The Supermen of Two Worlds: Supermen Meets Crisis

Along the way, throughout the years that followed their first meeting, the Supermen of two worlds met additional times. Mostly this occured at the annual gatherings of their teams, the Justice League and Justice Society... such as when their posh dinner at an elegant Gotham City restaurant on Earth-One was invaded by the minions of the Time Lord, or the time just prior to an epic battle with the Secret Society of Super-Villains led by Kal-L's foe the Ultra-Humanite on Earth-Two.

Sandwiched between encounters, was the occasion when Kal-L's old foe Atoman had been revived from a decades long coma, shifting his body over to Earth-One to bedevil Kal-El and that world's Batman, before being brought back to Earth-Two once more to face revised World's Finest team of that planet, Superman and an adult Robin!

However, the last encounter took place during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. The incident started out innocuously enough, as Harbinger enlisted Kal-L along with other heroes and villains of both Earths to protect dimensional forks planted on each plane of existence, with the goal of protecting each universe from the spread of anti-matter sweeping the multiverse.

Alas, the villain behind this scheme, the Anti-Monitor, succeeded in thwarting each attempt at quelling his growing power at the cost of the cosmos. What resulted was the loss of individual universes, and specifically Kal-L's life, history, and world. But not the loss of his indomitable spirit.

While he would prove triumphant versus this daunting foe, playing an instrumental role in unseating this villain's power, the golden age Superman found himself lost in a dimensional void... cut off from a recreated composite Earth without a place for him or his dear wife Lois. Seeking the refuge of an artificial Metropolis complete with its own Daily Star, the Kents had years to reflect upon all they lost so that another reality might live a new day.

While that same hero eventually gave of his life alongside his reconstituted counterpart  Kal-El, battling former friend Superboy of Earth-Prime, he is remembered here.

While each had similar supporting casts, in the form of Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lana Lang... they also had distinct members of their extended families... for one, Lucy Lane, Linda Danvers (clone of Supergirl) Steve Lombard, and so forth... for another, Lucille Lane Tompkins, Susie Tompkins (daughter of Lucy), Steve Bard, etc. Additionally, their rogues gallery mimics one another with such familiar names of Luthor, Prankster, Toyman, Colonel Future and a pair of 5th dimensional imps... though there were distinct variations such as Brainiac and Ultra-Humanite, Parasite and Aroman, Metallo and Metalo, to name but a few.

Nevertheless, despite the subtle changes in their life course, they each measured up to the same high standard befitting the premier protectors of their pair of problem plagued planets.

The Supermen of Two Worlds: Supermen Meet Sivana

On their next encounter, the Men of Steel unintentionally teamed up when a menace from a third Earth invaded their own. Initially, Doctor Thadeus Bogus Sivana forsook his native Earth-S for the seemingly green pastures of Earth-One to challenge its native Superman, no doubt informed of that world from fellow fiend Mister Mind who had recently encounter that world's Lex Luthor briefly.

After a quick defeat and retreat, Sivana's next plan was to siphon off powers from his arch-enemy Captain Marvel, thus becoming Captain-Major-General Sivana. Once he dealt with Cap and his colleagues Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Junior, Sivana decided to also vanquish Superman. However, instead of Kal-El he faced Kal-L, and swiftly dealt both Kals decisive blows. Only thanks to the timely intervention of Captain Marvel who saved Kal-El, and Kal-El who then saved Kal-L, were all parties retrieved from the deadly traps left them by the brilliant bald bad-guy.

It should be noted that, having witnesses Sivana's battles with both Supermen, Cap knew already off Earth-Two's Metropolis Marvel from their testy encounter on that planet during World War II when he was a minion of Hitler. Though the two heroes eventually joined forces once Cap's mind was cleared up, they never built a friendly relationship as had Earth-One's Man of Tomorrow and Earth-S Big Red Cheese. Mores the pity, for even though Kal-L and Billy Batson were products of the 1940's, it was Sivana's own Suspendium gas that preserved a youthful Marvel Family into the bronze age of heroes, when Earth-One's super-set first appeared. Hence, there was a significant age difference between the others and the elder Clark Kent.

And all three would be drawn together one final time for an epic battle that would cost one of them dearly in ways none of them could imagine....

The Supermen of Two Worlds: Supermen Meet Luthors

Having met several times through the years, first as time-lost mentor Superboy to a Clark Kent of the 1930s, to the time when both battled each other before teaming up versus Aquarius, to the countless team-ups alongside their Justice League and Society compatriots, to their literally combining in body and mind to vanquish the evil Krogg. How would they handle their greatest threat, the malignant malice that is the Luthors, Lex and Alexei?

This happened when Lex traded places with his counterpart, dueling with Earth-Two's Superman while Alexei handled his own foe on Earth-One. Still, despite the element of surprise, the geniuses were unable to topple their mighty opponents. In each case, it was a courageous Lois Lane who faced the Luthors when the prospect of their great loves' lives were at stake. With this fresh in their mind, it was time for a heart-to-heart between the Men of Steel.

However, the deep dialogue of dedicated do-gooders was detracted by a determined Alex Luthor of Earth-Three, for it seems his own two counterparts were now operating on his world with the goal of merging Earths One and Two in one physical space...destroying them both! After an encounter with a mentally deficient Ultraman, who couldn't measure up to his two heroic cosmic twins, it was up to pair of planetary protectors to prevent the mad schemes of their arch-foes.

While the now weaker Kal-L faced off against Lex and Alexei, showing his dogged determination in the face of superior numbers and technological force, Kal-El prevented catastrophe by preventing an ionic energy beam from causing untold destruction to two sets of humanity.

In the end, Kal-L returned to his loving bride and the comfortable confides of his own Metropolis, Kal-El returned to a life where he was separated from those he loved by the weight of his monumental duties. Would time cause him to allow for the "man" to supercede the "super" as it had his counterpart, or would he continue to persist in his lonely life since his days as a young Boy of Steel? Alas the Crisis on Infinite Earths prevented a definitive answer.

And yet, we're not done as there were even further meetings between these paragons of power...

The Supermen of Two Worlds: Superman Merge Together

Quite some time elapsed from their last direct meetings during joint cases of the Justice League and Justice Society, so that when Earth-Two's Superman visits his counterpart on Earth-One they've each experienced changes in their own status quo. 

For instance, Kal-El dealt with a significant power loss for a period of time, when a sand duplicate from the dimension of Quarm was spawned at the same time as all Kryptonite being transmuted into a harmless substance. In addition, as Clark Kent he was promoted to become an on-air anchor for WGBS, which had acquired his employer the Daily Planet.

Meanwhile, Kal-L met his one surviving family member from Krypton-Two, Kara Zor-L who would become Power Girl...sometime after her counterpart Supergirl arrived on Earth-One. Adopting her to raise as a troubled teen, aided by his wife Lois, he had to continue to juggle his position as editor-in-chief of the Daily Star. Additonally, due to advanced age his own powers began to wane significantly, at times fluctating to levels from his peak to when he was  lad.

Upon this backdrop, the pair of planetary protectors were now faced with a threat from between their two worlds, the monster Krogg who now threatened Earth-One. Individually, neither Metropolis Marvel matched the malevolent might of this monstrous malice. Professor Potter, however, theorized that the same transmatter machine which bridged the gaps between universes and brought Krogg to his own, might merged the Men of Steel.

Interestingly, Kal-El had some skepticism that they'd only be as strong as their weaker member, yet then contradicting himself stating they were equally matched. Perhaps he was aware of their erratic power-levels during this period and on previous encounters. Regardless, both Kryptonians merge together into a Super-Superman, with a limited time frame to dispatch Krogg before they themselves self-destruct causing harm to the world.

During their initial melding, we are party to observing their internal thoughts. Evident in this interchange of dialogue are a few interesting traits, first and foremost is how they address each other. The Earth-One version calls his counterpart "Kal", while the Earth-Two version calls his "Superman", which would seem inconsistent given that the latter is older than the former and should be addressed by the respectful title rather than a personal name. Yet both seemed comfortable using this aforementioned names to refer to and differentiate from one another. Why?

It would appear that, as they merged and their thoughts became open to one another, the Supermen perhaps pieced together each others' pasts. As Superboy, Kal-El had encountered another parallel world's Boy of Steel who attempted to interfere with the career of his ally Police Chief Parker, and as adults both encountered parallel worlds with parallel people. And as indicated when they met as Supermen while battling Aquarius, neither seemed to have been aware that they had met each other as lads. Now, knowing that it was the Earth-One Superman was mentor of Earth-Two's Superman while as Superboy, the older Man of Might deferred to the younger Man of Tomorrow using the title. Meanwhile, the younger twin finally acknowledged to his older version their common given name, a name which the golden age Kryptonian never was addressed as until meeting his cousin.

Another interesting feature in their internal dialogue is how the elder Superman was distracted, which was natural given the near-death state of his longtime friend James Olsen. Still, both men kept their concentration on the task at hand and wisely dealt with Krogg. And the final internal monologue of Kal-El indicated his displeasure at the experience of having to share his physique with his cosmic twin, no doubt due to their differences. Interestingly, he refers to the Earth-Two Superman as Kal-EL... perhaps an error on the chroniclers part as to the spelling of his native surname. One another matter of note, aside from their points of origin and a slight graying coupled with a slanted "S" insignia, the golden age Man of Might was not much different from the silver age version. His later solo tales as well as subsequent meetings would differentiate the pair even further...

The Supermen of Two Worlds: Superman Meets Alien Adversaries

After initially encountering one another as adults and members of the respective world's greatest superhero teams, the Supermen were time and again drawn together when crisis after crisis threatened both planets. This was during a period when the aged Man of Steel resumed his career from which he had briefly retired, which was still early in the career of the younger Man of Might. Nevertheless, each displayed similar levels of courage, determination, and conviction towards protecting their respective Metropolis.

When Creator2 sent his eerie employees to defeat the Justice Society of America, allowing for his plans of destroying Earth-Two for a cosmic construction project to proceed unchallenged, Superman was first to face the alien adversaries. When a snare-web weakened the Man of Tomorrow, his counterpart was equally effected with both immobilized in a weakened state for the remainder of the tyrannical threat to both worlds. It fell to their comrades to determine the source of the parallel plagues to the powerful protectors, with the JSA defeating the malevolent mastermind and his menacing minions.

During the subsequent crisis a year later, when aliens A-Rym and his pet Teppy were separated during an interdimensional voyage with their family, it fell upon the Supermen and their allies in the Justice League and Society to deal with both. However, neither seemed to measure up to Teppy physically although they outwitted it by isolating it on a man-made plateau.

During this same case, Earth-One's Superman journeyed back to Earth-Two to face off against Solomon Grundy and was soundly defeated until joined by his allies. His counterpart would eventually himself battle Grundy alongside cousin Power Girl, wherein the pair would deposit the man-beast in a volano. Back to this case, there was very little one-on-one interaction between the Kryptonians, perhaps due to some strained relations from their previous meeting in the presence (and manipulation) of Aquarius.

However, another crisis would draw this potent pair together, literally, and would bond them in a way unprecedented and never to be repeated among connterparts...

The Supermen of Two Worlds: Superman Meets Superman

Finally, years after the original debuted and his younger twin appeared, after several meetings between their teams...the Justice League and Justice Society of two Americas...the Supermen meet! The circumstances surrounding this encounter, however, did not bode well for their relationship.

After a titanic battle with the evil Aquarius, Superman and his JSA teammates saw the malevolent menace erase Earth-Two from their plane of existence. Left with the prospect of his adopted world forevermore lost as was his native Krypton-Two, Kal-L fell into deep despair with his surviving allies. As a result, they each became receptive to their foes influence, turning into crazier cronies of the cosmic creature. Hence, when the Justice League arrived in their universe, the Society vigorously battled their past colleagues. This included two Men of Might.

Given our previous consideration on their varied abilities and where said abilities were derived from, it would seem that this could have been a one-sided match with the Earth-One Superman overmatching his counterpart. Instead. each displays equal might, and during this confrontation which apparently goes on for several minutes it is said that they've reached a standstill...and an impasse...leading to the collapse of both champions!

There have been varying explanations for how this result transpired. One such theory is that Earth-Two's Superman was empowered by Aquarius with energy from his purloined cosmic rod, stolen from Starman, and this holds some merit due to the nature of Earth-One's Superman. Since Kal-El was charged with yellow sun energy, perhaps similar stellar energy magnified the abilities of the Kal-L that were already genetically predisposed even on Krypton-Two. While naturally absorbing such energized particles would not in-and-of themselves elevate Kal-L's power levels, when concentrated artificially through such a mechanism would enhance his physique to temporarily match that of his cosmic twin.

Regardless of the science behind this standstill, the Kryptonians were equally matched in this instance. After the Society was freed from the influence of their foe, they joined the League in decisively defeating the demented deviant, causing Aquarius to self-destruct in a negative universe adjacent to Earth-Two (similar to the anti-matter universe adjacent to Earth-One) leaving the threat abated. As both teams part, there is no indication that the Men of Tomorrow have healed the breach caused by their adversary.

Subsequent meetings between the two would develop their flowering friendship in ways neither quite expected...