Monarchs of Motion vs Doctors of Darkness

Flash encountered a variety of colorful crooks. However, among the most deadly was the Duke of Darkness, the master villain known as Eclipso. Secretly the split personality of Doctor Bruce Gordon, a renowned solar scientist, Eclipso used his ebony gem to case shadows wherever he gazed through its prism. For several years, Eclipso wages a relentless war against his arch-enemy Gordon, very nearly defeating him scores of times. Instead, the duo kept tormenting one another, with neither finding lasting victory nor peace of mind knowing the other was ever present. Eventually, the villain's notoriety captured the attention of Flash's Justice League teammate, the Batman. During one battle between the two Dark Knights, Eclipso's fabricated body dematerialized and phased through Batman's physical form. This led to Batman capturing some of the essence of Eclipso himself, which would later link him across the Multiverse with Doctor Gordon's counterpart, Doctor Charles McNider

Doctor Mid-Nite, the heroic alter ego of Doctor McNider, did not have a fractured mind like his doppelgänger. Rather, he was a mentally well-adjusted individual, who aspired to help the helpless despite having a heinous handicap. Having been blinded in the prime of his career as a physician, McNider learned that his eyes were attuned to the darkness, allowing him to see in shadows while developing infrared goggles to see during daylight. He ended up a teammate of his Justice Society allies, the Flash and Batman. However, on one occasion, one his crimefighting partners turned him against the other in the heat of battle!

While Eclipso sought world dominating, leading his foes in pitched battle against the Justice League, Doctor Mid-Nite was manipulated with some of his teammates into attempting to subdue active members of the Justice Society. While Earth-One Batman tipped off his fellow Leaguers to their foe's modus operandi, the Earth-Two Batman in his Commissioner Bruce Wayne identity spurred his colleagues on into a conflict that sought to fracture the Society from within.

In each situation, a Scarlet Speedster opposed a Dark Doctor with varied results. Earth-One Flash was able to circumvent the darkness cast by Eclipso and contained him within a super-fast vortex. Earth-Two Flash was caught flat-footed when Doctor Mid-Nite caused him to make a tactical mistake, and slammed into the Batmobile. Eventually. Eclipso was captured and Bruce Gordon was freed of worry for one more day... while Doctor Mid-Nite, the Flash and their fellow heroes made peace with one another at the end of the day.

Hardwater’s Heroic Helping Hands

Hard water is said to be "high in dissolved minerals, largely calcium and magnesium" according to the USGG.gov website. When heated, hard water can form solid deposits of calcium carbonate in confined areas, such as within water heaters. However, moderate intake in this type of liquid can have healthy benefits on humans.

In the DC Multiverse, hard water has different physical properties in each universe it exists within. Two instances of this are in the parallel planes of existence known as Earths One and Two. And the individuals who manifested divergent abilities from this particular property as Mera and the golden age Flash.

On Earth-One, the queen of adjacent Dimension Aqua known as Queen Mera possessed the power to solidify water particulars into various objects. While other inhabitants of her native realm likewise possessed this skill, including her twin sister Hela, it was Mera who mastered it.

On Earth-Two, college student turned police scientist Jay Garrick accidentally inhaled hard water fumes overnight, causing his metabolism to become superhumanly fast. While his counterpart Barry Allen gained his similar powers from lighting striking a plethora of chemicals within his police lab, it was hard water that altered Jay. Both men became Flash, the Fastest Men of their worlds.

Jay's Garrick Research Laboratories experimented with hard water years later. The lab's scientists concealed this substance, which inadvertently unleashed their hyper-accelerated stored kinetic energy, which proved fast enough to even challenge Garrick as the Flash. Whether Mera's Earth-Two counterpart Queen Eeras ever employed hard water weaponry in Atlantis is also unknown.

Interestingly, the Water Sprites of Earth-One had hard water based powers similar to Mera, who were allies of she and her husband Aquaman. Qwsp and his Sprite brethren’s doppelgängers on Earth-Two were the Thunderbolts with lighnting-based powers derived from sparks of electricity similar to that which empowering a Barry-Flash. They were of the Thunderbolt Dimension, the Earth-Two version of Earth-One’s Dimension Aqua.*

* While on Earth-One, lightning energy translates into speed force and hard water translates into solidified constructs, on Earth-Two it is the reverse with hard water translating into speed force and lightning energy into solidified constructs.

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Tornado Terrapins of Twin Terras

Concurrent to the adventures of the original Flash, aka Jay Garrick, a similarly clad super-speedster had adventures on a parallel plane of existence. A lazy yet honorable shopkeeper named McSnurtle the Turtle was selected by a pair of alien entities known as Princes Highness and Lowness as a test case, to see if such an individual would use superpowers for good rather than evil. Adopting the alter ego of Terrific Whatsit, McSnurtle was the first record superhero of Earth-C, and like his counterpart the Flash of Earth-Two he chose to wore a near-identical uniform. Diverging from Garrick's suit, Whatzit's colorful costume had the chest emblem of TW instead of a lightning bolt. Additionally, this terrific terrapin was guided in his adventures by an "automatic conscience", an invisible and intangible turtle ally. 

On another world, Earth-C-minus, a scarlet speedster known as the Crash appeared on the scene. Mirroring the Justice League member the Flash of Earth-One, aka Barry Allen, the Crash was a founding member of the Justa Lotta Animals. he would eventually encounter McSnurtle's nephew, Timmy Joe Terrapin, who thanks to being struck by a radioactive meteor gained superspeed abilities. As Fastback, Timmy Joe joined Captain Carrot's Zoo Crew, and eventually encountered the Crash and his allies.

There are indications that the Crash and Whatzit had previously encountered one another, early in the former and late in the latter’s costumed careers. Undoubtedly this tale may well have mirrored that of Barry and Jay’s first and subsequent meetings. And it is quite possible that the Crash’s nephew may have eventually adopted the alias of Kid Crash, much as Barry’s nephew was Wally had as Kid Flash. Whether this Kid Crash and Fastback ever met is unknown.

Interestingly, a recurring nemesis of each Flash was a version of the Turtle, a criminal dressed as a terrapin.

Flash’s Fearsome Fourth-Dimensional Foes

The Fastest Men Alive faced many fearsome foes in their own reality. However, due to the nature of their superhuman speed, they were able to pierce dimensional barriers where they met larger-than-life adversaries… quite literally? Among these were the giants of other reality’s worlds.

Barry Allen pursued his missing girlfriend Iris West, who had piloted an experimental aircraft that ended up in a fourth dimensional land, where Lilliputians giants planned to conquer her home world. Barry as the Flash was able to outlast the mammoth menaces and stave off their invasion, while returning to Earth-One with Iris.

Something similar happened when Jay Garrick’s “Dimwit” friends Winky, Blinky and Noddy… who previously accessed the fourth dimension… opened the pathway to enter Fairyland. Within that realm, Jay as the Flash battled resident giants and eventually retrieved Joan and the Three Dimwits, returning all of them to Earth-Two.

These weren't the only hidden civilizations which the Flash of Two Worlds encountered during their many adventures. Barry-Flash met the inhabitants of Gorilla City on several occasions, as well as an underground society of humanoid birds, whom Gorilla Grodd had mentally controlled. The Earth-Two version of Gorilla City was once visited by Zatara, while that world's Feithera with its bird-people were a frequent destination of Hawkman and Hawkgirl.

And then there was the Secret City of Earth-Two, secluded within jungle foliage, populated by a self-replicating society led by an ego-centric leader whom Jay-Flash battled. His Earth-One counterpart, Multiplex, was a recurring adversary of Firestorm.

As the fourth dimension is a manifestation of time, this was something each Flash would traverse repeatedly throughout the years. They even developed technology, in Barry’s Cosmic Treadmill and Jay’s Time Vortex, which they utilized in future adventures. But those are tales for another, well, time!

Twice-Told-Tales: Damsels Deliriously Dangerous Dreams

Sometimes a dream can be so real, it blurs the line between fantasy and reality. Particularly within the DC Multiverse, certain dreams can perceive the veil between the everyday lives of its citizens during the daytime, and the Dream Dimension at night. Such was the case for the lady loves of the Fastest Men Alive, which caused the Flash of Two Earths to race to save their delirious damsels in distress.

Iris was pulled into relentless nightmares, leaving her bedridden in a hospital. Using his deductive mind, police scientist Barry Allen was able to ascertain her tenuous connection to a dream reality which he previously perceived while super-speeding while in his costumed identity. As the Flash, Barry vibrated into this Dream Dimension, battling an unknown entity which seemingly used Iris as bait to lure the Scarlet Speedster into his realm. Using his high velocity metabolism, Flash was able to project bolts of light which caused this entity to cease to exist, freeing Iris from its grip.

Joan was pulled into persistent nightmares, involving seeing herself in a dangerous scenario. In fact, she is seeing events experience by her former classmate Rita, which prompts her boyfriend Jay Garrick in his Flash identity to track the criminals down. Upon capturing these crooks, Flash frees Rita, who reveals her using of mental telepathy to project her thoughts into Joan's mind. A later occurrence of Joan being pulled into a Limbo Dimension mirroring the Dream Dimension by it's Lord was an attempt to draw in both Barry and Jay into his realm, with the goal of using the speedsters to free him from that alternate reality. Instead, it was Joan who was liberated from limbo along with husband Jay and Barry.

The Questionable Quandary of Q-Energy

Each dimensional universe within the Multiverse has its own distinct physics. Each have the four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force, and the strong force. Although not the strongest of these, gravity exerts the most influence over each cosmos, given its extensive reach and its negative mass. While gravity gives weight to objects due to mutual attraction, which is a curvature to space and time due uneven distribution of mass. This is true in our realm of existence, typically labeled Earth-Prime, and in that of Earth-One where the Justice League reside.

However, different universes manifest their own deviations on alternate forces which can affect these. Two typical forms of energy not classified under the fundamental four in Earth-One's dimension are Zeta-Beams and the Emerald Energy discovered by the Guardians of the Universe. In Earth-Two's dimension, alternate forms of energy are Nebuloid and Q-Energy, both with similar properties to their corresponding forces in their parallel planes of existence. However, a curious aspect of Q-Energy is its manipulation of mass in an unorthodox form, unseen in our reality.

This was first displaying when Barry Allen aka the Flash encountered beings of the 24th level of existence known as Gobdor. One of its residential rogues, Dro Dorno, employed a device harnessing Q-Energy which causes the Flash to become heavier. Something similar happened on Earth-Two decades earlier, when the villain known as the Thinker used his heavy-ray gun to increase the weight of his arch foe, Jay Garrick aka the Flash.

It was later revealed by scientist Lorraine Lewis that the destructive force she was using on Superman was Q-Energy from another "dimensional universe". Two years prior, that same energy had been brought over from Earth-Two's universe to Lewis' universe of Earth-One by Princess Ramia when she sought the assistance of the Green Lanterns of both Earths, and also been projected from the sword of Ramia’s perverted pursuer Prince Peril.

This energy lay dormant in the taxi cab Goitrude she had piloted with future husband Doiby Dickles, until it was unleashed by the former Lantern named Sinestro. He would also encounter Q-Energy within the Anti-Matter Universe of Qward, which the Weaponers of Qward used to empower their Thunderer force’s Qwa-Bolts weapons.

Years later, King Kull of Earth-S generated this same Q-Energy via a cloud-creating device, which he used to sink the Earth-Two continent of Atlantis once more. The Earth-One Superman, not connecting that the energy contained in this device was the same he encountered earlier with Lewis, was confused as to how a cloud could increase Atlantis' mass... as this isn't possible according to his world's physics. Q-Energy exerts temporary effects when used by Dorno, Ramia, Lewis, and Sinestro on Earth-One... and far more long-lasting, wide-scale effects in its native reality of Earth-Two.

Twice-Told-Tales: Flash Forward Futures

Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, as the Fastest Men Alive of their respective parallel planets, were able to breach the barrier of time itself! While capable of doing this unaided, Barry developed the Cosmic Treadmill to help him pinpoint locations in time and space. Based on this technology, Jay would later refine this device and create the Time Vortex.

After marrying Iris West, Barry discovered that she had in fact been born in 2945. When nuclear war became evident between Earth-East and Earth-West, scientist Eric Russell and his wife sent their daughter Iris back in time to the 20th century using a Time-Vibrator. In that era, she would be raised by Professor Ira and Nadine West, without knowledge of her true origins. At age 25, finding a locket sent back with her when she was a baby, she unearthed the truth, and the shock caused her internal vibrations to destabilize, returning her to 2970. There she reunited with her birth parents.

Decades earlier, Jay as the Flash brought two young friends Ted and Sue Bell of his to the Smithsonian Institute in Washingon D.C. As the kids expressed curiousity as to what a musuem in the future would look like. Using his superspeed powers, Flash retrieved a few vessels from the year 2948, then brought all three of them to that time. There, he learned that Earth-Two had been split in half when a cosmic bomb was unleashed due to a war between two sides of the planet.

Barry as the Flash traveled to Iris' native century, he discovered a similiar conflict brewing, as the eastern half of Earth-One's City-Rotunda was being invaded, led by Sirik the Supreme. His goal was to claim Iris as his bride, which the Flash was able to thwart after defeating Sirik's army and then their leader himself. Likewise, Jay was able to overcome Folda Rithel of the barren half of Earth-Two, who led his forces to the city of Astra in order to use the museum's weapons while slaying its curators who knew of these deadly devices. 

It seems that these were alternate futures of Earths One and Two, as the main-timeline 30th century on the former was protected by the Legion of Super-Heroes while being more civilized and stable, while the latter was likewise protected by the Space Legion and was a whole world. 

These alternate futures later merged with the Legions’, as seen by Barry and Iris’ twins Don and Dawn aka the Tornado Twins, and the appearance of these future security guards such as Cyclone who aided the Justice Society during their Bomb Defense Formula case.

While Barry perished while saving the Multiverse before his children were born, thereby never meeting them, Jay’s trip to the future allowed him to see his possible future descendant. The man whom Jay spoke to, leading Astra’s protectives forces, bore a resemblance to the Flash. And as he dressed similar to Cyclone, this was probably one-and-the-same man.

Determined Dimensional Damsels Face Fleet Footed Foes

The 7th Dimensional worlds known as Alkomar and Sapphire were the homes of a pair of bun-haired brunettes*, bringing with them dire consequences for entering the 3rd dimension of twin Earths.

Dorolla Kon was a benevolent scientist, Star Sapphire a malevolent monarch. Dorolla possessed superhuman speed while visiting Earth-One, Sapphire projected reality altering effects while invading Earth-Two. One sought knowledge, the other conquest, yet both threatened the realities of each Earth, when they met the Flash!

While Kon’s visit to Earth-One was merely to explore a new plane of existence, she noticed two strange effects. First, she gained super speed in the third dimension, Yet when she slowed down a shimmering effect occurred causing explosions. After developing a friendship with Flash and his alter ego Barry Allen, she parted ways with him when the diagnosed the problem. She would return later while tracking a criminal genius from Alkomar who stole speed from others. Together with Flash, she was able to apprehend the rogue.

As for Star’s visit to Earth-Two, this was with the intent of subjugating the women under her rulership while removing men from that world. Her reality altering effects were various, although much stronger in her dimensional plane. With the assistance of fellow scientist of Jay Garrick, Maria Flura, the Flash banished Sapphire. She would soon return, once more failing in her goals and vanishing indefinitely.

This Star Sappire was, like her counterpart Remoni-Notra who joined the Secret Society of Super-Villians of Earth-One, was a powerful femme fatale. Unlike her, however, this original version seem isolated from her people...where were the inhabitants of her seventh dimensional world? Did they flee following her tyranny, or had she wiped them out like she attempted doing to those on Earth-Two? Regardless, her desolote world was a pale reflection of the vibrant society that was on Alkomar, a universe away!

And then, there was another bun-headed beauty, a princess in a galaxy far... far away. But her tale is one to be told, on another day.

* Also allegedly originating from the 7th dimension is the matter transmuter named Roma, who pursued Jimmy Olsen during her two visits to Earth-One. Whether she was actually a native of that dimension is speculative, as she was a criminal whom the Interdimensional Patrol tracked down after she committed multiple homicides across four dimensions.

Hidden Hemispheres of Hyperspace

Hyperspace is defined as four or more dimensions folded upon itself, creating a multi-dimensional universal plane of existence. 

On one occasion, four Krptonian prisoners of the Phantom Zone discovered the means to reach a planet with unusual properties in an adjacent dimension they also labeled an "alternate universe"*. From this world, they launched deadly robotic Anachroids to wreak havok in space and time, until the Superman and Flash of Earth-One tracked them to their source and defeated these creatures and their masters. This trans-dimensional world may have been the same as Rokyn, where the Kandorians resided once Superman and Supergirl enlarged them.

This world had a counterpart in an "alternate universe"* of Earth-Two, a psuedo-Pluto which the Spectre had been exiled to, wherein the inhabitants spoke a language derived from that of the Andromedan Galaxy, the same galaxy where Krypton once resided! Could these have been long lost Kryptonian refugees? The domed city on this Pluto mirrored the once bottled city of Kandor. After quelling a civil war, Spectre later returned to this world, exiling Nazi agents there, no doubt out of revenge for their treatment of he and his Justice Society allies.

In face, six of his Justice Society colleagues had been simultaneously captured and also exiled into hyperspace via experimental rocketships by enemy Nazi agents. Hawkman was sent to a Saturn-like world named Arkania, a militant people like those of the extra-dimensional world Llorth, whom the Earth-One Hawkman once encountered. Later, the younger Hawkman traveled on twice through another dimensional warp to the world of Illoral, a mirror image of the Wingworld that Wonder Woman of the Justice Society visited more than once. Queen Desira and her daughter Princess Eve of Wingworld had counterparts in Dwyanna Ral of Llorth and Queen Maya of Floria.

The Atom of Earth-One and Doctor Mid-Nite of Earth-Two likewise visited other-dimensional worlds in Floria and Faux-Neptune (the Atom of Earth-Two visited a hyperspacial version of Mars like that of Mars II settled by the Martian Manhunter and his people in Earth-One's universe). 

Fellow Justice Society members Starman and Sandman visited worlds resembling Jupiter and Uranus with strange substance sentients as had the Metal Men of Earth-One , such as the alien Robot-spider Queen and minions of Metalus 5. Jimmy Olsen of Earth-One and Johnny Thunder of Earth-Two likewise ventured to alien dimensions on the same occasions as their peers Superman and Spectre above.

* The term "alternate universe" used for worlds visited by the individual Justice Leaguers and Justice Socialites as mentioned is different from that of planets in a "parallel universe". The alternate universe simply means an adjacent dimension attached to either the Earth-One or Earth-Two universe, respectively.

Merging of Doppelgängers: The Cosmic Treadmill's Strange Power

The Cosmic Treadmill was a device invented by Barry “Flash” Allen powered by cosmic energy. This device enabled Flash to travel through time, with positive radiation drawing him into the future and negative radiation drawing him back into the past, coordinated by pulsations emanating from its cosmic ray-powered clock. 

During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Barry along with fellow Justice Leaguers and members of the Justice Alliance of Earth-D constructed a larger version of the Threadmill. The became an interdimensional transport for millions of inhabitants of that world, which were being destroyed by the anti-matter wave destroying the Multiverse. Working with his counterpart Tanaka Rei, Barry created another treadmill, with the ability to merge doppelgängers!

Barry shared this invention with his nephew Wally "Kid Flash" West and his counterpart Jay "Flash" Garrick of Earth-Two. Jay later created his own version of the Threadmill, the Time Vortex. This mechanism similarly allowed for guided time travel, as well as fabricating period-specific clothing for individuals using it. Star-Spangled Kid suspected it manipulated cosmic energy like his  cosmic converter belt and Starman's cosmic rod.

While on Earth-Prime, Barry created another treadmill allowing him to return to Earth-One. Now realizing it bend time and space, upon Tanaka's suggestion they modified the Earth-D version. Those individuals of Earth-D travelling through its portal merged with their "genetic doppelgängers" on Earth-One. Of course, some like Barry and Tanaka weren't genetic counterparts, and so would've remained separate.

A similar occurence happened years earlier, when the Aquaman of Earth-One encountered the city of Necrus, which shifted from its native universe to another from time-to-time. On this occasion, the beam that brought Necrus to his world also struck the King of the Seas, causing a doppelgänger of his appear to be splitting off from him. In fact, this was the long lost Aquaman of Earth-Two, whom Arthur Curry's mind was connected with during this process. Together they defeated Mecrus' leader Mongo and his evil forces attempting to invade Atlantis and attack the surface world, although at the cost of the second Aquaman's life.

The device causing Necrus and the golden age Aquaman to shift from universe to universe was a "dimensional time reflex" machine created by a scientist from a doomed world in space. While merged, the Aquaman pulled into Earth-One's universe was mentally tied to that planet's native Aquaman, as would the Earth-D citizens with the Earth-One twins.

Even the transmatter cubes, created by the Justice League and Justice Society to travel to one another's worlds annually, was used to this effect. When Earth-One was invaded by the creature known as Krogg, who had resided in the Limbo realm between universes for centuries. the Kal-El and Kal-L used the device to become a composite Superman. Just as they doubled their own power, the two felt each other's minds slowly become one.

Something similar probably occured with the Freedom Fighters of Earth-Two, recruited by Uncle Sam to protect Earth-X. Each member may have merged with their Earth-X doppelgänger, which had near identical lives to their own (aside from not being superheroes themselves) and allowing them to carry on their wartime adventures chronicled in Quality Comics.

Perhaps the most widespread effect of this occuring was when the alien Creator2 tried to merge Earth-Two and Earth-One together using the android Red Tornado's dimension-travelling ability. On this occasion, all of the worlds' citizens met their doppelgängers of he other world for a brief period.

What effect this merging had on the minds and bodies of those of Earth-One who now gained the lives and experiences of their Earth-D doppelgängers in unknown.

Twice-Told-Tales: Sinister Scarlet Spacemen vs Scarlet Speedsters

The International Fair was the desired destination of thousands of spectators on Earth-One, and of one sinister spaceman. On the distant planet of Argon, Queen Tatania ordered her best scientists to craft a creation blending cybernetic synthesis of biological genetic and mutational components. Her goal was to create a superhero modeled after the Justice League of America. Although successful in  harnessing the various superhuman abilities of the League members, the Hybrid-android mysteriously went on a destructive rage. 

After leaving portions of Argon devastated, Queen Tatania ordered her minions to use the bio-ray to immobilize then examine the android. Determining it was a destructive menace, the Queen ordered it to be jettisoned into space. However, the craft coincidentally landed on Earth-One, with unwitting witnesses to its arrival unleashing the creature from its rocket-powered cage.

Shortly thereafter, police scientist Barry Allen and his girlfriend reporter Iris West were among those who first saw the Hybrid-android, adopting the blended form of the Flash and Martian Manhunter. Allen transformed into the Flash to combat the being, now causing destruction at the fair. Joined by Martian Manhunter, the pair tried several times at various Fair venues to defeat the android, each time proving unsuccessful in their valiant attempts. What would stop it?

On Earth-Two, decades earlier, three friends of police scientist Jay Garrick and his girlfriend reporter Joan Williams presented them with their newest invention, a flying submarine! The next day, those three men, Winky, Blinky and Noddy, along with Joan and Jay's alter ego the Flash boarded this vessel on its inaugural voyage. What they discovered was that this submarine was capable of travelling through space, and even capable of burrowing through planets. Captive on this vessel, the five friends were carried along to the planet of Mars-Two. However, this Mars was different from one that Jay previously discovered in an earlier tale involving Kriglo spider-like Martians.

Once arriving on this variation of Mars, Flash and his fellows discovered that due to the different atmospheric conditions, they possessed superhman abilities on this new world. The red skinned Martians' leader Jed Bar decided to capture Winky Blinky and Noddy to study their abilities. This led to bitter disappointment, as the alien scientists soon determined that the three were mentally deficient and unsuitable as test subjects. However, the Flash tracked them down and helped the trio escape their captives, then return to the submarine as it was about to launch once more. With Joan, the men left behind this Mars and its inquisitive residents.

As for the Argonians and their android, Martian Manhunter learned of the origin of the Hybrid, and recruited Hawkgirl to pretend to be its Queen, When this scheme failed, it was the appearance of the real Queen Tatania that stopped the android's actions. She accomplished this by apologizing for her previous rejection of its affection for her, which led to it leaving Argon. Exploding into atoms, the Hybrid-android ceased to exist, although soon after another named Super-Duper took its place to taunt and traumatize the Justice League. No corresponding Hybrid-android was developed by the red Martians to battle the Justice Society.

World's (2nd) Finest Heroes: The Flash and Green Lantern

The trendsetters of a dynamic duo of differing backgrounds forming a lasting bond through a series of adventures together would be Superman and Batman. They were the World's Finest Heroes, with the Earth-One pair having their tales told in hundreds of published pages, while their Earth-Two counterparts mostly had their's told via radio form, with occasional published stories.

And there would be other prominent couplings of costumed crimefighters... on Earth-One Green Lantern and Green Arrow traveled across America when not crusading together as part of the Justice League of America. Another example is Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy, each originally a solo mystery man, who early in their careers teamed up and then together joined the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Each worthy of note.

Then there was the off-and-on meetups of each world's Flash and Green Lantern. On Earth-One, the pair had already met and worked together in the Justice League, however through a chance encounter and later reunion in their civilian identities, the two superheroes fought off alien invasions from the Spectarns and the Myrmitons (whose counterparts King Rigor and the Seal Men threatened Earth-Two when battling Wonder Woman). These warring extraterrestrials used mind control and power disruption to attempt to manipulate the duo. The heroes next joined forces versus the Mikrids then the sinister supervillains T.O. Morrow and Major Disaster each battled the pair. For awhile, the Scarlet Speedster and the Emerald Gladiator would lend support to one another twice a year versus various threats... from criminals to amoral aliens, sometimes aided by Green Lantern's pal Thomas Kalmaku.

On Earth-Two, while the Flash and Green Lantern were teammates of the Justice Society of America for decades, as to the adventures where just the two were involved, these were few and far between. They did have a number of meet-and-greets throughout the early to mid 1940s, displayed on the covers of Comics Cavalcade, although these always involved a third hero... or rather heroine... in Wonder Woman. And during these tales, they would be racing one another (which led to their battling Solomon Grundy) and then performing in a special circus (when they faced the Evil power of former boxer Joe Morgan). Most of these instances were lighthearted and inconsequential.

Interestingly, in the spring of 1944, Flash's old foe the Thinker escaped from prison, and hatched a complicate cacophony of capers. Having inexplicably developed a time machine, the Thinker used it to bring first dinosaurs and then other threats from various centuries to the modern day. Pinning these distracting events on the trio of troublemakers Winky, Blinky and Noddy, the Thinker as Professor Feend played mind games with the trio. Making them think they were fabricating a fanciful story in real life, this would then occupy his old enemy the Flash while he commenced a new crime wave. During this adventure, extradimensional creatures appeared to disrupt the tale, perhaps pulled in by the experimental time machine itself. Yet despite all these events occuring simultaneously, the Flash was still able to uncover the culptrit... while in the background Green Lantern and his pal Doiby were overseeing events from a distance. Apparently, the Society members were "hands off" in the affairs of each other's cities, unlike the Leaguers.

In fact, the only other adventure they both were involved in was after the Flash defeated his frequent foe the Thorn, with the villianess reverting to her alter ego of Rose Canton. Seeing that she needed treatment for her mental health condition, Flash recruited Green Lantern into transporting Rose to Paradise Island, where Wonder Woman and her people could help her.

Tale Tales of the Liar's Club

We've heard that superheroes fight for "truth and justice". However, there are times when these masked men and maidens have to conceal their identities, and have to fib while doing so.

An oddity about the 1940s was the prevalence of a specific type of club that didn't always bring out the best in those of which it was a part. This Club apparently had several branches in various cities across America. The driving principal of these associations was that their participants tell the tallest tales to each other, with the goal of one of them winning a prized award! In fact, the name they went by was the Liar's Club! They even were such the rage in the 1940's, that by the early to mid 1950's, there were Junior Liar's Clubs, of which Lois and Clark Kent's niece Susie Tompkins was a member!

The first mention of a Liar's Club was the one that Ted Knight was inducted into in April 1942. During that first meeting, Ted admitted that he was Starman, then the other members began making outlandish claims that Starman would kill them in various manners. After the club's chairman Vardon is said to have died, these other members seem to also fall prey to the lies they told. Framed for these attempted on the lives of the Club's members, Starman eventually discovered that it was Vardon who orchestrated his "death" and that of the others to conceal the fact that he stole money from them.

Jay Garrick was the next Justice Society member to join the Keystone City branch of the Liar's Club. He enjoyed this activity so much that he frequented the club more than just their annual gatherings. He attended his first meeting in August 1943, then winter of 1944, followed by at least two visits to the Club in 1945, 1946 and 1947.

Among the true tales that Jay told that earned him the Liar's trophy, given their outrageous nature, were such adventures as Flash travelling to 2443, a winged horse, racing his old foe Eel Madden through time, a fourth-dimensional portal, a hidden enclave of sand-beings, and so on. In all but one occasion, Jay won the coveted award, much to the chagrin of his lying teammates. Perhaps Jay felt a release from the pressure of concealing his dual identity, and such Club gatherings provided him some opportunities to... well... brag a little.

In March 1944, the Metropolis branch of the Liar's Club brought Superman into their competition with a tall tale of how he met Hercules in ancient Greece, and trains the former weakling to be a powerhouse like he was. This is an early version of what became known as "Imaginary Stories" told about Superman.

While not as prominent on Earth-One, there were occasional mentions of such groups, like the Deep Six Liar's Club which Dane Dorrance and his fellow Sea Devils tried to join in the 1960s. Their tales seemingly stretched credulity too much, it seemed. 

Years later, Batman and Robin of Earth-One battled the Mad Hatter in Gotham City's Liars Club. Then, Roy Raymond would encounter a variation of this called the Super-Whopper Club. But these were rare exceptions on that Earth, compared to those on Earth-Two.

It seems that the Keystone City and Metropolis Liar's Club of Earth-Two were legitmate if morally ambiguous alternatives to the Rogues Gallery of Central City and the Anti-Superman Gang of Metropolis on Earth-One. The latter two organizations worked to defeat their mutual foes the Flash and Superman, whereas the former two associations sought to expose the lies of the Flash and Superman's alter egos.

Scarlet Speedsters’ Spouses Seeking Scoops

From the start, Barry Allen and Jay Garrick were attached to the love of their lives, who helped them both in their civilian and costumed careers. These two ladies, Iris West and Joan Garrick, didn’t appear on the surface like counterparts. But like their lives, the Flash of two worlds, they also had striking similarities.

One superficial example is that Iris is a brunette while Joan is a blond, although Iris’s boyfriend Barry is blond and Joan’s boyfriend Jay is brunette. A more substantial difference was that Jay trusted Joan with his secret identity since the beginning of life as the Flash. whereas even when married Barry still kept his alter ego a secret from Iris until their first anniversary!

Iris was born in the 30th century, sent to the 20th century by her birth parents to live with adopted parents in order to protect her from a savage future.   Joan was part of a large family, with her father Major Williams being in the military, along with having several notable cousins. Iris was raised along with her adopted siblings by her step-parents Professor Ira West and his wife Nadine, while also having a nephew in Wally "Kid Flash" West. Despite these large families, the closest to each of these ladies was their husbands, whom they stuck with through thick and thin.

Joan dabbled in journalism, when she wasn't purchasing near worthless public utility companies, prior to her marriage to Jay. Iris was well known as a relentless reporter of Central City's Picture News, even after she and Barry wed.

Both women suffered multiple attacks from foes of the Flashs, although for Iris it was mainly from her recurring stalker in Eobard Thawne aka Professor Zoom. Although Joan and Jay hid Iris during one such encounter, shortly thereafter Zoom had seemingly slain Iris for spurning his demented love, although 30th century science restored her and reunited her with Barry. Joan was nearly trapped in dimensional Limbo by the Lord of Limbo, until Jay and Barry teamed up to retrieve her and vanquish the malevolent monarch.

Through the years, despite being separated by their home universes, Iris and Joan formed a last long distance bond, no doubt strengthened by the weighty responsibility they shared... as the wives of the Flash!

Scarlet Speedster Subdue Sinister Scops

The Owl Gang consisted of a collaboration of crooks with a specialized gimmick. First, they were each equipped with infrared projectors, enabling each gangster to see in darkness. Second, they had specialized radiance emitters that unleash unusually brilliant light upon their foes. Yet despite this technology, these sinister scops were no match for Barry Allen’s alter ego of the Flash, when they terrorized Central City of Earth-One.

Over on the parallel planet of Earth-Two, that world’s Flash aka Jay Garrick along with his allies in the Justice Society and Barry’s visiting teammates in the Justice League quickly dispatched a similar cadre of crooks in York City. Known as the Horned Owl Gang, what isn’t known is whether they were equally equipped as were their counterparts. Regardless, both Gangs were one-hit wonders of the early 1970s. Maybe they’ll reappear on TV?

Crimson Comets' Lost Lady Loves

Iris West Allen and Joan Williams Garrick were well known for their legendary romances with the Flashes of Two Worlds, as were other examples of legendary loves such as Superman and Lois Lane, Batman and Catwoman, Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. But for every heartfelt coupling, there were also tales of tragic relationships. 

Both Hal Jordan and Alan Scott had a litany of loveaffairs such as with Carol Danvers and Irene Miller, Olivia Reynolds and Molly Maynne. Alan and Molly found their way back to each other after decades apart. Sadly, Hal and Carol were torn apart by their alter egos.

While Joan and Jay Garrick, the original Flash, remained together to have long lives in love... the modern Flash, Barry Allen, lost his wife Iris when his arch foe Professor Zoom murdered her. After dealing with his loss, Barry fell in love with neighbor Fiona Webb. However, before they could wed, Zoom once more tried to ruin Allen's love life. In order to protect his bride, Flash in the spur of the moment accidentally slain Zoom. As a result, Barry disappeared while his alter ego tried to clear his name of the murder charge against the Flash.

The Fiona of a parallel world, Gloria Giles, was the fiancee of Hank Heywood, until Hank adopted the alias of Steel when his life was saved by her father's bio-retardant formula. Gaining superhuman abilities including enhanced speed, Steel became an early "mystery man" of Earth-Two, as superheroes were then known.

Objecting to Steel's exploits and Hank's military career, Professor Giles insisted that Hank sever his ties with Gloria. Honoring Giles' dying wish, he and Gloria parted.

Other romances, while sincere and on firm foundations, were torn apart by circumstances beyond the couple's control. Such was the case for John Smith, the super-fast android known as Red Tornado, and his unemployment advisor turned girlfriend Kathy Sutton. Seeing how lost John seemed, in fact he had been stranded on her Earth-One when he saved his native Earth-Two from a cosmic calamity, Kathy formed a bond that touched Smith's artificial heart. Over the years, these two would draw close together, only be be pulled apart due to the Tornado's heroic career. This first occured when Red Tornado was temporarily destroyed while facing the alien Nekron, although once he is restored to synthetic life by the omnious Construct, Smith seeks out Kathy once more. Revealing his true nature, she accepts him and together they adopt the orphaned middle-eastern girl,Traya. For a few years, the three form a familial bond, until the Crisis on Infinite Earths, when the Anti-Monitor once more has Red Tornado destroyed, in order to unlease the Tornado Tyrant inside him. In some alternate futures, he once more becomes John Smith and reunited with Kathy.

Then there was the Earth-Two version, Kathy Kulhammer, daughter of a congressman. Although romantically attached to publisher Edward Runyon, this Kathy began to form feelings for Steel. However, before she could meet his alter ego Hank, Heywood was pulled into a secret mission in Europe which kept him away for years. Eventually, Steel left for Earth-One, while this Kathy presumably continued her relationship with Runyon.

The Flash No Like The Fastest Women Alive

Around the same period of time, both Maids of Might seemingly showed up the Fastest Men Alive, and tension was definitely thick in the air. Blame the crotchety demeanor on each Flash's part due to their Midwestern sensibilities, and not wanting the be showed up by the fairer sex. 

 

Barry-Flash had met Supergirl on a few occasions, sometimes in the company of her older cousin Supergirl and even when she teamed up the Justice League to save him from mental mastermind Despero. However, at this point Barry-Flash and fellow Leaguer the Atom were on the trail of a crimelord, and ended up getting drawn into a trap set forth by their old foe the wand-wielding T.O. Morrow on an alien world. Supergirl first seemed the irritating interloper yet later showed her worth helping protect the Leaguer's ladies Iris Allen and Jean Loring.

 

Meanwhile, Power Girl had just helped the Justice Society combat mental mastermind Brain Wave after having just debuted as a superheroine, and tried to earn the respect of her new teammate Jay-Flash by challenging him to a race, one that he won. However, she proved her worth to him and the other Socialites by playing a part in the defeat of the axe-wielding Vulcan.

 

An interesting aside, first Supergirl and then Barry-Flash would be forever connected when both perished defending the Multiverse during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Something their counterparts Power Girl and Jay-Flash forevermore appreciated.

 

Flash Foils Freezing Foils

Len Snart aka Captain Cold was among the most frequent of adversaries for the Earth-One Flash. The freezing rays of his cold gun were diametrically opposed by the heated friction generated by his fleet-footed foes. On his own and alongside other supervillains, with his fellow Rogues Gallery allies in Central City and as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, the Captain and the Crimson Comet battled dozens of times... with the Flash coming out on top each time.

Even side-by-side with another formidable foil of the Flash like the Pied Piper, with his hyper-sonic flute, Captain Cold was unable to permanently vanquish his enemy.

This mirrored his doppleganger, the cold-creating crook known as the Icicle, who was primarily a persistent pest for the Green Lantern on Earth-Two. During the second appearance of the Injustice Society while battling their opposite numbers the Justice Society, the Flash of that world finally had an opportunity to face off against the Icicle. And the weapon of choice he used to defeat the cryogenic crook? Why the violin bow employed by its owner, the Fiddler, who's hyper-sonic violin was used to great effect repeatedly versus the Flash.

Joar Mahkent aka the Icicle would decades later have a rematch with the Flash, once more as a member of the Injustice Gang, while Captain Cold would meet the Earth-One Green Lantern as well during his encounters with the Justice League throughout the years.

The reason why Captain Cold wasn’t an initial enemy of Green Lantern as well as why Icicle and the Flash weren’t opposite numbers, was simply due to circumstances that led these felons to their costumes careers. The vessel which carried Makhent to America arrived at Gotham City harbor, the city where Green Lantern of Earth-Two operated. And Snart was a local criminal incarcerated in Central City, where the Flash of Earth-One resided.

And in fact, counterparts Captain Cold and Icicle would work together with Minister Blizzard, unknowingly used as pawns by the Shadow-Thief to plunge Earth-One into a deep freeze. Those plans were put on ice, with the frigid foes being put on ice by the timely intervention of the Justice League, with Flash and Green Lantern among them.

Flash of Two Worlds: Wherefore Art Thou Wives Part 6

The final Flash of Two Worlds teamup picked up on a recurring theme from a previous meeting between the pair of Scarlet Speedsters, the loss of one of their wives. Only whereas previously it was Iris West Allen that was the damsel in distress, typically at the hands of the Professor Zoom, in this instance it was Joan Williams Garrick who was in need of a rescue. As with Iris, Joan would be plucked from the 20th century, taken far across time and space due to the mad revenge of an unorthodox Flash rogue. Only instead of Zoom's Reverse Flash alter ego, it was the machinations originating from the Lord of Limbo that drew the Fastest Men of twin Earths to his domain. One may ask, with what sinister motive lay behind the Lord's actions, and would such actions lead to a fatal finale for Mrs. Garrick? Not if her husband and his counterpart had anything to say about it!

It began when Barry-Flash had a strange dream, wherein he envisioned Joan falling off a cliff yet being retrieved by aliens whom he recognized from a previous adventure. As it turned out, when Barry last faced Zoom after the apparent death of his wife Iris, he left his foe adrift amidst the timestream while seeking away back to his native era. Instead, Barry-Flash arrived in the Lord of Limbo's dimension, and successfully escaped it leaving behind an angry adversary. Hence, the Lord learned that the way to escape his own realm was through his foe's superspeed abilities.

After heading to Earth-Two, Barry-Flash accompanied Jay-Flash in his search for his wife, thinking the culprits behind her capture were the Ravager gang. When, thanks to information from Jay's ally Doctor Fate, it turned out to be Fate's longtime foe the Lord of Limbo, the Scarlet Speedsters ventured to the Lord's land and saved not only Joan but his alien captives as well. As a result, in the end each Flash reunited with his wife, proving that no obstacle could be formed to separate their true love!

Flash of Two Worlds: Wherefore Art Thou Wives Part 5

After Professor Zoom, in his Reverse-Flash identity, journeyed with his cronies on the Secret Society of Super-Villains to various parallel planets in the Multiverse... including Earth-Two... he returned to his native Earth-One to once more grab the attention of Iris. However, she continued to spurn his advances, leading to his attempt on her life at a masquerade party she attending with her husband Barry "the Flash" Allen. Despite this seemingly being her untimely end, in fact due to her originating from the 30th century her parents of that era used advanced science to emulate her mental impressions, implanting them in a cloned body that would one day be reunited with her true love. However, before this was to happen, Flash would have to face off versus Zoom both immediately after Iris' apparent demise (when his own time travel device ended up sending the Flash to a limbo where he would meet its evil Lord, who would himself complicate the lives of Earth-Two's Flash and his wife later) and then several months later when Zoom attempted to replicate his nefarious feat upon Allen's fiancée Fiona Webb. 

On that occasion, it was Zoom who perished when his arch-foe out of self-defense protected Fiona at the cost of the Professor's existence. After leaving Fiona on the alter, quite literally, the Flash came to realize that he had to face justice for the slaying of his opposite opponent, even though it was unintentional. And, in fact, it was Iris herself who with the aid of an unsuspecting attorney successfully defended the Scarlet Speedster from the spurious charges lodged against him. Once the couple left the 20th century for Iris' time, they were able to settle down... albeit only briefly before the Flash gave his life during the Crisis on Infinite Earths for all Earths! But not before they would conceive twin children, Don and Dawn, who would carry on the Flash's tradition.

And yet, in-between the time Barry-Flash thought he lost his love and when he learned she was awaiting him elsewhen, he had to intervene in his counterpart's life, as Jay-Flash faced an equally dire threat facing his wife, Joan! For this, we come full circle in our final Flash of Two Worlds team-up, when once more an old ally of the Scarlet Speedsters was needed to save a wife of a Flash!