Twice-Told-Tales: The Forgotten Faces in the Crowd

Several once prominent adventurers found the need to assemble in order to overturn the malevolent machinations of Vandal Savage. Assisting Superman in protecting Earth-One from Savage, these heroes formed the core of the team known in the press as the Forgotten Heroes.

Consisting of Cave Carson the subterranean explorer, Congo Bill the explorer and his Congorilla alter ego, Rip Hunter the Time Master, Rick Carson the military mastermind, Dolphin the mystery maiden of the seas, and Animal Man... they were led by the enigmatic Immortal Man. Little did they know that their evil counterpart, Forgotten Villains, would cause them more problems.

For the Heroes and Villains, their twins on this parallel Earth were as follows:

• Cave Carson's was Cotten Carver, explorers of the depths below
• Immortal Man was from Earth-Two while Earth-One's T.O. Morrow traded places with him.
• Congo Bill had a twin in the Whistler Will, although Will never met his world's Congorilla.
• Rip Hunter's twin was Rip Carter, each a time traveler part of crusading quartets.
• Rick Flagg's was Red Dugan, both military men who had several covert adventures
• Dolphin's was Sontag Heyna, each bold blondes from the seas below who occasionally came to the surface
• Mister Poseidon's was Doctor Doombie, with technology allowing them to shrink their foes...one a foe of the Sea Devils... the other battled Sandman.
• Faceless Hunter and his fellow Saturnians’s were the “Space Men of Mars”, these gigantic aliens matching might with Superman and Doctor Fate.
• Atom Master's was Karat, counterparts who wore matter altering helmets.
• Kraknow's was Narkran, each evil elements from 18th century Poland terrorizing modern day
• Ultivac's was Angrak, each mammoth mechanized men of the 20th century employed by others.
• Enchantress aka June Moone's is Miss America aka Joan Dale of the Freedom Fighters, each matter manipulators.
• Chris KL's and his allies the Venusian named Jero and the Martian named Halk were future reporter/explorer Astra and her alien adversaries from two other worlds in her solar system.

Malevolent Mental Masterminds Manhandle Menacing Madmen

Lucian Crawley and Anton Carver were men of mental might, belying their short lived careers as wanna be superheroes. Each man had vast telekinetic abilities and a desire to help mankind. However, the latter had maturity from experience that the former did not possess during his debut, although the former was much more cautious about his own welfare than was the latter, as it happens.

Crawley as Mind-Grabber sought to make a name for himself as a costumed crusader, but on each occasion was outshined by a member of the Justice League of Earth-One. Out of an angered disposition, he mentally manipulated some aliens into attacking the League and the hero known as Creeper. When his scheme was revealed, he apologized and quickly retired from his alter ego.

Carver was a paleontologist who sought to continue the career of his predecessors as the latest incarnation of the Immortal Man. However, unlike them, he saw the wisdom of wearing a mask to conceal his identity. That said, Helen Phelps who had romanced the former Immortal Men sought Anton out, and struck up a relationship with him just prior to his tragic death while battling energy apes that continued to materialize mysteriously outside the college town he resided in.

Immortal Man: Evidence He Originated on Earth-Two

The Immortal Man's biggest claim to fame may well be forgotten.. as the founder of the Forgotten Heroes. This team was composed of various plain clothed (and in Animal Man's case, costumed) crusaders of justice on Earth-One, such as Rip Hunter the Time Master, geologist Cave Carson, deep sea divers the Sea Devils, jungle explorer Congo Bill, Suicide Squad leader Rick Flagg and mysterious maiden the Dolphin.. He had assembled them in order to combat his age-old foe, Vandal Savage, however Savage originated on Earth-Two!

As Immortal Man explained to his fellow champions of justice, he and Vandal had been exposed to the same strange comet that bequeathed them both with extensive lifespans. And through the eon they battled one another perpetually. How could this be, if one was on Earth-One and the other on Earth-Two? In his first tale on Earth-One, Vandal mentioned that he left his home world to conquer this parallel planet by changing its history and thereby controlling its greatest champion, Superman, whose counterpart had alongside the Justice Society defeated him shortly before this.

In his next appearance, Savage had created a company known as Abraxas, Inc... designed to employ robotic replicas of the Man of Steel in order to more sufficiently protect Metropolis. However, this was a mere ploy by Vandal to supplant Superman and thereby fracture the public's perception of its once prominent protector. After then manipulating the radioactive Neutron into battling Superman, this lured the hero into the headquarters of Abraxas whereby he was sprayed with spores that Superman innocently spread throughout Metropolis which caused environmental chaos. This tied to ancient alien pyramids as Savage's means of returning Earth-One to prehistoric conditions he could control, although at this point Immortal Man revealed himself while recruiting the Forgotten Heroes into joining him in aiding the Man of Steel while defeating his immortal adversary. Since at this point Immortal Man confirmed their history, and Vandal had just previously mentioned leaving Earth-Two to conquer this new world, it is the inescapable conclusion that Immortal Man originated from Earth-Two as well... only leaving it for Earth-One when Vandal himself did.

What can we conclude from this? The adventures of the various "Immortal Men" accumulated racial memories contained within the comet crystal that the original Immortal Man and his subsequent heirs possessed... all took place on Earth-Two until this tale with the Forgotten Heroes. Thus, the various Immortal Men had counterparts on Earth-One that were also heroic figures from around the globe of Earth-Two, such as:

• Mark the young orphan was the twin of the young Immortal Man that appeared when the Forgotten Heroes met their opposite number, the Forgotten Villains. Each had brief careers before they each perished saving humanity, both manifesting the same set of powers in that sole appearance. 

• Samar the Jungle Man of Earth-Two's Africa had a counterpart in Animal Man (aka Buddy Baker) of Earth-One's Arizona, each with superhuman abilities tied to powers from the jungles similar to wild beasts. Note: Jungle Man's arch foe Karat possessed a helmet that created animal mutants much as that of Atom Master, a villain who battled the Superman and Batman of Earth-One, and later fought Animal Man, Immortal Man and the other Forgotten Heroes. 

• Mark King the English treasure expert of Earth-Two was as intuitive and resourceful as investigator Mark Merlin of Earth-One, whose counterpart was Jock "Merlin" Kellogg prior to Merlin's exile to the planet Ra. When Merlin was transplanted to Ra his memories were placed into the revived Prince Raman who become the counterpart to Mark King. And just as Jock Kellog was aided by Helena, so too Mark was aided by Elsa Magnusson. While Mark Merlin's arch-foe was Doctor-Seven, Jock's close colleague was similarly powered Tor aka Jim Slade. Both Ra-Man and Immortal Man perished during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

• Kirk Jason the ancient books editor of Earth-Two was like his counterpart on Earth-One geologist Kenneth Anderson men who gained telekinetic abilities due to their exposure from alien rocks, although while Jason was as his predecessors a hero, Anderson became the villain known as the Annihilator until Batgirl and Supergirl beat him.

• Anton Carter, the prominent former European paleontologist of Earth-Two was matched by Lucian Crawley of Earth-One, a young mutant who like Anton had mental abilities and aspired to be a masked superhero. However, unlike Carter who perished soon after his career began, Crawley used his mind control to strike back at the Justice League out of jealousy then retired. 

• Immortal Man's next identity was unnamed when he appeared on Earth-One following Savage, but this cloned body was the Earth-Two doppleganger to T.O. Morrow who left Earth-One for Earth-Two to construct the Red Tornado to use against the Justice Society and Justice League before returning to his homeworld when Immortal Man perished. Both had telekinetic powers.

• Many others in the Immortal Man line, such as Hotep, Marcus of Rome, Ali Jaba, and Sir Longlance of Earth-Two who each carried Immortal Man's jewel mirrored those Earth-One individuals as Prince Ra-Man of Egypt, Diabolu of Babylon, the Olympian of Greece, and the Wild Huntsman of Germany

• The original Immoral Man, Klarn Arg and arch-enemy Vandar Adg, existed during the same prehistoric era as mortal enemies. Klarn's ancient race on Earth-Two mirrored that of an ancient race on Krypton-One which predated Superman's own people.Originally the ruler of this people, when a meteor threaten his civilization the future Kryptonite Man ordered all save himself to be kept in suspended animation for twenty years to ensure salvation. However due to a malfunction, all save himself perished while he awoke centuries later. This was just prior to his home world self destructing, which he blamed on the current Kryptonians. Mutated by Kryptonite radiation from the space fragment he survived on for decades, Kryptonite Man fed himself from the storehouse found in the Seeders' ships. Seeking out Kryptonian survivors, he battled both Superman and Supergirl, a battled paralleled by Vandar aka Vandal Savage battling Superman and Power Girl a universe away. However, Kryptonite Man gave his life to save Earth-One from an invading fleet of Seedera, far more noble than Savage had been.

Girls of Steel Versus: Matter Manipulators Menacing Men

On twin Earths several nefarious nemesis had the same namesakes. The Luthors, the Hugo Stranges, the Doctor Psychos. But one common name threatened the combined assemblage of their world's greatest heroes... T.O. Morrow. Who were these men... and their own twins?

T.O. Morrow of Earth-One was a genius level scientist who invented a device allowing him to pull items from the future, which he would then claim to invent. Using this tool to become a super villain, Morrow first faced the Flash and Green Lantern, who found a way to defeat him. Seeking a manner to escape, his method led him from is native world of Earth-One to Earth-Two. A similar event occurred with this Morrow's Earth-Two counterpart, the latest incarnation of the heroic Immortal Man, who journeyed to Earth-One in pursuit of his arch-enemy Vandal Savage.

On this new world and a parallel plane of existence, this Morrow utilized a super computer to create an android which would defeat his new world's Justice Society as well as his old foes' Justice League teammates. The Red Tornado was Morrow's means of infiltrating the Society and destroy them. After seemingly succeeding, Thomas turned his attention to the League with similar results. However, the remaining members of the Society assisted the League with the assistance of Red Tornado in once more vanquishing his creator.

Then there was a T.O. Morrow appeared on Earth-Two... who was also a counterpart to the more well known "Tomorrow Man". How is this so? Well, this Morrow was a bald headed scientist who was really a charlatan, employing various gadgets and gimmicks to portray himself as a man from the future. When his duplicity was exposed by the Shining Knight, the golden age Morrow was defeated and jailed.

Getting back to Earth-One's T.O. Morrow, after his second encounter with the Justice League after he recovered his prized creation Red Tornado and rebuilt him, something strange happened to him. His future computer predicted that had he met defeat with the League, he would cease to exist, and this seemed to be the case as Morrow disappeared. 

In fact, he was split into two beings, one was the original who was shunted off into an extra-dimensional world. Another version of him was mutated into Tomorrow the Future Man, a mental mastermind with tremendous powers of the mind. However, this condition caused his life to accelerate and his life would soon be extinguished. Battling the Tornado for control of the android's body which he could implant his mind into, Future Man was once more defeated and perished, and it was this version that was the cosmic twin of Earth-Two's Morrow.

And after this Morrow's second attempt to turn the Red Tornado against the Justice League failed, his computer jettisoned him into another dimension in exile. There, he obtained a power staff allowing him to control reality on his new world, with which he battled the League's Flash and Atom as well as Supergirl. The trio defeated him and brought him back to his home world, although he soon resurfaced to attempt taking control of his android "son". Instead, Morrow unleashed a Tornado Tyrant that had initially merged with the original Red Tornado, and was once more imprisoned at the conclusion of this conflict, 

During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, while Morrow was recruited by the League to assist in reassembling the Red Tornado who once more had his inner Tyrant unleashed, and when this failed the criminal quit while he was ahead... just as his golden age bald headed doppleganger had decades earlier!

Groovy Girls of Gotham Week: Versus Mental Menaces

One day renowned professionals in their select fields. The next day, mental masterminds, thanks to mysterious alien rocks that imbue them with tremendous temporal traits. Geologist Kenneth Anderson and relic hunter Kirk Jason were two such men, living in Gotham City when they suddenly gained these grand gifts, which one used for good and the other for evil.

Anderson discovered an unusual rock, perhaps a meteorite, which when he experiments on it bestows upon the geologist tremendous mental powers. Transforming into the Annihilator, he retaliates against a city he feels fails to appreciate him. This attracts the attention of first Batgirl and then Supergirl, visiting the city on a interview tour for her alter ego's new show. Defeating the Girl of Steel and acquiring her power, he sought to transform Batgirl into his own mutated bride, but the gals double teamed on the madman and reversed his condition.

Jason one day awoke having discovered a piece of an ancient meteorite, which had previously been possessed by various men for untold centuries. Each was given cerebral capabilities such as telepathic and telekinetic which as the Immortal Man they used for justice. He also felt love for Helen Phelps, who had become acquainted with two previous Immortal Men. And like those individuals, Jason Kirk gave his life to save humanity from a threat to its safety, in this instance a gigantic subterranean beast.

Another pair of mental menaces whom the ladies battled continually were Doctor Voodoo and his evil mentor, and Doctor Tarr with his conspirator the Undertaker. While using medication to endure paranoid illusions upon Batgirl and Huntress, these devious doctors were defeated.

Global Guardians: Grecian Good Guys

Aristides Demetrios was a famed archaeologist in Greece who discovered an ancient artifact known as the golden fleece. This fabric had absorbed the superhuman abilities of fifty of history's heroes, which Aristides used in his alter ego as the Olympian, protector of Greece.

Marcus was a champion of people who in ancient history opposed to the Greek armies of legend. He was tied to an even older heritage as the latest in the long line of heroes known as Immortal Man, that would possess superhuman powers and the minds of historical champions. His more famous alter ego was the Golden Gladiator.

Aristides first appeared beside Wonder Woman when the Super Friends and heroes from around the world were deactivating deadly bombs implanted in various lands across Earth-One. He later was recruited along with other international superheroes by Doctor Mist to aid him versus the Conqueror, and later became an official member of the Global Guardians when they aided Superman on another case. 

Marcus as the Golden Gladiator traveled to the 20th century where he assisted Firebrand of the All-Star Squadron and other historical heroes during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. However, his handful of adventures were in his native era as a solo adventurer.