Hailing from the 31st century, the Legion of Superheroes are the future’s greatest heroes. When this team of teenage crimefighters first debuted in 1958, they only had three members. However, over the years, the team’s roster has expanded dramatically, with dozens of heroes from across the universe joining their ranks. The Legion doesn’t even stop with its own time period, as they’ll oftentimes use their advanced technology to go back in time and recruit the most powerful heroes of the modern day to help them fight villains who threaten the fabric of reality. Although DC Comics has underutilized them in recent years, the Legion still boasts some of the coolest and strongest heroes in the company’s roster.
With their diverse membership and upbeat attitudes, the Legion of Superheroes represents the best possible future in DC Comics, where alien races unite in harmony. It’s the Legion’s sworn duty to protect this future, and they have some of their time period’s strongest heroes to ensure their victory over the forces of evil.
10) Wildfire
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Originally an astro-engineer, Drake Burroughs, aka Wildfire, was transformed into a being of pure antimatter energy who can only exist within the confines of his containment suit. Although the lack of a physical form has caused Wildfire to suffer from many psychological issues, it does grant him an impressive set of abilities. Wildfire possesses immense superhuman strength, as well as the powers of flight and x-ray vision. If his name doesn’t give it away, Wildfire can also absorb and shoot destructive beams of energy from his face and hands that can tear apart starships with ease. Given his destructive abilities, Wildfire is often considered too hot to handle.
9) Star Boy
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Born on the planet Xanthu, Thom Kallor, aka Star Boy, wields the ability to manipulate one of the fundamental laws of the universe. Through time-travel shenanigans, Star Boy has joined both the Legion of Superheroes and the Justice Society and was among the toughest members of both teams. By drawing on the mass of stars and redirecting it, Star Boy can manipulate gravity, making objects or people extremely heavy so they become immobile. Star Boy’s gravity control can range from a singular pebble to an entire city. And with enough concentration, Star Boy can generate wormholes that he can use to travel to alternate universes.
8) Andromeda
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Laruel Gand, aka Andromeda, is an alien from the planet Daxam, which orbited the same star as Krypton. Daxamites like Andromeda gain abilities similar to Kryptonians when exposed to yellow sunlight, including super-strength, flight, solar energy absorption, heat vision, ice breath, and x-ray vision. Additionally, Daxamites aren’t vulnerable to Kryptonite. Although Andromeda initially was very arrogant, she has always been one of the Legion’s most consistent powerhouses. She can casually toss around asteroids, move mountains, fly several times faster than light and survive an atomic explosion at point-blank range. As a tough Daxamite with a bad temper, Andromeda is one Legionnaire that villains don’t want to mess with.
7) Ultra Boy
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
One of the most versatile members of the Legion of Superheroes, Jo Nah, aka Ultra Boy, was given the ability to use various superpowers after he was bathed in the radiation of an Energy-Beast. Ultra Boy possesses many of Superman’s abilities, including super-strength, super-speed, flight, invulnerability, and heat-vision. Unfortunately, Ultra Boy’s main weakness is that he can only use one power at a time. Still, even with this handicap, Ultra Boy is strong enough to obliterate gigantic meteors with a single punch, throw a starship so that it travels faster than light, and fight on par with Superboy. Ultra Boy is also tough enough to survive atomic explosions.
6) Saturn Girl
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
A founding member of the Legion of Superheroes, Irma Ardeen, aka Saturn Girl, is lauded as one of the most powerful telepaths not just among her race on the planet Titan, but across the entire DC Universe. Her powers have been compared to those of Martian Manhunter. Saturn Girl’s telepathy grants her additional abilities like mind-control, illusion casting, and psionic blasts. With her incredible powers, Saturn Girl has made Green Lantern punch himself with his own construct, communicated across dimensions, calmed the minds of an entire crowd, and manipulated several supervillains into fighting one another. Saturn Girl may not be physically tough, but her mental capabilities are practically unmatched in DC Comics.
5) Cosmic Boy
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Another founding member of the Legion of Superheroes, Rokk Krinn, aka Cosmic Boy, was the team’s first leader. An alien from the planet Braal, Cosmic Boy was one of the lucky one percent to be born with potent magnokinetic abilities. Like Magneto, Cosmic Boy can control any metal or magnetic substance in the universe, even on a microscopic scale. He can create force fields, fly, fire concussive blasts, and absorb energy. Through his magnetic powers, Cosmic Boy has pulled giant meteors and satellites from space to the Earth’s surface with minimal effort, lifted thousands of giant iron blocks into space, and even held up an entire city with his mind.
4) Superboy
Like his father, Jon Kent, aka Superboy, was visited by the Legion of Superheroes and, for a period, joined its ranks to help save the future from the forces of evil. The son of Superman and Lois Lane, Jon inherited his father’s Kryptonian powers. However, on top of those abilities, Jon can also channel his solar energy into blue electricity that increases his strength and speed, and allows him to fire powerful electric bolts. Jon has fought Ares, flown so fast that he was mistaken for Kid Flash, negated most of a tsunami with a thunderclap, and even broken a lock made from a neutron star. Some even speculate that, given time and training, Jon could surpass Supergirl and Superman’s raw power.
3) Supergirl
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
Superman’s younger cousin, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, has been a long-time member of the Legion of Superheroes. Despite having to balance her superhero duties between the present and future, Supergirl has a long history with the Legion and even dated fellow teammate Brainiac 5. As a Kryptonian, Supergirl is incredibly strong and possesses the same powers as Superman, including super strength, super speed, flight, and heat vision. While not as strong as her cousin, Supergirl can still lift mountains with ease, shrug off a nuclear bomb explosion, destroy a small moon, kill Lobo with a single punch, and rip apart the armor of the multiversal villain, the Anti-Monitor.
2) Mon-El
Like Andromeda, Lar Gand, aka Mon-El, is a Daxamite and possesses abilities very similar to those of a Kryptonian. Initially arriving on Earth in the modern day, Mon-El became childhood friends with a young Clark Kent. Unfortunately, Mon-El nearly died because he was exposed to lead, which is lethal to Daxamites. To save his life, Mon-El was placed into the Phantom Zone, where he stayed until he was finally released in the 31st century when a cure was found for his condition. Mon-El is unbelievably powerful, as he’s thrown a planet at the villainous Time Trapper and even carried a white dwarf star in his hands. With such raw power, it’s no wonder that Superman initially thought that Mon-El was a Kryptonian.
1) Superman
Image Courtesy of DC Comics
When Clark Kent was just a young hero called Superboy during the Silver Age of Comics, he was approached by the original Legion of Superheroes and offered a spot on their team. Together, Superboy and the Legion went on countless intergalactic adventures. Even as a child, Superman’s power was virtually absolute. During the Silver Age, Superboy casually tossed 13 planets, threw an orb that weighed trillions of tons, and effortlessly destroyed half a galaxy. Even after the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot toned down Superman’s more outlandish abilities, he can hold a mini-black hole, lift a universe, and hold a book of infinite pages. With his almost limitless power, Superman is the strongest hero ever to join the Legion.
What do you think? Leave a Comment below and join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!