Time travel has always been one of the most deeply retread comic book storylines. It naturally provides an insane amount of tension, given that even the tiniest mistake or action can have disastrous consequences for everything. It is also the perfect excuse to put the heroes in wild and wacky situations and meet people that they never normally would. Heroes exist across every era, after all, and bringing them together makes for incredible crossovers that show what each group excels at. Given that the Justice League is DC’s number one superhero team, it only makes sense that they’ve lived through this trope way more often than you’d think.
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Today, we’re going to be looking at seven of the best times the Justice League has battled throughout time. Plenty of stories involve time jumping in some capacity, but for this list, we’re only counting comics where time travel is a key aspect of the plot. They might be the greatest heroes of today, but these adventures show that the Justice League might just be the best heroes in all of time and space. With all that said, let’s dive into ranking their adventures.
7) “The Terrific Ten”
In the wake of DC K.O., the world was on the brink of destruction, and the demon lord Neron decided to spread more chaos by offering villains safety in Hell and enhanced powers in exchange for destroying everything they could. While this storyline doesn’t involve traveling through time itself, it’s only possible because the team Mister Terrific gathers is made up of time-displaced heroes from across eternity. The plot of going after Neron is already entertaining, but the real heart is watching all of the characters’ interactions with the present.
We don’t often get to see time travel from this perspective, where so many people are stranded from both the past and the future. Seeing these heroes learn of their potential futures or come to understand how much the past impacted who they are is heartbreaking in the best way possible. Instead of focusing on time travel itself, here, we see the fallout. It’s very hard to put an interesting twist on such a well-used concept, but this story did it in spectacular fashion.
6) Flashpoint
While this isn’t technically a Justice League-focused story, the team features prominently, so it’s close enough to count. Here, Barry Allen woke up in a much darker world where he never became the Flash, Superman was nowhere to be seen, and Wonder Woman and Aquaman’s armies battled for control of the world. While the story here is good on its own, what really earned Flashpoint its spot on this list is its significance. The Flashpoint Batman, Thomas Wayne, became one of the most popular versions of the character. This was the event that combined the main DC, Vertigo, and WildStorm earths into one and caused the New 52 reset. Its impact cannot be understated, having given us some of the most iconic moments and storylines of this era.
5) 2000
Many time travel stories involve the Justice League traveling to the past to meet their predecessors, the Justice Society of America. In the year 2000, the villain T. O. Morrow sent technology back to his childhood self in an attempt to advance the world far enough that he could take it over before the Justice League formed. The Justice League traveled back to the earliest days of the JSA to stop him, only for the WWII-era heroes to distrust their successors, having seen what the world is like in the future.
Ultimately, this is a story about overcoming the fear of powerlessness. The JSA plays into Morrow’s hands, especially the Spectre, by being too afraid of the future to do what’s right. The entire adventure started because Morrow wanted to rule the world because of his own fears. The theme is deeply present the whole way through, with the original Flash, Jay Garrick, as the heart of it all. This is a great, albeit short, read.
4) “Crisis In the 30th Century”
Before the Justice League and JSA inhabited one world, they had annual crossovers between their parallel Earths. This one is all about time travel, because it also involves the legendary Legion of Superheroes. The mad sorcerer Mordu captured the Legion, then forced the League and JSA to bring him artifacts to free three demons who he thought would help him control the world. Instead, the demons each possessed one of the hero teams and had an all-out war to decide who would rule all of reality. This story manages to juggle such a large cast of so many beloved heroes and tell a very fun story, and I cannot recommend this and the rest of the annual team-ups enough.
3) “Obsidian Age”
The Justice League traveled three thousand years into the past to rescue the missing Aquaman, but came into conflict with that era’s version of heroes. These misguided heroes were told the League were villains by the evil queen of Atlantis, and decimated the modern-day heroes because, while the League refused to kill, the League of Ancients had no such qualms. The heroes fell, and in the present, a new team was recruited to replace the heroes who never returned. What ensued was a fight 3000 years in the making, with plans laid well in the past and only coming to fruition because the Justice League trusted in their friends.
At first, it seemed like the Justice League’s nobility would be their downfall, as they weren’t willing to kill enemies who wanted them dead. However, their dedication to saving lives above all inspired even their enemies to save the day, and was what saved them after spending millennia dead at the bottom of the ocean. This story is all about doing the right thing no matter the cost, and plays with the mechanics of going to the past in the best way.
2) “Rock of Ages”
This adventure started when Lex Luthor decided to finally eliminate the world’s superheroes by forming the Injustice Gang. They battled the Justice League and inadvertently sent the team into the not-so-distant future. Unfortunately, a world without the Justice League meant that Darkseid was free to conquer, and he ruled over the apocalyptic world with the Anti-Life Equation. This battle ultimately concluded with the realization that instead of capturing the Injustice Gang, the JLA had to let them go, which all but tore the team apart, but did provide a fantastic end to one of the Justice League’s most dense and beautifully fun stories.
1) DC One Million
Much like our previous entry, this epic crossover event also came during Grant Morrison’s legendary JLA run. The team was brought into the far future of the 853rd Century to celebrate with the heroes of that age: the Justice Legions. The original Superman was still alive, but spent the last fifteen thousand years at the heart of the sun, and to commemorate his finally reemerging, they threw the biggest party the universe will ever know.
This event was not only a love letter to the JLA but also gave us an incredible glimpse into the distant future of heroism in DC. It also introduced us to Superman-Prime One Million, one of the most beloved futures for the Man of Steel. This is a celebration of all things DC, and naturally plays with the idea of time travel perfectly for a fantastic final act victory that nobody could see coming. This is the Justice League speeding through time at their best, and I cannot recommend it more.
So there we have seven of the Justice League’s best time travel stories. Which time-hopping event is your favorite? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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Courtesy of Shueisha
