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The League leads. When there is a Crisis, the other heroes -- and the world -- look to us first to deal with it, to rally others. We set the example. 
The Justice League's origin [1] began when Earth was invaded by Appellaxian 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 the Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter. While most of the Appellaxian 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. Superman and Batman joined them in defeating the remaining Appellaxians. 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.
During this period, the team operated from a secret cave outside of the small town of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. They also had a team "mascot" that tagged along on some missions, a teenage sidekick named Snapper Carr, noted for speaking in "hipster" dialect. Snapper had earned this status in the team's first appearance, after helping them to defeat Starro the Conqueror.
Snapper was tricked into betraying the secret location of the cave headquarters to the Joker, which resulted in his resigning from the team in shame [2].
The team eventually recruited the Atom (Ray Palmer) and Green Arrow (Oliver Queen). After a vicious battle with Wotan which involved former members of the Justice Society, the team decided to bring in Hawkman (Carter Hall) to act as a liaison between the League and the JSA.
After repeated requests to join, a reluctant Superman and Batman finally joined the League on reserve status (although they ended up in the field more often than not). The team soon expanded to include Elongated Man, Zatanna, Firestorm, and Hawkgirl.
The team then built a geosyncronous (22,300 miles above the equator) space station "satellite" headquarters [3], which they had to defend from the Joker and other threats.
Through this period, the membership was limited to the seven founders along with Green Arrow, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Phantom Stranger, Elongated Man and Red Tornado. It was the largest and most powerful lineup of the League to date, although seldom did all League members assemble. The League's twelve-member limit (sometimes explained as a "no duplication of powers" policy) was conceded [4] to simply have been a charter provision about numbers, once the League had formally removed the limitation and admitted Hawkwoman and hoped to admit more members. (Indeed, through this period, several League members challenged, and joked about, the notion that they shared skills and talents, for example, with speed races between Superman and Flash, and Hawkman's use of archery in combat.) The policy change allowed Zatanna and Firestorm to be admitted as well.
The satellite would be the League's home for the next several years. Members were able to teleport to and from the satellite using teleportation centers located across the planet. League members took turns on watch duty, monitoring Earth from the satellite and dispatching the League as needed. This era of the Justice League (and its roster of heroes), is commonly referred to as the "Satellite League".
The underpinnings of the League began to strain, as many of its most important members found themselves devoting less time to the JLA for a variety of reasons; Flash experienced tragedy in his personal life, while the "big three" of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman were committed to their own caseloads. When the satellite was destroyed by the Green Martians[5], Aquaman decided the destruction of the satellite provided an opportunity to disband the JLA and start over.
The satellite met its final and complete destruction during the Crisis On Infinite Earths, when it was destroyed by a self-destructing Red Tornado that had been sabotaged and tampered with by the Anti-Monitor. It was never rebuilt.
The satellite was heavily damaged and rendered effectively inoperable just prior to Aquaman's decision to disband the team [6]. The League was in a time of transition, not only in its choice of headquarters, but also in its membership. The deepening detachment of members such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman caused the three charter Justice League members to resign from active duty with the League. At the same time, the Flash left the team to confront his manslaughter trial and investigate the disappearance of his wife. The death of her mother led Black Canary to leave the team and move to Seattle with Green Arrow. Green Lantern had been temporarily expelled from the Green Lantern Corps and resigned from the League as well to sort out his life.
Aquaman subsequently reformed the Justice League, which now included himself, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, Elongated Man, Vixen, Gypsy, Vibe, Steel, and later, Batman. Based in Detroit, this era is referred to as "Justice League Detroit".
The new Justice League America that formed after the Legends crisis (wherein the New God known as Darkseid embarked upon a plan to weaken the resolve of Earth's faith in the super-hero community) consisted of Doctor Fate, Batman, Mister Miracle, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Captain Marvel (although his presence was later retconned with Zero Hour), Black Canary, the heroic Dr. Light, and Oberon. This time, the unscrupulous financier and liaison Maxwell Lord appeared. Justice League America quickly renamed itself to "Justice League International." Captain Atom and Rocket Red joined the team as Captain Marvel and Dr. Fate leave. The team also takes up a new residence, this time in Metropolis.
The team continued to grow until the decision was made to split it into two teams: Justice League International returned to being Justice League America and a new Justice League Europe was formed in Paris. The JLE lineup consisted of Captain Atom as field leader, Elongated Man, Power Girl, Flash (Wally West), Rocket Red, Animal Man, and Metamorpho.
A new JLA would form after a new villain calling himself Know Man kidnapped Doctor Destiny and used his powerful reality altering abilities to cause many of the world's heroes to briefly forget their superheroic identities. Know Man revealed a seemingly insane plot to transform the entire population of earth into metahumans--a move that he said was necessary to combat an oncoming evil. The world's greatest heroes were on the job, however, and Know Man was stopped and forced to flee.
The then current Justice League, which had essentially been reduced to Metamorpho, Ice, and a couple of others operating out of the Overmind's defunct space ship. That ship was destroyed and Metamorpho seemingly killed after the arrival of the Hyperclan, a team of super powered aliens who arrived on Earth offering to transform the world into a paradise. To that end, they rounded up several super villains and summarily executed, drawing the opposition of Earth's heroes. The Good Samaritan routine quickly proved a sham--the Hyperclan were renegade White Martians. Only by joining together could the heroes defeat them, and afterwards they decided they would be the core lineup of an all new JLA. Using Martian and Kryptonian technology, the team quickly built a new base, the Watchtower, on the surface of the moon.[7]
The team then decided to have a recruitment drive--Hitman, Damage, and Max Mercury did not make the cut, but a mysterious woman named Tomorrow Woman did. She quickly turned out to be a highly advanced android built by T.O. Morrow and Professor Ivo to be a plant inside the League--but they gave her too much free will and she self sacrificed to save the others. Afterwards, she was given a hero's funeral.[8]
The new team soon gets called out to California, where the angel Zauriel has come to earth, pursued by renegade angels working for Asmodel. Soon Asmodel himself shows up and most of the team has to battle him while Superman--currently in his blue energy form--has to stop Neron and the Demons Three from causing the moon to fall out of the sky. Once he's successful, he wrestles Asmodel to a standstill while Zauriel and GL manage to build a device with his power ring that banishes the other angels off the Earth.[9]
Back on the Watchtower, the team is caught off guard and knocked unconscious by the villainous Key. He and his robot minions hook them up to a virtual reality machine, causing each of them to live a different life in VR as part of a plot to take over all of space and time (it's complicated). Luckily, Green Arrow (Connor Hawke) beams up to the Watchtower (he was coming for a second interview) and recovering his Dad's old trick arrows from the Trophy Room he manages to almost single handedly take down Key and his robots. Green Arrow is inducted as a member of the League.[10] Aztek joins the League shortly thereafter,[11] bringing the roster up to nine--briefly, as Wonder Woman shortly dies.[12]
In opposition to the new League, Lex Luthor decides to form a new Injustice Gang, consisting of himself, Circe, The Joker, Ocean Master, Mirror Master, and Doctor Light. Luthor had acquired the Rock of Ages, which granted him extensive power, and built a secret lair for the Gang on an orbiting satellite. Building hard light holograms in the form of the Justice League members, the Injustice Gang commenced an attack on Star City, massacring many people before the League could stop the holograms. During the battle, Aquaman sensed the mind of his brother, Ocean Master, controlling one of the holograms and this helped put the team on the right trail. After taking a timeout to deal with the Genesis event, the League gets back on the trail and soon uncovers the truth about Luthor and his new gang. Green Arrow is corrupted by Circe into becoming a mole, while Batman manages to contact Mirror Master and get him to become a turncoat in the Gang. The JLA also recruits Plastic Man, who manages to also infiltrate the satellite posing as the Joker (after tying up the real Joker). Superman and Martian Manhunter attempt to infiltrate the Gang's lair, only to discover it booby trapped. Meanwhile, Metron arrives and warns the team about Luthor's possession of the Rock of Ages. He takes Aquaman, Flash, and Green Lantern on a mission to Wonder World before promising to return them.[13]
Traveling faster than light, Aquaman, GL, and Flash end up returning to Earth fifteen years in the future--a future where Darkseid has conquered the Earth after the destruction of the Rock of Ages. Their minds assert themselves into their future bodies--Kyle's does not have his power ring, and Wally's is sick and out of shape, causing both of them to despair. Superman and J'onn J'onzz are dead, and Batman has been missing for eight years. Diana, however, is alive and doing her best to lead the resistance against Darkseid, who has converted over half the planet's population into drones with no free will of their own. All that's left of the League aside from Diana are Green Arrow (Connor Hawke), the Atom (Ray Palmer), Argent, a reprogrammed Amazo, and a new Aztek. Breaking into Darkseid's palace, the team discovers that Batman is still alive--he managed to defeat Desaad and has recently assumed his place. Darkseid shows up, and as Diana battles him, Batman manages to seize control of Metron and his Mobius chair, forcing him to send the three time traveling heroes back to the right era. As Diana falls to Darkseid, Argent and Aztek successfully destroy his "zombie factory" on the moon (losing their own lives in the process). Batman is defenseless against Darkseid (who now has a personal forcefield that deflects all attacks) and the Dark Lord strikes him down. That leaves Atom and GA (Amazo is brought down on the way in) but the two most unlikely hereos manage to kill the great Darkseid himself.[14]
Fortunately, none of that "really" happens, as the three heroes are restored to their proper place and prevent the destruction of the Rock of Ages. Luthor even uses its awesome power to bring back to life everyone killed in the Star City massacre. Green Arrow reveals that he never really betrayed the team, he was just allowing Circe to think he had, and after a battle where Mirror Master walks out, the Injustice Gang is defeated--but Lex Luthor is as untouchable as always.[15]
The team briefly considers disbanding, feeling that they might attract more enemies, but decide to stay the course. They recruit new members: Steel, Big Barda, Orion, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman (Hippolyta), and Huntress while inviting the press up to the Watchtower to cover the event. At that exact moment, Prometheus chooses to make his entrance, and he manages to systematically take down the League one by one, exploiting each of their weaknesses, before a humbled Batman is able to finally turn the tables.[16] Zauriel joined the team shortly thereafter.
The JLA had to battle in D.C. against Julian September, who had managed to upset the "odds" in the universe, causing the number seven to appear (i.e. seven villains randomly decided to try and kidnap the President, seven airplanes almost collided with one another). As the cancer on probability began to affect all reality, it also began to affect the past, causing (among other things) Batman to disappear when the gun that would have shot his parents jammed. With the help of the Atom, the League was able to set it all to right, however.[17]
The JLA had to rally behind Superman Red and Superman Blue to defeat the Millennium Giants during the "Behold! The Millennium Giants!" adventure that almost saw the world's destruction. Thankfully, the Man of Steel was able to save the day, and afterwards he was transformed back into his usual self.[18]
The Justice League encountered a super-hero team (The Avengers) from a parallel Earth and were forced to find key artifacts in one another's universe, as well as deal with the threats of villains Krona and the Grandmaster.
Identity Crisis, and its immediate fallout, the "Crisis of Conscience" [19], led to the dissolution of the Justice League of America. The breakdown of relationships of Identity Crisis reached its zenith. As in the time of the Detroit JLA, the team disbanded again, leaving it to the Martian Manhunter to again rebuild the team, with Superman's blessing. Meanwhile, following his resignation from the JLA, Batman is confronted by his faithful aide, Alfred Pennyworth, who surmises that the reason why Batman was so outraged over the mind-wiping of Dr. Light and other villains (and himself) was that Catwoman may have also been mind-wiped, and this might have been the reason for her semi-heroic nature in recent years, rather than any positive influence from Batman himself.
Later, someone, recognized by the JLA Watchtower's systems as the Man of Steel, blows the Watchtower apart, in the very moment in which the Martian Manhunter found, and was about to tell the others, a connection between the team dissolution, the rise of the OMACs, the intergalactic war between Rann and Thanagar, the creation of a new Secret Society of Super-Villains and the rampage against magic by the Spectre. This intruder is later revealed to be the Earth-Prime Superboy. So, in the beginning of the Infinite Crisis, the JLA will be disbanded again.
Several months later, during the "Lost Year" following Infinite Crisis, Firestorm reorganized the team, inviting Ambush Bug, Bulleteer, Firehawk, and Super-Chief. This League lasted very briefly. Their first and only mission, fighting a renegade Skeets, resulted in the death of Super-Chief, during Week 24.
A year after the disolution caused by Infinite Crisis, Red Tornado's elemental spirit is tricked into abandoning his android body in favor of a human one. The android body is then abducted and modified by supervillains, an act which ultimately causes the ten heroes to assemble and form the new team.
Equipment: None known.
After the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the JLA's New Earth origin differed[20] from the Pre-Crisis origin slightly, most notably the inclusion of Black Canary, the absence of Batman, and Superman single-handedly defeating the last alien but leaving moments before the group arrived.
The Post-Crisis founding members of the team being:
In post-Crisis timeline, Black Canary II replaced Wonder Woman as a founding member of the JLA. This had the effect of Wonder Woman not having been present for any of the early JLA adventures she originally appeared in (Pre-Crisis).
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