Justice League Reading Order

This reading order is designed to give an outline of major storylines featuring the Justice League throughout DC Comics. Though there is often more than one Justice League at a time, this will only cover the universe’s main League. It may not encompass every one of their appearances but is an outline of the major ones and the stories that affect them.

The continuity details relating to each specific storyline are explained in the “Review” of each storyline. Every “Review” link will provide a detailed continuity breakdown of that story and will explain any reference the story makes to other aspects of the DC Universe. All of this can be found under the “Continuity” section of each link.

Jump to: New 52 – Rebirth

New 52

With the beginning of the New 52, the DC Universe’s continuity was reset. The Justice League’s history was wiped clean and all of their prior appearances were removed from the current continuity. In this new continuity, their history is rewritten right from the start and continued to be rewritten throughout the era.

The Justice League is reintroduced through the Justice League series. There, their adventures begin by depicting the creation of the League, which takes place five years before this new universe’s “present”. After this origin story, their appearances shift to the modern day and continue to play out through this Justice League series. This puts them in the middle of the Trinity War (Reading Order), jump-starts Forever Evil (Reading Order), and continues on into the Darkseid War (Reading Order). This final event helps set up the League’s transition into the Rebirth era. Alongside all of this, the League also appears in supporting roles in other comics, typically those headlined by a member of the League.

See our Justice League Timeline for summaries of each story arc in this reading order.

JLA = Justice League of America
Justice League issues are from the Vol. 2 series
Action Comics issues are from the Vol. 2 series
Green Lantern issues are from the Vol. 5 series
Superman issues are from the Vol. 3 series
Superboy issues are from the Vol. 6 series
Supergirl issues are from the Vol. 6 series
The first set of Justice League of America issues are from the Vol. 3 series
The second set of Justice League of America issues are from the Vol. 4 series
Wonder Woman issues are from the Vol. 4 series
Cyborg issues are from the Vol. 1 series
Batman and Robin issues are from the Vol. 2 series
Batman issues are from the Vol. 2 series
Detective Comics issues are from the Vol. 2 series
Martian Manhunter issues are from the Vol. 4 series

Notes

1. This issue elaborates on the Justice League's early days by showing them discussing what their mission should be. It is not critical to their storyline but may be interesting for some readers.
2. These issues are mostly about the newest Green Lantern at the time, Simon Baz (Reading Order). However, they spotlight the Justice League alongside this new hero.
3. These issues detail the Justice League's participation in the Superman: H'el on Earth (Reading Order) event. The League plays a moderate role in the event but nothing essential to their reading experience.
4. These issues focus on Shazam (Reading Order), not the Justice League. However, Shazam's presence on the League and participating in their activities make the backstory provided in these issues helpful. Note: only the backup stories from these issues are required at this point.
5. These issues help expand on what the Justice League is doing during the Forever Evil (Reading Order) event.
6. Only a few members of the Justice League actually play a role in this event. However, it establishes concepts in regards to the Crime Syndicate (Reading Order), the Anti-Monitor, and Darkseid that become far more important going into the Darkseid War (Reading Order) event.
7. These issues detail the Justice League's participation in the Superman: Doomed (Reading Order) event. The League plays a moderate role in the event but nothing essential to their reading experience.
8. Though this story arc seems relatively unconnected to the rest of the Justice League's current storyline, they help set up concepts that will go on to be important in the main Rebirth era storyline.
9. The Justice League only plays a small role in these comics. However, the events of these comics show some unique interactions between the League and Cyborg (Reading Order), Wonder Woman, and Batman, respectively.
10. Each of these issues mostly focuses on an individual member of the Justice League. However, together, they help present a larger picture of the event as a whole and the League's participation in it.
11. This issue highlights a few lower-stakes interactions between the members of the Justice League, which may be fun for some readers.
12. These issues focus on Batman but show an interesting dynamic between Batman and the rest of the League.
13. These issues focus on Batman but also show how the League is reacting to the conclusion of the Endgame (Reading Order) event and its repercussions, which may be interesting for some readers.
14. Though the members of the Justice League only appear as supporting characters in these issues, they help expand on the League's relationship with Martian Manhunter, which may be interesting for fans of that character.

Rebirth

The beginning of the Rebirth era did not introduce any continuity changes for the Justice League. However, the League's roster changed in the gap between these two eras and now includes Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz instead of Hal Jordan.

Their adventures continue primarily through the Justice League series. This series sees the League grow and evolve until reaching the climactic events of Dark Nights: Metal (Reading Order) and Justice League: No Justice (Reading Order). These events majorly impact the League and usher them into the next era. Alongside all of this, the Justice League also has a number of minor appearances in other comics.

Justice League issues are from the Vol. 3 series
Aquaman issues are from the Vol. 8 series
Superman issues are from the Vol. 4 series
Titans issues are from the Vol. 3 series
Green Arrow issues are from the Vol. 6 series

Notes

1. These issues are mostly about Aquaman (Reading Order). However, the Justice League makes a small appearance alongside him.
2. The members of the Justice League are obviously major players in the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad (Reading Order) event. However, the event places far more emphasis on the Suicide Squad (Reading Order) and the creation of a new Justice League of America (Reading Order). Readers can easily skip this event and still understand every other issue on this reading order.
3. This issue is a mostly relaxed take on the Justice League that looks at them through the eyes of children. Though the League does nothing major in this issue, the unique perspective offered here may be of interest to fans.
4. These issues are mostly about the Titans. However, they help explain and elaborate upon the Justice League's close relationship with this team.
5. This issue is mostly about Green Arrow (Reading Order). However, it helps highlight Green Arrow's relationship with the League.
6. Members of the Justice League play a part in nearly every portion of Dark Nights: Metal (Reading Order). However, they are not involved in the Teen Titans, Nightwing, Suicide Squad, and Green Arrow tie-in issues, so readers exclusively interested in the Justice League can skip these tie-ins.

Universe

The Universe era is essentially an extension of the Rebirth era. The narrative in this era directly continues the narrative from the previous era with no continuity breaks.

We're currently working on fully updating this reading order for this era. For now, we've placed our "Justice League by Scott Snyder Reading Order" here, as these two reading orders follow the same basic storyline. In the future, we'll be adding some of the League's smaller appearances but, for now, this reading order provides the essential story pieces.

Here, the League's adventures take place across several story arcs that all help develop an even larger narrative. Outside of this narrative, other comics help develop minor plotlines, mostly centered around the Batman Who Laughs (Reading Order). All of these narrative arcs come together as Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV's time writing the Justice League ends and the Year of the Villain event begins. Both of these directly set up the Dark Nights: Death Metal (Reading Order) event, which serves as the climax to this era.

Notes

1. This series has almost nothing to do with the Justice League. However, it further develops the Batman Who Laughs (Reading Order) after his appearance in Justice League #8. The conclusion to this series also serves as a direct prelude to the first arc in the Batman/Superman series, which is also relevant to this reading order.
2. Technically, DC's Year of the Villain Special #1 spoils the conclusion of Justice League #25, and Justice League #25 spoils what happens in DC's Year of the Villain Special #1. These spoilers do not have a huge impact on the read but, for those looking to avoid spoilers entirely, we suggest reading the "Doom" story from the Year of the Villain Special, then reading Justice League #25, then finishing the Year of the Villain Special.
3. This story arc mostly focuses on Batman (Reading Order), Superman (Reading Order), and the Batman Who Laughs (Reading Order) and it is not written by either Scott Snyder or James Tynion IV. However, it is a direct prelude to the Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen (Review) story arc and, thus, is moderately relevant to this reading order.

All DC Comics Reading Orders