History's Crime Wave

History's Crime Wave is when historical criminals are used in a work of fiction. This may involve Historical Villain Upgrade. The villains don't have to be on Earth; they just have to be historical, though this can also extend to mythological villains.

See also Jury of the Damned.

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Examples of History's Crime Wave include:

Comic Books

• Leading Comics #3 has the Seven Soldiers of Victory working against Dr Doome (not Victor) who has used a time machine to summon up the Time Tyrants, Alexander the Great, Emperor Nero, Napoleon, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun.
• The trope namer is in All-Star Comics #38 where the Justice Society of America investigate Gotham City murders claimed to be performed by historical villains. Though they turn out to be the disguises of an insane wax museum guard, he succeeds in killing every member in the issue except Wonder Woman, who has to use the purple ray to bring them back to life. The villains are Nero, Goliath, Captain Kidd, Caesare Borgia, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun.
• The Captain Marvel villain Ibac could be considered a type of this trope. Lucifer gave a crook the ability to turn into Ibac, with the powers of Ivan the Terrible, who supplies Terror, Cesare Borgia, who gives Ibac Cunning, Attila the Hun, who gifts him with Fierceness, and Caligula, the sponsor of Cruelty. This doesn't explain how he gains enormous strength and durability.
• In one Thor comic he goes to the demon Mephisto's realm and encounters a group of villains.
• A Lethal Legion was made by the Demon Satannish ressurecting four dead criminals and giving them powers. They were
  • Axe of Violence - A demonically-enhanced Lizzie Borden with an axe replacing one hand.
  • Coldsteel - A demonically enhanced Josef Stalin now an 8 ft. giant with superhuman strength.
  • Cyana - A demonically enhanced Lucrezia Borgia with poisoned claws.
  • Zyklon - A demonically enhanced Heinrich Himmler who can belch deadly gas fumes from his mouth.
• In a way Vandal Savage as he has been many historical characters, like Caesar, Genghis Khan and Jack the Ripper.

Film

• Time After Time has the historical Jack the Ripper clandestinely gain access to H.G. Wells-style Time Travel to continue his crime wave across the pond in the modern era. (During the theatrical first run, a calendar on-screen might even briefly be seen displaying a current, accurate "today's date".)

Literature

• Possibly the oldest example is in The Odyssey as Odysseus goes to the Underworld and sees mythological villains being punished for their crimes, like the trickster Sisyphus, the husband-murdering daughters of Danaë, and the cannibalistic Tantalus.
• The Divine Comedy has a much larger number in the Inferno section, some known to us only through the poem.
• Return to Groosham Grange has the waxworks of Hitler, a French Revolutionary and others brought to life from Madame Tussaud.

Western Animation

• In the 1960s Spider-Man series, a villain from an earlier episode, the Waxmaster Parafino, makes Wax Robots (?) of 'History's Greatest Villains. Blackbeard, Jesse James and 'the Executioner of Paris' (?) are used, though waxworks of a masked man with a dagger, and a rich-looking man are seen.
• Futurama has a Holodeck malfunction causing Amy and Kiff to get atatcked by Jack the Ripper, Attila the Hun, and Evil Lincoln.