<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

The Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional comic book team of teen-aged super-heroes residing in the 31st century. They are owned by DC Comics.

Origin

A commercial space craft heads for Earth. Among the passengers are teens Imra Ardeen of Titan, Rok Krinn of the planet Braal, and Garth Ranzz from the planet Winath, each traveling to Earth for their own reasons. Also on the flight was R.J. Brande, "the third richest sentient in the cosmos". When someone attempts to assasinate Brande, the three teens combine their other-worldly powers to thwart the attempt. Brande is inspired, and proposes the three young people become part of a team of young super-heroes that he will sponsor. And so, the teen agers become Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

History

The Legion of Super-Heroes began as a throw-away concept in a routine Superboy story by Otto Binder and Al Plastino in Adventure Comics #247 (1958). The premise was that a group of teen-aged super-heroes from the future travel through time to invite the lonely Superboy to join their team. Fans immediately liked the concept, and the Legion soon had its own feature in Adventure Comics. Unlike most super-hero teams, the Legion is not a group of vigilantes, but a law-enforcement group with real responsibilities, working closely with the official government of the United Planets, of whom each Legionnaire is considered a representative of a different member world. Also,the Legion is a large group, with about 23 members not including honorary, reserve, and substitute membership.

The members have included time-travelers such as Superboy and Supergirl, but the team consists of 31st Century natives and founding members Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad. Other popular members include Ultra Boy, Light Lass (formerly Lightning Lass), Shrinking Violet, Triplicate Girl, Shadow Lass, Colossal Boy, Chameleon Boy, Bouncing Boy, Phantom Girl, Invisible Kid, Mon-El, Sensor Girl (formerly Princess Projectra), Sun Boy,Karate Kid, Star Boy, Matter-Eater Lad, Element Lad, Dream Girl, Timber Wolf, Brainiac 5, Wildfire, and Dawnstar. The picture shown up top shows one of the earliest incarnations of six of these early members with the silver age Superboy. With a few exceptions, most Legionaires have what is referred to as a "one-note" power, which you can usually guess from their code names. Legionaires wear "flight rings" which allow them all to fly. Their headquarters are on Earth, though they travel in star ships to other worlds defending the interests of the United Planets.

Legion headquarters is located on Earth in the city of Metropolis. Metropolis is the same city that Superman calls home, though in the 31st century it is much bigger, encompassing many of our east coast 21st century cities, such as Boston and New York.

Arch nemesis: The Fatal Five.
Other recurring villains: Time Trapper, Universo, Mordru, Legion of Super-Villains, the Dominators, the Dark Circle, and the Khunds

The Legion of Super-Heroes is kind of the "Star Trek" of comics, with a (usually) positive high-tech view of the future and a small but loyal fan base which always manages to bring the team back in spite of numerous cancelations. The Legion's continuity has been restarted from the beginning at least twice. The first was after the limited crossover series Zero Hour in 1994, and again in 2005. For each of these restarts, most characters remain the same with a few notable exceptions. For example, in the first "reboot" (as the Legion fans call them) Princess Projectra (whose super-power is to cast convincing illusions) turns out to be a sentient snake from a world of sentient snakes. Her humanoid form was merely another of her illusions. The second "reboot" restored her to humanoid form. Origins, storylines, and code names were often changed and updated. Examples of this from the first "reboot" are Shadow Lass being called Umbra and Lightning Lad becoming Live Wire. Again, the names were changed back in the second reboot.

The Legion of Super-Heroes was one of the the first series to really explore the outer space races of the DC Universe. Races and concepts fans have learned to take for granted as part of the 20th and 21st Century DC Universe in the Modern Age of Comics were actually first seen back in the Silver Age of Comics version of the Legion. The Khunds, the Dominators, the Controllers, Mordru, the Durlans, and the Sun-Eaters were all races and beings that are all now part of the regular back story of the DC Universe, but were originated in the Legion in the 1960s.

Recently, an animated version has premiered on WB, in the style of the recently successful Teen Titans cartoon series.

The latest version of the comic book series (the second reboot) teamed the group up with a time displaced Supergirl. The book for a while was entitled Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes. Recently, Supergirl has returned to the 21st century, and the book has been returned to the title Legion of Super-Heroes.

Related Terms and Articles

• Superboy

• Metropolis

• Supergirl

• Mon-El

• Legion of Super-Pets

To see specific information on the individual Legionnaires, please click the Legion of Super-Heroes category link at the bottom of this article or the individual links within the article. To see other articles that reference the Legion of Super-Heroes, please click the What Links Here tool in the toolbox at the bottom of this page.