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10 Greatest Ultimate JLA Comics Of All Time · Gil I Am

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  Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the absolute peak of Justice
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  Speaker 1: League storytelling. In this explainer, we're breaking down a fascinating
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  Speaker 1: article that attempts to rank the top ten greatest JLA
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  Speaker 1: comics of all time. We are talking about the definitive
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  Speaker 1: pantheon of DC's greatest heroes here. But you know how
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  Speaker 1: it is when you try to rank sixty years of
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  Speaker 1: pop culture history. This definitive list sparks some extremely passionate,
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  Speaker 1: intense debate among readers. So before we get into ranking
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  Speaker 1: the greatest hits of DC's crown jewel, we've got to
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  Speaker 1: ask ourselves what actually makes a perfect JLA story? I mean,
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  Speaker 1: is it those massive universe shattering cosmic odysses, gritty conspiracy thrillers,
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  Speaker 1: or maybe something else Entirely? The Justice League has been
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  Speaker 1: the face of DC comics since the nineteen sixties. That
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  Speaker 1: means perfection can look totally different depending on exactly who
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  Speaker 1: you ask and what era of comic history they grow
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  Speaker 1: up reading. And just look at the sheer history of
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  Speaker 1: this team, it's wild. They've evolved across completely distinct eras
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  Speaker 1: to capture the exact seitgeist of the times, appealing to
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  Speaker 1: almost every type of reader. Imaginable. You have the foundational
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  Speaker 1: Silver Age imagination in the sixties, which paved the way
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  Speaker 1: for those massive Bronze Age crossovers in the seventies. Then
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  Speaker 1: things shifted into the diverse beloved buddy comedies of the eighties,
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  Speaker 1: all building towards those massive, high stakes cinematic epics of
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  Speaker 1: the nineties and two thousands. All right, moving into section one,
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  Speaker 1: the Crown Jewel. Now, the real foundation of this franchise's success,
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  Speaker 1: it's their unparalleled versatility. It is genuinely amazing how well
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  Speaker 1: these comics can pivot. One month, they're battling through an
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  Speaker 1: alternate fascist controlled Earth like in Crisis on Earth X.
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  Speaker 1: The next they're exploring this deep psychological void in the Nail,
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  Speaker 1: which looks at a world entirely missing Superman. The League's
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  Speaker 1: ability to seamlessly transition from dystopian sci fi right into
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  Speaker 1: a political thriller, and then straight into a buddy comedy
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  Speaker 1: is just unmatched. They don't just do one type of
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  Speaker 1: superhero story, they literally cover the whole shebang, which brings
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  Speaker 1: us to section two. Peak League versatility. So looking at
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  Speaker 1: the lower half of this author's list, we get an
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  Speaker 1: absolute master class in genre hopping. We start at number
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  Speaker 1: ten with Grant Morrison's Woman of Tomorrow, a super profound
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  Speaker 1: single issue story about an Android secretly rigged with an
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  Speaker 1: EMP bomb. Then boom at nine, we jump straight into
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  Speaker 1: a multiversal crossover, teaming up with the Freedom Fighters to
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  Speaker 1: punch Nazis. Number eight drops us into that incredibly dark
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  Speaker 1: L's world's tale The Nail, and coming in at seven,
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  Speaker 1: we've got Dwayne McDuffie's legendary run that specific era. It's
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  Speaker 1: widely celebrated as the absolute perfect entry point for an
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  Speaker 1: entire generation of fans who grew up watching the Justice
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  Speaker 1: League animated series on TV. Talk about absolute whiplash, right.
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  Speaker 1: The transition between these next few spots is staggering. We
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  Speaker 1: bounced directly from the bleak, dark timelines of Morrison's time
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  Speaker 1: traveling dystopia Rock of Ages at number six and the literal,
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  Speaker 1: nightmarish universe ending stakes of Final Crisis at number five,
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  Speaker 1: straight into the superhero sitcom vibes of Justice League International.
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  Speaker 1: At number four. I completely tossed out the cosmic dread
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  Speaker 1: for slice of life buddy humor, using lesser known heroes
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  Speaker 1: under the incredibly witty guidance of writers jam De Mattaeas
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  Speaker 1: and Keith Giffen. It's just a completely different flavor of
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  Speaker 1: comic book. All right, Let's dive into the heavy hitters
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  Speaker 1: in section three the ultimate Masterpieces. Coming in at number three,
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  Speaker 1: we have Mark Wade and Howard Porter's Tower of Babel
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  Speaker 1: from the year two thousand. What makes this arc so
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  Speaker 1: intensely suspenseful is that the threat doesn't even come from
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  Speaker 1: the outside. It comes from within. Ros Algoul systematically incapacitates
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  Speaker 1: every single member of the League by exploiting their specific,
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  Speaker 1: devastating weaknesses. But the kicker, he didn't figure them out himself.
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  Speaker 1: He stole Batman's highly classified contingency plans to pull it off.
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  Speaker 1: And that is exactly why this arc is so legendary.
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  Speaker 1: It completely flipped the emotional landscape of the team. It
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  Speaker 1: cemented the modern dynamic between the League and Batman as
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  Speaker 1: one defined by heavy paranoia intension. I mean, it marked
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  Speaker 1: the biggest psychological split in the Roster's history. The rest
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  Speaker 1: of the heroes had to actually grapple with Bruce Wayne's
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  Speaker 1: god tear preparation, realizing he had weaponized their vulnerabilities, which
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  Speaker 1: ultimately felt like a massive unforgivable betrayal by one of
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  Speaker 1: their closest friends. Taking the number two spot is Darwin
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  Speaker 1: Cook's two thousand and four Cold War era masterpiece DC
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  Speaker 1: The New Frontier. This mini series so expertly threads the
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  Speaker 1: needle between the fading nostalgia of the Golden Age and
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  Speaker 1: the new sci fi obsessed Silver Age. Honestly, it provides
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  Speaker 1: arguably the greatest, most cohesive origin story for the JLA
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  Speaker 1: ever put to paper. It forces this classic array of
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  Speaker 1: heroes to put aside their differences and unite against a
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  Speaker 1: terrifying cosmic entity known just as the Center, and the
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  Speaker 1: whole thing unfolds against this incredibly tense historical backdrop of
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  Speaker 1: red scare, paranoia, and finally the ultimate crown jewel. Sitting
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  Speaker 1: at the very top of the list, Mark Wade and
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  Speaker 1: Alex Ross's nineteen ninety six masterpiece Kingdom Come. This is
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  Speaker 1: a stunning, emotionally weighty elseworld saga. We are thrust into
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  Speaker 1: a future where Superman is hung up the cape, making
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  Speaker 1: way for a reckless, violently destructive new generation of anti heroes.
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  Speaker 1: But when a massive catastrophe hits an older Clark Kent
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  Speaker 1: has to come out of retirement and reconstitute the league
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  Speaker 1: to rain them all in, basically forcing all Metahumans to
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  Speaker 1: either join the side of traditional justice or face imprisonment
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  Speaker 1: in a gulag. The original article calls it a study
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  Speaker 1: of the superhero genre, even more profound than Watchmen that
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  Speaker 1: is incredibly high praise. It's wild to think about the
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  Speaker 1: impact this book had. It's highlighted as a flawless love
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  Speaker 1: letter to old school comics, beautifully illustrating the enduring significance
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  Speaker 1: of the superhero moral code. It was this massive pushback
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  Speaker 1: against a nineties era of comics that was otherwise totally
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  Speaker 1: dominated by dark, gritty, and often ruthless anti heroes. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: so we've seen the authoritative list, but is it actually definitive. Well,
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  Speaker 1: in the world of comic book fandom, subjectivity is everything.
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  Speaker 1: One reader's undisputed, life changing masterpiece is very often another
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  Speaker 1: fan's total disappointment, and that is exactly where the pushback
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  Speaker 1: on this specific ranking begins, which leads us to section four.
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  Speaker 1: The fandom Strikestack enter a fan named Lyle who absolutely
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  Speaker 1: does not hold back. He directly targets Grant Morrison's highly
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  Speaker 1: praised epic final Crisis Now. While the original author called
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  Speaker 1: it a gripping send off for the JLA, Lyle completely
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  Speaker 1: dismisses its placement on the list. He argues that the
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  Speaker 1: narrative is an absolute mess, and even has the audacity
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  Speaker 1: to call the ending a complete cop out. He also
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  Speaker 1: questions throwing in the single issue story Woman of Tomorrow,
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  Speaker 1: saying you know, it's a solid read, but decidedly not
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  Speaker 1: top ten material, so Lyle essentially cleans house. He swaps
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  Speaker 1: out the modern deconstructive sci fi and multiversal picks for
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  Speaker 1: classic expansive inter book crossovers. It's a totally different flavor
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  Speaker 1: of storytelling. He trades out the newer epics for JLA
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  Speaker 1: twenty four crossed with Mystery and Space seventy five, featuring
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  Speaker 1: art by Mike Sikowski, along with Jerry Conway's sprawling narrative
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  Speaker 1: run in JLA two seven through two nine. It is
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  Speaker 1: fascinating to see the split here between fan fans of
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  Speaker 1: modern deconstruction and fans of foundational world building. Lyle argues
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  Speaker 1: that the original list just flat out ignores the foundational
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  Speaker 1: eras that set the standard for everything that followed. He
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  Speaker 1: points to the Fox and Sakowski era, Jerry Conway's foundational writing,
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  Speaker 1: George Perez's gorgeous art and issue two hundred, and the
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  Speaker 1: storyline in issues one sixty six through one sixty nine,
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  Speaker 1: which actually planted the seeds for the much later controversial
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  Speaker 1: Identity Crisis mini series. This pushback perfectly proves that comic
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  Speaker 1: law is highly subjective. Every single generation has its own
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  Speaker 1: gold standard. Let's wrap things up with section five, a
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  Speaker 1: never ending debate. Ultimately, the Justice League's legacy isn't defined
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  Speaker 1: by a single story, single author, or some definitive ranking.
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  Speaker 1: It's really defined by its enduring ability to reflect distinct eras,
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  Speaker 1: artistic tastes, and the constantly shifting moral landscapes of its
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  Speaker 1: huge diverse readership over sixty years. Whether you are into
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  Speaker 1: the dark modern paranoia of Tower of Babel, the High
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  Speaker 1: Comes Up sci fi of Graham Morrison, or the expansive,
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  Speaker 1: colorful Bronze Age crossovers championed by fans like Lyle, the
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  Speaker 1: Jaila's true superpower is its incredible adaptability. So I'll leave
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  Speaker 1: you with this final thought. Based on everything we've explored
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  Speaker 1: in this explainer today, from the grand weighty Elseworld's epics
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  Speaker 1: to the gritty modern sci fi, all the way back
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  Speaker 1: to the old school foundational crossovers. Whose list would you
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  Speaker 1: actually want to read first? Which era truly defines the
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  Speaker 1: ultimate superhero team for you? Think about it, Maybe dig
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  Speaker 1: into some back issues, and keep exploring these incredible stories
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  Speaker 1: on your own.