Flashback Friday: Hall of Justice

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: the Hall of Justice!

The Hall of Justice first appeared as the Justice League headquarters in first episode of the Super Friends animated series (September 1973). It quickly became a trademark of the series, especially during Challenge of the Super Friends when it was contrasted with the equally iconic Legion of Doom headquarters. Here's an interesting piece of trivia for you: the Hall was based on Cincinatti's Union Terminal:

The Hall of Justice first appeared in comics in Super Friends #1 (September 1976), but since DC TV comics are...complicated in terms of continuity, we'll keep going.

The designed was used in Kingdom Come (1996) as the United Nations headquarters...

...but the actual Hall of Justice debuted in Justice League of America #7 (March 2007) as one half of the JLA's new headquarters (the other half being the Satellite Watchtower).

Since then it has become a mainstay. It technically continued to exist in the New 52, although it was blown up in the first month, in Justice League International #1 (September 2011).

It was then rebuilt following the destruction of the Watchtower, and the new version debuted in Justice League #1 (June 2018).

It has also been featured as - or inspired the look of - headquarters in many adaptations. I won't list them all, but some examples include the Arrowverse...

...Young Justice...

...The Batman...

...and Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Flashback Friday: The Wonder Twins

Each Friday, I take one of the entries from my old Super Posts and expand it into its own featured article.

This week: the Wonder Twins!

Super Friends holds a very interesting place in DC Comics fandom. On one hand, it represents almost every comic book stereotype that the industry has fought for decades to avoid - simple, disconnected, sometimes preachy, and often nonsensical stories, told with flat characters and bad art, made only for children. The show is near-singlehandedly responsible for Aquaman's poor reputation, which he has only started to shake in the past few years (thanks, Jason Momoa!) On the other hand, it's also an iconic piece of fiction that nearly everybody watched growing up - for many, being the introduction to this world and these characters - so it's a touchstone that everyone can understand, and creators seemingly can't resist making reference to it when they get the chance.

I think this dilemma goes a long way to explain the odd contortions so many Super Friends characters go through when they finally make it onto the page. Sometimes they'll come in unscathed, like El Dorado, but more often than not, you'll get things like Wonder Dog, the man-eating demon, or Manitou Raven, what Apache Chief would be if he dressed like a voodoo priest. The Wonder Twins are somewhere in the middle.

The Wonder Twins first appeared in the first episode of The All-New Super Friends Hour (segment: "Joy Ride" (1977)).  They were a replacement for Wendy and Marvin, and an improvement; although they still provided the young characters for kids to relate to, they were also superheroes in their own right and could join in on the action.

As an aside, I want to talk about their powers for a second. They are often given as examples of characters with lame powers, but let's examine that. Zan can turn into any form of water. That's usually depicted - especially in parodies - as "a bucket of water" or "an ice slick", but that's also things like any form (and any amount!) of precipitation and ice in any shape. He could also theoretically turn into multiple forms of water at once, meaning he could scald you and freeze you at the same time. Here's Zan as an ice unicycle - if he can turn into complex machinery, he can turn into anything. It's loophole abuse of the highest caliber, but it still counts.

Jayna's EVEN MORE powerful. She can turn into any animal. Any. Animal. Real or mythological, native to Earth or alien, she can do it all. She can turn into a Kryptonian and suddenly have Superman's powers. That's canon.  (Pictured is a Kryptonian animal, but considering she turns into a human in her secret identity, nothing's stopping her from also turning into a Kryptonian person. Regardless, Kryptonian animals have Superman's powers too.)

I'll get off my soapbox now. Anyway, while appearing on the show, they also made appearances in the Super Friends tie-in comic book series, beginning in issue 7 (August 1977). There's some debate over whether Super Friends is part of continuity or not; usually tie-in comics are not, and it's published specifically as a "DC TV Comic". On the other hand, comics of the time were generally written so that they and Super Friends did not contradict each other. If that's the case, this article can pretty much end here.

If it's not the case, though, then they first turned up in comics for real in Extreme Justice #9 (August 1995). To support my earlier point, in this issue the Wonder Twins were the antagonists and the team had to stop them from destroying a town. It was probably a misunderstanding related to them being runaway slaves owned by an alien overlord. The team later emancipates them and they join in issue 16 (March 1996), although they also made a few appearances in between. In addition to their more serious backstory, they're also given more serious outfits - at least from a 1990s point of view.

They faded into obscurity after that series was cancelled, but later appeared in Young Justice #49-52 (September - December 2002) as part of a storyline that included nearly every teenage superhero active at the time. I note this because it gives them new costumes that appear closer to their animated versions, and confirms they are from Exor, just like in the cartoon.

They continued to show up here and there, including on Smallville, of all places...

...but the next important thing to note is their post-Rebirth SERIES that debuts next month (February 2019)! In the closest they've been to their original versions, the series will follow them as they navigate school and Earth life under the tutelage of Superman, while also working at the Hall of Justice.

Finally, I forgot to mention the brief detour they took on Justice League Unlimited as Downpour and Shifter, but you can read more about that here.

Character Spotlight: Warhawk (sorta)

One of the tricky things about canon immigrants is that they're not always an exact match. Take Zizz, for instance, whose look comes from an alternate reality version of Justice League's Hawkgirl, and that's pretty much all they have in common. This example is pretty similar.

In case you're not familiar with Warhawk, he's a member of Justice League Unlimited who first appeared in the Batman Beyond episode "The Call" (November 2000), and he's actually shown up on this blog several times before - but always in a version of the Batman Beyond future. And in that future, he's Rex Stewart, the son of Green Lantern John Stewart and Hawkgirl.

Therefore, it's quite surprising when someone who looks like him shows up in an alternate PRESENT as a member of the Justice League. This happens in Justice League of America #26 (October 2008) during a time when the trickster god Anansi spins a new reality, which changes the makeup of the team.

As you can see, the team includes someone called Hawk who looks an awful lot like Warhawk, except he has red armor for some reason.

...or does he? In this later scene, he was what looks more like silver armor reflecting red light. Is that what the top picture is supposed to be too? That would make sense since he has Firestorm floating in front of him, but it's not affecting the coloring of anybody else, whereas in the bottom image, Vixen is tinted red as well.

So I'm not sure what's going on there, but it counts regardless.

Character Spotlight: Downpour and Shifter

This is an exciting one, but also a strange one.

I have an unabashed love for the Super Friends original superheroes: Apache Chief, Samurai, Black Vulcan, the Wonder Twins, and El Dorado. I think they have great designs and that they could shine if they just had the chance.

In fact, I know they could shine when given the chance because I've seen them do just that. Once was in Young Justice, but before that, they got a spotlight episode on Justice League Unlimited. At least, a version of them did.

In the episode "Ultimatum" (December 2004), the Justice League meets a team of superhero created by Project Cadmus to be loyal to the United States. Their names are Wind Dragon, Juice, Longshadow, Downpour, and Shifter.

As you can see from the above links, all the Super Friends characters have made their way into the comics, one way or another, including the Wonder Twins. So it shocked me to learn that in Superman/Wonder Woman #26 (February 2016), Downpour and Shifter ALSO got introduced into the comics universe!

In this series, they're the children of Vandal Savage for some reason, and they don't use their powers (although they can fly and have eyebeams). They're also not called "Downpour" and "Shifter", but they're clearly meant to be the same characters.

In Superman #49 (February 2016), we briefly see them again. During the issue, all of Vandal Savage's children get powers awakened, and these two are no different. they join the battle with the rest of their siblings and we see they do, in fact, have water and animal shapeshifting powers.

Thanks to Thomas Parks for telling me about this one!

Team Spotlight: Legion of Doom (for real this time)

The Legion of Doom is no stranger to this site. I've mentioned their name being used before, and we've seen an alternate reality version of them, but we've never seen the actual team...until now.

If you're not familiar, the Legion of Doom were the antagonists on Challenge of the Superfriends (September 1978). They were comprised of the Super Friends' greatest foes...

From left to right, we have Black Manta, Giganta, Toyman, The Riddler, Bizarro, Scarecrow, Lex Luthor, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Solomon Grundy, Gorilla Grodd, Brainiac, and Sinestro. If you're familiar with the characters, you'll notice some heroes are more represented than others. Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern all get two a piece. Wonder Woman also gets two but shares one with Apache Chief (Giganta, which is why she has size-changing powers). Aquaman only gets one, but Superman gets four. Samurai, Black Vulcan, and the Wonder Twins get none.

Challenge of the Super Friends is arguably the most well known season of the series, and the Legion of Doom is a major reason for that. They were big time villains with a cool team name in a cool headquarters. So why, if the name and headquarters have appeared in comics, hasn't the team? I don't know, but we don't have to worry about that anymore.

The Legion of Doom makes their debut in Scott Snyder's Justice League #1 (June 2018). They're a team put together by Lex Luthor to deal with the ramifications of the Source Wall breaking in Dark Knights: Metal.

As you can see, the team doesn't include everyone from the cartoon, but it's the closest we've gotten yet. I don't know how Joker sneaked in there, but DC can't seem to help themselves, I guess.

From what I gather, there were several previously undiscovered forces on the other side of the wall. Grodd has taken control of the Still Force, which is the opposite of the Flash's Speed Force, and there's also a new part of the Emotional Spectrum (Ultraviolet) that I can see Sinestro trying to control. With the also-recently-discovered Sage and Strength Forces being easily tied to the not-yet-Legion members Brainiac and Solomon Grundy, it wouldn't surprise me if each member has their own thing. But that's all speculation at this juncture.

(Honestly, Grodd should have the Sage Force and Captain Cold should have the Still Force, but I imagine they want to keep it to one villain per hero. Can't blame them for that.)

Team Spotlight: Legion of Doo—er...Fun??

This is one I've been waiting on for a long time, and although it's not quite what I had in mind, it's still really cool.

The current Superman storyline involves Bizarro and Bizarro Earth, and as such, introduces several new Bizarro characters we've never seen before, incluidng Boyzarro (a Bizarro Superboy). The Bizarro Justice League has gone missing, and in Superman #43 (March 2018), we learn that they've been kidnapped by the Legion of Fun.

The Legion of Fun is, of course, a bizarro version of the Legion of Doom, a collection of supervillains that first appeared in the premiere episode of Challenge of the Superfriends (September 1978) and were the main antagonists for that season.

Interestingly, although the Legion of Doom appears here under a (slightly) different name, the name has appeared before with a different roster!

It first appeared in Extreme Justice #17 and #18 (June/July 1996). A separate team using the name appeared in Teen Titans #98 and #99 (July and August 2011), and a third team was the focus of Flashpoint: Legion of Doom #1-3 (June-August 2011), but all three teams simply used the name; their line-ups did not reflect the Super Friends roster at all. This is the first time the group as it appeared in the show - minus one or two characters - has appeared in comics.

Well...that's not completely true. In the interest of completion, I should note that the Legion of Doom appeared - with a greatly expanded team - in Alex Ross's Justice miniseries (2005). However, that story was outside continuity.

Appearance Spotlight: Cyborg

Cyborg has had many different looks over the years. When he first debuted, he looked like this:

By the New 52 (November 2011), he had a much bulkier, less humanoid look with red highlights. I don't like this style as much because, as a cyborg, I think his human parts should be about equal to his mechanical parts.

In the movie Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox (2013), Cyborg has the below look for the beginning of the movie. I like it a lot because it makes him look athletic - which he is - and shows that's he's mostly human with some modification. Unfortunately, he has an appearance similar to the one above for most of the movie.

Luckily, DC Rebirth happened and fixed a lot of the New 52's issues. In Convergence: Crime Syndicate #2 (May 2015), there's a Cyborg backup story where he loses both his arms. Then something happens - I'm not entirely sure what, even though I've read the pages - and he not only regrows his arms, but gets a whole new design more in line with the picture above. Silver and black with blue highlights, exposed upper arms, those blue baubles...it's not a 1-to-1 transfer (and these things usually aren't), but it's close enough to be noticeable. This backup story was to set up the ongoing series he got as part of Rebirth.

Costume Spotlight: Zizz

This is an interesting one, because Zizz is an original character. She's a Thanagarian who was
part of a new Suicide Squad along with other mythologically-named villains like Behemoth and Leviathan.

She was first mentioned in Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Boomerang #1 (August 2016), and then appeared for real in Suicide Squad Most Wanted: El Diablo and Killer Croc #4 (November 2016). And when she did, she looked like this:

A good look, but a strange one, because it doesn't really belong to Zizz. It originated with the Justice Lords version of Hawkgirl, as seen in the Justice League episode "A Better World" (2003).

The Justice Lords were a version of the Justice League from an alternate reality where they became totalitarian. Funnily enough, Lord Hawkgirl already exists in the DCU, on Earth-50.

Surprisingly - to me, at least - this isn't the first time someone has used the animated design of an existing character to make a new character. It also happened when Young Justice's Sportsmaster became Mad Dog.

Thanks again to austinpopdan for the accidental heads up! For the others that came from this miniseries he recommended, visit El Dorado and Sin Tzu.

Appearance Spotlight: Ice

When Ice first appeared in Justice League International #12 (February 1988), she had a very skimpy costume that looked like this:

Technically, this costume first appeared earlier on Icemaiden of the Global Guardians, but there are some out-of-universe, continuity-finagling shenanigans at play there that aren't germane to this article. Her Wikipedia page goes into detail, if you're curious, however.

Anyway, she eventually changed her costume to the VERY 80s one seen here, which debuted in 1989 (I can't find a specific issue) and became her iconic one. She had a few others here and there, but this is the one she'd always return to.

In 2004, Ice made the first of many Justice League Unlimited appearances in the series premiere (July), and her costume design split the difference. It was mainly her classic one, but with a keyhole and bare arms to suggest the sexiness of the first one.

She would stick with her classic one in the comics whenever she appeared...that is, until Justice League: Generation Lost #18 (January 2011), where this costume showed up. As you can see, it's essentially her JLU one but with a filled-in keyhole and the stripes' colors inverted.

She kept that costume for a while in the New 52, which was a smart move. It's a good one.

Appearance Spotlight: Vixen (post-Rebirth)

DC's Rebirth initiative has two goals, which at first seem at odds with each other, but seem to be working so far. The first is to shake up the majority of their line, taking their books in new directions that feel fresh. The other is to make it feel more like the pre-New 52 DC Universe by bringing back fan favorite characters, iconic outfits, and popular backstories. I guess there's also a third category that falls in between these two, which is adjusting their books to better match popular adaptations. This falls under that third category.

Vixen has been featured on this site before for her wardrobe changes. You can read about that here. That post will bring you up to the New 52, but shortly after that, Vixen got an animated series on CW Seed (August 2015). So while in the comics she looked like this:

On the show she looked like this:

The series turned out to be fairly popular, to the point that the character made a live action appearance on Arrow, played by her voice actor. Another Vixen, the first Vixen's grandmother, appeared this season on Legends of Tomorrow as a member of the Justice Society. With all that exposure, it makes sense to update her costume again (especially to get rid of that plunging neckline), so in DC Rebirth #1 (May 2016), we got this:

Which was modified a little into this in Justice League of America: Vixen #1 (January 2017):

Batman Beyond: I Finally Figured It Out - Part 2b: Earth-12

Long-time readers will know that Batman Beyond has long been a thorn in my side. DC seems to really want the franchise around, but can't ever seem to figure out what they want to do with it, so it's been in continuity, outside continuity, in continuity but with Tim Drake as Batman...it's a headache.

However, recently I got the chance to read through every Batman Beyond series and I took copious notes to try to figure out how it should be represented on this site, and figured it out I did: there are actually three separate versions of the Batman Beyond world. In this three part post, I will describe the three versions and note the characters and concepts each one introduced. If the site has already talked about them, I'll link to that page. If not, I'll put in the new information. Here's Part 1 if you missed it; yesterday was Part 2a (Earth-12 from the Batman's side), today is Earth-12 from Justice League's side, Thursday will be Part 3, and Part 4 will be on Friday.

Version 2: The Future of Earth-12
This version provides a clean break, in that it changes its name to Batman Beyond 2.0 and Justice League 2.0. But it's more than that. Suddenly Barbara Gordon can walk again, costumes (Nightwing's in particular) reflect their animated counterparts, and they not only exclusively refer to events of the DCAU when talking about the past, they refer to the past more frequently and in deeper detail. This book does occasionally - once or twice - refer to events from previous volumes, but it does it vaguely enough that it could be talking about separate events entirely.

Justice League Unlimited, a future version of the Justice League, first appeared in the Batman Beyond episode "The Call" (2000), with members Superman, Barda, Warhawk, Aquagirl, Micron, and Kai-Ro. Superman and Barda are pre-existing characters, but the rest are new. They first appeared on this earth in Justice League 2.0 #1 (August 2013). By this point, they had added several new members, including Batman, The Flash, Mister Miracle, and Captain Marvel.

The Justice Lords, a dark counterpart to the Justice League from Earth-50, first appeared in the Justice League 2-parter "A Better World" (2003), the events of which are recapped in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #17 (April 2014). The Justice Lords are first mentioned in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #16 (March 2014), then appear in issue 17 in full - except for Lord Hawkgirl - but in flashback. The Justice Lords Unlimited - which include Curare - appear in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #18 (April 2014).

Jax-Ur's outfit in Superman: The Animated Series (as seen in "Blasts from the Past" (1997)), is quite different from what he wore when he first appeared in Adventure Comics #289 (August 1961), or at any other time in his history. Yet that's what he's wearing in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #4 (September 2013).

Parasite's appearance has already been discussed here, but it shows up on Earth-50 in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #18 (April 2014).

Amazo's appearance in Justice League was much more generic than his comics appearance, which debuted in The Brave and the Bold #30 (April 1960). But the generic version - specifically the upgraded gold version from "The Return" (2004) - is what's represented in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #9 (December 2013).

Brainiac's appearance isn't terribly different from his comics counterpart, but it's enough to be noticeable. You can read more about this look here, but it appeared in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #8 (November 2013).

Brainiac as Krypton's world computer is an idea that first appeared in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "The Last Son of Krypton" (1996). It was reused in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #12 (January 2014).

The merger of Brainiac and Lex Luthor, and the resulting merger of Brainiac and Darkseid happened in the Justice League Unlimited episodes "Divided We Fall" (2005) and "Alive!" (2006), respectively, and were referenced in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #11 (January 2014).

Batman and Wonder Woman's attraction was featured in several episodes of Justice League, including "Starcrossed" (2004). When Wonder Woman travelled to Earth-50, she and Lord Batman acted on it, as told in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #17 (April 2014).

Batman's Penny is a particularly clever and subtle reference. The penny itself has been around in comics almost as long as Batman has, but it comes from a one-off villain called the Penny Plunderer. In the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Almost Got 'im" (1992), Batman gets it from Two-Face, which explains why it has two heads in Justice League Beyond 2.0 #22 (June 2014).

The Justice League Watchtower - a darker version of it, at least - appears as the Justice Lords satellite on Earth-50 in Batman Beyond 2.0 #23 (June 2014). Yes, I realize this should've appeared in yesterday's post, but I forgot to write it down in my notes. It fits better here, anyway.