Last week fans of CW’s latest DC series, Legends of Tomorrow, witnessed the debut of a certain DC Comics character that helped setting up the upcoming arc for the second season. Rex Tyler a.k.a. Hourman (played by Suits’ Patrick J Adams) made his debut in the final seconds and introduced himself as a member of the Justice Society of America which will be heavily featured in the fall when Legends of Tomorrow starts Season 2.
As the season just ended, it will probably be a while till we find out who from the Justice Society will be showing up, but that doesn’t stop us from making our personal wish lists of who we want to see from that team on the show. That’s exactly what we are doing today as we name eight Justice Society members that Legends of Tomorrow should use. Hit the NEXT button below and let’s go through the eight characters we hope to see in the fall.
8: Al Pratt a.k.a. Atom
Now before I continue, I’m quite aware that the show already has The Atom in Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), but that shouldn’t be a reason for the show-runners to not use the character of Al Pratt who in the comics also goes by Atom. It would also work as a funny recurring gag that there are two Atoms, but from two completely different generations. Someone like Pratt would be easy to do in terms of his powers, which is heavily super-strength related and I feel he would also be someone that would hilariously clash with Heatwave (Dominic Purcell), while also being a fellow scientist to Ray. I was originally going to put Albert Rothstein a.k.a. the Atom-Smasher on this list who is a member of the JSA in the comics, but The Flash Season 2 premiere makes it impossible. In that episode, Earth-1 Albert was murdered by his Earth-2 dopplegänger (both played by Adam Copeland) who was a meta-human that also died later in that episode. Therefore, someone like Pratt would be a good substitute, even though I would have smiled for eternity over the many jokes that you could have made about The Atom (Ray) and the Atom-Smasher being on the same show together.
7: Maxine Hunkel a.k.a. Cyclone
One of the things that I have criticized Legends of Tomorrow for is its lack of female characters as the main cast for Season 1 only consisted of two female characters with the team being male dominated. We also just lost Kendra Saunders a.k.a. Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée) who sadly won’t be returning as a series regular for Season 2. With her gone, the show definitely needs to step it up with its female presence for the new season and we know that one of the two new series regulars that they are casting is an African American female superhero who I bet is a JSA member. Something I would love to see with this version of the JSA is a combination of old and new generations having come together. Maxine Hunkel is a great example of that and if you recall, her grandmother Ma Hunkel a.k.a. the old school Red Tornado was teased in the early marketing a few months ago. Someone like Maxine would be great to have as one of those “next generations” members and someone with her power set would be awesome to have on TV while not demanding too much of the budget for the visuals.
6: Jim Corrigan a.k.a. the Spectre
When Matt Ryan’s John Constantine became part of the Arrowverse after his show got cancelled by NBC, we also (most likely) got the other Constantine characters with him and one of them just happens to be a member of the Justice Society: Jim Corrigan a.k.a. the Spectre. On that show he was played by Emmett Scanlan who showed up for two episodes as a police detective that worked with John and Zed (Angelica Celaya) who kept seeing visions that hinted at his inevitable future as Spectre. Sadly the show was cancelled, but with Constantine being part of this universe now, Legends of Tomorrow’s JSA could easily have him as one of their members from this generation, changing his comic history just a bit. Should Scanlan be available and still interested in reprising the role, I would love for the show to re-introduce Corrigan as Spectre this time both as a nice nod to the Constantine audience that never got the chance to see him become that hero, but also as just a genuinely great member of the JSA. In addition, having a magic based player or two would be neat and a nice change up from what we had in the first season.
5: Todd Rice a.k.a. Obsidian
While Marc Guggenheim (show-runner and executive producer of Legends of Tomorrow) has seemingly debunked the possibility of Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern from the JSA, showing up on the show, what about his son? In the comics, Alan has a son named Todd Rice a.k.a. the Obsidian who is also one of the earliest LGBT characters in DC Comics who grew apart from his biological parents as he was raised in abusive adoptive home. I’ll always be rolling my eyes over the fact that the feature side won’t let DC TV use characters like Green Lantern, especially as it’s highly unlikely that they will actually be using Alan Scott in the films. Alan was one of the original JSA members and the fact that Legends of Tomorrow can’t use him (unless a surprise announcement comes later), is questionable. But having his son instead would be a great addition as he could also serve as another “new generation” member and help expand the LGBT representation in this universe. They could easily exclude his family history and portray him as an orphan who has yet to discover who his parents are or do subtle nods to that his father was a former member, hence why he is here.
4: Wesley Dodds a.k.a. the Sandman
While I never spend much time with the character in the comics, Wesley Dodds a.k.a. the Sandman was always someone that intrigued me because of his ability of prophetic visions. I was always bummed out that he was quickly killed off in Smallville’s JSA two-parter, Absolute Justice, that Geoff Johns wrote in Season 9. I think someone like Sandman would be a cool character explore more of in live-action and given that Legends of Tomorrow is all about time-travel, it would be neat to see how Dodds’ visions would play into that aspect. He was also another Justice Society character that the early marketing was hinting at as we saw his famous gas mask be posted in a teasing Instagram photo which was the same case for Ma Hunkel’s pot helmet and Hourman’s hourglass.
A photo posted by DC (@dccomics) on
3: Courtney Whitmore a.k.a. Stargirl
One of my favorite Justice Society characters in the Smallville: Absolute Justice two-parter was Courtney Whitmore a.k.a. Stargirl who was created by Johns and is based on his sister Courtney who sadly died in the explosion of the TWA Flights 800 back in 1996. Her connection within the Justice Society is through her stepfather Pat Dugan who was Stripesy, sidekick to Sylvester Pemberton a.k.a. the 1st Star-Spangled Kid. This would be another one of those “new generation” members as well as be one more female character to introduce who could maybe later on go on to Supergirl which will be going to The CW this fall. Courtney has always been a fun character both in the comics and in the media to me rather than someone like Pemberton. I also like the idea of seeing more teenagers/young adults superheroes come to life and someone like Courtney would be cool to see again in live-action. In addition, it wouldn’t be too difficult or expensive to portray her powers which come heavily from the Cosmic Staff.
2: Jay Garrick a.k.a. The Flash
Tomorrow night, The Flash will be wrapping up its second season and while we all thought Teddy Sears was Jay Garrick: we have known since a few episodes back that he is actually Hunter Zolomon a.k.a. Zoom so therefore, the real Jay Garrick is still out there. Could the real Jay Garrick possibly be the man in the iron mask who has been a captive of Zoom? That’s one of the biggest theories floating around right now and it would honestly not surprise me if that is the case. While I’m certain and want the third season to explore the real Jay (if he is actually the man in the iron mask), at some point I would desperately want to see him be a member of the Justice Society as he is one of the original ones in the comics. It would also be one speedster less for The Flash as Season 3 will most likely be dealing with Jesse Quick and Wally West’s evolutions into their comic counterparts. Having a speedster on Legends of Tomorrow would also be a welcomed idea and since they are doing the Justice Society, there is no better fit than Jay Garrick. Also, Guggenheim gave quite the interesting response to Entertainment Weekly when asked whether or not Jay could be one of the Justice Society members that they will introduce:
“I can’t go spoiling stuff they’re doing on Flash. Phil Klemmer, Geoff Johns, Dan Evans, and I sat down in a room at DC with a list, and it’s a long list, of the members of the JSA. One of the more fun afternoons I’ve had recently is sitting down and actually composing our JSA lineup, our perfect JSA lineup. That was a blast to do.”
1: Kent Nelson a.k.a. Doctor Fate
Last, but definitely not the least: Kent Nelson a.k.a. Doctor Fate who is one of my personal favorites, but from Absolute Justice, Young Justice and several comics. This would also be another neat way to pick-up what Constantine tried to setup as we saw the Helmet of Nabu in the pilot and since that show is now part of the Arrowverse: the helmet is surely out there and has maybe since then been picked up by someone. Fate almost serves the same role that Professor Stein does on the Legends team as a voice of reason so it would be cool to see Stein have someone like him to interact with. Doctor Fate was also the highlight in Part 1 of the Absolute Justice arc before he was killed by Icicle Jr and I think it’s time that we get another chance to have Fate in live-action. Having some magic players on the show for Season 2 would be a cool addition to the way we have powers in this universe, whether it be meta-humans or scientifically based. In addition, we may have already been given a huge hint that he is possibly coming to CW’s DCTV Universe. Look very closely at this BTS photo that Katie Cassidy posted from the make-up trailer on the set of The Flash when she guest starred as Earth-2 Laurel Lance, the Black Siren.
CONCLUSION
The Justice Society is something that I’ve wanted to see on TV again since Smallville and the many comics I have read of them because it’s such a different feeling from how the Justice League is. Legends of Tomorrow using this team for their second season thrills me on all levels and hopefully some of those characters I listed will be showing up. While I would love for characters like Alan Scott/Green Lantern, Wildcat (who was introduced on Arrow, but never given the chance to be fleshed out) to show up, I’m not expecting characters like them to be included. Although I still hold out hope for a surprise announcement at Comic-Con that Alan will be coming after all because come on Warner Bros/DC: let TV have some of that Green Lantern action too! Either way, Season 2 looks really promising and we should be getting more details in the coming months about the Justice Society on the series.
Legends of Tomorrow, which has been renewed for Season 2, will be returning this fall on The CW on Thursday nights at 8/7c; premiere dates have yet to be set by the network.
