Tarantula (DC Comics)
The Tarantula is the name of two fictional comic book characters owned by DC Comics that exist in that company's DC Universe. The original Tarantula was a character prominent in the 1940s named John Law, he first was created by Mort Weisinger. In his initial Golden Age appearances he wore a yellow-and-purple costume that bore strong resemblance to Wesley Dodds' second Sandman costume; this was explained in a retcon in the pages of All-Star Squadron as coming from Dodds' associate, Dian Belmont. The second Tarantula is Catalina Flores, who first appeared in Nightwing #71, while waiting until issue #75 to appear as Tarantula. Tarantula was inspired to be a mystery man by the Crimson Avenger in the days when America entered World War II; the Tarantula relied on several gimmicks and his quick wits. He was trained in hand-to-hand combat, as well as some acrobatics, had a passing interest in stage make-up and stage magic, he used suction cups attached to the soles on his boots to allow him to walk up walls and hang from ceilings.
He used a "web-gun" which fired a string of fast-hardening nylon, used to swing from one anchored point to another. He was a member of the All-Star Squadron before retiring to become a writer, he had a best selling novel, Altered Egos: The Mystery Men of World War II, published sometime in the 1970s. He none as successful as Altered Egos. In his years, Law lived in the city of Blüdhaven, in the same building as Dick Grayson, known to some as the vigilante hero Nightwing. Two elderly Nazis, wanting revenge on Law, were defeated by Nightwing. Law tried to spin this out as a plot for a new story, with him as the major protagonist; the building was burned down by the villain Blockbuster in an attempt to ruin Nightwing's life. John Law's successor, the new Tarantula, arrived too late. John Law was presumed to have died, along with 21 other residents. However, his body was never recovered. Catalina Marie Flores grew up in Blüdhaven and witnessed many of the injustices that were carried out throughout the city.
This prompted her to join the FBI in Quantico. It's unknown how long she was an agent, but she left the bureau and returned to Blüdhaven. Once there, she learned that her older brother, Assistant D. A. Mateo Flores, couldn't turn the tide of corruption, she seemed to be working for the city herself when she encountered John Law, the first Tarantula, when he visited her office to get his SSI check. She had read a book of memoirs featuring the first Tarantula and she wanted him to sign her copy, she wanted to know everything about John Law during his time as Tarantula. Catalina first garnered Nightwing's attention while attending a self-defense class taught by him and she was able to deliver a blow to his body. Confident and uninhibited, she was eager to learn other various hand-to-hand defensive moves, as well as getting to know more about Grayson on less formal terms, she next caught his eye during her first outings as the second Tarantula. Nightwing was unimpressed with her extreme vigilante methods and forbade her to operate in Blüdhaven.
This angered she took off, only to be more of a foil for Grayson down the road. During that time, Grayson was investigating the death of Delmore Redhorn, Blüdhaven's corrupt Chief of Police, discovers evidence indicting the new Tarantula as his killer. Working with Tad Ryerstad, Nightwing was able to have Tarantula arrested for the murder of Redhorn, although in the process the wanted vigilante Tad was arrested as well. However, Mateo was determined to have his sister released, angered that Catalina was arrested with the help of a dubious vigilante. After she was released, Tarantula aided Blockbuster in his revenge campaign on Nightwing; when ordered to kill Grayson's girlfriend, Barbara Gordon, she instead manipulated a dinner engagement between the two in such a manner that caused Barbara to break up with Grayson. Things soon took a turn for the worst when Blockbuster hired other villains to attack those Grayson held dear. Tarantula was devastated as she was unable to stop a bomb explosion in Grayson's building complex, the home of John Law.
Confronted by Lady Vic and warned not to go against Blockbuster's wishes, she shoots Vic in the chest. Seeking vengeance for John Law's demise, Tarantula helped Nightwing record Blockbuster's confession, but when she gave the tape to her brother, he crushed it because of a deal he made with Blockbuster to get her out of prison. Tarantula was out on the streets soon enough, when the battle between Nightwing and Blockbuster heated up, Tarantula involved herself and shot Blockbuster. Nightwing could have prevented the murder, driven to the edge of sanity by Blockbuster's calculated assaults on everyone whom Nightwing held dear, in a moment of absolute misery Nightwing stood aside and let Tarantula kill him. Afterwards and suffering a near mental breakdown due to Blockbuster's attacks as well as his own complicity in the villains murder, Grayson was unable to stop Tarantula from raping him where he fell. Not long after the incident, the two leave Blüdhaven, only for Tarantula to face off against Copperhead, responsible for killing several local gang leaders.
Grayson was able to pull it together long enough to save her from Copperhead. Strong feelings for Grayson had them try to know each other better and she persuaded him to buy a marriage license. Befor
Solomon Grundy (comics)
Solomon Grundy is a fictional character depicted as a supervillain in DC Comics and an antihero in the DC animated series. He was depicted as a murder victim brought back to life as a corporeal revenant or zombie, though subsequent versions of the character have depicted a different origin, he is named after the 19th century nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy. Grundy was introduced as an enemy of comic book hero Alan Scott, but has since become a prominent enemy for a number of superheroes such as Superman and Batman, he has ties to Swamp Thing. Created by Alfred Bester, he first appeared in All-American Comics #61. Grundy is the focus of one of the four Faces of Evil one-shots that explore the aftermath of Final Crisis, written by Scott Kolins and Geoff Johns, with art by Shane Davis, it is the introduction to a seven part mini-series featuring the character In the late 19th century, a wealthy merchant named Cyrus Gold is murdered and his body is disposed of in Slaughter Swamp, near Gotham City. Fifty years the corpse is reanimated as a huge shambling figure with no memory of its past life.
Gold murders two steals their clothes. He shows up in a hobo camp and, when asked about his name, one of the few things he can recall is that he was "born on a Monday". One of the men at the camp mentions the nursery rhyme character Solomon Grundy, Gold adopts the moniker. Strong and nearly mindless, Solomon Grundy falls into a life of crime—or returns to one, as his scattered residual memories may indicate—attracting the attention of the Green Lantern, Alan Scott. Grundy proves to be a difficult opponent and with an inherent resistance to Scott's powers, he kills Green Lantern, who gives off a green flash. Liking this flash, Grundy commits murders hoping to see the flash again; however the first fight ends when, engaging in fisticuffs with the monster because of the ineffectiveness of his ring, Grundy is hurled under a train by Green Lantern. Grundy is revived when a criminal scientist, known as the Professor, injects Grundy with concentrated chlorophyll. After this second encounter, Grundy is trapped in a green plasma bubble for a time, until a freak weather occurrence releases him from his prison.
Making his way across country, Grundy heads for the headquarters of the Justice Society of America. Green Lantern arrives early for the meeting and when the other members arrive, they find their headquarters smashed to pieces and Green Lantern missing from the ranks. Johnny turns on the radio; the radio continues its report, listing cities where Grundy was seen, so each member picks a city and heads for it to try to find Green Lantern. The scene now shifts back to the moment at JSA HQ. To his surprise, Doiby Dickles walks in, informs him that Grundy has freed himself and is on the loose. Green Lantern leaves hoping to find Grundy before any of the JSA members are hurt going after him. Minutes Grundy arrives at JSA HQ, not finding the Lantern there, he smashes the place up leaves. Green Lantern and Doiby use a special radio-like device Alan Scott had developed, attuned to the mental wavelengths of Grundy himself; when Green Lantern and Grundy meet, Grundy rips a tree out by its roots and smashes it into the Lantern.
Green Lantern fights back with his power ring and fists until both men fall into a nearby stream and over a small waterfall. The Lantern is dazed and tries to ward off Grundy with his ring, but he is much too weak. Grundy grabs Green Lantern by the throat and begins to squeeze the life out of him, holding his head underwater. However, Hawkman strikes Grundy with his mace, Mid-Nite is able to revive the Lantern. A combined attack brings down Grundy, Green Lantern deposits Grundy on the moon. A battle soon commences when Grundy's body gravitates towards young astronomer Dick Cashmere as he learns to ride light waves, resulting in his assuming Cashmere's identity for a time while leaving the real one bound and gagged, though the Society finds him soon after. In this incarnation he gains intelligence, which he subsequently loses when Green Lantern defeats and buries Grundy in 1947. At this point, he is pulled back to 1941 by the time-traveling criminal Per Degaton, who has enlisted the aid of several supervillains to capture the Justice Society of America on December 7, 1941, hoping to change history enabling him to take over the world though he does not want the heroes involved, tells Grundy he will be able to destroy Green Lantern.
However, Degaton is planning to get rid of him. He encountered Green Lantern, the Flash, Wonder Woman in Echo Park. None of the heroes have fought Grundy yet the villain claims to have fought them before. Grundy bests the costumed trio and is summoned by a mysterious voice to deliver them or "pay the penalty"; the All-Star Squadron comes to their rescue, Sir Justin faces off against Solomon Grundy and Grundy is the last villain to be transported back, he is thrust back to the moon where he remains for over two decades, as this timeline is erased once Degaton is defe
Infinity, Inc.
Infinity, Inc. is a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team is composed of the children and heirs of the Justice Society of America, making them the Society's analogue to the Teen Titans, composed of sidekicks of Justice League members. Created by Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway, Mike Machlan, they first appeared in All-Star Squadron #25. There was an eponymous comics series starring the group, which ran from March 1984 through June 1988. Roy Thomas and his wife, Dann Thomas, wrote the series throughout its run. Artists on the series included Jerry Ordway, Don Newton, Todd McFarlane, Michael Bair, Vince Argondezzi; the group was organized by the original Star-Spangled Kid, in Infinity Inc.. #1, when a number of JSA protégés were denied admission to the JSA. They instead formed their own group. Members of Infinity, Inc. were known as Infinitors. The series ended in 1988 with the death of the Star-Spangled Kid, the group disbanded shortly thereafter. Several members have gone on to supporting roles in other comics series.
Fury is the mother of Daniel Hall. Hourman, Nuklon, Silver Scarab, Power Girl joined the 21st century incarnation of the JSA; the series took place on the parallel world of Earth-Two, but in 1986 it was merged with the rest of DC continuity following Crisis on Infinite Earths. From on, they shared their spot as Los Angeles' superteam with the Outsiders, were involved in a crossover with the New Teen Titans. Hector Hall, Lyta Trevor, Norda Cantrell, Albert Rothstein decide to adopt identities of their own and apply for membership in the Justice Society of America; the four of them adopt the codenames of Silver Scarab, Fury and Nuklon respectively. They are turned down but, not willing to give up, they apply again with Jennie-Lynn Hayden and Todd Rice. Taking pity on the youngsters, Star-Spangled Kid decides to leave the JSA to create a new group, they are joined by Power Girl, the Huntress, Brainwave, Jr.. They call themselves "Infinity, Inc."The team first faces the Justice Society of America, turned evil by the Stream of Ruthlessness, thanks to the Ultra-Humanite.
They save the world. In a press conference, the team publicly divulge their secret identities, revealing those of their parents in the process, Hector announces his engagement to Lyta; the Star-Spangled Kid is able to form a partnership with the city of Los Angeles to commission his team as for-hire protectors and purchases Stellar Studios to revitalize its production of movies. Fury is kidnapped in an extortion attempt by the villains known as Helix, all products of invitro genetic manipulation by the mad scientist Doctor Love; the original members are Arak the Wind-walker, Baby Boom, Mister Bones, Penny Dreadful, Tao Jones. They manage to escape; the second Wildcat, Yolanda Montez, learns that she is a cousin of new Helix member Carcharo and that they are products of the same genetic experiments as Helix. The two teams battle to a stalemate; the teams are involved within the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, which results in three new superheroes — Yolanda Montez as Wildcat, Rick Tyler as Hourman, Beth Chapel as Dr. Midnight — who all join Infinity, Inc.
The Crisis had severe changes for three members of the team. The Justice Society, who are written out of the DC universe proper by editorial decision and are exiled into a dimension where they fight against the tide of Ragnarok. With all of his friends at Infinity, Inc. Hector Hall leaves the group after a fall-out with Lyta, following shortly after the team learns that the Justice Society is gone; the other members go around notifying the wives and other related characters of the Society of the JSA's disappearance. A certain Professor James Rock has contacted Hector, but the real James Rock is supposed to be long dead. Travelling to Hall Mansion, Northwind means to confront Hector, only to find him under Hath-Set's manipulations. Hector goes on to kidnap Fury, he and Hath-Set uncover the Eye of Ra, a powerful and ancient weapon. Northwind returns and leads Infinity, Inc. into a final confrontation with the Silver Scarab at Hall Mansion, when burned down, reveals a topless pyramid inside. While Northwind confronts the Silver Scarab in a duel, Nuklon saves Fury.
The Eye of Ra flies away. The Silver Scarab is not pure enough in the eyes of Seketh the Egyptian god of Death, for the pureness of Hector's heart still lives on in his unborn child with Lyta. Therefore, he is not cleansed of his goodness and the Silver Scarab is thrown away by the Eye's power, the armor of Nth Metal an empty shell. Northwind is able to close the Eye of Ra. Infinity, Inc. mourn the loss of Hector, Northwind and Fury leave the team after his funeral. A pregnant Lyta goes home to spend time with her parents; when Nuklon goes to visit her, she tells him she isn't over Hector yet and that she only has friendly feelings for him. Disappointed, he discovers. Nuklon discovers him to be Hector Hall, the new Sandman. Hector reveals that his spirit wound u
Miss Martian
Miss Martian is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character's first appearance outside of comics was in the animated series Young Justice, where she is voiced by Danica McKellar. In 2016, the second season of the live action Supergirl series on The CW the character appears for the first time in live action played by Sharon Leal; the show's interpretation of the character has earned a number of positive reviews. Miss Martian was created by Geoff Johns and Tony Daniel and first appeared in Teen Titans #37. Miss Martian is named "Megan Morse" after Megan. Morse is a friend of Johns'. Johns created the character when he was told from DC's editorial that he could not use Supergirl, a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes at the time. Miss Martian is a White Martian known as M'gann M'orzz, she serves as a member of the Teen Titans during the year between the events depicted in Infinite Crisis and the "One Year Later" stories. On Earth, she simplifies her name to Megan Morse.
M'gann M'orzz was sent by rocket from Mars to the Vega system, to escape the civil war between the Green Martians and the White Martians. To date, it is still unknown. M'gann pretended to be a Green Martian, like the Martian Manhunter, joined the Teen Titans. After her feelings were hurt through insensitivity and misunderstanding with her teammates, M'gann left the Titans to be a hero in Australia. Though the Titans suspected she might have been a traitor, it turned out that her accuser, was the actual traitor. After helping the team defeat Bombshell and proving her loyalty, she was accepted as a full member of the Titans. M'gann and Cyborg travel to Belle Reve to interrogate the depowered Bombshell. M'gann, using her telepathy on Bombshell, discovers the existence of Titans East. M'gann fights Sun Girl, who claims to be from a future in which Martians are slaves because of something that M'gann will do. Unable to convince Sun Girl to tell her what she will do in the future, M'gann dives into the ocean and hits Sun Girl with a mass of water, dousing her flames.
The Titans Tomorrow appear with Miss Martian as a member. She has a different look. Having changed her name to Martian Manhunter, she is beheaded by her present-day counterpart; as a result of this encounter, the consciousness of her future self has taken refuge in Megan's own mind. An epilogue to the "Titans of Tomorrow: Today!" Storyline depicts Miss Martian eight years in the future. Megan is attacked by Disruptor of the Terror Titans, whose weapons separate her from her future self. Megan is captured and thrown into a room with Kid Devil, savagely conditioned into a mindless beast, she attempts to calm his mind with her telepathy, but a reincarnated version of Granny Goodness has found a way to inhibit her Martian abilities. Megan manages to restore Eddie's rational mind, the two escape. Back at Titans Tower, Megan implies that the encounter with Disruptor has allowed her to subdue her future self's consciousness, her future counterpart seems still able to communicate with her, but M'gann shushes her effortlessly by the simple threat of siccing the cute puppies on her, e.g. feeding her images of cuteness and love.
However, Megan begins showing signs of being unable to subdue her evil self, such as appearing before the team having chalk-white skin as opposed to her preferred green skin. She seems as surprised at this as the rest of the team, finally comes to the conclusion to leave the Titans for an unknown period of time. Before leaving, she says goodbye to the Titans and admits to Eddie that she will miss him the most, to which he questions if she is comparing him to the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. Teen Titans writer Sean McKeever has stated that Megan's departure from the Titans is part of a longer story he is working on and that she will return to the team at a time. Megan appears in the final issue of the Terror Titans miniseries, having been posing as Star-Spangled Kid in The Dark Side Club's metahuman fights, she had been using her immunity to Clock King's mind control to free the other brainwashed metahumans. Megan is seen as part of an underground resistance cell in Final Crisis #5, she rejoins the Titans in the aftermath of their failed recruitment drive, bringing new members Static and Aquagirl with her.
In the same story, Megan hints that she has rid herself of her future counterpart's consciousness from her mind. When Beast Boy returns to lead the Titans in the wake of Kid Devil's death, Megan is the only member of the team, willing to support him. While the rest of the team is busy arguing with him, Megan is attacked and captured by a new villain known as Wyld. After a vigorous battle, Megan is rescued by her teammates. At some point prior to this, Megan is seen operating on a solo mission where she defeats Brick after he attempts to abduct a young girl and hold her for ransom. Seconds after flooring the kidnapper, Megan is visited by Jay Garrick, who recruits her for some unknown purpose. In the finale of Justice League: Cry for Justice, it is revealed that Garrick recruited her in order to help interrogate Prometheus, who had destroyed Star City; when she attempts to read his mind, Megan is knocked out by specialized
Star-Spangled Comics
Star Spangled Comics was a comics anthology published by DC Comics which ran for 130 issues from October 1941 to July 1952. It was retitled Star Spangled War Stories and lasted until issue #204. Star Spangled Comics debuted with an October 1941 cover date; the series began as a superhero title featuring the adventures of the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy who appeared until #86. This feature had the distinction of a teen hero with an older sidekick. With issue # 7, the title starred Jack Kirby-created Newsboy Legion. A series of stories featuring Robin, the Boy Wonder began in issue #65 and continued through the end of the title with issue #130, featured Robin solo adventures, but included some occasional cameos by Batman. Comics historian Brian Cronin has noted that due to Robin's feature in Star Spangled Comics, he made more appearances during the Golden Age of Comics than Batman. Tomahawk, a western feature, was introduced in #69. Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks, first appeared in #81 in the "Star-Spangled Kid" feature.
In the early 1950s, the title became dominated by horror features and by the end of its run the book switched to a war format. A Star Spangled Comics one-shot by writer Geoff Johns and artist Chris Weston was published in 1999 as part of the "Justice Society Returns" storyline; the Newsboy Legion Vol. 1 collects Star Spangled Comics #7–32, 360 pages, March 2010, ISBN 978-1401225933 The Newsboy Legion Vol. 2 collects Star Spangled Comics #33–64, 368 pages, August 2017, ISBN 978-1401272364 Robin Archives Vol. 1 collects Robin stories from Star Spangled Comics #65–85, 240 pages, October 2005, ISBN 978-1401204150 Robin Archives Vol. 2 collects Robin stories from Star Spangled Comics #86–105, 256 pages, April 2010, ISBN 978-1401226251 Star Spangled Comics at the Comic Book DB Star Spangled Comics at Cover Browser Star Spangled Comics and Star Spangled Comics one-shot at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
Nazism
National Socialism, more known as Nazism, is the ideology and practices associated with the Nazi Party – the National Socialist German Workers' Party – in Nazi Germany, of other far-right groups with similar aims. Nazism is a form of fascism and showed that ideology's disdain for liberal democracy and the parliamentary system, but incorporated fervent antisemitism, anti-communism, scientific racism, eugenics into its creed, its extreme nationalism came from Pan-Germanism and the Völkisch movement prominent in the German nationalism of the time, it was influenced by the Freikorps paramilitary groups that emerged after Germany's defeat in World War I, from which came the party's "cult of violence", "at the heart of the movement."Nazism subscribed to theories of racial hierarchy and Social Darwinism, identifying the Germans as a part of what the Nazis regarded as an Aryan or Nordic master race. It aimed to overcome social divisions and create a German homogeneous society based on racial purity which represented a people's community.
The Nazis aimed to unite all Germans living in German territory, as well as gain additional lands for German expansion under the doctrine of Lebensraum and exclude those who they deemed either community aliens or "inferior" races. The term "National Socialism" arose out of attempts to create a nationalist redefinition of "socialism", as an alternative to both Marxist international socialism and free market capitalism. Nazism rejected the Marxist concepts of class conflict and universal equality, opposed cosmopolitan internationalism, sought to convince all parts of the new German society to subordinate their personal interests to the "common good", accepting political interests as the main priority of economic organization; the Nazi Party's precursor, the Pan-German nationalist and antisemitic German Workers' Party, was founded on 5 January 1919. By the early 1920s the party was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party – to attract workers away from left-wing parties such as the Social Democrats and the Communists – and Adolf Hitler assumed control of the organization.
The National Socialist Program or "25 Points" was adopted in 1920 and called for a united Greater Germany that would deny citizenship to Jews or those of Jewish descent, while supporting land reform and the nationalization of some industries. In Mein Kampf, Hitler outlined the anti-Semitism and anti-Communism at the heart of his political philosophy, as well as his disdain for representative democracy and his belief in Germany's right to territorial expansion; the Nazi Party won the greatest share of the popular vote in the two Reichstag general elections of 1932, making them the largest party in the legislature by far, but still short of an outright majority. Because none of the parties were willing or able to put together a coalition government, in 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul Von Hindenburg, through the support and connivance of traditional conservative nationalists who believed that they could control him and his party. Through the use of emergency presidential decrees by Hindenburg, a change in the Weimar Constitution which allowed the Cabinet to rule by direct decree, bypassing both Hindenburg and the Reichstag, the Nazis had soon established a one-party state.
The Sturmabteilung and the Schutzstaffel functioned as the paramilitary organizations of the Nazi Party. Using the SS for the task, Hitler purged the party's more and economically radical factions in the mid-1934 Night of the Long Knives, including the leadership of the SA. After the death of President Hindenburg, political power was concentrated in Hitler's hands and he became Germany's head of state as well as the head of the government, with the title of Führer, meaning "leader". From that point, Hitler was the dictator of Nazi Germany, known as the "Third Reich", under which Jews, political opponents and other "undesirable" elements were marginalized, imprisoned or murdered. Many millions of people were exterminated in a genocide which became known as the Holocaust during World War II, including around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe. Following Germany's defeat in World War II and the discovery of the full extent of the Holocaust, Nazi ideology became universally disgraced.
It is regarded as immoral and evil, with only a few fringe racist groups referred to as neo-Nazis, describing themselves as followers of National Socialism. The full name of the party was Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei for which they used the acronym NSDAP; the term "Nazi" was in use before the rise of the NSDAP as a colloquial and derogatory word for a backwards farmer or peasant, characterizing an awkward and clumsy person. In this sense, the word Nazi was a hypocorism of the German male name Ignatz – Ignatz being a common name at the time in Bavaria, the area from which the NSDAP emerged. In the 1920s, political opponents of the NSDAP in the German labour movement seized on this and – using the earlier abbreviated term "Sozi" for Sozialist as an example – shortened NSDAP's name, Nationalsozialistische, to the dismissive "Nazi", in order to associate them with the derogatory use of the term mentioned above; the first use of the term "Nazi" by the National Socialists occurred in 1926 in a publication by Joseph Goebbels called Der Nazi-Sozi.
In Goebbels' pamphlet, the word "Nazi" only appears when linked with the word "Sozi" as an abbreviation of
DC Universe
The DC Universe is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. DC superheroes such as Superman and Wonder Woman are from this universe, it contains well known supervillains such as Lex Luthor, the Joker and Darkseid. In context, the term "DC Universe" refers to the main DC continuity; the term "DC Multiverse" refers to the collection of all continuities within DC Comics publications. Within the Multiverse, the main DC Universe has gone by many names, but in recent years has been referred to by "Prime Earth" or "Earth 0"; the main DC Universe, as well as the alternate realities related to it, began as the first shared universe in comic books and were adapted to other media such as film serials or radio dramas. In subsequent decades, the continuity between all of these media became complex with certain storylines and events designed to simplify or streamline the more confusing aspects of characters' histories; the fact that DC Comics characters coexisted in the same world was first established in All Star Comics #3 where several superheroes met each other in a group dubbed the Justice Society of America.
Subsequently, the Justice Society was reintroduced as the Justice League of America, founded with Major League Baseball's National League and American League as inspiration for the name. The comic book that introduced the Justice League was titled The Brave and the Bold However, the majority of National/DC's publications continued to be written with little regard of maintaining continuity with each other for the first few decades. Over the course of its publishing history, DC has introduced different versions of its characters, sometimes presenting them as if the earlier version had never existed, among them the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, in the late 1950s, with similar powers but different names and personal histories, they had characters such as Batman whose early adventures set in the 1940s could not be reconciled with stories featuring a still-youthful man in the 1970s. To explain this, they introduced the idea of the Multiverse in Flash #123 where the Silver Age Flash met his Golden Age counterpart.
In addition to allowing the conflicting stories to "co-exist", it allowed the differing versions of characters to meet, team up to combat cross-universe threats. The writers gave designations such as "Earth-One", "Earth-Two", so forth, to certain universes, designations which at times were used by the characters themselves. Earth-One was the primary world of this publication era. Over the years, as the number of titles published increased and the volume of past stories accumulated, it became difficult to maintain internal consistency. In the face of diminishing sales, maintaining the status quo of their most popular characters became attractive. Although retcons were used as a way to explain apparent inconsistencies in stories written, editors at DC came to consider the varied continuity of multiple Earths too difficult to keep track of, feared that it was an obstacle to accessibility for new readers. To address this, they published the cross-universe miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985, which merged universes and characters, reducing the Multiverse to a single unnamed universe with a single history.
However, not all the books rebooted post-Crisis. For example, the Legion of Superheroes book acted as if the Pre-Crisis Earth-1 history was still their past, a point driven home in the Cosmic Boy miniseries, it removed the mechanism DC had been using to deal with continuity glitches or storylines that a writer wanted to ignore resulting in a convoluted explanation for characters like Hawkman. The Zero Hour limited series gave them an opportunity to revise timelines and rewrite the DC Universe history; however this failed right out of the gate as the writers had Waverider state all alternate histories had been wiped and yet have the Armageddon 2001 saga in the timeline which required multiple timelines to work. As a result once per decade since the 1980s, the DC Universe experiences a major crisis that allows any number of changes from new versions of characters to appear as a whole reboot of the universe, restarting nominally all the characters into a new and modernized version of their lives.
Meanwhile, DC has published occasional stories called Elseworlds, which presented alternate versions of its characters. One told the story of Bruce Wayne as a Green Lantern. In another tale, Superman: Speeding Bullets, the rocket ship that brought the infant Superman to Earth was discovered by the Wayne family of Gotham City rather than the Kents. In 1999, The Kingdom reintroduced a variant of the old Multiverse concept called Hypertime which allows for alternate versions of characters and worlds again; the entire process was inspired by Alan Moore's meta-comic, Supreme: Story of the Year. The Convergence crossover retconned the events of Crisis after heroes in that series went back in time to prevent the collapse of the Multiverse. However, Brainiac states "Each world has evolved but they all still exist", it has been confirmed that all previous worlds and timelines now exist, that there multiple Multiverses now in existence, such as the Pre-Crisis infinite Multiverse, the collapsed Earth, the Pre-New 52 52 worlds Multiverse.
The Infinite Crisis event remade the DC Universe yet again, with new changes. The limited series 52 established that a new multiverse now existed, with Earth-0 as the primary Earth; the 2011 reboo
