The Justice Society was a team of superheroes that were active in the 1940s before the creation of the Justice League.
The Justice Society of America was the world's first superhero organization and were prominent in the 1940s. Superman credited them with saving the world 17 times before most members of the Justice League even existed. The group fought against the Nazis during World War II and recovered the Amulet of Apophis from Dirk Strasser (who stole it after shooting at Hawkman), after he used it to possess their member Johnny Thunder and make him attack the Allies. Johnny lost his life in the battle with the Justice Society, after which the Spectre decided to end the war by using the amulet to make Adolf Hitler kill himself. The Green Lantern Alan Scott later buried it in the Marianas Trench, so no human would get their hands on it.
The only person Alan had told where the amulet was buried, was Doctor Mid-Nite. The Boy Commando Andre Chavard, whom Mid-Nite was treating, however heard what he had said and was forced to pass on this information to the Joker, after initially denying it to him due to his senseless violence. Joker found the amulet and used it to infiltrate the JSA Headquarters by possessing Alan Scott, noting down names and addresses of all members of the team. When Sandman found Alan acting strange, Joker murdered him. Alan however survived after falling from a great height, while Joker was disposing of Sandsman's corpse. Batman suspected Alan, but most other heroes refused to believe it. The Joker next tried killing the Amazing-Man, but failed.
After getting assaulted by Poison Ivy for abusing Harley Quinn, Joker decided to blow off steam by possessing Jay Garrick to target Ted Grant and demanding to know why Batman respected him so much. After the possessed Jay accidentally killed one of his pupils, Ted broke his jaw while telling the others in his gym to run away. Joker used Jay to strike back, before the latter was stopped by Barry Allen. Stabbing Barry in the leg, Jay ran away and was chased by him as well as Superman. As the two heroes caught up to Jay, Joker drove him into a wall at super-speed, killing him.
After investigating along with the Bat-Family and the League, Batman found about Chavard promising great power in return for helping him escape from prison and had assisted the Joker along with Black Manta in finding something in Marianas Trench. Believing Joker was controlling those attacking the JSA, Batman called a meeting of the group. After learning of Chavard and Joker's mind-control tactics, the members told him that they had destroyed the Amulet of Apophis, which they believed could help him accomplish it. Doctor Mid-Nite revealed however that it was intact, with Alan and the Spectre having failed in destroying it even together. The League decided to isolate the JSA, despite their initial reluctance, and took them to the Justice League's satellite base in space.
Unknown to others, Joker had possessed the former Black Canary, Dinah Drake and used her Canary Cry to destroy the satellite's windows, sending most of the Justice Society members into space. Superman soon arrived to save them all and transported them into the air-bubble created by their member Inza Cramer, the sorcerer known as Doctor Fate. Batman later decided to hide the JSA at the Hall of Justice. While the Superman and Wonder Woman searched for the Joker, he destroyed the Hall of Justice after gaining powers from the helm of the Lords of Chaos. Most of the people survived, with Superman arriving to help. As he searched for Dinah Lance and Green Arrow, the JSA and Batman tried to subdue Joker. Most of the Society members except Amazing-Man, who was away from the battlefield, however were soon vanished by the Joker, though he himself didn't know where.
The Justice League members tried attacking Joker, but were soon defeated, with Superman falling victim to his mind-control powers. Amazing-Man then tried attacking the clown in concrete form, but soon had his arm destroyed. The Joker ordered Superman to kill him, but the recovered Alan Scott soon arrived to restrain him. As Batman and Scott encouraged Superman to fight back, he broke free of the mind-control and quickly destroyed the Amulet of Aphophis. The resulting explosion knocked the Joker away and dislodged the helm he was wearing. Learning that he didn't know where the other Justice Society members were, Alan, Dinah Lance, Green Arrow, Doctor Mid-Nite, Wildcat and Jimmy Henton decided to traverse the various Multiverses to find them with the help of the Spectre.
The Society was disbanded a year prior to the nuking of Metropolis, and Batman lamented that had the Society still existed, they might've been able to prevent the bloody war he had with Superman or stopped him from becoming a tyrant entirely.
- Justice Society of America was created by Sheldon Mayer and Gardner Fox, first appearing in All-Star Comics #3. However, the Injustice version of Justice Society of America first appeared in Injustice: Year Zero #1 by Tom Taylor and Roge Antonio.
- Though the Justice Society wouldn't appear together as a team until Injustice: Year Zero #1, they were first confirmed to have existed as early as Injustice 2 through intro dialogue with Jay Garrick, over three years earlier. More members would be alluded to throughout Injustice 2 Vol 1 until their true first appearance.
- 11 Appearances of Justice Society of America (Injustice)
- 1 Images that include Justice Society of America (Injustice)
- Team Gallery: Justice Society of America (Injustice)
Links and References