What are the criteria for Justice Leage of America membership?

Cafe Society
#1

Looking good in spandex is an obvious requirement.

Batman’s in, so obviously you don’t have to have actual superpowers, but, as Ralph Dibney has pointed out, you do have to have detective skills. Lots of cool gadgets probably help.

Dying apparently doesn’t get your membership revoked, since Oliver Queen, Superman and Wonder Woman are still in.

Near as I can figure, your identity when you’re not wearing tights must be kept secret from the general public (and would somebody please explain to me how Wonder Woman and Black Canary pull this off? Neither one of them wears a mask, and they don’t have mind-bending powers that would enable them to make ordinary folk unable to notice that, “Hey, Diana looks an awful lot like that Wonder Woman chick…”

Being that the entire membership consists of people who dress up in silly outfits and go out and do things that could get them killed (especially the human ones, though the metahumans do have their vulerabilites as well), there obviously isn’t any mental health screening going on.

Having a criminal record would probably disqualify you, unless you were on the straight and narrow for a period of time sufficient to convince the senior members that you had mended your ways.

So, is there, like, an actual list of requirements for JLA membership, and of things that would disqualify you from joining the JLA?

#2

Criteria are not spelled out, (I haven’t ever seen the JLA charter) but you can infer some things based on past storylines. Basically you have to be a really competant hero: trustworthy, reliable and loyal. Regardless of your background, you observe strict non-interference in terms of human socio-political and economic affairs, especially with regard to foreign intervention in the governments of other nations.You must possess a certain conservative stance in social injustices, in general. You have to be big on human free will and not resort to superhuman fascist solutions to solve things. You must not kill, esp. sentient beings. (This is one of the reasons why some fans have problems with the revelations in DC’s IDENTITY CRISIS)

Heroes are issued communicators and are generally on-call. Each member can summon their fellows to assist them in crisis-level events, be it natural disasters of alien invasion. Each hero has periodic turns doing “monitor duty” – the frequency and duration of which I don’t recall.

Also it’s worth noting that the Justice League has periodic membership drives where they interview prospective heroes who answer calls to join the league. Also, current members can sponsor the membership of other heroes during these drives. Steel, Plastic Man, Huntress, Oracle and Green Arrow are among those who were recruited into Morrison’s League by other heroes. New Gods Big Barda and Orion kind of just showed up at the tail end of the membership drive and said, “Accept us, by the Highfather’s decree! And Prepare Yourselves for the Fortification of Earth!” and the Justice League basically said, “Uh, okay.”

You’d think having a criminal record or commiting crimes would keep you out of the league, but that’s not necessarily true. Superman acted as self-appointed judge and executioner of three Phantom Zone criminals. Plastic Man had an extensive criminal record before gaining superpowers, and this is fairly common knowledge. Batman was a wanted felon at the start of his career. The Huntress was similarly wanted. Although this is glossed over, Oracle must routinely break communications and internet laws when getting access to information for the league.

#3

You must:
[ul]
[li]Look good in Spandex[/li][li]Look Good In Lycra[/li][li]Wear as little of either of the above as possible.[/li][/ul]

#4

My continuity information may be out of date, but it is not a requirement that one’s identity be secret. Ralph Dinby’s identity is publicly known, to offer one example. Plus I think the general public is aware of Superman’s Kryptonian ID but I could be wrong, and admittedly that’s not quite the same thing.

As for Wonder Woman, in the last incarnation I read she didn’t have a secret identity. She was publicly known as “Diana, Princess of Themyscira” and served in some capacity as her nation’s ambassador to “Man’s World.” When she first arrived in the United States she got hooked up with a publicist (Mindy something…Meyer?) who, to differentiate her from “that other Princess Diana*” suggested some alternate names including “Diana Prince” (the pre-crisis WW’s alternate ID) but Diana rejected the suggestion.

Lord knows how many years ago IIRC Black Canary in her secret identity (Dinah Lance) had black hair. I can’t remember if her hair was black and she wore a blonde wig as BC or if she covered her blonde hair with a black wig to be Dinah.

#5

Actually, in “Identity Crisis”, Ralph is explaining to Firehawk that he left the JLA when he decided to go public with his identity
[/quote]

Lord knows how many years ago IIRC Black Canary in her secret identity (Dinah Lance) had black hair. I can’t remember if her hair was black and she wore a blonde wig as BC or if she covered her blonde hair with a black wig to be Dinah.
[/QUOTE]

Probably the latter. Fighting with a wig on doesn’t seem realy practical.

#6

In the Silver Age JLA, membership was pretty much determined by fan demand. If a character started to do really well, then he/she had a good shot of getting in. Crossovers were important in “vetting” someone for candidacy within the storylines.

When Hawkman joined the JLA back then, he was considered the “official” member while Hawkwoman was considered an auxillary. Since she was an adult, this was a better status than those of the “youthful sidekick” category such as Robin. (Who rarely appeared in JLA stories.)

Of the characters in that era, Aquaman had no secret identity to speak of. While he came from a secret city, etc., while out and about among humans he didn’t disguise himself.

#7

Also, at that time Black Canary fought crime wearing fishnet stockings, so there was undoubtedly a certain redirection of attention from her face by a certain segment of the populace.

#8

Oh, and just to clear things up… the Black Canary had naturally black hair, and she wore a blonde wig while in costume.

#9

Isn’t stopping Thunder (Anissa Pierce, daughter of Seceretary of Education Jefferson Pierce, formerly Black Lightning). Her father doesn’t want her to be a crime-fighter, and she refuses to wear a mask, so he insisted she wear a blonde wig to hide her identity.

(All this is covered in Outsiders #1.)

#10

She still does.

#11

Goood thread.

Secret Identity? Optional. Wally West was a longtime member of the JLA with a public identity.

Killing? Debatable. Barry Allen killed Professor Zoom in defense of his wife - the current membership voted on whether to expel him.

Criminal Record? Up until very recently, Major Disaster was a full-fledged Leaguer - and he had previously been a super-villain. In fact, he may be the only person ever to belong to both the Justice LEague and the Suicide Squad.

#12

Additionally - the current JLA charter limits the active membership to 12, if nothing has changed. This took effect with the current run.

#13

Actually, it was covered in the Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files #1.

#14

It was after Zoom attempted to kill his fiancee, Fiona Webb, on their wedding day that Barry killed Zoom. He had long since killed Barry’s first wife, Iris.

#15

Hmmm… I thought they’d finished the wedding, but it’s been a long long time since I read that issue. You’re probably right.

#16

Yeah. My bad. I have both here, picked up the wrong one to confirm where it was.

#17

About this not killing rule thingy-

Is this a “no killing in the interests of meting out vigilante justice” thing? or does the rule apply in cases of self-defense or the defense of innocent civilians, as in there was no way to stop the villian from killing somebody without killing him/her/it?

[sub]My newbieness isn’t showing here, is it?[/sub]

#18

Pre-Crisis it was no killing ever for any reason.

Now? Well, I don’t think it’s as black and white as it once was. Diana has had to kill many times(a gorgon, three of Ares’ children), Green Arrow was tricked into killing a demon(Green Arrow Secret Files #1), and other Leaguers have killed.

#19

Regarding the Black Canary:

Until Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey(the original one shot), Dinah wore a long blonde wig and naturally had black hair. Since the one shot she’s been a bottle blonde.

#20

I thought Iris was still alive in the future or something?