Crime Syndicate of America
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The Crime Syndicate of America is a team of supervillains from one of DC Comics' parallel universes, and are the evil counterparts of the Justice League of America. The team first appeared in Justice League of America #29 in August 1964.
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The Original Crime Syndicate
The Crime Syndicate originally lived on Earth-Three, a world where history was "reversed" from the world we knew (e.g. President John Wilkes Booth was assassinated by Abraham Lincoln). It initially had no superheroes, only the supervillains of the Crime Syndicate, though this changed with the advent of heroic Alexander Luthor (that world's counterpart of Lex Luthor).
In their first appearance, the Crime Syndicate, bored with the ease with which they were able to commit crimes on their Earth (and with no one to truly challenge them), discovered the existence of Earth-One and Earth-Two, and set out to challenge the JLA and JSA to a lengthy fight, after which the Syndicate was ultimately defeated. Following this defeat, they were imprisoned in an unbreakable bubble generated by Green Lantern's power ring, and placed in a "limbo" dimension between the Earths. Over the following years, the Syndicate or one of its members would occasionally escape and attempt to wreak havoc on Earth-One and/or Earth-Two.
Earth-Three and the original Crime Syndicate were destroyed along with the rest of DC's parallel worlds in the 1985-1986 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The Modern Crime Syndicate
A new version was introduced later. This post-Crisis version, essentially identical to the Earth-Three group, was initially said (in 1992's Justice League Quarterly #8) to be from the antimatter universe of Qward, their appearance implying they come from the world of Qward. The late 1990s graphic novel JLA: Earth 2, however, established them as coming from a parallel Earth within that universe, with a "reversed" history similar to Earth-Three's and a much darker tone to both the team and its world. JLA Secret Files 2004 provided additional history of this team, showing that they did once resemble the Earth-Three Syndicate. This Crime Syndicate (with their name slightly respelled to "Crime Syndicate of Amerika") rule their world with an iron fist (a change from their pre-Crisis counterparts, who were unsuccessful in conquering their world); the modern Syndicate's motto is "Cui Bono?" ("Who profits?").
In addition to the heroic Alexander Luthor, their opponents include the Justice Underground, a reversed analog of the Legion of Doom or Secret Society of Super-Villains consisting of Sir Solomon Grundy, General Grodd, Q-Ranger (Major Force), Lady Sonar, Star Sapphire, and the Quizmaster (the Riddler).
In an early 2000s issue of Superman, Ultraman and Superwoman are shown to have had a child together.
The 2000s JLA/Avengers crossover written by Kurt Busiek seemed to involve the destruction of the Crime Syndicate's universe, but this was later reversed when the special's villain, Krona, was defeated. The Crime Syndicate later reappeared in Busiek's run on the current JLA series.
Members
In both versions of the Crime Syndicate, its members are:
- Ultraman: the counterpart of Superman. Pre-Crisis, Ultraman came from a Krypton that hadn't exploded, and for whom kryptonite only increased his superpowers, rather than draining them. Post-Crisis, Ultraman was a human astronaut given superpowers after an encounter with aliens.
- Superwoman: the counterpart of Wonder Woman. Superwoman gained her powers from her world's Amazons, and thus has similar powers to Wonder Woman. Post-Crisis, she is the anti-matter Earth's version of Lois Lane.
- Owlman: the counterpart of Batman. Pre-Crisis, Owlman possessed a limited range of mind control powers; post-Crisis, Owlman's origin was fleshed out, with his powers replaced by a range of technological and physical skills, much like The Batman.
- Johnny Quick: the counterpart of the Flash. Quick has super-speed powers. (Not to be confused with the Golden-Age/Earth-Two hero of the same name.)
- Power Ring: the counterpart of Green Lantern. Power Ring gained his ring of power from a Tibetan monk named Volthoom, and has powers similar to the Silver Age Green Lantern.
The Crime Syndicate is missing counterparts of traditional JLA members J'onn J'onzz, Aquaman, and Hawkman. In JLA: Earth 2, the Martian Manhunter's counterpart, the White Martian, was mentioned as the first being Ultraman ever killed. Aquaman's and Hawkman's counterparts - also killed - were said to have gone by the names "Barracuda" and "Blood Eagle".
Similar groups in other media
An episode of the 1970s animated series The Superfriends featured the heroes encountering an evil version of the team from an alternate universe.
In the 2000s animated series Justice League, a team called the Justice Lords, who combined elements of the Crime Syndicate and Wildstorm Comics' the Authority (a morally-ambiguous take on the Justice League concept), appeared as the League's counterparts from an alternate universe.Template:Comicsproj