Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Infinity Inc. International (A Special Edition of Create Your Own Team)

Inspired by the Infinity Inc. Harlequin thread.

So, What if ... Infinity Inc. had a Justice League (Society) International Moment similar to the Justice League International era.

If Infinity Inc. actually got to be the Justice League of their era and then had a following international team era.

I imagine it would take place in the early 60s giving the Justice Society time to settle down and have kids in private life after their forced retirement after the McCarthy era. I also think they would be inspired to join together after the optimism of JFK and trying to continue his legacy after his death with a Justice Society International that is a symbol of world unity.

Events would take place after Infinity Inc. (which I think takes place in the 80s ... which is unrealistic) but lets say Infinity Inc. roughly provides the foundation of this group.

The first team below, Justice Society (without America), is inspired by the post Legends mini series, Justice League.

In this timeline a big group comes together after the tragic death of Skyman and the exodus of Fury and Hector Hall, and death of Northwind a bit earlier. Similar to the demoralizing end of Justice League Detroit.



1950 Starman puts it together to try to live up to his dad's legacy. Maybe he's loaded from his dad's inventions. What if 1950 Starman is kinda uptight and arrogant, somewhat filling Guy Gardener role but less ridiculous.

(In the Jack Knight Starman series, it was said that 1950 Starman only lasted one year but ... I feel like some leeway is possible in comics!)

Clockwise from 1950s Starman: Amazing Man, Tsunami, Jade, Obsidian, Flying Fox, Wildcat and Wing.

(I think Wing might not be technically Earth Two but nobody else is using him)(He could also fill the JLI martial arts role that Black Canary, Batman and Blue Beetle had).





They have some supporting associates to somewhat fill the roles of an Oberon and Dr. Fate

Thats Nadir, an Indian prince with magical powers and Pat Dougan Stripesy filling supporting roles in magic, finances and technology.



This team is inherently international due to efforts to pull the Earth back together after World War II.

There is some room for comedy with an uptight Starman and a Nadir whom is resourceful but everyone is skeptical of his powers. Tsunami might be a bit angry or serious still. And perhaps Wildcat is jokester.

PHASE TWO Would be following when the Justice League went International:


Wildcat bows out like Batman took a back stage role at this phase because she likes to work in regular street crime and not the global stage. The team gets a couple international addition put on them by United Nations and their funding.

Jade becomes leader backed by her brother Obsidian. She had some leader moments in Infinity Inc.

An Earth 2 Rocket Red, in an effort to appease the Soviet Union of this era. I was thinking this would be Pozhur who was a Firestorm character and was a scientist trapped in an energy form contained by the Rocket Red armor.

And a Penny Dreadful representing the UK, She reformed for a while according to DC comics history and I imagine her reformed era would fit in just right in this team timeline.

Also I always loved Cyclotron ... so either this is the original reformed villain, who was always conflicted, or possibly Terri Kurtzberger his child raised by Al Pratt and Firebrand. The atomic powers would really fit in this era and fill in for Captain Atom of the JLI.

Terri kinda needs her chance to shine since her father, adoptive parents and her ward, Nuklon, were all heroes. Perhaps Terri could be a United States representative like Captain Atom was. So imagine the Cyclotron image is female.

There are two more phases in JLI history. The JL America and JL Europe.

So the next two teams are a divided and expanded group covering two hemispheres.

Phase Three: Justice Society Europe

Earth 2 Rocket Red dosn't work out for some reason or conflict and is replaced by members of the Young Allies. Maybe he's evil or cracks up. Fireball is more diplomatic to the teams goals.


So starting from upper left clockwise we have a young Dr. Fate, someone very much like the recent Khalid Nassour Dr. Fate that was a young Egyptian American and this could be a child, grand child or mentee of Kent Nelson learning to use the helmet. Next the Shining Knight returns, he's immortal and replaces Penny Dreadful that decided she would rather be evil. Fireball is the Russian representative that has worked with the Young All Stars before and replaces Rocket Red. Phantasmo is a French phaser and Kuei is a Chinese hero possessed by a Kwei, a Chinese mythical creature, in a hulk like manner, I'd let him transform back and forth. Center is Hazard trying to reform, and she did aid the Infinity Inc. against the Injustice Unlimited to save Pat Dougan and his son's life. She might get a fresh start in Europe.

Amazing Man is the leader, he's been around a while at this point. He's bit grey in the temples at this point but still going strong. He was a later addition to the All Star Squadron. He might find France more tolerable during this era in history like Nina Simone and James Baldwin did.

Finally there is Jessie Quick who really really wants to be on the Justice Society even if it is in Europe, she fills a Flash/Wally West role.


Still tons of similarities are imaginable to the JLE, with Amazing Man unneccessarily trying to prove himself like Captain Atom with perhaps a heavy handed Fireball ala Powergirl, and Phantasmo and Kuei being wacky like Elongated Man and Metamorpho and Jessie Quick being young, exuberant and light like Wally West. Hazard's probability power is inherently wacky! Young Dr. Fate could also be a source of magics go awry humor.

Finally the resultant Justice Society of America. This team sees some classic Infinitors returning to the team.

Wing had to retire, he was getting too old but maybe he graduated to Crimson Avenger II during this era.

Jade still as leader.


Nuke, Brainwave Jr. and Fury rejoin. Maybe Fury gets her "mothers" supernatural powers at this point.

... and we get a young energetic Cyclone and the brilliant Mr. Terrific II.



Brainwave Jr is supposed to go evil at some point but I was never into that but maybe he could have a dark sense of humor.

Jade, Obsidian and Flying Fox seem to be the mainstays of the team like Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Fire and Ice and Booster Gold were of the JLI. Obsidian had some problems in Infinity Inc. but maybe they could be lighter problems in my Justice Society International ... wackiness instead of fragmentation. Jade is the bedrock.

Throughout the course of the series there could be plenty of guest stars or ancillary characters as the Justice League International had a lot of characters coming and going:

Each of these guest stars or group of guests could make for a story arc or issue.

On the left Ive got Jack Knight the Starman successor, and Star girl with STRIPE but I'd like to put Mike Dougan Pat's son in the armor, so both would be youngish kids. Hazard saved Mike from death by Injustice Unlimited in Infinity Inc.

Then there is Joni Thunder, she may be powerless but a cool private detective, they had to drive off her thunderbolt apparently because it was evil (or maybe she got some residual benefits from the possession like psychic powers) and then Jakeem Thunder could appear briefly as a very young successor to Johnny Thunder's thunderbolt Djinn.

Upper right is the sketch for the Harlequin character that I imagine has illusion powers and while might not be a villain would be an antagonist perhaps like the Creeper was in the original Justice League series. and possibly half sibling to Jade and Obsidian.

Bottom right is English Shade, maybe he is a string puller in Justice Society Europe. The Shade is pretty cool.

Around the bottom is a character from JSA: Liberty Files, a cool interpretation on the Red Tornado, he was a Djinn ... and red ... maybe he could factor into Cyclone's origin or her joining the team. Finally, Hector Hall, Sandman two, on limited release from his supernatural exile.

Some villains that would interact with the team over the course of the series:

(no real giant bads but just a list of villains, maybe Vulcan and Wizard's power could be increased substantially to raise the stakes because JLI always had really powerful villains).

Clockwise from upper left: Icicle but a really evil murderous Icicle, Kung or Kung II I always thought the Japanese assassin was cool, Mekanique ... always trouble, but maybe she could be on the fence a bit with some comical reprogramming that eventually fails and she turns evil again, Tigress a really cool character I like but this would be a troubled version of the character, getting into messes rather than fully evil, possibly somewhat comical. A bit like Catwoman. The Wizard has potential to be a big bad (or Kulak). Penny Dreadful comes into conflict with her former team on a downward more and more evil spiral.

Vulcan has potential to be a major bad guy. And finally Gundra along with her sisters this time, dead bodies benefit them.

I think these teams have potential for some comedy like the JLI but also for some team coherence and some big battles.

Also, I would like to see Earth 2 grow out of World War II. Maybe it lasted longer there and heroes took part in reconstruction and the United Nations and NATO more in this timeline.

Infinity Inc. would have been the big team like the JLA.

So what would a post World War II Earth 2 really look like?

I believe Infinity Inc. was set in real time in the 80s? but I always thought it was the 50s or 60s because of ... well time (how old their parents would have to be at the latest to have children) ... but also I assumed the movie studio they based their operations out of in Hollywood was during Hollywoods heyday (55ish?) . I extrapolated off of that starting point ... put this team around the mid 60s forward to possible the early eighties. Which makes for some conflicts with the Soviet Union that the JLI had (even though the Cold War was almost over when the Justice League fought the Rocket Reds) ... it would fit better with the Justice Society International coming into conflict with Earth 2 Rocket Reds in previous decades.

However, I think there is a real lack of aliens in Earth 2. We'd need some Martians or Venusians. (Plutons?)

Yet there are plenty of immortals around, Spectre, Nabu possibly Alan Scott, Hourman and even Dr. Midnight.

Anyone else have any similar ideas?

(For my next trick would be a contemporary Infinity Inc. ??? Jakeem Thunder and Star Woman would be a starting point. Maybe a new girl possessed by the Fury or a new star heart wielding character)

I really enjoy the detail and hard work you put in researching all these characters and plot lines. I have very little to add at this point, as you covered most of the legacy characters thoroughly. If I take some time, I might be able to think of some original villains, ones that reflect on culture during the lates 80s- Modern times. One idea I have is a bunch of kids that lived through the Russian 90s, form a "super-villain" team, and eventually become a state sanctioned force loyal to Putin.

There was a kid's team that appeared in Firestorm that might be of some use there. I think one of them was related to the soviet part of the Firestorm matrix.

This is super-cool! I've been thinking tons about alternate Earth-2 timelines lately, so it's neat to know someone else is doing so as well. I'll read this/comment in more detail later.

Just a few notes on the end of the JSA. Since the forced HUAC retirement was a retcon, there’s some wiggle room around it. The JSAers at the time were Midnite, Wonder Woman, Canary, Hawkman, Flash, Green Lantern and The Atom. The retirement of heroes after the war/ McCarthy era could be for a number of reasons. The Golden Age shows some good examples of this, and it also had the HUAC thing too I think.

Alan Scott feels the weight of responsibility the ring brings him. This is actually taken from an issue of All-Star Squadron. He retires to run Gotham Broadcasting.
Ted Knight has a breakdown; a combination of his work on the atom bomb and also in bringing the cosmic energy down that generated superpowers. Or you could stick with his dilettante original origin but keep the breakdown.

Carter Hall becomes increasingly obsessive about his previous lives and leaves the US. My Bits notes have him involved with a number of GA characters, including Kent Nelson as the Suez Crisis hits.
There are the characters wiped out by Crisis. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman are the big three of those. With them back in E-2 continuity what would they be doing post WWII?

But other characters lasted into the 1950s. Green Arrow, Aquaman (both also retconned post Crisis), Johnny Quick and Robotman all outlasted the retirement of the Justice Society.
Going back to the Golden Age for a moment, other characters remain active:

Rex Tyler uses the miracle pill as a way of stress release. He’s an adrenaline junkie, and there may be some miracle problems too. But he’s semi active

The now superpowered Atom wants to remain active. He’s younger than the other JSAers.

Johnny Thunder is a bit off the rails, but still presumably getting into trouble.

Outside of that series, Black Canary may also be a little younger, as she made her debut in 1947.

If the JSA retired due to McCarthy, or because they drifted apart, or were targeted by intelligence services or a combination of all of these, there would still be some characters who remained active.

These may well form part of any group that follows the JSA, or act as transition characters as the next generation grow and interact with the super powered community.

A team of some of those is a good replacement for the Justice League that formed on E1.

Robotman (Manhunter); Johnny Quick (Flash); Johnny Thunder (Green Lantern); Black Canary (Wonder Woman); Aquaman (Aquaman). The Atom and Green Arrow fill the first recruits to the JLA and you still have the e2 Big 3 to guest star.

One early next generation character could be Superboy. Conceived (by Siegel) in 1938, he made his debut in late ‘44/1945.

If you have the others born after their last GA appearances, to keep some continuity then they might be placed late ‘60s rather than early. Or it could have all been off panel, making it earlier.

I always pictured Jade as a late’60s/ early ‘70s voice of protest and someone prominent in the anti Vietnam movement.

Following Nuklon’s haircut, he could instead be part of the early New York Punk scene.

A super powered arms race might be as likely as anything else. A UN funded Justice Society may also be possible, although I imagine that nations would guard their superpowers jealously. With all the global threats faced in comics, a group could form out of that. The equivalent of the E2 Appalaxians. Or the arms race could result in a bay of pigs moment with a new Society forming from that.

I was actually wondering about the HUAC thing the other day. The weird thing is that it's pretty well-established that the identities of the JSAers are known by the FBI from pretty much the beginning of the team. And they have a pretty close working relationship with J. Edgar Hoover, at least in the early days. So unless the relationship between Hoover and McCarthey is much different on Earth-Two than on Earth-Prime, the whole demand that they reveal their identities to HUAC just seems kind of strange.

One idea I was fooling with the other day was for a 1950s version of the Seven Soldiers of Victory, where all the younger heroes are the members:

1. Star-Spangled Kid (Skyman?)
2. Speedy (Red Arrow?)
3. Wing (Golden Avenger?)
4. Stuff the Chinatown Kid (seriously needs a new name)
5. Merry, Girl of 1000 Gimmicks
6. Maybe Squire (Knight?)
7. Maybe a new sidekick for grown-up Speedy?

Maybe the Scarlet Bowman/Bowboy would work as a sidekick for a grown up Speedy. From Adventure Comics #226 (July, 1956)

Of course they're the Scarlet Bowmen. They're all a quiver under questioning.

While reading up on the Scarlet Bowmen, I came across another possibility: Jerry Halleck from Adventure #260.

Just because I've been meaning to collect this info myself, here are the first and last Golden Age appearances of the JSA members (with only first appearances for the "Big Three"):

Superman (Clark Kent), First Appearance: Action #1 (June 1938)
Batman (Bruce Wayne), First Appearance: Detective #27 (May 1939)
Sandman (Wesley Dodds), First Appearance: Adventure #40 (July 1939); Final Golden Age Appearance: Adventure #102 (February-March 1946)
Flash (Jay Garrick), First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940); Final Golden Age Appearance: All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951)
Hawkman (Carter Hall), First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940); Final Golden Age Appearance: All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951)
Johnny Thunder, First Appearance: Flash Comics #1 (January 1940); Final Golden Age Appearance: All-Star Comics #39 (January-February 1948)
Spectre (Jim Corrigan), First Appearance: More Fun #52 (February 1940); Final Golden Age Appearance: More Fun #101 (January-February 1945)
Hourman (Rex Tyler), First Appearance: Adventure #48 (March 1940); Final Golden Age Appearance: Adventure #83 (February 1943)
Green Lantern (Alan Scott), First Appearance: All-American #16 (July 1940); Final Golden Age Appearance: All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951)
Atom (Al Pratt), First Appearance: All-American #19 (October 1940); Final Golden Age Appearance: All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951)
Dr. Mid-Nite (Charles McNider), First Appearance: All American #25 (April 1941); Final Golden Age Appearance: All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951)
Starman (Ted Knight), First Appearance: Adventure #61 (April 1941); Final Golden Age Appearance: Adventure #102 (February-March 1946)
Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson), First Appearance: More Fun #67 (May 1941); Final Golden Age Appearance: More Fun #98 (July-August 1944)
Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), First Appearance: All-Star #12 (October 1941)
Mr. Terrific (Terry Sloane), First Appearance: Sensation #1 (January 1942) Final Golden Age Appearance: Sensation #63 (March 1947)
Wildcat (Ted Grant), First Appearance: Sensation #1 (January 1942); Final Golden Age Appearance: Sensation #90 (June 1949)
Black Canary (Dinah Drake), First Appearance: Flash Comics #86 (August 1947); Final Golden Age Appearance: All-Star Comics #57 (February-March 1951)

The 60s are probably stretching a bit too early for II, if we have the Justice Society continuing until 1951. Really the team being founded sometime in the 1970s probably makes the most sense, and leaning towards the later 70s to explain Nuklon's hairdo, as thoth says, though I suppose that, like many things, punk could've begun a bit earlier on Earth-2.

I *love* the idea of exploring the Cold War on Earth-2, though. As you say, DC did very little with the Cold War/Soviet Russia until the near the very end.

There's also room to explore some of the differences that are known to exist on Earth-2 from Earth-1/Prime, such as Quebec being an independent country and Apartheid having been ended much earlier in South Africa.

What's neat about legacies of the All-Star Squadron/Justice Society is that so many were either non-powered 'two-fisted adventurers' like Wildcat, or the original Al Pratt/Atom, or 'gimmick heroes' based around a single item like an anti-gravity belt or miraclo pill or blackout bomb or whatever, that passing that down becomes pretty easy. Have some younger character use the Sandman's knockout gas gun, and boom, instant legacy. (Or go one step further, as with the powered legacies of Wildcat and the Red Tornado, and make someone able to turn into gas, or with actual sleep-inducing or prophetic dream powers.)

I'd love, for instance, a 'Screaming Eagle' type character who uses the wings of Hawkman, the bow of Green Arrow, and the sonic cry of her mother, the Black Canary. Or someone who combines the miraclo pills, blackout bombs and sleep gas gun, along with Wildcat-level brawling skills, called 'Nightfall' or 'Dusk' or 'Sunset.' Such a character doesn't have to be biologically related to any of the heroes they are a legacy of, any more than Dr. Chapel or Yolanda were related to the original Dr. Midnite or Wildcat, but just someone perhaps who stumbled on a cache of their gear and used it to take up the good fight.

It's easy to imagine Beth Chapel and Rick Tyler having a kid that would combine the Hourman/Dr. Mid-Nite legacies. I like the of someone just finding a cache of JSA members equipment and using it, though.

Alternatively, you can also mass produce the various gimmicks, for a whole squad of ninth metal using Hawkpeople.

Would it be possible for the Soviet Union or post-Maoist China reverse engineer ninth metal or is it only available on Thanagar?

Well, on Earth-2 it was a "discovery" of Carter Hal and had nothing to do with Thanagar, but we're not really given much more detail than that. I think it's implied that he has a limited supply, but certainly enough to make multiple harnesses over time.

Kate Bishop was originally not just Hawkeye II but had the Swordsman's sword as well ... a bit like what you are talking about ... Maybe an idea for a new SPORTS(WO)MAN character ... villain or hero!

I imagined that these science characters would be titans of industry now ... the Hourman family would be in beneficial pharmaceuticals, Dr Midnight's legacy might be a hospital, in Robinson's the Golden Age ... Alan Scott was a media giant IIRC.

There were also some cool hangovers in Kingdome Come such as Phantom Lady (Not the right world but ... ) floating around as a phantom and was it Dr Midnight or Obsidian that was a billowing black cloud of smoke? Anyway, there would be some immortal characters still around but it would be cool to me if they were abstract, wacky or removed from the day to day.

Something else else I was wondering: was it ever confirmed whether there was an Earth-2 version of Zatanna? I mean... her father existed on Earth-2, but I'm not sure whether it was ever revealed one way or another whether she existed there.

Didn't Zatara locate to Earth-1 before the birth of Zatanna?

Hmm... maybe that's right. I know that explanation was used for Air Wave.

So, between Zatanna, Air Wave II, Red Tornado II, Black Canary II, and Steel, there are a freakish number of "Earth-1" heroes that are really the result of Earth-2 migration.

Earth-1 must be nicer. ha!

I thought maybe there could be two versions of the characters ... with different histories. Kind of like the retcon of Earth-2 Wonder Woman into Fury. Or Flying Fox instead of Batman (not so great but ... )

But I think it is nice to keep characters and worlds discrete and each important, yet two versions, one each earth, is better than the convoluted shared origin type stuff.

There are also a lot of other Earth heroes that made it into the All Star Squadron inexplicably wasn't there ... Black Condor, Ray, Jester .... Its kind of a mess to unravel now because even if I try to go back to the originals ... comics companies were bought by other companies and it gets hard to discern what world they belong on.

I just like making up the different worlds so I think its interesting to have different Earths rather than a Superman on each. for example.

The thing about the Quality Comics characters is that Roy Thomas included them in All-Star Squadron in order to account for the fact that many of them had post-war careers in the Golden Age that didn't match with their "Earth-X" history, so he decided to include those histories on "Earth-2", but then apparently later changed his mind so that they would migrate from Earth-2 to Earth-X, which didn't make any sense at all (though it was a fun story!).

I kind of like the idea that versions of Plastic Man and Phantom Lady exist on Earth-2 because I think they work fairly well, but the rest I'm happy to assign to an "Earth-Q" for their Quality Comics stories and an Earth-X for the "Nazis win" scenario.

But generally, the poaching of characters by Earth-1 is not something I'm a fan of, so in my idealized Earth-2 timeline I'm happy to keep versions of all of the above characters on Earth-2.

Here's an interesting series I came across on characters/stories whose Earth-1/Earth-2 status is ambiguous. This guy is apparently a big fan of using migration whenever possible, however!

So, I was thinking recently about the fact that it's been forty years since Infinity, Inc. was introduced, and that we are as far away from the 80s as the 80s were from the 40s when A-SS was set, and it got me started fantasizing about a groovy retro Infinity, Inc. series set in the 80s, on an Earth-2 that ignores Crisis.

One can dream...

So you're talking the descendants of the aging Infinity, Inc.?

Or the children of Atari Force?

Well, the basic idea was for a series set in the 80s, in the same way that A-SS was set in the 40s, but I'm also fond of the idea of having a time-travelling team from the present day show up ala II's original introduction.