Summary

• The Justice League represents the pinnacle of superhero teams, featuring iconic members like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
• Various versions of the team, like Grant Morrison's and Zack Snyder's, showcase the heroes facing powerful villains and intense challenges.
• Each iteration of the Justice League, from Young Justice to The New 52, brings a unique blend of characters and stories that captivate audiences.

The Justice League is the premier super team with the most iconic heroes that comics, TV, and movies have had to offer. The team features comrades like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, who act as the highest united force of protection available to those of Earth in the DC Universe.

The Justice League, also known as The Justice League of America, is potentially the largest and most powerful superhero team in fiction. With Superman's boundless strength, Batman's limitless intellect, Wonder Woman's baffling willpower, and a whole host of other heroes from across the galaxy that aid in their endeavors, the team can rarely ever be beat. The best Justice League rosters often feature the most powerful and interesting versions of these iconic characters, but some lineups are arguably better than others for various reasons.

5 Grant Morrison's Justice League Of America

A 90s Relaunch That Features Classic Members And More

• First Seen: JLA Vol. 1 #1
• Date: November, 1996

This team was written in the late 90s by one of the most famous comic book writers, Scottish writer Grant Morrison, who has a deep connection to the DC pantheon. In this monthly publication, the Justice League was revitalized with a well-needed jolt of life. It was a necessary relaunch, offering a solid re-introduction to some of the best heroes in comic book history.

With Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter, all the classic founding members of the league filled this roster. Other characters such as Green Arrow, Superboy Prime, Huntress, and Plastic Man are featured in certain stories and issues throughout this publication, too. These well-recognized heroes took on various types of villains (new and old), including angels, Prometheus, Darkseid, Lex Luthor, and Starro the Conqueror.

This Justice League roster had to take on many challenges as usual, including the destruction of their team's cohesion and other similar harrowing events in stories such as Identity Crisis and Infinite Crisis. This was the first time in a while that the Justice League had been shown boasting its powerful members all working together in a long time, bolstering the team's image and place in the cultural zeitgeist.

4 Zack Snyder's Justice League

A Gritty Take On The Main Members Of The Team

• First Seen: Zack Snyder's Justice League
• Date: March 18, 2021

This could potentially be an unpopular pick, but the Justice League conceptualized in Zack Snyder's Justice League is arguably one of the strongest versions of the team ever put on screen. The team included Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, Ezra Miller’s Flash, Ben Affleck’s Batman (a Batman shown to be bulkier than most and willing to cross more moral lines), and Henry Cavill’s Superman (one of the most powerful depictions of the Man of Steel on screen).

This Justice League sports two of the edgiest and most deadly variations of Batman and Superman. It is also home to a version of Aquaman who, based on his rugged appearance alone, dashed away most of the jokes that were made about the aquatic hero in pop culture and reinstated the process of shaping the character into a more serious and threatening one. This Justice League roster has its members flex their power and skill by going up against or having to consider the issues brought forward by villains such as a Joker-esque version of Lex Luthor, Steppenwolf, and Darkseid.

3 Young Justice's Justice League

Two Teams That Are Made Up Of Incredibly Capable Characters

• First Seen: Young Justice (Season 1, Episode 1: "Independence Day")
• Date: November 26, 2010

While the Young Justice series, as its namesake would suggest, focuses mainly on the youth division of the Justice League, the main team is featured, too. And when it is, its members prove to be one of the most efficient and effective JLA rosters around.

This Justice League roster proves to be one of the most well organized, having multiple bases, some open to the public, some hidden, and some reserved only for certain members to access. In the Young Justice universe, this team formed in 2003, with its original members being Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. Key members such as Green Arrow and Hawkman joined soon after.

What makes this Justice League roster so effective is the fact that even their sidekicks can get the job done. In Young Justice, viewers see the youthful team led by Aqualad. The team can hold its own against JLA-level threats and are able to handle the same caliber of issues that the main team can, making for a great second Justice League roster.

2 The New 52 Justice League

A 10s Relaunch That Replaces Martian Manhunter With Cyborg

• First Seen: Justice League #1
• Date: August 31, 2011

The New 52 was a comic event within DC that acted as the relaunch and reboot of the early 2010s. The in-universe explanation for these reboots was Flashpoint, where The Flash’s super-speed universe-meddling antics and attempts to fix certain events in his own timeline resulted in reality being reset, creating the New 52 world. What gave it its name outside the universe was the weekly releases that showcased up to 52 parallel realities.

The images of the members shown in the New 52 roster are potentially the most iconic and recognizable images of the Justice League to modern audiences. The main roster includes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Cyborg replaced Martian Manhunter, taking the seventh spot as the founding member of the Justice League that was usually reserved for the noble alien. The New 52 roster has shown to be powerful enough to face Darkseid and Parademons early on, something a lot of other superhero teams could not be capable of achieving.

1 Justice League Unlimited

An Iconic Series That Features A Plethora Of Recognizable Team Members

• First Seen: Justice League Unlimited (Season 1, Episode 1 "Initiation")
• Date: July 31, 2004

Just one look at the character designs featured in this Justice League roster may fill many readers with enough nostalgia to swell their hearts. This is not only one of the most iconic and recognizable versions of the Justice League, but it's also the first Justice League roster that a whole new generation of fans would have been introduced to.

This Justice League boasted all the main members that make up every main roster with a few changes, its key figures being Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Wally West’s Flash, John Stewart’s Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl. This JLA also had one of the largest rosters ever seen, with many characters from across the DC Universe, heroic or not, working with them throughout the show's run.

This version of the Justice League had its members go on the most world-threatening, galaxy-faring, and even heart-warming adventures, with one noteworthy example being the famous sequence where Batman (of all people) comforts a dying girl on a swing. Another one of these fascinating stories that tugged at the heart was seen when the Justice League traveled to another universe and considered sacrificing themselves in order to save it. This version of the JLA roster captured the minds and hearts of a whole generation of children and proved to be one of the greatest iterations of the team of all time.