LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES issue #3 Preview/(spoiler) discussion

[Superlad93]

The Laurel Kent is Dr Fate thing has some metal to it when you note on the cover the easiest vusual way to tell gender (chest and face) are hidden. The arms/hands are slim but that could be an artistic thing.

You know what's kind of funny to me? The cover makes it look like Jon's "S" shield is Doctor Fate's, and that she's holding her finger to where her lips would go to say "shhhhh".

Bendis has already revealed that Dr Fate is a woman. She also has six arms and someone else on another thread said she's from the Legion's future.

Good memory! The idea that Doctor Fate may be from even further in the future didn't even occur to me. In the interview you're thinking of Bendis said "Doctor Fate not only feels not-retro, but Doctor Fate works on the team like she's already 30 years ahead of them, like Doctor Fate is working beyond the Legion already."

I took that to mean that she, as an avatar for a lord of order, was already kind of above the Legion. But the fact that Bendis specifically uses "30 years ahead of them" rather than just saying "Doctor Fate is working beyond the Legion already" and leaving it at that seems to indicate that there's a possibility that she's from the future.

Maybe Doctor Fate, as the avatar of order that she is, traveled back in time to the Legion's time to stop the kids from doing something crazy. I mean, they're already messing with the time stream by having Jon there, but now they're talking about literally changing past events (the Damian thing).

[Digifiend]

Changing the past is a dumb move, as that would alter their present.... that's why the Legion have rebooted more often than the rest of DC!

[Superlad93]

This may get me burned at the stake by Legion fans, but when 5G rolls around and Jon's ready to head out and become Superman...I think I kind of want Ultra Boy/Jo to be the 31st century Superman.

Outside of Jon as our primary POV and reason for the Legion's existence, Ultra Boy really is the closest thing to a main character this ensemble cast has. Also on kind of a dumb note, if all of the Legionnaires will be aging alongside Jon and he's upgrading to an age appropriate name, will they? If that's the case will he go by "Ultra Man"? I know the Legion usually sort of just skirts this issue by just not caring. And that's totally valid, not calling that out or whatever. But, ya know, since this is a new take and Bendis is sort of building Ultra Boy up like this in the background of a grander plot that's more Jon influenced, maybe that's how you pass the torch? It would mirrior how he's been building up Jon in the background of Clark's plot, right?

But maybe my compelling argument for this is the fact that I kind of just want this line below to pay off with Jo asking Jon why he'd pick him to be Superman, and Jon with the biggest grin in the world going "because you're super, man"

[Hypestyle]

Who are the aquatic based heroes of the team-- or do they have any? Obviously in space "water" is, uh, not quite in abundance. Surely there are some aquatic-based societies in the galaxies discovered by now?

also, just wondering in general. How is swearing handled in the 31st century? I am recalling how Joss Whedon used "swearing" in Firefly.

[Ascended]

This may get me burned at the stake by Legion fans, but when 5G rolls around and Jon's ready to head out and become Superman...I think I kind of want Ultra Boy/Jo to be the 31st century Superman.

Outside of Jon as our primary POV and reason for the Legion's existence, Ultra Boy really is the closest thing to a main character this ensemble cast has. Also on kind of a dumb note, if all of the Legionnaires will be aging alongside Jon and he's upgrading to an age appropriate name, will they? If that's the case will he go by "Ultra Man"? I know the Legion usually sort of just skirts this issue by just not caring. And that's totally valid, not calling that out or whatever. But, ya know, since this is a new take and Bendis is sort of building Ultra Boy up like this in the background of a grander plot that's more Jon influenced, maybe that's how you pass the torch? It would mirrior how he's been building up Jon in the background of Clark's plot, right?

But maybe my compelling argument for this is the fact that I kind of just want this line below to pay off with Jo asking Jon why he'd pick him to be Superman, and Jon with the biggest grin in the world going "because you're super, man"

I don't think I could have seen it with Ultra Boy the way he's usually been written. He was a little too cowboy, in my opinion, to be the next Superman, unless he was some kind of Golden Age inspired social crusading outlaw.

But the Ultra Boy we've seen so far? Maybe, yeah. I'd normally demand Valor (not Mon-El! Valor!!) get that honor, but three issues deep into the new Legion and I don't think I'd have a problem with Ultra Boy taking the mantle.

I don't know. I'm not a diehard Legionnaire in the first place, and we still don't know these guys at all. But f**k it, sure!

[Superlad93]

I don't think I could have seen it with Ultra Boy the way he's usually been written. He was a little too cowboy, in my opinion, to be the next Superman, unless he was some kind of Golden Age inspired social crusading outlaw.

But the Ultra Boy we've seen so far? Maybe, yeah. I'd normally demand Valor (not Mon-El! Valor!!) get that honor, but three issues deep into the new Legion and I don't think I'd have a problem with Ultra Boy taking the mantle.

I don't know. I'm not a diehard Legionnaire in the first place, and we still don't know these guys at all. But f**k it, sure!

I totally agree. I wouldn't have thought twice about this theory had we been talking about the old Jo. But this new one seems to be written in a way (as with all of them so far really) that makes you feel like they're still growing into something.

To me, this Jo seems like he's actively fighting against being the rough and quick to temper brawler his father-one is.

I don't wanna jinx anything by saying it out loud, but thematically he'd be like Miles Morals. He'd be becoming Superman in a way different from Clark or Jon. For Jo his "doomed, exploding planet" is a bad home situation or a generally awful environment. I'm sure a lot of people can relate. You don't want the way that it's slowly killing itself to one day kill you too, or maybe even worse, make you into something you're not.

I dunno. I think there's something here.

[Superlad93]

Wow, can't believe I missed it but the President of the United Planets name is Brande

Long time Legion fans know that last name because of the Legion's benefactor R.J. Brande. At one point during post-zero hour he became President of the UP I believe. So then is this the "ultimate" version R.J.? Did Irma, Rokk, and Garth save her from an assassination attempt like other incarnations saved R.J.?

Interesting that they're at odds. Wonder if they were always like that.

Edit: and you know what? Isn't Chameleon Boy usually R.J. Brande's son? I was just reading issue 2 and when Ultra Boy boy talks about how he has a hard relationship with his father, and how the other Legionnaires likely wouldn't get that, Cham speaks up saying "I'm telling you, Jo, you'd be surprised how many of us can relate." And before that Triplicate Girl says that she gets it too.

In Cham's case, if President Brande is his mom, then he's on this team that's disobeying her at every turn. And in Triplicate Girl's case, post-zero hour her dad leaves her family because she's born with a "condition" where each part of her functions autonomously as their own person. Then later her mom kills herself because of this. Makes sense for both of them to say that if those aspects of continuity are in play.

[Ascended]

Dude, with all the little nods and hints you've caught, how did you overlook Brande??

And I don't *think* Brande has always been Cham's father, but I could be wrong.....I think that was a more modern retcon that came out of the Johns' "Superman & The Legion" version. It was that whole xenophobic thing spinning out of the Earth Man plot, where people find out the greatly respected Brande was hiding his alien heritage the whole time.

[Superlad93]

Ha! I know, right?

And I could be remembering wrong, but I think Cham being Brande's son started out as a 5 Years Later thing. The had that one story where we find out that Brande was actually a Durlan with amnesia for a large part of his life. I think the xenophobia thing was there too. Something about the galaxy hating Durlans for some reason. I don't remember.

But in any case, I feel dumb because looking at president Brande she actually looks a lot like Cham in this continuity.

[Blacula]

RJ Brande as Chameleon Boy’s father has been around since ‘Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes’ #3 in 1981.

[M@Bowers2014]

Yep. That was the big secret reveal for the end of that series. Levitz eventually did some interesting stuff in the monthly series with Cham trying to form a Father and son relationship with Brande. Definitely not something new to Legion lore.

[Superlad93]

Wow, had no idea it went back that far, but that makes sense. I'm still fairly new to following Legion so closely, so some of this is certainly lost on me, but this book's given me my first ever foothold into the world.

[Ascended]

RJ Brande as Chameleon Boy’s father has been around since ‘Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes’ #3 in 1981.

That far back huh? Wow, I didn't know either.

[Sutekh]

On the Brande is Cham's dad thing;

To be fair, it was new and shocking to us back then.

Cham's pretty much the last Legionnaire we'd have guessed to be Brande's secret love-child, since we still thought Brande was human.

Who are the aquatic based heroes of the team-- or do they have any? Obviously in space "water" is, uh, not quite in abundance. Surely there are some aquatic-based societies in the galaxies discovered by now?

also, just wondering in general. How is swearing handled in the 31st century? I am recalling how Joss Whedon used "swearing" in Firefly.

On the team itself, there was Tellus, who was from an aquatic environment, but it was a liquid methane gas giant, IIRC, and he didn't actually *like* water, or have any sort of water-themed powers (telepath/telekinetic). In the Legion Academy, one of the cadet trainees was Lamprey, who was able to breathe and function underwater, swim really fast, and generate electricity like an electric eel. And there was an alien hero, Xera of Manna 5, with elemental powers who was shown 'water-bending' at one point. (And a later Legionnaire, Harmonia Li, also had elemental powers, and presumably could control water, although she was only ever shown manipulating air and earth.) Other than that, not much. There's never been a Legionnaire Atlantean, for instance, although some underwater cities have been shown to still exist on earth, in an 'Encyclopedia Galactica' entry (Atlantis and Poseidonis, IIRC).

As for swearing, it varies. In the Reboot, 'grife' and 'sprock' were used in place of swear words. In the Threeboot there was another term or two I forget, like so much about the Threeboot. In this latest Bendisboot, I've seen a new one that starts with a Q. Don't remember it right off. Qrot or something?