Will the Real Martha Roberts Please Stand Up... Please Stand Up...Please Stand Up?

She was there from the very beginning... when the original Mighty Mite first appeared. The perpetual fiancee of Darrel Dane, aka the Doll Man, Martha Roberts was a stalwart girlfriend to her guy's dual identities. Indeed, all three of her were loyal to him!

Doll Man originated on Earth-Two, and thus that world had its own Martha, who along were her father Professor Roberts were the only ones who knew of Darrel's secret life. And from 1939 until at least 1942, the two lovebirds were near inseperable. Then what happened?

Somehow, Doll Man as well as fellow mystery man Midnight heard of a man named Uncle Sam recruiting various heroes for an urgent mission. Arriving to late, as Sam and six other superheroes disappeared from their world, Doll Man and his new friend followed them through the rift created. They ended up on Earth-X.

After a couple months on that world, the pair along with Sam returned to their native world, meeting at the Perisphere where the full membership of the All-Star Squadron had been invited for a joint meeting. After a brief trip back to Earth-X with his fellow All-Stars, Doll Man soon returned home, into the loving arms of Martha.

However, a couple months later in April of 1941, Uncle Sam returned to recruit a larger group of All-Stars for his Freedom Fighters on Earth-X. Among those was Doll Man, who like the others moved Earths during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. He no doubt believe this was  a temporary move, until they defeated the Axis Powers, however took many years to do this.

On Earth-X, Dane eventually formed a new relationship with that world's Martha Roberts, who was an ally of Doll Man and his Freedom Fighters teammates. We know this Martha wasn't the Earth-Two version, as she didn't become Doll Girl in order to protect herself and her father when Nazis attacked and killed her!

Batman verifies that the Freedom
Fighters return to Earth-Two

Heartbroken, Darrel soon found a third opportunity to be with his love, this time on Earth-One where he and the remaining Freedom Fighters moved to in the late 1940. Kept young through the decades, Dane met reporter Martha Roberts, and the two soon fell in love.  After a series of misunderstandings led to the Freedom Fighters being hunted by the law, they left Earth-One to return to their home world, Dane decided to leave this Martha behind, as it was evident her career was more important.

Doll Man and his allies returned to Earth-Two in the late 1970s to visit the Justice Society.as Batman acknowledged they had appeared there at that time in his infamous Dairy. While this would have been a brief reunion with their old allies from the All-Star Squadron... and more recently from when the Justice Society with the Justice League traveled to Earth-X accidentally to aid the Freedom Fighters in liberating their adopted world.

While it is logical that the individual members would look up old family and friends... Phantom Lady's father Senator Knight and her cousin Ted "Starman" Knight, Black Condor his former girlfriend Wendy Foster, Human Bomb's ex-girlfriend Jean Adams, Uncle Sam's sidekick Buddy... there were no lasting bounds between them. However, the bond between Darrel and Martha was deeper, more profound, with both driven toward being together. This bond traversed even the dimensional barriers of separate universes, with Darrel always gravitating towards the Martha of whichever Earth he was currently living.

After having left the original Martha decades ago, Darrel traveled back to the 1940s to reunite with Martha (no doubt using the Flash’s recently built Time Vortex in Justice Society headquarters)*. 

We know this because Martha’s “Who’s Who” entry mentions her being with Darrel when he became Doll Man in 1939, and in 1951 joined his crime fighting crusade as his partner Doll Girl. Between those dates, the Earth-Two Martha continued to have hundreds more adventures in the late 1940s and early 1950s. And really, it is unimaginable that he would leave his first love behind indefinitely!

The dynamic between Doll Man and Doll Girl echoed that on Earth-One between Superboy and his childhood girlfriend Lana Lang, in her various aliases such as Sky Girl, Flying Girl and Gravity Girl. Like Darrel and Martha on Earth-Two, Superboy's alter ego Clark Kent and Lana Lang rekindled their love as adults many years later while working together as news anchors.

* A later told tale of the Freedom Fighters returning to Earth-One to assist Superman versus neo-Nazis would've occurred just before they left Earth-Two and returned to Earth-X, and thus before Doll Man journeyed back to the mid 1940s. And a later 1985 appearance of Doll Man alongside his teammates on Earth-X was of a temporarily time-displaced Darrel Dane… as many heroes from the past were pulled into the present day including Doll Man’s fellow All-Stars Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle!

Mighty Midgets: Don-El and Darrel the Super Mite and Doll Man

Don-El and Darrel Dane were a pair of "Mighty Mites" and Superman lookalikes. Allied with counterparts Flamebird and Nighwing, and Nightwing and Wing, they made their mark as heroes of stature.

Don-El as  Captain of the Superman Emergency Squad, a team of Kandorians in miniature size who wore costumes of the famous Kryptonian and aided that caped crusader on occasion on their adopted Earth-One. In his first appearance, he adopted the alias of Super-Mite.

Darrel Dane aka Doll Man was a chemist and as a member of the All-Star Squadron was a teammate of Superman. The original Mighty Mite, Doll Man was like his contemporary Superman of Earth-Two, among the earlies of caped crusaders on their world, and fought crime there for over two years.

Don-El was the son of Nim-El, who was the twin brother of Zor-El, himself the father of Kal-El. So Don-El was the twin cousin of Superman (Kal-El), although he survived not in a space ship sent directly to Earth-One but rather as an inhabitant of the shrunken bottled city of Kandor. When Superman years later battled and defeated Kandor's captor, Brainiac, he found the city a new home inside his Fortress of Solitude.

Darrel Dane as Doll Man decided due put to good use the shrinking formula that gave him various mental abilities and the power to shrink to 6 inches tall. Aided by his girlfriend Martha Roberts and her father, Doll Man had several solo adventures and was also a member of the aforementioned All-Star Squadron and Freedom Fighters. 

Don-El temporarily assumed Superman's identity during a moment of psychological breakdown, before returning to Kandor. Eventually that city and all its inhabitant's, including Don-El, were restored to normal size and lived in the extra-dimensional world of Rokyn which oscillated between Earth-One's universe and that of another. Which of the other universes Rokyn was normally located within... Earth-X, Earth-S, Earth-Four or (most probably) Earth-Two is unknown... but would have to have been one of them as Rokyn still existed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths when all other universes were destroyed.

Darrel eventually left behind his native world with the Freedom Fighters to aid Earth-X, where he and his teammates would face that world's Nazi forces for decades before finally defeating them. Eventually, Superman (Kal-L) and his Justice Society allies as well as the Justice League visited Earth-X, and he worked alongside Doll Man to liberate that world. 

Following this, Doll Man and his pals migrated to Don-El's Earth-One to revitalize their costumed careers, but were portrayed as criminals, and so left for Earth-Two. Unlike his fellow Freedom Fighters, there is evidence that Doll Man returned to the past... shortly after he had left for Earth-X.. and reunited with Martha*. We know this because Martha’s “Who’s Who” entry mentions her being with Darrell in 1939 when he became Doll Man, and still with him in 1951 when she became his crimefighting partner, Doll Girl. Dane's trip through time made possible due to the Justice Society member Flash's Time Vortex device, allowing for traveling through time from the late 1970s to the mid 1940s.

* A later told tale of the Freedom Fighters returning to Earth-One to assist Superman versus neo-Nazis could’ve occurred right after they (aside from Dane) left Earth-Two and returned to Earth-X. And still later, when Doll Man appeared with his teammates in 1985 on Earth-X, this was a temporally time-displaced Darrel Dane… as many heroes from the past were pulled to the present day including Doll Man’s fellow All-Stars Johnny Quick and Liberty Belle!

Superman's Mini-Me - Times Two! The Story of Don-El and Darrel

Don-El and Darrel Dane were a pair of "Mighty Mites" and Superman lookalikes. 

Don-El was the son of Nim-El, who was the twin brother of Zor-El, himself the father of Kal-El. So Don-El was the twin cousin of Superman, although he survived not in a space ship sent directly to Earth-One but rather as an inhabitant of the shrunken bottled city of Kandor. Years later, Superman battled and defeated Kandor's captor, Brainiac, and housed the city within his Fortress of Solitude.

Don-El as  Captain of the Superman Emergency Squad, a team of Kandorians in miniature size who wore costumes of the famous Kryptonian and aided that caped crusader on occasion on their adopted Earth-One. In his first appearance, he adopted the alias of Super-Mite.

Darrel Dane was a chemist who decided to put to good use the shrinking formula that gave him various mental abilities and the power to shrink to 6 inches tall. Aided by his girlfriend Martha Roberts and her father, he became the crimefighter Doll Man. 

Doll Man had numerous solo adventures and, while attending the All-Star Squadron's first official meeting, first met his lookalike Kal-L aka Superman,  Eventually, Darrel became a member of the Freedom Fighters, leaving his native Earth-Two for a hero-less parallel planet known as Earth-X. Decades later, Kal-L and Darrel teamed up to help liberate that world. 

Don-El briefly had a psychotic breakdown, where he believe himself to be the actual Superman rather that his minatured stand-in. His cousin Kal-El created a scenario that helped Don-El to face reality and restore his sanity. Darrel and the Freedom Fighters briefly visited their homeworld of Earth-Two, then tried living on Earth-One on several months, where they were framed for crimes they didn't commit including an allegation of murder that almost led to Doll Man's execution!

Both heroes possessed superhuman strength and immense durability, Don-El due to his nature as a Kryptonian living on Earth under that world's yellow sun. While Don-El has miniature allies in Kandor with his Squad, Darrel faced only miniaturized menaces such as a Japanese soldier and an island filled with shrunken human subjects. In fact, Doll Man had a six-foot tall recurring foe named Tom Thumb who, like Earth-One's Mouse Man that battled Wonder Woman, was but a tiny man with no superhuman powers. Thumb originated from Midget Town, where several humans were shrunken to 6 inch height by Doctor Vargo, which Dollman, Batman and Robin each visited.

Don-El shared a paternal great-grandfather with Kal-El in Var-El, a scientist who discovered the means to teleport from Krypton-One to Earth-One. While on his adopted world, Var-El battled alien invaders, then disappeared. Darrel had a famous crimefighting grandfather during that same period. Could he have been the Var-L of Krypton-Two? Might the Dane gene have had a trace of Kryptonian blood in the mix? Might he and Kal-L be cousins?

Don-El and his fellow Kandorians were restored to their normal height and moved to the extradimensional world of Rokyn, a world that occasionally resided in Earth-One's universe, but was usually in an adjacent universe. A Darrel and the Freedom Fighters returned to Earth-X, in order to assist in the rebuilding of that war-torn world. Since evidence points to the original Doll Man having returned to the mid 1940s of Earth-Two as he reunited with Martha, it seems likely that the Doll Man seen on Earth-X in the 1980s was the Danes' son Darrel Junior.

Doll Man developing a strength enhancing ray in 1950, based off the Miraclo black light ray hypothesized by his fellow Freedom Fighters teammate Rex Tyler. Darrel used this ray on a stray dog he adopted named Elmo, which both healed him and give him super-canine strength. It also increased his intelligence, allowing him to understand human communication. 

For the next several months, Elmo assisted Dane’s alter ego Doll Man. Eventually, the dog became acquainted with Darrel's fiancee Martha Roberts, and soon assisted her as well when she adopted the Doll Girl alter ego after gaining powers similar to her boyfriend's. From December 1950 until February 1952, Elmo faithfully followed his master into a wide array of adventures, helping the pair.

Eventually, Elmo retired from crimefighting, although Darrel and Martha carried on in their costumes crusade. Given the nature of Dane’s ray devise, the superhuman strength “of ten men” (like that which Hourman possessed after exposure to the Miraclo black light) would have amplified his already proportionally strong physique when he was a Mighty Mite towards the end of his costumed career. 

Twice-Told-Tales: Doll Man Framed for Murder

When Doll Man and his fellow Freedom Fighters finally freed their adopted world of Earth-X from the tyranny of fascism, they decided to return to their homeworld of Earth-Two. However, this visit was brief, as it was no longer their home, all ties they had with family and friends they left behind decades earlier had long been severed. And so, they decided to travel to Earth-One to start a new life. However, trouble seemed to follow them.

Shortly after arriving in New York City on that world, they were framed for crimes perpetrated by the Silver Ghost, himself an old adversary of Earth-X. Seeking revenge for the loss of his prestigious post as German military commander Raphael Van Zandt due to the tireless crusader of the Freedom Fighters. One of his schemes involved an assassination of New York District Attorney Pearson, who at the time of his death had been meeting with Doll Man to reveal that he and his team were innocent. When police arrived witnessing a stunned Darrel Dane holding the murder weapon, they immediately suspected he was the man who pulled the trigger. In fact, it was later revealed at the last minute, while Dane was tied to the electric chair for execution, that it was Pearson's assistant... a protegee of Van Zandt's... who was the true culprit. Admitting the crime, the true criminal .... Assistant District Attorney Tulane, was arrested. Meanwhile, Darrel along with his fugitive friends fled the scene, and would eventually return to Earth-X was they were revered as heroes.

Interestingly, Darrel had decades earlier on Earth-Two also been framed for murder, as the Doll Man attempted to save the life of Jim Billings. Billings had been pardoned from execution by the governor upon review of further evidence, however the vindictive judge on the case disputed this. That man, Judge Tolliver, had established a masked alter ego as an executioner of those who escaped his misguided justice. However, although Doll Man was proclaimed innocent and Tolliver was revealed to be the true culprit, it was at the Judge's own hand that he faced justice... overcome by guilty feelings of those whom he condemned to death. 

Migrants of Multiple Earths Thesis: Part 2

When Uncle Sam returned to Earth-Two, he recruited a small group of All-Star Squadron members, of whom the Ray and Black Condor permanently moved to Earth-X. This was to maintain the cosmic balance between both Earths, as Baron Blitzkrieg brought three elite Nazis with him from Earth-X. A fourth hero who remained there, the Red Bee, was killed by the Baron… just as the Baron had only hours before sent one of his Earth-X Nazis to his death as he fell off an Earth-Two building. 

Hourman only spent a few months on Earth-X (after five of his allies perished at Pearl Harbor) before returning to Earth-Two. So he wouldn’t be classified as one of these permanent migrants, but one of five Justice League and Justice Society members who aided the Freedom Fighters during their brief visits to Earth-X. Doll Man and Midnight journeyed there during Sam’s first visit, exchanging places with Baron Blitzkrieg’s initial Earth-X Nazis.

The next batch of new heroes who moved to Earth-X a few months later, during the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, were: Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, Spider, Manhunter* (and his robot dog Thor), Plastic Man**, the Jester, Quicksilver and the Blackhawk Squadron*** (Blackhawk*, Stanislaus*, Olaf*, Hendrickson*, Chop Chop*, Andre* and Chuck*). Lance and Michael Gallant also previously journeyed to Earth-X as Captain Triumph in 1942, before returning to Earth-Two to join the All-Star Squadron... though their brief stay would like Hourman's disqualify them as offical cross-Earth migrants.

During the same Crisis event, a number of Earth-One heroes fought to save all reality in other universes, where they perished in the universes of Qward and Earth-Four. These included Nighthawk, Kid Psycho, Supergirl, the Flash, Aquagirl, Prince Gavyn the Starman, Immortal Man, Xax the insect Green Lantern, and Green Lantern Tomar-Re (as well as the robot body of Red Tornado). Additionally five renegade Guardians of the Universe perished in an Anti-Matter Universe barrage projected upon their meeting chamber on the planet Oa. 

By 1943, Firebrand and his arch-foe Silver Ghost traveled to Earth-X under undisclosed circumstances, leaving Earth-Two behind forever. Silver Ghost forsook his American citizenship to join Germany while Firebrand’s alter ego Rod Reilly used his status in their military to become a double agent for America. It could be assumed that when Manhunter traveled back to Earth-Two, he traded places with Firebrand if perhaps inadvertently (while Silver Ghost arrived on Earth-X during the same time period that Doll Man from the 1970s reappeared on Earth-Two* to reunite with his fiancé Martha Roberts).

* These Freedom Fighters eventually migrated back to Earth-Two. We know this because; 1.) Doll Man had adventures in the late 1940s with the Martha "Doll Girl" Roberts of Earth-Two, 2.) Dan "Manhunter" Richards, always accompanied by his loyal pooch Thor, became grandfather to Marcie "Harlequin" Cooper of Earth-Two, 3.) the seven Blackhawks had an adventure in September 1944 with the Batman of Earth-Two.

** Plastic Man later migrated to Earth-Twelve during the Convergence event, where he sired Plastic Man Jr. who became a frenemy of the Inferior Five of that world and his father’s counterpart.

*** While the Losers of Earth-One along with their fellow soldiers on the same battlefield perished at the same time as their Earth-Two counterparts, they died due to non-Crisis causes. So they wouldn’t be considered as offsetting in this multiverse erasure of characters. Instead, the Blackhawks’ reappearance on Earth-Two took their place.

Migrants of Multiple Earths Thesis: Part 3

In the previous chapters of our Migrants of Multiple Earths Thesis here and there we considered the loss of heroes from Earth-Two that migrated to Earth-One. It would seem that this golden age Earth became a provider for metahumans throughout the Multiverse, as we'll learn in this and future chapters, other Earths experienced this as well in later years. Let's now focus on the Freedom Fighters of three Earths!

We already learned how Uncle Sam, the Ray and Black Condor remained on Earth-X to offset the presence of Baron Blitzkrieg's three Nazi troops from that world. Similarly, Doll Man, the Human Bomb, Phantom Lady and the original Firebrand (not pictured but whom we previously considered) also left their home world of Earth-Two for that hero-less Earth. They were followed to Earth-One in late 1970's by the resident Earth-X bad guy the Silver Ghost.  In the course of their brief but memorable stay on this silver age world, they ended up running from the law for being framed by both foe and bad circumstances, yet did their part to protect another world though not their own.

Interestingly, it was later revealed in the so-called "Diary of Batman" that the Freedom Fighters had at some point during the 1970's journeyed back to the world of their birth, as Batman had said that the Freedom Fighters "have been seen back on this earth in recent years". When would this have occured... before or after their appearances on Earth-One in the mid to late 1970s? 

Well, Batman had delivered his diary to long-time friend Doctor Carter Nichols "months before he died", and it had been tainted with insanity due to mind control inflicted upon Batman's alter ego Commissoner Bruce Wayne by the Psycho Pirate. During that period of time, when Wayne manipulated retired members of the Justice Society into fighting its active members, the Freedom Fighters had left Earth-One following a battle with the Secret Society of Super-Villains. The only way Wayne would know that the Freedom Fighters were back on his Earth is if they visited the Justice Society.

It had been "two years" since the Freedom Fighters, with help from the Justice League and Justice Society, defeated the Nazi Regime on Earth-X. After this, a professor friend of theirs had developed an inter-dimensional teleporter, which the Fighters first  used to immediately travel from Earth-X to Earth-One. Eventually after a months lovong on the run on Earth-One, Sam used his natural abilities to bring them to Earth-Two. At that point it seems Doll Man traveled back in time to the late 1940s (no doubt using the Flash’s recently invented time vortex device) to reunite with his first love Martha shortly before she had gained her Doll Girl abilities. 

During this period of time, the Secret Society of Super-Villains had been battling individual members of the Justice Society on Earth-Two... while also battling the Freedom Fighters as directed by Silver Ghost. Five members of the Secret Society of Super Villains consisting of the Wizard, Blockbuster, Reverse Flash, Floronic Man, and Star Sapphire were being pursued by the hero known as Captain Comet. Note in the accompanying box the words of their leader the Earth-Two Wizard had spent "several profitable months on Earth-2".*

Back on Earth-One, Mirror Master and Copperhead led another faction of the Secret Society into battle with the Freedom Fighters at the direction of Silver Ghost, prior to their departure to Earth-Two. The Fighters proved victorious and, after their brief stay on Earth-Two, they and a Doll Man clone (created by Funny Face’s bio-ray) traveled back to Earth-X. Months later, Phantom Lady was shown to be operating in the Paris France of Earth-X, while the male members of the Freedom Fighters traveled one final time to Earth-One to aid Superman on a case.

After their foray on Earth-Two, the Wizard reviews what became of he and his colleagues, as they were trapped for months in limbo between universes. This no doubt sounds similar to what transpired in the near future, wherein other members of the Secret Society also found themselves trapped in the same netherworld between parallel realities. For the Wizard's team there were five beings of Earth-One (Reverse Flash, Star Sapphire, Floronic Man, and Blockbuster) and Wizard of Earth-Two, while the Ultra-Humanite's team would lead seven beings of Earth-Two (Ultra, Psycho-Pirate, Brain Wave, Rag Doll, the Mist, Monocle... and a seventh in the form of Vulcan who arrived in Limbo through a different manner) and five different beings of Earth-One (Gorilla Grodd, Killer Frost, Cheetah II, Signalman). Of course, Floronic Man of Earth-One and Brain Wave of Earth-Two resided in Limbo twice!

That's eight villains of Earth-One and eight of Earth-Two removed from their native worlds at various times, once more showing how the cosmos offset itself repeatedly despite the best of intentions of these puny mortals. Not to mention the five members of Earth-Three's Crime Syndicate of America, who had been kept in prison there within an emerald bubble for several years!

Interestingly, the first known reference to this inbetween Limbo dimension was when the Crime Champions of Earths One and Two created a base of operations there, in order to escape detection from their foes. Years later, after their defeat, the Champions' enemies.... the Justice League and Justice Society... would co-op these headquarters to team-up with a third heroic group known as the Squadron of Justice from Earth-S.

By the time of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, all members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, the Crime Syndicate, and all Leaguers, Socialites and Squadroners were back on their native homeworlds. However, several of these malevolent metahumans would resurface during the "Villain War" at the height of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and under the leadership of Lex Luthor and Brainiac attempt to usurp control over Earths Four, X and S.

* During the several month sojourn of the Secret Society on Earth-Two, the Wizard led his five Earth-One minions into several successful victories versus individual members of the Justice Society. These included the Atom, Doctor Mid-Nite, Mister Terrific, and apparently Starman... the latter of whom had along with his teammates been captured by the Super-Villains. At some point, the active members of the Justice Society became aware of this, and tracked down the Secret Society where they eventually overpowered  the costumed criminals. While the Secret Society fled Earth-Two, the Justice Society successfully freed their colleagues soon after.

What If: There was an Earth-One Freedom Fighters

Yes, yes, the Freedom Fighters were on Earth-One for several months in the late 1970s. During this period, they left behind their adopted world of Earth-X to find brand new adventures on a third world. In fact, the seven surviving members... along with their deceased and missing teammates... originated on Earth-Two! 

In 1942, Uncle Sam recruited several members of the All-Star Squadron to assist him on Earth-X, which at that time had no native-born superheroes. After decades fighting the Axis Powers, the Fighters finally won... with the assistance of their world's Justice Society and their soon-to-be adopted world's Justice League

However, on Earth-One, they met frustration after being framed by an old adversary, the Silver Ghost. Despite attempts to clear their name and reputation, the Freedom Fighters finally resolved to return to visit their home world of Earth-Two, and then the team (except for Doll Man who journeyed back in time to reunite with his fiancee Martha... and was replaced by another Doll Man) migrated back to Earth-X. 

Each member had a counterpart in the Earth-One universe, whom... had they assembled in like fashion... would themselves have been a fascinating team. Instead of Phantom Lady, there would be Nocturna... Human Bomb would be replaced with Heat Wave... Don-El would pinch hit for Doll Man... Highfather would sub for Uncle Sam,.. Firebrand's shoes would be filled by Deadman... Lightray would cover for the Ray, and the void left by Black Condor would be filled by Blackrock.

Of these individuals, most resided in other dimensional planes of existence. Highfather, Lightray and Infinity Man live in or near New Genesis within another realm. Don-El was on the planet named Rokyn existing in another universe. Nocturna disappeared into the Multiverse during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Deadman himself no longer lived on Earth-One following his acrobatic career. Only Blackrock remained on that world, although he retired. And so, like the Freedom Fighters, those seven soldiers of victory only left brief marks on Earth-One.

Mighty Mutts Courageous Canines: Swifty and Elmo

Krypto the Super-Dog and Thor the Thunder Dog were the more famous superhuman dogs were the most famous of the mighty mutts (while the non-super Krypto of Earth-Two and the robotic Krypto of Earth-One were the one-hit-wonders aiding Superman and Superboy on occasion), there were other courageous canines. Among these were Swifty and Elmo.

Swiftly was a greyhound saved by Superboy from the pooch’s murderous fox-hunting owner. Tracking the young hero back to his Smallville home with the Kent Family, Superboy gifts Swifty with a serum created by Kryptonian criminal Roz-Em that previously gave Clark’s adopted parents Jonathan and Martha with superpowers. Now possessing temporary powers like those of Superboy and his pet Krypto, Swifty is trained to be a friend and protector of Clark’s Super-Dog. However, Krypto becomes jealous of Swifty causing a one-sided rivalry, resolved when the greyhound losses his powers.

However, the Phantom Zone criminals mentally manipulate Swifty into recreating his superpowers through a chemical concoction.  Seeking to use the dog to lure Superboy into a trap, the criminals’ scheme is delayed when their young foe devises a couple tests to see whether Krypto or Swifty should have the honor of the former’s invulnerable cape, and we dwindled the lad’s pooch partner. Swiftly is victorious both times, and after he and his new master encouraged a warring human and beast population on another world to seek peace, the boy and his dogs journey to his planetary museum. There, Superboy nearly dies from Green Kryptonite radiation, until Krypto creates a bizarro Swifty that battles the original. Superboy then mixes more chemicals to restore Swifty’s sanity and normalcy.

Doll Man based his strength ray off the Miraclo black light ray hypothesized by his fellow Freedom Fighters teammate Rex Tyler. Right after developing it in 1950, Darrel Dane used it on a stray dog he adopted named Elmo, which both healed him and give him super-canine strength. It also increased his intelligence, allowing him to understand human communication. 

For the next several months, Elmo assisted Dane’s alter ego Doll Man. Eventually, the dog became acquainted with Darrel's fiancee Martha Roberts, and soon assisted her as well when she adopted the Doll Girl alter ego after gaining powers similar to her boyfriend's. From December 1950 until February 1952, Elmo faithfully followed his master into a wide array of adventures, helping the pair.

Eventually, Elmo retired from crimefighting, although Darrel and Martha carried on in their costumes crusade. Given the nature of Dane’s ray devise, the superhuman strength “of ten men” (like that which Hourman possessed after exposure to the Miraclo black light) would have amplified his already proportionally strong physique when he was a Mighty Mite. As Doll Man, Darrel could be considered on par with Superman of Earth-Two when he began his career, before his Kryptonian genes developed to full potential and maturity.

Migrants of Multiple Earths Thesis: Part 1

A seemingly throwaway line at the conclusion of a confrontation between the Freedom Fighters from Earth-Two, while battling their world's Baron Blitzkrieg on the hero-less Earth-X, was that the cosmic balance was jeopardized due to the All-Stars' presence on a world not their own. 

The three who remained behind on Earth-X were Uncle Sam, Black Condor and the Ray; after three Nazi troopers returned with the Baron to Earth-Two to serve him on his home-world. 

Months earlier, Sam had brought other heroes to Earth-X, all of whom (save for Hourman and Sam) remained on this world before their premature deaths protecting that world’s Pearl Harbor.

According to the law of conservation of mass, also known as the principle of mass/matter conservation, is that the mass of a closed system will remain constant over time. The mass of an isolated system cannot be changed as a result of processes acting inside the system. A similar statement is that mass cannot be created/destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, and changed into different types of particles.

So the mass of these metahumans removed from one closed system, or universe, and transferred into another. How did the multiverse compensate for this unauthorized transfer? Well another incursion happened shortly thereafter when several Nazi troops followed Midnight and Doll Man back from the Nazi's Earth-X to the heroes' Earth-Two:

In the third panel, if you squint you can make out eight soldiers on the opposite rooftop from Midnight, and two falling presumably to a life-ending landing. That's ten, so five of these would cancel out the five late heroes Red Torpedo, Magno, Miss America, Neon the Unknown and the Invisible Hood. The remaining Nazi troopers correlated with Uncle Sam and Hourman (whom Red Bee later traded places with on Earth-X when Hourman returned to Earth-Two), as well as Doll Man, Midnight and Baron Blitzkrieg who simultaneously traveled to Earth-X at the same time as the fatal five freedom fighters.

So the total number of Nazi soldiers and Fighters who permanently moved Earth balanced out, thus compensating for the transfer of mass. 

During this initial encounter between two parallel Earths, this formative Freedom Fighters departed Earth-Two to protect the Pearl Harbor of Earth-X from a devastating attack, with five of the seven perishing when a kamikaze pilot took their lives (note: Uncle Sam and Hourman, due to their invulnerability, survived this encounter). Meanwhile, Doll Man and Midnight followed Uncle Sam through his portal to Earth-X, and then retreated back to Earth-Two a couple months later with the aforementioned ten Earth-X Nazi troops who followed them.

While most of these Nazis soon perished, five of their number became Baron Blitzkrieg’s henchmen the Human Bombs, which were quickly dispatched by Wonder Woman. Five foes of freedom…five fighters of freedom, removed from the cosmic equation in the 1st Freedom Fighters and Nazi Human Bombs.

Mighty Mites' Magnificent Muscular Manuevers

Don-El, Captain of the Superman Emergency Squad, was like his first cousin Kal-El physically fit. And when he left the Krypton-like confines of Kandor, where he lived alongside his fellow survivors of his home world within the shrunken bottled city, Don-El likewise possessed superhuman abilities on par with his long-lost relative. This coupled with his moral fortitude and leadership skills made him a natural to chairman the Squad during their various adventures.

Darrel Dane, more famously known as Doll Man, was said to possess the strength of a normal sized man even while in his six-foot tall shrunken form. This made him one of the preeminent heroes of Earth-Two, and an early peer of Kal-L aka Superman. However, early in his career it became evident that Darrel had strength that went far beyond even that of a mortal man in a diminutive physical state. Was this due to the formula he invented, allowing him to alter his size at will?

At the very beginning, Dane and his mentor Professor Roberts hypothesize that it gave him the strength of twenty men. Among his mighty mite feats such as punching a massive whale, lifting and throwing massive boulders on a roadside, and bending iron bars in a prison cell! These are but a few of many examples during his costumed career.

Over time, Doll Man became adept at seemingly gliding on wind currents, undoubtedly propelled aloft by his legs giving him superhuman leaping ability not dissimilar to that possessed by the golden age Superman in his early days. And while Kal-L developed the ability to fly directed by mental will power, Darrel gained mind-over-matter or telekinetic powers. Originally using this ability to manipulate birds such as eagles to carry him through the air, he eventually was able to keep himself and others aloft and defy gravity... although with great mental strain.

Darrel Dane bore an uncanny resemblance to Clark Kent, the civilian men who wore blue spandex and red capes in their crime fighting identities. And given their close comradery decades after they were last together as members of the All-Star Squadron, it seems that Darrel was to Kal-L what Don-El was to Kal-El, miniaturize versions of the Men of Steel and tiny reflections of themselves.

Courageously Committed Crimson Coifed Correspondents

Lana Lang seemed to always compete with her friendly rival Lois Lane, at least during their adult years. The main cause of contention was for the affections of one man, Superman. At least, that is what transpired with the Earth-One versions... the Lois and Lana of Earth-Two never had this problem, since Lois married the Superman of her dreams before Lana ever met either one of them.

Another common feature besides their propensity to adopt alter egos... Lana's being just superheroines as Insect Queen, Sky Girl, Flying Girl and Gravity Girl... was their journalistic endeavors at WGBS-TV in Metropolis. But at the same time, another red-haired reporter made a name for herself at New York's WGNY-TV... Martha Roberts.

When Martha first met members of the Freedom Fighters, they had been framed for crimes. When meeting Darrel "Doll Man" Dane, she learned the truth... they were heroes from Earth-X who tried to start new superhero careers on Earth-One and failed. Seeking to both protect them and prove their innocence, Martha became deeply involved... and well in love with Darrel. Dane, in turn, felt the same feelings for her that he felt for the Martha Roberts of his home world of Earth-Two... and later the Martha of his adopted world of Earth-X! Each time, these relationships ended in tragedy. This Martha ended up competing with Darrel's memories of her two counterparts and retreated back to her journalistic career.

However, the Martha who ended up winning was the version whom Darrel originally fell in love with. Traveling back to Earth-Two, after he and his fellow Freedom Fighters finally left Earth-One and their problems there behind, they encountered the Justice Society as attested to by charter member Batman. The Society possessed a Time Vortex, that Jay "Flash" Garrick built for he and his teammates, and this would have been the solution to Darrel's problems. With this device, he could return only a short time after he left her back in the 1940's, and once more honor his romantic commitment to her.

And in fact, his presences with her unlocked powers that only the Earth-Two Martha possessed, the ability to duplicate Doll Man's shrinking power and become his teammate Doll Girl. And unlike Lana, she would keep this costumed identity for good, as they fought crime side by side for years to come.

Migrants of Multiple Earths Thesis: Part 8 Crisis Conundrem

During the height of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, Lex Luthor and Brainiac assembled a large number of supervillains from the five surviving Earths in order to conquer three of them and ultimately subdue all of them. As a result, the Dastardly Duo sent legions of these costumed crooks to accomplish this task in the so-called Villain War, while the superheroes were divided up in teams to tackle this treat and protect these worlds that were under represented by champions like Earths One and Two were. As an unintended side effect of this, a number of these individuals moved permanently to new worlds in universes they were not born in and seemingly remained there through the end of Crisis.

Among the armies that arrive on Earth-Four were Black Manta, Black Spider, the new Cheetah, Evil Star, Kobra, and Lady Lunar who originated on Earth-One, and Dragon King, Gambler and Solomon Grundy of Earth-Two (while prior to this, Alexei Luthor of Earth-Two was slain before he could be disparched to this world). This was the last documented sighting of each of these individuals, hence after their collective defeat they remained there. But they were not alone. Another misguided immortal like Evil Star took his place on Earth-One, that being the immortal sole survivor of Earth-Omega, Pariah! And Lady Lunar’s departure from Earth-One was replaced by Lady Quark, last survivor of Earth-Six!

Aquagirl aka Tula of Earth-One... a native the Atlantean city of Poseidonis... was among the contingent that traveled to Earth-Four to protect it, and was asphyxiated by Chemo. Such an eventuality would not transpire with her Earth-Two twin, Princess Lanya who lived out her life in the underwater city of Venturia in that Atlantis.

The next world to be assaulted by villains and assisted by heroes was Earth-S. Among the former, were Earth-One's Clock King, Eclipso, Queen Bee and Starro alongside Earth-Two's Cheetah. Those who remained with these miscreants on Captain Marvel's home world were the six Metal Men: Gold, Lead, Iron, Tin, Mercury and Platinum.

Concurrent with these events, the she-robot Mekanique of Earth-Two ended her temporary stay on Earth-One under Commander Steel's employee, then disappearing from before the combined might of the Justice Society and Justice League. She has been proceeded by two other mechanized marvels in Robotman and Commander Steel himself (a fourth self-aware automaton Goitrude the Taxi had also been sent from Earth-Two to Earth-One previously)!

The last of the terra-firma triad, Earth-X, was itself home to a large number of migrants from Earth-Two decades earlier. This included Doll Man*, Firebrand*, Human Bomb, Phantom Lady, as well as others who have since left that world behind in Jester, Manhunter* with his dog Thor, Plastic Man, Quicksilver and the Spider. While this left a vacancy of 15 living entities who left Earth-Two during the peak of the Crisis, this same event precipitated the removal of 15 protectors from Earth-One’s universe, who either perished in Earth-Four, the Anti-Matter Universe or waves emanating from it into their reality.  

 

That world only had three from this conflict who arrived during the Villain War that remained on Earth-X... Fastball of Earth-One, aa well as the Silver Ghost and the Mist of Earth-Two.

Another individual displaced was Earth-One's Justice League of Wonder Woman, shortly after she'd been tasked with protecting Earth-S. Her time-displaced younger self Wonder Tot was removed simultaneously from Earth-One continuity by Jonni DC, who deposited the Tot into Limbo between universes. This ultimately erased Wonder Woman from existence later during the conclusion of the Crisis, with her presence on Earth-One then being filled with Jonni who had migrated from Earth-Two.

Indeed, an equal number of persons from both Earths One and Two left these behind for new universes. But there were other notable departures during this Multiverse scale conflict.

Nighthawk of the 18th century Earth-One along with a pair of lasses also perished due to an anti-matter wave along with his horse, while the four Losers during Earth-Two's World War II also perished from "shadow demons", enhanced soldiers from the Anti-Matter Universe. Interestingly, the Earth-One Losers perished shortly thereafter as casualties of the War itself.

Prince Gavyn aka the cosmic powered Starman perished while protecting his planet-less people due to an anti-matter wave, leaving behind his home realm within the the Earth-One universe.

Another cosmic powered hero who was a former occupant of Earth-Two, after he lived for a brief period of time on Earth-One, was the Immortal Man. In his most current form, he used his abilities to protect others while at risk to his own life. Due to the Crisis, he never returned to his native universe.

Instances of Crisis-level events precipitating the transfer of inhabitants from one universe to another had occurred in the years proceeding these monumental event. For example, the Earth-One Champion family... all four of them... left for Earth-Two after indirect interference with one of the Monitors responsible for the Crisis.. Another quartet, the Newsboy Legion, had come from Earth-Two and moved to the Champion's former world during a crisis of their own.

Then there were the instances of "Crisis on Earth-One" or "Crisis on Earth-Two", etc. Such as when  the Justice Society met Earth-One's Legion of Super-Heroes and the Justice League met Earth-Two's Law's Legionnaires. Or when allies of the Justice League who were (at that time) non-members such as Elongated Man, Metamorpho and Zatanna joined them on a case to save Earth-Two, while villains such as the Shade, Thinker and the Fiddler tormented Earth-One's Flash, Atom and Teen Titans. While not permanent migrants, these individuals had prominent and often significant effects on these alternate earths thanks to their influence on these occasions.

* Some heroes moving to Earth-X during Crisis such as Doll Man and Manhunter returned to Earth-Two years later, while other Earth-Two characters such as Firebrand and Silver Ghost left Earth-Two for Earth-X and took their place.

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.

Super Squad Support Supermen Succinctly

Originating from the last surviving Kryptonian city of Kandor, an elite team of recruits assembled to form the diminutive Superman Emergency Squad. Kandor had been shrunken and kept in a bottle by the alien android named Brainiac. Upon defeating Brainiac and claiming the minature city, Superman kept it within his Fortress of Solitude of Earth-One, Each member of this Squad possessed superhuman abilities due to being descendants of Krypton. 

Led by Don-El aka the Super-Mite Superman, cousin of Kal-El aka Superman, they helped the Man of Steel whenever there was a need on Earth-One. While Van-Zee was also a member, he relinquished that responsibly for his career as a scientist. Secretly, he also assumed the alter ego of Nightwing. One other member, Vitor, had briefly left this life behind while attempting to court romance with Lois Lane and Lana Lang, although he soon thereafter rejoined he Squad. This group typically had a dozen active members at any one time. At times, they wore uniforms modeled after that worn by Superman, other times they wore distinctive scarlet colored uniforms. 

On Earth-Two, Kandor wasn't shrunken but instead was digitized by Zor-L, uncle of Kal-L aka Superman into a virtual reality replica. Zor-L housed this program within the Symbioship, which he designed to save his daughter Kara aka Power Girl when Krypton-Two exploded. As such, in place of a Squad supporting Superman that originated from his people, there was a Squadron... of which the golden age Superman was himself a member. 

This All-Star Squadron was formed at the beginning of World War II. Among its many members were Superman himself, as well as Crimson Avenger and the Wing, who mirrored the Kandorian known as Flamebird and his partner Nightwing. Another All-Star was the mighty mite Doll Man, secretly Darrel Dane, a physical look-a-like of Superman! Given this as well as his inherent superhuman strength and near invulnerability, attributes not attributable to his shrinking chemical concoction, there is a possibility he may have been one-eighth Kryptonian. 

Kal-El's great-grandfather Var-El teleported to Earth-One to attempt experiments that were illegal on Krypton-One. It is likely that his counterpart, Var-L, likewise did something similiar. If so, then instead of returning to Krypton-Two, he may have sired another family on Earth-Two while under the identity of 18th century lawman named Dane. This would explain Kal-L and Darrel's kinship, which they displayed when reuniting years after first meeting one another.

The actual doppelgängers of the remaining Kandorian members of the Superman Emergency Squad were Zator’s Seven who trained a young Osgood Armsby who later… along with Doll Man, Crimson Avenger and Wing, became a member of the All-Star Squadron and their third “Doctor” on staff. However, the Seven mostly operated behind the scenes.

Supermen Families: Offset Adventures

The Superman Family was prolific in having their tales chronicled, and not only alongside their most famous member. At least on Earth-One, as its members operated just as well individually as collectively like the Marvel Family.

In place of Lar Gand aka Mon-El who fought alongside Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th Century, there was Doctor Occult who had similar abilities fighting alongside Superman in the All-Star Squadron. Other legacy characters were Eltro Gand and Halk Kar who met his Superman on one adventure with Halk's tale paralleling Lar's first encounter with the Boy of Steel. While Halk eventually returned to native Thoron, Eltro would assume Lar's heroic career a thousand years in the future, and this would parallel Richard Occult's tales both in a similar costume to Gand's and in his famed trench coat which both wore.

And rather than the bizarre mis-adventures of "Superman's Pal", wherein Jimmy Olsen was transformed by all manner of strange occurrences including a female 5th dimensional imp while wearing his trademark green suits... there was the wacky tales of the Justice Society's mascot Johnny Thunder, who's every wish and whim was turned on its head by an imp from the Thunderbolt Dimension. Other tales with Superman assisting mirrored those of another redhaired reporter Tubby Watts and his pal Johnny Quick. And Jimmy's latter day tales, when he teamed up with the Golden Guardian and the Newsboy Legion on Earth-One would be mirrored by the original Earth-Two adventures of the first Guardian and the Legion's parents, themselves children at the time.

On Earth-Two, there wasn't a "Superman's Pal...Jimmy Olsen" or the "Daring New Adventures of Supergirl" and the like. Sure, they had their own red-haired cub reporter in Jimmy, their own Girl of Steel (Power Girl, whose only solo tales were in "Showcase" #97-99), and the Metropolis Marvel's one true love in Lois. Nevertheless, there were adventures on Kal-L's world that offset those on Kal-El's world, even if their participants weren't Halk Kar of Thoron, James Olsen of Metropolis, the Masked Wonder of Smallville or Kara Zor-L of Kandor.

The Adventures of Superboy were balanced out by those of Darrell Dane aka Doll Man. Darrell was a miniature version of Superman on Earth-Two as was Kal-El's cousin Don-El on Earth-One. While both Don-El as Captain of the Superman Emergency Squad and Kal-L the Masked Wonder only had a few adventures, Superboy and Doll Man each had hundreds of tales between them.

Then there was the Federal Man, aka Steve Carson. Steve like his counterpart Cory Renwald was a government agent. Both Cory and Clark had common step-parents with Jonathan and Martha Kent, with Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster being the creative "parents" of both Renward and Carson. On occasion, Steve even wore a spandex costume, thus at times mirroring on Earth-Two the later teen tales of the Superboy of Earth-One

Instead of the adventures of the younger adolescent Superboy in the 30th century, there were the tales Earth-Two's Wonder Woman had when travelling to the 30th century of her world. Earth-One Superman's alter ego Clark Kent was at times impersonated by the Kandorian leader of the Superman Lookalike Squad, Vol-Don. Vol-Don's Earth-Two counterpart Dave Clark aka Midnight had scores of tales mirroring thos of the "Private Life of (Earth-One's) Clark Kent".

Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl had mostly solo tales in Action Comics, then Adventure Comics, followed by her first self-titled series which led to her featured in Superman Family and concluding in a second eponymous book. Kara Zor-l aka Power Girl was featured alongside the Justice Society of America in stories chronicled in All-Star Comics followed by Adventure Comics and later Infinity Inc.

While Supergirl had a scant few adventures as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Power Girl had a scan few sole adventures apart from the teams for which she was a member. Supergirl's early tales, where she was pals for with Lena (Luthor) Thorul were offset by the solo adventures of Lena's cosmic twin Liberty Belle aka Libby Lawrence that proceeded Power Girl's first appearance.

Then there was that one true love, Lois Lane, who had golden age adventures in the backpages of Superman starting in issue #29 through #42, before graduating into a co-star in the Mr. and Mrs. Superman tales in a few issues of "Action Comics" and "Superman" before their continuing series featured in Superman Family #195-222.

Although not nearly the volume of cases that her Earth-One counterpart had in "Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane" #1-137, this would be compensated by the adventures of a contemporary of Earth-Two's Lois in Jane Arden, also a news reporter. She had scores of tales in Quality Comics. Jane Arden's Earth-One counterpart Meg Tempest was always a background character in Lois and her friends adventures.