The Justice League was the first major team of the world's most powerful superheroes, created in 1960 to put the biggest heroes of DC into one book and pitting them against the greatest evils in the world. The heroes, in the start, showed how DC patterned all their heroes after the classic Greek Gods, and placing them in a team together made that obvious.
However, as the years moved on, Justice Leauge became a little more varied. Minor league players joined the team, it branched out into smaller factions, and there were even times when none of the original members were members at all. Some of the teams were amazing but others left a lot to be desired.
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10 THE DETROIT LEAGUE (1984) - WORST
Probably the worst version of Justice League in history was Aquaman's Justice League Detroit. DC had the right idea here, trying to make the Justice League younger to attract a younger audience, but the choices were questionable, to say the least.
The book started when Aquaman fired everyone and started over, saying only full-time members could remain with him. Zatanna, Martian Manhunter and Elongated Man stayed and younger heroes like Vixen, Gypsy, Steel, and Vibe joined up. The new team was very unpopular and DC finally gave up on the idea, killed Vibe and Steel, and started over.
9 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (1960) - BEST
The original remains one of the best versions of Justice League in history. The original members were Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman. There were a lot of problems at the time since the writers were not allowed to do anything that the individual book creators didn't approve of.
Despite that, these core team members are iconic and, to this day, are what people think of when anyone talks about the Justice League of America. Even the new additions in Green Arrow, Atom and Hawkman kept this original version an elite force in DC Comics.
8 EXTREME JUSTICE LEAGUE (1995) - WORST
In the '90s, Image Comics caused both Marvel and DC to consider taking their heroes to the extreme -- both in their visual look as well as their storylines. This happened with Justice League in 1995 when DC began publishing Extreme Justice. Based in Colorado, this team split off from the JLA due to their refusal to work with the United Nations.
Captain Atom was the team leader with Maxima, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Amazing-Man, Firestorm, Plastique, and the Wonder Twins as members. Because they were anti-authority when it came to the UN, they eventually invaded the country of Bialya and their actions brought about the end of all versions of the Justice League at the time.
7 JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL (1987) - BEST
In 1986, DC did something smart. While the Justice League of America was always the heroes to defend the United States, there is a big planet that needs saving as well. DC created two teams, the regular Justice League and Justice League International -- with the second team given jurisdiction over the entire planet.
What made JLI so great was the talent involved on that team. Batman put together the team with popular names like Guy Gardner, Blue Beetle, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel and Doctor Fate, among others. The personalities on display here helped give this title an edge that the original JLA never had, and it was one of the best Justice League titles out there.
6 JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED - WORST
Justice League United showed up in the New 52 and formed in Canada following Forever Evil after the original Justice League split up and the villains took control of Earth. The team was an offshoot team and are mostly a splinter cell of the original Justice League.
There were interesting members here, including Animal Man, Stargirl, Super Girl, Adam Strange, and Green Arrow. The team was very interesting, with the team dealing with extraterrestrial threats, but then DC never got behind the comic book, canceling it after just 19 issues. This simply ended up as a disappointment after a very interesting start.
5 JLA ('90s) - BEST
The '90s was a great time for the Justice League. After starting off the decade with some of the most disappointing stories in the team's history, Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, and John Dell took over and saved the entire team. They brought back all the big time icons from the original team and made them stronger than they had been for years.
This led to cartoons such as Justice League Unlimited that elevated them even more -- great TV shows that made names like John Stewart and Hawkgirl major names in the history of the JLA. This was the era that really stands at the top of the mountain when looking at past versions of the teaming of the greatest heroes on Earth.
4 JUSTICE LEAGUE (2006) - WORST
In 2006, DC relaunched Justice League again and made some changes. For some reason, over the years, Wonder Woman was no longer considered a founding member of the team but this relaunch rectified that. That was the good moment in this reboot, which saw the Trinity take their spot as the leaders again.
The problem is that this Justice League of America was extremely boring. They spent almost the first three issues doing nothing but sitting around and talking about who they should enlist for the new team. Two of their choices were Red Tornado and Red Arrow and this was a team that almost undid what the '90s era of DC built.
3 NEW 52 JUSTICE LEAGUE (2011) - BEST
The New 52 had plenty of detractors, but honestly, there were some great moments as well. Both Action Comics and Justice League were great introductions to the heroes in the new world of DC Comics. There were only small changes. Cyborg was now an original member of the Justice League instead of the Teen Titans.
Aquaman and Martian Manhunter were not fonding members either. However, the rest of the heavy hitters were still there, their relationship with each other felt fresh and new, and their adventures felt as big as this team deserved. This was a great restart for the JLA, even if other moments of the New 52 left people feeling a little lacking.
2 JUSTICE LEAGUE TASK FORCE - WORST
While the Justice League reboot in the '90s was a perfect way to revitalize the entire franchise, that only had to happen because of other lackluster offerings that shared the team name. Justice League Task Force was basically a black ops team that Martian Manhunter led to represent the United Nations.
The entire first part of the story was mishandled and jumbled, with three different creators coming on board and giving their idea of how the team should run. While adding Christopher Priest late in the run helped the team become more coherent and organized, it was almost too little too late for one of the more disappointing offerings of the Justice League.
1 JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK - BEST
There are a few offshoots of Justice League that never seemed to work, but when the New 52 created a Justice League Dark, it was a ton of fun. Part of it was bringing John Constantine into the mainstream DC Comics mix on a more regular basis, whereas before he was just a guest who always remained on the fringe.
Having the supernatural beings of the DC Universe on a team, with Deadman, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and Madame Xanadu working together, it opened up a brand-new world and one of the most original feeling Justice League teams in DC history. The book was brilliantly bizarre and there has been an animated film with a live-action movie in the works as well.