My DCU - Justice League International Redesigned

Part nine of my head canon DC Universe teams.

With metahuman crime spilling out of the borders of North America, the United States and Canadian governments formed an alliance to improve international relations and combat the growing number of superhuman crimes around the globe. This resulted in the founding of Justice League International, a team of seven unique individuals dedicated to global peacekeeping. To curb public criticism, they are funded and equipped privately through a joint endeavour by Wayne Enterprises and Starrware Enterprises. They are directed by the government operative Maxwell Lord, while their missions are assigned through their government liaison Sue Dibny.

Justice League International is the third of four Justice League organizations, following the Justice League (seen here: fav.me/d95spgw) and the JLA (seen here: fav.me/d9cmiyh). The team is composed of field leader Captain Atom, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Ice, Fire and Maxima.

For character bios, design analysis and relationship information, continue reading below.

BOOSTER GOLD

Once a beloved hockey player, Michael John Carter was disgraced through a very public drug scandal. Lost and spiralling out of control, Michael was handpicked by the Canadian government for an experiment that would transform him into the country's champion. He was given a high-tech suit that granted him flight and superhuman strength, as well as the ability to create force fields. Following his debut as Booster Gold, Michael became a public darling once more due to his natural charisma and early success. Still, his arrogance and stubborn attitudes often threaten to undermine his legitimacy as a hero, something which could very well prove to be his downfall.

Booster Gold's design takes cues from his original costume and its revision from the New 52, as well as from his appearance in Smallville. The suit itself is two pieces and features cybernetic armour, as well as wrist-mounted gauntlets that project his forcefield. The goggles worn feature a HUD that links him to his AI Skeets.

BLUE BEETLE

Ted Kord is an employee for Starrware Enterprises. He was personally tasked with identifying the origins and uses of a mysterious scarab-like object that was brought to him by his boss Karen Starr. He soon discovered that it was a great weapon, hailing from the planet Thanagar, and it linked to his body transforming him into the champion known as Blue Beetle.

When I redesigned Blue Beetle a few years back, I gave him this spy suit that I felt really suited his character. I liked it so much that I opted to simply update it and include more elements from his classic look. This meant giving him a helmet and a little more armour. 

GUY GARDNER

Before being selected as a member of the Green Lantern Corps, Guy Gardner was a beatcop who was dismissed from his post after charges were brought against him for police brutality. Since then, he's been on the path to redemption, but often resents this fact as he feels justified in his more aggressive behaviour. Classified as a "Green Lantern X," he's consistently on probation and often acts as a renegade Lantern.

It's really tough to redesign Guy Gardner because I feel like people are so married to his signature costume. It's a little goofy, but it suits him so well. Still, it was worth it to try something new. Obviously I had to give him a look that would match with the rest of the Corps costumes I've done thus far (the Corps redesigns can be seen here: fav.me/d98hrn1). I also wanted him to look more modern. The best way for me to do that was actually to take inspiration from his New 52 Red Lantern look. I kind of like the horseshoe mustache. My reasoning for this is that so many heroes are clean-shaven, so giving him a bit of a retro look shows him as being different from everyone else. Also, I couldn't give him the mushroom cut. Sorry, that'll forever be Nick Carter's hairstyle.

ICE

Tora Olafsdotter is the monarch of a hidden Scandinavian country between Iceland and Norway. She is mystically gifted with the ability to create and control all forms of ice, something which is the birthright of all royal members of this secret nation. Demure and gentile by nature, Tora left her ivory tower to explore life outside of wealth. She travelled to Europe, where she discovered that crime ran rampant and that humanity was far from the whimsy she found in the royal texts. Since then, she's evolved into an incredible heroine who fights passionately for peace and justice. She's the Scandinavian Wonder Woman, if you will.

Given her powers and backstory, how could I not reference Elsa from Frozen for Ice's costume? I gave her the sheer sleeves from Elsa's look, as well as drew inspiration from her bodice. From there, I just added in some details and her iconic fur boots. I topped it all off with a scarf for fun.

FIRE

Beatriz da Costa was a popular actress on the Brazilian telenovela circuit, starring in many of the country's top-rated hits. Most often typecast as the feisty bitch with a fierce backhand, Bea enjoyed the level of fame she had received in her home country. However, this also made her a target. She was kidnapped by a terrorist organization, who sought to use her as the catalyst for an anarchic conflict. At the time, she was kept in an old abandoned factory. During a harrowing rescue attempt by the police, a firefight broke out and the factory went up in flames. Bea miraculously survived the explosion, only to find she'd gained superhuman abilities. No longer able to return to her old life as an actress, she was recruited by the Agência Brasileira de Inteligência. Still an agent, she is no on loan from her government to work as part of the Justice League International.

When I redesigned Fire for this series originally, I did a two-tone catsuit. It received a very modest reception in comparison to my previous design for her, so I went back to that old one and retooled it for this ensemble piece. This look is a simple two-piece outfit made of an experimental fire retardant material. Instead of going with a big diva hairstyle for her, I pulled things back and gave her a shorter 'do with a braid on the side. 

CAPTAIN ATOM

Much like Booster Gold, Captain Atom is the byproduct of an experiment led by the US government. Spearheaded by Lex Luthor, the Captain Atom Project sought to create a superhuman who could act as a true agent for the United States. They recruited the decorated Captain Nathaniel Christopher Adam into the experiment, which subsequently transformed him into a being of nuclear energy contained only by his silvery alloy shell. Despite his patriotism, Captain Atom questions Luthor's resolve and resents his having initially been used as a weapon to bring down Superman. Now that he has more independence, he's slowly finding his way as field leader of this division of the Justice League.

Many of you may remember my Iron Patriot inspired redesign of Captain Atom from a few years back. Since I still really like the concept of Captain Atom being a symbol of the United States, I kept with that colour scheme and tried to give him a sleeker look. It's supposed to be even more indicative of the Iron Patriot armour actually. I know it's a little out there, but I hope you all like it.

MAXIMA

Maxima is the princess of the warrior planet Almarac. Born with the gifts of enhanced strength and speed, invulnerability, telekinesis, flight, force field creation, telepathy, empathy and eyebeams, she's a veritable powerhouse. Her royal upbringing has made her quite arrogant and aristocratic, while her abilities have made her cocky and aggressive. Despite her brash persona, she is also deeply troubled by the state of her world. Almarac is a planet deeply steeped in religion and mysticism, thus dictating that all relationships must be between man and woman for the sake of breeding. Angered by the lack of love and acceptance on Almarac, Maxima has fled her home in search of another planet where she will be free to love other females without imprisonment or death. She settled on Earth, where she has discovered that there are nations that accept such unions.

Not much to say here that wasn't already said when I posted this design a few months back. You guys liked it so much that I left it as is.

RELATIONSHIPS

Ah yes, here we are at the section concerning the interpersonal relationships of this team. With Captain Atom as leader, he acts as their anchor. He's strong and a maturing presence for the team. Although, there's quite a bit of tension between him and Guy Gardner. Naturally Guy thinks that he should be the leader. For whatever reason other than opposites attract, Guy and Ice are a couple. Guy's boorishness and Tora's chaste innocence make for an interesting dynamic, but their pairing makes both of them stronger as individuals. That doesn't mean that everyone on the team thinks so. Tora's best friend and partner in crime Beatriz loathes Guy. She can't stand his lack of class and finds him extremely vulgar. Not a day goes by when these two aren't getting into a screaming match. Thrown into this mix is the aloof Maxima. She's physical perfection, something which is off-putting to both Bea and Tora (a little bit of jealousy there). However, Maxima is good friends with Booster Gold and actually has a super huge crush on Power Girl. Little does she know, Power Girl is actually partly bankrolling the JLI operation. Lastly we come to Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. While I said that Captain Atom was the anchor, these two are the heart and soul of the team. They're a couple - duh - and they are one of the steadiest pairings in my head canon. The way to look at these two is to see Booster as the brawn and Beetle as the brain.

SHOUT-OUTS

When I did my own redesigns of the JLI a few years ago, I had quite a few complaints about the line-up I went with. Though I liked it at the time, I figured that I'd leave it up to you all to select the roster this time around and I really love what you all came up with. What I did was that I placed a poll on my profile, asking you all to select your favourite members of the JLI out of a list of 24 choices. The seven most popular characters ended up being the ones you see here. It was a nice democratic way of doings this and also a selfish way of deflecting the blame if people are displeased with the line-up. Tee hee. Regardless, I really want to thank all of you who took the time out to vote on the poll. I'd love to give a shout-out to you all now to show my gratitude. So, I'd like to say thank you to spencermalley, amethystangel228, bkno, Andster11, DanFalcon, Leumasy, Weighrightthere, kingziggy, TristanDavis, MASTER-OF-SUPRISE, Jyger85, Godzilla713, Jose-Ramiro, ChazH101, K-Jounin, ParisNJones, adamantis, Arcalian, Calenator, Jovan2013 and Historyman14. I hope the most of your choices made it onto this team and I hope you all like what I've been able to do with them.

As always, I love hearing from you all so please feel free to leave a comment below letting me know what you think of the art and of the characters themselves.

Enjoy!