DCnU as origin ground for Crime Syndicate? [Green Lantern Spoilers]

**Impulse** · 12-22-2012, 06:44 AM

I can't remember who had that idea - a poster here, certainly - but the latest issue of Green Lantern reveals the identity of the 'first lantern'.

Spoiler:

In the rebooted continuity, that force has seemingly been powering the entire GLC now. With an Owlman in Gotham, the new DCU seems to be a lot more.... evil.

Also, Green Lantern: New Guardians appears to have borked with Kyle's origin, showing him in training on Oa with an intact Corps around him....

**Patrick Gerard** · 12-22-2012, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by Impulse

I can't remember who had that idea - a poster here, certainly - but the latest issue of Green Lantern reveals the identity of the 'first lantern'.

Spoiler:

In the rebooted continuity, that force has seemingly been powering the entire GLC now. With an Owlman in Gotham, the new DCU seems to be a lot more.... evil.

Also, Green Lantern: New Guardians appears to have borked with Kyle's origin, showing him in training on Oa with an intact Corps around him....

Not just AN Owlman in Gotham. One who claims to be Thomas Wayne Jr. Which is Owlman's secret identity.

And I may have been the one who pointed out that Superman and Wonder Woman's costumes shifted towards their Crime Syndicate counterparts (no trunks for Superman, black and silver WW outfit), J'Onn is absent from the JLA, Dick Grayson being targeted as a Talon, and the hero code of ethics is closer to the dark side. And then again when they had Superman and Wonder Woman kiss.

I've been saying for awhile that it's like we're getting deliberate teasers for a Crime Syndicate story. The Thomas Wayne Jr. thing made me really think it was looking pretty deliberate. With

Spoiler:

, well... There's no denying it's deliberate.

**Mogo** · 12-22-2012, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Patrick Gerard

Not just AN Owlman in Gotham. One who claims to be Thomas Wayne Jr. Which is Owlman's secret identity.

And I may have been the one who pointed out that Superman and Wonder Woman's costumes shifted towards their Crime Syndicate counterparts (no trunks for Superman, black and silver WW outfit), J'Onn is absent from the JLA, Dick Grayson being targeted as a Talon, and the hero code of ethics is closer to the dark side. And then again when they had Superman and Wonder Woman kiss.

I've been saying for awhile that it's like we're getting deliberate teasers for a Crime Syndicate story. The Thomas Wayne Jr. thing made me really think it was looking pretty deliberate. With

Spoiler:

, well... There's no denying it's deliberate.

Well, if DC is breeding an in-continuity Crime Syndicate as a foil for the Justice League in the New 52 then that would go a long way as to explaining why they were so fast and loose with the Darkseid plot in Justice League.

**Kingsmythe** · 12-22-2012, 03:12 PM

This makes a certain amount of sense, but gives me a really bad feeling about Wally West and Donna Troy...

**Ray G.** · 12-22-2012, 03:55 PM

Didn't Ultraman originally have the origin of a mutated cosmonaut?

Spoilers:

H'el was a Kryptonian astronaut who got mutated in space...

**Patrick Gerard** · 12-22-2012, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Ray G.

Didn't Ultraman originally have the origin of a mutated cosmonaut?

Spoilers:

H'el was a Kryptonian astronaut who got mutated in space...

Nah. He originally had the origin of being an infant from Krypton.

Then Crisis happened.

Then Morrison had the Crime Syndicate pop up in Animal Man as examples of people who didn't exist after the Crisis. (The Ultraman/Power Ring back and forth there is pure gold.)

Then Mark Waid made the Crime Syndicate bug-eyed Anti-Matter Qwardians to keep them in continuity because Qward was the only "other earth" editorial would allow.

Then Grant Morrison made them non-bug-eyed inhabitants of a very backwards anti-matter earth in the universe of Qward. And part of this was the implied backstory of Ultraman being a human cosmonaut who was altered by aliens.

Busiek did some more with this, although I'm not sure he had everyone's notes.

Joe Kelly had AN Ultraman pop up in his Supergirl run. Who was actually Kryptonian. And implied to be the pre-Crisis Earth-3 version, ruling over post-Crisis Kandor with Jeph Loeb's version of Saturn Queen as his surrogate mother who found him after Infinite Crisis.

Then Johns cooked up a new Earth-3 in the post-52 multiverse, which was an inverted Earth-2, where Owlman, Superwoman, etc. had been active since WWII in the evil Justice Society counterpart (presumably having fought heroic Nazis?) and generations of evil heroes had passed. This only ever appeared in a few panels and was something I mainly know about through conversations and interviews. This was supposed to be in addition to the Anti-Matter Crime Syndicate that Morrison and Busiek used. Johns wanted to do stories about the Earth-3 and Anti-Matter Crime Syndicate having annual team-ups in the vein of the old JLA/JSA team-ups.

**Patrick Gerard** · 12-22-2012, 04:45 PM

So you have:

Ultraman I
Kryptonian. Morally inverted Superman. Wiped out in Crisis. Brief reprieve in Animal Man. Came back when Alexander Luthor mucked with the multiverse in Infinite Crisis. Tried to marry a brainwashed Supergirl, who he had the hots for. Last seen floating into limbo. His teammates included Thomas Wayne, who writers intended to be the counterpart of Batman's father. The idea being that the Crime Syndicate was older than the JLA and younger than the JSA. Power Ring (the evil Green Lantern) got his ring from a mad monk named Volthoom, as an intermediary between Alan Scott's magic origins and Hal Jordan's origin involving Abin Sur. Note: Earth-3's history resembled other worlds until the Crime Syndicate showed up. Alex Luthor married Lois Lane and they had a son, Alexander Luthor, who they rocketed away from the doomed Earth-3 in Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Ultraman II
Bug-eyed, yellow skinned Qwardian. One of the Weaponeers of Quard, genetically engineered with Superman's powers to help the Anti-Monitor's worshippers fight the JLA in the post-Crisis universe. Same costume as the pre-Crisis versions. Basically like a Qwardian Super-Skrull type enemy.

Ultraman III
Human cosmonaut from Anti-Matter Earth, genetically modified by Anti-matter Kryptonian astronauts, who he killed. Proceeded to kill his foster parents in Smallville, Kansas upon receiving his powers. Was married to Lois Lane, aka Superwoman, who frequently cheated on him with Owlman, aka Thomas Wayne Junior. (TW Jr. was a Morrison innovation, based on a Bob Haney Deadman story which established Batman having a mentally handicapped brother named Thomas Wayne Junior.) Had a super-baby with Lois, who she killed. Owlman's sidekick was Talon. Was established that Volthoom was a soul trapped inside Power Ring's ring and that Power Ring and Johnny Quick killed their predecessors. Note: Anti-Matter earth has an inverted history. Great Britain was a colony of the United States which rebelled in 1776. Jeffrey Dahmer was President of the United States. It was posited that all laws of morality and altruism were inverted here. Basically, a world where anthropic principles building on things like the Prisoner's Dilemma and Game Theory work backwards.

Ultraman IV
Inhabitant of the Earth-3 created by Mr. Mind. Inverted version of the Golden-Age Superman. Intended to be someone who teamed up with Ultraman III annually.

**Ray G.** · 12-22-2012, 05:05 PM

Ultraman III was what I was thinking of.

It's not an exact match, but close enough.

**Kevin T Brown** · 12-22-2012, 07:42 PM

Originally Posted by Impulse

I can't remember who had that idea - a poster here, certainly - but the latest issue of Green Lantern reveals the identity of the 'first lantern'.

Spoiler:

In the rebooted continuity, that force has seemingly been powering the entire GLC now. With an Owlman in Gotham, the new DCU seems to be a lot more.... evil.

Also, Green Lantern: New Guardians appears to have borked with Kyle's origin, showing him in training on Oa with an intact Corps around him....

Now watch, Rich Johnston will come in and steal this and make it a "rumor".

**The Xenos** · 12-22-2012, 09:38 PM

I've been wondering about this reboot DCnU turning into that evil alternate Earth.. or moreso will end up blowing up as the Twilight of the Superheros as I've heard another crazy fan theory. Certainly would explain why everything is so grimngritty and so many people are such dicks in the reboot.