Forgotten Justice League - Day 17

Day 17 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague
Fire

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 17 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

A version of Fire (also known as Green Fury) first appeared in Super Friends #25, (October 1979), and was created by E. Nelson Bridwell and Ramona Fradon. Beatriz da Costa had originally been bequeathed her powers due to Brazilian mysticism and was the president of the Brazilian branch of Wayne Enterprises. She possessed an array of abilities which included the power to exhale vast quantities of mystical green fire. She could also fly, alter her clothing at will, and displayed a limited capacity to project hallucinations.

In her first appearance, she confronted and battled Superman, who was controlled by the "puppet master" Overlord, Sandor Fine. In her next appearance, Green Fury called The Super Friends to help defeat the villain Green Thumb (Fargo Keyes), and months later revealed her secret origin to them to thwart the demons from a green hell.

Shortly after changing her name to Green Flame, the Guardians' United Nations funding was withdrawn in the wake of the formation the Justice League International. Beatriz convinced her teammate and best friend Icemaiden into joining her to apply for Justice League Internationalmembership. Remarkably, in the wake of Black Canary's resignation and the abduction of several members, the short-handed JLI took them on. Eventually, she once again changed her heroic name, this time to Fire in affinity with Icemaiden's shortening of her name to simply Ice. As a result of the "gene bomb" detonated by the alien Dominators, Fire's powers were dramatically increased, but were less reliable for a time.

Fire appeared in the short-lived television series Powerless in her "Green Fury" alias, portrayed by Natalie Morales.

Forgotten Justice League - Day 18

Day 18 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague
Blue Beetle

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 18 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

The original Blue Beetle was created by Fox Comics and later owned by Charlton Comics. The first Beetle was Dan Garret (later spelled Dan Garrett), who initially gained super powers from a special vitamin, which was later changed to gaining powers from a "sacred scarab". The original Blue Beetle was featured not only in his own comic but also a weekly radio serial.

The second Blue Beetle was created by Charlton and later taken over by DC Comics, the successor to Dan Garrett known as Ted Kord. Kord "jumped" to the DC Comics universe during the Crisis on Infinite Earths alongside a number of other Charlton Comics characters. The second Blue Beetle later starred in his own 24 issue comic. Kord never had any super powers but used science to create various devices to help him fight crime. He became a member of the Justice League of America and was later killed during DC Comics' Infinite Crisis cross over.

The third Blue Beetle, created by DC Comics, is Jaime Reyes, a teenager who discovered that the original Blue Beetle scarab morphed into a battle suit allowing him to fight crime and travel in space. Over the years Reyes became a member of the Teen Titans and starred in two Blue Beetle comic series. In DC Comic's "New 52" reboot, Jaime Reyes was the primary Blue Beetle character, only occasionally referring to past versions. However, with the subsequent continuity revision "DC Rebirth", the previous versions were restored.

Forgotten Justice League - Day 19

Day 19 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague
Green Arrow

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 19 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

Green Arrow is Oliver Queen. Thanks to the television series Smallville and Arrow on the CW network many know about the Green Arrow, but before television fame, the character was once likened to a Robin Hood version of Batman, a billionaire vigilante with many gimmicks and tricks, the most famous of which is a boxing glove arrow. A skilled archer, Green Arrow has been around since 1941. Oliver "Ollie" Queen was introduced in More Fun Comics issue 73 in November of 1941 having been created by Mortimer Weisinger and George Papp. Green Arrow, and his sidekick Speedy, were introduced in issue 73 but it would not be until issue 89 before their origin stories would be told.

The character is one of the few to survive into what is known as the Silver Age of Comics joining the Justice League of America in issue 4 of that title. The history of the character is long and varied. He shared a comic book series with the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, both of the characters becoming close friends.

The live action versions of the Green Arrow began in season 6 of Smallville portrayed by Justin Hartley appearing also in season 7 but a series regular in seasons 8 through 10. In 2012 a new series began, Arrow, and Stephen Amell was cast as the Green Arrow. This series is currently in its sixth season and has spawned the spin-offs The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow along with the animated series Vixen and the upcoming The Ray.

Forgotten Justice League - Day 20

Day 20 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague
The Atom

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 20 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

The Atom was created by Julius Schwartz, Gardner Fox, and Gil Kane when he first appeared in October of 1961. There was an earlier character called "The Atom" that appeared in 1940, but this character was related in name only to the 1960s character. T he Atom is physicist and university professor Raymond Palmer, Ph.D. (He was named for real-life science fiction writer Raymond A. Palmer, who was himself quite short.) After stumbling onto a mass of white dwarf star matter that had fallen to Earth, he fashioned a lens which allowed him to shrink down to subatomic size. Originally, his size and molecular density abilities derived from the white dwarf star material of his costume, controlled by mechanisms in his belt, and later by controls in the palms of his gloves. Much later, he gained the innate equivalent powers within his own body.
There would later be other people to claim the "Atom" name and abilities, the most important of which was Ryan Choi, a young hotshot professor that fills the void left when the original Ray Palmer disappeared, only recently returning to comic books. An important member of the Justice League, which he joined in Justice League of America, volume 1, issue 14 in the 1960s. Currently, there is a live action version of The Atom which has appeared on many of the CW network's shows based on DC Comic characters including originally on Arrow then on The Flash and is a current member of the Legends of Tomorrow portrayed by Brandon Routh, who also once played Superman in the movie Superman Returns

Forgotten Justice League - Day 21

Day 21 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague
Firestorm

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 21 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

Firestorm first appeared in March of 1978; created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom the character was the result of an accident that melded high schooler Ronnie Raymond and physicist Martin Stein. Ronnie was in control of Firestorm but Stein was a disembodied voice in Raymond's head that assisted by helping Ronnie to control their combined powers which include Superhuman strength, endurance, speed, durability, senses, and self-sustenance, Nucleokinesis, Nuclear pyrokinesis, Flight, Molecular transmutation, Intangibility, and Matter manipulation.

Over the years, Firestorm as a character has had its ups and downs. Originally added to the Justice League in issue 179, the character has seen Martin Stein killed off only to return, Ronnie Raymond was also killed and returned and at one point Stein was replaced with Jason Rusch.

On television, a version of Firestorm appeared with Ronnie being played by Robbie Amell & Dr. Martin Stein played by Victor Garber on the series The Flash from the CW network. This character also appeared in the CW's Arrow series before undergoing a transformation. Ronnie's character was killed off and a new character brought in to share the Firestorm persona with Stein. Jefferson "Jax" Jackson, played by Franz Drameh, was also affected by the accident that caused Ronnie & Martin to become Firestorm and was brought in to join and become the new Firestorm. This version of the character joined the CW series DC's Legends of Tomorrow and has been a cast member since the beginning. In the current comics, the Ronnie Raymond-Jason Rusch version is being featured.

Forgotten Justice League - Day 22

Day 22 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague - Steel

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 22 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

The original Steel was Hank Heywood and the character was created by writer Gerry Conway & artist Don Heck for the self-titled series which began in March of 1978. However it was his grandson, Hank the 3rd which joins the Justice League in 1984's Justice League of America Annual number 2, when Aquaman forms a new team. This version of Steel, a character with indestructible skin and super-strength was created by original writer Gerry Conway with Chuck Patton as artist.

The Hank the 3rd character was the grandson of the original Steel, but he would later die during a battle with Professor Ivo's creations.

His cousin, Nathan Heywood, would later join the Justice Society, the 1930s-1940s precursor to the Justice League, in 2007 created by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross.

Nathaniel "Nate" Heywood / Steel appears in the second season of Legends of Tomorrow portrayed by Nick Zano while his grandfather Henry Heywood / Commander Steel is portrayed by Matthew MacCaull. Initially a hemophiliac, he is injected with a super serum provided to the Nazis by Eobard Thawne after it is modified by Ray Palmer, turning Nate into a metahuman with an ability to transform himself into a steel-like form in addition providing him superhuman strength. Having obtained his powers, Nate starts calling himself "Steel", although one of his original suggestions is "Citizen Steel". It's later revealed by Obsidian to Nate that his grandfather went on a mission with his team excluding himself, and never returned home in 1956, a year after Nate's own father was born.

Forgotten Justice League - Day 23

Day 23 - Forgotten #JusticeLeague
Vibe

Forgotten Justice League members:

The cinematic debut of The Justice League is in 23 days, and to countdown let's take a look at members of the Justice League most have forgotten or never knew about.

Paco Ramone first appeared as Vibe in Justice League of America Annual number 2 in October of 1984 as one of the new Justice League members when Aquaman forms a new team. The original character was killed off in Justice League of America issue 258.

Created by writer Gerry Conway & artist Chuck Patton, Paco Ramone began his career as Vibe shortly after Aquaman disbanded the original Justice League. When young Cisco heard that a new Justice League was forming in his own hometown of Detroit, he decided to give up his position as the leader of a local street gang, Los Lobos, to join.

What made Ramon a candidate was his metahuman ability to emit powerful vibratory shock waves. Vibe's presence on the team caused Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter to harbor some strong doubts about the new JLA, particularly after he got the League involved in a rumble with a rival gang. Vibe soon proved his mettle during the League's battles against Cadre, Anton Allegro, and Amazo.

He stayed with the League through the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, when his powers played a vital role in defeating Despero. During Darkseid's assault on Earth during the Legends mini-series, the Justice League of America was disbanded and Paco left his JLA comrades to seek the familiar solace of the streets. Vibe was attacked by one of Professor Ivo's androids, and became the first Justice League member to be killed in the line of duty.

The Martian Manhunter brought Vibe's body back to the League's mountain sanctuary, where Vibe was laid to rest in a cryogenic chamber. Paco's dead form has twice been resurrected by evil-doers.

Carlos Valdes portrays Cisco Ramon, a name used in the New 52 series for Vibe in The CW's Arrowverse appearing primarily on The Flash but also on Arrow & Legends of Tomorrow. This version of the character is a mechanical engineering genius at S.T.A.R. Labs with known metahuman abilities to detect anomalies within reality and sonic manipulation.