Well, I got spoiled, but that’s a very cool reveal.

I hope they explain what or who the Val was that was in Countdown. I’m guessing clone — or the Earth 2 version in disguise. I like the way Legion elements are being sprinkled around the DCU. Hope it pays off — and results in a full-fledge ongoing for the group.

The whole new history/continuity is so confusing to me. I don’t get how Johns has all the different versions working and so many of them in the 21st century DCU. Plus what stories are still canon and not. Waaay too much for me.

There’s already percieved evidence that Conner Kent’s chemistry teacher is Element Lad. And there’s a spectacular theory on our own message boards that Mirabai’s “power source” is Mordru.

The connections to the current DCU and the Legions future continue to appear. I think it’s safe to say we’ll see the Legion play a major role in the rumored Superman event next year.

The preview page at the end of the back up story in Adventure Comics #1 had it split into the adventures of the LSH in the 31st Century and the 21st Century. I have a feeling a number of them are in the “here and now” of the DCU. Perhaps they are to be part of the upcoming Superman event.

I don’t see this as a good thing. It was the Legion’s connection to the 20th century that caused the mess of the 5 Years Later Legion and the Zero Hour Legion. If Superboy hadn’t been a member of the Legion, when it was decreed that Superman was no longer Superboy, the Legion wouldn’t have had to adjust.

The best thing about the Threebook Legion was it had no ties to the 21st century (at least until Supergirl showed up), so it wasn’t beholden to the whims of DCU continuity.

Now that seemingly half the Legion is in the 21st Century, they are more beholden to the whims of DCU continuity that ever before.

This can’t be good for the Legion.

Jason: It’s sort of in continuity. In the “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” arc, somebody mentioned that Earth-Man and his crew threw Infectious Lass into the timestream. That’s _consistent_ with the Dr. Thirteen stuff but doesn’t necessarily confirm it. But I suspect that Infectious Lass is the last of Levitz and Johns’s worries so it won’t come to anything anyway.

The way the Legions work is that they exist because of the Multiverse. The classic Legion is the one in Adventure Comics and the members are in the 21st century. The post “Zero Hour” Legion existed on Earth-247 before it was destroyed in “Infinite Crisis”. They’re now out searching for other Legions like themselves. The Waid/Kitson Legion is on Earth-Prime, which was reborn during “Infinite Crisis”.

The Karate Kid in “Countdown To Final Crisis” and “The Lightning Saga” is the original Pre-Crisis Karate Kid, who was killed. He was resurrected off screen and then was killed. His body was found in Action Comics #864, brought back by the Time Trapper.

I think I was happiest when the Legion was off in its own time and its own corner of the DCU. Every time there have been attempts to cross into the present for more than a story or two, things get dull fast.

@Mike – That’s Tellus, to whom I referred in the post. Sorry if that wasn’t clear!

@Irwin – Johns is, for all intents and purposes, writing the original Legion. The original Legion had an straight-line continuity from the ’50s to 1994. Yes, Superboy and Supergirl were excised, but that was before Johns.

The main Legion we have now is essentially the original Legion if the ’89/Five Year Gap had not occured. That Legion is now isolated as their own thing. The main Legion is the Legion that we read up to Magic Wars, and they just kept having adventures until Johns brought them back.

BEST reveal ever! A great foreshadowing of things to come and now I need to go back and re-read all the back issues to see what clues they put in about her real identity that I missed.

I was more excited about this than I was with Green Lantern & Blackest Night Titans yesterday and I LOVE those books.

It was most definitely NOT the Legion’s connection to the present that caused the headaches like Zero Hour and 5 Years Later (both of which I liked, actually). It was TAKING AWAY that connection that caused the problems.

The main Legion we have now is essentially the original Legion if the ‘89/Five Year Gap had not occured. That Legion is now isolated as their own thing. The main Legion is the Legion that we read up to Magic Wars, and they just kept having adventures until Johns brought them back.

Troy: I think Johns has said that “Crisis on Infinite Earths” is the branching-off point for retroboot continuity. It makes a bit more sense that way, anyway; there’s a lot of stuff between CoIE and the Magic Wars that don’t really work anymore, like the death of Superboy and the subsequent conspiracy against the Time Trapper.

Speculation: The Legionnairre powering the satellite: if magic is involved, and Sorceror’s World/Gemworld is where General Lane is headquartering his operation, then can the White Witch or Amethyst be far away?

Was it ever explained what the 21st Century Legion Lightning Wand squad was up to in SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES? They wanted to resurrect someone — and when they got Wally West, he wasn’t who they expected. In FC:LO3W, it is mentioned that a squad goes back in time to capture the essence of Bart Allen BEFORE he is murdered. Now there is (yet another?) squad hiding it the 21st Century including Tellus, Sensor Girl?

Don’t forget the mysterious vial of anti-lead-poisioning serum with the Legion symbol left for Superman in his Fortress to help the ailing Mon-El.

And the warning that Daxamite GL Sodom Yat must never meet Mon-El in the 21st Century. Yat ends up as the “Last Guardian” in the 31st Century in FC:LO3W. In the recent SUPERMAN SECRET FILES, it is stated that Daxamites have a life-span of centuries.

It seems that a major technique being used by “Project 7734″ in the large-scale Superman story (WORLD OF KRPTON/CODENAME: PATRIOT) is shapeshifting and/or illusion using the Everyman powers. So definitely Sensor Girl and possibly, Chameleon Boy, could tie into an effort to thwart that.

Regardless, Geoff Johns and his colleagues are throwing a lot of fascinating sidebar Legion plot point mysteries in these books. I love it.

I am glad to see the Legion back, but lets be clear…Johns is writing “HIS” Legion. He’s picking and choosing Legionaires from his wish list and not from one particular comic era. He’s getting to do what no other recent writer on the legion had the liberty of doing. Ignoring what he didn’t like ( forget the comics) and bring back any version of the heroes he want

I really *REALLY* liked the Sensor Girl character back in the day. Given that she was supposed to be Supergirl, then that got pulled out from Levitz by DC in mid-story, his re-spinning Sensor as Projectra was masterful, and made her powers that much more intriguing. and the Sensor / Emerald Empress duality was also very cool characterization. Thrilled that Sensor is back in action…

I’ve been very, very selective over the last couple of years about my comics purchases. My time is extremely limited and I’m trying to pay off some bills.

This article put me over the top. I can’t stand it anymore. I’m jumping back into Superman and the Legion. Those are two of my favorite franchises and now with the intermingling of both, I can’t stand the trade wait any longer. All of this wonderful connections, and the fact that ALL the Legions exist, is too much to ignore anymore !

Thanks Didio, Johns, and DC !

The continuity of this Legion makes sense more or less(except for Supergirl) if you don’t try to tack on the Post Crisis Continuity from 1986 on, if that is indeed part of this Legion, then it’s continuity makes absolutely no sense based on what has been shown, and I’ve read probably every Legion story ever written.

And for those asking about Karate Kid, evidentally Brainiac 5 brought him back with the Lightning Rod trick, at least according to something Johns said at a convention.

Thanks for all of the great conversation!

I base my comments about the continuity mostly off of a conversation with Geoff going all the way back to when the Lightning Saga was coming out. His basic explanation to me at the time was more or less that the 5 Year Gap never happened for them.

The present continuity couldn’t start cleanly after Crisis, as all of the Sensor Girl revelations took place after that in the book. I think the real telling factor would be Magnetic Kid. He joined with Sensor Girl, Tellus, Quislet, and Polar Boy, and he died during Magic Wars. Well, we’ve seen the other four or had references made to them, but not Magnetic Kid. He might be the indicator, one way or another.

Troy Brownfield Says:
“The present continuity couldn’t start cleanly after Crisis, as all of the Sensor Girl revelations took place after that in the book.”

That’s because you look at the wrong ending/starting point for the pre- and post-Crisis Legion. If you take a look at the Legion issues you’ll see that isssue 30 “Brainy’s Lucky Day” was the last to deal with the pre-Crisis universe. Issue 31 was a flashback issue and the story that followed “The Universo Project” ended with an epilogue where Cosmic Boy returned from the past, more specifically the Cosmic Boy series which was set during Legends and thus in the new post-Crisis continuity. This has for a long time been considered the turning point in pre-/post-Crisis continuity for the Legion and that was after the Sensor Girl reveal.

Um, that is to say “grew UP with.”

Am a big Legion fan so suffered the spoilers as curiosity got the better of me. Sensor Girl? Fantastic! one of the most interesting character developments in Legion history, both in terms of personality and powers.

I also prefer this era of the Legion. Great new characters (Quislet, Tellus, Invisible Kid ii) and more emphasis on less explored ones (White Witch, Blok, Polar Boy). So it’s very exciting that this is the Legion we are getting. I don’t know how Mr Johns is going to tie it all together but considering the quality of his writing so far, i’m sure it’s gonna be good.

So can anyone tell me what issues of the Superman comics i need to pick up to follow all of these storylines? Can’t wait to read the Legion story in Superman Secret Origin too.

FC:LO3W did a fine job of establishing the 3 Legion multiverse, but it did precious little as far as resolving plotlines in a satisfactory way. Instead it seemed to introduce more plotlines and more confusion. Case in point:

OK — A Legion squad is sent back to the 21st Century to capture the essence of Bart Allen right before he is killed by the Rouges.
OK — A Legion squad is sent back to the 20th Century to get a strand of Lex Luthor’s hair in order to resurrect Conner Kent.

Yeah, but … WHY? Why are Bart and Conner so important, and apparently more important to the Legion than say, Barry Allen? Also, the Legion squads appeared to be Levitz-era Legionaires. Bart and Conner were creations of the 90′s and interacted with Legion II for the most part.

Was FC:LO3W merely a vehicle to bring back Bart and Conner regardless of whether or not it made any sense?

I think FC:Lo3W WAS a vehicle to bring back Bart and Conner and tie up some loose plotlines with the other 2 teams. I think they were needed to defeat Superboy. Which I don’t agree with, because I actually hate Bart and Conner and am STILL mad they messed Superboy up. And I don’t think Bart and Conner are all that.

I just re-read Lo3W and I’ve gotta say, Perez fit A LOT of stuff into those pages. He did great. I’m not too keen on the White Witch being the Black Witch. I’m happy about Duplicate Damsel. I’m still waiting for Laurel Kent to come back.

It’s now April and all the LSHers hiding in the 21st century have been revealed. What do folks think of the storyline at this point?