World's Finest Comics No. 159. Art by Curt Swan and George Klein.
A criminal identity briefly assumed by
Daily Planet editor
Perry White in August 1966. While visiting
Superman's
Fortress of Solitude, both he and
Gotham City Police
Commissioner James W. Gordon were accidentally exposed to an alien gas known as
Formula X-22. The gas radically altered the personalitles of both men, giving them highly criminal tendencies. Deciding to use their intimate knowledge of Superman's and
Batman's secrets, White and Gordon planned to humiliate and dispose of both heroes. White used a secret rejuvination serum to restore both himself and Gordon to a younger state for several hours, and then used one of the Fortress' many technologically advanced devices to give himself super-powers identical the Man of Steel's for 48 hours at a time. While Gordon assumed the guise of
Anti-Batman, White fashioned a darker coloured variant of Superman's uniform (complete with a lead-lined mask to prevent Superman from discovering his real identity with his X-ray vision) and called himself Anti-Superman. After stealing many secrets from both the Fortress and the Batcave, Anti-Superman and Anti-Batman launched their planned campaign to dispose of Superman, Batman and
Robin. Anti-Superman clashed twice with the Metropolis Marvel, the second time using a chunk of
Gold Kryptonite (to which Anti-Superman was, naturally, invulnerable) to keep the Action Ace on the defensive. In addition, Anti-Superman and his partner-in-crime raided the State Police Building midway between
Metropolis and Gotham City, stealing various mementos from Superman's battles with his greatest foes (including the
Prankster, the
Toyman and
Lex Luthor), and giving them to the imprisoned criminals themselves. After Batman deduced the true identities of both villains and discovered their Gotham City headquarters, Superman arrived and exposed Anti-Superman and Anti-Batman to an antidote that counteracted Formula X-22's effects, restoring White and Gordon to their normal personalities. Sometime later, the youth serum wore off and returned both men to their normal ages. (WF No. 159/1, Aug 1966: "The Cape and Cowl Crooks!")
External Links to Online Comics
Read the complete story! [1]
