TOP 100 COMIC BOOK BATTLES: # 44

44. JLA (mostly Batman) vs. Hyperclan

So these new superheroes show up on Earth called the Hyperclan.

They proceed to pretty much end all suffering on Earth - fixing droughts, taking care of all the supervillains, etc.

They make the Justice League more or less obsolete.

Of course, they’re secretly totally evil (there’s this big execution scene where they kill all the villains they’ve rounded up).

The Justice League then takes them on, and early on, there’s a great scene between the Flash and the speedster of the Hyperclan, Zum. Here, writer Grant Morrison vibes the Silver Age perfectly with Wally narrating about the “Flash Facts” that his Uncle Barry used to tell him, and Wally then uses one of them to take out Zum. Great scene. Artist Howard Porter does a great job there (and the cover above is really good, isn’t it?).

Finally, though, the League is in big trouble, and it appears Martian Manhunter may even have turned on the League! Superman is captured and held under kryptonite control and Batman is seemingly dead.

Of course, the thing about Batman is - he prepares for everything.

Batman survives the plane crash that the bad guys think kill him (there’s even a great explanation for why they do not examine the fiery wreckage to confirm his death) and he breaks into their headquarters and figures out their secret - they’re actually White Martians!

In one of the coolest scenes ever, Batman takes out on of the Hyperclan and leaves a note for the rest on the unconscious villain - “I know your secret.”

Later, he is surrounded and seemingly screwed, but that’s when he reveals he knows their secret and then lights a match and drops it on the gasoline he’s spread all over the floor.

Once he frees Superman (and Martian Manhunter reveals he never actually turned on the League), they mop the floor with the Hyperclan really easily and then hypnotize them all into becoming humans.