The Crime Syndicate or Crime Syndicate of America (CSA, with America sometimes spelled Amerika) is a team of supervillains featured in DC Comics. The team is composed of evil parallel-universe counterparts of the Justice League, first appearing in Justice League of America #29 in August 1964 with members Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring, counterparts to Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Lantern respectively.
The Crime Syndicate has undergone several revisions in its publication history. Its members were originally portrayed as being from Earth-3, then an antimatter Earth in the JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel. Following The New 52 reboot, the team reverted back to an Earth-3 origin, where they appear in Justice League Volume 2 as the main focus of the crossover storyline Forever Evil. An analogous team, the Crime Society, a villainous version of the Justice Society, appeared in 52, later featuring in Countdown to Final Crisis.
Publication history Pre-Crisis
As detailed in Justice League of America #29 (August 1964), the Crime Syndicate of America originally lived on Earth-Three, a world where history was "reversed" from the real world (e.g., Christopher Columbus discovered Europe, British colonists declared their independence from America, and President John Wilkes Booth was assassinated by actor Abraham Lincoln). It initially had no superheroes, only the supervillains of the Crime Syndicate, though this changed with the later introduction of the heroic Lex Luthor who used his vast intelligence for good.
In their first appearance, the Crime Syndicate, bored with the ease with which they are able to commit crimes on their Earth with no one to challenge them, discover the existence of Earth-One and Earth-Two after Ultraman is exposed to kryptonite and gains the ability to see into other universes. Intrigued by the existence of superheroes, they cross the dimensional void and attack the Justice League (JLA) and JSA. The villains are at first defeated but when they said the word "Volthoom", they sent themselves into Earth-Three thanks to a fail-safe created by Power Ring. The CSA capture the JSA by transporting them to Earth-Three and imprisoning them, intending to fight the JLA on Earth-2 to prove their superiority. However, the JLA defeat the CSA by tricking the members into unleashing more power than they could control. Following this, the JLA imprison the CSA in Limbo, where time has no meaning.Justice League of America #30 (September 1964)
Earth-Three and the original Crime Syndicate are among the universes destroyed by an antimatter wave during the Crisis on Infinite Earths event. The original Earth-Three Syndicate make several post-Crisis appearances, when Ultraman and Power Ring appeared in the Animal Man series,Animal Man #24 - #25 (June - July 1990) and then again in Infinite Crisis, when Earth-Three is temporarily recreated.Infinite Crisis #6 (September 2005) The Crime Syndicate also appears in the Convergence storyline, where Earth-Three is among the universes and time periods captured by Brainiac.Convergence: Crime Syndicate #1 (June 2015)
Early Modern Age A post-Crisis version of the team, simply known as the "Crime Syndicate" (not 'of America'), was eventually introduced. This version is composed of Qwardians, residents of the antimatter counterpart of Oa. They act as the second Conglomerate team of Claire Montgomery, Maxwell Lord's ex-wife.
Post-Zero Hour
Following a further "soft" reboot of DC continuity in Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! (1994), the Crime Syndicate was introduced once again, in 2000, in the JLA: Earth 2 graphic novel by Grant Morrison,Cowsill, Alan "2000s" in Dolan, p. 295: "Writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely brought the Crime Syndicate of America back to DC continuity in JLA: Earth 2". which combined the Pre-Crisis parallel Earth idea with the pre-Zero Hour antimatter universe concept. The Crime Syndicate's Post-Zero Hour antimatter Earth possesses a "reversed" history similar to Earth-Three's, but with a much darker tone to the team and its world. JLA Secret Files and Origins 2004 provided additional history of this team, showing that even though they did partially resemble the Earth-Three Syndicate, they were still easily identifiable from their Pre-Crisis Earth-Three incarnation. Unlike the Crime Syndicate of Earth-Three, this Crime Syndicate of Amerika are able to rule their world, though they allow governments to continue operating and honest people are able to continue operating in pockets such as Gotham City Police Commissioner Thomas Wayne (father to Owlman and counterpart of the murdered father of Batman).
Due to the events of the crossover JLA/Avengers, the antimatter universe is rebooted, replacing Power Ring with a counterpart of John Stewart.JLA #604–605 (July–August 2002) The Crime Syndicate journey to the matter universe to attack Earth, blaming the JLA for the changes. Meanwhile, the Qwardians rally behind a dimension-destroying weapon called the Void Hound and pursue the Syndicate to the matter universe, laying waste to hundreds of planets along the way. Reluctantly, the CSA team up with the JLA, but the Void Hound proves too powerful. The heroes defeat the Void Hound by using a former JLA foe, the Construct, to remove the artificial intelligence of the weapon and render it powerless. With the Void Hound defeated and the CSA owing the JLA a favor for saving them, the villains are sent back to the antimatter universe, where they discover to their horror that the Qwardians have also invaded their Earth.
After the events of Infinite Crisis, the pre-Crisis Ultraman appears in the bottled city of Kandor posing as Kal-El (Superman).Supergirl (vol. 5) #7 - #9 (June - August 2006) It is also revealed that Saturn Queen, last seen in "Absolute Power",Superman/Batman #14–18 (December 2002–April 2003) survived the reboot of the universe in Infinite Crisis and used her telepathy to convince Ultraman that he is Kal-El and that she is his mother. Saturn Queen further manipulates events to place him in charge of Kandor and controls Kara Zor-El (Supergirl) into marrying him. Kara eventually breaks free and in a blind rage beats him to a pulp. Ultraman is saved when Saturn Queen provides information to Supergirl about her lost home of Argo City in exchange for sparing his life.
Meanwhile, the antimatter CSA made their next appearance in Trinity.Trinity #9 (May 2009) Here, it is revealed that the Syndicate have gained control of their Earth again and have been abducting people from throughout the multiverse to use as slave labor to repair their damaged Earth. After the hyper-powered Trinity heroes of the story defeat and imprison the Syndicate and free the slaves, the antimatter Earth falls into chaos.Trinity #16 (August 2009)
In Justice League of America (vol. 2) #43, Doctor Impossible and his cohorts use Blue Jay to open up a gateway to the Multiverse. Owlman, Ultraman, and Superwoman are briefly seen standing atop a building, with shadows obscuring most of their identifying marks, thus making it unclear which versions they are. The full Crime Syndicate members later appear with the original pre-Crisis iterations of Power Ring and Johnny Quick replacing their contemporary counterparts as a mirror to the events of Green Lantern: Rebirth and Flash: Rebirth.Justice League of America (vol. 2) #50-53 (December 2010 - March 2011) After arriving on New Earth following the destruction of their world at the hands of Alexander Luthor Jr., the Syndicate attacks the Hall of Justice, where Luthor's corpse was interred after the Joker killed him in Infinite Crisis. It is revealed that the Syndicate members were working with Impossible to create a machine that could resurrect the dead, hoping that they could revive Luthor and force him to undo the damage he had dealt to the Crime Syndicate's world. Just as the machine is to be activated, Impossible double-crosses the Syndicate and attempts to resurrect Darkseid rather than Luthor, but the machine malfunctions and creates a powerful villain called the Omega Man.
In the ensuing storyline, Power Ring is killed and the members of the Justice League and the Crime Syndicate are forced to work together to stop the Omega Man. Realizing that the situation is hopeless, Owlman betrays the League and turns them over to the Omega Man, figuring that the Syndicate could take over the League's Earth after the Omega Man kills off most of the heroes. At the last second, Batman reveals that he anticipated the Syndicate's betrayal, and has the Tangent Universe Green Lantern temporarily resurrect Luthor. Luthor builds a machine that returns the Syndicate to their world and seemingly destroys Omega Man.
52
In 52 #52, an alternate version of Earth-Three is shown as a part of the new Multiverse. In the depiction are characters that are altered versions of the original Justice League of America, plus the Martian Manhunter. The names of the characters and the team are not mentioned in the two panels in which they appear.52 #52 (July 2007)
Based on comments by Grant Morrison, this alternate universe is not the pre-Crisis Earth-Three, making these new characters unrelated to previous versions. In Countdown #31, the name of this team is revealed to be the Crime Society. The Society are said to be evil doppelgangers of the heroes of Earth-2, and make their first solo appearance in Countdown Presents The Search for Ray Palmer - Crime Society #1 written by Sean McKeever and illustrated by Jamal Igle.Countdown Presents The Search for Ray Palmer: Wildstorm (November 2007) In addition to the five known members, this version of the CSA includes evil versions of Green Arrow, Wildcat, Black Canary, Hawkwoman, Stargirl, and Spectre.Countdown #31 (September 2007) Later issues introduce Annataz Arataz (the counterpart of Zatanna),Countdown #24 (November 2007) and counterparts of Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Wonder Girl (Donna Troy), and Booster Gold.
Shortly after the Crime Society's introduction, they are offered a place among Monarch's army. Already recruited into the Monarch's army, Johnny Quick wins a place in Monarch's elite squad when he defeats his Earth-9 and Earth-2 counterparts in the Countdown: Arena miniseries.Countdown: Arena #1 (December 2007) All of the Crime Society members who are present in the Earth-51 dimension at the end battle with Superman-Prime and the Monarch are killed, as the entire dimension is destroyed with only Superman-Prime surviving.Countdown #1-2 (May 2008)
The New 52
In "The New 52", with the changes of this new timeline, Crime Syndicate was introduced as the true antagonists of the "Villains Month" event, and the Forever Evil series.
At the conclusion of Trinity War, it is revealed that the leader of the Secret Society of Super Villains, previously known as Outsider, is the Earth-Three counterpart of Alfred Pennyworth. He gains possession of Pandora's Box to open a portal to Earth-3, from which the Crime Syndicate emerges. The Crime Syndicate then proceeds to attack the fallen Justice League members and claims Prime Earth now belongs to them.Justice League (vol. 2) #23 (October 2013)