The Justice League of America (also known as the Justice League or JLA) is a fictional organization in comic books published by the American company DC Comics. They first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28 (March 1960), but their first appearance in Swamp Thing comics was in Swamp Thing Vol. 2, #24 (May 1984). They were created by Julius Schwartz and Gardner Fox.
History[]
The first unofficial gathering of the group that would form the JLA happened when White Martians attempted to invade the Earth, prompting the then-fledgling hero Flash into bringing together Martian Manhunter, Superman, Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Blackhawk Squadron, Plastic Man, Congo Bill, Rex, the Wonder Dog, and Vigilante. This collection of heroes staved the Martian invasion, and while the group did not officially form at this time, it was later realized after the case was reviewed years later by the Green Arrow that all the founding members, including Hal Jordan (who at the time had yet to become Earth's Green Lantern) were present.
The official formation of the Justice League began when Earth was invaded by Appellaxian warriors sent to the planet to see who could conquer Earth first, as a means of determining who would become the new ruler of their home planet. Each alien warrior possessed a different power or ability, and attacked a different portion of Earth, which drew the individual attention of the Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. While most of the Appellaxian invaders were defeated by the superheroes individually, the heroes themselves fell prey one by one to a single competitor's attack; they soon discovered that only by working together could they defeat the competitor. Superman and Batman joined them in defeating the remaining Appellaxians. Afterwards, the group decided that they should form a permanent organization to confront menaces that required a similar pooling of resources, and dubbed themselves the Justice League of America.
In their first recorded adventure Justice League recruited both Superman and Batman into their ranks and set up a secret base just outside of Happy Harbor. Their earliest battle was when Happy Harbor was invaded by Starro the Conquerer a gigantic space alien shaped like a star fish that could control the minds of people with miniature duplicates. Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and the Martian Manhunter answered the call to help. When they find that Happy Harbor resident Lucas "Snapper" Carr was not taken over by Starro due to the lime solution that was spread on Snapper's lawn, the Justice League easily defeated Starro. Following this adventure Snapper was made an honorary member of the team and accompanied them on many other adventures.
Members[]
- Superman
- Batman
- The Flash
- Green Lantern
- Aquaman
- Swamp Thing
- Green Arrow
- Wonder Woman
- Zatanna
- Firestorm
- John Constantine
- Hawkman
- Phantom Stranger
- Dr. Fate
- Blue Devil
- Adam Strange
- Cyborg
- Supergirl
- Hawkgirl
- Martian Manhunter
- Captain Atom
- Steel
- Black Canary
- Huntress
- Question
- Booster Gold
- Captain Marvel
- Shining Knight
- Atom
- Red Tornado
- Elongated Man
- Mr. Terrific
- Vixen
- Fire
- Ice
- Vigilante
In other media[]
Main article: Justice League in other media