Mechanical Motorized Marvels Meet Metal Men

Gold, Lead, Platinum, Iron, Mercury and Tin. Six elements in nature, and six malleable Metal Men created by robotics scientist Will Magnus to protect his world of Earth-One. While six other Metal Men, multiple copies of each In fact, also appeared on Earth-Two… these were actually menaces to mankind summoned by Hubert Crawford from the planet Jupiter-Two. 

Interestingly, there were other mechanized marvels who aided members of the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron, just as the Metal Men had aided members of the Justice League. Only these Earth-Two automatons were specialized vehicles, which the Metal Men mimicked on occasion when they also transformed into various cars. 

These were the following vehicles and their owner operators which they utilized on numerous cases:

• Goitrude driven by cab driver Doiby Dickles, which drove Alan “Green Lantern” Scott to numerous adventures. It displayed sentience and later was capable of flight powered by Q-Force.

• Black Widow driven by Tom “The Spider” Holloway and his chauffeur Chuck. Capable of traversing not only streets but other surfaces like walls and buildings.

• Esmerelda driven by Etta Candy which carried her and her Holliday College classmates to several adventures with Wonder Woman.

• Atomobile designed and driven by Al “The Atom” Pratt which could atomically transform from a normal car into a sleek convertible, inspired by his pal Percy's Atomobile made for the Boy Commando.

• Sand-Car driven by Wesley "Sandman" Dodds along with his fiancée Dian Belmont, with a state-of-the-art engine equipped with its owner's special silicon-based weaponry.

• Doll Plane designed by Professor Roberts and driven by his future son-in-law Darrel “Doll Man” Dane which operated on autonomous remote control.

These golden and silver age “Transformers”, either had their own personalities like Goitrude or reflected those of their human partners. This corresponded to the base Responsometers at the heart of the individual Metal Men on their various replacements bodies. Despite occupying new bodies, these were the same personalities and memories of the previous models, with their unique traits, characteristics, and quirks.

Among the various threats they faced included ones also created by their creator, as Mangus in some manor had a hand in spawned the Metal Men II aka the Robots of Terror, the Gas Gang, and the Metal Women along with their teammate Platinum Man. Each of these robots caused the original Metal Men and Tina some anxiety, although they each proved to be one-and-done inventions before they were scrapped. Only the original six Metal Men, and for a time Tin's own creation known as Nameless, endured throughout the years.


By the time the Jovian Metal Horde had arrived on Earth-Two in their insatiable attempt to consume various elements, which they transformed into, these vehicles had already rendered invaluable service to their human designers and drivers. Although their aid was behind-the-scenes, they were invaluable to the members of the Justice Society and Freedom Fighters during their periods of service, before each retired.


As there were multiple copies of the Metal Horde from Jupiter, it was theoretically possible for the each of the the four malevolent Metal Men within their five separate squads confronting Justice Society members could have themselves absorbed a variety of elements, yet they all solely transformed into the elements of Gold, Silver, Magnesium, Iron, and Copper... with a sixth regime remaining on Jupiter remaining as the element Metal-X, who Starman encountered years prior to the Horde's invasion of Earth-Two. Of course, the shark-like sentient spaceship which transported the Jovians to that world also posed a threat, as had its counterpart Starro the Starfish Conqueror who invaded Earth-One. As had the Metal-X ship versus the Justice Society, Starro was defeated by the World's Greatest Heroes, the Justice League.

Mighty Mutts Courageous Canines: Swifty and Elmo

Krypto the Super-Dog and Thor the Thunder Dog were the more famous superhuman dogs were the most famous of the mighty mutts (while the non-super Krypto of Earth-Two and the robotic Krypto of Earth-One were the one-hit-wonders aiding Superman and Superboy on occasion), there were other courageous canines. Among these were Swifty and Elmo.

Swiftly was a greyhound saved by Superboy from the pooch’s murderous fox-hunting owner. Tracking the young hero back to his Smallville home with the Kent Family, Superboy gifts Swifty with a serum created by Kryptonian criminal Roz-Em that previously gave Clark’s adopted parents Jonathan and Martha with superpowers. Now possessing temporary powers like those of Superboy and his pet Krypto, Swifty is trained to be a friend and protector of Clark’s Super-Dog. However, Krypto becomes jealous of Swifty causing a one-sided rivalry, resolved when the greyhound losses his powers.

However, the Phantom Zone criminals mentally manipulate Swifty into recreating his superpowers through a chemical concoction.  Seeking to use the dog to lure Superboy into a trap, the criminals’ scheme is delayed when their young foe devises a couple tests to see whether Krypto or Swifty should have the honor of the former’s invulnerable cape, and we dwindled the lad’s pooch partner. Swiftly is victorious both times, and after he and his new master encouraged a warring human and beast population on another world to seek peace, the boy and his dogs journey to his planetary museum. There, Superboy nearly dies from Green Kryptonite radiation, until Krypto creates a bizarro Swifty that battles the original. Superboy then mixes more chemicals to restore Swifty’s sanity and normalcy.

Doll Man based his strength ray off the Miraclo black light ray hypothesized by his fellow Freedom Fighters teammate Rex Tyler. Right after developing it in 1950, Darrel Dane used it on a stray dog he adopted named Elmo, which both healed him and give him super-canine strength. It also increased his intelligence, allowing him to understand human communication. 

For the next several months, Elmo assisted Dane’s alter ego Doll Man. Eventually, the dog became acquainted with Darrel's fiancee Martha Roberts, and soon assisted her as well when she adopted the Doll Girl alter ego after gaining powers similar to her boyfriend's. From December 1950 until February 1952, Elmo faithfully followed his master into a wide array of adventures, helping the pair.

Eventually, Elmo retired from crimefighting, although Darrel and Martha carried on in their costumes crusade. Given the nature of Dane’s ray devise, the superhuman strength “of ten men” (like that which Hourman possessed after exposure to the Miraclo black light) would have amplified his already proportionally strong physique when he was a Mighty Mite. As Doll Man, Darrel could be considered on par with Superman of Earth-Two when he began his career, before his Kryptonian genes developed to full potential and maturity.

Masked Manhunters Meet Mighty Mites' Miniature Metropolises

The Dynamic Duo had numerous adventures with the Metropolis Marvel, Superman, and his pal Jimmy Olsen... in both of their cities and across Earth-One... even in space! However, the first time that Superman brought Batman and Robin to his homeworld's last city, Kandor... was a memorable occasion.

During a case together, a bullet ricochetted off the chest of Superman and into his best friend. After an emergency surgery extracting the bullet, Batman physically recovered from his ordeal yet psychologically was traumatized. Thinking he wasn't a worthy partner to Superman, the Dark Knight announced his retirement. In order to help Batman regain his senses and his courage, Superman hatched a scheme with his friend, the Kandorian administrator Than-Ar. 

While bringing Batman, Robin and Jimmy to his Fortress of Solitude on a false pretense, Superman asked for their assistance in tracking down a menace that had reappeared, the Metalloids. An ancient science that transformed men into invulnerable metal while its human host wears a force-radiating instrument, it now terrorized the Kryptonian city which had been shrunken by the alien android known as Brainiac.

After encountering an exceptionally violent Metalloid which threatened the now-powerless* Superman's life, Batman learned this was a ploy by his friend to help him regain his confidence since they were both normal within Kandor's controlled bottle environment.  Although a brief rift formed between the two heroes, they batched up their differences when they combined their efforts to bring the Metalloid Kandorians and their leader, Than-Ar's brother, Jhan-Ar, to justice. 

There was no surviving city of Kandor on Earth-Two, aside from the virtual version contained within the artificial conscience of Kara "Power Girl" Zor-L's Symbioship which brought her to her new home world. However, just as there were a generation of Kandorians born and raised all their lives in a shrunken state within the Bottled City of Kandor a universe away, so to there was a generation of humans likewise miniaturized within the small city known as Midget Town. 

While a chemical formula was used by Darrell Dane to transform into the 6 foot tall Doll Man, in the early 1940s the malevolent mastermind known as Brain Wave developed a purple ray which accomplished this feat. A variation of these treatments was later used on a village by another criminal scientist named Doctor Vargo. Doll Man became aware of these tiny folk, causing them to turn on their creator Thinking this town was destroyed, Dane never revisited it, as it developed into the more civilized Midget Town within a few short years.

When full-sized criminals led by Moose Miller raid the defenseless town, one of its inhabitants named Johnny Wister sought to bring those crooks to justice. This led him into a meeting with Batman and Robin, who along with Johnny and other residents of Midget Town (including Mayor Hawkins and his daughter Carol) accompany the Dynamic Duo back to Gotham City. Together, they track down the hoodlums and capture them.

What If: There was an Earth-One Freedom Fighters

Yes, yes, the Freedom Fighters were on Earth-One for several months in the late 1970s. During this period, they left behind their adopted world of Earth-X to find brand new adventures on a third world. In fact, the seven surviving members... along with their deceased and missing teammates... originated on Earth-Two! 

In 1942, Uncle Sam recruited several members of the All-Star Squadron to assist him on Earth-X, which at that time had no native-born superheroes. After decades fighting the Axis Powers, the Fighters finally won... with the assistance of their world's Justice Society and their soon-to-be adopted world's Justice League

However, on Earth-One, they met frustration after being framed by an old adversary, the Silver Ghost. Despite attempts to clear their name and reputation, the Freedom Fighters finally resolved to return to visit their home world of Earth-Two, and then the team (except for Doll Man who journeyed back in time to reunite with his fiancee Martha... and was replaced by another Doll Man) migrated back to Earth-X. 

Each member had a counterpart in the Earth-One universe, whom... had they assembled in like fashion... would themselves have been a fascinating team. Instead of Phantom Lady, there would be Nocturna... Human Bomb would be replaced with Heat Wave... Don-El would pinch hit for Doll Man... Highfather would sub for Uncle Sam,.. Firebrand's shoes would be filled by Deadman... Lightray would cover for the Ray, and the void left by Black Condor would be filled by Blackrock.

Of these individuals, most resided in other dimensional planes of existence. Highfather, Lightray and Infinity Man live in or near New Genesis within another realm. Don-El was on the planet named Rokyn existing in another universe. Nocturna disappeared into the Multiverse during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Deadman himself no longer lived on Earth-One following his acrobatic career. Only Blackrock remained on that world, although he retired. And so, like the Freedom Fighters, those seven soldiers of victory only left brief marks on Earth-One.

Will the Real Martha Roberts Please Stand Up... Please Stand Up...Please Stand Up?

She was there from the very beginning... when the original Mighty Mite first appeared. The perpetual fiancee of Darrel Dane, aka the Doll Man, Martha Roberts was a stalwart girlfriend to her guy's dual identities. Indeed, all three of her were loyal to him!

Doll Man originated on Earth-Two, and thus that world had its own Martha, who along were her father Professor Roberts were the only ones who knew of Darrel's secret life. And from 1939 until at least 1942, the two lovebirds were near inseperable. Then what happened?

Somehow, Doll Man as well as fellow mystery man Midnight heard of a man named Uncle Sam recruiting various heroes for an urgent mission. Arriving to late, as Sam and six other superheroes disappeared from their world, Doll Man and his new friend followed them through the rift created. They ended up on Earth-X.

After a couple months on that world, the pair along with Sam returned to their native world, meeting at the Perisphere where the full membership of the All-Star Squadron had been invited for a joint meeting. After a brief trip back to Earth-X with his fellow All-Stars, Doll Man soon returned home, into the loving arms of Martha.

However, a couple months later in April of 1941, Uncle Sam returned to recruit a larger group of All-Stars for his Freedom Fighters on Earth-X. Among those was Doll Man, who like the others moved Earths during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He no doubt believe this was  a temporary move, until they defeated the Axis Powers, however took many years to do this.

On Earth-X, Dane eventually formed a new relationship with that world's Martha Roberts, who was an ally of Doll Man and his Freedom Fighters teammates. We know this Martha wasn't the Earth-Two version, as she didn't become Doll Girl in order to protect herself and her father when Nazis attacked and killed her!

Batman verifies that the Freedom
Fighters return to Earth-Two

Heartbroken, Darrel soon found a third opportunity to be with his love, this time on Earth-One where he and the remaining Freedom Fighters moved to in the late 1940. Kept young through the decades, Dane met reporter Martha Roberts, and the two soon fell in love.  After a series of misunderstandings led to the Freedom Fighters being hunted by the law, they left Earth-One to return to their home world, Dane decided to leave this Martha behind, as it was evident her career was more important.

Doll Man and his allies returned to Earth-Two in the late 1970s to visit the Justice Society.as Batman acknowledged they had appeared there at that time in his infamous Dairy. While this would have been a brief reunion with their old allies from the All-Star Squadron... and more recently from when the Justice Society with the Justice League traveled to Earth-X accidentally to aid the Freedom Fighters in liberating their adopted world.

While it is logical that the individual members would look up old family and friends... Phantom Lady's father Senator Knight and her cousin Ted "Starman" Knight, Black Condor his former girlfriend Wendy Foster, Human Bomb's ex-girlfriend Jean Adams, Uncle Sam's sidekick Buddy... there were no lasting bounds between them. However, the bond between Darrel and Martha was deeper, more profound, with both driven toward being together. This bond traversed even the dimensional barriers of separate universes, with Darrel always gravitating towards the Martha of whichever Earth he was currently living.

After having left the original Martha decades ago, Darrel traveled back to the 1940s to reunite with Martha (no doubt using the Flash’s recently built Time Vortex in Justice Society headquarters)*. 

We know this because Martha’s “Who’s Who” entry mentions her being with Darrel when he became Doll Man in 1939, and in 1951 joined his crime fighting crusade as his partner Doll Girl. Between those dates, the Earth-Two Martha continued to have hundreds more adventures in the late 1940s and early 1950s. And really, it is unimaginable that he would leave his first love behind indefinitely!

The dynamic between Doll Man and Doll Girl echoed that on Earth-One between Superboy and his childhood girlfriend Lana Lang, in her various aliases such as Sky Girl, Flying Girl and Gravity Girl. Like Darrel and Martha on Earth-Two, Superboy's alter ego Clark Kent and Lana Lang rekindled their love as adults many years later while working together as news anchors.

* A later told tale of the Freedom Fighters returning to Earth-One to assist Superman versus neo-Nazis would've occurred just before they left Earth-Two and returned to Earth-X, and thus before Doll Man journeyed back to the mid 1940s. And a later 1985 appearance of Doll Man alongside his teammates on Earth-X was of a temporarily time-displaced Darrel Dane… as many heroes from the past were pulled into the present day including Doll Man’s fellow All-Stars Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle!

Mighty Mites' Magnificent Muscular Manuevers

Don-El, Captain of the Superman Emergency Squad, was like his first cousin Kal-El physically fit. And when he left the Krypton-like confines of Kandor, where he lived alongside his fellow survivors of his home world within the shrunken bottled city, Don-El likewise possessed superhuman abilities on par with his long-lost relative. This coupled with his moral fortitude and leadership skills made him a natural to chairman the Squad during their various adventures.

Darrel Dane, more famously known as Doll Man, was said to possess the strength of a normal sized man even while in his six-foot tall shrunken form. This made him one of the preeminent heroes of Earth-Two, and an early peer of Kal-L aka Superman. However, early in his career it became evident that Darrel had strength that went far beyond even that of a mortal man in a diminutive physical state. Was this due to the formula he invented, allowing him to alter his size at will?

At the very beginning, Dane and his mentor Professor Roberts hypothesize that it gave him the strength of twenty men. Among his mighty mite feats such as punching a massive whale, lifting and throwing massive boulders on a roadside, and bending iron bars in a prison cell! These are but a few of many examples during his costumed career.

Over time, Doll Man became adept at seemingly gliding on wind currents, undoubtedly propelled aloft by his legs giving him superhuman leaping ability not dissimilar to that possessed by the golden age Superman in his early days. And while Kal-L developed the ability to fly directed by mental will power, Darrel gained mind-over-matter or telekinetic powers. Originally using this ability to manipulate birds such as eagles to carry him through the air, he eventually was able to keep himself and others aloft and defy gravity... although with great mental strain.

Darrel Dane bore an uncanny resemblance to Clark Kent, the civilian men who wore blue spandex and red capes in their crime fighting identities. And given their close comradery decades after they were last together as members of the All-Star Squadron, it seems that Darrel was to Kal-L what Don-El was to Kal-El, miniaturize versions of the Men of Steel and tiny reflections of themselves.

Mighty Midgets Meet Mild Mannered Men

In the Bottled City of Kandor, residing within the Fortress of Solitude on Earth-One, is the last bastion of Kryptonian society. In this metropolis, shrunken decades earlier by the amoral alien android known as Brainiac, it was liberated from his grasp by Superman. Keeping it safe within his Fortress, Kal-El earned the gratitude of their citizens... so much so that when his alter egos of Superman and/or Clark Kent were in danger... they would come to his aid.

In order to accomplish this, they created two super squads for two specific purposes. The first was the Superman Emergency Squad, led by Kal-El's first cousin Don-El, a small group of Kandorians dressed like Superman. The other was the Superman Look-A-Like Squad, led by Vol-Don, comprised of a handful of Kandorian that look like Clark Kent and his friends at the Daily Planet.

On Earth-Two, as that universe's Kandor survived as a digitized version with Kara Zor-L's Symbioship, there wasn't the ability for those synthetic Kandorians to render aid to she or her cousin Kal-L. However, Kal-L in his Superman identity gained allies within the All-Star Squadron, which included his teammates in the Justice Society of America.

Two of the All-Stars mirrored the leaders of the Emergency and Look-A-Like Squads. Darrel Dane, also known as the Doll Man, was like Don-El a miniature version of Superman. Dave Clark, also known as Midnight, was like Vol-Don a crusading reporter. 

These two men met when the hero known as Uncle Sam recruited a select few mystery men to form his Freedom Fighters, with the intent of saving a hero-less parallel world known as Earth-X. Swept along with those heroes, Doll Man and Midnight ended up elsewhere, in the occupied France of that Earth, for a couple months. There, they fought occupying Nazi German forces, including the supervillain known as Baron Blitzkrieg.

Darrel and Dave would return to their home world, only to leave Earth-Two sometime later and move permanently to Earth-X. Similarly, when Kal-El finally succeeded in enlarging Kandor on the phase planet known as Rokyn, that world teleported to another universe. Amongst those Kandorians were Don-El and Vol-Don, along with their Squad colleagues.

Twice-Told-Tales: Doll Man Framed for Murder

When Doll Man and his fellow Freedom Fighters finally freed their adopted world of Earth-X from the tyranny of fascism, they decided to return to their homeworld of Earth-Two. However, this visit was brief, as it was no longer their home, all ties they had with family and friends they left behind decades earlier had long been severed. And so, they decided to travel to Earth-One to start a new life. However, trouble seemed to follow them.

Shortly after arriving in New York City on that world, they were framed for crimes perpetrated by the Silver Ghost, himself an old adversary of Earth-X. Seeking revenge for the loss of his prestigious post as German military commander Raphael Van Zandt due to the tireless crusader of the Freedom Fighters. One of his schemes involved an assassination of New York District Attorney Pearson, who at the time of his death had been meeting with Doll Man to reveal that he and his team were innocent. When police arrived witnessing a stunned Darrel Dane holding the murder weapon, they immediately suspected he was the man who pulled the trigger. In fact, it was later revealed at the last minute, while Dane was tied to the electric chair for execution, that it was Pearson's assistant... a protegee of Van Zandt's... who was the true culprit. Admitting the crime, the true criminal .... Assistant District Attorney Tulane, was arrested. Meanwhile, Darrel along with his fugitive friends fled the scene, and would eventually return to Earth-X was they were revered as heroes.

Interestingly, Darrel had decades earlier on Earth-Two also been framed for murder, as the Doll Man attempted to save the life of Jim Billings. Billings had been pardoned from execution by the governor upon review of further evidence, however the vindictive judge on the case disputed this. That man, Judge Tolliver, had established a masked alter ego as an executioner of those who escaped his misguided justice. However, although Doll Man was proclaimed innocent and Tolliver was revealed to be the true culprit, it was at the Judge's own hand that he faced justice... overcome by guilty feelings of those whom he condemned to death. 

Superman's Mini-Me - Times Two! The Story of Don-El and Darrel

Don-El and Darrel Dane were a pair of "Mighty Mites" and Superman lookalikes. 

Don-El was the son of Nim-El, who was the twin brother of Zor-El, himself the father of Kal-El. So Don-El was the twin cousin of Superman, although he survived not in a space ship sent directly to Earth-One but rather as an inhabitant of the shrunken bottled city of Kandor. Years later, Superman battled and defeated Kandor's captor, Brainiac, and housed the city within his Fortress of Solitude.

Don-El as  Captain of the Superman Emergency Squad, a team of Kandorians in miniature size who wore costumes of the famous Kryptonian and aided that caped crusader on occasion on their adopted Earth-One. In his first appearance, he adopted the alias of Super-Mite.

Darrel Dane was a chemist who decided to put to good use the shrinking formula that gave him various mental abilities and the power to shrink to 6 inches tall. Aided by his girlfriend Martha Roberts and her father, he became the crimefighter Doll Man. 

Doll Man had numerous solo adventures and, while attending the All-Star Squadron's first official meeting, first met his lookalike Kal-L aka Superman,  Eventually, Darrel became a member of the Freedom Fighters, leaving his native Earth-Two for a hero-less parallel planet known as Earth-X. Decades later, Kal-L and Darrel teamed up to help liberate that world. 

Don-El briefly had a psychotic breakdown, where he believe himself to be the actual Superman rather that his minatured stand-in. His cousin Kal-El created a scenario that helped Don-El to face reality and restore his sanity. Darrel and the Freedom Fighters briefly visited their homeworld of Earth-Two, then tried living on Earth-One on several months, where they were framed for crimes they didn't commit including an allegation of murder that almost led to Doll Man's execution!

Both heroes possessed superhuman strength and immense durability, Don-El due to his nature as a Kryptonian living on Earth under that world's yellow sun. While Don-El has miniature allies in Kandor with his Squad, Darrel faced only miniaturized menaces such as a Japanese soldier and an island filled with shrunken human subjects. In fact, Doll Man had a six-foot tall recurring foe named Tom Thumb who, like Earth-One's Mouse Man that battled Wonder Woman, was but a tiny man with no superhuman powers. Thumb originated from Midget Town, where several humans were shrunken to 6 inch height by Doctor Vargo, which Dollman, Batman and Robin each visited.

Don-El shared a paternal great-grandfather with Kal-El in Var-El, a scientist who discovered the means to teleport from Krypton-One to Earth-One. While on his adopted world, Var-El battled alien invaders, then disappeared. Darrel had a famous crimefighting grandfather during that same period. Could he have been the Var-L of Krypton-Two? Might the Dane gene have had a trace of Kryptonian blood in the mix? Might he and Kal-L be cousins?

Don-El and his fellow Kandorians were restored to their normal height and moved to the extradimensional world of Rokyn, a world that occasionally resided in Earth-One's universe, but was usually in an adjacent universe. A Darrel and the Freedom Fighters returned to Earth-X, in order to assist in the rebuilding of that war-torn world. Since evidence points to the original Doll Man having returned to the mid 1940s of Earth-Two as he reunited with Martha, it seems likely that the Doll Man seen on Earth-X in the 1980s was the Danes' son Darrel Junior.

Doll Man developing a strength enhancing ray in 1950, based off the Miraclo black light ray hypothesized by his fellow Freedom Fighters teammate Rex Tyler. Darrel used this ray on a stray dog he adopted named Elmo, which both healed him and give him super-canine strength. It also increased his intelligence, allowing him to understand human communication. 

For the next several months, Elmo assisted Dane’s alter ego Doll Man. Eventually, the dog became acquainted with Darrel's fiancee Martha Roberts, and soon assisted her as well when she adopted the Doll Girl alter ego after gaining powers similar to her boyfriend's. From December 1950 until February 1952, Elmo faithfully followed his master into a wide array of adventures, helping the pair.

Eventually, Elmo retired from crimefighting, although Darrel and Martha carried on in their costumes crusade. Given the nature of Dane’s ray devise, the superhuman strength “of ten men” (like that which Hourman possessed after exposure to the Miraclo black light) would have amplified his already proportionally strong physique when he was a Mighty Mite towards the end of his costumed career. 

Super Squad Support Supermen Succinctly

Originating from the last surviving Kryptonian city of Kandor, an elite team of recruits assembled to form the diminutive Superman Emergency Squad. Kandor had been shrunken and kept in a bottle by the alien android named Brainiac. Upon defeating Brainiac and claiming the minature city, Superman kept it within his Fortress of Solitude of Earth-One, Each member of this Squad possessed superhuman abilities due to being descendants of Krypton. 

Led by Don-El aka the Super-Mite Superman, cousin of Kal-El aka Superman, they helped the Man of Steel whenever there was a need on Earth-One. While Van-Zee was also a member, he relinquished that responsibly for his career as a scientist. Secretly, he also assumed the alter ego of Nightwing. One other member, Vitor, had briefly left this life behind while attempting to court romance with Lois Lane and Lana Lang, although he soon thereafter rejoined he Squad. This group typically had a dozen active members at any one time. At times, they wore uniforms modeled after that worn by Superman, other times they wore distinctive scarlet colored uniforms. 

On Earth-Two, Kandor wasn't shrunken but instead was digitized by Zor-L, uncle of Kal-L aka Superman into a virtual reality replica. Zor-L housed this program within the Symbioship, which he designed to save his daughter Kara aka Power Girl when Krypton-Two exploded. As such, in place of a Squad supporting Superman that originated from his people, there was a Squadron... of which the golden age Superman was himself a member. 

This All-Star Squadron was formed at the beginning of World War II. Among its many members were Superman himself, as well as Crimson Avenger and the Wing, who mirrored the Kandorian known as Flamebird and his partner Nightwing. Another All-Star was the mighty mite Doll Man, secretly Darrel Dane, a physical look-a-like of Superman! Given this as well as his inherent superhuman strength and near invulnerability, attributes not attributable to his shrinking chemical concoction, there is a possibility he may have been one-eighth Kryptonian. 

Kal-El's great-grandfather Var-El teleported to Earth-One to attempt experiments that were illegal on Krypton-One. It is likely that his counterpart, Var-L, likewise did something similiar. If so, then instead of returning to Krypton-Two, he may have sired another family on Earth-Two while under the identity of 18th century lawman named Dane. This would explain Kal-L and Darrel's kinship, which they displayed when reuniting years after first meeting one another.

The actual doppelgängers of the remaining Kandorian members of the Superman Emergency Squad were Zator’s Seven who trained a young Osgood Armsby who later… along with Doll Man, Crimson Avenger and Wing, became a member of the All-Star Squadron and their third “Doctor” on staff. However, the Seven mostly operated behind the scenes.

Mighty Midgets: Don-El and Darrel the Super Mite and Doll Man

Don-El and Darrel Dane were a pair of "Mighty Mites" and Superman lookalikes. Allied with counterparts Flamebird and Nighwing, and Nightwing and Wing, they made their mark as heroes of stature.

Don-El as  Captain of the Superman Emergency Squad, a team of Kandorians in miniature size who wore costumes of the famous Kryptonian and aided that caped crusader on occasion on their adopted Earth-One. In his first appearance, he adopted the alias of Super-Mite.

Darrel Dane aka Doll Man was a chemist and as a member of the All-Star Squadron was a teammate of Superman. The original Mighty Mite, Doll Man was like his contemporary Superman of Earth-Two, among the earlies of caped crusaders on their world, and fought crime there for over two years.

Don-El was the son of Nim-El, who was the twin brother of Zor-El, himself the father of Kal-El. So Don-El was the twin cousin of Superman (Kal-El), although he survived not in a space ship sent directly to Earth-One but rather as an inhabitant of the shrunken bottled city of Kandor. When Superman years later battled and defeated Kandor's captor, Brainiac, he found the city a new home inside his Fortress of Solitude.

Darrel Dane as Doll Man decided due put to good use the shrinking formula that gave him various mental abilities and the power to shrink to 6 inches tall. Aided by his girlfriend Martha Roberts and her father, Doll Man had several solo adventures and was also a member of the aforementioned All-Star Squadron and Freedom Fighters. 

Don-El temporarily assumed Superman's identity during a moment of psychological breakdown, before returning to Kandor. Eventually that city and all its inhabitant's, including Don-El, were restored to normal size and lived in the extra-dimensional world of Rokyn which oscillated between Earth-One's universe and that of another. Which of the other universes Rokyn was normally located within... Earth-X, Earth-S, Earth-Four or (most probably) Earth-Two is unknown... but would have to have been one of them as Rokyn still existed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths when all other universes were destroyed.

Darrel eventually left behind his native world with the Freedom Fighters to aid Earth-X, where he and his teammates would face that world's Nazi forces for decades before finally defeating them. Eventually, Superman (Kal-L) and his Justice Society allies as well as the Justice League visited Earth-X, and he worked alongside Doll Man to liberate that world. 

Following this, Doll Man and his pals migrated to Don-El's Earth-One to revitalize their costumed careers, but were portrayed as criminals, and so left for Earth-Two. Unlike his fellow Freedom Fighters, there is evidence that Doll Man returned to the past... shortly after he had left for Earth-X.. and reunited with Martha*. We know this because Martha’s “Who’s Who” entry mentions her being with Darrell in 1939 when he became Doll Man, and still with him in 1951 when she became his crimefighting partner, Doll Girl. Dane's trip through time made possible due to the Justice Society member Flash's Time Vortex device, allowing for traveling through time from the late 1970s to the mid 1940s.

* A later told tale of the Freedom Fighters returning to Earth-One to assist Superman versus neo-Nazis could’ve occurred right after they (aside from Dane) left Earth-Two and returned to Earth-X. And still later, when Doll Man appeared with his teammates in 1985 on Earth-X, this was a temporally time-displaced Darrel Dane… as many heroes from the past were pulled to the present day including Doll Man’s fellow All-Stars Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle!

Migrants of Multiple Earths Thesis: Part 2

When Uncle Sam returned to Earth-Two, he recruited a small group of All-Star Squadron members, of whom the Ray and Black Condor permanently moved to Earth-X. This was to maintain the cosmic balance between both Earths, as Baron Blitzkrieg brought three elite Nazis with him from Earth-X. A fourth hero who remained there, the Red Bee, was killed by the Baron… just as the Baron had only hours before sent one of his Earth-X Nazis to his death as he fell off an Earth-Two building. 

Hourman only spent a few months on Earth-X (after five of his allies perished at Pearl Harbor) before returning to Earth-Two. So he wouldn’t be classified as one of these permanent migrants, but one of five Justice League and Justice Society members who aided the Freedom Fighters during their brief visits to Earth-X. Doll Man and Midnight journeyed there during Sam’s first visit, exchanging places with Baron Blitzkrieg’s initial Earth-X Nazis.

The next batch of new heroes who moved to Earth-X a few months later, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, were: Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, Spider, Manhunter* (and his robot dog Thor), Plastic Man**, the Jester, Quicksilver and the Blackhawk Squadron*** (Blackhawk*, Stanislaus*, Olaf*, Hendrickson*, Chop Chop*, Andre* and Chuck*). Lance and Michael Gallant also previously journeyed to Earth-X as Captain Triumph in 1942, before returning to Earth-Two to join the All-Star Squadron... though their brief stay would like Hourman's disqualify them as offical cross-Earth migrants.

During the same Crisis event, a number of Earth-One heroes fought to save all reality in other universes, where they perished in the universes of Qward and Earth-Four. These included Nighthawk, Kid Psycho, Supergirl, the Flash, Aquagirl, Prince Gavyn the Starman, Immortal Man, Xax the insect Green Lantern, and Green Lantern Tomar-Re (as well as the robot body of Red Tornado). Additionally five renegade Guardians of the Universe perished in an Anti-Matter Universe barrage projected upon their meeting chamber on the planet Oa. 

By 1943, Firebrand and his arch-foe Silver Ghost traveled to Earth-X under undisclosed circumstances, leaving Earth-Two behind forever. Silver Ghost forsook his American citizenship to join Germany while Firebrand’s alter ego Rod Reilly used his status in their military to become a double agent for America. It could be assumed that when Manhunter traveled back to Earth-Two, he traded places with Firebrand if perhaps inadvertently (while Silver Ghost arrived on Earth-X during the same time period that Doll Man from the 1970s reappeared on Earth-Two* to reunite with his fiancé Martha Roberts).

* These Freedom Fighters eventually migrated back to Earth-Two. We know this because; 1.) Doll Man had adventures in the late 1940s with the Martha "Doll Girl" Roberts of Earth-Two, 2.) Dan "Manhunter" Richards, always accompanied by his loyal pooch Thor, became grandfather to Marcie "Harlequin" Cooper of Earth-Two, 3.) the seven Blackhawks had an adventure in September 1944 with the Batman of Earth-Two.

** Plastic Man later migrated to Earth-Twelve during the Convergence event, where he sired Plastic Man Jr. who became a frenemy of the Inferior Five of that world and his father’s counterpart.

*** While the Losers of Earth-One along with their fellow soldiers on the same battlefield perished at the same time as their Earth-Two counterparts, they died due to non-Crisis causes. So they wouldn’t be considered as offsetting in this multiverse erasure of characters. Instead, the Blackhawks’ reappearance on Earth-Two took their place.