Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! How the Legion ages (or I'm I going to be 15 MY ENITRE FRELLING LIFE!!)

The Legion members aged over their pre-boot lifetime. Don't kill me on the timeline here (it's rough):

The beginning: 13-16
Shooter/Cockrum/Grell: 17-21
Levitz/Giffen/Lightle: 21-24
TMK: 29-32


My questions are 1) has the post-boot Legion been undergoing similar aging (I haven't been following since TMK); 2) and, should the Legion ever get older or just get "fixed in time"?

Well... Garth was 14 in Legion #0. We KNOW that a year passed during the events of Legion Lost. I also think that prior to that, a couple (or more) years had passed, so I would say that the Legion is about 4 years old at this point. Anyone else have more coherent thoughts about this subject?

I'm going to table my response to the second question for the moment, as I don't want to get into a discussion of temporal mechanics and aging in comics (Franklin Richards, anyone?)

I wrote a very lengthy postboot Legion chronology which is available on Lightning Lad's website. I also figured that four years have passed since the Legion's founding. This would make Cosmic Boy and Saturn Girl about 19 now, and M'Onel (one of the oldest members) 22.

Of course, DC has been purposely ambiguous depicting the Legionnaires' as late teens or young adults, and will no doubt continue that way.

As for whether or not they should age, that's a question that has been discussed at some length. Many fans feel that the Legionnaires should always be teenagers, while others, including me, feel that it's okay to advance the timeline slowly.

I should hope that they've aged a few years, at least. The idea of Tinya as a 15 year old mother really doesn't appeal to me.

Lifespans are likely to be two and three times ours by then, at minimum. Longer yet, perhaps, with nanotechnology for DNA repair being available. I don't see any reason for not being physically 16, in today's terms, until well into one's 50s. (And being fertile, with full control over the process -- yes, including that female cycle -- for a century or more.)

It's our own age that has the hangup. 'Twas ever thus. I'd suggest that getting past the hangups of the present-day audience -- about aging, race, sexuality, or anything else of controversy -- is what distinguishes genuine SF from science fantasy. The Legion, as with most comics, has never quite made it over that esthetic hump yet.