Hideous Headmen's Heinous Headquarters

Previously we had discussed the first headquarters of the Injustice Gang, as well as the later base of operations for the Injustice Society's Brainwave and his henchmen aboard a pair of orbiting satellites. However the more famous sinister citadels for these megalomical menaces were locales also frequented by their arch-enemies, the Justice League and Justice Society!

Throughout the formative initial years of the Justice League, they utilized a cave just outside the seaside town of Happy Harbor, which they refashioned into a stylized headquarters. Contained therein was a centralized meeting room, as well as a trophy room, gymnasium, library, kitchen, and hanger for the team's various aircraft. This fortress of solitude was used up until honorary League member Snapper Carr betrayed his teammates, revealing the cave's location to Batman's arch-enemy the Joker. The League abandoned the site, building their own satellite headquarters in its place, more inaccessible to their adversaries.

Following his first foray versus the Justice Society, Brain Wave transitioned his base of operations from a highend skyscraper condo into a lighthouse off the coast of Sharktooth Bay. This locale included a meeting room, laboratory and a dungeon. From this tower, Brain Wave launched to attacks against his arch-foes, first by capturing the Society members and later by shrinking the team.

Abra Kadabra, an adversary of the Flash from the 64th century, recruited the Injustice Gang into forming its third incarnation. He schemed that the League's now abandoned Happy Harbor cave would be the ideal location for the Gang. However, the Justice League along with Earth-Prime's sole superhero Ultraa tracked the supervillains to the old HQ and defeated them.

Similarly, while not an intentional headquarters for the Society, the Sharktooth Bay tower was more like their recurring prison. Their girlfriends, dressed up like the heroes themselves, helped free the Society members who then vanquished Brain Wave. Later, a return engagement with the Brain Wave led to his tower being permanently destroyed when Society ally Thunderbolt moved the criminal's bomb from where the heroes were to underneath the tower itself!

Sinister Supervillain Squad of Hub City

The sinister Squad was a one-time assemblage of antagonists founded by the Manipulator, a corrupt corporate seeking power to dominate his world. To that end, he has enlisted the aid of Iron-Arms, Fiery-Icer, the Banshee as well as the Madmen.

Following their initial appearance unopposed, the Squad drew the attention of their World’s Greatest Heroes, the Sentinels of Justice. These Sentinels were the second incarnation of this heroic team, following the adventures of Helio, Mentalia and Brute who were the group’s original members.

The new Sentinels were the fantastic four of Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Question and Nightshade. Like their counterparts of Earths One, Two and S (the Justice League, Justice Society, Squadron of Justice), the Sentinels “dark mirror” followed a long line of opposing opposite numbers, just as Injustice Gang, Injustice Society, and the Monster Society of Evil. 

However, the Squad members doppelgängers were far more successful than the Squad themselves. While Ironarms and Fiery-Icer were only occasional annoyances of Captain Atom, Metallo/Metalo and Captain Cold/Icicle were persistent pests of the Supermen, the Flash and Green Lantern. Although Banshee was a two-time failure, Ragman and Rag Doll were like him tied to the circus life with specialized suits and skills. The menacing Madmen were more street-level thugs than the Jokers and the equally numerous Secret Society of Super-Villains.

Antagonists Allied: The Anti-Justice League & Injustice Unlimited

While the more well-known organizations opposing the Justice League and Justice Society, the Injustice Gang and the Injustice Society, had long established histories opposing their opposite numbers... they weren't the first. Or the only allied antagonist association which faced their Worlds' Greatest Heroes. Beside the Secret Society of Super-Villians, there was the Anti-Justice League and Degaton's henchmen, as well as various costumed criminals preceding their more famous successors.

Doctor Destiny and Per Degaton created proto-Injustice organizations assembling individual adversaries of each member of their worlds’ Justice alliances. Neither team gave itself a name and only operated together out of mutual convenience on one occasion. Degation’s minions included the one-time crime lord, the geneticist Elmer Pane aka King Bee, who’s counterpart Zazzala aka Queen Bee was the monarch of the Korrl. She would maintain her need for dominance, when she formed a rival to the Gang with her own League.

Indeed, years later Queen Bee and the Wizard developed their own distinct versions to their more famous crooked cadres of contemporaries. While the Queen’s Anti-Justice League formed only scant months after the evil Libra recruited his Injustice Gang, the Wizard’s first incarnation of the Injustice Society debuted a few months before its more enduring successor. And yet another version of this sinister society, also led by Wizard, appeared decades later to bedevil the children of the Justice Society known as Infinity, Inc. This one-time gang was known as Injustice Unlimited, mirroring the newer incarnation of the New Teen Titan’s foes.. the Brotherhood of Evil… who themselves lasted longer than its correlating team on the other Earth known as the Monster Society of Evil.

Seven Deadly Enemies of Mankind

The Monster Society of Evil were the preeminent assemblage of costumed criminals on Earth-S, and the Sivana Family was the most successful group of arch-foes of the Marvel Family. Other villainous teams included Bulletman's foes in the Revenge Syndicate and Mister Scarlet's foes in the Death Batallion.  Another sinister syndicate had a more far reaching impact of humanity, the so-called Seven Deadly Enemies of Mankind!

Although ancient alien entities which have battled the forces of good since the days of the Champion in ancient times down to when King Kull reassembled them in the modern day to battle with Captain Marvel, these seven has human sides that caused trouble. And they would appear on occasion to trouble mankind with their adverse influence. They first appeared in November 1944, and reappeared in October 1952.

Led by a mysterious monocled man named Mr. Hogg, this gang of seven crooked confederates consisted of men identified by their devious defining characteristics of Pride, Envy, Greed, Anger, Sloth, Gluttony and Lust. Doctor Sivana personified Pride and served as a secretary and host for his colleagues, and he like Henry "Brain Wave" King of Earth-Two were the most persistent adversaries of their worlds' greatest heroes.

Other members of the Seven Deadly Enemies likewise were the Earth-S versions of King's Injustice Society allies Wizard, Thinker, Gambler, Per Degaton, Sportsmaster, and the Icicle. The Earth-One counterpart of this amoral alliance, the Secret Society of Super-Villains, likewise bedeviled the heroes of their world. A version of this Secret Society also formed later on Earth-Two, while a less successful Injustice Gang also operated around the same time on Earth-One... each of these, like the Sivana Family, used similar methods and had the same goals. And were tangentially connected to their larger sister syndicate.

Titanic Teams: Injustice For All!

Undoubtedly the arch-adversaries to the World's Greatest Superhero Teams of parallel planets are these guys. And the tip-off might be their names... the Injustice Gang of the World and the Injustice Society of the World... who bedeviled the Justice League and Justice Society. And they did so under similar circumstances throughout their long and infamous histories as outlaw organizations. How did the shape the face of infamy and illegality?

The original incarnation of these teams was founded by masterminds Libra and Wizard, wherein the former merely manipulated his minions in order to steal the League's powers... whereas the latter wanted a profitable criminal venture which he tried to recruit the Society to evil ends. During the second incarnation, the same five core members Libra enlisted: Mirror Master, Poison Ivy, Tatotted Man , Scarecrow, and Shadow Thief regrouped on board their satallite headquarters... only to be demolished by the League. The Wizard, however, scrapped former allies Brain Wave, Per Degaton, Thinker, Vandal Savage and the Gambler for newer members Icicle, Huntress, Sportsmaster, the Fiddler and Harlequin... each competing for leadership of the team. Turns out, Harlequin betrayed her allies to save her foe whom she loved, Green Lantern.

The third incarnation which we previously considered hatched a scheme that brought two Earth-Prime protagonists, Ultraa and writer Cary Bates, into the tale. While Ultraa unwittingly stole the League's powers while redistributing them to the Gang, Bates utilizing the power given him by the Wizard seemingly dealt a fatal blow towards six Justice Socialites whom the writer disguised as their Injustice foes in a battle with the visiting League. One additional member in these third teamups was Abra Kadabra (who led the Gang from behind the scenes, mirroring Wizard's capacity on his own gang), while the Shade joined the evil Society of his world during this occasion. While Kadabra's plan was to acquire ancient artifacts though his poisonous proxies in order to control Earth-One's natural resources, once more Wizard's plans was simply to plunder Earth-Two's fudiciary resources instead! 

A fourth incarnation of the Injustice Society appeared sometime after this, with the Fiddler recruiting Solomon Grundy, followed by four of their allies who avenged the duo's previous defeat. During this case, the four members of Wizard, Icicle, Brain Wave and Thinker were working in concert with Ayrn the Underlord in his attempt to conquer the surface world. Prior to this, the four remaining cohorts pledged that should this venture not succeed, one of them would travel to Earth-One to recruit more felons to aid in their cause to extinguish the JSA.

While there was no fourth incarnation of the Injustice Gang, another organization assumed its place as Earth-One's dominant criminal organization, the Secret Society of Super-Villains! With Wizard slyly working his way into this corrupt confederation, the villains were originally brought together by Darkseid of Apokolips through his henchman Manhunter, although that affiliation deteriorated quickly. The Society would repeatedly battle Captain Comet and others, including during a period led by Gorilla Grodd versus the League.  

However, one faction led by the Wizard would achieve his earlier goal! After a sidetrip to Earth-Three, he led erstwhile allies Star Sapphire, Blockbuster, Floronic Man and Reverse Flash to Earth-Two to battle the Justice Society individually. Simaltaneously, on Earth-One Mirror Master and Copperhead are hired by the Silver Ghost to recruit Chronos, Killer Moth, and the Sizematic wins to battle the Freedom Fighters, visiting from Earth-X. In this untold tale, the Fighters defeat their adversaries and return to their homeworld. And a planet away, Wizard's month long campaign leads to defeat.

Back on Earth-One after six months in interdimensional limbo, the Wizard and his lackies are the sole remaining members of the original Secret Society, and hatch a scheme whereby they assume six Leaguers' identities, while the heroes are trapped in the villains bodies This too fails. Shortly thereafter on Earth-Two, three Injustice Socialites (the Shade, Fiddler and Icicle) assemble on Earth-Two to pillage again. Darkseid turns his attention to these rogues confident they would be more obedient than the felons of Earth-One. That tale told previously ended in defeat as had Darkseid's Secret Society.

At this point, there are no further incarnations of either the Injustice Gang nor Society of their Worlds, and the initial core Secret Society of Earth-One and its satellite team on Earth-Two were now defunct. However, they were not finished, for Ultra-Humanite along with his sub-commanders Brain Wave and Killer Frost brought together ten criminals (here pictured) from both Earths to abscond five Leaguers and five Socialites in order to remove heroes from his world (for the reason why this worked,consider this reference). Although succeeding, the Earth-Two Secret Society betrayed their Earth-One colleagues, who returned the favor by releasing their heroic adversaries. This led to one final occurence wherein the Secret Society operated on Earth-Two, which was incidentally the first time they ever appeared on either world. However this and a more detailed history of that similar yet distinct organization, alluded to in this posting, will be considered at another time. Suffice it to say, Injustice never seems to go away but he never lasts long when champions of good stand in the way of such rogues.

Twice-Told Tales: Satellites of Injustice And Purloined Power!

Just as the Justice League and Justice Society had satellite headquarters, albeit very briefly for the latter, the same could be said for their arch-enemies as well.

The Injustice Gang's inaugural appearance was prompted by the mysterious Libra recruiting six other supervillains to battle Earth-One's League and thereby acquire their powers for himself. The Injustice Society, or rather two members of its first incarnation... Brain Wave and Per Degaton... joined forces aboard the former's satellite headquaters. His goal? To acquire energies from Earth-Two exerted by young members of the Justice Society of America to gain a superhuman body for himself!

However the story of Libra parallels another tale from the Justice Society's old case files. Doctor Egri had harnessed cosmic radiation and focused it into six objects, which he arranged six criminals to steal and field test against the Justice Society. The gang leader, Rocky Castle, gained a magnetized ring like Green Lantern's; Specs had a black light to face Doctor Mid-Nite; Ox wore stick pin that allowed him to fly like Hawkman; Peewee wore gloves giving him superstrength like the Atom; Gun-Shy had a wristwatch that protects him much like Wonder Woman's bracelets; and Slowpoke donned a jacket giving him superspeed like the Flash. These crooks were eventually beaten by the Society and then trapped by Egri, who regained the devices to battle the combined team.

This may remind us of the Lawless League, created by that world's Johnny Thunder on an alternate timeline that spawned the Earth-Two world of Earth-A. His gang of crooks gained powers comparable to the Justice League and also, like the Rocky Castle Gang, battled the Justice Society. These included Monk Loomis, possessing a power ring like Green Lantern's;  Bill Gore assuming the mantle of the Batman; Eddie Orson acquiring the powers of Martian Manhunter;  Barney Judson now appearing as the Atom; Ripper Jones becoming a new Superman; Race Morrison gained superspeed like the Flash. The original members of Thunder's gang were the counterparts of Castle's gang, although their Lawless clones were the counterparts to the Bizarro Justice League. 

In the main timeline, Professor Amos Fortine would form a different League (its members were: Acrobat, Crier, Cyclone, Racer, Shrinking Man, Strongman, Water King) which possessed the ability of transferring the Justice League’s powers to other people. This faux League was defeated pretty quickly, despite their seeming invincibility.

But returning to Libra, this rogue manipulated matters through his six criminal cronies to siphon the superhuman energies from Superman, Batman (?), Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Elongated Man... in much the same manner as the aforementioned Professor Egri. However, the result proved disastrous for each as their human bodies could not contain the combined six-fold energies, and they exploded/evaporated into nothingness!

And thus, a twice-told-tale intermingled in several stories but with the same conclusion!

Twice-Told-Tales: Prime Protagonists

Several Earths were hypothesized throughout DC Comics' history. Initially, "our" Earth was that of the golden age heroes of the Justice Society, then in more modern times "our" Earth became that of the Justice League. Even later, it was speculated that our true Earth had to be a hero-less world to match that which was reality, although any fictional characters would have real world counterparts. Such was the case when writer Cary Bates interjected himself in a tale of the Flash meeting Earth-One's scarlet speedster. After each traveled to the others world, with Cary's being Earth-Prime, this new world became the template for the reader's world itself.

Midway through the run of Justice League/Society crossovers, a story was produced that screamed of running out of ideas, when Bates and Elliott S Maggen found themselves via Flash's cosmic treadmill on Earth-Two and Earth-One. Bates was quickly transformed into a powerful villain by the Wizard, and a plot was afoot to cause the Injustice Society for once to become the victors over their heroic counterparts of Earth-Two.

Another plot years later had Earth-Prime's newly introduced first superhero Ultraa who migrated from his world to Earth-One, and causing all kinds of headaches at a time when the Injustice Gang under the auspices of a mysterious hooded power broker was manipulating matters behind the scenes, sending his five minions to retrieve four objects of tremendous power!

Each Injustice team had six members, with the hooded leader of the Gang later revealed as Abra Kadabra while the Society's leader was the Wizard. Each team had a guy who produced a variety of gimmick gadgets, Tattooed Man and Sportsmaster, and two femme fatales, Poison Ivy and the Huntress. Each had a teleporting Flash foe, Mirror Master and the Shade; gun wielding crook, Chronos and Icicle; and a Gotham City criminal, Scarecrow and the Gambler.

Added to the mix was the intervention of the aforementioned Ultraa and Bates. With the best of intentions, Ultraa zapped the League with a negative though inducing device that neutralized the heroes while Bates setup a trap that ultimately neutralized the Society. Both teams seemed in the final battle with their enemies to be demoralized and near their wits end when the encouragement of their fellow heroes motivated them towards victory. With Bates banished back to his home world along with his fellow writer, and Ultraa imprisoned until a future tale, the threats of Injustice and Earth-Prime waned from that point. Yet a remarkable parallel of twice-told-tales remained to be chronicled in the pages of the Justice League of America.

As a side note, the intervention of the Justice League on Earth-One to help defeat the Injustice Society  on Earth-Two was later mirrored when the Johnny Thunder of Earth-One recruited the six Crime Champions to pillage his Earth which prompted the visiting Justice Society of Earth-Two to battle the villains. On each Earth, only with the awakening of each world's native heroes was their sufficient numbers to defeat each sinister six. And on each case, Johnny Thunder and Black Canary were present. Yet another twice-told-tale!