Okay, yesterday I was over on Marvel.com's boards and someone had started a trivia quiz thread. The first question on the list asked us to name the founding members of the JLA. As you might guess, this led to some heated disagreement. It occurred to me that there have been at least four different answers over the last few decades to the question of "Who were the Founders of the original JLA, way back when?"

I decided to write down my current understanding of what those four different answers have been, and invite feedback from anyone who spots something I got wrong!


Pre-Crisis

The original JLA began with these founding members, in alphabetical order:

Aquaman (Arthur, now called Orin)
Batman (Bruce)
Flash (Barry)
Green Lantern (Hal)
Martian Manhunter (J'onn)
Superman (Clark)
Wonder Woman (Diana)



Post-Crisis

After some retcons, we were told the original JLA had begun with these founding members, in alphabetical order:

Aquaman (Arthur, now called Orin)
Black Canary (Dinah)
Flash (Barry)
Green Lantern (Hal)
Martian Manhunter (J'onn)



Post-Zero Hour

After some retcons, we were told the original JLA had begun with these founding members, in alphabetical order:

Aquaman (Arthur, now called Orin)
Black Canary (Dinah)
Flash (Barry)
Green Lantern (Hal)
Martian Manhunter (J'onn)
Triumph (Will)



Post-Infinite Crisis

After some retcons, we were told the original JLA had begun with at least these founding members, in alphabetical order (but I'm not sure if we've gotten anything, published since the "OYL" jump, that was guaranteed to be "a complete list" of Founding Members?):

Aquaman (Arthur, now called Orin)
Batman (Bruce)
Flash (Barry)
Green Lantern (Hal)
Martian Manhunter (J'onn)
Superman (Clark)
Wonder Woman (Diana)

I have a general impression that the roles in the early days of the JLA of two "previously retconned-in founding members," Black Canary and Triumph, have been left very unclear so far. I haven't actually been buying the latest Justice League title, however, so I may easily have missed something important that would "prove" or "disprove" whether either of them still deserves to be called "a founding member." So the Post-IC version may be exactly the same as the original Pre-Crisis version, or it may turn out to include all seven of the names from the Pre-Crisis version plus at least one or two more names added in, for all I know?

If I made any mistakes on any of these lists, then please, just say so! (It will help, though, if you can point me to a specific story that will prove your point about who should be added to, or removed from, one of these lists! )



The Faith of the Five -- an ongoing fanfic about the Teen Titans (animated versions)