Eight months into the "New 52" and we're still discovering new facts about the characters. The idea wasn't necessarily to completely wipe the entire past histories of all the characters and start anew but as the stories have been moving along, we're continuing to discover changes to what we knew about them before. Some of the changes or revelations have been new ideas and others have been clarifications as to when certain events took place and how they went down.
In the pages of the JUSTICE LEAGUE, we've seen a little more of the characters' past history because the series started five years ago in this new DC Universe when the team first formed. After the first arc, the series jumped forward to the present day but it turns out there is still plenty for us to discover with each issue.
Be sure to read JUSTICE LEAGUE #8. While we will point out some of the major revelations, we won't be pointing them all out. You'll want to see what else the issue contained (and let's not forget the Shazam back-up feature). This is your final warning, there will be spoilers below for issue #8.
== TEASER ==The League has never expanded their membership
When issue #7 began and we saw the Justice League in the present, it did seem a little odd that it was the same exact roster. One would imagine in a five year period, other members would come and go. If you think back to past stories of Justice League, they have had many different incarnations. It's not possible for these same members to always be available. They've never been an exclusive club. It's been about having the right combination of firepower to take on any threats.
This sort of becomes a theme of the issue and it makes you wonder what the real story behind this is. Before the League formed, super powered individuals weren't really celebrated. They were feared and some were even hunted by the authorities.
Saving the world from the threat of Darkseid opened the world's eyes and made most people fans. Being part of the League would add credibility to other heroes and the League could always use another member. If you want to be prepared to face any evil threat, it would seem that the more firepower you have, the easier it would be to successfully handle those threats.
Steve Trevor was part of Team 7
These first two revelations actually occur within the first three panels of the very first page. Steve Trevor was part of Team 7?!? This is pretty nuts. This potentially completely changes who Trevor is.
The idea of Team 7 in the Wildstorm universe was they were a military special ops unit. The members of the unit were exposed to a substance called the Gen-Factor and they gained psionic abilities. In the Wildstorm universe, some of the members include Cole Cash (Grifter), Michael Cray (Deathblow, who would be absolutely great to see pop up in any comic), Marc Slayton (Backlash), Alexander Fairchild (father of Caitlin Fairchild) as well as others.
Does this mean Trevor was also exposed to the Gen-Factor? Does he have some sort of special abilities and powers that we don't know about? Or did he play a similar role with them as he currently does with the Justice League? That wouldn't really make sense, especially if Team 7 was a classified unit.
Trevor hasn't appeared in the pages of WONDER WOMAN so far but we'll definitely need to keep an eye on him to see if there are any further developments with this.
Cyborg's having problems teleporting
The inclusion of Mother Box technology to Cyborg's arsenal was a great one. It makes sense that the League would use Boom Tubes to get around rather than somehow have a teleporting machine on their Watchtower. If the League had the technology to have a teleporting device in their headquarters, you'd have to wonder why teleportation wasn't used by others, especially to try to help with any sort of gas crisis or military use.
With Cyborg having technology from Apokolips integrated into his armor, it gives a plausible solution to this problem. What we're seeing though is the tech isn't perfect. There's also most likely the fact that he (and the scientists at STAR Labs) aren't necessarily the absolute experts in maintaining and servicing it. The League now runs the risk of having a little detour when they rely on Cyborg to teleport them to a needed location. It's the risk they take in getting there faster. But when lives are at risk, this is something they really need to look into rectifying.
Aquaman and Green Arrow have some history
It's a little odd to think of these two having an untold story. From pre-New 52, we know that Green Arrow and Green Lantern had their share of adventures.
In JUSTICE LEAGUE #1, we saw that Hal and Barry already knew each other. But with Ollie being a bit younger than before, it may no longer be the case that there's been team ups in the past. Hal is familiar with him and makes it clear how little he thinks of him.
Then there's Aquaman. To say he wasn't happy to see Green Arrow constantly show up would be an understatement. There is some serious bad blood between the two. We're still discovering who Aquaman is and what happened in his past in the pages of his own comic but now we know that something went down between these two.
Whatever it is, the others aren't aware of the full story, except for Hal.
In another encounter, there's more on the past history between the two. Aquaman mentions they don't need Green Arrow's help when dealing with the Court of Owls. Green Arrow retorts that he didn't need Aquaman's help getting off "that island."
The Justice League did possibly try to recruit another hero
The big theme here has been about the League keeping their roster intact. As much as it could help, they are standing firm that they do not need any new members added to the team. They may be a group of the most powerful and skilled superheroes but it doesn't make sense they would keep their number limited.
What we see towards the end is they did let someone else into their club. Or at least they tried to. As cool as a revelation this is, it opens a new can of worms (and mystery). This is one character many have been wondering about in terms of the Justice League's history. It's great to see it addressed, even if it's just a tease for now. This is clearly something we need to see more of and also something I will not reveal here. Go buy the book to find out.
What is going to happen next? Are there any more revelations besides this untold encounter at the end? Chances are we'll be discovering even more new facts in the next issue.
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