Chronological Cosmic Chaos Creatures

At the dawn of time, twin entities were spawned that were anomalies to their surroundings.

Neverwas could be described as a gigantic ameoba like entity, with a rudimentary intellect and a inherantly peaceful nature. However, due to its solitary nature and seemingly vulnerable state of being, it always attracted the attention of predatory creatures in the prehistoric era it lived in. Manifesting an ability to open a portal in time, Neverwas thrusts itself into the 20th century, where is attacks a metropolitan area and attracts the attention of first Hawkman and then his Justice League of America allies, who seek to subdue it.

The doppelgänger of Neverwas also resided in a distant era of time when it was thrust into the 20th century due to its unusual connected with a female pirate named Nifty. The henchwoman of criminal mastermind Redbeard, Nifty attempted to steal the secrets of atomic energy from the mind of Holliday College Professor Chemico. This attracts the attention of Justice Society of America member Wonder Woman and her allies in the Holliday Girls, who attempt to oppose Nifty, Redbeard and the other pirates whAfter Hawkman’a initial confrontation with the chronological l creature and becoming overwhelmed, Superman next attempted to intercept Neverwas and was thrown with a building full of people to a prehistoric period of time under a red sun which de-powered the Man of Steel. Aquaman encounters Neverwas-Two, the replicated form of the original, and is likewise overpowered. After Superman returns to the present day to join his fellow Justice Leaguers Batman, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Aquaman for a final fight with their fearsome foe. Neverwas and his clones are merged back into one being and returned to its native time.

While her Justice Society teammates were busy fending off an invasion of Metal Men of Jupiter, Wonder Woman and the Holliday Girls pursued Nifty and her cronies back to the 18th century. Following a clash on the high seas with pirates of that period, the heroines and their amoral adversaries were pulled further back in time to the era of Imperial Rome. There the Amazing Amazon first encountered the immortal villain Vandal Savage, a future foe of her Justice Society teaammates Green Lantern and the Flash, while he was using the assumed identity of Julius Caesar to found an empire in ancient Italy. Following this encounter, Wonder Woman and her sororiety sidekicks subdued Redbeard and his pirates, along with severing the chronological creature’s connection with Nifty. Why this thing of time was mentally bonded to Nifty is unknown, although it was fiercer than Neverwas in its disposition.

This experience motivated Nifty to intensify her criminal career, and under her new alias Jolly Roger have recurring clashes with aviator hero Hop Harrigan in the years that followed. Although her counterpart Lisa "Golden Glider" Snart never tried time travel, her enemy the Flash of the Justice League did traverse time on multiple occasions. And, in fact, both the League-Flash and the Society-Flash together pierced the time barrier when manipulated by a Vandal Savage of the 20th century, now aged and seeking to access time stream to expose himself once more to the age-extending meteor that mutated him centuries earlier. Thankfully, the two Flashes avoided encountering Wonder Woman's time-traveling tormentor, as that monster was shunted into a past millennia far removed from the present day. 

Perhaps, like its counterpart Neverwas who was gifted a massive toy by Superman to preoccupy it and cause it to remain in the past, that eerie entity found something entice about its era that kept it there for the rest of eternity. Or perhaps, both beings are taking their… time… to reappear and terrify mankind once more! They would be ready-made pawns for the temporal tyrants known as the Lord of Time and the Light of Earths One and Two to utilize in their campaigns against their foes in the Justice League and Justice Society, along with individual members whom they've faced among both team's membership rolls. In fact, maybe they were these beings prime instigators behind the scenes when the appeared? The chrnonological chaos unleashed from Neverwas and its counterpart can truly bend all reality to the will of these bearded baddies.

Lethal Lords of Time: From the 20th to 38th Centuries

In 3780, a nefarious gang leader named Frand Mattar threatened the civil authorities of his era with the destruction to Central City in 1966, should they oppose his henchmen as they robbed financial institutions. The police determined that the  superspeed powers of the Earth-One Flash could unintentionally set off the vibrational bomb placed there by Mattar. One of the law enforcement agents traveled back to the Flash's time, and mentally blocked the hero from resuming his costumed career. Kid Flash and Doctor Mid-Nite of Earth-Two were able to erase this mental block, and the Flash along with his kid sidekick defeated Mattar and his minions whle also disposing of the bomb. This encounter planted a seed of emnity in Mattar's mind, as he sought revenge against both Flash and his fellow heroes of the 20th century.

Six years later in 3786, Mattar returned and reclaimed his criminal organization, Mattar adopted the alias of the Lord of Time, and sent his warriors from both the future and the past back to the 1960s, several months earlier (from Flash's perspective) than when he first met the Scarlet Speedster. Now equipped with a far more diverse array of weaponry, the Time Lord proved a viable threat not just for the Flash but also for the Monarch of Motion's teammate of the Justice League of America. Time and time again, the Lord of Time would match wits with the League, and on one occasion nearly defeated them with his Eternity Brain, until he realized he needed their assistance and that of the Justice Society as well as five historical heroes of ancient times to defeat the mechanized Brain.

In December 1941, the recurring arch-adversary of Earth-Two's Starman known as the Light reappeared, this time utlizing the stolen temporal technology stolen by fellow scientist Professor Grimm. Using a time machine to journey two thousand years into the future, into the 40th century, the Light as "the Unknown" weaponizes an electro-thunderbolt gun to destroy munition plants and other like facilities across America. Starman opposed him, and with his Gravity Rod is able to nuetralize the Unknown's gun, causing the villain to escape back into the future.

Arriving first in 2941, the Light formed a new gang in that era and enlisted their aid in conquering the planet Ultima enabling him to rule his own world. However, he was unaware that the Justice Society of America, including Starman, had arrived at the same time to secure eight parts of the "Bomb Defense Formula" they needed to bring back to 1941 with the intent of protecting the United States from impending war.  Society member the Spectre encountered and defeated the Light, just as the rogue secured the offical garments of Ultima's High Savant ruler for himself. 

Fleeing from the scene, the Light ventured further into the future to recruit the Futurians, bringing them back to 1941 to combat Starman. However, the Astral Avenger discovered that the physically strong Futurians were susceptible to the pollution of the 20th century, and exposed them to it. Defeating his foes' mammoth minions, Starman finally brought the Light to justice... while the Futurians themselves used Grimm's time vessel to travel back to their native time.

Tempestuous Temporal Tyrants Twisting Time

In the year 7532, two technologically savy men nearly jeopardized the safety of their respective Earths, leading to influencal impacts into the lives of two costumed crusaders from the 20th century. The misguided males of the 76th century were Anti-Lad of Earth-One and Black Barax of Earth-Two. And the colorful crusaders were Superboy and Mister Terrific.

Anti-Lad was originally a student doing biographical research on Superboy, and particularly his history with the Legion of Super-Heroes. However, the lad witnessed via his time scanned that the Boy of Steel failed in his initation test with the team, resulting in the Legionnaires rejecting his membership. Realizing that this was due to adverse radiation emitted from the scanner warping the past, the lad and his father realized this would change the course of history. While the father attempted to appeal for help with the science court, his son assumed the identity of Anti-Lad and wearing specialized glasses traveled back to the 30th century. There, Anti-Lad presented himself for membership, and after defeating individual members of the Legion, was granted membership. Then, with comments he made and evidence he planted, Anti-Lad led the Legionnaire Brainiac Five to suspect that his new teammate had sabotaged Superboy's test with the Legion. When Anti-Lad confirmed this, they revoked his membership and approved Superboy as a new member. Returning to 7353, Anti-Lad was content that history was restored once more.

Black Barax was an invading tyrant to Earth-Two who used his resources to kidnap the  Coordinator, a scientist who developed the means of preventing Earth-Two's destruction from the gravitational forces of a planetary body that entered the world's orbit recently. Seeking a means to save their scientist and their planet, the science court used time travel device to retrieve Mister Terrific from the 20th century to their era. The "Man of a Thousand Talents" was able to outmanuever Black Barax and devised the means to save his future world, Mister Terrific successfully freed the Coordinator and forced Barax into exile.

The citizens of the 76th century had already been bequeathed time travel technology from scientists of previous eras, such men as the Lord of Time and the Light who themselves had traveled forwards and backwards in time from their native centuries. While the Time Lord began his criminal career as an adversary of the Flash, the Light was originally a foe of Starman. Later, both men would branch out in their schemes and eventually clash with the Justice League (in Justice League of America #10 versus the entire team first in the 20th century and then in 3786) and the Justice Society (in All-Star Comics #10 versus Spectre in the 30th century ... while his teammates were occupied simultaneously on other cases also in 2941). While the Lord of Time eventually repents of his wayward ways when he fathers a noble daughter and six wicked sons, the Light simply retreated from villany to pursue private pursuits.

Twice-Told-Tales: The Lights and the Leagues

Doctor Light and the Light throughout their sinister careers paralleled one another's pathetic ploys towards power, and this included their each tied to Leagues. For Earth-One's Doctor, it was his mortal enemies of the Justice League. For the Light, it was his criminal organization known as the Octopus League. Utilizing their various nefarious gadgets and schemes, this drew them ones more into conflict with their old adversaries, costumed crusaders of the Justice League and Justice Society!

It is interesting that during this encounter with Starman, the Light obtained the hero's Gravity Rod which possessed similar levels of raw power in much the same manner as had the light-ray gun used by Arthur Light. Each of the Lights took to The seas for grand thefts that would by stymied by their heroic opponents.

After the Lights manipulated matters with their various devices, they used a myriad of mirrored images... be the the Doctor's holograms or the Light's henchmen.

Nevertheless, these nefarious nemesis of Justice were ultimately captured by their arch-enemies. Would they reappear again after such devise defeats? Absolutely... yet each time they'd fall short of their lofty aspirations. They may have reached for the stars, but their light was eclipsed time and time again.

And perhaps, as Comic Archives suggests but cannot confirm, there was another twice-told-tale involving both Doctor Lights of these twin Earths!

Twice-Told-Tales: Lethal Lights versus Cosmic Crusaders

This Twice-Told-Tale is really remarkable in the parallels they invoke, be that from the characters involved to the sinister schemes of the supervillains to the chronology of these crimes. Doctor Arthur Light of Earth-One and the heretofore nameless Light of Earth-Two were also the malevolent masterminds behind this tale told twice! They each drew members of the Justice League and Justice Society, the Atom and Starman, to face them mano-y-mano respectively. Using magnetic light and other inventions, they had their foes helplessly trapped at miniature size, the Doctor using solder to lock the size changing controls on the Atom's belt, and the Light by using his diminishing ray on Starman. How would they extract themselves from these seeming death traps?

As it turned out,  the Lights' adversaries were not the only brilliant men in the room, as their foes figured out ways out of these traps. After leaving the Atom in an experimental light bulb devised to turn matter into energy, what the Doctor failed to realize was that the same heat from the filament designed to due his dirty deed was what melted the solder. For Starman, it was by his cornering the Light's henchman after the greedy genius left the room, using his gravity rod to turn the tables on the thug. So consumed these Lights were to revenge, Doctor Light towards the Justice League who defeated him and the Light towards his former professor who rejected him, that they failed to thing through their strategems. And so it would be for these brilliant baddies time and time again with their enemies.

Fatal Five & Futurite Foes

The 30th century was a prosperous time to life, with advanced technology and overall peaceful conditions. And yet, at times it was also the most dangerous of times, with alien incursions and supervillains threatening the stability of societies across the galaxy. Perhaps the most dangerous of these was the Fatal Five, a quintet comprising the deadliest criminals of their era, matched by their doppelgängers a universe away, known as the Futurites.

When the Sun-Eater entity entered the solar system of Earth-One, with the ability to extinguish its sun, the Legion of Super-Heroes knew they needed assistance in helping them to eliminate this threat. Due to this, the Legion inadvertently created their greatest adversaries, save for perhaps their opposite numbers the Legion of Super-Villains (and singular threats in the Time Trapper, Mordru, and Pulsar Stargrave). But who were these five fearsome foes?

• Tharok - cybernetic leader with weaponry built into his metallic shell!
• Mano - a mutant with a death-dealing hand which can dissolve worlds!
• Persuader - armored wielder of the Atomic Axe cutting all it faces!
• Validus - telepathic superhuman giant mutant emitting mental lighting!
• Emerald Empress - owner of the powerful Emerald Eye of Ekron!

Meanwhile, on 30th century Earth-Two, the time traveling tyrant the Light sought assistance in achieving his goals of world conquest. After humbling defeats in the 20th century versus his arch-enemy Starman, and then another loss when opposed by Starman’s teammate the Spectre on planet Ultima a thousand years later, the Light recruited four powerful minions known as the Futurites. Heralding from a toxic world, the cruel quarter wore protective gear over their massively powerful bodies which enabled them to be virtually invincible.

Meanwhile, on 30th century Earth-Two, the time traveling tyrant the Light sought assistance in achieving his goals of world conquest. After humbling defeats in the 20th century versus his arch-enemy Starman, and then another loss when opposed by Starman’s teammate the Spectre on planet Ultima a thousand years later, the Light recruited four powerful minions known as the Futurites. Heralding from a toxic world, the cruel quarter wore protective gear over their massively powerful bodies which enabled them to be virtually invincible.

Bringing the Futurites back with him to 1941, the Light and his lethal lieutenants nearly crippled the United States of America, until Starman ascertained their weakness and exposed one of their number to his era’s planetary atmosphere. The remaining rogues absconded with the Light’s time machine, leaving him being to face capture.

In the 1970s, the Iron Hand threatened Earth-Two with his massively powerful Nebula Hand, even causing some of his old foes in the Seven Soldiers of Victory (sword-wielding Shining Knight, the half-centaur archer Speedy and the energy emitting Crimson Avenger) to turn evil for a brief period. Decades earlier, the Hand formed his “Five Days Fingers of the Hand”, consisting of Professor Merlin, Red Dragon, the Needle, the Dummy and Big Caesar who battled the Soldiers.

While Iron Hand and his enemies had other counterparts on Earth-One (see their individual entries), the fact that he assembled a similarly empowered group to oppose a Legion, Law’s Legionnaires, is a remarkable parallel!

Chrono Commanders of the pre Crisis Cosmos

Among the greatest criminal minds to attempt to bend time and space were the Lord of Time and Light, each of whom gathered vast forces from future eras to conquer the 20th century and other historical eras. As greedy geniuses these temporal tyrants tried various strategies to defeat their foes. The Time Lord persisted in his agenda against the Justice League as had Light versus the Justice Socialite known as Starman. Yet while it could be said that time was on their side, they failed to count the precious seconds between sweeping victory and bitter defeat, despite gains they each obtained time-to-time.

While the manner in which The Lord of Time obtained his time traveling technology was never revealed, except that he was from the year 3786* when presumably such equipment was readily available, he nevertheless showed adept skill at the intricacies in the flow of the fourth dimension. At a certain point, the warlord known as Epoch would even improve upon this science with his Eternity Brain, which was the mechanism through which he believed he would finally vanquish the Justice League who beat him twice before, although the League and Society actually saved him and reality from its evil program. 

Some of Time Lord's tales would be mirrored on Earth-Two by Per Degaton, the cosmic twin of the Legion of Super-Heroes member known as Brainiac Five, another time traveler occasionally prone to periods of madness. However, the actual doppleganger to the Lord of Time was a different man who only bent the future to his will once... the Light!

The Light was a brilliant scientist of the 20th century who had discovered shrinking technology and later engineered a massive submarine headquarters for his League of the Octopus. Each time, however, Starman stymied the Light's goals so that in his next power grab, the Light decided to "borrow" a fellow scientist's revolutary discovery.

As "the Unknown", the Light stole  time traveling technology from Professor Junper Grimm. This time machine allowed the Light and his minions to travel through time 2000 years into the future wherein he obtained an electro-cannon and Futurites which were giants of that far flung future. Still, Starman bested the time lord once more.

There were other temporal terrors unleashed upon the 20th century from the time stream. These included Neverwas whom the Justice League had to contain and return to its prehistoric native era, and its counterpart which tormented Earth-Two's Wonder Woman and her Holliday Girls allies when they faced criminal air pirates through several historic periods in time. 

Despite this, there were a few benevolent champions of time, such as Rip Hunter and his Forgotten Heroes on Earth-One and Rip Carter and his Boy Commandos who visited a variety of memoral past events in history. There was the Time Institute in the 30th century that bridged the gap to the 20th century of Earth-One, and the Time Trust of the 20th century that conversely bridged the gap to the 30th century of Earth-Two. Through these organizations, members of the Justice League and Justice Society from present day as well as the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Space Legion from a thousand years in the future all benefited from their research.

There were two other time traveling tyrants who tormented our twin teams in Xotar** of 11,960 AD and Landor of the 25th century. Xotar battled the Justice League early in their existence, while Landor*** quarreled with the Justice Society****.

* A future post will discuss the probable first appearance of the Lord of Time, versus the Flash, as well as a probable encounter the Light had with one of Starman’s Justice Society teammates in the future.

** The Xotar of Earth-Two was a benevolent researcher who remained in 11,960 rather than be tempted by the equivalent of ancient technology he discovered, which was life-like paint from prehistoric Atlantis. Instead, another time-traveling menace named Landor of the 25th century had a similar battle with the Justice Society as had Xotar with the Justice League.

*** Landor's counterpart on Earth-One was the good-natured yet greedyBooster Gold who likewise traveled from the 25th century in an attempt to exploit the 20th century with future gadgets.

**** Interestingly from a "Earth-Prime" publishing perspective, Xotar debuted in Brave and the Bold #29, while Landor appeared in All-Star Comics #29!

Time Travelers of Twin Terras Triumph over Trouble

Time travel was a grand pursuit of individuals on both Earths One and Two. On Earth-One, Ripley "Rip" Hunter devised a time sphere along with his colleagues Jeffrey Smith, Bonnie Baxter and her brother Corky. Hunter as the "Time Master" along with his friends journeyed backward and forward in time several times. Rip Hunter's counterpart Rip Carter along with Carter's Boy Commandos, had their own unorthodox means of time travel. Both teams met several historic figures.

The Time Trust of Earth-Two consisted of Doctor  Swanley, Professor Everson, Professor Zee and Doctor Doome. This collaberation of scientists developed an experimental time ray which projected the Justice Society of America in the 30th century, whereby the heroes collected pieces necessary to devise a "bomb defense formula" that would protect America in the 20th century. Although initially this formula worked, the Time Trust's assistant Per Degaton sabotaged it to further his future schemes.

While the other Time Trust members left their own distinct marks on the history of the Justice Society of America, Degaton proved to have left the most indelible mark on the team. Three times, he attempted to alter history: first while altering history from 331 BCE Macedonia, next in December 1941 during the opening days of World War II and lastly in the Spring of 1942. Per battled the JSA a couple more times before a fourth failed chronal-caper led to Degaton’s death.

In place of Degaton’s forays versus the Society, another time traveling tyrant battled the Justice League of America in the same number of cases the Time Lord named Frand Mattar. This Lord of Time like his Earth-Two counterpart the Light (aka the Unknown) was tenacious, while Degaton and his Earth-One doppelgänger Brainiac Five of the Legion of Super-Heroes were equally so…on both sides of the law.

Professor Damon Everson assisted Earth-Two's Atom and his teammates of the Justice Society with his now improved time ray, as had Professor Alpheus Hyatt with his time pool during his long partnership with Earth-One's Atom and the Justice League. Everson projected members of the Society into past eras, to help Damon's assistant who had been tormented over his past. Hyatt used his small pool to extract historical items, unknowingly granting the diminutive Atom the ability to time travel with it.

Professor Malachi Zee developed a time machine that was stolen by his lab assistant Per Degaton on three occasions to employed various temporal schemes. Each was thwarted by the Justice Society, along with the All-Star Squadron and the Justice League. Decades later, a time-displaced Zee returned to identify his murderer before he died, in front of an assembled Justice Society. Seeing no alternative, Degaton took his own life rather than be returned to prison once more by his hated enemies.

A much kinder eventuality presented itself for Doctor Phineas Quayle who, unlike Zee, was not betrayed by any assistant as he kept his time traveling device secret. Using his time scanner to see future events, Quayle saw the collapse of society, blaming it on the presence of superheroes. To that end, he became the supervillain known as Doctor Anomaly. After a series of battles with the Justice League, when finally faced with defeat, Quayle projected himself into the future and self-isolated from mankind.

Doctor Wilfred Doome battled the Law's Legionnaires after his encounter with the Justice Society while with the Time Trust. Doome enlisted the aid of five historic tyrants to retrieve metals needed to refine his time machine. After his defeat, Doome retreated to the future and became Tibro, who fought the Earth-Two Wonder Woman. His twin was the Time Trapper, arch foe of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century and of the Super Friends in the 20th century. He first fought the Earth-One Wonder Woman as T.Y. Master.

Doctor Alvin Swanley had his death avenged when the Justice Society uses his time chute to track down the murder weapon and the man who used it against him. A competitor of Swanley Erik Pomar was jealous of Swanley's developments in temporal physics and sought to steal these while framing another man. After retrieving the weapon he used that had fallen through several past eras, the heroes brought Pomar to justice .

His doppleganger was Professor Mark Ronsom, a scientist who in 1942 on Earth-One developed the chronal transponder, and because of this became the target for Nazi Germany's Agent Axis. When Axis attempted to assassinate Ronson, he was thwarted by a visiting Wonder Woman from Earth-Two who used the transponder to save Ronson's life. Due to this, Mark became the Ravager, placed under the control of Agent Axis. The World's Finest Team of Wonder Woman with Earth-One's Superman, Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary restored Ronson to normal and reset time.

In Earth-One's 30th century, it would be Brainiac Five and his allies in the Time Institute who would advanced temporal technologies in ways similar to the 20th century Time Trust. A version of the Institute existed in Earth-Two's 30th century with Jon Stannard's Space-Time Authority that worked with the Justice Society versus the Chameleon invasion.