Justice League of America Vol. 1 (1960-1987) #63

Plot

A plot thread that began nearly two years earlier in Justice League of America #41, when the villainous Key first confronted the team. In that initial encounter, the Key—a criminal mastermind who uses specialized keys to unlock extraordinary abilities—was defeated but planted a hypnotic command deep within the minds of the Justice League members, set to activate at a future time of his choosing.

The... Justice League is gathered at their Secret Sanctuary when an irresistible compulsion takes hold of them. The Key's hidden command manifests as a single, devastating order: the League members cannot leave their headquarters for one hour, and at the end of that time, they must kill each other. No matter how hard they try, none of them can physically exit the Sanctuary. The hour begins to count down.

The situation seems hopeless until Superman devises an unconventional solution. Using his super-speed to vibrate through time, he travels three years into the past and brings his past self forward to the present. The Superman from three years earlier—who never experienced the original confrontation with the Key in issue #41—is completely unaffected by the hypnotic command. This past version of Superman physically overpowers each of his fellow League members, forcing them out of the meeting room and buying them precious time.

With the League temporarily free from the Sanctuary's confinement, they launch a full assault on the Key and his Key-Men henchmen. But the one-hour deadline continues to approach. As the final moments tick down, Superman is left with no choice but to battle his own teammates once again, this time knocking them unconscious one by one so they cannot carry out the Key's deadly order against each other. He then captures the Key and forces the villain to verbally countermand his own command, breaking the hypnotic spell for good.

Which member was programmed to kill which ? The League pieces together the Key's dark design. Snapper Carr, the League's teenage mascot, was intended to be Superman's executioner, using concealed Kryptonite. The present-day Superman—the one who originally received the hypnotic command—discovers that his assigned victim was Batman. In the near past (during the moments he traveled away), he avoided fulfilling that order by having Green Lantern and Wonder Woman work together to subdue him until the danger passed.

Presented through an unusual narrative framing device: it is witnessed by time-traveling tourists from the future, who observe the Justice League's struggle as a historical event. The story serves as both a direct sequel to issue #41 and a showcase for the League's ability to outsmart even the most carefully laid traps, with Superman's time-displacement gambit standing as one of Gardner Fox's most inventive plot solutions of the Silver Age.

Story Arc Saga: This issue continues a story thread from JLA #41 "The Key's Revenge"

Universe: Earth-One