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Bring On The Bad Guys
When Mephisto reaches the end of his long game, nothing can stand in his way—except, perhaps, for a cadre of super villains! In BRING ON THE BAD GUYS, the Lord of Darkness sends his mysterious agent Sister Sorrow after the Soul Forge. The only thing standing between them and dominion over all human souls in the Marvel Universe? Doctor Doom, Green Goblin, Loki, Abomination, Red Skull, and Dormammu!
200 pages, Paperback
Published May 26, 2026
About the author
Marc Guggenheim
968 books173 followersMarc Guggenheim grew up on Long Island, New York, and earned his law degree from Boston University. After over four years in practice, he left law to pursue a career in television.
Today, Guggenheim is an Emmy Award–winning writer who writes for multiple mediums including television, film, video games, comic books, and new media. His work includes projects for such popular franchises as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.
His next book, In Any Lifetime, coming from Lake Union Publishing on August 1st.
Guggenheim currently lives in Encino, California, with his wife, two daughters, and a handful of pets.
Keep up to date on his latest projects with LegalDispatch, a weekly newsletter where he shares news and notes about writing, comics, and the entertainment industry.
Today, Guggenheim is an Emmy Award–winning writer who writes for multiple mediums including television, film, video games, comic books, and new media. His work includes projects for such popular franchises as Percy Jackson, Star Wars, Call of Duty, Star Trek, and Planet of the Apes.
His next book, In Any Lifetime, coming from Lake Union Publishing on August 1st.
Guggenheim currently lives in Encino, California, with his wife, two daughters, and a handful of pets.
Keep up to date on his latest projects with LegalDispatch, a weekly newsletter where he shares news and notes about writing, comics, and the entertainment industry.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 5, 2025
2.7 stars
June 13, 2026
In the vein of Contest of Chaos or Infinity Wars, comes Bring On The Bad Guys, 2025's series of related one-shots telling one big story.
Mephisto's trying to repower the Soul Forge, a magical artifact that will allow him to control all of the souls in Hell and on Earth. His quest manages to rope in other villains, such as Doctor Doom, the Abomination, and Loki, culminating in a throwdown for true ownership of the Forge and the fate of the world. Each issue aside from the first and last also includes a back-up story that unravels the secret origin of Sister Sorrow, the new character introduced to act as Mephisto's aide.
Each of these stories works well as a standalone, surprisingly. Even if you only read the Doom or Mephisto issues (which open and close the story respectively), they are kinda self-contained, just with the Soul Forge plot threading through them all. That said, the whole is definitely better than the sum of its parts, and the ultimate conclusion (including a very amusing use of the title of the series) is well done overall.
Of all the issues, I was impressed most by the Abomination one-shot, by current Hulk writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson, so much so that I hope he shows up in Infernal Hulk or beyond. The Loki story also showed a very good understanding of the character, even as far back as his more villainous days. There really wasn't a bad issue in the bunch - even the art, which is mostly by newer or untested artists at Marvel, doesn't falter very much.
It's nice to get some spotlight on the villains without worrying too much about making them redeemable. Bring On The Bad Guys is a surprisingly impressive collection of stories that reminded me why these little weird books or series that Marvel try are often more impressive than their big tentpole books.
Mephisto's trying to repower the Soul Forge, a magical artifact that will allow him to control all of the souls in Hell and on Earth. His quest manages to rope in other villains, such as Doctor Doom, the Abomination, and Loki, culminating in a throwdown for true ownership of the Forge and the fate of the world. Each issue aside from the first and last also includes a back-up story that unravels the secret origin of Sister Sorrow, the new character introduced to act as Mephisto's aide.
Each of these stories works well as a standalone, surprisingly. Even if you only read the Doom or Mephisto issues (which open and close the story respectively), they are kinda self-contained, just with the Soul Forge plot threading through them all. That said, the whole is definitely better than the sum of its parts, and the ultimate conclusion (including a very amusing use of the title of the series) is well done overall.
Of all the issues, I was impressed most by the Abomination one-shot, by current Hulk writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson, so much so that I hope he shows up in Infernal Hulk or beyond. The Loki story also showed a very good understanding of the character, even as far back as his more villainous days. There really wasn't a bad issue in the bunch - even the art, which is mostly by newer or untested artists at Marvel, doesn't falter very much.
It's nice to get some spotlight on the villains without worrying too much about making them redeemable. Bring On The Bad Guys is a surprisingly impressive collection of stories that reminded me why these little weird books or series that Marvel try are often more impressive than their big tentpole books.
Review of advance copy received from Sonstiges
das letzte Kapitel wirkt ein bisschen zusammengeramscht und Red Skull sieht in dem Kapitel aus als hätte ein Anfänger versucht, das Ding zu zeichnen.
aber alles in allem war es gut.
aber alles in allem war es gut.
July 11, 2026
When they say bring on the bad guys in the final issue that is just a hilarious writing moment.
Read
August 31, 2026Very fun time-hopping story, consisting of two bookend chapters in present day, and five separate one-shot chapters each focusing on a different classic Marvel villain being used by Mephisto (basically the Marvel universe's Satan) at some point in history towards a long term goal of his. I love the horror-fringes of the Marvel universe and this absolutely worked for me.
But, ridiculous title! -- apparently it had previously been used in 1976 on a TPB collection of Marvel villain origin stories, and I presume it popped-up internally as one of those "oh crap, we're going to lose the trademark on that phrase if we don't use it on a published product ASAP." (To be fair, the title does come up diegetically in-story, and is mocked there too.)
But, ridiculous title! -- apparently it had previously been used in 1976 on a TPB collection of Marvel villain origin stories, and I presume it popped-up internally as one of those "oh crap, we're going to lose the trademark on that phrase if we don't use it on a published product ASAP." (To be fair, the title does come up diegetically in-story, and is mocked there too.)
Review of advance copy
A modern homage to the classic 70's Stan Lee story collection....
This time around, we've got Mephisto looking to recapture a mystical item. Assisting him, a new character, named Sister Sorrow. She has a pact with Mephisto and they're working together to get this 'Soul Forge' that gives the wielder control of all the souls in Hell and on Earth.
Each issue tells a 'villain focused' story. No happy endings here.
-Doctor Doom
-Green Goblin
-Abomination
-Loki
-Red Skull
-Dormammu
-Mephisto
This time around, we've got Mephisto looking to recapture a mystical item. Assisting him, a new character, named Sister Sorrow. She has a pact with Mephisto and they're working together to get this 'Soul Forge' that gives the wielder control of all the souls in Hell and on Earth.
Each issue tells a 'villain focused' story. No happy endings here.
-Doctor Doom
-Green Goblin
-Abomination
-Loki
-Red Skull
-Dormammu
-Mephisto
November 13, 2025
Read as single issues in 2025.
Mostly forgettable, except the Loki story. Which, in itself, was an actual story instead of just being a story beat in a larger narrative.
Also, this could have been a limited series instead of being seven over-priced one-shots.
If you read this as a collected volume you'll definitely get the better deal.
Mostly forgettable, except the Loki story. Which, in itself, was an actual story instead of just being a story beat in a larger narrative.
Also, this could have been a limited series instead of being seven over-priced one-shots.
If you read this as a collected volume you'll definitely get the better deal.
November 7, 2025
This was alright. I expected more explorations of each of the characters. Instead we got all of them trying to kill a person to complete a deal with Mephisto. It was basically the same story told 6 different times.
June 17, 2026
The overall story was okay, and only a few of the solo baddie stories were truly fun. Art’s good though.
July 2, 2026
Serviceable art, but yet another "powerful object" story from Marvel and with one of the most anti-climatic showdowns ever
July 6, 2026
Kinda boring but the green goblin and abomination issues were good
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews