Junior JSA: The Golden Age Teen Titans

Decades before the formation of the second generation of young heroes, following in the the fabled footsteps of their mentors the Justice League, another team of terrific teens did the same by modeling themselves after the Justice Society of America. While not as colorful as the Teen Titans of Earth-One*, the Junior Justice Society of Earth-Two were just as courageous! These lads and lasses fearlessly faced supervillains and criminal gangs, lacking powers, with only teamwork and tenacity to triumph over terrible tyrants!

When they first appeared, there were reportedly “thousands” of Junior JSA across America. Alongside their role models, Junior members Eddie Brackus, Ted Worth, and others helped the adult Society combat Adolph Hitler’s spy network. These youths returned to help capture the Wizard, who was then leading the first incarnation of the Injustice Gang of the World. Shortly after this, Don Brent and his Junior teammates supported the Justice Society's efforts to combat the Crimson Claw Gang, which had Don's brother Chick as one of its members. On all three adventures, Tommy "Little Boy Blue" Rogers and his "Blue Boys" pals Toughy and Tubby, as well as a young Christopher "Vulcan" Pike and the "Cyclone Kids" Dinky and Sisty were active Junior JSAers (pictured in civilian clothes versus the Wizard and meeting at their club room)!

Junior members also aided individual Society members during their solo adventures. For example, a lad named Bob assisted the Flash in escaping a trap set by his foe the Turtle. Later, Junior JSAers Bill Townley and Mary Ames accompanied Wonder Woman as she was confronting the Duke of Deception with his invading Martian forces.

Over on Earth-One, the Teen Titans were supported in their crimefighting endeavors by adventurous adolescents. Student Chet Walters joined the Teen Titans when they first fought the Aliens of Dimension X. Teenage protestor Chuck along with his big brother David, aka the costumed crusader Joshua, joined forces with the Titans in combatting those aliens.  The Teen Titans, like the Junior JSA, briefly operated only in their civilian identities. Under the tutelage of Mr. Jupiter, the Titans' Wally “Kid Flash” West, Donna “Wonder Girl” Troy, Roy “Speedy” Harper, Lilith and Mal “Hornblower” Duncan set aside their uniforms.

Years later, school students Alec and Shana aka the Whiz Kids, like Bill and Mary aided a grownup hero confronting a vile villain, when they joined forces with Justice Leaguer Superman in defeating Major Menace.  The Whiz Kids would also assist Superman's cousin Supergirl and his Justice League teammate in two other adventures, both times vs Lex Luthor!

The Earth-Two counterparts of Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Wonder Girl and Speedy never joined the Junior JSA. Earth-Two Robin, Johnny Quick, Speedy and Neptune Perkins were All-Star Squadron members. Additionally, Speedy was a charter member with his mentor Green Arrow of Law's Legionnaires (also known as the Seven Soldiers of Victory). Meanwhile, rather than being raised on Paradise Island after being saved by Wonder Woman, the orphaned Donna Troy of that world was saved by a firefighter, and in her late teen years was enrolled in Holliday College. She joined Etta Candy and the Holliday Girls as frequent collaborators in Wonder Woman's adventures, once gaining the powers and costume of the Amazing Amazon herself! Regardless, these lads and lasses were Junior JSA in spirit!

All-Time-Legends VS One-Power-Wonders

The Supermen were considered the mightiest mortals of their respective parallel planets. Still, on occasion they met both heroes and villains with powers rivaling their own. And sometimes, those individuals were either a hero or a villain, depending on one's perspective. Such was the case for Jo Nah of planet Rimbor and Reiter of Nazi Germany, two men with Kryptonian-level physiques, with a vulnerability: they could only use one power at a time!

Jo Nah was piloting a spacecraft when his both he and his vessel were swallowed by an Energy Beast, thought to have originated on Krypton-One. The resulting exposure to the beast's inner radiation imbued Jo Nah with energy, which he could use to manifest a single superpower at a time. These powers included super-strength, super-speed, limited invulnerability, flight and flash vision. He soon after joined the ranks of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the premier group of teen titans on Earth-One in the 30th century, where as Ultra Boy he had a long and distinguished career.

Reiter was the commandant of a German concentration camp, who upon being facially scarred by a vial of acid being thrown in his face, was selected by his leader Hitler as a candidate for a test program. This exposure to experimental chemicals unleashed Reiter's helped him unlock his mind's energy to manifest a single superpower at a time. These powers included super-strength, super-speed, limited invulnerability, flight and heat vision. He was made a primary agent of Nazi Germany, sent as Baron Blitzkrieg to the United States of Earth-Two to assassinate his country's foes and steal America's resources, while hailed a champion by his home country's government.

An additional ability both Ultra Boy Baron Blitzkrieg displayed on one occasion was the power of mentally exerting their will on others. Jo Nah did this when he was trapped immobilized in the Limbo dimension, and linked his brain with Superboy’s. Now one with his fellow Legionnaire, Ultra Boy’s mind in Superboy’s body became the hero Reflector, who aided the Legion in defeating Time Trapper and restoring both boys to normal.

Baron Reiter exerted his mental control over Commander Steel, with the intent of using the American superhero as an unwitting assassin of United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Thanks to his teammates in the All-Star Squadron, Steel was restrained from completing the task while saving the English leader. Once the mind-meld between these mighty men was severed, Baron Blitzkrieg was blinded and sought recovery of his sight by fleeing across the Limbo dimension to Earth-X, before finding a cure back on his native Earth-Two.

On one adventure, Ultra Boy's body was taken over by the mind of 20th century criminal John Dillinger, while his teammates Superboy and Mon-El had the minds controlled by Adolph Hitler and Nero. These three time-traveling tyrants were sent to attach Legion, although this terrible threesome ended up betraying one another, after which Ultra Boy and his colleague's minds were restored to normal. On another occasion, a mental mastermind mind-controlled all the Legionnaires except Ultra Boy, Superboy and his girlfriend Lana Lang. During this case, Ultra Boy seemingly defeated Superboy, although soon the Boy of Steel recovered and helped Jo Nah and Lana to free their Legion colleagues while defeating the alien usurper in their midst.

After a series of appearances, Baron Blitzkrieg was sent with Imperial Japanese agent Sumo the Samurai to steal two portions of an experimental America reactor, which was a prototype atomic bomb. While in Louisiana tasked with retrieving one of the sections, Blitzkrieg encountered Superman, sent by the American government to intercept and protect the reactor component from Nazi agents. During the confrontation, Superman and Blitzkrieg battled one another nearly to a drawl, until Superman discovered the Baron could only use one power at a time. While his counterpart Ultra Boy could switch between powers rapidly through extensive training, Blitzkrieg apparently didn't practice this technique himself and was open for defeat. However, the Baron was secretly pretending to be unconscious, in order to lure Superman with the radioactive component to Wonder Woman and Sumo, who had in their possession of the other half of the reactor. In the end, one-time partners Blitzkrieg and Sumo turned on one another, each seeking to procure the assembled reactor for their respective governments. Before they could, Superman caused the device to detonate, destroying it and disabling the two agents.

Phenomenal Phasing Phantom People

“Out of this world” is a common expression uttered when one is shocked and amazed by some event. Many such incredible events occurred on Earths One and Two, including end-of-world threats. On two occasions on each Earth, all of humanity was pulled from their world…. from their native universes… by twin cosmic entities… and by a man and a woman. 

The man was Alan “Green Lantern” Scott who, in a moment of disgust towards the prevalence of crime across the globe, willed his power ring to remove all evil from Earth-Two. This caused all humanity to be phased from reality, and were briefly transplanted to the desert salt plains of Utah on Earth-One. These individuals were comatose in suspended animation, including Alan, until they were revived by his counterpart Hal “Green Lantern” Jordan. The two Emerald Crusaders used their combined power rings to will these billions of people back to Earth-Two.

A Kryptonian woman named Faora Hu-ul escaped her dimension prison and sought revenge on the son of her jailer Jor-El, Kal-El aka Superman. After freeing herself, she set wheels motion to exile humanity into the Phantom Zone while liberating Faora’s fellow criminals. Thankfully, Superman already deduced her scheme, and sabotaged Hu-Ul’s equipment to reverse the process. Humanity and the rogue Kryptonians were refined to Earth-One and the Phantom Zone, respectively.

Years earlier, Lex Luthor unleashed the cosmic entity known as the Galactic Golem upon his arch-enemy Superman. During the battle between the two, Superman used the Golem’s energy to shift all humanity to another dimensional plane (Earth-Two) just in case the Golem won the battle and decimated Earth-One. He didn’t, and mankind returned to their home world.

Back on Earth-Two, the cosmic entity known as Aquarius shifted humanity out of that universe* while battling the Justice Society of America. However, with the help of the Justice League, Superman and the Society vanquished Aquarius and returned mankind to their home world.

There were multiple occasions when inhabitants of both Earths temporarily or permanently migrated to the another Earth. These included the following individuals and occasions:

• The original Freedom Fighters when Uncle same recruited a handful of heroes from Earth-Two to join him in averting the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Empire.
• The later Freedom Fighters, former members of Earth-Two's All-Star Squadron, who traveled to Earth-X during the Crisis on Infinite Earths (and several Earth-One heroes perished during the same Crisis event).
• The surviving Freedom Fighters traveled to Earth-One for a brief stay there, while the Secret Society of Super-Villains of Earth-One had a months long stay on Earth-Two.
• Old West and World War 2 individuals passed when entering the Anti-Matter wave originating from the Universe of Qward.
• All-Star Squadron select members traveled from Earth-Two to Earth-One to aid Steel.
  
• Justice Society of America members of post-Crisis traveled to Earth-Two's universe to protect it in the dimension of Asgard.
  
• Red Tornados, Black Canary & M'La, Bat-Mire & Spectre, and many, many more left their home worlds for parallel planets!
  

* As seen in the top left of picture with Aquarius, Vandal Savage along with all humanity shifted into the Spectral Zone, the Earth-Two version of the Phantom Zone. He returned there years later after confronting the two Flashes in a time traveling adventure.

Determined Daredevil Divers of DC

The preeminent swimmers in the DC Multiverse are, without question, the Aquamen. Then, there were the undersea dwellers from the various Atlantis settlements who adapted to life under the oceans’ depths. From among mankind, the surface dwellers, the most famous divers were Dane Dorrance and his fellow Sea Devils of Earth-One and Jim “Red Torpedo” Lockhart and his allies of Earth-Two. Although other expert swimmers teamed up with them on occasion, those being Walter Haley and Rex Tyler on their spandex suit identities. While their day job was as elite chemist, their physical fitness matched their mental acuity!

The Sea Devils met Walter "Prof" Haley with his fellow Challengers. as had the Red Torpedo met Rex "Hourman" Tyler with his Freedom Fighters, on single missions related to threats to the United States. On these specific cases, these two men were joined by six other men and a lady each (along with a growing sponge-man and a shrinking  mini-man), as these brave teams dealt with imposing threats from foreign powers.

The evil organization known as Scorpio were hired by another country to subvert the American military, and manipulated the mutated Sponge Man into attacking the USA. As the Sea Devils encountered the mutant man, they recalled his former confronting with Prof Haley and his Challengers, and enlisted their aid in facing the creature together. Although the being overpowered them, he was motivated into saving innocent humans by using his sponge powers to absorb deadly gas which cost him his life.

The fascist government of Imperial Japan, which has subversive agents such as the Yellow Scorpion, launched an attack on Pearl Harbor. Learning about this plan ahead of time, the hero Uncle Sam recruited Red Torpedo, Hourman and the remaining Freedom Fighters to defend this threatened location. However, doing so cost Red Torpedo and some of his fellow costumer crusaders their lives, while Hourman barely made it out alive.

The Sea Devils would eventually expand their ranks when the recruited young divers from around Earth-One, forming the International Sea Devils. Included in their illustrative ranks were: Sikki of India, Molo of Africa, Miguel of South America, Petey Eldidge and a lad named Brad from America. Their chief foe and begrudging ally throughout the seven seas was Captain X aka John Payton Dorrance, who was Dane's father. While Dane's doppelgänger Jim Lockhart didn't have a legion of followers, no doubt his example motivated other aspiring deep-sea divers such as the Boy Commandos who patrolled the oceans of Earth-Two. 

On a later adventure, Prof and Hourman plunged into the murky depths once more, this time joined with a member of their Earths’ Dynamic Duos of Gotham City. In addition, they teamed up with the other part of their Worlds’ Finest Team, Superman! However, while in Prof’s case there was no friction between he and Earth-One Superman and Batman he teamed up with… Hourman had a bit of friction with Superman and an adult Robin of Earth-Two.

Prof Haley and Ace Morgan request the assistance of Superman and Batman in order to free their fellow Challengers of the Unknown Red Ryan in an undersea cavern below the Andes Mountains and a sky base high above the Arctic. Prof expertly led Batman on a dive into the cavern through an underwater passage. In addition, they were tasked with destructing the gravitational equipment of the Gravity Masters, which kidnapped the two Challengers. Thankfully, the heroes succeeded in both goals.

Hourman and his fellow Justice Society members enlisted the aid of the Justice League in order to defeat the Black Sphere Gang which plundered their world. However, Hourman became infected with a Black Sphere which temporarily turned him evil, attempting to drown Robin. Thankfully, Superman was able to overpower Hourman and restore him to normal, with the two teams freeing the four Gang members of their insidious power influence of the Black Spheres themselves.

There is a logical connection between Haley and Tyler’s’ affinity to the oceans of the world and their career of choice. As their worlds’ preeminent chemists, they were able to unleash the human potential through their vast knowledge and extensive research. Their love of liquid in its forms, along with these fluids’ connection with loving beings, made them the ultimate scientist superheroes.

The notable discovery for Haley was his anecdote to liquid light, which mutated human organisms into various forms and revered them back to normal. The pinnacle achievement for Tyler was the Miraclo drug and black light which enhanced human physique and stabilized it. On multiple occasions, Haley transformed himself into a physical powerhouse which could easily match Tyler. 

While Hourman consistently possesses his powers, he most often worked solo (when not on occasional Justice Society missions). Meanwhile, Prod Haley compensated for lack of powers on most of his adventures by having at least three other teammates on the Challengwrs helping hm. And so, while Hourman with Miraclo possessed lathe strength of ten men, Haley with his Challenger allies possessed the strength of four to ten men (sometimes they had temporary colleagues like millionaire adventurer Gaylord Clayburn, Challenger Red Ryan’s kid brother Tino Mannaray, Alec “Swamp Thing” Holland, and Boston “Deadman” Brand… among others).

Flying Fox and Googled Good Guys

The name "Flying Fox" was used on three worlds, all tied to living legends. There was the Flying Fox of Earth-One, a young Bruce Wayne who would later become that world's Batman. The Flying Fox of Earth-Two was a frequent foe of sky criminal Air Pirate A-X. The Flying Fox of the Post Crisis Earth seems to have originated on Earth-8.

While training as a detective, a teenage Bruce Wayne of Earth-One assumed the alter ego of Flying Fox. On one occasion in her masked alias, Wayne teamed up with Clark "Superboy" Kent in Smallville, Years later as the Batman, Wayne regularly teamed up with his "World's Finest" partner, fellow Justice League founding member and best friend, a now grown-up Superboy now known as Superman.

Radiologist/pilot Lou Rex Darrell of Earth-Two was a flying detective in the image of his world's Batman, who also was an aviator sleuth.After a few notable tales as a good guy during the early days of World War II, a debilitating head injury during the war left Darrell with a greedy rather than good mental attitude.

Back on Earth-One, gangster "Matches" Malone had built up a reputation with the Riverfront Mob. Like his counterpart Darnell, Malone had a greedy disposition which led to Batman seeking him out to aid him on a dangerous mission. Before the hero could convince the criminal to agree to assist him, a bullet meant for Batman ricocheted towards Malone. After being fatally shot, it seemed this was Matches Malone’s swan song.

However, Batman decided to assume a third alter ego as Matches Malone, disguised as the gangster during various crimefighting missings throughout the years when he needed Malone's underworld credentials to provide Wayne the connections needed to ensnare his prey. This became an effective means of exposing criminals involved in a variety of cases, and even motivated Bruce's young ward and sidekick Dick "Robin" Grayson into assuming the Matches Malone identity one time.

Under the cover of his career as a radiologist, the former Flying Fox attempted to steal valuable radium, which led Darnell into a confrontation with Batman and Robin (Batman #37). Of note is his preference for green and brown clothes from his Flying Fox days  Following his failed scheme, exposed by x-ray which revealed his identity, Darrell’s criminal career was finished before it even began.

Whether Lou Rex Darrell reformed and once more sided with the cause of justice, as he had years before, is unknown. What is known is that he, like the man who continued the "life" of his doppelgänger Matches Malone, carved out a brief yet notable career as the Flying Fox... scourge to criminals everywhere!

Untold Teamup Tales of the Justice League & Justice Society

As evidenced by the existence of an unaffected future for the Legion of Super-Heroes, Brane "Batman" Taylor, Bilbat"Captain Marv", and a Kamandi... there were multiple 30th century timelines set apart from one another. These heroes' realities remained separate and distinct from one another. Their realities... Earth-One, Earth-Two, Earth-S and Earth-A.D... where each their own unique location within the Mulitverse. As previously ascerted, this proves that a future timeline existed and was thus spared from the cross-contamination of a merged post Crisis on Infinite Earths singular universe, which itself would repeatedly reboot and readjust itself.

With this in mind, we can hypothesize additional untold tales of those 20th century heroes, including several annual teamups between the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America. These involved additional teams, on both their own worlds and alternate Earths. This harmonizes with the pattern they set for decades, when the JLA and JSA encountered the Crime Syndicate of Earth-Three, the Lawless League of Earth-A, the Seven Soldiers of Victory of Earth-Two, the Freedom Fighters of Earth-X (and formerly of Earth-Two), the Squadron of Justice of Earth-S, the Legion of Super-Heroes of Earth-One, the New Gods of an adjacent Earth-One reality, and the All-Star Squadron of Earth-Two.

What were some of these teamups? Thanks to the inventive mind of Multiverse historian David Stepp, we get a glimpse into some of these amazing adventures:

• The League and Society teamup with Sentinels of Justice of Earth-Four to defend that world against an incursion by the Crime Champions, a gang of villains originally consisting of Earth-One's Chronos, Felix Faust and Doctor Alchemy and Earth-Two's Icicle, Wizard and Gambler. Evidentally, this sinister six expanded their roster to include Sentinal adversaries the Ghost, Doctor Spectro, Punch and Jewelee. To combat this, JLAers Batman, Green Arrow, and Red Tornado as well as JSAers Atom, Hourman and Starman are joined in the fight by Sentinal members Captain Atom, Nightshade and Blue Beetle as well as their ally the Son of Vulcan. The result of this confrontation undoubtedly proved better for Earth-Four than had the Crisis' "Villain War", which left portions of that world in environmental chaos unleashed by the costumed criminals and their mammoth sentient toxic weapon of war, Chemo.

• The Justice Society journeyed to Earth-One to assist the Justice League and the League's next generation protégées, the New Teen Titans, versus the malevolent Brother Blood and his Church of Blood from the nation of Zandia. Sebastian Blood possibly snatched the Powerstone, prompting the intervention of the JSA. Thanks to the intervention of these three titanic teams, led by New Teen Titans' leader Dick "Robin" Grayson and Justice Society member Dick "Nightwing" Grayson (although why the younger Dick reverted to his Robin alias rather than remain as Nightwing is unknown).

• Sinestro uses his ability to mentally manipulate others (which he has formerly used in a Brave and Bold tale when he controlled the Oan Guardians of Earth-One’s Universe while disguised as one of their own... and later when he exerted mind-control over his fellow Korugarians) to coerce select members of the Green Lantern Corps into becoming his second Sinestro Corps. Apparently, he sought to succeed where he had years earlier failed, when cloning himself a dozen time into the first incarnation of the Sinestro Corp when he and his minions invaded Earth-Two. The Justice Society's involvment in this tale indicates that Sinestro brought over these Corps men and women to Earth-Two for a repeat incursion into that world, one thwarted by the JLA and JSA led by Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Alan Scott of those respective teams.

• In a two-part crossover, the Time Trapper recruits fellow temporal thieves the Lord of Time of Earth-One and Per Degaton of Earth-Two to ensnare the majority of the Justice League and Justice Society in a time trap in the 30th century of Earth-Two. In part two, the remaining Leaguers and Socialites journey to the 30th century of Earth-One to recruit the aid of the Legion of Super-Heroes from that era in helping them battle their old foe Trapper and his cronies, but end up settling for the Legion of Substitute Heroes who help them after defeating the Legion of Super-Villains sent by the Time Trio to thwart them.

• Finally, the Justice Society individually face off against the Crime Society, a version of the Crime Syndicate but from a different world than that of Earth-Three. This Crime Society is modeled off the Justice Lords, a team of renegade superheroes who took the law into their own hand, administering their perverted form of authoritarian justice upon President Lex Luthor and his criminal minions on their world. This Crime Society would undoubtedly have invaded Earth-Two, just as the Crime Syndicate had invaded that world and Earth-One several years earlier. Perhaps the Justice League later became involved, aiding the Society as they had versus the Syndicate.

• These are just a few examples of potential probable plotlines involving the Greatest Heroes of Earths One and Two in a future unobstructed by the calamity that fell upon the Multiverse during the Crisis on Infinite Earths!

The Mystery of Rubberman: Plentiful Plastic

Among the rogues gallery of adversaries which the golden age Robotman faced throughout his lengthy career on Earth-Two, one undoubtedly bore him a striking resemblance to a long-lost All-Star ally of his years earlier. In fact, the resemblance wasn't just uncanny, but his true origins were even more so, as we unwind this mystery.

This foe known as Rubberman led a gang in a payroll heist, witnessed by scientist Paul Dennis and his intelligent cybernetic canine Robbie. In fact, Dennis and his pet were Robotman and Robotdog, and shortly after witnessing this crime in action, they purused the criminals and were rebelled by their pliable leader.

This led the robotic duo to visit a local circus, where the attraction's owner refers them to the local fire eater who knew the recently departed Indian rubber man personnally. However, when approached by the metal man and his dog, the fire eater breathes intense flames that nearly melt the pair's metallic frames. Dousing their fiery-tempered foe, Robotman and Robbie track down Rubberman himself, who ensnared them in liquid rubber hardened around them. Despite this, the heroes escaped and subdued Rubberman and his gang.

But some questions can be asked: Who was this Rubberman? Why did he resemble a former teammate of Robotman who disappeared years earlier? In fact, this artificial being was a replica of the original Plastic Man, himself a member of the All-Star Squadron who joined the Freedom Fighters and left their native world of Earth-Two to protect the parallel planet of Earth-X.

Prior to Plastic Man's departure from Earth-Two, a gangster allied with a criminal mastermind created synthetic Plastic Men, with the same abilities and appearance of the original, which he used to initiate a crime wave. During this caper, Woozy Winks had himself transformed through this process into a version of his partner Plastic Man. After the pair defeated the crooks behind the elastic clones, apparently all the Plastic Men were eliminated, although conceivably at least one seemingly remained behind. This being reverted to the criminal mindset of Plastic Man's former identity as criminal Eel O'Brien.

And on another parallel planet, Earth-One. the young hero known as Robbie Reed. the possessor of the H-Dial. This lad could "Dial 'H' for Hero" , allowing him to become various superheroes. Twice, Robby become a clone of Plastic Man, first as a hero and years later as a misguided villain for a brief period. During his second adventure in this identity, Robby was defeated by the Plastic Man native to his world, who helped Reed recover his sanity once their battled had concluded.

Mercurially Malevolent Metal Men

Will Magus' and Herbert Crawford's Metal Men were either malevolent machines or menacing mechanisms. On Earth-One, Magus developed his Responsometers which stored personalities within the malleable metallic frames of his Metal Men, originally developed to assist the United States government and later the world in combating various threats, both those originating from their own planet as well as those arriving from outerspace. 

On Earth-Two, Crawford developed a means to communicate with an extraterrestrial metallic horde from Jupiter-Two, luring them to his world where solar rays enlarged these Metal Men. Magus designed his artificially produced Metal Men based on the metals of gold, lead, iron, mercury, platinum and tin. Crawford's alien Metal Men replicated the metals of gold, silver, iron, magnesium and copper (another form of Metal Men remained on an alternate Jupiter that Starman once visited).

While the Mangus Metal Men had dozens of adventures as protectors, the Crawford Metal Men only had one notable appearance opposing the Justice Society of America. However, while the original five robot men of Gold, Iron, Lead, Copper, Mercury and their lady robot Platinum were all destroyed after their debut, Mangus rebuilt them and would continue to each time they were destroyed. The later models proved structurally superior to the originals he built.

Besides the original Metal Men, either a maddened Mangus or a robotic duplicate of his spawned other malevolent mechanized men, These included the Robots of Terror aka the "New Metal Men", consisting of Barium, Aluminum, Calcium, Zirconium, Sodium, and Plutonium. Shortly after, the Gas Gang is unleashed on the world, consisting of Oxygen, Helium, Chloroform, Carbon Monoxide, and Carbon Dioxide. Then there was the most notable Metal Men clones, the Metal Women!

While these various versions of the Metal Men co-existed, so too were multiple copies of the Jovian Metal Men on Earth-Two, consisting of at least four of each metal: Gold, Cooper, Silver, Iron, Magnesium, and Metal-X. All these quartets save the Metal-X men were destroyed during their battle with the Justice Society.

The Metal Women consisted of five female counterparts and a male counterpart of the Metal Men created to be love interests for their opposite numbers. The five Metal Women tragically had their synthetic lives cut short during their first adventure, with only the sole male member Platinum Man remaining functional. He would reappear years later, seeking revenge against the Metal Men while entrapping the honorary Metal Men femme-bot known as "Nameless". Batman and the Metal Men defeated Platinum Man and his robotic minions, while the object of his... and Metal Man Tin's... affection perished protecting them.

On occasion, the Metal Men even transformed into various vehicles, which mirrored those automated entities who took the place of Crawford's Metal Men. These were the vehicles Goitrude, Black Widow, Sand-Car, Atomobile, Esmerelda and the Doll-Plane... driven by Green Lantern's pal Doiby Dickles, the Spider, Sandman, Atom, Wonder Woman's friend Etta Candy and the Doll Man. Sometimes these mechanisms, such as Goitrude and its former host vehicle Esmerelda displayed sentience, while others such as the Doll-Plane and Black Widow were at times self-piloting vessels. Some had metamorphic properties, such as the Sand-Car and Atomobile.

The Metal Men of Earth-One had scores of adventures handling a wide-range of threats, both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial. The Jovian Metal Horde only had a single case with the majority of their members versus the Justice Society on Earth-Two, while the aforementioned vehicles had rendered valuable assistance to their human masters in dozens of cases throughout the years.

Improbable Indiscernible Invisibility

Invisibility is the attribute of bending light around an object to make it appear indiscernible to either the naked eye, or even from technological detection. The first individual known to successfully uncover the secret behind this science was Professor Hans Van Dorn, whom private detective Kent Thurston attempted to free when Van Dorn was kidnapped. Kent as the Invisible Hood dowsed his cloak with the Professor's chemical compound, allowing him to disappear at will.

Over a year later, another scientist named Kyle developed his invisio-solution. Under the alias of the Mist, he coated both himself and his henchmen in this substance, allowing them to seemingly be undetected from law enforcement officials while they engaged in criminal activities. However, the caped crusader known as Starman repeatedly uncovered both the Mist and his schemes. Over time, the Mist's solution also transformed his body into a gaseous substance. Earth-One scientist Sam Toth utilized a particle accelerator, which inadvertently changed his body's composition into something similar to his Earth-Two counterpart the Mist.

A thousand years later, another scientist named Lyle Norg developed a serum which achieved the same effect as his counterpart Kent Thurston, transforming him into the Invisible Kid. While Lyle would join the Legion of Super-Heroes, a team of teenagers connected to the 30th century of Earth-One where they would travel to on various adventures, Kent joined the Freedom Fighters. Thurston and his teammates left their native world of Earth-Two to assist the hero-less world of Earth-X.

Sadly, both Lyle and Kent perished in battle while working alongside their teammates. Although still undetectable to human eye, neither was invulnerable to impending threats. If only their invisibility formulas had the added benefit of intangibility like Silver Ghost and the Mist, they’d still be alive.

Marvelous Meta-Mammal Multiverse

While there is the traditional Multiverse consisting of infinite number of parallel planets, each with an Earth populated by humanity as the predominate species, there is also another type of Multiverse. This myriad of realities are populated by anthropomorphic versions of men and women. This "Mammal Multiverse" is actually a series of dimensions, with each one embedded within a corresponding universe dominated by human-centric civilizations.

• Earth-C is a part of the Earth-One universe, populated by Captain Comet and his Amazing Zoo Crew. This world’s first superhero was the Terrific Whatsit, mirroring Jay “Flash” Garrick. This world was visited by the heroes Superman, Changeling as well as villains Starro and Gorilla Grodd of Earth-One. Its inhabitants included:
• Dunbar Dodo
• Frankie and Fanny Flipper
• Frogzilla (Fennimore Frog)
• Hardluck Harry
• Hugo Hornspred
• Jumpin' Juniper
• King Oscar
• Nero Fox
• Patrick Parrot
• Pelican Pete
• Peter Panda
• Salty the Sailor
• Spylot Bones
• Terrific Whatzit
• Wuz-Wolf (Wolfie)
• Zoo Crew
• Alley-Kat-Abra
• Captain Carrot
• Fastback
• Little Cheese
• Pig-Iron (Peter Porkchops)
• Rubberduck
• Yankee Poodle

• 
  Earth-C-Minus is part of the Earth-Two universe, populated by Super-Squirrel and Justa-Lotta Animals. These costumed creatures mirrored the Justice League. These Animals met the Justice Society while visiting Earth-Two. Its inhabitants included:
• Amazoo
• Boyd, the Robin Wonder
• Feline Faust
• Hector Hamhock
• Kangar-Roo
• Lex Lemur
• The Porker
• Shaggy Dawg
• Weather Weasel
• Just'a Lotta Animals
• Aquaduck
• Batmouse
• The Crash
• Elong-Gator
• Firestork
• Green Lambkin
• Green Sparrow
• Hawkmoose
• The Item
• Martian Anteater
• Rat Tornado
• Stacked Canary
• Super-Squirrel
• Wonder Wabbit
• Zap-Panda

• Earth-C-Plus is part of the Earth-S universe, populated by Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and his friends and family. Hoppy and his friends mirrored Captain Marvel and his family. Mary Marvel visited Hoppy’s world, and later Marvel Bunny traveled to Earth-S.

• Earths of other types were also shown to exist, including'
• A Disney world
• A wacky "Krazy Kat" world
• A bayou world
• A world of giant animals. 

These may've been the corresponding animal-dimensions attached to Earth Prime, Three, Four, and X.

Avenging Auras Adversely Affect Antagonist Anomalies

When Batman first encountered the young amnesiac woman Violet Harper, he saw her manifest the ability project various colored auras around her body. Each of these manifested as a unique ability, which she used in her costumed career as the superheroine known as Halo.

However, this wasn't the first time he saw such auras projected from a human, granting a person mighty powers. In fact, Batman himself had similiar aura-based energies on one occasion, years earlier when confronting his old foe... Doctor Double-X. And then several months later, after encountering the alien entity known as Aquarius. However, each time there was a different manifestation of this process.

In order to defeat Doctor Double X, Batman used the same device which the doctor developed to created his aura-clone, Double X, and spawned Double Batman. This energy duplicate had superstrength, the power of flight and could emit electrical charges from its hands. Once victorious, this Bat-aura destroyed itself, which would later be replaced by an evil entity. 

Later, while Batman and his allies in the Justice League traveled to Earth-Two to assist the Justice Society in defeating the aggressive alien Aquarius, a residual effect when returning to Earth-One led to the Leaguers inadvertently birthing negative aura-clones of themselves. These had powers similar to the originals, which the heroes quickly vanquished.

While the laws of physics in the Earth-One realm naturally included the ability to split one's aura from oneself with the proper mechanism, the physical laws of Earth-Two were the reverse, with such auras being absorbed within a person through devices such as Doctor Mid-Nite's cryotuber and Aquarius’ cosmic radiation. 

Years later, the counterpart of the Aurakle alien which Violet merged with to become Halo was able to create its own body, separate from that of Harper's Earth-Two counterpart Marcie Cooper. This being, Chroma, was a physically separate manifestation from Cooper... much as the Double X clones were to Doctor Double X and Batman. Unlike Chroma, Aurakle wasn’t capable of accomplishing this feat.

With his prior experience with related powers, Batman was able to successfully train Halo in harnessing her own aura-abilities.

Sub-Atomic Synthetic Superhumans

Mechanical Motorized Marvels Meet Metal Men

Gold, Lead, Platinum, Iron, Mercury and Tin. Six elements in nature, and six malleable Metal Men created by robotics scientist Will Magnus to protect his world of Earth-One. While six other Metal Men, multiple copies of each In fact, also appeared on Earth-Two… these were actually menaces to mankind summoned by Hubert Crawford from the planet Jupiter-Two. 

Interestingly, there were other mechanized marvels who aided members of the Justice Society and All-Star Squadron, just as the Metal Men had aided members of the Justice League. Only these Earth-Two automatons were specialized vehicles, which the Metal Men mimicked on occasion when they also transformed into various cars. 

These were the following vehicles and their owner operators which they utilized on numerous cases:

• Goitrude driven by cab driver Doiby Dickles, which drove Alan “Green Lantern” Scott to numerous adventures. It displayed sentience and later was capable of flight powered by Q-Force.

• Black Widow driven by Tom “The Spider” Holloway and his chauffeur Chuck. Capable of traversing not only streets but other surfaces like walls and buildings.

• Esmerelda driven by Etta Candy which carried her and her Holliday College classmates to several adventures with Wonder Woman.

• Atomobile designed and driven by Al “The Atom” Pratt which could atomically transform from a normal car into a sleek convertible, inspired by his pal Percy's Atomobile made for the Boy Commando.

• Sand-Car driven by Wesley "Sandman" Dodds along with his fiancée Dian Belmont, with a state-of-the-art engine equipped with its owner's special silicon-based weaponry.

• Doll Plane designed by Professor Roberts and driven by his future son-in-law Darrel “Doll Man” Dane which operated on autonomous remote control.

These golden and silver age “Transformers”, either had their own personalities like Goitrude or reflected those of their human partners. This corresponded to the base Responsometers at the heart of the individual Metal Men on their various replacements bodies. Despite occupying new bodies, these were the same personalities and memories of the previous models, with their unique traits, characteristics, and quirks.

Among the various threats they faced included ones also created by their creator, as Mangus in some manor had a hand in spawned the Metal Men II aka the Robots of Terror, the Gas Gang, and the Metal Women along with their teammate Platinum Man. Each of these robots caused the original Metal Men and Tina some anxiety, although they each proved to be one-and-done inventions before they were scrapped. Only the original six Metal Men, and for a time Tin's own creation known as Nameless, endured throughout the years.


By the time the Jovian Metal Horde had arrived on Earth-Two in their insatiable attempt to consume various elements, which they transformed into, these vehicles had already rendered invaluable service to their human designers and drivers. Although their aid was behind-the-scenes, they were invaluable to the members of the Justice Society and Freedom Fighters during their periods of service, before each retired.


As there were multiple copies of the Metal Horde from Jupiter, it was theoretically possible for the each of the the four malevolent Metal Men within their five separate squads confronting Justice Society members could have themselves absorbed a variety of elements, yet they all solely transformed into the elements of Gold, Silver, Magnesium, Iron, and Copper... with a sixth regime remaining on Jupiter remaining as the element Metal-X, who Starman encountered years prior to the Horde's invasion of Earth-Two. Of course, the shark-like sentient spaceship which transported the Jovians to that world also posed a threat, as had its counterpart Starro the Starfish Conqueror who invaded Earth-One. As had the Metal-X ship versus the Justice Society, Starro was defeated by the World's Greatest Heroes, the Justice League.

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.

Mentally Manipulating Mathematics Maliciously Mold Minds

Mathematic formulas have unique powers within the Multiverse, manifesting in differing ways depending of the universe they exist within, and that realm’s specific physics. Within Earth-One’s reality this includes the formulas generated by dialing H-Dials, while Earth-Two’s reality operates under a different principle where one can simply utter such a math formula. 

Then there is the unique Anti-Life Formula, which can take away a society’s collective willpower, allowing the person possessing this formula to dominate the minds of a people. Darkseid of the extra-dimensional planet Apokolips sought this formula on Earth-One, attempting to capture select individuals each possessing a portion of it. 

One of Grodd’s intelligent minions from Gorilla City journeyed from that world to Earth-Two, utilizing a weapon upon Johnny Chambers allowing the gorilla to mentally manipulate the reporter’s mind*. This caused him to utter an altered version of his speed formula, “3x2(9yz)4ax”. This “X” factor unleashed an evil attitude within Chambers, as he transformed into the super speedster known as Johnny Quick. Thankfully, the effects were temporary.

The sinister simian’s gun may have channeled the Force of Mind which Grodd and his arch-enemy, Gorilla City leader Solovar, each possess. This mind-control may itself be a version of the Anti-Life Formula, one also possessed by Grodd’s Earth-Two counterpart Ultra-Humanite.

One other variation of a power-inducing formula was that conceived by the evil Doctor Thaddeus Sivana. He found the key combination of number and letters to access the fourth dimension, becoming intangible!

* This also caused Johnny to forget he had previously met, and worked with, the Flash... when they were members of the All-Star Squadron!

Whiz Kids TRS-80… meet the Junior JSA-51!

The Justice League and Justice Society members had younger sidekicks, the Robins... Kid Flash and Golden Boy Sandy... Aqualad and Minute Man Jimmy... Etta and Donna the Wonder Girl. However, one such pair were ordinary youths, blonde haired boys and brunette haired girls, who aided the World's Greatest Heroes in some unbelieveable adventures. We introduce the TRS-80 Computer Whiz Kids Alec and Shanna... and the Junior Justice Society members Billy Towney and Mary Ames.

Alec and Shanna were a pair of invented kids attending Metropolis Elementary when they were challenged to use their classrooms Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 computer to perform calculations in a competition versus the Earth-One Superman's super-brain when the hero visited their school. Due to the malevolent machinations of Major Disaster, Superman's mental abilities had been severely hampered, and so the Man of Steel enlisted the aid of the kids in helping him defeat the Major before his disasters had a detrimental effect on the city. 

Later, the Whiz Kids assisted Superman as well as his cousin Supergirl and his Justice League teammate Wonder Woman during their encounters with criminal mastermind Lex Luthor. They would appear once more several months later in another Superman tale.

Over on Earth-Two, Wonder Woman was hosting the visiting pair of Junior Justice Society kids Billy and Mary. Billy may have previously participated in some of the Junior JSAs adventures with the actual Justice Society of America, both when they battled the Injustice Society and later the Crimson Claw Gang. Mary would have been in the background for such tails, as girls at that time weren't encouraged to be active participants in the Junior JSA's cases.

While flying Billy and Mary over Washington D.C. on a siteseeing tour, they encountered an invasion of Martians using a gigantic wind-funnel to trap the city in a virtual bottle. Tracing this disturbance to its source on Mars, Wonder Woman and her two young allies were captured by the Martian's leader, the Duke of Deception (this was shortly after Wonder Woman dealt with another invasion, from the Sargossa Sea led by Major Disaster's counterpart Master De Stroyer). However, when approaching his electron-x switchboard which was directing missles towards Earth-Two, Mary and Billy jump out of reach and cause the Duke to send Wonder Woman after them. Now freed, the trio destroyed the device and its rockets, freeing Washington D.C. from the Martian's snare.

The Marvel Earth of the DC Multiverse

There were several contemporary masked metahumans on Earth-Twelve who debuted at the same time as the Inferior Five. A team of rivals to our quintet were the Kookie Quartet, granted superhuman abilities due to cosmic radiation. They were Mr. Manplastic, the Vanishing Queen, the Matchstick Kid, and Whatchamaycallit. This foursome were modeled off of the Fantastic Four of Earth-616, although not quite as noble, aligned with them were Prince Nabob the Sub-Moron and Cobwebkid, also parodies of Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner and Spider-Man... versions of the golden age Aquaman and Tarantula.

Another such team of whom the old adversaries of the golden age Freedom Brigade, the Vendetta led by the Iron Swastika and his Man-Mountain henchman. The Brigade’s children, the Inferior Five, defeated these villains as their parents has decades before. Later, the Five helped to "train" the Egg's Men consisting of The Ape, Basilisk, Icarus, Winter Wonderland, and Levitation Lass. These lads and lass were modeled after the X-Men in the same universe as the next superheroes below. 

Earth-Twelve somewhat also mirrored the so-called “Earth-Crossover”, which blended Earth-One characters... referenced in DC Comics... with those from Earth-616... reference in Marvel Comics. The distinct comical nature of Earth-Twelve set it apart from all other universes, a stark contrast to the more serious nature of other Earths.

This comical Earth seemed to follow a similar history to that of Earth-Two. There were the golden age teams of the 1940s in the Freedom Brigade and the Justice Society, followed by the heroes' descendants adopting their example into the 1980s with the Inferior Five and infinity Inc. One such remarkable parallel is the heroines of the older teams in the brunette Princess Power and Wonder Woman,  and their blonde daughters of the young teams in Dumb Bunny and Fury.

The blending of classic DC and Marvel archetypes only occurred on Earth-Twelve within the actual DC Multiverse. It’s adversarial nature of pitting “DC” protagonists such as the Inferior Five even against fellow heroes such as the Kookie Quartet highlights the diametrically different perspectives of each reality shown when merged together (as illustrated by the accompanying picture displaying a hypothetical battle between the Justice Society and Marvel’s Invaders). 

Plentiful Predators: The Killer Sharks

Killer Shark was the name of various devious dwellers of the deep who were predatory pests to the Blackhawks. The history of the men behind this name can be confusing, so let's dissect their stories and see how they connect with their arch-enemies throughout the years.

Chronologically, the first Killer Shark to appear was General Haifisch. A "model soldier" of Nazi Germany of Earth-One  during World War II, Haifisch was genetically altered to become a superhuman-level soldier, sent on a mission by Adolph Hitler to subdue a border down betweeen Franch and Belgium. Although overpowering the other six members of the Blackhawk Squadron, their leader evaded capture and ultimately outmanuevered Killer Shark, leading to the Nazi's apparent demise from drowning.

On the parallel planet of Earth-Two, a man known as Black Shark used his mechanical aptitude to battle his arch-foe the American adventurer Red Torpedo on twelve different occasions. Although originally the "Lone Shark", he later allied with another villian known as the dweller of the deep and later with a couple of the Axis Powers.

The next Killer Shark appeared a decade after the first, this time on Earth-Two*. More of an independent contractor, this new Killer Shark employed various advanced submarines and loyal henchmen whom he used to battle the Blackhawks on five separate occasions.

A counterpart to this Killer Shark later appeared in 1957, and would be the most recurring foe of the Blackhawks of Earth-One. During his sixth of their twelve clashes, Killer Shark met the female honorary member of the Squadron, Lady Blacklawk aka Zinda Blake. Using a chemical solution, Killer Shark was able to brainwash Zinda into becoming blindly obedient to only him, and sending her against the former love of her life, Blackhawk. After a series to encounters, Blackhawk was finally able to return Zinda to normal, and she aided him in Killer Shark's defeat.

The doppelgänger of Killer Shark's lady was a femae German agent named Edda Heimat known as the Black Tigress, who was first a foe of Zatara and later met Blackhawk. During this encounter, Edda's eventually turned somewhat good, and later under the alias Eva Rice attempted to join the Blackhawks. There is no record of her every having met Killer Shark nor Black Shark.

* It was hypothesized in DC Who’s Who the Definitive Guide that this Killer Shark may have been from Earth-X, although it was shown that the Blackhawks who left Earth-Two for that alternate Earth later returned to their home world in the mid-1940s, so this Shark must have also been of that world.