Title Character
Clark Kent/Kal/El/Superman
Supporting Cast
Lois Lane | Jimmy Olsen | Ambush Bug | Steel
Villains
Central Rogues Gallery (Alexander "Lex" Luthor, Bizarro, Vril Dox/Brainiac, Cyborg-Superman, Darkseid, Doomsday, Lobo, Mister Mxyzptlk, Mongul, Phantom Zone Criminals [General Zod]) | A-L | M-Z (Superboy-Prime)
Spin-Offs
Supergirl (Kara Zor-El/Linda Danvers/Supergirl, Supporting Cast, Rogues Gallery) | Power Girl | Superboy (Conner Kent/Kon-El, Jonathan "Jon" Samuel Kent, Supporting Cast, Rogues Gallery) | Legion Of Superheroes (The Founders, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Five Years Later, Postboot, Threeboot, Retroboot, Rebirth, Other Heroes, The Fatal Five, The Legion of Supervillains, Other Villains, Supporting Cast)
Antonio Stefanacci is the curator of the Museum of Mystical Arts in Metropolis, and as such is intimately familiar with the workings of magic and sorcery, particularly eldritch items, in spite of spending most of his life without any magic himself.
When Darkseid sent out his Servants of Darkness, the Superman mockery attacked the museum, seeking out its most powerful artifact: a mentachem wand. Fortunately, the wand had been removed from display for research purposes, and Stefanacci was able to retrieve it. Alas, when the Legion came to investigate, "Superman" returned. In the ensuing fray, the wand slipped from Stefanacci's grip when Superboy pulled him out of the way of his twisted future clone's attacks, and the Servant managed to escape with it.
During the Magic Wars, Stefanacci gave refuge to a messenger from Zerox, and as a result of the Wars developed actual magical abilities he used to help defend the Earth.
- Expy: He might have a DOCTORate in mystical items, but this STRANGE fellow is no Sorcerer Supreme.
- Fake Wizardry: Publicly claimed to have powerful mystical abilities, but didn't have a scrap of magic...at first. He does seem to be good at sleight of hand, though.
- Famous Ancestor: Post-Infinite Crisis, it's revealed that his ancestor Antonia Stefanacci opened the Mystical Museum in the 21st century and was a contemporary of Zatanna.
- Magic Wand: During the Great Darkness Saga, his self-described most powerful artifact is one of Matter Master's Mentachem wands, which had allowed the villain complete control over matter. After a thousand years, it may be the last surviving one.
- Mass Super-Empowering Event: He was one of several people who developed magical abilities during the Magic War.
- Museum of the Strange and Unusual: The Museum of Mystical Arts, which is full of mystical items of all sorts.
- Real After All: An in-universe travel guide notes that his claims that all the items in his museum were real had been in doubt until The Great Darkness Saga.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Athramites were always annoyed by how little the Legionnaires wanted their services for clothing and interior decoration... and then they met Monstress, whose enthusiasm for redesigning her wardrobe wore out the Athramites so badly they became terrified of ever going near her again. Not that she ever notices.
- Bizarre Alien Senses: They have 47 of these.
- Covers Always Lie: The image you see at right shows them with two "eyes", while every other appearance shows them having three.
- Planet of Hats: They're a race of fashion designers.
- Shout-Out: They look like a horde of Super-Deformed Briareoses.
As a young girl, her father performed an experiment upon her which allowed her to metabolize the things she ate (which as a Bismiollian was practically anything) into a boost to her strength.
Believing that this additional power would make her a superior Legion candidate to fellow Bismollian Matter-Eater Lad, she attempted to join the Legion, and when rejected due to the Legion's rules about each applicant needing a unique power, helped start the Legion of Super-Rejects, who challenged their counterparts to combat.
After her eventual defeat, she turned her attention to civics, eventually becoming the assistant to Tenzil Kem, who'd been drafted into senator-ship on Bismoll. After Kem was mistakenly declared dead, she inherited his seat.
- Action Girl: The brashest and most violent member of the Rejects, she's still a force to be reckoned with even after she settles down to a "normal" life, as Evillo finds out.
- Anti-Villain: She really only wanted a chance to prove herself more qualified for Legion membership than Matter Eater Lad. Several of the other Rejects joined the Legion of Super-villains, but she didn't follow them.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: In 5YL. Tenzil's freewheeling and playful, she's dutiful and sarcastic, and they...don't seem to have acted on their tension, as she's a married woman.
- Call to Agriculture: After a fashion. Apparently in the interlude between the defeat of the Super-Rejects and starting her political career she spent some time working with the Bismollian geologic reclamation project.
- Character Development: By 5YL she's matured considerably, enough to be an incredibly effective senator while still in her early to mid 20's.
- Domino Mask: It's not quite clear what she did with her eyes (makeup?) but it approximates one of these.
- Extreme Omnivore: As with all Bismollians, she has the ability to eat (and derive nourishment) from literally anything except magnozite.
- Go-Getter Girl: Her father pushed her into becoming an academic and physical overachiever from an early age. Joining the Legion was the first thing she failed at, and so she reacted rather badly.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Tenzil's the public face of his Senatorship, she's the power broker behind the throne.
- Love at First Sight: During her first appearance, she made no secret about how hot she thought Magno Lad was. Nothing came of it, in the end, likely due to his complete turn to evil.
- Superior Successor:
- Her reason for joining the Legion of Super-Rejects was because she believed that her power made her one to Matter Eater Lad. Even he suggests the Legion proper take her in after he's drafted into politics. For some reason, they don't, even though it would've made her the physically strongest female Legionnaire.
- In 5YL, Tenzil Kem retires from his position as Senator and she succeeds him. She definitely wants the job more, and takes to it like a duck in water.
- Super-Strength: An experiment by her father allowed her to process caloric energy into enhanced physical abilities. According to her, she's as strong as three men.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: As mentioned, her father pressured her to excel from early childhood.
- Black Eyes of Evil: Averted. The fact that they're the size of a person's face doesn't make him less of a supporter of the Legion.
- Insectoid Aliens: He is one of these, alright.
- The Professor: Is head, or Chronarch, of the Time Institute.
Ten billion years ago, an Oan by the name of Krona investigated the origin of the universe and life itself. In the process, however, he inadvertently caused evil to be unleashed in places where it had once been unknown. The Oan race therefore dedicated their immortal lives, their advanced intellects and their great psychic powers to combating evil wherever it rose up, in order to atone for his actions.
In order to make up for their small numbers, the majority of the newly-formed Guardians of Oa chose to work through agents, first creating the Manhunter androids (who turned on them, oops), and later establishing the Green Lantern Corps.
However, a certain group among their race argued that evil was a disease that had been released by Oans, and so it must be eliminated by Oans before it could spread to infect the universe as a whole, no matter how extreme the methods. These "Controllers" made up for their even smaller numbers by advancing their science and technology to the point that as a whole they could observe the entirety of the universe, monitoring the evil within each of its galaxies and doing whatever they must to keep its plague from spreading.
While the other Controllers chose to depart to another dimension in order to watch over ours, one stayed behind. Having realized that he was the most powerful being in our universe, he chose conquer and rule over the lesser races rather than passively observing them.
First, the rogue Controller unleashed a Sun Eater, a living weapon with the ability to devour an entire galaxy. The Fatal Five were formed by the United Planets and the Legion of Super-Heroes to combat the Eater, and ultimately Ferro Lad of the Legion gave his life to destroy it. Thus, the vengeful Controller decided to take over the Legion and forge them into his personal army, only to be mysteriously foiled (and stricken with a heart attack) by what appeared to be the ghost of Ferro Lad.
As a reward for stopping their mad colleague, the Controllers gave the Legion the Miracle Machine, a device which could manifest any wish they wanted.
On another occasion, a group of Legionnaires traveling through Limbo discovered that a Controller was having another Sun Eater built, and destroyed it while it was still being created. As a result, this Controller would later effectively kidnap them and place them on Tyrraz, tasking them with destroying the gigantic battleship/planet as he'd been planning to do before it could carve a bloody path through the Milky Way galaxy. The Legionnaires managed to remove Tyrraz's engines, saving the lives of both its citizens and our galaxy.
Eventually, (some of?) the Controllers created the Darkstars, of which Celeste Rockfish briefly became a member thanks to warps in the time stream as Zero Hour approached.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Their skin has a lavender-pink tone, as opposed to the typical Oan blue.
- Anti-Hero Team: Very, very pragmatic. If necessary, they're willing to cause mass destruction and death to prevent greater evils from overwhelming the universe. That said, as demonstrated by the Tyrraz Controller, they are willing to accept and implement alternate solutions.
- The Atoner: Like the Guardians (the main branch of Oans), they work tirelessly to make up for the misdeeds of Krona.
- Good is Not Nice: They want to stop evil from spreading, and they'll kill whoever they have to do it, though they will listen to reason.
- Humans Are Insects: They're mostly cold and aloof toward other races, however they acknowledge good deeds and worthy people.
- Knight Templar: They work to totally obliterate evil when it shows its ugly face. To that end they invented the Sun Eater to destroy whole galaxies whom they judge to have been pervaded by evil.
- The Last Dance: Stripped of the lion's share of his power (and apparently his immortality) for his failure, the Controller who was to destroy Tyrraz was inspired by the struggles of the Legion to remain on the war-planet and spend the rest of his days battling its myriad evils.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
- As mentioned above, one Controller decided to turn his great abilities and resources toward conquering the universe.
- Another Controller by the sobriquet of Clonus accidentally created a race of monsters, then cloned and worked with the Wanderers as their advisor as opposed to the race's typical aloof tendencies.
- Psychic Powers: As Oans, they have powerful inborn psychic abilities. It's unclear how they shape up compared to the Guardians, however. Some sources note that their psychic development has been comparatively stunted in favor of technological advancement.
- Retcon: Although the Controllers were established for decades as working alone and regarding other races as unnecessary to their mission, eventually it was revealed that they'd created the Darkstars.
- Secret Test of Character: The gift of the Miracle Machine amounts to one of these, as any the Legion's evil or selfish wishes could just as easily be manifested as good ones.
- Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: Even more technologically advanced than their cousins, the Guardians of Oa.
- The Ageless: As Oans, they are immune to the ravages of age, although it seems their life force can be stripped from them, as with the Controller of Tyrraz.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Their gift of the Miracle Machine would eventually lead to an insane Brainiac 5 using it to create Omega, an agglomeration of all the hate in the universe in monstrous form. Fortunately it was destroyed before the Controller in charge of our section of the universe could hit the proverbial big red button.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: They don't just want to combat evil, they want to purge its influence like a virus, no matter the cost in life.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The Controller who planned to use a Sun Eater to destroy Tyrraz was upset enough about the Legion's interference to kidnap the ones responsible, telling them that if they felt worthy to determine the fate of planets they could go and prove it. They did.
- You Have Failed Me: Due to his failure, the Controller who was meant to destroy Tyrraz was stripped of much of his power and life force by his fellows, leaving his days numbered.
- Dr. Jerk: He's quite irascible.
- Fan of the Past: He collects 20th-century comic strips.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In spite of his constant complaints about them, he remains the Legion's personal physician on Medicus One, having turned down similar offers from some of the richest people in the galaxy.
- Continuity Nod: He's a reference to the evil Silver Age Brainiac, who had a pet alien monkey named Koko.
- Fish out of Temporal Water
- Pokémon Speak: "KOKO!"
- Shoo Out the Clowns: At the end of the more lighthearted Peyer/McGraw/Stern era, in the issue before the Darker and Edgier DnA era began, Koko leaves the series to settle down with a female space monkey on a remote jungle planet.
- Team Pet
The priestess of the Monks of Maakas, Lady Memory is the receptacle of all the memories of her race.
Serving as the military and spiritual leader of the Hill/Mountain People of Talok VIII, she sought to take back all that the "City People" (colonizers) had stolen from her tribe. In particular, she blamed the Mallors, the family who had produced the Shadow Warriors, for their role in taking over the planet.
When both Tasmia and Grev Mallor (co-Champions of Talok VIII) were off-planet, Lady Memory seized the opportunity to revolt against the government—only to have the Fatal Five seemingly come out of nowhere and hijack her revolution in order to take over the planet for themselves.
Once the Five were driven off by the Legion, Lady Memory waited a few years before attacking again. Calling up the Persuader, the two of them led raids on Talok VIII's cities until the Mallor cousins and the Legion stopped them once more.
Lady Memory then challenged Tasmia Mallor for the right to the position of Champion, but even though LM had paralyzed Mon-El with her memory powers, Shadow Lass was able to shake off her attacks and defeat her once more.
During the Five-Year Gap, when Earthgov disbanded the Legion, Grev Mallor retired as Shadow Kid and returned to his full-time position as Champion of Talok VIII. He and Lady Memory then married in order to unite their peoples.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: She and her fellow Hill People are light green as opposed to the typical light blue Talokian.
- Anti-Villain: Her grievances against the City People who subjugated the Hill People and colonized their lands are legitimate, but her methods of rectifying the situation tend toward violence at first.
- Befriending the Enemy: Even though the Fatal Five hijacked her revolution in order to take over Talok VIII, she somehow managed to strike up a genuine friendship with The Persuader.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Thanks to his time in the Phantom Zone, Mon-El's had a thousand years of horrible memories and guilt for her to drag out and torture him with. Shadow Lass on the other hand, takes her out with one punch after shaking off her memory-based Mind Rape.
- Didn't See That Coming:
- The Fatal Five literally popped in after being banished into another dimension and used the chaos of her revolt against the City People to conquer the planet.
- She didn't expect Shadow Lass to have the strength of will necessary to overcome her Mind Rape, and so she was caught off guard and went down in one punch.
- Genetic Memory: Has inherited the memory of all Talokians.
- Hazy-Feel Turn: She wants what she believes to be best for her people, whether that means working with villains or heroes. Eventually, she does choose to trust Grev and by extension the Legion.
- Human Alien: She's a Talokian, but from a different tribe than Tasmia and Grev.
- Lady of War: Besides her memory powers she's also a skilled fighter and leads her people in raids.
- Mind Probe: Since she can read every single memory inside a person's head, their minds are effectively an open book to her—including their current thoughts.
- Mind Rape: Can overwhelm people with their own memories, insecurities, fears and so forth, inducing a Heroic BSoD.
- The Chosen One: The Monks of Maakas spent a thousand years searching for the child who had become the reincarnation of their race's collective memory.
- The Omniscient: Apparently has access to the memories of everyone who has ever set foot on Talok VIII, including the deceased, and the memories of the very planet itself. It's also implied that her memories might even be broader than that.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: She and Grev Mallor aka Shadow Kid married in order to cement peace between their peoples, but they actually do seem to hit it off afterward. At the very least, she enjoys sleeping with him.
- Protectorate: Of the Hill People.
- Super-Strength: Talokians are somewhat stronger than (Earthborn) humans.
- Villain Has a Point: As the Hill/Mountain People were on Talok VIII first, before the blue-skinned colonizers took over the place and drove them from their homes, she's got an understandable grudge.
- You Killed My Father: She bore particular resentment toward the Mallors, as their ancestors' shadow powers had helped the City People defeat the Hill People long ago, and of course those memories were still fresh for her.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: She is from the 20th century.
- I Just Want to Be Special
- Legacy Character: She gets a hold of the Hero Dial from Dial H for Hero for a while.
- Word of God eventually supported Epileptic Trees from the time that she was meant to be the Postboot Glorith. (At one point the Time Trapper calls her "glorious"; glorious + Lori = Glorith.)
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Zigzagged. She is a ten year old in a twenty year old's body after living with a character named Chronos, gets her normal body back when her chronal energy is taken, gets to grow again whenever she uses the Hero Dial, and will eventually become the Time Trapper of vol.4.
- Tagalong Kid
In the nascent days of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the United Planets were suspicious of allowing a team of young teenagers to operate with little supervision. In order to allay their concerns, RJ Brand appointed Marla Latham, his executive assistant, to serve as "Adult Advisor": a teacher, counselor, and (if necessary) chaperone to the group of youngsters.
Putting his impressive managerial skills to work, Latham proved essential to the foundation and organization of the incipient team, as the founders were roughly fourteen and had no experience in that field at first. He also took on the tasks of recruitment and education of new members and devised training methods and tests still in use at the Legion Academy to this day.
As the Legionnaires approached adulthood, Latham began to feel that his presence was keeping his young friends from developing properly, with them coming to him for advice about problems they should have been figuring out themselves, and he requested that RJ Brande transfer him to another position.
Although he stepped down as mentor, Latham remained a friend of the Legion, and occasionally helped out his former pupils, such as when Ultra Boy was framed for murder by Pulsar Stargrave and Latham personally made sure he'd get a fair trial.
When RJ Brande disappeared, Marla served as his heir Reep Daggle's executive assistant. After the destruction of Earth, Marla and Brande Industries proved instrumental in helping New Earth gain and maintain a stable orbit.
- Ambiguously Gay: Insofar as he's impeccably groomed and enjoys hanging out with Brande at mud baths. On the other hand, a flashback shows that he was very interested in one of his female co-workers as a youth, though he married another woman. That was in Preboot, though so it's hard to say what his tastes are in other continuities.
- Badass Normal: Joined his students on missions, despite having no super-powers himself.
- Cool Teacher: He teaches superheroes, and happens to be aide-de-camp to the richest man in the galaxy.
- Mythology Gag: Some of the Early-Installment Weirdness of the Legion is shown to be due to the fact that Marla didn't take Brande's crazy idea to start a superhero team as anything more than a strange whim doomed to fail. Thus, he devoted less money to equipment and uniforms than Brande was expecting, until the ka-zillionaire set him straight.
- Fantastic Recruitment Drive: He helped scout out prospective Legion members.
- Gender-Blender Name: Marla.
- It's Personal: After Ultra Boy was framed for murder, Marla personally came out of retirement to make absolutely certain he was captured and put fairly before the court before some outside faction in the UP government could use his crime against the Legion. As he explained, he wasn't about to allow a student he'd personally trained to be responsible for that.
- Karmic Jackpot: As a young dockworker, he risked his life to save a Durlan who'd appeared out of nowhere and was being violently beaten by some of his racist co-workers, and helped him come into contact with another of his kind, as well as scraping together enough money to help give him safe passage back to Durla. Fifteen years later, R.J. Brande himself offered Marla (now a manager at the dock) a position as his executive assistant. Marla didn't learn about the connection until another twenty years had passed.
- Like a Son to Me: He and Ultra Boy, the first Legionnaire whom he personally trained, grew particularly close. Ultra Boy even chose a slightly modified version of Marla's outfit as his costume. This relationship was strained for a while after Marla was particularly harsh with him when it seemed Jo had committed a murder.
- Living Emotional Crutch: After the Legion and Legion Academy had established themselves properly, he felt he was obsolete and holding them back in this fashion, and retired from his position with them.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: As mentioned above, at first he didn't exactly embrace the notion of a superhero team with the gusto Brande was expecting. In his defense, superhero teams were really more of a 20th Century thing.
- One-Hour Work Week: As the Legionnaires proved to be very mature for their ages, his job became somewhat ceremonial after he'd helped get them started.
- Parental Substitute: In the formative days of the legion he acted in loco parentis, helping the young teens adapt to their new roles as protectors of the galaxy, and acting as a counselor and teacher.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Does everything he can to help his charges pass Legion qualification, including traveling to the past and supervising them if need be.
- Relegated Mentor: As the Legionnaires matured, he found his old role among them becoming less and less necessary. When he realized his continued presence might be stunting their emotional growth, he decided to quit being their advisor.
- Stern Teacher: Marla personally trained and tested Jo Nah for admission to the Legion, warning him that he wouldn't hesitate to keep him out if he should fail, but also helping as much as allowed. Years later, when Jo was accused of killing his girlfriend, Marla was a strident advocate of getting him captured and fairly tried as soon as possible.
- Token Adult: In the early days of the Legion, he was assigned by Brande to act as "chaperone" and instructor to the team in order to deflect criticisms about endangering minors.
- Improbable Age: He's a 13-year-old economic/diplomacy genius.
- Tagalong Kid
- Tuckerization: Reference to fan, Richard Morrissey.
- Grand Theft Me: Was thought at first to have sacrificed his lifeforce to bring Lightning Lad back to life. A retcon revealed that it actually transferred his mind into Lightning Lad's body.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Pre-5YL.
- Legacy Character: Another member of Proty's species shows up after the original's death.
- Team Pet
- The Voiceless: The first Proty; the second one eventually learns to shapeshift a working mouth and vocal cords. (Postboot Proty could speak from the beginning.)
- Voluntary Shapeshifting
The UP's top troubleshooter, Relnic is called to negotiate in the worst situations.
- Fling a Light into the Future: During the Magic War, when science begins failing all over the galaxy, Relnic is one of the last to flee Weber's World, the diplomatic center of the United Planets. As he explains to Timber Wolf, the Magic War might be the end of the civilization as they know it, so he needs to salvage as much information about the UP's structure, alliances, laws and so forth as possible in order to prepare for what comes next.
- Mind Control: During his takeover of Earth, Universo hypnotizes him, then uses him to lead the Legion into a trap.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently he's worked with the Legion on at least one unseen case.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: At times he's got to interfere with the Legion for the sake of peace, such as ordering them off Khund worlds in order to keep from riling their old enemies up. On the other hand, he's also used their presence to throw the Khunds off-balance and distract them.
- Reconcile the Bitter Foes: He's worked out treaties between Earth and the Khunds, and The Dominators after our wars with them. Granted, those didn't exactly work out, but it's not his fault.
- Younger Than They Look: Relnic went gray early, which gives him the dignified appearance of someone much older than he actually is.
Pre-Boot: To all appearances, RJ Brande was a human nuclear physicist and entrepreneur who became the richest man in the galaxy after pioneering the business of creating stars and selling to those who needed them.
Following an assassination attempt paid for by his cousin/former partner Doyle, which was thwarted by three super-powered teenagers, Brande got the idea to found (and fund) a team of superheroes who would operate independently of the Science Police. His first three recruits were Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad.
Following the Earthwar, Brande was shocked to discover that his fortune had been stolen. After the Legion found that his money had been embezzled by Earthgov and put toward rebuilding the war-torn planet, Brande decided to write it off as a donation and went to work rebuilding his capital.
During this time, he had a recurrence of what turned out to be Yorggian Fever, a disease which required a blood transfusion from his son...Reep Daggle, aka Chameleon Boy.
As it turned out, "RJ Brande" was actually Ren Daggle, a Durlan from the 20th Century who'd randomly appeared on 30th Century Earth one day. After being introduced to another Durlan by the name of Theg, the two of them returned to Durla, only to find that the culture had become deeply paranoid and hostile. On the bright side, Ren found love with Zhay, Theg's sister, and they bore twins together.
Alas, Ren, Theg, and Zhay contracted Yorggian Fever, a potentially-fatal disease which robbed survivors of their ability to shape-shift. Zhay died, and Ren and Theg left the planet, putting Ren's offspring Reep and Ligg into the care of another of Theg's sisters. The two of them then shifted for the last time, taking human form and starting Brande Industries under the names of Rene and Doyle Brande.
Although Chameleon Boy was furious with his father for not revealing himself earlier, they worked on building a relationship, helped along when Brande helped Reep regain his lost shape-shifting powers.
Once he'd regained his wealth, Brande decided to go out looking for adventure and disappeared, leaving Brande Industries in the hands of his son and Marla Latham.
Brande contacted Reep once more when he found the Soul Of Antares, aka "James Cullen", and with his help the Legion restored sapience to the Protean race.
Post-Boot: Brande is heavily implied to be the aged Martian Manhunter.
- Amnesiac Resonance: Although he doesn't remember it, he helped Vril Dox start the L.E.G.I.O.N. in the 20th Century, operating under the sobriquet of The Durlan.
- Catchphrase: "By damn!"
- Clashing Cousins: Adoptive cousins anyway. Although Theg/Doyle helped Ren/Brande accommodate himself to the 30th Century and get back to Durla, he eventually cracked under the weight of his money and started a dissipated lifestyle that forced Brande to buy out his share of Brande Industries. After pissing away his severance, Doyle sought revenge on Brande for cutting off his support and tried to have him assassinated.
- Corporate Sponsored Super Hero: before the UP took over funding the Legion he and his company were their primary sponsors. Since he's an Honest Corporate Executive, he didn't stick ad-banners on their suits or anything like that.
- Darkest Hour: He has a brief bout of depression after his money and assets are embezzled from him by the president of Earthgov—but then he realizes that if he made one fortune, he could just as easily make another and got cracking.
- Fan of the Past: He has a sizable collection of 20th- and 21st-century memorabilia. Not surprising, since he's either implied to be or explicitly from the Present Day, depending on the continuity. This fixation on the past was part of his inspiration for creating a team of superheroes, like they'd had in the old days.
- Fiction 500: He's the richest man in the galaxy.
- Gadgeteer Genius: An expert in nuclear physics, who devised a way to create stars.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Earned his money honestly, with his own ingenuity, and multiplied it by shrewd investments. He also funded the Legion until he was embezzled into bankruptcy.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: A Preboot miniseries revealed that Brande was a mode locked Durlan, and Chameleon Boy's father.
- Mentor: Although more of a hands-off mentor, Brande was something of an uncle-like figure to the Legionnaires.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: 30th Century Durlan culture is deeply paranoid and insular. After bring stranded there, Ren and Theg were miserable, with Ren's only comfort being his marriage to Theg's sister. After she died from Yorggian Fever, Ren and Theg left the planet with both happily re-embracing the open thinking and perspectives of the United Planets.
- Put on a Bus: No mention of him was made in Vol.5.
- Race Lift: The R.J. Brande of Vol.8 has not only been given this, but also a Gender Flip into a seven or eight foot tall violet skinned lady with what seem to be fins instead of ears.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The richest man in the galaxy has given the Legion a blank check. That's more than reasonable on it's own, but he also serves as a sort of "jolly uncle" figure for all of them.
- Rich Genius: Made his money by creating stars from dead suns and selling them to the highest bidder—something that had apparently never occurred to anyone else.
- Self-Made Man: From an amnesiac time-tossed Durlan frozen in human form to the richest man in the galaxy—and after Earthgov embezzles his dough he lets them keep the money saying he'll just have to go and make the journey again.
- Separated by a Common Language: A minor case. Ren Daggle's 20th Century Durlan is a dialect no one uses anymore, though Theg remembers enough of it to converse.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: It turned out that Brande was been a Durlan who'd contracted Yorggian Fever, a potentially-fatal disease which robs a Durlan of their shifting abilities.
- The Team Benefactor: For the Legion, until his money was stolen.
- Trapped in the Past: Inverted. Brande is implied (or stated) to have been an amnesiac 20th Century Durlan who was sent a thousand years into the future by the same accident that sent Phantom Girl to the past and wiped her memory as well.
- Uncle Pennybags: A very avuncular figure, who always has time (and funding) for the Legionnaires.
- What Could Have Been: It was blatantly obvious that Postboot was building up to The Reveal that Brande was actually the Martian Manhunter, drastically weakened and Mode Locked into human form, but the continuity was rebooted before the reveal ever took place.
As a youth, Toshiaki showed such natural skill in zen philosophy and hand-to-hand combat that martial artists of all disciplines eagerly sought the young prodigy out to teach him their ways. In time he became the best martial artist on Earth. By implication, since he trained Karate Kid, he was also the best in the galaxy.
When he deemed himself skilled enough, he took on the identity of White Toshi and single-handedly took on the task of wiping the yakuza and other gangsters from Tokyo. In doing so, he made a mortal enemy of the crimelord known as the Black Dragon, who rivaled him in talent and clashed with him on multiple occasions over the years.
In the end, White Toshi tracked his foe to his headquarters and struck him down in combat, only to discover that the Black Dragon had sired an infant son with a now-deceased foreign wife.
In order to make up for the crimes of the boy's father and his own act of orphaning him, Sensei retired as a superhero and raised young Val Armorr, training him in martial arts both human and alien, until his skills surpassed those of his aging mentor and he joined the Legion of Super-Heroes.
(Valentina Armorr was later ret-conned back into living a bit longer with she and Sensei both agreeing that it would be best if the Black Dragon's colleagues didn't know about the boy, as they would raise him in his father's image. However, she was then killed while trying to escape them.)
Upon Karate Kid's death, Sensei and Timber Wolf traveled to the Wretched Hive of Lythyl in order to (paraphrasing) "plant a seed which would topple the planet" as stipulated in Val's will. Appearing before the planet's Three Judges, they defeated one of them (the teen-aged Myg) in combat, spiriting the boy away so that he wouldn't grow into another martial-artist crimelord like the Black Dragon.
During the course of his training, Sensei managed to (mostly) sway Myg away from his vicious ways and the lad began to attend the Legion Academy, eventually becoming a Legionnaire during the Five-Year Gap.
- Apologetic Attacker: "I did not want to kill you, Black Dragon..."
- Appropriated Appellation: He doesn't call himself "Sensei", but Karate Kid does.
- Arch-Enemy: The Black Dragon, whom he was eventually forced to slay.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: "White Toshi", his old superhero name, doesn't mean anything in Japanese, nor does his real name match Japanese naming conventions. On the other hand, the language has had a good thousand years to change.
- The Atoner: Adopted Val Armorr and raised him as a hero both to make up for all the evil the Black Dragon caused, and for making him an orphan. (Val's mom being dead already).
- Badass Normal: Like his proteges, he can take on super-powered opponents and win using only his skills. In fact, he spent decades working a superhero himself.
- Good Parents: Put it this way. Myg was a child born on the Wretched Hive planet of Lythyl, where you gain power by viciously beating in the heads of your rivals. He ended up one of that planet's three rulers while still a young teenager. A few years with Sensei, however, and the kid is Legion Academy material. And then there's the fact that he raised the first Karate Kid, of course.
- The Greatest Style: The Sensei's personal style was developed from the teachings of the best martial artists on Earth and other planets, each of which had had over a thousand years of refinement to adapt to a galaxy of superheroes and aliens.
- Happily Adopted: Val even says that Sensei is his true father.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After being forced to kill the Black Dragon he was extremely troubled, especially after learning that in doing so he'd orphaned a child.
- Obsolete Mentor: He was middle-aged when he adopted Val, and is now an elderly man. As such, his physical abilities have slipped to the point where Val and later Myg have surpassed him.
- Old Master: Once very likely the greatest martial artist in the galaxy, now (thanks to encroaching age) only one of the greatest.
- One-Man Army: In his youth, he drove the yakuza and other crime-lords out of Tokyo with his own two bare hands.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Val Armorr was the closest thing to a son Sensei had, and the old man ended up aiding Timber Wolf in executing his will.
- Parental Substitute: Sensei takes on this role to keep any of the Black Dragon's ilk from trying to lay claim to young Val.
- Redeeming Replacement: Killed the evil crime lord known as the Black Dragon, then raised BD's son Val Armorr as a hero in order to balance out both this grim deed and the Dragon's multiple evils.
- Retired Badass: As a youth he was a superhero known as White Toshi. He retired to raise Val Armorr.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: He told the Black Dragon that he didn't want to kill him, but the Dragon made it clear that their final clash was a fight to the death. Part of the reason he chose to raise Val was out of the guilt he felt over killing his father.
- World's Best Warrior: In his prime, he was the greatest martial artist in the galaxy, but age has taken a bit of a toll on him. He has however trained both Karate Kid I and II, successors to the title. Besides, not quite the greatest martial artist in the galaxy is still pretty good.
Kimball Zendak
- The Commissioner Gordon: He's the one who orchestrated the close alliance between the newly-formed Legion and the Science Police.
- Declining Promotion: Zendak doesn't want to get stuck behind a desk, in spite of numerous offers, including Police Commander Hagbard himself offering to resign/promote him into his position.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Post-Infinite Crisis, he was abruptly killed off by Durlan terrorists.
- Friend on the Force: He originated the post of SP Legion Liaison Officer, ensuring a close relationship between the LSH and SP, and was on friendly terms with a number of members, himself.
- He's Back!: After being fired by the Earth President following Universo's takeover, former chief Zendak returned during the Magic War to help newly-minted Earth SP Chief Cusimano out with the mobs and riots breaking out on Earth. He was then reinstated and given the (ceremonial) position of Commissioner and became aide to Police Commander Hagbard.
- Kill and Replace: Post-Infinite Crisis, a Durlan terrorist killed him and briefly took his place.
- Married to the Job: Regularly tops Metropolis Vidnews's Most Eligible Bachelor list, but his dedication to the SP comes first
- Mythology Gag: Possibly. A flashback taking place shortly after the Legion's formation shows his younger, earlier design.
- Redeeming Replacement: Of the Science Police as a whole. After Chief Zoltorus resigned in disgrace due to his leadership of the Taurus Gang being uncovered, a pall was cast over the SP. After Zoltorus's successor abruptly resigned, Police Commander Hagbard recognized Zendak's charisma and talent, and chose the young officer over more seasoned candidates. Although the was some doubt from the higher-ups, Zendak managed to turn the SP's reputation around and helped modernize it.
- Shipper on Deck: One one occasion he assigned Gigi Cusimano to work with Dev-Em in the hopes that they'd hit it off, although he may have been joking about that.
- Workaholic: It's not clear if he even has a private life.
- You Don't Look Like You:
- A brunette in his first appearances, later a redhead.
- At one point, he was redesigned to look about a decade older, with a somewhat craggier face and gray temples.
Gigi Cusimano
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: During the Reboot era, she's changed to be Gim Allon's childhood friend, rather than meeting him at the Academy, as previously. She's also less close to the Legion in general than before.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Her relationship with Sun Boy is...complex.
- Da Chief: Thanks to her ambition and dedication, she was awarded the Chief Starburst and leadership of the SP outpost on Mars. After Chief Zendak was forced to retire a few years later, she became Commissioner of the Earth branch and found herself briefly governing both the United Planets and the Science Police after the Magic War. During the Five-Year-Gap she was promoted from Commissioner to Chief, making her de facto position over the SP official.
- Friend on the Force: She was Gim Allon/Colossal Boy's girlfriend during his days at the Science Police Academy and remained good friends/occasionally dated with him after he joined the Legion. She also had an on-again-off-again relationship with Sun Boy.
- Rank Up: Science Police Cadet->SP Officer->Chief of SP Mars Outpost->Commissioner of SP on Earth->De facto Chief of the Earth SP->Proper promotion to Chief of Earth SP, all at a fairly young age.
- Two Girls and a Guy: Erin and herself are the girls, Dvron's the guy.
- Tuckerization, PaulLevitz named her after his wife, Jeanette Cusimano.
- Unknown Relative: During 5YL an Officer Sara Cusimano is mentioned, but what relation she might have to Gigi (if the name isn't a coincidence) is never revealed to the audience.
- Workaholic: Although less so than Zendak, Gigi is always volunteering for extra missions, including hazard duty.
Lon Norg
- Abusive Parents: You can see it in the picture to the right.
- Living Prop
- Open-Minded Parent: Subverted. He used to bring home alien cell samples for his genius son Lyle to experiment with, seemingly in order to encourage his studies, but he'd actually been planning to hand Lyle's xenological research over to his superiors in the Science Police all along.
Officer Roon Dvron
- Clueless Detective: At one point he needed to be reminded (by Bouncing Boy) to investigate a motive after a shooting. This, after a few years on the force. Not encouraging.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Even after years of attempts to impress his superiors by diversifying his skills and experiences, they still think of him as wet behind the ears.
- Exact Words: After he interfered with the Legion's capture of Universo and let him get away, Dvron felt that the debt he owed the villain had been discharged and helped the Legion recapture him.
- Fiery Redhead: Very enthusiastic, but also very lacking in forethought.
- Friend on the Force: During his investigation of Laurel Kent's shooting, he befriended Polar Boy and Magnetic Kid.
- Hot-Blooded: His enthusiasm is only outweighed by his impetuousness.
- Idiot Houdini: Zigzagged. On the one hand, his impulsive actions have kept him from getting promoted, but on the other hand, the Legion is still on friendly terms with him and he still has a job with the SP in spite of letting a super-criminal go and attempting breaking and entering upon the Legion HQ twice.
- I Owe You My Life: Universo saved Dvron's life, so he once repaid the conqueror by keeping the Legion from capturing him. After he helped recapture Universo the Legion declined to mention this to his superiors, keeping him from being court-martialed.
- New Meat: He's in over his head at times when dealing with the Legion.
- Passed-Over Promotion: He'd like to be considered for leadership training, but even after years on the force, he's still looked upon as a rookie by his superiors thanks to his impulsiveness and lack of aptitude. In time, he does snag a lieutenant position, and during 5YL he was promoted to captain.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- The Legion would probably have understood if he'd explained why he wanted to help Universo out before letting him go.
- In his second encounter with the Legion, his superiors sent him to keep an eye on Legion HQ while the group attended Chemical King's funeral; neither he nor said superiors were aware/had been told that keeping watch over the HQ was the Legion Reservists' job. He ended up getting himself and Bouncing Boy caught by their security systems.
- Trespassing Hero: Tried (and failed) to bypass Legion HQ security twice, with the best of intentions each time.
- Two Girls and a Guy: Between Cusimano and Erin, he's the guy.
Shvaugn Erin/Sean Erin
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the Reboot, she's an adult while Element Lad is still a young teenager, and they have no romance.
- Baby Morph Episode: One Reboot story has the Emerald Eye-empowered Violet physically reducing her to a baby. However, Shvaugn still retains all of her intellect and memories and mobilizes against Violet.
- The Commissioner Gordon: The official liaison between the Legion and the Science Police in most continuities.
- Common Law Marriage: Element Lad takes her to Trom, sharing his lost culture with her and inviting her to pray with him in one of their religious buildings. Shvaugn regards this is as being as good as a marriage—neither of them are interested in anyone else anyway.
- Cool Big Sis: As the Reboot Legionnaires are a good deal younger than her, Shvaugn finds herself in this position.
- Friend on the Force: The official SP Legion Liaison Officer (in fact, she's the one who persuaded Zendak to originate the position), and dated Element Lad as well.
- Gender Bender: The infamous story from V4 (5YL) where Shvaughn — or "Sean" — suddenly reveals that he had been using the drug "Profem" to become a woman so "she" could date Element Lad; unfortunately, the war with the Dominators cut off "her" supply. Jan not only doesn't mind the revelation, he actually implies that he was with "Shvaughn" despite "her" gender. The Postboot Legion stayed clear of the entire issue.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the Reboot continuity, Computo hacks her extensive files on the Legionnaires in order to fight them more effectively.
- Retcon: So far, she's only explicitly been mentioned as being a transwoman in 5YL continuity.
- Tuckerization: Named after a cousin of a friend of Paul Levitz. He didn't know how to spell "Siobhán" correctly, however, but made a pretty good approximation. (53:45 in interview)
- Two Girls and a Guy: Cusimano and herself are the girls, Dvron's the guy.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite how prominent Shvaughn was in the original continuity, absolutely no version of her appears at all during the Johnsboot and post-Flashpoint continuities. Her absence in the Johnsboot is especially glaring when Gigi and the other officers made appearances, and Element Lad doesn't mention her at all.
Even though this character is extremely minor, there are two wildly different origins, names and backgrounds for her.
Angela Majors, the child of a human mother and aquatic-dwelling father, somehow ended up in suspended animation for several centuries, awakening at last with a life-draining touch.
Between appearances, this background was discarded in favor of the below one.
Tayla Skott's uncle performed a highly dangerous and illegal genetic operation upon her at the age of three, giving her green skin, the ability to live in or out of the water, and to store up ambient electrical charges which she could discharge as lightning.
Although she attempted to join the Legion, she and the other applicants at the time failed their test, and she began attending the Legion Academy in order to hone her powers and skills.
Post-Infinite Crisis, Tayla Skott finally graduated, was rejected one final time from the Legion and decided to join the Science Police.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Both versions have green skin (except when she doesn't).
- Bad Powers, Good People: Angela Majors wants to be a hero in spite of having life-draining powers.
- Commuting on a Bus: Turned up most often during Legion Academy or recruitment stories.
- Deer in the Headlights: The Tayla Skott version had a tendency to freeze in combat, another reason she was rejected.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Whatever suspended Angela Majors left her with a Touch of Death.
- Guinea Pig Family: Tayla Skott's uncle was looking for a way to get her to grow gills so that she could join him on his underwater excursions. She did that and more.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Angela Majors was half-aquatic being.
- Multiple-Choice Past:
- Lamprey's first past was revealed in Amazing World of Dc Comics #14
- Lamprey's second past as mentioned above is only revealed by her Who's Who entry.
- Passed-Over Promotion: Although she graduated from the Legion Academy, after one final rejection she chose to join the Science Police instead.
- Power Incontinence: She can occasionally lose control of her lightning.
- Shock and Awe: Tayla Skott can shoot lightning, but implicitly only underwater at first. With Academy training she seems to have overcome this limitation.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Can breathe underwater.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Downplayed as Wildfire is far from a devil, but he is a harsh teacher with an abrasive attitude. After hearing his story and realizing just how much of a wreck his life had become after being turned into living energy, she and Nightwind developed a strong sense of empathy for him. At one point they even got into a physical altercation with Laurel Kent and Comet Queen when they bad-mouthed the guy.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Angela Majors version was rejected because her Touch of Death violated Legion Codes.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?:
- As mentioned Angela Majors was rejected at first, then admitted into the Academy so she could learn to control her life-draining powers.
- Transuits allow Legionnaires to survive in nearly any environment anyway, and there were two lightning users associated with the Legion who could use their powers without having to be underwater, thus Tayla Skott's powers were redundant.
Born on the prison planet Takron-Galtos to Suni Wahlmunn, a single mother who was serving a sentence for embezzlement, Tari remained on the planet until she was fourteen when she transferred to a private school on Earth.
Ashamed of her mother's past, Tari chose to join the Legion Academy once she was transferred to Earth, and among other exploits helped Duo Damsel clean up after the Dominators' attack on the planet Kathoon.
Following her graduation from the Legion Academy, Tari chose to join the Science Police.
- Cool Shades: Characterized by her shades.
- Disappeared Dad: Her mother never revealed who her father was, though given her powers he's likely to be a Titanian.
- Supernatural Fear Inducer: Her powers allow her to create vivid hallucinations and warped perceptions in her subjects.
- Vapor Wear: Her costume clearly shows she's not wearing underwear.
Born a mutant, his powers of super-density gave him immense strength, but his lack of control over his abilities meant he nearly bankrupted his family with accidental damage costs. He was therefore referred to the Legion by them at a very young age.
Although his powers were redundant among the Legion itself, he joined the Legion Academy and worked alongside the team on a few occasions.
In the 5YL continuity, he stuck with the Academy after it became the UP militia and was killed on Xolnar in battle with the Khunds.
Post-Infinite Crisis, after his graduation from the Legion Academy, Rikane elected to join the Science Police.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: His mutation gives him purple skin.
- Depending on the Writer: Some sources say he has Super-Toughness, others say he's as vulnerable as anyone else. Since his body's super-dense one can probably assume he has some, though.
- Doomed by Canon: A memorial to him was presented in one Adult Legion story, and his death came to pass in 5YL continuity, but not in others.
- Dumb Muscle: He's not too bright, but at least he knows it. Therefore he's become adept at following orders and working with others.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Died fighting the Khunds in 5YL.
- Mutant: Born to normal human parents.
- Nice Guy: One of the friendliest among the Legion Academy students.
- Straight Gay: Though he's showed no such inclination before, his post-Infinite Crisis self is in a relationship with Gravity Kid.
- Super-Strength: Described as having tremendous strength, with which he inadvertently caused a great deal of property damage before his training.
- Super-Toughness: His super-dense body provides a degree of protection from physical attacks, though apparently(?) not much. He does have superhuman endurance, however. This made him a good team with Laurel Kent, who had the opposite problem (invulnerable, but human-level strength).
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Averted. The big problem with him was that his strength was redundant among several members of the Legion—particularly considering his relative lack of defenses.
