Elements of the Multiverse: Xium

A unique element to the universes of Earths One and Two is known as Xium. This element unleashed potent and undefined power, which could grant the man or woman who wielded it with a tremendous advantage against any who may oppose them. And this became a potentially detrimental detour to the Superman of Earth-One and the Wonder Woman of Earth-Two when they encountered a pair of madmen holding this element in the palms of their hands.

On Earth-One, Xium was discovered by criminal genius Lex Luthor in the late 20th century. Using this radioactive element to power his prototype atomic transmitter and ray-gun, Luthor saw the potential for it to empower a person, potentially granting one power comparable to Superman. Yet fearing he might have an adverse negative reaction to it, he projected some of this Xium onto reporter Clark Kent, who seemingly manifested invulnerability and other powers after exposure to it. Playing along with he scheme, since in fact it was his natural Kryptonian powers as Superman and not Xium which gave him his abilities, Clark duped Luthor into believing that the element had short term effects and transformed the person empowered with it to becoming good. Since this was opposed to Luthor’s demeanor, he ceased using Xium as a personal power source.

On the unnamed planet ruled by Queen Cinderella in the mid-20th century, Xium was discovered. The foe to the royal court of that world, a man named Strogo, attempted to seize a buried storehouse of this element from indented the Queen’s castle in order to empower both himself and his rebellion. Seeing her Prince captured by Strogo, Cinderella used an interstellar transportation disc to bring Wonder Woman from Earth-Two to her world. With the Amazon Amazon’s assistance, Cinderella was reunited with her Prince Charming, while Strogo along with his hence-woman Chameleon and his forces were transformed into children once the Xium they stole was destroyed.

Cinderella’s counterpart M’La was herself exposed to radiation, although not Xium which wasn’t native to her world but rather found only on Luthor’s world. Instead, Prince Charming’s counterpart and M'La's royal consort Zalaz found an alternative cure for her*.

Jack-lord Zalaz of that far distant world in the Earth-One universe grew dismayed when his love M'La fell into a coma, from which she was unable to recover. He soon ascertained that only the Starheart, imprisoned in the heart of an actual star in Earth-Two's dimension, would have the power necessary to revive her. This theft unleashed the alien globe's radiation into his own dimensional plane, drawing the attention of the Guardians of the Universe and specifically Earth-One's Green Lantern Hal Jordan who recruited his Earth-Two counterpart Alan “Green Lantern” Scott and teammate Oliver “Green Arrow” Queen.

M'La upon her return became the globe's protector, where she would even bend time to guide and direct Alan Scott throughout his costumed career.

* Interestingly, just as there were two Green Lanterns and a bearded medieval ally in Green Arrow along for the adventure, so too Wonder Woman encountered a second Wonder Woman who was a Chameleon working for the bearded medieval Strogo (himself the counterpart of the Guardian of the Universe who alerted Green Lantern to Zalaz’s scheme, while the Chameleon’s counterpart was a lady gypsy from Earth who sent the “Greens” on their journey into the stars). Although in this case, the royal male saving his princess worked alongside the main hero rather than against them, while the cloned costumed crusader and bearded bard worked against the heroine!

Cosmic Inbalance: Story of the Sentinent Stellar Stones

Despite a variety of reality altering events throughout history, and specifically during the middle to latter half of the 20th century, the first occasion wherein Mallo the Cosmic Balancer intervened in his native reality and its cosmic twin was in 1981. This enigmatic entity deemed it necessary to intervene in the events of humanity, as he perceived an inbalance in his own reality of Earth-Two as well as its closest cosmic kin, that of Earth-One.

Specifically, upon analyzing the various superhumans populating both worlds, most costumed crusaders had correlating counterparts with compatiable capabilities. This included the Supermen, the Flashes, the Green Lanterns, and the Hawkmen... despite the fact that, aside from the Hawkmen, each doppleganger derived his powers from a separate power source. For Superman-One, it was a yellow sun and lighter gravity. For Superman-Two, it was genetic adaptation to his native Krypton. For Flash-One, it was immersion lightning charges chemics. For Flash-Two, it was by inhaling hard water fumes. For Green Lanterns One and Two, it was the specific types of green plasma compatiable with each of their universes.

Then there was the twin Tiny Titans, the Atoms also known as Ray Palmer and Al Pratt. While Al of Earth-Two possessed superstrength from Tholium radiation, Ray of Earth-One possessed size-changing abilities from a sentinent White Dwarf Star fragment. Tholium existed on both worlds, however the fragment was specific to Earth-One. Other techniques for shrinking, employed by Doctor Mid-Nite and Brain Wave, used magnetic contraction of atomic particles.

The reason Mallo intervened at this point, rather than years or even centuries earlier, is because the doppelgänger of the White Dwarf Star Core fragment was the fragment of the Green Flame Starheart meteor which crashlanded at the same time a dimension away. However, while the Dwarf Star plunged onto the area that would become Ivy Town in the North American continent of Earth-One, the sentient Starheart plunged onto the Earth-Two continent of Asia near a future Chinese village.

And in 1979, the alien entity named Zalaz stole the Starheart globe from the star which it resided within.* Bringing it to the Earth-One universe, its radiation was emitted from the globe throughout that reality. To balance this out, comparable (if compacted amount of) white dwarf** radiation was pulled from Ray Palmer’s equipment and transmitted into Al Pratt’s on Earth-Two***.

* Because the chaotic Green Flame energy, projected from Earth-One's universe by the Guardians of that Universe into Earth-Two's reality, was entombed within the star deemed the Starheart, that star never condensed into a white dwarf star as had its doppelgänger which powered Ray Palmer's costume

** The sun which Zalaz and his love M’La’s planet once orbited around eventually became the condensed white dwarf which plummeted to Earth-One. That sun’s counterpart in the Earth-Two universe was the star within which the Green Flame Starheart resided. Other such meteors on parallel planets such as on Earth-S originated from that same star in Earth-Two's  universe.

Mysteriously Missing Mighty Meteor

The errant emerald energy exiled by the Guardians of the Earth-One Universe was contained within the heart of a star on Earth-Two’s universe… the Starheart. This sentient power within a celestial body transferred a portion of its power into a massive meteor, which was sent to a planet in its new universe, that world being Earth-Two. Crash-landing in China centuries ago, legendary lampmaker Chang crafted a small amount of this space-rock into a green lantern, which he then misplaced when some residents in his town attempted to steal it. While he still possessed another piece of the meteorite, which sustained his life through the late 20th century, both the lantern and the remaining meteorite were claimed by a group of monks who safeguarded these for centuries.

Eventually, Chang’s lantern was claimed by engineer Alan Scott, who used its energy to charge his handcrafted power ring. As the Green Lantern, Scott was able to perform a wide range of feats, just as long as he charged his ring with the Chang’s power battery every 24 hours. During one accidental trip to Earth-S with his All-Star Squadron teammates Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle, he soon ran out of power as his ring’s charge lapsed.

However, Scott correctly surmised that a green meteor would be found in the same location on Earth-S as was that which Chang harvested on Earth-Two. But how could this be, since the Guardians only willed the Starheart’s emerald energy into Earth-Two’s dimension,  not Earth-S?

The Green Flame of Life, which is what the Starheart meteor called itself, had apparently sent a portion of the meteor into other universes such as Earth-S and Earth-Three. We know this due to the existence of the villainous Power Ring of Earth-Three’s Crime Syndicate. This Syndicator was given his power battery by a mad monk named Volthoom, the counterpart of the Chinese Monk who bequeathed Alan Scott his own battery*. And Power Ring’s emerald jewel has the same weakness as Alan’s, that being all wooden substances. Eventually even Power Ring, although a greedy criminal, still attempted to protect innocents from harm during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. 

The meteor’s correlating energy repository of emerald energy in Earth-One's universe, the planet Oa’s Central Power Battery, was briefly transported to Earth-Two by Sinestro when he attempted to create a Sinestro Corps with his clones. This massive battery from Oa now on Earth-Two filled the gap of an energy-repository machine left behind by the vehicle known as Goitrude, the taxi cab of Alan Scott’s best friend Doiby Dickles which he left on Earth-One.

After the timely intervention of Alan Scott and his Earth-One counterpart Hal Jordan, the Green Lanterns defeated Sinestro, the Central Power Battery was transported back to Oa, where it would remain. However, a few years later the rogue Malthusian named Krona attacked his brothers in the Guardians of the Universe and their Corps, destroying this main Battery. Another centralized battery was built as a replacement. 

The remnants of the Earth-Three meteor contained within Power Ring’s power battery was later claimed by the visiting Captain Comet of Earth-One. The Captain used it to transport himself to Earth-Two, in pursuit of the Secret Society of Super-Villians. This Earth-Three battery with its concentrated emerald energies now on Earth-Two correlates with the Anti-Matter Universe’s yellow power rings developed by the Weaponers of Qward for their chief agent Sinestro, which he brought back with him to his native universe to plague Earth-One and its Green Lantern.

* Alan met his world’s Volthoom during a time travel adventure, when he was inadvertent transported to ancient Camelot. Volthoom was one of a delegation of Chinese ambassadors who were also monks and guardians of the green lantern battery through the centuries.

Infinity Stones of the DC Multiverse

Just as there were six stones that each had unique powers granted to their possessors on Earth-616, so to on other Earths there were versions of these same objects with different names and distinct histories. Each of these were crafted from alien meteorites, and had profound impact on both Earths One and Two. 

The Guardians of the Universe concentrated emerald energy into a Central Power Battery on the planet of Oa, with portions of its energy siphoned off into thousands of miniature lanterns throughout the cosmos, used by the Green Lantern Corps in the Earth-One univese. A portion of this energy was transplanted into the Earth-Two realm which made the Starheart and the Council of Stars, protecting that universe. Hal Jordan and Alan Scott were given lanterns and their power rings.

The Star Sapphire was an object in each universe given to specific women who would become queens over alien races of immortal warrior women such as the Zamoran and Infanta. These sapphires allowed the user to traverse space and bend it to their will. Carol Ferris, Dela Pharon, Deborah Camille Darnell and an unidentified woman each used these gems.

Twin alien meteorites were formed into the Orb of Ra of Earth-One and the Hammer of Thor of Earth-Two. The Orb was capable of transmuting elements while the Hammer was able to manipulate the elements. While Metamorpho and Hawkman used these globes for good, Simon Stagg and Ultra-Humanite used them for evil.

Each Earth had their own Ruby of Life and Ring of Life, which had the ability to animate objects when worn by various men from around both Earths. The Ruby of Earth-Two was temporarily displaced by its owner Sargon from its native realm, but eventually returned from Earth-One when the effect of three such rubies corrupted him.

And then there was the distinct diverse gems known as the Black Diamond of Earth-One and the Powerstone of Earth-Two, which granted the owners such as Eclipso and Alexie Luthor to vast power of the mind. These gems brought forth evil in men like Bruce Gordon, Luthor and Ultra-Humanite.

_______________________________

Interestingly, when the Power Stone and Hammer of Thor were brought together, they increased in power. This was similar to when the rubies and rings of life were present together, especially with Green Lantern's Power Ring. 

There were two other sets of powerful gems which, when combined, gave their owners' tremendous powers. Within the Earth-One universe, in the Gemworld dimension, twelve stones existed that when harnessed together into a breastplate were a source of tremendous power. These included the following gems: amethyst, aquamarine, moonstone, sapphire, turquoise, emerald, opal, garnet, diamond, ruby, sardonyx and topaz. This breastplace gave the evil Dark Opal tremendous power, which almost enabled him to defeat Princess Amethyst and her colleagues.

 
Within the Earth-Two universe, these same gems were found on that world, and were likewise merged in an ancient mechanism devised to forge these together. These included the following gems: diamond, yellow topaz, emerald, bluish-white diamond, and garnet. 

With these stones combined, they made the Lifestone which could bring inanimate objects to life. With this. the evil Doctor Brett nearly defeated the Seven Soldiers of Victory, with the dormant statue of Atlas gaining sentience and battling the heroes. However, the Soldiers outsmarted Brett in the end. 

Dark Opal had previously used his considered power to torment the citizens of the interdimensional locale known as Gemworld, opposed by Princess Amethyst. His Earth-Two counterpart Wotan had similar abilities and sought to rule all reality, although he was repeatedly opposed by his arch-enemy Doctor Fate along with Inza Cramer Nelson, girlfriend and later wife to Fate’s alter ego Kent Nelson. Unlike Opal, Wotan turned to scientific gadgetry to supplement his innate abilities. Eventually, Wotan was imprisoned in a interdimensional reality mirrored by that of Gemworld, kept immobile seemingly for all eternity!

Both Dark Opal and Doctor Brett perished following exposure to these gems. What became of their gems following the defeats of the gems’ owners is unknown, although their potential for causing havoc is highly potent should they still exist somewhere within the Multiverse.

Cunning Chang's Crafty Conniving Cultivates Crystal's Control

Chang was a lampmaker in ancient China who witnesses the arrival of a green meteorite, possessing immeasurable power. Using his skill to craft a lamp from a portion of the alien rock, Chang believed this would enable him to harness its energies and bend them to his will. However, the meteorite was a remnant of energy originating from the Starheart, and extraterrestrial entity whose radiation was spawned from a parallel universe. That realm was under the supervision of the Guardians of that Universe, tasked will protecting that dimension from evil spawned from one of their own. While the energy they encased in a globe was incompatiable in their universe, it was functional in that of the universe that contained Earth-Two, where the meteorite landed.

Given his evil agenda, the energized entity behind the meteorite struck out at Chang and his servants, however their master survived thanks to the piece of rock that the lampmaker clunk to. Embittered that he was denied his dreams, Chang was still gifted with immortality, and thus founded an order of minions known as the Green Dragon Tong that would serve him. Naturally, he was opposed by fellow Chinese of a more noble disposition, who claimed the lantern and gave it to a time displaced Alan Scott in the middle ages, as well as other worthy possessors down through the centuries.

Chang knew that in order to control the lantern, he had to corrupt the power behind it. And so, Chang lured an unsuspecting dupe in Charles Halstead, aka Psycho-Pirate. Halstead sought liberation from a debilitating mask the uncased his emotion-enducing powers originating from his facial expressions. Thinking he had stolen a powerful green globe from the old man, secretly Chang, he had in fact used his powers as the Psycho-Pirate to turn the globe's energies to his will. This freed him from the mask, and was the impetus for his next actions.

And thus, Psycho-Pirate naturally gravitated to the current weilder of that same emerald energy in Green Lantern, mentally controlling a distraught Alan Scott who was himself embittered at the loss of his previous Gotham Broadcasting Company. For a brief period, Green Lantern as well as fellow Justice Society members Flash and Batman, fought their teammates before recovering their senses. Psycho-Pirate was soon defeated by his adversaries, although his corruption of Scott and his power ring led to Chang finally gaining control over his own emerald powerstone. Soon after, Chang battled for control of the lantern with Scott, and only due to his being oblivious as to the weakness of the meteorite radiation to wood was Chang defeated forevermore. Still, Chang was far craftier than his Earth-One counterpart and fellow immortal Shann-Chi.

Sinestro's Tale of a Car & Its Driver - and Green Globes of Good and Greed

Sinestro is well known as the arch-enemy of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Earth-One. His tenacity and creativity are legendary, as he has employed various means in order to defeat his foes, be they the Lantern Corps or its masters, the Guardians of the Universe. At one point, he actually crossed the dimensional divide regularly with the goal of facilitating power from an evil anti-matter universe. Herein we meet Magot.

Competing in a contest for Most Evil Citizen of the anti-matter planet of Qward, Sinestro is assisted by his campaign manager, Magot. This is that universe's version of Earth-Two's Doiby Dickles, and while the two schemes draw in Jordan once more, ultimately Sinestro is beaten and captured inside an amber cube kept in Hal's storage garage. However, therein also housed Doiby's taxi known as Goitrude.

A short time before this, Dickles and his future wife Princess Ramia were alluding capture at the hands of Prince Peril, and after enlisted the aid of the Green Lanterns of both Earths... Doiby left his taxi cab on Earth-One. Something about this vehicle seemed to allow Sinestro to project his mind into it, take control, and ultimately recreate his physical body in order to start his  Sinestro Corps. Despite superior numbers in his clones, about to take control of Earth-Two and, by extension, that universe... he and they were defeated.

Returning to the mysterious Goitrude... what made it so unique that it could contain a sentient conscience? Well, twenty years prior in 1947, this taxi DID have a rudimentary intelligence. On two occasions, it was exhibited as having thought for itself, and multiple times assisted Doiby and Earth-Two's Green Lantern, Alan Scott on cases. 

The heroic Goitrude was as much of a positive influence in Scott's costumed career as was its later master Sinestro a negative influence for Jordan's alter ego. Its sentience was similar to the responsometers within the Metal Men of Earth-One, such as its leader Gold. These mechanized marvels like Goitrude and other Earth-Two vehicles helped their worlds' superheroes protect the planet from various threats.

Still, how do we explain a car that can think and can act? Apparently, there was a connection to the emerald energy contained in Scott's power ring and power battery. Tying this battery with the car's battery, the Green Flame of Life (originally part of the Starheart) was able to act as a partner to its emerald agent in his battle against evil.

Ancient Allies of the Green Gladiators: The Guardians and the Other Guys

Indeed, the Guardians of the Universe were the ultimate line of defense for the original positive matter universe. Having originated on the planet Malthus, these immortal beings migrated to planet Oa in the center of their reality to oversee and protect it.

Their counterparts on Earth-Two did not, as the Buddak were intent on harnessing their red version of the Guardian's emerald energy for evil. While some of the Guardians migrated from Malthus to Earth-One to become leprechauns such as Jack O'Lantern's pal Fergus, since there was no Oa in Earth-Two's universe, a larger proportion of their dopplegangers journeyed to that world such as Moon O'Day who met the golden age Wonder Woman, and fellow leprechauns such as Shaggy, Hoppy and Woggle as well as Owen Cooley who was a pest to Earth-Two's Green Lantern and a counterpart to former Guardian friend of Earth-One's Green Lantern known as "Old Timer" or by his real name Appa Ali Apsa.

However, there were some who took the place of the elite Malthusians who volunteered to serve infinity on Oa, in the form of a Chinese Embassy on Earth-Two that had operated throughout the centuries. Green Lantern had initially encountered them when he was given the power battery under unusual circumstances, as we will see. In 1945, one of their number contacted the hero's alter ego Alan Scott through the lantern to warn him of Solomon Grundy's return. These faithful keepers of the Green Lantern who opposed the Green Dragon Tong of its evil creator Chang mirrored the core members of the Green Lantern Corps throughout the centuries on Earth-One’s universe.

Just prior to this, Green Lantern and his pal Doiby were brought back to the medieval past of Camelot to protect it from a viable threat, and ended up meeting the protectors of the Green Flame's power battery who sent the pair back to their own era. Although not as regular in their contact with their apprentice as were the Guardians with Hal, Alan definitely appreciated them.

Migrants of Multiple Earths: Emerald Energies

The year was 1978, a significant period in the Multiverse as there was numerous incursions into adjacent universes by superheroes and villains alike. For example, Earth-Two's Wizard drew four of his cronies in the Secret Society of Supervillains (and his new foe Captain Comet) first to Earth-Three before finally arriving at the world of his birth. In order to get there, he had to purloin items of power possessed by the  Crime Syndicate of America, which led the Society and Comet in direct confrontation versus CSA. After discovering the cause of a mutant plague afflicting Earth-Three, originating from Power Ring's own battery, the Captain used Power Ring's power battery to transport him to Earth-Two where he would "destroy it". Whether that was done or not, this green lantern given to Power Ring by the evil Volthoom was transferred to Earth-Two's universe.

Wizard and his Secret Society also on this occasion stole Power Ring's ring of power, Superwoman's lasso and Johnny Quick's speed helmet... which he used to transport himself and his team to Earth-Two from Earth-Three. When they arrived on Earth-Two, these devices had disappeared from Earth-Three but had not reappeared there. These three items were replicated on Earth-One by the adversarial android Amazo, a foe of the Justice League! The Syndicators apparently retrieved them on Earth-Two after they’d been freed from their Limbo prison by Per Degaton during his “Crisis on Earth-Prime” caper.

As for Earth-Three's power battery containing its former owner Volthoom‘s consciousness, this correlated in Earth-Two's universe with the dimensional deviant from the Limbo dimension known as Antithesis. This energy entity resided within the Justice League’s computer. How it was pulled from into the Earth-One universe from the same Limbo realm which the Volthoom battery and his possessor traversed is unknown. What is known is that both these sinister sentiments fed on the evil wills of those whom they controlled.

Ominous Objects and Oppressive Old Opponents

Untold ages ago, an immense crisis struck specific galaxies in Earth-One's universe. The Guardians extracted malignant energies from their dimension, concentrating them and transporting them into a solar body in Earth-Two's universe known as the Starheart. They then combined their own mental energies into a device on the planet Oa known as the Central Power Battery. From this battery, first the Guardian's android Manhunter agents followed by the Green Lantern Corps used portable power batteries to access the emerald energy emanating from the Oans. While the Malthusians of planet Malthus, from which the Oans originated, had counterparts in Earth-Two's universe of the Buddak, this race was malevolent. Hence, the Buddaks didn't enlist the aid of a Green Lantern Corps as did their Guardian counterparts, although the Green Flame meteorite would empower several residents of Earth-Two including Chang and his Green Dragon Tong and the future Green Lantern, Alan Scott.

That same Green Flame was the source of Chang's immortality throughout the centuries. Lord Chang, a lamp maker who formed from the Starheart's meteorite a lantern that would one day be passed down to Scott... only gained similiar powers to that of the Emerald Crusader when Green Lantern temporarily turned evil under Psycho-Pirate's influence. And while Alan faced certain danger from Chang, his Justice Society ally the Spectre also faced a similar threat from Chang's fellow immortal Shahn-Zi,  the Lord of the Yellow River. Combating the former JSA member and Earth-One's Batman, Shahn-Zi had like Chang ultimately lost his life when both attempted to conquer their respective Gotham Cities. As for the Central Power Battery, it was temporarily transferred to Earth-Two, while the Starheart ended up stolen by Zalaz and returned to Earth-One's cosmos where it was consumed by M'la. This would be offset by the addition of a third power battery, that originating from Earth-Three's cosmos in another tale.