When Black Adam thunders into theaters in October 2022, he'll be bringing the Justice Society of America with him, marking a first for the DCEU that the MCU will likely never replicate. After appearances in live-action television shows such as Smallville and Star-Girl, the premier super-team of the Golden Age will finally appear on the big screen. Now the legendary Justice Society of America is poised to contribute a potentially game-changing addition to the DCEU.
The Justice Society of America (or JSA) was DC Comics' first superhero team-up, preceding the Justice League. The group first joined forces in 1940 with a roster comprised of popular superheroes of the time, including Doctor Fate, as well as the original Atom, Flash, and Green Lantern. The title ran for just over 50 issues until the declining popularity of superheroes resulted in its cancellation. However, the team's 1960s revival was such a success that the Justice Society of America once again became a mainstay, with their exploits eventually being folded into the main continuity and their time being treated as something of an in-universe superhero Golden Age. Eventually, various members were shunted into the modern age by any number of plot conveniences to allow these classic heroes to mentor whole new generations.
It's the history of the Justice Society of America that points to one thing the DCEU can do that the MCU most likely never will: presenting an older version of the Avengers. There are a number of reasons for this. Notably, Marvel doesn't truly have a comparable team in their vast comic book library. The MCU's lore makes it fairly apparent that such a group never existed—at least not within the Sacred Timeline. Perhaps most importantly, many of Marvel's original squad of heroes are already gone or on their way out.
It isn't as if Marvel had no super teams before the Avengers. In fact, just over five years after the Justice Society of America made its debut in DC Comics, Marvel—then known as Timely Comics—introduced their own superhero team-up in the All-Winners Squad. That group, however, wasn't a mainstay, only appearing twice. Some retcons were made to firmly weave the group into Marvel Comics canon along with numerous similarly themed groups, such as the Invaders and Liberty Legion. Despite them all canonically predating the Avengers, their overtly patriotic characters and wartime stories made them less akin to predecessors for the Avengers than the JSA was for the Justice League.
Within the MCU's own lore, such a group as the Invaders and their spiritual successors never existed, at least publicy, and certainly no group as large or as important as DC's Justice Society of America. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier made it clear that attempts were made to replicate Captain America after his disappearance. However, no mention was ever directly made of Namor's existence in the MCU, or even passing references to the havoc he might have been causing Hydra and other Nazi forces during WWII. The original Human Torch got a cameo in Captain America: The First Avenger, but no greater call-out. This rests the bulk of lore for that time period squarely on Captain America and those directly connected to him.
A major factor in this discrepancy between the two cinematic universes is that many of the MCU's "old guard" are already gone or on the way out, so the value of seeing an older version wouldn't be there. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are gone, with the title character of Thor: Love & Thunder potentially poised to make his own exit in the upcoming movie. Some characters are sticking around, but it's apparent that an older Avengers team isn't in the cards. Without any older characters to pull from, extremely limited lore in the MCU as it is, and several other characters already taking their leaves from the MCU, it seems likely that many of the younger heroes are going to have to find their own way, without the guidance of a team like the Justice Society of America in the MCU to show them the ropes.
