The Legion Of Super Heroes

I am absolutely obsessed with The Legion Of Super Heroes...they are my favorite super hero team of all time. A United Planets in the 31st century with all these awesome people from different worlds....and there have been so many different incarnations of the Legion over the years. But you see a new one has just happened. Or well, an old one.

First there was the original Legion of Super Heroes, appearing first in Adventure Comics 247 waaaaaay back in 1958.

The Legion Of Super Heroes exists in the 31st century where they follow the example Superman set back in his time as heroes to the whole universe. Teens from many different worlds coming together for space adventures!!!! It's basically a dream come true for me. And there is such an extensive roster of characters that I get to obsess over, which also helps. Anyway, they got Superboy (Clark Kent when he was young and living in Smallville) to come to the future with them and audition for the Legion as a joke, that's how it all started. Then eventually Superboy and they had regular adventures together. The series ran for a long time, and eventually it was altered because they couldn't use "Superboy" anymore because of legal issues. The Legion grew up and they had different members and a more adult attitude and stuff. But they were the same Legion. Then there was a crisis...but we'll get to that. First.....here are my top 20 favorite characters from that Original Legion of Super Heroes!!!

20. Lightning Lad

Garth was always super cute, but he got a little annoying after a while, his attitude changed too dramatically from issue to issue, but I still like him.

19. Spider-Girl/Wave

She started as a villain of sorts, able to control her hair, but then she joined the Legion and died her hair blue and started calling herself Wave, I thought that was cute.


18. Bouncing Boy

Yup, he gets raaaaaaal fat to fight space disasters.

17. Quislet

Quislet is this adorable little energy being that lives inside a tiny little ship and he can possess like electronic stuff. I love Quislet!!!

16. White Witch

She's a witch from the sorcerer homeworld...I bet you didn't know they had a whole planet full of sorcery...shows what you know about space.

15. Chameleon Girl

She is SUCH a tranny. But she's also awesome, and she eventually marries one of the best catches in the Legion team, Colossal Boy.....yeah.....think about it.

14. Phantom Girl

She is like that because she's all ghostly and walking through shit.

13. Night Girl

I love Night Girl because her super power is SUPER STRENGTH....but only at night.

12. Wildfire

Wildfire is another energy creature...or well...he's made of Antienergy, and he has to be in that containment suit in order to maintain his form.

11. Dream Girl

One of the most prolific Legion scribes calls her the Legion's Doorknob....oh my God it's so true...and it wasn't even a plot point. Like she would have a prophetic dream and we see her wake up in Chameleon Boy's bed....then the next time she's in someone else's bed. They don't really mention it. But we know she's basically just there to affirm her self worth through sex, because God knows her power is wrong 75% of the time.

10. Dawnstar

Her powers are actually really cool. She can track anything in space, lightyears away....she's like a super space shark or something, but not actually a shark. She's also native american yet hails from Venus...so...figure that one out.

9. Kent Shakespeare

When they couldn't use Superboy anymore, the Legion adopted this guy, who is basically there to just be Superboy's fill in...but he had such a more hilarious personality. So ridiculous, so early 90s, it's amazing.

8. Saturn Girl

One of The Legion's founding members along with Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad. She is telepathic and hails from Titan, one of Saturn's moons. All of her people are psychic, that must get weird.

7. Duo Damsel

Duo Damsel used to be Triplicate Girl, but then one of her constructs was killed and now there are just two of her. Actually, then the other of her constructs was also killed and then she was just a regular girl for a while, but it turned out she was just kidnapped and they eventually got them together again so she is Duo Damsel again...also she married Bouncing Boy!

6. Chameleon Boy

Reep has an adorable personality, I love him so much.

5. Sun Boy

Just look at him...he is the douchiest douche!!!!!! Sun Boy is a real pleasure to read, he's...HOT HEADED....and also a total tool. It's great.

4. Karate Kid

I adore Karate Kid, I think he's awesome, I don't care what anyone says.

3. Matter-Eater Lad

Same thing with good 'ole Tenzil Kem here, he is so fucking awesome, I love him so much, he can eat anything...and he loves to...and has super digestion...and he's a rock star, really, on his home planet, he's super super cool. Matter Eater Lad is one of the best Legionnaires ever!!!

2. Sensor Girl

Sensor Girl was also sweet. She is royalty on her planet and with that comes the ability to make psychic projections, pretty awesome really. And she's also got a bit of a 'tude...but really she's very nice in this incarnation of the Legion.

1. Cosmic Boy

Cosmic Boy is the heroiest hero in the Legion. I really like him even though he's not the character type that I usually go for. He is super cool though, and he's got magnetism powers and he's the leader and stuff. At least most of the time he's the leader, a lot of people got a turn at being leader for short periods.

In the mid 90s the series wasn't doing so well and they decided to reboot the Legion. Post Zero-Crisis Hour Legion got very light again. It was more cartoony but still the same basic premise and characters. The difference is that they never had Superboy paling around with them. At least not in the same way. Midway through their series (they had 2 titles, Legion Of Super Heroes and Legionnaires) half of the team got trapped in the 20th century, cut off from the rest of them in the 31st century. The team that was left in the 20th got to pal around with Superboy, Connor Kent! The Superboy we all know who is a clone of Superman and Lex Luthor and all that.

Eventually they got back to the 31st century and then again the series got dark. They had a big battle with these nasty mind altering creatures and then there was a black hole that a bunch of the core team got sucked into and spit across the universe where the title was Legion Lost...this was my favorite Legion title ever. So good, very epic 12 issue series. After which they become The Legion and the story is less adult but less cartoony. Eventually that was canceled as well when 52 happened and their entire world was destroyed. They lived on Earth247 named after that first appearance in Adventure Comics.

Anyway, here are my top 20 characters of the Post Zero-Crisis Hour Legion of Super Heroes REBOOT!

20. Lori Morning

Lori had the Dial H-E-R-O disk which is another fun old series, where this disk when you typed in H-E-R-O would give you random super powers. The Legion didn't really know she had this disk or was a super hero, but she was and would help them out occasionally and I loved it.

19. Thunder

She was from another dimension and when she said CAPTAIN MARVEL she would get thrown into this dimension and have all of Captain Marvel's powers. I liked that they did that, it was the first SHAZAM type character they had in the Legion.

18. Wildfire

Now here's a familiar face. Wildfire, also known as ERG7 was basically the same but his character was only discovered in Legion Lost and he was a lot darker from his experiences there.

17. Live Wire

The Lightning Lad from Earth-1's Legion of Super Heroes, his character was a little better, he lost an arm and got a robot one too, which, fun!

16. Violet

Shrinking Violet on Earth-1 she was just Violet here because when Colossal Boy died she got his powers to grow in size, so she could shrink AND grow.

15. Cosmic Boy

Not as good as the other Cosmic Boy, but I still liked him.

14. Spark

Live Wire's twin sister, she was Light Lass in the Earth-1 Legion because she had gravity powers there, though she eventually became Lightning Lass there, here she just started as Spark.

13. Sensor

The Sensor Girl from Earth-1, here she was a very different character, as you can see....she was a snake....though she eventually evolved into the form below.


12. Ultra Boy

Ultra Boy I wasn't too fond of in Earth-1 Legion but in this one I liked him, and he was dating Apparition (this Legion's Phantom Girl) which was also nice because she was sweet.

11. Element Lad

Element Lad on Earth-1 I hated. I didn't like this one too much more because he was borderline mentally handicapped. It was awkward to read sometimes. But then he got the most amazing and tragic storyline in Legion Lost and it was amazing. He was left alive through thousands of years after he put the rest of his friends in hybernation. Eventually he went insane and forgot who he was and he became a horrible thing calling himself Projenator who was basically Hitler and hated all Variants and sought to destroy them. It was pretty awesome.

10. Kinetix

She was basically the White Witch of this Legion, but with a cuter personality!

9. XS

The only speedster on any Legion Team. Though it was eventually found out that she was really a descendant of The Flash on Earth-1 and hidden on Earth-247 for her safety, she is now with the Earth-1 Legion.

8. Ferro Lad

He met the Legion in the 20th century and followed them back to the 31st century as a member of their team. WHY NOT ME????

7. Gates

Gates is a teleporter and a horrible bug creature but with an awesome and funny personality.

6. Shikari Lonestar

Another bug like girl. She is basically Dawnstar but I like her more and she was the focus of Legion Lost.

5. Kid Quantum

She kicks fucking ass.


4. Saturn Girl

The Saturn Girl of the Legion Reboot I liked a lot more than the original.

3. Monstress

The most tragic figure in the Legion history. She was like head over heels in love with Element Lad, and he was her best friend. She was in Legion Lost and when they found him as Projenitor she gave this heartfelt speech trying to turn him around, get him back, make him remember who he was, and he obliterated her, I cried so hard.

2. Inferno

She is almost exactly like Sun Boy, but with a vagina and more EXPLOSIVE attitude. She quit the Legion in the 20th century and is still hanging out there.

1. Umbra

Umbra, the Earth-1 Legion's Shadow Lass. She is close to royalty on her planet, the one granted the power to wield Shadow Constructs. She is really cool.

After the events that destroyed the Legion's world the Legion was again rebooted. The Legion Threeboot. Same characters but the story was NUTS. It was very modern and adult and focused on the united planets being corrupt adults and these teen's idealism in being heroes clashing with that, they don't trust any adults, nor should they, and yet they have to answer to them. And there is intense interplanitary racism on Earth (the Legion's homeworld). And also, they get to pal around with Supergirl after she was killed in Infinite Crisis but not really.

20. Colossal Boy

I've mentioned him before, but here is Colossal Boy, this is the only Colossal Boy that I really liked, because he's the only one with any personality.

19. Phantom Girl

Same girl, better outfit, more personality.

18. Wildfire

This Wildfire was a little nuts and I loved him for it. Also sweet suit.

17. Chameleon Boy

Cham was sad here, no one liked him.

16. Light Lass

Lightning Lad's sister, here she has her original Gravity powers and goes by Light Lass.

15. Shadow Lass

Shadow Lass was super sweet in this Legion. Mostly because she was one of the few members of the shadow ops team (ha!) who were just the Legion badasses that Brainiac 5 would send in to infiltrate and assassinate.

14. Triplicate Girl

The sexual jokes...dear god.

13. Sun Boy

This Sun Boy was actually a lot less of a dick. He was much more heroic. He was also killed in Legion of 3 Worlds.

12. Gazelle

Gazelle was one of I think only 2 completely original characters to Legion-Prime. Though they drastically changed many of the characters there was never a Gazelle in the other Legions. She has super metabolism and muscle control basically.

11. Matter-Eater Lad

Matter Eater Lad on Earth-Prime is actually just the Legion's PR Rep and he is SUCH a dick...it's amazing.

10. Dream Girl

Dream Girl is back....and then dead....but then back in dream form....then dead....BUT THEN BACK!!!! She was cute in this series, and madly in love with Brainiac 5.

9. Timberwolf

This is the only Timber Wolf I really liked. He was cool and kind of psycho and willing to kill anyone for Projectra, which, he should have because she is queen bitch of the universe.

8. Cosmic Boy

Cosmic Boy was very cool in this series. He was the original Legion leader and basically murdered and entire race when they threatened earth...he then had to disappear because of it.

7. Shrinking Violet

She's another member of the espionage team of murder beasts. She loved every second of it.

6. Ultra Boy

This Ultra Boy was kind of like Fabio but dumber. I loved him.

5. Invisible Kid

IK was kinda pathetic in this world but that's why I liked him.

4. Saturn Girl

Saturn Girl was super awesome and badass in Legion-Prime, as you can dell by this picture.

3. Lightning Lad

Lightning Lad was super hot and awesome in Legion-Prime...oh man...I had it bad for him.

2. Element Lad

Element Lad went from being mildly retarded to just quirky and awesome. I think he's one of the best characters in this or any Legion series.

1. Princess Projectra

And of course...PROJECTRA!!!! She is this Legion's Sensor Girl. But her world was destroyed and to get Orando revenge she decides to destroy the Legion from within. She even goes toe to toe with Saturn Girl AND WINS and gets Timberwolf to rip Phantom Girl's throat out. She is awesome.

After this last Legion was canceled they did something unexpected. They brought the original Legion of Super Heroes back into continuity in the main DC Universe. This is known as the Deboot or Retro-Boot Legion. Same characters from the original series where it left off, but now updated and kinda much cooler.

Then during Final Crisis they actually did something super awesome. All of the 3 Legions united to stop Superboy-Prime and it was so fucking sweet.


Man, I loved that series. It was awesome. Well....here are my faves of the Retro Legion newly done.

20. Duplicate Damsel

Her powers evolved so she's just Multiple Man now!

19. Lightning Lad

More like the Legion Threeboot Lightning Lad...nice.

18. Sodam Yat

They needed a goddamn Green Lantern...and Sodam Yat rocked in the Sinestro Corps War.

17. Blok

he loves White Witch so much, it's really cute.

16. Ultra Boy

Apparently the only difference between Ultra Boys is the Retro one has no sleeves.

15. Sun Boy

Still a giant tool....my god he's awesome.

14. Cosmic Boy

I like him less now, but only because they made so many characters much better.

13. White Witch/Black Witch

Like having the White Witch accept her destiny and absorb Mordo's powers to become the Black Witch.

12. Chameleon Boy

Reep's storyline in the Retro Legion is just awesome.

11. Karate Kid

He's still a great ass kicker.

10. Tellus

I couldn't find a new picture of Tellus but this is what he looks like and he's pretty cool. All psychic and shit.

9. Sensor Girl

Went down in ranks...but I think only because she can't compete with Projectra anymore...

8. Rainbow Girl

I just like her because they took a pathetic nothing Legionnaire that no one gave a shit about and made her useful.

7. Polar Boy

Same to Polar Boy!

6. Saturn Girl

Saturn Girl obviously got a lot more adult and that's cool.

5. Matter-Eater Lad

HA!

4. Dawnstar

They've been focusing on her a lot more and really building on her character and I've loved it.

3. Quislet

Still the most adorable Legionnaire.

2. Mon-El

I never liked Mon until his rebirth series...it was so good.

1. Starman

Starman...is my favorite person period on this list. He's schizophrenic and super fun to read. Also hot. Plus he got to be on the Legion AND The JSA....how lucky can you get!!!!

Well that rounds things out...all the lists...this was all in honor of The Legion of Super Heroes issue #1 dropping this week, and it being fucking awesome. Except I'm not quite done. See. I didn't include him on any of the lists because really...he is number one every time. I give you my absolute favorite Legionnaire in any of the universes...Brainiac 5


Descendant of the Superman villain Brainiac he has 12th level intelligence and is a super dick.

This is him in the Retro-Boot.

This is him in the original Legion with his faggy fucking forcefield.

And this is him torturing the racist Andromeda in Legion Reboot. He was known here as Brainiac 5.1

And the super cool and hateful Brainiac 5 in the Legion Threeboot.

Yeah...he can't handle being wrong...but he almost never is so it works out.

They were so insufferable all together in Legion of 3 Worlds....but I would pay to have a series of just the 3 of them and Vril going around together solving all the world's problems. Also creating them.

1. Wow.

2. Blue-skinned comic book heroes are sooo out.

3. I wish I could draw all comicky-like, because after reading all of this (and yes, I read it all), I'm confident I could do this without trying.

Are you kidding? Blue has never been more in. It's Red that's on the outs.

And Legion's easy to write for because every character is basically a standard cut out character because there are SO many that no one really bothers giving them too many layers since you can't concentrate on just one forever.

I'm very very happy that you read it all, you're the cutest!

Question: can they ALL fly? Because if so, this series loses major pointage.

The have flight rings, I think only a few of them can fly on their own...but I mean...they do everything in space, if they couldn't fly they couldn't get around!