Bourdet

In World’s Finest Comics No. 82, an “evil chancellor” in the court of Louis XIV of France (1638-1715) who, unbeknownst to this king, has illegally abducted the benevolent Count Ferney, “a noble friend of the people,” and imprisoned him in an iron mask, first in Pignerol Castle and later in the Bastille. However, at the urging of Professor Carter Nichols – who hopes to solve the enigma of the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask – Batman, Robin, and Superman return through the time barrier to France in the year 1696, where they trade places with the Three Musketeers – all of whom have been badly wounded by Bourdet’s guardsmen – and, aided by the musketeers’ comrade D’Artagnan, expose the treachury of the evil Bourdet and free Count Ferney from the iron mask. Bourdet, ordered imprisoned by the king, will remain shut away in the Bastille for the rest of his days, forced to wear the iron mask himself (May/Jun 1956: “The Three Super-Musketeers!”).