Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes What Would Different Legionnaires Do If They Were The Time Trapper?

In the Archive 14 thread, Thoth wrote: "(The Time Trapper's) multiple possible origins have worked for him, when they could easily have undermined the character (Tenzil: No! It's my turn to be Trapper this month! No one wants Timber Trapper Brin!)"

This got me thinking what individual Legionnaires might do as Time Trapper. Cosmic Boy was the quintessential Legion leader, so when he became the Time Trapper, it was all about saving the Legion... until he went insane.

Luornu Durgo as Time Trapper:

She would prevent her third self from being murdered by Computo. She'd manipulate events to have a brief but wild affair with Superboy and get the infatuation out of her system before settling down with Chuck. Starting to go insane, she'd decide to let Computo be built, but to have it murder Brainiac 5 instead. When she was confronted by her Duo Damsel self as part of the Conspiracy, she'd let her two selves live, and accept voluntary extinction, opening the way for another Legionnaire to assume the purple robe.

If multiplying two negatives creates a positive, what would happen to Dream Girl as Time Trapper? Maybe she'd lose her original powers.

If not, would she pretty much retire to a mountaintop and just meditate for eternity? After all, she can already see how each one of her schemes would end. Probably the same way: a whole lot of Ragnarok and then nothingness.

The White Witch's origin story stated that no Naltorian can see the end of her own life, so maybe that's how Nura would lose her marbles: trying and failing to see when the end was coming.

I just can't see Invisible Kid as a Time Trapper. But if he was I imagine he would operate more behind the scenes.

Tasmia Mallor as the Time Trapper:

She would prevent herself from accidentally setting Mordru free, therefore preventing herself from becoming serious with Mon-El. She and Braniac 5 would have a passionate opposites-attract love affair which would result in a love triangle with Supergirl, who would go mad with jealousy and nearly destroy the Legion until the Trapper tries to wipe her from existence. But the Trapper's efforts would be in vain, for Supergirl, diminished in power but still alive, would infiltrate the Legion as Sensor Girl and lead the conspiracy to destroy the Trapper. In the end, it's Kara vs. Tasmia...one shall stand, one shall fall.

I see what you did there.

Opening his mind to the time stream, strips away Jan Arrah's spirituality, as he returns again and again to the time when he was trom-atised (tee hee). After all, he did pull that trigger on Roxxas.

He'll either go back in time to stop the space pirates, or create a pocket universe where he'll be some sort of... Progenitor (as opposed to being the Proginator, the god of cocktail creation).

I think Jan would be a great barkeep. A good listener, and always too ethical to water down the drinks.

Not as good as li'l rhino, though.

I was flipping through the Best of the Legion Outpost, and Keith Giffen has an interesting take on the character.

"He's also probably the most vicious, vengeance oriented...He'd probably be the one who'd say "Lets' get rid of that stupid rule about killing."

"Justifiable revenge. But I think he would have a hard time distinguishing between his own feelings and [justice], because maybe to him it's justifiable, but to no one else it is."

Giffen goes on to say that Jan is getting sick of being deputy (did we get a hint of that one in the book?) and that he's messing with Colossal Boy, by putting him down.

While that may not sound like the Jan Arrah we know, he did pull that trigger on Roxxas as I mentioned. Faced with the obliteration of the future, the death of Superboy and the victory of the Fatal Five, he was also the one calmly having some cotton candy back in #198.

Jan Arrah: 30th century sociopath.

It does make me think that there was a lot going on beneath that calm surface.

I think the Legion might want to take a closer look at those Hall of Heroes statues. Who knows who Jan got to pose in the costumes before he started to use his power?

It also puts a lot of the reboot/Legion Lost in perspective.

I think the Progenitor is very much like a Time Trapper there. Jan had gone through such an extended period of isolation. He had saved the others, and ended up creating life. But he lost himself on the way. It had a much better feel for it than Rokk losing his library card in the Great Galactic Book Archive.

But library cards are very important.

Seriously, I totally agree. Jan's transformation, tragic as it was, made much more sense than Rokk's ever did.

Interesting though, is that Jan voted against Brainy during his trial over the murder of the Infinite Man. Even though he felt losing Brainy would be a big blow to the team, he voted GUILTY because of his views on the sanctity of life.

Totally agree though that the Progenitor arc made more sense than Rokk as Trapper.

Jan just doesn't want the competition of another nutcase in the Legion, so he has to vote Brainy out.

I don't mind Rokk as being the Trapper, or a Trapper. Let's tick the boxes:-

A selfish tool to colleagues; controlled vengeance when family were firebombed; obsession with time; reveal that his destiny would be a horrible one; squirreling away artefacts from history; upset when history wasn't what he thought it was; breakdown when using power gauntlets.

It's more the way it was done, which fell way short of Jan's. Perhaps they didn't have a lot of time before Zero Hour, and that their minds may well have been on that more than the details. I was going to say "I appreciate" there, but really I didn't

A lovely Holiday moment...




Or is it?

Imra is clearly using her Trapper powers to break the fourth wall. You are not Legion readers because you want to be. You are Legion readers because Saturn Girl commands it!