Has The Legion Charter Changed?

At one time each member of the Legion had to have a unique super power. For example Wildfire was first rejected because he showed the ability to mimic other legionnaires powers. When he showed his energy blasting abilities he was unique. Karate Kid and Brainiac 5 whereas no powers had abilities no one else possessed. All the references are inherent abilities/powers. In the new legion run we have a Dr. Fate (no inherent abilities, using the helmet of Nabu, etc), and a Gold Lantern (Power Ring based abilities). Does this mean that you no longer have to have inherent abilities to member of the Legion of Super Heroes?

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I’m not sure if the current Legion has a Charter regarding powers and such. In the Current Legion the Lightning Twins have the same powers. Mon-El is written to be a Kryptonian, just as Superboy is, and several Legionnaires have powers only by artificial means [Helmet of Nabu - Gold Lantern Ring].
Right now the group is on hiatus, but will return and we’ll just have to wait and see.

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Good question - Did the Bendis run ever post a charter with any of the extra information provided? I don’t remember seeing any - it was more “every planet sends at least someone”

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@JimboFett, I think @kevin_oyer.50320 gave a pretty accurate description. It wasnt until after that post did I realize that Mon-El is a Kryptonian, and is supposed to be a Grandson of Jonathan Kent, and remembered that the Lightning Twins are members. This is a whole new Legion, and maybe we’ll get some explanations soon.

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Don’t know if this qualifies. There’s an episode “The Substitutes” on “Legion of Super Heroes” (animated series) S01E10, where Legion Auditions are being held. There are many that present their powers. Some of these powers are Legion material, and some are either redundant or deemed to have no useful applications.
A small group of these flunkies ban together to solve a problem that requires “Superhero” action. Instead of contacting the Legion, they decide to tackle it themselves
During all of this, the Legion had been documenting all of the powers presented. Again, they are documented (I’m assuming for Legion reference).
The flunkies solve the problem using their unique abilities. They are accepted, despite their powers or their ability to use them. I think this most closely resembles a charter.

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Originally - you had to be a teenager, to be in the Legion. Supergirl’s first attempt to join the Legion was spoiled by a Red Kryptonite encounter that aged her to adulthood, disqualifying her from membership. It was a “Kid’s Club” from the start.

Later the tenor of the book changed as all of the original members became adults.

I think that was the first element of the charter to fall. Later on the prohibition against married Legionnaires would be dropped. Lightning Lass seemed to put an end to the requirement for different powers when she returned to active duty after being “re-charged” by her brother, Lightning Lord.

Oh and right from the start, Mon-El, Superboy and Supergirl had some sort of Special Dispensation to all be in the Legion with the same powers at the same time (Though it was rare to have all three in one story at the same time anyways).

Powers, powers, … … …Oh yeah! We covered unique powers already, but the longest lasting prohibition was on the “innate” power. Seems that one stood the longest. Perhaps it was the Kid Quantum(s) that broke that rule first? But it has certainly been broken in this newest Legion.

Rules are made to be ________, eh?!!

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“Followed until they become inconvenient!” :laughing:

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@kevin_oyer.50320 and as you mentioned, lets not forget Ultra-Boy shared the exact same powers with the exception of only being able to use them one at a time, and them conveniently renaming them to things like (Penetra Vision) as opposed to X-Ray vision :slight_smile:

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Back in the early days - Ultra Boy only displayed Vision Powers, though unlike Superboy - he could see through lead, making his power unique. Interestingly enough Starboy started out with many of the same powers as Superboy, although his Electro Vision Power worked a bit differently.

Later on, … … … when Ultra Boy began making more regular appearances with the Legion, his ability to switch among various Ultra Powers was introduced — and Starboy’s powers were reduced - to just the gravity based power.

In fact, Ultra Boy only had his vision powers until Adventure Comics # 316 - when he was given an origin story and all the powers of Superboy, albeit one-at-a-time. And it was conveniently explained that at first he only used his Ultra Energy for vision powers and didn’t learn to switch until he had more experience.

I think the writers had a bit of a tussle with the “Super-set” of powers and the Legionnaires, but found clever work-arounds to avoid strict obediance to any inconvenient rules.

Dev-Em was such a work-around - he would simply reject Legion Membership to avoid this problem neatly.

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