Justice League International

Who let these guys in?[1]
You say you've got a problem, and you tried the JLA, but it costs too much to phone the Moon, and your hair is turning gray. Just call us up... 'cause we're the ones... 'pon whom you can depend... we'll be your bestest super-buddies... 'til the very end!
—Theme song for the Super-Buddies, by L-Ron (Extended dance mix)

The Justice League International (or "JLI") was the Post-Crisis version of the Justice League of America. Starting with Justice League #1 (May, 1987). It gained its more familiar title with issue #7 (November, 1987).

By that time, comic books were getting Darker and Edgier, and most of the "Big Seven" heroes of DC Comics were unavailable for varied reasons. So writers Keith Giffen and J. M. De Matteis had to work with a cast of mostly minor characters, including such nonsuperpowered heroes as Blue Beetle and Mister Miracle. What to do then? Giffen had a great idea: instead of going Darker and Edgier, they went Lighter and Softer, turning the comic book into a super hero comedy. Yes, they get to fight against vampires, Mad Scientists, dictators, giant Nazi robots, alien invasions and the like, but most of their plots dealt with completely bizarre situations: Guy Gardner and Ice having a date at an ice show, the heroes go to school to learn French, Blue Bettle and Booster Gold build a casino at a paradise island, or the mayhem at both their embassies caused by... an alley cat (yes, they made a 2 issues crossover with that). They were also used to fight Harmless Villains and Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains, and had to deal with annoying "good guys" as G'Nort or The Beefeater.

The initial cast (Batman, Martian Manhunter, Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Black Canary, Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel, Mister Miracle and his sidekick Oberon) got new members afterwards, such as Booster Gold or Fire and Ice (from the Global Guardians, a Multinational Team that the United Nations disbanded to form the JLI). They got a related series, "Justice League Europe" (JLE), with Captain Atom, Power Girl, Metamorpho, The Flash, Ralph Dibney (Elongated Man) and his wife Sue, Rocket Red, and Animal Man. All teams were managed by Maxwell Lord, a crooked but ultimately good-hearted man. (He was turned into an evil villain during the Countdown to Infinite Crisis, but was not a villain at all back then).

When Giffen and Dematteis left the series, they made a Grand Finale were the league lost the UN support and disbanded. Then, the League returned as the "Justice League Spectacular", with a standard super hero style. These folks returned in the miniseries "Formerly Known as the Justice League" and "I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League". As the 'real' Justice League was now in operation, they were named "The Super Buddies" instead.

The team was reunited by Judd Winick in the well-received Justice League: Generation Lost maxi-series, albeit with the new Blue Beetle and Rocket Red filling in for their deceased predecessors. This lead to a 2011 New 52 relaunch of Justice League International, which featured many of the same characters, as well as Vixen, Godiva and August General in Iron.

Tropes used in Justice League International include:
  • Absolute Cleavage: Fire's first outfit (seen in the above group shot).
  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: If you thought that Earth sewers were disgusting, then you have never been through Apokolips' sewers. And someone simply has to ask: why does the sewer system lead directly to Darkseid's private lair?
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The origin story of Maxwell Lord. He was a successful businessman, and found by chance the computer of Metron. Rather than using the computer for his purposes, the computer used Lord to Take Over the World (including his initial relations with the League). When he realized the true nature of the computer, Lord destroyed it, even if that meant that he would die afterwards because the computer was keeping him alive. The League found him and saved his life, and when the Martian Manhunter read Lord's mind and understanded the things he did. He left him with a JL card, as a token of his trust.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Ice simply loves Guy Gardner, much to Fire's despair
    • This is an interesting case. It's not Guy's "bad boy" personality that Ice likes, but the nice guy that occasionally shines through.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Except J'onn, Batman and Hawkman. And Captain Atom, despite of Crimson Fox's best effords. And Mr. Miracle, but for good reason: if Big Barda ever discovers him cheating her for another woman, it's just 5 seconds before dismembering.
  • America Saves the Day: Subverted. The sufix "International" instead of "Of America" is not just a name, but a plot element, as the team is endorsed by the UN, had a related team located in Europe and embassies at other countries. It is highly specific when the US sends the supergroup "The Conglomerate" to depose a Latin American dictator, and the UN orders the JLI to stop the Conglomerate.
  • Amusing Alien: G'Nort. Amusing for us readers, for the League he's maddening. Max even appointed him as member of the "Justice League Antarctica", along with the Injustice League, just to get rid of him by relocating him in the middle of nowhere.
  • Another Dimension: The destroyed earth where the Justifiers came from. The Silver Sorceress could use her magic to move across dimensions at will; Dreamslayer could do the same as well when he took the info from her.
  • Anticlimax: They are specially good at it. Blue Beetle always point that there's nothing as good humor to relax an otherwise conflictive situation
  • Applied Phlebotinum: Power Girl eventually learns that the source of her violent mood swings is diet soda.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: Fire's, er, fire form. Of course, how detailed the human outline is depends on the artist.
  • Berserk Button: Most characters have one
    • Guy Garder: Communism, Hal Jordan, discipline, Hal Jordan, criticism, Hal Jordan, denial of his crazy ideas, Hal Jordan...
    • Fire: Guy Gardner
    • Flash: Comparisons with Barry Allen
    • Metamorpho: Being ten kilometers near Simon Stagg or Java
    • Martian Manhunter: Being the leader of the JLI
    • Black Cannary: Machism
    • Hawkman: His teammates
    • Power Girl: Life itself
    • Maxwell Lord: Loosing money
  • Betty and Veronica: When Superman joins the League Ice almost immediately gets a crush on him, causing Guy to view Supes as a love rival.
  • Big Eater: Blue Beetle constantly struggles with his weight.
  • Blessed with Suck: Metamorpho whines about this constantly.
  • Brilliant but Lazy: Guy Gardner's combined willpower and imagination give him the potential to be one of the most powerful Green Lanterns ever. Too bad he doesn't really care to try that hard or he's usually too pissed off to think straight.
  • Butt Monkey: Fans of Captain Marvel or Animal Man will not like this comic. The former's naive optimism is constantly joked about by the other team members (he's nicknamed Captain Whitebread), and the latter's powers are treated as completely useless.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: Joseph Jones transformed into General Glory by shouting "Lady Liberty hear my plea! For the land of the brave and the home of the free!"
  • Captain Ersatz: Take a guess who the Scarlet Skier is a parody of. He tried really hard too. Took a correspondence course in Melodrama. And to make it funnier, he's basically the only villain G'Nort ever defeated.
  • Casanova Wannabe: Booster Gold in France, in his civil clothing, tries to seduce a random French woman... and fails in 46 seconds, with Ted Kord laughing loudly. Even worse, that random woman was Katherine, but she does not recognize Gold in his super hero suit... until she passes by Blue Beetle, who's still laughing.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: When the Bee Queen first appears, she's just Harjavti's assistant, and her role is just to provide dialogue to hear Harjavti's Evil Plan. Later, she unexpectedly kills him, and suddenly becames the new dictator of Bialya.
  • Continuity Nod: In an early comic the League is engaged by a squadron of Rocket Reds, ending with Black Canary kicking one in the face through his mask. A few months later when a Rocket Red is assigned to the league, it's revealed to be the same guy, now sporting a missing tooth thanks to the kick.
  • Covers Always Lie: Going by the comic cover pictured above you'd think Wonder Woman was a significant character in the series. You'd be very, very wrong.
  • Creator Cameo: The League complained several times about a bizarre comic book about them that was published. Gardner even destroyed their office, after feeling insulted.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Everybody, even Max.
    • Special mention goes to Blue Beetle. While in Bialya, he was unknowingly brainwashed into becoming a sleeper agent. Some time later, he gets activated and nearly takes out the entire League single-handedly. Even Batman admits that Beetle gave him a run for his money, impressing Beetle himself.
  • Cursed with Awesome: The Grey Man was a sorcerer of the middle ages, who managed to see the Masters of Order. He was cursed to live forever at a lonely island, doing mystical maintenance to the world... until he finds out that, in their weird logic, the Masters of Order thought they were blessing him.
  • Dramatic Pause: Lampshaded by Manga Khan and L-Ron. After destroying a planet, Manga Khan asks where do they go now, and L-Ron points that they found a perfect planet. Khan complains in the corridor why L-Ron is not saying anything else, and L-Ron points that he was making a dramatic pause. And the planet was... Earth! But, as L-Ron said, I guess nobody should be surprised about that.
  • Europeans Are Kinky: Crimson Fox more exactly, Vivian D'Aramis, not Constance was always trying to seduce Captain Atom. Captain Atom replied with the "American military are stoic" trope.
  • Fiery Redhead: Guy, though just how read his hair was depended on the artist.
  • Frankenstein's Monster: Wajdina died, and Harvjati bring him back as a mindless zombi.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: The Injustice League
  • Good Ol' Boy: Hawkman. The perfect thanagarian republican... even if there are no republicans in Thanagar
  • He's Back: And how! Guy Gardner, after some months of Identity Amnesia, was so calmy reading the poetry of Leonard Nimoy... then, with a new Tap on the Head, he returns to be the Guy Gardner he all love and enjoy (well, he returns to his usual self, period) and goes with all the rage against Lobo.
  • Head Desk: How some of the characters deal with the goofiness around them, especially Oberon.
  • Heel Face Mole: Lobo briefly joined the League for a chance to kill the members (plus Big Barda and G'Nort) who were on a mission in space at the time.
  • Hot Amazon: Big Barda
  • Humanoid Aliens: Occasionally Martian Manhunter would walk around in his true Martian appearance, usually freaking out anyone who sees him.

Fire: Was that Gumby?

  • I Have Boobs - You Must Obey!: Fire and Crimson Fox do this from time to time. Oddly enough, Power Girl is disgusted by the very thought of acting like this.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: During a membership drive, all applicants (or at least alien ones) had to answer a question on whether they've ever eaten a human. Kilowog comments "That's ridiculous! Humans taste terrible!"
  • Identity Amnesia: Tired of having Batman in command, Guy Gardner took off the ring and tried to settle things as men do. Batman thrashed the hell out of him in a single punch. When he woke up, he tried to retrieve his ring from beneath a desk, and got a second Tap on the Head. When he woke up, he was a new Guy Gardner, interested in poetry, good feelings, friendship, respectful, being nice to everyone... in short, everything that Guy Garder is not. He stayed that way for several months (even across the Millenium crossover), and then returned to his true self against Lobo.
  • Incredible Shrinking Aliens: During the "Invasion", Booster Gold was left on monitor duty with Oberon, while the others got all the fun against the Aliens. And then, the embassy is attacked by a band of Khunds... smurf-sized Khunds, because of Phlebotinum Breakdown, but still, smurf-sized Khunds with laser weapons. Booster Gold, so eager to crush some aliens, is defeated off-screen in a single panel, and it's Oberon who manages to defeat them. Being in the same League with Guy Gardner and Max Lord may had been difficult for Oberon, but being called "Giant" surely made it worth. By the way, what would you do with smurf-sized aliens after you defeat them? Throw some big books over them? Nah, there are humane ways to deal with them... such as placing them inside cockroach traps
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Guy Gardner, eventually. Early on he's a complete asshole, though.
  • King Incognito: The League makes a stealth mission into Bialya, dressed as common random people. To do so, Batman impersonates a millonarie: Bruce Wayne (the thing is that none of his teammates was aware that he is Bruce Wayne)
  • The Kirk: Maxwell Lord, Katherine
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: There were many characters modeled after others from Marvel Comics. First, the Justifiers (The Avengers), who were Silver Sorceress, Blue Jay and Wandjina (Scarlet Witch, Yellowjacket and Thor; other Avengers appeared in backstories). The Silver Sorceress and Blue Jay even became members of the JLE. Their enemies were the Extremists (no specific Marvel group), composed of Lord Havoc (Doctor Doom), Dreamslayer (Dormammu), Gorgon (Doctor Octopus), Tracer (Sabretooth and Dr. Diehard (Magneto). Then the Scarlet Skier (Silver Surfer) and his master Mr. Nebula (Galactus). And, finally, General Glory (Captain America (comics)).
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Mr. Miracle and Big Barda. Gardner was lucky that she did not join herself the JLI, or she would have broken him in half at the first insult.
  • The McCoy: Captain Atom, at JLE
  • Me's a Crowd: A potential power of Lobo's, leading to an Oh Crap from Martian Manhunter.

Big Barda: Try not to hit him too hard.
Martian Manhunter: Excuse me?
Barda: If he bleeds, every single drop will create another one of him.
Manhunter: Every. Single. Drop?
Barda: Just stall him.

  • Meaningful Name: The JLI comics reveal that Lobo's name is Thusly for "He who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it."
  • Moral Guardian: General Glory tries to be one, but it doesn't work too well given the rest of the team. Spending most of his time with Guy Gardner really didn't help.

*General Glory gets visibly flustered when some woman mentions being naked.*
Fire: Are you embarrassed? General, we're all naked under our clothes.
General Glroy: Yes, but does everyone have to know about it?

  • Ms. Fanservice: Fire, with her second clothing set. Power girl, contrary to her usual role in modern DC comics, was not Ms. Fanservice back then: first she had the body of a bodybuilder rather than of a supermodel, and then she changed to the white-and-yellow with no Cleavage Window.
  • My friends... and Guy Gardner
  • One Hit KO: In the first issue Guy Gardner challenges Batman for leadership of the League. Bats ends it pretty quickly, to the delight of the other Leaguers.
  • Only Sane Man: Batman originally, followed by Martian Manhunter once Bats started appearing less frequently. Captain Atom filled this role once the League split and he went to Europe.
  • People Puppets: happened several times.
    • The Grey Man controlled Captain Marvel and fighted against the Martian Manhunter, who took him down hard (but without realizing that Marvel was freed seconds ago).
    • Starro, of course, is a JLA classic, and controlled the JLE, the Martian Manhunter and all Britain (except the Clash and the Sex Pistols), and was defeated by Ice.
    • Dreamslayer controlled Maxwell Lord and many members of both leagues, until his spirit was killed by the Silver Sorceress.
    • The Bee Queen used this on many Bialyans, the Global Guardians and other influential people she could capture.
    • And yes, Maxwell Lord had this power. But, contrary to the Maxwell Lord seen in DC since "Countdown to Infinite Crisis", he hardly ever used it. The first time, he manipuled Blue Beetle without even being aware he had such power. He used it to make the Huntress join the League (which was indeed wrong, but he realized it himself and let her go). He used it on a girl he liked to begin talking (just that). And hardly anything else (the things done under the control of Dreamslayer don't count)
  • Played for Laughs: Manga Khan plays for laughs most tropes associated to the megalomaniac villains: pompous speeches, unneeded shouts, monologuing, stock phrases...

L-Ron: Sir, the shields have fallen
Manga Khan: WHAT?!
L-Ron: I said that the shields have fallen
Manga Khan: I heard you! It was a rethoric 'what', stupid!

  • Playing with Fire: Green fire, at that.
  • President Evil: A recurring enemy was Rumaan Harjavti, dictator of the Fictional Country of Bialya. Harjavti was killed by the Bee Queen, who became the new dictator, and Arch Enemy of the JLE. The Bee Queen was killed at the Grand Finale by Rumaan's brother.
  • Running Gag: Had its share
    • Animal Man could never find a useful animal to use with his powers.
    • Batman always seemed to disappear when the group acted really crazy/immature. In one case he left after just having the day's events described to him.
  • Shoo Out the New Guy:
    • Dr. Light (the female one, from Crisis) was supposed to be a member of the team, being featured at the front page of the first issue and all. But she played a very minor role, did not even use the costume, and left at the begining of the 4º issue. Then, she returned at the Grand Finale... only to play an even smaller role and leave again.
    • Dr. Fate does this twice. He's also on the cover of the first issue and barely appears after that. About half an issue is dedicated to Fate (now with a female body) rejoining the League, but again she almost never shows up after that.
  • Shout-Out: During the stealth mission in Bialya, Blue Beetle is given the civilian name George Bailey. Doubles as a Stealth Pun, since this would make him Beetle Bailey.
  • Signature Laugh: Both heroes and villains would let out a loud "BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"
  • Slice of Life: Often a source of humor in the series: it treated its characters as real people with quirks and flaws that we don't associate with superheroes. Even Martian Manhunter gained an addiction for... Oreos.
    • Another recurring subplot was Blue Beetle and Booster Gold constantly being broke. The two would either do freelance hero jobs or attempt grand get-rich-quick schemes to make money.
    • As noted under Big Eater, Beetle constantly struggled with his weight.
  • Smash the Symbol: So, first issue of a comic book making fun out of comic book tropes... who should they fight first? What about a terrorist theatening to blow up the United Nations? Nobody did that the previous three months...
  • The Spock: First Batman, and then the Martian Manhunter for the most time. Did you think that the vulcan Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager had a difficult time dealing with Neelix? He did not endure a small fraction of the things that Jonn had to endure.
  • Straw Feminist: Black Canary.
    • To some degree Power Girl as well, though she would be just as pissed at the women for letting themselves be victimized.
  • Super Zeroes: Played with.
  • Take That:
    • One of the Manhunter robots try to crash the ship at an oil refinery, but the Rocket Reds stop him and he crash on the oil refinery alone. Then, his basic frame gets out of the explosion, same as Terminator. Booster Gold blow him in pieces.
    • Hawkman was one toward the Silver Age in general. He became so disgusted with the brash, crude nature of his teammates he quit the League in a matter of days.

Hawkman: "Hell"?! Did you just say "hell"?! In all my life I've never heard Hal Jordan say "hell"!

  • Third Person Person: Big Sir
  • Would Hit a Girl: When he met the League, time-traveler Booster Gold defeated the Royal Flush Gang all by himself. When only Ten remains, she asks if he would dare hit a girl.

Booster Gold: Well... You see, it's like this... Where I come from equality of the sexes is a given, so we can hit anyone.

  1. ↑ (Left-to-Right) Top row: Rocket Red, Elongated Man, Booster Gold, Martian Manhunter
    Second from top row: Ice Maiden (later Ice), Wonder Woman, Mister Miracle
    Middle Row: Power Girl, Batman, Captain Atom
    Second from bottom row: Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Animal Man, Metamorpho
    Bottom row: Green Flame (later Fire), Green Lantern Guy Gardner, The Flash (Wally West)
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