You’ve probably heard of the game Six degrees of Kevin Bacon, which connects any actor to Kevin Bacon in less than six degrees of separation.
The concept is simple. evin Bacon has a Bacon Number of 0.
Any actor who was in a movie with Kevin Bacon has a Bacon Number of 1.
Any actor who was in a movie with a Bacon Number 1 has a Bacon Number of 2. And so on.
Naturally the first thing I thought when I heard of the concept was: what’s the comics equivalent of a character’s Bacon Number?
The easiest way would be to pick a popular character. But to make things a little more intriguing, I give you… Six Degrees of Wundatore.
Here’s the rules.
Mount Wundagore has a Wundagore Number 0.
Any character whose origin is linked to Mount Wundagore has a Wundagore Number 1.
We can’t use the same “has acted in the same movie” rule, so here’s the adjustment: to gain a Wundagore Number 2, a character has to do one of those things.
A) be in the same team of a Wundagore Number 1
B) have at least one team-up with a Wundagore Number 1
C) have fought at least one time with a Wundagore Number 1
D) be a supporting character of a Wundagore Number 1
The rules for successive numbers follow the same principle.
Wundagore Number 0: Wundagore itself
Mount Wundagore is a mountain in the fictional country of Transia, first showing up in 1966 in the pages of Thor #134.
I suppose I could call this “Six degrees of Transia”, but Wundagore is a funnier name!
Over the years, Wundagore has been linked to the origins of a ridiculous number of characters, which is the reason why I chose it for this game.
Wundagore Number 1
There are at least 6 characters here. Amazing that just these guys are enough to connect basically everybody everywhere!!!
The High Evolutionary
Unsurprisingly, since Wundagore was introduced as the mountain where he built his citadel. And since he’s incredibly useful for bulls##t explanations on how anyone gains superpowers, he’s been linked to tons of characters. Plus he got his own crossover event with the Evolutionary War (although he didn’t personally meet a ton of characters there).
He started out as a Thor villain, so already Thor has a Wundagore Number 2.
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver
The twins were born in the High Evolutionary’s citadel and their mother’s midwife was a super-evolved cow woman (because comics).
Their origin has been retconned a couple times, but the connection is still there… the latest version is that they’re not mutants but were given powers by the High Evolutionary. Told you he’s incredibly useful for retcons!
An argument could be made that Quicksilver should be lower on the list, since the connection is tenuous, but it’s VERY solid for Scarlet Witch: the entire reason she has magic powers is that Mount Wundagore is cursed!
Specifically cursed by…
Chthon
This guy is one of Marvel’s Chthulus (of course Marvel has more than one equivalent to Chthulu, it’s comics), and he’s been sealed into Mount Wundagore.
He’s useful to this game for being the one to write the Darkhold, so he’s basically connected to every single horror character at Marvel.
Spider-Woman
Her origins are a complete nightmare, but in SOME versions she’s either created by the High Evolutionary or given powers by him or she grew up on Wundagore.
So in SOME versions she has a Wundagore Number 1 and in others 2.
Werewolf By Night
Again not particularly useful for the game, but Jack Russel is from Wundagore.
Puppet Master
This Fantastic Four villain is ALSO from Wundagore. Specifically, the radioactive clay he uses to control minds is also MAGIC radioactive clay because of the whole Chthon business!!!
Simple enough, right? This is where things get fun. How many steps does it take to connect anyone in the Marvel Universe to Wundagore?
THE AVENGERS
Basically everyone has either a Wundagore Number 2 because they were in the same team with Scarlet Witch, or AT MOST they have a Wundagore Number 3.
And there are a crapton of Avengers!!!
FANTASTIC FOUR
The Puppet Master is one of their villains, so they immediately get a Wundagore Number 2.
I’m a bit disappointed since I wanted them to get a 4, but they don’t get that high even if we go through Spider-Woman… she teamed up with the Thing at least once, so they’d still be Number 3.
The Thing having an entire series dedicated to his team-ups means that the most unexpected characters have a very low Wundagore Number.
Freaking ROM is a Number 3!!!
If we go through the Puppet Master, Doctor Doom gets to be Number 3.
It would be hilarious to only go through Spider-Woman, because Doctor Doom would be Number 4.
X-MEN
Thanks to Scarlet Witch starting as their villain, the original team has a Wundagore Number 2.
Through them, especially Professor X, nearly every mutant has a Wundagore Number 3.
SPIDER-MAN
Like most Avengers, he has a Wundagore Number 3 at minimum. Let’s say, through Captain America.
Scarlet Witch -> Captain America -> Spider-Man
I’m not sure I can count him being in the same team of Spider-Woman because I’m not entirely sure whether he was with the Skrull impostor or with the real one… but he also had a team-up with her.
So he has a Wundagore Number 2 already!!!
I didn’t even need to bring up the fact that the Jackal worked with the High Evolutionary!!!
And of course, just like the Thing, Spider-Man had his own team-up book.
So the most unexpected characters can end up being a Number 3.
STREET LEVEL HEROES
Daredevil and Punisher are Number 3 thanks to Spider-Man.
Moon Knight of all people has a Wundagore Number 2, having started out as an adversary of Werewolf By Night.
COSMIC MARVEL
Freaking Galactus has a Wundagore Number 2, having fought the High Evolutionary once.
Adam Warlock is also a Number 2, as is Silver Surfer since he has fought the Puppet Master in his third volume.
DOCTOR STRANGE & MAGIC/HORROR
Surprisingly Scarlet Witch and Chthon are not useful here, because I don’t think Strange has ever been in the same team of the former or fought directly the latter.
But with Silver Surfer being a Wundagore Number 2, as a founding member of the Defenders it means Strange has a Wundagore Number 3.
Speaking of Silver Surfer, though… DRACULA has a Wundagore Number 3!!!
Puppet Master -> Silver Surfer -> Dracula
Since Chthon wrote the Darkhold he could be used to connect several horror characters… but there’s a funnier way: the Silver Surfer again!!!
Mephisto started out as his villain, so that’s one route to get Ghost Rider at Number 4.
Puppet Master -> Silver Surfer -> Mephisto -> Ghost Rider
If we consider him being in the Champions, there’s multiple ways that Ghost Rider results in a Number 3.
Scarlet Witch -> Angel or Iceman -> Ghost Rider
Scarlet Witch -> Hercules -> Ghost Rider
Avoiding Scarlet Witch, he’d be a Number 4.
High Evolutionary -> Thor -> Hercules -> Ghost Rider
Even if you stretch it as much as possible by avoiding the Avengers, you only get at Number 5:
Spider-Woman -> Spider-Man -> Daredevil -> Black Widow -> Ghost Rider
Just try. I don’t think it’s possible to have a Marvel Character with a Wundagore Number higher than 6. Not when you consider that, to recap, we have:
- Wundagore Number 1: Scarlet Witch
- Wundagore Number 2: Spider-Man, Thor, the Thing, Captain America, Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, the original X-Men, the Fantastic Four
- Wundagore Number 3: Daredevil, Doctor Doom, everyone who has ever fought or teamed up with Spider-Man, Thor, Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, 90% of Avengers and X-Men (conservatively), the original Defenders
- Wundagore Number 4: everyone who has ever fought or teamed up with Spider-Man, Thor, the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, Adam Warlock, 100% of Avengers and X-Men, the original Defenders and everyone who has ever fought Doctor Doom
Even finding ANYONE with a Wundagore Number 6 is a challenge.
As mentioned I left out DC because it’s not as consistent as Marvel, but… we have JLA vs Avengers bringing A LOT of DC characters to a Wundagore Number 2, thanks to Scarlet Witch being there in the fight!!!
How far can we stretch this? Well… this is playing with the rules a bit, but…
The post-Crisis Superman was in JLA vs Avengers, with Scarlet Witch.
The post-Crisis Superman has fought Superboy Prime.
Superboy Prime met EVERY SINGLE LEGION EVER during “Legion of Three Worlds”…
Leading to EVERY LEGIONNAIRE to have a Wundagore Number #4 !!!
Scarlet Witch -> post-Crisis Superman -> Superboy Prime -> Legionnaires
To prove just how ridiculous this concept can get… the pre-Crisis Metal Men are STILL BELOW Six Degrees of Wundagore at a ridiculous Number 5:
Scarlet Witch -> post-Crisis Superman -> Superboy Prime -> pre-Crisis Superman -> Metal Men
If there is a Marvel character with a Wundagore Number higher than 6, I simply could not find it.
Also, what would be the DC equivalent? Nothing as predictable as the Batcave, please. Let’s get needlessly weid about this.
I think Doctor Doom would be a Wundagore 2, because he teamed up with the Puppet Master in FF #236, the 20th Anniversary issue.
As for the DC equivalent – how about Belle Reve? With the Suicide Squad based there, I’m sure there are enough heroes associated with the villains who made up the team, and then the non-SS villains of those heroes…
Another DC possibility: Arkham Asylum. Considering the number of Batman villains who have been inmates and who went on to fight other heroes or team up with other villains, there have got to be some connections.
The only starting point I can think of that wouldn’t be too big or too small would be the JLA Cave Headquarters. You could have the cave as 0 and only the members who joined the JLA before the satellite yers can be cave 1.
I looked up the name of the cave-The Secret Sanctuary. Six Degrees of the Secret Sanctuary. It even sounds like a Silver Age game.
Not Nightwing… DC lore states that Nightwing knows everybody and is beloved by everybody, so everybody would be a 1.
Maybe Golden Age Flash for a character, and…
The Daily Planet for a place?
Someplace a bit more off the beaten track, like Rann or Thanagar?
So ALF was part of the Evolutionary War crossover…. Can anyone confirm that Alf is a 2?
cool concept.
I was thinking recently about how fricken active Wungadore has been over time.
I tried thinking of series like Master of Kung fu, but Shang-chi met the Thing, so any of his characters aren’t far off.
I started thining about characters from different eras like Conan or Kull, but I guess they are both connected through Red Sonja through Spider-man, so they are what, a 5? So maybe Solomon Kane could be a 6 though Conan.
Other than that, just characters who had no interactions with any other heroes, like guys from the Timely era.
If they had no interactions with any other characters, though, then they wouldn’t have a Wundagore number, so they still wouldn’t have a number higher than 6.