Not in the Same League

A recent interview revealed that Wonder Woman almost didn’t make it onto Justice League.  How would that have affected the series?

One of the reasons for the success of Justice League was the acknowledgement that, in order to succeed, it needed “the big guns” to draw its audience.  It seems obvious now, but for about a decade (1984-1996) getting DC Comics’ best and brightest in the Justice League comics was not a guarantee, as the book increasingly became a dumping ground for second and third-tier characters who couldn’t carry a series on their own.

While there were some bright points during this period (the superhero / office comedy stories from J.M. DeMatteis and the late Keith Giffen, for example), the books languished until Grant Morrison, a Scottish writer best known for their work on Vertigo titles such as Animal Man, Doom Patrol, and The Invisibles, took the reins.  In a 1996 Wizard Magazine interview, the author explained that, in addition to “rebuilding the Justice League of [my] youth,” it came down to marketing: 

[I]t was the only way to go with it commercially.  Despite the efforts that had been made on the old book, it wasn’t working.  Nobody was interested in all these sub-rate DC characters that were indistinguishable from one another.  People weren’t picking it up.  It seemed so absolutely obvious to me that if you were going to do a book called the Justice League, it has to be the best and biggest characters in the DC Universe, in grand, widescreen-type adventures. (Brady, “Mine!”)

And so, in 1996, DC Comics released JLA, a series that—for the first time in the post-Crisis era—gave us a team comprised of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter.  And it was wonderful.

In the decades since, Morrison’s statement has been proven true, as the more “A list” characters star, the better the title performs.  Anyway, we were four to five years into this mindset when Bruce Timm began planning the Justice League series, and he took note of Morrison’s successes, as well as one of Marvel’s failures:

You have to remember that the classic lineup of the Justice League wasn’t really in existence in the early ‘90s.  That’s one thing I’ll give Grant Morrison a lot of credit for.  He was the one who went to DC and said, “You know, if you want to revitalize Justice League, you’ve got to go back to the original seven, that core, iconic group,” and he was right.  By the time we got around to doing the actual Justice League show, Grant Morrison’s idea had already implemented in the comics, and we looked at that and said, “Yeah, that’s a really smart idea.”  And we also learned from Marvel’s mistake.

The biggest problem I had with the Avengers show [referring to the maligned Fox series The Avengers:  United They Stand series [1999-2000]) that Marvel did a couple of years ago was that it wasn’t really the main Avengers.  […] It was an okay show, but when you say “Avengers” you want Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.  You don’t just want Ant-Man, Falcon, and the Scarlet Witch.  The hybrid concept feels like you’re cheating the audience.  So, while it was a nightmare for our legal department, we did eventually get the rights to use all of the popular DC characters.  And God bless [DC Comics President] Paul Levitz because he was behind us all the way.  He said right off the bat, “It’s going to be hard to get the rights to all of these characters, but you have to have Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.  And whatever it takes, we’ll make that happen.” (qtd. in Gross, “Justice”)

However, it almost didn’t happen as, according to information recently released, Wonder Woman was almost replaced by New God Big Barda in the initial “big seven” lineup, which would have had both short term and long term consequences for the series.

Suffering Sappho!

Before we get to the main event, a quick word about the rights issues involving Wonder Woman, which—like fellow DC mainstays Captain Marvel, Blue Beetle, and Black Lightning—are a tangled web of secondhand information and apocryphal conjecture.  What little we know begins with writer Kurt Busiek, who responded to a question on the DC message boards on January 25, 2005 regarding the issue (this has been archived on the Cosmic Teams website):

QUESTION:  For years, there have been rumors that if DC were to quit publishing Wonder Woman for a certain length of time that ownership of the character would revert back to the Marston estate.  A few years ago, some people on the old DC boards were stating that you had refuted those claims in a post.

So, are those rumors true?  Were they ever true, or do you just not know one way or another?

KURT BUSIEK:  They are no longer true, but they were true for a long time—as I understand it, the terms were that DC had to publish at least four issues with “Wonder Woman” as the banner lead feature or rights would revert.  That’s why DC did the Legend of Wonder Woman miniseries that I wrote and Trina Robbins drew—the Pérez revamp was in development, but coming along slowly, and they had to publish something to fulfil the contract terms. They specifically didn’t want something that would be attention-getting because they didn’t want to undercut the revamp, so they wanted something gentle and nostalgic, and we had fun doing it.

In the intervening years, though, I’m given to understand that, at some point, DC bought the character outright, and thus those contract terms are no longer in place. (qtd. in “Ownership”)

In the ensuing years, however, Busiek’s claim has come into question, as members of William Moulton Marston’s family have come forward to comment on the arrangement.  For example, comic book historian Marc Tyler Nobleman—author of Bill the Boy Wonder:  The Secret Co-Creator of Batman (2012), the book that challenged the belief that Bob Kane was the sole creator of Batman—interviewed Marston’s granddaughter Nancy Wykoff in 2014, who claimed that DC Comics “need[s] family approval before any decisions are made” regarding Wonder Woman “stories and products” (Nobleman).  And days later, another Marston granddaughter, Christie Marston, said on Twitter that “DC holds the rights as long as they keep the comic in publication, as per the original contract.  The family is compensated.”  So, based on the above, it appears that 1) DC Comics still needs to publish a minimum of four Wonder Woman comics per year and 2) the Marston family must approve how Wonder Woman is used in terms of comics, merchandise, and multimedia.

This conclusion meshes quite well with what we know about attempts to add the Amazing Amazon to the DCAU.  While Wonder Woman was part of initial plans for Superman:  The Animated Series (Allstetter, “Men”), an appearance never materialized.  It wasn’t until the Batman Beyond episode “The Call” that we got a sense of what was going on.  In the episode, which introduced a future version of the Justice League called the Justice League Unlimited, featured the aforementioned Big Barda rather than the familiar Amazon warrior.  Executive Producer Bruce Timm, discussing her absence in a 2000 interview in Comicology, simply said that “[w]e couldn’t use Wonder Woman at the time [for licensing reasons]” (qtd. in Lamken, “Justice”), but in a 2000 interview with Comics Continuum, writer Paul Dini was able to better expand on the substitution:

There’s kind of a licensing problem.  If we wanted to do Wonder Woman as a series, we could do that.  If it was a guest-shot, it was a little more problematic.  I don’t really understand it; it just turned out to be easier all the way around.  With Barda being a full-time member of the League [in the comics at the time], we figured Barda’s from Apokolips and nearly immortal too, so let’s put her in there, and it has a link to the contemporary book.

We all love Wonder Woman.  Bruce [Timm] did that great design of her, which is now a maquette at the Warner Bros store.  At some point, we’ll do Wonder Woman.  We just need to fight that battle when we get to it. (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice”)

And that battle came in 2000-2001, when Timm and his creative team migrated from Kids’ WB! to Cartoon Network and began developing Justice League.  At first, it seemed like they were able to sidestep the issues at the time (it wasn’t Wonder Woman:  The Animated Series, but it did make her part of the main cast, like on Super Friends) but, according to Dan Riba during the October 2, 2023 installment of the Justice League Revisited podcast, it was touch-and-go for a while:

DAN RIBA:  We had just, like, from when the show was approved to go to getting all the characters signed, and the way DC had the licensing for each character it was difficult to … you know, it was like, I remember, “Okay, we got Superman, we got Batman; those guys are in, but we have to, like, figure out our roster based on how the licensing deals with DC went.”  And Wonder Woman was the holdout.

JAMES ENSTALL:  Oh, really?

DAN RIBA:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  The Marston estate was—you know, there was a certain kind of deal that DC had to have to pay for her, so we almost had Big Barda.

JAMES ENSTALL:  Oh, wow.

SUSAN EISENBERG:  Wow.

DAN RIBA:  Yeah.  And it was, like, we really needed Wonder Woman.  It was, like, “Come on!   We gotta have Wonder Woman!”  This is crazy; we wouldn’t have a Justice League—it wouldn’t feel right without Wonder Woman.

SUSAN EISENBERG:  Okay, where else are people going to hear stories like this?  I mean, can I just say that?  This is the inside scoop, folks!  This is the real deal!  You know, this is amazing; I never heard these—I didn’t know about that.  That’s fantastic!

JAMES ENSTALL:  Now, Susan, weren’t you the last—if I remember, [Voice Director] Andrea [Romano] [said] you were the last person to be cast too.  You were the last role—so this was basically … this was all held up because of Wonder Woman, one way or another, is what you’re saying, Dan.

SUSAN EISENBERG:  [LAUGHS.]

DAN RIBA:  Exactly, exactly.

SUSAN EISENBERG:  Yeah, well, I wouldn’t know about that.  I mean, I think you’re right about the casting, and I know that they … I can’t really speak to the whole casting thing because I’m not—I wasn’t in those rooms, except for the room I was in when they had me there.  So, I don’t really know the story of the casting of Wonder Woman. 

[…]

JAMES ENSTALL:  Well, now I’m curious.  If you guys  […] were already auditioning people, obviously you don’t want to wait until you get the rights to Wonder Woman before you start auditioning Wonder Woman.  Were you hearing, listening, to people coming in to read for Barda as well, just in case the rights didn’t come through?

DAN RIBA:  I don’t think so, I don’t think so.  I think we had already pretty much set … you know—the Barda was going to be […] the last resort replacement.

JAMES ENSTALL:  Gotcha, okay.

While we may never know how close we came to losing Diana because of the licensing issues with the Marston estate, but we do know that it was enough of an issue for there to be a “last resort” candidate for the League, but the question remains:  who is Barda?

Fear and Loathing on Apokolips

First appearing in Mister Miracle #4 (October 1971), Big Barda was a supporting character from Jack Kirby’s New Gods cast who initially functioned as Mister Miracle’s partner and, later, wife.  For her backstory, as well as Mister Miracle’s, one need only look at the original Kids’ WB! Superman website for their character profiles:

Mister Miracle was born the child of Highfather and turned over to Darkseid as an infant at an attempt towards bringing peace between New Genesis and Apokolips.  He was raised by Granny Goodness, who dubbed him Scott Free in mockery.  He earned the name, however, by escaping from Apokolips and making it to Earth where he lived as a hero.  He has recently achieved godhood, and the worlds tremble with what such a resourceful man can do with that.

[...]

Big Barda was born and raised on Apokolips in Granny Goodness’ orphanage.  She trained with the Female Furies and was a member of the elite Special Powers Force, made up of herself, Bernadeth (sister of Desaad), Lashina, Mad Harriet, and Stompa.  Though she was, at first, loyal to Granny, she questioned the ways of Apokolips, and covered for one of her fellow Furies who had come under the sway of Himon’s teachings.  It was during a mission to retrieve that individual from Himon’s quarters before an imminent raid that she first encountered Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and though she was taken with him almost immediately, she could not bring it upon herself to escape for Earth at the time he did through Metron’s boom tube.

Later, however, Barda did flee Apokolips and come to live with Scott on Earth and assist him in his escape act.  After several attacks upon the two of them by Darkseid’s minions, Barda accompanied Scott back to Apokolips, where Scott earned his freedom through trial by combat, and Barda convinced her old unit to return to Earth with her for a time.  Returning to Earth, Scott and Barda had several adventures and gradually fell in love.  After a time, they were married and left Earth to live on New Genesis so that Scott could explore his lost heritage.

It's interesting to note that, if you check the character bios on the old website, they feature extensive bios for the New Genesis New Gods, even though they largely only appeared in “Apokolips…Now, Part 2,” thereby implying that the creative team had plans for them that never came to fruition.  I do know that they planned a Mister Miracle episode of the series (“We want to use Mister Miracle in an episode separate from the New Gods two-parter” [Allstetter, “Men”]), in a story that eventually became Superman Adventures #42 (April 2000; Liu).  At any rate, as you can see above, both Big Barda and Mister Miracle had silent cameos in “Apokolips…Now, Part 2,” where they served as reinforcements from New Genesis to assist Superman during Darkseid’s first invasion of Earth, which seems to fast-forward over the story arcs from the above character bios.

As previously stated, Barda’s next appearance was in Batman Beyond’s “The Call,” where the ageless alien god featured strong Jack Kirby-esque facial features, including those cheekbones that—in the minimalist, DCAU animation style—do little but age the character unnecessarily (compare Wonder Woman’s facial features between Seasons One and Two of Justice League).  Included due to Diana’s absence, Barda was described by Paul Dini as “sort of [Superman’s] second-in-command” (Allstetter, “Justice”) and, as for her costume, Bruce Timm wanted to skip the full armor and cape look in favor of the metal bikini, but he had to change it to a one-piece to placate Broadcast Standards & Practices (qtd. in Lamken, “Ever”).  Overall, she was a welcome addition—no doubt influenced by Timm’s well-known affection for Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters—but Wonder Woman’s absence was still keenly felt by the fan base.

(This may explain why auditions weren’t held for Barda, as the character had already been voiced by the late actor Farrah Forke on Batman Beyond.  Considering how she was more than happy to return to voice the character for the Justice League Unlimited episode “The Ties That Bind,” it’s possible that she may have been open to voicing the character on Justice League should the need had risen.)

In regard to the comics, Barda served as a Justice League member during Grant Morrison’s run of the series, but prior to that she was a supporting character for the book when Mister Miracle was a member.  Aside from the occasional Fourth World stories, she has also been known to be a part of the Birds of Prey on multiple occasions.  Overall, she can be seen as an analog to Wonder Woman (the superstrong, female warrior from a militant culture); an ectype to Diana’s original archetype.

In a Different League…

With the knowledge of how close we were to having Big Barda as a member of the Justice League rather than Wonder Woman, fans such as myself cannot help but speculate as to how that would have changed the series.  Obviously, this would mean that the Wonder Woman-centric episodes—such as “Paradise Lost,” “Fury,” “Hawk and Dove,” “This Little Piggy,” and “The Balance”—would not have happened, and the episodes that featured her prominently—such as “The Savage Time,” “Maid of Honor,” “For the Man Who Has Everything,” and “To Another Shore”—would have been radically different.  Also, considering how the creative team was reluctant to let the League have access to teleporters in the original show (Myers and Crowe), having a New God on the team would have given them access to Mother Box technology (much to the chagrin of Batman, who gets queasy using Boom Tubes).  But this is penny ante stuff, as the presence of Barda on the roster would have caused a butterfly effect that would ripple outward, affecting the series in unexpected ways.  For example…

The Justice League Wouldn’t Have Seven Members, But Eight

Let’s start with “Secret Origins,” where the scenes on Themyscira have been scrubbed.  In its place, a scene opens somewhere in the American Midwest.  A Boom Tube opens, and out exits both Mister Miracle and Big Barda, followed closely behind by Steppenwolf and a squadron of Parademons.  Following a quick skirmish, the fight is interrupted by the tripods of the Alien Invaders, who decimate the Parademons, forcing Steppenwolf to Boom Tube back to Apokolips.  Suddenly, Miracle and Barda feel J’onn J’onzz’s psychic summons, and they join the resistance against the Imperium.  Suddenly, we have eight heroes rather than the original seven.

(For this thought exercise, let’s say that the above image from “Apokolips…Now!” is no longer canon [which works, as the presence of Forager has already been negated by his appearance in “Twilight,” where he’s an outsider to Highfather’s people], and “Secret Origins” marks the point where Scott Free and Barda initially flee Apokolips for Earth.)

Considering how integral Miracle is to Barda’s story, I cannot picture a scenario where he is not—at the very least—a supporting character or reserve League member (like Batman claims to be).  Barda may elect to join the Justice League full-time, while Scott Free chooses to pursue a career as a professional escape artist, with Oberon being introduced at some point as his manager.  Scott would still tag along on occasional missions, like Barda did in the DeMatteis / Giffen Justice League stories, but Barda would be the focus.

We’d Have Two Hawkgirls

Initially, when Grant Morrison expanded their League mid-way through their run, the writer patterned the 14 member team after the Greek pantheon of gods (Brady, “Grecian”).  They set up Wonder Woman as Hera (the equal of Superman / Zeus) and Barda as Demeter, “the mother figure of the gods,” as they intended her to keep fellow League member Orion in line (Bradley, “Grecian”).  However, as Morrison later discovered, Wonder Woman fit better as Demeter, while Barda “[proved] herself to be more of a warrior than the mother figure I originally planned” (qtd. in Brady, “Second”).  And while this was fine on a team with multiple women, on the animated series the warrior from Apokolips clashes with the only other woman on the team, the warrior from Thanagar.

To better explain, here’s Bruce Timm on Hawkgirl, taken from the original 2001 Justice League panel at San Diego Comic-Con: 

The thing we wanted to do is set her apart from Wonder Woman is that … Wonder Woman is a little bit aloof.  It’s not that she’s really arrogant or snotty.  It’s just that she’s used to being treated like a princess, and so she’s a little bit like, “What’s the matter with these weird humans.  They don’t treat me right.”  And, like Hawkgirl, even though she is from another planet, she actually does fit in with the rest of the gang better.  She’s like kind of one of the guys.  As we say, Wonder Woman is a super model, but Hawkgirl’s like any girl next door.  She’s approachable.

And Rich was saying, “Well, you know, that’s fine, but she’s a hawk.  She needs to have something hawk-like about her.”  And he came up with this great gimmick for her:  for the most part, she’s sweet, she’s warm, and she’s friendly and everyone likes her, but the minute she goes into battle, her instincts kick in and she turns into Wolverine.  So, you know, everybody’s going into battle, [and] suddenly Hawkgirl jumps ahead of them, and she’s like slaughtering everybody, and they’re like, “Wait.  Wait!”

Not really slaughtering.  Maybe robots, but … yeah, she hurts a lot of bad guys. (qtd. in Myers and Crowe)

Honestly, that’s pretty close to Barda herself.  Also, considering how their other similarities—female alien warriors with a signature weapon (Mega Rod vs. Nth Metal mace)—the creative team would have to adjust them to better differentiate them from each other.  After all, one of the initial concerns the creative team had was working hard to differentiate the characters by their personalities, so that they weren’t just seven of the same character in different colored suits (Myers and Crowe).  For example, perhaps they would keep Hawkgirl as kind of a tomboy, while Barda could develop her interest in human domestic life (cooking, housekeeping, etc.), as she did in the comics (remember:  to a refugee from Apokolips, it’s a novelty). I'm immediately picturing Barda learning to bake at Wayne Manor, with Alfred Pennyworth teaching her, while Mister Miracle and Batman trade escape secrets in the Batcave.

That said, I hope they wouldn’t change too much.  I could honestly see Barda and Shayera becoming best friends in this incarnation of the show.

No “WonderBat” … And Maybe No Green Lantern / Hawkgirl Either

One of the big surprises of Justice League was the romantic chemistry between various members of the team.  Whether it was the tragic romance of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl or the simmering flirtation between Batman and Wonder Woman, the sparks did fly.  However, in a Diana-less Justice League, there would be no bedroom eyes cast at the Dark Knight.  Instead, the romantic lens would obviously focus on Barda and Scott Free.

In an attempt to heighten the drama of this version of the series, perhaps Mister Miracle and Big Barda would not already be a couple when they flee Apokolips in the beginning; rather, they start as allies and, over the progression of the two seasons, they fall in love.  Unfortunately, that would most likely supplant Green Lantern and Hawkgirl’s “will they or won’t they” action as well and, at the very least, they’d get pushed into the “Wonder Woman / Batman” simmering flirtation … at least until Justice League Unlimited, that is.

Superman’s “Legacy” Trauma Would Probably Be Addressed

One of the most frustrating aspects of Justice League’s Season One was the portrayal of Superman, who was notably different from his STAS days.  Originally a quiet, mysterious figure who was able to handle himself in the ring, this new version was an overly cautious boy scout who frequently went down in the first round.  This change was best summarized by former Toon Zone (now Anime Superhero) journalist Jay Allman: 

Superman got the worst of it, and he got the worst of the fan criticism too.  Suffice it for now, four years on, to say that he came across as tentative, inept, and burdened by a secret worry.  Easy to say now why he flew about in a defensive crouch.  […] So, villains made their bona fides by beating him up; only the League could match anyone strong enough to take down Superman.  A paramilitary group of superheroes, obviously, would exist uneasily alongside government authorities, so Superman groveled obsequiously to anyone with a uniform or a title.  These particular heroes had not been created, as characters, to work together, so Superman diplomatically buried his own powerful ego and personality.  Above all, the new format required Kal-El to be Superman 24/7; cut off from his Clark Kent persona, he lost a lot of his warmth. He seemed lost in the crowd, and often lost in the plotting.  The “man” had disappeared from “Superman,” and the “super” went dangerously into eclipse.

These issues were dealt with in Season Two, but the specter of the weakened, haggard Superman hung on Season One like an albatross.  It was never directly addressed onscreen, but longtime fans have interpreted it as the aftermath of “Legacy,” the STAS series finale where Darkseid brainwashed Superman into believing him to be his son and turned him out to attack the Earth while leading the armies of Apokolips. This event left the Man of Steel haunted by his actions serving in Darkseid’s military and a pariah among his adopted people, as Earth largely saw him as a traitor.  The show largely tried to sweep that under the rug but imagine if—one to two years after “Legacy”—Superman suddenly found himself on a team with two Apokoliptian refugees.  Having Big Barda and Mister Miracle on the team would force Superman to address his PTSD directly … and do so in the presence of two individuals who suffered through similar experiences.

In addition to the above, Superman’s connection with Barda may hold additional resonance as, based on the fictional timeline posted here, she would have been a member of the Female Furies when Superman was under Darkseid’s thrall.  Superman may have worked with her, fought with her, and even socialized with her.  How would that affect the Man of Steel?  Would he be willing to forgive and forget, or would he hold her at arm’s length and be intensely suspicious of anyone who worked for Darkseid?  How long would it take for him to bury the hatchet with Barda to the point where, on Batman Beyond, he would have her as his second-in-command?

Darkseid Would Have a Stronger Presence on the Show

On Justice League and Justice League Unlimited the forces of Apokolips were a steady undercurrent to the show[s], but Darkseid’s own presence was rather small.  In fact, he only appeared in four episodes:  the two-part “Twilight” and the series’ finale, “Alive!” and “Destroyer.”  This was a deliberate choice on behalf of the creative team, who didn’t want to simply rehash what had already been done before (Allstetter, “Bruce”), but the presence of New Gods on the Justice League roster would no doubt necessitate more robust appearances by both Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips.  This would build, leading to a dark revelation…

Barda Would Be Revealed as a Traitor in “Starcrossed”

It may come as a surprise to long-time Justice League fans, but the decision to make Hawkgirl a covert operative for the Thanagarian military was made in the show’s earliest stages.  In fact, according to Bruce Timm, it was one of the first decisions they made: 

This is something that we literally had in the works since day one.  […] We had a meeting with Paul Levitz, who at the time was the vice president of DC Comics and now he’s the president, and he suggested that, somewhere in the course of the show, we should do a big stunt episode where one of the major characters gets killed or one of them betrays the League.  Even though this came from his own lips, we knew from experience that they really would not allow us to kill off one of the regular characters.  It’s a real touchy thing.  So, we knew we wouldn’t do that, but the notion of a betrayal was intriguing.  The next step is deciding who will betray the League.  Obviously, it can’t be Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman.  We quickly narrowed down the list of suspects to Hawkgirl.  It had to be her.

At the same time, even though we hadn’t even started writing her, I’d always had great affection for the character in the comics.  In a way, we knew that would make it that much more of a conflicted story, that you would actually have much more of a tragedy if she betrayed the League against her better judgement, if she was conflicted about it and not just out-right evil.  Hopefully, if we played our cards right, the audience would be sympathetic to her and feel her anguish in the story.  And just to increase the tragedy of the whole thing, we felt she needed to fall in love with somebody in the League, and John Stewart was the obvious choice.  Maybe not so obvious at first, since they’re both fairly military, it would give us an opportunity to play them against each other initially.  But then gradually fall in love over the course of the first two seasons.  […] It’s a dirty trick to pull on your audience, but you’ve got to do these things.  You’ve got to change up.  The audience is so sophisticated, and they’ve been seeing these kinds of shows for their entire lives, they can predict story points way in advance, so you’ve got to throw them curve balls. (Gross, “Series”)

Call it a hunch, but given the choice in this alternate DCAU, it would be easier to make Barda the traitor rather than Hawkgirl.  It would even follow the same beats:  Darkseid—seeking to nullify the pact with New Genesis—orders Barda to befriend Scott Free and flee to Earth with him, thus allowing Darkseid’s forces to resume open warfare against New Genesis.  Later, following the creation of the Justice League, the Lord of Apokolips encourages Barda to remain a member and spy of them, to analyze their weaknesses (also, seeing as how easily J’onn could read Granny Goodness’ mind in “The Ties That Bind,” I’m sure they would have a device to protect her thoughts from Martian telepathy).

Over time, however, her burgeoning friendship with the members of the League (and her developing love for Scott Free) would cause her to have second thoughts about her mission, leading to her confessing to the League about her double allegiance and aiding them in building defenses against a full-on invasion by the end of Season Two.  Perhaps Mister Miracle and Barda could help the team broker an alliance with Highfather against Darkseid (allowing the heroes of New Genesis to finally prove useful for a change).  In the end, the loving couple could take a leave of absence from the League to travel to New Genesis to marry and to allow Scott to explore his heritage, while the remaining League decides to expand their membership.

By this time, perhaps the Marston estate would have had second thoughts, allowing a certain Amazon warrior to finally join their ranks for Justice League Unlimited.

Works Cited

Allman, Jay.  “Farewell to the Justice League.”  Anime Superhero.  N.p.  17 May 2006.  Web.  6 Apr. 2022.  <https://animesuperhero.com/farewell-to-the-justice-league/>.

Allstetter, Rob.  “Bruce Timm Talks Justice League:  Part Two.”  Comics Continuum.  Comics Continuum.  25 Apr. 2001.  Web.  19 Nov. 2022.  <http://comicscontinuum.com/stories/0104/25/timmindex.htm>.

---.  “Justice League on Batman Beyond.”  Comics Continuum.  Comics Continuum.  7 Aug. 2000.  Web.  18 Dec. 2022.  <http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0008/07/index.htm>.

---.  “Men of Steel.”  Wizard Magazine.  Jul. 1996:  44-48.  Print.

“Big Barda.”  Internet Archive.  Internet Archive.  5 Oct. 1999.  Web.  8 Jan. 2024.  <https://web.archive.org/web/19991005204423/http://www.batman-superman.com/superman/cmp/barda.html>.

Brady, Matthew.  “Grecian Formula.”  Wizard Magazine.  Mar. 1998.  22.  Print.

---.  “Mine!  All Mine!”  JLA Special:  A Special Wizard Publication.  1996.  Print.

---.  “Second Coming.”  Wizard JLA Special.  1998:  64-69.  Print.

@ChristieMarston.  “DC holds the rights as long as they keep the comic in publication, as per the original contract.  The family is compensated.”  Twitter.  11 Apr. 2014. Web.  7 Jan. 2024.   <https://twitter.com/ChristieMarston/status/454643707577245696>.

Eisenberg, Susan and James Enstall, hosts.  “Secret Origins.”  Justice League Revisited, featuring Dan Riba.  Apple Podcasts, 2 Oct. 2023.  Web.  8 Jan. 2024.  <https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secret-origins-dan-riba-justice-league-revisited/id1709910091?i=1000629853363>.

Gross, Edward.  “Justice League:  The Making of the DC Tooniverse.”  RetroVision CD-ROM Magazine.  N.p.  n.d.  Web.  1 Apr. 2022.

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