Mirror Masters Meet Malicious Malefactors

Initially, Samuel Scudder and Jonathan Cheval used their reflecting technology towards solo sinister schemes. While Schudder as the Mirror Master faced other superheroes, his recurring adversary was the Flash, as both operated out of Earth-One's Central City. Although Cheval as the Monocle first matched wits with the Hawkman, he eventually moved to Earth-Two's Keystone City where he battled the Flash.

Monocle retired from villainy following his second loss. Mirror Master refused to quit, and soon helped to form Flash's Rogues Gallery, made up of Flash's other opponents working together to defeat their mutual enemy. When even this failed to work, Mirror Master next joined the Injustice Gang, a rival organization created to vanquish the Flash and his Justice League.

After three attempts at succeeding versus the League, the Gang finally dissolved, although the thought of working with a criminal organization would still linger in Scudder's mind. Eventually, Mirror Master led to his recruiting reserve members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, hired by the Silver Ghost to defeat the visiting Freedom Fighters of Earth-X . The Society failed in this mission, as the Freedom Fighters returned to Earth-X following this adventure.

Shortly following this, Cheval was motivated to resume his antagonistic alias of the Monocle when he became a member of Ultra-Humanite's Secret Society of Super-Villains. On this occasion, after capturing Hawkman, Monocle* aided his fellow Flash foe Rag Doll in likewise ensnaring that hero as well. After nearly succeeding in removing all heroes from their Earth, the Society tried once more to overcome their enemies in the Justice Society by traveling back in time. Despite the element of surprise, the Secret Society were once more handed a loss by the Flash, along with his allies in the All-Star Squadron.

Despite these reversals, both Scudder and Cheval held onto their hope that their gadgetry genius and tenacious temperaments would lead to a victory one day versus the Flash of two worlds.

* Danton Graeme on Earth-One assumed the alter ego of the Monocle during one encounter versus the Super Friends, using his illusion casting eyewear. However, his counterpart was another Monocle on Earth-Two named Monocle who crossed paths with Flash's fellow speedster, Johnny Quick, on on occasion.

Mirror Marauding Menaces Week: Reflecting Rogues

The Fastest Men Alive of five Earths faced several ferocious foes, but perhaps none as tenacious as these masters of mirrors. Unlike their peers, these rogues had the means to succeed, given their tremendous creative minds. Three of these were criminals who discovered terrorizing technology, while a forth was a hero and the fifth was a bounty hunter!

Scudder's Mirror Master identity on Earth-One's caused Central City terror throughout the years during various clashes with his scarlet-clad opponent, Whether using reflective weaponry, traveling to the fourth dimension via a mirror, granting himself superhuman power or altering his adversaries personalities into a dark reflction of himself... Sam never ran out of tricks to terrorize.   He would be instrumental in forming the Rogues Gallery that plagued Flash aka Barry Allen, consisting of several arch enemies of the hero. He would also eventually join such teams as the Injustice Gang and Secret Society of Super-Villains.

Schudder's Earth-Two counterpart was optometrist Jonathan Cheval, who followed his father's trade and built up a business for himself. When corrupt bankers stole from Cheval's payments on his business location to cover their financial losses, this left Jonathan destitute. Seeking revenge, Cheval as the Monocle...or Mister Monocle as the Flash would later call him... incorporated his technological advantages in harnessing lasers and cosmic radiation into his eye pieces. Hunting each of the bankers, the Monocle's vengeful path was stymied by the intervention of Hawkman. Soon after, Monocle recruited a gang of hoodlums and employed even more methodical schemes in a crime wave he started in Keystone City. This caused him to face his world's Flash, whom he exposed to other gadgetry he had devised such as various mirrors and images projected as well as vicious hand held implements of death. Once more, he was defeated... and decades later as a seemingly reformed inventor in France, Chaval was enticed once more into criminal endeavors by the Ultra-Humanite. Joining the Secret Society of Super-Villains, Monocle once more faced his two foes in Hawkman and Flash.

Then there was the Mirror Master of Earth-148 whom the Earth-One version stumbled upon while using one of his devices, thinking he was as evil as him when he witnessed Samuel-148 defeating that world's Flash. In reality, Scudder there was a hero and Flash a villain, and so the device that Samuel-One used was ineffective on his dimensions Scarlet Speedster. A final Mirror Master would reveal himself in battle versus the Flash of Earth-D aka Tanaka Rei, whom Barry witnesses battling just prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths wiping out that reality. Each of these Masters of Mirrors working on both sides of the law, whether solo or alongside their fellows, were consistent in their propensity to torment their worlds' respective Flash.

The Earth-Three Mirror Master was one of five core members of the superhuman bounty hunter team known as the Rogue Hunters. Allied alongside that world's version of the Top, Captain Cold, Weather Wizard and a female Captain Boomerang, the quintet gained notoriety at their long running enmity with the arch antagonists of humanity in their reality, the Crime Syndicate of America, and its fastest member Johnny Quick. In fact, their last chronicled case was on the world during the Convergence event when the Hunters battled the powerless Syndicate and yet faced defeat as they had done in the past. 

Mirror Marauding Menaces Week: Chromatic and Monochromatic

These twin masters of light had discovered a curious side-effect to their dappling in the fields of chromatic and monochromatic marvels, that is to say their control over colors and darkness, that said energies provided gateways into parallel dimensions. The Shade of Earth-Two was able to bridge the gap between universes using his Ebony Cane to access the Dark Dimension, although initially this spawned shadow creatures, including fellow fiend "The Dark" who was an old adversary of the Ray. Later, Shade was able to personally teleport to Earth-One himself, and did so to battle...himself.

The Rainbow Raider used his techniques to flood his dimension in black-and-white while releasing the colors from his hometown of Central City on Earth-One onto the corresponding Keystone City of Earth-Two. What he failed to anticipate in his endeavor was that this would run counter to the sinister schemes of his counterpart the Shade, who sought out the means to restore balance to his own world so that he may wield darkness once more, and so traveled to Earth-One. 

Seeing no other option, the Shade sought out his former foe the Earth-One Flash, who had twice previously teamed up with his own Flash to defeat him. Together, Shade and Flash turned the tides against the Rainbow Raider, by reversing the Raider's colorful transformation of the Flash using the darkness from Shade's cane. 

Whether the Raider would later discover that his own terrible twin was the cause of his plan coming unraveled is unknown. The Shade persisted in his attacks against both arch-enemy along with the Flash's allies in the Justice Society, both as a solo operative and as a recurring member of the Injustice Society. Included in the Shade's travels was when he and his cronies Fiddler and Icicle were recruited by Darkseid to help the dark lord retake his planet of Apokolips, and transplant that world to Earth-Two's universe in its place. This too was thwarted by the Justice Society and Justice League.

As for Rainbow Raider, he would continue to have rematches with his own Flash, although he joined forces with other villains such as Doctor Double X and his fellow Flash's Rogues Gallery felons. During these occasions, he'd also encounter allies of the Flash in his teammates Batman and Green Lantern.

The Flash's Rogues Gallery...and Earth-Two's Faux Foibles

When Gorilla Grodd sought to steal the Flash's speed and finally defeat his old foe, he teleported six Central City felons... Captain Cold, Pied Piper, Top, Captain Boomerang, Heat Wave and Mirror Master.... to distract the speedster. However, the Flash defeated this Rogues Gallery, just as he had when he ventured from Earth-One to Earth-Two to aid his counterpart versus that Flash's foes Fiddler, Shade and Thinker. In both Central and Keystone City, various combinations of Flash foes would teamup from time to time throughout the years to plague both Scarlet Speedsters. However, their petty schemes never matched their meticulous crimson enemies.

Central City had it's Rogues Gallery, Keystone City had it's Lairs Club. Both were less than honorable societies. The former were filled with Felons who faced the Flash. The latter were lads who laughed at their Flash. And his tales, which seemed as outlandish as those of his counterpart a universe away.

While the Rogues were colorful costumed criminals, the Liars were more dignified in their posh suits. Additionally, they included as their member the alter ego of the Flash, Jay Garrick, who spun tales of his battles with foes like Tag "Eel" Madden and alongside the Three Dimwits. Decades later, it was Barry "Flash" Allen who had real life tales versus his own set of adversaries.

Evil Elementals: Elemental Enemies of the Flash

As infants, Albert Desmond and John Sargent were each exposed to a powerful ruby which gave them mastery over the elements as adults. Both men flirted with good and evil in their costumed careers, each encountering the Flash.

As a scientist with criminal leanings, Albert devised an elemental gun which could transmute objects, and used this as the sinister mastermind known as Mister Element. Taking Central City of Earth-One by storm with his criminal gang, he faced the town's new hero the Flash. Despite quick thinking and awesome adaptability, Mister Element was no match for his fleet footed foe.

Soon after, Desmond discovered the Philosopher's Stone which gave him even greater abilities as Doctor Alchemy. After a rematch with Flash, he joined fellow villains of Earths One and Two to form the Crime Champions, battling the Justice League and Justice Society.  The Earth-Two Stone was first claimed by the criminal Slicer and later by Professor Zobar Zodiak. Slicer was his world's version of Albert's evil cousin Alvin, who also used the stone.

As a stage performer with heroic aspirations, John Sargent utilized his ruby of life to control matter to become the caped crusader known as Sargon. Travelling across America and to other countries on his native Earth-Two, Sargon battled a variety of foes. Using his quick thinking along with with adaptable abilities, he even earned a spot on the All-Star Squadron, working alongside the golden age Flash.

Unlike Desmond, who had his wife Rita to stabilize him with her love to become a law-abiding citizen, Sargent left the woman in his life, Flora Styles, who had been his moral compass when he eventually moved to Earth-One for a a few decades and turned evil.

In fact, an adverse influence to each of them was Eubard Thawne, also known as Professor Zoom or the Reverse Flash. Zoom brainwashed Desmond into resuming his Mister Element alias on two occasions, to further Thawne's own scientific research. Later, Sargon enlisted the aid of Zoom to assist him in learning the secrets of time travel.

Just as there were twin rubies on Sargon's world, so too they existed on Element's world. The one known as the dragon's eye ruby ring was owned by Desmond since his youth, just as Sargon's ruby was a childhood inheritance.The other Earth-Two ruby ring was possessed by police detective Jim Corrigan, and for a time by a common criminal, while the other Earth-One ruby ring was possessed by Latin America dictator Pedro Valdez. 

In fact, the rubies that Desmond and Sargent each owned were temporarily claimed by actor "Brick" Ford and Jerry "the Gyp" Swain, immediately after Albert was cured of his ruby's influence (thanks to Flash's help), and John's ruby was stolen from his apartment. Each ruby teleported to those "in need" of them after the former owner no longer had use of them. Eventually, one of the Earth-One rubies was destroyed by Wonder Woman, and Sargon's Earth-Two ruby returned with him there during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Fiendish Flowing Fluid Foes

Our fiendish flowing fluid foes are a couple of social miscreants who plagued the King of the Seas and the Fastest Man on Earth. The first was a mysterious malcontent named Dagon who threatened the Atlantic Ocean. The other was a greasy goon named Eel Madden always attempted to slide out of his sinister schemes in Keystone City.

Dagon developed a submersible spandex suit modeled after inhuman features that allowed its weather to survive the oceans' depths and manipulate water through hydro-kinethesis. In an untold tale, the Aquaman of Earth-One and Dagon apparently had a confrontation which culminated in Dagon's defeat and incarceration in prison, given the Sea King's words.

Rory's counterpart was Eel who developed the means to use his grease gun to cause of his opponents to slip and fall when they tried following him. Although his grease was highly flammable and should have helped him against the Earth-Two Flash, he found himself outsmarted by his fleet-footed foe. Eel then reinvented himself for his next encounter with the Fastest Man Alive.

Dagon along with four other supervillain foes of Aquaman's allies are replicated by three alien entities (Abnegazar, Rath and Ghast), and sent to attack members of the Justice League of America. These fatal five alongside Dagon were Pied Piper (foe of the Flash), the Mask (foe of Wonder Woman), Doctor Polaris (foe of Green Lantern), and Killer Moth (foe of the Batman). 

Madden changed his tactics and attempted to become a local bureaucrat of Pumpkin Center, manipulating the small township's local laws to justify his criminal acts. However, the Flash and his girlfriend Joan Williams thwarted his schemes. 

Although initially defeated by the crooked clones, the League prevails in a second confrontation with their faux-foes while also vanquishing the terrible trio behind their creation. While the Doctor Polaris clone survived and crafted a life of his own apart from the original Neal Emerson whom he was cloned from who was the original Doctor Polaris, this was no doubt due to the strong magnetic energy along with Emerson's split personality which spawned this artificial life. There is no further record of Dagon having reappeared on a later occasion.

Eel would return years later and create the city of Eelton, while maneuvering the Three Dimwits (Winky, Blinky and Noddy) into becoming the town's mayor, judge and police chief. However, Flash in his alter ego as Jay Garrick was alerted to this corrupt scheme to lure businesses to Eelton when his Garrick Research Laboratories was invited to move into its city limits, and used loopholes in the local laws to styme Madden's protection racket... causing the crook to abandon his tactics this time for good.

Fiends Face Fleet-Footed Week: Spinners

Roscoe Dillon and Swami Ymar were ingenious  in their implementation of spinning technology. 

Dillon adopted the alias of the Top, first using giant sized tops as weapons before himself incorporating high velocity spinning into his own fighting style.  While carrying on long running duels with Earth-One's Flash by himself and alongside the Rogues Gallery of supervillains, Dillon had a secret romance with Lisa Snart the sister of fellow rogue Captain Cold. Finally, gaining temporary mental powers, he felt he finally had the edge to defeat his foe. Instead, he perished from a cerebral injury, leaving behind a grieving and vengeful girlfriend who became the Golden Glider, adopting some of his own techniques in her battles versus the Scarlet Speedster.

Swami Ymar also devised a green suit, made of metallic elements allowing him to spin at high velocity, and also employed such weaponry as spinning tops and buzz saws in his blitz of Gotham City. However, Ymar as the Spinner clashed a few times with Earth-Two's Batman and Robin along with their sometimes ally/entertainment performer Batwoman.

When a few encounters lead the trio to deduce that crook Peanuts Gilson is the culprit, they learn that it was actually Ymar who framed him to cover his own misdeeds. Although the Spinner was placed out of commission, one of his tops was later employed by Professor Hugo Strange (from this encounter, wherein the Earth-One Batman suggests a course of action to disrupt the top’s destructive path on Earth-Two's Gotham, its that world's Robin who states "that's just what (his) Batman did)".

If there had been an Earth-One Spinner, Batman would have already definitively known how to disarm his gyrating gadgets. Hence, the Spinner's origin tale solely took place on Earth-Two. As such, Spinner was the Earth-Two counterpart of the Top. While Top operated in Central City, while another villian named Rag Doll operated in Keystone City who filled the same roll as a Flash adversary on that world.  Rag Doll's Earth-One counterpart, Ragman, was a brief masked manhunter of Gotham City whom the Batman met twice, filling the role of the Spinner on that world in interacting with his Batman within his city.

Fiends Face Fleet-Footed Week: Cold Crooks

While Mister Freeze (or his counterpart, Mister Zero) were the more well-known cold crook early on, these two frozen felons quickly made names for themselves.

Len Snart was a criminal developing a cold gun based on a cyclotron in order to defeat Earth-One's  Flash of Central City as Captain Cold. Physicist Joar Mahkent was himself motivated towards crime by a gangster who tried to steal the cold ray gun  Joar had just created. As the Icicle, Joar ran afoul of Earth-Two's Green Lantern in Gotham City.

Both Cold and Icicle repeatedly clashed with their initial foes, although they expanded their list of enemies as well as allies when they joined Societies, one of Super-Villains and one of Injustice, as well as aiding fellow Flash rogues on occasion. 

Eventually Cold would face Green Lantern of his world, as would Icicle facing the Flash of his own. Both men actually worked together on one occasion, enlisted by the Earth-One version of Minister Blizzard to implement a new ice age under the guiding hand of Shadow Thief for his own malevolent purposes. While kept on ice in prison for most of their careers, they often cause their foes frigid frustration.

Cunningly Childish Clownish Criminals

James Jesse of Earth-One and Chuck Lane of Earth-Two were two of a kind. They each acrobatically adept and inventive geniuses. Both developed unique gadgets transforming toys as effective weapons.

James was originally a circus acrobat, a member of the Flying Jesses, although he had a fear of flying. To cope with this, he developed his flying shoes. Since the old western outlaw Jesse James was his idol, Jesse decided to become a criminal as well. Known as the Trickster, he employed various weird weapons with his various gag gadgets against Central City's law enforcement especially the Flash and Kid Flash, both alongside their Rogues Gallery. 

Chuck Lane was a policeman who adopted an alter ego inspired by his ancestors as the Jester. Born Robert Mason, heir to a fortune, when his father disowned him he briefly turned to crime as the Jester, until an imitator threatened the life of his father. After saving his dad, Mason decided to become a law enforcement officer. As a now heroic Jester, Lane had a brief costumed crusader on his native Earth-Two, and joined the All-Star Squadron. Lane's most famous instrument in his crimefighting arsenal was a round spherical flying object of his own creation known as a Quinopolis, which he would use as a weapon and a larger version of which he would ride upon on occasion

Gradually, Trickster branched out into other cities, and had a tenuous relationship with the Secret Society of Super-Villians, although not one of their more reliable members, clashing with other heroes such as Black Lightning and the World's Finest Team of Superman and Batman.

The Jester journeyed to Earth-X alongside Uncle Sam's Freedom Fighters, although evidence suggests that he returned to Earth-Two a few years later as he was still operating as a masked manhunter late into the 1940s on a world that was no longer enmbroiled in World War II.

Eventually Jesse repented of his criminal past, after the Flash left the 20th century to rejoin his wife Iris in her native 30th century. Would this change of heart last? At first having an adversarial rivalry with professional stuntman Daniel Cassidy in Hollywood, attempting to steal Daniel's Blue Devil suit, Jesse and Cassidy mended their relationship. His fellow Rogue, the Top, would later possesses powers similar to James, counterpart has displayed during Roger's second criminal career.