There has always been many teenage heroes in comic books. When it comes to the teenage years, there are many struggles to deal with. The average teenager has to deal with issues of who they are and who they will become. They have to decide what actions they should take and whether or not they're making the right decisions. Of course there's the strong need of being accepted by others. On top of all these matters, there's also those funny feelings that start developing inside.
Being a teenager and being a superhero would be incredibly difficult. Not only do they need to deal with their normal issues and concerns but they also need to find the concentration and focus to being a hero and stopping the evil forces from winning the battle.
It goes without saying that most teenagers have love on the brain. Their hormones often play a big factor in the decisions they make. This played a big part in 1964's Adventure Comics #326, featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes and the "Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires." Using their hormones against them, the girls utterly defeated the (often seen as) more powerful boy Legionnaires.
== TEASER ==Having taught high school for many years, seeing the distractions for students in the classroom was a common thing. A student had told a fellow teacher, "No offense Mr. L., Hilary is better looking than you and I can't help but stare at her during class." Now imagine the distractions for a teenage superhero. We all know the typical superhero costume often leaves little to the imagination. It would have to take an incredible amount of training and focus to get these young heroes to keep their head in the game when engaged in a fight.
With the Legion of Super-Heroes story, the girl Legionnaires gathered together to begin "Operation Betrayal." The boys were first sent off on a phoney mission to give the girls time to fully prepare. Their plan basically consisted of each girl choosing a boy member, getting him alone and turning the tables on him before he could realize what was going on. It was a simple plan and the boys, even with their 30th Century hormones, made it easy for the girls.
Light Lass took Element Lad to a romantic place where they could be alone. This was strange behavior for Light Lass and Element Lad didn't even question where this was coming from. He noted to himself that he was cute and seemed to be thrilled that she was into him.
Deciding to take a chance, he made his move to kiss her. Light Lass could barely contain her laughter over how easily her part of the plan was coming together.
With Element Lad's guard down, she used her powers on him and made him lightweight. She would make him float to a remote mountain peak where he would be stranded and starve to death.
Triplicate Girl decided to take on three of the boy Legionnaires: Invisible Kid, Brainiac 5 and Cosmic Boy. Using a ring from Shrinking Violet, she was ready to take out the three boys separately at the same time.
We basically see the same thing happen again. Triplicate Girl gets her target alone, they begin to make out and then she makes them a proposal.
"Please accept this ring with my love Invisible Kid."
"People will know we're engage when you wear my ring, Brainiac 5!"
"I give my heart to you with this ring, Cosmic Boy!"
Let's pause here. Could it really be that easy? We're talking about a team that had been around for a while. When this issue came out, the Legion stories had been around for about six years. These boys and girls had fought and worked along each other but none of them questioned when suddenly one of the opposite sex started making advances on them. Rather than really think or question it, they allowed their hormones to act and tried to take advantage of the situaiton.
This wasn't even the end of it. Supergirl set up Chameleon Boy to pass a test using his powers in order to get a kiss. When he turned into a phantom, she sprayed him with a cancelite spray she invented that make his stay in that form permanently.
Phantom Girl took Star Boy to a remote asteroid to get some quiet time. She was making out with him until the next phase of her plan would begin. Knowing a dangerous balloon-like plant beast was nearby and full of deadly pollen. The plant was about to burst so she told Star Boy to save himself and make himself super-heavy in order to sink into the ground. She would transform into phantom form and be safe. Once the pollen was gone, she gloated to Star Boy that she tricked him and he would "die in the pit of [his] own making."
You would think Superboy wouldn't be so easily defeated, right? Think again. Saturn Girl confesses that she's secretly longed for his kiss for years (seen above). Of course Superboy felt it would be rude not to give her what she wished for. Before he could deliver the kiss, a danger suddenly erupted close by.
There was a dangerous creature in a cave attacking scientists. The creature turned out to be a giant lead robot full of Kryptonite. Saturn Girl was overjoyed to leave Superboy dying and not knowing why he was betrayed.
You can all rest assured. The boys of the Legion of Super-Heroes did not die despite their celebration afterwards.
The point is, the boys were easily duped and defeated. Yes this issue is from the 60s but it also took place in the future. We've seen other teams tricked easily. Remember Terra turned out to be a spy for Deathstroke? Beast Boy was the one that fell for her and brought her into Teen Titans. We've seen other members struggle with their hormones as well. Robin and Wonder Girl had to deal with their feelings despite mourning the death of Cassie's boyfriend and Tim's best friend, Superboy.
It's surprising that Deathstroke or enemies of other teenage teams haven't tried exploiting their hormones more often. The Teen Titans clearly show they don't do a lot of background check on their members. Were they even aware that Wendy and Marvin were actually the Calculator's kids?
You would think a villain would absolutely hate to be defeated by a bunch of teenage superheroes. All they have to do is use the team's greatest weakness against them. Even after the boy Legionnaires were almost killed, the only thing Element Lad could think of was how disappointing it was that the girls weren't "on the level" about the romances. If villains targeted the kid heroes through their hormones, they would clearly win the day.
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