The Justice League has had a lot of members, with almost every hero (and a few villains) being part of its roster at some point in time. However, some of these lineups stand out amongst all the versions we have seen over the years. Some of these you can guess pretty easily, while others I’m sure will catch you by surprise.
Justice League Task Force takes on White Supremacists
Lineup: Martian Manhunter, Cynthia Reynolds, Elongated Man, Black Canary, Peter Cannon, and Hourman (Rex Tyler)
This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about Justice League Task Force. As a special group brought together for missions too covert for the main League to take on, the lineup for this title would fluctuate a lot except for J’onn and Cynthia. However, this is my personal favorite lineup as it involves the Task Force going undercover into a white supremacist organization and stopping their plans to launch a missile containing a gas that would target…well you can probably figure that out.
This three parter stands out not only for the fact that its one of the few times the League ever directly (or covertly in this case) takes on racism. Additionally, its one of the few times Peter Cannon was allowed to be in the DC Universe as technically DC didn’t own the rights to him. We also see Rex Tyler come out of retirement one last time to punch Nazis which is always welcome.
Recommended Reading: Justice League Task Force #10-12
Justice League Europe was more than a spin-off
Lineup: Captain Atom, Rocket Red (Dmitri Pushkin), Power Girl, Elongated Man, Animal Man, Metamorpho, The Flash (Wally West), Wonder Woman (very briefly), Crimson Fox (Vivian and Constance d’Aramis), Blue Jay, Silver Sorceress, Sue Dibny, and Catherine Cobert (liaison)
A lot of the Justice League International era falls under the “Bwa-ha-ha” umbrella and a lot of other stuff gets swept under the rug as a result. While Justice League Europe isn’t devoid of laughs, its also a pretty powerful lineup as you can see from above. Granted Wonder Woman’s membership is basically a cameo, Animal Man and Power Girl are nerfed pretty hard, and Wally isn’t quite the speedster we know he would become. Still, this team dealt with subtle threats like the manipulations of Queen Bee of Bialya as well as major ones like The Extremists and a Starro invasion. All while giving us a few chuckles along the way.
Recommended Reading: Justice League Europe #1-11
Justice League Elite featured broken people trying to fix the world
Lineup: Sister Superior (Vera Black), Coldcast, Menagerie, Manitou Raven, Manitou Dawn, Major Disaster, Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), The Flash (Wally West), Kasumi (Cassandra Cain, yes that Cassandra Cain), and Naif al-Sheikh
Yes, another spinoff. However, as Joe Kelly was able to give some of the characters in his run closure in this series it feels like a swan song for them as well. The premise is Vera Black forms a covert op version of the League using both its members and members of the Elite…except the whole thing turns into a murder mystery where one of them is the killer. Justice League Elite discusses the tolls that being a superhero takes on people who aren’t people like the Trinity and discusses serious adult topics without fetishizing them. And they save the world from the Worlogog without anyone except the League knowing who did it so they are certainly amongst the best.
Recommended Reading: Justice League Elite #1-12
Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales celebrate the history of the League
Lineup: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Black Canary, Black Lightning, Vixen, Red Arrow (Roy Harper), Hawkgirl (Kendra Saunders), Red Tornado, Geo-Force, The Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (John Stewart), Firestorm (Jason Rusch and Gehenna), Zatanna, Dr. Light (Kimiyo Hoshi), and frankly way too many more.
Yeah this era of the League would pretty much go off the rails after its first arc, The Tornado’s Path, but when it got things right it was a celebration of what this team meant. Not only to us as fans, but to the people in-universe. Both Roy’s call up to the League and Vixen’s second chance after her stint as a past member make us cheer for these guys. Granted, this League ended up being an advertisement for the rest of the DCU most of the time and things got so bad that the late Dwayne McDuffie got fired when he brought up the fact that he didn’t have access to the characters he wanted to use. But every, now and then, this League was truly a celebration of its own history.
Recommended Reading: Justice League of America: The Tornado’s Path
Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire gave the League personality…while making us laugh
Lineup: Martian Manhunter, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Green Lantern (Guy Gardener), Batman, Black Canary, Doctor Fate (Nabu), Captain Marvel, Booster Gold, Mister Miracle, and Oberon
Yeah this one was a no-brainer. While this team’s roster would be in constant flux (Doctor Fate was barely in it, Captain Marvel and Black Canary quit pretty early, Doctor Light never actually joined, the first Rocket Red was a Manhunter, Batman would quit, Mister Miracle would die (kind of), Booster Gold would quit, etc.), this one resonated a lot with fans. Its funny despite being very clearly an 80s comic (explaining why attempts to recapture the magic haven’t quite worked), anybody can pick this series up and follow along pretty seamlessly. As editor Andrew Helfer stated, since they had no idea who would be available to them each month, they focused on the environment and situations the League would find themselves in each month. These could range from sentient islands to attacks from Despero, giving this comic a surprising level of depth than fans give it credit for.
Recommended Reading: Justice League: A New Beginning
JLA (All of it)
Lineup: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Tomorrow Woman, Aztek, Green Arrow (Conner Hawke), Plastic Man, Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Steel (John Henry Irons), Zauriel, Orion, Big Barda, and Oracle (Barbara Gordon)
Again, very obvious pick. I think most Justice League fans would agree with me that nothing has quite managed to reach the high standards that JLA set for the team, before or since. Considering the team faced Crisis-level events in a single issue each month, and crossover level stuff in a single story arc, maybe its just not possible for any other version to measure up to JLA. Btw, this entry isn’t just about Grant Morrison’s JLA, but Mark Waid and Joe Kelly’s stuff as well. While these three were on-board there was a level of consistency of the team facing off against world-ending threats on a regular basis and managing to do it in a matter-of-fact manner, earning them the title of “The World’s Greatest Heroes.”
Recommended Reading: JLA: New World Order (start from here and keep on reading)
English (US) · 