Justice League

One of DC's most popular and long-lasting lines of comic books has focused on the adventures of the Justice League. This group, known as "Earth's Mightiest Superheroes," debuted in the early 1940s in the third issue of All-Star Comics. They were the first superhero team in comic book history, and they were an immediate hit. The Justice League was initially known as the Justice Society of America, or JSA. The initial lineup of the Justice Society included characters such as Hawkman and Doctor Fate. Over the years, the team became known as the Justice League of America, or JLA, and its makeup changed depending on the time line and the story line. The Justice League has inspired a number of comic book spin-offs and served as the foundation for several television cartoons and movies.

Background

In 1940, the Justice Society of America first appeared in the third issue of All-Star Comics. The team consisted of the Atom, Sandman, Spectre, the Flash, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, and Hourman. They became comic book history's first official superhero team. They gathered at a round table, a direct reference to King Arthur and his knights. Throughout the series, characters came and went, and comic book stars like Batman and Superman made guest appearances. Wonder Woman first appeared in All-Star Comics #8, and she later became a member of the JSA. The JSA's final adventure took place in All-Star Comics #57, which was published in 1951.

In 1960, a new team of superheroes made their first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #28. This story featured Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter as the members of the Justice League of America. The team also had an official mascot, a teenager named Lucas Carr, or Snapper. He often went along on the league's missions, even though he did not have any superpowers at the time. When he was tricked into giving up the location of the Justice League's headquarters—which was a cave near Happy Harbor, Rhode Island—the team took away his membership. Years later, Snapper's character was brought back, but by then he had the ability to teleport by snapping his fingers.

Over the years, other comic book characters—including Green Arrow, the Atom, Black Canary, Hawkman, and Zatanna—joined the league. After the villain the Joker compromised their headquarters in the Rhode Island cave, the JLA moved their operations to a special satellite orbiting Earth. From there, the heroes could watch over the planet and respond to major crises. Later, when that satellite was destroyed by a battle with Martian invaders, the team's headquarters moved to a bunker in Detroit, Michigan.

Although the JLA was initially brought together to battle the Appellaxians, an alien race determined to rule the entire world, the first villain they actually faced was Starro. This character was a huge flying starfish from outer space that was able to read minds. Other villains the JLA battled over the years included Despero, Amazo, and the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3, which were the dark equivalents of the JLA members and included characters such as Ultraman, Owlman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring.

The Justice League has branched off in many directions over the decades. Spin-offs have included Justice League Detroit, Justice League Europe, Justice League International, Justice League Quarterly, and even Formerly Known as the Justice League. While the seven core members of the team have remained in various capacities, other members have come and gone, including the Elongated Man, Gypsy, Steel, Vixen, Vibe, and the Ray. In 2003, sixteen issues were written about another group of Justice League members known as the Super Buddies. This group included Blue Beetle, Mary Marvel, Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire, and the Elongated Man.

With so many different incarnations of the team over the years, some readers were confused by the different time lines. Several comic book series featuring the JLA were started and eventually canceled. By 1997, all had been canceled and another new series was in the works. This was when JLA, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Howard Porter, was released. This series brought back several team members from the 1960s and even featured Starro as one of the villains. This time the team's headquarters was located on the moon in a base called the Watchtower. New characters were added to the story, including Plastic Man, Orion, Oracle, Huntress, and Manitou Raven. The series was revived in 2006 as Justice League of America and again in 2011 as simply Justice League following the DC universe New 52 reboot. In 2016 a third volume of Justice League was begun as part of the relaunch known as DC Rebirth.

In Other Media

Over the years, the Justice League has been the focus of several animated television shows. In the 1970s, several of the Justice League characters appeared on the Hanna-Barbera show Super Friends, which ran every Saturday morning. Cartoon Network ran an animated series about the Justice League from 2001 to 2004. After two seasons, this replaced by Justice League Unlimited. This series was on the air for three seasons. In 2016, Cartoon Network launched a series called Justice League Action, produced by Warner Brothers Animation. It featured Mark Hamill as the voice of Swamp Thing and Kevin Conroy as Batman. Various animated films featuring the Justice League have also been released. Many of these earned very strong critical praise, including Justice League: The New Frontier (2008), Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010), Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013), Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015), and Justice League Dark (2017).

Different members of the Justice League have been featured in multiple live-action movies, especially Batman and Superman. In 2013, the movie Man of Steel focused on the modern Superman, beginning a series of films sharing a universe built around DC characters, similar in concept to the extremely successful cinematic universe introduced by DC's chief competitor, Marvel, beginning in 2008. Man of Steel was followed by 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, both of which involved members of the Justice League. All of three those films had markedly mixed to negative receptions from fans and critics, but in 2017 Wonder Woman was released to almost universal acclaim. Later that year, Justice League, directed by Zack Snyder, hit theatres, with Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, and Ben Affleck reprising their roles as Wonder Woman, Superman, and Batman, respectively; they were joined by Ezra Miller as the Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, and Jason Momoa as Aquaman to form the iconic team. The film was one of the most expensive of all time with a production budget around $300 million, but largely negative reviews and highly polarized fan reactions contributed to its underperformance at the box office, and it ultimately lost money for the Warner Bros. studio. Despite this lack of success, several further related films followed, including Aquaman (2018). In 2021, a four-hour long director's cut of Justice League was released on the streaming service HBO Max. Titled Zack Snyder's Justice League, the movie proved more popular among viewers than the original film.

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