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 12-issue Maxi-Series Crisis on Infinite Earths.

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The modern Crime Syndicate

A post-Crisis version of the Crime Syndicate was eventually introduced. 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 1998 graphic novel JLA: Earth 2, established them as coming from a parallel Earth within the antimatter universe. Qward was retconned to be the center of the antimatter universe, rather than the entire universe itself.

The Crime Syndicate's post-Crisis antimatter Earth (named "Earth-1" in the JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel; not to be confused with the pre-Crisis Earth-One) possesses 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?"). The only universally respected principle on their world is that of the "favor bank"---if someone does you a favor, you owe them a favor in return.

In addition to the heroic Alexander Luthor, their opponents include the heroic H.I.V.E. (Hierarchy for International Virtuous Empowerment), the Missile Men, and the Justice Underground, a reversed analog of the Legion of Doom and Secret Society of Super-Villains consisting of Sir Solomon Grundy, General Grodd, Q-Ranger (Earth-1's version of Major Force), Lady Sonar, Star Sapphire, and the Quizmaster (Earth-1's version of 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.

Other criminal organizations on the Crime Syndicate's Earth include the Crime Lodge (Justice Society) and Young Offenders (Teen Titans). They are mentioned at the end of the Busiek story as prepared to take advantage of the Syndicate's weakness, but not seen.

It is unclear whether the Syndicate or the anti-matter universe have survived the events of the 2006 limited series Infinite Crisis.

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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 (Commander Clark Kent) given Anti-Kryptonite-based superpowers after an encounter with aliens. If he is separated from Anti-Kryptonite long enough, his powers fade away; Ultraman combats this by inserting Anti-Kryptonite capsules under his skin which are released gradually over time.
  • 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. Pre-Crisis, Superwoman's powers were the same as Wonder Woman's; post-Crisis, Superwoman's lasso does not compel others to tell the truth, but instead releases inhibitions, and forces a victim to reveal secrets which they find especially humiliating. The post-Crisis Superwoman also has heat vision.
  • 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 Batman. In addition, Owlman increased his IQ with a drug-enhancer for his cerebral cortex. He openly possesses plans to counter his teammates' powers, an action which Batman regrets resorting to in the "Tower of Babel" story arc of JLA. Owlman uses these counterattacks whenever he chooses, as he causes Quick to have a minor heart attack at the beginning of the "Syndicate Rules" storyline.
  • Johnny Quick: the counterpart of the Flash. Quick has super-speed powers; in current continuity Quick maintains his powers with the use of "Speed Juice," a powerful narcotic stimulant. Grant Morrisson stated in an interview that the speed juice was derived from the blood of Quick's murdered predecessor. Quick is 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 modern version had a younger Power Ring named Harrolds, counterpart to Kyle Rayner. His ring was inhabited by the spirit of Volthoom who often spoke on his own, making inane observations; all of which is considered a curse the wielder of the ring. Harrolds' favorite in battle was to use the ring to create living Boschian monstrosities capable of destroying whole city blocks. After the anti-matter unvierse was destroyed and reintegrated, Power Ring was now a black man and counterpart to John Stewart. A Marine for many years, he was tricked by Harrolds into taking the ring by telling him he was the chosen substitute to wield the ring when Harrolds couldn't.

The Crime Syndicate does not have counterparts of traditional JLA members J'onn J'onzz, Aquaman, and Hawkman, though counterparts to them exist in the Crime Syndicate's universe:

  • In JLA: Earth 2, it is revealed that a White Martian came to earth and became Ultraman's chief rival. This was J'onn's antimatter Earth counterpart; this White Martian was also Ultraman's first kill.
  • Barracuda, an Aquaman counterpart, was seen at the end of the Busiek story, leading the armies of Atlantis against the surface world in Florida.
  • Hawkman's counterpart, who was also killed, was called Blood Eagle.

It has been suggested that the CSA cannot match the size of the JLA because extended cooperation and gratitude are completely foreign concepts to the Crime Syndicate members.

The CSA's post-Crisis world is primarily governed by the "favor bank"; unofficial but ironically the only rule that is not consistently broken. If any person should grant a favor for someone else, that person is entitled to compensation whenever they see fit, no matter what the cost or hardship to the latter. Failure to pay back a favor results in inordinately harsh consequences; as seen in the beginning of Syndicate Rules. A mobster, Jackson "Rat-Eyes" Drake, who has failed to follow up on a favor owed was put on "trial" by Owlman, who then had him incinerated by Ultraman as a favor.

The Justice League Quarterly story featured a team based on the then current JLA line-up who identified themselves as Qwardians, this team was not the Crime Syndicate. Its members were:

It is not clear if any of these characters exist in the current antimatter Earth setting.

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Similar groups in other media

  • 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. The Justice Lords, however, lacked a counterpart of the Flash, who had died some time ago in their world. Unlike the Crime Syndicate, the Justice Lords were not simply evil opposites of their good counterparts, rather, they ruled their world with an iron fist in order to end war and crime. They were almost exactly like the Justice League until the death of their Flash set a chain of events in motion that ended up in the death of the alternate Lex Luthor at the hands of the alternate Superman. This set in motion the chain of events which resulted in the Justice Lords proceeding to take over the world. It was suggested that the Justice League themselves may be doomed to become the Justice Lords, causing the United States government to start the Project Cadmus in case they did.
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