With the recent release of Justice League, everyone is talking about the popular superhero group currently comprised of Wonder Woman, Batman, Aquaman, The Flash, and Cyborg. While they have been around for a while, sometimes with a slightly different roster, there are still some things people get wrong about the League.
The Justice League was created by Gardner Fox and first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28 in 1960. Eventually, the team received their own comic book series called Justice League of America.
There have been various League origin stories over the years, as well a shifts in founding members. They’ve appeared in various animated movies, television shows, and video games. Everyone is familiar with the Justice League for one reason or another.
The team’s long and slightly confusing history makes it easy for myths and false information to spread Any superhero team that’s been around for decades will be complicated.
While casual fans only know certain facts, bigger fans may be surprised to find out what they always believed to be true is not entirely correct. The world’s mightiest heroes can be hard to figure out.
Here are the 15 Things Everyone Gets Wrong About The Justice League.
They never kill
One of the biggest myths about superheroes is that they never kill. While most heroes try not to take lives, it does happen sometimes. From Batman to Wonder Woman, the members of the Justice League have all killed at some point.
While there have been many continuities in which Batman does not kill, he’s certainly done so in the past. When he was first created, he didn’t have much restraint when it came to killing criminals. As the character evolved, he grew stronger values.
Superman is another Justice League member who people believe never kills. While he tries to avoid taking a life as much as possible, he has done it before.
Viewers saw him kill Zod in Man Of Steel, when the only other choice was getting civilians killed. While the Justice League tries to keep from taking lives, sometimes there is no other option.
Superman is the strongest member
Superman is one of the most well-known members of the Justice League, as well as one of the most powerful. Many people also believe he is the strongest member- but that isn’t true.
Martian Manhunter is so powerful he has been known to scare Superman, who referred to Manhunter as “the most powerful being on the face of the Earth."
Not only does he possess most of the same skills as Superman, he also can shapeshift and use telepathy to mess with the minds of his opponents.
He most likely matches Superman in pure strength, but when he combines it with his other skills he is easily the stronger fighter. He’s an extremely versatile and forceful opponent to take on, and arguably is the most powerful member of the Justice League.
Aquaman isn't helpful on land
Aquaman has been around since the 1940’s, but many people still refer to him as the weakest member of the Justice League. Contrary to popular belief, Aquaman is useful in a fight, regardless of whether he is in water or not.
The King of Atlantis rules an army of thousands of trained soldiers who he can call into a fight whenever he needs them. Not only that, but he can control sea creatures. While all of this is very helpful in the water, he also has powers he can use in fights on land.
Much like Superman, he has bullet-proof skin, super-strength, and can leap over buildings. His weapon, the Trident of Neptune, has special powers. It can manipulate water as well as the weather. For example, he can use the trident to control where lightning strikes. All of that seems pretty useful in a fight, whether in water or on land.
Wonder Woman is American
Wonder Woman is one of the most beloved female superheroes of all time. Her recent movie only heightened her popularity, receiving more acclaim than most superhero films released in the last decade.
In the buzz surrounding Wonder Woman, many people expressed their disdain that the new version of the character isn’t “American enough."
However, Diana Prince has never been from America. It’s easy for people to be confused, considering Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman wore an extremely patriotic, star-covered outfit in the 1970s television show. However, she has always been an Amazonian warrior, hailing from the island Themyscira.
While she certainly fights for America, she also fights for the rest of the world. Wonder Woman wishes to bring peace and harmony to the entire planet. People that believe she should dress more American may need to recheck their origin stories.
There is only one Green Lantern
Although he was absent from the Justice League film, Green Lantern was originally a founding member of the team. While many people are familiar with the character, they fail to realize there has been more than one version of the hero.
The first ever Green Lantern was named Alan Scott. He was created in 1940. After a railroad crash, he found a magic lantern and created a ring that could harness it’s powers. Eventually, Hal Jordan replaced him and the character was revamped. While he had similar powers, he had a different look and origin story, involving aliens and the Green Lantern Corps.
In the late 1960’s, there was a brief incarnation of the character named Guy Gardner. He was considered a back-up Lantern for Hal Jordan.
Later, in the 1970s, Jon Stewart was created. These are just a few of the people to wear the Green Lantern ring- there have been many others. Fans cannot wait to see which appears in the DCEU.
They were the first big superhero team
Because The Justice League is so popular, many people mistakenly believe it was the first major superhero team created in DC comics. While they certainly are important in DC’s lineage, the Justice Society of America actually came first.
The teams are fairly similar, but the Justice Society appeared about two decades earlier than the Justice League, premiering during the Golden Age of comics. They made their first appearance in All Star Comics #3. Founding members in the 1940s included Atom, The Flash, Doctor Fate, Hawkman, Green Lantern, The Spectre, and Sandman.
The Justice League did not form until 1960. While Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman were all great additions of DC’s biggest team of heroes, they were not a part of the original superhero league.
They never crossover with the Marvel universe
There’s always been a deep rivalry between Marvel and DC. Many believe the two are always kept completely separate and never interact with one another. However, the two have crossed over in the past.
There was a limited comic book series called DC vs Marvel Comics released in 1996. In the comics, two god-like brothers who represent Marvel and DC challenge each other to fights that involve the superheroes from each universe. Whichever side lost the fight would stop existing.
The Justice League and The Avengers also teamed up in 2003. The teams banded together to fight the villain Krona, who could time travel and transport himself to different universes. He decided to travel to the Marvel universe.
While the story was epic, the two have not crossed over since then.
Cyborg has always been a founding member
In the new Justice League film, Cyborg is a part of the original team. However, he has not always been a founding member of the league. He is primarily known for his role on the Teen Titans.
He became an established founder of the league in the 2011 reboot of DC comics. He continued to be a founding member in the 2016 relaunch as well.
Before then, he was a part of the Teen Titans. He joined the group after searching for supportive people who would accept him for being different. Cyborg fought along young heroes like Raven and Beast Boy.
In the New 52 comics, he was written as one of the main Justice League characters. Just like in the Justice League film, Batman assembles the team and helps recruit Cyborg. As of Rebirth, he is still a founding member.
Their only base is the Hall of Justice
While the Hall of Justice has been the public face of the Justice League for decades, they have had quite a few other headquarters. They’ve operated out of satellites, secret bases, and even on the moon.
They once operated out of a secret base in Rhode Island. Referred to as the “Secret Sanctuary," the base was an underground cave hidden inside of a mountain. The team operated out of this sanctuary until Bruce Wayne was able to finance their new base, a satellite orbiting in space.
There have been multiple satellite “Watchtowers” in space for the Justice League to operate out of. These satellite bases have teleporters that connect them to locations all over the Earth, so the league can easily move around. While the Hall of Justice is an important location for the team, it isn’t their only base of operations.
The Flash is the fastest speedster of all time
While The Flash is referred to “The fastest man alive”, that has actually been disproved multiple times, in both television shows and comics. While, at times, he may be the fastest, there are periods when he is slower than other speedsters.
In season 3 of The Flash, the plot revolves around whether or not Barry Allen will be fast enough to stop Savitar from killing Iris West. In many different versions of the future, it is shown that The Flash is not quicker than Savitar and he has to watch Iris die.
Eobard Thawne, Barry Allen’s greatest rival, has also outrun the hero before. Thawne’s life goal is to be the Flash’s nemesis, and in order to achieve it he develops his own speedforce which steal’s Barry’s. He can then travel quicker and stop time if he wishes, making him faster than The Flash.
Wonder Woman is straight
Wonder Woman comes from an island of all-female warriors, so it should not be a surprise that she is attracted to women. However, many people still mistakenly believe that their favorite heroine is straight.
People have been speculating about Wonder Woman’s love life for years. In the Rebirth continuity, it has been revealed that Diana is, in fact, bisexual. Writer Greg Rucka confirmed her rumored fluid sexuality. While she hasn’t had a female love interest directly in the comics yet, fans are waiting for one to appear since Rucka’s announcement.
In the Wonder Woman movie, Diana seems unaffected by Steve Trevor’s naked appearance and is open about discussing sexual feelings on their boat ride. While none of that is a confirmation of her attraction to women, it’s certainly a unique way to represent female sexuality.
Superman was created by DC
Superman has been a staple DC character. It seems like he’s always been a part of their comic books. However, DC did not actually create Superman.
The character was created by two high school students, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Siegel self-published the first Superman story in 1933, called “The Reign of Superman."
This original Superman, however, had a much different origin than the one fans love today. A scientist gives a man telepathic powers and he becomes obsessed with power, taking over the world.
Eventually, Siegel and Shuster revamped Superman, giving him a cape and an alien backstory. Detective Comics did not purchase the character from them until 1938. He was then published in Action Comics #1, which became the most valuable comic book in history.
Oliver Queen was always a member
With the success of the CW show Arrow, Green Arrow has become a very well-known DC hero. While he eventually joined the Justice League, he hasn’t always been a member of the team.
Green Arrow was created by Mortimer Weisinger in 1941. Originally, he was a lot like an archer version of Batman, but he eventually evolved into his own character, having a further left-wing political view than originally anticipated.
Most versions of his character have wanted to be a part of the Justice League. Green Arrow became a part of the team in the 1960s.
Unlike the comics, this version of Oliver in the show Justice League: Unlimited, however, was really hesitant about being a part of the league. He wanted to help the little people on the streets rather than world-reaching conflicts.
Black Canary was never a founding member
Black Canary seems to be an easily overlooked member of the Justice League. A lot of casual fans regard her as a minor character, but in some versions of the comics she is actually a founding member of the league.
Dinah Lance, the Black Canary in the New Earth continuity, helped start the Justice League. Her mother was a member of the Justice Society, so she helped name them the Justice League. She met Oliver Queen, her love interest, through her connections with the league. Eventually, they both left the league together.
This is very different from the current incarnation of Dinah on the CW’s Arrow, who was a cop before becoming a vigilante. As of now, she is not a love interest for Oliver.
Diana is the only Wonder Woman
With the success of Wonder Woman, everyone knows the character as Diana Prince. In the comics, she is also the most popular version of the character. However, there has been another Wonder Woman in the past.
Artemis, another Amazonian, was briefly Wonder Woman. Queen Hippoltya began to see visions of Wonder Woman dying, and held a contest to find someone to take her place.
Artemis won and earned the title of Wonder Woman. She performed the role differently than Diana, often being seen as cold or more violent. Sadly, she ended up dying in battle, making Hippoltya’s vision come true.
Queen Hippoltya was also once Wonder Woman, although for unfortunate reasons. After Diana’s eventual demise, Hippoltya was given the role as punishment for sending Artemis to her death.
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Can you think of any other facts about the Justice League that everyone seems to get wrong? Let us know in the comments!