Justice League

This article is about the superhero team. For the homonymous TV series, see Justice League (animated series). For other uses of the word, see Justice League (disambiguation).

The founding members of the Justice League: (from left to right) J'onn J'onzz, Hawkgirl, John Stewart, Wonder Woman, Flash, Superman, and Batman

"I once thought I could protect the world by myself. But I was wrong. Working together, we saved the planet. And I believe that if we stay together, as a team, we would be a force that could truly work for the ideals of peace and justice... a Justice League." — Superman

The Justice League was founded after the Imperium invasion by the seven heroes who responded to the crisis. The team was reformed after the Thanagarian invasion into the Justice League Unlimited. The team was originally headquartered in the Watchtower I, and after its destruction has given the same name to all of their subsequent bases.

History

The Imperium Invasion and Formation

Following Darkseid's invasion of Earth, Superman regained the majority of the world's trust after being brainwashed and used as a pawn. Though doubts remained regarding the Man of Steel's reliability, none put more faith in the hero than Senator J. Allen Carter. Carter proposed world peace through weapons disarmament, and nominated Superman for the job. Though skeptics aired their grievances, the World Assembly passed the motion and Superman set to work.

As Superman finished disarming the weapons of destruction, meteors rained down upon Earth. From the wreckage, massive alien creatures appeared, and without hesitation made their intentions clear: conquest. Superman and Batman rushed to the scene, throwing everything within their arsenals at the creatures but their efforts seemed in vain.

As the world panicked about the newest alien invasion, Superman fled the scene. Batman tracked the hero to a US Government base. Investigating further, the two discovered a different alien held prisoner there. Freeing him, the man introduced himself as J'onn J'onzz, but the newly-formed trio quickly found themselves under attack by the Imperium. The trio was still outnumbered, but not for long. At a critical moment, the Green Lantern John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and the Flash arrived on the scene. The Imperium forces fought back, but they lost; Earth's heroes had assembled.

J'onn explained the Imperium Invasion. The septet then broke into three groups, each set on destroying the Imperium factories created on Earth. The heroes fought valiantly, but to no avail. The Flash and Green Lantern made a hasty retreat, while Superman and Hawkgirl were captured. J'onn, Batman, and Diana discovered a method to defeat the Imperium, but in the end only Diana and J'onn escaped. The four remaining heroes regrouped at Metropolis, and prepared to free Hawkgirl and Superman. Keeping a relatively low profile, the heroes managed to subdue the few Imperium forces to cross their path, but eventually were captured as well.

Reunited with their friends (albeit via captivity), the heroes were shocked to discover the Imperium organizer to be none other than Senator Carter. The real J. Allen Carter had perished on Mars during a space expedition. Using his persona to their advantage, the Imperium tricked the world into disarming itself. The Earth disarmed, no obstacles remained to prevent their invasion. Earth's heroes, however, proved too resilient. Batman freed the other six, and the group destroyed factories and armada.

In the aftermath of the invasion, Batman built and the activated Watchtower, set to orbit around the Earth to act as an early warning system. The heroes recognized the Earth's need for protection, and the Justice League formed.

File:Watchtower1.jpg

From their outpost orbiting the Earth, the Justice League vigilantly guarded against threats.

The Justice League

For detailed accounts of the Justice League's adventures, please visit the episode list and choose a specific episode.

Though the team had formed, threats continued to face both the world and the galaxy. At each turn, the team faced greater and greater challenges; however, their combined strength continued to prevail.

Combining their strength, however, was no easy task. The team rarely worked as a collective group. Often times members would place personal goals over those of the League and the Earth. Each member had his or her own method for dealing with criminal activity: Superman and Wonder Woman, for example, embodied a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach, while Batman and John Stewart preferred concrete evidence and planning to blindly throwing punches; Hawkgirl and J'onn J'onzz often had difficulty empathizing with humanity. At times, their differences caused the team great turmoil, and the group nearly split on several occasions (Gorilla Grodd having the most success with his Secret Society).

Despite their differences in approach and definition of heroism, they slowly learned to trust one another. For example, though Batman and Superman never completely saw eye to eye, in a small tribute to the (presumed) deceased Man of Steel, Batman admitted he had nothing but respect for the hero's approach and ideals. The two often bickered, but the interaction between John Stewart and Hawkgirl fostered a romantic relationship. Diana grew more accepting of "man's world".

The League, however, would not face its greatest challenge until the invasion of the Thanagarian military; not only was another alien force threatening Earth, but the League was also betrayed by one of their own.

The Thanagarian Invasion

The Thanagarians came to Earth claiming to be there to defend it from the Gordanians, who had seemingly just attacked Washington D.C. It was revealed at this time that Hawkgirl, who had previously claimed to be on Earth by accident, was sent here by the Thanagarian government as an advanced scout. She also revealed to GL that she was engaged to Hro Talak, the leader of the Thanagarian forces on Earth.

Batman soon discovered that Hro Talak and the Thanagarian army staged the Gordanian attack. Shayera was torn between her loyalties to the League, and to her people. Not knowing what her people were truly up to, she betrayed the League and used her knowledge of their weaknesses to help her people imprison them.

After the League escaped, Shayera learned that the Thanagaians' plan would lead the Earth's destruction. She again switched sides and aided her former teammates in stopping Hro from completing his mission. At the cost of the Watchtower, Batman destroyed the Thanagarian machinery.

Filled with self-doubt and knowing many people would never trust her again, Shayera resigned from the Justice League.

The Reformed League

File:JL expanded.jpg

The expanded Justice League.

With the loss of the Watchtower and a founding member, the League underwent a major change. A new Watchtower was built, along with an entire fleet of Javelins. The biggest change, however, was the expanded roster: nearly all of Earth's heroes, as well as some from other worlds, joined the new Justice League. Eventually, Shayera Hol even returned, albeit without the Thanagarian armor she'd worn as Hawkgirl. J'onn also changed his role within the League, staying on the Watchtower and assigning missions to the other members, rather than being an active combatant. The original members of the Justice League served as an inner leadership council, with Superman being regarded as first among equals.

Still, the power the League represented made many in the United States government uncomfortable. Amanda Waller was made head of Project Cadmus, an agency designed to make counter measures in the event the Justice League went rogue. To avoid any scandal, the agency was formed without Congressional approval and secretly funded by Lex Luthor. Unknown to anyone, however, Brainiac was manipulating Lex Luthor to use Cadmus as a distraction while he attempted to build himself an android body that he could inhabit. Eventually, Luthor, Waller and General Wade Eiling shifted Cadmus' agenda from counter measure to provoking the League into a confrontation.

The Cadmus crisis and The Legion of Doom

Learning of Cadmus, Batman had the Question try to find the link between Luthor and Cadmus. Question was captured by Cadmus, but rescued by Superman, Luthor then fired the Watchtower's Binary Fusion Cannon at the Cadmus base, making it appear to be retaliation. to ease tensions, the original members of the Justice League (minus Batman) surrendered themselves to the United States government. At the same time, Cadmus launched an unauthorized assault against the Watchtower, while Batman forced Waller to investigate Lex Luthor. Discovering that Luthor had fired the weapon, Waller and the original seven members of the Justice League went to confront Luthor and destroyed the android he had been making. Out of options, Brainiac emerged from within Luthor and managed to escape. Luthor proposed a an agreement, where by they would merge and share the best of each other: Brainiac's knowledge and Luthor's imagination. The Luthor/Brainiac hybrid was defeated and Brainiac destroyed by the Flash. In response, Project Cadmus was terminated.

Following the Cadmus incidents, the League also built the Metro Tower in an effort to make themselves seem more down-to-Earth. At the same time, Gorilla Grodd formed a new Secret Society to help supervillains counter the "threat" of the Justice League. Unfortunately for Grodd, he brought Lex Luthor into the group. Luthor usurped command from Grodd and used the group's resources to try and resurrect Brainiac, accidentally resurrecting Darkseid, Lord of Apokolips, who launched an invasion of Earth in revenge against Superman. Facing a full scale invasion, the Justice League mobilized its entire roster and allied with the Secret Society. Lex Luthor managed to stop Darkseid with the Anti-Life Equation, and the supervillains were allowed a five minute headstart before the League went after them.

Members

Founders	Extended Team
Batman The Flash The Green Lantern Hawkgirl/Shayera Hol J'onn J'onzz Superman Wonder Woman	Notable Members	Other Members
	Aquaman The Atom Booster Gold B'wana Beast Black Canary Captain Atom Dove Dr. Fate Elongated Man Fire Green Arrow Hawk The Huntress Long Shadow Mr. Terrific Orion The Question The Shining Knight Speedy Stargirl Steel S.T.R.I.P.E. Vigilante Vixen Wildcat Zatanna	Atom-Smasher Aztek Blue Devil Commander Steel The Creeper The Crimson Avenger Crimson Fox Dr. Light Dr. Mid-Nite Etrigan Gypsy Hourman Ice Metamorpho Nemesis Obsidian Plastic Man The Ray Red Tornado Rocket Red Sand Starman Thunder, Johnny Thunderbolt Vibe Waverider

Background Information

Pre-Production League

An early lineup featuring Hal Jordan and Aquaman, and without J'onn J'onzz and Hawkgirl.

In the early stages of development, many characters were considered for the Justice League lineup. Most of these would eventually appear on the show, such as Green Arrow, Hawkman, Black Canary, Waverider, Supergirl, Question, Vixen, Dr. Fate, Mr. Miracle, Orion, Captain Marvel and Hal Jordan.

Some characters considered that did not appear were Black Lightning, Nightshade, Blue Beetle, Robin, Impulse, and a female version of Cyborg. The latter three characters were added to the team and included in an animated short used when the show was being pitched to Kids' WB since the executives wanted young heroes that the audience could identify with.

Appearances

Static Shock

• "A League of Their Own"
• "Fallen Hero" ^{(Mentioned Only)}

Batman Beyond

• "The Call" ^{(Mentioned Only)}

External links

• Justice League at Wikipedia
• Justice League of America at the DC Database