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

I was going to post something about Dawnstar being unqualified to be leader after I read your latest fic, in which leadership of a team falls to her by default. She's quite a loner, or tied to Wildfire and she's always been awfully prickly, quick to take offense and quick to criticize. If the Legion had continued after the 5YL series, (i.e. into middle age), it might have been interesting to see her lead after recovering from her Bounty experience.

Several of those too-prickly Legionnaires would make horrible leaders. Poor people skills!

Here are my thoughts on the Reboot Legion, separated into "never have been" and "have been".

Have been Elected Leader:

Cosmic Boy (L* 0 to LSH 80/L* 37; de facto from LSH 85-100): balanced personality, though tendency to nag and scold too much (see: Superboy in the Legion 25 to 33), selfless, can plan long-term but willing to fool own team if needed (LSH 80, but acted like a tyrant in LSH 72, L* 29), great at encouraging peolpe like XS (L* 19), can forgive teammates (vs. Saturn Girl in LSH 96)

Saturn Girl (L* 59/LSH 103 to Legion Lost 9): disciplined, but very strict (writing Star Boy up for abandoning his MMB post even though he saved Chameleon's life doing so, L* 73-74), can be seen as bossy (LSH 91)

Violet (L*38/LSH 82 to L* 39/LSH 83, but did take charge several times after): even discarding the Emerald Eye's influence, built up her own confidence and can take charge without offending others (L* 55, LSH 109)

Invisible Kid (L* 45 to 59, also LSH 91, 100 to 102): thrives behind the scenes, but able to lead in the forefront; charismatic but shy, can call people out if needed (L* 45, 50, LSH 91)

Kid Quantum II (Legion 10 to 38): not afraid to call people out (vs. Spark in Legion 14, Cosmic Boy in Legion 6)) though may come off as sarcastic

Have been made Acting Leader:

Leviathan (appointed by UP LSH 62, stepped down to become Cos' Deputy up to LSH 82, L* 39): has difficulty letting go of personal dislike (vs. Star Boy and Gates in L* 33 and LSH 79, 82), can lose temper (LSH 67, 76), either makes people feel highly valued or unwanted

Kinetix (Appointed by Leviathan, LSH 81): can be very sarcastic (L* 58) and and quick to judge (L* 48 vs. Dreamer's prediction); in her one stint as acting leader caused Brainiac 5 to quit, was ineffective leading a team (LSH 81)

Live Wire (L* 42 to 45; acting in Legion Lost 9-12): surprisingly calm and clear communicator, explains reasoning for decisions, listens to opinions of others (especially L*43 when debating tryout decisions, and L* 44 when assigning first solo mission to new Legionnaires). Did a good job keeping team together at end of Legion Lost.

Never been Leader:

Apparition (but de facto took charge of away team in Legion 35-38): willing to call out people for arrogance (vs. Sci Cops in LSH 66) or poor decisions (vs. Leviathan in LSH 69); tendency to let emotions get best of her though to be fair it was an extreme case (jealousy vs. Ultra Boy in LSH 94-96); but showed leadership ability (Gail Simone story in Legion 35-38), tactical ability (directed Ultra Boy in L* 27, LSH 83, L* Annual 2)

Triad* (special case, as she has acted as administrative head by default, and is named Situations Executive in Legion 25): Orange and Purple would be too extreme (LSH 119 for particularly bad example for Purple), but excels at organization and administration (handling Legion elections in L* 38), can take charge as needed (LSH 96)

Chameleon: very good people skills, ability to empathize and make people feel heard (entirety of Legion Lost), good negotiator (vs. Durlan Holy Council in L* 46)

XS: more of a supporter, but very good at encouraging and empathizing (with Lori Morning in LSH 125)

Brainiac 5: directs people but with much friction and hurt feelings (LSH 91, L* 58)

Spark: no demonstrated leadership instances that I can think of, but did take charge of Live Wire vs. Lightning Lord (L* 30), but can blurt out ill-thought statements (with Saturn Girl in LSH 89 and 96), snippy when feeling dislike (with Kid Quantum II several instances from Legion 11-14)

Andromeda: would likely struggle with deep-seated xenophobia (vs. Sensor in L* 50), no demonstrated leadership instances

Star Boy: some demonstrated tactical abilities (taking charge of Amazers vs. invasion in LSH 102)

Gates: good tactical abilities (directing Star Boy vs. Validus in LSH 79, Ultra Boy vs. Mantis in LSH 97), though can come across as nagging and overly opinionated (virtually entire Leigon career)

M'Onel: not many demonstrated leadership abilities in Legion-verse, though works well in small groups (with Shvaughn Erin, stopping Robotican incursion in Legion Worlds 1; inspires Silvans and Daxamites to fight vs. Khunds in L* 56); also see legend of Valor.

Element Lad: some demonstrated tactical abilities (developed plan vs. Composite Durlan in L* 55)

Ultra Boy: some demonstrated tactical abilities (directed Apparition in battle LSH 87), but also overly depended on Apparition's tactical thinking earlier (L* Annual 2, L* 27)

Umbra: very anti-social, prone to cutting remarks and negativity (L* 44), difficulty dealing with own failures (L* 72, 74, 76)

Sensor: able to empathize and encourage (with Violet in L* 50, Live Wire in L* 49, Magno in L* 51), led prison revolt (LSH 117)

Magno: none demonstrated, though a great team player and supporter (see career from L* 43-50)

Ferro: none demonstrated, may be empathetic (with Saturn Girl in LSH 90, Monstress in LSH Secret Files 2) but also naively ignorant of negative impact (Brainiac 5 in 95, Dyrk Magz in L* 58); poor planning got twin brother killed (LSH 93)

Monstress: extremely sweet and nurturing (Violet in L* 53, Radion in L* 51, Ferro in LSH Secret Files 2)

Karate Kid: loner, prefers acting alone (declined to have a partner vs. Daxamites in L*Annual 2), may be judgmental (calls Brainiac 5 selfish for exploiting Legion labs in LSH 111, despite self using Legion to travel and learn new martial arts); showed some leadership ability gathering inmates and Science Police officers (Legion 35-38) but got their attention by beating them in hand-to-hand first

Thunder: none demonstrated, though uses Solomon's Widsom effectivelt several times (LSH 110)

Wildfire: none demonstrated, outspoken but willing to concede being wrong (debate on Progenitor in Legion Lost 11, usefulness of training in Legion Lost 4), understands importance of team dynamics and inspiration (reflecting on Legion's poor performance vs. Progeny in Legion Lost 10)

Shikari: none demonstrated, more of a learner/follower? but able to use own skills even if it goes against society's values (Legin Lost 3)

Chuck Taine: none demonstrated, though named Chief of Logistics (Legion 25), worked with Tenzl Kem and Marla Latham to repel HQ invaders but not as leader (L* 35)

Gear: none demonstrated, though indirectly inspired prison revolt (LSH 117)

Timber Wolf: lead own gang (Legion Worlds 6), seen training Legion Cadets (Legion 32)

Dreamer: none demonstarted, but acted as tactical advisor to Xanthian and Khund forces (Legion Worlds 4)

Superboy (Kon-El): none demonstrated in Legion appearances

I think M'Onel would have made an interesting choice, what with the Valor baggage and all...and Triad definitely looked like she was being groomed to take over in the Legion series, though that never really went anywhere.

Actually now that I think about it, Monstress might have made for some interesting stories too - she was very sweet but she also had a pretty solid idea of what she considered right and wrong and she had no problems speaking up about it!

FC: post-Bounty Dawnstar had a lot of character potential that she never got much of a chance to develop unfortunately...it would have been nice to see her grow into one of the core members of the team

Bouncing Boy was a Leader in the Legion cartoon. I think he should be on the list, because, even though it was short-lived it did spawn a group of new fans (we've seen a few register here over the years).

You're right about Bouncing Boy. He was a very good example of rising to the occasion; taking charge a couple of episodes before the finale (dealing with storms on Winath), and asserting himself against stronger personalities like Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy. This got him elected, and he led the team well against the Sun-Eater and the Fatal Five (having Shrinking Violet as a secret weapon against the Emerald Eye was a brilliant tactic in case the Five tried a double-cross, which they did). I was annoyed when the show-runners seemed to forget he was leader in the second season.



Yeah, M'On comes with 1000 years of wisdom and has a very even temper. In LSH 91, he was the one gently pushing Lyle to take charge while the team was stuck in the timestream - showing that M'On knows what a leader needs to do.

Triad was a wasted opportuniy. In the Reboot's only (I think) reader-voting elections, she came in THIRD. Yet among the top five, she was the only one to never officially hold the Legion leader post. Here are the full results:

Invisible Kid - 64
Saturn Girl - 42
Triad - 39
Violet - 32
Cosmic Boy - 30
Gates - 28
Brainiac 5 - 25
Live Wire - 22
M'Onel - 19
Chameleon - 16
Star Boy - 14
XS - 14
Ultra Boy - 11
Apparition - 9
Leviathan - 7
Spark - 6
Element Lad - 6
Kinetix - 3

Gates would have been interesting, but there's now way they could explain that away in-story

I feel like Live Wire doesn't get enough credit, as he really matured quickly once he rejoined the Legion in LSH 80. He did a good job taking over at the end of Legion Lost though (Legion Lost 9-12).

Brainiac 5, as written by DNA, could have been a decent choice too. That Brainy had enough emotional intelligence not to outright insult people (and Lyle then was much snarkier in comparison).

And Chameleon and Sensor, both of whom had been groomed to be leaders on their homeworlds, would have been decent choices too.

Also Apparition, who showed some tactical smarts and sensitivity (a glimpse of that in Legion 35-38 showed us the Tinya we could have gotten, but didn't, in the Retroboot).

Wow, I never realised Lyle was so popular! I wonder if it's partly because he got more visibility (heh) in the reboot? The biggest thing he ever did in preboot stories was die and give Jacques an origin story really

I think Lyle’s (and Lu’s) popularity started in the SW6 Legionnaires. Lu’s three personalities first debuted there, as did Lyle’s more sarcastic yet charismatic demeanor and “hidden” insecurities. that characterization continued into the Reboot, where their popularity exploded

in the various Survivor and Idol games here that pit versions of Legionnaires against each other, Lyle and Lu are among the very few whose Reboot versions consistently outdo their Preboot counterparts!

Oh yeah I forgot about the SW6 guys! That is a good point, though I'm glad they toned down the jerkiness of some of the guys when they rebooted them again

yeah, I agree. Live Wire for example. I always thought of the Legion as an extended family, and I prefer lots of camaraderie with a sprinkling of sarcasm and snark.