Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Who Hasn't Been Leader - and what they could bring to the job

Tellus or Gates could have been very interesting leaders, but now they're out of the main group. Both of them have an outsider's view and a history of observations regarding teammates' behaviour. I don't know if they would have been great leaders, but they might have had a different way of working the team. Too bad the chance is gone now.

I actually voted for Lightning Lass in the last election, since she strikes me as level-headed, with a long history of Legion experience and no enmity or rivalry with other members. On the negative side, she has been overshadowed by her Garth and tends to always lose in a battle with Mekt. Might she put family loyalties above the Legion in a crunch? Ranzz family and Legion interests are pretty closely aligned in any event.

(There's a list of pre-boot leaders here .)

Actually, Ayla did a number on Mekt in Baxter Series #6 (featuring some fine artwork by Joe Orlando), which led to her rejoining the team. And she wasn't even wearing a uniform at the time (it always seems more of a challenge when you have to do the job in civvies).

Incidentally, I voted for Ayla last time, too

For the next election, I'm kind of hoping a Legion lady gets to take the title. I'd love to see what characters like Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, or the aforementioned Lightning Lass did as leader. I feel like they're all pretty well-established and strong personalities now and any of them would do well in the position. I could see Violet being a bit more impulsive and not by the books than the other two, though any of them would probably break the rules for the right issue/person in peril.

It'd be interesting too to see what would happen if Dream Girl decided to reassert herself and run for leader again. One of the things I loved about Dreamy's tenure, aside from her increased exposure, was seeing the different reactions Legionnaires had to her in charge. She always turns heads, even if it's unintentional.

Hmm... Invisible Kid might make an interesting choice among the males.

Phantom Girl. Because she's almost as senior a member of the team as the founders. Also, I really want her to get some character development beyond her relationship with Ultra Boy.

IK was the leader way back when.


I was thinking Blok for the same reasons Fat Cramer gave for Tellus and Gates. But like them Blok seems to not be in a position to be the leader. Duplicate Damsel would be a good leader. She ran the Academy.

When was Jacques leader? He was President of Earth for awhile 5YL, but has he ever actually been Legion leader?

Well, she could certainly keep up with the mission monitor board. :rolleyes:

As far as IK goes, that was Lyle Norg, who took over for Brainy back around Adventure 350. Jacques was co-leader toward the end of the 5YG run, but that hasn't happened yet in the current continuity.

I voted for Ayla last time too ... I think the LSH needs someone like her at the helm. She seems nice and grounded. Unlike many of the other members now.

I think it would've been better during the last election though because those were such dark times.

It would be kinda cool to have her as leader if the founding three left ... for nostalgia.

I think Phantom Girl or Duplicate Girl should have tons of experience by now, as well as Gim and Sun Boy.

I didn't include Luornu since she's at the Academy, but why not? There's no reason you would have to be an active Legionnaire to be leader; it might even be better if you weren't - devote all your time to being leader. She's got the experience as an active member and has probably gained a hell of a lot of experience managing people and working with their superpowers. She's tough, too.

Chuck is too easy-going, in my opinion. But in a few years, it could be Lydda's turn to take the leadership. Watch out then, Rokk! She'll give you all the worst missions!

Of the current active membership, I would LOVE for Ayla to be leader. I think it would be a great opportunity for her to develop personality-wise, and of all the Legion she and Star Boy are probably the two who most understand what it's like to have loads of aggressive power as well as what it's like to have to use your brain with a less direct power (interesting that the two Legionnaires who had a drastic power change during their careers are the two gravity manipulators).

Cham would be an interesting choice too from a storytelling perspective, it would be interesting to see how he deals with the stress of leading the team in the current xenophobic climate on top of his father's recent death and the recent thing with the Durlan assassins...

Star Boy I think would be a good wild card entry...he's not really the obvious leadership candidate, but I do think he would be unexpectedly good at it (once we get him back to his traditional personality).

Picking from the inactive members, I think Night Girl would be good at it as well - she seems to thrive in a role of authority, and her power limitations don't matter so much if she is in a position where she gets to choose her battles more...and again like Ayla, I think Lydda would have a good understanding of how the more subtle powers could help in a situation.

Last pick is Luornu...her powers make her perfect for it, and I think it would be a really good thing for her confidence as a hero given what being a Legionnaire has cost her so far.

I voted for Phantom Girl during the most recent election based on her experience, tenure, and close friendship with a large number of other members. She would be a cool head under pressure and there would be a lot of loyalty to her.

Looks like most of us want a female at the helm this time.

Tinya would be interesting, especially since she can be careless when talking to people. Love to see how she deals with the diplomacy required to manage the team.

[snip]

One of them as leader and the other as deputy would be interesting. Thom in my mind is always fundamentally decent, but by his own admission, not a genius. I could see him as very much a collaborative leader. He'd want a lot of feedback from others, but probably still chafe if somebody with an aggressive personality [cough... Brainy... cough] tried to do all his thinking for him.

I loved the logic of Threeboot Cosmic Boy never sending Thom and Ayla on missions unless they were together.

Quote

Cham would be an interesting choice too from a storytelling perspective, it would be interesting to see how he deals with the stress of leading the team in the current xenophobic climate on top of his father's recent death and the recent thing with the Durlan assassins...

Hah. Maybe you really can make silk purses from sows' ears. (I hated that plotline so much, on so many levels, even though the art was pretty.)

Cham isn't used to a public leadership role. He might look for an excuse to get out of it and go back to leading ES, where he felt most comfortable. Or he might just grit his teeth and deal. So that could be interesting.

I also voted Phantom Girl. After the founders, she is THE senior member and is long overdue for the position.

Chuck & Lu - Where the Legion are being run by the UP and a compromise has them administer the Legion as they ran the UP militia.
VI - to show how much of her post sens-tank approach lends itself to what she's naturally like and wants to really be. She was sort of in charge at the end of v4 though...
Shadow Lass - Focused, determined planetary champion who expects others to have similar standards.
Harmonia - Her long term outlook would be a natural counterpoint to the immediate catastrophe surrounding the end of v7.

I was a big fan of the idea of Phantom Girl as potential leader, but it's been done and I hated the way Levitz & Giffen did it. Blech.

So, maybe Lightning Lass *or* Shrinking Violet. Ayla seems kind of laid back, and might be too nice for the job. Salu, on the other hand, could come across as a bit of a tin-plated tyrant, and yet, maybe that's what some of the Legion could use, a swift kick in their complacency, and a strong-willed fearless leader who isn't afraid to attempt to be a bit more proactive. (Granted, the Squadron Supreme mini-series was a fine example of how terribly wrong things can get when heroes attempt to get a little too proactive...)

In the Reboot, Tinya got to step up and take charge during Gail Simone's four-parter. She was pretty effective at wrangling her scattered teammates and dealing with civilians.

I think Chameleon should get a shot too. He seems to have an amazing level of emotional intelligence (which makes sense given his shapeshifter's perspective)! And we know he's smart.

In the Reboot also, Luornu has been shown more as a gifted administrator rather than as the typical inspirational leader. I would like to see her get a shot too - she would be really interesting, what with her three personalities.

Finally, I would like Projectra to get a second shot. As a royal leading a group of peers, I think we would get a lot of interesting scenes...

I'd forgotten about Tinya's role in the Gail Simone story. Her v.7 leadership sure didn't end well, which was a great disappointment after her portrayal as competent, adventurous and optimistic in the Secret Origins series.

It's surprising that Cham was never leader, given his long tenure on the team, although he did have semi-leader status as financial backer in 5YL and adult advisor to the SW6 Legionnaires.

Thinking about the mess that the Legion was in at the end of v.7, with everyone scattered and upset, Lu & Chuck would be a good choice to reorganize everyone and oversee the new kids from the Academy. I really see them as a team, as stronger and more capable together; they complement one another. However, I think I'd go for the longshot and choose Night Girl. She got tougher over the years, I'd hope she's over that jerk Rokk Krinn, and she's certainly someone who keeps going after defeat and humiliation.

He was on my short list as well (along with Projectra having another shot at it), but I kind of feel that running the Espionage Squad is already a full-time job (even if we don't see the kind of stuff they get up to, behind the scenes), and that it might even be a bit of a conflict of interest, since it sometimes feels like the Espionage Squad gets up to stuff that the main team shouldn't be seen getting it's hand in, and the actual Leader of the Legion can plausibly deny knowing anything about... (That might make them sound a little too sketchy, but I feel like the second the Leader is called on the carpet to explain stuff to the UP Council or whatever, any sort of operational secrecy is out the window, so it would be in the best interest of getting the job done if the Leader didn't know the nit-picky details of what the Espionage Squad was up to.)

That all said, the same argument could be used to disqualify other Espionage Squad members, like Tinya, Salu and, presumably, Jacques and Yera. (Assuming that Jacques and Yera are part of the Squad, which I'm not really clear on...)

Lu (with a side of Chuck) as Legion Leader would certainly be an interesting twist, particularly with her 'Duplicate Girl' upgrade. She could be manning a monitor board at HQ, *and* on every single mission team!

There may have been something in one of the stories about Cham preferring to stay Espionage Squad Leader - it seems to have been a lifetime job. The membership of the Squad was fluid, but nobody else ever led the group. You make a good point that deniability would have been useful for any Legion leader.

I wonder if the Leader role shouldn't have been split into two - like quarterback (or head coach) and manager of a football team. One is experienced and active in the field, the other handles all the administrative stuff. There are indications that administration was handled by R.J.'s staff, particularly Marla, but it might be a role for an honorary or ex-Legionnaire, or someone like Shvaughn Erin.

Or someone like M'Rissey, from the Threeboot.

I've often wondered if the Legion needed a 'face' group that was kind of the opposite of the Espionage Squad, their job being to be out there on a charm offensive, giving the team a much-needed popularity and political boost (so that they don't keep getting booted off the planet by people like Universo or the Justice League of Earth). Such a squad wouldn't necessarily need to have the most combat-capable members, but those with more utilitarian powers (able to put out fires, catch falling air vehicles, rescue disaster survivors, other big publically-showy 'hero' stuff that plays well on the ten o clock news). They'd run around being seen doing good works, and also being seen at public events (providing a sense of security just with their presence, even if they aren't actually doing anything but hob-nobbing with the movers-and-shakers). Having a squad of camera-friendly Legionnaires on that sort of detached assignment would keep less camera-friendly Legionnaires (like Brin or Drake, who can get a bit touchy) out of the spotlight, and also keep the press distracted, while dealing with the sorts of 'political nonsense' that Legionnaires like Brainy and Garth find so irritating and prone to hindering Legion operations.

Dream Girl seems a logical choice for such a team, along with Lu and Chuck (who share a down-to-earth nature, and 'safe' non-threatening powers).

being leader was certainly stressful! Garth’s powers backfired on him due to stress in V2/V3 , and Levitz has a retcon/flashback with Lyle thinking he would propose that the leaders’ terms should only last 6 months because of the difficulty (to explain the 6 month terms that were implemented after the Adventure Era ended if I recall correctly)

Tinya in v7 as well as Sun Boy and Polar Boy in the 5YG. Brek struggled a bit in v3 too.

Wild card: Dawnstar! I would never have considered Dawny leadership material traditionally but she took charge pretty well in Legion of 3 Worlds and I think it'd be a good challenge for her to have to be more of a team player.