The Legion Of Doom: The Team’s 5 Best & 5 Worst Line-Ups, Ranked by Matt Amerling

The Legion Of Doom: The Team’s 5 Best & 5 Worst Line-Ups, Ranked –

DC Comics’ antithesis to its ultimate superhero group, the Justice League, is the original evil super-villain group, the Legion of Doom. Comprised of the baddest of the bad, the Legion’s all-star lineup of villainy has always worked to bring about the downfall and destruction of the Justice League. Even though the Legion has inevitably been defeated, they’ve proven themselves as one of the biggest threats to DC’s mightiest heroes.

Throughout the years and all the many different iterations of the Legion– from comics to cartoons to live-action – there have been different team rosters filled with some really great villains and some not-so-much. Here is a list of five of the best and worst line-ups of the Legion.

10 WORST: LEGENDS OF THE SUPERHEROES

Airing in 1979 on NBC, this two-part one-hour special was loosely based on the Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends cartoon, and saw Adam West, Burt Ward and Frank Gorshin returning as Batman, Robin and the Riddler, respectively. The first part of the special featured the Legion trying to get the Justice League to drink Mordru’s potion which will take away their powers. This Legion consists of Mordru, The Riddler, Weather Wizard, Sinestro, Doctor Sivana, Giganta, and Solomon Grundy; and even though this line-up may seem pretty threatening, watching the special (with laugh track) will prove its placement on this list as the villains are diminished to cheap comedic laughs.

9 BEST: LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

This line-up may seem somewhat lame as it doesn’t include the usual villains. The CW’s Legion members include Reverse-Flash, Damien Darhk, Merlyn, Captain Cold, and a reluctant Heat Wave. Reverse-Flash is one of the most evil, twisted villains around and Dahrk alone is conniving, evil and quite powerful with his telekinesis.

While most may be scratching their heads at this entry, those who watch Legends of Tomorrow know it is no small task to defeat the Legends as well as the remaining heroes of the CW Arrowverse (as evidenced in season 2’s episode “Doomworld”).

8 WORST: FLASHPOINT: LEGION OF DOOM

Flashpoint was a major event that kicked off DC’s New 52 era. As a result of The Flash pulling the Speed Force into himself to save his mother from dying, he altered the entire world’s timeline, causing many major changes. In this universe, the Legion is haphazardly formed, consisting of Heat Wave, Plastic Man, Cluemaster, Sportsmaster, and Killer Wasp. These are major D-list villains, and the last three have very minor roles in the spin-off comic they’re featured in. Plus, the idea of Heat Wave as being a major evil force is simply too far-fetched … even for an alternate universe!

7 BEST: HARLEY QUINN (TV SERIES)

NBC’s Legends of the Superheroes tried to make their special a comedy but it falls flat on its face, proving that comics weren’t taken very seriously back when it was written in 1978. However, there is at least one iteration of the Legion portrayed in a comedic fashion which hits all the right marks. Enter DC Universe’s 2019 animated web series Harley Quinn.

The line-up here is classic, consisting of Lex Luthor, Joker, Bane, Cheetah, Scarecrow, Penguin, Black Manta, Sinestro, Gorilla Grodd, Black Adam, Two-Face, Reverse-Flash, Solomon Grundy, Metallo, Captain Cold, Riddler, Calendar Man, Felix Faust, Livewire, and many more. While the show is made for laughs, with which it succeeds, it also shows these villains for just how psychotic and twisted they really are! Plus, the show’s take on Bane is brilliant.

6 WORST: JUSTICE LEAGUE: DOOM

Based on the classic JLA story “Tower of Babel,” written by Mark Waid, the animated film Justice League: Doom, sees villain Vandal Savage (instead of Ra’s al Ghul) obtain special files – created by Batman – from the Batcomputer, detailing how Batman’s superhero peers could be defeated. In order to carry out these attacks, Savage forms his own Legion, consisting of Savage, Cheetah, Bane, Metallo, Mirror Master, Star Sapphire, and Ma’alefa’ak (Martian Manhunter’s brother). It’s half a good team and half not, making it easy to believe this Legion will inevitably be defeated.

5 BEST: CHALLENGE OF THE SUPERFRIENDS

This is the first iteration of the Legion outside of the comics! And even though the 1978 animated series may not hold up too well compared to some of today’s line-ups, it’s one of the first well-known iterations and still has a killer roll call: Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Sinestro, Giganta, Riddler, Toyman, Solomon Grundy, Black Manta, Cheetah, Bizarro, Scarecrow, Gorilla Grodd, and Captain Cold. The only way it might be improved is if Joker was in it. Otherwise, it’s all heavy hitters, with some of the most deadly, cunning villains ever assembled.

4 WORST: TEEN TITANS (2011)

The final issues of Teen Titans in 2011 (before launching into the New 52) featured the teen superheroes going up against an evil Superboy-Prime, who formed his own Legion featuring a roster of no-name, rather new villains: Elise Kimble’s Persuader, Sun Girl, Headcase, Inertia, Indigo, and Zookeeper. It’s understandable the Titans should have their own super-villain team, but they should have some better threat rather than bringing together some no-names and calling them the Legion of Doom, which should be reserved for a group of more powerful and well-known villains. A new iteration of the Fearsome Five would’ve been more acceptable!

3 BEST: JUSTICE LEAGUE (REBIRTH/DC UNIVERSE)

With Scott Snyder’s coming on board the rebooted Justice League title during the recent Rebirth and DC Universe re-launches, the Legion was assembled by the newly created Apex Lex Luthor and includes Brainiac, Sinestro, Gorilla Grodd, Cheetah, Turtle, Joker, and Black Manta.

This Legion does what no other group before it could do, which is to bring about the rebirth of Perpetua, mother of the Monitor, Anti-Monitor and World Forger. With their power-ups from Perpetua, they have come closest to defeating the Justice League, culminating in the “Justice-Doom War” storyline. Although the addition of the Joker is a welcome sight for fans, he quickly proves that his anarchic, traitorous ways are why he’s best left off any team roster.

2 WORST: EXTREME JUSTICE

This short-lived title ran from 1995 to 1996, during comics’ jaded period, and saw the Justice League splinter due to certain members not agreeing with mainstay members being associated with the United Nations. By the end of the run, the extreme team battled their own version of the Legion, consisting of Brainwave Jr., Killer Frost, Major Force, a robot duplicate of Gorilla Grodd, the Madmen, and Houngan. There are a few recognizable names on the list but their actions (and this title) are as forgettable as most of the villains featured here.

1 BEST: JUSTICE (2006)

Not only is this line-up of the Legion the best in terms of its roster, but the art is hands-down the most amazing, realistic version of what a real-life Legion would look like. Co-writer and artist Alex Ross made his Legion an all-star line-up of the baddest of the bad: Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Bizarro, Black Adam, Black Manta, Cheetah, Captain Cold, Clayface, Giganta, Gorilla Grodd, Metallo, Parasite, Poison Ivy, Riddler, Scarecrow, Sinestro, Solomon Grundy, and Toyman. This time, the Legion sees the League as being unfit to save the world from Armageddon, so they step up and start being good guys while also plotting to destroy the League. Ross – himself a big Challenge of the Superfriends fan – took his line-up from the classic animated series and to see them realistically captured here makes the Legion truly come full circle.

NEXT: 5 DC Animated Movies That Are Coming Soon (& 5 We’d Like To See)

This story was originally featured at https://www.cbr.com/dc-comics-legion-doom-teams-lineups-best-worst/