The Justice League is the greatest team in the DC Universe. Consisting of the greatest heroes on the planet, they're the ones who protect the Earth and the multiverse from the gravest threats, holding back cosmic calamities and battling the most dangerous villains. However, as good as the team is, they don't have the expertise to deal with everything and that's where the Justice League Dark comes in.
Brought together to deal with the deadliest magical threats, the Justice League Dark employed heroes with a focus on the mystical arts and is a very different League than the main team.
10 They Had John Constantine As A Member
This may seem like a weird difference because a magic team in the DC Universe would employ the best magic users, of which John is definitely one. However, Constantine is most definitely not Justice League material. While he tries his best to do the right thing, he often falls short and he's known for being a bit self-centered.
For John Constantine to be a member of any Justice League team is a very big deal and it's not something that anyone would have thought they would see, let alone John himself. The fact that he's been able to work with the team so well proves that maybe everyone was wrong about him.
9 The JLA Has "Better" Heroes
While the members of the Justice League Dark consist of some of the most powerful magic users in the DC Universe, beyond Zatanna and Wonder Woman, none of them are really considered A-list heroes. While the Justice League isn't always completely made up of A-listers, the heroes of the team are of a higher caliber than the ones on the Justice League Dark.
It's hard to compare a team with Superman, Batman, the Flash, and other A-list heroes with one that has included members like Black Orchid, Deadman, Animal Man, and others. Sure, there are some rather well-known and powerful members of the JLD but they don't compare to the members of the JLA for prestige.
8 Batman Has Never Been A Member Of The JLD
Batman is pretty much a mainstay for Justice League teams. He's been a member of nearly every iteration of the team and while he doesn't always stay with the team for long (like with the Justice League International), he's usually there for a little while. However, he's never been a member of the JLD.
This is a pretty big difference between that team and the JLA. Batman is one of the most important members of the JLA, and while he has the whole dark creature of the night thing going on, he wouldn't fit very well in the JLD.
7 The JLD Has A Focus
The Justice League of America is known as the greatest team in the DC Universe for a good reason—they've faced down all kinds of threats over the years. They have no focus for their heroing, meaning they'll fight any evil that they are faced with and don't specialize. In fact, up until the founding of a team like the JLD, the League dealt with magical threats all on their own.
Even with the JLD's focus on magic, if things got out of hand, the JLA still would have stepped in because that's what the team does. The JLD is a specialized group and that's quite different from the JLA.
6 The JLD Gets Sucked Into The Elemental World Because Of Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing is one of the most powerful beings on Earth. Using the power of the Green, there are few heroes or villains who can stand up to him when he's angry or serious about a fight. While there are many others who use the Green, Swamp Thing is the most powerful and it's his responsibility to protect it from threats and interlopers.
Because of his membership with the team, they've been pulled into conflicts that involve the elemental forces of the Earth like the Green, the Red, and the Rot. The JLA has never had to deal with that sort of thing.
5 The Team Gave Wonder Woman A Chance To Show How Great A Leader She Could Be
Wonder Woman has led the Justice League once before but it wasn't her best outing with the group. She wasn't doing her best, the team's roster wasn't the greatest, and her tenure as leader was short. She took over the second incarnation of the JLD and proved just how great a leader she could be given a chance and suitable talent.
She was able to make a team with disparate members like Detective Chimp, John Constantine, and Man-Bat work well together, saving the planet from the depredations of the Upside-Down Man. While she seemed like a weird choice to lead the magic team, it paid dividends.
4 The JLD Gave Zatanna A Real Chance To Shine
Zatanna had been a member of the JLA for a long time but even as powerful as she was, she was never really considered an important member of the team. This would change once the JLD was founded. Zatanna was uniquely suited for the team, as her father Zatara had raised her in the magical community and she had a wide knowledge of magic.
She led the first incarnation of the team for a time and was Wonder Woman's trusted second in command during the battles against the Upside-Down Man, using her knowledge and clout in the magical community to help Wonder Woman with anything she didn't know.
3 They Gave A Detective Chimp A Chance To Be A Member Of A Justice League Team
Detective Chimp came back to prominence around the time of Infinite Crisis, joining the group called the Shadowpact and taking care of magical threats before the Justice League Dark existed. If anyone would have asked, though, if Detective Chimp would ever join any Justice League team, even Bobo himself would have answered no.
However, Detective Chimp became an integral part of the JLD when he joined, using his detective skills and wide base of knowledge to help out the team in their battles, as well as letting the team use the Bar Oblivion, which he inherited from his friend Nightmaster as a sometimes base of operations.
2 The JLD Had A Single Arch-Nemesis
The JLA had many arch-enemies over the years—Lex Luthor, the Anti-Monitor, Darkseid, and others. However, the second incarnation of the team had one main foe, the Upside-Down Man. Taking advantage of the fall of the Source Wall after Dark Knights: Metal, he set out to devour all of the magic he could, influencing magical forces from afar.
The JLD stood against him, giving the team a rather singular focus. While they had trouble with Wonder Woman's old nemesis Circe as well, their main foe was the Upside-Down Man and that singular menace differentiated them from the JLA.
1 The JLD's Specialty Limited Who Joined The Team
The JLA was known for taking all manner of heroes into its roster, even welcoming in villains who seemed like they had reformed. However, the JLD's focus as the magic team limited who joined the group. The only member of the group who wasn't related to the magical side of things was Man-Bat, but he joined to study magic with science.
Every other person who had been a member of the group had some kind of magical specialty and that limits who exactly can be a member. If a hero didn't have some kind of interest in or relationship to magic, they didn't join the JLD.