Doctor Destiny aka John Dee was originally a scientist devising anti-gravity discs and will-deadening devices, which he employed versus the Justice League. When his elaborate scheme impersonating Green Lantern had failed, the Doctor employed his greatest creation in the Materioptikon. This mechanism allowed him to materialize the dreams of his opponents. Teaming up with various foes of the League on more than one occasion, he attempts to mentally manipulate his opponents into defeat. He failed each time, even when creating a replica of the heroic team.
After a series of confrontations, the League placed mental blocks in place so that Dee could no longer dream, and thereby activate his virtual Materioptikon stored within his mind. This caused his body to wither and resemble a skeletal husk. At this point, Destiny adopted a costume much like that of other supervillains. On one occasion, he actually projected an image around his prison psychiatrist* to take his place in jail, while he pursued the League once more.
Professor Elba aka Doctor Alba was a psychologist and inventor of an insanity formula known as Solution K, with which he would inject this into the bloodstreams of key witnesses of crime to cause madness. Several members of the Justice Society dealt with the after effects of this formula, and were assisted by non-member Doctor Mid-Nite in determining the root cause and the culprit behind this crime wave.
Elba had himself been mentally manipulated by Henry King aka Brain Wave from behind the scenes, and after Able "met his doom" when accidentally injecting himself with Solution K. Brain Wave decided to become personally involved in the heroes' defeat, even creating a fake Society, and later teaming up with their foes as the Injustice Society. In fact, Elba survived and later pursued another Justice Society member.
Professor Able took inspiration from a financially indebted socialite named Wylie*, who hatched a scheme whereby he formed a partnership with painter Pierre Antal. When the subjects of Antal's portraits ended up murdered by a mysterious menacing man in a redish overcoat and a skull face known as the “Painter of Death”, Batman and Robin investigated further. The Dynamic Duo discovered that Wylie used his skeletal alter ego to slay Pierre's clientele, causing his paintings to increase in value. Once cornered, Wylie committed suicide. Elba adopted Wylie's skull-faced guise, trying to drive Batman into a mental breakdown. Despite his analysis of Wylie’s strategy and failure, when outwitted by the Batman, the psychiatrist likewise committed suicide.
* The prison psychologist who Doctor Destiny made others view him as the Doctor himself was the counterpart to Wylie, the “Painter of Death” facing Batman.
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