Observing the Justice League

Aaron Diaz

English 201

Professor Wood

November 15, 2020

Abstract

               In this article I will be going over my findings and making conclusions based on what I discover while being at the Justice League Headquarters. The greatest heroes known to man converged in one place. While I had the opportunity to be there I just sat and observed everything that my five senses allowed me to.

Observing the Justice League

            When one thinks of how the headquarters would look, you think of beings of absolute power, a superiority sense that you can almost feel, a place where those ‘masks could come off and these heroes true colors come out. I could not be any more wrong. When I am teleported into the Watchtower as they call it, a giant building like structure orbiting the earth, I am immediately taken aback by what I see.  It’s almost like what you would expect out of a corporate business on Wall street. It seems to be chaos at first but after just standing there for awhile I begun to see that it was controlled chaos. You have heroes coming and going all across the world saving lives. Some have their masks on, and others have theirs off and despite the sheer amount of people there, there is almost this feeling of safety and tranquility all throughout the incredibly large room. In the upper area of the room there was a food court where the biggest heroes of earth just sit amongst each other and talked and bantered like the closest of friends. While this is all of the positive side of things, there is also they gritty areas. Ever so often you have a hero or group of heroes’ teleports in and there is a look of devastation or sadness on their face. Not long after someone will approach them and talk to them. From what I’ve gathered the disheartened and devastated heroes are coming back from failed missions where they couldn’t get to the people in time and because if that innocents died. It was incredibly heartwarming to see the support system in place despite there being no apparent one. This was just from the goodness of these men and women that existed down to their core and permitted them to do what they do day in and day out.

            After observing for a while, I notice that there is in fact a hierarchy system in place. It was not determined by power, but seniority. The senior members of the League were looked up to almost like a child would look at their parents. When superman and Wonder Woman make their way to the teleporter to go about their duties, many of the heroes around them pay attention. Not outright, but conversations slow down, eyes begin to discreetly dart to them only to glance away quickly, looks of awe populate the faces of all of these heroes. After talking to some of the heroes around I finally understood that the senior members are the reasons why many of the men and woman standing around even decided to put on their masks and capes and dared to put the gifts given to them into use. The likes of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman paved the way for many of them and despite working with them from time to time, a majority of these heroes still can’t shake the awe that their presence invokes, not due to their power but the sheer good that they have done for the world and the sacrifices that each of them have made and continue to make on a day to day basis. The rest of the hierarchy follows in how long you have been a hero. The seemingly newest heroes follow orders from the older ones. Power is not a factor at all in this as unlike one might think. There are powerless people like Green Arrow and Wildcat leading insane powerhouses like Supergirl and Stargirl. It’s incredibly fascinating how these people gather judgment free and work based off of seniority.

Similar to all places there were cliques in the watchtower, although they seemed based off of the places that they. Usually heroes that worked out of metropolis stuck together, and the people of central city stuck together. Even though there were these cliques, nobody seemed to have any issue socializing and leaving their cliques to talk with others. One would think that somebody like me would stick out like a sore thumb, but apparently, they have visitors every once in a while, and they all treated me the same way they seemed to treat everyone else.

The way they receive missions is quite simple, they are called over the speakers throughout the watchtower and they are selected on these missions based on their powers, so depending on the situation, like a huge fire, they would select the heroes to help, like a hero with water based powers. Although it was hard to know when night hit due to the fact that the watchtower orbits the earth, there was no slowing of work and people moving. When some went home, other took their place. Unlike almost any other business, the watchtower never sleeps and there are always heroes there because crime never stops, so why should they? My opinion on they changed drastically over the course of me staying there. I had quite a cynical opinion of these heroes, but after experiencing them in this kind of setting, they all seem to be the best of humanity. All of them are people who willingly choose to help others and put their lives on the line, and their personalities seem to reflect the actions. They all have this kind presence about them, and while they all aren’t humble, they all seem to be kindhearted and what you would expect from a hero.

To conclude, the watchtower is the most interesting place that I’ve personally ever been to. The dynamic seen between people easily capable of destroying cities is quite incredible to see. A hierarchy built to respect seniority and not power as one would assume, speaks volumes on the type of people that they are. The business like setting that the watchtower seemed to employ was surprisingly normal and humbling due to the fact that you wouldn’t expect heroes to be organized in that kind of way. Thus, I am very content with my visit to the watchtower and happy to say that my visit truly did change my outlook on these heroes.