Who: Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil

What: Convincingly fooling everyone -- including readers -- that some of the Avengers' oldest enemies were a new superhero team

When: April 1997

Where: Thunderbolts #1

Why it's a great moment: It's rare that anybody genuinely pulls off a good con anymore. But old wax-face Zemo managed it when the Avengers and the Fantastic Four temporarily had gone off to Liefeld-land to play around in a world of ridiculous anatomy created by Franklin Richards. People were desperate for some new silly costumed heroes, and he gave them to them. This group just happened to have world domination plans.

Unfortunately, some of the Masters decided they liked the whole hero gig and sort of betrayed the old Baron. So, in another pretty sweet moment, he ratted them out. Awesome work, Baron Z. And for that, we salute you.

Got a suggestion for one of villainy's greatest moments -- in comics, movies, books, TV, video games, whatever? Drop us a line at submissions@the-iss.com.