History: (Challengers of the Unknown I #18) - The Challengers of the Unknown were brought to the 23rd century by Dr. Oren Gough when his time machine malfunctioned. He operated out of what once was Challengers Mountain and explained that their exploits had become legendary. The Cosmic Creatures were attacking Earth, seeking selenium, which they subsisted on, and one burst into the lab wrecking the time machine. Gough explained that a volto-ray could destroy them, but would harm the nearby human populations. Earth was so overpopulated that the only way to evacuate was to either send the local communities into the past or into space, and without the time machine space was the only option. The Challs weren't adverse to risking their lives, and volunteered to use the volto-rays which could potentially kill them. The Emergency Council approved, but scientist Lenroy and his assistants, who were originally going to perform the task, objected to no avail. The Challengers spent what could be their last day alive celebrating at a restaurant, and Lenroy tried to blow them up with a bomb planted in a cake. He revealed that his three assistants were robots, and when the Cosmic Creatures were destroyed he'd be hailed as a hero and have four votes on the council with his robots. The Challs fought the robots, but were overmatched. At that moment a Cosmic Creature appeared and smashed the robots. Lenroy used his volto-ray to destroy the creature, revealing that he'd perfected the weapon so it's energy didn't harm nearby humans, but hadn't told anyone. The Challs used the volto-ray to destroy the remaining Cosmic Creatures, and Gough repaired his time machine and sent them back to their own period.

Comments: Created by Arnold Drake? & Bob Brown.