Name
Previous Appearance
Next Appearance
Heroes (footnote #1)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection and memorial statue)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection)
(also appears as Kal-El, as an Emerald Eye projection, and in Sensor’s illusion)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection and as Validus)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection)
(also appears as Persuader in Sensor’s illusion)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection and as Mano in Sensor’s illusion)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection)
(also appears as an Emerald Eye projection)
whale
humanoid
One-Shot or Untracked Heroes:
Wonder Woman (Princess Diana)
Star-Spangled Kid II (Courtney Whitmore)
Creeper (Jack Ryder)
Metamorpho (Rex Mason)
Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond / Professor Ed Stein)
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Geo-Force (Prince Brion Markov)
Villains
(also appears in Sensor’s illusion)
(also appears as a hologram and a Vril Dox robot) (footnote #7)
Lex Luthor’s army
Supporting Characters
assorted citizens of Rimbor
unnamed Science Police agents (30th century and centuries before), including unnamed Sergeant
unnamed refugees on post-21st century Earth
unnamed doctors (2)
Locations
unnamed location on Rimbor
deep space
unnamed city on 21st century (footnote #9) Earth
Alien Races and Creatures
Technology
Coluan tracking device
Brande’s private cruiser
mind probe
mediscanner
plasteel
Science Police rifles
zircolyte crystal
Patrol XL5 (Science Police gravcar)
Opal Throne (of Bgztl)
cytoplasmic probes
neural matrix tiara
1. All characters are deemed to be from “Earth-SL”, but that is not explicitly mentioned in their tracking in the name of saving space. The real names and codenames of some characters are assumed to be the same as their main (or preboot, in some cases) universe counterparts.2. Presumably. See analysis for that issue for detailed arguments.
3. No codename is specified in this story.
4. Karate Kid and Ferro Lad are tracked as Legionnaires here because they (and several other characters) are seen as Legion members on page 48.
5. Presumably. Certainly not a version of the main continuity Empress.
6. Actually some kind of a sentient construct, but we are used to thinking of it as a Villain entity, so it is listed as such.
7. This Persuader apparently crossed over from the main DC Universe. His Axe did not, however.
8. The appearances by Luthor (and other characters) in the Universo memory banks are tracked as appearances for the characters themselves, despite some uncertainty as to the historical accuracy of the images in some cases.
9. Century identified by the presence of the Star-Spangled Kid.
10. Called out because it is used separately from the Persuader.
| General | This is an “Elseworlds” story. Such tales have as their ancestors Marvel’s What If…? series and the Silver Age “imaginary” stories (aren’t they all?). There are typically three sorts of Elseworlds stories: projecting a future based on the present (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns), placing the characters into another milieu (such as Camelot or Dracula), or using a history which diverges from some pivotal event. The latter is the case here, with some 20th century event which proved to be the end of that era’s superhero population, presumably due to Superman never having come to Earth in the 20th century; he would have either prevented the event or inspired his peers to keep fighting after it. |
| Neither Invisible Kid nor Chameleon Boy are ever given codenames in either issue of this series. | |
| Cover | The cover image isn’t an accurate representation of a scene from this issue; it is close to the end of the previous issue, but Light Lass and Sensor were not present then. Note the clear (is somewhat hidden) absence of Cosmic Boy’s arm. |
| Back cover images count as cover appearances for the characters. Inside cover images do not count as panel appearances. | |
| 1 | The captions here are Lois Olsen’s transmission to R.J. Brande. |
| 1:4 | The battle with the Fatal Five killed Colossal Boy, cost Cosmic Boy his arm, and scarred Starboy’s face. |
| 3:2 | In light of his ascendancy to godhood in Legion Lost (which finished the month before this was released), Element Lad’s words here are a bit eerie. |
| 3:4 | Element Lad is behind Shadow Lass and Sun Boy. |
| 3-5 | Note that Superboy doesn’t say a single word during this scene. |
| 4:3 | “Transp”: transparent, easy to see through. |
| 5:1 | That’s Lois’ holovid camera floating above the Legionnaires. |
| 5:2 | This is the shuttle seen on page 1; it has Saturn Girl, Cosmic Boy, and Colossal Boy’s corpse on it. |
| This close-up of a woman who has apparently been crying is a little too reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, probably the most parodied pop culture reference of the late 1990s. Let’s hope that’s unintentional. | |
| 5:4 | Owning her own network? Well, in the 20th century, we saw people use web cams to draw audiences to their websites, providing do-it-yourself content feeds, a step below cable access programming. Perhaps owning your own “network” in the 30th century isn’t quite what it would be in the 21st. |
| 6:1 | First dialogue balloon is from the Emerald Empress. |
| 8:2 | The panels in Brainiac 5’s journey have been progressively backward in time. Thus, despite Batman apparently being dead in 8:1, this panel comes chronologically earlier. |
| Based on 40:6, the leg seen behind Batman is the Martian Manhunter. | |
| 9:2 | This is the first time in the story that Tinya’s codename is used. |
| 10:2 | In just one panel, Farmer and Davis manage to salvage the character of Light Lass, showing the potential inherent in the name, if only the creators of the 1960s hadn’t been fixated on weight and giving her a “girl” power. |
| 10:3 | “Xenoid signature” indicates the species templates which Durlans store in order to replicate forms. Reep’s comment indicates that Sensor is clearly something other than what she seems, but whether that means she is non-human but cloaked in illusion (that is, a snake like the main DC universe version of Sensor) or something else is unknown. |
| Of course they are sensitive about their powers: the more people who know you project illusions, the less effective your powers are. | |
| 11:2 | Note: “Starboy” (one word) in this universe. |
| 11:3 | The Fatal Five were responsible for the destruction of Xanthu, Starboy’s homeworld (plus Daxam, and a few other worlds). |
| 13:1 | Dialogue is from Invisible Kid. |
| 13:2 | Note the white bands on the Legionnaires’ arms: transuits (or in this universe, trans-suits). |
| 13:3-4 | This is a significant divergence from other origins for Invisible Kid and Brainiac 5. |
| 13:4 | Sun Boy is next to Shadow Lass. |
| 14:1 | “450,000 klicks”: about 300,000 miles, beyond the orbit of Luna from Earth |
| First dialogue balloon is from Invisible Kid, second one is from Ultra Boy. | |
| This Colu is massively different from the one seen in the main continuity. As with other major differences in the timeline, this presumably has some of its roots in the absence of Superman from the 20th century. In particular, the senior Vril Dox might never have become Brainiac, and the junior one might never have formed L.E.G.I.O.N. and freed Colu from the control of the Computer Tyrants. Some sort of evolutionary leap would seem to have occurred, perhaps due to the intense use of SleepNet; not freeing Colu may have eventually resulted in a better world, although at an unknown price along the way. | |
| 14:2 | Element Lad only knows what “zircolyte” is. |
| “Two solar orbits” should means “two trips around the sun, or two years. The intent is, though, is probably two days. | |
| 16:3 | Shadow Lass is apparently experiencing some kind of feedback when Persuader cuts through her power. |
| 16:6 | The character whose head is seen below Li’l Saturn Girl is Li’l Bouncing Boy. |
| There have been rumors of a connection between the Emerald Eye and Green Lantern power rings over the years, but both the rings and the Eye have always been limited to creating green-colored constructs. Or they were until just about the time this was published, when Kyle Rayner’s ring started being able to create full-color creations. Hmm. | |
| 17:1 | Karate Kid and Ferro Lad can be seen in this panel. |
| 17:5 | The foreground figures are Marla Latham, R.J. Brande, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Karate Kid. |
| 17:6 | Leeto must be brilliant to make those sorts of inductive leaps. (Not.) |
| 18:6 | “Naz”: usually “nass” in the main DC universe. |
| 19:6 | In the preboot continuity, the Eye had incorporated some Kryptonite into it. That, combined with the traditional Kryptonian susceptibility to magic, always prevented this sort of an action. (Of course, as we’re about to find out, this action isn’t occurring in this universe, either.) |
| Will this issue get a special listing in the Overstreet Price Guide: “Injury to the Eye motif”? | |
| 19:6-20:1 | These two panels are part of Sensor’s illusion, but the ones before and after are not. |
| 20:6 | The individual Emerald Eye projections cannot be identified in this panel. |
| 21:1 | They are disintegrating because the Empress’ link to the Eye has faded. |
| 21:6 | Bouncing Boy and Shadow Lass are fighting Mano, and Lightning Lad and Sun Boy are battling Validus. |
| 21:7 | The Opal Throne? Does that perhaps indicate a connection between Bgztl and Gemworld, at least in this universe? |
| 22:6 | Somebody get him some Valium! |
| 25:2 | It still isn’t clear whether the Eye is responsible for this space warp or if it is something created by Luthor’s ship. |
| Sensor’s cape is to the left side of the panel. | |
| 25:5 | Three Legionnaires are seen here with Validus, but only Sun Boy is identifiable. |
| 26:1 | Perhaps part of the tryouts was a psych profile (or a scan by Saturn Girl) which revealed some of the inherent heroism that Chuck doesn’t even know he has. |
| 26:3 | Hmm. We don’t get to see just how large Bouncing Boy gets here. What sort of an upper limit does he have? While we’ve usually seen him as ending up as a six-foot diameter ball, perhaps he can go much larger, just not retaining the spherical shape which gives him his name. Think of him as a huge automobile airbag, perhaps? |
| 28:1 | This design, of course, is based on the preboot redesign of Brainiac which took him from being a green humanoid to a cold, metallic creature after he was absorbed by a massive planet-eating machine. |
| What this naming convention does to the historical Vril Dox characters who presumably still existed in the 20th century (but perhaps played much different roles, in the absence of Superman) is unclear. Perhaps the original one was the naming source for this type of creature? | |
| 29:5 | Note the glowing green energy on one of Tharok’s claws. Again, indication that the space warps may have been Luthor-created rather then from the Eye. |
| 30:4 | Marla Latham is in the bubble with the Science Police sergeant. |
| 31:1-3 | Always good to see that someone remembers that bit of trivia. The original Ferro Lad wasn’t around long enough to take advantage of it, and the current one hasn’t had the chance to go up against magic — he fought Validus when he met the Fatal Five — but this provides a good window on extra uses for Ferro in the future. |
| 30-32 | Interesting to note that the original Legionnaires who created the preboot Fatal Five included three of the four present here: Ferro Lad, Karate Kid, and Cosmic Boy. The other two — Superboy and Princess Projectra (aka Sensor) also had direct contact with the Emerald Empress in this story. |
| 32:4 | The Emerald Empress is a telepath in this universe? Titanian, perhaps? Very interesting. |
| 32:5-6 | This change of connection of the Emerald Eye’s link from the Empress to a Legionnaire echoes what happened when Sensor Girl freed Sarya from the Eye in the preboot continuity (although the Empress doesn’t die as a result this time). |
| 33:4 | The emphasis on “all” in the Persuader’s dialogue may indicate that Mano requires not just the gaseous atmosphere of Angtu to breathe, but that the atmosphere he breathes is very low in oxygen as well. |
| 34:6 | Assuming the Fatal Five seen in Young Justice: Our Worlds at War #1 is this Fatal Five, Validus is obviously not heavily injured, nor will the fall be fatal (ahem) to him. |
| The figures below Lightning Lad must be Light Lass and Sensor. The cape matches Sensor, and Ayla would be her typical companion in this series. | |
| 35:4 | Where there goes a Brainiac 5, there must also go a force field. |
| 35:6 | Luthor probably took control of Tharok via the cytoplasmic probes mentioned earlier. |
| 37:1 | Intriguing, the thought the Brainy’s force field may exhibit some elastic properties, and stretched to an extreme, might rupture. |
| 37:3 | Experiments on several races? Could this indicate a connection between Luthor and the Dominators, circa Invasion, or perhaps a covert resumption of their research on his part. If Valor never existed in this universe, or otherwise was not responsible for the seeding of worlds, perhaps Luthor using Dominator technology created similar results and was responsible for the settling of worlds such as Braal and Cargg. |
| 38:5 | While we already know from Chameleon Boy that Sensor is something other than human, this panel does not unequivocally indicate that she is serpentine. Luthor has already probed through layers of illusion, but perhaps Sensor has cloaked things further, and has especially wrapped her true self in layers of deceit, conundrum, misdirection, and enigma. (In fact, his knowledge of the presence of the illusion does not serve to decloak the Legionnaires who are hidden as the Fatal Five, so any awareness he has of her “true” form is still suspect.) |
| 40:2 | Marla Latham is below Cosmic Boy. Commissioner Leeto is probably in this panel, but cannot be clearly identified. |
| 41:3 | Unable to identify the hero in silhouette behind Wonder Woman. |
| 41:5 | From body shape and posture, the officer here is the unnamed Science Police sergeant rather than Commissioner Leeto. |
| 41:5-42:1 | Lettering error: the dialogue from Brainiac 5 should undoubtedly have been in a special dialogue balloon, since it was only audible to Luthor. |
| 41:5-6 | This domed location with a box embedded in it containing the remains of a powerful being seems to owe a little to Akira. |
| 42:6 | Note that it is now “our” Legion, rather than “Superboy’s”. |
| 43:6 | Seen here: Shadow Lass, Luther as a Vril Dox robot, Sun Boy, Element Lad, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy, Lightning Lad, Sensor, Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid (these two based on proximity to Superboy), Superboy, and Shrinking Violet. Light Lass and Bouncing Boy are off-panel. |
| 44/45:1 | The foreground shoulders here are Ultra Boy and Bouncing Boy. |
| 44/45:2 | Superboy’s dialogue is probably an awareness that if Jo uses his ultra-strength, then he can’t protect himself with his ultra-invulnerability. However, it also serves as a nudge toward Ultra Boy’s classic weakness, general radiation. |
| 44/45:6 | There are twelve Legionnaires on the ground, but only ten figures are in this panel. Thus, only Sun Boy (the only identifiable one, due to being airborne) is counted here. Compare to 44/45:4, where all twelve figures are seen, so each is counted. |
| 44/45:7 | Based on body positions, these are Element Lad, Phantom Girl, Brainiac 5, and Invisible Kid. The first two dialogue balloons cannot be identified. |
| 44/45:8 | Invisible Kid is next to Brainiac 5 here. |
| 44/45:11 | Identifiable here: Sun Boy, Shadow Lass, Sensor, Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid, Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl, and Chameleon Boy. Four figures cannot be identified, and two of the Legionnaires are not seen at all. First dialogue balloon is from Ultra Boy. |
| 46:1 | The “temporal delay” refers to 14:2, where Lyle observed that Colu had appeared two solar orbits early. The Coluans allowed Colu to be seen early, and thus distracted Luthor. Although it isn’t clear just what advantage that gave them, they are much smarter than we are, so we can only assume they did in fact know what they were doing. |
| Identifiable here: Sensor, Sun Boy, Superboy, Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, Chameleon Boy, and Shrinking Violet. | |
| 46:2 | Sun Boy, Brainiac 5, Superboy, Invisible Kid, and Shrinking Violet and Bouncing Boy, based on hair colors, styles, and placements from the previous panel. The character next to Invisible Kid cannot be identified. |
| 46:3 | Lightning Lad, Sensor, Sun Boy, Brainiac 5, Light Lass, Superboy, Element Lad, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, Shrinking Violet. |
| 46:4 | Can’t tell whose shoulder is to the right side of the panel. |
| 47 | Back to dialogue from Lois Olsen. |
| 47:3 | And the Legion clubhouse continues to be a rocketship, although this time based on a Kryptonian design. |
| 47:3-4 | The statue counts as an appearance for Colossal Boy. |
| 48:1 | Pictured here are Brainiac 5, Invisible Kid, Triplicate Girl, Slipstream, Dawnstar, Karate Kid. Light Lass, Sensor, Lightning Lad, Dream Girl, Element Lad, Cosmic Boy (with his arm restored), Ferro Lad, Ultra Boy, Starboy (apparently healed), Blok, Shadow Lass, an unnamed whale of a Legionnaire, Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, Proty, Saturn Girl, Timber Wolf, Thunder, Tyroc, Shrinking Violet, Bouncing Boy, Ron Karr (behind Bouncing Boy), Monstress, Nemesis Kid, Comet Queen, Kal-El, Wildfire, unnamed Legionnaire (next to Wildfire), Gates, Chemical King, Matter-Eater Lad, White Witch, Sun Boy, and Tellus. |
| Slipstream is presumably Lori Morning using the H-Dial, and this is merely one of her hero forms. | |
| Monstress’ presence would indicate that not everyone on Xanthu died when the Fatal Five destroyed the planet. Of course, since she has a wealthy industrialist father, Candi could well have been off-planet at the time. | |
| Fate being what it is, neither Ron Karr (identified by his costume) nor Nemesis Kid can be expected to stay with the Legion for long. |
Character Name |
Cover |
Panels / Speaking |
| Heroes | ||
| Sun Boy (Dirk Morgna) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection) |
41 / 8 1 / 0 |
|
| Colossal Boy (Gim Allon; corpse) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection and memorial statue) |
X | 2 / 0 1 / 0 2 / 0 |
| Bouncing Boy (Chuck Taine) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection) |
X | 34 / 17 2 / 0 |
| Superboy (Kal Brande) (also appears as Kal-El, as an Emerald Eye projection, and in Sensor’s illusion) |
X | 63 / 27 1 / 0 2 / 0 2 / 1 |
| Chameleon Boy (Reep Daggle) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection and Validus) |
X | 25 / 6 2 / 0 2 / 1 |
| Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection) |
X | 40 / 19 1 / 0 |
| Cosmic Boy (Rokk Krinn) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection) |
X | 37 / 12 2 / 0 |
| Element Lad (Jan Arrah) | X | 27 / 5 |
| Ultra Boy (Jo Nah) (also appears as Persuader in Sensor’s illusion) |
X | 52 / 37 2 / 1 |
| Shrinking Violet (Salu Digby) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection) |
X | 34 / 5 1 / 0 |
| Phantom Girl (Princess Tinya Wazzo) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection and as Mano in Sensor’s illusion) |
X | 34 / 16 3 / 0 2 / 0 |
| Shadow Lass (Tasmia Mallor) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection) |
X | 31 / 7 2 / 0 |
| Brainiac 5 (Querl Dox) | X | 43 / 30 |
| Invisible Kid (Lyle Norg) | X | 32 / 18 |
| Light Lass (Ayla Ranzz) | X | 21 / 6 |
| Lightning Lad (Garth Ranzz) | 19 / 4 | |
| Sensor (Princess Jeka Wynzorr) | X | 24 / 5 |
| Starboy (Thom Kallor) (also appears as an Emerald Eye projection) |
X | 5 / 3 1 / 0 |
| Karate Kid (Val Armorr) | 23 / 4 | |
| Ferro Lad (Andrew Nolan) | 23 / 7 | |
| Triplicate Girl (Luornu Durgo) | 1 / 0 | |
| Slipstream (Lori Morning) | 1 / 0 | |
| Dawnstar | 1 / 0 | |
| Dream Girl (Nura Nal) | 1 / 0 | |
| Blok | 1 / 0 | |
| Proty | 1 / 0 | |
| Timber Wolf (Brin Londo) | 1 / 0 | |
| Thunder (Cece Beck) | 1 / 0 | |
| Tyroc (Troy Stewart) | 1 / 0 | |
| Monstress (Candi Pyponte-Le Parc III) | 1 / 0 | |
| Ron Karr | 1 / 0 | |
| Nemesis Kid (Hart Druiter) | 1 / 0 | |
| Comet Queen (Grava) | 1 / 0 | |
| Wildfire (Drake Burroughs) | 1 / 0 | |
| Gates (Ti’julk Mr’asz) | 1 / 0 | |
| Chemical King (Condo Arlik) | 1 / 0 | |
| Matter-Eater Lad (Tenzil Kem) | 1 / 0 | |
| White Witch (Mysa Nal) | 1 / 0 | |
| Tellus (Ganglios) | 1 / 0 | |
| Flash III (Wally West) | 5 / 0 | |
| Martian Manhunter (J’Onn J’Onzz) | 4 / 0 | |
| Villains | ||
| Emerald Empress (Sarya) | X | 31 / 21 |
| Validus | X | 11 / 0 |
| Emerald Eye (also appears in Sensor’s illusion) |
X | 32 / 5 2 / 1 |
| Mano | X | 9 / 2 |
| Persuader (Nyeun Chun Ti) | X | 10 / 4 |
| Tharok | X | 20 / 11 |
| Lex Luthor (also appears as a hologram and a Vril Dox robot) |
X | 11 / 6 12 / 15 36 / 19 |
| Supporting Characters | ||
| Lois Olsen | 10 / 16 | |
| R.J. Brande | 24 / 12 | |
| Marla Latham | 13 / 1 | |
| Science Police Commissioner Leeto |
10 / 8
|
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