1. Blue Beetle
God, I’m so happy Ted Kord is back in the DCU.
Ted was a student with a deep respect for his friend and mentor, Dan Garrett. Upon following Garrett on one of his expeditions to investigate Ted’s evil Uncle Jarvis, he discovered Garrett’s true identity as the Blue Beetle, just in time for him to die. Ted took up the mantle, but rather than use Dan’s “magic†scarab, he built himself an array of tech gadgets and other toys. He fought evil and stopped crime for years before joining the Justice League International, where he became best friends with teammate Booster Gold.
It was around this time that he developed his crush on the love of his life, Barbara Gordon. But Ted fell into obscurity after the JLI disbanded. He started looking into his former boss, Maxwell Lord, only to discover that Max had been planning a method for eliminating all of earth’s superheroes and taking over the world. Ted challenged Max and wound up getting shot in the head for his trouble. But now thanks to the double reboot, he’s alive again, so…
And there we go, the best of the underrated. So many great Leaguers, I could do so many more of these lists and never run out of characters to promote. And all of them are worthy of being members of the greatest team of heroes of all time: The Justice League of America.
