The 1990s
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In addition to the end of the Cold War, the early 90s also saw the meteoric rise of Dr. Dexter Darien. An eccentric genius, the doctor had already become a multi-millionaire thanks to several patents; as the new decade rolled in, he founded Venture Industries, "a company dedicated to the research and application of extreme science" (which the public often interprets as "giving mad scientists respectable jobs"). Venture Industries became a truly global power when Darien approached the Global Champions, and offered them a deal: Venture Industries' technological assistance, in exchange for the Global Champions' using their powers to help with the Tower of Babel project.
The Tower of Babel was an extremely ambitious design, even by Venture Industries' standards. An orbital elevator made of carbosteel, connecting an artificial island at the equator (named Venture Isle) to a gigantic space station in geosynchronous orbit, it could not have been built without the powers of the Global Champions (in particular the Avatar, who created the megatons of carbosteel involved). The space station, named Venture City, became a political entity under Venture Industries' control, and would house the company's new corporate HQ. Over the years to follow, the Tower of Babel would revolutionize the space industry, while Venture City would become a center of advanced scientific research.
By that point in History, the Cryosphere had become the world's supervillainy center. It had seemed that, following their earlier defeat, the heroes of the world had accepted the new status quo.
It was not so.
Ever since the Battle of the Cryosphere, the Global Champions had been secretly planning a new attack, organizing the heroes and resources needed. When the right time came, numerous mystics performed a ritual which subtly warped space itself - just enough to prevent Professor Cryo's power plant from teleporting in matter from the sun. With the Cryosphere's power source taken out, thousands of superheroes descended upon the frozen city, fighting thousands of supervillains and Cryospheran troops in the streets.
for a while, it truly seemed as if the heroes were going to successfully liberate the city. Alas, it would not be so. Mysterious troops (suspected to be Shadow, but never confirmed), equipped with high-tech weaponry, entered the Cryosphere and helped Cryo's forces stand against the heroes. This bought the villains precious time; time that was used to counter the magical ritual warping space. It remains unknown who countered the ritual and how, but the results were a disastrous retreat of the would-be liberators. The Second Battle of the Cryosphere ended with numerous casualties among the superhero community.
By the mid-90s, Megalopolis had already become a hub for superpowered activity, boasting the highest superhero-to-civilian rate on Earth (though probably ranking below Venture City and its somewhat transhumanist mindset). In an effort to keep up, the crime syndicates of Megalopolis joined forces in an attempt to create a special enforcer - a super-thug that could face the city's metahuman heroes. To this purpose, they chose one of their own, and subjected him to every power-giving treatment available to them. The resulting supervillain, codenamed Mordor, would soon contact other elite supervillains across the world with Shadow's help; together, they would form the supervillain team Global Might. Global Might then spearheaded an attempt by Shadow to take over Venture City; the attempt nearly succeeded, only barely being foiled by Venture City's defenders and the Global Champions.
Global Might remains a global threat, and recurring foes of the Global Champions.
Ever since Avalon's return from Limbo, Nollius had hatched a wide variety of plots. The greatest one, however, came to its culmination only after years of secret, hidden work: For a long time, Avalon's agents had been discreetly kidnapping victims from the third world, distributing their abductions across many countries so as not to get discovered. Once 50.000 abductees had been gathered, Nollius enacted a terrible ritual in which they were all sacrificed, allowing him to create an army of shadow fiends - powerful magical monsters with which he launched a new attack on the world. The ensuing war, while brief, raged across the globe, and caused tens of thousands of deaths in collateral damage before Avalon's forces were finally pushed back.
The final major event of the 90s was the arrival of Madman. The first (and to date, only recorded) visitor from another universe, Madman quickly acquired the moniker of "mad scientist to end all mad scientists". On Halloween 1999, he terrorized Seattle with robotic dinosaurs. On the 31st of December, he temporarily took over the world's computers, launching nukes at dozen of major cities. Heroes scrambled to destroy the nukes, and managed to stop almost all of them - but the few that reached their target self-destructed without any nuclear blast. Taking advantage of the confusion, Madman had gotten inside the White House...where he threw a cream pie at the president's face, before disappearing into the night.
Madman's "unique style" would remain a constant in following years. All of his plots seem designed first and foremost to amuse him - but while structural damage may be high, the body count is always remarkably low.
