POWER MEDALLION	BIOGRAPHY
	Created by Dennis O'Neil & Dick Dillin

TECHNICAL DATA

Name: Power Medallion
DCU Creator(s): Guardians of the Universe
First Appearance: World's Finest Comics #198 (November 1970): "Race to Save the Universe!"
Creators: Dennis O'Neil & Dick Dillin

HISTORY

In a time before the so-called "Crisis on Infinite Earths," the Guardians of the Universe learned of a threat to the time-space continuum for which they summoned Superman to Oa to enlist his aid. The Guardians' "sensor-tachyon-indicator" showed them the Anachronids, life-forms which move faster than the speed of light, had entered the universe. Though a few would have posed no danger, their device showed thousands moving through space. Their speed threatened to tear the fabric of time and melt the past into the future, destroying both. Superman had already witnessed a time disturbance on Earth but was puzzled why the Guardians had not asked for the aid of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Earth.

The Guardians explained there was a way to maintain the temporal balance. Two individuals with the mass of humans were to travel in a path opposite that of the Anachronoids. Only Superman and the Flash would be able to complete this task. Though Superman had the endurance and invulnerability necessary to protect himself in space, Barry Allen, the Flash did not.

The Guardians designed the power medallion for the Scarlet Speedster. Similar to the power rings worn by the Green Lantern Corps, the power medallion would protect the Flash from the rigors of space travel and allow him to communicate with Superman in the airless vacuum. In addition, the medallion would keep the Flash from tiring during his journey across the stars. The medallion would form an emerald roadway for the Flash to run on and telepathically show him a map of his route.

Like the power rings, the medallion was neutralized by the color yellow as it drew upon the emerald energy of the Central Power Battery. To prevent himself from falling through the roadway, the Scarlet Speedster dyed the yellow soles of his boots. The Guardians did not tell either hero that the energy required by the medallion was so great that it drained all the energy from the power batteries. Until the Flash finished his task, the Green Lantern Corps would be unable to function.

At the Flash's suggestion, the two heroes decided to make their task a race to decide a long-standing question of which of them was the faster. Sixteen light years from Earth, the heroes came under attack by the Anachronoids. The faster than light creatures caused a nearby sun to go supernova, forcing the heroes to flee through a warp in space. They arrived in another dimension with a strange sun that alternately changed hue from yellow to red and back again. Odder still, the sun was "doughnut shaped" as it had a hole through its middle. The heroes escaped this alien dimension by traveling twice the speed of light though the color-changing sun.

Approaching the Andromeda galaxy, Superman and the Flash caught one of the Anachronoids, to learn it was a robot of some extraterrestrial design. The Anachronoid disintegrated seconds later as it was only designed to function at speeds faster than light. -World's Finest Comics #198

In a third attack, the Flash and Superman were captured by the Anachronoids. They were returned to the other-dimensional planet with the shifting sun, a dimension on the far side of the Phantom Zone. While unconscious, the heroes were bound by their foes.

Four Kryptonian villains revealed themselves as the force behind the Anachronoids. They had been able to break through to this world but at the present time could go no farther. Their plan was to disrupt the time stream so the barrier between the Phantom Zone and the Earth's solar system would fall. They would then rule what was left of the universe. The Anachronoids were built by Professor Vartox, a criminal scientist from the doomed planet Krypton.

Without the power medallion in his possession, the Flash was too exhausted to vibrate through their bonds. Under the now red sun, Superman was too weak to break through the cable tied around them. When the villain left to further their plans, the Flash and Superman combined their will power to command the medallion to return to them. Once in their possession, Superman willed the medallion to create a saw to cut through his cables.

Before he could rescue the Flash, General Zod appeared to kill them. The Kryptonian military genius destroyed the medallion but was defeated by Superman . Both heroes were injured in the fight and were forced to crawl to the structure that contained the Anachronoid controls. After removing Jax-Ur and Professor Vartox as threats, the heroes reached the control panel for the Anachronoids. It was the Flash that reached the master switch first, disabling the Anachronoids, thereby saving the universe and on lighter note, winning the race against Superman.

Across the universe, the Anachronoids slowed to a stop then disintegrated. The time shifts corrected themselves and the Green Lantern Corps was restored to power. Before they left the alien dimension, Superman stopped Kru-El and destroyed their technology. The Guardians would seal off the dimension to prevent the Phantom Zone villains from repeating their plan. -World's Finest Comics #199

In a later adventure, the Flash assisted the Guardians of the Universe on a reconnaissance mission against the "empathistar." A weapon based on an ancient Qwardian God-myth, the empathistar amplified the personality traits of its victims. The rogue star glowed orange on the outside but inside it burned hotter, one step up the spectrum to yellow, the color over which the emerald energy could offer no protection. For members of the Green Lantern Corps, this meant they would ignore their sense of self preservation and plunge headlong to their deaths. For Sinestro, this meant the perfect weapon to kill Green Lanterns such as Ebikar Hrui and the seven ring wielders before him by the time the Guardians had contacted Barry Allen.

The Flash was given a "biosheath" of emerald energy, rather than the power medallion. His mission was kept secret from the Green Lanterns, but Hal Jordan learned of the Guardians' mission for his friend. Ultimately, Jordan and Allen defeated Sinestro and his empathistar. -Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold #5

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Power Medallion in chronological order click here