Twice-Told-Tales Untold of Sinister Societies

During the relatively brief yet memorial history of the original Secret Society of Super-Villians, there came a point where this group fragmented into at least three parts. One section, led by Gorilla Grodd, pursued a vendetta against his arch-foe the Flash and other members of the Justice League of America. Another faction accompanied the Wizard back to his home world of Earth-Two to battle the Justice Society of America. 

Meanwhile, back on Earth-One, Mirror Master and Copperhead recruited four previously unaffiliated members to assist them and their employer Silver Ghost. Their goal, to eliminate the Freedom Fighters, whom the Ghost has quarreled with for several months since their arrival from Earth-X. Originally from Earth-Two, the seven Fighters fought the Axis Powers on their adopted world for decades, before deciding to journey to a third Earth to start their careers anew.

Regrettably, their reputations were marred by Silver Ghost, who secretly was Raphael Van Zandt, a Nazi corroborator on Earth-X. When Van Zandt decided to create a criminal empire on Earth-One, he was pursued by his enemy Firebrand to this new planet. There, he would soon after encounter his old adversaries in the Freedom Fighters whom he also believed were following him. Wishing to rid himself of these pest, he sought the aid of the Secret Society.

While not much is known of how this battle between the two teams developed, we do know the outcome as Silver Ghost ended up transforming both himself and Firebrand into silver statues when exposed to his transmutation abilities (this process was reversed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths). Meanwhile, the remaining Freedom Fighters returned to Earth-X, while some of the members of the Secret Society such as Mirror Master and Chronos returned with their original group, the Injustice Gang a couple months later.

A similar untold tale of the Injustice Society on Earth-Two took place in the late 1940s, when future marriage mates Brain Wave and Merry the Gimmick Girl first met as opponents. During this case, the counterpart to Secret Society arch-foe Captain Comet battled the Injustice Society alongside Merry and other former allies of the All-Star Squadron. This man, Captain Triumph, had also traveled to Earth-X to assist the Freedom Fighters briefly before coming home, where he joined the Squadron. Among those present on this occasion was Doll Man, who had returned from the future to reunite with his fiancée Martha Roberts after several years with the Fighters.

This assemblage of evil was apparently led by the Wizard, and shortly after this while dueling with Superman, he conceived of reinventing this gang into a Secret Society. With this in mind, the Wizard was drawn to an actual realization of his concept while exiled on Earth-One in the late 1970s. Although most of the villains portrayed in this battle of 1949, such as Shade and Icicle, were the originals… the Solomon Grundy here present was evidently the imposter whom Johnny Thunder met a couple years earlier, when the Justice Society tracked down the real version who was terrorizing across the United States. At this point. Grundy was exiled on the moon (first by Green Lantern, later by Per Degaton) until the mid 1960s.

Super Simians Traverse Time: Untold Tale of Grodd

When Captain Comet returned to Earth-One in 1976, after decades traveling through space, the hero immediately encountered a familiar face. While strolling through the streets of San Francisco, the plain clothed Adam Blake witnessed a battle between Green Lantern and two strange beings. One was the costumed criminal known as Hi-Jack, and the other was the sinister simian known as Grodd.

Sizing up the confrontation, observing that Lantern was the aggressor and has the superior advantage with his power ring, Blake assumed his Comet persona to mediate this conflict. Grabbing Hi-Jack and Grodd, he ferried them to safety, where the pair introduced him to the comrades in the Secret Citadel. There, they invited the seemingly unwitting Captain to join their Secret Society, without their revealing they were Super-Villians!

However, when the Society's leader Manhunter tracked Blake down and revealed the truth to him, Adam explained he was already aware of Grodd's rouse and knew their true nature. Seeing this as an opportunity to bring down this powerful crime syndicate from within, Captain Comet agreed to join them. He stated that while Grodd erected telepathic shields around he and his confederates, Comet's mental abilities were able to circumvent this allowing him to learn the truth. It seems that something more tipped him off to Grodd's true nature, a faint memory from his distant past.

In fact, in May 1953, Professor Sacron summoned Blake to Africa where he revealed a secret tribe of intelligent gorillas. One such simian attacked Adam from behind, then had the professor use a machine to transfer the Super-Ape's brain into Comet's body, and visa versa. Despite this advantage, the Captain outwits the Super-Ape and has him imprisoned. He would free himself, this time leading a gang using his telepathic powers, although once more Captain Comet defeated the gorilla.

Who was Super-Ape? Why did he appear in the early 1950s, with the intent of capturing and trading places with Captain Comet? It seems this was the Gorilla Grodd from the late 1970's, after he experienced a series of defeats at Comet's hands. Seizing an opportunity to control his foe's powerful body, which he could later use against his arch-enemy the Flash years later, was to tempting an opportunity to pass up. Still, even knowing his adversary Comet who at the time in the 50's did not know him, Grodd was still unable to capitalize on this to gain victory.

We know that Grodd's super-science would conceivably included time travel, which no doubt was utilized by a few of his Sinister Citadel allies such as Lex Luthor. He was shown with the ability to project his mind into another’s body. And this was a technique his counterpart the Ultra-Humanite had himself used, both in the 1980s and the 1940s, to further his own schemes.

In Ultra's case, this was implemented when he mentally controlled the young members of Infinity, Inc., ensnaring them within his time capsule. Activated by his own alpha-waves, as his brain was connected to his earlier Delores Winters version of the Humanite. Under false pretenses, indicating to Winters that these pawns would help her succeed when Ultra-Ape knew they would fail, he like Grodd proved time was not on his side despite his mastery of it.

And so, while not the earliest tales in Grodd's personal chronology, his two battles with Captain Comet in 1953 in a different gorilla’s body were the first appearance  of the Super-Ape... and the revelation of his secret civilization known as Gorilla City. Due to his different appearance, the Captain didn’t suspect his old and new ape adversaries were one in the same.

Twice-Told-Tales: Danger - Dinosaurs at Large!

It is the summer of 1977 on Earth-One, and the summer of 1968 on Earth-Two. Each world finds themselves plagued by disturbances in time, with humans shifted from the centuries they were born into past eras, with monsterous dinosaurs taking their place in the 20th century. The cause for these odd occurences on parallel worlds is due to green caped time-masters wearing white masks, genetically modified opponents they must face, and cosmic radiation due to celestrial objects. These three factors conspire into strange tales.

On Earth-Two, the villian known as Psycho-Pirate secretly manipulates a fallen felon named Gat Benson, using remnants of the green Starheart meteor to transform him into a giant. Causing terror due to both his appearance and radiation he emits, Gat attracts the attention of the Justice Society charter member known as the Spectre. 

While attempting to use time-suspension and altering time cycles in order to calm an anxious crowd, Spectre inadvertently teleports some citizens of Gateway City to America' colonial era and prehistoric era. While attempting to retrieve these innocents, he exposed some of them to predactory pterodactyls and draws a tyrannosaurus rex back to the present. After battling the beast, Spectre returns it to its era.

On Earth-One, the villian known as Chronos secretly used his temporal technology to retrieve a comet from the future, a comet with special powers over time. Inadvertently, the comet is pulled along with it the crew of future Colonel Tommy Tomorrow into a prehistoric era, where they faced predactory pterodactyls and a tyrannosaurus rex that mutated into the humanoid Tyranno Rex. 

While using his vessel to transport his crew and the comet through a portal back to the future, they end up meeting Captain Comet. As an honorary member of the Justice League, he was working with other Leaguers to subdue the time-displaced dinosaurs. When Tomorrow's vessel arrives in the 20th century, in includes a stowaway in Tyrano Rex, seeking to reclaim the comet. During a battle with Captain Comet and Chronos, Rex in transformed back into a T-Rex, then sent back to its own time.

The villains, Psycho-Pirate and Chronos, are each brought to justice by the heroes with the help of Tommy Tomorrow and Jim Corrigan. While the green meteor globe on Earth-Two is dropped and thus smashed to pieces, the comet is destroyed as well. The Globe was tied to Earth-Two's Green Lantern and his power source, while the comet quite possibly was the Earth-One version of the comet that Lantern's old foe Vandal Savage gained his immortality from centuries earlier on his native world. And while their schemes with these extraterrestrial objects failed, Chronos and Psycho-Pirate would extract from this situation the means to gain greater manipulations over that which they craved. For Chronos, actual time travel that he would use versus the World's Finest Team of Superman and Batman, and for Psycho-Pirate, control over the emerald energy of the meteor through Green Lantern.

Meticulous Men Manage Magnificent Minds

Prominent scientists Emery Zackro and Evart Keenan were tied to discoveries of advanced minds, alien worlds and colorful crusaders.

Zackro had met young Adam Blake, who had begun manifesting mental abilities mysteriously. Emery deduced that Blake had the mind of a man 100,000 years ahead of his time. As such, he guided Blake during his costumed career as Captain Comet, until Adam decided to journey into space for decades.

Keenan had come to the conclusion that he himself possessed a mind 100,000 ahead of its time, manifesting the mental ability missing from Comet's counterpart Captain Triumph. Nevertheless, Evart was a valuable ally of the Flash both on his native Earth-Two and on his adopted world of Karma.

Marvel Mondays: Protegees of Power

Young Freddy Freeman was a normal lad until he and his grandpa faced a power mad Nazi during a fishing trip. As a result of this tragic confrontation, he ended up losing his beloved relative and was now physically limp for life and near dead!

Johnny Mann was a world traveler stumbling on a war torn area, and became an innocent victim during a confrontation with a power mad warrior whom Mann crossed. This led to Johnny losing a leg and faith in humanity!

And then, each were noticed by prominent powerful legends who made sure that each "Man" was given a physical form commensurate to their heroic spirits, becoming men of another kind. Gaining super-strength, flight, invulnerability and a host of abilities, this pair protected their respective worlds as Freddy's Captain Marvel Junior of Earth-S and Johnny's Son of Vulcan of Earth-Four. Each were named after their heroes who were the ones that bestowed powers upon the lads after saving their lives. Freddy became an owner of a newspaper stand while Johnny remained in his position as reporter for the Worldwide News Syndicate. 

While not their worlds’ greatest hero, which was Captain Marvel and Captain Atom respectively, Freddy and Johnny’s alter egos still had notable careers. Junior’s lasted longer than Vulcan’s, given his status as a core member of the Marvel Family. Two other Captains on Earths One and Two also had similar superhuman abilities and career…

Adam Blake and his clone were two men out-of-time, one born "a hundred thousand years" ahead of time and the other centuries ago. Each possessed superhuman strength, the power of flight, invulnerability, telepathy and telekinesis. Both men as Captain Comet were powerhouses, with the original a frequent ally of Earth-One's Supermen.

Lance Gallant and Michael Gallant were twin brothers, struck with tragedy as Michael lost his life, while Lance gained powers merging with that brother. Possessing superhuman strength, the power of flight, invulnerability and limited telepathy with one another, the Gallants as Captain Triump were members of the All-Star Squadron, and thus allies of the Superman of Earth-Two.

In 1954, aspiring comic book publisher Charlton purchased the rights to several prominent characters from the expiring Fawcett Comics, such as Ibis, Golden Arrow and Lance O'Casey. In 1980 and 1985, DC Comics purchase Fawcett's Marvel Family then Charlton's Action Heroes, and the two were linked once more, now on parallel Earths, Four and Shazam.

Titanic Teams: Secret Societies

In the beginning,  there were Injustice Gangs and Societies that terrorized their native worlds, each time put down by their opposite numbers in the heroic community. So a new type of organization was developed by these ferocious felons, more a collaborative than a syndicate. A Secret Society of Super-Villians, if you will. And right from the start, the men who made their fellow superpowered champions know of their evil existence were the resident telepaths... Captain Comet and Brainwave Junior. Traveling through space and time, they were bound and determined to bring down the Society... or perish in the attempt!

Early on in the lifespan of these lethal leagues, two hyper-intelligence simians assumed the power vacuum left behind by their predecessors who first assembled these Societies. Though strategists par none, aligning superior numbers of costumed criminals to their cause, these individuals... Gorilla Grodd and Ultra-Humanite... found a formidable challenge in the presence of Captain Comet and Brainwave Junior, who matched their mental energies in mind matches between them. Even when the simians thought the foes in the Justice League and Society were defeated, their plans were overturned.

Even avalanches caused by their adversaries did little to stem the tide of victory in the path of Comet and Junior. One other candiate for leadership tied to the Secret Society was the Wizard, who manipulated rogues on both Earths One and Two to vanquish his persistent foes. Ultimately, things came full circle to the beginning, as it was Ultra-Humanite who... as he had in the 1940's, regained authority over his Super-Villains in a desperate attempt to wipe his world of all heroes. Failing in that, his sending his erstwhile allies back to the 40's renewed the legacy that was a Secret.

Courageous Captains - Coexisting Comets - Twin Triumphs

In the early 1950s, a librarian Adam Blake was secretly the superhero known as Captain Comet.. Adam grew up discovering he had gained superpowers due to a passing comet. These included superhuman strength, self-propelled flight, invulnerability, and telepathy. Early in his costumed career, the Captain learned he could create an autonomous energy duplicate, which he called upon on occasion. After a few dozen adventures, he encountered an exact clone spawned by a criminal, although this twin quickly perished. In fact, the missing years of that Comet clone's life would be made up by Adam, who retained his youth for decades. Blake eventually journeyed into space, leaving behind his mentor and fellow intellectual Emory Zackro and his girlfriend Lucy Torrance.

In 1942, twin brothers Michael and Lance Gallant experienced tragedy when the hanger that Michael and his plane were in exploded. Merging together using a mysterious T birthmark on their wrists, the pair merged together into Captain Triumph. In this alter ego, Lance possessed superhuman strength, self-propelled flight, invulnerability, and a form of telepathy with Michael. Together, they had dozens of adventures alongside Lance's pal Biff and girlfriend Kim Meredith.

Eventually, both Captains were attracted to superhuman teams, and parallel worlds. When Comet returned to Earth-One, he encountered the Secret Society of Super-Villains, with whom he became a sworn enemy. At this time, he became an unofficial honorary member of the Justice League of America, working with some of its members. Blake even followed the Super-Villains to Earth-Three, and later Earth-Two, before he returned to his home world once more. 

As for Captain Triumph, Lance and Michael early in their career traveled to Earth-X, perhaps with the aid of Rod "Firebrand" Reilly who had an unexplained ability to cross dimensions. This world was home to the Freedom Fighters, former heroes of Earth-Two like Triumph who ventured to this hero-less planet to protect it from the Axis Powers. His stay there was brief, and the Captain returned to Earth-Two, where he joined the All-Star Squadron and reunited with Kim and Biff.

Brainy Mutants Opposing Secret Societies

Adam Blake and Henry King Junior inherited immense brain power, far beyond those of their fellow man in the 20th century. While Adam's true counterpart on Earth-Two was Lance Gallant aka Captain Triumph, and Henry's counterpart on Earth-One was the Omega Man named Primus, there were several points of similarity between today's two featured heroes. Inspired to assist others by adopting costumed aliases, Adam's Captain Comet and Henry's Brain Wave Junior, had adventures that spanned decades. Each had the requisite power-set of telepathy and telekinesis that all mental masterminds possess, as well as other distinct abilities. Both favoring the red and blue color-scheme, each made reputations for himself by courageously combating the Secret Society of Super-Villains and a particular pair of super-smart simians that would cause them considerable angst. And each fell two ladies tied the Green Lantern mythos, as Adam caught the eye of flight attendant Deborah Darnell (aka Star Sapphire) who would soon become his most consistent foe, and Henry grew to love Green Lantern Alan Scott's daughter Jennie Hayden (aka Jade). Both romances were doomed to failure, due to Sapphire's evil disposition and Junior's confusion after being mental "transfused" with the brain of his father upon the latter's death. 

Henry King Junior himself used the mental powers inherited from his wicked father Henry King Senior, aka the original Brain Wave. Capable of projecting mental blasts, levitating himself and other objects, and creating realistic illusions. Early in his career, Junior attempted to enlist the membership of the Justice Society of America, with near catastrophic results. Of course, showing up at their headquarters appearing like his father (to earn their respect? attention?) rather than as himself caused an immediate conflict. Regardless, after traveling time Brain Wave Junior recruited other heroes from the 1940's All-Star Squadron, although once more lacking the polish of diplomacy of his fellow heroes.

Adam Blake possessed other abilities beyond those listed above, including a superhuman physique and a photographic memory. After a modest run of forty or so adventures in the 1950's, Captain Comet decided to travel through space for a few decades until returning to Earth and encountering modern day super villains. Mistaking them for friends initially, upon learning of their insidious nature, began attacking this Secret Society instead of heroes like Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Among these was the aforementioned sinister  simians, Earth-One's Gorilla Grodd whom Comet had a couple of mental duels with. This paralleled Junior's own war of the wills versus the modern-day Ultra-Humanite, himself an ape at the apex of atypical genius.

After following the Secret Society throughout the multiverse, Comet was instrumental behind the scenes in aiding the same Justice Society that would later spurn Junior in defeating this first incarnation of the team (of which Junior's father was a member of its second incarnation a few years later). After dispatching this team, and reconciling his own troubled powers thanks to the assistance of Superman, Comet went into semi-retirement until called upon during a Crisis to assist the multiverse once more.

Both Captain Comet and Brainwave Junior were outcasts of the worlds they were born into. Each was bequeathed abilities that set them apart from most of their contemporaries, and this also caused them to have difficulty at times reconciling between good and evil despite their own inherent attributes towards justice and fairplay. While seeking out those on the same side of the law, Junior was a brief member of Infinity Inc and Comet an ally of the Justice League, each ended up withdrawing and becoming very much the loners they were. Legends in their own mind.