A De-powered Justice League

[TheRay]

More depowered that she has been for more than a decade now? Superman should be just car level. Diana should be multi versal level.

Is that not what is being asked of us here? Whether she has truly been depowered or not, she remains one of the strongest characters in DC.

[Rightoya]

Whether she has truly been depowered or not, she remains one of the strongest characters in DC.

Does she? For about 90% of the time, i would not say that Wonder Woman is 1 of the strongest characters in DC if i would have just read main runs since Flashpoint and maybe seen some other media like the DCEU, without having any further knowledge of the character and who she is supposed to be.

[WonderLight789]

Is that not what is being asked of us here? Whether she has truly been depowered or not, she remains one of the strongest characters in DC.

She isn't one of the strongest anymore. Not when most heavy hitters have better feats and beat her in battle pretty easily. Manhunter, Green Lantern, Superman, Mary Marvel. Even Aquaman has better feats now and usually outclasses her in a pure/ raw strength physical comnbat. She is super weak nowadays.

[TheRay]

This feels like it’s been heavily influenced by comic book rumbles.
We’re talking about raw power here, but the point of this thread is what would make the most compelling Justice League if their powers are scaled back. If we already have that in Wonder Woman, then that serves to support the mission outlined in OPs post.

[Brian Adkins]

This feels like it’s been heavily influenced by comic book rumbles.
We’re talking about raw power here, but the point of this thread is what would make the most compelling Justice League if their powers are scaled back. If we already have that in Wonder Woman, then that serves to support the mission outlined in OPs post.

Yep! It sure is! lol Used to do a lot of those way,way, ...way back. (That is too many ways. Dang, I'm gettin' old. lol)

Is WW weaker now? Eh,I dunno. If someone were to say she should be the strongest out of this particular group from this thread? Cool. Someone has to be, right? But I'd put it as something like if Supes can lift one car, WW can lift two. NOT Supes can lift a car but WW can lift a planet!

[Ascended]

Eh, there's fans who won't be satisfied until Diana is so powerful she stops being a character and just becomes a plot device, with all others worshipping at her feet. And I get the sentiment, DC has done Diana dirty for a long time, worse than many others and worse than all the other big names (when they should have loved her) and everyone wants to see those scales balanced, but that kind of mindset doesn't benefit anyone. It's just more "my favorite can kick your favorite's ass" crap. It's not a story, it's not even a character, it's just bitterness and ego.

What I want to know is, if heroes are depowered how does that affect their methodology and philosophy? How do the Lanterns function, if they can't just jump across the universe within minutes? Harder to get yelled at by the Guardians if it takes you seven years to get to Oa, y'know? How does Clark and Bruce's missions change if their reach isn't global? Stuff like that. I feel like a lot of heroes, as they became more powerful, also had to become more restrained because otherwise they'd actually change the world, win their never ending battles, and the story would end.

So if the League isn't limited by their limitless power, what does it look like when they stop holding back and actually get into the mud with the rest of us?

[Sutekh]

What I want to know is, if heroes are depowered how does that affect their methodology and philosophy? How do the Lanterns function, if they can't just jump across the universe within minutes? Harder to get yelled at by the Guardians if it takes you seven years to get to Oa, y'know?

In a lower powered Green Lantern scenario it would actually make sense for there to be multiple Green Lanterns on a planet, and not just one to cover a huge sector of space with a dozen or more inhabited worlds. Which is kind of amusing, that the situation we have now, with a half-dozen Earth Lanterns, would make more sense that it does currently, if Green Lanterns weren't capable of FTL travel, and couldn't just pop across the galaxy at will. They might even tend to occupy certain beats. One is the African Lantern, two is the Chinese Lantern, three is the European Lantern, four is the North American Lantern, five is the South American Lantern.

Gnort can be the Antarctic Lantern.

Seriously though, multiple Flashes would also work pretty well in a setting where they could run at the speed of sound or so, and there'd be no notion that Flash, Kid Flash, Impulse, etc. could *all* reach anywhere on the Earth in 1/8th of a second, and therefore there's literally no reason they wouldn't show up for *any* major event, even if it was in Gotham, or Themiscrya, or the Fortress of Solitude. Light can go around the planet eight times a second, after all, and Barry can run at light speed... So if he doesn't show up in 1/8th of a second, it's because he *chose not to.* (Or, obviously, because the writer of Batman or Constantine or whatever book this is didn't plan for the Flash(es) to show up and save the day, instead of the title character that fans bought this book to see, even if they clearly *could* photobomb every panel of every book!) Instead, with even the Flashes limited to sonic speeds, they could legitimately have their own 'beats' and not be able to show up anywhere on the planet in a fraction of a second.

[Ascended]

I think you'd have to adjust the Corps' modus operandi a lot if Lanterns couldn't traverse space, or even their own planets, quickly. Like, the standard Oan peacekeeping policy just can't look the same y'know? Feels like each Lantern would be more like an old western movie sheriff than a beat cop, if that makes any sense? I'm imagining Mandalorian's Cobb Vanth as Hal Jordan and I'm feeling it.

This is probably just my Golden Age/pulp bias but I feel like a depowered DC (or League, if it's just them) would see a lot of heroes labeled criminals/terrorists and being chased by the government/cops/military. In regular DC, lottsa politicians say they support heroes but that's just them saving face; they support heroes because the US lacks the ability to remove or control them. And heroes usually have public opinion on their side, so politicians have to smile and say "thanks!" to keep voters pacified. We know this because plenty of stories across the DCU show us the secret government efforts that are anything but friendly towards heroes (and never work). But a depowered JLA or DCU means the military can throw down. Government could actually rein them in. And I think they'd try, whether the public approved or not. Isn't like politicians give a rat's ass about our opinions anyway, outside of campaign season.

And a depowered, less capable JLA/DCU also means that the heroes can't catch every bullet or find every bomb in time or save every life in danger. More mistakes will be made, more situations will be out of their control, more people will be hurt. And the public wouldn't be quite so protective of them. We would totally see warrants out for the arrest of heroes like Superman.

And some heroes, like Barry and Hal, might go the opposite way and end up being closer to authority than they're usually treated. They're part of those institutions themselves after all, and while secret identities mean they don't trust those institutions too awful far, they still obvious see some value in working with the system instead of against it.

Which would make for some interesting conversations at League meetings, I'd think.

[WonderLight789]

Yep! It sure is! lol Used to do a lot of those way,way, ...way back. (That is too many ways. Dang, I'm gettin' old. lol)

Is WW weaker now? Eh,I dunno. If someone were to say she should be the strongest out of this particular group from this thread? Cool. Someone has to be, right? But I'd put it as something like if Supes can lift one car, WW can lift two. NOT Supes can lift a car but WW can lift a planet!

Yes she is. Much weaker. Useless and helpless most of the time against anybody that isn't canon fodder.

[WonderLight789]

Eh, there's fans who won't be satisfied until Diana is so powerful she stops being a character and just becomes a plot device, with all others worshipping at her feet. And I get the sentiment, DC has done Diana dirty for a long time, worse than many others and worse than all the other big names (when they should have loved her) and everyone wants to see those scales balanced, but that kind of mindset doesn't benefit anyone. It's just more "my favorite can kick your favorite's ass" crap. It's not a story, it's not even a character, it's just bitterness and ego.

What I want to know is, if heroes are depowered how does that affect their methodology and philosophy? How do the Lanterns function, if they can't just jump across the universe within minutes? Harder to get yelled at by the Guardians if it takes you seven years to get to Oa, y'know? How does Clark and Bruce's missions change if their reach isn't global? Stuff like that. I feel like a lot of heroes, as they became more powerful, also had to become more restrained because otherwise they'd actually change the world, win their never ending battles, and the story would end.

So if the League isn't limited by their limitless power, what does it look like when they stop holding back and actually get into the mud with the rest of us?

Well the other members of the trinity have been there and done that. Now it is her turn. And her phase as a plot divice that can't be defeated and everybody worships, better last longer. Since they have treated her like useless garbage far longer than any other big name character in DC.

[Brian Adkins]

I think you'd have to adjust the Corps' modus operandi a lot if Lanterns couldn't traverse space, or even their own planets, quickly. Like, the standard Oan peacekeeping policy just can't look the same y'know? Feels like each Lantern would be more like an old western movie sheriff than a beat cop, if that makes any sense? I'm imagining Mandalorian's Cobb Vanth as Hal Jordan and I'm feeling it.

This is probably just my Golden Age/pulp bias but I feel like a depowered DC (or League, if it's just them) would see a lot of heroes labeled criminals/terrorists and being chased by the government/cops/military. In regular DC, lottsa politicians say they support heroes but that's just them saving face; they support heroes because the US lacks the ability to remove or control them. And heroes usually have public opinion on their side, so politicians have to smile and say "thanks!" to keep voters pacified. We know this because plenty of stories across the DCU show us the secret government efforts that are anything but friendly towards heroes (and never work). But a depowered JLA or DCU means the military can throw down. Government could actually rein them in. And I think they'd try, whether the public approved or not. Isn't like politicians give a rat's ass about our opinions anyway, outside of campaign season.

And a depowered, less capable JLA/DCU also means that the heroes can't catch every bullet or find every bomb in time or save every life in danger. More mistakes will be made, more situations will be out of their control, more people will be hurt. And the public wouldn't be quite so protective of them. We would totally see warrants out for the arrest of heroes like Superman.

And some heroes, like Barry and Hal, might go the opposite way and end up being closer to authority than they're usually treated. They're part of those institutions themselves after all, and while secret identities mean they don't trust those institutions too awful far, they still obvious see some value in working with the system instead of against it.

Which would make for some interesting conversations at League meetings, I'd think.

I'd say they'd be no less likely to be classified as criminals as they are when they're fully powered.

[Ascended]

I'd say they'd be no less likely to be classified as criminals as they are when they're fully powered.

I think they'd mostly still have the public's support, but if the heroes were weak enough for the military to actually do something about them? I doubt the government would be cool with walking WMD's taking the law into their own hands.

Well....maybe in the red states.

[The Darknight Detective]

I think they'd mostly still have the public's support, but if the heroes were weak enough for the military to actually do something about them? I doubt the government would be cool with walking WMD's taking the law into their own hands.

Well....maybe in the red states.

The left would decry right-leaning superheroes and visa versa regarding super-powered ones left of center.

[Brian Adkins]

I think they'd mostly still have the public's support, but if the heroes were weak enough for the military to actually do something about them? I doubt the government would be cool with walking WMD's taking the law into their own hands.

Well....maybe in the red states.

Have you read TITANS #1 yet? They get targeted by the U.S. military led by Peacemaker! Ok, there's no fight between them but you can tell it might be coming. If Waller has her way.

[Ascended]

The left would decry right-leaning superheroes and visa versa regarding super-powered ones left of center.

Oh they'd all decry anyone doing something that goes against their agenda. We need look no further than any number of outrage articles about Superman saving Mexicans, giving up his (honorary) citizenship to protect America from his actions, or Jon being bi.

It was just a joke, aimed at the republican "armed bystander" mentality. Those guys would probably be fine with a superhuman vigilante taking the law into their own hands....as long as that person agreed with them on everything. And the democrats wouldn't be much better about it. But it was just a snide little comment, don't take it too seriously.

Have you read TITANS #1 yet? They get targeted by the U.S. military led by Peacemaker! Ok, there's no fight between them but you can tell it might be coming. If Waller has her way.

Haven't been to the LCS in a few weeks, so no, and it'll probably be another week or two before I find the time (new job, very time consuming). But I heard about Waller and Peacemaker. And we see stuff like that all the time. Sam Lane, even when he isn't a two-dimensional Thunderbolt Ross rip-off, is usually against the idea of superheroes because they lack accountability, the Squad shows us what government does with superhumans when the public isn't watching them, etc. So I don't believe for a moment that a de-powered League *wouldn't* have Uncle Sam going after them. The usual status quo gives heroes a degree of protection due to public support and raw power, and the government still does what it can to control superhumanity. A weaker League would only mean the government can do more to them. And a weaker League means fewer lives saved, so that public support might not be as rock solid either, giving government a little more wiggle room to act semi-openly.