While DC Comics pioneered the concept of a superhero team of diverse heroes from various comic books assembling together to tackle a mutual threat, the same could be said for Fawcett Comic's treatment of villains. As Captain Marvel developed quite an extensive gallery of rogues on Earth-S, it was only a matter of time before a certain wicked worm recruited most of them to try defeating their common foe.
However, after several issues throughout a historic comic serial, Cap himself defeated the whole lot of them. They would resurface again decades later, most preserved in their youthful 1940's forms through various means. Yet despite new schemes and modern technology, this assemblage of evil were still unable to wrest control of Earth -S away from the forces of good!
Over on Earth-Four, a millionaire businessman named Jonathan Barrington Collingsworth Junior decided one day that the world was not enough (hmmmm, an interesting name for a movie, perhaps?) So he adopted the alias of the Manipulator to live up to the infamous dictators of old. So he channeled his inner Doc Doom and found himself a fantastic four to plague his existence!
And that was that, as both masterminds slunk back into the depths of comic book limbo. And aren't we thankful that we don't have to relive *that* painful experience again? Blue Beetle sure is! Ouch.
Over on Earth-Four, a millionaire businessman named Jonathan Barrington Collingsworth Junior decided one day that the world was not enough (hmmmm, an interesting name for a movie, perhaps?) So he adopted the alias of the Manipulator to live up to the infamous dictators of old. So he channeled his inner Doc Doom and found himself a fantastic four to plague his existence!
Somehow, amazingly, he pulls off what no one else was able to accomplish through the decades of the Action-Heroes' publishing existence. Make them all play nice and in the same sandbox...as in motivate them to join together against a common foe. Okay, Cap Atom and Nightshade had a thing going, and Blue Beetle and Question got together once formally and prior to that informally (Quest was in his civvies on that occasion). Still this was quite an accomplishment, only not the kind the Manipulator would be proud of. Thankfully, while his army of Fiery-Icer, Ironarm,and the Madmen kinda fell flat against our Sentinels, Jr. had enlisted a henchman who seriously upgraded since his last appearance:
And that was that, as both masterminds slunk back into the depths of comic book limbo. And aren't we thankful that we don't have to relive *that* painful experience again? Blue Beetle sure is! Ouch.
In the next-door neighbor universe of Earth-Four, the supervillains there didn't always play that nice together. In fact, on only one occasion did a significant number of them join together to lock horns with the Sentinels of Justice (although they were lesser lights Banshee, Fiery-Icer, Iron-Arms and the Madmen led by newby the Manipulator).
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