A reimagining of the DC Universe by komradekgbeast. Starting with the introduction Superman in 1938, DC: The Golden Age of Heroes tells the story of the first costumed metahumans from 1938 to World War II.
Can be found on fanfiction.net https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14181615/1/DC-The-Golden-Age-of-Heroes
and archiveofourown https://archiveofourown.org/works/45583657/chapters/114700795
- Adaptational Name Change: Jim Corrigan becomes Jill Corrigan.
- Adaptational Villainy: Tex Thompson is a Nazi mole in this story.
- Arch-Enemy: Vandal Savage is this to Liberty Belle, Hawkman and Hawkwoman. Baron Blitzkrieg is this for the Freedom Fighters.
- Big Bad Ass Battle Sequence: The second battle of Pearl Harbor features almost every single Super hero team (bar the Freedom Fighters, who are in the USSR) fighting Axis Amerika, the Dragon King, Vandal Savage, Ultra Humanite and the invading Japanese army to stop them from using a brainwashed Tsunami to generate a tidal wave to level Pearl Harbor completely. And it all takes place in an artificially generated storm.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Wotan, Ultra Humanite, Paula Von Gunther and Vandal Savage are the main antagonists of the story. While they're technically working together, they each have their own goals and don't necessarily trust each other. Wotan's plans (unleashing Eclipso) are by far the most dangerous for the world.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Libby Lawrence tells Savage he killed her father. His response is "If only you had any inkling of how often this happens to me."
- Composite Character: Ubermensch from Young All Stars is combined with later Nazi Supervillain Iron Cross.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The Wizard's underlying belief is that there's no such thing as a hero, and that the JSA are just particularly successful con artists. The idea that they're sincere simply does not occur to him.
- Fantastic Racism: Sam Lane and Lex Luthor hate aliens and metahumans.
- Freudian Excuse: The reason Priscilla Rich hates Wonder Woman is because she was able to defy the sexist norms society placed on her and was loved for it, while Priscilla was forced to cater to those norms even when she got control of the family fortune.
- Good Is Not Nice: The Spectre fights for justice, but he is utterly terrifying to the point even Jill (his host) is scared of him.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Eclipso, who is sealed in the crystal that Wotan is trying to assemble. It's heavily implied that the visions of doom that Sandman has (which is what prompted the formation of the Justice Society) are what will happen if Eclipso gets out.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Priscilla hates Wonder Woman because she not only defied society's expectations regarding gender but was loved for it.
- Hero Killer: Baron Blitzkrieg kills Dollman, and Ibis the Invincible is killed at Pearl Harbor.
- It's Personal: Baron Blitzkrieg hates the Freedom Fighters because they scarred his face while saving Libby Lawrence at Dunkirk.
- The Man Behind the Man: Ultra Humanite is revealed to be pulling the strings of the Injustice Society and many other supervillains active in America, all to distract the Justice Society.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Superman works with Timothy Trench and John Henry to prevent one, saving a 14-year-old Black Boy from being wrongfully executed. They ultimately succeed in exposing the real killer, but Superman paints a target on his back in the process and deeply pisses off many people in the South doing so.
- Nebulous Evil Organization: A cabal run by the Ultra Humanite does business with many criminals in the US, and are a recurring threat on the home front. Superman only formally meets Humanite during their fight at Pearl Harbor.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: During the story the heroes actively push back against the government on several occasions to protest the mistreatment of minorities; the All-Star Squadron and JSA threaten to raise a storm and walk away if the internment of Japanese Americans isn't called off, and Superman helps Greg Stanley (a 14 year old boy wrongfully convicted of murdering two white girls) escape police custody and shelters him on the Kent farm. While the heroes are able to prevent an injustice in both cases (the President folds and calls of internment, and Clark is able to expose the real killer of the two girls) it's implied that in both cases they angered people in the government (Superman's interference in the Stanley case angers enough Southern politicians that the government is looking into countermeasures for Superman.)
- Politically Correct History: Subverted; bigotry is alive and well amongst the American populace, and while the heroes are willing to defy societal norms to help oppressed minorities, they inevitably paint a target on their back in the process. Jill Corrigan, despite being a female police officer, was murdered by her colleagues out of a combination of misogyny and personal resentment.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Most of the Nazi villains are this.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Superman helps Greg Stanley (a black kid wrongly accused of murdering two white girls) escape police custody and publicly announces his actions when Stanley's family is threatened. While he's ultimately able to prove that a rich white man was the actual killer (and that said white man had previously committed other murders), it's all but stated that he's made people in the government angry.
- Sealed Good in a Can: The Phantom Stranger, who is sealed by Madame Xanadu to pay off a debt to Wotan.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Eclipso is sealed in crystals known as "God's Teardrops".
- Serial Killer: Francis Boothe is revealed to be one; in addition to murdering the two white girls Greg Stanley was convicted of killing, he's also revealed to have murdered Mary Baptiste (a 15 year old girl who was raped and murdered) as well as multiple other women.
- You Killed My Father: Libby's reason for hating Vandal Savage.
