The best of the best. The cream of the crop. The rulers of the roost. The heroes of all heroes. That’s what DC’s Justice League was founded on, but over the years there have been some blemishes on that legacy. I’m not talking Electric Superman, I’m talking about some heroes that, for one reason or another, were never fit to be a member. These are the men and women whose membership is probably spoken in hushed, red-faced tones around the water cooler or scrawled jokingly on in the Justice League bathrooms. While every character has fans, these heroes who never really measured up to a spot at the big round table.
5. Faith
With the way Faith was written in JLA, you’d think her real name was Mary Sue McGuffin for the transparent way she was little more than a plot device to move stories around. Joining the team as a last minute replacement for Batman during “The Obsidian Age” storyarc, she was anything but a suitable replacement for The Dark Knight. Also, her teammates gave her the nickname “the Fat Lady.”
4. Triumph
You gotta admit, for a founding member of the Justice League, Triumph is pretty lackluster. Oh you don’t remember him in those first JL stories? Triumph was retconned to be the founding member of the team but whose history was wiped from everyone’s memories. Like some sort of blend between Marvel’s The Sentry and Star Trek’s Captain Pike, Triumph was always trying to convince others how important he is. Portrayed by his creators as someone who always believed he was right no matter what others, be they friends or foes, said, it didn’t quite go well in the team dynamic at JL HQ.
3. Maxima
Although she holds the unique pedigree of being created by Roger Stern and George Perez, Maxima never quite lived up to her birthright. She made her debut coming to Earth looking to land a mate in the form of Superman, and only joined the Justice League in a futile attempt to seduce the Man of Steel. After finally giving up in her single-minded pursuit to bed Superman, she joined a group of other Superman adversaries in — get this — the Superman Revenge Squad.
2. Vibe
For some fans, it’s a shock to see some of their heroes on this list, but for Vibe most people are shocked he isn’t number one. Frequently the butt of jokes (like one at a DC panel at New York Comic Con), Vibe was created with the then-budding break dancing scene but soon became a joke even in comics. That accent? Come on.
1. Bloodwynd
In the 90s, it seemed sometimes like character names were a random amalgam of the words “blood,” “death” of ‘extreme” combined with some other word — and then sprinkled with a purposeful misspelling. And like a third generation bootleg of a bad song, Bloodwynd came and went before many fans could even notice. Also, not answering the Justice League’s call for help during a mission? Not so good on your record, Mr. Bloodwynd.
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But Bloodwynd was Martian Manhunter!
Oh wait… apparently only part of the time. Hunh…
Yeah, he was only Martian Manhunter for the first year or so of his appearances. It… it was a whole thing. Eventually, it was revealed that J’onn was just making himself look like Bloodwynd for weird plot reasons but that Bloodwynd was his own guy.
he has literally no genitals. I know comics tend to gloss over them, so to speak, but there is just a void there.
I’d forgotten about that. At least that lets me tell myself that Martian Manhunter didn’t decide it would be a good idea to use the name “Bloodwynd” out of nowhere.
I just realized that Bloodwynd’s costume is someone just throwing Cloak and Dagger together with a healthy helping of Spawn. So weird.
BRB, creating Knifecape’s origin story.
Where’s the misspelled word? Nifecape? Kniphecape? Knyfecape?
Ohh, valid point, Knyfecape has a nice extreme quality.
Okay now what were their power(s) so we can laugh even more!?!?!
Faith: Telekinetic Powers, Flight, Psychic blasts, Telepathy, Confidence Aura, and Group Teleportation.
Triumph: The ability to control the electromagnetic spectrum. All of it.
Maxima: Basically a lady Superman who also is telepathic and telekinetic.
Vibe: Sonic vibration and seismic powers.
Bloodwynd: speaks to the dead and draws power from death energy.
(via WIkipedia)
“Confidence Aura” is the best. It made people trust her no matter what. Hah!
Hahaha awesome! Thanks! 😀
Death…energy? How’s that work?
Manitou Raven and Manitou Dawn, Aztek, Moon Maiden
I admit that as I scrolled down to each new item, I was going “Still no Vibe?” Really that mid 80’s Justice League line-up could have been the whole list.
Sigh…I want to like that Joe Kelly/Doug Mahnke JLA run SO BADLY.
Wow. I’m a huge dc fan and i barely recognize any of these guys. Great list.
Compared to the mid-90’s (post Bwahahah, pre Morrison’s “Big 7”) League, the Detroit League (Vibe included) looks like a purple patch.
If you count members of Justice League Task Force and Extreme Justice you get:
Triumph
Bloodwynd
Maxima
Maya
Amazing Man
Icemaiden II
L-Ron/Despero
Mystek
The Wonder Twins
Yazz
Horrible, just horrible! Let’s pretend the 90’s didn’t happen.
Oh, I forgot Agent Liberty!
I’m having a real hard time deciding what is the best-worst costume element in this list, but I’m pretty sure Bloodwynd’s jeweled, golden belt around his thigh takes the cake.
No joke. Who does he think he is, Dejah Thoris?
I must say, the Maxima story is kinda interesting, I feel like Superman would encounter the alien paramour problem more often, since he is the perfect man
4 out of 5 these characters i’ve never heard of that being said Vibe is amazing i’ll have no talk otherwise. hahahaha
Who else can fight crime and break dance.
Zack from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers
Hiphopkido!
Aztec
Hal Jordan is the worst JLA member ever. He went insane, slaughtered a bunch of people, and became a power hungry demi-god. That is far, FAR worse than Vibe just being lame.
So Doctor Who should never join the JLA is what you’re saying?
I don’t know what that means, as I have seen exactly two episodes of Dr. who 🙁
Although I do stand by my statement that being a mass murderer is worse than just being kind of corny.
I don’t know what this Dr. Who you speak of is, but you should watch more Doctor Who. 😉
By the same logic, John. Superman is an illegal immigrant with forged adoption/birth records, who has racked up billions if not trillions of dollars in property damage that he never pays for. Meanwhile, he’s usually threatening the welfare of legitimate business man, politician and philanthropist Lex Luthor because Superman thinks his way is better than anyone else’s. We could play this game all day with most of the Justice Leaguers.
And yeah, sure, Hal’s got a bad wrap. But did Vibe ever reignite a sun? Nope. He shook the ground a bit. (This seems far more vitriolic than it really should be, it’s all in good fun though!)
Also… you can technically say it’s Superman’s fault that Hal went insane in the first place. Which I think leads us the logic that Superman is menace! Someone get J. Jonah Jameson on the line.
Also, Hal Jordan never went insane and and killed people on his own, GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH says that he did it all under the influence and possession of Parallax.
@PraxJarvin you just made me think Superman is the second worst Justice Leguer after Hal
@Conor that is just Hal’s BS excuse. “I was mind controlled” is the super hero version of “I had too much to drink last night.”
@JohnVFerrigno-
Fuck yes it is. Hal’s like, “C’mon, baby, it didn’t MEAN anything, I was mind controlled! I couldn’t HELP it! Parallax was preying on my lack of FEAR. I couldn’t stop him! If anything, I’m the real victim here…”
@RecksDeud oh god, that just cracked me up!
I honestly forgot that Faith was a character before reading this list, Chris. She was completely forgettable, especially since she dropped off the face of the Earth after Joe Kelly left JLA. Nice pull.
Dear lord, Faith sounds like the living embodiment of a Deus Ex Machina.
Bloodwynd is famous because he was in the Death of Superman arc.
Surely, Snapper Carr deserves an honourable mention? He was just so “squaresville.” Man.
I agree with this list except Maxima and Triumph. Vibe was the worst. Didn’t Bloodwynd turn out to be the Martin Manhunter?
Ok I looked him up on wikipedia and he is not the Martin Manhunter. My Bad old age all the stories are running together
Look at the very first comment.
WOW like I said old age 🙂