What? I didn't do anything! 
- — T.O. Morrow
DC 2000 #2 is an issue of the series DC 2000 (Volume 1) with a cover date of October, 2000. It was published on August 16, 2000.
Synopsis for "Two Thousand"
FLASH FORWARD, 1 July 2000: World-ruling tyrant Morrow the First is vexed by a common cold. He consults with his super computer M.O.R.R.O.W., which quickly provides an answer: by introducing a microwave oven at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, in 1941, he will cause the intervening history to prevent his current illness.
FLASH BACK, 1 July 1941: Gun-wielding intruder Morrow holds a naval officer and his secretary at bay while he uses a microwave oven to heat up a cup of coffee. Despite himself, the officer is intrigued. Morrow leaves the oven with him and returns to his own era. M.O.R.R.O.W. reveals to him that this "time edit" has had the unintended consequence of causing a global epidemic of birth defects; Morrow is unconcerned. Outside, Morrow's publicly-displayed chained up captives ( Star-Spangled Kid (Courtney Whitmore), Atom Smasher (Al Rothstein), Flash (Jay Garrick), and Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders) ), now are afflicted with grotesque deformities, in addition to the severe injuries they already displayed last issue.
Early on July 1st 1941, at the U.S. War Department's impromptu Research Facility #23 in Bethesda Maryland, Flash (Jay Garrick) was losing an argument with Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider), Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Hawkgirl (Shiera Saunders), Hawkman, and Starman. The argument was over T.O. Morrow's 21st-century technology; his teammates wanted to keep the tech and defeat Morrow in some other way; Flash wanted to let the JLA send the tech back to its own time. When he lost the argument, Jay quit the team, and Dr. Mid-Nite volunteered to join the JSA as his replacement. Jay spent the rest of the morning zooming around, rapidly sorting through his thoughts, then deciding to find out once and for all if the toddler Tommy Morrow was really and truly the future tyrant T.O. Morrow.
Meanwhile and elsewhere, The Spectre and Doctor Fate also privately argued over the correctness of imprisoning the JLA, and no agreement was reached. The miniaturized Justice League meanwhile, were completely failing to escape from their imprisoning bubble. Super powers and tested techniques which should have worked were futile, but Batman persuaded the Martian Manhunter to forge a telepathic link between Batman and The Spectre. A brief but extremely intense psychic duel took place, the outcome of which was that The Spectre completely lost his composure and smashed open the magical bubble, and grabbed Batman. Superman grabbed the Spectre's giant hand and stayed with Batman, while the Flash (Wally West) flashed everybody else back to their own era, via the Cosmic Treadmill.
FLASH FORWARD, 1 July 2000: At JLA HQ, which is apparently under one of the oceans, Hourman-2000 is monitoring T.O. Morrow's history edits, with Steel's assistance. The history edits are now accelerating exponentially, and the scope of Morrow's chronfluence covers about 83% of the world's surface, and has expanded to affect Atlantis. Aquaman, swimming to heal from his Spectre-inflicted heatstroke, finds some Atlantean ruins, and a JSA logo-emblazoned flag, and gets really mad.
FLASH BACK, 1 July 1941: Meanwhile Atom (Al Pratt), Hourman, and the Sandman were prowling the closed-down World's Fair, where they broke into the World Of Tomorrow exhibit. Al Pratt, not usually the JSA's deepest thinker, was concerned about the "balancing act" involved in (a) preventing T.O.Morrow's rule of the future and (b) taking advantage of Morrow's planted future gadgets. Could it be done? Should it be done? Sure enough, behind a fake wall, they discovered a stash of future space-exploration equipment. Morrow's mechanized defenses made short work of the JSA team, and only the timely arrival of Jay Flash saved their lives. But then Jay started to destroy the spacesuits and robots and stuff, so Sandman gassed him out, and the JSA team salvaged and confiscated the remaining future technology from the scene. Jay quickly shook off the gas, made another quick decision, and ran to Greenwich Connecticut.
FLASH FORWARD: Elsewhere, also on July 1st 2000, Jay Garrick, albeit deformed, wounded, and crucified alongside Atom Smasher, Hawkgirl, and Stargirl, starts to remember encountering T.O.Morrow in 1941, and then remembers forgetting all about it. When another historical edit happens, he notices THAT also.
FLASH BACK, 1 July 1941: Batman backed by Superman engaged The Spectre in a brow-furrowing contest, at the end of which, he and Superman were restored to normal size, but fossilized. Dr.Fate scolded the Spectre, and confessed some frustation at his own inability to perceive or understand the JLA's future.
Meanwhile in Connecticut, a weird technical-acceleration effect was happening in Tommy Morrow's house, where he was watching the news on, first, a primitive "radio-vision" set, then on a plasma-screen set. The news displayed anachronistic versions of U.S. and world history, which were apparently rewriting reality, right before his eyes. Then the Flash showed up at the door, with some upsetting remarks for Mrs. Morrow about Tommy's unsatisfactory upbringing.
Meanwhile at Ivytown Medical Center, T.O.Morrow and his stooge Dr.Seely were discussing Seely's role in Morrow's scheme, when another JSA team burst into the room: Dr. Mid-Nite & Hooty, Hawkman, and Starman. Morrow's futuristic ray gun was cancelled out by Starman's gravity-rod's force-field, and Hawkman slapped the gun aside and grabbed Morrow, who faded away. Starman couldn't think of a way to follow Morrow through time. The team confiscated Dr.Seely's CD-ROM copy of the map of the human genome, and other equipment, and adjourned.
FLASH FORWARD, 1 July 2000, T.O. Morrow rematerializes, and directs his giant computer M.O.R.R.O.W. to calculate the results from the JSA's capture of that disc. They are as follows:
- From 1941-July-01 to 2000-July-01, in an alternate version of history, events went like this: The JSA employed the human genome to fight disease and disability, and to create a generation of successor heroes called the Justice Squadron. Unearned power made the Squadron arrogant and corrupt from the start, and they assumed global control in 1992. Their influence was written into the basic code of this time, as T.O. Morrow's once had been, that is, "Earth-T.O.M.'s" history was now being overwritten by that of "Earth-J.S."
M.O.R.R.O.W.'s narrative is interrupted by an assault on Morrow's downtown citadel, by Justice Squadron troopers, in five models.
- 1/ Hawklanterns flying on green plasma wings, with green energy claw prostheses, and full-head hawk masks.
- 2/ Fatespectres with green hoods over gold full-head helmets and full-body armor with green capes.
- 3/ Starmidnights in goggles and green capes, armed with remodeled Cosmic Rods.
- 4/ Flashatoms in doughboy helmets and full body armor.
- 5/ Hoursands in gas masks with brown fedoras and black capes, armed with big gas guns.
Soon, T.O.Morrow is cornered by these invading Justice Squadron troops, and flees into the timestream to attempt one desperate gambit. This leaves the hawk-headed Justice Squadron in control of M.O.R.R.O.W., with which they will now take control of the timestream. This moment of triumph is observed in the crystal ball of Dr.Fate.
"Meanwhile" on 1 July 2000, back in the continuum from which they began this adventure (Earth-Post-Zero-Hour? Prime Earth? New Earth?), Aquaman, the Atom (Ray Palmer), the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman are ready to remount the Cosmic Treadmill, when Hourman-2000 updates the team on the state of events on "Earth-J.S." Essentially, they now know what Dr.Fate now knows, and the team charges into the timestream.
FLASH BACK: On July 1st 1941, flying aboard an anachronistic 1970s-era Boeing Jet, the JSA were arguing over the implications of using the human genome data to make a bunch of medical advances. The Spectre unwittingly echoed Superman & Batman in opposing the tech's application. Dr. Fate showed up, and confirmed Superman's and Batman's version of future history, then set them free from the Spectre's fossilization whammy. Green Lantern sided with Doctor Fate, and Fate stared down the Spectre, who relented, and restored the World's Finest duo to their human forms. Dr Fate then revealed to the JSA what future T.O. Morrow hoped to build, by whisking everybody forward in time, to 1 July 2000. Finding it more horrific than the the JLA's future, they change their minds about what's going on, and the JSA join Superman & Batman in an assault on Morrow's downtown citadel, currently being overrun by Justice Squadron troopers.
So, on 1 July 2000, on "Earth-T.O.M.", the JSA plus World's Finest charge into the melee. Dr. Mid-Nite is appalled, and realizes that Jay Flash was right all along. Suddenly, in charges the JLA of 2000, and the two teams rip a mighty swath through the Justice Squadron troopers.
FLASH BACK TO 1 July 1941: Jay Flash is coldcocked from behind, by T.O. Morrow-2000, who is pretty well insane now, and has come here to murder his poor mother, right before the very eyes of his younger self. The idea is that he needs to have been an orphan in order to grow up harder and tougher, and not get defeated like he presently is. Little Tommy leaps to Mommy's defense; T.O. and Tommy converse long enough for Jay Flash to rally and take control of the situation. He persuades Morrow to undo his time-travelly handiwork, and then vibrates him out of the scene.
FLASH FORWARD to 1 July 2000, on "Earth T.O.M.": The Fatespectres are wielding big supernatural magic, (so there's more than just "genetics" explaining their development), but a squad of them attempt to steal M.O.R.R.O.W., using The Shroud Of Ra, which seems to be a forcefield. The Martian Manhunter and The Spectre are at least momentarily stymied by it. On the ground, the Justice Squadron troopers are rallying, and knock out way too many JLA & JSA members, but they all recover right after Doctor Fate rallies the teams to an all-out assault on the Shroud of Ra. That's leadership. Cosmic levels of mystical and physical energy are focused on the field, until it pops. The J.S.troopers also charge into the breach, now determined to destroy M.O.R.R.O.W. With a wave of his hand, The Spectre transforms them all into toy tin soldiers. But if the team can get control of M.O.R.R.O.W., this won't be a moral issue, because none of the soldiers will have existed in the first place, according to Ted Knight. But none of them knows how to operate M.O.R.R.O.W. Just then, the time-traveling Jay Flash shows up with T.O.Morrow himself in tow. Flash proposes to let Morrow use M.O.R.R.O.W. to undo his "time-edits," and Hawkman sides with him, when Dr. Mid-Nite objects. T.O. Morrow is completely demoralized and compliant, yet exerts surgical precision in undoing his own handiwork. JLA-JSA teams travel through time to confiscate the future tech, mostly in teams of two: Superman-Green Scott, Green Raynor-Hawkman, Wonder Woman-Hawkgirl, Aquaman-Atom Pratt, Atom Palmer-Hourman, Batman-Dr.Mid-Nite, Martian Manhunter-Dr.Fate, and The Spectre acting alone, until Hourman-2000 confirms that all of Morrow's chronal abberations have been repaired. ("As the timestream rights itself, you'll find that this adventure never really happened." - John Jones). Despite his protestations of having not done anything, T.O. Morrow ends up back in prison anyway, where he has a short, ironic conversation with his old pal Anthony Ivo.
On July 1st 1941 : When the JLA return to the future, the JSA lose all memory of these events, which thanks to their heroic efforts, have not happened at all.
Appearing in "Two Thousand"
Featured Characters:
- JLA
- Justice Society of America (past and present)
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Dr. Seely
- Hooty
- J. Edgar Hoover
- Professor Ivo
- Tamara Morrow
Locations:
Items:
- Gravity Rod
- Sandman's Gas Gun
- Cosmic Treadmill
- T.O. Morrow's M.O.R.R.O.W. computer
- The Shroud Of Ra
Vehicles:
Concepts:
Notes
- The terms "Earth-J.S.", "Earth-T.O.M.", and "Earth-Post-Zero-Hour" do not appear in the captions nor dialogue of the story, and are only a device for providing some clarity to this plot summary of a story about conflicting alternative timelines.
- This story would have taken place on 30 June and 1 July, 1941, if it had taken place at all, but thanks to the combined heroic efforts of the Justice Society and Justice League, it never took place at all.
See Also