Injustice League


The Injustice League is the name of several fictional supervillain teams appearing in comic books published by DC Comics.

Publication history

The Injustice League first appeared in Justice League International #23 and was created by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis.

Fictional team history

Original League

The original Injustice League was the brainchild of the interplanetary conqueror Agamemno. Bored with his dominion, he set out to conquer Earth and their champions, the Justice League. Aided by the alien former dictator Kanjar Ro, Agamemno contacted Lex Luthor and they recruited other supervillains to their cause.
Agamemno then engineered a switch wherein the villains' minds switched with those of the JLA. In the true JLA's absence, other Silver Age superheroes came to clash with the now seemingly evil heroes. Eventually, Green Lantern used the power of Oa's Central Power Battery and a Thanagarian weapon called the "Absorbascon" to reverse the mind swap.
Having spent time in their enemies' bodies, the villains knew their heroic counterparts inside out. To regain the edge, the JLA used the power of Robby Reed's alien H-Dial to transform themselves into totally different heroes. Then, using his power ring through the Absorbascon, Green Lantern removed all knowledge of the heroes' secret identities from the villains' minds.
This incarnation was retconned as the first version of the Injustice League.

Members

The second Injustice League was created by artist Keith Giffen during his run on the Justice League International comic book. It was composed of Cluemaster, Major Disaster, Clock King, Big Sir, Multi-Man, and the Mighty Bruce. The team would be used, in line with the humoristic tone of the series, as a highly unsuccessful villain team. All the actions of the team would end with humoristic failures. During an Annual of the comic book, Maxwell Lord sent them, along with the incompetent Green Lantern G'nort and his nemesis the Scarlet Skier, to Antarctica to become Justice League Antarctica. It was done so in order to get rid of them, but the team would have their headquarters destroyed by mutant penguins. Afterwards, the Justice League Antarctica were fired.
After Giffen's run in the series, the team volunteered to join the Suicide Squad. On their first mission, Big Sir was killed; Multi-Man was shot through the head ; and the Clock King and Cluemaster were seriously injured.

Injustice League Unlimited

and The Joker recently formed an "Injustice League Unlimited", as first seen in the Justice League of America Wedding Special. While it seems the membership is much greater in the promotional image of Justice League of America vol. 2, #13, the core members of the team shown by Wizard magazine are a select group of various arch-nemeses.
The team was created by Dwayne McDuffie, a writer from the animated series Justice League Unlimited, which featured a similar expanded Legion of Doom. Lex Luthor has the idea to bring the villains together, claiming it was a protection racket at first, but with the ultimate aim of dominating the world. During the storyline, the Injustice League splits up and manages to capture the Justice League members in small groups. However, the JLA is freed by Firestorm and battles the Injustice League at its swamp headquarters. In the ensuing melee, many of the villains flee, but most are taken captive by the League. It is revealed at this time that Lex Luthor actually had a secret goal in forming the League. He refuses to reveal details, but mentions that he planned for his capture. The remaining villains are then taken away by Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad, who plan to ship them away to a distant planet, as seen in DC's Salvation Run storyline.
It is notable that the alternative covers of the second issue of the arc feature many more villains than were actually in the League, including Amazo, Bizarro, Black Adam, Sinestro, and the Rogues.

Members

Though the covers featured a large number of villains, membership differed in the actual story. Membership included:
This section lists those that only appear on the covers.
During the Forever Evil storyline as part of The New 52, Lex Luthor forms the Injustice League with villains who resisted the Crime Syndicate in order to take them down.

Members

In the manga "Batman and the Justice League", Lex Luthor establishes an Injustice League, composed of Sinestro, Cyborg Superman, Joker, Reverse-Flash and Ares. Ocean Master was meant to be a member, but left due to his own motivations.

In other media

Film