Pride (comics) - Origin

Origin

Although The Pride were the center of focus throughout the first volume of the series, their actual origin was only covered in the thirteenth issue. The six couples were called together in 1985 by the Gibborim, three mythical giants who had ruled the world when it had "originally been one, serene utopia". The Gibborim informed the couples (who revealed themselves to be aliens, time-travelers, magicians, scientists, mutants, and criminals) their desire to turn the world into the same peaceful utopia it had been millions of years before, but did not have the strength. The Gibborim required the six couples' help ("a Pride") to wipe out the entire planet, and when they achieved their goal, six of the twelve who served them the best would be able to rule the world with them, while the other six would perish with the rest of the human race. The couples agreed, and formed The Pride.

The Gibborim required a sacrifice every year for twenty-five years in order to get their strength. During this time, they had given The Pride wealth and had their abilities and powers enhanced so they could rule over the entire Los Angeles, to a point where Norman Osborn calls them "the dominant and most feared criminal organization of the West Coast." Every year, The Pride gathered at the Wilder residence, using the excuse of an "annual charity fundraiser", while in reality, they would perform the "Rite of Blood", the ritual sacrifice of an innocent young female victim; the spirit of the victim would then be fed to the Gibborim in the "Rite of Thunder".

After Janet Stein became pregnant during their third year as The Pride, The Pride agreed to end its struggle against one another. Each couple would instead ensure their child would receive one of the six places in the coming paradise, so The Pride's legacy could go on. Unbeknownst to the rest of The Pride, the Deans and the Hayes had made a deal: to murder the rest of The Pride and take the six tickets in paradise for themselves and their daughters, Karolina Dean and Molly Hayes.

When Obadiah Stane took his company, Tony Stark relocated to Los Angeles after saving a homeless man with psychological problems, but unintentionally attracted the attention of the Pride, who believed that he had come to L.A. specifically to confront them. Despite their attempts to eliminate Stark by hiring the Serpent Society to kill him, Tony was able to assemble a new company called Imperio Techworks, convincing the locals to invest- the new Iron Man acquiring Japanese investors after defeating a monster-, prompting Wilder to send Tony a message about his presence in the city, unintentionally exposing the Pride (Tony had assumed their attacks against him were organised by Stane). Although he was able to defeat and imprison the Pride with the aid of the Illuminati, knowing that he couldn't hold his 'territory' once the Pride were out of prison as they were too well-connected, Tony handed Imperio Techworks over to one of his employees and departed after leaving Geoffrey Wilder a message; if the Pride left Imperio alone, Tony would not bring in virtually every superhuman contact he possessed to attack them.