Here's part two of my epic quiz on JLA foes. Note that it's a Silver and Bronze quiz. That might be counterintuitive.

I mean to post the answers at intervals once all three parts are up, so there's still time to respond to part one, here.

This time out each question refers to at least two stories. (The questions in part one were all supposed to relate to only one story, but through my mistake one has two possible answers.)

11.What JLA foes fed by destroying planets?

12.When did the JLA fight the Teen Titans?

13.What JLA opponents were responsible, in JLA stories, for the creation of superheroes?

14.In what stories did the JLA fight stand-ins for the Avengers?

15.What JLA opponents were able to adapt to threats, including the heroes’ powers?

16.What JLA opponents were powered by energy from the stars?

17.What characters defeated the JLA in cases that never happened?

18.What foes did the JLA fight in four stories, first in the future, then the present, then the future, then the present?

19.What supervillains did the JLA fight in Christmas-themed stories? Bonus bragging rights if you can say why several members nearly died one Hanukkah.

20.In Superman's feature, what JLA opponents captured or otherwise neutralised all the team other than Superman, so he had to fight alone?

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  • This batch is actually easier for me than the previous one.  The questions raised some interesting doubts, too.  Such as whether events in other books count, or just Justice League of America Vol. 1 (and of course a certain number of issues of Brave and Bold).

    I am assuming that books up until the _time_ of JL of A Vol 1 #261 count, although later ones do not.

    IIRC the Anti-Monitor does not actually feed from the destruction of alternate Earths, so he should not count for #11.  That is fortunate; I prefer to consider only opponents that I expect to know to call the JLA by name, and I don't know that to apply to Anti-Monitor.

    It was surprisingly difficult to answer #20.  I believe that many answers should be possible for that one, however.  That led me to thinking about Green Lantern and Batman in similar situations.  IIRC GL often ended up being the one to actually save the day, although it was sometimes sort of out of the left field and even off-panel.  For a while, since the 1990s, it was fashionable to put Batman in such a role, not really very convincingly.

    With those clarifications, I know this answer, all two occasions.

    12.When did the JLA fight the Teen Titans?

    15.What JLA opponents were able to adapt to threats, including the heroes’ powers?

    And half each of these

    11.What JLA foes fed by destroying planets?

    13.What JLA opponents were responsible, in JLA stories, for the creation of superheroes?

    14.In what stories did the JLA fight stand-ins for the Avengers?

    20.In Superman's feature, what JLA opponents captured or otherwise neutralised all the team other than Superman, so he had to fight alone?

    Stumped about these

    16.What JLA opponents were powered by energy from the stars?

    17.What characters defeated the JLA in cases that never happened?

    18.What foes did the JLA fight in four stories, first in the future, then the present, then the future, then the present?

    19.What supervillains did the JLA fight in Christmas-themed stories? Bonus bragging rights if you can say why several members nearly died one Hanukkah.

  • Luis Olavo de Moura Dantas said:

    Stumped about these

    16.What JLA opponents were powered by energy from the stars?

    Not that it makes any sense, really. More light reaches Earth from the sun! And reflected sunlight via the moon. But it worked for Starman, too.

  • Villains are allowed to be snobbish star chauvinists that refuse to feed from our sun?

    Yes, I know that it makes no sense.  But I still kind of like that explanation.  Sue me.

  • Here's the answers I've been able to come up with.  I have no answers for questions 15 and 20, and only half answers for most of the others.

    11. What JLA foes fed by destroying planets?

    Starbreaker, first seen in JLA #96, Meet the Cosmic Vampire.
    A possible second answer is the Doomsters, first seen in JLA #78, The Coming of the Doomsters, but I'm not convinced that this is correct.

    12. When did the JLA fight the Teen Titans?

    In a flashback story to the origin of the TT  in Teen Titans # 53, In the Beginning...
    In The New Teen Titans #4, Against All Friends

    13. What JLA opponents were responsible, in JLA stories, for the creation of superheroes?

    T.O. Morrow created the Red Tornado in JLA #64 The Stormy Return of the Red Tornado.  I don't have a second answer.

    14. In what stories did the JLA fight stand-ins for the Avengers?

    In JLA #87, Batman – King of the World, the JLA fought the Champions of Angor (Wandjina, Silver Sorceress, Blue Jay, Jack B Quick).  They reappeared in JL #2 Make War No More, but I guess that's too late an issue to count as the second answer.

    16.What JLA opponents were powered by energy from the stars?

    Does Aquarius, from JLA #73 Star Light, Star Bright - Death Star I See Tonight count?  If not, I don't know, and I have no second answer.

    17. What characters defeated the JLA in cases that never happened?

    The Maestro, in JLA #16, The Cavern of Deadly Spheres.  He appears in a fictional story sent to the JLA by one of their fans, Jerry Thomas.  No second answer.

    18. What foes did the JLA fight in four stories, first in the future, then the present, then the future, then the present?

    Does this refer to the Lord of Time, in JLA  #10, #11 and #50?  If not, I don't know, and I have no second answer.

    19. What supervillains did the JLA fight in Christmas-themed stories?

    The Key, in JLA #110, The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus.  No second answer.

    Bonus bragging rights if you can say why several members nearly died one Hanukkah

    A US spy satellite accidentally fires on the JLA satellite, nearly killing The Atom, Black Canary, Batman, Hawkman & Hawkgirl in JLA #188, The Miracle at 22,300 Miles.  They are saved by a seeming Hanukkah miracle.

  • Peter Wrexham said:

    He appears in a fictional story sent to the JLA by one of their fans, Jerry Thomas.  

    Julie Schwartz confirmed that the name "Jerry Thomas" was a shout-out to Jerry Bails, later to birth the direct market, and Roy Thomas. Both were regular letter column contributors at the time.

  • Here are the answers to part two. Part three will remain open until I post the answers. I don't think I'll be able to post them two days from now, so I'll post them in three.

    Since these are multiple-answer questions it may be there are further valid answers I've missed. If you know of  any, please chime in!

    11.What JLA foes fed by destroying planets?

    Starbreaker, from Justice League of America #96-#98, who sent planets plunging into suns to feed on the energy released; and Nekron, from Justice League of America #128-#129, who destroyed them to feed on the fear of their dying populations.

    Peter named Starbreaker. I'm disallowing the Doomsters, Peter, as the didn't destroy planets, they polluted them.

    12.When did the JLA fight the Teen Titans?

    Peter named both of these: in Teen Titans #53 Guardian (Mal) and Bumbleebee read in the Teen Titans casebook about how the original Titans teamed up to fight the Leaguers when the latter were committing crimes under the control of a monster called the Antithesis; and in New Teen Titans #4 the Titans (except Raven) attack the League under the influence of Psimon.

    Come to think of it, in Teen Titans #53 the kids only form the Titans once the crisis is resolved. So the JLA fights the Titans in the sense of the characters, but not the Titans in the sense of the constituted team.

     

    13.What JLA opponents were responsible, in JLA stories, for the creation of superheroes?

    T. O. Morrow, as he created the Red Tornado (or if you prefer, his android form) in Justice League of America #64; the Matter Master, as his subconscious gave Charlie Parker his ability to transform into Golden Eagle in Justice League of America #116; and Commander Steel, as he was responsible for the transformation of his nephew into the younger Steel. However, the older Steel hadn’t yet turned against the JLA when he did that.

    In Justice League of America Charlie's powers were removed, but in Teen Titans #50 he resumed superheroing using Thanagarian gear given to him by Hawkman.

    Peter named T. O. Morrow.

     

    14.In what stories did the JLA fight stand-ins for the Avengers?

    The first was “In Each Man There is a Demon” from Justice League of America #75. The Leaguers’ actual opponents in the issue are doubles of themselves, but the dialogue and details of the fights intentionally paralleled their doubles with the Avengers, as explained here

    The second story was "Batman - King of the World" in Justice League of America #87, as described  by Peter above. The four heroes were stand-ins for Thor, the Scarlet Witch, Yellowjacket, and Quicksilver.

    Both stories were unofficial crossovers with The Avengers. The entries in the other title were the first two appearances of versions of the Squadron Supreme.

     

    15.What JLA opponents were able to adapt to threats, including the heroes’ powers?

    My two answers are Korge, who appeared in “The Last Angry God” from Justice League of America #115, and the Adaptoids, a race of aliens who looked like giant amoebas who appeared in a two-parter in Justice League of America #118-#119. But there might be others.


    16.What JLA opponents were powered by energy from the stars?

    Brain Storm, whose brainpower was boosted by star-power harnessed by his helmet and who first appeared in “Attack of the Star-Bolt Warrior” in Justice League of America #32; and the second Star-Tsar (discounting Snapper), who appeared in “The Stellar Crimes of Star-Tsar” in Justice League of America #181.

    17.What characters defeated the JLA in cases that never happened?

    The fictional nature of the stories is a spoiler in both these cases.

    The first was the Maestro, in “The Cavern of Deadly Spheres” from Justice League of America #16. He defeats them in the story as originally sent to the JLA by Jerry Thomas. Conclusion spoiler warning - wracking their brains, the JLA find a loophole in the Maestro’s plan and continue the scenario through to their own victory.

    The second was Anakronus, who spins Snapper a story about how he fought the JLA in “The Return of Anakronus” from Justice League of America #114. He gets carried away and climaxes his story with the JLA’s utter destruction, and fumbles for an answer when Snapper asks how it is they're still around.

    Peter named the former story. My thanks to Richard for his note on the source of "Jerry Thomas".

    18.What foes did the JLA fight in four stories, first in the future, then the present, then the future, then the present?

    The Demons Three, in Justice League of America #11, #35, #147-#148, and #206. In #10, their first appearance, they instruct Faust in how to cast his spell but don't fight the JLA themselves. Perhaps that's not a real distinction.

    19.What supervillains did the JLA fight in Christmas-themed stories? Bonus bragging rights if you can say why several members nearly died one Hanukkah.

    The Key, in “The Man Who Murdered Santa Claus” from Justice League of America #110, and Major Macabre, in “2,000 Light Years to Christmas” from Justice League of America #152.

    Peter named the first case, and can claim bragging rights for his summary of the Hanukkah story.

    20.In Superman's feature, what JLA opponents captured or otherwise neutralised all the team other than Superman, so he had to fight alone?

     

    The Queen Bee, in Action Comics #443, and Amazo, in the multi-parter in Action Comics #480-#483.

    I'll have to look up Aquarius and get back to you, Peter. Thanks for everyone who read and participated.

  • Okay, most of the answers that I didn't get are stories that I don't really remember, even though I've probably read them all, albeit a long time ago.  But I should have thought of Brain Storm from JLA #32 for question 16.  It was the first or second issue of JLA that I ever bought, and I must have read it dozens if not hundreds of times over the years.  I'm ashamed that this answer escaped me!

    For question 19, I had a vague memory of a story which ended with the JLA musing about the "three wise aliens" they'd encountered, but I couldn't work out where that came from.  Now that I've checked the GCD summary of JLA #152, I'm sure that was the story I was thinking of.

    And the titles of those two stories ("Attack of the Star-Bolt Warrior" and "2,000 Light Years to Christmas") are dead giveaways, too!

  • The net tells me Aquarius was a living star who stole Starman's cosmic rod and committed much mischief with it. The cosmic rod is star-powered, so Aquarius counts as a correct answer, Peter. 

    The story appeared in Justice League of America #73-#74. Aquarius was responsible, in the latter issue, for the death of Larry Lance. The story was also the first appearance of the Earth Two Superman.

    Re. the living star concept, my guess is someone had been reading Frederik Pohl's and Jack Williamson's Starchild and/or Rogue Star.

    Expanding on the answer to Q.20:

    In Action Comics #443 the Queen Bee recruits a number of supervillains as her assistants, including Brainiac, and the group captures all the JLA other than Superman. To confuse Brainiac Superman used a Kandorian machine to switch everyone's attitudes to his Superman and Clark Kent identities, and reads the news as Superman and goes into action as Clark Kent. It occurs to me that afterwards he must have found it difficult to explain any footage or photographs taken of him during this period, such as any images of him fighting the Queen's bee-men as Clark Kent or recordings of him reading the news. 

    In Action Comics #480-#483 a wave of red sun radiation wakes up Amazo. Amazo only wants to go back to sleep again: he prefers dreaming android dreams. Assuming Professor Ivo is responsible for his awakening, he sets out to kill him. Professor Ivo has gone straight - this was ignored when he next appeared, in Justice League of America #218 - and contacts Superman for help. But the radiation takes away Superman's powers too... The other Leaguers spend most of the story in another dimension in the JLA satellite, exiled there by Amazo.

  • ...he prefers dreaming android dreams.

    Of Electric Sheep?

  • It would not surprise me if the novel's title inspired the plot point.

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