Brain Boys & Bad Babes: Betrothed or Bothered

The first meeting of Henry “Brain Wave” King and his future wife Merry Pemberton was not overly… or remotely… romantic. In an apparent reunion of the Injustice Society along with later members Solomon Grundy** and the Shade, Brain Wave was outsmarted by Merry’s Gimmick Girl gadgets. She was joined by various heroes once members of the All-Star Squadron*.

Nevertheless, the two eventually bridged the gap between his criminal way of life and her adherence to a moral code. Their marital reunion resulted in a son … Henry Junior… who barely knew his father as King was kept in prison for several years

It seems that when Brain Wave escaped prison in 1976, his estranged wife Merry had passed away. The fact that she was important to him is evident in his actions in 1981 as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villians, when he kidnapped a red haired actress that reminded him of her. 

When Psimon attempted to rejoin the Fearsome Five, which had just been formed and had then been betrayed by him, his teammates initially rejected his plea for help. In fact, Shimmer threatened to transmute his body. Still, cooler heads prevailed, as the Five rescued him from dimensional exile, resulting in his later betrayal of their team leader and founder Doctor Light.

Nevertheless, something about Psimon’s drive and determination led Shimmer and her comrades to support him through his various schemes versus the New Teen Titans, and later, Batman and the Outsiders. Although, unlike their Earth-Two counterparts Brain Wave and Gimmick Girl, the Earth-One Psimon and Shimmer remained plutonic partners instead.

* During this untold tale, which had to have taken place in or shortly after June 1948 when Merry debuted, Doll Man was shown among the various heroes. This confirms that he traveled back on time to the 1940s, having left the world of his birth for Earth-X, where he was until the 1970s. So he too reunited with his long lost love, the Martha Roberts of Earth-Two around this time.

**This is evidently the imposter Grundy who troubled Johnny Thunder previously, rather than the real Solomon who was stranded on the moon at this point.

Sensational Siblings Stymie Stellar Stars

Baran and Selinda Flinders were a pair of siblings on Earth-One, each born a mutant with superhuman abilities manifested during their adolscence. Born and living their early lives in Australia, these powers become well known amongst their community, causing alienation with other children and ostracization with adults. When torments, they each used their powers to strike back at youths who torment them.

The brother, Baran, possessed immeasurable super strength in additional to virtual invulnerability, due to his particularly dense body mass. As a side effect of this condition, he appears to be mentally shunted and needs his sister to emotionally ground him. As for the sister, Selinda, she possesses the ability to transmute elements in her immediate vicinity from one substance into another. However, she is limited as the effects of her power are temporary, and have also manifested in her emotionally volatile personality.

Due to fears from the community towards their children, and the vengeful attitude the siblings displayed toward their neighors as a result, the Flinders' parents brought the pair into the care of noted genetic scientist Dr. Helga Jace. Jace attempted to teach the youths moral principles to govern their use of there abilities. However, instead of applying these, Selinda and Baran decided to become supervillains.

As young adults, Baran adopted the alter ego of Mammoth, and Selinda the alias of Shimmer. Their escapades brought them to the attention of Doctor Light, who sought to assemble the Fearsome Five to battle Starfire and her fellow New Teen Titans. There they followed team leader and mind-master, Psimon.

On Earth-Two, another pair of siblings had been adopted into the wealthy Pemberton family, who sought to provide companionship for their only son Sylvester. The parents, John and Gloria, believed their son had emotional problems as a result and thus left himself prone to self-injury. In reality, Sylvester was secretly the Star-Spangled Kid who... along with family chaffeur and mechanic Pat Dugan as the Stripesy... were members of the Law's Legionnaires.

Breezy was the first to be adopted, having saved the life of Sylvester which endeared him to the elder Pembertons. Shortly thereafter, the lad discovered that his new step-brother was a masked superhero, and sought to join he and Pat on their adventures. As he was older, although diminutive compared to Sylvester, Breezy only lived with the Pembertons for a few years before moving out. Breezy would later have a son, Arthur, who after his death would become the villianous leader of Strike Force who battled Star-Spangled Kid and the Justice Society.

Merry was adopted a few years later, and after discovering Sylvester and Pat's secret alter egos, joined them as the superheroine known as Gimmick Girl. She would continue her crimefighting after the pair disappeared for decades during the last adventure of the Legionnaires. Still later, Merry met and fell in love with the mind-master Brain Wave, aka Henry King. Together they wed and sired a son who would become a superheroic Brain Wave Junior, who would battle the superstrong Brain Wave image, created by Henry Senior. This red haired faux-foe of Sylvester took the place of now deceased red haired Breezy, now that King was a brother-in-law of Merry's brother.

Greedy Gadget Garbed Goons

While not a notable as other members of either the Fearsome Five or the Pemberton Family, Mikron O'Jeneus and Arthur Pemberton who nevertheless genius gadgeteers. Both developmented revoluntary weaponry which they used as Gizmo and Number One. While Mikron as Gizmo was only a member of the Five, Arthur as Number One led the Strike Force.

While Mikron and his allies employed a handful of henchmen for the Five, Arthur employed a handful for his Force. However, both greedy gadgeteers only used these hired hands one criminal caper.

The Fearsome Five were fierce foes of Earth-One's New Teen Titans, Strike Force opposed Earth-Two's Justice Society of America. Each "family of fiends" proved overmatched by their heroic opponents.

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.

Bald Boys Burn Brightly: The Doctors Light

Among the most dangerous of masters manipulating the forces of nature were Doctor Light of Earth-One and Doctor Light of Earth-Two. Both were bald bad guys whose thirst to quell their greedy ambitions turned their considerable intellects toward evil pursuits. And both had enmities towards their rivals, those being members of the Justice League and Justice Society.

Doctor Light of Earth-One was originally Arthur Light, a scientist who stumbled upon the means of accessing space warps, which lead him to the planet Thanagar, wherein he stole light-based technology. He would base this discovery on future equipment which he employed versus first the combined Justice League of America, and then individual members throughout the years.

In his initial foray versus the League, Light thrust that team's various members into other indimensional or sidereal worlds. Believing he had successfully exiled his greatest threat to power, the Doctor proceeded with his criminal endeavors, unsuspecting that Leaguers Superman and Batman exchanged their identities, thus allowing Superman to free his fellow heroes. Returning to Earth-One, the League were able to outmanuever Light's scheme. This would only be a temporary defeat for Light, as he was bent on overcoming the League... together or one by one.

Doctor Light of Earth-Two, was a defrocked research scientist, ridiculed by his colleagues at the university he was employed at, and decided to turn to crime. After his first foray into felony, Light was thwarted by the blind masked man known as Doctor Mid-Nite. And so, Light switched from using his light-beams to generate heat to creating elaborate holograms to manipulating plant life and controlling the human mind.

This Light attempted to form a criminal co-op in a Roman stylized headquarters, but yet again his arch-foe Mid-Nite learned of his scheme and defeated him once more. After three forays into crime, he either remained in prison or decided to retire permanently from villainy, as he was never to be seen from again. That is, unless he went by another identity, which is quite possible as there was also two other criminal geniuses named the Light... one who battled Starman time and time again... and a hooded Alexie Luthor who  made a name for himself as Superman's arch-enemy.

Arthur never had a lasting victory against any of individual Justice Leaguer nor the team as a whole. He first preyed upon the Atom, then Green Lantern, Flash, and following three more clashes with the combined group, he tried tackling the World's Finest Heroes... Batman and Superman! Despite employing various techniques, each superhero was able to compensate for Light's creativity, making the villain a repeat failure.

Seeking validation, the Doctor had several clashes with the League's  young sidekicks, the Teen Titans. When this likewise failed, Light assembled the Fearsome Five to seriously oppose the New Titans... which they did... although the mental mastermind Psimon usurped control of the criminal gang, leaving Light out in the cold.

Fearsome Five or Forgotten Fivesome?

Perpetual pest of protagonists, Doctor Arthur Light, abandoned his solo pursuits at defeating the combined Justice League of America and individual members, to recruit a team of super-villains. Aiming his sights lower, defeating the New Teen Titans, he felt he had the right mixture to accomplish this and more. Recruiting the dwarf Gizmo (aka Mikron O'Jeneus), a genius developing multiple weapons; the brother and sister team of super-strong Mammoth and the matter-transmute maiden of Shimmer; (aka Baran and Selinda Flinders) and the mental mastermind Psimon (aka Dr. Simon Jones), the Fearsome Five were born. 

Decades earlier on Earth-Two, there was a family that would have influence ... both for good and for evil. It began with psychiatrist Henry King, who gained mutant mental powers at birth which he used as the supervillain known as Brain Wave. A perpetual opponent of the Justice Society of America, he would work by himself and alongside allies in the Injustice Society, yet despite this always met with bitter defeat. Around the same time, a girl named Merry was adopted into the wealth Pemberton family, to become a step-sister for young Sylvester (also known as the Star-Spangled Kid). His parents adopted her to replace the other Pemberton son, Sylvester's brother Breezy who moved away and years later died. Inspired by her new sibling's costumed career, Merry likewise devised an alter ego as Gimmick Girl, creating a variety of devices to fight crime. 

Interestingly, both Earths had their own Doctor Light. Doctor Light of Earth-Two was a perpetual pest of Justice Society member Doctor Mid-Nite. Each of these sinister scientists developed light-based weaponry which they employed in their schemes to become criminal masterminds. However, neither Arthur Light found much success when facing their opposite numbers in the Justice League and Justice Society of America, despite multiple attempts. While Arthur had at least a preliminary tie with the Fearsome Five, it is unknown if the other Light had ever met Henry King, even though they shared a mutual foe in Doctor Mid-Nite around the same timeframe.

Soon after forming, the Fearsome Five betrayed Light and recruited eastern powerhouse Jinx and former Superman foe Neutron to join their ranks. Despite their diverse abilities, the "Five" still met bitter defeat, this time by both the Titans and the Outsiders). Finally, Psimon was killed by Brainiac and the Doctor retired as did his teammates.

Sylvester disappeared in the late 1940s due to a cosmic battle,  shortly after he first met Merry. When he reappeared decades later, he learned that Merry married a briefly reformed  Henry King, and together they sired a son. When King became a criminal once more, he created a new stronger red haired body, which seemingly filled the void of the lost Pemberton as Sylvester's brother-in-law. Coupled with the shock of this discovery, Star-Spangled Kid learned that his late brother's son Arthur had used equipment developed by Syl's partner Pat "Stripesy" Dugan to outfit the criminal Strike Force.

Arthur Pemberton's Strike Force had several armed henchmen who mirrored the TNT Trio... a gang that had been employed by Earth-One's Lex Luthor of whom one of their number, Nat Tryon, became the powerful Nuetron who later joined the Fearsome Five. And the Five had five of their own armed henchmen on occasion, who like the Strike Force troops were similarly clad in generic spandex uniforms.

There was another team on Earth-Two known as the Five Fingers of the Hand that battled the Seven Soldiers of Victory, consisting of foes of each of the members. Consisting of Red Dragon, Professor Merlin, Needle, Big Caesar, Dummy and the Hand himself as their leader. Each would recur as enemies of the Soldiers, but only joined forces together once. This cadre of criminals has a corresponding crooked crew on Earth-One in the Fearsome Five during their first appearance, although the Fingers’ actual doppelgängers on that world were Red Dragon, Meryln the Assassin, Captain Boomerang. Maxie Zeus, Dummy and the Crumbler… none of whom ever working together.

Menancing Mental Masterminds: Psimon and Brain Wave

Simon Jones was a physicist fascinated with the concept of accessing other dimensional planes of existence. His experiments opened a portal wherein a bolt of energy irradiated and mutated him, transforming him into a psionic being. These new abilities corrupted Simon, motivating him into becoming Psimon, although he was actually the pawn of an extra-dimensional being. Shortly after this, Psimon was recruited by the supervillain Doctor Light into joining his Fearsome Five, alongside inventor Gizmo, matter-transmutter Shimmer, amd her superstrong brother Mammoth. Together, they fought the New Teen Titans repeatedly, each time leading to their defeat.

Henry King was a psychologist fascinated with crime, spurred on by his mutant mental abilities. King eventually adopted the alias of Brain Wave and repeately battled the Justice Society of America. Whether with henchmen or alongside the Injustice Society, each time he met with defeat. Eventually, King married retired superheroine Merry Pemberton, and together they had a son in Henry Junior. Through Merry, Henry also had an equally evil nephew in Athur Pemberton who founded the Strike Force, and a heroic brother-in-law in Sylvester "Star-Spangled Kid" Pemberton.

Eventually, after his latest scheme as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains had failed, King sided with his son against fellow villain Ultra-Humanite. However, in the mental war between the two, Ultra projected a mental blast which extinguish Brain Wave's life. Shortly after this, Psimon as one of the recuited supervillains aboard Brainiac's spaceship attempted to destroy the android and his ally Lex Luthor, however it was Brainiac who struck last... slaying Psimon with another bolt of energy.