Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Long Live the Legion! Where are the adults?

I realised what bugs me about this new legion is that there are no super powered adults and it makes no sence. These kids are basically a step away from being little shits and the government just hands over the reins to them. If I was running the government the first thing that would occur to me would be to get some adult members in to improve PR. Also these guys aren't nessasarily the best and brightest they are just the ones that showed up, Take for example Saturn Girl pre crisis both Esper lass and Saturn queen were shown as being more powerful then her so why not have the best people involved? Or why send dream boy and not dream man? They only work as a group of super powered teens when the adult population is out there doing there best not relying on a bunch of kids they dont trust.

well the adults don't feel like being super or doing much of anything right? plus they're smelly, cause like all adults are smelly n'est pas?

The UP might be building an adult super-team, but they wouldn't just impulsively throw them out there. They would require months or years of methodical training. Why, just writing up a Charter would require a continental convention. Of course, the UP Assembly would have to meet and debate perportional representation in said convention, and that alone could take years. If they are going to compete with the whippersnappers, then they will need to develope flight rings, which means diverting fund from some other area to R & D, and that would have to be discussed in subcommittee before a resolution could be brought to the full committee for approval before going before the full Assembly for a possible Floor Motion, unless the bill was tabled for further review. These things take time, and I'm sorry, I've forgotten the original question.

I'm starting to think that smell is the formaldehyde.

I think this is actually the real reason. Although I think the idea of superheroes is also pretty distasteful to the UP/Earthgov/SP.

The super-powered adults could be underground or exiled to Otherspace, if they didn't tow the line. Others may just be keeping their powers dormant (formaldehyde indeed).

Both Jeyra and Cham in the last issue mentioned being viewed with suspicion because of their powers - so the best way to get along in the U.P. has probably been to not display any special powers. Then along come those difficult kids who upset the konapple cart.

We know that half the legionnaires have parents who are UP delegates (or was it vice-versa?) - some, if not all of these, should have the same powers. However, in the previous versions, we didn't see that many super-powered adults, apart from villains; there were no adult groups of heroes competing with or providing models for the Legion.

None of the adults in this era want to stand out, like someone like Superman or Wonder Woman, so if they had an ability that made them "different" I'm sure they'd suppress it.

Throughout Legion history, it has been shown that the lack of willingness to step up, of those with super abilities, has been a problem. That's why Brande was so impressed by the original three.

They were shown as being more powerful, but not as disciplined. They had raw power, but never learned how to control it. Hence their short careers and Imra's long one.

I think one of the paradoxes of this current Legion, as against the past, is ... well, that the members (we're talking the core group here) simply are genuine teenagers, with all of the lack of perspective, impetuous vigor, and rash judgment of teenagers.

Where that gets paradoxical is that this really is true for the first time. The previous Legions by and large weren't really comprised of teenagers -- in age, perhaps, but not emotionally and not in experience. They were adults of teenage years, essentially. They had far more wisdom and perspective, individually and on average, than could be rationally expected from teenagers, certainly in "our" era.

The (older) adults, in past Legion incarnations, had a far stronger guiding role. Or, as to those being in positions of authority, many were far closer to being the Legion's peers, such as the SP officers.

Waid is making a stark separation because of age -- in how acts showing one's maturity are linked to one's years -- for the first time in Legion stories, as I see it. The adults aren't there, except as foils, fools, or opponents, simply because the Legionnaires themselves aren't "young adults" any more.

Greybird makes an excellent point here. I've long been planning to do a whole column at Legion Abstract about this, but he said it so well that now maybe I don't have to.

When people on these boards complain about how the Legionnaires are jerks these days - the Cos/Brainy schism, Shady taking Klar's glasses - they're forgetting that we're talking about teenagers here. And all teenagers are jerks*. The best of them are only jerks in their bad moments; the worst of them always are. Some grow out of it, some do not.

The obvious assumption here is that the Legionnaires are among the best of them, and that they are good kids who will learn and grow and become the heroes we're used to them being. And I share this assumption. But there's nothing wrong with seeing the 'Before' picture here in the early issues.

*No offense to anyone around here who actually is a teenager. I promise, when I say this stuff, I'm thinking mostly of myself about fifteen, twenty years ago.

I pretty much agree with every thing that has been said and the last two post make my point better than I did. They are very much teenagers and would you have your police force answering to a dozen kids? This is more of an issue now they are in charge would you go so far as to trust the local scout hall to 12 15yr olds? They need somebody to guide them, train them and keep them in check.

When the adults are 90% apathetic agoraphobics, why would they be heroes?

There are probably plenty of adults in the future of the Legion who have powers and don't even realize it... because it would never occur to them to try, and it would never occur to them to go outside and use their powers for anything if they did realize they had them.

That's the inciting factor behind the whole teenage revolution thing.

Consider the populations of Imsk, Braal, Colu, Naltor, Durla, Tharr, Trom, Cargg and Daxam (am I missing any?). Anybody from one of those planets could theoretically go out and start acting like a superhero. Do they? They do not. In any version of the Legion. Part of this is for storytelling convenience, but it carries with it the implication that Legionnaires are exceptional.

I think that was the whole point of the first-year arc. The Legion proved itself worthy of the trust of adult society by saving the Universe *despite* the adults' refusal to help them. They earned that trust in spades.

They do seem to have a willing sponsor now in Delegate Ardeen (who is hardly a fool), but her intent is clearly less to guide them than to exploit their powers as a government resource.

In spite of their immaturity and the questionable motivations of some of the members (e.g., Ultra Boy), the fact is that Legion - as a group - is morally and idealogically superior to the adult establishment. If there is an R.J. Brande type who shares their heroic ideals, he has yet to make himself known. But in my opinion, they have already outgrown their need for him, except possibly as source of independent financing to break free from the ill-conceived U.P. Alliance.

That said, the Legion does need a new leader - one who will draft a formal constitution, hold regular meetings, make the members personally responsible for their public behavior, preserve their autonomy, and do other things Cosmic Boy isn't doing.