The Golden Age Heroes must survive a three-pronged assault that may unite into the ultimate power!
The Three Faces of Evil!
The Flash, the Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman perform a high wire act, to raise war bonds, at a circus. Sensing the crowd's boredom, the Green Lantern heightens the thrills, by severing the tightrope. The three heroes stop their fall, seamlessly flowing into an acrobatic act. The Flash performs ten somersaults in mid-air. Suddenly, a brilliant light fills the big top top. Momentarily blinded, the Flash misses the Green Lantern's outstretched hand, and falls.
The Flash generates a cushion of air, at super-human speed, to break his fall. A glowing sphere appears, containing the Atom, the Guardian, and the Wildcat. The Atom, the Guardian, and the Wildcat exit the sphere. The Wildcat punches the Green Lantern. The Atom, and the Guardian, attack the Flash, and Wonder Woman. The Flash, and Wonder Woman begin racing, at super-human speed, around the Atom, and the Guardian. Astonishingly, the Guardian manages to punch the Flash.
The Flash is quick to recover and resume his attack, only to run headlong into the Guardian's shield. Impossibly, the Atom manages to pursue Wonder Woman, at super-human speed. Just as impossibly, the Wildcat manages to shrug off the Green Lantern's power ring constructs. The Wildcat lands another haymaker on the Green Lantern. Switching tactics, the Green Lantern generates a powerful burst of light, that breaks the spell on the Atom, the Guardian, and the Wildcat.
Neither the Atom, the Guardian, nor the Wildcat have any memory of their attack on the Flash, the Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. The Green Lantern carries the other five heroes out of the big top, to discuss the situation, away from the crowd of onlookers. As none present know him, the Guardian is treated with suspicion. To get to the bottom of the situation, the Atom, the the Guardian, and the Wildcat are asked to reveal their identities, and origins.
The Wildcat begins. To instill courage in his son, Ted, Henry Grant encouraged Ted to take up sports. Though Ted excelled at boxing, his true aspirations were to become a doctor. When his parents died, Ted put aside his notions of becoming a doctor. One night, Ted aided Socker Smith in a fight against a pair of armed robbers. Smith, a boxer, mentored Ted, turning him into a heavy-weight contender. Rising up through the ranks, Ted actually got the opportunity to box against Smith.
When Smith died in the ring, Ted found he had been set up for murder, by Smith's crooked managers. Inspired by stories of the Green Lantern, Ted adopted the costumed identity of the Wildcat. As the Wildcat, Ted cleared his name, and brought Smith's real killers to justice. The Wildcat had just taken down a couple of stick-up men, when he was drawn into a glowing sphere. The Wildcat cannot recollect what happened after that. The Atom backs up the Wildcat's story.
The Atom reveals his origin. A year before, Al Pratt was walking his girlfriend, Mary James, home when they were accosted by a stick-up man. James looked down on Pratt for not defending them. By chance, Pratt encounter Joe Morgan, a famous fight trainer, begging for change on the street. Morgan trained Pratt, turning him from a 98-pound weakling, into the Atom. Pratt, shipping out for duty, in the United States Army, said his farewells to James, and boarded a train.
Seeking solitude, Pratt located an empty box car, and sat down to contemplate his future as a serviceman. That's when the glowing sphere appeared to him, drawing him inside. The Atom also has no recollection over what happened after that. Feeling more at ease with the five costumed strangers, the Guardian reveals his identity, and origin. The Guardian, as Jim Harper, grew up a "Dead-end Kid" in Suicide Slum. Harper, and his friend, Leo, found ways of dealing with the Great Depression, mostly through petty theft.
After escaping an irate grocer, Harper, and Leo, were found by Nat Milligan, a fight trainer. Though Leo fled, Harper allowed Milligan to take him under his wing, and train him to be a boxer. Harper, though, abandoned Milligan, to check up on his old friend, Leo. Harper returned to Suicide Slum, to find that Leo had thrown in with the Mob. A price on his head, Leo was gunned down by gangsters, right before Harper's eyes. Harper returned to Barstow's Gym, to tell Milligan he was joining the police force.
Milligan grew bitter with anger, claiming Harper was his last chance to hit the big time. After recieving a beating from local street toughs, Harper adopted the costumed identity of the Guardian. Harper, as the Guardian, located the same hoods who had attacked him, at a nearby pool hall, and beat the daylights out of them. Fleeing the scene before the police arrived, the Guardian was confronted by the glowing sphere, and drawn inside.
The Green Lantern uses his power ring to probe the minds of the Atom, the Guardian and the Wildcat, for commonalities. The power ring reveals that Wildcat's coach, Morgan, and Milligan, are all the same man. To investigate the matter further, the six heroes split up into three teams of two. Though the Atom pairs with Wonder Woman, he can't help feeling like he'd rather have his teammates, from the All-Star Squadron, involved in the case. The Flash, and the Guardian, pay a visit to Milligan's home.
The Flash uses his super-human speed to vibrate the door lock apart. Inside, they find Milligan, glowing red, waiting for them. Milligan emits glowing spheres, which the Flash blocks with high-speed vibration. The Guardian strikes Milligan, seemingly defeating him. Then, something strange occurs. The Atom directs Wonder Woman to his Uncle's farmhouse, where he trained with Morgan. The Atom is attacked by Morgan, who is surrounded by a blue glow.
Incredibly, Morgan is able to resist the power of Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. The Atom beats Morgan into submission. Then, something strange occurs. The Green Lantern, and Wildcat, visit William's Gym, where Morgan trained Wildcat. Morgan, glowing yellow, appears in the ring, between two sparring boxers. Morgan hurls the boxers out of the ring. The Green Lantern and Wildcat, prevent the boxers from being injured. The Wildcat climbs into the ring, to confront Morgan.
At first, Morgan allows the Wildcat's blows to pass harmlessly through him. The moment Morgan turns solid, however, the Wildcat lays him out, with a bone crushing blow. Upon his defeat, the glow fades, and Morgan seemingly returns to normal. The Green Lantern and Wildcat, with Morgan, rendezvous with the Atom, the Flash, the Guardian and Wonder Woman. The two Morgans, and Milligan, are lain out next to one another. Suddenly, the three men fuse into one giant man, who swiftly attacks the assembled heroes.
Strangely, the composite man seems to be focused on killing the Green Lantern. As the composite man prepares to deliver the death blow, to the Green Lantern, the Atom, the Guardian and the Wildcat, jump him. The Atom, the Guardian, and the Wildcat, are able to reach the mind of Morgan/Milligan and convince him to cast off the evil force possessing him. Bitter over the loss of three chances at stardom, as the manager of either Grant, Harper, or Pratt, Morgan/Milligan was approached by the glowing sphere.
The spherical entity revealed that Grant, Harper, and Pratt, were the Wildcat, the Guardian, and the Atom. The sphere offered Morgan/Milligan the chance to get even with the three men who had abandoned him, dashing his dreams of fame and glory. Consumed by bitterness, and hatred, Morgan/Milligan accepted. Making contact with Morgan/Milligan, the sphere released three spheres, to seek out, and collect, the Atom, the Guardian, and the Wildcat.
Soon after that, Morgan/Milligan felt himself being split into three beings. Upon each of their defeat, Morgan/Milligan tried to reassert his will against the spherical entity, but it proved too strong for him. Morgan/Milligan reveals that the spherical entity sought out the Green Lantern, specifically for the power of his ring. The Green Lantern uses his power ring to exile the spherical entity to the furthest reaches of space. Morgan/Milligan dies, believing, in the end, that he has redeemed himself.
Unbeknownst to all involved, the spherical entity is the combined evil of an entire universe, gathered by the Guardians of the Universe, and cast across inter-dimensional space, into Earth-2. It is the same place the Guardians of the Universe expelled all the magic forces of their universe. The Guardians of the Universe took a risk that the wielder of those magical forces, the Green Lantern of Earth-2, would prove to be more than a match for the power of the universal evil, should the two be drawn into conflict.
All-Star Squadron Fact File
Publication history, information, and trivia for the Flash, the Green Lantern, the Guardian and Wonder Woman.
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