WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League #30 by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Francis Manapul, Alejandro Sanchez and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.
The biggest confrontation between the Justice League and Legion of Doom is upon us. Justice League #30 kicks off the "The Justice Doom War," the culmination of writer Scott Snyder's ongoing saga pitting the two groups against one another. Both sides are fighting to acquire pieces of the Totality, with the Justice League trying to prevent Lex Luthor and his Legion of Doom from resurrecting Perpetua, the creator of the Multiverse.
With the Legion of Doom possessing a larger piece of the Totality, the Justice League has put out a call to every available hero in the DC Universe, asking for their help in the coming war. Coincidentally, Luthor has done the exact same thing for the DCU supervillains, offering them gifts ranging from wealth to power upgrades in order to defeat their heroic nemeses.
Justice League #30 shows just how large the rosters of the Justice League and Legion of Doom have grown, as dual panels display the assembled characters. As impressive as the group images appear, we couldn't help but notice there is one character illustrated among both the Justice League and the Legion of Doom -- Deathstroke's son, Jericho.
Though one costume is white and the other is black, they have both been recently worn by Jericho. Slade Wilson met an untimely demise in Deathstroke #43, the final part of "The Terminus Agenda" crossover with Teen Titans. This, of course, left his ongoing series to spotlight how his children were dealing with his death. Jericho blames himself for Red Arrow killing Deathstroke, since he is the one who gave the Teen Titans Deathstroke's location. His sister Rose, however, wasn't aware of this information and wants to kill Red Arrow as payback.
Meanwhile, Luthor also wasn't aware that Slade was dead, so when his offer went out to Slade in Deathstroke #45, it found a wounded Jericho instead. It's only when Luthor alludes to gifting his offer to Rose that Jericho decides to accept. Luthor gives Jericho the actual power of flight, instead of relying on his Ikon suit to do it for him. So even though Jericho teased using Luthor's own gift against him, Jericho can't help but be pleased with the new power coursing throughout his body.
So, do these revelations mean Jericho is working for both the Justice League and the Legion of Doom? Not exactly. It may all come down to a simple timing issue. Jericho's heroic efforts take place while wearing the white suit shown in the Justice League image above. After he takes Luthor up on his dark gift offer, the newer black suit repairs his damaged white Ikon costume. What all of this means is the shot of Jericho wearing the black suit among the Legion of Doom probably takes place days after his appearance inside the Hall of Justice.
DC is pretty good at coordinating its story arcs, and many of the publisher's creatives are involved in the Year of the Villain. That's why DC made a point to show Jericho on both sides of the war, to give visual evidence of its cohesive universe. However, it would be ironic if the person to ultimately foil Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom's plan for multiversal domination was the offspring of DC's most lethal assassin.