Here is an archive of all the past top five lists I've done over the years.
The Justice League has had a number of great fights over the years. Here's their top five battles.
NOTE: This is just for comic book stories. This is also just for battles that took place in Justice League comic books. So no Crisis on Infinite Earths. No New Frontier. No Infinite Crisis. No Final Crisis. I've been enjoying the Darkseid War, but it's not even finished yet, so I can't really include it here.
LOTS OF HONORABLE MENTIONS
JUSTICE (Justice #1-12)
Justice was a clever story where Lex Luthor and Brainiac manipulate a bunch of supervillains into becoming the Legion of Doom to take down the Justice League (while thinking that they are actually preventing the League from causing a nuclear Armageddon). This was a fun series by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger and Doug Braithwaite (with Ross painted Braithwaite's pencils). The reason why this is not as high is because most of the fights in the series are smaller scale. Even here, in the end, as Brainiac has launched a series of nuclear missiles at the Earth while Luthor and Brainiac double-cross each other, a bunch of the other members of the League have their own drama going on...
JUSTICE LEAGUE AMERICA VS. DESPERO (Justice League America #38-40)
Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis' Justice League was mostly a fairly lighthearted affair. But when they went dark, they went dark really well. One of the highlights was the time that Despero returned to Earth to get revenge on the Justice League, specifically the League that had last defeated him (Justice League Detroit). Gyspy was nearly killed when Martian Manhunter shows up in an awesome moment...
Adam Hughes and Joe Rubinstein drew the hell out of this battle. Here, Mister Miracle seemingly sacrifices himself (his teammates didn't know it was actually a Mister Miracle robot, as part of a subplot from his solo title)...
Stunning.
This fight gets major demerits for the fact that ends with the Martian Manhunter solving it all with a power he never mentioned before this point. It's well handled seeing J'onn do it, but still, it's SO out of nowhere that I think it knocks the whole story down a peg (in terms of "top fights" - it's still an excellent storyline overall).
NEW WORLD ORDER (JLA #1-4)
The opening arc of Grant Morrison, Howard Porter and John Dell's JLA is another example of a story that, in and of itself, is excellent, but the fight itself between the Justice League and the mysterious Hyperclan, who show as Earth's saviors while they're secretly tyrants, is a bit lackluster. After all, the most famous sequence is Batman taking on a bunch of them at once...
Great scene, but not a great Justice League fight.
THE SHAGGY MAN WILL GET YOU IF YOU DON'T WATCH OUT (Justice League of America #104)
When the Shaggy Man was first introduced, the Justice League defeated him by just putting him into a sort of time loop. So when Hector Hammond freed him and set him upon the Justice League satellite, we got to see how the Justice League would handle the super-powerful artificial being on their own. The answer is not particularly well, as the Shaggy Man crashes the satellite.
This leads to an awesome group fight scene on the Shaggy Man!
But then Green Lantern just saves the day by his lonesome.
Like the previous bit with Batman and the Hyperclan, it was more of a solo success than a group success. Len Wein and Dicks Dillin and Giordano were the the creative team.
THE FUTURE LEAGUE VS. DARKSEID (JLA #13-14)
During the classic "Rock of Ages" storyline by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter and John Dell, Aquaman and Green Lantern are sent into the future, where they team-up with the Justice League of the future (including an old Conner Hawke and Ray Palmer the Atom), who are taking on Darkseid in a last ditch attack. They attack Desaad, who has been torturing Batman, but it turns out that it is really...
Batman gets Aquaman and Green Lantern home, but then we get to see what happens with the Leaguers, who are getting torn apart by Darkseid and his forces until....
It's an absolute brilliant moment by Morrison, but it also is a bit of a stretch to call this the "League," ya know?
Go to the next page for the rest of the honorable mentions and the start of the top five!
JUSTICE LEAGUE DETROIT VS. DESPERO (Justice League of America #252-254)
Gerry Conway, Luke McDonnell and Bill Wray did what was perhaps the greatest fight Justice League Detroit ever had. Batman had only recently rejoined the League to be sort of a drill sergeant for the young heroes of this current Justice League. Despero was kicking ass and Batman basically sacrificed himself for the rest of the league. Batman has some amazingly kickass scenes where it's basically him one on one against Despero. It's a lot like Captain America vs. Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet. Batman knows he's screwed, but he won't let Despero see him worry.
Anyhow, the League then gets their stuff together and decide to be true heroes and rescue Batman...
JUSTICE LEAGUE DEFEND THE WORLD FROM AN ALIEN INVASION (JLA: Year One #1-12)
At the conclusion of Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, Barry Kitson and Michael Bair's great Year One story about the Justice League. It ends with the League and all the heroes of Earth joining together to fend off an alien invasion (remember the 7 aliens who fought the League in their origin? This is seven THOUSAND aliens!). Howver, Vandal Savage, who was originally an ally of the aliens, came up with a way to kill them using a mindwipe device, a device that would kill the user, as well. The Justice League found a way to get around this situation, in an awesomely dramatic fashion....
THE JLA FIGHT "GOD" (JLA: Heaven's Ladder OGN)
In the graphic novel JLA: Heaven's Ladder, Mark Waid, Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary, an ancient god-like race is coming to the end of their lives, so they have stolen a bunch of planets to try to form their own version of heaven, including Earth. The League has to find a way of helping them reach their goal while still protecting the Earth. One of the members of this race, though, challenges this plan, and the League ultimately finds themselves fighting, well, god basically. This was built for Bryan Hitch to draw...
5. JLA VERSUS AN ANGEL INVASION (JLA #6-7)
In this epic two-parter by Grant Morrison, Howard Porter and John Dell, rogue angels from heaven come to Earth to kill a fallen angel named Zauriel. As part of their invasion, the head of the rogue angels, Asmodol, made a deal with some demons to mess with the moon. Superman has to stop the moon being pulled into Earth, while the other Leaguers take on the angels. Superman succeeds in moving the moon back into place, leading to him coming to help....
Classic stuff.
4. JUSTICE LEAGUE VERSUS THE CRIME SYNDICATE (Justice League of America #29-30)
After Gardner Fox, Mike Sekowsky and Bernard Sachs first had the Justice League and the Justice Society team-up, they had to outdo themselves in their SECOND team-up, and they definitely pulled it off with the introduction of the Justice League's evil counterparts from Earth 3, the Crime Syndicate of America!
After some cross-Earth shenanigans, it comes down to a final showdown between the League and their evil versions...
Go to the next page for the top three!
3. CRISIS ON APOKOLIPS (Justice League of America #183-185)
This storyline, written by Gerry Conway, was sadly the finale one of Dick Dillin's career, as he passed away while drawing it. George Perez took over midway though the story (Frank McLaughlin inked all three parts). The story, another Justice League/Justice Society crossover, now brought in the New Gods as our heroes all teamed up together to stop an evil plot by Darkseid.
Man, it was amazing to see all of these heroes together taking on Apokolips.
2. JLA VS. CRIME SYNDICATE (JLA: Earth 2 OGN)
In this classic graphic novel, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely introduce the Post-Crisis version of the Crime Syndicate, as the heroic Lex Luthor of Earth 2 comes to the regular Earth for the help of the Justice League in saving his world. While the heroes go to that Earth, the Crime Syndicate comes to the other Earth and tries to attack it. So there are two fronts of awesome battles (Martian Manhunter, in particular, gets a really great showcase). The twist is that the whole thing was a manipulation by the evil Brainiac of Earth 2, who is planning on colliding the two Earths to create a gigantic explosion, killing billions. The Justice League try to stop him on Earth 2, but there is a catch - Earth 2 is where VILLAINS win, so the League must make a fateful decision to save billions of lives, they must switch places and let the villains win...
1. JLA AND AVENGERS VS. KRONA (Avengers/JLA #4)
The conclusion to Kurt Busiek and George Perez's epic mini-series ends with the Justice League and the Avengers teaming up (even as time is altered around them so every Justice League and Avenger member and every iteration of each member show up) to fight the evil Krona, with the fate of both their universes in the balance. It involves Superman using Captain America's shield and Thor's hammer, so it is inherently the most awesome thing ever...
Okay, that's the top five! Agree? Disagree? Let me know!