Legion of Doom

File:Legion of Doom.jpg

Legion of Doom was a supervillain organization put together by Gorilla Grodd to counter the expanded Justice League.

History

After the Secret Society was dismantled, it was later expanded in the same fashion the superhero organization did and became a protection racket set up to counteract the influence of the Justice League.

Members of the Legion clashed with the League several times, leaving the League in the dark as to the organization's existence for quite a while. Behind the scenes, Gorilla Grodd orchestrated the Legion's actions until Lex Luthor seized control from him. Given Grodd had just attempted to turn all humanity into apes, included the Legionnaires themselves, there were no spoken objections at the coup. Luthor's obsession with resurrecting Brainiac, however, hurt his leadership abilities, and when he took the Legion's headquarters into space in a final bid to accomplish his goal, many of the rogues mutinied against him, led by Gorilla Grodd.

The Secret Society members loyal to Luthor were Atomic Skull, Bizarro, Cheetah, Evil Star, Giganta, Heat Wave, Sinestro, Doctor Destiny, Star Sapphire, Toyman, and Volcana. The group loyal to Grodd were Blockbuster, Shade, Hellgrammite, Copperhead, Key, Electrocutioner, Goldface, Killer Frost, Neutron, Parasite, Rampage, Silver Banshee, Fastball, Weather Wizard, Monocle, KGBeast, Lady Lunar, Doctor Cyber, Crowbar, Major Disaster, Angle Man, Bloodsport, Merlyn, and Tala.

After a battle that raged throughout the structure, Luthor sent Grodd into the vacuum of space, and the rebellion was crushed. With the surviving mutineers (Blockbuster, Copperhead, Fastball, Goldface, Hellgrammite, Key, Parasite, Rampage, Shade, and Weather Wizard) gathered before him, Luthor asked why he should spare any of them. He received his answer when Killer Frost suddenly froze everybody else, earning herself a pardon. Soon after, though, Luthor resurrected not Brainiac but Darkseid (killing Tala in the process), and one of his first acts was to destroy the Hall with everybody inside.

The attack was not as successful as he thought - Sinestro managed to protect his allies with his power ring, although those already frozen by Killer Frost were destroyed. The fate of some of the Luthor supporters not shielded by Sinestro remained uncertain (such as Doctor Destiny, Major Disaster, or KGBeast (who had switched allegiance back to Luthor). The remaining members of the Legion made it to Earth in time to warn the League of Darkseid's coming invasion. Together, they fought off Darkseid's hordes. Luthor himself confronted Darkseid with the Anti-Life Equation, leaving both of their fates uncertain.

In the battle's aftermath, what was left of the Legion was awarded a "five-minute head start" by Batman. They were last seen fleeing from the League.

Members

File:SecretSocietyII.jpg

Some other members of the Legion.

File:LegionHQ.jpg

The Legion of Doom headquarters.

• Angle Man (deceased)
• Atomic Skull
• Bizarro
• Black Mass
• Blockbuster (deceased)
• Bloodsport (deceased)
• The Blue Lama
• Cheetah
• Copperhead (deceased)
• Crowbar (deceased)
• Devil Ray (deceased)
• Dr. Cyber (deceased)
• Dr. Destiny
• Dr. Polaris (presumed deceased)
• Dr. Spectro
• Dummy
• The Electrocutioner (deceased)
• Evil Star
• Fastball (deceased)
• Giganta
• Gentleman Ghost
• Goldface (deceased)
• Grodd (original leader, possibly deceased)
• Heatwave
• Hellgrammite (deceased)
• Javelin
• The Key (deceased)
• KGBeast (deceased)
• Killer Frost
• Lady Lunar (deceased)
• Lex Luthor (second leader, possibly deceased)
• Livewire
• Major Disaster (deceased)
• Merlyn (deceased)
• Metallo (presumed deceased)
• Mirror Master
• The Monocle (deceased)
• Neutron (deceased)
• Parasite (deceased)
• Psycho-Pirate
• The Puppeteer
• The Puzzler
• Queen Bee
• Rampage (deceased)
• The Shade (deceased)
• The Shark
• Silver Banshee (deceased)
• Sinestro
• Sonar
• Sportsmaster
• Star Sapphire
• Tala (deceased)
• The Tattooed Man
• The Thinker
• The Top
• Toyman
• Tsukuri
• Volcana
• Weather Wizard (deceased)

Background Information

• In the Challenge of the Superfriends, a Justice League animated spin-off from the 1970s, the Legion of Doom comprised the show's main villains. The Superfriends Legion included Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Sinestro, Cheetah, Scarecrow, Grodd, Giganta, Black Manta (Devil Ray), Riddler, Toyman, Captain Cold, Solomon Grundy, and Bizarro. It was this group that inspired the Legion seen in Justice League Unlimited, down to the swamp-based lair.
• All the members of the Challenge Legion are included in the JLU version, save Brainiac (as he is in need of resurrection by Luthor), Riddler and Scarecrow (due to the bat embargo), and Captain Cold (who does appear during the season featuring the Legion of Doom, albeit in an unrelated episode). Black Manta appears under the name "Devil Ray", used due to copyright difficulties surrounding the Aquaman family of characters. Solomon Grundy wasn't a part of the Legion of Doom because he was killed in a previous episode. The Riddler and Scarecrow never appeared on Justice League Unlimited.

Trivia

• Although the name of the Secret Society was never referred to as "The Legion of Doom", it was referred as such by the creators, and referenced by the title of the episode "I Am Legion". There are also several similarities to the original "Legion of Doom" from The Challenge of The Superfriends. Many of the same villains are members here, and their headquarters (the Hall of Doom) are similar.
• Matt Wayne stated that they intended to use the name "Legion of Doom" on-screen, but they were overruled by the DC Comics.
• Despite DC Comics' imposition, the name "Legion of Doom" is used on the package of Justice League Unlimited - Season Two (DVD) [3].

Appearances

Justice League Unlimited

• "I Am Legion"
• "Chaos at the Earth's Core"
• "To Another Shore"
• "Dead Reckoning"
• "The Great Brain Robbery"
• "Grudge Match"
• "Alive!"

External links

• Legion of Doom at Wikipedia
• Legion of Doom at the DC Database