Batman Total Justice

Batman Total Justice is a line of toys produced by Kenner based on Batman and other, connected, DC Comics characters.

Batman Total Justice

Total Justice tie-in comic #1 (1996).
Type	action figures
Company	Kenner Products
Country	USA
Availability	1996–1997
Materials	plastic
Features	Snap-on "Fractal Techgear" Armor

History

In 1996, Kenner started production on a new line of 5" scale DC Comics character figures. This line, like Legends of Batman and Legends of the Dark Knight, featured all new sculpts of popular DC Comics characters. To appeal to buyers, Kenner produced the line under the high selling Batman title, calling the line Batman: Total Justice. This line featured Batman, Robin, and Huntress, but also included other DC Comics characters including Superman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and others.

This was the first line of DC Comics character figures released by Kenner since the Super Powers Collection line of figures ended 10 years earlier. Kenner stopped production after only 18 figures were released: 14 regular figures, one chase variant, and three exclusives. A fourth series of figures was planned to include Blue Beetle, Doctor Polaris, Fractal Armor Green Lantern, and Fractal Armor Flash.^[1]

Storyline from the packages

Total Justice

On Apokolips, Darkseid prepares for his invasion and destruction of Earth. Batman learns of this plan and recruits the world's mightiest superheroes in an all-out assault on Darkseid's forces.

DC Super Heroes

In his mountain fortress, Despero plans his conquest of Earth. Batman creates light-refracting armor to help the heroes avoid Despero's high-tech security devices.

Other media

In 1996, DC Comics produced a three-issue tie-in mini-series featuring the heroes from the first series (Batman, Robin, Aquaman, Flash and Green Lantern) plus Blue Beetle, Gypsy, Darkseid, and a Parademon.

In 1997, Landoll's released a series of seven Coloring & Activity books featuring an ongoing story and character designs for unreleased toy characters,^[2] as well as two children's books, And Justice for All and Justice on Apokolips,^[3][4] that followed the same basic story of Darkseid, with Despero's help, trying to find the pieces of an "Ultimate Weapon" that had been scattered around Earth.

In 1998, Kid Rhino released the Total Justice: The Ultimate Weapon "audio adventure" on CD and cassette.^[5]

Toys

Total Justice

Series 1

• Aquaman (with "gold armor" variant)
• Batman
• Darkseid
• Flash (Wally West)
• Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)
• Robin (Tim Drake)

Series 2

• Despero
• Fractal Armor Batman
• Hawkman (Hawk-God version)
• Superman (w/ long hair)

Series 3

• Black Lightning
• Green Arrow (Connor Hawke)
• Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)
• Parallax (Hal Jordan)

Exclusives

Mailaways

• Batman
• Superman

ToyFare Magazine

• Reverse-Flash (Eobard Thawne)

DC Super-Heroes

Looking to reuse the steel tooling used to make the toys, the Hasbro toy company (owners of Kenner) repainted six of the Total Justice figures and released them exclusively at the Warner Bros. Studio Store in 1998. They later released a mix of unused Total Justice molds and new sculpts in a series of two-packs at mass retail.^[1]

Exclusives

• Aquaman
• Batman
• Despero
• Green Arrow
• Hawkman
• Robin

Multipacks

• Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Fractal Armor The Flash w/ the Atom (Ray Palmer)
• Fractal Armor Green Lantern vs. Doctor Polaris
• Superman vs. Metallo
• Superboy vs. King Shark

JLA

In 1998, Hasbro produced the same figures included in the Total Justice line, but this time released them as a shared exclusive between KB Toys and Diamond Comic Distributors under the name JLA (a tie-in with the popular comic title).^[6] Several of the unproduced Total Justice figures were released under the JLA name, but no new Batman-related characters were included. Each figure in the JLA line included a stand with the JLA logo and a mini comic cover. Starting with Series 3, the line started to include characters from the Young Justice comic book.

Series 1

• Batman
• Green Lantern
• Green Arrow (in darker green)
• Huntress
• The Flash (in darker red and gold)
• Superman Blue
• Superman Red

Series 2

• Aquaman
• Dark Knight Batman
• Martian Manhunter
• Steel
• Superman (w/ short hair)
• Zauriel

Series 3

• Caped Crusader Batman
• Impulse
• Plastic Man
• Robin (with comic-accurate yellow underside cape)
• Superboy

Series 4

• Atom (Ray Palmer)
• Batman
• Cyber Armor Batman
• Cyber Armor Superman
• Red Tornado
• Wonder Woman

Diamond Exclusive Box Sets

• Box Set #1: Superman Blue, Green Lantern, Huntress, Hologram Batman, Hologram Flash
• Box Set #2: Batman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Hologram Superman, Hologram Green Lantern
• Box Set #3: Martian Manhunter, Superman, Zauriel, Lex Luthor, Joker
• Box Set #4: Superboy, Robin, Impulse, Hologram Martian Manhunter, Hologram Aquaman

Unmade characters

Some characters appeared in Landoll's Total Justice coloring books with Fractaltech armor, but they were never made in the toyline:

• Martian Manhunter
• Oracle
• Steel (John Henry Irons)
• Superboy (Kon-El)
• Supergirl (Matrix)
• Wonder Woman

All of those characters received figures once the line was rebranded into JLA except Supergirl and Oracle.^[7][8]

Further reading

• Zenker, Gary (2013). Ultimate DC Comics Action Figures and Collectibles Checklist. White Lightning Publishing. ISBN 978-0989334471