Injustice Society

The Injustice Society (a.k.a. the Injustice Society of the World) is a group of supervillains in the DC Comics Universe. They are the main antagonists of the Justice Society of America.^[1]

The Injustice Society first appears in All Star Comics #37 (Oct 1947) and was created by Sheldon Mayer and Bob Kanigher.^[2] The original group brought together six popular villains from Flash Comics, Green Lantern and All Star Comics: the Thinker, the Gambler, Vandal Savage, the Wizard, Per Degaton and Brain Wave.^[3]

The Injustice Society appear on the DC Universe and CW show Stargirl as the main antagonists of the first season, with some members also appearing in its second season.

Fictional team history

Golden Age

The Wizard's Injustice Society

It is unknown under what circumstances the Injustice Society was formed. The group first appeared in the second half of the 1940s where they were led by the Wizard and planned to take over America.^[4] Fragmenting into individual efforts, the ISW launched strikes against government facilities around the nation, each with his own private army of convicts due to five jailbreaks engineered by the ISW. In addition to furthering their primary aims, the villains were each assigned to capture a member of the JSA in anticipated resistance. To ensure that the JSA showed up, the villains notified the heroes of their plans. In due course, Hawkman was captured by Vandal Savage at an airport which the criminal army had surrounded. Doctor Mid-Nite was apprehended by Per Degaton who was attacking the Washington Monument. The Flash fell victim to his long-time foe the Thinker at the Governor's house where the Thinker was broadcasting fake demands by the Governor to make the armed forces stand down due to invisible wires. The Atom was snared by the Gambler. Green Lantern arrives in Uthorium Town just as the armed forces are closing in on the criminals that control the city. Suddenly, the town disappears in a flash of light. Green Lantern begins a search for the criminal army when he discovers the town has re-appeared a few miles away, and the felons are looting uthorium from a lab. Green Lantern zooms in for the attack when Brainwave appears on the scene, opening a canister of uthorium in his presence. Blinded, Green Lantern forms an energy bubble for protection while Brainwave and his men finish their job. Recovering later, Green Lantern discovers a radioactive trail left behind by the uthorium and follows it, discovering some of the thugs with an invention called the "Mirage-Thrower," which fools the Army tanks into crossing a frozen lake which really isn't frozen. Green Lantern saves the tanks and men, then follows the trail to discover Brainwave inside a weird glass box. Firing his power ring at it, the ray bounces back, knocking Green Lantern off a cliff, apparently to his death. Hearing of Per Degaton's capture of Doctor Mid-Nite in Capital City (evidently meant to be based on Washington), Wonder Woman and Johnny Thunder left JSA headquarters to intervene, only to be captured themselves. The JSA were held by a will-deadener beam, put on "trial" before Judge Thinker with the Wizard as Prosecutor. The JSA were sentenced to death, but it was then revealed Green Lantern had disguised himself as the Thinker. His ring saved him at the last moment and he captured the Thinker. He freed the others and they defeated the Injustice Society, with the Wizard being caught by a group of children who idolized the Justice Society called the Junior Justice Society.^[5]

Second Injustice Society

The second formation appeared in the late 1940s attempting "patriotic crimes" where it was formed by Wizard and consisted of Fiddler, Harlequin, Huntress, Icicle, and Sportsmaster. They stole national monuments, hoping the American people would vote for the best crime allowing that person to become the leader, and succeeding in erasing the Society's memories after capturing them by the Sportsmaster knocking them out with one of his bombs, but Harlequin turned against them and with Black Canary restored the Justice Society's memories, though a post-hypnotic impulse restores the JSA to their mindless states when they hear fingers snapping, causing them to be recaptured. But their memories are restored again after they are placed in a death chamber, leading to Black Canary becoming a proper member.^[6]

Silver Age

The Injustice Society reforms during the 1970s to try and eliminate the reformed Justice Society in 2 instances. The first attempt is during the annual jla/jsa teamups where the wizard (leader), alongside the sportsmaster, huntress, gambler, shade and icicle, hypnotize earth prime's cary bates into working alongside them as a villain after he accidentally arrives on earth 2 after stepping on the flash's cosmic treadmill left behind by earth 1's flash when he visited there. It took elliot s! maggin and the jla to find him after elliot went to earth 1 to the jla(members batman, aquaman, green arrow, black canary, flash, hawkman) to help him find cary. The jla was defeated by the injustice society at first because they were tricked into 'killing' jsa members robin, wonder woman, wildcat, johnny thunder, hourman and dr. midnite, disguised as the injustice society after the jsa was defeated by cary. It took the spectre to revive the jsa using his ring of life and the jla removing the mental block they received after the jsa deaths to defeat cary and the injustice society, and send cary and elliot home back to earth prime, with the jsa taking the injustice society back to prison on earth 2.^[7] The second attempt happens on earth 2 itself. First, the Fiddler fetches Solomon Grundy and defeats Wildcat and Hawkman, but they are defeated by Kal-L and Power Girl.^[8] Vandal Savage tricks the JSA into aiding a false Camelot while the Icicle, the Thinker, the Wizard, and Brainwave capture Wildcat and the Hourman.^[9] The Thinker and the Icicle are defeated by Doctor Fate, Hawkman, and Jay Garrick, while the Wizard and Brainwave are defeated by Power Girl and the Star-Spangled Kid. The Wizard then left the Injustice Society for Earth-One, where he joined the Secret Society of Super-Villains.^[10] Brainwave captures Green Lantern, Jay Garrick, and Power Girl before being defeated in Power Girl's first solo adventure.^[11] The psycho pirate is the final member of the society after he brainwashes gcpd police commissioner bruce wayne into believing the jsa's recent actions, including green lantern(under his influence as well before the jsa defeats the pirate)'s was the result of them going rogue. This leads wayne to summon via robin's jsa signaller wonder woman, hourman, and starman to fight the so-called rogue jsa members power girl, hawkman, flash, green lantern, star spangled kid and dr fate, during which power girl was severely injured(and later recovered) by wayne's actions. It took fate using a spell on wayne to shatter the pirate's hold on him as the pirate was imprisoned once more prior to this battle, as well as superman appearing to end the battle between young and old jsa members.^[12]

Post-Crisis

Injustice Unlimited

During what some described as the "anti-costumed-hero mania" (as chronicled in the DC miniseries Legends) in the pages of Infinity, Inc., the Wizard gathered both old comrades (consisting of Brainwave, the Fiddler, the Gambler, the Harlequin, Per Degaton, the Shade, Solomon Grundy, the Sportsmaster, the Thinker, and Vandal Savage) and new super-criminals (consisting of Hazard, the Icicle II, and the Tigress III) into a new Injustice Society, which he called "Injustice Unlimited". Infinity, Inc. fought Injustice Unlimited, which led to the apparent death of the Wizard.^[13] Indeed, the criminal group seemed to be a mirror image of Infinity, Inc., which itself was an offshoot of the Justice Society, at the time when the group was led by the Dummy. Later, this team returned to the original name.^[14]

Johnny Sorrow's Injustice Society

Johnny Sorrow appears in late 1999 as the leader of the new Injustice Society (consisting of the Icicle II, Blackbriar Thorn, Count Vertigo, Geomancer, Killer Wasp, and the Tigress III). Together they storm the headquarters of superhero team Justice Society of America, although JSA member Wildcat defeats them all (destroying Blackbriar Thorn) despite still recovering from a broken arm and the attack initially being launched while he was in the bathtub, with the exception of Sorrow, who uses the diversion to steal an unknown artifact.^[15]

Sorrow returns with a larger version of the Injustice Society (having also recruited Black Adam after removing a brain tumour, Shiv, the Rival, and the Thinker A.I.) to distract the JSA while he summoned the King of Tears, an other-dimensional entity. However, the JSA were able to fend off the Society, including killing the Rival and Black Adam defecting, with the fight culminating in the Flash drawing on Black Adam's speed to send the King of Tears to another dimension by striking him at near-lightspeed.^[16]

The Wizard's second Injustice Society

The demon Legacy (actually the Wizard in disguise) formed another version in the miniseries JSA All-Stars. The lineup consists of the Icicle II, the Rival, Shiv, and the Tigress III. The new team again confronted the JSA. Unknown to the JSA, their job was just to stick teleportation discs to the old-timers.^[17] Legacy then teleported his successful team away. Legacy is then later "killed" by the Spectre.^[18]

Johnny Sorrow's Injustice Society

The Injustice Society resurfaced again in November 2005, in the pages of JSA Classified. The soul of the Wizard joined forces with Johnny Sorrow where they gathered a new incarnation of the Injustice Society consisting of the Gentleman Ghost, the Icicle II, the Rag Doll I, Solomon Grundy, the Thinker A.I., and the Tigress III. They were tasked to steal Prometheus' Cosmic Key from JSA headquarters in order to free the Wizard and Johnny Sorrow. While noting to himself that the Rag Doll I would betray the group, the Wizard sets him up to take the fall.^[19] The Injustice Society tried to enlist the Secret Society of Super Villains to help with the caper, which drew the attention of Talia al Ghul.^[20] The Rag Doll I took the Cosmic Key as the Wizard had predicted and was killed when he activated it. Once Johnny Sorrow was brought back to Earth, he and the Injustice Society teleported to Prometheus' Crooked House. When it was discovered that the Tigress III and the Icicle II had started to fall in love with each other, Johnny Sorrow strong-armed them into sticking around.^[21]

Another plot was to kidnap Stargirl and to face off against the JSA All Stars.^[22]

DC Rebirth

In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called DC Rebirth, which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to The New 52. Hawkman and Hawkgirl recount their time with the Justice Society and the day that they fought the Injustice Society. In the flashback to the 1940s when the Justice Society stormed the Injustice Society's fortress in Austria, Hawkman fought Per Degaton, Hawkgirl fought Vandal Savage, Green Lantern fought the Wizard, the Sandman fought the Gambler, Wildcat fought the Tigress, and the Flash fought Brain Wave. After Brain Wave unleashes a powerful psychic attack that knocks everyone down, Per Degaton and Vandal Savage prepare to finish off Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Hawkman and Hawkgirl throw their maces enough for them to collide. This enables the Justice Society to turn the tables against the Injustice Society. Green Lantern then makes an airplane construct so that the Justice Society can deliver the Injustice Society to the authorities.^[23]

Membership

Original team

• The Wizard (William Zard) - an illusionist and powerful sorcerer.
• Brain Wave I (Henry King Sr.) - a metahuman with great psionic powers.
• The Gambler (Steven Sharpe III) - a master of disguise and weapons.
• Per Degaton - a time-traveler with access to advanced technology.
• The Thinker (Clifford DeVoe) I - a former district attorney and enemy of the Flash.
• Vandal Savage - a ruthless caveman given immortality thousands of years ago.

This formation included the following additional members:

• Fiddler (Isaac Bowin) - a criminal who uses specially-made violins.
• Sportsmaster (Lawrence Crock) - a crook who uses sport-themed weapons, married to the Tigress.
• Tigress II (Paula Brooks) - a tiger-themed mercenary, married to the Sportsmaster.
• Icicle I (Joar Mahkent) - a scientist who invented a gun that drastically lowers temperature.
• Harlequin I (Molly Mayne) - a villainess with hypnotic goggles.

Later members

• Shade (Richard Swift) - he was an additional member when a third formation formed during a team-up between the Justice Society and the Justice League, but later in the comic Starman (vol. 2), he is shown in a flashback assisting a Golden Age incarnation of the Society. His actual time of joining is unknown, but he was a member during the Golden Age. He had a cane which enabled him to cast darkness.
• Solomon Grundy - a superstrong undead foe of Green Lantern who joined a fourth formation led by the Icicle.

Injustice Unlimited members

• the Wizard
• the Fiddler
• the Shade
• Tigress III (Artemis Crock) - daughter of the Tigress I and the Sportsmaster.
• Hazard - granddaughter of Gambler.
• Icicle II (Cameron Mahkent) - son of the Icicle I with cryokinetic powers.

Later members

These members were recruited after the Wizard was believed dead and both the Fiddler and the Shade were imprisoned:

• The Dummy - a sentient ventriloquist's dummy and enemy of the Vigilante who became the second leader of Injustice Unlimited.
• Harlequin II (Marcie Cooper)
• Solomon Grundy

Johnny Sorrow's team

• Johnny Sorrow - a former thief whose face kills nearly anyone who looks at it.
• Count Vertigo - a Green Arrow villain who induces vertigo.
• Icicle II (Cameron Mahkent)
• Geomancer I (Adam Fells) - a geokinetic supervillain.
• Tigress III (Artemis Crock)
• Blackbriar Thorn - a Druid.
• Killer Wasp - a half-human, half-insect villain who is the son of the Yellow Wasp.

Later recruits included:

• The Rival - a foe of the Golden Age Flash who developed a formula to endow himself with speed nearly matching that of the Flash.
• Black Adam - a rogue Marvel Family member with powers from the Egyptian Gods. He was sent after Wildcat, but betrayed the team.
• Shiv - Shiv is the daughter of the supervillain Dragon King. She had a grudge against Stargirl.
• The Thinker II (A.I.) - an artificial intelligence version of the Thinker I which spied on the JSA.

Legacy's team

• Legacy - an alias of the Wizard.
• Kestrel - a supervillain created by M'Shulla and Gorrum of the Lords of Chaos to either subvert the Hawk (of the Hawk and the Dove) to the forces of evil or to kill him.
• Rag Doll I - a contortionist supervillain.
• Tigress III (Artemis Crock)
• Icicle II (Cameron Mahkent)
• Solomon Grundy
• Shiv

Present formation

The Injustice Society resurfaced again in November 2005 in the pages of JSA Classified, composed of:

• Icicle II (Cameron Mahkent)
• Tigress III (Artemis Crock)
• Rag Doll I (Peter Merkel, deceased)
• The Thinker II (A.I.)
• Solomon Grundy
• The Wizard
• The Gentleman Ghost - the ghost of a highwayman.
• Johnny Sorrow

The Injustice Society resurfaced once more, this time in a plot to kidnap Stargirl and to face off against the JSA All Stars. The team was composed of the following members:^[24]

• Johnny Sorrow
• Tigress III (Artemis Crock)
• Icicle II (Cameron Mahkent)
• The Wizard
• Killer Wasp
• Geomancer II - the unnamed successor of Geomancer I with the same abilities.
• Shiv

DC Rebirth version

• The Wizard
• Brain Wave
• The Gambler (Steven Sharpe III)
• Huntress (Paula Brooks)
• Per Degaton
• Vandal Savage

Other versions

JSA: The Golden Age

In the four-part Elseworlds story JSA: The Golden Age, the Injustice Society appears in a cameo during the final issue. The lineup consists of the Fiddler, the Gambler, the Harlequin, and the Psycho-Pirate. The group is seen at a gathering of superheroes, having apparently taken advantage of a recent offer of amnesty to supervillains willing to serve the U.S. government.^[25]

Earth 3

On Earth 3, the Injustice Society is the name of a supervillain group that is led by Sky Tyrant (Earth 3's version of Hawkman) and other unseen members where it is the evil counterpart of the Justice Society of America. The group was defeated by the Justice Society All-Stars.^[26]

In other media

• A team based on the Injustice Society called the Injustice Guild of America appears in the Justice League two-part episode "Legends", consisting of the Music Master, the Sportsman, Doctor Blizzard, and Sir Swami.
• The Injustice Society of America (ISA) appears in the first season of Stargirl,^[27] led by Icicle and consisting of Brainwave, the Gambler, Sportsmaster, Tigress, the Wizard, Dragon King, and Solomon Grundy, with the Fiddler and the Shade appearing as former members. In the pilot episode, Brainwave, the Gambler, Icicle, the Shade, Grundy, Sportsmaster, Tigress, and the Wizard attacked the Justice Society of America (JSA) in Blue Valley and killed most of its members, with Icicle fatally wounding their leader Starman. A decade after their victory, the ISA operate in Blue Valley under their civilian identities while the Fiddler's wife Anaya Bowin fills in for him. After Courtney Whitmore finds Starman's Cosmic Staff and forms a new JSA, the ISA take up arms to stop her as well as enact Project: New America to brainwash the Central United States' citizens. However, the new JSA, the Shining Knight, Barbara Whitmore, and Mike Dugan foil their plans, with most of the ISA either being killed, incarcerated, or escaped.
  • In the second season, Cindy Burman and Eclipso form their own offshoot group called Injustice Unlimited, recruiting Sportsmaster and Tigress' daughter Artemis Crock and the Fiddler's son Isaac Bowin to their cause. After failing to recruit Icicle's son Cameron Mahkent, Injustice Unlimited fights Stargirl's JSA. In the process, Stargirl accidentally frees Eclipso from his Black Diamond. He subsequently sends Burman to the Shadowlands and consumes Isaac while Artemis flees.

References

This page was last edited on 24 January 2024, at 04:01