As I said on Monday, villain alliances always seem to go the same way.  Taken a little more time to think about it and I still feel this way.  So, what are some things one can do to make a villain alliance stand out?

1. Each villain should have a role in the team.  Clearly, they haven’t been able to win much on their own, which means they are lacking somewhere.  For example, the mastermind might need muscle, stealth, and other specialists.  This isn’t any different than a hero team-up where everyone has a unique set of skills.
2. Make it clear what each villain will gain from such an alliance.  It can be as simple as getting rid of a hero who has thwarted them several times.  A stated benefit gives them some urgency beyond ‘Well, the author is having me do this’.  This is really needed for any loner types who claim to not work well with others.  They might need an added incentive like money or a weapon.
3. While comics tend to have their top tier villains be genius egomaniacs, you don’t have to go this route.  Not everyone has to be Lex Luthor or Dr. Doom.  They can simply be charismatic and have no intention of betrayal.  There does need to be some cunning, but they can also be a little on the average intelligence side.  We see this in the real world with leaders who are clearly idiots being surrounded by more capable (good or evil) people who do the real leg work.
4. On the hero side, you need to make their target work harder than usual or get their own allies.  I’ve seen plenty of villain alliances get destroyed by their solitary target with no real effort.  At best, they get captured and then convince the villain who feels disrespected to turn traitor.  It makes the hero look badass, but it makes the whole alliance look utterly weak since no changes were made to succeed.
5. Villains don’t have to be disrespectful and cruel to each other.  Yes, they are supposed to be evil or selfish in nature.  This doesn’t mean they are going to insult and harass the alliance into failure.  If they are smart enough to know they need help in winning, they should be smart enough to know not to piss off their allies.  It’s like every supervillain abruptly becomes one of those managers that thinks their words and actions won’t have any negative consequences.
6. They don’t always need to have a creepy base in a volcano or warehouse.  Plenty of empty houses out there.  If they’re going to commit murder and try to conquer the world then they should have no problem being squatters.
7. Probably should have been higher up the list, but the alliance doesn’t have to be solely to defeat the villain.  They might want to conquer the world with clear territories, so they are working together.  Maybe developing or stealing a special weapon or doing something to achieve their shared goal.  Many villains have the same desires and retain the sanity to know an alliance has a better chance of them winning.  The betrayals and in-fighting can always happen AFTER the main goal is achieved.