics.
6. Outsiders #19. DC Comics.
7. Outsiders (vol. 2) #9. DC Comics.
8. JSA #31. DC Comics.
9. Outsiders (vol. 4) #27–28. DC Comics.
10. Suicide Squad (vol. 4) #30. DC Comics.
11. Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #2. DC Comics.