10 Things Everyone Forgets About The Justice Society Of America
3. Hitler Kept The JSA At Bay With A Stick
As revealed in Secret Origins, Vol. 2, #31, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was a fanatic about the occult and arcane knowledge. Late in 1940, Hitler acquired the Spear of Destiny. The Spear, alternately known as the Spear of Longinus, was the spear a Roman soldier used to pierce the side of Jesus Christ while he was crucified. It kept any super-powered hero, especially those with mystical powers or susceptibility to magic like Superman, out of Axis-held territories lest they fall under the mental influence of the Spear and its owner.
The Spear directly led to the creation of the Society. Learning of Hitler’s plans, British agent Smythe had asked for Roosevelt’s help despite the fact that America was still taking an isolationist stance toward the war. The President asked Green Lantern and the Flash to go undercover to destroy the new Nazi robot, the Mordmaschine, aka Murder Machine. It proved too much for them and they were captured and sent to Hitler. Adolf used the Spear to call forth a group of mythical Valkyrie to guard the bomber that he was sending to Washington.
The Lantern and Flash broke free and began fighting the Valkyrie, but they could not stop the bomber. Dr. Fate sensed the danger that Hitler and the Spear posed, and thus brought together Atom, Hawkman, Hourman, and the Spectre. Fate first transported everyone to Dover, England to fight a Nazi attack, and the ghostly hero stopped an entire fleet of Nazi ships. They later went to Washington and saved Roosevelt from the Valkyrie Gudra.