Line #1 ComicBook/JLAActOfGod


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1000009134.jpg]]
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3	''JLA: Act of God'' is a Creator/DCComics story published under the ''Creator/{{Elseworlds}}'' imprint, written by Creator/DougMoench about heroes everywhere losing their powers and learning to live with it. This story was somewhat different from other DC Elseworlds, which normally recast the heroes in completely different times and places, rather being set in a copy of the then current DC Continuity (similar to the ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' stories at Creator/MarvelComics).
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5	One day, all the heroes and villains are shown going about their business. Superman is fixing a dam, Green Lantern is battling a supervillain and so forth. Then suddenly a large mysterious purple energy wave sweeps over the planet causing everyone to lose their powers except for normal crimefighters and tech-based heroes (except ComicBook/GreenLantern, who loses his connection to his ring despite it being technological). Nobody can figure out how it happened, as all the magical heroes have gone missing, and the world begins to adapt. Mostly.
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7	ComicBook/{{Superman}} becomes despondent, seemingly traumatized over the last disaster he was unable to prevent as his powers were fading, and is seen doing nothing but moping all day, to the point that Lois leaves him, causing him to go mope with ComicBook/WonderWoman, until she converts to Catholicism and gets a job as a stock broker. Green Lantern can't get over his defeat by Sonar and, after months of rampaging around his apartment, begins channeling his aggression into a boxing bag looking for a rematch. The tech-based heroes, consisting of ComicBook/{{Steel}}, ComicBook/BlueBeetle and ComicBook/BoosterGold, each in turn lose their tech or have it stolen. ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} (Linda Danvers) tries joining the police force, but is frustrated with all the paperwork that comes with fighting crime "by the book."
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9	Eventually, ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, ComicBook/MartianManhunter, ComicBook/TheFlash, and ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} all decide to go to Batman, concluding that the BadassNormal school of crimefighting is the only option they have left. And thus a new generation of heroes is born.
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11	----
12	!!This story contains examples of
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14	* AgeAppropriateAngst: Billy Batson, an actual kid, is naturally frustrated when he doesn't turn into Captain Marvel when he yells "Shazam!".
15	* {{Angst}}: This story focuses on the angst of all the superheroes after they lose their superpowers.
16	* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: [[spoiler:The ending, with Superman and Wonder Woman's kid]].
17	* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Steel, who also fell victim to TheWorfEffect, since right before he dies a reporter [[TemptingFate is explaining how he's the most powerful hero left]].
18	* BroughtDownToNormal: Every powered character in the DC Universe. Only BadassNormal and PoweredArmor heroes are unaffected and the PoweredArmor heroes all get their tech damaged or stolen eventually.
19	* DerailingLoveInterests: Lois Lane breaks up with Clark due to him no longer having powers. This is done so he can get into a relationship with Diana.
20	* DeusAngstMachina: Mostly for Superman and Green Lantern, but Wonder Woman also gets it pretty bad.
21	* DeusExMachina: The story's repeated {{Title Drop}}s is the closest it comes to an explanation of the Black Light Event. In other words, the ''story's title'' calls its divergence point a DeusExMachina.
22	* DrivenToSuicide: Diana contemplates suicide after a week of praying and nothing happening... [[spoiler:while also pregnant]]. Clark shows up in the nick of time to stop her.
23	* DrowningMySorrows: Superman turns to the bottle after losing his powers.
24	* EmptyPilesOfClothing: The cover of Book 2 (pictured above), though in this case, it's because everyone took off their costumes rather than the usual InferredHolocaust of this trope.
25	* EpicFlail: Justice's double sided 'Scales of Justice' has one spiked flail on each side of a foot long pole. It looks... awkward to actually use in battle.
26	* GooGooGodlike: [[spoiler:Superman and Wonder Woman's child was born with superpowers.]]
27	* MagicAIsMagicA: Done inconsistently with the main characters of the story violating of the rules of the black light event. Metahuman powers go away, magic-users vanish, tech remains the same, right? Well, in that case, Superman and Martian Manhunter should be completely unaffected (as they aren't Metahumans, but extraterrestrials whose powers stem from their inherent biology. Martian Manhunter's powers are normal for Martians, Superman's are normal for Kryptonians under a yellow sun; they don't have powers by their races' standard). Magic-powered Wonder Woman should have vanished instead of being depowered. Green Lantern should be unaffected, since the ring is alien technology.
28	* ThePlotReaper: The ''real'' reason why the magical superheroes have simply vanished: they'd be able to explain what's going on.
29	* PowerLossDepression: The story has every single superpowered hero becoming complete wrecks after losing their powers. Particularly sad cases are Superman who becomes drunk and homeless after his relationship with Lois ends; Wonder Woman who [[DrivenToSuicide nearly commits suicide]]; and Kyle Rayner who obsessed with Sonar, a villain Kyle failed to stop when his ring was deactivated.
30	* RecycledPremise: Depowering supers was part of the premise of the Genesis CrisisCrossover just a few years prior, and the Black Light bears more than a passing resemblance to the Godwave. None of the characters comment on this, despite the similarity to the still-recent Genesis event.
31	* ReturningTheWeddingRing: Lois gives Clark back her engagement ring because she (in this universe, at least) only ever loved him for his powers.
32	* RiddleForTheAges: Why did the event happen at all? It's implied it really was an act of God, but no definite answer is ever given.
33	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[ComicBook/TheFlash Wally West]] does this halfway through his training under Batman. When he comes back, Bruce just tells him to pick up where he left off.
34	* SuddenHumility: The basis for the plot is this trope, as applied to anyone with superpowers.
35	* SuddenlyShouting: This:
36	-->'''Linda''': Alcoholism is a disease which-\
37	'''Aquaman''': '''WE ARE ''NOT'' ALCOHOLICS!!!'''
38	* TookALevelInJerkass: Batman takes about thirty levels in arrogance. Which breaks the already BrokenAesop about humility even harder as the story takes his side.
39	* TwilightOfTheSupers: Everyone with superpowers not based on tech loses them, no explanation given.
40	* UngratefulBastard: Superman is holding back a broken dam when he loses his powers and the dam breaks, flooding a nearby town; the townspeople ''immediately'' start chewing him out as if he did it on purpose, despite the fact that he's clearly injured and disoriented.
41	* UselessWithoutPowers: The comic depicts ''all'' superheroes with powers as being like this. For example, Superman becomes a moping depressive after he loses his Kryptonian powers. However, some former superheroes, like Supergirl, still try to help out as {{Badass Normal}}s.
42	* VariableLengthChain: ''Very'' noticeable when the "Scales of Justice" has the chain on one side go from about a foot to ''at least'' six feet so Linda can twist and hit a guy.
43	* AWizardDidIt:
44	** There is no MetaOrigin that encompasses all or even a majority of the DC Comics superheroes, making it highly unlikely that any phenomena could depower all of them. For example, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Starfire and Aquaman all have innate abilities (caused by how their DNA is made up, no less) that are somehow stripped. This wouldn't be such a bad thing in itself,[[note]]All/most of DC's heroes having their powers stolen/copied by one source goes all the way back to classic JLA villain Amazo[[/note]] but there is serious inconsistency; a few characters that have ties to mysticism ([[FridgeLogic and could probably explain the whole thing]]) have conveniently vanished, while characters who get their powers from the gods, like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, or are mystical in nature, like Red Tornado, just lose their powers. It's even inconsistently applied with regards to tech heroes. Booster Gold's future tech keeps working while ComicBook/GreenLantern's ring, which is explicitly a technology made by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens, stops working. Hank Henshaw is somehow still able to use his powers, despite the fact that the only reason he can be Cyborg Superman is the result of a superpower that allows him to inhabit and control machines. The list goes on.
45	** The story later implies that {{God}} (Yes, ''that one'') caused this whole mess in order to teach the DC heroes a [[SuddenHumility "lesson of humility"]].
46	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
47	** A group of supervillains attacks with stolen super technology. Sure, Batman's little crew stopped them at the end, but there is nothing stopping other villains from trying this again. With all the more potent tech heroes either killed or just giving up entirely after one loss, what's to stop other villains from trying the same thing. The biggest super-tech bad guys on Earth are still around and Batman's small team alone isn't nearly enough to stop them all.
48	** No one questions any cosmological changes to the universe from the Black Light event when divinely-connected characters either lose power or suddenly disappear. Similarly, no one expresses any concern regarding the other alien races several of the members come from, or even the fates of the Atlanteans or Amazons as a result of the event.
49	** Despite Superman being chastised for failing to finish saving people from breaking dam in the beginning, none of the other heroes are worried about the fact that none of them are equipped to address larger scale natural or technological disasters afterwards.
50	** No government officials get involved in what would be a society changing event and the sudden loss of the world's greatest defenders.
51	** Since it's never stated if the Black Light event affected the ComicBook/NewGods, they have no mention, despite the fact that an Earth with only BadassNormal and tech-based superheroes would be the ''perfect'' target for ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. It's especially baffling when you consider that Orion ''has been part of the Justice League'', yet he doesn't even get a mention.
52	* WolverinePublicity: It's not really a JLA story but at the time, Creator/GrantMorrison's extremely successful revival of the ComicBook/{{Justice League\|of America}} made anything with JLA in the title sell well.
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Context ComicBook / JLAActOfGod