I’m Calling It Now – Justice League’s New Roster Is the Perfect Approach to the Franchise

Summary

• Lesser-known heroes like Black Lightning, Captain Atom, and Star Sapphire should be included in the Justice League.
• Team stories are better with a diverse lineup that includes A-listers and C-listers, providing unpredictable chemistry.
• The Justice League roster should change to keep things interesting, following the model of the
  Justice League Unlimited
  cartoon.

The Justice League has been DC’s flagship superhero team since their introduction in the pages of The Brave and the Bold #28 in 1960. While the team has been best-known for its use of A-listers, I really think it’s at its best when it houses more distinct personalities — so I’m thrilled with the new line-up.

DC Comics recently announced the return of the Justice League in Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s latest collaboration, Justice League Unlimited. Here, the World’s Finest creative team will resurrect the publisher’s premier superhero team for the first time since their ongoing series ended in 2022.

I know team books aren’t for everyone, but I think they serve a key role in giving characters who could never carry their own series in today’s market a home. After all, the Justice League has hosted everyone from New Gods to reformed villains, and seeing the next roster fills me with hope that we’ll get back to character diversity.

Justice League Unlimited
is part of DC’s new line-wide initiative, “All In,” which promises new starting points for ongoing series — and new #1s — that make launching into the DC story easier for readers new and lapsed.

The Justice League Should Include Lesser-Known Heroes

Including Black Lightning, Captain Atom, and Star Sapphire, the Atom, and More

The aptly-named Justice League Unlimited title is a callback to the animated series that got many DC fans, myself included, interested in some of the franchise’s most obscure characters. After all, that’s one of the charms of a team comic: creators can use stars to elevate lesser-known heroes. I remember being fascinated by stories focused on heroes like the Question, Stargirl, and Hawkman — characters who never made it to the big screen in those days. I carried that interest into the comics, where I made a point of seeking out the protagonists I enjoyed in animation.

As great as the core members of the Justice League are, the reality is that the main team always had overlapping personalities. While we can talk about Superman’s wholesome nature versus Batman’s more cynical personality, the original line-up was always composed of the same stoic, by-the-book archetype. When people read a Green Lantern or even a Man of Steel comic, they walk into it knowing what they’re going to get, and that tends to hold true for Justice League comics that center around the original seven. When C-listers get added to the roster, we almost always get fun, unpredictable chemistry between the characters.

The Justice League Shouldn’t Be Too Much of One Thing

Team Stories Are Better When They Diversify

Funnily enough, there was a time in DC history when team books were almost seen as the doldrums for a superhero, and the point was to “graduate” from the Justice League title into a solo book. This became a self-fulfilling prophecy when the A-listers were almost entirely pulled from the team, and the likes of Metamorpho and Geo-Force were left to carry the book.

Waid and Mora seem to understand the importance of striking a balance between A-listers and C-listers.

Naturally, that made both the characters and the title feel less relevant as major stories were told in solo books. There simply wasn’t a “Knightfall” or a “Death of Superman” level comic story for DC’s iconic team until the ’97 JLA reboot, which gave us “Tower of Babel” by Waid and Howard Porter and “World War III” by Grant Morrison and Porter.

Comic book runs like Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire’s Justice League International — a favorite of mine — show us that the more divergent the individual heroes, the better the team result. The original team being in lockstep was fun, but nothing competes with Guy Gardner irking his fellow members or the buddy relationship between Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. Waid and Mora seem to understand the importance of striking a balance between A-listers and C-listers, maintaining the Trinity alongside Black Lightning, Star Sapphire, Captain Atom, and the Atom.

The Justice League Roster Shouldn’t Be Permanent

A Changing Roster Keeps Things Interesting

If the Justice League Unlimited cartoon got one thing absolutely right, it was its skillful alternation of the team’s roster. The show managed to get viewers to fall in love with the likes of Shining Knight, Vigilante and Vixen in one episode, only to move to a whole new set of characters in the next — and viewers loved it. The series’ show runners were also smart enough to recognize which characters had the best potential, hence the recurrence of Green Arrow, Huntress, the Question, and Vixen. It’s essential that the new comic-book series follows that model.

The appeal of classic titles like
The Brave and the Bold
was unpredictability, which often forced writers to go the extra mile with creativity.

It’s worth remembering both the sheer volume of heroes in the DC Universe and just how many fan-favorite characters have been missing from major stories. For years, many of us have been forced to catch glimpses of some of our favorite heroes in sparse panels and group shots in events like Doomsday Clock Death Metal. Letting characters come and go as the story suits will keep readers like me interested. After all, the appeal of classic titles like The Brave and the Bold was unpredictability, which often forced writers to go the extra mile with creativity.

Recently, the revolving door of obscure heroes in the pages of World’s Finest tells me that we can expect a range of characters to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Batman and Superman. After all, we’ve just read a story about Doctor Occult, Prince Ra-Man, and Thunderbolt helping the duo defeat Doom-Mite in Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #29. I have absolutely no doubt that Waid will deploy his deep knowledge of Golden Age heroes in this series, too. Not since the height of Scott Snyder’s run on the title have I felt as great about the series’ potential as today.

Many DC Heroes Work Best on a Team

Big Personalities Make for Better Stories

As entertaining as characters like Guy Gardner, Lobo, Captain Atom, and the Flash can be solo, many of these heroes are at their absolute best when they clash in a team. Seeing Gardner trying to take on Red Lanterns can be fun, but it doesn’t compare to seeing him trying to take control of the League from Batman. Black Lightning especially is a hero who reaches his fullest potential when he can take on the role of a mentor (thanks to his daily profession as a high school principal). For decades, some of the company’s best heroes have been defined through partnerships rather than solo stories.

My favorite part of the new line-up is how Batman and Superman both have opposing personalities on the team with Black Lightning and Captain Atom. Historically, we’ve seen how Jefferson Pierce can be firmly at odds with Bruce Wayne when it comes to the leadership style of the Outsiders. Likewise, Nathaniel Adam’s country-first ethos has put him against the Man of Steel. Both of these heroes being thrown into the mix fills me with confidence that we can see some classic DC rivalries and differences boil over and give us some good, ’80s-style clashes in DC’s brand-new Justice League book.

Justice League Unlimited #1, though it does not yet have a particular release date, will be available this fall from DC Comics.