The Wildstorm Universe was created by artist Jim Lee, and when he joined DC Comics, he made a deal that ensured all of Wildstorm's heroes would be incorporated into the main DC Universe. Since then, some of these characters have emerged as breakout hits who quickly found their place in other DC titles and even received books of their own. Others have struggled to stand out in quite the same way.
One reason for this may be that many of Wildstorm's greatest titles were team books, such as Gen13, Stormwatch, WildC.A.T.s, and Planetary. With so many teams, it seems like this would give their members the necessary experience to be natural candidates to lead the Justice League.
10 Midnighter Was Literally Created To Be A Tactical Genius & Expert At All Combat Scenarios
Midnighter began as Wildstorm’s version of Batman. He was raised from childhood to be a weapon, implanted with additional organs and a computer in his brain that lets him run a million different simulations of how a battle will go before the first punch is thrown.
In other words, Midnighter is quite literally built for violence. He is a strategic mastermind and able to utilize his abilities and those of his teammates like scalpels, cutting through opponents with surgical precision. Even in stories where he faces godlike opponents, he finds a way to break them. Midnighter would be the perfect coordinator to organize the Justice League into effective units.
9 Apollo Was Bio-Engineered For Combat But Maintained His Sense Of Compassion
Midnighter’s husband (and better half) is Apollo, originally designed as Wildstorm’s answer to Superman until he evolved to become his own person. He is not quite as strong as Superman nor is he as compassionate—but both his morality and his power levels come very close.
Furthermore, Apollo managed to preserve all of his superhuman strength and compassion despite having survived a truly traumatic upbringing, where—like Midnighter—he was bioengineered to be a living weapon. Being able to experience that amount of darkness and still turn out so caring and good-natured is something not even Superman did. When combined with his black ops experience, it’s easy to see why Apollo would be a great team leader.
8 Elijah Snow Was The Founder & Leader Of Planetary
Anyone who has not read Planetary should skip this section to go read that comic right now! Because there are spoilers ahead. Also because Planetary is an amazing series.
Elijah Snow is a man with cold-based powers who is recruited by Jakita Wagner to join the Planetary organization, a group dedicated to uncovering the weird hidden secrets of the 20th Century, whether that means encountering pulp-era interdimensional computer, stopping a suicide cult on Japan’s kaiju island, or battling against the Four—a group of human astronauts who are trying to keep the world from accessing all the wonderful weird things out there. Elijah is also a Century Child—born at the start of the 20th Century as part of the Earth’s immune system, and he is the founder of Planetary. It’s hard to think of few people more qualified to lead a super-team.
7 Jakita Wagner Led Planetary & Brought It Back From The Brink Of Destruction
One of the other primary members of Planetary is Jakita Wagner, a woman with superhuman strength, agility, and endurance. She is the daughter of another Century Child (and Tarzan-allegory) named Lord Blackstock and an African scientist from the secret city of Opak-Re.
After the Planetary foundation lost its leader and half the team, she stepped up to lead and rebuild the team. Few heroes in any universe could do as much.
6 Jenny Sparks Is The Spirit Of The 20th Century Who Founded & Led The Authority
Jenny Sparks was one of several Century Children born at the start of the 20th Century. In fact, she was originally the Spirit of the 20th Century and died December 31st, one second before midnight (though she was retconned back into existence). She was recruited to lead Stormwatch’s black ops team in the 90s, then ended up taking over her own new team, the Authority, who protected the Earth from extradimensional invasions, corporate supervillains, and god.
Jenny’s electrical powers are incredible, but her intelligence, experience, and grit make her such a natural leader for a team like the Justice League.
5 Jack Hawksmoor Led The Authority Through Some Of Their Fiercest Battles
Another member of Stormwatch who later went onto help found the Authority is Jack Hawksmoor, a man specifically augmented to thrive in cities (but unable to live outside them). He can convert air pollution into nutrients, look through windows, and climb along the outsides of buildings.
After Jenny Sparks died, he took over the team as its new leader and saw them through some of the greatest threats they ever faced.
4 Michael Cray Was Part Of The Special Forces Group Team 7
Michael Cray is a tactical expert who was a member of the special forces group Team 7, where he operated under the name Deathblow.
Having undergone genetic engineering, he has telekinesis, force field generation, and can regenerate from almost any injury. However, it is his tactical experience that makes him an invaluable leader who knows how to use a team to great effect.
3 Grifter Is A Tactical Expert Who Was Part Of The WildC.A.T.s & Team 7
Of all the characters to cross over from Wildstorm into the DC Universe, few have had quite as much of an impact as Grifter (AKA Cole Cash).
This former member of the WildC.A.T.s is a master of dual-wielding handguns and fighting in close-quarters combat. He has various psychic abilities and recently beat Batman in a fight. He was also a member of Team 7. Having worked on two different superhero teams, he is ready to prove himself up to the challenge of leading another.
2 Jackson King Was The Field Commander & Trainer For Stormwatch
Jackson King was the field commander of Stormwatch, operating under the name Battalion. He is a powerful telekinetic who can convert his psionic abilities into armor. When he stepped down from being the field commander, he became the team’s personal trainer, making sure all of their skills were optimized.
Jackson is a cynic who sees how things can go wrong, both in terms of strategic failures and public relations. He does not like to give up control, but when he has it, he has regularly proved himself a capable leader.
1 Winter Is A Spetsnaz-Trained Alien Who Led Stormwatch Prime
Nikolas Kamarov might look human, but his parents were Kherubim aliens, granting him superhuman physical strength, speed, and stamina, as well as the ability to absorb, redirect, and project energy. He was a part of Spetsnaz and he eventually became a core member of Stormwatch, where he proved himself many times over, using the superhero name “Winter.”
During the 90s, Stormwatch broke into three distinct groups. The most visible group, Stormwatch Prime, was comprised of the original team’s major players and took on classic superhero responsibilities, while the other two teams handled black ops and explosive ordinance. Winter was in charge of Stormwatch Prime, leading them into and out of tough encounters time and again as the public face of the group, managing to avoid most international incidents even as he saved the world.