Justice League of America
The Justice League, sometimes called the Justice League of America or JLA for short, is a DC Comics superhero team. In most incarnations, its roster includes DC's most popular characters and thus many of the most recognizable superheroes in pop culture. more...
The original, and arguably most popular, line-up is Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. The team has also included Green Arrow, the Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, Captain Marvel, Blue Beetle, Plastic Man, and dozens of others.
The team first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28 (1960). Although series featuring the League have occasionally solicited a low fan base, the team has been fairly popular since inception.
The team's concept was loosely adapted into the cartoon series Super Friends (1972-1985) and more directly into the series Justice League (2001-2004) and Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006).
Throughout the years, the team, or segments of it, have called Justice League America, Justice League Europe and Justice League International.
History
Origin of the JLA
The Justice League's first origin, according to 1962's Justice League of America #9, began when Earth was infiltrated by various competing alien warriors sent to the planet to see who could conquer Earth first, as a means of determining who would become the new ruler of their home planet. Each alien warrior possessed a different power or ability, and attacked a different portion of Earth, which drew the individual attention of Superman (whom the public sometimes views as the leader of the Justice League, which he insists is not true), Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. While most of the invaders were defeated by the superheroes individually, the heroes themselves fell prey one by one to a single competitor's attack; they soon discovered that only by working together could they defeat the competitor. Afterwards, the group decided that they should form a permanent organization to confront menaces that required a similar pooling of resources, and dubbed themselves the Justice League of America.
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