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Post by johnreiter902 on May 1, 2020 14:28:44 GMT
The elseworld Superman: War of the Worlds (also known as Earth-1938), clearly is an alternate version of Earth-2, since Superman is debuting in 1938.
It is an alternate version of Earth-2 where the martian invasion from War of the Worlds does happen in 1938, just before Superman would have gone public. The comic focuses mainly on Superman's cast of characters, such as Luthor, Lois, and George Taylor.
However, I've been wondering, what would happen to the other Earth-2 characters in that world? none of the heroes had begun their careers yet in 1938. How many of them would probably die in the martian invasion? For those who survived, how would their lives be different? Does anybody have any thoughts?
We know that, as a result of the invasion, Luthor reformed and became Vice-President. Superman died defeating the martians in 1938 and is remembered as a hero and an inspiration. World War II never happened because so many governments were decimated by the invasion (notably Germany, where Adolf Hitler was killed).
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Post by lawrenceliberty on May 1, 2020 17:54:05 GMT
It always bothered me that Superman died in that story. I wonder if the Spectre would have destroyed the Martians when he gained his powers?
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Post by dans on May 1, 2020 19:22:15 GMT
Somebody other than Alan Scott might end up with the lantern. Jay Garrick might not be in a college chemistry course. Wonder Woman might be almost unchanged. Bruce Wayne may still be in Tibet so he missed the whole thing? Johnny Thunder matures a lot during the fighting, and becomes the "Big Guy" during the Golden Age - he is no longer a bumbling nice guy, but a very competent hero. Some possibilities...
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Post by johnreiter902 on May 2, 2020 1:10:18 GMT
It always bothered me that Superman died in that story. I wonder if the Spectre would have destroyed the Martians when he gained his powers? He might have flown to Mars and destroyed them when he did get his powers, in 1939. On the other hand, is Corrigan died in the final days of the invasion, he might have become the Spectre early.
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Post by johnreiter902 on May 2, 2020 1:12:02 GMT
Somebody other than Alan Scott might end up with the lantern. Jay Garrick might not be in a college chemistry course. Wonder Woman might be almost unchanged. Bruce Wayne may still be in Tibet so he missed the whole thing? Johnny Thunder matures a lot during the fighting, and becomes the "Big Guy" during the Golden Age - he is no longer a bumbling nice guy, but a very competent hero. Some possibilities... I like these possibilities. Bruce will probably still become Batman. If anything, there will be a spike in crime during the reconstruction. However, his equipment and MO my be slightly different, to match the rougher conditions
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Post by jonclark on May 2, 2020 8:49:46 GMT
It always bothered me that Superman died in that story. I wonder if the Spectre would have destroyed the Martians when he gained his powers? He might have flown to Mars and destroyed them when he did get his powers, in 1939. On the other hand, is Corrigan died in the final days of the invasion, he might have become the Spectre early. Maybe if Corrigan died in some way unrelated to a thirst for justice he wasn't even chosen to return as the Spectre. And I like the idea that the Martians butterflied away a lot of the JSA. Not that I dislike the JSA, just that it makes sense that post-Martian Invasion a lot of potential heroes might not follow the same path. I can easily see the Starheart lantern not winding up on that railroad or the accident never happening. Or Charles McNider not being blinded. Or Jay Garrick researching something other than hard water gases. Etc;. With no World War II it is likely Steve Trevor never takes a flight near Paradise Island and thus Diana is still there and young... unless we assume that Mars (the god) had a hand in the invasion and that Diana might leave her home after the Martians attacked it. Maybe it's Diana and not the Spectre that our alien attackers need to worry about.
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Post by johnreiter902 on May 4, 2020 0:36:35 GMT
I agree. I can't imagine Mars had nothing to do with the invasion, considering the timing. It might even be that the Point of Divergence was Mars deciding to increase strife on Earth by inciting the Martians to invade instead of building up the Axis Powers. Wonder Woman's origin might be virtually the same.
Some other thoughts. . .
Sandman is probably the same, since he will still have his prophetic dreams. the Atom is probably butterflied away, working on rebuilding projects Hawkman (and Hath-Set) will probably not regain their memories, since archaeologic digs will be put on indefinite hold Hourman will not exist, since Tyler will not have the time for his pet projects for a while. Probably the same is true of Ted Knight. Dr. Fate I think would be unchanged. He was still training with Nabu, and probably missed the whole thing.
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Post by johnreiter902 on May 5, 2020 14:25:17 GMT
I also suspect that the Ultra-Humanite is dead. In 1938, Luthor was just the Humanite's apprentice. The fact that the Martians recruited him to solve their weakness to Earth diseases, suggests to me that they had already asked the Ultra-Humanite, and when he refused, they killed him and then recruited Luthor instead.
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Post by redsycorax on Jul 9, 2020 3:36:35 GMT
I checked who'd be active in 1938 when I devised an alternate Earth that branched off from the datum in 1938. Hitler and the Nazi hierarchy were assassinated in Berlin and WW2 never happened as a result. The only active superheroes at that time within the DC framework were Superman, Batman, the Crimson Avenger, Sandman, Zatara and Dr Occult, as well as their proteges Sandy, Wing and Rose Psychic. If one wanted a post-1938 Earth-1938, it might be particularly likely to include those specific metahumans.
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Post by johnreiter902 on Jul 9, 2020 22:02:27 GMT
I checked who'd be active in 1938 when I devised an alternate Earth that branched off from the datum in 1938. Hitler and the Nazi hierarchy were assassinated in Berlin and WW2 never happened as a result. The only active superheroes at that time within the DC framework were Superman, Batman, the Crimson Avenger, Sandman, Zatara and Dr Occult, as well as their proteges Sandy, Wing and Rose Psychic. If one wanted a post-1938 Earth-1938, it might be particularly likely to include those specific metahumans. Thank you so much for your research
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Post by redsycorax on Jul 10, 2020 0:28:52 GMT
Oh, and the research source I used to establish the provenance of those specific heroes and associates was Wikipedia, which has a comics timeline. It's extremely useful if someone wants to use a timebound set of heroes: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_years_in_comicsAnd according to that list, there's also a set of pre-1938 Golden Age heroes that could be drafted into any expanded universe. Dick Tracy made his debut in 1931, but what about Secret Agent X-9 (1934) and The Clock (1936)? There was an upsurge in the metahuman population in 1940-41, as one can note from the source material. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Agent_X-9 (Owner: King Syndicate) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clock_(character) (Final owner: Quality Comics. Although this may mean that the Clock might be more suitable for Earth-X?)
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Post by dave on Jul 10, 2020 2:55:55 GMT
Earth 2 or DC comics had a host of heroic adventurers in 1938 who went into the background as the costumed heroes arrived on the scene, including the future Mr America
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Post by redsycorax on Jul 24, 2020 3:49:46 GMT
Another useful Wikipedia reference page is this one on DC Comics. See especially the Golden Age section. Zatara originated at the same time as Superman, in Action Comics 1: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Comics#Golden_Age
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