The Elite (DC Comics)

The Elite is a team of fictional super-powered antiheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, in particular those featuring Superman and The Justice League. They are DC's response to Wildstorm's The Authority. The Elite made their first appearance in the story "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?", published in Action Comics #775 (March 2001). The story, which was voted number 1 in Wizard magazine's "Top Ten Comics of the Decade",^{[citation needed]} was written by Joe Kelly, inked by Tom Nguyen and penciled by Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo. They appeared as antagonists before some of the characters merged with members of the Justice League to form the Justice League Elite.

The Elite
The original line up from Action Comics #775. Clockwise: Menagerie I (foreground), Hat, Manchester Black, and Coldcast.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Action Comics #775 (March 2001)
Created by	Joe Kelly Doug Mahnke
In-story information
Member(s)	Coldcast The Hat Manchester Black Menagerie I Menagerie II Vera Black

Fictional team history

The Elite is a team of metahuman vigilantes in the DC Comics universe, created by Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke, first appearing in Action Comics #775 in March 2001. The team was formed by Manchester Black, a British telekinetic vigilante who gathered a group of powerful individuals to enforce their own brutal form of justice, often through lethal means. Their philosophy was that the ends justified the means, which put them in direct conflict with Superman, who operates with a strict no-kill code.^[1]

The Elite’s initial mission took them to Tripoli, Libya, where they eliminated a giant ape rogue threat but also caused massive collateral damage, including killing thousands of soldiers. They quickly defeated Superman, but he later challenged and defeated them on Jupiter's moon Io by exploiting weaknesses in their powers. Superman feigned killing the Elite to expose the danger of their approach and to show that heroes who kill become terrifying rather than inspirational.^[1]

Afterwards, the team was reformed by Vera Black, Manchester Black’s sister, who led a new iteration of the Elite called the Justice League Elite. This version aimed to atone for past actions and dealt with covert threats, working alongside but distinct from the main Justice League.^[1]

Members of the Elite have included:

• Manchester Black, the original leader.
• Vera Black, his sister and second leader.
• Coldcast, an African-American electromagnetism manipulator who later turned hero.
• Menagerie, a Puerto Rican woman with symbiotic armor allowing transformation into a chimeric creature.
• Hat, a young Asian Earth elemental with magical abilities.
• Bunny, a bacterial colony turned floating fortress serving as their base.

The Elite was DC Comics' response to the more extremist and violent superhero teams such as Wildstorm's The Authority, representing a darker take on superhero justice and morality.

This summary is based on information from the Multiversal Omnipedia, Comic Vine, and DC Database, which provide detailed histories and analyses of DC Comics characters and teams.^[1]

Team members

• Manchester Black is the team's first leader. A British telekinetic vigilante, currently inactive after realizing that he had become as bad as the villains that he wanted to fight. His Union Jack tattoo echoes the Authority's Jenny Sparks' t-shirt.^[2]
• Vera Black is a British psionic cyborg, sister of Manchester Black, and the second leader of the Elite.^[3]
• Coldcast is a very large and muscular African-American man who wore dreadlocks and chains and manacles around his neck and wrists. He is capable of manipulating electromagnetism. Coldcast was eventually inspired by Superman to fight on the side of heroes.^[4]
• The first Menagerie is a Puerto Rican woman with a symbiotic suit of armor that allows her to transform into a chimeric creature. She was lobotomized and rendered comatose.^[5]
• The second Menagerie is the sister of Menagerie I. She joins with an alien weapon cache that drives her insane, and later is incarcerated in a metahuman prison facility.
• The Hat is a young and powerful Asian Earth elemental with a measure of invulnerability and an ability to breathe fire. He is armed with a magic hat from which he can pull any item he desires, summon demons, and wield magic. He quits the team shortly after Vera Black takes over.
• Bunny is a bacterial colony that became a floating fortress before the Elite brought her to their universe to use as a base of operations. It contains many wonders such as Excalibur and the skeleton of Pegasus.

Collected editions

The Elite made their second appearance in the event story Ending Battle which was collected into a trade paperbacks of the same name:

• Justice League Elite:
  • Volume 1 (collects: Action Comics #775, JLA #100, JLA Secret Files 2004, and Justice League Elite #1–4, 208 pages, 2005)^[6][7][8]
  • Volume 2 (collects Justice League Elite #5–12, 192 pages, 2007)^[9][10][11]
• Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Volume 1 (includes Action Comics #775, 192 pages)^[12][13][14]

In other media

• The Elite appears in Superman vs. The Elite,^[15] consisting of Manchester Black, Vera Black, Coldcast, Menagerie, and the Hat.
• The Elite appears in the fourth season of Supergirl,^{[citation needed]} consisting of Manchester Black, Menagerie, the Hat, and a Morae. This version of the group comes together in response to Agent Liberty and the Children of Liberty's bigotry towards aliens and the U.S. government and the Department of Extranormal Operations (D.E.O.)'s perceived ineffectiveness against those who kill aliens.