Legion of Super-Heroes (comics): Difference between revisions

{{work|wppage=Legion of Super-Heroes}}

The original version of [[Superman]]'s origin had him becoming a superhero when full grown. However, in 1945 DC introduced ''[[Superboy]]'' as an addition to Superman's backstory, [[Retcon|retconning]] in prequels and earlier meetings with DC characters.

At the start of the [[Silver Age]], one story, in ''Adventure Comics'' #247 (April, 1958), introduced the "Legion of [[Superhero|Super Heroes]]", a trio of super-powered teenagers from the future who committed many acts of [[Super Dickery]] while initiating Superboy into their club. The group became popular, repeatedly had guest appearances in Superman--related [[Secretcomics, Testand offinally received their own feature in "Adventure Comics" Character|with theissue best#300 of(September, intentions]]1962). They are remembered for their wide-eyed idealism, not to mention corny touches -- their clubhouse was ''reallydesigned'' to look like a crashed rocket. The trioHowever, becametheir popularseries enoughwas tosurprisingly besophisticated seenfor again,the as[[Silver SuperboyAge]]; beganwith travelingone of the earliest comic book characters [[Killed Off for Real]] in timeFerro toLad team(and, upfor that matter, one of the earliest [[Back from the Dead|comic book resurrections]] with themLightning Lad), a trial for a Legionnaire killing in self-defense, and thedealing otherwith new[[Fantastic membersRacism]] theyeven before ''[[Star Trek]]''d recruiteddid.

This incarnation used plenty of the [[Soap Opera]]-style storytelling that was popular in the days of ''X-Men'' and ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'', but kept on a level of solid yet unexciting sales, even after they booted Superboy out of his own book. This changed in the early '80s, with the Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen Legion. Classic stories like "The Great Darkness Saga" appeared during this run, but it was interrupted halfway through by the ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]]''.

Since the entire premise of the Legion was centered around Superboy, and Superboy no longer existed in the [[Post-Crisis]] universe, the history and continuity of the series didn't work any more. DC's initial patch was to say that, during the Crisis, one of the Legion's foes, the Time Trapper, had created a pocket dimension containing an Earth where there waswith a Superboy. However, this issue kept coming up over time, with more and more patches needed just to keepfix things together.

Eventually, Keith Giffen took over the book, along with [[Running the Asylum|fans-turned-writers]] Tom and Mary Bierbaum, and the series ''really'' jumped into the [[Dark Age]] with the "Five Years Later" [[Time Skip]]. Earth is ruled by alien invaders. One character was [[Retcon|retconned]] into an [[Applied Phlebotinum]] [[Transsexual|transsexualtransgender]], and another into a shapeshifter who only ''thought'' he was the character. The Legion are [[Cloning Blues|actually clones]] -- unless the other, younger Legion (Batch SW6) that were discovered in [[People Jars]] are the clones, as one might think at first. The moon was destroyed, [[Earthshattering Kaboom|followed by the Earth itself]].

Eventually, aA combination of [[Continuity Snarl|continuity issues]] and low sales brought DC to the point where they saidrebooted "screwthe it"series. andThe decidedreboot towas rebootwritten theby series[[Mark altogether.Waid]] Inand Tom McCraw in 1995, as part of the ''Zero Hour'' [[Crisis Crossover]], [[Mark Waid]] and Tom McCraw wrote the first issue of an all-new all-different Legion. Some of the sillier characters were pruned, and others were introduced to fill the gaps. This incarnation of the Legion was a youth corps run by [[The Federation]], which was just forming as the series began, to symbolize its member worlds and species working together. (Although they were frequently dismissed as either a publicity stunt or a "teenage death squad".) This version sidestepped the Superboy issue by being inspired by the 20th century's age of heroes in general (although the Post-Crisis Superboy did become a member). The new version attemptedtried to [[Adaptation Distillation|distill]] all of the Legion's history to date, while adding its own twists -- some of which [[Fanon Discontinuity|didn't work that well]] ({{spoiler|Sneckie}}) Still, this version lasted until 2004 with a few writer changes and [[Retool|ReTools]]; then, they were wiped out (or at least [[Put Onon a Bus|detached from the main line of DCU history]]) during the build up to the ''[[Infinite Crisis]]'' [[Crisis Crossover]], and replaced with a third version -- the "threeboot" Legion.

This version, ''also'' introduced by Mark Waid, brought back many of the more idealistic elements, including the [[Something Person]] names, while going for a more complex universe. In this incarnation, the Legion are firebrands and muckrakers in a future where those under 18 are almost entirely controlled by their parents and a paternalistic government; although only a chosen few are given flight rings (which are ridiculously expensive), anyone who follows their ideals is considered a Legionnaire. It also added twists to many of the characters; for instance, in this version, Colossal Boy is a member of a race of giants whose super-power is to shrink to six feet tall. (HeThey preferswere toinspired be called Micro Lad.) Their inspiration this time isby legends of superheroics as preserved in old comic books. [[Supergirl]] joined up about a year and a half into the series, having apparently made the trip during the "One Year Gap" in her own title (all DC books jumped forward a year after ''Infinite Crisis''), and been given [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] before she was sent back. On the other hand, the [[Strawman Political]] aspects ("Eat it, Grandpa!") wore thin for some readers. This version lasted until 2009, when, despite fan favorite [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|Jim Shooter]] taking over writing duties, it was unceremoniously cancelled with a rushed final issue written by "[[Alan Smithee|Justin Thyme]]".

Recent storiesStories post-''Infinite Crisis'' have reintroduced [[The Multiverse]] and restored the ''original'' Legion, including Superman's past with them but diverging before "Five Years Later". This version first (re)appeared in the "Lightning Saga" [[Bat Family Crossover]] between ''[[Justice League of America]]'' and ''[[Justice Society of America]]'' and is the one currently appearing in DC Comics. As part of ''[[Final Crisis]]'', Geoff Johns wrote a miniseries called "The Legion of Three Worlds" which dealt with all three versions (original, Zero Hour, and threeboot) of the Legion.

The modern version, based on the original, appeared as guest stars in Superman-related comics since 2007. This overlaps the Threeboot, causing lots of confusion. Important stories and series include:

* ''Legion Lost'' (volume 2) (2011-2013)

* ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (volume 7) (2011-2013) (finally cancelled in 2013, after entering the New 52 without many continuity changes)

** In related series ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'', featuring Vril Dox II, an ancestor of Brainiac 5's from the 20th century, the earlier Dox makes a [[Deal Withwith the Devil|deal with Neron]] in exchange for knowledge, offering up not his own somewhat tarnished soul, but instead placing the debt on his bloodline and setting it to come due in "about 1000 years." After ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' was canceled, a team of Legionnaires was sent back to the 20th century, leading to a meeting between Querl and his ancestor in which Vril mentioned Neron in a guilty sort of way... and then nothing came of it. It was implied, however, that the insanity of Brainiac 5's mother could be related to this deal.

* [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot]]: Every time Brainiac 5 turns around; see especially COMPUTO.

* [[Battle Couple]]: Shrinking Violet and Lightning Lass in the recent Legion of Superheroes annual. And it is AWESOME

* [[Beware the Quiet Ones]]: Shrinking Violet in postboot continuity. She starts off as, well, a [[Shrinking Violet]]. Over time she is showing coming out of her shell, even going so far as to be elected team leader. {{spoiler|Right after that, it's revealed that her increased confidence was the result of her coming under the influence of the Emerald Eye of Ekron.}} [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|She completes a (temporary)]] [[Face Heel Turn]] shortly thereafter and curbstomps her former teammates.

* [[Beware the Silly Ones]]: Matter-Eater Lad as written by Keith Giffen and Tom and Mary Bierbaum. He was a shameless self-promoter and con artist and affected an air of extreme vanity, but was a bit of a [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]. Literally, in one case: he successfully manages to get former teammate Polar Boy freed from unjust imprisonment by employing the [[Chewbacca Defense]] and then quickly smuggling him off-planet before anyone recovers enough to realize they'd been bamboozled. It's also worth remembering that Matter-Eater Lad is basically a walking disintegrator who can annihilate ''anything'' he can get his jaws around.

* [[Brain In Aa Jar]]: The Brain Globes of Rambat. Started out as villains, but in the Post-Zero Hour continuity, they were just another member of the United Planets.

* [[Brought to You Byby The Letter "S"]]

* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Mon-El (a [[Captain Ersatz]] of Superboy) and Andromeda (a [[Captain Ersatz]] of Supergirl), after both Superboy and Supergirl were [[Retcon|RetConned]] out of existence by ''The Man of Steel'' [[Continuity Reboot|reboot]] by John Byrne. Byrne has since admitted that removing Superboy was a mistake. Note that Mon-El was a separate character before the [[Retcon]]. They had to bend over backwards in order to re-position him as a Superboy stand-in (whereas Andromeda was a straight [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]).

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Lots and lots. Particularly in the ''Legion of 3 Worlds''

* [[Dark Mistress]]: Glorith, in her first appearance, was one of the Time Trapper's henchwomen, and later was [[Unholy Matrimony|married to evil sorcerer Mordru]] before going to a successful villainous career in her own right.

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Tons of Legionaires have suffered this, most notably Wildfire and Dawnstar, who were amongst the most popular characters of the original Legion.

* [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him]]: A specialty of the Bierbaums, who dropped a number of bridges on Legion members they hated.

** Shvaughn Erin was turned into a pathetic transgender stalker/transsexual who was addicted to gender-bending drugs. Sun Boy turned traitor and ended up being horribly burnt, to the point that he was mistaken as a monster by his own friends.

*** Writer/artist (and Legion superfan) Colleen Doran was overheard at a con referring to Shvaughn Erin as "Sean" many months before the Bierbaums worked their strange magic on him/her. In general the Threeboot Legion got this treatment in "Legion of Three Worlds" where they had more members of their Legion dying and basically being swept under the rug to make the old Legion the main Legion.

* [[Due to Thethe Dead]]: Legionnaires killed in battle are buried with honors on Shanghalla, an asteroid used for this purpose by a number of civilizations of different races. Messing with Legion corpses is a great way to commit suicide-by-angry-superheroes.

** Played with quite a bit during the v4 run, as the Legion would temporarily strike a truce with one of the three evil [[Powers That Be]] (the Time Trapper, Glorith, or Mordru) to counterbalance the other.

* [[Fake -Out Make -Out]]: Chemical Kid and Dragonwing do it in the first issue of vol. 7.

* [[Finger in Thethe Mail]]: In the [[Darker and Edgier|"Five Years Later"]] run, the crazed killer Roxxas blows up the rock Legionnaire Blok and mails the pieces to the other Legionnaires.

*** [[The Chick]] and [[The Big Guy]] -- Played with. Night Girl is the literal chick, but her powers make her the team's powerhouse. Stone Boy's rock powers make him a more traditional big guy, but his lack of confidence mixed with a great caring for others puts him in the chick slot.

* [[Flash Forward]]: The "Adult Legion" stories. Unfortunately, these [[Foregone Conclusion|revealed who was going to survive and who wasn't]], removing a certain amount of tension.

* [[Fountain of Youth]]: The Time Trapper's first appearance involved this shtick, when he returned the Legionnaires to infancy. Later affected a number of Legionnaires for a longer period following an ill-conceived attack on Glorith late in pre-''Zero Hour'' v4: Shrinking Violet catches [[Merlin Sickness]] from the experience, while the White Witch is merely deaged to sixteen. Brainiac 5, meanwhile, gets stuck with an [[Overnight Age -Up]].

* [[Frame -Up]]: Happened more than once, but most notably during the tail end of pre-''Zero Hour'' V4. The Legion is accused of aiding perennial bad guy alien race the Khunds by [[Heel Face Mole]] Universo. Hunted by the authorities, the team adopts a new set of heroic identities and sets out to clear their (original) names.

* [[Humans Are White]]: There have been comparatively few dark-skinned Legionnaires. This ties into [[Executive Meddling]] in the original continuity. Jim Shooter originally intended for Ferro Lad to be black, however Mort Weisinger vetoed the idea afraid that DC would face backlash in the South. Unhappy that he was unable to do what he originally intended with the character, Shooter decided to write out the character with his now legendary [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. The Legion wouldn't get it's first black member until Tyroc in 1976... which was also a sore spot with creators. Shooter was unhappy that Tyroc was a black character instead of a character who happened to be black. Mike Grell intentionally gave Tyroc the worst design he could think of as protest. Tyroc was so unpopular with Legion creative teams that he was the only Legionnaire introduced before Paul Levitz's decade-long run on the title that was never used. Levitz [[Put Onon a Bus|put him on a bus]] and never referred to him. He did finally use the character when he returned to the title in the 2010s, though.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: Akka is Saturn Queen's most loyal ally throughout the Legion of Supervillains story arc in the current series. How does Saturn Queen reward her? She stabs her in the chest

* [[Lady Macbeth]]: Charma's powers were to make men do whatever she wanted, and to make women hate her to the point of physical violence. She wound up in jail where she [[The Corrupter|worked her charms]] on her jailer, Grimbor, who embarked on a criminal career of his own, first by her side, and later solo.

** Jenni "XS" Ognats, granddaughter of Barry "The [[Flash]]" Allen and cousin of Bart "Impulse" Allen.

** Thom "Star Boy" Kallor has been revealed to be a part of the "Starman" legacy, as well, which James Robinson had set up during his [[Starman (Comic Bookcomics)|Starman]] run.

* [[Legend Fades to Myth]]: After ''[[Crisis Onon Infinite Earths]]'', due to the fact that so much of the old "Earth-1" continuity was pivotal to the ''[[Legion of Super -Heroes]]'' canon, the pre-Crisis version of history was presented as the 30th century's distorted legends of the "actual" (post-Crisis) continuity.

* [[Literal Split Personality]]: Triad. Unlike other versions of the character, Triad's three bodies represented different facets of her personality.

* [[Merlin Sickness]]: Shrinking Violet is literally afflicted with this following an ill-conceived attack on Glorith towards the end of the pre-''Zero Hour'' v4 run.

* [[Multiple Choice Past]]: At least two all-out continuity reboots, and many other variations besides.

* [[NoWon't SellWork On Me]]: Nemesis Kid.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: Black Dawn. Though later writers attempted to tell the story (with various success), none really line up with the details given by TMK.

* [[Only Known Byby Their Nickname]]: A few Legionnaires are addressed almost exclusively by their codename or derivations thereof, notably Shrinking Violet, Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, and Gates.

* [[Overnight Age -Up]]: Brainiac 5 following the assault on Glorith in the final dozen or so issues of v4 prior to ''Zero Hour''.

** Leland McCauley in the Postboot continuity {{spoiler|(who was actually [[Batman (Comic Book)|Batman]]'s immortal foe Ra's al-Ghul in disguise at the time)}}. He was still definitely evil in the Preboot and earlier in the Reboot continuities, but was a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]], not president {{spoiler|(and wasn't Ra's, either)}}.

* [[Put Onon a Bus]]: Tyroc for the duration of Paul Levitz's run as writer during the 1980s.

* [[Putting Onon the Reich]]: The White Triangle; Earth-Man and his gang of Terran supremacists.

** And then there's Projectra, renamed Sensor, and changed into a snake alien.

* [[Sacrificial Lamb]]: The first Kid Quantum was created just to be killed to illustrate the need for the Legion's "no external powers" rule.

* [[Scandalgate]]: The crisis of the United Planets' [[Portal Network]] being subverted by an alien power and used to invade Earth is referred to as "Softgate."

* [[Sci -Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]]

* [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]]: Mordru in the post-Zero Hour comics, among others; Drax in the cartoon.

* [[Stalker Withwith a Crush]]: Glorith's unhealthy obsession with Valor in v4.

* [[Star -Spangled Spandex]]: Threeboot Star Boy, and current-era Starman.

* [[Suicide Byby Cop]]: Darkseid during "The Quiet Darkness." {{spoiler|A brilliant scientist saves his dying wife during her pregnancy by [[Deal Withwith the Devil|striking a deal]] with Darkseid in exchange for implanting the unborn children with the "[[Applied Phlebotinum|Gemini Matrix]]" to raise them to a more powerful plane of existence. Darkseid then takes over the planet in order to prevent the children from fleeing, and finally goads the twins into attacking and killing him. His final words suggest that this was his plan all along: a god like Darkseid was [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|only capable of being killed by another god]]. Since there weren't any available, he had to create his own, and make them hate him enough to kill him.}}

* [[Super Dickery]]: The Legion were made of this in their early appearances. Most early Legion stories consist of the Legionnaires being jerks to each other, only to reveal at the last minute that it was for the greater good. Arguably, the most famous example is a story in which Saturn Girl mind-controlled the Legion into electing her leader and then stole all of their powers so that she could ensure that she would be the Legionnaire to make a prophesied [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* [[Super -Hero School]]: The Legion Academy.

* [[Super -Hero Speciation]]: Mandated by the Legion's bylaws at some points.

* [[Took a Level Inin Badass]]: After spending much of their history as running jokes, the remaining members of the original Legion of Substitute Heroes did this during the five year gap leading up to the v4 series. With the original Legion discredited and disbanded, they became the leaders of the resistance against Earthgov's abuses. Ironically, Polar Boy, the only former member of the team to have actually graduated to the majors on panel, was shown in a rather negative light, having failed to prevent his team from dissolving and then getting arrested for attempting to incite a riot.

* [[Trust Me, I'm an X]]: Matter-Eater Lad once said, "Trust me, I'm a senator!" (Him being a comedic character and politicians being [[Acceptable Targets]]).

* [[Two -Faced]]: Tharok

* [[Wham! Episode]]: Almost any story featuring the Time Trapper during the 1980s and early 1990s could be considered an example of this. Especially the "Mordruverse" two-parter near the beginning, and "End of an Era" at the end of v4, pre-''Zero Hour''. Also, ''Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes'' ({{spoiler|R.J. Brande is really Chameleon Boy's father}}), v4 annual #2 ({{spoiler|long-time villain Validus is really the child of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl}}), and the conclusion of Cosmic Boy's [[Plan]] against President Chu in the post-''ZH'' book.

* [[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?]]: Tends to happen a lot whenever there's a reboot. For example, at the end of the Postboot era, plot points that were left unresolved included Apparition's missing sister, Apparition and Ultra Boy's rapidly aging son, the disappearance of Computo and the mysterious figure who "stole" him (probably the Time Trapper), the apparent rebirth of Darkseid, Ra's al-Ghul staying in custody on Legion World, the romance between Cosmic Boy and Kid Quantum, and a hinted-at subplot in which the Time Trapper would have turned out to be Cosmic Boy and XS' son...

* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: The Legion of Substitute Heroes. Also [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Bouncing Boy and Matter-Eater Lad]] from the Legion proper.

* [[Wonderful Life]]: [[Double Subversion|Doubly subverted]] in a humorous post-''Zero Hour'' side story involving Brainiac 5.

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