One of the changes for the New 52 was that the Justice League only admitted one new member after their founding roster came together. So in five years, the line up has been Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, The Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, and for an apparently brief time, J’onn J’onzz. Pretty exclusive, makes their club seem that much cooler, but the time has come when the threats are getting too big, and their own crisises have left them too spread out, that they need to open their roster to new members. This means a recruitment drive!
Through something awesome that Cyborg calls “The Grid”, the League has not only identified potential recruits, but found ways to contact them directly. Black Canary, Black Lightning, Blue Devil, Element Woman (finally), Firestorm, Goldrush, Nightwing, Platinum, Vixen, and Zatanna. The list whittles itself down relatively quickly, with a case like Nightwing’s where he was tricked into showing up and bails instantly upon realizing what he got invited to. You’ve got Zatanna who has her hands full with the Justice League Dark already, and the team of Blue Devil and Black Lightning who work best together in the small scale. Goldrush eliminates herself with really creepy flirting with Flash. And as for the rest? Well, Platinum wasn’t quite ready for public testing.
She goes more than a little crazy and attacks everyone, forcing those remaining to try and stop her. Element Woman is able to keep her busy long enough for Cyborg to assist Firestorm in figuring out what to do. It just leaves the little matter of the irreplaceable Responsometer in her head that Will Magnus really doesn’t want broken. Something that naturally would have to fall to an almost certain breaking (despite being a metal orb)
This leads to the debut of an All-New Atom! Now, going into the New 52, Jim Lee said in no uncertain terms that Ryan Choi would be the Atom going forward. Hasn’t happened yet, and most likely never well. Instead we’ve got a girl from Ivy University named Rhonda Pineda, which could potentially make her a student of Ray Palmer since I admit to having no knowledge of where he is in the New 52. Anyway, she’s the Atom.
And along with Firestorm and Element Woman, she’s on the Justice League. Talk about a youth movement! At least three members (four if you split Firestorm in two, and five depending on Element Woman’s age) are barely old enough to drink! But seriously, kudos on going with two brand new female characters, and especially one (and again, possibly two depending on Element Woman) minority character. It’s really refreshing to see new things.
