Fantastic Four Supports Seven Soldiers

Shortly after an their adventure alongside the Justice Society of America, wherein they assisted them in recovering their fellow All-Stars missing since the golden age of mystery men, the Justice League returned to Earth-One. That is, all save three Leaguers who remained on Earth-Two, who were tasked with what Hawkman said was: “helping the Seven Soldiers adjust to the world of the present”! Why?

In the early 1950’s, the Seven... also known as Law's Legionnaires, gathered together for one final case as a group. On that occasion, atop the Himalayas, they along with their unofficial eight member Wing, battled the Nebula Man monster. Assembling a Nebula Rod that destroyed the create, a side effect was Wing's death, while his teammates were sent to various past time periods. From these eras, various members of the JLA and JSA retrieves the Legionnaires, bringing them back to the 20th century although decades after they disappeared. Thanks to their reappearance, the Soldiers were able to save Earth-Two!

Undoubtedly, the Society also aided the Soldiers in their transition from the 50’s to the 70's. However, those three Leaguers: Aquaman, Atom and Black Canary; these three had special purpose that necessitated their temporary presence in that alternate universe.

At least one of the Soldiers was given one-on-one assistance by a Socialite, as Starman took an immediate interest in his fellow stellar superhero, Star-Spangled Kid. In fact, when he later broke his leg, Starman lent the Kid his Cosmic Rod to use. And it would be this device, along with his knowledge of the Nebula Rod, that helped the Kid create his Cosmic Converter Belt.

The Legionnaire known as Shining Knight would have little difficulty readjusting to a new decade, as he had previously experienced a frozen sleep that lasted over a thousand years removed from his native time in Camelot. He and his flying steed Winged Victory simply acclimated to yet another new time period.

Apparently, although sent to save Star-Spangled Kid from the prehistoric past, something drew Aquaman's attention toward the Legionnaire referred to as the Vigilante. Perhaps with his telepathic abilities, the marine marvel was able to perceive some melancholy in the cowboy crusader. One thing they both had in common were beloved sidekicks who were surrogate sons, that they had grown distant from. While the emotional rift between Aquaman and his young partner Aqualad eventually mended, at the time of this tale it was still a fresh wound.

And if history parallels on both Earths, then this Vigilante would soon discover the tragedy that befell his sidekick Stuff. On Earth-One, after that Vigilante returned from a mysterious years-long absence, he learned of the death of his world's Stiff., who had been murdered by his arch-enemy the Dummy.

Honorary League member Metamorpho would have had a positive influence on Stripesy, the senior partner of the Kid. The Element Man would no doubt encourage Stripesy into settling down into a normal life and get married, something Metamorpho longed to do if ever cured from his inhuman condition. Stripesy later mentioned that he retreated into a new life with a wife and son on the other side of the United States... retiring from heroics… something he wasn’t inclined to do before meeting his new League acquaintance.

The Atom had first encountered Legionnaire Crimson Avenger in ancient Mexico, when the hero was under the influence of a fragment of the Nebula Man. Radiating with power from the radioactive rock, Crimson Avenger had battled Atom as well as Elongated Man and Doctor Fate, until they defeated him and he regained his senses. However, there was undoubtedly a concern as to the physical effects of Avenger's close proximity to the alien substance, which Atom sought to investigate using his scientific knowledge and experience with dangerous white dwarf radiation.

And indeed, his concern was borne out, as the Crimson while traveling the world as Lee Travis, discovered he now had cancer. With time running out, he resumed his costumed career for one final adventure. Sadly, if Atom discovered the root cause, he was unable to prevent the resulting effect.

And finally, there was Black Canary, a native of Earth-Two. She would perhaps feel inclined to help Vigilante, whom she helped save from the old west. However, she would've instead sought out the Legionnaires' ace archers, Green Arrow and Speedy. And given her recent history with her adopted world's versions of the pair of bowmen, one can see why this is a logical choice for her.

Throughout the years, the romantic relationship between Canary and the Earth-One Arrow usually involved her being the voice of reason, given his stubborn and opinionate point of view on life. This made him a better man, and would carry over with his adopted ward.

That ward, Speedy, had succumbed to drug abuse and addiction, despite having a storied career alongside his mentor and as a member of the Teen Titans. Canary in her Dinah Lance identity helped the lad recover over time.

Now on her home world of Earth-Two, Dinah saw a more mild and reserved Green Arrow, and a very frightened Speedy given his experience in ancient Greece when he temporarily lost his grip on humanity. 

She seemed a stabilizing influence, as the pair retired to reclaim their lives as Oliver Queen and Roy Harper. While the Earth-One Oliver and Roy had lost the fortune that supported them, causing them to live more modest lives and persist in their masked escapades... this wasn't the case for the Earth-Two pair. Those two ex-Legionnaires never acclaim resumed their more famous alter egos, aside from the occasional reunion with their teammates and during the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Although Roy felt torment later during the Crimson Avenger's funeral due to their displacement in time, he did not revert to substance abuse as had his cosmic twin. Instead, he dealt with the harsh realities life had presented him with. The Teen Titan Roy, also at a funeral, felt some indignation for the abandonment of his former guardian Oliver, and would once more become Speedy in order to prove that he had regained control of his life once more.

Knights of Ancient and Modern Eras Converge on the 20th Century

Two knights out-of-time, thrust into the present...and two modern day Templar knights of a different type... each impacting the 20th century in various ways.

Jason Blood was the premier protector of the Camelot of Earth-One, wherein his superhuman alter ego of Etrigan struck terror in his foes. However, facing insurmountable forces, Blood retreated from the battle to protect his home and lived for centuries until the modern era when he was revived in Gotham City, a noted historian who protected to innocent alongside Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman... among others.

Sir Justin Arthur was the premier protector of  the Camelot of Earth-Two, hand picked by his counselor to be the Shining Knight. Given an indestructible golden armor, a sword that could slice through anything, and a flying horse named Winged Victory, Justin had adventures in this historical time period. Then, a battle with a giant ogre sent Justin into the cold waters enveloping him in ice and freezing him for over a thousand years, awakening in a modern era of the 20th century to become one of Law's Legionnaires.

Keith Kenyon was a political dissident and scientist who discovered a sunken gold chest that enabled him to modify its ancient properties to become an elixir which he drank, turning him into the criminal known as Goldface. After his initial defeat at the hands of Earth-One's Green Lantern, Kenyon developed his gold armor along with a modified liquid gold spray gun. Despite an inherent weakness to the color yellow which prohibited Lantern's power ring from affecting, the hero was still able to outmaneuver Goldface once more. Kenyon returned years later to resume his criminal career in Coast City, and resume his war against his foe.

His counterpart of Earth-Two was criminal gang leader Baron Buckton, known as the Black Templar, an ancient 1000 year order allegedly originating in Camelot (who a time-traveling Alan "Green Lantern" Scott encountered while battling their then leader Tarquin). This meglamonical malcontent led forces of the same name. Twice his forces struck against Keystone City, drawing first his henchmen and then himself into conflict with its costumed protector, the Flash. Along with his ancient weaponry, including the ancient Flame of Buckton, Templar incorporated modern sensibilities into his schemes and nearly succeeded in conquering his city and its prize jewel, Keystone Research (that world's version of S.T.A.R Labs) possessing cutting edge technology itself, owned by the Flash. Yet both times they battled, the Flash beat the Black Templar.

Cookie-Cutter-Counterparts: The Vigilantes

On both Earths One and Two, Greg Sanders was a renowned country singer who doubled as a gun-slinging crimefighter, the Vigilante. Each had partners named Stuff, an arch-foe named the Dummy...who looked like an actual wooden dummy, and eventually paired up with his late former sidekick's son Stuff Junior.

However, there were points of departure as well. While the golden age Vigilante had a well-chronicled history in the 1940's, his silver age counterpart did not only appearing to true public notoriety on Earth-One when teaming up with the Justice League of America to battle aliens! On Earth-Two, Vig was already a member of two teams, Law's Legionnaires and the All-Star Squadron. It was with the former team that he also battled an alien, this one sending him to another century before the white man arrived in North America, to be rescued by the Justice Society of America and their JLA allies.

Another pair of counterparts, two weapon-wielding warriors each with brief costumed careers, were the Swashbuckler and the Sword. The alter ego of Swashbuckler was Michael Carter, while Sword's was Chic Carter. Michael was the nephew of Earth-One's Vigilante, while any family relationship between Earth-Two's Vigilante and Chic is unknown. Not much was known of Michael's private life except that he resided in Houston as its sole costumed crusader, and aided Batman on one occasion in apprehending the Riddler. Chic may have run across a caped crusader of his own in the form of Superman, as like that hero's secret identity of Clark Kent, Chic also worked at the Daily Star as a police reporter for the newspaper. As the Sword, Chic only had a handful of adventurers, although in his civilian identity he was heavily involved in crime fighting cases as was another Daily Planet reporter in Jimmy Olsen. The Swashbuckler, if he reappeared in his full faced mask, has had no further tales recorded.

Otherwise... true mirror images of one another through and through... a pity they never met to exchange campfire yarns and bellow out tunes as the "Prairie Troubadours".

Boy Sidekicks for Teams of Justice

Lucas Carr was a resident of Happy Harbor when Starro came to Earth-One to begin his invasion of humanity. Thanks to the lad's accidental discovery of the alien's weakness, lime, the Justice League of America defeated the villain and made Carr an honorary member. He was given a flying hot rod designed by the League, and over the years Snapper proved valuable more than once in assisting his teammates.

Sylvester Pemberton was the child heir to his father's fortune when he became inspired to adopt a stellar uniform and alter ego. When he was joined by his future chauffeur Pat Dugan, the pair became the dynamic duo known as Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy. Dugan designed for them their flying car, the Star Rocket Racer. Soon after, they were both charter members of the Seven Soldiers of Victory.

Snapper fell into some bad association, first duped by a disguised Joker into revealing the JLA's cave headquarters and later assisting the Key in developing the villain Star-Tsar, Using stellar based technology, Snapper as Star-Tsar was a recurring adversary of the League, although his ultimate intention was to supplant the schemes of Key and another rogue named Mark Shaw, which with the League he was able to accomplish. Snapper eventually reconciled with the team once more.

Star-Spangled Kid was eventually liberated with fellow Soldiers from ancient eras they had been exiled, returning to the 20th century where he was given Starman's Cosmic Rod to embark on a new career, joining the Justice Society of America. He created a Cosmic Converter Belt that gave him star-based powers similar to technology created by Earth-One's Evil Star. Syl eventually created a new persona as Skyman with his new team, Infinity Inc. which operated out of Stellar Studios, once owned by Guy Pompton aka Earth-Two's Evil-Star.

Star-Tsar would later be revived by a coworker of Snapper, who stole Carr’s super-suit to use for his own crimes, before this new Tsar was defeated by Green Arrow. Around the same time, Stripesy’s counterpart on Snapper’s Earth, Lucas Draper, began his criminal career as Master Jailer. Although both Jailer and Tsar had battled Superman, Draper and Carr never had opportunity to meet as had Dugan and Pemberton.

Cookie-Cutter Counterparts: Green Arrow and Speedy

From the outset, the Oliver Queens of Earths One and Two are near mirror images of one another. Each is a wealthy playboy who later becomes their world's most accomplished archer. And both have sidekicks known as Speedy.

That said, the golden age Arrow of Earth-Two had an interest in American Indian artifacts, which brought him to Lost Mesa where he met future ward Roy Harper and where both learned to love archery. The silver age Arrow of Earth-One found his footing as an archer while on a deserted island, later meeting Roy Harper.

Additionally, while the early Roy's first guardian was a native American named Quoag, the later Roy's was named Brave Bow. Neither were in the boys' lives for very long.

Another point of divergence was that at the point when Green Arrow and later Speedy were invited to join the Justice League and Teen Titans, respectively; their counterparts were already members of Law's Legionnaires when the Justice Society had been operating separately. Hence, the Earth-One battling bowmen were more part of the mainstream of superhero community, while the Earth-Two duo were not as highly acclaimed...although they joined the All-Star Squadron along with all mystery men of their day.

Then tragedy struck each yet in different ways. For the original pair, they along with their fellow Legionnaires were pulled through time after battling a cosmic entity to different centuries, with Arrow in the time of Robin Hood and Speedy in the days of ancient Greece. They were men out of time disconnected from the 1940's.

Meanwhile, the modern day Arrow found his fortune in essence stolen by a bitter rival, and found his beloved partner Speedy a heroin addict. Both men eventually recovered and picked up the pieces of their lives, although now together, deciding it best to live apart.

What is truly interesting is how, several months after Earth-One's Green Arrow and his girlfriend Black Canary faced Speedy's devastating decision to self-destruct, they encountered Earth-Two's Green Arrow and Speedy. No words seem to have been exchanged from the sole picture of blonde Oliver meeting his brunette haired twin and junior pal, perhaps this only reminded him of his own personal regrets at drifting away from his partner. Although it's telling how both Arrow is facing the young Speedy, with his back turned to the original Avenging Archer. And perhaps, seeing a lonely Arrow caused the Earth-Two pair to cling closer together and make a new life as civilians... retiring from the stress of their other lives. Although, years later after the passing of fellow Legionnaire Crimson Avenger, the tragedy of their time lost overwhelmed this Speedy.

During and after the Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was only Earth-Two's Green Arrow who participated as had his counterpart, with neither Speedy suited up for this conflict. And eventually, the golden age Ace Archer died during an attack by agents of the Anti-Matter Universe, while his young ward now no longer fitting into this new reality apparently ceased to exist. Or did he?

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An asides: Oliver Queen on Earth-One eventually became a commentator for Star City's Daily Star, while the Earth-Two Oliver's teammate Crimson Avenger was the publisher of the Daily Globe-Leader (its postulated these two organziations mirror each other similar to Metropolis' Daily Planet and Earth-Two Daily Star).

Outsiders Week: Forgotten Five for Fighting

The Force of July were a fleeting attempt at capitalizing on the woebegone and misguided patriots attempting to reign in the threat of fellow super humans that are unregulated. Major Victory is the strong beefcake, Sparkler is the flying firecracker in power and in youthful spirit, Mayflower is the vine-growing lass, Lady Liberty the maiden that projects energy from her torch, and Silent Majority is the self-multiplying foot soldier(s). Their one claim to fame was a brush up versus Earth-One's Outsiders.

The Seven Soldiers of Victory were a band of seven… actually eight… masked manhunters who formed shortly after the Justice Society. During their sixth recorded adventure, these heroes encountered individuals masquerading after them. Among these individuals were a handful who either previously or would later resume their heroic opponents’ identities in other encounters with them

Comprised of faux-facsimiles, these fraudulent “Seven Soldiers” attempted to claim a high-value reward offered by a millionaire. “Stripesy” (aka Barsey) is the strong beefcake, “Star-Spangled Kid” (aka Comet Kid) is the flying firecracker in power and in youthful spirit, “Crimson Avenger” (formerly clad in fadora and suit like the original) is the crimson cloud crusader, “Shining Knight” (aka Ranny Roves) is the English lad with his energy repelling sword,  and “Vigilante” is the self-multiplying foot soldier(s). Unlike the costumed crusaders they were modeled after, these miscreants were as cowardly as they were crooked.

While the Force of July battled the Outsiders once prior to the Crisis, and then disappeared from whence they came, these forgotten five themselves vanished amidst the crisis of World War II. The fake Soldiers were foiled by traps and snares easily overcome by the originals.

Wonderful Wingmen and Crimson Crusaders Seek Justice on Worlds not their Own

Van-Zee was a scientist living in the bottled city of Kandor, the last surviving city of Krypton-One that had been kept within the walls of Superman's Earth-One Fortress of Solitude. After a brief foray as Superman himself, as he was that hero's lookalike, Van-Zee married and alongside former Phantom Zone convict Ak-Var adopted the aliases of Nightwing and Flamebird.

Lee Walter Travis was a wealthy newspaper publisher in New York City who, along with his assistant Wing How, fought crime on Earth-Two during the early days of the 1940's as Crimson Avenger and Wing. Eventually, both became members of Law's Legionnaires or Seven Soldiers of Victory, and thereafter the All-Star Squadron.

While outside the bottle environment of Kandor, both Nightwing and Flamebird would you Kryptonian level powers, in their home city they relied on flight belts and weaponry in their utility belts. As for the Crimson and Wing, they used ropes and other gadgetry such as red smoke, although on occasion each possessed the power of the nebula energy from their foe Nebula Man.

For Van and Ak, a new life awaited them and the other Kandorians on the trans-dimensional world known as Raokyn, while Lee and Wing faced timeless limbo and death respectively following their class with Nebula Man alongside their allies.