Catherine Cobert

Biography

Justice League International (JLI) is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics that succeeded the original Justice League from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. The team enjoyed several comic books runs, the first being written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis, with art by Kevin Maguire, created in 1987. Due to editorial conflicts, the team's new makeup was based largely on newer characters, such as Booster Gold, and recent acquisitions from other comic book companies, such as Blue Beetle. In 2010 and 2011, the team experienced a resurgence as part of the Blackest Night and New 52 comic runs.

== Publication history == Following the events of the company-wide crossovers Crisis on Infinite Earths and Legends, Justice League of America writer J. M. DeMatteis was paired with writer Keith Giffen and artist Kevin Maguire on a new Justice League series. However, at the time, most of the core Justice League characters were unavailable. Superman was limited to John Byrne's reboot, George Pérez was relaunching Wonder Woman and Mike Baron was launching the Wally West version of the Flash. As a result, the initial team consisted of:

Batman: Series editor Dennis O'Neil, taking pity on the new creative team, allowed Batman to be used in the series. Black Canary: Dinah Lance was written as a strong feminist and often clashed with chauvinist Guy Gardner. Blue Beetle: A recent acquisition from Charlton Comics. Captain Marvel: No longer a separate personality from his civilian self Billy Batson, this version focuses on his alter ego's naiveté. Doctor Fate: The inclusion of Doctor Fate was followed by a miniseries written by DeMatteis and Giffen. Doctor Light: First appearing in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kimiyo Hoshi briefly joins the League. Guy Gardner: Editor Andy Helfer suggested using Guy Gardner over the more well-known Hal Jordan. Martian Manhunter: The only connection to the previous iteration of the Justice League. Mister Miracle: The world's greatest escape artist. His wife, Big Barda, and friend, Oberon, are also associated with the League. The resulting comedic tone was Giffen's idea, introducing new characterizations to old characters: Guy Gardner was now a loutish hothead, Booster Gold was greedier and more inept than he had been in Dan Jurgens' series and Captain Marvel displayed a childlike personality. When Black Canary resigns, Green Flame and Ice Maiden (both from the Global Guardians) join. They eventually change their names to Fire and Ice and become long standing members within the team. The series was nominated as "Best New Series" in 1988 by the Harvey Awards, but lost to Paul Chadwick's Concrete. It also featured Adam Hughes' first work for a major comic book publisher. They fight the Champions of Angor, other-dimensional superheroes intent on destroying all nuclear weapons. Rumaan Harjavti, the dictator of Bialya, takes advantage of the Champions to eliminate his rivals. In Russia, the League fights the Rocket Red Brigade, until Mikhail Gorbachev allows them to help. Wandjina sacrifices himself to stop a nuclear meltdown and the League are sent home by international law. Millionaire entrepreneur Maxwell Lord takes an interest in the team, breaching their security and suggesting Booster Gold as a new member. Booster proves himself in combat against the Royal Flush Gang and Lord declares himself their press liaison. Martian Manhunter saves the world when they battle against a conscious psychic plague and he consumes it. Gardner challenges Batman to a fight over leadership, but Batman knocks him out in one punch. Doctor Fate is captured by the Gray Man, a rogue servant to the Lords of Order. Teaming up with the Creeper, they release Fate and stop the Gray Man from taking over the world. Earth is attacked by a mysterious satellite and the League travels into space. Miracle recognizes it as a modified device from New Genesis and neutralizes it. They return home as heroes. Maxwell Lord introduces a proposal to get United Nations funding and they are given sponsorship in exchange for government regulation. This plan allows them to act as an independent city-state with worldwide embassies. Captain Atom and Rocket Red #7 are added to the team by the United States and Russia, respectively. Captain Marvel and Doctor Fate quit the team for personal reasons; Batman steps down as leader, appointing Martian Manhunter to replace him. They are reintroduced to the world as Justice League International. Despite a series of embarrassing accidents, they successfully move in to embassies around the world. This includes Moscow, New York City, and Paris. With issue #7, the series was renamed Justice League International to reflect the team's new international status. The name change spawned the term "JLI", which is used when referring to this period in Justice League history. The series was again renamed following the launch of Justice League Europe in 1989. The series was known as Justice League America until its cancellation in 1996.

=== "Justice League: Breakdowns" === "Breakdowns" was a 16-issue crossover between the Justice League America (#53–60) and Justice League Europe (#29–36) titles, changing the tone of both series from a humorous one to a more serious one. After it, the creative teams of both series changed. The major events that occurred were the following:

Maxwell Lord is initially in a coma from a failed assassination attempt. He is later possessed by JLE foe Dreamslayer of the Extremists. Lord loses his powers following the events of "Breakdowns". Queen Bee, ruler of the country Bialya, is killed in a coup d'état led by Sumaan Harjavti, the twin brother of Rumaan Harjavti. Despero awakens and escapes Manga Khan's starship to wreak havoc on New York City, seeking vengeance against the Justice League. A force of the Justice League's best (Martian Manhunter, Power Girl, Fire, Rocket Red, Metamorpho, the Flash, Guy Gardner, Major Disaster), along with the Conglomerate (led by Booster Gold) and Lobo, were unable to stop him. Kilowog and L-Ron subdue Despero by transferring L-Ron's consciousness into Despero's body. While possessing Maxwell Lord, Dreamslayer kidnaps and later murders Mitch Wacky on the island of Kooey Kooey Kooey, where Blue Beetle and Booster Gold previously attempted to open a resort called "Club JLI". Using Lord's persona, Dreamslayer lures a large portion of the Justice League to the island and takes control of them, making them the "new Extremists". The Silver Sorceress, one of the former Champions of Angor and a Justice League member, dies defeating Dreamslayer and is buried on Kooey Kooey Kooey. The United Nations withdraws its support from the Justice League and it disbands. Martian Manhunter seemingly takes a leave of absence, although he later re-emerges under the persona of Bloodwynd.

=== Expansion ===

Justice League International was renamed Justice League America. The franchise expanded from the early to mid-1990s by adding severall Spin offs. These included: Justice League Europe, Justice League Task Force, Extreme Justice and Justice League Quarterly. Justice League Europe was later retitled to become the second volume of Justice League International. In the latter part of the series, more recognizable characters, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Aquaman, joined, followed by lesser known characters such as Bloodwynd, Maya, Maxima, Nuklon, Obsidian, Tasmanian Devil, and Triumph. Longtime JLI-era characters such as Captain Atom, Martian Manhunter, and Power Girl were revised and revamped. By 1996, with the commercial success of the series fading, each of the titles was eventually cancelled.

=== Miniseries === In 2003, Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire reunited for the six-issue miniseries Formerly Known as the Justice League. This depicted Maxwell Lord trying to get the gang back together as The Super Buddies – a hero-for-hire group that operated out of a strip mall. 2005 saw a second storyline, I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League, by the same creative team published in the pages of JLA Classified. This tale told a story of the characters attempt to rescue Ice from Hell.