Outsiders and Those Who May Have Been

Their world's preeminent protectors were the Justice League and Justice Society... their legendary lads and lasses were the Teen Titans and Infinity, Inc.... their titanic teams were the Legion of Super-Heroes and All-Star Squadron. And then there was the twin tragic teams handling worldly weirdness.

However, there was one other group of superheroes on Earth-One that left their mark... the Outsiders. This team, founded by Batman to handle smaller scale issues, had a couple Justice League candidates who turned down membership, and a few newer untested individuals. What would an Earth-Two Outsiders look like, had that Batman assembled it?

• Judomaster was a Japanese warrior with a noble heart, like Katana.
• Joe Morgan like Rex Mason was transformed by glowing white orbs… with Sandy’s Silicon Creature taking Morgan’s place after Joe’s death… and like Metamorpho the Element Man could alter his form.
• Harlequin was a battling blonde like Halo mastering mesmerizing light effects.
• Batman of the golden age was at his very core like his silver age doppleganger.
• Amazing-Man who like Black Lightning was a former Olympian charged with electrical energy.
• Sandy the Golden Boy drawing his powers from the earth like Geo-Force.
• Hazard's mental might was only matched by the model maiden Looker.

Titan's Tenures on Terrific Teams: The Batmen

Although both Batmen were founding members of their parallel planets' prime protectors, their relationship with their allies was at times strained indeed. Months after the Justice League's founding, Earth-One's Batman found his niche on the team and was active throughout its various cases until an uprising in the nation of Monrovia threatened his old friend Lucius Fox. When the League wouldn't aid him in saving Fox, Batman left the team to form his own, the Outsiders.

His counterpart on Earth-Two had immediately chose to be an honorary member of the Justice Society of America, like his best friend Superman. After which, Batman only joined the team on cases involving Ian Karkull, the "Five Drowned Men" and the Society's attack on Nazi Germany which time erased. 

However, Batman, was more active alongside the All-Star Squadron, operating around the same time period. Although aiding the Society on one adventure to Earth-S, afterwards as Commissioner Bruce Wayne he allowed his vendetta (caused by the influence of Psycho-Pirate and the effects of his advance-stages cancer) versus the Justice Society to cause a war within itself. Later he wrote a disparaging diary which held clues to the reemgence of their old foe Per Degaton, and finally he gave his life to protect his allies against the machninations of Bill Jensen and Frederick Vaux... which showed that he like his twin had deep down cared for his fearless friends.

Titanic Teams: Outside the Law

Not every group could be the World's Greatest Superhero team. Nor a team of teens. Nor a monolithic membership in the dozens. However, these twin teams have something the others lacked, a gritty determination to prove themselves despite the odds being stacked against them, for which they succeeded.

The Outsiders was formed when Batman left for Markovia to free his friend Lucius Fox, held hostage by that nation's dictator Baron Bedlam. Recruiting Metamorpho and Black Lightning, two mem who rejected Justice League membership, the trio encountered another terrific triad: Katana, Geo-Force and young Halo. Seeing the need to have a team of Outsiders working outside the normal bounds of superheroics, the Dark Knight relocated his five teammates along with their ally scientist Helga Jace to his Gotham City headquarters beneath Wayne Foundation where this group battled many foes over a span of years. 

Law's Legionnaires were a band of brothers in a sense that they all had a common purpose, defeating the criminal hordes of their day. While not headliners like their peers of the Justice Society, they more than measured up with their tenacity and determination. Consisting of Vigilante, Green Arrow with sidekick Speedy, Crimson Avenger, Shining Knight, Stripesy and the Star-Spangled Kid... oh and the Avenger's partner Wing tagged along from time-to-time. This team also had several adventures versus a variety of villains for some years. Then they disappeared to reappear in modern times.

Each team had the crimefighter (Batman and Vigilante), the adaptable avenger (Metamorpho and Green Arrow), the colorful crusader (Black Lighting and Crimson Avenger), the sword-weilding savior (Katana and Shining Knight), the courageous carrot-top (Geo-Force and Stripesy) and the cosmic kid (Halo and Star-Spangled Kid). While not exact counterparts, they filled similar niches.

Outsiders Week: Rainbow Raiders Part 2

Violet Harper, a violent young woman with an insatiable greedy, found herself confronted in the foreign nation of Marcovia by the mercenary known as Synoide. When she was left for dead, the confrontation was observed by an energy being known as an Aurakle which merged with Violet. Awakening as an amnesiac, not knowing who or what she is, the girl was taken in by Batman and joined the Outsiders. Displaying a costume and powers which reflected her Aurakle persona deep within, she adopted twin identities of heroine Halo and civilian Gabrielle Doe on Earth-One.

Similar creatures existed in Earth-Two’s universe, self-replicating beings of a like colorful nature to the Aurakles. Yet their purpose was not merely to observe, but to influence societies on various planets through their mysterious songs to test the resolve of a civilization's will to survive!?! Regardless, the being known as Chroma was likewise clad in an array of rainbow colors set against a black jumpsuit, and clashed with Obsidian who was the sole member of Infinity, Inc not effect by the alien's power. 

Whether assimilated like Violet Harper was or merely produced from scratch, there was no doubt as to the parallels of these two aliens with their visual displays of light effects and ambiguous abilities. While Halo remained on Earth upon discovering her identity, Chroma left that world for "a million years" to seek his future elsewhere unopposed. Each entity gained quick fame despite having brief careers in public view.

Doe's abilities included the following when manifesting these various colored halos:

• Red - heat beams
• Orange - repulsor & force blasts
• Yellow - intense sunlight
• Green - stasis beam/aura
• Blue - light distortion effect. 
• Indigo - tractor beam
• White - Indeterminant

Gabrielle would redeem Violet's reputation, becoming a stalwart member of the Outsiders despite her young age and naive nature, as she eventually became a role model for another superhuman female in Windfall and other teens.

Outsiders Week: Savy Serious Samurai

Two of today's terrific and terrifying titans actually battled in Crisis on Infinite Earths as well as appearing side-by-side, showing how much kindred spirits they truly were... as were their opposite numbers. Meet Tatsu Yamashiro and Seiji Kato (alternatively known as Sonia Sato), aka Katana and Nightingale (Judomaster) respectively.

Tatsu was the wife of Maseo and mother of Yuki and Reiko. When Maseo's brother Takeo couldn't persuade her to choose him of her future husband, he became vengeful. As a criminal Takeo attacked Maseo's family with a special sword. While her husband and children were slain, Tatsu beat Takeo in battle thanks to her superior training in martial arts and claimed the sword for herself. While attempting to avenge her family's deaths as the vigilante known as Katana, she encountered Batman and other heroes in Marcovia and they formed the Outsiders. She eventually claimed victory over Takeo, though she never gained true peace in her heart, aside from that she found from mentoring the young Halo, her teammate. Katana did carve out her own legend, so to speak, as a heroine when tempted alongside other costumed crusaders.

Seiji (or the Anglicinized name of Sonja) was a young warrior for whose past not much is known. When first appearing, as a performer in an Asian show, Kato as Nightingale attempted to retrieve ancient artifacts stolen from Japan. But unlike Katana, Nightingale resorted to theft and murder leading to a few battles versus the Huntress. After this defeat, Sonia assumed a different alias as Judomaster in order to associate to some extent with the Justice Society of America.

This led to Kato evidently betraying that team, perhaps to exact revenge against Huntress who was member. Kato's cosmic twin on a composite post-Crisis Earth also served as a legacy member of that world's Justice Society. As a martial artist supreme, this Judomaster had something in common with the Judomaster of Earth-Four who was a Caucasian soldier Rip Dagger who fought evil during World War II. As for Katana, while she was also zealous towards protecting Japanese artifacts, for her the need for justice triumphed over that of vengeance unlike Kato.

Outsiders Week: Superhuman Studs

Prince Brion Marcov, youngest son of the tiny European monarchy known as Marcovia, enlisting the aid of scientist Dr. Helga Jace in giving him earth-based powers to protect his country from the forces of Baron Bedlam. Gaining super-strength, lava blasts, gravity manipulation abilities, he became known as Geo-Force. Joining the Outsiders formed by Earth-One's Batman, Geo-Force in his civilian identity became close friends with fellow Outsider Black Lightning and a college student.

Sandy Hawkins was the orphaned nephew of debutante Dian Belmont, who had been the girlfriend of Wesley Dodds. When she perished on and occasion when she substituted for Dodds' Sandman alter ego, Wesley took to wearing a costume designed by her prior to her death. He also sought out Sandy as atonement for her passing, adopting the lad and grooming him as his sidekick Sandy the Golden Boy. Alongside his mentor during his solo missions, as well as Sandman's Justice Society cases and a few adventures in the All-Star Squadron, Sandy built up a promising heroic career for himself.

This crimefighting career was eventually shattered when he was mutated by a silicon gun into becoming a new being known as the Silicoid Creature. Manifesting a separate personality, this thing was the counterpart of Metamopho. After decades as this creature in a sleeping state enducd by Sandman, Sandy was transformed by to a humanoid by his mentor, just like he had been yet manifesting earthquake generating abilities.

A few powers that Sandy did not manifest, which Geo-Force possessed, included emitting energy and anti-gravitational flight. This ability was harnessed by Rex Mason’s Earth-Two counterpart Joe Morgan, when an alien evil-globe originating from the universe of Earth-One merged with the ex-trainer. With his temporary powers, Morgan attempted to exact revenge against his former protégées Ted “Wildcat” Grant, Al “Atom” Pratt, and Jim “Guardian” Harper… as well as the globe’s mortal enemy Alan “Green Lantern” Jordan.

When Morgan fought back against the evil-globe, he lost his life just as a second irradiation from the Orb of Ra finally stripped Mason of his humanity forevermore. However, Sandy’s mutated form assumed the mantle of the metamorphic man-monster that corresponded to Mason’s Metamorpho.

Outsiders Week: Amazing Avenging Athletes

Jefferson Pierce was an accomplished decathlete, winning a gold metal in the Earth-One's 1972 Olympics, returned to his home of Metropolis' Suicide Slum to help teach a younger generation to as an educator. When he saw the crime in the city, Pierce turned to his mentor Peter Gambi an inventor who developed a belt that projected electrical bolts, enhance his strength and created a force field around him. Jeff as Black Lightning began his career taking down the criminal 100 gang. Black Lightning operated for a few years as a solo hero, and eventually joined the Batman's Outsiders after declining Justice League membership some time prior to this.

Will Everett was also an accomplished athlete in track and field, winning a gold metal in the Earth-Two's 1936 Olympics, after which he returned to Metropolis to become a role model for young African-American youths. Everett had found himself employment with atomic scientist Dr. Terry Curtis, who was himself employed by the criminal Ultra-Humanite. Shackled to an electro-generator, an accidental explosion imbued Will with the ability as Amazing-Man to transform his body into whatever material he touched, and later magnetic abilities. He decided to join the heroic All-Star Squadron and battled evil threats like Ultra.

How did two counterparts with similar backstories end up with different powersets and different outlooks on life? This will be considered at a later date...

Outsiders Week: Magnificent Metamophs

Earths One and Two both had a pair of elemental enigmas, and tragic troubleshooters. The former were tied to them were two objects of power, the Orb of Ra and the Hammer of Thor... designed from alien metals that imbued upon those exposed to them awesome abilities. The latter two lost their humanity when white glowing orbs transformed them into metamorphic men.Rex Mason was a world traveling treasure hunter who found himself in the employ of the greedy Simon Stagg. On one assignment, Rex was trapped inside an Egyptian pyramid, due to machinations of his mischievous boss. This left him exposed to the meteorite known as the Orb of Ra.

The Orb of Ra was made of an alien alloy in an Egyptian pyramid, while the equally ancient Hammer of Thor was discovered by archaeologist Carter Hall. As Hawkman, Hall used the hammer an early adventure when his alter ego battled the evil Mazda. Like the Orb of Earth-One, the Hammer of Earth-Two could alter elemental properties... as witnessed by its transforming Will Everett into the shape-shifting Amazing Man, Carter was unaware of its properties and so used it as a blunt instrument rather than a skilled tool. And another hammer built around the same principles would irradiate an All-Star Squadron teammate of Everett's, transforming that lad into an Elemental Man himself!

From this irradiation, Metamorpho was born, capable of altering and transforming his body into any variation of the scores of elements found in nature. Until a cure was found, Rex agreed to become a reluctant superhero on Earth-One.

Thor's Hammer would later be acquired by metalurist turned criminal Fairytales Fenton... whose adversary was the teenage hero known as Sandy the Golden Boy along wih the lad's mentor Wesley Dodds aka Sandman. Irradiated and empowered by his copycat Hanmer of Thor, Fenton used this energy to severely injury Sandy. Although the boy soon recovered from his wounds, exposure to the hammer's radiation through physical contact with Fenton left Sandy susceptible to another form of radiation years later!

Metamorpho the element man as a new life form with Mason's memories was the counterpart of the Silicon Creature that possessed the memories of Sandy Hawkins. When his guardian Sandman tested a silicoid gun which prematurely detonated, bathing his young ward in its radiations which along with the Orb’s lighting, the gigantic sand monster was born. Kept in suspended animation for decades, he was revived when the Justice Society aided Dodds in reuniting with Hawkins and soon regained his humanity. The Silicoid Creature then reverted back to Sandy Hawkins, the counterpart of Metamorpho's Outsiders teammate Prince Brion "Geo-Force" Marcov.

Rex Mason's Earth-Two counterpart Joe Morgan* encountered another glowing white alien orb. This transformed the boxing trainer into a multi-colored man much like Metamorpho, only he was spurred by the ancient globe's evil to seek out his three former protégées in Ted "Wildcat" Grant, Al "Atom" Pratt and Jim "Guardian" Harper as pawns to use again Alan "Green Lantern" Scott. Scott's green lantern and Mason's evil-globe originated from the Guardians of Earth-One's universe, each exiled to Earth-Two. When his scheme failed, Joe perished as the globe was banished into space for eternity.

While Rex's initial transformation within an Egyptian pyramid was initiated by the glowing white orb, months afterward scientist Will Magnus developed the means of reversing the process and restoring humanity to Mason. However, when a professional rival of Magnus took control of Will's Metal Men, in order to save Sapphire and her father... Rex agreed to reverse Magnus' process. This second transformation mirrored that of Sandy Hawkins when he was exposed to Wesley Dodd's experimental silicon gun, which mutated him into the Silicoid Creature for decades.

* Not to be confused with Earth-One Clark “Superboy” Kent’s classmate Joe Morgan or Earth-Two Clark “Superman” Kent’s city councilman Joe Morgan.

Scarlet Superhuman Sirens Show Similar Skills

Emily Biggs and Rebecca Sharpe were heirs to tremendous powers of the mind. Emily was the granddaughter of a king known as Loron who had obtained his mental abilities due to a meteorite that fell in Switzerland centuries ago. When he founded the underground nation of Abyssia, the people who joined him in the 20th century sought a new sovereign that would unite them with the surface world, and found this in Loron's descendent Biggs whom they wanted to be their queen. Rebecca was the granddaughter of the golden age supervillain known as the Gambler, and somehow through him gained a distorted and vengeful view of life in general

Both Biggs and Sharpe as Looker and Brainwave Junior possessed mental abilities and joined the Outsiders of Earth-One and Injustice Unlimited. of Earth-Two, respectively. Their relationships with their superhuman peers were strained due to Looker's vanity towards her personal appearance and Rebecca's aversion to homicide unlike her criminal compatriots.