Concluding our Superfoes week and starting a new one on a high note, let's consider two Superfriends in the literal sense... in fact for a brief period they seeming to be Superfamily of the Man of Steel. Mon-El of Earth-One and the less famous yet similarly dressed Halk Kar of Earth-Two. Were they counterparts, or something else? Yes, and they were not alone, as we'll see.
Both were space explorers, Mon from the planet Daxam and Halk from the planet Thoron. Each had amnesia and, as you no doubt can tell by the adjacent panels, both came with a note from their presumed papa Jor-L/Jor-El. While Superman aided his brother when Halk powers ebbed, Superboy acted as such attempting to humiliate Mon-El whom he grew suspicious of in the course of their brief initial relationship. Subjecting the Daxamite to lead lined meteorites disguised to look like Kryptonite in order to see if Mon-El was faking his identity, something unexpected occurred. Superboy nearly doomed Mon-El although his amnesia lifted and he realized from where he came. As a resident of Daxam, Mon-El as Lar Gard recalled that his people have a fatal reaction when exposeed to lead.Halk Kar also soon after first appearing on Earth-Two realized he was not a Kryptonian, but from a small planet named Thoron. Interestingly, Mon-El common weakness reducing him to just below Kal-El as far as power levels, while Thoron's size is what left the Halk-Kar a weaker version of Kal-L. Lar Gand and Halk Kar had similar experiences when they initially met the Supermen and their fathers.
As for Lar, he auditioned for the Legion as Marvel Lad then revealed himself to be Mon-El and was accepted by them. This Marvel Lad alter ego would find a parallel in another 20th century superhuman clad in red and blue.
Mon-El's exploits were continually chronicled alongside his fellow Legionnaires, until his temporary death, when he was replaced by the descendant 30th century or Lar's brother, a lookalike lad named Eltro Gand. Eltro tried to stave off a prediction that his ancestor would perish, however it would be he that accidentally placed Mon-El in a life-threatening predicament. When Lar fell into a death-like coma due to lead poisoning, Eltro gave his life to preserve Lar's utilizing a specialized Daxam device. He thus transferred some of his mental persona into Lar. Thus, Eltro still existed in some form as Mon-El developed further as a costumed crusader and stalwart member of the Legion.
Osgood Armsby aka Richard Occult was an orphan trained alongside another parent-less child, Rose Psychic, in a hidden fortress until their young adulthood. From this tutelage, the pair gained abilities to move heavy objects through will power, transform into phantom, traveling instantly to any point on Earth-Two, and various other skills. Richard, accompanied by Rose, traveled to America where he adopted the alter ego of Doctor Occult... using their amazing abilities to combat evil.
Richard's mentor Zator later recruited him to defeat a conquering alien, wherein the Doctor adopted a uniform with an opposite color scheme to that soon to be worn by Superman, while remarkably similar to the costume of his counterpart Eltro Gand in his Mon-El alter ego. With this uniform, he also had a special belt allowing him to fly and turn matter into stone. This belt was made of nth metal and was created by Prince Khufu, ancestor to Hawkman. The Doctor would continue to have his own adventures with Rose assisting him, as well as becoming a member of the All-Star Squadron.
Following this encounter with his grandnephew, Lar found that his mind melded with Eltro's caused him to begin to doubt his abilities. Even though he was elected as deputy leader of the Legion for three terms, after this encounter with near death Lar/Eltro combined had the willpower to claim the role as head leader for the first time.What became of Richard Occult following his costumed career and trench-coat tales after the 1930's and early 1940's is unknown, although the Doctor did reappear in the waning hours of the Crisis on Infinite Earths in the 1980's to save humanity once more, aiding fellow All-Star Alan "Green Lantern" Scott. He had a long association with his adopted sister Rose Paychic who aided him on several cases and had similar phasing abilities... similar to Mon-El and his Legion teammate Phantom Girl whom he interacted with both inside the Phantom Zone he was imprisoned and on Legion tales later.
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