Justice League Redesign

One of my many redesigns of the JLA. This one I drew on paper, took a picture then did ink and color on my phone. Might go back and work on it again since GL didn't turn out quite as well as I would've liked. I was going for light constructs for armor, but in retrospect I don't think it fully translated.

Edit: Figured I would go ahead and describe the thought process here for those who care to read such things.

The idea is rooted in an Elseworlds story concept I had created many years ago. Something along the lines of altering every character's origin a smidge and thinking of where it could go from there. I wanted to try to take the characters and give them opposing origins compared to what we're all used to. Even if it's one small step in the opposing direction.

Flash - Barry Allen in this universe was a small time thief in Central City. He grew up in poverty and developed a particular skill set to survive at a young age. The idea was that he was pulling a job from a mysterious client that required him to break into STAR labs. Coincidentally during the heist he had the same style accident as the current Flash, resulting in him acquiring his super speed. After some convincing from this universe's Green Lantern, he joins the Justice League. He would still bring the snarky attitude but with a little more bitterness attached. His costume was the hardest since the Flash's costume is really pretty flawless to me. So I just tried to do something different with it while keeping the primary aesthetics.

Wonder Woman - Honestly, I don't have a lot to go on here yet with altering her origin. I just wanted to bring out more of gladiator feel with her. I know that I have her not living on Paradise Island and instead raised under the tutelage of Ares. This retains her warrior mindset but loses some of her humbleness.

Superman - This one was fun. So, this may have been done a thousand times, but I'm doing it again. Superman's biggest difference is that he... You guessed it... Did NOT land in Kansas. Nor Soviet Russia or England. This time he lands around some tucked away and forgotten Greek island where... You guessed it... Ares finds him. He is raised as a demigod, trained as a warrior and soaking in the lovely Mediterranean rays. He is callous and unrelenting. He is betrothed to Diana at a young age and groomed to be an ambassador to the rest of the world. This role of diplomacy is merely a guise to push Ares' plan forward in setting up a global war, with Kal El as the catalyst. After some time in the western world with his wife Diana, he decides that America is in need of a stronger hand in leadership. Against Diana's wishes, Kal El starts flaunting his strength and superiority with the mortals. In his new mission to bring order, he is confronted with a homicidal madman known as the Joker. In his his pursuit of this maniacal character, he winds up in Gotham City...

Batman - Bruce Wayne was a boy born into wealth, just like the current version. He also went to the theater with his parents just to watch them get gunned down, also like the current version. But where I changed things was in the money department. His parents were just as rich, but he was raised without that money. Haven't worked out the details, but this version was raised by Alfred in a lower class fashion. Alfred has been doctored a bit too, him being more akin to Earth 2 Alfred only much burlier. (Curse my useless psychic abilities for thinking this up before and never doing anything about it lol) Also, this Alfred was a personal bodyguard, not an unassuming butler. So Alfred raises young Bruce in a small apartment over his garage. Alfred had changed Bruce's name and kept him in hiding down in the Narrows of Gotham to avoid any other mob related incidents. He uses his military experience to raise Bruce as a strong, disciplined and lethal young man. He taught Bruce various forms of Martial Arts as well as mechanical skills and survival techniques. Bruce was just as brilliant as ever and used his low budget and resourcefulness to build random inventions. Once Bruce became an adult, he ran off on his own much like the Bruce we know and love. Upon his return and his decision to become something more than just a man. It was at this time that Bruce discovered his trust fund from his late parents. Choosing to donate most of it and only use was he needed to finance himself, he took up the mantle of Batman. Instead of a cave, he has multiple safe houses across the city. Instead of expensive gear, he has mostly homemade devices and clothing. This Batman is more a part of the city than ever before. Green Lantern had already approached Batman about a team he was building, but Batman refused to leave Gotham. That is until a reckless Kryptonian stumbled into his stomping grounds.

Green Lantern - Hal Jordan always dreamed of becoming an ace pilot, until he crashed a very expensive prototype jet. He claimed he saw an unidentified craft weave into his flight path, causing the loss of control. After the accident, he was approached by a recruiter for an unknown government agency. He was "persuaded" to abandon his pilot duties and join the ranks of the Aerospace Security of Global Anomaly Research and Defense or ASGARD. (I know it's as bad as the SHIELD acronym lol) These are the guys who covered up Roswell and have been researching extraterrestrials for generations. They also have evidence of a possible sentient race of beings that used to reside on Mars . Anyway, so Hal starts working for them for awhile. One evening, he's called in along with some other members of his team. He's briefed on an alien craft that landed out in the desert and was instructed to go investigate. Being cocky Hal, he takes off ahead of his team and good friend Guy Gardner. This is where he meets Abin Sur who had been feeling another alien known as Atrocitus. Who has am accidental run in with an angry and jealous Guy Gardner later.

Ultimately, Green Lantern is the centerpiece to the whole idea here. He takes on his role as the guardian of sector 2814 by actually being a police officer of sorts. He releases his presence to the world leaders early on and performs his duties as necessary. He discovers J'onn J'onzz in cryosleep and releases him, he discovers the Kryptonian before he visits the US, and he is the one who decides there needs to be a team of super humans to help mitigate the destructive forces in the world. He creates the JLA to aid in watching over Earth while he takes care of his sector.
As far as design, I envision the Green Lanterns in blank, black suits to start. Their uniform then is created out of light constructs around them as the wearer sees fit. I wanted Hal to always have like a green smokey energy billowing from his eyes to act as a mask of sorts. But then I got the idea to make it like an old school fishbowl space helmet. 


*Deeeeeeep breath* so there's that. If you made it this far, you're awesome and I appreciate the time you took to do so.

TL;DR version, The JLA are different because reasons.