Justice League of America

The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics.

First appearing in The Brave and the Bold #28 (February/March 1960), the League originally appeared with a line-up that included Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. However, the team roster has been rotated throughout the years with characters such as Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Black Canary, Zatanna, Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, the Elongated Man, Red Tornado, other Green Lanterns, and dozens of others. The team received its own comic book title in October 1960, when the first issue was published, and would continue to #261 in April 1987, which was the final issue. Throughout the years, various incarnations or subsections of the team have operated as Justice League America, Justice League Europe, Justice League International, Justice League Task Force, Justice League Elite, and Extreme Justice.

Various comic book series featuring the League have remained generally popular with fans since inception and in most incarnations, its roster includes DC's most popular characters. The League concept has also been adapted into various other entertainment media, including the classic Saturday morning Super Friends animated series (1973–1986), an unproduced Justice League of America live-action series, and most recently animated series Justice League (2001–2004) and Justice League Unlimited (2004–2006). A live-action film was in the works in 2008 before being shelved.

Publication History

Silver and Bronze Age / Justice League of America

Having successfully reintroduced a number of their Golden Age superhero characters (Flash, Green Lantern, etc.) during the late 1950s, DC Comics asked writer Gardner Fox to reintroduce the Justice Society of America. Fox, influenced by the popularity of the National Football League and Major League Baseball, decided to change the name of the team from Justice Society to Justice League.[1] The Justice League of America debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28 (1960), and quickly became one of the company's best-selling titles. Fox and artist Mike Sekowsky were the creative team for the title's first eight years. Sekowsky's last issue was #63 (June 1968) and Fox departed with #65 (September 1968).
The initial Justice League lineup included seven of the DC superheroes being published regularly at that time: Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman. However, Superman and Batman barely featured in most of the stories, not even appearing on the cover most of the time. Three of DC's other surviving or revived characters (Green Arrow, Atom, and Hawkman) were added to the roster over the next four years, the latter two having been revamped by Gardner Fox himself. JLA's early success was indirectly responsible for the creation of the Fantastic Four. In his autobiography Stan Lee relates how, during a round of golf, DC publisher Jack Liebowitz mentioned to Marvel-Timely owner Martin Goodman how well DC's new book (Justice League) was selling. Later that day Goodman told Lee to come up with a team of superheroes for Marvel; Lee and Jack Kirby produced the Fantastic Four.
The Justice League operated from a secret cave outside of the small town of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. A teenager named Lucas "Snapper" Carr tagged along on missions, and he became both the team's mascot and an official member. Snapper, noted for speaking in beatnik dialect and snapping his fingers, helped the League to defeat giant space starfish Starro the Conqueror in the team's first appearance. In Justice League of America #77 (December 1969), Snapper was tricked into betraying the cave headquarters' secret location to the Joker, resulting in his resignation from the team. His resignation followed the resignations of two of the League's original members, Wonder Woman (in Justice League of America #69) and J'onn J'onzz (in Justice League of America #71).

Satellite Years

Justice League Satellite

First satellite
When the Justice League of America originally formed, its base of operations was the Secret Sanctuary, inside a cave in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. In Justice League of America # 77, honorary member Snapper Carr betrays the location of the Secret Sanctuary to the Joker. The League subsequently moves its base to a new secure headquarters, an orbiting satellite 22,300 miles above the Earth, in Justice League of America # 78 (February 1970).

The satellite would be the League's home for the next several years. Members are able to teleport to and from the satellite using teleportation centers located across the planet. League members took turns on watch duty, monitoring Earth from the satellite and dispatching the League as needed. This era of the Justice League (and its roster of heroes), is commonly referred to as the "Satellite League".

It is revealed in Identity Crisis that the satellite base was not quite as secure as the Justice League had hoped, as Dr. Light was able to use the satellite's transport system and break into the base. Finding Sue Dibny alone aboard the satellite, he raped her.

The satellite is heavily damaged and rendered effectively inoperable just prior to Aquaman's decision to disband the team in Justice League of America Annual # 2. The League was in a time of transition, not only in its choice of headquarters, but also in its membership. The deepening detachment of members such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman caused the three charter Justice League members to resign from active duty with the League. At the same time, the Flash left the team to confront his manslaughter trial and investigate the disappearance of his wife. The death of her mother led Black Canary to leave the team and move to Seattle with Green Arrow. Green Lantern had been temporarily expelled from the Green Lantern Corps and resigned from the League as well to sort out his life.

The satellite meets its final and complete destruction during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, when it is destroyed by a self-destructing Red Tornado that had been sabotaged and tampered with by the Anti-Monitor. It is never rebuilt, but the League would return to a spaceborne base of operations in the 1990s when it relocated to the Overmaster's orbiting base known as the Refuge.

Second Satellite
Following the gathering of the new team as seen in Justice League of America (vol.2) # 7 (April 2007), a new satellite is presented as headquarters.

The new satellite is an orbiting Watchtower working together with The Hall, a building located in Washington D.C. paid for by Batman and designed by Wonder Woman and John Stewart. Inside the Hall is an archway-type teleportation system, dubbed 'Slideways' in which a person merely need to walk through the archway to be transported to the League's new orbiting satellite headquarter 22,300 miles above Earth.

Jim Lee was called to design the new headquarters. Writer Brad Meltzer: "On the satellite, he did six different designs; some that resembled the old League satellite, [or] resembled the JLU satellite. We kind of took a little from Column A and B. I saw in one of his other designs, he also had these drones and I loved those, and I said, 'Can we put those on there as well? I really want to take that!'"

The satellite has a Danger Room-like training room nicknamed The Kitchen because "if you can't stand the heat...". Meltzer also explains that, for the first time, the satellite has defensive and offensive weaponry. Despite the defense systems, the Watchtower was damaged by the Sinestro Corps.

Appearance in other media

Super Friends
The JLA Satellite appeared in the Super Friends animated series, although it wasn't shown to be the headquarters of the Justice League. (At least not their regular headquarters, which was the Hall of Justice).

Justice League
In the Justice League animated series, Justice League headquarters is an orbiting satellite, although the headquarters is referred to as the Justice League Watchtower. This animated version of the Watchtower appears in several episodes of Justice League, as well as a two-part crossover episode of Static Shock[1]. The heroes use the Javelin-7 spaceplane to travel to Earth and back, in place of the comic book's transporter. The Watchtower is destroyed in the series finale episode, "Starcrossed", when Earth is attacked by invaders from the planet Thanagar.

Justice League Unlimited
In Justice League Unlimited, a new satellite Watchtower is introduced as a replacement for the original. The rebuilt satellite is substantially larger[citation needed], in order to accommodate the many new members of the expanded League, as well as its many non-superhero personnel. There are now several Javelins, a teleportation system for beaming personnel down to earth, and a powerful energy weapon capable of causing massive damage on Earth.

Smallville
On the online multimedia Smallville parallel story Justice and Doom, John Jones (the Martian Manhunter) used a Swann Communications satellite (a company owned by Dr. Virgil Swann, played by Christopher Reeve) for a base.

The Batman
Batman is introduced to the Justice League in a classic Hall of Justice version of the satellite, which floats above the earth on a massive asteroid. Although it is literally a "Justice League satellite," it hasn't yet been named as such.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC
A JL-operated space station in the game MK vs. DC. It's called the "U.N. Orbital Space Station". It's presumably owned by Bruce Wayne[citation needed].

Batman: The Brave and the Bold
The Satellite appears in a flashback in the episode "Sidekicks Assemble!", with the Justice League holding a meeting inside. The defunct Satellite is reactivated in "Darkseid Descending!", where it is used as the headquarters of the Justice League International.

In need of a new secure headquarters, the Justice League moved into an orbiting satellite headquarters in Justice League of America #78 (February 1970). Black Canary, Elongated Man, Red Tornado, Hawkwoman, Zatanna and Firestorm all joined the team during this period, and Wonder Woman returned. In the first two thirds or so of this era, the team was sometimes said to have a twelve-member limit and/or a "no duplication of powers" policy; this was formally rescinded in Justice League of America #146, allowing Hawkgirl to join.
Those involved in producing the Justice League of America comic during the 1970s include writers Denny O'Neil, Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Elliot S! Maggin, Cary Bates, E. Nelson Bridwell, and Steve Englehart, with Dick Dillin handling the art chores from issues #64-181, missing only one issue, #153. Writer Gerry Conway had a lengthy association with the title as well. His first JLA story appeared in issue #125 (December 1975) and he became the series' regular writer with issue #151 (February 1978). With a few exceptions, Conway would write the team's adventures until issue #255 (October 1986). After Dick Dillin's death, George Pérez, Don Heck, and Rich Buckler would rotate as artist on the title. Pérez would leave the title as of issue #200 to concentrate on The New Teen Titans although he would contribute covers to the JLA through issue #220 (November 1983).

Detroit

Seeking to capitalize on the popularity of their other team books, which focused upon heroes in their late teens/early 20s, Gerry Conway and artist Chuck Patton revamped the Justice League series. After most of the original heroes failed to arrive in order to help the team fend off an invasion of Martians, Aquaman dissolved the League and reformatted its charter to only allow heroes who would devote their full time to the roster.

The new team consisted of Aquaman, Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, the Elongated Man, the Vixen, and a trio of teenage heroes Gypsy, Steel, and Vibe. Aquaman would leave the team after a year and was replaced as leader by the Martian Manhunter. Because of his own edict of only wanting full-time heroes in the League, Aquaman's estranged wife Mera gave him an ultimatum to stay with either the group or with her to salvage their marriage. Fan response was largely negative and even the return of Batman to the team in Justice League of America #250 could not halt the decline of the series.
The final storyline for the original Justice League of America series (#258-261) by writer J. M. DeMatteis and artist Luke McDonnell, culminated a story-arc involving long-time Justice League enemy Professor Ivo's murders of Vibe and Steel (and the resignations of Vixen, Gypsy, and the Elongated Man) during the events of DC's Legends mini-series, which saw the team disband.

Modern incarnations

Justice League International

The 1986 company-wide crossover Legends featured the formation of a new Justice League. The new team was dubbed "Justice League" then "Justice League International" (JLI) and was given a mandate with less of an American focus. The new series, written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire (and later Adam Hughes), added quirky humor to the team's stories. In this incarnation, the membership consisted partly of heroes from Earths that, prior to their merging in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, were separate. The initial team included Batman, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel, Doctor Light (a new Japanese female character, emerging from the Crisis of Infinite Earths, not the supervillain who had appeared previously), Doctor Fate, Martian Manhunter, Mister Miracle, and Guy Gardner; and soon after inception, added Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Fire (formerly known as the Global Guardians' Green Flame), Ice (formerly known as the Global Guardians' Ice Maiden), and two Rocket Reds (one was a Manhunter spy, and one was Dimitri Pushkin). The series' humorous tone and high level of characterization proved very popular initially, but writers following Giffen and DeMatteis were unable to maintain the same balance of humor and heroics, resulting in the decline of the series' popularity. New writers gave the storylines a more serious tone. By the mid- to late-1990s, with the series' commercial success fading, it was eventually canceled, along with spinoffs Justice League Europe, Extreme Justice, and Justice League Task Force.

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