Legion of Super-Villains
An organization of super-criminals from the twenty-first century A.D. Its members include Lightning Lord (Lightning Lad's older brother, Mekt Rannz, who can hurl lightning bolts, Cosmic King from Venus who has the power of chemical transmutation and Saturn Queen (no relation to Saturn Girl) who has power of telepathic thought casting and mind control.(S No. 147, Aug 1961: “The Legion of Super-Villains!â€), all of whom are fully aware that Clark Kent is secretly Superman (Act No. 283, Dec 1961: “The Red Kryptonite Menace!â€). The Super-Villains are implacable foes of the Legion of Super-Heroes (S No. 147, Aug 1961: “The Legion of Super-Villains!â€).
In August 1961, the Legion of Super-Villains help Lex Luthor break out of Metropolis Prison so that they can ally themselves with the notorious renegade scientist in an elaborate scheme to annihilate Superman by luring the Man of Steel to a distant planetoid “in another solar system†and imprisoning him inside a deadly “kryptonite force-screen†(see Kryptonite). For a time the plot proceeds as the villains have anticipated and it appears that Superman will succumb to kryptonite poisoning, but the Man of Steel is ultimately freed from the deathtrap and Luthor and his super-villainous allies are apprehended, through the ingenuity of Superman and the heroic intervention of Cosmic Man, Lightning Man and Saturn Woman, three members of the Adult Legion of Super-Heroes (S No. 147/3: “The Legion of Super-Villains!â€).
In an ironic adventure, for a brief time the Super-Villains even become the only official members of the Legion of Super-Heroes after the evil intentions of Dynamo Boy result in the expulsion of all the previous heroes. (Adv No. 331, Apr 1965: "The Triumph of the Legion of Super-Villains!")
Later it was revealed that Tarik the Mute had instituted a School for Super-Villains. He recruited Legion rejects and super criminals from all over the galaxy to form the Super-Villains organization.
