Legion of Super-Heroes - Season 3 recap!

 15 Things You Need to Know before Legion Academy Season 4

Ok, so we’re cheating a little bit here by taking our recap from before Season 3 and updating it to take into account the events of that season, with some new additions. Season 4 is promising to wrap up a lot of dangling questions and plotlines, yet still introducing a new main character and still more new plots. Let’s see if it holds together or just becomes one jumbled mess.

Crisis in Time

Time has changed. The main changes to the timeline seem to center around the non-existence of Brainiac 5 and his two preceding ancestors. Without Brainiac 5 in the Legion, the third body of Triplicate Girl was never killed by his creation Computo. Jacques Foccart never became Invisible Kid II. Mon-El was never permanently cured of lead poisoning and so resides in the Phantom Zone, where Phantom Girl has become his girlfriend, leading Ultra Boy to hook up with Shadow Lass. Legion flight rings are less efficient, as are intergalactic communications. Colossal Boy and Shrinking Violet both died in battle. Tellus never graduated from Legion Academy to the team. For some reason, the President of Earth is no longer Katrina Gupta’s ex Kel Wynters but rather Lyna Rosas, someone who wasn’t even a candidate in the last election.

Rond Vidar and Circadia Senius likewise do not exist. Without them and Brainiac 5, there is no Time Institute and no time travel through normal scientific means. As a result, Superboy never joined the Legion. Without his presence in the 30th Century, his descendant Laurel Kent was never inspired to join the Legion Academy until recently when she was moved by the sacrifice of Kid Skid (see below). Cosmic Boy and Night Girl, however, were apparently outside of time when the changes occurred and still have an operational time bubble now that our protagonists enabled them to escape from the Time Trapper’s realm at the end/beginning of time.

The planet of Naltor, whose inhabitants can all see the future, has been wiped out by Roman soldiers from the distant past. Likewise, Dream Girl was killed by an ancient Roman, driving her surviving sister, the White Witch, mad with grief.

Harmonia Li, a scientist from the previous timeline’s Time Institute, still inexplicably retains her memories of the old timeline and apparently others as well. Despite her unexplained hostility toward Dynasty, she has been working with our heroes to restore the timeline.

With a still-extant time bubble, will our heroes follow through on their plan to travel to the past to restore Brainiac 3 and hopefully his descendants to the timeline and undo the Time Trapper’s meddling?

Solved. The heroes traveled back to the 20th century and ended up in the middle of the Invasion, where they became captives of the Psions. The Psions did things like remove Quatro Lad’s second brain as well as Dynasty’s eyes, which they combined with Kryptonian DNA. The heroes met Vril Dox (Brainiac 2) and ensured the propagation of his genes and the eventual birth of Brainiac 3 and the rest of the line. They also met a Durlan, who was later tossed in time to become Legion benefactor R.J. Brande, the father of Chameleon Boy. 

In addition, they met a time-travelling Callista Ramirez (Dynasty’s mother) in a Green Lantern costume, who was training with Vidar, the GL of her time, 2973. She learned Dynasty is her grown-up daughter from 2986 and was told she had to keep future knowledge from Dynasty, thus explaining why she became a distant and severe mother.

The Time Trapper admitted defeat and restored the other changes made to the timeline, thus reestablishing the heroes’ original timeline, on the condition that Dynasty keep Katrina from becoming a villain. There was still some hinkiness to the timeline though that was causing Dynasty’s family to warp in and out of existence, so modern-day Callista went back in time to solve them and ended up becoming the new incarnation of the Time Trapper, replacing elderly Katrina Gupta.

Who Is Katrina Gupta?

A late addition to Season 1, Dr. Katrina Gupta introduced herself as Vid Gupta’s daughter who had gained her powers due to an accident involving the rare element atmospherium (Science!), which also caused her amnesia. Vid Gupta was supposedly the Chief of Staff to President Mojai Desai, but actually turned out to be old Legion foe Universo, who had disposed of the real Vid Gupta and taken his place. 

But wait, it turned out that Katrina wasn’t Gupta’s daughter but rather his wife! Her overbearing parents, the Ramachandras, had married her off to “businessman” (actually crime lord) Vid Gupta before Universo’s impersonation. Universo as Gupta had no desire to be saddled with a wife as he carried out his universe-dominating plans, so he took advantage of her amnesia to tell her she was his daughter and pawned her off on the Legion Academy with hopes that she could be of use to him there.

But wait, it turned out that Katrina’s parents aren’t actually her parents! To her surprise, she discovered from the Time Trapper that she was adopted. Her mother finally confessed that decades ago during a war between the snakelike Naga and their ancient foes the Eagles, the King Naga had deposited his infant snake with the Indian couple for safekeeping. He never returned, and the shapeshifting infant took human form and was reluctantly raised by the humans.

But wait, it turned out that a battle between Durlan and Thanagarian armies had occurred on the same day that Mrs. Ramachandra said the Naga/Eagle war had happened! It seems that Katrina isn’t a Naga but rather a Durlan. Does that mean she can shapeshift?

But wait, because of her marriage to the real Vid Gupta, Katrina inherited his “business,” actually a criminal gang, and was suddenly independently wealthy, to her adoptive parents’ great joy. But ZsaZsa Patil is contending for control of the gang, now called Nagini (see below), so whether this windfall remains Katrina’s is in question. The Ramachandras had turned over Katrina’s son, Phora (see below) and Kid Skid’s brother Catd to Patil, from whom our heroes had to rescue them.

But wait, during an encounter with the Time Trapper, “he” revealed that “he” was actually a future version of Katrina, her simmering villainous urges finally come to light! Have the Legionnaires actually been fighting a future version of one of their own this entire time? 

But wait, Katrina is no longer the Time Trapper, replaced by Callista Ramirez.

But wait, R.J. Brande recently took a blood sample from Katrina and after testing it revealed that she is actually his long-lost son, Liggt, a claim Katrina met with blasé indifference. Katrina sure has some parent issues, after she (well, her destabilized clone) tried to incinerate her adoptive parents, the Ramachandras. Surely this will be the last dicking-around of her origin, right?

Gang War

As mentioned, Vid Gupta’s former gang now has Katrina as its leader, with its wealth funneled through her bank account. Before she learned this, she was faced with periodic choices that she made mostly at random. Her first choice was between money and drugs, with her choosing the former. Then she chose a woman over a man, both of whom she remembered as being connected with her husband.  She also seems to have inadvertently caused the death of Pflx Rambo of Ventura (who remains dead). At another point, with similar lack of knowledge Dynasty chose Frzz Takol-C, the first wife of Vid Gupta, to die instead of Dynasty’s own father. An assassin using high-tech weapons of Hindi design is responsible for both deaths.

Katrina discovered that the woman she chose initially was ZsaZsa Patil, who was previously Gupta’s second-in-command and seems to have designs on controlling the gang herself. She had possession of Katrina and Quatro’s son, Phora, who has aged into a pre-teen despite only being a few months old (see below). The team rescued him and Skid’s brother Catd from her, despite numerous illusions and hints of great power that she had.

Meanwhile, Quatro’s old gang on Rimbor, the Golden Wolves, whom he had narced on leading him to join the Legion Academy for protection, has been increasingly active. They made one attempt to retrieve him, which failed, but they have been increasingly active offworld, especially on Ventura and Tau Ceti V and seem to be allied with a larger organization. Their rivals, the Emerald Dragons (to whom Ultra Boy had belonged), have also moved operations offworld, leading Science Police observers to fear that a Gang War is heating up. No doubt our team will be affected by the increasing violence around the UP.

The gang war continues to heat up, with the Golden Wolves allied with the not-really-dead Pflx Rambo and some greater power on Ventura, while the Emerald Dragons seem to be working with Nagini. The Wolves tried to re-recruit Quatro Lad to be their leader, on the condition that he take out former Emerald Dragon Ultra Boy and, later, Katrina Gupta, whom they accused of the (attempted as it turns out) assassination of Pflx Rambo. Quatro Lad failed at both, so the Wolves tried to do it themselves, getting themselves and their leader, Lo Beu, arrested.

Meanwhile, Phora continued to age rapidly, becoming a rebellious teenager and a bad influence on Kid Skid’s brother Catd. ZsaZsa Patil continued to communicate with him and gave him a nipple ring made of an unidentified metal with a small gem of atmospherium, which seemed to exert some sort of mind control on Phora, letting Patil turn him into an assassin. He was sent to a bar on Tau Ceti V to assassinate Hermen Ramirez (Dynasty’s father) for an unknown reason. Our heroes prevented the assassination, but yet a dozen Golden Wolves were shortly thereafter killed brutally in the same bar.

The heroes took the fight to Patil in Nuevo Mumbai on Earth, where it seemed as if she was working with the Emerald Eye of Ekron, an artifact commonly associated with the Emerald Empress of the Fatal Five. She also had some connection with Katrina’s adoptive parents, as mentioned above, and seems to have protected them from Katrina’s rage (well, again, her clone’s).

So the Golden Wolves are crippled, but Pflx Rambo has returned (see below) and there seems to be someone still further up. Patil is still striving to take control of Nagini and, despite losing Phora, seem as strong as ever. No doubt the gang war will continue to heat up!

Magic Time

As mundane gangs have operated on the terrestrial sphere, larger forces are also facing off. There once was a truce between Time and Magic, as embodied by the Time Trapper and Mordru, that resulted in the Time Accords, assuring that one force would not intrude upon the realm of the other. Dynasty unwittingly pushed against the truce, but it was broken when a quartet of Mordru’s acolytes, commanded by the insane Daxamite Ol-Vir, tried to collect various artifacts from throughout time to bring the Dark Lord Darkseid back. The Super Moby-Dick, the Fatal Five, Universo, and a Quatro assassin were all pulled from various other times so that the acolytes could gain items they possessed. The heroes eventually defeated Ol-Vir, who was killed by the three surviving mages, and the artifacts were returned to their proper time, but the damage was done.

The White Witch, better known as the Black Witch now due to her descent into madness at the death of her sister, Dream Girl, tried to enlist Dynasty onto Team Magic. The Time Trapper, who may or may not be Dynasty’s ally Katrina Gupta, has similarly tried to woo her for Team Time. It’s unclear how or even whether the Time Trapper’s alterations to the timeline fit into this war, which will surely continue to affect our heroes.

As established, the timeline has been fixed and Callista Ramirez is now the Time Trapper. But is she still pursuing the same goals that the Katrina Trapper did?

In any event, the Time-Magic War seems to continue heating up. The first half of last season was focused on the Time side of it, but the latter half began showing us more of the Magic side. The Helm of Nabu completely subsumed Antonio Stefanacci, Former Curator yadda yadda, into its Dr. Fate persona. Elemental forces were released and took human hosts to channel their power. Fire inhabited the villainous Sun Emperor and used its transformative power to turn Kid Skid into a human (and villain Micro Lad, who was hiding in Skid’s foliage, into a Ghoran). The Terrible Trio of Lamprey, Nightwind, and Crystal Kid quit the Academy in a huff and later attacked an underwater research station before becoming possessed by Water, Air, and Earth, respectively. In all four cases, our heroes were able to defeat the Elementals, leaving them in Dr. Fate’s care.

But a fifth Element, Aether, the most powerful of them all, possessed Dynasty’s clone’s body (see below) and freed the others. Again our heroes managed to defeat them, but Aether was only defeated by donning the Helm of Nabu, which subdued it. So Fate now has control of an Aether-possessed Dynasty, a triple threat if there ever was one. At least the other human hosts were freed from the Elementals.

But in a special crossover with Achilles and the New Myrmidons, the 20th-century heroes ended up in the 30th century looking for the powerful magical artifact, the Spear of Destiny. Working together, the heroes of both centuries were able to retrieve the Spear, but Aether/Fate/Dynasty took possession of it and sent the past heroes back to their own time, taking the opportunity to loot their treasury of other magical artifacts they had gathered, thus further empowering her.

Dynasty through her increased use of magic seems to be firmly on the Magic side of the war, despite her own mother being the Time Trapper. Katrina with her chronal expertise and as a former/future incarnation of the Time Trapper seems to firmly on the Time side. Kid Skid through his previous possession by the Green and now through his magical transformation to human would seem to be on Team Magic. During the battle with the Elementals, Quatro Lad briefly wore the Helm of Nabu and saw a vision of Mordru awakening. Is this enough to put him on Team Magic too? And what about new member Reflecti-Kid? His retro-future aesthetic might put him on Team Time, but it’s probably too early to tell.

In any event, the Myrmidons’ magical time traveling and Aether/Fate/Dynasty’s casual use of time travel and the transport of magical artifacts through time has probably shattered whatever remains of the Accords. How will the Time Trapper respond? What will Mordru do once he is fully awake from his long slumber?

Heart of Darkness

Possibly also related to the War of Magic and Time is the fate of Talok VIII, home to the Legionnaire Shadow Lass. The heroine and her cousin, former Academy student Shadow Kid, gained their powers in a magical cave, where their ancestors gifted them with control over darkness. When our team visited the same cave after fighting a time-displaced Fatal Five (see above), Dynasty spoke with her ancestor Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, while a confused RJ Brande, the Legion’s benefactor, appeared to Katrina. Thereafter, the shadows, which seem to be related to the dark dimension that Dynasty travels through, started expanding beyond the cave. They now envelop the entire planet, trapping Shadow Lass there when she returned to nurse her injuries from the Universo Uprising. The entire planet has now been quarantined by the United Planets.

Dynasty’s trips through the shadow dimension had become increasingly tumultuous and unpleasant, especially for her passengers. The last journeys, however, have been calm. Is this connected to the shadows of Talok VIII?

With the timeline reestablished, the crisis seems to have diminished. The shadows are still spreading from the cave but have not yet overwhelmed Talok VIII and Shadow Lass is not trapped there in the restored timeline.

Meanwhile, however, Dynasty (well, her clone) gifted the shadow side of her powers that originated with Alan Scott’s son Obsidian to her brother Kyle. The impulsive youth has taken to them and in a short time has become extremely proficient with them, transporting himself and others across vast distances through the shadow dimension, which has calmed down, and using the inherent control of light and darkness to create increasingly realistic illusions. He has transferred from the Science Police Academy on Mars to Legion Academy on Earth, taking on first the name Shade! but then choosing to honor his ancestor by adopting Obsidian as his preferred sobriquet.

As if that weren’t enough, he revealed that he allowed himself to be experimented on by Mantis Morlo, and his new metagene gave him ill-defined “bad-luck powers” that seem to have disappeared now that he has the shadow powers.

Oh, and Vandal Savage and Mantis Morlo have dozens of his clones running around Tartarus, being even creepier than the original. When Dynasty gave him the shadow powers, all his clones got them as well, giving Savage a possible army of shadows, even as the immortal caveman continues to use the clones’ energies to magically replenish his strength. One has to feel sorry for Kyle; even if he is a dick he doesn’t deserve that.

Now You See Me

One of the stranger alterations to the timeline involves Jacques Foccart, the second Invisible Kid. In the previous timeline, he gained his powers after coming to Brainiac 5 to help his comatose sister. Brainy’s malevolent computer creation, Computo, took control of the girl, and Foccart drank the original Invisible Kid’s serum to help defeat the menace, after which he became a Legionnaire. Eventually, Laurel Kent set him up with Katrina Gupta, and the two began a tentative, polite relationship. In the new timeline, with no Brainiac 5 and thus no Computo, it made sense that Foccart never became Invisible Kid or a Legionnaire. But he suddenly reappeared in the new timeline with powers and membership in the Legion. He is vague and confused about his own origins and spends much of his time skulking invisibly around Legion HQ. The Time Trapper must have reinserted him into the timeline, but why?

Solved. The timeline has been restored, and Jacques is legitimately back. Apparently, during the heroes’ trip to the past to restore the timeline, their clones operated in their place, and Katrina’s clone cruelly dumped poor Jacques in favor of President Kel Wynters and the chance to become his Minister of Science. The real Katrina was naturally confused upon her return. She rejected both Wynters and the position in his administration and eventually reconciled with Jacques. A sweet date to his favorite restaurant turned out to be part of the Computo/Snell Station VR simulation, and they haven’t yet had the chance to do it for real. Let’s hope that with all of the upheavals in Katrina’s life Jacques will be a stable, positive part of her story.

A Tree Grows in Metropolis

During what should have been a routine mission at a powersphere in Bayouopolis, Kid Skid was set aflame by the homicidal villain Sun Emperor. Dousing the flames in the nearby swamp, he found himself possessed by the Green energy of the Earth, which manifested as a ghost of Alec Holland, a previous host of the power. Although, the Green gave Skid increased powers, the plant life in the swamp and then around the Earth began dying. Holland compelled Skid to take the Green to his home planet of Ghoran Prime and deposit it deep with the ancient structure known as the Node. 

Earth’s biosphere, however, died completely. Antonio Stefanacci (Former Curator of the Museum of Mystic Arts in Sanangelopolis, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, Assistant Instructor at the Legion Academy, Wearer of the Helm of Nabu, and Servant of the Lords of Order) devised a spell that, with the proper ingredients gathered by our heroes, allowed Kid Skid to jumpstart the biosphere. Plant life once again flourished across Earth, at the cost of Skid’s life. Just hours after his induction into the Legion, they mourned his death and planted a tree in his honor.

But Skid, still present in disembodied form in the Earth, was able to concentrate his essence in this tree and regrow his body, though as a child. Will it be the same Skid of old, or something new?

With Chlorophyll Kid’s help, Kid Skid was regrown to his normal age. Hailed as Earth’s savior for restoring the biosphere, he soon became swept up in the growing Cult of Howard. Howard, the last vegiform on Ventura, was a seemingly inanimate tree that the heroes used to purge Skid of Darkseid’s taint and then destroyed in the heart of a sun. But when Howard was regrown on Ventura, a cult formed around this supposed resurrection, and Kid Skid was declared a Prophet of the new god. Met with the blessing “Wood be good” first on Ventura and then on Earth, Skid was perplexed by his new role and wondered what “dogs” had to do with him. Meanwhile Howard’s cult began talking of the 10 Miracles of Howard—the first of which was his own resurrection, the second his restoration of Earth’s biosphere through his Prophet Skid, and the third the new growth of plant life upon Ventura.

Meanwhile, Pflx Rambo turned out not to be dead and claimed to have been resurrected. He proclaimed himself a god and tried to drug a large crowd to worship him. Later, a Legion tryout applicant, Blimp Boy, acted as a suicide bomber to try to assassinate Kid Skid, telling him he was sent by the “one true god.”

But then unbeknownst to most, Kid Skid was transformed into a human by the Fire elemental in Sun Emperor. Soon thereafter his new human body was torn to pieces by wolves in his dorm room, leaving a tiny baby that immediately regained his true age. On two separate occasions, on the water world Vuruna and on Leland McCauley’s arms-dealing asteroid, Skid suddenly shed his entire skin, which then regrew almost immediately, leaving the old skin to be eaten or swept away. Meanwhile, the Cult of Howard is growing concerned that their Prophet has disappeared from sight.

Real Genius

Quatro Lad for all his physical might and fighting ability was never the smartest vacuum tube in the circuit board. But during a fight with ravenous Cthot-ids on the planet where Mordru’s acolytes were hiding, his brain got sucked out of his skull by these mind-flayer-like creatures. Nevertheless, he kept operating on a primal level due to the secondary brain that Quatro males have at the base of their torsos. Dynasty used her green energy to regenerate his brain, not realizing that natural Quatro biology would do that. As his real brain grew back, Quatro became smarter and smarter, and his skull expanded to fit his double brain, with the downside of occasional blinding pain. Now Quatro is the smartest Legionnaire (in Brainiac 5’s absence), but he still seems to solve problems with his fists, bringing the boom-boom to the bad guys. Will his intelligence continue expanding or will his head eventually burst?

Solved. In the 20th century, the Psions removed his second brain and dissected it, leaving Quatro Lad slightly smarter than originally, not that you could tell. Despite the best(?) efforts of Tenzil Kem, Attorney-in-Law, he finally married Margi Tinelli in a ceremony on R.J. Brande’s asteroid during the wake for Timber Wolf. Continued doubts about her fidelity grew, however, as she was found in compromising positions with a hospital orderly and a party of surfers on the beach.

Plans for a lavish honeymoon were canceled when Margi’s bank account was frozen after Tenzil Kem submitted his bill to Quatro Lad. Meanwhile rumors began to circulate that she was not actually related to McCauley and had no claim to his fortune. Traveling to a secret McCauley base to find out the truth, the group came across Snell Station weirdness (see below) and were forced to leave. Margi, however, chose to remain with her uncle, leaving Quatro heartbroken.

It’s a Family Affair

As might be expected for a program centered on teens, there has been lots of family drama. Quatro Lad put his parents, Ouro and Myrn Rud, into witness protection when he narced on the Golden Wolves on Rimbor, but Universo managed to hold them hostage anyway, along with the family members of other students. He took them back into hiding after they were freed, but thanks to an encounter with Lady Memory on Talok VIII he forgot where he left them. Reports of a wild Quatro’s encounters with the Science Police on Zuun seemed to answer that question. Though soon thereafter there were similar reports of drunken Quatro misbehavior coming from Ventura.

Quatro Lad tracked his parents down on Ventura where they were guests of Lo Beu and the Golden Wolves, who wanted Quatro Lad to take leadership of the gang. His mother was rejuvenated by her pregnancy and now looks ten years younger. She eventually gave birth to a daughter, but due to complications one of the baby’s arms had to be amputated. They’ve named her Troika.

Katrina had a contentious relationship with her parents, Rupesh and Zsuzsanna Ramachandra, and they were only too happy to marry her off to crime lord Vid Gupta. After Katrina gave birth to Phora, he was given over to them to care for while she was on the run. They in turn turned him and Skid’s brother Catd over to ZsaZsa Patil, who was operating Gupta’s former gang, now called Nagini. During a fight, Katrina’s mother admitted that she was adopted and that she had been left with them as an infant by what they interpreted as a Naga but was probably actually a Durlan. The infant serpent took on human form, patterned after them, and grew to be Katrina.

Things have devolved even further between Katrina and her parents. During a confrontation with Patil, where they were present, Katrina lost her temper and tried to incinerate them. Although they appeared to die in her blast, they were in fact still fine, much to Katrina’s confusion. She swore that she wanted nothing more to do with them. But given that this turned out to be a clone of Katrina that was becoming unstable toward the end of its existence, who knows whether the real Katrina will resume relationships with the Ramachandras.

Meanwhile, to complicate her family dynamic further, Legion benefactor R.J. Brande revealed to her that he’s a Durlan, too, and is the father of Chameleon Boy. He then told her that blood tests confirm that she is actually his long-lost son, Liggt, who would be Chameleon Boy’s brother.

Dynasty has a similarly contentious relationship with her mother, Callista Ramirez, a prominent politician on Earth who worked in close concert with Vid Gupta/Universo. It was Callista’s disapproval of her ancestral powers that led her to wear a mask and hide her true identity. While Dynasty was on the run, her mother revealed her identity to the public, but somehow that genie has been put back in the bottle, and now only her closest friends and teammates, and her fiancée Nightwind, know her true identity.

The villain Universo, who seemed to have an unusually close relationship with Callista while she worked with him when he was disguised as Vid Gupta, claimed to be Dynasty’s real father. But she compared their genetic profiles and ruled out that possibility. Surely Universo was just jerking with her.

It turned out, much to Dynasty’s surprise, that her mother had Green Flame powers as well and a decade ago was acting as a Green Lantern and being trained by another Green Lantern named Vidar (who later became Universo). As part of her training, she traveled back to the 20th century where she met Dynasty from 2986 while our heroes were in the past. Returned to her own time, she was advised not to reveal anything she had learned about her and her daughter’s future, explaining why she remained distant and disapproved of Dynasty’s superheroics. Further disturbances in the timestream surrounding her family led Callista to travel to the past again, during which time she became the new incarnation of the Time Trapper.

Dynasty’s father, Hermen, with whom she has a much closer relationship, is a member of Metropolis’s City Council. After the family’s home was trashed during a fight with familial enemy Vandal Savage, Hermen bankrupted the family trying to keep up their lavish lifestyle. Dynasty encountered him on Ventura where he claimed to be on business but later admitted that he was gambling to pay their debts. Apparently he was successful, because Dynasty’s bank account is once again full.

So Hermen wasn’t on Ventura gambling but rather getting involved with whatever larger crime organization Pflx Rambo and the Golden Wolves are part of. This involved two mysterious women known as Starlight and Starbright. Dynasty found out and expressed her disappointment in him. She advised him to talk to the Science Police and give them what information he had and possibly go undercover to help take the gang down. She hasn’t checked in with him since.

Kyle, Dynasty’s brother, was content with being a holovideo-game-playing slacker until Vandal Savage attacked him. After losing a chunk of ear before his sister saved him, he decided that he needed to be able to protect himself and so joined the Science Police Academy on Mars, though he’s been less than a stellar student there. His dead body showed up on Ventura, two of them actually, and Dynasty determined that they were clones, though there was a slight variance from Kyle’s current genetic markers. Later, when confronting Vandal Savage on Tartarus, Dynasty discovered a whole lab of clones of Kyle in various states of growth and undergoing various experiments conducted by Mantis Morlo. She put down one of these clones herself. Savage was also using some of them to feed his need for the blood of his ancient enemies through arcane rituals.

Kyle revealed that in an effort to gain superpowers so he wouldn’t be victimized again he visited a shady doctor (Mantis Morlo in disguise) who gave him a metagene, thus explaining why his earlier genetic sample used for the clones didn’t have the same metagene marker. His new power seemed to involve causing bad luck around him.

But Dynasty chose to give him her shadow powers, since they were traditionally carried by the male side of the family. Kyle took the name Shade! at first but eventually settled on Obsidian as he became more proficient with the powers, able to use them far better than Dynasty did. He joined the Legion Academy, where he has made moves on Miss Momentum and other women there, but also seems to have a newfound attraction to men, hitting on both Power Boy and Quatro Lad as well.

Unfortunately, the ritual Dynasty used to transfer the shadow powers to him also transferred them to his clones on Tartarus.

Speaking of brothers, Kid Skid’s little brother Catd was another of Universo’s hostages, after which he hung out with his big brother for a while until, as mentioned above, he ended up in the custody of Nagini to serve as a playmate for the rapidly aging Phora. Now that he’s been rescued again, and his older brother is once more alive, will he continue to hang with the Legion or will he finally return to Ghoran Prime, where he has been selected for a special reseeding overseen by President Det Sillas? Also on Ghoran Prime, of course, are Skid’s other brother, Sallam, and his parents Khom and Khori, who seem to be the most normal of Academy parents.

Left to their own devices when their relatives traveled to the past, Catd and an adolescent Phora began a juvenile crime spree, mainly vandalism and petty theft though Phora did assault someone. During this time, at ZsaZsa Patil’s urging, Phora got a nipple ring composed of atmospherium and a strange metal, and Catd got a brand with the same metal implanted in him. After Kid Skid returned and took authority over him, he returned Catd to Ghoran Prime, where their mother was justifiably horrified over the new brand, which couldn’t be removed. It was speculated that the metal had some sort of mind-influencing properties, so it became more urgent to remove it. Finally, Catd tried reseeding to get rid of it, but came out as a hulking brute partially composed of this metal.

We can’t talk about families without looking at perhaps the most dysfunctional one, the unusual unit of Katrina, Quatro, and Phora. When under Universo’s mind control, the former two apparently mated, and shortly thereafter Katrina discovered she was in the advanced stages of pregnancy and ten years younger, though she had no memory of the conception. The pregnancy continued to advance rapidly, perhaps due to the use of Skid’s healing powers, or so Katrina theorized. Very shortly, she gave birth to a Quatro/human hybrid and thus learned who the baby’s father was. A reluctant mother, especially since she was undercover and on the run, she sent Phora (Hindi for “four”) back to Earth with Power Boy and Catd. Power Boy turned them over to the baby’s grandparents, who let Nagini have them. Phora continued to age rapidly and is now a pre-teen, in Katrina and Quatro’s custody once more.

One odd (well, odder) factor in this, weeks ago the team was attacked by a grown Quatro that was seeking Dynasty’s father. In battling him, he demonstrated notable hostility toward Quatro Lad and Katrina. At one point in the fighting, he became a snake before being taken by Mordru’s acolytes. The team speculated that he was actually Phora from the future, brought back for the atmospherium-studded nipple ring he wore, to be used in their magical ritual. Was this indeed Phora and why did he want Hermen Ramirez? And from how far in the future was he, given Phora’s rapid aging?

ZsaZsa Patil continued influencing Phora and sent him to assassinate Hermen Ramirez. The heroes stopped him and seemed to break Patil’s hold over him. He continued to age rapidly though, so Katrina and Brainiac 5 put him in stasis until they could find a cure. Katrina speculated that the rejuvenating properties of Quatro sperm might be the key. During Computo’s takeover of LSH HQ, Phora was removed from stasis and continued to age, becoming an old man until he could be put back in stasis.

Our heroes have been too busy to check in on their various relatives lately, so who knows what’s going on with them currently. Family, am I right?

Love’s Labors Lost

In a short time, our protagonists have wracked up a number of wannabe-suitors and exes, a veritable Legion of Rejected Lovers. Despite both Dynasty and Quatro vying for her affections, Laurel Kent chose Kid Skid, but shortly thereafter was critically wounded in the Universo Uprising and sent to Daxam for medical attention. In the new timeline, after a non-descript life hiding her powers, she has finally joined the Academy, inspired by Kid Skid’s heroic sacrifice. Now that Skid has returned to the living, will they be able to renew their long-interrupted relationship in these new circumstances?

Laurel returned to the Academy, fully healed, and resumed her relationship with Kid Skid. Since his transformation to human, however, she’s been distant and has been avoiding him. After a heart-to-heart with Katrina, however, is she ready to renew their relationship?

Quatro has left a string of abandoned lovers behind him. After trying and failing miserably to date Laurel, he ended up with a prom date in the form of coprophiliac Margi Tinelli. The Universo Uprising, his departure to see to his parents, and his undercover activities delayed their relationship, but now that he’s back on Earth she sought him out and proposed. The impending marriage is perhaps more attractive to Quatro now that he’s learned she’s the niece of Leland McCauley IV and is the 3rd richest female sentient in the United Planets.

While the heroes were in the past, Quatro’s clone (see below) decided he didn’t want to marry Margi and so hired Tenzil Kem to get him out of the engagement. Despite Kem’s increasingly elaborate attempts to end the engagement, the real Quatro Lad was determined to go through with the wedding after his return. After a false attempt inside Computo’s VR, they wed for real. But as mentioned above, the two are now separated. Will true love win out? And is Quatro still stuck with Tenzil Kem’s bill?

Katrina, single now that her husband Vid Gupta is dead, has had a couple of suitors. Kel Wynters, with whom she had a brief fling at a Science! Conference, tried to renew their relationship. Even after he was elected President of Earth in the old timeline, she ultimately rejected him, as nicely as she could. If the timeline is restored, will he use his presidential powers to seek vengeance? Katrina, however, has found a much better match with Jacques Foccart, the second Invisible Kid, whose values and personality better line up with hers. He was seemingly removed from the Legion and thus his relationship with Katrina due to the change in timelines, but recently has mysteriously returned. 

After a brief blip in their relationship due to her clone moving to hook up with President Wynters again, Katrina and Jacques are back together again. She’s even given him a brief kiss (scandalous!). Will the path of love continue unimpeded?

Power Boy had dated Magnetic Kid during their time in the Academy together, but when the latter was accepted into the Legion he ended the relationship. Broken-hearted, Power Boy eventually found love again with new student Omni Lad, with whom he shared a passionate and very physical courting until the two were engaged. Power Boy was once again broken-hearted when it turned out that Omni Lad was actually Ultra Boy under cover and with his memory erased. Now that Ultra Boy has had his memory returned, he has confirmed his love for Shadow Lass (his paramour in the new timeline, as opposed to Phantom Girl, his long-time love in the old timeline), but she is trapped and inaccessible on her home planet. Will poor Power Boy ever find lasting love?

After regaining his memory, Ultra Boy hastily married Phantom Girl, breaking Power Boy’s heart and leading him to leave the Academy to work on Ventura. Ultra Boy’s clone found him there and engaged in a very public coupling with him before disintegrating. Meanwhile, irresponsible rumors suggested that Ultra Boy’s numerous fights with Phantom Girl were caused by an affair he was having with Shadow Lass, his best friend Mon-El’s girlfriend. Mon-El confronted him and the two fought, damaging Legion HQ until Kyle Ramirez broadcast the Venturan sex tape of Ultra Boy and Power Boy. The fight stopped, but Phantom Girl left Ultra Boy and returned to her home dimension. Power Boy’s ex, Magnetic Kid, also took leave from the team and returned home. Ultra Boy is torn between Phantom Girl and Power Boy, while Power Boy is torn between him and Magnetic Kid. And now Kyle has been hitting on Power Boy too. Does anyone really care this much about an NPC’s love life?

Finally, Dynasty has had no shortage of suitors. Crystal Kid invited her numerous times to join the polyamorous group of him, Lamprey, and Nightwind, offers that Dynasty vociferously rejected. Her obvious attraction to Laurel Kent was unrequited. A whole galaxy of bidders tried to win a prom date with her, but ultimately the Legion’s benefactor, RJ Brande, won and had a chaste, avuncular dance with her. Her devotion to the students’ friend in the Science Police, Lt. Roon Dvron, was misunderstood by him after his death and subsequent resurrection, and she had to politely set him straight. He hasn’t been seen since. In the new timeline, Dynasty finds herself in an inexplicable relationship with Nightwind, who has foresworn her former partners for her. Uncertain of how this change could possibly have happened, Dynasty was caught by surprise when Nightwind called her “Maria,” evidence of their close relationship, and proposed marriage. Will we see two Legion weddings this season? Bouncing Boy and Triplicate Girl, and Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl have all proved that Legion marriages can work.

As it turned out, Nightwind and Lamprey had overheard Dynasty talking about the changed timeline and so pulled a prank on her, pretending that Nightwind was her lover in this “new” timeline. During the heroes’ trip to the past, Nightwind and Dynasty’s clone married. Upon her return to the present, Dynasty “dumped” Nightwind, which the latter seemed genuinely sad about. And recently Nightwind joined Lamprey and Crystal Kid in leaving the Academy and seemingly attacking a research station. Could Dynasty’s love have saved her from a life of villainy? And will Dynasty ever find someone with whom to share her life?

Savage Times

One of the recurrent villains the Academy students have faced is the immortal Vandal Savage. Originally a caveman who was exposed to a life-extending meteorite, he has lived for millennia as a would-be conqueror and ruler. In the 20th century, he came into conflict with the fabled Justice Society of America and most especially Green Lantern Alan Scott, Dynasty’s ancestor. Battling with numerous individuals and groups throughout the Age of Heroes, Savage was eventually trapped within the magical Tower of Fate, where he spent the next thousand years. 

Freed when Darkseid drained the magic from various artifacts, including the Helm of Nabu that was keeping Savage prisoner, Savage explored his newfound world. Reliant on the organs of his descendants for full health, he killed his last known relative and began seeding new ones. He discovered that a magical ritual with the blood of his enemies’ descendants, especially super-powered ones, could also sustain him, and so he killed a number of JSA descendants. This led him to Dynasty’s family, where he brutalized her brother before she tried dropping him out of the sky. He escaped but took with him a sample of Kyle Ramirez’s DNA.

Eventually, Savage found his way to the criminal world of Tartarus, where he took control of the newly reforming Devil’s Dozen from Prince Evillo. Our heroes went undercover to infiltrate the new group and were surprised to find him in charge of it. They discovered that he had been cloning Kyle and allowing Mantis Morlo to experiment on some of the clones while he used the blood of others to sustain himself. After he toyed with our heroes for a while, he imprisoned them all except Katrina, whom he saw as potential breeding stock. But his telepathic servant, an undercover Mentalla, had swapped the heroes’ minds so it was actually Ultra Boy in Katrina’s body he slept with. There was a great battle in which most of the Devil’s Dozen were apprehended, including Savage himself apparently. But the captured Savage turned out to be his shapeshifting Durlan lackey, Lyja. The real Savage used his teleporting ally Zymyr to escape along with his cloning equipment. No doubt he’ll return at the most inconvenient time for our heroes.

Vandal’s cloning experiments continue (see below), and he is back on Tartarus, working with Harmonia Li. His clones of Kyle Ramirez are now powered, giving more power to their blood for Savage. He’s warned Dynasty that he plans to infiltrate the Legion with clones, confusing her as to why he would reveal this. Savage always works the long game, however, so who can tell what he’s actually up to.

The Deadly Mantis

The most persistent foe our heroes have faced off against is Dr. Mantis Morlo. In various guises, he has been experimenting on various races to augment existing powers or create new ones. At one point he was a doctor for an illegal fight ring on Rimbor, during which time, he claims, he boosted Qar Rud’s strength and fighting prowess for the Golden Wolves. When that ring was shut down by Rud’s betrayal, he escaped to Braal where he took the name App Hidd and experimented on magnoball player Temm Drekk, increasing his natural magnetic powers to make him a champion. He also managed to make it to Ghoran Prime, where he found especially fruitful subjects in the natives there, whose reseeding process allowed new breakthroughs. He supposedly was responsible for the unique abilities that Ollie Andre, Vargi Pere, Tori Some, and many other young Ghorans found themselves with after reseeding.

His experiments were not always sound, however, and most of the empowered Ghorans eventually found themselves sick and their powers out of control, leading to fears of a Ghoran plague on other worlds where these Ghorans had relocated. With the help of Substitute Hero Chlorophyll Kid and Academy student Crystal Kid, these patients were stabilized. Many of the powered Ghorans formed a group, unofficially dubbed the Legion of Super Trees, with Chlorophyll Kid as its leader.

Meanwhile, Temm Drekk’s power likewise went out of control, almost leading to the destruction of Metropolis Stadium during a magnoball demonstration. Fortunately, Legionnaire Magnetic Kid and some of the Academy students were there to prevent disaster. Drekk has since disappeared, and it’s unknown whether Morlo still has his hooks in him.

Morlo returned to Ghoran Prime where he disguised himself as President Det Sillas and ran a rigged lottery program to allow those Ghorans he felt had the best genetic potential to reseed themselves within the ancient, mysterious structure called the Node. His experiments upon the reseeding Ghorans were mostly failures, resulting in a number of malformed or dead Ghorans until our heroes defeated him again. Once more, he escaped with the aid of teleporting Ghoran Tori Some.

Morlo’s other notable experiment has been creating mindless artificial life forms he has dubbed Chemoids. These hulking beings originally had the ability to counter a single power used against them. At our heroes’ goading, Morlo continued to improve their resistance, until most recently they were resistant to three powers used against them simultaneously.

At some point, Morlo found himself in the Devil’s Dozen, where Prince Evillo was funding his experiments in creating super-powered beings in the hopes of using them to create new villains. When Vandal Savage took control of the group, he redirected Morlo’s efforts to stabilizing the cloning process so that clones could last longer than 36 hours before disintegrating. He also allowed Morlo to experiment with granting powers to the clones of Kyle Ramirez since super-powered blood of his enemies better sates the immortal conqueror. Morlo was captured and returned to Earth for trial and imprisonment. Given that he has often exhibited mind-control over his patients, it’s unknown how many unwilling and unknowing slaves he might still have around the UP. No doubt his schemes will again intersect with the fortunes of our heroes.

Morlo escaped custody but hasn’t been seen since. Quite likely he’s working behind the scenes with Vandal Savage on his projects. Or perhaps he’s taken on a new identity elsewhere, and his experiments will have no further impact on our team. Nah!

Bringing Up Babies

We can’t let this recap go without mention perhaps the oddest twist from Season 1, the airing of the hit animated holovid, Legion Academy Babies. Created by producer Leww Kohan, who not coincidentally is Crystal Kid’s uncle, the holovid program depicted the Academy students as precocious tots. Our heroes’ counterparts—Whine-asty, Skidmark, and Foursie—along with the other babies, such as Li’l Lamprey, Nighty-Night Wind, and Pow became smash sensations.

Universo used the holovid to carry a hidden signal that helped to bring most of the UP under his control. Upon discovery of this, there was a backlash against the show, and it (and its planned spin-off, Whine-asty and Her Amazing Friends, which was set to introduce Quantum Kitty) was cancelled. Much of the merchandise produced for fans was destroyed in public bonfires.

Memories dim, however, and Skidmark merchandise resurfaced during the mourning for Kid Skid after he restored Earth’s biosphere. Might we again see Foursie diapers, Pow sippy cups, and Whine-asty wet blankets again? Might we even see new episodes of the holovid itself? We can only hope.

Still no new episodes of LAB. But Tenzil Kem did use a Foursie doll with Real Pooping Actiontm on the first episode of his new holovid, Tenzil Kem, Attorney-in-Law, so perhaps this will help spur interest in the franchise given his spectacular ratings. If so, what would the baby version of heroes like Reflecti-Kid, Obsidian, and Porcupine Pete look like? We only hope we have the chance to find out.

What’s That Snell?

In Season 3 we were introduced to a new character, Reflecti-Kid, a mirror-covered hero from Snell Station that hoped to join the Legion in the tradition of heroes like Arm-Fall-Off Boy. Jean Snell’s home is supposedly a colony of millions located by a neutron star that the inhabitants of the station mined. They (Reflecti-Kid is intersexed) came to Earth in their antique-looking rocket ship and was soon swept up in our heroes’ adventures.

Meanwhile, they received strange messages supposedly from Snell Station and even a state-of-the-art McCauley Omnicom from their people back home. During a trip on his rocketship, Quatro Lad and Katrina looked under the hood, so to speak, and found it surprisingly sophisticated despite its retro appearance.

On Ventura, Reflecti-Kid discovered a new holovid game called Snell Station was being beta-tested, and soon holoads for it were everywhere and it became the most anticipated game of the decade. They managed to acquire blueprints from Pflx Rambo’s office that showed the schematics of the station as they knew it, with only subtle differences.

At Legion tryouts, a hero called Mirror Lad (real name Salg Nikool) demonstrated almost identical powers as Reflecti-Kid and made it to the next round. Before further testing, however, he was found beaten to death. Investigating, SP Officer Gigi Cusimano found that his uniform contained fibers trademarked to Snell Station, Inc. Mirror Lad had also left a strange message indicating his confusion over his supposed origin and his past.

Upon Reflecti-Kid joining the Legion and allowing their Omnicom to link up with the Legion’s computer system, a program on his Omnicom tried to gain access to the Legion’s larger operating system and ended up releasing the Computo program that had been trapped behind a firewall after its previous attempts to take over LSH HQ. The combined programs created an elaborate virtual-reality simulation that the team was trapped in for almost a week. After the heroes finally escaped, the program faked a message from Dynasty that convinced the rest of the team that all traces of the program had been contained. 

Not long afterward on a secret research station owned by Leland McCauley, Reflecti-Kid and the others discovered a room filled with people wired into a computer system. Reflecti-Kid recognized them as people he knew from Snell Station. There were also three room filled with sophisticated VR equipment, one labeled “J. Snell,” one “S. Nikool,” and one “B. Allen.” 

The Snell Station program spoke to Jean there, telling them that it had deleted the Computo program because it didn’t agree with Computo’s plan to destroy all organic life. Before there could be further communication, McCauley and his guards broke in, and a firefight resulted in the death of the one of the wired-in people. The heroes agreed to leave, and Reflecti-Kid took the body for proper burial.

Opinions vary whether Reflecti-Kid is part of the Snell Station game come to life or is just insane. Clearly there are a lot of questions to be answered about Jean and Snell Station, including their relation to Mirror Lad and Leland McCauley. And will the game itself ever be released after repeated delays?

The Clone Saga

We know that Vandal Savage and Mantis Morlo have been working on clones and trying to expand their typical life-span beyond 36 hours, possibly with help from the Dark Circle. According to what Savage told Dynasty, they’ve had success in this, but clones with superpowers still have shorter life-spans than those without. 

Savage indicated that when the heroes went to the past and were missing, he replaced Dynasty, Quatro Lad, Kid Skid, and Quantum Cat with clones. Those clones’ personalities eventually began to destabilize, leading clone Dynasty to marry Nightwind, clone Quatro Lad to hire Tenzil Kem, clone Quantum Cat to dump Invisible Kid to hook up with President Wynters, and clone Kid Skid to ignore his brother and let him become a juvenile delinquent.

After the real heroes’ return, Savage still worked to replace them. A new Katrina clone went out of control and tried to kill her parents, while a new clone Dynasty transferred her shadow powers to her brother. The LSH cell banks were also raided and genetic material taken. Savage told Dynasty that he planned to infiltrate the Legion with clones.

Tasked by Dream Girl to find a way to detect clones, Katrina invented a device to analyze the quantum signature of an individual to determine how long they’ve existed. Widespread testing of the team still hasn’t occurred yet.

Savage recently awoke Dynasty and told her that Aether had possessed her clone. He was afraid that the clone body would deteriorate quickly with catastrophic results if Aether was still possessing it, so he told Dynasty to retrieve Aether and bring the clone body back to him for separation.

Meanwhile, Dynasty and Reflecti-Kid made startling discoveries about the extent of Savage’s clone plans when they invaded his castle on Tartarus. What will they do about this? And how many other clones are running around? Do clones count as real people or are they soulless abominations? Do clones dream of Dolly?

Whew, that’s a lot of updates. Join us for Season 4 where maybe some of these questions will eventually be answered. But probably more questions will be raised than answered the way these things go. Chris Claremont, eat your heart out!