In 1984, more than three decades ahead of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Aquaman movie, DC Comics had Aquaman disband the Justice League, then reform it and bring it to Detroit. We talked with writer Gerry Conway to find out why.
There are many incarnations of the Justice League, but there is one you can always use to pull a chuckle out of a long-time comics fan: Justice League Detroit. The JLD is exactly what it sounds like — a Justice League team that operated out of Detroit, Michigan — and it exists because of this one time that Aquaman decided to disband the Justice League entirely.
To be fair to Aquaman, in 1984’s Justice League of America Annual #2, the Justice League was in bad shape. A recent conflict with Martians left their satellite base destroyed. Batman had quit, the Flash was on a leave of absence and the Atom had disappeared. Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern had been too busy with other matters to show up for the Earth-Mars War either.
“The world deserves something more than a part-time organization of uncommitted dilettantes,” Aquaman tells the assembled body of the United Nations in Justice League of America Annual #2, before ordering the League to disband. This was within his power as one of the original seven founders of the Justice League.
To Aquaman’s surprise, the League immediately reforms, with Arthur acting as leader to a roster of little-known classic characters and a handful of new creations. And their new “secret headquarters” is somewhere entirely unexpected: A vibrant but run-down neighborhood in Detroit.
Readers started referring to the team as Justice League Detroit. The idea never really took off, but it was certainly memorable.
