Justice Lords
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The Justice Lords are fictional anti-heroes or villains who first appeared in the two-part Justice League episode, "A Better World" (airdate November 1, 2003).
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[edit] Biography
For the purposes of this article, the individual Justice Lords will be referred to with the "Alt" prefix to differentiate them from their Justice League-universe counterparts, although this nomenclature is not used in the episodes themselves.
The roster of the Justice Lords was the same as the original Justice League (minus a deceased Alt-Flash) and included: Alt-Batman, Alt-Green Lantern, Alt-Hawkgirl, Alt-Martian Manhunter, Alt-Superman and Alt-Wonder Woman.
The Justice Lords are an alternate version of the Justice League from a parallel Earth. The Justice Lords' world diverged from that of the Justice League when the Lords (minus a deceased Flash, although the reasons for his demise are never expressly stated until Justice League Unlimited episode Question Authority, which the reason of his death was discovered by a Justice League member The Question), stormed the White House and confronted their world's President of the United States, Lex Luthor. Under his administration, Luthor was bringing the world to the brink of world war. After Luthor goaded the Alt-Superman to try and stop him, the enraged Alt-Superman targeted Luthor with heat vision and killed him. This decision led to far-reaching consequences, as Superman lost faith in the nation's people to do what's right, as well as his own moral compass. Thus, Luthor achieved in death what he had wanted from the beginning; the (internal) death of Superman.
The initial act of staging a coup eventually led to the Justice Lords taking over the world's governments and ruling with an iron fist. Using their satellite base for global suveillance, the Justice Lords went on to suppress free speech, outlaw elections, and to eliminate all crime by lobotomizing all criminals and supervillains. Although they justified their behavior to each other as "temporary" and for the good of the people, it amounted to little better than tyranny.
[edit] A Better World
The Justice Lords learned of their counterparts when Alt-Batman came across the League while experimenting with a dimensional transporter he had built. Effectively bored with their own world, the Lords decided to "assist" their counterparts by taking over the League's world. The Lords tricked the League into helping them; upon arrival on Alt-Earth, the League was trapped in a specially designed prison built by Alt-Batman. They were later transferred to cells that had been designed to neutralize their powers.
The Lords then attacked Doomsday, who was on a rampage, in an attempt to win over the people with their brand of justice. The fight ended with Alt-Superman lobotomizing Doomsday (who was later healed by the Cadmus Project in Justice League Unlimited).
The League escaped from their prisons when the Flash, in an attempt to play on his status as martyr in the eyes of the Lords, sped up his heartbeat to trick Alt-Batman into thinking it had flatlined. Alt-Batman responded by releasing the Flash, and was subsequently knocked out. The League then escaped, but were unable to find a way back to their world. However, Batman remained behind and engaged Alt-Batman in a fight, at the (abrupt) end of which he was able to convince Alt-Batman that the Lords' methods were wrong, implying their parents would not approve of his actions. With this in mind, Alt-Batman helped the League return to their world to confront the Lords. It is strongly implied that both Batmans were orphaned when their parents were murdered in both dimensions at the same time. Alt-Batman uses this fact both to justify his actions and to end the Batmans' fight. Alt-Batman states that Luthor's assassination was the only solution, another example of the Machiavellian philosophy that could have led him to become a Justice Lord.
As part of this confrontation, the League approached Lex Luthor, gaining him a presidential pardon in exchange for his help against the Lords. The Lords were defeated when the League engaged the Lords again to distract them long enough as Luthor used a power disruptor to strip them of their powers. The depowered Lords were then arrested and it is implied that they were sent back to their own world, with one of their teammates switched side with the League to free it of their control.
Although the Justice Lords were in fact depowered (save for Alt-Batman who had no super powers of his own), it is only implied that they were sent back to their world. They are never seen again in the flesh afterwards.
[edit] Question Authority
In the episode "Question Authority", Justice League member, The Question, discovers Lex Luthor's plot to instigate a full-scale war between the government and the Justice League. He also learns of an alternate universe (seen in the Justice League story "A Better World") in which Luthor becomes president, has the Flash killed after an effort of trying to stop Luthor from taking over and starting a new world war, and is murdered in the Oval Office by Superman as revenge, an act that eventually leads to the Justice Lords taking over the world. Interesting to note is that Question thought that this was not an alternate reality, but a self perpetuating time-loop. However, it is revealed that Luthor and Brainiac was actually using the information they learned about the Justice Lords to manipulate both Cadmus and the League.
[edit] Divided We Fall
The Lords made a second appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode, Divided We Fall. This brief cameo was due to Brainiac creating duplicate androids (this time complete with an android duplicate of the Flash in a costume design identical to that of Zoom), to distract the League from his/Luthor's ultimate goal of universal domination. Not only did the androids fight the League, but they also played on their worst fears at the time: for Superman, he and the Justice League losing the public's trust (as well as his counterpart's murder of Alt-Lex, and his potential to do the same); for Flash, the belief that he was too immature and unprofessional to deserve his place among the rest of the world's greatest heroes; for Green Lantern, his love and loss of the 'traitor' Shayera; and for Shayera, her doubt that there was anyone on Earth or among her own people who did not consider her a despicable traitor.
[edit] Long term effects
The Justice Lords' proposed alteration to the Justice League's world had repercussions in the first two seasons of Justice League Unlimited. The events of "A Better World" added fuel to Amanda Waller's crusade against the destructive capabilities of the metahuman population if the government left it unchecked, and led Project Cadmus, which originally created to counter Superman if he gone rogue (as shown of Superman two-parter episode Legacy), expanded toward the Justice League. It also led to some increasing paranoia and distrust within the rank of the Justice League, including Batman and The Question, when they are fearing of what happened to the Justice Lords' world would eventually happen to theirs when Luthor was getting close on his victory of presidency as his counterpart did.
[edit] Inspiration
Though the Justice Lords are, for the most part, based on the Crime Syndicate of America, the story of a "fascist Justice League" is also very similar to a saga that Dan Jurgens wrote during his run on Justice League America titled "Destiny's Hand". In that story, the Atom dreams about the original Justice League becoming the oppressive rulers of the world. Doctor Destiny tries to make this "dream universe" absorb the mainstream reality, and the modern Justice League fights the "evil" old Justice League.
The premise of a Justice League-esque superteam establishing a totalitarian state for what they see as the good of humanity has also been taken up in Marvel Comics' original Squadron Supreme miniseries, its recent re-imagining of that story, in Wildstorm's The Authority, and the Titans Tomorrow storyline from the Teen Titans comic book.
The idea of having criminals surgically altered to prevent them from returning to lives of crime seems reminiscent of Superman: Red Son, which in turn was inspired by Doc Savage, who brainwashed criminals after his battles with them. It was also a plot point in the recent DC Comics mini-series Identity Crisis and in Marvel Comics' original Squadron Supreme miniseries.
[edit] Trivia
Alt-Martian Manhunter's uniform is similar to the look of the character in DCU: Brave New World, while Alt-Wonder Woman's costume is similar to the 1980s version of Wonder Girl, and includes a Double-W insignia on the chest reminiscent of the late-1980s redesign of the character's costume in the comic books.
Alt-Batman uses a bat symbol similar to that of Terry McGinnis, the Batman of Batman Beyond. Alt-Superman wears an outfit that looks similar to that of the Superman of Batman Beyond, with the addition of a cape giving him a look similar to the Eradicator in the Reign of the Supermen storyline. It also bears a slight resemblance to the containment suit worn by "energy being" Superman in the comics.
Superman claims that he understands Alt-Superman and why he became evil, as he remarks to the Flash at the episode's climax that he's felt the same temptations. This may be both a reference to previous appearances of 'Evil' versions of Superman in the DC Animated Universe, and a hint of the reason he became so incredibly aggressive during the first season of Justice League Unlimited, in which he was far more aggressive than he had been in the past, depending on the opponents in question, such as Doomsday (whom he like Alt-Superman (who succeeded where Superman failed) attempted to lobotomize), and Captain Atom.
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