Justice League Unlimited: How Mark Waid Is Redefining the Iconic Superteam For DC’s New Era (Interview)

DC Comics has entered a whole new era, and one of the pillars of its latest relaunch is the new Justice League Unlimited comic series; Screen Rant is thrilled to have had the opportunity to talk to writer Mark Waid about what makes the upcoming series such a strong flagship book for the DC Universe, and what is in store for the title in its first year.

Justice League Unlimited #1 – written by Mark Waid, with art by Dan Mora, and color by Tamra Bonvillain – sets up the new paradigm for DC’s premiere superhero team. Waid spoke with Screen Rant about the structure of Unlimited, and how that affords him the ability to envelop new and unexpected characters into the story, while at the same time providing a “throughline” for the wider DC Universe.

Preview pages for the series reveal stellar art by Mora and Bonvillain, which Waid called “the work of their lives,” while hinting a fast-paced, action-filled story to inaugurate Justice League’s new era.

How JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED Serves As “The Spine Of The DC Universe”

Justice League Unlimited #1 – Wraparound Variant Cover By Ed Benes, Alex Sinclair, & Sandra Hope

Screen Rant: Mark, thank you for taking the time to talk to us today. Is there anything you want to say to start off, before we dive into our questions?

Mark Waid: Only that Dan Mora and colorist Tamra Bonvillain are doing the work of their lives.

SR: It absolutely looks like it. Justice League Unlimited #1 is an amazing book, and a dense book, just from what we’ve seen of it so far. And we’re excited to find out where you are going to take it. Let’s start by focusing on Air Wave to start with. For the uninitiated, can you tell us who Air Wave is, and how you decided to give him a prominent role in your new series?

MW: Sure, he’s a long, long
forgotten character in the DC Universe
. His father was the original Air Wave, who first appeared in 1942 in
Detective Comics
, and had a long-running series. Then writer Denny O’Neill brought him back in the 70s. He brought his son back as the heir to the Air Wave name and power, so he’s a generational hero.

And then he was just kind of forgotten for the last fifty years, until Jeff Johns tapped him for the
Star Girl and The Lost Children
miniseries, and once he was back in play…I’ve always liked that character. I like the costume design. I love the limited scope of his powers, which are fairly limited, because it forces me to be more creative. And I like this sort of, “gosh wow” reader point of view that he brings to the book.

SR: Awesome. So, without spoiling anything, the way you use Air Wave in Justice League Unlimited #1 builds up to a big heroic moment, and then there’s a big twist at the end. Without giving anything away, can you speak to what the trajectory of the book is moving forward? And how Air Wave, and other characters, fit into that?

MW: We’ve got three or four different things going on at any given time in the book.

We’ve got the ongoing menace of Inferno, which is the new terrorist group that has shown up in the first issue, one that seems to have infinite resources and infinite powers. So the question is – you have those things, why do you need to be a terrorist group? You have those things. Why do you need to be a terrorist group?

We’ve got the running thread of Ryan Choi and Ray Palmer running around the world trying to recapture the
superpowers that were lost, or scattered, during
Absolute Power

.

We’ve got Air Wave, and what he’s there at the Watchtower to do.

And we’ve also got behind all of it, the looming threat of something that Darkseid has left behind as of the
All-In Special
, and what will spin out of that in the back half of the first year of
Justice League Unlimited
.

SR: Excellent. So you have at least a year’s worth of stories planned out?

MW: Oh, yeah. Easily.

SR: Do you see yourself continuing beyond that?

MW: Oh sure. As long as I get a chance to play with DC characters, I only get a chance to play with them. I’m there.

SR: And presumably, the Unlimited concept can allow you to take these detours where you’re playing with a variety of characters. Is that part of the premise?

MW: It’s part of the premise and part of the appeal. Structurally, it is a mission-based book. So whatever the menace is, you know, then I have to sit down with my
list of DC superheroes
and figure out whose powers are best to use against this menace. But on a practical level, a real-world practical level, there are basically three tiers of Justice Leaguers that we’ll mix and match throughout every issue.

There’s the standard-bearers – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash – you know, the characters you see on the cover of issue one, the mainstays. Black Lightning, Star Sapphire – some will always be in every issue.

Then there’s the second stringers like Green Arrow, or, you know, Mary Marvel, or whoever. There’s always room for some of them in every issue – and then also in every issue, on top of that, I really want to draw from a deep cut from the DC universe, to find some of the older, forgotten heroes and sort of dust them off and bring them back to the fore, like we’ve been doing with
World’s Finest
, to show you how cool some of them are that have been forgotten, and why they deserve a shot the spotlight in the 21st century.

SR: That’s a really exciting way to approach the book, especially with Justice League Unlimited bringing in a new era for the team, with a new mission statement, a new sprawling headquarters, and so much more.

MW:
Justice League Unlimited
really is the spine of the DC Universe moving forward. It is the nexus of coolness that’s happening in all these other books – like the
Question
book Alex Segura is doing, and Christopher Cantwell’s
Challengers of the Unknown
, and other series and events that we’ve got coming up in the DC Universe that haven’t been announced yet
– and how they can all play into what’s happening in
Justice League Unlimited
. And how we can, as a series, can form the throughline for what’s happening in the DC Universe for the next year or so. Or even further.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED’s New Take On Classic Characters Makes It The Perfect “Throughline” For DC’s New Era

Justice League Unlimited #1 – Variant Covers By Andy Kubert, Howard Porter, Yasmine Putri, Dave Wilkins, & More; Available November 27 From DC Comics

SR: Amazing. Let’s circle back to the new group of villains you introduce in Justice League Unlimited #1. Inferno. You raised an interesting point, which is that they have this unlimited resource set, yet they are still up to something nefarious. How is that question going to drive the early issues of the book?

MW: It is the driving force for the first half of the year, at the very least. And it ties into some other things that we haven’t yet turned the cards over on. But if you’re a long, long time
Justice League
reader, there is a big clue about Inferno that is staring you right in the face. So, that’s at least right there for you to find.

SR: So that’s in Justice League Unlimited #1 for readers to look for?

MW: Yeah, and we will touch on it – we will hammer it home in
Justice League Unlimited
#3, when Flash notices something that is tugging at his memory and there’s something there that he can’t quite put his finger on – but there’s something going on.

SR: That is exciting. And of course, there is the major discovery Batman and Blue Beetle make in the debut issue of Unlimited . Could you tell us a little bit more about what to expect there?

MW: Sure, that leads into our second issue, which is what happens when Batman and Blue Beetle go to the Costa Rican forest and find a nest of Parademon eggs ready to hatch. Who put them there? Why are they there? Why are they hatching now? And how do we beat a swarm of Parademons? If
we’re really the Justice League, we really got to pull together
to fight this. That’s a huge menace. And it could spread out across the world if we’re not careful.

SR: Excellent. Which leads into our last big question. DC is going through a huge relaunch right now, and Justice League Unlimited is a major part of that. Part of a successful relaunch is doing something new with a familiar set of characters, while continually reintroducing classic elements for readers to grab onto. How are you navigating doing that with this new series?

MW: One immediate classic element is the Watchtower being a focus of the Justice League, and a place where they can be, a place with a huge number of rooms, and devices, and arsenals, and all kind of cool stuff. What’s kind of cool about this Watchtower is that we had some ideas for what’s in it as we started – but Alex Segura in
The Question
had some other things he thought he might throw in, and there are other books that I don’t think have even been announced yet where they’ve thrown ideas into what the Watchtower could be. And we’re assimilating all that. It’s great. So that’s the fun of it.

And then in terms of the newer stuff, what’s really fun is taking some of the newer characters, like Xanthe, from
Spirit World
, for instance, to pull one out of the air, and putting them together with old, established characters like Superman or Batman and seeing what that relationship is like. And getting a chance to play these heroes off each other in ways that they don’t normally get a chance to.

SR: That’s great. We’ll leave you with this last question – you said you’ll be on Justice League Unlimited for at least a year. Is there a far off story beat that you have in mind, that if you get to, you’ll feel satisfied?

MW: I don’t have a planned beat in mind. I’ll be on the book as long as I enjoy putting these characters together in random combinations, and having them create relationships we haven’t seen before. That’s the fun of it.

Justice League Unlimited #1 will be available November 27, 2024 from DC Comics.