Ten Favorite Members of Legion of SuperHeroes

I’ve talked a lot about superheroes, specifically DC, but there is one team that I haven’t said very much about.

And that is basically because I was never much of a Legion fan. I read there book here and there, but most of my exposure comes from their appearances in other people’s books. I do have a trade of “The Great Darkness Saga”. Based 1000 years in the future it’s a collection of super powered young people from all over the galaxy. The team was created in a Superboy story way back when, and as I mentioned before became so popular they actually took over Superboy’s book and became the main feature. In the 90’s the team was hurt by reboots and retcon’s that took all likeability from the team. But have recovered since then.

This roster was massive, so I decided to look at my ten favorite. Leaving off members not specifcally created for Legion like Superboy, Supergirl and Jimmy Olsen. And forgive my if my info on these characters is a tad dated.

 

 

Brainiac 5

One of the more complex characters, it’s no wonder the live shows tend to bring him and keep him around. Originally he was the son of villain Brianiac, but as that character got retconned so did Brainiac 5. Being a clone version for time and more recently Brainiac’s adopted son. The character would also become more unlikable as the years went on. His powers are an amazing intellect which grants him superhuman calculation skills, amazing memory and exceptional technical knowledge.

 

 

Wildfire

One of the few characters that really got my attention. So what’s his deal? He was an astroengineer blasted by a discharge of anti matter energy. His body disintegated but somehow his consciousness survived. He transformed into a being of pure energy and lived in a containment suit. Besides being kinda cool he had a strong personality, kind of the Guy Gardner of the team (ok not that bad!). And for a time he could hold human form without the need for a containment suit.

 

 

 

Saturn Girl

One of the founding members Saturn Girl has been around from the beginning. In spite of retcons and reboots not always doing good things to her. She is a telepath and has had a relationship with Lightning Lad, who I did not put here because he was such a boring character.

 

 

Ultra Boy

I made a big mistake and confused Ultra Boy with Mon-El in another article. Let me try to make it right here. Ultra Boy, or Joe Nah, had a silly silver age origin involving a giant space whale. The beast gave him “ultra-radiation” and he has most of Superman’s powers. But can only use them one at a time.

 

 

Mon El

Ok, so who is Mon-El? Lar Gand was a Daxamite who crashed onto Earth suffering from amnesia. It’s a long story but after being exposed to lead (fatal to Daxamites) he had to be put in the phantom zone..where the Legion freed him decsdes later and he became a memeber. One of the team’s strongest in fact. He was also known a Valor for a time but that is another long story. It involed retcon’s to Superboy’s history when he was wiped out of continuity.

 

 

 

Cosmic Boy

Rokk Krinn may be the most developed member of the team, being one of the founding members and almost always portrated as the leader. In fact he even had his own mini-series in the 80’s. His powers are super magnetism.

 

 

Shadow Lass

Tasmia Mallor of Tallok IV has the power to project darkness, like all from her planet do. This was one of those characters that creators loved so much that they kept forcing her into stories not set in the future. Which was easy to do since her powers are native to her species.

 

 

 

Dream Girl

Dream Girl had the power of precognition but what was cool about her was her personality. She was the heart of the team in many ways, in fact she served a one of the only female leader. They used a rotation to elect a new leader every so often.

Element Lad

I had picked Sun Boy, because is powers are awesome he can throw intense solar heat at you, but the more I thought about it Element Lad is a more interesting character. Evolving from a shy kid into one of the most powerful members of the team. His powers are similar to Firestorm or Metamorpho, he can change the structure of elements.

Princess Projectra/Sensor Girl

This one is complicated, but this character is one of Jim Shooter’s early claims to fame. After joining, and being forced to resign from, the Legion she seemed to vanish. When a strange new hero named Sensor Girl appeared, she was masked and would not reveal her identity. Sensor Girl’s illusion casting powers were a lot harsher than Projectra’s. And she was even the team leader for awhile. Of course eventually it was revealed Projectra was Sensor Girl, a penance for the crime that got her kicked out of the Legion. The character was written out in Zero Hour only to come back as Projectra years later in what is often called a “Threeboot”. Did I mention the creators really messed up the Legion for awhile?

 

Honestly I tried and failed to follow this storyline and even reading the wikipedia entry, I still don’t follow it. But Sensor Girl is one of the more mysterious, and powerful, characters. I always felt she was a bit of rip off of The Teen Titans Raven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty I left off like Timberwolf, Blok Dawnstar, and yes even Bouncing Boy…and I didn’t even get into the Legion of substitute heroes! This was fun, I’ve focused on individual heroes but never really spotlighted teams. Maybe I will do a few more