The Many Faces Of The Justice League (2017 Update)

The man of steel. The world’s greatest detective. An Amazonian warrior princess. The fastest man alive. The king of Atlantis. A Cyborg. These are but a few of the members of a group whose ranks define the elite of the world’s superhero community. Separately, they have saved the world countless times over. Occasionally, however, a threat emerges that is so huge that they have no choice but to band together and combine their forces. Together, they are the Justice League.

The League first appeared in the comics in The Brave and The Bold #28, which hit stands in 1960. The initial line-up was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and J’onn J’onzz, a.k.a. The Martian Manhunter. This issue also introduced the team’s teen sidekick/mascot, Snapper Carr. The League got their own series in 1961, with members constantly being added or replaced throughout its long history. Over the years, other chapters of the League popped up, such as Justice League Europe, Justice League International, and Justice League Task Force.

The League flew into the Saturday morning line-up in 1973 with “The Super Friends.” The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera, the company behind “Scooby Doo,” “The Flintstones,” “The Jetsons,” and many other classic cartoons. The title “Super Friends” was seen as a more kid-friendly than “Justice League,” though the team was still sometimes referred to as such on the show. “Super Friends” was a hit, and would stick around until 1986, going through many changes and revamps as it went along.

The roster for the first season of “Super Friends” consisted of Danny Dark as Superman, Olan Soule as Batman, radio legend Casey Kasem as Robin, Shannon Farnon as Wonder Woman, and Norman Alden as Aquaman. To increase the kid-appeal, the team also included two teenagers, Wendy and Marvin, and their talking dog, Wonder Dog. They had no powers, except, of course, Wonder Dog’s ability to talk, which was never really addressed or explained. Wendy was voiced by Sherry Alberoni, and Frank Welker voiced both Marvin and Wonder Dog. The series was narrated by Ted Knight, best known as Ted Baxter of “Mary Tyler Moore” fame.

Episodes of the first season repeated until 1977, when “The All New Super Friends Hour” debuted. This season saw the addition of Jack Angel as Flash and Hawkman, and Michael Rye as Apache Chief and Green Lantern. Gone were Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog. In were the Wonder Twins, Jayna and Zan, who had the power to shapeshift into animal and water forms, respectively. Liberty Williams voiced Jayna, and Michael Bell voiced Zan. William Woodson replaced Ted Knight as the narrator (ironically, Woodson was in the “Mary Tyler Moore” episode “And Now, Sitting in for Ted Baxter”!).

The most popular season among the fans came in 1978 with “Challenge of the Super Friends.” Not only had the quality of the animation improved by this point, but the Friends now faced The Legion of Doom, a group of villains who had formed a league of their own, so to speak. The Legion of Doom was made up of 13 villains whose ranks included Lex Luthor, Solomon Grundy, Toyman, Riddler, Bizarro, the Scarecrow, and Brainiac (played by Ted Cassidy, “Lurch” of “Addams Family” fame), to name a few. Also this season, Bill Calloway took over the role of Aquaman from Norman Alden.

In 1979, the League made a live-action appearance of sorts. In the TV special “Legends of the Superheroes,” the heroes took part in both a superhero adventure and a celebrity roast. The stars of this campy, tongue-in-cheek show were Adam West and Burt Ward, who reprised their roles as Batman and Robin from the hit 1960’s “Batman” TV series. Rounding out the rest of the group were Garrett Craig as Captain Marvel, Howard Murphy as Green Lantern, Danuta Rylko Soderman as Black Canary, Bill Nuckols as Hawkman, Rod Haase as Flash, Barbara Joyce as Huntress and Alfie Wise as The Atom. They went up against villains such as Charlie Callas as Sinestro, Gabe Dell as Mordru, Howard Morris as Dr. Sivana, Mickey Morton as Solomon Grundy, A’leisha Brevard as Giganta, Ruth Buzzie as Auntie Minerva, and, also reprising his “Batman” role, Frank Gorshin as the Riddler. Gary Owens provided narration, and none other than Ed McMahon was the Master of Ceremonies at the roast. Appearances by Hawkman’s mom and a geriatric hero called Retired Man added to the silliness of this strange program. For many years this special was only available to fans in bootleg format at comic book conventions, but it did finally get an official DVD release a few years ago.

In 1984, “Super Friends” was back with another new incarnation, this time called “Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show.” This time out, the team had help from Firestorm the Nuclear Man, voiced by Mark L. Taylor. Adam West now provided the voice of Batman, taking over for Olan Soule. Despite the casting of the classically campy Batman actor, the show started to take on a more serious tone, with the Friends now fighting darker villains like Darkseid and his warriors from the planet Apokolips. Some other cast changes: Constance Cawfield now voiced Wonder Woman, and B.J. Ward voiced Jayna.

The final season of “Super Friends” came in 1985 with “Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians.” This season saw the addition of Ernie Hudson of “Ghostbusters” fame as Victor Stone, a.k.a. Cyborg. B.J. Ward now stepped up the ranks, voicing Wonder Woman. This version continued the darker trend that the series had been taking, marking the first time that Batman’s grim origin (namely having his parents gunned down in front of him as a young boy) was ever depicted outside of the comics.

In 1997, the League tried and failed to make a jump to a live-action TV series. A pilot that never aired in the US was produced and, much like “Legends of the Superheroes” used to be, is now pretty much exclusive to the comic convention bargain bins (and possibly YouTube). This version starred Matthew Settle as Green Lantern, Kimberly Oja as Ice, John Kassir as The Atom, Michelle Hurd as Fire, Kenny Johnston as The Flash, and David Ogden Stiers as Martian Manhunter J’onn J’onzz. The villain in this tale? The late Miguel Ferrer as Dr. Eno, The Weather Wizard, who holds the city for ransom with the threat of a tidal wave. Ferrer voiced another version of this same character in an episode of the animated “Superman” series, “Speed Demons,” in which Superman teamed up with The Flash.

A futuristic version of the League known as the Justice League Unlimited, or JLU, made an appearance in a two-part episode of “Batman Beyond” in 2000. This incarnation included Superman (Christopher McDonald), Big Barda (Farrah Forke), Aquagirl (Jodi Benson), Warhawk (Peter Onorati), and a young Tibetan Green Lantern named Kai-Ro (Lauren Tom). Terry McGinnis (Will Friedle) assisted the League in weeding out a traitor in their midst. This two-part episode was in many ways a test run for the “Justice League” series that followed it in 2001.

The new “Justice League” series was produced by the award-winning team behind the “Batman” and “Superman” animated shows of the 1990s, and was in fact spun-off from the continuity of those shows. Kevin Conroy, who had voiced Batman since 1992, continued to voice the Dark Knight. George Newbern stepped up to the role of Superman, since Tim Daly, who had previously voiced Supes, was busy with the new “Fugitive” TV series. The rest of the League was comprised of Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Carl Lumbly (Dixon on “Alias” and M’yrnn J’onzz on the current “Supergirl” series) as J’onn J’onzz, Maria Canals as Hawkgirl, “MAD TV” alum Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern, and “Smallville” star Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash. The League’s original sidekick from their comic book debut, Snapper Carr, even made scattered appearances throughout the series, this time as a TV reporter. He was voiced by Jason Marsden.

In 2004, the “Justice League” series evolved into “Justice League Unlimited.” The League opened its doors to all superheroes in the DC Universe, expanding its ranks from the original seven to include around 60 heroes in all. To name a few, Kin Shriner as Green Arrow, Nicholle Tom as Supergirl, Jeffrey Combs as The Question, Chris Cox as Captain Atom, Scott Rummell as Aquaman, Oded Fehr (the “Mummy” movies) as Dr. Fate, and Ron Perlman as Orion joined up with the expanded League. “The Wonder Years” stars Fred Savage and Jason Hervey were reunited on the show as the superhero team Hawk and Dove.

“Smallville” had the luxury of slowly building up the concept of the Justice League throughout its ten-season run. Individual heroes made scattered solo appearances throughout the early seasons of the show, including Kyle Gallner as Bart Allen/Impulse, Alan Ritchson as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, the late Lee Thompson Young as Victor Stone/Cyborg, and a pre-“This Is Us” Justin Hartley was even a series regular for a time as Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. These appearances were usually accompanied by some sort of allusion to the idea of the heroes someday forming a team. These references finally paid off in the sixth season episode “Justice,” wherein the aforementioned guest-starring heroes all joined forces with Clark to take down one of Lex Luthor’s clandestine operations.

The 2004 animated series “The Batman” initially focused on the early adventures of a caped crusader who was relatively new to his role as a crime fighter. As the series went on, its horizons broadened to include a wider DC universe as Batman began to cross paths with other heroes. The two-part finale to season four saw Batman joining up with the Martian Manhunter (voiced by Dorian Harewood; no relation we are aware of to David Harewood who would play the character on “Supergirl”) to take on an alien collective called The Joining. This led to Batman’s introduction to a Justice League that would continue to appear throughout the fifth season, which included Hawkman (Robert Patrick), Green Arrow (Chris Hardwick), Green Lantern (Durmot Mulroney), and the Flash (Charlie Schlatter).

Beginning in 2007, DC began releasing direct-to-video animated original movies, many of which were based on popular comic book storylines. Titles that centered around various incarnations of the League included “Justice League: The New Frontier,” based on the miniseries by Darwyn Cooke; “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths,” in which the League encountered parallel versions of themselves known as the Crime Syndicate; “Justice League: Doom,” based on Mark Waid’s popular “Tower of Babel” storyline; “Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox,” where a time-traveling Flash accidentally altered reality for the worse; “Justice League: War,” an adaptation of the first “New 52” reboot era storyline that revisited the origin of the League; “Justice League: Throne of Atlantis,” which explored Aquaman’s heritage; “Justice League: Gods and Monsters,” which offered a grim take on Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman; “Justice League vs. Teen Titans,” which saw many established heroes throwing down with their junior sidekicks; and “Justice League Dark,” in which Batman assembled a black ops version of the League to deal with supernatural threats.

The 2008 animated series “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” specifically revolved around Batman teaming up with other superheroes, so it’s no surprise that a version of the Justice League would be included. A flashback sequence in the season two episode “Sidekicks Assemble!” established the existence of a previous Justice League consisting of Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, the Flash, Wonder Woman, and the Hal Jordan Green Lantern. Later that season, in the episode “Darkseid Descending!”, Batman (Diedrich Bader) assembled a new Justice League International that reunited original members Martian Manhunter (Nicholas Guest) and Aquaman (John DiMaggio) and added new recruits Blue Beetle (Will Friedle), Booster Gold (Tom Everett Scott), Fire (Grey DeLisle), Ice (Jennifer Hale), and the Guy Gardner Green Lantern (James Arnold Taylor).

In 2016, “Justice League Action” became the latest animated incarnation of the League to hit the airwaves, debuting on Cartoon Network. The 15-minute episodes featured a rotating cast of heroes, and, as the title suggested, were very action-heavy and fast-paced. The veritable “Who’s Who” of heroes included ranged from the obvious household names like Superman (Jason J. Lewis), Wonder Woman (Rachel Kimsey), and Batman (Kevin Conroy once again), to characters like Red Tornado, Jonah Hex, Stargirl, John Constantine, Mister Terrific, Firestorm, Shazam, and Zatanna, to name just a handful.

The Justice League made a brief appearance in “The Lego Batman Movie” in 2017. Batman (Will Arnett) went to the Fortress of Solitude to steal the Phantom Zone Projector from Superman (Channing Tatum), only to stumble upon the Justice League having their 57th Annual Anniversary Party without him.

Over the past several years, DC has been slowly building an intricate live-action universe on the CW network. “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl,” and “Legends of Tomorrow” all form an interconnected continuity where characters and storylines often spill over from one show to the other. The animated web-series “Vixen,” the upcoming animated web-series “Freedom Fighters: The Ray,” and even the cancelled NBC series “Constantine” also tie into this shared universe. Although the name “Justice League” has not been overtly used to describe the group of heroes (Gideon certainly seemed like she was about to say it in the “Flash” episode “The Trap”), it’s almost a foregone conclusion that they will ultimately form some variation of the team. Although the four main shows often interconnect in small, subtle ways, a full-blown crossover has become an annual tradition. This year’s crossover starts on Monday, November 27th, with “Supergirl” and “Arrow,” and continues on Tuesday, November 28th, with “The Flash” and “Legends of Tomorrow.”

It seems hard to believe that with all of these colorful interpretations of the Justice League over the years, they have never been portrayed in live action on the big screen. This is finally about to change. The groundwork for the nascent cinematic Justice League was laid in the 2016 film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Although much of the film focused on the titular rivalry between Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight and Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel, fans were also introduced to Gal Gadot’s sensational Wonder Woman, and glimpsed teases of Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Flash (Ezra Miller), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher).

That setup comes to full fruition with “Justice League,” opening in theaters everywhere on November 17th, 2017. In order to combat an impending other-worldly threat, Batman (Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gadot) begin assembling a team of heroes. Supporting characters from “Man of Steel,” “Batman v Superman,” and “Wonder Woman” are expected to appear in the film. A sequel is already being planned for a 2019 release, along with spin-off solo adventures for each member of the group. It seems safe to say that while this is the first big-screen adventure for the Justice League, it will be very far from their last.

Back in 2004, the first episode of “Justice League Unlimited” opened with Superman addressing the gathered heroes who were joining the expanded League. “Each of you brings something different to the table,” he told them. And therein lies the reason for the League itself. The powers and abilities possessed by the many members of the League range from flight, strength and speed to telepathy, shape-shifting, energy blasts and advanced weaponry. But it is not only their varied powers that makes the diversity of the League so important. They each have different approaches, thoughts and ideas about how to uphold their noble mission of bringing justice to the world. Batman may not always agree with Superman, and Wonder Woman may have very little in common with The Flash, but having another point of view on a difficult case can sometimes prove the key to solving it. And even the most powerful of heroes needs some backup once in awhile. Other times, though, it just comes down to the moral support of having some trusted teammates fighting by your side when the times get really tough. After all, now and then, we all need a little help from our friends.