The Bendis Legion: What Could've Been

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

How would a Legion show be able to do all these plots without a Checkmate show going alongside it, though?

Jon is a time traveler so there would be arcs set in the present with Checkmate.

Or they'd do a Checkmate spinoff with Damian.

[LordUltimus]

Also, it seems like the whole "Fatal Five Armies" wouldn't really work since the Legion hasn't had much of an animation presence, which means there wouldn't be as much of an impact compared to comics.

[Superlad93]

Also, it seems like the whole "Fatal Five Armies" wouldn't really work since the Legion hasn't had much of an animation presence, which means there wouldn't be as much of an impact compared to comics.

I disagree.

The main point isn't "look at all of the Easter egg timelines from past continuities" but rather "you guys fail in every attempt at this rebirth of the age of heroes idea".

The concept isn't at all hard to grasp or even held together by the fact that other Legions have been a thing. It's more or about these kids trying something that all other timelines say ends in failure.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Also, it seems like the whole "Fatal Five Armies" wouldn't really work since the Legion hasn't had much of an animation presence, which means there wouldn't be as much of an impact compared to comics.

I disagree because I enjoyed the Turtles Forever tv movie crossover between the 2000s TMNT and the 80s TMNT without watching the 1980s cartoon.

[Vordan]

Sorry to hear that. But I'm fairly sure the only thing that actually makes this seem convoluted is the fact that I've added in so much background speculation of where the inspiration for the ideas come from.

In reality, it streamlines and connects more than it convolutes. Jon comes back to the present with knowledge of the future in some form, and uses that to guide the world to a better tomorrow. Checkmate and Leviathan take all of the numerous super secret organizations in the DCU and make it good guy SHIELD vs bad guy SHIELD. This is also where most of the heroes and villains would've likely divided off into in a Civil War pro reg vs anti reg sort of way. Outside of that, I mean, you're grown, so you've read comics before or watched a movie, so you know about alternate timelines. Brainiac and the Legion were trying to create the best possible timeline that doesn't end in the end of everything.

Think there’s a chance we may end up still seeing something like this under Taylor with Jon and Jay instead of Jon and Damian? You’ve speculated before that some of the original 5G plans may still be used by Taylor.

[guanlishabi]

Interesting, I mean it seems apparent the whole Rogol Zaar story was dropped,
We only got the “he is Kryptonian” reveal.
The idea of him being half brother of Superman is interesting, but I thought he was an ancient warrior though?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Mr. Oz ended up being the most conceptually scattershot concepts that DC's had in recent memory. Johns clearly had one plan for him, Jurgens had another that was tangentially seemed related to what Johns had planned. Then Bendis dropped the idea of Jor-El being tortured and controlled by evil outside forces and decided Jor-El was a straight up war criminal but never elaborated on exactly what he was guilty of.

[Thor-Ul]

Interesting, I mean it seems apparent the whole Rogol Zaar story was dropped,
We only got the “he is Kryptonian” reveal.
The idea of him being half brother of Superman is interesting, but I thought he was an ancient warrior though?

You mean, something like H'Ell, from the new 52? That was a bad idea then and it would had been a worse idea now.

Mr. Oz ended up being the most conceptually scattershot concepts that DC's had in recent memory. Johns clearly had one plan for him, Jurgens had another that was tangentially seemed related to what Johns had planned. Then Bendis dropped the idea of Jor-El being tortured and controlled by evil outside forces and decided Jor-El was a straight up war criminal but never elaborated on exactly what he was guilty of.

When was the last time than Bendis finished some idea? He always does that. Start with something than is going to be huge, but then he leaves and other writers had to come with solutions or explanatios to his half done ideas.

[Superlad93]

Think there’s a chance we may end up still seeing something like this under Taylor with Jon and Jay instead of Jon and Damian? You’ve speculated before that some of the original 5G plans may still be used by Taylor.

Unfortunately yeah, there seems to a pretty good chance the fisherprice version under Taylor.

Interesting, I mean it seems apparent the whole Rogol Zaar story was dropped,
We only got the “he is Kryptonian” reveal.
The idea of him being half brother of Superman is interesting, but I thought he was an ancient warrior though?

Nope. Zaar wasn't "ancient". He was just a couple decades older than Clark. During the flashback near the end of the Unity Saga there's a doctor who seemed to know the secret of Zaar. My guess is that Jor-El lived most of his life under the impression that the woman he was with died during childbirth along with her child because, as he explained to Lois, having natural Kryptonian hybrid kids is basically impossible and likely ends in the mother dying.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

When was the last time than Bendis finished some idea? He always does that. Start with something than is going to be huge, but then he leaves and other writers had to come with solutions or explanatios to his half done ideas.

Well, technically, Bendis was left trying to come up with a solution to Johns's half-done idea. I hope those two met with each other and talked about how their respective plans seemed designed to upend the other's.

[guanlishabi]

Unfortunately yeah, there seems to a pretty good chance the fisherprice version under Taylor.



Nope. Zaar wasn't "ancient". He was just a couple decades older than Clark. During the flashback near the end of the Unity Saga there's a doctor who seemed to know the secret of Zaar. My guess is that Jor-El lived most of his life under the impression that the woman he was with died during childbirth along with her child because, as he explained to Lois, having natural Kryptonian hybrid kids is basically impossible and likely ends in the mother dying.

But Jor-El isn’t that old right?
I mean before Krypton exploded, Zaar is like already in his thirties,
which would mean Jor-El is so much older, like in his fifties?
The age difference between Zaar and Superman is a bit confusing for me.

[Superlad93]

But Jor-El isn’t that old right?
I mean before Krypton exploded, Zaar is like already in his thirties,
which would mean Jor-El is so much older, like in his fifties?
The age difference between Zaar and Superman is a bit confusing for me.

Given Zaar's size and the fact that he's an alien we couldn't really get a read on how old he was during the flashback.

But the most compelling but if evidence came from the fact that Jax-Ur says that Jor-El got out of raising his children (as in multiple) and he's saying this while Zaar is being framed next to Jor. And Zaar is also wearing the House of El S through most of the run.

Bendis retweeted someone explaining this theory, and once it was found out that he was also Kryptonian that pretty much sealed it.

[kcekada]

The reboots are the problem.

Reboots are never loved by fans of the original material. You can take the original concept and modernize it, but you don't need always start from the origin. Just because the series was out of publication doesn't mean you start over when it comes back. DC wasted decades with this approach. I'm at the point where they should just forget about the Legion and just introduce a new team, new name, etc. DC killed the Legion. Let it rest in peace.

[Thor-Ul]

Well, technically, Bendis was left trying to come up with a solution to Johns's half-done idea. I hope those two met with each other and talked about how their respective plans seemed designed to upend the other's.

But that plot point was closed. Johns took Jor-El out of the picture via Manhattan and it was done. Bendis brought him back with a whole story of him being a conspoiracionist, when in the case of Johns it was implied tan living between humans had made him bitter. Bendis created a Jor-El who was corrupt before the explosion of Krypton, Johns created jor-El corrupted by the influence of mankind.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

But that plot point was closed. Johns took Jor-El out of the picture via Manhattan and it was done. Bendis brought him back with a whole story of him being a conspoiracionist, when in the case of Johns it was implied tan living between humans had made him bitter. Bendis created a Jor-El who was corrupt before the explosion of Krypton, Johns created jor-El corrupted by the influence of mankind.

I’m not sure how much we can attribute that to Johns as Jurgens wrote most of that, and left his fate open. All we know is that he got recaptured by, presumably, Doc Manhattan, but that doesn’t make any kind of sense given what Johns did in Doomsday Clock. At least in Batman, King explained Thomas Wayne as being Thawne when it was presumably meant to be Manhattan originally.