Cain and Abel

Publication History
At first, Cain and Abel were EC Comic-esqe horror comic hosts in House of Mystery and House of Secrets, which ran from the 1950s to the early 1980s. During the 1970's, they co-hosted a humor / horror anthology comic called Plop!. On a letter page in Weird Mystery Tales # 3, Destiny claimed Cain, Abel and Eve were not their Biblical Counterparts. The duo and Eve hosted Secrets of Haunted House, until it became Destiny's title. House of Mystery was canceled. Cain appeared in the mostly-reprint Welcome Back to the House of Mystery series. The House of Secret series (along with The Witching Hour) were merged with The Unexpected, due to the infamous DC Implosion. Neil Gaiman revamped them for his new Sandman-series.
Fictional History
House of Mystery / House of Secrets
Cain and Able were care-takers of the House of Mystery (Cain) and the House of Secrets (Abel). Cain usually told tales to various people that stayed at the House of Mystery, while Abel (in the early issues) told his to his "imaginary" ("imaginary" was always written in quotes) friend Goldie, but he always appeared to be alone. Abel claimed Goldie was a ghost. Notably, Abel was very nice (even to his brother) and it's unclear why Cain was abusive. Both of the houses they worked at / lived in were on opposite sides a graveyard. Cain had a dragon-like gargoyle, who ate that reality's version of real-life writer Paul Kupperberg and editor Jack C. Harris. The houses were in a small town in Kentucky. Abel had to temporally move in with Cain, as the House of Secrets was being transported at the time. The final issue of House of Mystery, the titular house was torn down.
Pre-Sandman
In 1985, Alan Moore revamped them so they could retell the Swamp Thing's origin. In Blue Devil #20, Cain is seen taking care of the "House of Weirdness", until the titular character moves in. During the Crisis, after finding the House of Mystery, Elvira tried to find the-then-missing Cain. It's revealed he was still at the House of Weirdness with Blue Devil. In Swamp Thing #49-50, they watched a fight in Hell and acted like commentators. They made some less notable appearances, in which Cain tried to restrain himself from killing Abel and failed.
Sandman
It's implied, in a conservation between Cain and Lucifer (that was post-crisis), that Cain and Abel are their Biblical counterparts. It should be noted pre-Crisis Destiny claimed they were not. It's became even more unclear if they are their Biblical counterparts in this series. In this verison, Cain and Abel are inhabants of the Dreaming. This verison of Cain is much more aggressive towards Abel than past verisons, but Abel usually came back to life (due to being a dream). Cain hurts Abel, due to a " macabre form of obsessive-compulsive disorder". Despite abusing him, Cain seems to care about him. As such in The Sandman: The Wake, he became upset when Abel permanently died, to the point he conviced the new Lord of Dreams to bring him back. In Sandman # 2, Cain gave Abel a gargoyle, but got mad when Abel didn't want to give it a name that started with "G". So, Abel decided to call the gargoyle "Goldie". Despite usually being comic relief, the duo did play some imporant roles in the series.
Later...
Both Cain and Abel were main characters in the new House of Mystery 2008 Vertigo series.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_and_Abel_(comics)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/Cain_%26_Able.jpg

Champions of Angor

Origins

The Champions of Angor was a pastiche / parody of the Avengers. The team first appeared in Justice League of America #87, written by Mike Friedrich, who's friend Roy Thomas introduced a Justice League pastiche in the Avengers comic at the same time. The Champions' planet, Angor, was attacked by robots. They defeated them and decided to track them to their source. The Justice League had been attacked by robots too and were tracking them to their source. The two teams met each other and had a fight, because they thought that the other team was the enemy. Members of the Champions in this story included:

• Wandjina (Thor)- He was the leader. He has super strength and weather control. His name comes from an Australian weather spirit.
• Silver Sorceress (Scarlet Witch)- Laura Neilsen is a powerful (albeit unpredictable) magic user. Her costume has a bizarre headdress.
• Blue Jay (Yellowjacket)- Jay Abrams can shrink and fly.
• Jack B. Quick and later Captain Speed (Quicksilver)- Harry Christos is a speedster.

Later...

In the post-Crisis Justice League International, the team reappears. In issue 2, the team (minus Jack B. Quick) tried to destroy the Earth's nuclear weapons (apparently Angor had a nuclear disaster that killed everyone but them). Wandjina stopped a nuclear meltdown in the fictional country, Bialya, but got himself killed in the process. The others gave themselves up to Russian authorities. Wandjina would later be reanimated by Queen Bee II as a weapon. In Justice League Europe #15, Blue Jay and Sorceress escaped from jail. Double S went to Angor and Blue Jay went to the League. It was revealed that a group of villains called the Extremists caused the nuclear disaster. The Extremists kidnapped Sorceress and tried to take control over the Earth's nuclear weapons. It turned out that these guys (except one) were actually Extremists-robot copies for an amusement park (although they did cause the disaster). The owner turned them off. Dreamslayer (the one that wasn't a robot) was defeated by Sorceress. Sorceress and Blue Jay joined the Justice League. In Justice League Quarterly # 3, the amusement park owner went back in time to try to stop the robots from destroying Angor. Members of the Champions (called the Justifiers at this point) that weren't seen before were introduced. They included:

• The Bowman (Hawkeye)- An archer that is womanizing and likes the "Black Widow types".
• Tin Man (Iron Man)- He is has hi-tech armor and a heart condition.
• T.A. (Wasp?)- Hero with metal wings

There was also an unnamed homage to Goliath and several non-Avenger members, including Spider-Man, Cyclops and Wolverine. Later appearances of the team had them downplay their pastiche roots. An unconnected team called the Justifiers are mentioned in Final Crisis.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champions_of_Angor
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Heroesangor.jpg

Superman Red and Superman Blue

"The Amazing Story of Superman-Red and Superman-Blue!"
In an "imaginary story" (non-cannon stories, usually taking place in another realities), in Superman # 162, Superman decided to increase his intelligence, so he could finish his list of unaccomplished goals, such as returning Kandor to it's normal size. He did so via a machine powered by kryptonite. It made the Man of Steel 100 times smarter, but it also spilt him into two Superman-beings: Superman Red and Superman Blue. They successfully restored Kandor, but they didn't stop there. They re-created Krypton (dubbed "New Krypton") and in the process destroyed all existing kryptonite. The duo made an "anti-evil ray", designed to remove criminal tendencies from people. They used satellites to emit the ray causing not only Mr. Mxyzptlk and Lex Luthor become to good, but even Communists. The now-good Lex created a serum able to cure all known illnesses and placed in the water supply. Now that Earth became a paradise, Superman-Blue married Lana Lang, Superman-Red married Lois and even Jimmy Olsen married Lucy Lane at the same wedding. Superman-Red decided to go live on new Krypton (giving up his powers), while Superman-Blue stayed on Earth and started "Super-Family". This version of Red and Blue were seen in Infinite Crisis # 5, when Lex tried to fuse all the alternate reality Supermen together and in Superman / Batman # 25 in an army of different versions of Batman and Superman.

"Superman Red/Superman Blue"

The next version of the duo began in a 1998 storyline, where Superman got electric-based powers, later it forced him to wear a blue containment suit. He could turn the powers "off", but became as vulnerable as a normal human. Some fans call this version "Electric Blue Superman". In the Superman Red/Superman Blue one-shot, the Cyborg Superman created a trap that split Superman into a rash Superman Red and a cerebral Superman Blue. The two started to differ from each other so much, that they didn't want to turn back into the "normal" Superman. Both Supermen fought over Lois Lane, so she kicked them out her house. Perplexed, both Red and Blue went to Antarctica to see if the Kryptonian tech could help solve the issue. But, they found a woman called Obsession, previously known to have romantic lust for Superman at an insane level. Then, Maxima (another super-powered Superman-admirer) came to the scene. Although Obsession liked the idea of two Supermen, Maxima was completely opposed to it. The two woman fought over this. The Supermen stopped the fight by separating them. After battling the Millennium Giants, the two Supermen fused together. Why this happened is very vague: Superman felt "rewarded" for saving the Earth, but he later claimed to haved turned back when his "electromagnetic energy dispersed". However when he was battling Brainiac 13, in a later comic, Brainiac 2.5 manage to turn him into the "Electric Blue Superman" to stop 13.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_Red/Superman_Blue

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Supesredblue.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Supesredblue.PNG

Mister Mxyzptlk

Fictional History
Golden Age
Mister Mxyzptlk was introduced as a "fifth dimension" imp, unbounded by 3-dimensional laws. So, he was able to do seemingly magical things. He used his powers to cause chaos and pull pranks. He explained to Superman he was a jester in the fifth dimension, hench his pranks. He originally plotted to conquer the Earth, but settled on annoying the Man of Steel. His only weakness is if he says "Kltpzyxm" (his name backwards) he'll go back to his home and stay there for 90 days. He tried to counter this weakness, but failed to do so. He originally appeared as a bald, small man with a purple suit and derby hat and a green bow tie.
Silver Age
In the Silver Age of Comics, it was explained that the reason Mxyzptlk could affect Superman was because he was vulnerable to magic. Mister Mxyzptlk was changed for the Silver Age. Althought the hat stayed, his costume was now orange with purple trims and white hair on the side. In Action Comic # 208, his name is spelt differently: Mxyztplk (not Mxyzptlk). It's unknown if this was a mistake or intentional (as he got revamped in this issue). In a notable adventure, Superman ruined Mxyzptlk's campaign as mayor.
Multiverse
It's revealed that the Golden Age Mxyzptlk is from Earth-Two and the Silver Age is from a parallel reality, Earth-One. In the Superboy stories, the Earth-One Mxyzptlk appears as Master Mxyzptlk. The Legion of Super-Heroes (in Adventure Comics #310) were attacked by Mister Mxyzptlk's descendant (also name Mxyzptlk).
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
A more malevolent Mister Mxyzptlk appears as the main villain in Alan Moore's non-cannon Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?. He also revealed his "human" form was not his true form, which is a dark purple, giant, roughly humanoid-shaped ceature.
Modern
Mister Mxyzptlk appeared in the modern continuity and was so determined to be a thorn in the Man of Steel's side, he gave Lex Luthor red kryptonite for when he was too busy to annoy Superman. In the Emperor Joker storyline, the Joker got 99% of Mxyzptlk's power and turned the Earth into a nightmarish place, but it turned out the Joker couldn't effect Batman (who defined him), which lead to his downfall. The re-powered Mister Mxyzptlk saved some of the Joker's creation such as the new Bizarro. Various other alternate forms of Mister Mxyzptlk appeared, but it's unclear if they're even related to the character. The real Mister Mxyzptlk (now weakened) saved Superman from Ruin's krytonite-weapon, but seemly died.
One Year Later
Action Comic Annul # 10 said Mxyzptlk hasn't been seen in 190 days and his name is pronounced "Mix-Yez-Pittle-Ick".
Countdown
Mister Mxyzptlk was captured and imprison in the Source Wall by Superboy-Prime, who had been torturing him. Annataz Arataz (Earth-3 Zatanna) freed the imp. When in the fifth dimension, he (fearfully) told his girlfriend, Gsptlsnz, he cannot go back to the third-diemension and that their dimension must be sealed.
Powers and Abilites
Mister Mxyzptlk, as a fifth dimensional being, has reality warping abilites that are so powerful, they seem like magic to us. The only known limits to Mister Mxyzptlk's power is his willpower and if he says his last name backwards, he'll be sent back to the fifth dimension and be force to stay there for 90 days.
Pronunciation
Due to the odd spelling of his last name, it has been pronounced various ways. In the 1967 CBS Filmation Superman animated series, his name was pronounced "mix-yez-PITTLE-ik", the offical pronunciation of the time. However, in the 1980's Super Friends (loosely based on the Justice League), his name was pronounced "Mix-Ill-Plick". "Miks-yez-pit-lik" is how the name is usually pronounced. To complicate things even more, his name has also been pronounced "mix-yez-PIT-lek", "mix-yez-PIT-ul-ick" and "mix-yez-pittle-ik". But in the 1990 Superman: The Animated Series, it's pronounced the same as saying "mix, yes, spit, lick". In the Superman Returns video game, he pronounces his name "Mix-yiz-SPIT-Lik". The pronunciation "Miks-il-piti-lik" (with lighty pronounced i's) was used in Smallville television series. Recently, Action Comics Annual #10 stated his name is pronounced "mix-yez-pittle-ik".
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Mxyzptlk
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/Mxyzptlk.PNG

Bizarro Justice League

Silver Age
Bizarro stole Lex Luthor's imperfect Duplicator Ray that created Bizarro clones. Bizarro created a cube-shaped version of Earth with natives that were warped clones of the natives of Earth. Among these were the Bizarro Justice League. This version of the team had the powers of their "normal" counterparts, but had backward logic. Despite popular belief, the team does say what they mean (not the opposite), but with bad gammar. Members were:

• Bizarro Aquaman
• Bizarro Batman- World's worst detective and died to save Batman
• Bizarro Flash- His costume had the reverse colors of Flash (similar to the Reverse Flash), but had a gravel logo (because the Flash was holding one at the time of cloning).
• Bizzaro Green Lantern (a.k.a. Yellow Lantern)- He was given a yellow power ring by mistake and couldn't use his Green Lantern battery to refuel it (this verison of the ring couldn't affect anything green), leaving him powerless. He was the most scared being in the entire universe (as oppose to the fearless Green Lantern).
• Bizzaro Hawkman
• Bizzaro No. 1- Impefect clone of Superman and the leader
• Bizzaro Wonder Woman

Crisis on Infinite Earths
The Bizarro World (and everyone living there) was destroyed.
Modern
As a result of the Emperor Joker story arch, a new Bizarro, Bizarro III (Bizarro II had no connections to the League hence not being mentioned), was created. Under a blue sun, he got a power called “Bizarro Vision”, which had a similar effect as the Duplicator Ray mentioned above. He recreated the Bizarro World, but plotted to destroy it and kill everyone, but himself (as Superman would never do that). So, Bizarro Lex Luthor led a revolt and freed the Bizarro-Doomsday to stop him. So, Bizarro recreated the Bizarro JLA to stop it. They defeated the monster, only to let Bizarro destroy the Bizarro World! Member were:

• Bizarro Aquaman- Can't swim
• Bizarro Batman- World's Worst detective
• Bizarro Flash- Fat
• Bizarro Green Arrow- Sets his arrow backward
• Bizarro Green Lantern- A Sinestro Corp member. His ring actually works.
• Bizzaro Hawkgirl- She has the intelligence of a hawk.
• Bizzaro Wonder Woman- Thinks men are superior

Other Versions
In the DC Super Friends # 18, team called the Bizarro Super Friends (loosely based on the Bizarro League) appeared.
References:
DC Encyclopedia

http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Bizarro_Justice_League_(Earth-One)
http://www.comicvine.com/bizarro-jla/65-47966/
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Bizarro_Justice_League_(Earth-One)http://www.comicvine.com/bizarro-jla/65-47966/http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Duplicator_Ray
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Bizarro_Doomsday_(New_Earth)
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/40/216488-64487-bizarro-jla_large.jpg
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Bizarro_Hawkgirl
http://www.comicvine.com/bizarro-aquaman/29-47973/
http://www.comicvine.com/bizarro-green-arrow/29-47974/
http://www.comicvine.com/bizarra/29-62046/
http://www.comicvine.com/dc-super-friends-this-am-not-the-title/37-167962/
http://www.aquamanshrine.com/2009/08/dc-super-friends-18-oct-2009.html
http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/bizarroflash.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batzarro
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Bizarro_Justice_League_(New_Earth)
http://www.comicvine.com/yellow-lantern/29-47971/

Bi-Beast

Two heads are better than one... unless you're battling this guy!

Fictional History

The bird-like Avian race built a double-headed android (one on top of the other): the top head had knowledge of warfare, where as the bottom one had knowledge of culture. For unknown reasons, the Avian race died out, leaving the Bi-Beast the only survivor. Many years later, the Bi-Beast saw the Harpy (mutated bird-version of Betty Ross, Bruce Banner's girlfriend), who reminds the beast of the Avian race, with Bruce Banner. Bi-Beast captured both of them and told Bruce to fix the decaying machines in the Avian city. Bruce, in reality, made a cure for Harpy and turned her back to Betty. But, the Bi-Beast figured out that Bruce tricked him and battled him as the Hulk. However, A.I.M. (a branch of terrorist Hydra) tried to storm the city. The beast destroyed the city, rather than have A.I.M. take it over. Unknown to everyone, a cylinder was ejected and it had a second Bi-Beast! It rested on the sea floor, until it was taken to the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. The second Bi-Beast (with the memories of the first) decided to use the helicarrier to attack major world cities (thinking that humans caused the end of the Avian race). General Thunderbolt Ross became aware of this and forced the Hulk into the helicarrier, where the Hulk battled the Bi-Beast. They fell down an opening and the Bi-Beast disappears,assume o have drown. The first Bi-Beast reappears and enslaved naval ship crews, while slowly he rebuilt the Avian city. However, Donald Blake (who was one of the ships) became Thor and freed the crew. But, the Bi-Beast was freed by his ally, Man-Beast and the duo battled Iron Man and Thor. After being defeated, the Stranger captures the Bi-Beast to be studied. But with the other captives, he escaped and attacked the Stranger, however, Power Princess defeated him. Returning to Earth, the Bi-Beast battle the Hulk and She-Hulk, but he becomes less affective, when one the heads gets a crush on She-Hulk. The Bi-Beast was seen fighting Squirrel Girl and Thing and in the series, Beyond!.

Powers and Abilities

Both Bi-Beast had super strength, endurance and stamina. The original Bi-Beast had strong knoweldge of warfare and culture (possibly to superhuman levels) and, despite lost in size and weight, still had his "normal" level of strength.

References:

The Hulk: Ultimate Guide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bi-Beast

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b1/H-169.jpg

Annoying Imps

Golden Age of Imps

Thanks to Jerry Siegel, the Silver Age of Comics started a new fad for super heroes: annoying imps. It all started in 1944 (in the Golden Age), when in Superman # 30, we met a fifth-dimensional imp called Mr. Mxyztplk, whose one goal in life was to annoy the Man of Steel . Following him in Detective Comics # 267 (in the Silver Age), Batman got his own annoying imp: Bat-Mite, who tried (and failed) to help his hero. In Aquaman # 1, the wet hero got a "water sprite" called Quisp (later Qwsp). Even, Martian Manhunter got a Munchkin pal, Zook, in Detective Comics # 311.

Alan Moore Goes Excessive and More...

After the Silver Age, Alan Moore (who wrote Watchmen) worked on a comic called Supreme, a homage to Superman. So, he created a Mr. Mxyztplk parody/tribute called Szazs. But, he decided to go excessive and take annoying imps to all new level with Impolympics. You see, Alan Moore created a homage to the Justice League and decided to give some of their members imps. The imps included Nite-Mite and Qyrk (based on Bat-Mite and Quisp) and new ones including Mighty Man (based on DC's Captain Marvel), female Supreme and Adam Strange imps. Poor Hawkman didn't get even get a pixie. In recent news, Qwsp (formally known as Quisp) turned evil and tried to manipulate Johnny Thunder's "genie".

References:

http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/2/

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_0nUvTn2IN3RkDK00g0qHo866yR60GDNASl6lLYJku23sctBjSfOvlPLnnsRnRpcXa0O5WrRisSoKVBzE6IBWsMeDVTvrS1SjbSyi3AogfebMnz1Y17bRaK1zYFBVE2mOTmpfI4sDX7M/s400/WFSM.jpg