Who's really the 7th Member of the JLA's "Big Seven"

[Alan2099]

I think we can all agree that six of the JLA's "Big Seven" are...

Superman
Batman
Wonder Woman
One of the Flashes
Some Green Lantern
Aquaman

but who really deserves the spot of the 7th member?

[j9ac9k]

J'onn. There's no question in my mind. Nu52 retcon of Cyborg was always weird because it messed up his ties to the Titans, which is really his team. Cyborg as a founder has gone the way of Black Canary as a founder - it lasted awhile, but it didn't stick.

Also, Barry is the Flash and Hal is the Green Lantern when you talk about the "Big 7." Other characters may get swapped out for them, but it's just a version of the Big 7 when they do that.

[etrumble]

To me, the choices would be:

Atom
Black Canary
Green Arrow
Hawkman/Hawkwoman/Hawkgirl

But the only correct answer is:
Martian Manhunter

[Riv86672]

J'onn.

^^^Yup. J’onn.

[Frontier]

It's J'onn.

[Digifiend]

Black Canary is in the poll, but not Green Arrow? Ollie's the eighth member in my book, he joined early enough that he's almost equal to the Big 7, like how Captain America counts as a founding Avenger despite actually joining in issue 4. Martian Manhunter got the vote though, he's the seventh core member.

J'onn. There's no question in my mind. Nu52 retcon of Cyborg was always weird because it messed up his ties to the Titans, which is really his team. Cyborg as a founder has gone the way of Black Canary as a founder - it lasted awhile, but it didn't stick.

Also, Barry is the Flash and Hal is the Green Lantern when you talk about the "Big 7." Other characters may get swapped out for them, but it's just a version of the Big 7 when they do that.

Yeah, Cyborg's New 52 origin actually still stands according to his current solo book, but they fixed the Titans thing. That arc now happens before New Teen Titans - it's been pushed back in the timeline from 2011 to 1979 (in terms of publication date)! He has his origin with the League then quickly joins his own peer group, and the rest of his history plays out as it did pre-Flashpoint.

[Jim Kelly]

I agree with the majority.

[MajorHoy]

Even though Martian Manhunter wasn't really a key member for me when I first started following the Justice League of America (he was still on an extended leave back then), he still rates in my mind as the seventh founding member.

Plastic Man shouldn't even be on this poll: Elongated Man was involved with the League way before Plastic Man was. And Black Canary was a retconned founding member at one point in place of Wonder Woman, not in place of J'onn.

[j9ac9k]

Can you imagine DC publishing a JLA origin story (a 12-issue maxi no less) now that wasn't focused on the Trinity? Seems insane that ever happened.

[K7P5V]

I agree with the majority.

Majority Rules. J'onn J'onzz (FTW):

[Jon Clark]

I'd actually bump Aquaman and make Ollie and Dinah the 6th and 7th members.

[Riv86672]

Can you imagine DC publishing a JLA origin story (a 12-issue maxi no less) now that wasn't focused on the Trinity? Seems insane that ever happened.

^^^We have to remember the good times, yeah.

[Jim Kelly]

Arguably, of the original seven, there's no foundation for J'Onn being the 7th of 7.

If you go by the original Fox origin story, J'Onn is 1st, encountering the 1st Appellax alien, before going to find the 6th meteorite. 2nd Aquaman, 3rd Wonder Woman, 4th Green Lantern, 5th Flash. Then all 5 defeat the 6th alien from Appellax and go in search of the 7th. Where they find Superman up against the 7th alien, assisted by Batman in the Batplane.

It's a toss-up whether it's Superman or Batman who is the 6th, but I say Superman because he does all the grunt work in defeating the 7th Appellax alien, before Batman disembarks his aircraft and joins the other 6. So by my reckoning Batman is the 7th of 7. He's also the weakest of them, having no powers and having done so little to fight the menace of the Appellax meteors--it's just because he's Superman's pal that they let him in the group.

If it's according to seniority, then it's 1st Superman (1938), 2nd Batman (1939), 3rd Aquaman (1941), 4th Wonder Woman (1941), 5th Manhunter from Mars (1955), 6th Flash (1956), 7th Green Lantern (1959).

[Riv86672]

Arguably, of the original seven, there's no foundation for J'Onn being the 7th of 7.

If you go by the original Fox origin story, J'Onn is 1st, encountering the 1st Appellax alien, before going to find the 6th meteorite. 2nd Aquaman, 3rd Wonder Woman, 4th Green Lantern, 5th Flash. Then all 5 defeat the 6th alien from Appellax and go in search of the 7th. Where they find Superman up against the 7th alien, assisted by Batman in the Batplane.

It's a toss-up whether it's Superman or Batman who is the 6th, but I say Superman because he does all the grunt work in defeating the 7th Appellax alien, before Batman disembarks his aircraft and joins the other 6. So by my reckoning Batman is the 7th of 7. He's also the weakest of them, having no powers and having done so little to fight the menace of the Appellax meteors--it's just because he's Superman's pal that they let him in the group.

If it's according to seniority, then it's 1st Superman (1938), 2nd Batman (1939), 3rd Aquaman (1941), 4th Wonder Woman (1941), 5th Manhunter from Mars (1955), 6th Flash (1956), 7th Green Lantern (1959).

^^^Wow, you can almost hear ppl asking for their angry hair in droves.
Great post.

[The Darknight Detective]

Arguably, of the original seven, there's no foundation for J'Onn being the 7th of 7.

If you go by the original Fox origin story, J'Onn is 1st, encountering the 1st Appellax alien, before going to find the 6th meteorite. 2nd Aquaman, 3rd Wonder Woman, 4th Green Lantern, 5th Flash. Then all 5 defeat the 6th alien from Appellax and go in search of the 7th. Where they find Superman up against the 7th alien, assisted by Batman in the Batplane.

It's a toss-up whether it's Superman or Batman who is the 6th, but I say Superman because he does all the grunt work in defeating the 7th Appellax alien, before Batman disembarks his aircraft and joins the other 6. So by my reckoning Batman is the 7th of 7. He's also the weakest of them, having no powers and having done so little to fight the menace of the Appellax meteors--it's just because he's Superman's pal that they let him in the group.

If it's according to seniority, then it's 1st Superman (1938), 2nd Batman (1939), 3rd Aquaman (1941), 4th Wonder Woman (1941), 5th Manhunter from Mars (1955), 6th Flash (1956), 7th Green Lantern (1959).

... and if it's based on sales clout back then, then it would be (cue Gilligan's Island music) Superman.. the Batman, too... the demi-goddess and the Flash... the test pilot... and the rest are the founders of the JLA!

EDIT: for the second version of the song, "and the rest" becomes "the aqua king and the Martian man"