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"The Justice Society lives again." - Carter Hall, Absolute Justice, Part 2

The Justice Society of America (also known as the Justice Society or the JSA)  was a team of superheroes that secretly defended Earth from villains and criminal activity during the 1970s. Some members came out of retirement to help a modern-day team of heroes take down a vengeful Icicle II.

They returned to team up with Clark Kent and his team of heroes to battle Zod's Kandorian army.

Until his death, their chairman was Carter Hall. The new and old members then fused the Society into the League that The Blur was leading behind the legacy of the JSA with Carter Hall's leadership.

Current members[]

There are no current members of the team as of 2011/2012. The members of the team in 2017 are unknown.[1]

Former Members[]

JSA

The Original JSA. From left to right: Star-Spangled Kid, Wildcat, The Atom, Sandman, Spectre, The Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Hourman, Doctor Mid-Nite, Black Canary, Mister Terrific

Original members:

  1. Hawkman (Carter Hall) Deceased - Leader of the team and Hawkgirl's husband.
  2. Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson) Deceased - Worked with Hawkman and Stargirl in bringing Icicle II down only to be killed by him to save John Jones life.
  3. Star-Spangled Kid (Sylvester Pemberton) Deceased - Fought Icicle II, and was killed by him after asking Chloe Sullivan for the Justice League's help.
  4. Sandman (Wesley Dodds) Deceased - Was killed by Icicle II after having a vision of the Star-Spangled Kid's death.
  5. The Atom (Al Pratt) - His current status is unknown. According to Dr. Fate "The Atom split", meaning he could very well be dead or possibly on the run.
  6. Spectre (Jim Corrigan) - His current status is unknown.
  7. Hawkgirl (Shayera Hall) Deceased - Hawkman's wife; died in a battle against Icicle I.
  8. Hourman (Rex Tyler) - His current status is unknown. According to Dr. Fate "the clock stopped ticking for Hourman", meaning he could very well be dead.
  9. Doctor Mid-Nite (Charles McNider) - His current status is unknown.
  10. Black Canary (Dinah Drake-Lance) - Mother to the current Black Canary.
  11. Mister Terrific (Terry Sloane) - His current status is unknown. According to Dr. Fate he wasn't so "terrific" anymore, meaning he could very well be dead.
  12. Green Lantern (Alan Scott) - Hawkman and Stargirl went looking for him.
  13. The Flash (Jay Garrick) - Hawkman and Stargirl went looking for him. Recently started a school for gifted youngsters in San Francisco.
  14. Wildcat (Ted Grant) - Hawkman and Stargirl went looking for him.

Affiliates[]

  • Justice League - The current generation of super-heroes, some of the members of the Justice Society of America came out of retirement to join forces with Oliver's team of heroes.
  • Red Tornado (Abigail Hunkel) - was arrested and released with the rest of the Society. Still works in the Brownstone.
  • Stripesy (Pat Dugan) - former sidekick to the Star-Spangled Kid and step-father of Stargirl.
  • Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore) - Protege of The Star Spangled Kid who took his Cosmic Control Staff after his death and became his successor. She later joined the Justice League and the Teen Titans.
  • Starman (Ted Knight) - His current status is unknown.

Early History[]

911Smallville0341

The JSA's mug shots.

The Justice Society of America formed in the 1970s and came together as a group to save and protect America and the world from evil. After cleaning up the world, a super-powered team soon rose to oppose them. In the ensuing battle, Hawkgirl was tragically killed sending Hawkman, the JSA's leader and Hawkgirl's husband, over the edge. He tracked down the killer, Joar Mahkent and took him down, leaving him in a catatonic state.

Around this time a government agency known as Checkmate approached the JSA, demanding that they work for them and for them to unmask themselves. When they refused, Checkmate uncovered the JSA's secret identities on their own, and then began to hunt them down with the help of the police. The JSA was arrested, but with no evidence or conviction to charge them with, they were released. Unfortunately, knowing what the government was capable of doing to get what they wanted, the JSA chose to disband with their leader fallen.

Season Nine[]

"All we want is justice!" - Carter Hall, Absolute Justice
Starspangledcap

Star-Spangled Kid asks for the Justice League's help.

Sylvester Pemberton aka the Star Spangled Kid realized that the world was crumbling and succumbing to destruction without a team of heroes to protect it. He watched as the new silver age of heroes emerged, the Justice League. He tracked down Chloe Sullivan and proposed that the two teams merge hoping to protect the world once more. Cameron Mahkent the son of the original Icicle, tracked Pemberton down and the two engaged each other. Icicle II eventually killed Pemberton with several icicles shot at him. Chloe and Clark tracked down Carter Hall at his museum where he was with Kent Nelson, a homeless man holding onto a bag and whispering to himself. Carter was protective and forced Clark to leave. Courtney Whitmore, Pemberton's protégé told Carter that the JSA must return and that would be what Shayera would want. Carter then convinced Kent that they "needed him" and Kent opened his bag, revealing a golden glowing helmet, which when he put on wrapped around his head becoming Doctor Fate. Carter then went to his old armor, before gearing up.

Stargirlpowercap

Stargirl attacks.

Doctor Fate went to the original Icicle to gain some information, where he was confronted by Clark and Chloe. Seeing the future Clark had, he realized he was very important and teleported himself and Clark away to the JSA's headquarters in Carter's museum. Courtney, now the super hero Stargirl went to find Icicle II where she was followed by Green Arrow. Realizing she was using herself as bait, Stargirl and Icicle II clashed and before she was struck by one of his icicles, Green Arrow blocked it with his arrow.

Jsa

The JSA is back!

After that Oliver was thrown through the window of the Watchtower by Hawkman who warned him to stay out of their way. After that Clark woke up in the JSA's headquarters and looked through their stuff. He talks with Hawkman, Stargirl, and Dr. Fate and Carter doesn't see how Clark matters. Dr. Fate vouches for Clark. Green Arrow comes in and fights with Carter. Martian Manhunter interrupts and tells them that they come in peace. The two teams end up teaming-up. Then Chloe tracks Icicle II down to a nearby nitrogen plant. Later at the Watchtower, Chloe and Courtney have a talk about how a team needs to be a family, before they are interrupted by Green Arrow and Hawkman. Dr. Fate and Clark are in the JSA's old headquarters and Fate tells Clark that he will lead this generation of heroes. He also tells him that Lex Luthor is still alive. Lois comes in as Clark super-speeds away. Dr. Fate tells her that "he will need you, and you will need him."

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Dr. Fate restores Martian Manhunter's powers.

Dr. Fate and Martian Manhunter patrol in the nitrogen plant to look for Icicle II . When they find dead security guards Dr. Fate quickly restores John's powers and as John is unconscious Icicle II kills Dr. Fate and takes his helmet. Clark comforts Courtney at the hospital and tells her that she is the next generation. The two teams meet at the Watchtower and as they all get there, Icicle II, wearing Fate's helmet, appears in and knocks Chloe out. Hawkman jumps off the balcony and Green Arrow shoots an arrow at him. Clark is firing his heat vision at him as Stargirl is in the air ready to fight. Icicle II gets them all down and is about ready to kill Stargirl when Martian Manhunter flies in and punches him. Hawkman then beats him and takes off Fate's helmet. Later, after the battle, Carter and Courtney decide to track down the surviving members of the Justice Society.

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Honorary Ageless Heroes.

Lois Lane wrote a front page headline in Daily Planet newspaper honoring the team for their service as Heroes and clearing their names from the false criminal charges that were brought up against the team in the past.

When Zod declared war on Earth, Hawkman and Stargirl joined the League in the fight with the Kandorians.

Season Ten[]

When Oliver Queen goes missing after the Kandorian's invasion, Chloe Sullivan breaks into the JSA's Brownstone, and uses the Helmet of Nabu in order to gain information about Oliver.

When Lois Lane decided to leave Metropolis in order for Clark to be a proper super-hero as the Blur, she goes to join Perry White in Egypt to be a foreign reporter. While there she is assigned to an archeology dig, where she runs into Carter Hall, who has been asked by Clark to keep an eye on her. While in Egypt, the two form a friendship of sorts in which Carter tells Lois of his romance with Shayera Hall, and urges her to not run from her love of Clark. In a drunken state at one point, he attempts to kiss Lois, thinking her Shayera.

Later when Clark and Lois become engaged, Tess Mercer invites Oliver, Carter, Courtney Whitmore, and Emil Hamilton to Watchtower for an engagement party for the couple. After the party, Oliver is attacked while trying to capture a street criminal, and Stargirl and Hawkman come to his rescue, using the cosmic rod to teleport to safety. When Clark learns of the attack on Oliver, he declares that eveyone go underground to avoid being captured, and shuts down the Watchtower. Meanwhile, Slade Wilson, a government soldier, begins to interrogate Lois, Emil and Tess, trying to get information about them regarding the heroes. When Lois later escapes Slade's lackeys, she sneaks into Oliver's office at LuthorCorp, but is attacked by Slade. Hawkman arrives and battles against Slade, only to he get stabbed through the back and his wings set on fire in an explosion, which also throws Lois out of a window plummeting to certain death. Despite his blazing wings, Hawkman leaps out of the window and catches Lois, saving her. When Clark arrives, its to find Lois alive, but Carter dies soon after from his injuries.

After his death, Clark assembles his team of heroes and the all travel to Egypt to bury Carter alongside his departed wife, Shayera. Oddly enough, none of Hawkman's former JSA teammates, save for Stargirl attend the funeral. As the place the seal on his coffin, a small white pyramid pushes up out of the sand and a bright white light issues from it, leaving all the heroes unconscious in the tomb.

Future[]

Over the next few years, some of the former members returned. Abigail Hunkel began acting as the caretaker of the JSA Brownstone. Contact was soon re-established with Ted Grant.[2] Inspired by Bart Allen, Jay Garrick turned his life around, and formed the Teen Titans (to train the younger generation).[3] The JSA was finally reformed in 2017, and made their first public appearance. However, the team's line-up in 2017 is unknown.[1]

Kent Nelson's references to the members of the Justice Society of America[]

  • "Red, white and blue. Too much red. Stars and Stripesy, stars and stripes." - Star-Spangled Kid
  • "Sandman doesn't dream anymore." - Sandman
  • "Is Mr. Terrific still Terrific? I don't think so." - Mr Terrific
  • "Who is that? Who is that? Kent Nelson. Dr. Kent Nelson. But the doctor is out. He's gone bowling." - Doctor Fate
  • "Tick-tock, the Hourman's run out." - Hourman
  • "The Atom has split." - The Atom

Appearances[]

In the Comics[]

JSA

The Justice Society of America as they appear in the comics.

The Justice Society of America, or JSA, is a superhero group, the first team of superheroes in comic book history preceeding the Justice League of America.

Unlike subsequent "all-star" teams, the JSA was limited to heroes not already featured in their own titles because the publisher wanted to expose their lesser known characters. Hence, Superman and Batman were only honorary members and Flash and Green Lantern's early tenures were brief, ending when each character was awarded his own book. Wonder Woman was a long-time member of the group, playing the team's secretary, but she later left the group due to her own book. However, a 1944 change in policy allowed them back into the group. Other popular members were Hawkman, the Spectre, Hourman, Doctor Fate and the Atom.

The JSA's origins have been re-told multiple times over the years, with the most modern incarnations removing Batman and Superman's previous involvements in the original team's history due to the floating timeline of those characters. Characters like Wonder Woman and Black Canary however managed to retain their histories with the JSA, to an extent. However rather than being the current incarnations of Diana Prince and Dinah Lance, the JSA's Wonder Woman and Black Canary were their mothers, Queen Hippolyta and Dinah Drake-Lance.

Jsa1

The three JSA members highlighted on Smallville.

In the comics, the JSA disbanded in the 1950s as a result of America's fear of the Communist Threat. When the government demanded that the JSA unmask themselves or risk being labeled as enemies of America, the team opted to retire altogether rather than do either. They would later reform with the aid of the Justice League of America, and would become mentors to the next generation of heroes.

The JSA at the moment is split into two groups one of older members and another of younger more proactive members.

Other versions of Justice Society of America[]

Notes[]

  • This is the fourth super-powered team to be featured on Smallville. The first three are Justice League, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and the Injustice League.
  • The JSA members in the portrait from left to right: Star-Spangled Kid, Wildcat, The Atom, Sandman, Spectre, The Flash, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Doctor Fate, Green Lantern, Hourman, Doctor Mid-Nite, (w/ Hooty his pet owl) Black Canary, Mr. Terrific.
  • It is never outright established in Absolute Justice, Part 1 or Part 2, when the JSA were active. Some of the footage seems to indicate the 1970s. However, cameras used by people in the footage ranges from cameras of the 1930s and 1940s to modern digital cameras. The coroner's report on Sylvester Pemberton gives his age as 36 in December of 2009 (placing his birth in 1973). Chloe Sullivan states that Joar Mahkent has been in a catatonic state (which Hawkman put him in, after Joar killed his wife, ultimately leading to the downfall of the JSA) for the past decade.[4] The Daily Planet Commemorative issue (included in the Smallville: The Complete Series DVD box set) states that the JSA disbanded in 1997.[1]
  • The Justice Guild of America is a superhero team that is based off the Justice Society of America, the Justice Guild of America made their debut on the hit TV show Justice league back in 2004.
  • Except for the understandable presence of Hawkgirl, the line up in the portrait from The Atom to Hourman is exactly the same as the cover to All-Star Comics #3 (the first appearance of the JSA), right down where their hands are laying on the table.
  • Although the Justice Society never appeared by name, they did appear to an extent in the animated series, Justice League. Interestingly enough one of the founding members of that team was Hawkgirl, but it was the Thanagarian version of the character, Shayera Hol instead of the original. The JSA as a team however made their first semi-appearance in the two-part episode called "Legends" which pays homage to the Society with a team of imaginary comic book superheroes in a 'perfect world'. The team was called the Justice Guild of America; the members are Green Guardsman (a parody of Alan Scott), Streak (a parody of Jay Garrick), Black Siren (a parody of Dinah Drake), Catman (a parody of Ted Grant), and Tom Turbine (a parody of Al Pratt). When the series evolved into Justice League Unlimited, the team expanded its ranks. Although the name "Justice Society" was never mentioned, members of the expanded League included: Black Canary II (Dinah Lance), Wildcat (Ted Grant), Hourman (identity unknown), Mister Terrific II (Michael Holt), Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore), S.T.R.I.P.E/Stripsey (Pat Dugan), Obsidian (Todd Rice), Atom Smasher (Al Rothstein), Dr. Mid-Nite (identity unknown), Hawkman (Carter Hall), Doctor Fate (Kent Nelson), and Sandman II (Sanderson Hawkins). A version of Power Girl appeared as Galatea (an evil clone of Supergirl) and Jay Garrick's helmet can be seen in the episode "Flash and Substance".
  • A few members of the Justice Society have appeared in various episodes of the TV series Batman: The Brave and the Bold. They include Flash, Wildcat, Doctor Fate, and Black Canary. The Justice Society appeared in the episode "The Golden Age of Justice!", with members including The Flash, Wildcat, Hourman, Doctor Mid-Nite, Hawkman, and Black Canary. It is revealed that they tutored Batman during his early superhero days and that the current Black Canary of the series is the daughter of JSA version, and who died during a rescue mission. The team later reappears in the episode "Crisis 22,300 Miles Above Earth!", where the Justice Society was invited to a party hosted by the JLI. In this episode, Green Lantern, Starman, The Spectre, Mr. Terrific, and Sandman appear as members for the first time in this episode alongside the first appearing members (minus Black Canary).
  • Although the base of the Justice Society's operations is not said it may be Metropolis; in the comics they were located in Civic City in their first years. They later relocated to Gotham City, then New York City.
  • In the comic books the character Roulette was the granddaughter of Mister Terrific's brother; it is unknown if Victoria Sinclair her Smallville counterpart is related to him.
  • The floating timeline didn't immediately retcon Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman (Diana) out of the JSA. Before the end of the original Multiverse, the Justice Society were established to be in existence in the alternate world dubbed Earth-Two. Earth-Two also included older versions of Superman, Batman and Diana/Wonder Woman. Since the elderly versions of the characters weren't the main focus of the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman comics, they were allowed to develop and grow beyond the status quo. Such differences include:
    • Earth-Two's Clark Kent/Superman would marry Lois and become the editor of the Daily Star (the E-2 equivalent to the Daily Planet).
    • Earth-Two's Bruce Wayne/Batman married the reformed Selina Kyle/Catwoman, and with her had a daughter named Helena Wayne (who would become The Huntress). Bruce would also become the new police commissioner of Gotham City.
    • Earth-Two's Wonder Woman ended up in a higher position of the US Military. She would marry her boyfriend Steve Trevor and have a daughter named Lyta Trevor (who fought crime as Fury).
  • Unlike their fellow JSA Members, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were allowed to fight crime with their identities secret for the following reasons[5]:
    • Superman was well recognized by both the government and the American citizens.
    • Batman had a special relationship with the Gotham Police Force.
    • Wonder Woman was associated with the US Military.
  • While Supergirl has never served as a JSA member, a counterpart from another reality known as Power Girl has been a part of the team since 1976 (taking smaller breaks as an Infinity, Inc. member in the 80's and a Justice League International member in the 90's, before returning to the JSA in early 2002), making her their first new recruit to their team. She was the cousin of an alternate universe Superman however, unlike Supergirl, she choose to create her own name and costume as she wanted to be seen as her own person, not just as Superman's cousin, and in the early years was known for aggressive outbursts whenever someone tried to put her down or place her in Superman's shadow.
  • When Carter Hall dies saving Lois, none of his JSA teammates which he has implied to still be alive, attend his funeral, save for Stargirl. When asked about it in Haunted, Jay Garrick responded that he chose not to attend out of shame of the life that he has lived since the JSA disbanded.[6]
  • The Justice Society of America were featured in the the Berlanti/Kreisberg verse on the tv series "DC's Legends of Tomorrow" featuring the roster of Rex Tyler/Hourman (leader), Amaya Jiwe/Vixen, Henry Heywood/Commander Steel, Dr. Mid-Nite, Todd Rice/Obsidian & Stargirl.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Commemorative issue of the Daily Planet, included in the Smallville: The Complete Series
  2. Smallville: Lantern
  3. Smallville Special: Titans
  4. Absolute Justice, Part 1
  5. America VS The Justice Society #1
  6. Haunted

External links[]

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