DC Adds Batman and Black Canary and a Surprise Member for Justice League of America

It looks like Batman will have his hands full next year pulling double duty for both Justice League and Justice League of America as its been announced that he will be a member of both superteams.

Art by Ivan Reis, DC Comics

Its been revealed that the Dark Knight will be playing team leader for the fledgling JLA team which has ties to both Justice League and Suicide Squad. Interestingly enough, the JLA will be born from the ashes of the crossover mini ‘Justice League vs Suicide Squad’.

Art by Ivan Reis

Now we already know who the initial lineup was sometime back but it obviously lacked star power. Yeah The Ray, Vixen, The Atom and Killer Frost sound exciting (and has throwback to the DC-CW TV shows) but it lacked omph. Adding in Batman not just increases sales but also effectively make the team legit.

Justice League of America writer Steve Orlando cites a dialogue between Batman and Killer Frost in the upcoming ‘Justice League vs Suicide Squad’ book as the catalyst for Batman joining this peculiar superteam.

Without giving too much away, I would say that the inspiration of this scene, perhaps paradoxically, comes from the events that happen between Batman and Frost, to show him that the world changed and heroism has to change with it. It’s a reality check for him. Batman is someone who thinks that he always has everything under his thumb and under control but he has a moment where he realizes he has to rebuild, he has to change, he has to redefine heroism. The callout is that he’s not the only one. There’s maybe people that he can help do it, and even more importantly, there’s people he can surround himself that can help him do that for himself”

Black Canary will also play an integral part of the JLA’s run under Orlando. He says that she was added to ‘keep Batman’ grounded. There’s also the fact that she is one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the DCU.

Orlando says:

She doesn’t lord above people with a mask. She’s in Seattle, she’s seen by people, she talks to people, she listens to people. She’s there, as Batman says, to keep him honest, to keep him in line. He knows what he wants to do, but it’s a bit out of his comfort zone. Honestly, she’s there because of the immense amount of respect he has for her and what she does

The final piece of the triumvirate that has been announced for JLA is Lobo.

No its not this Lobo…

…but its the old school Lobo

Orlando wants to try a different approach to writing Lobo he says:

For some people, Lobo will be a hero. For others, he’ll be an anti-hero. It’s moving past these black and white definitions and realizing that you have to have a malleable idea to serve everyone instead of just the people in the mainstream. Lobo, I think there’s more to him than ever before

The Justice League of America writer also fesses up that he add in this Lobo because this was the more popular character as opposed to the younger version who many consider was a reject of the ‘Twilight’ movie franchise.  He sums up Lobo’s addition to this:

He’s the Lobo we all love, causing mayhem. He’ll be giving people what they want but at the same time he does have a code. The main man’s word is his bond, man. I think that’s important. That’s one of the things that guides him through life. We find out a little bit what’s behind this character. Not to soften him, but to give him more depth because he’s still the hard partying, bullshit calling, bullshit calling especially, it’s what I love about him, but if anyone is there to remind them that they’re taking themselves too seriously to remind people that they’re hypocrites, it’s him,” Orlando said. “I mean, he’s on a team with Batman, he’s not going to exploding people’s brains all over the place, but that’s not to say that that’s not going to cause conflict and he’s not going to want to.

Justice League of America is set for release February 2017 from DC Comics; with Steve Orlando and Ivan Reis on artwork.

Credits: IGN