Justice League teams over the years, with its newest iteration, Justice League Queer, being set up to return thanks to one villain. As such, the team's return would bring together different generations of LGBTQIA+ characters, many of whom have quickly become fan-favorites. Featuring like Aqualad, Batwoman, Midnighter, Apollo, Crush, Extraño, and Tasmanian Devil, the JLQ is due to return thanks to their shared hatred of the villainous Henry Bendix.
Debuting in the pages of DC Pride #1 (2021) in a story by Andrew Wheeler and Lucciano Vecchio, Justice League Queer first emerged as an option in DC's Round Robin tournament. Though they didn't win the fan vote, Wheeler and Vecchio's story in DC Pride 2021 made it clear that fans have been waiting for a team like this for years. Now, there's never been a better time for the Justice League Queer to return.
As it turns out, the primary villain of Jon Kent's Superman: Son of Kal-El series by Tom Taylor and Cian Tormey has been Henry Bendix, a Wildstorm villain who fought JLQ Midnighter and Apollo early on in their publication histories. Now, in the pages of Son of Kal-El, Jon's Superman has teamed up with the Revolutionaries, a team featuring two more of the JLQ, The Aerie and Wink, who have their own history with Bendix. To make matters even more interconnected, Midnighter and Apollo just finished defeating Mongul, the tyrannical ruler of Warworld, with Jon's father, the other Superman, in the pages of Action Comics' "Warworld Saga." And finally, since Jon Kent's Superman has publicly come out as bisexual, he has the perfect opportunity to the JLQ and reunite the team once more.
Clearly, Henry Bendix is the common denominator for Jon Kent's Superman, Midnighter, Apollo, The Aerie, and Wink, making up a substantial part of the JLQ's roster. While Jon Kent is not yet a member of the JLQ, his efforts to form a new Justice League in DC's current crossover, Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, makes it clear that he would like to be on a superhero team. So much of his life has been spent in isolation, thanks to his time imprisoned on Earth-3, the dark multiverse version of DC's Earth Prime, and ing a team like the JLQ would provide him with a ive superhero community with allies he already has connections to.
DC Comics' LGBTQIA+ characters have made major strides in recent years, and there is still much to be explored in the future. With Jon Kent, Midnighter, Apollo, The Aerie, and Wink all having connections to each other, the return of Justice League Queer has never looked more likely. Bringing back the JLQ alongside the Justice League Dark and the regular Justice League would harken back to the various Justice League teams (Justice League Detroit, Justice League International, Justice League Europe) that used to populate DC Comics in the 1980s and 90s. Because fans have already lost one Justice League team this year, it's time that they gain another with the return of Justice League Queer.
Superman: Son of Kal-El #15 is available now from DC Comics.
