That guy Joshua Williamson gets around! He’s writing the current Iron Man ongoing for Marvel, and he’s adding a new Legion of Super Heroes comic to his DC work very soon!
THE ‘PROPER’ LEGION RETURNS
During the recent DC K.O. event, we’ve seen a very different version of the Legion of Super Heroes, but it’s sounding like the “real” Legion is returning soon!
At the 2026 WonderCon this year, a “DC Comics: What’s Next” panel featuring Tini Howard, Scott Snyder, Babs Tarr, and Joshua Williamson discussed that the upcoming Superman 2026 Annual: Year One Thousand would apparently be featuring a relaunch of the Legion of Super Heroes. According to those attending the panel, the Legion is returning “to its roots,” the classic team. It’ll be part of the DC Next Level initiative and is being called a DC K.O. Epilogue.
The creative team for that “new” Legion will be Joshua Williamson, scripter, and Eddy Barrows, artist. Word is that DC Editor-in-Chief Marie Javins and Mark Waid have both approved Williamson’s “new” direction for the Legion of Super Heroes. Waid apparently has said that despite all the different version of the team that have existed over the years, the one DC has chosen to use is one he’s “confident everyone will embrace” no matter when a fan initially got into that group. Word is that Williamson communicated with Waid to “get his blessing and/or permission,” and received it before taking on the Legion.
This will be interesting to read because the Man of Steel has been among the missing in the DCU since the K.O. event concluded recently. Will he return prior to this issue, or will that be part of the story in this annual?
BACK TO BASICS
I often reveal my age when I talk about comics, and this will again be something that does that very thing.
I read the Legion way back in its beginnings, when it was felt among fans that Superboy needed friends he could relate to. So, Otto Binder and Al Plastino developed a group of young people around Clark’s age that existed in a different era so they couldn’t interfere with the Superman continuity.
Personally, I’m glad that the Legion is going “back to basics” because the many attempts to revise and re-jigger the Legion haven’t really “sung” for me. I always liked Ultra Boy and his kind-of-Biblical origin. His name is Jo Nah, and he was swallowed by a space whale. When he escaped from it, he discovered that this had given him the ability to use the powers of Superboy, but with one catch—he could only use one power at a time, unlike Clark, who could use all of them at once if he wanted to. In times past, Jo was turned into a stumbling farm boy who seemed to be “slow of thought,” which made him particularly vulnerable in battles since he had to choose what power he was going to use. I never warmed up to that, frankly. If anything, he needed to be fast to analyze and move to the power he needed rather than be slow.
Another Legionnaire I particularly liked was Ferro Lad, who had the ability to turn his body into iron, making him tough to kill. However, he WAS killed before long, which disappointed me. I was always intrigued because he was one of the very few Legion members who wore a mask, supposedly because he was disfigured or ugly. I still liked the colors and design of his costume, though. I wonder what Williamson might have in mind for Ferr Lad, if he intends to use him at all.
Of course, my favorite Legion story was the “Great Darkness Saga,” which fans will remember just who the “big bad” was, and that was someone we’ve now seen a lot more in the DCU these days—Darkseid. He had kind of faded into the shadows, as it were, so many of us didn’t think of him as still being around in the Legion’s day. That was quite the revelation back in the day!
A REBOOT? A NEW RETELLING?
I have long been a fan of Mr. Williamson’s writing, even back to his Ghosted days at Image. He always proves to me why he is the writer and I am the reader—I have had a tough time figuring out just what he has in mind in his storytelling, which is saying something since I’m an “experienced” comics reader of decades.
I’m keeping my ear to the ground to see just what the Legion will be like in the coming incarnation. Will Ferro Lad be around? Will the millionaire again be a changeling, or will he go back to being a human? Also, Superman was actually Superboy when he was in the Legion, but in the current continuity, Clark never was Superboy. How’s that going to work? Also, another member of the “super” family that was involved in the Legion was cousin Kara, who is Supergirl. Will she participate in Legion adventures, or will it again be Jonathan, his son, who has spent years in the future with them according to some stories?
The Legion has often felt like the Green Lantern Corps to me in that they have all kinds of aliens and oddities involved in the group, so does he have something or someone new in mind? I hope so!
Hey, even in an imaginary story, Bruce Wayne felt uncomfortable in our “current” time after the death of his parents, so he went to the future to be a Batman among them. What about that? Possible, not?
I’m not sure what other surprises Williamson has in store for us, but I, for one, am anxious to read them. There hasn’t been a release date for this annual yet, but it can’t come soon enough for me.
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