Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Ages of members? Should there be a range?

I understand they started as teenagers. But for the majority of Legion history they didn't appear as teens but as young adults. For all I know a 13 year old is a young adult a thousand years from now. But ever since Cockrum till the zero hour boot they appeared to be young adults. I started reading in the 1st Levitz/Giffen run so I guess I like them at that age.

Still I understand that some don't want the teen aspect missing. I propose having a range of members between ages 13 and 30. Maybe even one member older...heck maybe a 200 yr old alien. It is a Legion so I don't see a reason for them to be all the same age.

The bulk of them can 18 to 24 I think. I like that. But having 5 to 10 between the ages of 13 to 19 would be fun to keep that teenager aspect. I am thinking that age 13 may be the age of adulthood in the 31st century. Just think there should be a range. Maybe some of the new recruits can join soon as the new teenage infusion.

Also another idea while I am boring you few have dared to read this. When a new character joins they are given a mandatory codename like boy, lass, etc.

For example Dirk Morgana joins. At first they make him take the name Sun Boy. After 1 to 3 years real time he eventually is "promoted" to where he can choose his own name...like Inferno, Sunburn, whatever.

Ohwell just thinking outloud. Love this legion place.

Jorge

I like 'em to stay teenagers. But I'm in the minority. I'd prefer that none of them get older than 19.

I'd go with the age range, but find 13 to be a bit young. That's probably showing my age!

It might depend on the size of the group - if you think of the military, there's a full range of ages - up to retirement anyways. The Legion's older members could take on a more advisory/strategic/teaching role. However, they now seem to be in a very close age range - if the gap were to widen too much, it would probably destroy, or diminish, the group cohesion. So I guess I would favour the 18 to 24 age for most of them, and have some older people in more of a background role.

To me a core concept of the legion is the very fact that this is a group of super powered teens from various planets, who club together to do good. So I do not want to see legionnaires in their late twenties. Its a comic so we don't need to have them age at all. They can stay young and active and 16 for ever whilst we all grow old.

Having said that I have no problem with people from other planets and societies having a different interpretation of the concept of teenager and adulthood. So, for example a long lived race may consider the "teen" period between childhood and adulthood to be a range between 20 and 50 earth year equivalents. Others may have a society where they become adults at 13. Such differences could make for interesting story lines, as in when a 13 year old adult tries to buy a beer on an earth which only recognizes 21 years as an adult?

13 is too young for me as well but I am trying to compromise.

At one point before volume 4 they stopped being teens. I'd point the Grell/Cockrum run but for sure by the Levitz/Giffen runs.

The teenager thing seemed more of "thing" in the Silver Age Legion. I just think for them to be better rounded as a team it would be better if they weren't limited to just Teens...i mean not even the Teen Titans are all teens. They are half teens and half young adults. I'd like the same combo here.

Jorge

I wouldn't mind a bit of a range, or the members aging a bit, but they should remain teenagers - or at least no older than early 20s. It just wouldn't feel like the Legion, otherwise.

If they age beyond that...that'd be OK, but they wouldn't really be the Legion any more...they'd be...something else.

(Sidenote, post-boot, 14 is considered an adult by galactic law. That was part of the objection brought up when Winath made a stink about Livewire leaving - he was 14, so by the standards of most of the galaxy he was an adult. But by Winath law, he wasn't.)

Thanks Nekogami didn't know 14 was considered an adult. That is cool.

Another reason is the marriage and child of Jo & Tinya. DC showing 15/16 year olds having kids? Not the smartest thing in the world.

Jorge

Cub hasn't exactly set the world afire. IF there is some sort of reboot, let this be the first to fall along with the marrige that spawned it!

To me its essential that the Legion be teenagers when the team forms. Then they should age, adding younger members as their history progresses. Personally, I would be quite happy if the Legion hadn't been rebooted and the current approach to it was JSA-like, having different "generations" with age ranges from the teens to the forties, though the younger members should always form the majority.

I'd prefer the Legion in the 18-24 range. I like that they're young when the group forms, but I think that a slightly older age range gives more opportunity for story telling.

I'd like to see enough of an age range that there are definitely "older" and "younger" members. Whether it be 13 - 19 or 15 - 24, I think it'd be an added interesting dynamic to the group. When we were teens in highschool, seniors and freshmen were worlds apart and that's only four years. While the Legionnaires would be more mature than that, it'd be nice to see a slight diversity in age range and all that implies (except maybe for the "losing virginity" stories -- has the Legion *ever* mentioned virginity or loss of it??)

Nightcrawler I agree 100% about losing "cub". And Jarth! But that may be all I want gone. I really have enjoyed the DnA Legion...and the spoilers you provided about Gail's future issues...I hope that stays as well.

Eryk great idea! Infact I was hoping the post ZH boot was a hundred years in the Legion future...with ALL brand new members yet still in the Legion mythos, etc. Lot of legacy heroes ofcourse.

Arachne and Drake I agree with you guys as well. I prefer 18 to 24 myself but wanna compromise with the fans of the younger teen thing.

Drake that is exactly the idea I am going for of younger and older characters. Get that highschool AND college feel. Sorta like the new mutants and x-men kinda had in the claremont days.

Just thinking outloud.

Jorge

That's pretty much what New X-Men is doing right now. A bunch of high school students with college age teachers/advisors.

I'd rather not have anyone get older than 21, but then that's probably just me trying to hang on to my childhood before I get shipped off to college

One thing to keep in mind is that the Legion has always had a range, a variety of ages. For example, when the SW6ers stepped out of their pods, looking all SIlver Age, the oldest (Gim, not counting Lar because his birthdate and the whole Phatom Zone thing messes me up) was almost 22, and the youngest was 13 or 14. Jeckie was just turning 14 when she died that time. :`(

I like having a variety of ages. They're usually teenagers as they join, and as members age, they settle down, get married, die, lose their powers... and new members join, bringing in "fresh blood". It's dynamic. Also, I like to see people be allowed to get older (I'm not going to start ranting about, for example, how they've made Gar Logan into a teen again in the 20th century. Really I'm not.) as opposed to staying in a stiff sort of stasis. How is it supposed to be so tragic that Con-El is going to be 16 for the rest of his life if no one else is aging?

I also don't like having teams where everyone is the same age. It's harder to make flowcharts of how they interact. Someone has to be older and wiser. Someone has to be new and shiny.

I sorta like the Legion phases where there's nobody to be older and wiser. It lets them occasionally get pretty silly without the reader blaming them for it, and makes it all the scarier when they go up against a particularly vicious villain; conversely, you want to applaud when this bunch of kids manages to act with insight and responsibility beyond their years.

It's good to have some older characters to act as advisors/parental figures, like Brande and postboot Shvaugn Erin (and Legionnaires' actual parents, of course), but I prefer them to be noncombatants who have to watch from the sidelines, wringing their hands.

But yeah, if you're going to keep the story going for decades, unless you manage to kill/depower every established character, they've gotta grow up sometime.