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", 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.

Fictional team history

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 shirt echoes the Authority's Jenny Sparks.
 Vera Black is a British psionic cyborg, sister of Manchester Black, and the second leader of the Elite.
 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.
 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.
 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
All appearances of The Elite apart from Action Comics #795 have been reprinted in trade paperbacks:

 Justice League Elite: 
 Volume 1 (collects: Action Comics #775, JLA #100, JLA Secret Files 2004, and Justice League Elite #1–4, 208 pages, 2005)
 Volume 2 (collects  Justice League Elite #5–12, 192 pages, 2007)
 Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told Volume 1 (includes Action Comics #775, 192 pages)

In other media
 The Elite appears in Superman vs. The Elite, consisting of Manchester Black, Vera Black, Coldcast, Menagerie, and the Hat.
 The Elite appears in the fourth season of Supergirl, 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.

References

External links
 

2001 comics debuts
DC Comics superhero teams
Characters created by Joe Kelly
DC Comics supervillain teams