The Justice League will never die. In-universe, even DC’s best heroes age and consider their own mortality, but we all know that DC’s best and brightest will never really pass on and permanently give up their roles. Be it through the sliding timescale that keeps them all eternally in their prime, or a constant stream of reboots that reset the multiverse whenever it gets too big, the heroes of the Justice League will always exist. Still, legacy is a major aspect of DC, and its heroes are always thinking about who will take up the mantle when it’s their time to hang up the cape for good. Be it through death or retirement, DC’s heroes do occasionally pass the torch. So let’s pose a hypothetical: what would the Justice League look like if the promised next generation actually took over?
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DC once tried to answer this question with its Future State event, but fans were less than pleased with the choices provided, considering a lot of the heroes were new characters. So, instead of imagining new or unrelated characters taking up the mantles, I’m going to imagine what I think are the true most likely options to take over for the next generation of heroes in the Justice League. So here’s my list of characters that I think are most likely to inherit the Justice League position.
1) Red Arrow – Lian Harper
Daughter of Jade Nguyen and Roy Harper, better known as Cheshire and Red Arrow/Arsenal respectively, Lian’s current alias is Cheshire Cat. She definitely had a rough life. She spent years teleporting around time and space, eventually landing in Gotham’s East End and being trained by Catwoman, finally reuniting with Team Arrow and joining them years later. I can easily see her take over her father’s role as Red Arrow in the future, even though Emiko Queen is the current one. Lian’s already had plenty of training from some of the world’s best thieves, and slinging arrows runs in her family. After the years she spent living on the streets of Gotham, she definitely brings the same defender-of-the-little-guy perspective that Oliver usually brings, and balances the League out so well with. She would definitely be a great addition to their future ranks.
2) Flash and Surge – Irey and Jai West
Although there are plenty of people who can take up the mantle of the Flash after Wally, I think his twin kids are the best choice. Just like Wally, Jai and Irey spent a good portion of time in a limbo outside of time after the New 52 reboot, but since they’ve hit the main timeline again they’ve been making waves as sidekicks to the Fastest Man Alive. What really puts these two above the competition is their dynamic as siblings, and how their powers bounce off of each other. There are plenty of interesting stories to tell with these two being a pair, and how always being together can be both great and painful. There’s already a lot of inherent potential with Irey inheriting the Flash title, but Jai forging his own path, and these two can easily swap between defending their hometown and being full-time Leaguers.
3) Green Lantern – Keli Quintela
Originally introduced as Teen Lantern, Keli wore a gauntlet that can tap into the green light of will from a hacked power battery. Her adventures to the space-mall of Necropia revealed the gauntlet has plenty of secrets left to uncover, but this is imagining Keli as a future Green Lantern. It makes sense that she will become one eventually, as she already works closely with the Green Lantern Corps and has plenty of experience slinging around will-powered constructs. It seems like an inevitability that she’ll one day gain a ring of her own, and when she does it makes sense that she’d take over as a Justice League member while the more experienced Lanterns are out in the wider universe.
4) Trinity – Lizzie Prince
The daughter of Wonder Woman and the newest hero on this list, Trinity is an obvious inclusion. Every Justice League needs a Wonder Woman, and even if she refuses to take up her mother’s mantle she’s still an Amazon warrior like no other. One important factor that Lizzie brings to the team is that she would be the youngest member, and she’s already shown that she is a very ambitious and competitive person. This could easily lend itself to stories where the League treats her like a little sister, which would have Trinity strive to prove that she is the unmatched warrior she is. Beyond that though, the Justice League is meant to represent the greatest heroes in DC coming together, and the Trinity of heroes (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) are without a doubt DC’s greatest heroes of all. Lizzie is the living embodiment of the bound between them, and that bond creating a brand new hero that may one day become the greatest hero ever makes her the perfect person to add, and one day lead the Justice League.
5) Batman – Damian Wayne
There are plenty of people who could inherit the Batman mantle, from Dick to Cassie, and Jace is Batman all on his own, but for this Justice League Damian is the correct choice. He’s the fifth Robin, Bruce’s first biological child, and has chased the identity since he was first introduced. More importantly than any of that, just like with Lizzie, Damian represents a part of the Gen-S team that showcases the evolution of the current Trinity of heroes. He brings the seriousness and aloofness of Batman, but couples it with the fact that he actually did grow up with a family. His relationship with Lizze and Jon are top tier on their own, with Damian’s more introverted and cynical nature balancing them out, and he has a cool-headed cockiness that would be great for the other heroes here to aggravate. Damian’s possible future as Batman has usually been clouded with darkness, but his addition here can show that no matter how much potential for evil exists in one person’s past or future, they can choose to be a hero today. What better showcase of a Batman is there than that?
6) Superman – Jon Kent
Even without the previous two entries, this one is easily the most obvious on the list. Jon already goes by Superman in the current comics, and even briefly took over the main role while his dad was in space. Superman is an essential part of the Justice League, since he is the living embodiment of everything it stands for. Jon is every bit as kind, hopeful, and powerful as his father, but lacks the same self-confidence, always fearing the responsibility of his S will crush him. Everyone always turns to Superman when the chips are down, so that being Jon while he still struggles to accept that he can be Superman opens up so many avenues for storytelling. Jon is both a hero everyone can look up to and one that constantly shows everyone how to live up to an impossible standard like being the next Superman. What else can I say? He’s Superman, enough said.
7) The Captain – Billy Batson
Billy is a very special entry on this list because he has already served as a member of the Justice League for years, often as a core member. Importantly, that entire time he’s been a kid in a magical man body, and even by this point in the fictional timeline he would only be a little older than everyone else on this list. He is the perfect stepping stone from the original incarnation of the Justice League to this one, since he was able to serve on the first and is still young enough for it to make sense why he hasn’t retired. He’d be in the prime of both his life and superheroing career by this point, and he could easily serve as the leader who teaches the other heroes the ropes and what it means to be on the Justice League. He can be a wizened teacher for the next generation and still completely understand them because he is a part of that generation. Billy could finally grow into the hero he was always meant to be, and him leading this League would be the perfect evolution for his character.
So there we have the characters who I think would be most likely to become the core members of the next generation Justice League in DC Universe lore. Obviously there is no way of knowing who would really man that team, and even then a team like that will probably never exist in our comic status quo. Still, this is a fun thought experiment, and gets you hyped for potential stories we could be seeing in the future. At the very least, I’d love to see a “children of the Justice League” Elseworlds comic with these characters.
This is my version of this list, but who do you think belongs on tomorrow’s Justice League? Let us know in the comments below!
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