Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Alternative Origins for the Legion

I wasn't sure whether I should post this here or in the Legion Outpost section, but since its inspired by a topic here, I figured this is as good a place as any. If anyone comes up with any ideas they want to write out as full-blown fanfic, they can do so over at the Legion Outpost.

In the "Legion Founders", Steve Lightle mentioned that the Legion origin was a rather late addition to the team's mythos, and that he felt it was kind of a letdown as a story when it came. So this is your chance to suggest alternative origins for the team. Feel free to have completely different founders, a completely different reason for the billionaire benefactor, whatever you like.

i first came across the teams origin in 'LSH' v2 #267 .... the COSMIC BOY spotlight issue !!!

i always thought it was pretty good origin and the reason why they came together !!!

i'll have to try and think of something different ....

Matthew.

This is a fantastic topic EDE - though the responses don't exactly pop out of thin air. Hope lots and lots of people respond.

Here's three, not too far from current continuity (same characters):

(1)The Science Police are in trouble. Their once-pristine image has been seriously tarnished by a series of scandals and there is talk of disbanding them. Law enforcement itself is called into question and a certain disrespect for law and order is seen to be developing on many worlds.

Any bureaucracy will fight to defend itself and so do the SPs. Their high command, working with some sympathetic politicos of various planets, develops a plan in which a group of young, idealistic and photogenic people use their special powers to fight crime, thereby reviving respect for the law and admiration of policing powers in general.

A PR firm hired by the SPs do some very discreet recruiting and get the appropriate non-disclosure agreements signed. Business mogul R.J. Brande is a big mover behind the plan, because law and order is good for business. Being something of a ham, he agrees to participate as "the fall guy" in a staged event, in which he will be rescued by three of the new recruits. Inspired and with gratitude, RJ will hold a press conference in which he announces his idea to establish a group in which they and other young people will do good deeds, under SP supervision.

The public eats it up.

(2) Three "misguided" young people happen to be on the same flight as mega-credits mogul R.J. Brande. (He owns the transportation company and travels with the public occasionally.)

One is a down-and-out ex-magno ball champion from Braal, with a drug problem.
Another is an affable, but definitely delinquent, Winathian junior delinquent. He is wanted for questioning by the SPs regarding some crimes committed by his elder brother, in which he may have been involved.
The third is a young woman who ran away from an apprenticeship under Dr. Aven of Titan, having stolen a number of valuable items to fund her escape.

As the passengers disembark, the Braalian attempts to steal R.J. Brande's briefcase. He knocks RJ down, attracting the attention of Science Police. As he attempts to run away, he collides with the Winathian, who is running now that he sees the SPs converging on them. He drops the briefcase; the young Titanian apprentice is quick on the uptake and grabs it. All three take off in the same direction, leaving RJ on the ground, who, miraculously, just avoided assassination by being knocked down. The SPs manage to nab the would-be assassin as well as the three teenagers.

RJ, having made his trillions, has gone liberal and is thinking of establishing a Youth Restart program as one of his charities (big tax credits available for this sort of thing). His staff investigate the backgrounds of the three kids he encountered at the Spaceport, now in SP custody; RJ agrees not to press charges if they agree to work with his new program.

The three kids agree. They're not bad kids, they've just been misdirected and they welcome this opportunity to turn things around. All previous charges against them are dropped, on a probationary basis. The Athramites get busy on the image side of thing, the lawyers handle the scope of activities and legal releases, a few Senators sense that this could be the photo-op of their dreams and jump on board. The Legion is born.

(3) R.J. Brande, rich and powerful businessman and the unacknowledged father of Querl Dox, is consulting with Preston Norg, Earthgov Spymaster and kingmaker (old money, school tie, etc etc), grandfather of Lyle Norg. They both have a history of secret if somewhat unsuccessful manipulation of their offsprings' lives and both are displeased with the purely academic goals the young men are pursuing.

They work out a plan in which a legion of young people with exceptional abilities or powers would work to promote peace, galactic cooperation, law and order (and the elders' personal agendas) under the auspices of a fledgling United Planets - thereby giving Querl and Lyle the lives of action that their families believe they need.

Two don't make a legion, so both men use their extensive business and political contacts to recruit potential members. Within months, a group of 12 teenagers are selected to receive offers they can't refuse and The Legion is born.

good response FC !!!

i'm still thinking of one ....

Yeah, I was pretty excited by the topic, but I've got absolutely no ideas thus far. I liked yours a lot, though!

Anyone thought of anything yet?

Nura Nal woke up. This was the third night in a row that she had had the same dream. A Braalian boy and a Titan girl working together. This seemed odd to Nura as it was well known that the two planets had a distrust of each other. They were standing on an inverted old style rocket ship, like the ones from those old Terran movies. They were reaching up into the sky, plucking bits from various planets and then molding them into the letter "L". And as each new piece was added, another boy, girl or other sentient appeared beside the boy and girl.

Nura went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of kono juice. Taking a muffin from the pantry, she opened her appointment calendar on her Omni-pad. The appointment to see the High Seer had just been added to her schedule. Nura was both excited and nervous. Her dream must be important if the High Seer herself would schedule an appointment. She flashed a vision of the appointment. Yes, her silver lame suit would be best to wear.

A week later, the High Seer was addressing a group of Orandian mystics and socerers from Zerox. "There can be no doubt. Three score of Naltorians had the dream on the first night, three had the dream the second night, and Nura Nal alone had the dream the third night. She is to be the leader." "Agreed" spoke Hagga of Orando, "but my granddaughter, Projectra, also has a destiny in the stars and must accompany Nura Nal." The two young girls eyed each other. It was a daunting task that faced them. They were to go out among the various planets and find the others who had appeared in Nura's dream. Projectra held the truth crystal that the Zerox socerers had brought. It would let them know if the person was meant to join the group or the Legion as the High Seer called it. The Legion would help the planets form bonds that would benefit all.

My alternative origin for the LSH can be found in FOOD FOR THE SPIDER GUILD over in the BITS forum.

I posted this elsewhere once:

Earth is a minor new member of the well-established Federated Planets, struggling to grow more influential after finally overcoming centuries of its own internal conflicts.

Earthgov recruits a squad of super-powered individuals to investigate the political machinations of the FP. It's members are Invisible Kid, Colossal Boy, Ferro Lad, Sun Boy, Saturn Girl (on loan from Titan, which has maintaned a steady alliance with Earth).

The first ten issues begin with the formation of the squad and their travels to learn more about the workings of the FP. They culminate when the squad learns of a plot by powerful FP members Xanthu and Khundia to manufacture reasons for the takeover of the government of the FP Member, Orando. A method that they've already used successfully to enslave Winath and Durla.

The squad informs the Eathgov president, who would rather work a deal with Khundia and Xanthu. Instead, the squad decides together, and against the wishes of those in power, to expose the plots. By the time the truth is out, one of the original members is dead.

In the resulting fiasco, the FP and Earthgov governments crumble. The squad prepares to go their separate ways, but are surprised when folks they met on their travels and new heroes begin to pursue membership. A re-structured United Planets takes the place of the FP, and establishes the Legion from the remainder of the squad and the new members who make it in.

We don't yet know the origins of the Legion in the present continuity.

Any ideas?

My guess is that they are the original Pre-Crisis Silver Age superheroes but they've had quite a few years inbetween.

Three youths who were made out of clay were rocketed from a doomed planet toward earth and were bit by spiders that were exposed to cosmic gamma rays as they entered the atmosphere while simultaneously being struck by lightning while trying to administer the chemical antivenin for the spider bites which brought them to life from their clay states with special powers.

Of course, since their parents were all killed by muggers who worked for the mafia, they dedicated themselves to fighting crime!

Yes, but at least they were found by the dying alien who gave them each a flight ring which allowed them to survive underwater while being raised by dolphins.

I've come up with some new ideas regarding this thread, but for now I'm just bumping it.

"Idols" from various worlds come together to compete for the fame and glory of UP "Survivor". However, the kids get riled at being manipulated by 'the man' Big Brother and go on to form their own rock band, dissin' the establishment franchise marketers along the way. Solid.

For real real!

Okay, so it starts on a Monday. The Nova Express, the flagship of Earth's interstellar commercial transport fleet, has just been attacked by space-pirates. As it speeds out of control towards the Earth, a red blur sweeps in from outer space, catches it, and sets it down gently. The mysterious figure in the red and blue suit soon captures the pirates and delivers them to the World Police Headquarters. Over the next few days, he is seen several more times performing heroic events. Due to his seeming similarity to the legendary Earth hero Kal-El, and the fact that he first appeared on a Monday, the media nicknames the mysterious hero Mon-El. After that initial flurry of heroics acts, however, Mon-El disappears. But not before others have been inspired by his example...

One of those others is Rokk Krinn, the son of immigrants from the planet Braal who came fleeing war and seeking a better life on Earth. Rokk was working three jobs to try to earn money for his family. One of these was a job as a janitor in a chemical plant. He was on duty one night when vandals broke into the lab with the intention of disrupting its research. Being surprised by finding Rokk, one of the more sadistic vandals has the idea of forcing him to drink random chemicals. The criminals leave Rokk for dead on the floor of the chemical lab, unaware that the chemicals are in fact having unexpected effects on his Braalian physiology. While every Braalian has a “magnetic sense”, which allows them to detect changes in magnetic fields, the strange serums Rokk is forced to drink actually give him the power to control magnetic fields. Inspired by Mon-El, he adopts the secret identity of “Cosmic Boy”, champion of the oppressed. Of course, he spends almost as much time protecting his secret identity from the beautiful but overly curious neighbor girl with the bouffant hairdo as he spends catching crooks…

<more to come later>

Well I don't have any ideas right now. BUT I do think it's a good idea to maybe rework the origin. IMO I was never impressed with the origin either.

I used to like RJ Brande but to tell the truth he doesn't do much for me as well. You guys have some good ideas. We will see what Waid does. I agree the origin should'nt be set in stone.

RJ Brande always struck me as creepy I hope he isn't involved in the current Legions origin

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Harbinger:
<strong> RJ Brande always struck me as creepy

Actually I thought RJ wasn't creepy at all, and still believed those horrible Lournu/RJ allegations of the post-boot!

By Damn, indeed!

Okay! I finally came up with an idea! I really like some of the above (especially the formation of the UP one) so it was hard to come up with one that was a bit different.

(And even though some may find RJ creepy, my idea uses him. But mine would be a younger version as seen below.)

Captain-General Rene Jacques Brande of the Science Police is tired of the bureaucracy of his organisation, and fears inactivity and organisational decay will be the end of the proud group. He dreams of casting aside a promising career as one of the youngest Captains-General of the SP, and setting out alone, to seek a new way of crime prevention. An avid student of military and superheroic history, he searches the past as well as the galaxy for his answers.

Tortured by a shattered family torn apart by a planetary pandemic of the dreaded Ferric Plague, galactic-class Magno-Ball player Rokk Krinn finds himself orphaned, seperated from his brother and listless on a world now concerned with other things than sports. Struck by the purposelessness of sportstars in a society rebuilding from plague, he leaves his homeworld of Braal to find a new way to inspire others and prove himself... and forget his past...

Isolated by a dark secret that seperates her from the others of her moon, Imra Ardeen's telepathic powers were seen as both a blessing and a curse for the people of Titan. Empowered with a mind more powerful than any of her kind, Imra found herself unable to communicate with others of her kind due to the massive mental feedback caused by her burgeoning abilities. She fled Titan, where she was had been forced into solitude due to the awesome effects of her mind upon other telepaths. In doing so she was forced into another kind of solitude - endlessly wandering among the 'Silent Ones' limited only to speech... and trying to forget her past...

The world of Winath was seen as a paradise by others in the galaxy - perfect weather, perfect triple-sized flora, and perfect twins everywhere. Except for the Ranzz family, whose eldest was a Solo, and much maligned on account of it. While joyriding with his twin siblings Garth and Ayla, Mekt's malicious reputation was proven when he caused an accident that almost killed him and his siblings, and also saw them transformed after an encounter with deadly Lightning Beasts on Korbal. After Ayla was left in a coma and Mekt fled, Garth could not bear to remain a Solo on Winath, and set out to seek a cure for his sister's ailment, his own strange new powers of electricity, find his errant brother, and try to forget his past...

Fate conspired to bring the four together on the desert world of Drak IV, where the evil band of villains known as the Fatal Five sought to inflame a war between Braal and Titan. RJ had come to command the local SPs but found racial disharmony threatened the peace efforts. When a civilian transport vessel disembarking from Drak IV was hijacked by the Five, but subsequently freed by the inspirational efforts of three of the passengers, as well as the timely arrival of Brande's SPs, RJ saw his answer - those willing to band together and forget their past in order to concentrate on the future.

Resigning his commission and recruiting the three, he based the group's ideals on that of the Foreign Legion of Old Earth, for he could see that the youths each had scars they wished to forget. They were given codenames as a form of new beginning, and in the desert sands of Drak IV, the Legion of Super-Heroes was born!

I actually like the traditional origin, but here goes:

Rejected from the SPs, a bright and talented Titanian girl seduces the wealthy RJ Brande, and manipulates him into funding a super-hero club of people her age (so none have seniority over her), no two from the same world or same power (so no rival psi upstages her), large enough to be a force to be reckoned with, but small enough for her to manipulate.

The sad thing is, that's probably exactly what happened.