Synthetically Super-Strong Scientists: Prof and Hourman

“Prof” Walter Haley and “Hourman” Rex Tyler were adept at conceiving chemical concoctions in their costumed careers. While Tyler was a leading chemist at Bannermain Chemicals when he invented the Miraclo pill, Haley was a retired skin diver and oceanographer.

Using his discovery, Tyler adopted the alias of Hourman, shortly afterward after this he would found the Minute-Men of America on Earth-Two. Decades later, Haley would be a co-founder of the Challengers of the Unknown on Earth-One. Tyler refined Miraclo to activate with black light, while Haley devised an antidote for the liquid light which empowered his arch-foe, Multi-Man.

Prof was later revealed to have a connection with an enigmatic entity known as Destiny, a hooded individual who was a guiding force of the Challenger's just as Rex's alter ego Hourman was for the Minute-Men. 

An Earth-Two version of Destiny, a man clad in a purple suit and tie, was active around the same time. This enigmatic figure first appeared when he was used as a pawn in a case involving Hourman and the Minute-Men of America. Following this, “Doctor” Destiny intervened  during the final tragic case of the masked man known as 7-11, a former judge turned prisoner turned hero. While the Man of the Hour gave the Doctor a heroic inspiration to imitate, Destiny gave Hourman predicative calculations the masked man incorporated into his Crime-Caster computer.

However, there was still a symbiotic link between Destiny and Prof that seemingly caused Haley and his comrades to become susceptible to  occasional superhuman transformations. Early in his career, Haley would, like Tyler, gain superhuman strength and physique on more than one occasion. In the first instance, this was due to being in an alien atmosphere with his teammates.

Soon after, an alien hero journeyed to Earth-One to aid Prof and the Challengers in defeating invading giant extraterrestrials. During this adventure, Prof was treated by an alien hero for a serious injury using a chemicaly-based healing chamber, and gained temporary superstrength. In fact, this fantastic foursome's hidden benefactor Destiny had himself displayed superhuman abilities, enough to rebel the full force of Superman during one encounter between the two!

Just as Rex Tyler felt anxiety and withdrawal symptoms from overuse of Miraclo, until he found a non-addictive derivation of the pill, so too Prof had his own inner torment from time to time. In one instance later in the Challengers' history, an evil virus spawned from a computer infected Haley's mind, causing him to temporarily go mad. While not possessing immense strength, he became  uninhibited around others. He would eventually be cured of this condition.

Still, the greatest resource these two men possessed consistently through physical ups-and-downs was their indominable intellect, which guided the Challengers and Minute-Men in their various adventures throughout the years. This same genius-level prowess would be relied upon by the Justice League and Justice Society, whom they were allies with from the very beginning, helping these teams combat world-threatening foes of various types.