| Legion of Super-Heroes | |
|---|---|
The Legion of Super-Heroes, with their allies and enemies. Art by Phil Jimenez. |
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| Group publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #0 (October 1994) |
| Created by | Mark Waid & Tom McCraw (writers) Stuart Immonen (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Earth-247 |
| Roster | |
| See: List of Legion of Super-Heroes members' | |
| Legion of Super-Heroes | |
| Cover of Legion of Super-Heroes, vol. 4, #0. Art by Stuart Immonen & Ron Boyd (1994). | |
| Series publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series, Limited series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | (Legion of Super-Heroes, vol. 4) October 1994 – May 2000 (Legion Lost) May 2000 – April 2001 (The Legion) December 2001 – October 2004 |
| Number of issues | Vol. 4: 66 Legion Lost: 12 The Legion: 38 |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Mark Waid Tom McGraw Dan Abnett Andy Lanning |
| Penciller(s) | Lee Moder Jason Armstrong Scott Kolins Olivier Coipel |
| Inker(s) | Ron Boyd |
| Colorist(s) | Tom McCraw |
| Creator(s) | Mark Waid & Tom McCraw (writers) Stuart Immonen (artist) |
The 1994 version of the Legion of Super-Heroes (also called the Post-Zero Hour or Reboot Legion) is a fictional superhero team in the 31st century of the DC Universe. The team is the second major incarnation of the Legion of Super-Heroes after the 1958 version and followed by the 2004 version. It first appears in Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #0 (October 1994) and was created by Mark Waid, Tom McCraw and Stuart Immonen.
Contents |
Following Zero Hour, a new Legion continuity was created, beginning with a retelling of the origin story starting in Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #0 and then continued in spin-off sister series Legionnaires #0 (both released in October 1994). Lightning Lad was renamed Live Wire, and after the group's founding, a large number of heroes were added to the roster very quickly. Several members were given new code-names, and some new heroes were added, including XS (the granddaughter of Barry Allen, the Flash), Kinetix, and Gates.
In homages to the recently discarded continuity, several older Legionnaires were reintroduced in different capacities. Chuck Taine (who had been the hero Bouncing Boy in the previous continuity) became the Legion's maintenance engineer, and Tenzil Kem (who had been Matter-Eater Lad) became the Legion's chef. Rond Vidar — who had been the son of villain Universo, an honorary Legionnaire and a Green Lantern in the previous continuity — made a few token appearances as a colleague of Brainiac 5.
While in some ways following the pattern of the original continuity, the new continuity diverged from the old one in several ways: some characters died as they had previously, others did not, and some Legion members spent time in the 20th century where they recruited Ferro. The Legion also started out having to earn the respect of the United Planets, which they did through two well-earned victories: successfully defending Earth from the White Triangle Daxamites, a group of Nazi-style racial purists; and exposing United Planets President Chu as the mastermind behind the Braal-Titan War, the Sun Eater hoax, the formation of the Fatal Five and the brainwashing of future Legionnaire Jan Arrah.[1]
However, sales began to fall. New writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning — often referred to as "DnA", a tag they commonly used for interviews — came on board with penciller Olivier Coipel to produce a dark story leading to the near-collapse of the United Planets and of the Legion itself. In the wake of the disaster, a group of Legionnaires disappeared through a spatial rift and the two existing Legion series came to an end.
The limited series Legion Lost (2000–2001) chronicled the difficult journey of these Legionnaires to return home, while the ensuing limited series Legion Worlds (2001) showed what was happening back in the United Planets during their absence.
A new series, The Legion, was launched in which the Legion was reunited and given a new base and purpose. Written for its first 33 issues by DnA,[2][3][4][5][6] the series was cancelled with issue 38 (running from 2001–2004). The most notable addition to the team during the title's publication was the post-Crisis Superboy, a 21st century clone of Superman and Lex Luthor who had previously been granted honorary membership.
A two-part crossover between the Legion and the Teen Titans that ran in Teen Titans (vol. 3) #16 and the Teen Titans/Legion Special, (which was co-written by Geoff Johns and Mark Waid), ended the "Reboot" continuity, and the temporal changes depicted within the special tied in to the Infinite Crisis limited series, which was written by Geoff Johns. Legionnaire Shikari Lonestar managed to evade the temporal changes and emerged into the new continuity which followed. She was not seen again until Infinite Crisis #6, where she was reunited with her reality's Legionnaires on Earth-247.[7]
The Post-Zero Hour Legion reappeared in the 2008-2009 Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds limited series, written by Geoff Johns and drawn by George Pérez. The mini-series features the Post-Zero Hour Legion teaming up with Superman and the post-Infinite Crisis and "Threeboot" incarnations of the Legion to fight a new incarnation of the Legion of Super-Villains (led by Superboy-Prime) and the Time Trapper.[8]
It is revealed at the end of the mini-series that Earth-247 and its entire universe were destroyed during the events of Infinite Crisis. The post-Zero Hour Legion, under the guidance of Shikari Lonestar, takes the name "the Wanderers" and decides to travel the Multiverse to look for survivors from the various alternate universes that were destroyed.[9]