Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination*, a once secret society of former supervillians conspiring together to rule their world, the planet known as Earth-One. Consisting of the self-appointed H.I.V.E. master and seven other criminal scientists, these mysterious men each met with crippling loss when unrelated superheroes defeated them and ruined their sinister schemes. Originally intent on overturning political bodies in various nations, they altered their agenda once they gained scientific advances derived from a captured alien. They then sought to eliminate those individuals they deemed were the greatest obstacles to their goals, costumed crusaders such as those they previously faced.
When the the wife of the organization's Master killed him, she assumed his role as the H.I.V.E. Mistress, and employed the master assassin Deathstoke... after his son failed to carry out his contracted mission... to destroy the New Teen Titans. Instead, the Titans were able to overwhelm H.I.V.E.'s undersea base, leading the Mistress to kill her seven allies, then herself. Some of these were replacements for the original seven lieutenants to the Master, who previously died.
Soon after H.I.V.E. disappeared, another international team was formed, although they were dedicated towards good rather than evil. The Global Guardians were formed by the African champion known as Doctor Mist, assembling sixteen superheroes from various countries around Earth-One, although only appearing a few times. A version of the Guardians appeared on the parallel planet of Earth-Two.
On that world, a similar yet different organization formed from a government Brain Trust in 1930. Led by the renowned mathematician Elwood Napier, this group was reformed in secret into his Binary Brotherhood. Located in the secluded countryside of Napier's Estate, these geniuses together hatched a scheme, combining their knowledge to use in the creation of an android "alien" along with a flying eye spaceship. Under the guise of an extra-terrestrial invasion, this ruse had the goal of uniting the antagonistic nations together during the early days of World War II, to fight a common threat. One of the scientists, Anton Hastor, usurped control of the android Akhet and the ship along with its passengers, and was opposed by the All-Star Squadron. With help from his arch-foe Hawkman and the hero's wife Hawkgirl, Hastor was defeated. So ended their planet’s version of the Global Guardians.
However, the remnants of the Binary Brother reformed less than a decade later into Eliminations, Inc. This organization used their technological advances from their flying eye into the creation of a satellite headquarters for the Justice Society of America, with the intent of making it a death trap for the team. While this plot failed, a subsequent one involving political manipulations caused the disbanding of the Society, with most superheroes retiring.
One question still remained, for both of these high-tech gangs. The criminal scientists of H.I.V.E., and the scientists of the Binary Brotherhood (two or three of whom Hawkman and Hawkgirl previously met)... who were these men? Might we have seen them, in earlier tales???
* H.I.V.E. leaders wore their trademark hoods and robes, like the Earth-Two Phantom Empire members, while the Empire’s Earth-One correlating group known as Powers Investigations were plain clothed like (the Earth-Two H.I.V.E.) Eliminations, Inc.
