The Justice League is DC’s greatest superhero team, headed by its best and brightest examples of heroism. They’re the team everyone turns to when things are at their darkest. They’ve saved the world more than any other team, fighting cosmic threats like Darkseid, the Anti-Monitor, and Despero. Of course, over those many, many decades that the team has protected the Earth, its roster has changed more than its fair share of times. No single hero has been present on every incarnation of the team. From the classic Big Seven to the infamous Justice League Detroit, the Justice League is always evolving.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Of course, with as often as the Justice League changes, there has to be one incarnation that stands above the rest in terms of power. So today, we’re going to look at the five strongest incarnations of the Justice League and rank them by raw power. The Justice League has always adapted to the threats they face, shifting up their roster to fight bigger battles, and these teams fought some of the biggest battles there have ever been.
5) Justice League Dark
This version of the team, headed by Wonder Woman, was created to deal with the magical threats that the DC Universe always faces. Other members of the team include Zatanna, Swamp Thing, John Constantine, Detective Chimp, Ragman, Etrigan, Madame Xanadu, and Doctor Fate. This is the most powerful collection of magical users you can imagine in one place, and if we were judging by magic alone, they’d be the top of the food chain. They tend to swap members around, but at their peak, they were fighting reality-destroyers like Hecate and the Upside-Down Man.
4) Satellite Era
The Satellite Era kicked off in Justice League of America #78 with the introduction of the proto-Watchtower, the Justice League Satellite. This also saw the expansion of the team. Instead of just the Big Seven and Green Arrow, the team also featured the Atom, Black Canary, Elongated Man, Firestorm, Hawkman, Hawkwoman, the Phantom Stranger, Red Tornado, and Zatanna. This is a massive team that includes plenty of powerhouses that defined the Bronze Age of the team. One of the biggest points in the team’s favor is that this is Pre-Crisis continuity, meaning that Superman is at one of his strongest points of all. Combine that with Zatanna and Firestorm’s insane ceilings, and this team is downright terrifying.
3) Morrison’s JLA
Grant Morrison’s run on JLA revolutionized the team. They were reimagined through the lens of the Greek Pantheon, with each hero embodying a different god, and this perspective shines clearly in how the League acted and who they fought. Not only did this run iteration see the return of the Big Seven for the first time in years, but the addition of new members in Plastic Man, Big Barda, Oracle, Steel, Orion, and Zauriel. Green Arrow, Aztek, and Tomorrow Woman all served as temporary members. While this run started by bringing the team back to basics, it also refocused them to only deal with the largest, most powerful threats that the world faced.
This incarnation of the Justice League saw the team fight bigger threats than ever before, such as the White Martians, a futuristic Darkseid, and the unbelievably strong Mageddon. This League flew higher than any before them, and firmly cemented the idea that the League should have the strongest heroes on its team. Zauriel alone is an angelic being on the same level as the Spectre, and this is arguably Wally West’s peak in power and the run that established just how dangerous Plastic Man is. This team should never be underestimated.
2) Justice/Doom
This version of the team was formed to fight against the return of the Legion of Doom, who sought to free Perpetua from her prison. At its peak, its membership included the Big Seven, except replacing Aquaman with Mera, alongside Hawgirl, Starman, Shayne J’onzz, Jarro, and the World Forger. The World Forger alone is one of the most powerful people in all of DC, being the one responsible for creating every alternate reality. Hawkgirl was also enhanced with Nyh Metal wings, and she and Martian Manhunter’s son Shayne had all of their powers together. And then there was Jarro, who was a baby Starro that grew to match the original’s power. This team was truly absurd and only surpassed by one other in terms of raw strength.
1) Justice League Unlimited
While all the incarnations of the Justice League before this had rosters of anywhere between seven and around fifteen people, the Justice League Unlimited expanded like never before. Instead of just over a dozen heroes, this incarnation of the Justice League offered membership to practically every hero in the DC Universe. Everyone, from every member of the Superman Family to the entire JSA, was given membership, making this the biggest and strongest Justice League of all time. While the above teams all demonstrated their strengths again and again, this incarnation has nearly every single hero from them on it. This version of the League isn’t just a team, it’s a community that strives to save the day like never before. This is the strongest League of them all, and that’s no contest.
So there we have the five strongest incarnations of the Justice League, ranked by their power. Which version of the League do you think is the strongest, and which one is your favorite?
What do you think? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
