With a new year on the horizon and the holidays upon us, it’s a good time to take a look back at 2014 to remember and remark upon a few of its key DC Entertainment moments. Some of these moments played out on the comic book page or the screen, others were real-life happenings that shaped what we’ll be reading and seeing over the years ahead. If you’re a DC Comics fan or just an entertainment fan in general, they all mattered. It’s been a great year full of both ups and downs, but these are the big ones. These are our DCComics.com “Ten Moments that Mattered” for 2014.

Since its introduction in 1960, the Justice League’s lineup has always been fairly fluid. It’s remained pretty consistent since the introduction of The New 52, but longtime readers knew that eventually the roster would change and new members would be introduced.

However, it’s unlikely anyone suspected one of them would be Lex Luthor.

Yes, as if Lex’s contributions in taking down the Crime Syndicate in Geoff Johns’ Forever Evil weren’t surprising enough, Johns followed it up with the Justice League storyline “Injustice League,” which found Lex joining the team. Is it possible one of the most destructive villains in the entire DC Universe has turned over a new leaf?

Not quite. While it’s true that Lex is a member of the Justice League, he gained his position largely through subtle threats and manipulation, and the only reason the League agreed to let him join was so that they’d be in a better position to keep an eye on him. However, his place on the League (as well as that of fellow villain Captain Cold) matters for what it represents. The definition of justice has evolved and isn’t as black and white as it seemed in the Silver Age, while at the same time, our society’s faith in the people and organizations responsible for maintaining peace has eroded. While once we may have believed that a group given power to ensure that peace and justice prevail could exist and operate without corruption, lies or mistrust, that’s a hard pill to swallow now and it appears that even the Justice League isn’t immune.

As long as Luthor remains on the Justice League, that mistrust exists. When someone’s in trouble and the Justice League shows up to help, we can’t be 100% certain that it’ll work out in their favor. We can’t be sure that the League will act selflessly rather than selfishly, making it very much a peacekeeping force for our time.

Be sure to check DCComics.com again tomorrow for another moment that mattered in 2014.