Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Best Legion Moments

With the Legion heading towards cancellation with the very next issue, I'm reminded of LSH V4 61 (End of an Era), whose last pages showed a selection of scenes and moments from Legion history.

If you could pick a handful of scenes for the last issue to feature, which would they be?

The 7 scenes featured in LSH 61 were:

1) Cos and Cham deciding to reform the Legion after the 5 Year Gap
2) The induction of Polar Boy, Sensor Girl, Magnetic Kid, Tellus and Quislet
3) Karate Kid taking down Nemesis Kid during the LSV war
4) The resurrection of Lightning Lad
5) Ferro Lad sacrificing himself to stop the Sun-Eater
6) Duo Damsel crawling through Superboy's tunnel during the Mordru story
7) The Legion founders saving RJ Brande

Telling, isn't it, that 3 of the 6 (not counting the founding) happened during the Adventure Era.

I've started thinking about MY top moments, but it will be very hard to choose. I need some more time.

1. The Brande incident, of course.
2. The Legion "rejecting" Superboy.
3. Computo killing Triplicate Girl.
4. Superboy welcoming Timber Wolf back with the assembled Legionnaires (Sup # 197--we gotta have some images of the team being happy and together)
5. A mass of Legionnaires battling Darkseid (a specific image doesn't come to mind)
6. Projectra snapping Nemesis Kid's neck.
7. Mon-El kayoing the Time Trapper.

Some interesting moments there, HWW. Can't wait to read your reviews of the stories where 4-7 took place.

As for me, I'm picking 7 from the Postboot Legion:

1) Cosmic Boy, Live Wire, Saturn Girl, Apparition and Triad being honored by the UP for foiling an attempted bombing that would have wiped out all attending UP delegates.

More than the act of saving RJ Brande, this incident launched the Legion on their path to glory.

2) The death of Kid Quantum I. This was a big catalyst in getting the team to mature and realize that superheroing isn't a game.

3) Brainy, Jan Arrah, RJ Brande and the 3 founders opening a stargate to send the 4 insane Daxamite White Triangle members to an uninhabited world. The Legion beat four insane people with the power of Superman!

4) The assembled Legion raising the Legion's flag after exposing Chu and stopping the Fatal Five. They'd earned their freedom and improved the state of the UP all in one go.

5) The Legionnaires and their allies sealing Mordru in a sphere. Another major battle won through excellent teamwork and cooperation.

6) Kid Quantum II, Element Lad and Wildfire working to seal the rift in space. They weren't sure they could still succeed but they went down fighting anyway.

7) Live Wire jumping into the open mouth of the Progenitor-Omniphagos monster. Despite being free to return home with his friends and his lover, he chose to sacrifice himself so he could save a galaxy that wasn't even his.

Totally agree with this one, and heartily wish they had not brought him back. It wasn't that I didn't like Garth. Quite the opposite, in fact. But it was so awesome I wish they'd let him stay dead. Especially considering the series was rebooted three years later.

^ People do not speak of 'Jarth' in civilized company.

*shoves him into a box and drops it into an oubliette*

<------ Googles "oubliette". Haha

I'm not sure what it is yet but it doesn't sound pretty so it should be perfect for Jarth.

The first time I ever heard of an oubliette was in Labyrinth when I was a girl. Then I found out they were apparently real. Just big holes in the ground that you shove someone in to forget them.

I agree with that!

However, one that you missed and one that floored me when I first saw it...That scene after Apparition supposedly died, with Jo holding her charred body in his arms as he openly weeps for her...

Still gets to me.

It was a poignant and well-done scene for sure! But it's so sad I wouldn't count it as a "favorite" scene But it's up there with my most memorable!





Ugh, yes. Garth was always one of my faves, and I wish his return had been handled much better. I can think of quite a few ways they could have brought him back NOT as Jarth!!!

I just wish that when, in the Lo3W miniseries, one of the Brainiac 5s points out that Jarth could transform his body back to normal by himself, he had the sense to give himself two real arms.

Here's my top 15 greatest moments from the original/retroboot Legion. It was really hard to narrow it down!

1. The death and resurrection of Lightning Lad.

2. Cosmic Boy spares the lives of the terrorists who murdered his mom.

3. The wedding of Karate Kid and Queen Projectra.

4. The revelation that Shrinking Violet was kidnapped and Yera had impersonated her.

5. Timber Wolf plants that seed on Lythyl to fulfill Karate Kid's will.

6. The selection of Polar Boy, Tellus, Magnetic Kid, Sensor Girl and Quislet as new legionnaires.

7. Brainiac 5 having to watch Supergirl die 1,000 years in the past and unable to do anything to stop it.

8. The revelation that Validus is Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl's kidnapped baby.

9.The Legion goes underground to shuttle aliens safely off earth during the exophobic reign of Earth-man and the Justice League.

10. The death of Green Lantern/Rond Vidar at the hands of Superboy Prime and Universo, only to have the GL ring fly away from Universo's grasp. (I don't know why but Rond's death really left a lasting impression.)

11. White Witch transforms into the Black Witch to contain Mordru's magic.

12. Lightning Lad gets a tattoo.

13.The portrayal of Gates in Legion Lost series.

14. The portrayal of Tyroc's powers in Legion Lost series. (Pete Woods made Tyroc look like a real badass when using his power.)

15. Any appearance of Dawnstar, Dream Girl, Star Boy, Ultra Boy or Timber Wolf in the New 52 versions of Legion and Legion Lost. I really enjoyed their artistic renditions.

^ That's a very nice list, Leather Wolf. I haven't even attempted to make a list for the Preboot/Retroboot team.

And wow, almost half your list comes from the Retroboot era!

I was actually meaning to start a thread on that final scene of the preboot awhile back, so I'm glad to see this one. Here is the original image:



While for the most part I'm pretty happy with it, I've always found curious the lack of any scenes from the 70s, for example.

I'll have to think about my own list.

I read somewhere that the scenes were chosen partially through reader vote (which would explain Luornu's tunnel scene!). I can't recall where I read it and I can't find it on Google though, so I can't prove it.

Thanks for sharing, EDE. That two-page spread always gives me goosebumps.

It is indeed a marvelous montage. It tugs on all the right emotional strings. The image of Lu crawling through the tunnel is brilliant: At first glance, it's at odds with the heroic acts depicted in the other images. But anyone familiar with the story recognizes its context: how Lu suffered from a broken heart because Superboy didn't notice her. This scene is the most human, followed by the distant shot of Rokk and Cham walking amid a barren landscape. These two images show there is more to the Legion than super-heroics.

The Lu scene is also important because it shows just how heroic Lu is - she's suffering from a broken heart and is horribly outclassed by the magical Mordru, yet she still manages to contribute wonderfully to the Legionnaires' plan (fail though it did) to counter him later on.

But you're right. The Legion is more than just about heroics. These are characters we care for deeply, and so these scenes become effective.

I hate to be a downer but I actually find that selection of scenes completely underwhelming, and the page itself a poorly laid out disappointment. I haven't read the issue it appears in but I think I would have been very annoyed to turn to what was about to be the last page in the Preboot Legion's history and see that as their last hurrah.

* The only scenes there that seem worthy of making the big cut to me are 1) the founders saving RJ; 2) Ferro Lad's sacrifice; and maybe 3) the resurrection of Lightning Lad.

The induction of the Baxter 5 I definitely don't believe deserves a special mention - what was so much more special in Legion history about their arrival than anyone elses's?

And Karate Kid's death, brave and sad as it was, didn't seem any more special or momentous than most of the other members who'd died.

And the Rokk/Reep chat and Lu crawling though the tunnel scenes jus seem too small and insignificant to be remembered here. Or at least the artist's rendering of them here makes them appear so. I actually feel like one of the biggest problems with this page is the art. Whoever it is (Immomen?) just doesn't seem to have the chops for a page like this. There's too much wasted black and white space and the depiction of even the worthy scenes don't have any gravitas or excitement.

Can you imagine what a montage maestro like Perez in his hey day would have done with a page like this?

The scenes would all have gone right to the borders, being cut off by energy crackles or lightning or something, rather than be unconnected vignettes floating in white space, that's for sure!

I would have included Projectra snapping Nemesis Kid's neck over the death of Karate Kid, as it was not only a powerful scene, but also presaged something dramatic to come (Jeckie's Sensor Girl incarnation).

Other scenes I'd consider 'classic;'

Wildfire blowing up all over Omega.

Tens of thousands of Daxamites taking to the skies and using heat vision to reshape their planet into a gigantic monument to Darkseid.

Saturn Girl staring down mind-controlled Mon-El and Ultra Boy at the end of the Universo Project.

(I'd want to veer away from 'crowning moment of awesome' scenes for specific Legionnaires, 'though. Mysa blowing away that Khund Cyborg in her first fight as a Legionnaire may have been an instant classic *for her,* but not something that's historic to the whole team, IMO.)

I do think they could've fit a couple of more scenes at least in there. I think I would've gone with something like Wildfire's induction (the scene where he's spelling his name) rather than the Baxter Five.

But I definitely think including the more human moments like Lu's crawling through the tunnel and the Rokk/Cham meeting was completely the right thing to do. Another bit I might have stuck in along the same lines would be the Imra/Brainy hug after his trial.

As I look over my list of best moment of the Legion in the retroboot era, the one that probably had the greatest impact from a marketing standpoint was the death of Green Lantern/Rond Vidar during Lo3W. With Green Lantern gone, DC didn't have a character to tie-in to today's Justice League/Green Lantern craze. Levitz tried to make Mon-El a Green Lantern, but readers voted him in as Legion leader. If DC had incorporated a Green Lantern on the team, they might had the jumping off point to woo in some extra Green Lantern readers and sales might have ended up being better.

I like the simpler montage. I'm sure Perez could probably fit the entire time-line in. Why this montage works for me, is it hits many of the emotional take aways for me without pounding them in. They stroke my memory and I recall the other similar scenes on my own. It does leave a lot, (too many?) Legionnaires out. It probably leaves some emotions out. But I wouldn't want it crowded, which is what I think of when I think of Perez.

I probably agree with you on the KK death, I think death was been shown better and adequately with Ferro and LL. Ferro Lad particularly show the sacrifice in action and of course was an iconic scene for superhero comics in general.

I think almost ANY induction or try-out scene is a necessary. Those are for me, a huge part of Legion lore. This one or another but at least one.

The Vi scene, one I wouldn't have thought of but which has stroked my emotional memory as much as any of the others. It carries compassion and ... bravery (?). Empathy! I think empathy might be the better word.

The Cham-Rokk scene, I wouldn't have thought to put on my list but now that I see it... That scene as much as any I recall depicts the resurrection. It's a scene of hope.

Birth, death, resurrection. I think missing is a scene of joy and camaraderie. Others will come to me.

Maybe the BB/DD wedding scene for a moment of joy? I don't think any of the other weddings really stand out.

Incidentally, I'd be tempted to pick the Legionnaires joining hands with their younger selves as one of the iconic moments if I was doing an "entire Legion history" version of this.

As far as induction scenes, I'd have to go with the one on the cover of Adventure #346.