Justice Lords

The Justice Lords.

"I did love being the hero. But if this is where it leads, I'm done with it." — Justice Lord Superman

The Justice Lords were an alternate universe version of the Justice League.

History

In a universe parallel to that of the Justice League's universe, President Lex Luthor's unjust execution of the Flash caused the superhero team of that universe to go rogue. Though this team called itself the Justice Lords since its inception (rather than the Justice League), it was still also composed of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, John Stewart, Hawkgirl, and J'onn J'onzz. Both teams shared the same history until Luthor became President.

Fascist hold

After Superman killed President Luthor, the Justice Lords reorganized itself into a planet-wide ruling body, quickly beginning a program of protecting humanity from itself. Free speech was all but dead, elections were chosen only when the Lords said so and the slightest disturbance of the peace meant immediate arrest. Many of the rogues that the Lords had faced in the past were lobotomized by Superman's heat vision to make them peaceful and harmless. The rogues were then placed in an updated and pleasant-looking Arkham Asylum run by the Joker, who had become harmless after undergoing the same "treatment" himself. Also, during this period, the costumes of the Justice Lords underwent extensive changes.

The Justice Lords meet the Justice League

Once Earth was peaceful, Batman developed an interdimensional transport device that allowed him to view universes parallel to his own. The first universe he found was that of the Justice League, where his and the Lords' counterparts continued to battle Lex Luthor, the Flash was still alive, and they had not instilled order via harsh rule. Deciding to force their brand of order on the League's universe as well, the Justice Lords tricked and captured the League, imprisoning them in the Lords' universe while the Lords took their place, with the exception of Batman, who stayed behind to keep order.

Soon after their capture, the Justice League escaped and, with the help of Justice Lord Batman, who had been convinced of the wrongness of his and the Lords' actions, returned to their own universe. After gaining the assistance of Luthor in creating an energy disruptor, the five Justice Lords were stripped of their abilities and returned to their own universe.

Aftermath

Despite this victory, the actions of the Justice Lords continued to plague the Justice League in the years to come, serving as a constant reminder of what could happen if they went too far. The rampage of the Justice Lords precipitated the creation of Project Cadmus (although some of their projects had been in production even before the incident). The League also took great pains to recruit the politically active Green Arrow when the Justice League expanded in the wake of the Thanagarian invasion. The League hoped he would serve as their political conscience and appropriately, he was instrumental in preventing a dangerous overreaction by the League when Cadmus captured and tortured the Question and tricked Captain Atom into serving them and thus fighting Superman, who was forced to beat Atom into unconsciousness to subdue him.

In the final hours of the Cadmus Crisis, the fused form of Lex Luthor and Brainiac created android replicas of the Justice Lords to battle the seven founding Justice League members. The androids were, however, destroyed in the ensuing battle.

Members

• Superman
• Batman
• Wonder Woman
• J'onn J'onzz
• Green Lantern
• Hawkgirl
• Flash (deceased)

Background information

• While the original intention was to do a Crime Syndicate story, commentary on the Season Two DVD of Justice League revealed they ended up more a reference to The Authority. Also, the idea of having the Crime Syndicate as the main antagonists was later stored for Justice League: Worlds Collide, a planned Justice League DTV. But the project never materialized.
• Bruce Timm has stated that the great difference between the Justice Lords and the Crime Syndicate was that the Lords were merely misguided, but the Syndicate members are evil of heart.
• In the Batman Beyond tie-in comics, it was revealed that the effects of Lex Luthor's power disruptor were not permanent, restoring the Lords' powers. In a further expansion, Wonder Woman married Justice Lord Batman and stayed on the alternate Earth, replacing Justice Lord Wonder Woman, who killed Lord Batman, making Wonder Woman kill her also with her Lasso.

Appearances

Justice League

• "A Better World"

Justice League Unlimited

• "The Doomsday Sanction" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Question Authority" ^{(Mentioned Only)}
• "Divided We Fall" (android replicas)