After Marvel's massive success with “Guardians of the Galaxy,” is anyone surprised about the report that Warner Bros. is considering developing a “Legion of Superheroes” movie? We're certainly not. Granted, the two super teams have a lot in common, but thankfully, they also have some big differences.
Chances are you probably haven't heard of the Legion. Or if you have you only know them from their short-lived 2006 animated TV series. The group has actually been around since 1958 (that's a good three years before Marvel debuted the “Fantastic Four”) and were originally part of the supporting cast in Superboy's comic book of the time, “Adventure Comics.” The “Legion” were introduced as three super-powered teenagers from the 30th Century who formed a superhero club after being inspired by the legend of the Boy of Steel. Eventually, Superboy became a member of their team and would travel to the future to help them fight the forces of evil. Over the years, the Legion grew into a massive organization with over 70 different members joining the team over the years, and when the original Superboy was removed from Superman's history, his younger cousin, Kara — aka Supergirl — filled in.
Intriguingly, most of the members of the Legion are from planets other than Earth as the universe has grown much smaller in the far future. The team eventually segued from teenagers to characters in their early 20s, but it's always been a series where the “younger” heroes spar with their elders such as the leaders of the United Planet Earth and also take on crises that threaten the entire universe. That mix of space faring adventure and enhanced alien beings no doubt has DC and WB thinking they have a potential breakout similar to “Guardians” on their hands. And they do, sort of.
Let's be clear on one thing, however. The Legion do not have a talking raccoon or an adorable regenerating tree creature (although there was that offshoot group the Legion of Superpets, but we digress). Shockingly, what they do have are a ton of characters with powers that haven't been depicted on screen yet. Moviegoers are about to be introduced to a second Quicksilver, but only the Legion has characters as diverse as Wildfire and Dawnstar. Marvel may be bringing “Ant-Man” to the screen, but a “Legion” movie could bring the gigantic Colossal Boy. Moreover, most of the “Legion's” core characters have rich story lines and conflicts that have been explored for decades in print. That history is a huge advantage to starting a new movie franchise and, frankly, WB is behind the eight ball for waiting this long to even consider it.
With all that in mind, HitFix has selected 10 members of the comic book Legion that we feel should be considered for a “Legion” movie. You can find them in the story gallery embedded in this post.
Did we miss the mark? Are there other Legion members you'd prefer to see? Share your thoughts in the comments section.