Superhero Origins: The Justice League of America
This popular superhero team-up was created to replace and modernize DC’s “Justice Society of America”, which was the first ever such group in comic history. Rebooting the Golden Age superhero group concept with a fresh character roster within an alternate universe, it initially had seven of DC's most powerful mascots work together. These included Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman. Join WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origins of The Justice League of America.
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Superhero Origins: The Justice League of America
Can you hear their cry for justice? Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origins of The Justice League of America.
As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen to primarily follow the storyline, which unfolded in 1962’s “Justice League of America” #9.
This popular superhero team-up was created to replace and modernize DC’s original 1940s “Justice Society of America”, which was the first ever such group in comic history.
Inspired by the popularity of Major League Baseball’s National League, it rebooted the Golden Age superhero group concept with a fresh character roster within an alternate universe, initially including seven of the company’s most powerful mascots.
These included Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman and their finger-snapping friend Lucas “Snapper” Carr. Interestingly, Batman and Superman were already honorary members of the Justice Society, and arguably the most popular, so their presence was reduced to allow their peers to shine.
Marking their debut, The Justice League of America first appeared in three issues of 1960’s “The Brave and the Bold” comics before given their own series in 1962. Only in the 9th issue of “Justice League of America” did the team finally reveal how they united some three years earlier, all while throwing an anniversary party to celebrate.
Told as a parallel narrative, readers first followed the Martial Manhunter who received a strange report that civilians were being turned into stone. His investigation lead him to find a stone giant and he used his martian vision to read its mind. He discovered that creature was one of several different aliens that arrived in meteors from the planet Appellax to transform Earth’s inhabitants and wage a war to decide who would become their next ruler. Knocking out the invader, he raced to the next meteor crash site.
Meanwhile, Aquaman was investigating a meteor crash in the ocean, and battled an alien made of glass with the help of his fish friends, who made high frequency noises to shatter its glass body.
Likewise, Wonder Woman dealt with a Mercury alien on Paradise Island, which she defeated by using her magic lasso to spin it to its boiling point.
The Green Lantern found himself fighting a bird made of gold, and its transformed minions. Unable to directly fight anything yellow, he beat it by using a beam of spatial cold to freeze it within a waterfall.
Finally, the Flash fought flame a being by speedily drawing away its air supply.
Surviving their individual confrontations, they each arrived on scene to battle a wooden alien that used its transformative powers to turn them all to wood. Working desperately as a team, Aquaman unearthed the Green lantern’s ring, which he used to reveal the Martian Manhunter’s face. With his Martian breath, he pushed Wonder Woman into the path of the Lantern’s beam to unearthing her magic lasso, which she then used to rope the alien and furiously rub away all of its wooden skin.
Victorious, they ventured together to find the final meteor in Greenland. There, they discovered Superman and Batman battling a diamond alien that had emerged from a Kryptonite meteor. While Batman used his bat plane to snatch the meteor away, Superman used his strength to reverse the creature’s chemical makeup by rubbing it the wrong way, turning it to coal.
Afterwards, the duo decided to join the others to form a league against evil and uphold justice as an unstoppable unit. They even formed a base of operation called The Secret Sanctuary, and began enlisting countless other super heroes to join their cause, including the Green Arrow.
A team that directly inspired the creation of Marvel’s Fantastic Four, and continues to compete with Marvel’s The Avengers, The Justice League of America remains one of the most popular comic book franchises of all time. This is due to its wide range of stories, humor and thrilling superhero crossovers. It has also since appeared in countless media, receiving its own cartoon series and several animated features.
To learn more about the origins of the group’s individual members, be sure to subscribe to us at WatchMojo.com
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