Untold Tale of the Justice Society: Mission in Space!

In late summer of 1975, the Greatest Superheroes of Twin Earths were called away to other worlds, facing ancient adversaries that threatened parallel planets. In both instances, each team defeated these foes one by one, until the true malevolent mastermind was revealed behind-the scenes, powered by a stellar stick in a ploy to lure these champions to their doom using fin-head spacemen.

On Earth-One, members of the Justice League were transported to Rann-One by the scientist named Sardath using his Zeta Plus Beam, in order to assist his future son-in-law Adam Strange in battling old gigantic enemies in the form of: a ray-gun, the bird Kalulla, the metallic Borg, and the Cloud Creature. All of these creatures were manufactured by Kanjar Ro, a villain who battled both Strange and the League in the past. 

On Earth-Two, members of the Justice Society were teleported via celestrial energies at the Mount Pride Observatory* while tracking down missing member Starman. On another world in space, most likely Rann-Two, the Society members battled stellar beings designed by their immortal adversary Vandal Savage** to resemble constellations Andromeda and a giant winged horse, Orion and a giant dog, and Sagittarius and a giant eagle (and later, characters modeled after those on Earth’s broadcast television airwaves). Savage accomplished this by utilzing Starman's old Gravity Rod. With these stellar beings, Vandal built green Kryptonite suns for the planet Colu-Two to orbit.***

While the space mission of the Justice Society was accomplished without any serious threat to life, such was not the case with the Justice League. For a time, it seemed as if Leaguers Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary and Elongated Man had perished, until Adam Strange noticed that they had been transformed into black spheres. Using Kanjar Ro's Energi-Rod to reverse the process, the five heroes along with their fellow members and Strange were able to defeat Kanjar Ro, removing the threat he and his minions posed.

During to the Society's own mission in space, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Starman were likewise able to outmanuever Savage, when Starman used his prototype Cosmic Rod to overpower Vandal's stolen stick. Concurrent to this, six other members of the Society were dealing with a threat posed by the Injustice Society of the World and their minion, the empowered Cary Bates. Bates, a comicbook writer on Earth-Prime, accidentally ended up on Earth-Two when he used the Earth-One Flash's Cosmic Threadmill left behind on Cary's world. Seeing the potential to create sinister scenarios using his creative storytelling techniques, Bates was manipulated by the Wizard into leading the Justice Society into a trap while battling their Injustice adversaries. Mentally controlling Wonder Woman, Doctor Mid-Nite, Hourman, Johnny Thunder, Wildcat and Robin, Bates had each hero pose as a member of the Injustice Society. Then, when Bates' coworker and fellow writer Elliott S. Maggin journeyed to Earth-One with six members of the Justice League. he found his former friend now a vile villain. The League defeated those whom they thought were the Injustice Society, seemingly killing them.

The Leaguers remained on Earth-Two**** to protect it until the remaining Society members returned from space. As for those six seemingly deceased heroes, they were  in fact all comatose under the effects of Cary Bates, a process reversed by the Spectre, visiting his homeworld after having previously migrated to Earth-One. Together, the League and Society defeated the supervillains, and Bates with Maggin returned to Earth-Prime (a similar battle between the Justice League and Injustice Gang later took place on Earth-One).

* While this tale initially was told in a post-Crisis Earth, during the period of the early 1950s, it has been witnessed that tales on that composite world had a basis in adventures on Earths One and Two. As there were two fin-headed space heroes involved (Adam Strange and Starman), various energy beings used as pawns (Strange's old inhuman adversaries in the cloud etc. and the 3 constellation entities), spawned by evil enemies (Kanjar Ro and Vandal Savage) using stellar sticks (the Energi-Rod and Gravity Rod), with teleportation to and from Earth to other parts of the universe (via Zeta Plus Beams from Sardath's laboratory and cosmic rays from Starman's Mount Pride Observatory), involving remaining members of the Society (Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Starman) not present during the Injustice Society case... it seems logical that this is the untold tale of the Justice Society in space in 1975. 

**Soon after this tale, Vandal Savage attempted to restore his immortality while visiting Earth-One. He made this planet…. probably Rann-Two... as a staging ground to build Colu-Two and its two suns a year later. We know he was still in his phantom state as Earth-Two Flash mentioned to his counterpart that he just learned of Vandal’s condition (which was an untold tale… this tale!!!). Afterwards, Savage lured Superman and the Justice Society to Colu-Two via ancient Camelot!

***Undoubtedly, the stellar beings which Vandal enlisted into service on Rann-Two as constellations were the Sun-Thrivers, whom he forced to build for him Colu-Two’s twin green Kryptonite suns.

**** Of those remaining members of the Justice Society during these contemporaneous tales of Savage on Rann-Two and the Injustice Society, six heroes were present on Earth-Two though not active at this time. Atom was recovering from injuries in a previous crossover, Sandman had self-imposed amnesia of his dual identity (in order to deal with the trauma of his sidekick Sandy's current condition), Mister Terrific was focusing on his career as a Gateway City college professor, Superman and Batman were busy raising a cousin and daughter respectively. As for Doctor Fate, he was dealing with his old foe Khalis' return in the city of Boston.

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Continuing thru April 2025 - #JSApril! Celebrating 85 years of #DCComics JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA, the world's first greatest superheroi team! Join over 40 podcasters bloggers as we honor our favorite heroes! Info participants:

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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.

Twice-Told-Tales Untold of Sinister Societies

During the relatively brief yet memorial history of the original Secret Society of Super-Villians, there came a point where this group fragmented into at least three parts. One section, led by Gorilla Grodd, pursued a vendetta against his arch-foe the Flash and other members of the Justice League of America. Another faction accompanied the Wizard back to his home world of Earth-Two to battle the Justice Society of America. 

Meanwhile, back on Earth-One, Mirror Master and Copperhead recruited four previously unaffiliated members to assist them and their employer Silver Ghost. Their goal, to eliminate the Freedom Fighters, whom the Ghost has quarreled with for several months since their arrival from Earth-X. Originally from Earth-Two, the seven Fighters fought the Axis Powers on their adopted world for decades, before deciding to journey to a third Earth to start their careers anew.

Regrettably, their reputations were marred by Silver Ghost, who secretly was Raphael Van Zandt, a Nazi corroborator on Earth-X. When Van Zandt decided to create a criminal empire on Earth-One, he was pursued by his enemy Firebrand to this new planet. There, he would soon after encounter his old adversaries in the Freedom Fighters whom he also believed were following him. Wishing to rid himself of these pest, he sought the aid of the Secret Society.

While not much is known of how this battle between the two teams developed, we do know the outcome as Silver Ghost ended up transforming both himself and Firebrand into silver statues when exposed to his transmutation abilities (this process was reversed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths). Meanwhile, the remaining Freedom Fighters returned to Earth-X, while some of the members of the Secret Society such as Mirror Master and Chronos returned with their original group, the Injustice Gang a couple months later.

A similar untold tale of the Injustice Society on Earth-Two took place in the late 1940s, when future marriage mates Brain Wave and Merry the Gimmick Girl first met as opponents. During this case, the counterpart to Secret Society arch-foe Captain Comet battled the Injustice Society alongside Merry and other former allies of the All-Star Squadron. This man, Captain Triumph, had also traveled to Earth-X to assist the Freedom Fighters briefly before coming home, where he joined the Squadron. Among those present on this occasion was Doll Man, who had returned from the future to reunite with his fiancée Martha Roberts after several years with the Fighters.

This assemblage of evil was apparently led by the Wizard, and shortly after this while dueling with Superman, he conceived of reinventing this gang into a Secret Society. With this in mind, the Wizard was drawn to an actual realization of his concept while exiled on Earth-One in the late 1970s. Although most of the villains portrayed in this battle of 1949, such as Shade and Icicle, were the originals… the Solomon Grundy here present was evidently the imposter whom Johnny Thunder met a couple years earlier, when the Justice Society tracked down the real version who was terrorizing across the United States. At this point. Grundy was exiled on the moon (first by Green Lantern, later by Per Degaton) until the mid 1960s.

Fauna Versus Flora: Robin Versus Plants - Rounds One and Two

Agilely adept acrobats, the twin Dick Graysons were able to handle a variety of foes in their alter egos as Robin. Despite their main adverseraries using a variety of gimmicks in their capers, there was one type of snare that caught each of them unaware. Flora... which ironically makes sense given that the Robins styled themselves after prominent flying fauna, and so earthbound foliage would was their area of weakness.

While the Robin of Earth-One had alongside his mentor Batman fought Poison Ivy on a couple of occasions, her initial gadgets were less plant-based than what she would later develop. However, when facing the Floronic Man aka Jason Woodrue, Robin found himself  overcome by mutated plant tendrills. This distracted Robin long enough for Woodrue's Secret Society of Super-Villains teammate Blockbuster, whom their leader Wizard sent him to free, to knock the lad unconscious.

The Robin of Earth-Two never faced a plant-themed foe until his adult career, as Ivy's counterpart of his world Jolly Roger was more sea-based than land-based. On this later occasion, Robin along with fellow members of the Justice Society of America, were captured by an army of mutated plants, including tendrils spawned by the visiting supervillain from Earth-Prime, Cary Bates! His plant-themed powers were given him by the Wizard, who recruited him into the Injustice Society, and Bates would use a knockout fume to render Robin and his allies unconscious.

Undoubtedly, these experiences helped both Graysons into developing strategies to deal with such future threats.

Secret Society of Supervillains: Cold Receptions for Darkseid

After their first meeting, the Secret Society of Earth-One quickly found themselves in conflict against their mysterious founder, Darkseid, thanks to the provocation of their leader the Manhunter. Seeing the insurrection and wishing to quell it quickly, Darkseid sent his henchman Mantis the Power Parasite to tame this terrible team in their headquarters. Facing off versus heroes Manhunter and Captain Comet as well as their erstwhile allies Gorilla Grodd, Star Sapphire, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang and Hi-Jack... the Society finally overwhelms Mantis who retreats to recharge. Similarly on Earth-Two, the fourth incarnation of the Injustice Society had secretly maneuvered themselves into the headquarters of the Justice Society. This led to a pitched battled led by Hawkman with the Flash, Star-Spangled Kid versus the Injustice leader the Icicle and his allies Brain Wave, Thinker, and the Wizard. Yes, the same Wizard who sat out in the Secret Society's battle versus Mantis. So on both occasions on parallel planets, there were the following similar sets of players involved in these battles: two telepaths, a star-powered being, a cold-generating felon, two gifted gliders, a Flash and a Flash foe, and two Power players. Twice-told-tale, perhaps? 

 

Himself a clone of the original and secretly a superhero, Manhunter felt that luring the leader of Apokolips to his world and having its villains combat him would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. In fact, Darkseid beat a hasty retreat due to the Society's superior numbers, although their leader charged in try defeating the dark master and instead found his life extinguished. Darkseid would abandon his plan to utilized villains from this Earth, but would reserve the right to seek ones from its twin a universe away!

 

In fact, not long thereafter, it was Darkseid himself who seemingly was no more... when in fact he created a duplicate body on Earth-Two and recruited the Injustice Society to further his sinister schemes. While the Secret Society had more conviction and courage, due to their leader and fellow hero Captain Comet in their midst, the Injustice Society were willing dupes for Darkseid. And yet, his plan to transport Apokolips into Earth-Two's space in its universe was thwarted by the Justice League, Justice Society and New Genesisians who assembled to combat him.

 

Following the death of their leader and the severance from their creator, the Secret Society was left in a power vaccum from which several of its members would attempt to usurp its authority. First Lex Luthor and then the mysterious benefactor behind the Society's business manager Funky Flashman would send the group off into strange and uncharted courses for a supervillain organization. Comet and Hawkman quickly trounce a vengeful Sinestro who is attempting to destroy the Society's Sinister Citadel building. Captains Boomerang, Cold and Stingaree would go on a tangential crime spree whereby they kidnapped professional captains in space, in sports, on the sea... although they are defeated by Comet and the Black Canary. Luthor's own plan to recruit specific members to defeat Superman fails when its found out that their target isn't the real Man of Steel but an actor.

 

As for their counterparts at that time, the Injustice Society, the first of that incarnation's members to appear were the Fiddler and Solomon Grundy. These rogues attempted to sway Wildcat into eliminating his teammate Hawkmen in the streets of Toyko, however they themselves were defeated by the combined Justice Society that appeared on the scene. The other four members had formed an alliance with Ayrn the Underlord and his subterranean race to destroy critical oil pipelines while setting forth traps laid by their captured prey, Hourman and Wildcat (he didn't have much success going up against these guys!). This scheme would itself fail, although all four seemed to have backup plans in the works, with these cunning quartet committing one among them be sent to Earth-One to recruit members for a later conquest of Earth-Two. This is how the Wizard ended up amongst the Secret Society when it first founded. And he would make good on his promise, soon...
 

Secret Society of Supervillains: Masters of Manipulation

After their inauspicious debut versus the robotic replicas of the Justice League, the Secret Society found themselves embroiled in conflict with a few of the individual Leaguers. First among those was Green Lantern, who while attempting to subdue Gorilla Grodd and Hi-Jack caught the attention of returning galaxy-traveler Captain Comet. Comet, who hadn't met fellow superheroes thus far, felt that Lantern was the villain and thus defended the two criminals from being subdued by him. This quickly led to his membership into their ranks, those ranks led by the uncover hero Manhunter, whose goal for assembling the Society was yet to be revealed. Immediately, Comet would be informed by his new leader that the team they both joined were the Supervillains.

A universe away from Earth-One, the Injustice Society reassembled for a fourth incarnation (its counterpart had only three of their own during their history) with the Fiddler and Solomon Grundy being the first members to appear while the Justice Society were trying to protect Tokyo, and were quickly by the heroic team. Shortly thereafter, the Icicle and presumably the Thinker subdued Hourman within the Justice Society's brownstone headquarter while he was on monitor duty, and then coerced him by mind-control into attacking Wildcat as well.  This would setup a pitched battle between those two Societies, as what was brewing with their dopplegangers and the League in a universe only a few slight vibrational frequencies away!

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.

Darkseid and the Societies of Super-Villains

Darkseid was master of his domain on the planet of Apokolips, in a dimension adjacent to but not confined within the Earth-One universe. His counterpart Surtur had been manipulated by Earth-Two's Hitler into attempting to bring about the end of the dictator's world in a fit of vengeance.

Darkseid initially schemed of forming a coalition of costumed criminals in Earth-One, with the goal of allowing him to conquer that world and eventually his entire universe in his mad quest to obtain the mind-controlling Anti-Life Equation. However, the organization known as the Secret Society of Super-Villains soon after rebelled against their founder and his minions, severing his ties with them. He would not, however, give up on having superpowered human agents doing his bidding.

A few years later, Darkseid himself visited Earth-Two in order to restore himself after his alleged death, when he was turned into energy by a cosmic cannon.  Remarkably, he once more recruited a Society of supervillains like he had on Earth-One, only unlike the Secret Society which had greater numbers and a more rebellious streak, the Injustice Society of Earth-Two yielded in submission to the power mad being.  This team, the Injustice Society, assisted Darkseid in manufacturing a new body back on Apokolips. 

The warlord then planned to transport Apokolips in place of Earth-Two within that alternate universe, which would have led to that Earth’s destruction. Had he have succeeded, Darkseid would be reality away from his mortal foes of planet New Genesis, leaving himself unchallenged where he could reign supreme in a new universe. 

Thankfully, the combined forces of the Justice League and Justice Society along with the New Gods defeated Darkseid. Indeed, in each instance, his human servants failed fulfilling his schemes. 

As for Surtur, after his minions were vanquished in Asgard by a Justice Society originating from a post-Crisis composite Earth, he himself was soon after defeated by their own combined might. However, due to the circular nature of time in that realm, this battle continued to play out repetitively for a seeming eternity between the monolithic menace and the mighty meta-humans. In fact, at a certain point, an alien race bravely assumed the place of the Society in this never ending battle that left Earth-Two and... by extension all reality... protected. The closest Surtur ever came to victory on that planet was the hazy clouds he projected from Asgard onto the Society’s world for a brief period in 1945.

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!