Future's Finest: Fantastically Fabulous Fellas

Most fans of the niche of heroes from the future may be aware of one of the first published, that being Gary Concord, aka the Ultra-Man of the 22nd century.

Actually, there were a few Concords operating under that name, which mirrored the appearance of an alternate future wherein first OMAC aka Buddy Blank and later Ben Boxer would exist.

Concord has been acknowledged as having existed on  a "parallel Earth where history was drastically different"... although his tales ran concurrent with those of heroes originating on Earth-Two. In fact, there has been conjecture that his tales did not occur in that universe, given key events in his origin tale. Let's see why this is not true, that he is from the world where the Justice Society called home.

In 1915, Concord was born in war-torn France. When he was left an orphan due to the conflict, Gary resolved to use his considerable intellect to defeat the root cause of war for good. This first Concord was the counterpart to Buddy Blank, an employee in an alternate future timeline known as Earth-A.D. of the company known as Psuedo People. However, secretly Buddy was a guinea pig of a "One-Man Army Corps" experiment, by which he gained superhuman abilities when transmitted radiation from a specially designed satellite orbiting his world known as Brother Eye.

Decades later, a select group of mutants names Ben, Steve and Renzi operated in the alternate future timeline of Earth-One known as Earth-AD. These "Nuclear People" each possessed cyclo-hearts allowing their bodies to adapt to averse levels of radiation. As freedom fighters battling the oppressive Tiger Empire, all three but especially Boxer became friends with the last boy on Earth, Kamandi.

As for the senior Concord, he was enlisted as a prime military strategist in the United States after having migrated there as a youth. However, his methods were somewhat unorthodox, to say the least. Prior to World War II, he retreated to his bunker to engage in intensive experiments for nearly ten years! As such, he was unaware that a second global war had taken place during his seclusion.

Concord's goal for peace seemed to have a chance at success thanks to his invention of a curious substance. This chemical concoction, a foam of seeming soap suds, could immobilize humans. Around this time, an archaeologist accidentally awoke four kings from an ancient kingdom in Africa. Together, the foursome had awesome mental abilities, and soon lured the Justice Society to their lair and paralyzed the heroes for an entire year. Then, the quartet of dictators each formed their own private armies in four sections of Earth-Two in order to conquer it. This was in 1950, the same year when Gary's life changed forever.

In Washington, D.C. where Concord had setup his underground bunker, he received signals of imminent war on the horizon. These were fomented by thought projections of Mister Crown, one of the four kings. This produced mass hysteria that caused the televised warning on Gary's television. Additionally, Crown was aware of the threat Concord poised for him, and had his forces the Swordsmen seal Gary within his bunker. This caused the foam to be unleashed, immobilizing Concord and transforming him into a gigantic Ultra-Man who would awake 225 years later! A mirror image of Omac! He would later sire a son in Gary Concord Junior who inherited the same superhuman physique as his father and carried on his fight against tyranny as the second Ultra-Man alongside his allies, similar to how Ben Boxer was a force for good in the future.

Accounts that have made mention that Gary Concord's origin was tied to a "second world war" in 1950 are erroneous, as his origin tale states that the "heel of oppression" tied to war was already occurring prior to Mister Crown's appearance. From Concord's perspective, from Crown's mind control and his coordinated attack against the scientist, it seemed like another world war was looming. However, shortly after Gary fell into his two century long suspended animation, the Justice Society themselves returned and defeated the malevolent monarchs.