Justice Lords

The Justice Lords are an alternate Justice League from a parallel Earth whose roster resembles the original DC animated universe Justice League—an alternate Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter, Superman, and Wonder Woman—with the exception of The Flash, because the Flash from their universe is dead.[1]

Their world diverges from that of the world of the Justice League; their Lex Luthor is elected the President of the United States, kills the alternate Flash, and establishes policies resulting in the country's "being on the brink of a war that could destroy the whole planet" according to Superman. The alternate Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman try and stop the war, storming the White House and confronting Luthor (who threatens nuclear war). When Luthor tells the alternate Superman no matter how many times Superman sends him to prison, he would find a way back to power, Superman kills Luthor with heat vision and decides he likes this new form of "justice". The other Lords also lose faith in humanity.

Two years later, the Justice Lords seize the world's governments, and begin ruling with an iron fist. Using their satellite base for surveillance, they suppress free speech, outlaw elections, impose curfews and eliminate crime by lobotomizing criminals and supervillains. Lord Superman has also imposed severe restrictions on his girlfriend Lois Lane's way of life, forbidding her from making phone calls, having unauthorized guests, or leaving her home. Although they justify their behavior as "temporary" and for the good of the people, it is tyranny to the Justice League.

Lord Batman Beyond.

In Batman Beyond, the effects of Lex Luthor's power disruptor are temporary. When the Lords’ powers are restored, Lords Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl refuse to choose sides in the conflict between Lord Superman and Lord Batman (as Lord Batman had eventually managed to convince the three of them that the Justice Lords' methods are wrong) and leave Earth in disgust. Lord Superman marries Lady Wonder Woman during their war against Lord Batman and his benevolent followers. When the League returns to the Lords’ world to help Lord Batman, the League's Wonder Woman and Lord Batman fall in love; she remains in the Lords’ world and marries him. The League's Batman is heartbroken; he and Wonder Woman were attracted to each other, but he thought a romantic relationship in the team would cause trouble.

Decades later, Lord Batman dies fighting the other Lords; the world remains under their tyranny, with wars between Lord Superman and Lord Batman's followers. Although the League's Wonder Woman returns to mainstream Earth, Superman and Batman's successor Terry McGinnis are suspicious; their Wonder Woman and her Lady counterpart are identical, and they think this Wonder Woman may be Lord Superman's wife working as a spy. McGinnis travels to the Lords' world, and learns about Lord Batman's death. The comics introduce parallel-universe versions of Terry McGinnis and Dick Grayson. In this world, Lord McGinnis never meets Bruce Wayne (and never becomes Batman); Lord Grayson is an officer on the Justice Lords' task force, despite being Lord Batman's partner decades before. Lord Superman arrives on the League's world with his followers—including the Justice-Lord versions of Warhawk, Aquagirl (Mareena), Micron, Captain Marvel, the Flash (Danica Williams), and Curare—telling the Justice League that Wonder Woman is his wife.[2]

Years after Wonder Woman's marriage to Lord Batman, her Lady counterpart lures her husband out of hiding and murders him; Wonder Woman kills Lady Wonder Woman in retaliation for her husband's death and marries Lord Superman, conceiving their son Zod so their followers will declare a truce. However, their marriage is a sham; Zod is conceived from the genetic engineering of his parents' DNA with technology from Krypton, Themyscira and Project Cadmus. After Lord Superman discovers that Terry McGinnis has traveled to his universe, he returns to his world to confront him and his counterpart. McGinnis discovers a Batsuit, more advanced than his own, made by Lord Batman to counter Lord Superman's powers. McGinnis dons the Batsuit to battle Lord Superman, with his counterpart as a witness.[3] The first fight ends with Terry faking his death (with the Batsuit) when Lord Superman uses heat vision. Terry later discovers that the suit is powered by synthetic kryptonite, with which Lord Batman planned to defeat Lord Superman.

When Lord Superman returns to the League's world, he fights Superman, Bruce Wayne and Wonder Woman in the Batcave and Zod arrives to help his mother.[4] Terry defeats Lord Superman when the fight spreads to Gotham's downtown area, while the rest of the League defeat the rest of the Justice Lords. Superman sends Lord Superman to the Phantom Zone, where he meets Superman's old enemy Jax-Ur and begins to make plans with him at Jax-Ur's suggestion. Seeing the Lords' world finally at peace, Wonder Woman returns to the Justice League and Wayne Manor. Bruce Wayne plans to build another synthetic kryptonite Batsuit, in case Lord Superman escapes. As McGinnis and Dick Grayson upgrade McGinnis' Batsuit based on Lord Batman's design, their counterparts repair Lord Batman's Batsuit (which McGinnis returned); Grayson intends to groom McGinnis' counterpart as the new Batman for the Justice Lords' world.[5]

In the Multiversity series, Grant Morrison listed the Justice Lords as resident on Earth-50 of the New 52's DC Multiverse, placing it within DC comics continuity as well as that of the DC Animated Universe [6] To date, this has not been elaborated into a story arc.

• Superman - Leader of the Justice Lords, who breaks into the White House and kills President Luthor after Luthor kills The Flash. He and the other Lords then impose their version of justice on the world. Superman lobotomizes the villains (including The Joker, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Doomsday and The Ventriloquist), despite opposition from Lois Lane. He and the other Lords capture the Justice League, and plan to take over their earth. Responding to Lex Luthor's escape from prison, he leads the others into a trap in which Luthor is the Justice League's Martian Manhunter. Superman defeats Flash, and is willing to kill him when Luthor blasts him with an energy disruptor. He is voiced by George Newbern.
• Batman - He and the Lords rule the world with an iron fist. Unlike the others, Batman is morally ambiguous; while he does not join in their escapades, he is unperturbed by them. He discovers the Justice League, captures them with the other Lords and takes over their world. When Batman remains behind to guard the League, the Flash accelerated his heart rate until he seemed to flatline. Although Batman is alerted, the Flash overpowers him and locks him up. He escapes and battles League Batman in the Batcave; though he initially convinces League Batman to side with him (noting that in his world, "no eight-year-old child will ever lose his parents because of some punk with a gun"), witnessing a man being arrested for simply complaining about a restaurant bill (despite him apologizing & willing to pay later) makes him realize that the League's cause is just. League Batman convinces him to help the League return to their world. He is voiced by Kevin Conroy.
• Wonder Woman - Helps Superman defeat and lobotomize Doomsday. She is defeated by her counterpart when Luthor blasts her with an energy disruptor. Wonder Woman is voiced by Susan Eisenberg.
• J'onn Jonnz - When the Lords discover the Justice League, he leads them into a trap and helps in the fight against Doomsday. He is defeated by his League counterpart (Martian Manhunter), aided by Luthor and his energy disruptor. J'onn Jonnz is voiced by Carl Lumbly.
• Green Lantern - Unlike his League counterpart, he maintains his relationship with Hawkgirl and is bitter over Flash's death. Green Lantern is voiced by Phil LaMarr.
• Hawkgirl - She maintains her relationship with John Stewart .Voiced by Maria Canals
• The Flash - When Luthor becomes president, he sends the army after the Flash and kills him on television with a double-barreled shotgun. Hawkgirl and Green Lantern are bitter about his death. He is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum.

The Justice Lords were released in the Justice League Unlimited toyline in three 3-pack collector sets. The first set featured Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. A reviewer wrote that although they do not stand up on their own, they "represent one of the most popular episodes of the entire Justice League series."[7] The next pack contained Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and the Flash. The final set contained Hawkgirl and the Brainiac versions of Superman and Batman. In 2012 Treehouse Kids released its Heroics line of collectable figurines, which includes Justice Lords Superman as a chase figure.

According to the DVD commentary on the second part of "A Better World", although the Justice Lords began as a Crime Syndicate of America story the writers decided that a story about a rogue Justice League had more story potential as the Crime Syndicate was simply evil. The episode is similar to a Dan Jurgens Justice League America story, "Destiny's Hand". In that story, the Atom dreams about the original Justice League becoming oppressive rulers of the world. Doctor Destiny tries to make this "dream universe" absorb the mainstream reality, and the modern Justice League fights the "evil" old Justice League.

The alternate universe presented in Injustice: Gods Among Us also shared much similarity to the Justice Lords, in that a parallel version of the Justice League, save for Batman, became oppressive rulers of the world after Superman was tricked by the Joker into killing Lois Lane, their unborn child, and destroying Metropolis with a nuclear bomb, for which Superman kills the Joker in retaliation, leading to his descent to tyranny. The alternative Batman, who had formed an underground Resistance movement to combat Superman's methods, brings in the mainstream version of the Justice League to combat Superman and his forces. Notable differences from the Justice Lords include Flash (who, in this continuity, is Barry Allen) being alive and fighting on Superman's side (before he realises how far the "heroes" have fallen and defects), Martian Manhunter was killed during the prequel comics fighting for Batman and Green Lantern Hal Jordan now a member of the Sinestro Corps as he fights for Superman, while John Stewart is killed along with most of the Corps.

The premise of a Justice League-type super-team establishing a totalitarian state for what they see as the good of humanity was explored in Marvel Comics' original Squadron Supreme miniseries, its recent reworking of that story, in Wildstorm's The Authority and the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline of the Teen Titans comic book. The idea of metahumans taking control of humans, and of Superman leading them to make a better world, is also developed in the Elseworlds mini-series Kingdom Come. According to Bruce Timm's DVD commentary, Batman was to form Outsiders as a counter-superteam of the Lords but the idea was discarded. In the Avengers Annual #2, the Avengers are sent to an alternate world by an early version of Kang; the original Avengers take over the world and imprison other super-beings, allegedly for their own good. The idea of altering criminals to prevent them from returning to crime was also part of the DC Comics mini-series Identity Crisis (albeit using magic and primarily intended to protect the heroes' secret identities) and in Marvel Comics' original Squadron Supreme miniseries.

• Titans Tomorrow

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Justice League: A Better World

• World's Finest Online biopage
• "A Better World," Part 1, at tv.com
• "A Better World," Part 2, at tv.com
• Justice Lords at DCAU Wiki