The Spear of Destiny in DC Comics A history

(Originally posted in rec.arts.comics.dc.universe on May 1, 1995 by
Aaron Michael Severson)

A little more background here.

The Spear of Destiny is a mystical artifact of enormous but undefined
power. It was the spear that a Roman centurion used to pierce the side
of Christ as he hung on the cross. In the centuries following the
crucifixion, it passed from hand to hand, bringing glory to some and
disaster to others. By 1940, it fell into the hands of Adolf Hitler (see
WEIRD WAR TALES #50), who attempted to use it in November of 1940 to
slay two captured American mystery men--Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and
the Flash (Jay Garrick), sent by British intelligence to thwart a
rumored invasion of Great Britain. The heroes were rescued by the timely
intervention of Dr. Fate and Hourman, but Fate was unable to attack
Hitler directly while he had the Spear.

Raising the Spear to the heavens, Hitler called down its mystic power to
destroy his enemies, conjuring a flight of valkyries like something
straight out of Wagner. With the valkyries battling the heroes, Hitler
launched his invasion fleet.

The heroes eventually defeated the valkyries, and Hitler's navy was
decimated in the English Channel by the Spectre, who was then forced to
journey to the Realm of the Just-Dead to rescue the soul of President
Roosevelt, slain by the last of the valkyries. When he returned
successful, the assembled heroes formed themselves into the Justice
Society of America, which had its first official meeting November 22,
1940 (see DC SPECIAL #29 and the revised post Crisis version described
here in SECRET ORIGINS #31).

In the subsequent year, Hitler made an arrangment with a Japanese
operative known only as the Dragon King, who possessed an artifact
alleged to be the Holy Grail. Together, using the Dragon King's occult
knowledge, the leaders of the Axis powers formed a mystic barrier around
their territories and occupied zones. As the heroes of the newly-formed
All-Star Squadron discovered to their horror on December 8, 1941, any
hero whose power had a basis in or a weakness to magic would be
immediately controlled by the power of the Spear and the Grail and made
to serve the Axis, against their former comrades. This included the most
powerful of the Allied heroes--Dr. Fate, the Spectre, and Green Lantern
(and in the pre-Crisis universe where this originally took place, the
Golden Age Superman and Wonder Woman). As a result, the Allied
commanders ordered _all_ metahuman operatives to stay out of Axis
controlled territory, rightly terrified of the prospect of a being like
the Spectre controlled by Hitler's Spear. (see ALL-STAR SQUADRON #4) As
a result, only a few non-powered heroes, like the Americommando and the
Unknown Soldier, ever ventured directly into the occupation zones. The
rest were left in Allied or neutral territory, generally combatting
saboteurs and fifth columnists.

At the end of the war, with Russian and American tanks converging on
Berlin, Hitler made a final effort to use the Spear to secure a pyrrhic
victory from the ashes of defeat, by bringing on Gotterdamerung, the
Twilight of the Norse gods and with it, the end of the world. He was
thwarted by the sacrifice of the Justice Society of America, who
departed from the future (immediately following the Crisis) and
intervened in the Ragnarok cycle to prevent it from coming to a close.
The consequence was that the JSA was trapped in an endless cycle,
repeating the final battle apparently for eternity. His final strategem
a failure, Hitler retired to his bunker and committed suicide (see LAST
DAYS OF THE JSA special).

Following the fall of Berlin, the Spear was retrieved by the Russian
army, and eventually into the private collection of a Soviet official.
From there it fell into the hands of Kobra the Conqueror, who attempted
to use the Spear on the Spectre, inadvertently restarting Hitler's
Ragnarok spell.

In the resulting battle, the JSA was released from their endless
struggle, and the Spear was confiscated by the U.S. government (see
ARMAGEDDON: INFERNO). It was recently retrieved and turned over to
Superman so that he could stop or destroy the Spectre, a plan which
failed dramatically, narrowly avoiding the dreadful consequence of
Superman being controlled by Hitler's curse. The Spectre bound the Spear
into the ashes of Vlatava (destroyed in SPECTRE #13) and threw it into
space, where it remains (see SPECTRE #19-#22). The problem with the
Spear of Destiny storyline as it currently stands is that the balance of
power in the World War 2 story is no longer the same as it was in the
pre-Crisis Earth-2 continuity where it originally began.

In the pre-Crisis continuity, many of the more powerful non-magical
heroes--Miss America and the Ray, and Uncle Sam (Uncle Sam is arguably a
magical being, but I'm not sure he would be affected by the Spear)--
departed for Earth-X early on, where they waged a war against the Axis
of that world, where the Nazis eventually triumphed despite the heroes'
best efforts. Others, most notably Arn "Iron" Munro, did not exist in
pre-Crisis continuity. Also, there was little to prevent relatively
powerful non-magical heroes, principally the Flash and Starman, from
crossing the barrier--although ultimately their power may not have been
enough to prove decisive even if they did enter the war (see LAST DAYS
OF THE JSA, where the JSA's non-magical heroes attempt to storm Hitler's
bunker in the final days of World War 2, at the cost of almost all their
lives--this was the reality that the JSA prevented by their sacrifice in
that storyline).

I honestly don't think that Robinson's Parsifal substitution in the
Elseworlds THE GOLDEN AGE (which was originally intended to be in
continuity) was particularly satisfactory, either, because I'm
unconvinced that Parsifal would have been a serious obstacle to Dr. Fate
or the Spectre, who are clearly the most powerful beings of that era.

But that's how things stand.