The Legion of Superheroes is one of the most important teams in DC history. They were the first major teen superteam and have become one of the most complicated. The team was based around Superboy; they were aliens from the 31st century who had been inspired by the adventures of the Teen of Steel. Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, and Cosmic Boy came together to save RJ Brande and the Legion was born. Over the years, the team has changed a lot, mostly because of the multiversal upheavals that have been a big part of DC Comics for the last 41 years. There have been numerous versions of the team and that has been a problem; they are so complicated that most fans just sort of ignore them.
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However, the Legion is about to make their triumphant return. It all started in 2024’s DC All-In #1, with readers introduced to the Darkseid Legion, the Legion from the Absolute Earth. They played a huge role in DC K.O. and Superman Annual: Year One Thousand #1 has laid the groundwork for a return of the team, with Brainiac One Million stealing versions of the group from across the multiverse. While we’re getting an all-new version in their upcoming comic, fans love the various Legions and DC has already set up a way to bring the other versions back. These five version of the Legion need to show up again, giving readers their favorite teen heroes.
5) Kingdom Come Legion of Superheroes
Kingdom Come is one of DC’s greatest stories. Mark Waid and Alex Ross are known fans of old school superheroes and hated the changes made to the industry in the ’90s. Kingdom Come is all about showing that the grim, gritty, and violent heroes of the decade of extreme are nothing compared to the legends of yesteryear. One of the best parts of the book is all of the various DC Easter eggs throughout the story, with the Legion making a short appearance. It looks like the Reboot Legion from the ’90s (which Waid helped create several years before), with Supergirl and Conner Kent as Superboy leading the team. We got another look at this version of the team in “Thy Kingdom Come”, but we’ve basically spent no time with them. It would be cool to get see exactly what their deal is. Waid is one of DC’s most important creators nowadays, so there’s a pretty good chance that they could show up.
4) The Bendis Legion
Brian Michael Bendis came to DC in 2018 after years at Marvel. He was handed control of Superman and Action Comics, as well as being given a line of teen books called Wonder Comics. Since he was the Superman guy and the Legion was basically the Superman team, he was given the chance to reboot the Legion. Bendis’s Legion only lasted for about 12 issues and fans were definitely not into it. It’s a fine series – Ryan Sook’s fantastic art is a huge reason for that – but Bendis didn’t really get how to do Legion stories and it showed in every issue. While fans don’t love this version of the team, it would be interesting to see them again written by someone who understands how to make the Legion work. Even terrible versions of the Legion are pretty good and this one does have potential. We didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with them and it’s time to change that.
3) Threeboot Legion
2005 was an amazing year to be a DC fan. The publisher was in the midst of the build-up to Infinite Crisis, and had a roster of the best writers you could ask for – Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, Judd Winick, Grant Morrison, Gail Simone, Mark Waid, and many more. Waid was known for his love of the Legion, having played a big role in their last reboot and he was given a chance to do it again with Legion of Superheroes(Vol. 5) alongside artist Barry Kitson. This version of the team was the perfect modernization of the Legion. I only knew of the team by rote at this point, but was immediately drawn into this new version of the Legion. It wouldn’t last long – only four years – but it was an amazing version of the classic team. Eventually, Supergirl would be added to the roster and writer Jim Shooter would return; they’d even get to cross over with the previous two versions of the Legion. Much like the Kingdom Come Legion, they are Waid’s babies and there’s a great chance we’ll get to see them again.
2) Reboot Legion
Crisis on Infinite Earths removed Superboy from the history of the DC Universe, which wreaked havoc on the Legion of Superheroes. Creators tried to keep things going with “Five Years Later”, but in the end the Legion was broken beyond repair. Eventually, Mark Waid, Tom Peyer, and Tom McGraw would be allowed to reboot the team in the days after Zero Hour: A Crisis in Time in 1995. This version of the team would last until the mid ’00s and proved to be the perfect reboot of the group. Creators took the team in new directions all while still paying homage to the past, even introducing all-new members. They’d show back up in Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds, where it was revealed that they were a Legion from out in the multiverse, but we haven’t really seen them since. It’s past time they showed up again and the new Legion status quo could make that a reality.
1) The Classic Legion
Of course this version of the group was going to be number one. The original Legion of Superheroes is one of the most storied teams in the history of the comic industry. For almost 40 years, readers followed the adventures of the teen team, watching them grow in numerous ways. This is the team that created the dynamics that would inspire every version that came after them. In fact, in a lot of ways, they were Claremont’s X-Men before Claremont’s X-Men were a thing; they brought the kind of soap opera storytelling that would make the men and women of X into the most popular team in comics (and artist Dave Cockrum meant to use the designs for Storm and Nightcrawler for the Legion, even basing the Imperial Guard after them). This version of the team made a return in the days after Infinite Crisis, lasting until the New 52 rebooted the entire DC Universe. Fans love this version of the team, even those of us who came to the Legion late. They are legends and if we don’t get to see them again, we riot.
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