Injustice Society

Injustice Society
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	All Star Comics #37 (October/November 1947)
Created by	Sheldon Mayer Bob Kanigher

The Injustice Society (also called the Injustice Society of the World) is a group of fictional supervillains in the DC Comics Universe. They are the main antagonists of the Justice Society of America.

Publication history

The Injustice Society first appears in All Star Comics #37 and was created by Sheldon Mayer and Bob Kanigher.

Fictional team history

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, led by the Wizard and planning to take over America. 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 them. 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, and Doctor Mid-Nite was apprehended by Per Degaton who was attacking the Washington Monument. Flash fell victim to his long-time foe 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, and Atom was snared by 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 the 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 Doctorr Mid-Nite in Capital City (evidently meant to be based on Washington), Wonder Woman and Johnny Thunder left the JSA HQ 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 and 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 the Junior Justice Society.

Second Injustice Society

The second formation appeared in the late 1940s attempting "patriotic crimes", where 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.

Injustice Unlimited

During what some described as the "anti-costumed-hero mania", (as chronicled in the DC mini-series Legends [1986]), the Wizard gathered both old comrades and new super-criminals into a new Injustice Society which he called "Injustice Unlimited". The adventures of this incarnation were written in the pages of Infinity, Inc. #32-37 (1987) and #51-53 (1988). Indeed, the criminal group seemed to be a mirror image of Infinity, Inc., which itself was an offshoot of the Justice Society. Later, this team returned to the original name.

Johnny Sorrow's Injustice Society

Johnny Sorrow appears in late 1999, as the leader of the new Injustice Society (consisting of the Icicle, Blackbriar Thorn, Count Vertigo, Geomancer, Killer Wasp, and the Tigress). 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 bath, with the exception of Sorrow, who uses the diversion to steal an unknown artifact.

Sorrow returns with a larger version of the Injustice Society (having also recruited Black Adam after removing a brain tumour, Shiv, Rival, and Thinker) 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.

Wizard's Second Injustice Society

The demon Legacy (actually Wizard in disguise) formed another version in the JSA All-Stars mini-series.

The new team again confronted the JSA. Unknown to the JSA, their job was just to stick teleportation disks to the old-timers. Legacy then teleported his successful team away. Legacy is then later "killed" by the Spectre.

Injustice Society

The Injustice Society resurfaced again in November 2005, in the pages of JSA Classified. A major plot was to kidnap Stargirl and to face off against the JSA All Stars.

Membership

Original team

• Wizard (William Zard) - An illusionist and powerful sorcerer.
• Brain Wave (Henry King, Sr.) - A metahuman with great psionic powers.
• Gambler (Steven Sharpe III) - A master of disguise and weapons.
• Per Degaton - A time-traveler with access to advanced technology.
• Thinker (Clifford DeVoe) - A former district attorney and enemy of 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.
• Tigress (Paula Brooks) - Tiger-themed mercenary, married to Sportmaster.
• Icicle (Joar Mahkent) - A scientist who invented a gun that drastically lowers temperature.
• Harlequin (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 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 joined a fourth formation led by the Icicle.

Injustice Unlimited

• Wizard
• Fiddler
• Shade
• Tigress (Artemis Crock) - Daughter of the original Tigress and Sportsmaster.
• Hazard
• Icicle (Cameron Mahkent) - Son of the first Icicle with freezing powers.

Later members

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

• Dummy - Sentient ventriloquist's dummy.
• Harlequin (Marcie Cooper)
• Solomon Grundy

Johnny Sorrow's team

File:Injustice Society3.jpg

Johnny Sorrow's team. Art by Alan Davis.

• Johnny Sorrow - A former thief whose face kills nearly anyone who looks at it.
• Count Vertigo
• Icicle (Cameron Mahkent)
• Geomancer
• Tigress (Artemis Crock)
• Blackbriar Thorn
• Killer Wasp

Later recruits included:

• 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.
• Thinker (A.I.) - An artificial intelligence version of the first Thinker which spied on the JSA.

Legacy's team

• Kestrel - A supervillain created by M’Shulla and Gorrum of the Lords of Chaos to either subvert Hawk (of Hawk and Dove) to the forces of evil or to kill him.
• Rag Doll
• Tigress (Artemis Crock)
• Icicle (Cameron Mahkent)
• Solomon Grundy
• Shiv

Present formation

File:Injustice society.jpg

The fifth version of the Injustice Society. Art by Joe Bennett.

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

• Icicle (Cameron Mahkent)
• Tigress (Artemis Crock)
• Rag Doll (Peter Merkel, deceased)
• Thinker (A.I.)
• Solomon Grundy
• Wizard
• Gentleman Ghost
• 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:

• Johnny Sorrow
• Tigress (Artemis Crock)
• Icicle (Cameron Mahkent)
• Wizard
• Killer Wasp
• Geomancer
• Shiv