Brains Bemoan Bot Bodies

Robotman was a metallic marvel who was given a second lease on life, when his inventor Robert Crane's brain was transplanted into an automaton. Following a fatal shooting, Crane laid dying with only his mind clinging on to life. Thanks to the timely intervention of his best-friend and lab assistant Chuck Grayson, Crane became Robotman!

Having escaped death, this metal man protected the innocent and fought for justice. He soon became a charter member of the World War II team of Earth-Two known as the All-Star Squadron. His life would be imitated when racecar driver Cliff Steele of Earth-One had his brain transplated into a Robotman body similar to that of Robert Crane's Robotman on Earth-Two!

However, there was two scientists who likewise had their minds preserved alive after their fleshly bodies’ death. These malevolent masterminds would be second only to the Luthor of their respective Earth as both brilliant geniuses and arch-foes of their universes’ Last Son of Krypton, Superman!

A scientist from planet Colu-One had his mind transmitted into the cybernetic body of Brainiac, and would go on to menace multiple worlds before encountering Earth-One’s Superman. This artificial automaton would be the home for Brainiac’s brain for years, even having a begrudging partnership and admiration for Lex Luthor. Eventually, a near decisive defeat led to Brainiac transformed into a far different artificial entity, that of living metal.

Ultra-Humanire sought a body to transplant his brain into when his body died from a plague. However, before his henchmen could place it within one of his two robot sentries, they instead placed in within body of movie actress Dolores Winters. Those cybernetic guards succumbed soon after to Superman’s attack, proving to inferior a body to house such a magnificent mind. However, Ultra's desire for a powerful body to match his potent mind would gravitate toward the creation of a fellow academic, soon afterward.

When Ultra-Winters faced Superman and his All-Star allies within his Secret Citadel, Humanite realized that Robert Crane achieved what he could not through the design of his bipedal bot body. Forcing Crane's colleague Chuck Grayson into an impromtu surgical procedure, with the goal of transplating Ultra's mind in Robotman's body, this scheme ultimately failed when several Squadron members tracked the arch-villain and his hostages to a New York City hospital. Thought deceased following this when grabbed by his reluctant henchman Cyclotron, Ultra-Humanite in his Delores body remained alive and plotted behind the scenes until reappearing years later.

Eventually, Brainiac became a living machine spawned from atoms thrust into a world of creatures possessing electronic life. From this he became a more cosmic-level being, on par with the Commander, himself a being phased into the Earth-Two reality from another universe where he was the ultimate form of mechanized life.

Similarly, Ultra-Humanite experience a drastic change in his physical form, implanting his brain within an alpino ape. This Ultra-Ape became the counter part to Gorilla Grodd, who life Ultra aspired to exert control over all sentient life forms... even challenging the nations of the world at United Nations! While in different types of bodies, Brainia and Humanite's egos were exactly the same!

Reign of the Superman - Secret Origin of the Ultra-Humanite?

In 1933, a chemist procured a meteorite, from which he extracted a unique element distilled into an experimental portion. This man, Professor Ernest Smalley, hypothesized that this potion could grant a human tremendous mental abilities. Seeking a test subject, Smalley found the ideal candidate in a bread line...a vagrant named Bill Dunn. 

And indeed, Dunn gained the power of telepathy, mind-control and enhanced vision. However, a side effect of this potion turned the normally good natured Dunn into an evil megalomaniac. Slaying Smalley, Dunn enacts a sinister scheme to rule the world, until the effects of the potion begin to wear off. Dunn believed that within a short time, he would lose these tremendous gifts. 

While “Bill Dunn” never reappeared, another supervillain from the same era rose to prominence, one with vast intellect he seemed to acquire due to a scientific procedure. In the decades to follow, this sinister scientist manifested mental might equal to his world’s most powerful telepath, even challenging that man… Brain Wave… into a battle of the mind he ultimately won.

So what if, while unable to read minds as before, Dunn still retained some of the other skills? What if it continued to corrupt him? What if his legend grew over time, under a different alias?

Indeed, six years later in 1939, a man whose appearance quite resembled Dunn began terrorizing the Metropolis of Earth-Two. This criminal mastermind, identifying himself as the Ultra-Humanite, had repeated clashes with the new hero known as Superman. In fact, when these two titans met, Ultra recalled how a scientific experiment granted him an agile and learned mind! Was the meteorite Smalley used Kryptonite? Could Dunn have been one-in-the-same as the Ultra-Humanite*?

In fact, Ultra's story mirrors that of another amazing mind, the android known as Brainiac. On planet Colu-One, the robotic overlords of that world implanted the mental pattern of a humanoid scientist into Brainiac's mind. This android would be a recurring adversary of the Superman of Earth-One. And like human turned automaton Brainiac, Ultra sought an artificial body when he once attempted transplanting his mind into the metallic frame of Robotman. Ultimately, the Humanite became a super-simian instead.

* The creators of Bill Dunn in the 1933 tale “Reign of Superman”, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, were also the creators of the Ultra-Humanite in 1939.

Other Amoral Androids Afflicting Kal and Kara of Krypton

An android of alien origin known as the Chief, created by Vandal Savage, was first utilized as a henchmen when his master joined the Injustice Society and they both battled Hawkman. Following a swift defeat by the Winged Warrior, the Chief was retrieved by his master to be used for another scheme decades later, which involved Kal-L. 

Power Girl also became the prey of the Chief on a robotic world designed by his creator, luring her into a trap whereby Savage leached Kara's superhuman abilities to use against Kal-L in battle. With the aid of their Justice Society comrades, however, Superman and Power Girl defeated both Vandal and the Chief, with the latter left behind on his ravaged world.

Might this Chief android have gained his mental engrams from the displaced mind of the Ultra-Humanite, foe to all Kryptonians in his universe? His first appearance in 1947 (when it assisted Vandal Savage in his bid for conquest as a member of the Injustice Society versus Hawkman) was during the period when Ultra was in seclusion following an earlier defeat in the spring of 1942, when he battled Superman and the All-Star Squadron. 

Later tales elude to a relationship between Savage and Ultra as confederates of crime, and Ultra was the sole known possessor of Brain emulation technology. Additionally, Vandal needed a high-level genius to assist him in designing Colu-Two and its artificial suns, which the Humanite would eagerly assist to satisfy his thirst for revenge against his arch-enemy.

Another android who plagued Superman and Supergirl was Pulsar Stargrave, a synthetic being thought to have been the 30th century version of the android Brainiac of Colu-One. Possessing the ability to project massive amounts of light, heat and immense energy, Stargrave proved a formidable foe to all he opposed.

Pulsar grew his reputation by defeating both the Time Trapper and Mordru, thought to be the most powerful entities of their era. Presenting himself as the long-lost  father of Querl Dox aka Brainiac Five into recruiting his fellow Legionnaires into joining him on battling a galactic threat. Eventually, Stargrave’s true scheme was revealed, as he sought to be unchallenged in his galactic supremacy. While battling Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, the teen team were able to overpower him and throw him into Colu's sun. 

Pulsar would return and would attempt to sway Querl into joining him, claiming to be the adopted great-great-great-grandfather to the boy genius, as Brainiac raised Querl's ancestor Vril in the 20th century. Once more, he was outwitted and was thought to be destroyed, although this would not be the case.

Stargrave returned one final time, when he employed Computo drones into attempting to annex planet Bismoll into his rule. On that occasion, Bismoll’s Legion member Matter-Eater Lad along with the Legion of Substitute-Heroes defeated Stargrave and his minions.

Twice-Told-Tales: Mental Masterminds Meet Mortality

In the waning hours of the so-called "Crisis on Infinite Earths", as the supervillains from five Earths assemble to take control of three of their worlds, those commanding this sinister squadron orchestrated plans from space. These malevolent masterminds, Brainiac and Lex Luthor from Earth-Two, had just eliminated the threat of Lex's Earth-Two counterpart Alexie, and were calculating the odds of victory in the face of heroic opposition. Little did they know that aboard Brainiac's vessel, one criminal remained behind who sought their doom, as Psimon struck first Brainiac and then Lex from the shadows. However, what Psimon failed to realize is that Brainiac transferred his cybernetic consicence from his destroyed body into a replica, and then struck back at his assailant. Thus ended the threat of Psimon.

A similar scenario played out several months prior to this, when Ultra-Humanite battled both Infinity, Inc. and their mentors in the Justice Society of America. When all were pulled from Earth-Two into interdimensional Limbo, where Ultra's former associate Brain Wave was still exiled, a battle was wages between both of them. While equally matched as to mental prowess, Brain Wave sought to protect his estranged son Henry Junior from his friend turned foe's attack, at which point Ultra struck Brain Wave with a devastating mind blast. And so, counterparts Ultra-Humanite and Brainiac proved strategically superior to doppelgänger Brain Wave and Psimon.

Simultaneous Sagas of Surviving Sons from Space: the Supermen

Last Sons of Krypton had similar origins and settings, though divergent histories and circumstances which made them the ideal character studies for a pair of dopplegangers exisiting within the Multiverse. Of course, both Kal-El and Kal-L were initially thought to be the sole survivors of their respective Kryptons, though later tales revealed other survivors.

After being raised in Smallville by their adopted parents the Kent, each of them in their civilian identities of Clark Kent began their journalistic careers as reporters for the Daily Planet and Daily Star in the parallel cities of Metropolis. There they worked with George Taylor, Perry White, Jimmy Olsen, Steve Lombard/Bard, Lana Lang, and with the love of their lives, Lois Lane. Although they would primarily protect this city, they would be guardians of Earths One and Two, and inspire a generation of spandex superheroes.

Each of them faced various villains through their storied careers, though none were as persistent at plaguing them as were Lex Luthor and Alexie Luthor. Lex grew up in Smallville with Clark, and turned to villany out of a sense of revenge. Alexie originated in Europe, a young tyrant whose dreams his foe crushed.

However, there were other malevolent masterminds whose intellect rivaled that of the Luthors. Lex discovered the origins of the second greatest adversary of his arch-enemy Brainiac, an android on the planet Colu-One whom the robot overlords built based on the mental template of a dying human scientist. Sent into space to acquire information of other civilizations that his robot masters could then conquer, Brainiac journeyed to various planets whereby he shrunk each one of their cities then placing them in bottles to later study. One of these cities was that of Kandor, just prior to its world Krypton-One detonating, thus preserving it aboard its captors spaceship until Kal-El first met Brainiac and liberated it.

The first foe of Kal-L was another sinister scientist with a desire to implant his brain into a robotic body, that of the Ultra-Humanite. Born a genetic mutant with an immense intellect, Ultra sought to dominate all he desired, which brought him into immediate conflict with Superman. After several encounters, the Humanite had his mind transplanted into the body of an actress, but only temporarily while he sought to permanently secure it within the metallic frame of Robotman. When this plan failed, Ultra used a series of bodies throughout the decades, whereby he would continue to torment his enemy. Although a human unlike the synthetic Brainiac, Ultra-Humanite was every bit the threat to Superman as was his green-skinned automaton.

Both Supermen encountered Kryptonians, such as the Phantom Zone exiles of Krypton-One and the Evil Three of Earth-Two, preserved alive as part of their punishment. The would later learn that relatives of theirs survived, primarily their cousins Kara Zor-El and Kara Zor-L, who upon arrival to their respective Earths adopted the aliases of Supergirl and Power Girl. While Kal-El also had the bottled city of Kandor, providing him a sliver of his homeworld he could visit, a virtual duplicate of Kal-L's Kandor resided within Kara's rocketship, which apparently only she could access later when revisiting that city.

Among their closest friends were the heroes and heroines whom they teamed up. While Kal-El was initially a member of the large 30th century team team known as the Legion of Super-Heroes, and Kal-L frequently fought alongside a group just as large in the All-Star Squadron, the teams they are best known for being a part of were the Justice League of America and Justice Society of America. As founding members, they each at joined occasionally in adventures alongside these groups at first. Kal-El soon became a regular member, while Kal-L remained an honorary member for decades, later joining full time.

Ace reporter Lois Lane had initially been a foil and rival reporter for Clark Kent, although over time their relationship warmed up. She was always in love with Superman, on both worlds, and their romance would have its ups and downs due to each Man of Steel's commitment to his costumed career. On one occasion, Kal-El lost his super powers when he was dressed as Clark Kent, due to an alien's influence. During this period, a more assertive Clark Kent captured the interest of Lois, with the two beginning to date. Kal-L lost all memory of his alter ego and as Clark Kent gained a more assertive demeanor that captivated his Lois. While the effects were temporary with Kal-El, dooming his relationship with Lois, by the time Kal-L recalled his past, he and Lois were married.

Both Clarks would over time become more than simply star reporters for the Planet and the Star papers.

Morgan Edge, who purchased the Daily Planet and merged it with his Galaxy Broadcasting media empire enlisted Kent into becoming the evening anchorman for WGBS-TV. Given the expierence he gained under the tutelage of his first editor-in-chief George Taylor, and that man's successor Perry White, Clark blossomed in his journalistic skills which motivated Edge's decision. At first a challenge, Kal-El was able to juggle his duties as reporter, anchorman and superhero.

Another, older George Taylor, who had been editor-in-chief of the Daily Star, stepped down from his career shortly after Clark and Lois married. Seeking a successor, Taylor intiated a competion between Kent and the man whom Taylor sometimes used a backup when he was away... Perry White! Winning the contest by losing out on a news worthy scoop, as Clark had planned he became the editor-in-chief, and balanced this out with his caped career as well as marriage.

Despite these divergences in their personal stories, the Supermen each were the pinnacle of powerhouse protection on their parallel planets, and models for other such ones to follow.

Superman's Sinister Super-Foes

Superman, both of them, had several foes to face... providing different challenges.  From the seemingly ordinary to the extra-ordinary, from those direct analogues to the more divergent deviants.

Among the most prominent problematic pests of these prime protectors were:

• Lex Luthor and Alexie Luthor, geniuses without peer and their greatest foes.
• Brainiac and Ultra-Humanite, second most prolific enemies, each brilliant.
• The Toymen, Pranksters, Puzzlers, J. Wilbur Wolfingham - business clad gimmicky goons.
• Mister  Mxyzptlk and Mister Mxyztplk, powerful pests from the 5th dimension.
• Metallo and Metalo, super strong robots using weakening radiation.
• Parasite and Atoman, radioactive rogues:  superhuman powers and draining others.
• Atomic Skull and Mister Bones, caped skeletal foes capable of weakening others.
• Vartox and Cyclotron, superhuman physique, energy manipulation used to help and hurt Supes
• Two Colonel Futures, one a misguided scientist the other a malevolent mastermind.
• Amalak and Teufel, two fanatical alien scientists mastering Kryptonite. 
• Terra-Man and Sir Traytor, centuries-old master criminals.
• Grax and Creator2, blue-skinned alien scientists.
• Superman Revenge Squad and Creator2’s Mendicant slaves, more blue-skinned alien baddies.
• Marauder and Shaman, older bearded adversaries.

Heinous Histories of Hedonistic Headmasters

In the first incarnation of Brainiac, he was a green skinned android whose brain patterns were borrowed from a dying scientist of that world to mimic humanity. His creators, the Computer Tyrants and Colu-One, had been overthrown which led to Brainiac's exile from his homeworld world. He would continue to adapt himself over time.

Brainiac always sought to collect vast amounts of information from various worlds, and shrunk prominent cities originating from these planets which he then stored within bottles collected aboard his space craft. He eventually came into conflict with Superman over his diabolic attempt at shrinking and capturing Krypton-One's Metropolis. During this initial conflict, Superman discovered that the Kryptonian city of Kandor had been preserved in a shrunken state, and the hero kept it within his Fortress of Solitude to protect it from its former android captor. After attempted to steal cities from Earth-One including its Metropolis, Brainiac came into conflict with Superman who became his greatest foe.

Over the years, Brainiac would team up with other villains such as Lex Luthor and even become a member of the Anti-Justice League battling Superman's Justice League on multiple occasions. He would expand his mental might beyond his twelfth level intelligence, gaining abilities such as his force fields and brain blasts, and expand his enmity towards other members of Superman's Family including Supergirl. Employing various android bodies over the years, he was successful at his ability to adapt to new situations using his genius and ingenuity.

The android's own diabolical doppelgänger was the human mastermind known as the Ultra-Humanite. Gifted with incredible intellect, Ultra had a series of conflicts with the Superman of Earth-Two which ultimately led to his own death when exposed to his purple plague ray. However, Ultra would transplant his mind into various bodies throughout the decades, and perpetually pester Superman and his heroic allies such as the All-Star Squadron and Justice Society of America.

In the mid-1980s, Brainiac had been consumed by a star going nova yet causing him to undergo a startling transformation, turning into ambient energy that assimilated a cybernetic collective of a distant world. Converted into an entity of organic metal and a cold calculating logic unmatched by any past or future versions of himself, this new Brainiac threatened not only his arch-foe Kal-El but the entire universe. A similar threat was made manifest on the parallel planet known as Earth-Two in the Commander, who had discovered that world and it's dimension thanks to the unintentional contact made to him by scientist Martin Challenger who he would use as his pawn and gateway into this new realm.

Wishing to make his new home in the Earth-Two universe, the Commander had like his counterpart faced the Man of Steel in battle. While on Earth-One, Superman was joined by the Justice League and Teen Titans in averting an invasion, here it fell upon the native Justice Society with the visiting Justice League and the Champion family assisting them. In both instances, Brainiac and Commander found a worthy implacable enemy in the Last Son of Krypton, who led the fight to topple these intergalactic egomaniacs from their insatiable thirst for conquest. In Brainiac's case, it was through Superman's actions on the sun that caused power spikes in the robotic rogue's cerebral cortex, which cause him to lose his memory and plotting capabilities.

Seeking refuge in hyperspace, the villain to humanity would next appear in the void in between universes, having created a floating replica of Metropolis complete with a horde of Supermen robots that lured the Legion and the original Kryptonian Crusader into a trap. A trap they managed to circumvent, causing Brainiac to once more escape only to return during the Crisis on Infinite Earths to lead a villain war against five Earths.

In the case of the Commander, it took the combined cognitive capabilities of the Champion children and their aunt coordinated by Doctor Fate to create a dimensional rift, one into which Superman and his JSA and JLA allies could thrust the tyrant. Seeking to return him to his own universe, the Commander forced himself to remain in Earth-Two's plane of existence, at the cost of his own essence dissolving into all of that universe's reality, while the League and Society (like the Legion and Superman above) were thrust through dimensions into the void between universes albeit briefly. Interestingly, just as around this time that Mekanique left Earth-Two for Earth-One alongside Commander Steel, before disappearing to post-Crisis Earth.

Malevolent Masterminds Manipulate the Multiverse

In the first incarnation of Brainiac, he was an green skinned android from the robot-dominated world of Colu who sought to collect information throughout the cosmos, coming into conflict with Superman over his diabolic capture of Krypton-One's city of Kandor. 

His Earth-Two counterpart was the Ultra-Humanite, a wheelchair-bound scientist who would transplant his mind into various bodies. A possible version of Ultra was a wooden automaton known as the Chief, created by Vandal Savage, which first assisted Savage and his Injustice Society allies versus Hawkman, and then...centuries later...aided his master once more on the planet Colu-Two versus Superman, Flash and the Justice Society of America. By the 30th century,

Brainiac's newest incarnation would be that of Pulsar Stargrave, possessing the power of the harness stellar energy which he used versus Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes. However, there was another version of this vile villain that appeared in the mid-1980s, himself consumed by a star going nova yet undergoing quite a different transformation from that of Stargrave, turning into ambient energy that assimilated into a cybernetic collective of a distant world. Transformed into an entity of organic metal and a cold calculating logic unmatched by any past or future versions of himself, this new Brainiac threatened not only his arch-foe Kal-El but the entire universe. Was such a threat made manifest on the parallel planet known as Earth-Two? Yes.

About a year about the metallic menace's debut in one realm, in another an entity known as the Commander appeared on Earth-Two leading an incursion from his own universe into that dimensional plane. Diverted there by Professor Champion of Earth-One, the Commander sought to capture this bright blue globe and its inhabitants, until challenged by its superhuman protectors. Soon the origin of this nefarious nemesis was crystallized as the Commander revealed himself to now be a machine hybrid, once a man, now collecting the conscious energies of his dimension's subjegated citizens.

Wishing to make his new home in the Earth-Two universe, he like his counterpart faced the Man of Steel. While on Earth-One, Superman was joined by the Justice League and Teen Titans in averting an invasion, here it fell upon the native Justice Society with the visiting Justice League and the Champion family assisting them. In both instances, Brainiac and Commander found a worthy implacable enemy in the Last Son of Krypton, who led the fight to topple these intergalactic egomaniacs from their insatiable thirst for conquest. In Brainiac's case, it was through Superman's manipulations of the sun to cause power spikes in the robotic rogue's cerebral cortex which cause him to lose his memory and plotting capabilities. Seeking refuge in hyperspace, the villain to humanity would next appear in the void between universes, having created a floating replica of Metropolis complete with a horde of Supermen robots that lured the Legion and the original Kryptonian Crusader into a trap. A trap they managed to circumvent, causing Brainiac to once more escape only to return during the Crisis on Infinite Earths to lead a villain war against five Earths.

In the case of the Commander, it took the combined cognitive capabilities of the Champion children and their aunt coordinated by Doctor Fate to create a dimensional rift, one into which Superman and his JSA and JLA allies could thrust the tyrant. Seeking to return him to his own universe, the Commander forced himself to remain in Earth-Two's plane of existence, at the cost of his own essence dissolving into all of that universe's reality, while the League and Society (like the Legion and Superman above) were thrust through dimensions into the void between universes albeit briefly.  Thus in each case, the seemingly insurmountable mental might of these machinized menaces did not prove a match for the heroes of two Earths... and their adopted sons from long extinct worlds... who like them were aliens of great power but unlike them used such might for right!

Planets of the DC Multiverse: Robot Worlds vs Men of Steel

Colu and Savage World, worlds within the universes of Earths One and Two respectively, that housed Master Computers (or Mastercomp) that guided robotic hordes to subjugate their planet's humanoid citizens. These worlds were once the home bases of two foes of the Men of Steel, Brainiac and Vandal Savage. 

After their initial introduction they quickly faded into obscurity. Of note is that on Savage's world, there was a Kryptonite Sun. Since Krypton itself was a large planet but certainly not the size of a star, either that world was smaller than Earth or the radiation emanating from that stellar body was artificial Kryptonite. And on this synthetic world of Colu-Two which Savage built, an artificial intelligence greeted the costumed crusader cousins of Krypton, luring them into a trap. This synthetic being known as Chief has previously assisted Vandal Savage as a henchman when his master was a member of the Injustice Society, who were battling the Justice Society.

The Colu-Two was an engineering marvel designed to lure Superman and Power Girl there so that Savage could drain superpower energies from the pair and restore his immortality. In order to do that, he undoubtedly spent years constructing this massive undertaking, losing precious time he had remaining. While failing in his goal he nonetheless succeeded in obtaining immortality once more when he journeyed to Earth-One. And to another twice-told tale yet to come!

Ultra-Humanites and Brainy Bedevilers

The original supervillain, at least in DC Comics, was Ultra-Humanite. Before Lex Luthor stole the limelight forevermore, it was Ultra that first showed the world that bald can be beautiful. Or bedeviling. And be that as it may, since Ultra has assumed many forms we're going to recap some of the more prominent ones, and their Earth-One doppelgängers.

On Earth-One, an android named Brainiac was created based on the brain patterns of a scientist from the planet Colu-One. Having shrunken and collected several cities across the galaxy including Kandor, this brought Brainiac to the attention of Superman who freed those cities and began opposing the android's schemes. On Earth-Two, a bald scientist formerly a vagrant named Bill Dunn, who has been subjected to experimentation enabling him to gain grand intellect as well as an aptitude to assume various bodies throughout the decades.

This genius known only as the Ultra-Humanite used various technologies to plunder and try amassing power, for which he had several battles versus Superman. A variation of Ultra's psyche was replicated as a synthetic being on the planet of Colu-Two as an assistant of Vandal Savage, who created that world to trap Superman. In his next form, Ultra would gain the ability to absorb energy and wield tremendous energy.

When old man Ultra lost his body thanks to his own deadly backfiring purple plague ray, he was forced to have his brain transplanted into the body of kidnapped victim Delores Winters, an actress. She attempted to seduce atomic scientist Terry Curtis to build for her a deadly weapon on Earth-Two. On Earth-One, the Kryptonian serial killer Faora Hu-Ul used her martial arts mastery along with her superhuman abilities to battle Superman again and agsin

One tool Faoraused was a piece of Jewel Kryptonianite, which magnified her mental might, Likewise, Delores=Ultra gained superhuman strength and the ability to project mental energy derived from Powerstone. Both Faora and Delores with their mind-bolts and peak physique were more than a match for their respective Supermen, who along with their fellow superheroes battled these femme fatales each time they appeared. 

The next transplanted body for Ultra was in a flying ant, mutated thanks to the power of Lana Lang aka Insect Queen. Her counterpart had a part to play as well, coaching a boy named Kim mutated to save his life into Bee-Boy! Thankfully, this lad had a brief criminal career before being healed.

Throughout the decades, Ultra would reappear in various bodies, which he and/or his henchmen kidnapped to implant his brain into. The reason for this was due to his mutated mental might, which would eventually burn out each human body as it had his original body decades earlier. During these occasions, he would face Superman countless times in a variety of identities, often assuming the identities of scientists whose lives were lost so that his could remain alive. Despite his genius, the Humanite like his counterpart Brainiac continued to fail to outmanuever the Men of Steel... as Superman had intellect matching theirs with superpowers far exceeding them!

Finally, we meet the sinister simians string along the Secret Society of Super-Villains! Gorilla Grodd was a deviant of Gorilla City, wanting to do harm rather than good to his fellow kind. Banished from his land, he became a perpetual thorn in the side of the Flash. 

Eventually, he branched out and made enemies among all the Justice Leaguers, causing him to join and soon lead the Secret Society for a period of time. Ultra-Humanite himself soon learned that the scores of bodies he claimed for his malicious mind were burning out to quickly, so he mutated an ape to house his brain. Immediately, he too recruited villains for his own Secret Society. While Ultra remained in this form from then one, Grodd sought escape from entrapment by transplanting his brains in bodies such human as Drew Drowden and William Dawson, but ultimately reverted back to his natural form. 

The names of Ultra's other bodies have never been revealed, although one of Grodd's once known as William Dawson had a doppelgänger in Johnny Bonman, who lie Dawson had briefly possessed mental powers before returning to normal thanks to the intention of a Flash in each case.