DC’s Static Teased a Powerful ’90s Villain Team’s Return – and It Could Be Big
The imminent return of the Blood Syndicate may very well tie into Holocaust’s successful attempt to form the first Bang Baby gang.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Static: Season One #3, on sale now.
With DC’s recent announcement of a new series for the superhero team known as the Blood Syndicate, now seems a prudent time to go over the origins of this team and how they might be shaping up in the current Dakotaverse. Much like Static, these groups of metahumans were affected by the “Big Bang” transforming them into uniquely powered individuals. Some of them would band together to try and fight for their city, but a rotating roster and lack of a cohesive vision for what the group stood for led to the team’s eventual disintegration.
Hopefully, this time around the Blood Syndicate will be formed with a more unified front.
Debuting in Blood Syndicate #1 (by Dwayne McDuffie, Ivan Velez, Jr., Denys Cowan) the Blood Syndicate was actually the first real case of unity between Dakota’s many street gangs. Or rather, what remained of them. The initial “Big Bang” killed a great many instead of mutating them and the survivors of this event coalesced their numbers to create a new street gang that would watch out for people like them. They would be a more violent brand of hero, willing to kill whoever got in their way. Though this was usually criminals.
Eventually, the team would disband due to infighting and quite a few deaths among their members. The fact that the team never had an idea of what they were fighting for also lent to its dissolution, especially considering it held more volatile members like Holocaust who would eventually become a villain. Holocaust was also recently shown in the new Static series and was already trying to organize the new metahuman population of Dakota City, but the military intervened before serious progress could be made.
Regardless of interference, in Static: Season One #3 (by Vita Ayala, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, ChrisCross, Will Quintana, AndWorld Design) Holocaust managed to assemble his own gang shortly after. It is never stated that this is the Blood Syndicate and given Holocaust’s more villainous portrayal, it doesn’t seem likely that this group he assembled is the titular team. That does not mean it isn’t possible though. Holocaust only managed to assemble this gang within a day of the military raid, and they may not have settled on a name yet.
If that is the case, then fans may have to anticipate a more villainous version of the group. Most likely this would lead to a redemption arc of sorts as its main cast pulls away from whatever Holocaust has in mind. But there is a more positive alternative to this.
Holocaust has already proven willing to sell out his fellow Bang Babies if the pressure is on, leaving them to deal with possible incarceration while he escaped. It’s possible that those Bang Babies who know this have heard of his new gang and realize that it is merely a tool for him to seize control of the city. The new Blood Syndicate might be formed as a response to that, a more positive group of heroes for Bang Babies to join and protect Dakota City with their new powers instead of oppressing it.