Hellfire Club from the Avengers?

[Justin du Coeur MKA Mark Waks]

No, not those Avengers; the black-and-white moving ones...

For those who like Marvel trivia, I stumbled across a nice piece the other
day. You know the Hellfire Club, the bunch of nasties who are always trying
to create laws to persecute mutants, due to apparent masochistic tendencies
(or possibly simple lack of intelligence)? Well, turns out that they were
a direct steal from the old TV Avengers show. While watching an episode
called (something like), "A Whiff of Brimstone", I was a bit startled to
notice that it was a plot about a Hellfire Club strikingly like the one
that Claremont depicts. I became increasingly suspicious when I discovered
that the name of the actor playing the lead villain was Peter Wyngarde;
the clincher was Mrs. Peel winding up in a Black Queen outfit (sans cape).

Looking into it, I discovered that Claremont has, in fact, admitted the
steal -- apparently all of the characters in the Club are based on real-
life people. Those interested in a little bit of background history
should see this episode; it's a rather neat little story, full of the Avengers'
distinctive trademarks. And Diana Rigg in that outfit -- it's simply
to die for...

-- Justin du Coeur
Accumulator of trivia

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

In article <3...@inmet.UUCP>, jus...@inmet.UUCP (Justin du Coeur MKA Mark Waks) writes...

} And Diana Rigg in that outfit -- it's simply to die for...

You bet your believe-its! And that was the very reason why this particular
episode was one of only two AVENGERS episodes that was never shown on US
network television, but only surfaced in syndication. The Black Queen
outfit was a little too racy for American TV in the mid-60's.

In the other network-banned episode, "Honey for the Prince", Emma appeared
in a harem outfit with her belly-button exposed (gasp!). Also too much for
mid-60's tv (note that Barbara Eden in I DREAM OF JEANNIE never had a bare
navel).

I recall asking Claremont at a convention back when the Hellfire Club
first appeared if it was a rip from THE AVENGERS, and he admitted it then.
The connection you didn't note, though, was Emma Peel <-> Emma Frost.

--
"Ben, this whole idea sounds pretty half-baked."

"No, it's not. It's completely baked."

--- jayembee (Jerry Boyajian, DEC, "The Mill", Maynard, MA)
UUCP: ...!decwrl!ruby.enet.dec.com!boyajian
ARPA: boyajian%ruby...@DECWRL.DEC.COM

[Tim Maroney]

Of course, both X-men and the Avengers were borrowing from reality.
The Hell-Fire Clubs were blasphemous British social clubs of the
eighteenth century. More information may be found in Geoffrey Ashe's
DO WHAT YOU WILL: A HISTORY OF ANTI-MORALITY (London: W.H. Allen,
1974).
--
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, t...@toad.com

"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine." -- Patti Smith

[pie...@cimnet.dec.com]

Re the Marvel recycling of the "Hellfire Club". Good call as a solid
connection. I had assumed that they were derived, independently, from the
_real_ Hellfire Club, extant in the England in the 1600's. "Upper class"
membership devoted to devil worship, or debauchery (or both...), depending on
which version you believe...

(somewhat peripheral to r.a.c, there's an "official Avengers handbook" (exact
title escapes me...) out.)

thanks
dave pierson |the facts, as accurate as i can manage.
Digital Equipment Corporation |the opinions, my own
600 Nickerson Rd
Marlboro, Mass
01752 pie...@cimnet.enet.dec.com