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The informally known Detroit League is actually the second iteration of the more well-known Justice League of America.
History
The first team disbanded following the destruction of the Justice League Satellite during the Martian invasion of Earth (Pre-Crisis). Aquaman, a founding member of the original League, possessed the authority to disband the team, and did so, only to reconstitute it with a fresh new roster. One of Aquaman's recruits was a brash, young man named Hank Heywood III. Hank was the grandson of the Golden Age hero, Commander Steel. Steel wanted to see his grandson prosper as a hero, so he leased one of his Detroit facilities to the League as a base of operations. The facility was maintained by Commander Steel's longtime colleague, Dale Gunn. Aquaman recruited several more fresh faces to the team including the street urchin, Gypsy, the mysterious Vixen, and the Latino hero, Vibe. Rounding out the team were JLA veterans Zatanna, the Martian Manhunter, and the Elongated Man.
This new version of the League faced brand new foes such as the Overmaster (and the Cadre) and General Maksai, as well as established League villains like Amazo, the Royal Flush Gang and Professor Ivo. After reconnecting with his wife Mera, Aquaman chose to leave the team, turning over leadership to J'onn J'onzz. Upon encountering an extra-terrestrial life form in the old JLA Sanctuary, a distress call sent out to all members reunited the old League with the new to contain this alien threat. Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Black Canary joined forces with the current team, resulting in Batman rejoining The League to lead the inexperienced heroes. They immediately faced off against the newly empowered, god-like Despero, who had returned to take his vengeance on the Justice League. Deriving his immense power from a well of energy known as The Flame of Py'tar, Despero handily defeated Batman & Vixen before the rest of the League intervened. With the remainder of the team distracting Despero, Martian Manhunter & Vibe moved to destroy his power source, with Vibe extinguishing The Flame of Py'tar, ultimately destroying Despero.
The team lasted for a few years, though it never acquired the stature that its previous incarnation of team members have attained. It failed to stop Brimstone during Darkseid's Operation: Humiliation, and from that some of its team members have left. Professor Ivo had sent androids of himself to destroy the remaining members: Vibe was killed by one; Gypsy was almost killed by one, but instead spared her life and took her home; and Steel was mortally wounded by one to the point where his grandfather had to take him off life support as an act of mercy. Vixen was the last team member who departed, leaving Martian Manhunter as the sole remaining member of that incarnation of the Justice League. He soon joined the next incarnation that became Justice League International.Notes
- This version of the Justice League is informally referred to as Justice League Detroit, though the team never referred to themselves by that nomenclature.