The Most Underrated Superhero Team in DC Deserves Better

The Legion of Super-Heroes represents DC’s optimistic viewpoint of the future. While the future is still filled with strife and discrimination, the Legion is full of boundless positivity, and anything can get better. It’s a message we arguably need now more than ever, yet, for whatever reason, DC continues to undervalue the team. There were recent attempts to bring the Legion to a wider audience with the Supergirl and The Legion of Super-Heroes animated movie, with talks with Brian Michael Bendis hinting at a potential full animated series reboot. However, neither attempts really work, with the Legion stuck in a weird purgatory in the comics for several years now.

Fortunately, writer Joshua Williamson has been teasing up the Legion throughout the All-In Initiative, introducing a new evil version of the Legion of Super-Heroes who work for Darkseid. The hope is that the original, classic version of the team will rise out of the ashes of All-In. But what led to the Legion being underminded in the DC Universe, and can the team return as the A-Listers it rightfully deserves to be?

Why The Legion Deserves Your Attention

The Legion of Super-Heroes are the teen heroes from the 30th century. They were first introduced as supporting characters for the original Superboy, Clark Kent’s time as a teenage superhero. They soon spun off to their own comics, growing to have one of the largest memberships in the DC Universe. The Legion contains multiple fan-favorite characters, including Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5, plus some of the wackier characters in the DC library. While the absurdity of Matter-Eater Lad has become a meme among DC fans, the team also has characters like Bounce Boy, which helps establish the team as the oddballs. Although some readers may find the Legion’s weirdness off-putting, it helps give the group its identity. The team’s classic stories may be Silver Age cheese, but they’re enduring and fun.

Furthermore, when the Legion comics got serious, it is some of the most compelling superhero comics on the stands. The Great Darkness Saga is an epic Legion storyline that features Darkseid significantly, continuing to influence the DC Universe. The original Legion Lost mini-series from the early 2000s features some of the most in-depth character-focused storylines in the entire franchise. Legion of 3 Worlds is a violent and action-packed mini-series that reconciles the multiple reboots, serving as a meta-contextualization of the Legion itself. Despite the darker plots, the Legion of Super-Heroes often represents the best of humanity. Not all of it works, and the team’s status as the strange DC heroes will always be a burden the group will carry. Nonetheless, the Legion is a vital component of the DC Universe. They may be weird and full of outdated retro-futurism aesthetics, yet that is why fans love them so much.

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Where Can DC Take The Legion of Superheroes?

DC Comics has attempted to “fix” the Legion multiple times, giving the impression that the company is frightened off by the group’s more absurd aspects. Initially, DC rebooted the team out of necessity after Crisis on Infinite Earths. Superman’s past as Superboy was erased from history. Given that a majority of Legion storylines were built on top of those iconic Superboy stories, the team needed to change. There were multiple attempts to reconcile the conflicting lore, including the inclusion of a pocket universe and the making of the Five Years Later time jump. Eventually, DC would reboot the franchise with Zero Hour in 1994. The initial reboot wasn’t popular with fans, leading to another reboot in 2004. Writer Geoff Johns attempted to revitalize the Legion in the pages of Justice Society and later in the Legion of 3 Worlds mini-series. However, the New 52 reboot didn’t help the Legion either, and the team was put on ice for several years.

Even though several DC writers and editors were teasing more Legion stories in other comics, it was legendary Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis who got the keys to the Legion. Bendis radically changed the Legion’s design, adding much more diversity to the group. Bendis’ Legion run became extremely unpopular among fans and readers, leading it to be unceremoniously dropped by DC after the Justice League vs. Legion of Super-Heroes mini-series. DC’s many attempts to relaunch the series always fail because the company wants to make the franchise more contemporary, when it doesn’t need to be. The Legion of Super-Heroes is a decidedly Silver Age Team, filled with oddball team members and ridiculous story beats. DC shouldn’t run from the Legion’s past and should embrace it. The Legion will always be viewed as odd, but that will always draw in new people. Some readers like the weirdness and Silver Age tone. The path forward for the Legion of Super-Heroes is to keep it simple, keep it strange, and return it to its roots.

Miss the Legion of Super-Heroes like we do? What path forward do you believe the team should follow going forward? Answer in the comments below!