Why Did Batman Recruit Guy Gardner For The JLI In The First Place?

[Timothy Hunter]

I'm reading the classic Justice League/Justice League International/Justice League Americs run by Giffen and DeMatteis and while in a vaccum it's amusing, when put into context with the larger DC Universe there are a slew of problems.

One of the biggest ones is why such a loose cannon as Guy Gardner ever be allowed to be a member of the Justice League, causing needless property damage during his fight with Lobo and almost starting an international incident between the United States and the Soviet Union just to name a few examples.

In the DC canon, Guy Gardner is mentally unhinged. His original, comparatively mild mannered personality was changed to be more sociopathic due to brain damage caused by time in the Phantom Zone.

[Holt]

He didn't. JLI was spun out of an event mini-series called Legends, which ended with Doctor Fate forming a new Justice League out of basically all the heroes who had shown up to help out (since the previous Justice League disbanded earlier in the same event). Guy got to be part of the JLI basically because he happened to be standing there when the group was formed.

[Timothy Hunter]

He didn't. JLI was spun out of an event mini-series called Legends, which ended with Doctor Fate forming a new Justice League out of basically all the heroes who had shown up to help out (since the previous Justice League disbanded earlier in the same event). Guy got to be part of the JLI basically because he happened to be standing there when the group was formed.

Ok thanks. I read Legends long time ago, forgot about that aspect of the story.

[Dr. Poison]

He didn't. JLI was spun out of an event mini-series called Legends, which ended with Doctor Fate forming a new Justice League out of basically all the heroes who had shown up to help out (since the previous Justice League disbanded earlier in the same event). Guy got to be part of the JLI basically because he happened to be standing there when the group was formed.

I think it would have been hilarious if Batman would have responded to Guy and said something like, "No need to think about it. I've still got Hal Jordan's number and if for some reason he's unavailable, I'm sure we can track down John Stewart."

[Holt]

I think it would have been hilarious if Batman would have responded to Guy and said something like, "No need to think about it. I've still got Hal Jordan's number and if for some reason he's unavailable, I'm sure we can track down John Stewart."

Young Justice had a similar gag I really loved.

[DrNewGod]

I think it would have been hilarious if Batman would have responded to Guy and said something like, "No need to think about it. I've still got Hal Jordan's number and if for some reason he's unavailable, I'm sure we can track down John Stewart."

In fairness, Batman didn't know Guy at that point. Nobody outside The GLC did. They figured him out about three pages into JL #2.1.

In fairness to The League, Batman wasn't in charge of recruiting, or anything else, at first. That also took about three pages.

[Riv86672]

In fairness, Batman didn't know Guy at that point. Nobody outside The GLC did. They figured him out about three pages into JL #2.1.

In fairness to The League, Batman wasn't in charge of recruiting, or anything else, at first. That also took about three pages.

^^^Yeah, this was new territory.
Relationships hadn’t been fleshed out all that deeply at that point.

Asking as someone who was around at the time but drawing a complete blank:
What exactly was Hal doing Post Crisis?
I have fond memories of grabbing up the first issues of Byrne’s Superman, Perez’s WW, Baron’s Flash etc. but Hal...?

[married guy]

Wasn't he a travelling toy salesman at this time?

[Holt]

^^^Yeah, this was new territory.
Relationships hadn’t been fleshed out all that deeply at that point.

Asking as someone who was around at the time but drawing a complete blank:
What exactly was Hal doing Post Crisis?
I have fond memories of grabbing up the first issues of Byrne’s Superman, Perez’s WW, Baron’s Flash etc. but Hal...?

I have no idea. I read the trade paperback of the first JLI arc and the editor mentioned in the foreward that Hal Jordan was one of the few big name characters who conceivably could've been on the team since both books had the same editor at the time.

Maybe they just chose Guy because they wanted to grow his profile a bit, or thought he brought a more interesting character dynamic to the team.

[j9ac9k]

^^^Yeah, this was new territory.
Relationships hadn’t been fleshed out all that deeply at that point.

Asking as someone who was around at the time but drawing a complete blank:
What exactly was Hal doing Post Crisis?
I have fond memories of grabbing up the first issues of Byrne’s Superman, Perez’s WW, Baron’s Flash etc. but Hal...?

Right after Crisis, Hal was in the newly launched "Green Lantern Corps" team title (they just renamed the main Green Lantern title after #200 I think) that featured Hal, John, Katma, Arisia, Kilowog, Salakk, Ch'p and Guy Gardner.(who was more like a trouble-maker than a team member at first) It wasn't as big a deal since unlike Superman and Wonder Woman, there was no big reboot - the previous storylines just continued right after Crisis.