Hi. This is going here because I didn’t know where else to put it.
Since there seems to be a bit of a focus on the Legion of Superheroes here in this forum right now, I want to ask people a question:
If you were given the opportunity by DC to create a new version of the Legion (with the only caveats/restrictions being “No duplicate powers” and “no more than 10 members for the first 15 issues”), who would you put on the team, and why?
I’ll share my own thoughts to get the conversation started.
My Legion would be as follows:
Rokk Krinn/Lodestone, Imra Ardeen/Esper, and Garth Ranzz/Live Wire (The “founding trio” are pretty much essential, and I like all three of their “powersets”)
Ayla Ranzz//Pulse (It felt weird to me to not have both Ranzz siblings on the team, and the fact that there are versions of the character who have had gravity negation abilities gave me an excuse to use both of them without doubling up on powers)
Querl Dox/Brainiac-5 (“Brainy” is another pretty essential team member, plus I love “cyborg”-type characters)
Tinya Wazzo/Apparition (The ability to “phase” through things is a pretty awesome power, but would also be quite useful in everyday life)
Luornu Durgo/Triad (I love the concept of being able to instantaneously clone yourself and have each “clone” be its own independent entity)
Chuck Taine/Sphere (There’s something kind of charming about a superpower that is basically out-of-control obesity that actually CAN be controlled; plus I love the idea of pairing up him and Luornu)
Salu Digby/Shrinking Violet (Size-changing is another superpower I find really cool, but between Gim and Salu, shrinking is cooler than growing to the size of a giant, and so she gets the nod; plus, I couldn’t pass up the chance to pair her with Ayla)
Jo-Nah/Ultraboy (I love both Superman/Superboy and Supergirl, and so having somebody on the team with their powerset appealed to me, especially with the limitation of those powers only being able to be used one at a time; I do wish I’d been able to find him a different codename, though)
So that’s my starter team if I had the chance to “reboot” the Legion. What would everyone else do?
I’ll have to think about this but feel free to also consider joining our Legion Club and to come on over to our Discord clubhouse room as well. The ultimate plan is to have a room on community 2.0 this summer for the legion Club
While I wait to see what other people’s Legion teams would be, I figured I’d post my “second wave” of Legion members:
Reep Daggle/Chameleon (I love the Durlan race as a concept, and since it seems like Chameleon Boy is another “essential” Legion member, I wanted to add him even though he didn’t really fit into my “first wave” character roster)
Jenni Ognats/Accel (I love the idea of the Legion having a speedster on their roster, but had to wait to add Jenni because she didn’t fit with my “first wave” team)
Lyle Norg/Sneak (I wanted to find a way to get Lyle onto my “first wave” roster in order to pair him with Brainy, but didn’t have the space, so I decided to move him to my “second wave” roster and change his planet of origin from Earth to Xanthu)
Brin Londo/Timber Wolf (It seems like a no-brainer to add DC’s closest equivalent to the character of Wolverine to its closest equivalent of the X-Men, and almost added him to my “first wave” roster before deciding on Jo insead)
Jekka Wynzorr/Projectra (I love the fact that the post-Zero-Hour version of Princess Projectra was a snake-like humanoid, but also wanted to give her some more elements of her human counterpart as well, so I made her a little bit of a hybrid character in that she can project illusions AND sense danger as a nod to the “Sensor” codename)
Mysa Nal/Wiccan (Yes, I shamelessly borrowed a codename from Marvel Comics for Mysa, who gets the nod over her sister largely because I wanted to pair her with Brin ; plus, the idea of naturally-occurring spellcasting is cooler and more useful than prophetic dreams)
@Don-El: I’m surprised you only included two of the 3 founders.
After I posted my “second wave” group of characters, I decided on four more I wanted to add:
Ti’julk Mr’asz/Gates (Insectoid characters are really cool to me, and Gates’ powerset would make a nice compliment to the rest of my Legion; plus, I wanted to pair him with his fellow Instectoid Legionnaire Shikari)
Shikari/Dragonfly (With Gates on the team, adding Shikari was a no-brainer for me; plus, I love the idea of an “extra-galactic” Legionnaire)
Tasmia Mallor/Umbra (It’s hard for me to figure out the practical application of shadow-casting as a superpower, but if you add in super-strength as well, you get a character whom I think would work really well with the rest of my Legion roster, so that’s what I’ve done)
Jan Arrah/Alchemist (Until I watched Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, I wasn’t sure what you could do, practically, with elemental transmutation as a superpower, but now I think Jan would be a great addition to my Legion, especially magic and alchemy - which is basically what his powers amount to - pair pretty well together and my team has a magic-user on it in the form of Mysa Nal)
Supergirl
Brainiac-5
Cosmic Boy
Colossal Boy
Chameleon Boy
Saturn Girl
Phantom Lass
Triplicate Girl
Shrinking Violet
Bouncing Boy
To twist the classical take on them being inspired by the 20th century heroes, I would have Kara ending up in the future and inspiring them in their time. There would be no 20th century museum from the start. All that information has been erased to dissuade that kind of behavior. The 30th century is not a place for play and dreams, it’s a place where you work and contribute to the United Planets from the cradle to the grave.
Their first knowledge of the old heroes comes as a young Kryptonian girl arrives and starts telling stories around a campfire. Someone not from around there who knows that something must have gone terribly wrong along the line, and tells stories of a world where people followed their dreams - of pool parties and beaches and clubs, but also of heroes and villains - an event that brings more and more kids as time goes. Among them a brilliant tech kid named Querl who gets curious to the statistical anomaly why so many were given powers before and now suddenly no one, a curiosity that leads him to discover another purpose to the id chip given to all children of the united planets at birth. He decides to try and shut down the grid feeding the chips, something that will change the 30th century forever, for both good and bad.
In terms of an origin story and arcs, my version of the team would more or less ‘ape’ the story structure of the post-Zero-Hour Legion, with an assassination attempt on RJ Brande’s life that is thwarted by Rokk, Imra, Garth, and, in this iteration, Ayla leading to the formation of the team and the recruitment of Luornu and Tinya before Brande attempts to pitch the idea of the Legion being used to ‘supplement’ and ‘support’ the Science Police in the enforcement of peace within the UP and the galaxy at large.
From there, Brin would end up joining the team when Brande took them to Zuun with him to meet with Mar Londo about developing technologies to help them do their job, and President Chu would institute a ‘draft’ that would initially add Querl (as team leader), Chuck, and Salu and then later Reep, Jenni, Lyle, and Tasmia as the team slowly started to uncover a conspiracy to destabilize the UP to the point that martial law would need to be declared by fomenting various crises. This part of the story would also see the group start to gel as a unit despite President Chu’s meddling and deal with foes like the Fatal Five, Tangleweb, and Grimbor.
The next part of the story would see President Chu deposed and replaced by Tinya’s mother Winema, who would end the ‘draft’ and allow RJ and the Legion the autonomy he’d wanted them to have in the first place, leading to a recruitment drive and the addition of Jo, Ti’julk, Jekka, Mysa, and Jan, while a confrontation with the Fatal Five over the Emerald Eye of Ekron would lead to them being stranded in another galaxy and lead to the recruitment of Shikari.
An amazingly interesting question. I have loved so many Legions and their various members, that makes it hard to pick. In the end I went with:
Cosmic Boy
Lightning Lad
Saturn Girl (I don’t think I would ever give up a founder)
Braniac 5 (He is a great way to connect to so many possible story lines and his general attitude makes him a fun choice)
Chameleon ( He is such a great non-Superboy/Monel/Ultra deus ex machina character solves so much just off hand)
Element Lad (What a power set, what a backstory, and probably my favorite male member of the team ever)
Projectra ( the resident princess can connect us to some interesting plotlines and make the politics more interesting)
Timberwolf (as close to the Super set as I will get, he adds some power but with mortality)
Phantom Girl (Just adore the whole ghost who walks thing, kind of fills in the invisible lads roles in some ways)
Dawnstar ( purely a personal choice, I was always fond of her and I think that if you set up a kidnapped Brand story at the start,the first attempt fails due to the founders but the second does not, she could be a great early addition)
It isn’t the strongest or most powerful team, but I think it is a team that has a good mix and some real humanity to it. One that can fail on occasion and learn from it.
Ultra Boy (my favorite as a kid)
Wildfire (cool look, cool power, also one of the more human characters)
Timber Wolf
Shadow Lass she joined the team in one of the first stories I ever read
Lightning Lass
Karate Kid
Laurel Gand
Dawnstar
Vi (yes, a modern love triangle is on my team)
Cosmic Boy
Love the Legion and I’ve always loved all the different groupings each issue here’s a team I’d love to see together in a book, an animated movie, series or a live action movie.
Lightning Lad
Saturn Girl
Cosmic Boy
Tyroc
Chameleon Boy
Brainiac 5
Gates
Ultra Boy
Phantom Girl
Chemical King
Superman travels to the 31st Century, expecting to meet the Legion.
Instead, he finds a ruined Legion HQ and a galaxy enslaved
Putting clues together, he slowly unravels what happened in the last ten years, leading to the Legion’s defeat and disbanding.
He then sets out to find the members and bring them back together.
Members:
Lightning Lad
Cosmic Boy
Staurn Girl
Brainiac 5
Chameleon Boy
Phantom Girl
Shrinking Violet
Invisible Kid II
Dawnstar
Gates
I chose to start with the founders and Brainiac 5 because they’re often the core elements of every version.
Then I added the Legion Espionage Squad, as they would be beneficial to fighting the oppressors.
Dawnstar to find everyone, and Gates for transportation.
I’d want to eventually add more of my favorites, which I held back from including for story reasons.
I haven’t read the Legion in awhile even though it is one of my favorite titles and gonna old man on some names because I don’t know all that many of the new ones. Tossing in a few personal faves that aren’t that popular.
Lightning Lad
Saturn Girl
Cosmic Boy
Blok
Ferro Lad
Leviathan
Mon-el
Brainiac 5
Karate Kid
Chameleon Boy
