On April 1, 1942, all active members of the newly formed Justice Battalion... except for the missing Doctor Fate... met in their New York City penthouse. This meeting was cut short by Nazi agents who captured the team and placed them in space-faring rockets, exiling the former Justice Society members to other worlds within Earth-Two's solar system. Was it?
In actuality, the unexpected presence of the being known as Harbinger affected the trajetory of these rockets, which originated from her master the Monitor who sold these to the Nazi scientist Gootsden. Those seven vessels ended up in hyperspace alternate versions of Venus, Neptune, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto. All seven heroes had adventures on these planets, as each interacted with their native residents, then reunited once more in space where they returned to their homeworld.
An interesting insight, as mentioned by Roy Thomas, is that one of the members was not the actual hero, but "replaced" by an alien entity. Reviewing their individuals tales, we see whom this culprit ended up being. Returning from these alternate planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Mercury and Venus... Hawkman, Sandman, Doctor Mid-Nite, Starman, Spectre, Johnny Thunder and Wonder Woman appeared unchanged if more enlightened from their experiences. A seventh hero, the Atom, arrived on this new version of Mars possessing superhuman abilities due to its atmospheric conditions.
Immediately the Atom met a race of benevolent Martians, who brought him to their city and exposed his mind to the Educatograph. This device was said to open his mind by transmitting via radio waves information, allowing the Atom to comprehend and communicate in the Martians language. Was this all that had been transmitted into his mind?
The mysterious Martian* who found the Atom then enlisted his aid in capturing the leader of the southern nation, Butor, who was poisoning the water of the northern nation. With his new-found abilities, the Atom was able to defeat the rogue Martians, and ensue peace between the two peoples. As his rocketship was repaired and jettisoned away from this new Mars, the Atom's mind now carried far more than linguistic knowledge, it also apparently carried a link between he and the Martians!
How do we know this? In June 1947, an individual known as Thund Dar arrived on Earth-Two, recruiting Batman and Robin whom they long observed, to help them defeat criminal scientist Sax Gola. Gola had developed a crime-ray... a possible modification of the Educatograph (which would have been used on Batman and Robin in order to learn the Martian language)... to turn Martians towards criminal tendencies. Through their observations, the Martians were able to ascertain that Batman and Bruce Wayne were one-in-the-same, which is very important to note as we shall see. Known as the foremost criminologist, Batman was able to defeat Gola and his minions, and then returned to Earth-Two. Apparently, following this tale, the memories of Batman and Robin as to their Martian experience were erased, given their surprise at meeting a Martian Manhunter in August of 1953 (confirmed by that Manhunter’s statement to the Dynamic Duo about keeping their Martian society a secret from Earth).
In August 1947, only two months after returning from Mars-Two, Bruce Wayne was called to the bedside of Al Pratt aka the Atom, who had recently been injured. Asking Wayne to take his place at the next meeting of the Justice Society, Wayne arrived to a surprised gathering of heroes. As Doctor Mid-Nite noted, the Atom knew that only members were allowed to attend these meetings. Leaving the room**, Wayne returned as the Batman and aided the Society on the case of the "5 Drowned Men". This adventure occurred before Superman, and later the other members, learned of Batman’s secret identity. And yet, Al knew that Bruce was the Batman, and Bruce knew that Al was the Atom. No doubt, this was due to their Martian "mind-meld" connection.
Years later, the Martian Roh Kar of the original Mars had also viewed his heroic idol the Earth-Two Batman, and assumed the title of Manhunter from Mars. He teamed up with the Batman to battle "the Stranger", the only one of Sax Gola's gang still under the influence of the crime ray.
The anatomy of the Martians, from the Atom's first meeting in 1942, to Thund Dar's in 1947, to Roh Kar's in 1953, had always been changing. However, as Martians have shape-changing abilities, this highlights their adaptability to various circumstances they may encounter. As seen in all these appearances, the Martians of Earth-Two's universe do not have the physical strength of their Mars-One counterparts. In fact, humans of Earth-Two gain superhuman attributes on their universe's Mars, as opposed to humans of Earth-One.
The alternate New Mars which Al Pratt traveled to as the Atom was where some Martians migrated, while the Mars of Earth-Two's solar system still had their own inhabitants who remained behind. A similar situation occurred on Mars-One, when the White Skinned Martians of that world devastated it, causing the Green Skinned Martians to migrate from their native planet to their own "New Mars” elsewhere in their universe. Both New Mars were accessible from Earths One and Two via hyperspace travel given their distance from these worlds. Roh Kar lived on both Mars-Two and New Mars-Two!*
The Martian lawman mentally connected with Al Pratt through their Educatograph was no doubt in awe of the Atom's exploits throughout the 1940s. In particular, he would’ve been amazed at the Mighty Mite’s superhuman strength and stamina, on par with the Earth-One Martian Manhunter J'onn J'onzz.
As for the untold case, mentioned at the beginning, of the Justice Battallion/Society uncovering the alien in their midst, this is a tale left to be told as these metahuman manhunters would eventually discover the truth.
The mustached Martian whom Al "Atom" Pratt met seems to have been Roh Kar, before he became the Manhunter from Mars.
**Way to go, Alan "Green Lantern" Scott, revealing to this "civilian" Bruce Wayne that Al Pratt and the Atom were one in the same!!!
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