In music, a circle of fifths shows the relationship between notes and scales. City of Heroes Senior Designer Bruce Harlick chose the analogy to describe what his team has done for the fifth anniversary of the premier superhero MMO, as Paragon Studios seeks to bring one of the game's most celebrated icons - the Union Jack-bedecked and now deceased Hero 1 - and most infamous villain groups - 5th Column and its fearful leader Reichsman - full circle.

From the dev diary:

When we started kicking strike force and task force ideas around for City of Heroes’ 5th Anniversary, one villain group immediately leapt to mind: the 5th Column. It had always been intended to have the 5th Column return to Paragon City and the confluence between their name and our anniversary was just too good to pass up. Besides, it gave us a chance to bring back the most requested villain who never actually appeared in game: the Reichsman.

Paragon is pulling out all the stops for City of Heroes' fifth anniversary, so check out Bruce Harlick's dev diary for a number of rare details on these events in A Circle of Fifths: Designing the Ultimate Fifth Anniversary Task Force and Strike Force.