The Legion Outpost

CLASSIFIED  REPORT

Disclosure of any portion of this report lo unauthorized personnel is strictly forbidden according to Legion Directive THX-1138.

How can the most dangerous villain ever encountered by The Legion Of Super-Heroes be an In­ dividual that we are not even sure exists? Although we have battled him face to face on numerous oc­ cations, his very nature makes us uncertain if the fights really took place in the realm we call reality. Did we actually meet and defeat him? Should he be Included In the history of The Legion—or its future? How can one classify someone who can bend and manipulate the very fabric of time? Just who—or what—is … The Time Trapper?

Since we of The Legion live and exist in a well-defined stream of time, we must relate events per­ taining to The Time Trapper's at­ tacks upon us In the sequential order experienced by our various members, in the order in which we discovered them. At first, some of the incidents were not known to have been caused by the actions of this evil villain until well after the various reports were filed. We have re-filed the reports In order now and they are noted for easy reference. The first report was sub­ mitted by Kai-El of Krypton (Superboy) and Lar Gand of Daxam (Mon-El):

TIME REPORT

Updated: File under: THE TIME TRAPPER

Earth Prime/20th Century reference: Adventure Comics #314, Nov. '63 & #317, Feb. '64.

Although we both have the power to travel through the time barrier (flying clock-wise at ultra­ light speed for the future, counter clock-wise for the past), we have have not been able to pierce the barrier for more than 30 days in to the future. There is a forcefield, an Iron Curtain of Time that seals off the future from us. We are carrying on our own investigation into this phenomenon and will keep The Legion abreast of all information to this potentially dangerous situation. —Superboy & Mon-El.

This following update was filed a few weeks later:

TIME REPORT

(The Time Trapper)

Earth Prime/20th Century reference: Adventure Comics #321, Jun. 1964.

With the aid of Jo Nah of Rimbor (Ultra Boy), we have determined that a super-scientific criminal call­ ing himself The Time Trapper has successfully sealed off the future from us! We are still unable to go more than 30 days from the present moment into the future. We have received an ultimatum from The Trapper that declares he will soon invade the 30th century and destroy The Legion. —Superboy & Mon-El.

I learned of this report later. At the time it was being filed, I was on the planet Graa building a radar beacon to aid the local space navigators. It was there that I was trapped temporarily and an attempt was made to force me to reveal the secret of The Legion's greatest weapon, the Concentrator, a device that can direct all the power of the universe at one time! I learned later that other Leglonnaires were also attacked for the same reason. But the secret of our most awesome weapon was kept safe by each member. Some members were confronted by Commissioner Wilson of the Science Police, who said he feared the secret of the Concentrator falling into the wrong hands. He tested various members of the Legion on the planet Althar. Garth Ranzz filed the next report on those incidents of Althar:

Earth  Prime/20th Century reference:  Adventure Comics #321, Jun. 1964.

Fearing that some Legionnaire would crack under the strain of torture by unscrupulous persons, Commissioner Wilson of the Science Police transported The Legionnaires to the planet Althar for rigorous testing. Any Legionnaire who failed the testing was to be placed in solitary on the planet for fear that he or she would leak the terrible secret of the Concentrator. As we were each tested, I noticed that Commissioner Wilson spoke of the importance of defeating the urge to tell. As he began testing me, he spoke of Chameleon Boy's confrontation on the planet Graa (see Reep Daggle's report on the incident). Since we had never mentioned Cham's escape to the Commissioner, and no report had yet been filed with the Science Police, I was sure that this "Commissioner" was an imposter. In fact, since he knew the details of Cham'• escape, it was clearly he who had trapped Chameleon Boy and this whole testing was a sham used to learn the secret of the Concentrator.

I fooled the phony Commissioner by pretending to break under pressure and told him that a Legion experiment in creating matter (that had failed) was the secret of the Concentrator. After he left to try that experiment, Superboy tracked him down with his super-vision and we learned that the Commissioner was The Time Trapper himself in disguise! Ironically, we had to bring the power of the Concentrator into play at this point and were forced to allow The Trapper to escape through his Iron Curtain of Time once more.

The Concentrator, that most deadly weapon, remains a Legion secret. —Llghtnlng  Lad

It was some months later (subjective time) that we once again encountered The Time Trapper. By this time he had acquired or created (it is not clear which) the Hourglass of Evolution Doom that would revert whomever touched It back down through their youth, infancy and finally Into a blob of protoplasm. He dispatched the evil Glorith of Baaldur through his Iron Curtain of Time and back to the 30th century. This cunning beauty's mission was to subject the weird effects of the hourglass on The Legionnaires.

The report on this Incident was filed by then-leader, Querl Dox:
Earth Prime/20th century reference: Adventure Comics #338, Nov. 1965.

… because of the unusual effects of a chemical spray, the Hourglass of Evolution Doom only partially effected The Legionnaires exposed to its force. Instead of being reverted to blobs, their rapid de-aging halted at infancy. Their power remained intact and they were subsequently kidnapped by The Time Trapper and Glorith since they were at such a trusting and innocent age. The Trapper hoped to keep their confidence while their mental facilities were at their lowest. Luckily, Saturn Girl's extra sensory powers were not dimmed in the least and she easily sensed the evil of The Trapper.

When confronted by Superboy and myself, The Trapper bargained with the restoration of the captured Legionnaires.  I had  noticed  that "baby"  Star  Boy  had  innocently taken The Time Trapper's device that  enabled  the  villain  to  pass through his Iron Curtain of Time. Knowing  he  no  longer  had  it,  I made a bargain that, if the Legion members  were  returned  to  their normal physical and mental ages, Superboy would repair his ship and we would leave him. We did our part and our comrades were returned as we knew them. We held up our part of the bargain with one slight  addition:  We  encased  his ship in an Iron Curtain of Time. Being without his device, The Trapper was  himself  trapped. —Bralnlac  5.

Or so we thought for many months. When we next en­ countered our most elusive and mysterious foe, we learned one of his most baffling secrets: the reason for his burning desire to destroy The Legion. The following report (the latest official document) was filed by Irma Ardeen:

TIME TRAPPER REPORT/update TT-3
Earth Prime/20th century reference: Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes #223, Jan., 1977.

In our latest and weirdest encounter with the villain calling himself The Time Trapper, Super­ boy, Karate Kid, Chameleon Boy, Sun Boy and myself were transported to an area of "no time"—presumably  the  home or  headquarters of The Time Trapper. It was there we learned for the first time the reason he has been attacking  The Legion for  so many months. According to his time computers, in the many possible futures, the only one in which he will  rule the  universe is a future

 where the five members mentioned at the beginning of this  report do not exist!

It was The Trapper's plan to kill us himself therefore insuring our non-existence and the possibility of him conquering the universe. He seemed to be able to predict our every move and have us completely off guard until I was able to determine that we were in a "no time" area. The Trapper was fighting us all simultaneously! By mentally stimulating Superboy's  memory, we were able to realize that The Trapper was using a new hourglass weapon to effect the time bending necessary for the "no time" field. Superboy  destroyed  it and were returned to the normal time stream. The Trapper fell into a red sun, but we are still not certain if he is alive or  dead. —Saturn Girl.

After all these encounters with The Trapper, we have learned very little about him. He is obviously very intelligent and we suspect him to be a scientist by profession. He always wears a burgundy robe that hides his features completely. We have seen his hands and feet, but he always wears boots and his hands have been colored red white and flesh at various time making it difficult to determine what race and I or planet he originates from. His hideouts we have learned about have often been in the future making some of us suspect his Is from some distant future time.

It is also theorized that since he bends time, the attacks that reported by The Legion may not have happened In the order we suppose. Some suspect that the last attack (Earth Prime Reference: S/LSH 223) was his first, and the others came later-an attempt by The Trapper to prevent his defeat by changing the past.

Our study of him has also netted us results in ancient history. The Trapper was encountered by Superman in the 20th Century. The report here (paraphrased from Superman's own diary) was transcribed by Superman scholar Laurel Kent:

SUPERMAN DIARY/Transcribed for The Legion of Super-Heroes.
Earth Prime reference: Action Comics #385-387, Feb.–Apr. 1970.

"I really don't know if my latest adventure should really be placed in my diary since I am not certain it really happened! It's all too incredible. But since even now the memory is dimming, I feel I must record  it …

"Because of delicate government experiments, I was not able to pierce the time barrier in my nor­ mal manner when summoned to the year 101,970 A.D. I used a faulty Legion time bubble that caused me to age over 100,000 years when I arrived! My invulnerability saved me, but I was unable to go back in time to rectify the situation! I could only move forward-ageing as I went along …

"After visiting many future ages and societies (such as one that arrested me for using my powers and sentenced me to a home for aged super-heroes), I traveled so far into the future that I discovered the planet earth to be nothing but a dead hulk of matter about to be destroyed by "Cosmic junk men"! I actually re-built the earth and re­peopled it with primitives from another planet! I felt it my ultimate achievement …

"I never knew for certain, but I believe that the inability to go backwards in time was a similar effect as one I encountered as Superboy while I was on a mission with the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th century. It was called the Iron Curtain of Time and it was created by the villain called The Time Trapper. I will always suspect that he was behind my plight …

"I kept on moving into the future until I discovered that time does travel in a circle and I found myself back to normal and standing in the exact spot and time from which I had originally left …

"Dream or illusion? I don't know … and I probably never will …"

Laurel Kent adds a footnote that the 20th century heroine Wonder Woman also encountered a burgundy-robed villain using time tricks and calling himself The Time Master. We have no way of telling whether this was The Trapper in another guise or reality. The Earth Prime/20th Century Reference is Wonder Woman #101, Oct. 1958 (reprinted in WW #217, May, 1975).

We end this report with no definite conclusions. we hope The Trapper is forever gone. But with his uncanny ability to travel backwards and forwards from yesterday to tomorrow, there 11 no way of ever being prepared for his next attack upon the Legion of Super-Heroes! —Reep Daggle (Chameleon Boy)/report submitted for Earth Prime/20th century record/AWODCC #16.

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Added note: This is Nura Nal of Naltor speaking. In my identity of Dream Girl, I aid The Legion in predicting future events so they can be forewarned. As you probably know, my dreams ALWAYS come true and it is this power that qualifies me as a Legionnaire.

My latest dream has told me that The Time Trapper's origin will soon be revealed in an all-new collector's edition of Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes! Don't dare  miss  it! —Dream  Girl