Today's Heroes... Tomorrow!
Justice League 3000 is an ongoing DC Comics series that launched in December 2013 as part of the New 52. The series is written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis, the writing team behind the original Justice League International.
Set in the year 3000, the series features new incarnations of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash. This new League, flawed clones of the originals, have been brought to the future by Cadmus in an attempt to restore an era of peace shattered years ago by an enemy known as "The Five".
Relaunched post-Convergence as Justice League 3001 the book was sadly cancelled in 2016, ending with an abrupt cliffhanger. Fortunately it was thankfully resolved by the same creative team in Blue Beetle (Volume 9) #12-13.
Justice League 3000 features the following tropes:
- The Ace: In 3001 #2 Supergirl (the real Kara Zor-El, not a clone) shows up and takes a less than a minute to defeat Starro who has been confounding the whole league at this point. Teri, who immediately before had been complaining that the 'historical' Supergirl was fictional practically melts in hero worship.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Teri succeeds Barry Allen as the Flash. Tina Sung becomes Batman. Indeed, by the end, the entire League is female. Teri, Tina, Wonder Woman, a genderbent Guy Gardner, and the original Supergirl, Fire and Ice.
- Alternate Timeline: This isn't the post-Flashpoint 31st century, but instead a future of the Formerly Known as the Justice League and I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League miniseries. In this timeline, Ted Kord was cryogenically frozen along with Booster Gold, and Fire went back to save Ice from Hell.
- Anti-Hero: The Wonder Twins are willing to manipulate the new League's minds to force them get along.
- Back from the Dead: The original Justice League is dead, but they live on as clones.
- Flash gets resurrected from his remains the issue after his death in #4. Both he and Teri get killed in #7, and Teri gets brought back with his DNA in the mix in #8.
- Bad Future: Peace in the galaxy is broken after The Five toppled governments and slaughtered billions, and the Green Lanterns are wiped out, having become the most hated group in the universe.
- Big Bad Friend: Terry turns out to have been the leader and creator of the Five all along in issue 7.
- Blood Knight: Wonder Woman loves to fight and would rather talk with her fists than her mouth.
- Body Horror: When the League battles Locus, she eviscerates the Flash with a thought.
- Brain Bleach: Subverted by Wonder Woman when Superman mentions his memories of their former relationship - she simply notes her relief that her memories of the relationship remain a blank.
- The Bus Came Back: A particularly surprising and popular example as they had apparently been wiped from creation. Post-Crisis Ted Kord and Booster Gold return in #11.
- Pre-Crisis Supergirl reappears after the time skip.
- Came Back Strong: Green Lantern's body is now suffused with the Green Light, at the price of it killing him as he uses his powers.
- Came Back Wrong: The heart of the series. The League are clones of the originals, but they lack chunks of their memories and their personalities don't quite match up, not to mention that Superman lacks his heat vision and flight and Flash lacks his protective aura.Teri: ...Okay, we've got a Superman without the Kents' guiding hands, Batman without the motivating trauma of his parents' deaths, a Wonder Woman too close to pure Amazon for comfort, a Flash whose powers might just burn him alive, and the sole remaining Green Lantern — the most despised organization in the universe.
- Lois Lane seems to have returned as a villain.
- The Cape: Green Lantern holds the personality closest to a classic hero's, and indeed his cloak is his most defining physical feature.
- Character Development: In issue #3, Superman starts to show signs of a conscience. Considering how much of an arrogant jerk he is, that's saying a lot.
- Wonder Woman later develops empathy and restraint, although she rarely and unwillingly exercises them.
- Clone Angst: The Flash questions if he and Green Lantern were really best friends, or if they're just programmed to think that. Batman and Green Lantern both note that they remember him being "sunnier". It turns out they're not really clones at all.
- Combat Pragmatist: The League resorts to this increasingly with their diminished abilities and teamwork. Green Lantern, in particular, realizes that this is the only possible way to fight Locus, attacking her from behind and keeping her disorientated so that she cannot focus her powers.
- Credits Gag: Used to varying degrees on each issue.
- Dark Action Girl: Locus qualifies as this.
- Darker and Edgier: Wonder Woman lives for fighting. Superman is sexually promiscuous, belittles Batman, enjoys being worshipped and thinks nothing of killing his foes. They do get a little better after the team's origins are revealed, but not by much.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Superman's head is blown off by a Scullion droid mid-sentence. In the next issue Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are also killed by Scullions.
- Dysfunction Junction: The core of the series.
- Earth All Along: The League realize that the backwater prison planet, Takron-Galtos, is actually Earth when they come across the Empire State Building.
- Evil All Along: Terry proves this when he murders Teri and then subsequently also kills the current Flash in Issue 7, also stating he formed the Five to begin with.
- Evil Costume Switch: Well, not evil, but the League's costumes reflect their darker personalities, particularly with Batman's red costume and Wonder Woman's mace.
- Explosive Leash: Every member of the Justice League 3000 project has inhaled "nano mines" that can be detonated on a moment's notice so long as they are in range. Terry kills the then-current Flash this way as a show of force to make sure the rest of the League stays in line. Ariel convinces Terry to neutralize the mines in #11 after the Five have been defeated.
- Face–Heel Turn: Lois in issue #9 of 3001. After the death of Superman she seemingly loses her main reason for villainy.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Averted. The Wonder Twins decide to do their best to make a light in their Bad Future, using ancient Justice League DNA.
- For Science!: Teri's motivation. Terry is slightly more idealistic. Teri abandons this in favor of true heroism when she becomes the Flash, and Terry proves his idealism was all a ruse.
- Gender Bender: Guy Gardner comes back as a woman. Subverted in that Guy seems to still identify as a man, effectively making him trans.
- The Heart: Green Lantern, who tries to placate Batman and Superman.
- Heel–Face Turn: Firestorm, Lois Lane and Terry. Lois indicates she turned during her original lifetime.
- In a Single Bound: Superman's main method of getting around, now he's lost his flight.
- I Believe I Can Fly: Averted for once within a Justice League team. Only Green Lantern can truly fly, as Superman has lost his flight, regardless of what he thinks.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Hal is shrunk by Locus and Swallowed Whole so she can take him home with her. He's never returned to normal size and eventually decides to interact with others using a life sized construct of himself whose shirt pocket he rides in.
- Jerkass: Superman and Wonder Woman. The degree of it decreases over time though.
- Ladykiller in Love: Superman is a boorish Handsome Lech who propositions every attractive woman he meets but when he starts crushing on Teri he turns flustered, blushes and constantly denies she is his girlfriend in the face of his teamates teasing.
- Last of His Kind: Green Lantern, the last of the Green Lantern Corps.
- Left Hanging: The book's abrupt cancellation left a ton of subplots unresolved: Who is Lady Styx and where she came from? Why is she so incredibly powerful? What are her real goals? Why had Lois come to hate Superman so much? Why did past Superman send Supergirl to the far-flung future? Were Lois and Ariel Masters able to escape Lady Styx's death squads? The final issue doesn't even conclude the battle betweeh the League and the Legion of Death, and readers had to read a completely different book -Blue Beetle Vol. 9 #12-13, published one year later- to find out whether the League won or lost that battle.
- Legacy Character: The series focuses on the successors of the original Justice League.
- Legend Fades to Myth: The tales of the original Justice League have since become fairy tales with multiple interpretations. They think Superman's origin was either an alien landing on Earth, or a farm boy finding a magic cape.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: The League constantly bicker and are outclassed by the Five every time they fight. But with proper leadership and knowledge they wipe the floor with the Five on Camelot Nine.
- Loophole Abuse: Starro conquers Wodin, noting that enslavement is legal if the correct documents are signed with Moonshadow 6's bureaucracy.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: Played ruthlessly straight in issues 6 and 7 of 3001 where Superman, Barry Allen, Hal Jordan and Batman are all killed off by the scullions while Blue Beetle and Booster Gold are missing presumed dead. Conversely none of the five existing female members of the League are killed and Batman is replaced by his own female descendant by the end of the issue. The only male member of the League confirmed alive by the end of #7 is Guy Gardener (who is biologically female but self identifies as male) - and in later issues even he finds the original mind of the body he was resurrected in fighting him for control.
- Mission Control: Terry & Teri, the Wonder Twins.
- Morality Pet: Teri is this for both Wonder Woman and Superman after she is revived as the new Flash. Wonder Woman is apparently deeply irritated by Teri but saves her live and calls her friend (only to immediately deny it after). Superman meanwhile takes Teri under his wing to train her as a hero and obviously develops feelings for her, panicking whenever she is in danger.
- Mythology Gag:
- Batman's costume resembles that of a Batman from a different future. Speaking of Batman Beyond, one of the characters is named Terry...and his and Bruce's roles are reversed.
- Terry and Teri are nicknamed "The Wonder Twins".
- Hal having a cloak alludes to his being a host of The Spectre.
- The Needs of the Many: The revelation in #4 that the killing of a person is needed to resurrect each Leaguer raises this as an issue.
- Noodle Incident: The great conflict that led to the deaths of the entire Justice League at the lead of Lois Lane, who became a criminal mastermind in revenge for something Superman did to her that she refuses to elaborate on when asked.
- Only Sane Man: Supergirl is the only Leaguer who is the real deal instead of a defective replica of the original member. She's a mature, sensible -and snarky- woman and her teammates are a Superman who is an egotistical ass, a crazier-than-usual Batman, a blood-thirsthy, booze-guzzling straw feminist Wonder Woman, a deranged Guy Gardner, an annoyingly hyperactive Flash...
- Out of Focus: Everyone in the Injustice League 3000 except Lois Lane have little development after their introduction. Bane and Sinestro only have a single appearance afterwards, Mirror Master only appears in a flashback (having decided to bail on the whole thing) and Zeus is forgotten entirely. Bane lampshades this, saying it's been so long since he was contacted he just assumed they disbanded.
- Past-Life Memories: The League's are incomplete, causing a large shift in their personalities without their nurture tailoring their nature. They know who each other are, but have no memory of being friends or a successful team. Superman lacks his memories of being raised as Clark Kent, and Batman his parents' deaths.
- Psycho Rangers: The Big Bad clones his own Injustice League with each designed to counteract the Justice League after being enhanced. They comprise Zeus, Mirror Master, Bane, Sinestro and Lois Lane.
- Reality Warper: Locus. She's so powerful, the Wonder Twins order the League to retreat from the planet that she is on. They don't and a Curb-Stomp Battle ensues in her favor.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning:
- Batman's new costume.
- Superman's eyes tend to glow red when he gets angry. Which, given his new personality, happens a lot.
- Required Secondary Powers: Notably averted by the Flash, who doesn't have the aura protecting him from friction as he runs at super speed and requires forcefields to replicate the effect.
- The Reveal: The League are not clones at all. The Wonder Twins instead overwrote the memories and DNA of five people with the original Justice League's DNA using nanotechnology, essentially killing these five subjects.
- Sixth Ranger: Firestorm joins the team in #4.
- The Slow Path: A few immortal characters have lived out the millennium since the present day. Etrigan the Demon and Ice are the only known examples so far.
- Smug Super: Superman.
- The Sociopath: In issue #3, armed forces make Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman surrender by threatening to gun down the innocents around them, aware that their weapons can't harm the League. Batman quickly gives in, but Wonder Woman couldn't care less.
- Stealth Sequel: To Formerly Known as the Justice League and I Can't Believe It's Not The Justice League.
- Swiss-Army Superpower: Green Lantern's cloak mimics the abilities of the traditional Green Lantern ring. He complains that the ring was better. Subverted when Teri reveals that the cloak merely channels the power now infused into Hal's body.
- Team Mom: Ariel Masters, somewhat literally.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Batman and Superman hate each other to the point that Batman plants an explosive on Superman's face purely because he refuses to be saved by him.
- Time Skip: After 15 issues the comic skips ahead to 3001. Lois has implanted her mind in Ariel's body, L-Ron has been rebuilt, Firestorm is reforming Cadmus and has resurrected Barry and Guy Gardner (the latter in a female body), Superman and Teri are dating, and Hal is nowhere to be seen.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: After being brought back to life and becoming the new Flash Teri's IQ has dropped dramatically from being a Teen Genius to what she claims is "higher than average". This has been noticed in universe, including by Teri herself and the theory is it is linked to her new powers either because her brain can't handle change properly or because of complications from Barry's D.N.A.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Superman's an arrogant tool and Wonder Woman's a Blood Knight.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Other characters note that Superman is becoming more humble, and the Wonder Twins are amazed when Wonder Woman shows compassion for the first time since they attempted to create her for the people sacrificed to recreate the League.
- The Unfettered: The new Superman revels in the fact that without the beliefs he gained as Clark Kent holding him back, he can unleash his 'true' self.
- Villainous Crush: Locus just got out of a relationship and has the hots for Green Lantern.
- We Have Reserves: When the Flash is killed by Locus, the Wonder Twins are horrified, but Terry suggests they generate another Flash.
- Wham Episode: Issue #7, just... Issue #7: Terry turns out to be both the leader and the founder of the five. He kills Teri in front of the League and blows up Barry's head with nano-mines, killing him once again. He's also been releasing nano-mines into the air at Cadmus, meaning that he can kill the entire League with the push of a button. And finally, Coeval convinces Terry that there's no reason to take chances by keeping the Cadmus employees alive. Terry agrees and lets Coeval detonate the nano-mines inside every single Cadmus employees' head at once.
- Issue #7 of 3001 is perhaps even more of a turning point: Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are killed by Scullions and Batman makes a Heroic Sacrifice. With Superman's death in the previous issue, Diana is now the only member of the original team still alive.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Ice seems weary of life and burying her comrades.
- Woman Scorned: Locus did not take Green Lantern's "rejection" well.
- You Are in Command Now: In Justice League 3001, Supergirl becomes The Leader of team after Superman and Batman get killed in Big Bad's first attack.
