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The Justice League of America

Justice League of America

First Appearance
The Brave and the Bold #28 (February/March, 1960)
Creators
Gardner Fox
HQ
Justice League Watchtower, Justice League Satellite, The Hall of Justice, The Secret Sanctuary
Members
Superman (Leader), Batman (Leader), Wonder Woman (Leader), The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Green Arrow, The Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, Red Tornado, Cyborg, Vixen, Hawkman, Black Canary, The Atom, Hawkgirl, countless others
Rallying Cry
None
Paraphernalia
None
Aliases
The Justice League, the JLA

The Justice League of America (sometimes simply called the Justice League or the JLA) is a superhero team in the DC universe composed of its most powerful heroes.

The Justice League regularly appears in several monthly comics and in TV, video games, direct to video films and other forms of media.

Origin[]

When the world was threaten by a malevolent alien force, the world's greatest heroes banded together to defeat it and became the world's most powerful superhero team: the Justice League.

History[]

The Silver Age[]

The team that would become the Justice League informally first formed with the help of the Flash to fight the evil White Martian Blanx. Not long after, a group of disparate heroes (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, and The Martian Manhunter) found themselves facing the same enemy; an alien invaders named the Appelliax. When they found themselves unable to defeat the threat on their own, they found the strength to defeat them once they joined forces and seeing the good they could do as a team, decided to remain together as the Justice League. They created their own HQ in a cave called the Secret Sanctuary, located in Happy Harbour, Rhode Island. Later on, the team battled the alien menace known as Starro, only to gain assistance from a young teen named Snapper Carr who had discovered the alien's weakness and became an honorary member of the League and one of their biggest civilian supporters.

Though Superman and Batman had more diminished roles on the team (not even participating in the Starro adventure), the League was still strong, defeating such menaces as Xotar, Amazo, Despero, Simon Magus, and Kanjar Ro. During a mission, the team was trapped by the alien Carthan and were rescued by the Green Arrow, who helped them defeat the alien menace and was granted membership. With Arrow in tow, the Justice League battled other new threats such as Felix Faust, Amos Fortune, The Demons Three, The Lord of Time, Dr. Light, and Zed Brann, among other villains, making their legend grow.

Eventually, The Atom is voted into the League and joins while helping them deal with Amos Fortune, who has given all of the members amnesia while using their greatest enemies (and a completely amnesiac Batman) to try to defeat them. The League would go onto battle stone giants from space and villains such as the Maestro, and The Tornado Tyrant (their encounter would later cause the Tyrant to become a hero). During an adventure where they where framed by the villain Dr. Destiny, the League members all revealed their alter-egos to each other so that they could clear their names using their civilian identities. This brought the League's members closer together and allowed them to communicate with each other outside of their superhero identities.

The Justice League would go onto discover the existence of a parallel reality they referred to as Earth Two. On Earth Two, they would discover the superhero team the Justice Society of America. The two end up teaming up to defeat the villains from both of their universes and when they succeed, they return to their respective home dimensions.

Following this, the League would face many new villains, such as Queen Bee and Headmaster Mind, as well as old foes like Kanjar Ro and Despero. They would also be turned evil for a time by the villain known as Antithesis. However, they were eventually stopped and returned to normal by many of the heroes young sidekicks, who formed their own superhero team, calling themselves the Teen Titans, who would remain one of the world's greatest superhero teams.

The Justice Society and the Justice League would be forced to team up once more to face the Crime Syndicate of America. The Crime Syndicate was a supervillain team that originated from the alternate universe of Earth-Three, where they had used their vast power to conquer the Earth. Out of boredom, they decided to battle the Justice League and quickly defeated them with the magic word "Volthoom". However, when the CSA attacked the Justice Society on Earth-Two, the League arrived to defeat them in the rematch, forcing them to return home.

Hawkman was next to be recruited into the Justice League, at the recommendation of the Atom. In his first mission he helps the Justice League defeat Joe Parry (a small time crook who acquired an alien device) and the team would go on to fight villains such as Brain Storm, Alien-Ator, Johnny Thunder of Earth-One and the Key as well as facing off against old foes like Dr. Destiny and the Demons Three.

After many adventures, they decided to expand their ranks to include Metamorpho, a shapeshifting superhero who could transform into any element but was unable to return to his human form.  At the same time, a vein creature named the Unimaginable insists that he join the group at any cost, causing Metamorpho and the Justice League to work together to defeat it.  Though Metamorpho chose not to join the team on a permanent basis, he agreed to be a reserve member for emergency situations.

The Justice League would go on to face new villains such as the Royal Flush Gang, the Anti-Matter Man (who they defeated with the help of the Justice Society) and the Shaggy Man, as well as helping the superheroine Zatanna find her missing father.  The League went onto fight old foes as well and on a few occasions, reunited with the Justice Society to fight interdimensional threats.

Later the team would re-team with the Justice Society to stop the villain T.O. Morrow, who invented a new robot to help him with his evil plans: the Red Tornado.  The robot was designed to want to assist the Society and would inadvertently assist T.O. Morrow with his plans. Using energy duplicates of the Justice League friends and loved ones, Morrow managed to kill several members of the Justice League. However, Red Tornado was able to overcome Morrow's plot and devised a plan to restore the fallen members of the Justice League. With Tornado proving his worth to the superheroes, he is offered membership within the Justice Society, though Tornado politely declines, instead deciding to understand himself better first.

The Justice League would go on to thwart an attempted invasion of America as well as an attack by an entity known as Neverwas. However, the team faced their biggest shake up when longtime member Wonder Woman decided to leave the team following the loss of her superpowers. The League tangled with the Creeper and the Mind Grabber Kid but both ended their battle on better terms. The League also battles Benn Blanx, a white Martian tyrant and defeat him. However, the adventure costs the Martian people their planet and the Martian Manhunter left the team to shepherd his people to a new home.

The Justice League then faced against Aquarius, a living star, who had taken control of the minds of the Justice Society, in order to save Earth-Two. After this adventure, they invited the superhero Black Canary to join the team, only to find in addition to her fighting prowess, the events of battling Aquarius accidentally granted her powers to emit sonic blasts from her mouth. Canary helps the team fight evil doppelgangers and begins a close friendship with the hero Green Arrow.

Not long after, Snapper Carr is convinced to betray the team by John Dough, the "Most Normal Man in America" who tells Carr the League and their powers threaten normality. Carr's culpability is revealed and the League release him, while Carr cuts ties with the team to do some soul searching. Meanwhile, the League would learn Dough was in fact the Joker, which would lead Carr to feel guilty about his actions.

The Satellite Era[]

After Carr quit, the League began operating from a satellite in geosynchronous orbit above the Earth called the Justice League Satellite, as they felt their previous base was compromised. The team battled cosmic and extra-terrestrial threats such as the Doomsters, The Dharlu, Norch Lor, and the Jest-Master and once again teamed up with the Justice Society to fight the entity Creator2. Meanwhile, Green Arrow and Canary begin to grow romantically closer, despite the attempted meddling of a temporarily super-powered writer. The League teams up once again with the Justice Society to help a boy and his pet turned into monsters and fight Solomon Grundy and later the League was assisted by Deadman to battle the League of Assassins. The team then ends up stopping a riot by misguided rock star Johnny Dune, battling the powerful space vampire Starbreaker with hero Sargon the Sorcerer and stopping alien gardeners from accidentally dooming the Earth.

The Justice League and Justice Society teamed once again to battle a multiversal threat called the Nebula-Man by travelling in time, with Red Tornado sacrificing his life to save the world. They also were given advice on how to defeat Felix Faust's newest plot by the enigmatic entity the Phantom Stranger, the first of many fated meetings, and also battled the Shaggy Man once more. They inducted the Elongated Man, a friend of the Flash with stretching powers and great detective skills, into the team and involved them with a case involving putty-fleshed monsters. They are saved by the now-alive Red Tornado, who explained he was hurled into their universe, unable to return home. The team was rescued by a blind hermit who remolded his face with more human-like features and the Tornado is inducted into the team. Red Tornado gains a human secret identity and begins creating a life for himself, unaware that T.O. Morrow was behind the putty monsters and was the "blind hermit", as part of a scheme to defeat the Justice League due to being convinced that soon he or the Justice League will cease to exist.. The Red Tornado joins the League and develops a secret identity and gains a personal life. Morrow is defeated when his plan to defeat the League fails and for reasons unknown, fades out of existence.

Soon after, the Justice Society and Justice League found themselves flung into the alternate world of Earth-X, a world where the Nazis won World War II. The Justice League and Justice Society ended up teaming with a rebellious team of heroes, the Freedom Fighters and with Red Tornado's wits, manage to defeat an evil plot by the Nazis. After returning home Hawkman and Hawkgirl resign from the League to return to their homeworld, though not before helping them defeat the evil entity Eclipso. They also battled The Key during a Christmas caper and Libra, a villain capable of stealing powers who became overzealous, seemingly use his power to inadvertently destroy himself, merging with the universe. However, despite their victory, Libra managed to steal half the power from each member of the team. The Atom came up with an unusual solution, bringing in Amazo, the dangerous robot capable of duplicating powers, and reprogram him to restore their abilities. Amazo managed to use this time to escape but was singlehandedly defeated by Batman.

The Justice League managed to recapture the out-of-control sidekick Sandy in Earth-Two, and save Snapper Carr from an unusual hostage situation. The Justice League assisted former member J'onn J'onnz in protecting his people from the menace Korge and two strange situations involving Hawkman; the villain the Matter Master and a young hero named Golden Eagle and the second involving a plague "equalizing" exposed so that all beings will be equal physically. Following this, Hawkman re-joins the team once again and he and Hawkgirl return to Earth full time after a tangle with would be world conquerors The Adaptoids. The team battled Kanjar Ro to help Adam Strange and battled Dr. Light in a scenario where he altered their sense of identity, inspiring the members of the Justice League to reveal to each other their true identities. The Justice League would ally themselves with the Justice Society to defeat a temporarily mad and cosmically powered comic book writer, teamed up with crime boss Two-Face to defeat the alien invaders known as the Dronndarians and defeated a political fanatic named the Anarchist.

Wonder Woman rejoined the team after a long absence and helped them defeat the alien threat of Nekron, an alien being forcing the team to see visions of their own deaths. Together they defeated Nekron, but at the apparent cost of the life of the Red Tornado once again. The Justice League would face old villains once again including Queen Bee, the Green Lantern villain Sonar and Despero. When the superhero Captain Marvel learned he needed help from heroes of the multiverse to battle the villain King Kull, he gained heroes from Earth-One, Earth-Two and his home world of Earth-S, using the teams the Justice League, the Justice Society and Marvel's own team the Squadron of Justice. Through a series of crises and battles, the heroes are victorious and the Justice League befriended the heroes of Earth-S. The team then journeyed into the future to rescue hero Adam Strange from their old enemy Kanjar Ro.

The Justice League then confronted the Manhunters, power-mad police androids, who framed Hal Jordan for the destruction of a planet with the help of a Manhunter who made Earth his home named Mark Shaw. The Justice League would then battle threats like the Construct, the Injustice Gang and Count Crystal and teamed up with the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Justice Society to battle Mordru the Magician. The team also gained occasional help from Mark Shaw, now in the guise of The Privateer but he would later betray the team and attempt to frame Snapper Carr as "The Star-Tsar." The team also allowed space hero Captain Comet honorary membership. The team then outwitted the returning Amos Fortune and his "Luck League" as well as the alien threat Major Macabre. The League also teamed up with the extra-dimensional hero Ultraa, faced a trap by Dr. Destiny, re-directed a rogue moon and faced an entity called The Fiend with Five Faces.

The League would later face the Injustice Gang without their powers when Ultraa becomes convinces superhumans are a threat to Earth and psychologically inhibits the League's powers, a fight they would win. Later, the villain the Lord of Time would manipulate five time displaced heroes (the Enemy Ace, Jonah Hex, the Black Pirate, Miss Liberty and the Viking Prince) to fight and defeat both the Justice League and the Justice Society. When the Lord of Time's computer the Eternity Brain threatened to stop time completely against his will, he summoned the time-displaced heroes to stop it, though it is the Justice League and Justice Society who narrowly manage to defeat it in the end.

Zatanna was inducted into the team, though initially violently refused the offer, acting rudely, particularly to Green Lantern. Batman and Atom investigated, only to learn that Zatanna was in fact acting in the team's best interested and the Green Lantern present was an imposter. Together Zatanna, Batman and Atom free the real Green Lantern and Zatanna became a full team member. While the rest of the Justice League fought the villains like the Shark and Anton Allegro, Zatanna and other team members investigated some recent memory loss from Zatanna, with the help of her father, the superhero sorcerer Zatara. The Justice League and Zatara find themselves learning Zatanna's mother, Sindella, was a magic variation of human and that she is alive in a secret city rules by mystics called the Hidden Ones. Once Zatanna defeats the Hidden Ones' plan to conquer the Earth, she begins to reconcile the new revelations about her past and deal with the loss of her mother, who sacrificed herself to save the world.

Not long after that, the Secret Society of Super-Villains plotted to switch bodies with the members of the Justice League. Their plan initially worked, but were defeated by the team and Zatanna's magic and Zatanna erased their memories of learning the secret identities of the Justice League. They then worked against the alien Over-Complex, who had manipulated Ultraa into helping them. Not long after they met with the Justice Society after one of their members, Mr. Terrific, was mysteriously murdered, with Batman solving the mystery.

The Modern Age[]

TBA

See Also[]

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