Seven Sentinels

The Seven Sentinels are the ultimate antagonists of the comic book mini-series "Top Ten" by Alan Moore, set in the fictional city of "Neopolis" where nearly everyone has superpowers or gadgets and a colorful costume, whether they be police, civilian, or criminal. They are parodies of the Justice League.

The Seven Sentinels are first introduced as a team of almost celebrity superheroes (and some of the few superheroes in-setting since, again, in this world everyone has powers and costumes). When one of their number, M'rrgala (the parody of Martian Manhunter), goes berserk and starts murdering innocent people, she is imprisoned. The other members of the team then try to get her released, to no avail.

Later, while investigating a separate murder, the police of the district discover that there is a connection between the victim and the Seven Sentinels, and around the same time, M'rrgala is murdered by the corrupt police commissioner when she goes berserk. Having earlier speculated that she might be murdered by her teammates as a means of keeping her quiet, M'rrgala let it slip that she and her team may have been into some shady activities. The police investigate, and soon discover the ugly truth: that the Seven Sentinels are, in fact, frauds who faked all of their major battles against alien foes and invaders, and that in reality they are pedophilic criminals using their own sidekicks as sex slaves.

Armed with this knowledge, the police swiftly moved in to arrest them all (including their crooked lawyer and associate Black Boomerangs). However, Atoman is alerted to what is happening while in his impregnable lair, and so elects to stay in it. However, he knows that to stay in his lair indefinitely would be the same as being in prison, but on the other hand, if he exits, he will be depowered by the authorities and spend the next fifteen to twenty years in jail surrounded by vengeful supervillains...as a child molestor. Seeing no other way out, Atoman kills himself using violet sound waves (which are fatal to him in the same way that Kryptonite is fatal to Superman), rather than go to jail.

trivia

 * As already noted, the Seven Sentinels are parodies of the Justice League, specifically:
 * Atoman: Superman
 * The Hound: Batman and Wildcat
 * Sun Woman: Wonder Woman
 * The Sizzler: The Flash
 * Scarlet Scepter: Green Lantern and Starman
 * Davy Jones: Aquaman (though he also greatly resembles Popeye)
 * M'rrgala Qualtz: Martian Manhunter
 * Black Boomerangs: Green Arrow