Have you ever heard the saying, “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?”
It’s good advice…most of the time. Occasionally, though, your friends can really stab you in the back, something that would be a good thing for the Justice League to keep in mind now that it’s reforming. The DC Universe is riddled with examples of so-called heroes betraying their teams, and we’re not talking about the bottom of the barrel here. These are some of the biggest, most storied superteams in comics! For this week’s House of List-ery, we’ve put together a list of eight separate times this has taken place. Why? So that hopefully we can get to the bottom of why it keeps happening and ensure that the new Justice League doesn’t become the latest victim. Let’s see what we can learn.
Terra
The Team: Teen Titans
When It Happened: New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
What Went Down: Tara Markov was a teenager who had the power to manipulate rocks. She befriended the Titans and was accepted into their ranks, operating as part of the team for a number of issues. However, Terra turned out to be a spy sent by Slade Wilson to help bring the Titans down. After gaining their trust and learning their secret identities, she helped Deathstroke capture the Titans. In the end, the team was able to escape and Terra lost her life after she accidentally buried herself in a rockslide.
Evil Motivation: As Terra regularly stated, she just hated the Titans. It wasn’t about money or evil aspirations. She just didn’t like do-gooders.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: Where to begin? Terra did a poor job of keeping her cover and the Titans just shrugged off all the red flags. Her fake origin story had numerous contradictions, and when the Titans would ask her about them, Terra would react with anger, causing the team to drop it. Honestly, this one was on them.
Windfall
The Team: Outsiders
When It Happened: 1987’s Outsiders #20
What Went Down: Wendy Jones was a teenage metahuman that was a member of the super-villain group known as the Masters of Disaster. However, it was clear that Windfall’s heart wasn’t totally into villainy, so she joined the Outsiders. However, the Masters of Disaster switched Windfall with an evil clone, hoping she would set a trap for the Outsiders. In this case, the Outsiders actually knew Windfall was a spy, but went along with it in order to draw the Masters of Disaster into a trap. In the end, the Outsiders took out the Masters of Disaster and rescued the real Windfall.
Evil Motivation: Evil clones tend to be evil.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: For once this was a case where Batman was on top of things. The Dark Knight admitted that Windfall volunteering to join the Outsiders RIGHT AFTER the Masters of Disaster broke out of prison was highly suspicious. My theory is Nightwing told him all about Terra, so maybe Bruce was a bit more on guard.
Atomica
The Team: Justice League
When It Happened: 2013’s Justice League #23
What Went Down: Rhonda Pineda—aka Atomica—joined the Justice League during the group’s war against Atlantis. Her mass manipulation powers made her indispensable, but in reality, she was from Earth-3, the world of the Crime Syndicate. Using her place in the League, Atomica weakened the other heroes, making them vulnerable to the Crime Syndicate’s invasion.
Evil Motivation: She came from Earth-3, which is pretty much known as the “evil planet” in the DC Multiverse.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: Atomica was already working as a double agent spying on the Justice League for Amanda Waller’s JLA. The fact that she was already a known infiltrator really should’ve put her on everyone’s radar.
Indigo
The Team: Outsiders
When It Happened: 2005’s Outsiders #24
What Went Down: Indigo was an android created by Brainiac 6 in the distant future. He designed her as Brainiac 8, a weapon meant to destroy the superheroes of the 21st century, but when she was sent to the early 21st century, Indigo was badly damaged and began to malfunction. She attacked the Titans and Young Justice before being shut down.
Once she was repaired, however, Arsenal invited her to join his new Outsiders team (!!!) and she accepted. For a time, she fought alongside the group as their quirky android ally Indigo, until her Brainiac 8 programming finally took over. When it did, she attacked the Outsiders, forcing her teammate (and former lover) Shift to kill her.
Evil Motivation: Chalk this one up to programming. Indigo was built to be a traitor.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: I’m sorry…but an evil robot tried to kill you and you let it join your team? Yes, Indigo seemed nice after being reprogrammed, but the Outsiders were kind of asking for this one.
Tomorrow Woman
The Team: Justice League
When It Happened: 1997’s JLA #5
What Went Down: Tomorrow Woman was an android created by T.O. Morrow and Professor Ivo who was programmed to spy on the Justice League and betray them. Pretending to be a mutant, Tomorrow Woman joined the JLA after a round of open auditions. She spent time feeding intel to T.O. Morrow and Professor Ivo, giving the villains endless footage of the super-team. However, the android eventually developed a conscience and sacrificed her life to save the JLA from another threat.
Evil Motivation: Once again, Tomorrow Woman was an android and it’s just how she was built. Man, I’m really starting to sense a pattern here.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: Holding open auditions is a huge security risk. You’re just going to let any super-powered person into your headquarters without vetting them?
The Chief
The Team: Doom Patrol
When It Happened: 1992’s Doom Patrol #57
What Went Down: For years, Niles Caulder led the Doom Patrol, presenting himself as a benevolent mentor. Eventually, however, he dropped the facade, killing Doom Patrol member Joshua Clay. He then gave an evil monologue revealing that he was the one responsible for the various accidents that transformed each of the original Doom Patrol members.
Evil Motivation: Unrivaled intelligence meets unchecked ego minus any sort of of ethics.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: It’s hard to describe, but the Chief always gave off an evil vibe. You always got the sense that he was hiding something. Plus, the way he assembled the original Doom Patrol always felt suspicious—and for good reason since he had a hand in all their accidents.
Nemesis Kid
The Team: Legion of Super-Heroes
When It Happened: Adventure Comics #346-347
What Went Down: When an alien race known as the Khund invaded Earth, it soon became apparent that someone in the Legion was helping them. Earth’s defenses had been destroyed, leaving the planet vulnerable to the Khund invasion. The Legionnaires initially suspected their new recruit Karate Kid, until Nemesis Kid (another new member) confessed. Luckily, the Legion was able to repel the Khund attack and save the planet.
Evil Motivation: Nemesis Kid was promised a handsome reward for helping the Khund, which was all the motivation he needed.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: HIS NAME WAS NEMESIS KID!!! The Legion spent two issues trying to figure out which of their four new members was a traitor, and none of them thought that the recruit named NEMESIS was the culprit?!? He might as well have called himself Mr. Betrayal!
Green Arrow
The Team: Pretty much every single team in the DC Universe
When It Happened: Absolute Power #1
What Went Down: When Amanda Waller began her assault on Earth’s super-beings, the heroes were surprised to find Green Arrow working alongside her. The Emerald Archer helped Waller lure the heroes out in the open so she could rid them of their powers and capture them. Ollie, what the heck?
Evil Motivation: I won’t spoil it here, but you should read Absolute Power #4. It will answer all your questions about Oliver Queen and why he would side with someone likeAmanda Waller.
Warning Signs That Were Missed: If the other heroes had been paying more attention to Joshua Williamson’s Green Arrow run, then they would’ve seen that Waller was slowly sinking her hooks into Ollie.
So…what have we all learned from this? Don’t trust evil robots or clones, vet your new recruits, and realize that if someone like Green Arrow could be driven to betray his team, anyone could. So yeah, trust your friends all you like…but you might want to keep them just as close as your enemies.
Justice League Unlimited #1 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain is in stores November 27, 2024.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Twitter at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
