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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 -- [[Secret Test of Character|with the best of intentions]], ''really''. The trio became popular enough to be seen again, as Superboy began traveling in time to team up with them, and the other new members they'd recruited.
 
The Legion gradually became more prominent in ''Adventure Comics'' (which at the time was a second Superboy book) and took over as the main feature with issue #300 (September, 1962), reducing Superboy to supporting character status on what used to be ''his'' comic book. They are remembered for their wide-eyed idealism, not to mention corny touches -- their clubhouse was ''designed'' to look like a crashed rocket. [[Bigger Onon the Inside|How they all fit inside]] was [[A Wizard Did It|never explained]]. However, their series was surprisingly sophisticated for the [[Silver Age]]; with one of the earliest comic book characters [[Killed Off for Real]] in Ferro Lad (and, for that matter, one of the earliest [[Back From the Dead|comic book resurrections]] with Lightning Lad), a trial for a Legionnaire killing in self-defense, and dealing with [[Fantastic Racism]] even before ''[[Star Trek]]'' did.
 
To become a member, you had to demonstrate at least one superpower not dependent on devices. Thus, telepathy, Saturn Girl; electricity powers, Lightning Lad; magnetic powers, Cosmic Boy, and so on. Applicants with [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|ridiculous powers]] (and some members of the Legion proper had pretty ridiculous powers) were consigned to the Legion of Substitute Heroes, who included Chlorophyll Kid (ability to make plants grow really fast), Stone Boy (ability to turn into an inanimate statue), Color Kid (ability to... change the color of things), and Double Header (whose name speaks for itself).
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At the end of the [[Silver Age]], the Legion's slot was swapped with [[Supergirl]], leaving Supergirl as star of ''Adventure Comics'' and the Legion as a backup in ''[[Action Comics]]''. After the retirement of editor Mort Weisinger, the Legion was reduced to an occasional backup in ''Superboy''. Dave Cockrum, who would go on to design many members of the Bronze Age incarnation of the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]], became the Legion's regular artist, and started redefining their look. With this, their popularity started to inch upwards again, and eventually, ''Superboy'' became ''Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes''.
 
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 was a Superboy. However, this issue kept coming up over time, with more and more patches needed just to keep 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|transsexual]], 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, a combination of [[Continuity Snarl|continuity issues]] and low sales brought DC to the point where they said "screw it" and decided to reboot the series altogether. 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 attempted 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. (He prefers to be called Micro Lad.) Their inspiration this time is 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]]".
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Recent stories post-''Infinite Crisis'' have reintroduced [[The Multiverse]] and restored the ''original'' Legion, including Superman's past with them. 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.
 
From 2006 to 2008, an [[Animated Adaptation]] came along, [[Pragmatic Adaptation|taking the most iconic versions]] of all involved (but taking even more inspiration from the [[DCAU]], despite, judging by Brainiac 5's [[Robot Buddy|being an android]], not being in continuity with it.) [[Legion of Super -Heroes (AnimationTV series)|See Here for that series.]]
 
There is a [[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Book)/Characters|character sheet]].
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* [[Aborted Arc]]
** 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.
** Prior to this, a number of long-running subplots started during the TMK run were dropped unceremoniously because of the ''Zero Hour'' reboot. Some of these were quickly condensed into a panel or two in the final issue, but others were just forgotten. Most notably, Sussa Paka (formerly the villain Spider Girl) steals a mysterious sealed canister from the corrupt Earthgov branch of the Science Police (secretly under the control of the alien Dominators). On the run from the cops, she gets caught up in the Legion's battle to liberate Earth. Eventually, she shows up on the Legion's doorstep looking for protection, and immediately gets caught up in their problems. She grows fond of the team, and ultimately [[Heel Face Turn|joins up]], adopts a new name (Wave) and a new hair color... but events start cascading from there, and the actual contents of the canister that half the galaxy was ready to kill Sussa to get their hands are never revealed.
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: The Persuaders atomic axe can cut through anything... even the force of gravity.
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* [[Black Guy Dies First]]: The post-Zero Hour Legion's roster as of their first mission included four white guys, three white girls (or five, depending on how you count Triad), a black guy, a black girl, an orange guy, and a green guy. Guess who died the first time out. If you guessed the insufferable jerk with the technology-based powers who also happened to be the only black guy, you win a first-class ticket to the funeral of James Cullen (Kid Quantum I).
* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Ultra Boy.
* [[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.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: v4 did this with a number of characters, but particularly harshly with the White Witch. Previously depicted as a slightly shy, bookish type in a (platonic?) relationship with teammate Blok. At the start of v4, she was shown to be in an abusive marriage with former archnemesis Mordru. She was rescued by the reconstituted Legion just in time to discover that Blok had been brutally mutilated by genocidal pirate Roxxas the Butcher.
* [[Broken Angel]]: Dawnstar in v4 lost her wings {{spoiler|after being possessed for three years by Bounty, a thrill-seeking entity that used her tracking powers to go into business as a bounty hunter}}. The reason for this was never explained.
* [[Broken Bird]]: The White Witch (see "[[Break the Cutie]]" above) and Shrinking Violet (though it's a fairly brief phase) in v4.
* [[Brought to You Byby The Letter "S"]]
** Invisible Kid wears an "i."
** The Legion logo, a stylized letter "L", shows up as a shared motif on many Legionnaire costumes (usually as part of the belt buckle), and is part of the design of the standard flight ring.
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* [[Doppelganger Spin]] (or [[Doppelganger Attack|Attack]]): Triplicate Girl/Triad/Duo Damsel. Trijitsu is a Carggite martial art involving splitting and recombining strategically in combat.
* [[Driven to Villainy]]: The Time Trapper ({{spoiler|a.k.a. Cosmic Boy}}) in his v4 origin story. The Progenitor ({{spoiler|a.k.a. Element Lad}}) in the original ''Legion Lost''.
* [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him]]: A specialty of the Bierbaums, who dropped a number of bridges on Legion members they hated.
** Timber Wolf was mutated into a mute, inhuman beast that was treated like a pet by his teammates.
** Wildfire was killed off in the [[Noodle Incident]] known as Black Dawn, with the only details stated being that his death was horribly violent.
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** 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.
** The first ''Legion Lost'' series did this to Monstress, one of the non-legacy characters, at the climax. The second ''Legion Lost'' series did this to Chameleon Girl and fan-favorite Gates (the only character on the team ''not'' created before 1990) in its ''first'' issue, mostly just to show how "serious" the title was.
* [[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.
* [[Egomaniac Hunter]]
** Otto Orion and his son Adam.
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* [[The Federation]]: The United Planets.
* [[Fiction 500]]: The Legion's main financial backer, R.J. Brande. Also his [[Jerkass]] rival, Leland McCauley.
* [[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.
* [[Five-Man Band]]: Played with in The Lightning Saga: [[The Hero|Star Boy/Man]], [[The Lancer|Wildfire]], [[The Chick|Dawnstar]], [[The Big Guy|Karate Kid]], and [[The Smart Guy|Dream Girl]].
** Arguably, the original Substitute Legion.
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** Threeboot Star Boy, as a black gu--excuse us, ''Xanthuan'', can't eat sugar, and Reboot Ultra Boy, as a Rimborian, has a set of organs which don't correspond to the human body at all.
** In the first Post-Crisis continuity, this was [[Retcon|Retconned]] so that all of the Human Aliens were actually humans who were sent to colonize other planets after gaining superpowers during ''[[Invasion (Comic Book)|Invasion]]''... and Projectra, still an actual alien, was a snake.
* [[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.
* [[Hunting the Most Dangerous Game]]: People like to hunt Legionnaires for some reason. See earlier entries regarding the Orions and Grimbor.
* [[I Believe I Can Fly]]: Everyone, thanks to the Legion's flight rings.
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** 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 Book)|Starman]] run.
** The post-Zero Hour Legion had a legacy entirely within the future timeline, with Kid Quantum I being killed on the first mission and his sister taking up the name- first as a member of home-planet team The Uncanny Amazers, and eventually as a Legionnaire.
* [[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.
* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: The Legion of Substitute Heroes and Legion Academy cadets, on several occasions.
* [[Lightning Can Do Anything]]: Specifically, it can give you superpowers (when channeled by Korballian lightning beasts)... or resurrect the dead.
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* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: The Blight from the "Legion of the Damned" arc.
* [[One World Order]]: Earthgov.
* [[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.
* [[Organic Technology]]: Dominator technology was plant-based and grown, rather than built.
* [[Our Zombies Are Different]]: A late v4 story arc featured '''type V''' zombies reanimated by Mordru's magic, while the later postboot "Legion of the Damned" arc used '''type PS''' spore-infected zombies.
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* [[Prehensile Hair]]: Spider Girl (later Wave)
* [[President Evil]]
** 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)}}.
** Universo has been president of Earth a time or two as well, inevitably creating a fascist state immediately thereafter with his mind control abilities.
** Earthgov presidents Tayla Wellington and her successor Arlington Morse from the "Terra Mosaic" story arc in v4 are this, as well (both of whom were [[Puppet King]] for the Dominators)
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* [[Punny Name]]: Ultra Boy's real name, Jo Nah. He got his powers after being devoured by a space whale.
* [[Puppet King]]: During the "Terra Mosaic" story, in which Earthgov had been secretly taken over by the Dominators, President Tayla Wellington was a textbook example of this. After a failed [[Heel Face Turn]], that role is taken over by her vice-president, Arlington Morse.
* [[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.
* [[Race Lift]]
** Threeboot Star Boy became black (which carried over to the cartoon).
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* [[Science Hero]]: Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5.
* [[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.
* [[Secret Identity]]: Averted, unlike most superhero comics. The identities of all members are known to the public... except for Sensor Girl in the original continuity, whose identity isn't even known to the Legion for a while, and M'onel in the Zero Hour reboot, who won't let anyone find out he's the mythical Valor who first seeded their worlds with life because it'd be impossible to have a life of his own afterward.
* [[Secret Test of Character]]: The first story with them involved an "initiation" for Superboy which was three separate Secret Tests. This story was later repeated with Supergirl.
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** ''L.E.G.I.O.N.'' (later ''R.E.B.E.L.S.'') is a slightly unusual example: it's a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]] for the Legion, with similar characters and a similar space-operatic style, but set in the contemporary 20th/21st century [[The DCU|DCU]].
* [[Spinoff Babies]]: The SW6 clone team, who starred in pre-Zero Hour ''Legionnaires''.
* [[Stalker Withwith a Crush]]: Glorith's unhealthy obsession with Valor in v4.
* [[Starfish Character]]: {{spoiler|Apparition and Phase}} in the Reboot version.
* [[Star-Crossed Lovers]]: Wildfire and Dawnstar.
* [[Star-Spangled Spandex]]: Threeboot Star Boy, and current-era Starman.
* [[Strawman Political]]: Gates from the Post-Zero Hour Legion. But he's a rather unusual case, since the writers consistently treated him as a three-dimensional, sympathetic character despite his often silly beliefs, rather than a convenient political target to knock down.
* [[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.
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* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Reep Daggle/Chameleon Boy and Yera/Chameleon Girl, who are Durlans, a species of shapeshifters.
* [[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.
** Until Matter-Eater Lad started to eat people.
*** Well, he bit off Lightning Lord's finger and didn't swallow it, in the Threeboot, and Lightning Lord was going to kill him with that finger. Matter-Eater Lad wasn't a member then, either.
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