Early Legion Of Super-Heroes Weddings

Even though the Legion of Super-Heroes was an early example of science fiction in comics when it started its series in Adventure Comics, it also pioneered more interaction between its rather large cast of characters in the 30th Century, as the boys and girls of the future team started to pair off.  

Here, we show two budding romances of the early Legion era, the couples of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl, along with Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl.

Lighting Lad (Garth Ranzz of Winath) and Saturn Girl (Imra Ardeen of Titan) were two of the three founders of the Legion of Super-Heroes, their feelings for each other grew during an early run of stories in Adventure Comics, dealing with Lightning Lad dying for Saturn Girl, then her working with the other Legion members to bring him back (main stories reprinted in Adventure Comics #403 of March-April, 1971), while Ultra Boy (Jo Nah of Rimbor) and Phantom Girl (Tinya Wazzo of Bgztl) came together based mostly on one tale, when Ultra Boy was accused of a crime in Adventure Comics #316 (January, 1964), and Phantom Girl was his only advocate.

But, now to the main story...

The Weddings That Wrecked The Legion

This tale was featured in Adventure Comics #337 (October, 1965) by Edmond Hamilton and John Forte (with cover by Curt Swan and George Klein), with the newly elected leader, Brainiac 5, briefing the team about a new menace and his Plan-R to fight it (but Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl are too interested in each other to pay attention).  Brainiac 5 calls out the couple on this, with Saturn Girl rising to their defense, with Brainy turning on her, chiding her and Lighting Lad for similar behavior.  The couples go off, drawing closer, and both deciding to marry (though that will mean they will no longer be team members, as the Legion Constitution has a bylaw against married members).

Now short members, the team recruits, finding three new super powered youths (who are really members of the invading force trying to learn more of Plan-R).  Now in the Legion Clubhouse, the three enemy aliens find the plan, and head to their home...unaware the plan was a fake, and that this was all a plan by Brainiac 5 and Saturn Girl to find the invaders home, and defeat their plans.  The marriages weren't real, so the couples return to active membership, but wish that maybe they were real.

It would take a long time for the Legion to see any real team marriages, with Bouncing Boy marrying Duo Damsel (Triplicate Girl for half the Adventure Comics run) in Superboy #200 (January-February, 1974) and Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl getting married in the All New Collectors' Edition #C-55 (March, 1978), ending the rule against married Legion members.  Ultra Boy and Phantom Girl would have to wait decades more (as well as a few reboots) for their wedding, but love finds a way....

 

Meet The Legion Of Super-Heroes

The Legion of Super-Heroes is a group of heroic youngsters from 1,000 years in the future...who first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 (April, 1958) in a story titled "The Legion Of Super-Heroes" by Otto Binder and Al Plastino, under a cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye, though the kids' costumes got a little closer to their regular look in their second appearance, in Adventure Comics #267 (December, 1959) with cover by Swan/Kaye, and story by Jerry Siegel and George Papp.

But, who were these three founding members, and what did they want with Superboy as a member?

Cosmic Boy

Rokk Krinn of Braal became the first leader of the Legion, perhaps because of his magnetic personality.

Rokk possesses the power of magnetism, native to Braalians, but his ability was stronger due to being born on Earth, with its stronger magnetic fields.

Rokk was on a spaceship headed for Earth, when he met two other teenagers who would change his life forever.

Saturn Girl

Imra Ardeen of Titan was a bit aloof when she boarded a spaceship headed to Earth, but she had a right to be, as she was a telepath, one of the strongest of the moon of Saturn, planning to come to Earth to use her power for good by joining the Science Police, to stop criminals.


Imra came aboard the ship headed to Earth, where she got an early chance to use her powers to thwart the assassination of industrialist R. J. Brande, as well as drawing the attention of the third charter Legion member. 

Lightning Lad

Garth Ranzz of Winath was leaving home, and his twin sister, Ayla, coming to Earth to look for his brother Mekt.  The three youths had had an ill-fated spaceship trip before, landing on Korbal, where they were charged with electricity by the Lightning Beasts, gaining lightning powers themselves.

This act also unhinged the untwinned Mekt (Winath residents were usually born as twins), who left home, with his brother, Garth, heading to Earth to enlist the help of the Science Police to find the missing boy.

Garth got distracted, meeting Rokk along the way, and noticed a beautiful young girl board the flight (Imra) at Titan (while Rokk hoped he could get a job with R. J. Brande).

While disembarking on Earth, two assassins planned to kill R. J. Brande, except they hadn't counted on a telepath picking up their plans, and two boys using their respective powers to stop the assassins.

R. J. Brande had the three youths report to his office afterwards, with the financier giving the kids the idea that they could work together to combat crime and injustice, using the 20th Century Superboy and Supergirl as role models, and that he would be willing to fund their enterprise.  The three youths agreed, getting code names, costumes and a headquarters, picked Cosmic Boy to be their leader, drafted a constitution to guide membership enrollment (such as each member having a unique power, and all members having to have a power), then, after a little side adventure wherein they convinced the United Planets to grant the members of the Legion citizenship to all worlds, set about to get more members, starting with Triplicate Girl and Phantom Girl (the Legion origin was finally revealed in Superboy #147 of May-June, 1968 by E. Nelson Bridwell and Pete Costanza, with a little addition to the story happening in DC Super-Stars #17 of November-December, 1977 by Jack C. Harris, Juan Ortiz and Robert R. Smith).

All this (and a little bit more), and it is time to catch up to the story presented in the Legion's first appearance, where they enroll the young Kryptonian from Smallville.

Superboy

Kal-El of Krypton came to Earth, sent their as his planet exploded by his parents, Jor-El and Lara, with his ship landing on the outskirts of Smallville, where he was found by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, who took the boy as their own (naming him Clark Kent), raised him to learn how to use his incredible alien powers, such as flight, strength, speed, invulnerability and vision powers, but also gave him the heart of humanity, inspiring the lad to grow up to fight for truth, justice and the American way, eventually leaving Smallville to go to work for the Daily Planet, a major metropolitan newspaper, and become the hero of the world, Superman.

But, it was his adventures as a boy, that started in More Fun Comics #101 (January-February, 1945) by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, (with a rare time that Green Arrow took the cover over Superboy) that continued on through a few issues of More Fun Comics, before transferring over to Adventure Comics, where Superboy was the main feature, learning how to get along, hiding his identity from the prying eyes of Lana Lang...and, where the charter members of the Legion of Super-Heroes came back to recruit Superboy as their 13th member in Adventure Comics #247.

But, after Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Triplicate Girl, Phantom Girl, who joined next?  (A little spoiler, it was Chameleon Boy, Invisible Kid, Colossal Boy, Star Boy, Supergirl, Brainiac 5 and Shrinking Violet....).  But, where did these new members come from (some of them were in the shadows back in Adventure Comics #247), and how did Superboy's friend, Mon-El, end up as a member as well?  When time permits, more facts of the Legion will be revealed....