Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Favorite Time Trapper origin?

As the title says, but it'd be interesting to see what you guys think of every option. I don't think I missed one, but if so tell me.

To me, the best is him being an incarnation of entropy. I like comic book abstract entities in general, but the way it was applied to Time Trapper in the 80s was great... it made for a larger than life threat. Even if it was difficult to come up with a reason why something like THAT would be worried about the Legion.

The original version of him just being a scientist from the end of time was fine, as was the idea of the rogue Controller, but it pales in comparison of everything that comes after.

I did like the idea of him being a future Cosmic Boy (even if some of the specifics don't seem to make any sense), but it could only be done at the end of its continuity.
The less said about Superboy Prime the better, although the idea of Time Trapper being able to choose his own past has a lot of potential.

Honestly, the second best thing after the entropy option is just living it a complete mystery, like he's some sort of eldritch abomination that sits at the end of time.

Favorite Time Trapper origin? single choice
	The original: mad scientist from the far future
	First retcon: rogue Controller
	Second retcon: entropy incarnate
	Third retcon: very very old Cosmic Boy
	Wasn't he Glorith once?
	??? retcon: he's Superboy Prime
	Anybody since he's a living timeline (what does that even mean?)
	Sprock this mess, leave it a mystery
Votes accepted starting: 03/04/22 10:13 AM You must vote before you can view the results of this poll.

I like the idea in that he can be anyone. This means that there will ALWAYS be a Time Trapper, but who the unfortunate soul is that gets that assignment is can change based on the whims of changes to the timestream by DC Management current machinations.

Really surprised to see a vote for the rogue Controller.

Which means some day he's going to end up being the Joker, because DC wants everything to be about Batman :-)

Or worse yet - the Batman Who Laughs, who seems to be getting WAY too much attention.

I voted for the Very Old Cosmic Boy one because it was an interesting twist.

that said, I also like the idea of the Trapper being entropy incarnate!

Don't speak it into life GL

Entropy is the best one imo...I don't know if we're ever gonna get a Time Trapper story that will beat Brainy throwing the Infinite Man at him.

I also very begrudgingly have to admit that Johns's sentient timeline would be my second choice because it's so adaptable and it's peak comics

LOL true enough!

Its really a great poll - TT is a fascinating character, that can literally be anyone (which is why I voted as I did), but can be so engimatically deadly that you know its a high-stakes affair when she/he is in the story. Well, that anomaly thing in the Reboot was barely a half-blind let alone table stakes, so we won't even mention that one!

I generally agree that the Entropy tale was probably the best told, but also appreciated the Cosmic Boy one as well. However I am not too bothered if it keeps changing. If any timeline is going to be subject to change then it is his (hers? theirs?). Superboy-Prime unfortunately seemed to (paradoxically) lessen his appearance of power. Even a transformed Rokk did better at that.

So I am happy to see any further interpretation in the future as long as the story is good. Even if it isn't I know that the previous versions still exist in some timeline somewhere. The "everything happened" concept is not really new to me, just poorly implemented in my opinion. Anyway if I view all the comic stories as some writer's interpretation of "comic reality" then I can enjoy them all and stand by the one I enjoy the most. Ask any two people what they saw happened and you will get differences. Retcons in comics are just those differences and which ever one I prefer still happened.

The Time Trapper as a future Lori Morning wasn't bad either. That version was also not completely malevolent... "training" the Legion to save time... though the methods were dubious, pulling them into different alternate timelines.

I don't know who the other brave soul is, but I also voted for the rogue Controller.

A bit of back story. When I got into the Legion in the '70s, the Time Trapper hadn't appeared for several years. In fact, his first appearance in some 11 years occurred in Superboy # 223, when he tried to murder several Legionnaires by attacking them all at once in different "time lines" (or something). It was a creepy and mysterious story that established him as a major threat. Unfortunately, he was forgotten for a while as the new character of Pulsar Stargrave was introduced as the Legion's recurring enemy. The Time Trapper next appeared in the wedding tabloid where he was revealed to be a Controller.

The Controller angle makes much more sense to me than "living entropy." As a Controller, the Trapper has nigh omnipotent power, but he's somewhat human and can be defeated. He also has a clearer motivation as we know of at least one other rogue Controller (the one who created the Sun-Eater). I would have been fine if he had transformed into "living entropy" along the way, perhaps as a consequence of living at the end of time with all his advanced technology getting out of hand. A sense of pathos never hurts. But that's not the angle DC pursued. They chose to make the Controller Trapper a pawn of the real Trapper, which, to my mind, overly complicated the story.

In the end, his origin doesn't matter much so long as he has a clear motivation for opposing the Legion or perhaps they keep getting in the way of his plans, A "human" villain is easier for me to identify with than a living embodiment of an abstraction.

I went with the Anyone/ Living Timeline one. But that's becuase I've enjoyed multiple version fo the character, and there's no reason not to enjoy others.

Trapper as Controller makes sense connecting him to the Guardians, of whom Krona witnessed the birth of the universe. A race with their origins towards the start of the DCU.

As Entropic force, it really gave the Baxter team an implacable foe behind the iron curtain of time, lending weight to the Superboy saga, the deathly seriousness of the Conspiracy and the Legion's attack on him at the end of time.

Cosmic Boy fulfilling that old prophecy about a horrible fate, the fireballing of his family, the failed leadership of the 5YG team all builds slowly towards him becoming the trapper.

Glorith taking over from the Trapper in the Superman Office-verse/Glorithverse in v4 was a nice touch, considering the past the two of them shared. It also showed the sheer power Glorith now controlled.

Even the cliched maniacal villain he first appeared as has grown on me a bit. He was considered to be the same charatcer that had turned up in a Wonder Woman story IIRC?

... and a "human" villain is easier to defeat, or can be defeated good point.

That other brave soul was me. I like the idea of several rogue Controllers out there. I mean, the Controllers were all kind of rogue Guardians of the Universe to begin with, right? So why not have a few who spilt off from the splitters?

Glad to meet the other brave soul, Malvolio.

I agree. It's easier (for me, at least) to identify with villains if they have some human qualities. A super-powerful race that has members who don't want to be kind and benevolent makes sense to me in a way that "living entropy" does not.

I was also curious about this "rumour" and some time ago tracked it down.

In Wonder Woman #101 (Cover date October 1958) Story 2 "The Fun House of Time" Diana and Steve Trevor enter a carnival Fun House they have been invited to for charity to find themselves trapped in a room of mirrored doors, each one leading to a dangerous situation in a different time (or timeline). The antagonist calls himself the Time Master, wears a purple hooded cloak and outfit, has time manipulation abilities, and claims to live in a "time dimension". He does however appear to be humanoid and have a human face.

This is 6 years before we get the first mention of the Time Trapper and his Iron Curtain of Time in Adventure Comics #317 (cover dated February 1964) where he is said by Mon-El to be a "scientific criminal that fled into future time". We then have his various mentions and appearances culminating in the Controller reveal in All-New Collectors' Edition C-55 "The Millenium Massacre" (cover dated March 1978).

I imagine there was some fan speculation that perhaps they were the same individual, and perhaps DC editors and writers thought so too because they decided to confirm it in Super Friends #17 "Trapped in Two Times" (Cover date February 1979). As the Super-Friends are investigating the disappearance of the Wonder Twins Jayna and Zan, they see a photograph of a purple cloaked figure that Superman immediately identifies as the Time Trapper. Wonder Woman exclaims that she knows him as the Time Master. They share stories with Superman explaining that he is a Controller that wanted to destroy their universe to gain power to conquer others. They go on rescue missions (in time/spaceships that Superman had conveniently been recently experimenting on) to save Zan from a Red Giant sun about to go nova and Jayna from Krypton just before it exploded where Wonder Woman meets up with Lyla Lerrol and we even get mention of Mon-El's visit. The story continues in the next issue as they attempt to confront the Time Trapper.

So there you go. The trouble of course is there is debate about the canonicity of the Super Friends which was after all based on a cartoon TV show. Of course the Wonder Twins have now been added to the current DC timeline (apparently Bendis is a fan of the TV show) and hang out with the Justice League. The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia places her time with the Super Friends on Earth-One but the Crisis on Infinite Earths Compendium places the Super Friends on Earth-ThirtyTwo.

So ... they are and aren't the same character depending on what you personally want to believe.

Yeah, there's basically no way to consider Super Friends in continuity. Still, that recap of the story convinced me to review both the Wonder Woman and Super Friends issues... the first one is a Kanigher story so I just know it's going to be completely bonkers, and the Super Friends one sounds like a very Silver Age idea.
Thanks for the inspiration! :-)

Interesting to consider 1958's WW #101 as the potential first Time Trapper story: not only it's extremely close to the first Legion story in terms of publishing date... but if he was a rogue Controller, he would predate the Guardians Of The Universe by a whole two years!
That is such a Time Trapper thing to do :-D

Sounds fun. Let us know when you do review those stories. I check in on your website occasionally and I would like to see what you have to say about these issues.

I second that

I have just become obsessed with the comics archeology page so +1 for the Time Trapper train!

I finally managed to review Wonder Woman #101. Surprisingly grounded for a Kanigher story, but still fun Silver Age insanity.

https://comicsarcheology.com/index.php/2022/04/12/wonder-woman-101/

Aside from wearing a cloak and having time powers it's quite a stretch to link Time Master to Time Trapper... especially since he never does anything involving Wonder Woman ever again, aside from Super Friends... but I'll reserve my judgment until I've reviewed those issues as well.

Great review! Loved all your comments.

Ah the 50s and 60s when the best way to a happy married life was to trick or trap the object of your desire into marrying you. Can't see a problem there.

haha I love your reviews CA....looking forward to the Super Friends one

Super Friends #17 has a surprising amount of continuity, and Bridwell really did his homework on this one.

https://comicsarcheology.com/index.php/2022/04/18/super-friends-17/

It's by no means a masterpiece, but it has no business being as good as it is. Thanks for inspiring me to review this one, it was a blast!

Professor Nichols time travel through self hypnosis was also used in the 1980 film Somewhere in time. A film that stars Christopher Reeve, just after his role as Superman, a character in this Superfriends issue.