Syndicate Superheroes: Criminals No More

The Crime Syndicate were the prominent team of super-humans on Earth-Three, there world's version of the Justice League, Justice Society, Squadron of Justice and Sentinels of Justice. However, unlike those mightiest heroes of Earths One, Two, S and Four... the Syndicate weren't heroes. At least, that's not how they began, nor how they portrayed themselves throughout most of their existence on Earth-Three. They were a highly successful quintet of supervillains who plundered their planet, successfully defeating every threat who opposed them from their world. The Rogue Hunters, and perhaps other similarly stylized high-tech bounty hunters, provided them a challenge throughout the years. Still, only the League and Society were able to vanquish these felons, exiling them for years within interdimensional limbo.

When they eventually escaped their prison and returned home, they each met Earth-Three's first native born superhero, Alex Luthor. The genius inventor, armed with his technologically advanced suit of armor, was able to temporarily stave off the plans of the individual Syndicators. Nevertheless, the five villains were able to repeatedly build upon their ill-gotten gains. Yet something had seemingly changed.

Perhaps it was years of reflection, as to the admiration the League and Society earned by their Earth's inhabitants for their heroic exploits. Perhaps it was due to Alex Luthor's timeless persistent had opposing them. Or perhaps, it was the threat of their world ending during during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Regardless, by the time the anti-matter waves of destructive energy threated Earth-Three during the Crisis, it was the Syndicate who attempted to save as many lives as possible. As the Monitor mentioned, these five were now heroes which he planned to recruit in his strategy to defeat his arch-enemy, the Anti-Monitor... and save the Multiverse.

However, as each Syndicators as well as Alex and Lois Luthor perished with their universe, Monitor recruited replacements to take their place in his mission. Instead of Ultraman, it was his counterpart Superman of Earth-Two. In place of Power Ring, it was another emerald gladiator in the Green Lantern named John Stewart of Earth-One. Rather than the dark knight mental manipulator Owlman, it was the the emotional shadowcast Obsidan of Earth-Three. And substituting for Amazonian Super Woman and super-speedster Johnny Quick was Outsider Geo-Force and Teen Titan Cyborg.

Superwomen of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

While the greatest superhero on any world is Superman, the woman... or rather women... behind him goes by the name of Lois Lane. And, on rare occasions, as Superwoman!

Of course, there are the preeminent superwomen in the Supermen's Kryptonian cousins of Kara Zor-El and Kara Zor-L aka Supergirl and Power Girl who would each take up the mantle in one form or another upon reaching womanhood. Then there was Kristin Wells from the 29th century who claimed the name of Superwoman in the late twentieth century, while her counterpart Maria remained in that far future era with her sinister technological twin taking her place.

Then there was the nasty Amazon of Earth-Three known as Superwoman, Wonder Woman's counterpart, who was the sole female member of the Crime Syndicate and found herself exiled in interdimensional limbo with her cronies for years after facing the Justice League and Society on two occasions.  She perished along with her world during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, while trying to save it.

Of course, the most famous Superwomen briefly adopting that alias were the Lois Lanes of Earths One and Two, although their careers were extremely short. For Lois-One, this was when her boyfriend made a device that transferred his Kryptonian powers for a limited period of time to her. For Lois-Two, this occurred when her husband's Kryptonian abilities transferred to her temporarily due to an exotic extraterrestrial plant he had bought her.

In the 30th century, the apparent descendants of both Supermen and Lanes followed in their ancestors' footsteps. Lois 4XR whom Superman met after being sent to the year 2961 by Lex Luthor using technology provided by the Legion of Super-Villains member Cosmic King. 

The Earth-One Lois 4XR had a counterpart in Lois 4XR of 2949 on Earth-Two. Both of these Lois's seemed to have all the powers of their ancestors at the peak of their prowess, however with none of the good judgement or discipline. As such, a grown Superman had to rescue Lois 4XR several times before he returned to the 20th century. Laurel met the teenage Superboy while he was meeting up with his Legion allies. The Boy of Steel initially fell for her before learning her identity, and then returning to his native time knowing that this girl would resemble the woman he would one day marry. 

Laurel Kent was a student of the Legion of Super-Heroes' Academy, due to her young age and that the sole superhuman power was invulnerability. Her mother seems to have been Lois 4XR, whom Superman met years before his earlier self as Superboy had met Laurel.

Jor-L was Laurel’s Earth-Two doppelgänger, an ace agent of the Space Legion. As one of the Federal Men of the 30th century, he was noted for bringing to justice the Bandit Queen, Nira-Q. In the end, it was Jor-L who triumphed.... as witnessed by a 20th century inspiration for the Federal Men in Steve Carson

Later stories seem to indicate in a future timeline that Laurel was in actuality an android agent of the Manhunters originally built by the Guardians of the Universe, sent to infiltrate superhuman societies in the 30th century.

Twice-Told-Tales: Superwomen for a Day

While their boyfriends were the superheroes in their relationship, there were brief periods when both Lois Lanes gained their suitors superpowers. On Earth-One, it was on the occasion when Clark finally had enough of Lois' snoopy and suspicious nature over his dual identity and transferred his powers to her on a short-term basis. Of course, the goal was to see how she would conceal her change of identity when trouble manifested itself. Which she accomplished until they very end, as plain Ms. Lane, ace reporter. There would be other opportunities where Lois would gain superhuman abilities, such as when she borrowed her frenemy Lana Lang's bio-ring to replicate the redhead's superheroine alias of Insect Queen during one misadventure. Mostly, though, it was Lois' own tenacity towards getting to the truth her fearlessness were her most endearing aspects in Kal-El's eyes.

The Lois Lane of Earth-Two had finally figured out about her Superman's dual identity, after marrying him! As Mrs. Kent, she was surprised to see with her there-to-fore unknown ability of x-ray vision an alien plant her husband was hiding in a closet for their anniversary. Said plant transferred his abilities to her, and the couple realized that they would need to work together to continue protecting Metropolis. Working behind the scenes, she helped him simulate all his former abilities through her unseen actions. And then, her powers were also gone. Although Lois would continue to aid her mate on his various cases for the years and decades to come, using her own self-sacrificing and intuitive nature to help the Man of Steel continue to protect the city the both loved, while continuing her stellar career as the Daily Star's ace reporter.  And the love of Kal-L's long and illustrious life, of course.

Female Facsimile Fest: Heroines Cut from the Same Cloth

Sometimes history repeats itself... when larger-than-life lads inspire equally legendary ladies to careers that lead to success. Such was the case for Kristin Wells of Earth-One and Mary Wills of Earth-Two. Each was fiery redhead, who knew what she wanted in life and excelled in it. And, due to their relationships with their male role models, they became Superwoman and Roberta. 

Kristin was a journalism student and teacher of the 29th century, seeking to find out the secret identity of the 20th century's most mysterious hero which took the name of Superwoman. Thinking it was possibly Lois Lane and then Linda Danvers, the former Superwoman and present Supergirl respectively, she soon discovered that she was to wear the legendary garb. Aiding Superman and the Justice League of America against King Kosmos, Wells discovered she was the heroine who saved Earth-One, and would return to the modern era on a second occasion when she carved out a brief, historically memorable costumed career.

Mary was an aspiring student and future teacher who fell in love with the Boy Wonder, Robin, while also being a classmate of his alter ego Dick Grayson. Training herself in various physical and mental disciplines while equipping herself with an array of gadgets, Mary created the costumes identity of Roberta the Girl Wonder.

These ladies utilized various devices and tools to help them replicate superhuman abilities. Superwoman used an opal beam amulet and gravity redistribution flight belt to enable her to create space warps, decrease the mass of objects she could then lift, and the power to fly through the air.  Roberta used her crime compact which included, in addition to her grapple line, a candid camera, various capsules (gas, smoke and explosive), crystal radio, a compass and skeleton key. With these devices, Superwoman and the Girl Wonder were capable of rendering valuable aid to Superman and the Boy Wonder, respectively.

Twice-Told-Tales: Legacy Lois Lanes

Like the Supermen and the Lois Lanes of Earths One and Two, Lois 4XR, there were a number of doppelgängers of both parallel planets mirroring each other within the Superman Family. A pair of these, actually related to each couple, were the women named Lois 4XR, residing in the 30th century.

Criminal genius Lex Luthor and research scientist Professor Wilson developed devices which projected rays distorting temporal fields. When exposed to this radiation, the Men of Steel were propelled from their native era of the mid to latter half of the 20th century, into the 30th century!

In the years 2961 and 2949, those citizens of the future rebuilt Metropolises displayed powers on par with the Supermen themselves. How did this bizarre future develop, the caped crusaders born Kal-El and Kal-L wondered? Was it from outside causes, or genetics passed from generation to generation? And how was Lois 4XR connected to the Superman of long ago?

Each Lois 4XR explained that massive comets collided on their respective Earths, in the year 2441 on Earth-One and the year 1970 on Earth-Two. These comets devastated the city of Metropolis on each world, with chemical gases releases from these celestial objects imbuing the human survivors of the cities with superhuman powers. However, the question was then asked, was it these gases which granted each Lois 4XR her powers? What made her the latest version of Superwoman?

After a series of adventures, or rather misadventures, in which each Lois 4XR found it difficult to control her superhuman abilities... it fell to the Supermen to save these future women. These included Lois 4XR inadvertently causing a cave in underneath New Metropolis, losing control of her flight in the upper atmosphere, and being pulled along by the magnetic core of a comet.

The pair discovered photos taken shortly after the Supermen had left their own time periods, where they were standing alongside each Lois following a wedding ceremony. Perceiving this was evidence that he would soon marry Lois, and together have children culminating in a great-granddaughter (several times over) named Lois 4XR, the Supermen returned to their own century. However, the pictures were of the Supermen and Lois Lanes attending different couples' weddings. Still, the evidence suggests that Lois 4XR was the descendant of the Kents.

It seems that these future timelines the Supermen traveled to were alternate histories, as no comet collided on Earth-Two in 1970 (although it had collided into the sun years earlier, during an adventure involving the Flash of Two Earths), nor is their a reference of this event having transpired in 2441 on Earth-One when Eobard "Reverse Flash" Thawne existed. However, the Lois 4XR of each world did exist, with the Earth-One version becoming the mother of future Legion Academy recruit Laurel Kent, and the Earth-Two version becoming the mother to future Federal Man agent Jor-L (who’s arch-enemy Nira-Q the Bandit Queen was the Earth-Two counterpart of Earth-One’s Cosmic King, who opposed Laurel and the Legion Academy).