Trivia Quiz #51
Here's a quiz to start off the second half-century of monthly trivia quizzes. These questions were submitted by Omnicom readers.
1. From Tom Galloway:
Many Legionnaires come from planets where everyone shares a particular ability, and people from those planets have also fought the Legion. Name the planets/races/Legionnaires for whom the Legion has never fought someone from that common-powered world. (To simplify, we'll look at the pre-Zero Hour/current retroboot Legion only)
2. From Michael X. MacArthur:
In Adventure 373, the creators inserted a clue in the center of the book to the identity of the Tornado Twins. What was the clue?
3. From Don Sakers:
Legionnaires have had code names that start with almost every letter of the alphabet, but which five letters have started no Legionnaire code names?
4. Another from Don Sakers:
Which Legionnaire’s parents were the very first ones we saw, and when? For extra credit, what were their names? (update: not including Superboy or Supergirl)
5. From Darrell Lawrence:
When was "Lar Gand" revealed as Mon-El's real name?
6. From Matthew at the Legion Abstract:
Name all the superhero names Ayla Ranzz has gone by, in all three-and-a-half Legion continuities (that's L1, L2, L3, and v4).
7. Another from Matthew:
Name both parties in each marriage involving Legionnaires. (Not including dreams, hoaxes, imaginary stories, or alternate futures outside of the 3.5 main continuities)
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57 comments:
Btw, for 1., there's one answer that's something of a trick (and that if I recall conversation at this year's LSG meeting correctly, Michael disagrees with me on).
For 2, the first letters of the chapter title spelled "FLASH".
3. H, O, Y, Z; Yeah, only four, but I recalled instances for all other letters. Giving a single example for each:
Alchemist, Brainiac 5, Chemical King, Duo Damsel, Element Lad, Ferro Lad, Gates, Invisible Kid, Jewel (OK, reaching here...), Karate Kid, Light Lass, Matter-Eater Lad, Nemesis Kid, Princess Projectra, Quislet, Reflecto (another possibility for #5), Superboy, Tyroc, Ultra Boy, Valor, Wildfire, XS.
4. Well, if I want to be a smart ass, Jor-El and Lara were the first seen Legionnaire parents. : -) Otherwise, I think we may have seen Cosmic Boy's parents in Adv. #352, and we definitely saw Invisible Kid's in #359. Another possibility would be in the Five Legion Orphans story.
6. Lightning *Lad* (in her first appearance, it was the name she was going by while acting as a superhero), Lightning Lass, Light Lass, Gossamer, Spark.
7. Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy and Night Girl (v4), Mon-El and Shadow Lass, Colossal Boy and Chameleon Girl, Supergirl and that lame alien revealed just after Crisis ended, Bouncing Boy and Duo Damsel, Laurel Gand and Rond Vidar, Phantom Girl and Ultra Boy, Karate Kid and Princess Projectra, Invisible Kid and Infectious Lass.
#4 Don't we see the Kents long before Jor-el & Lara?
Of course, I should have specified "not including Superboy" for #4. I'll update the question.
Not participating fully for obvious reasons, but for #3 I agree that "Jewel" is a good example of a "J" codename, and we may even stretch a point to allow "Zoraz" for "Z" (it is a codename used by a Legionnaire, even though he was a supervillain at the time he used it).
#4. Star Boy's parents in the story that introduced him? If, on the other hand, it was Cosmic Boy's parents appearing in the Ghost of Ferro Lad story, I recall their names were Hu and Ewa Krinn.
#1: I don't recall the Legion facing villains from Cargg, Tharr, Naltor, Starhaven, Shwar (Fire Lad), or Zwen (Stone Boy). For obvious reasons, there were no villains from Trom or Dryad. Quislet and Wildfire fought people from Teall; I don't know if that counts. And Hykraius & Lisnar are special cases: I don't know if it was established that everyone on those planets shares the abilities of Tellus and Gear (respectively).
#2: Part two was titled "Fun-Loving Allens -- Super Heroes." The initial letters were in red and spelled out FLASH.\
#5: On his birth certificate? :)
#6: Lightning Lad, Lightning Lass, Light Lass, Ayla, Gossamer, Pulse, Spark, and Lascivious Lass (just kidding about the last one).
#7: Along with all the others mentioned, Colossal Boy & Yera and Star Boy and the woman who owned the baseball team in v.4.
Ah, but the Legion did fight someone from Dryad, namely Blok himself before he joined. I guess that's a trick non-answer. : -) (and not the one I referred to above) Technically, the Legion did fight someone from Naltor, but Mysa Nal as the Hag fails due to not having the usual Naltorian prophetic power set. And that's still not the trick one I'm thinking of.
I do count Wildfire and Quislet fighting the Teallites as ruling them out; Gear doesn't matter since he was Legion-247 and the question specified Earth-1/current Legion. And I think all of Tellus' race must have telekinesis since they don't really have digits but did build structures as seen when Tellus recounted their history.
But that leaves two other possibilities. One's something of a trick, and one is somewhat continuity dependent and may only recently have become invalid for the Earth-1/retroboot team.
Hmm. I thought the "trick world" might be Krypton (since the Legion never fought Dev-Em), but there was that issue of Adventure where the Legion went back in time and fought in a Kryptonian war or something, wasn't there? (Can't remember the details and no time to look it up right now.) Other than that, I'm basically coming up with the same answers Meercatdon did.
Infectious Lass has a planetary power and was described as a former Legionnaire in the Dr. 13 story, although that was almost certainly a mistake of phrasing and she wasn't actually one.
Night Girl has the planetary power of being able to see in the dark as well as the non-planetary power of super-strength, so Kathoon counts.
The DC One Million characters are another trick answer. DC One Million is the future of today's DC universe, so cannot be the future of the reboot. Also, the reboot's universe is destroyed... and not only that, Wildfire was running out of energy at the end of the reboot and wouldn't survive until the 853rd century anyway. Conclusion: DC One Million is the future of the original LSH, even though it was published during the reboot era. If something like Colu-Bgztl is considered a different planet from the individual worlds Colu and Bgztl, then the characters from DCOne Million qualify.
Dead Earth has similar issues. The LSH Dead Earth annual is not established to be the future of the current DCU, but it still has Wildfire and takes place in the future with an intact universe, meaning it still can't be reboot. If it's the current universe and if Membrain has a planetary power, he qualifies.
Infectious Lass has a planetary power and was described as a former Legionnaire in the Dr. 13 story, although that was almost certainly a mistake of phrasing and she wasn't actually one.
No, she was; she and most of the other Subs (and some others) were Legionnaires offscreen during the five year gap between LSHv3 and LSHv4.
Cargggites (they were spelling it with 3 Gs at the time) were fought in the 5YL issue18, so that's out of answer 1 too! Infectious lass, then, obviously Jan Arrah's Trom (his being the last of his race helps there). Starhaven. Naltor's out - remember Star Boy's trouble with Nura's ex? Zwen's in (especially since the decision to make Stone Boy's power something of a joke), and Tharr as well.
Matthew, Anon: you guys are correct since the question limited it to "pre-Zero Hour/current retroboot" which includes Five Years Later. I didn't notice that. I was excluding Five Years Later. (And in 5YL, she was a member onscreen as well, although not until near the end.)
The Dr. 13 story isn't referring to 5YL; it's vague but sounds like it's referring to her original appearance, and looks (at least to me) just like a mistake, but it is in print.
Actually, 5 years later doesn't count. At 2009's SDCC Legion panel, I asked Geoff Johns a question on the order of "It's clear the 5 year later gap didn't happen for the Legion you're writing in Superman; when did the diversion take place?". While he was somewhat vague in answering "shortly after Crisis", he didn't contradict that v4 Legion is a separate continuity. I wasn't counting it or any random possible futures as being valid for the question.
Ken, hadn't thought of that aspect of Kathoon, so in that case we'd have too Tellus's folk with the power to breathe methane, even if they aren't all telekinetic. That is along the lines of the trick answer, which no one's gotten yet.
Anon, I'd forgotten about Kenz Nuhor. He does count, although I'd say the Legion really hasn't fought another Naltorian who was really making use of their power.
5 years later does count. We know it's not in continuity, but the question was phrased such that it counts--it's "pre Zero Hour".
If the question was meant to cover only material that is in continuity (which isn't what it says), then Quislet is an answer. The trick is that Geoff Johns went off of "shortly after Crisis" but Paul Levitz is going off the end of V3, after the Legion fought Teall's hive mind. Therefore Quislet was eligible only while Johns was on the book.
I don't think Tellus counts. Night Girl's ability to see in the dark is in addition to the capabilities of a normal human. Tellus's methane breathing is instead of a human's breathing, so I wouldn't call it a power.
Another trick answer is "pocket universe Superboy". The story where the Legionnaires went back in time and fought the Kryptonians on Earth could not have happened in pocket universe continuity because the Kryptonians left behind records that survived until the Legion's time, meaning that the story must have taken place on the regular Earth. So the Legionnaires never fought anyone from pocket universe Krypton.
Ah, but the Legion has fought other Kryptonians. Namely Krypto and Beppo, who have the Kryptonian powerset. Also, Superboy as controlled by Hitler.
Although this is becoming a good example of how hard it is to ask a question that covers all of Legion continuity, even just for the current version.
For #7, don't forget Superman and Lois Lane, since he's back in continuity as a member.
For #1, is Titan the trick answer, Tom? Saturn Queen is from Saturn, not Titan; she originally lived on the inside of the rings, you'll recall.
Also, wasn't the original Bounty from Starhaven?
Assuming Pulsar Stargrave doesn't count (and hey, we finally got an origin for him/it in REBELS, did anyone notice?)--and assuming Brainy himself doesn't count--shouldn't Colu be on the list?
I'm pretty sure Saturn Queen is considered Titanian, as she's from the same society/culture as Imra.
Colu's the one that's very continuity dependent and may have just been invalidated. I think the final say on the pre-Crisis Pulsar Stargrave was that he was the robot Brainiac with an upgrade, which would not make him biologically Coluan. On the other hand, if I'm reading the last few Brainiac stories correctly, it appears the latest retcon is to make Brainiac 1 a biological Coluan and the actual father of Vril (Brainiac 2) Dox. In which case, the Legion just fought him in the 20th century.
There was also the crowd scene where a mob of Coluans attack first Superman and later the rest of the Legion on Colu in the "Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes" story, but as other than their "Information. We want information. By hook or by crook" motivation, you could've replaced them with any random humanoid race, so I don't count that as fighting a Coluan villain per se or one using their power.
The only Saturn Queen we've seen until recently has been from an alternate future. This one was said to be from Saturn. However at that point even Saturn Girl was said to be from Saturn. If Saturn Queen had showed up later they probably would have retconned her as being from Titan just like they did for Saturn Girl.
The Saturn Queen that is not from an alternate future has only showed up in Legion of Three Worlds and in V6 #1-2. She's from Titan.
Also, it's inconsistent to say that the computerized Brainiac doesn't count because he's not biologically Coluan, while still saying that Krypto and Beppo count for the pocket universe Superboy. He's clearly from the planet and has the same power; the fact that he's a robot is as significant as the fact that Krypto is a dog. (And claiming that even thinking robots aren't people doesn't help you since I could say the same about thinking dogs.) Note that Superboy possessed by Hitler doesn't count--Legionnaires have been possesed or controlled so many times that probably no Legionnaire is eligible if that counts.
Oh, and if "Superboy possessed by Hitler" counts as fighting a Kryptonian, then "Brainiac 5 while insane" should count as fighting a Coluan, making Brainy ineligible.
Re: Saturn Queen - Doesn't anyone remember Esper Lass? That pretty much mootifies the Saturn Queen argument.
Re: Krypton - Beppo and Krypto don't count under the "someone" clause which implies non-animals.
Re: Dryad - the entire League of Super-Assassins (Mist Master, Lazon, Titania, Neutrax, Silver Slasher, and Blok) were all from Dryad, later named Korlon by its human settlers. The humans were non-powered, but Blok is a representative of his race. So yes, the Legion did fight a common-powered Dryad inhabitant.
Re: Tellus - the ability to breathe methane is a normal biological function. I wouldn't consider that to be a "super" ability above and beyond the general UP resident. However, his telekinetic and telepathic powers would be.
Duh. Krypton's definitely now included as a powered race the Legion has fought. Namely, the "21st century team" during Brainiac's attack on New Krypton a few months back.
No one's hit my original trick answer yet. Hint: there's a serious misdirection in terms of power set.
1. Bismoll- Calorie Queen never actually fought the Legion as a villain. She wanted membership, so she competed against Matter-Eater Lad for his spot, due to similar/same powers.
Cargg, Antares (home of "James Cullen". Race there were Proties), Trom, Naltor, Starhaven, Hykraius (all of Tellus' people have his abilities), Zwen (Stone Boy's people).
2. Chapter title gave away "FLASH".
3. A, H, J, Y, Z.
4. Cosmic Boy I think.
5. This was my question, and I'm surprised no one has answered it yet. Guess it was indeed a hard one!
6. Ayla Ranzz (real name), Lightning Lad (posing as her brother with no adams apple), Lightning Lass, Light Lass, Gossamer, Spark.
7. Cosmic Boy-Night Girl, Lightning Lad-Saturn Girl, Firefist-Veilmist, Bouncing Boy-Duo Damsel, Colossal Boy-Chameleon Girl (Yera), Rond Vidar-Laurel Gand, Mon-El-Shadow Lass, Karate Kid-Princess Projectra.
Tom: Krypton doesn't count anyway because of that story with the past Kryptonians and Atlantis, the point is that *pocket universe* Krypton counts. It's a different planet than regular Krypton.
Most of the villains who joined the Legion were fought by the Legion, so are automatically ineligible, otherwise Command Kid or Nemesis Kid would count.
I loved that story with Superboy possessed by Hitler. Especially with Ultra Boy and Mon-El as John Dillinger and Nero. John Forte was a horrible artist, but when he drew possessed Superboy's menacing glare, you. were. scared.
3: @darrell; andromeda and atmos.
6. you're all forgetting the issue-and-a-half where reboot ayla insisted on being called livewire, after garth was killed (or lost?)... AND she was called 'pulse' VERY briefly, 5YL, on the run. vi was 'virus'. laurel was 'thelma'. yes, RLLY.
VERY good quiz, people!!! :)
@ peter- Yeah. I also forgot Alchemist or whatever Jan was alternately called. Atmos was never actually a member, was he?
Since no one is giving #5 much of a try, I'll give a hint: It was NOT in a story.
@ darrell: lemme check, i think atmos was an 'off-screen' 5YL member... yeah, per the 2995 sourcebook...
5. i'd always wondered whether he was just "LAR GeAND in charge", like douchebags said in the 90's...
Darrell, I'll guess Lar Gand didn't happen until that bit around Adventure #365 or so where there were one panel pictures of all the Legionnaires along with name, planet, and powerset.
Polar Boy and Sun Boy faced a supervillain from Tharr in the more recent issues of Adventure, so Tharr is out.
Tom, nope.
Steve, you're right. I didn't even list Tharr, but it wasn't for that reason... I didn't list it because I forgot all about Polar Boy and Tharr! LOL
I'd say the Legion really hasn't fought another Naltorian who was really making use of their power.
There was that late Levitz storyline with the Legion on the run (might have been Universo Project but I don't remember) where the undercover Legionnaires are stopped by a Naltorian guard who basically says "I forsee you transforming. You're a Durlan" to Chameleon Boy. A fight begins (in which of course Cham transforms, thus turning the vision into a self-fulfilling prophecy).
I think that counts as fighting a Naltorian making use of his power.
5. Lar Gand revealed as Mon-El's real name in L.E.G.I.O.N. '90 #16?
@Darrell: Atmos was a member during the gap between v3 and v4, along with a bunch of Subs and Academy members and other characters whose membership has never been shown in comics. See the famous 2995 Sourcebook for the DC Heroes RPG for details.
Is the trick answer Gates? Claws are a planetary power for him, and this Legion has of course never fought anyone from his world (the reboot Legion has, but they don't count).
Well... regarding Atmos, since that info comes from a Source Book, I personally don't consider that canon. No more than the Star Trek Encyclopedias/Source Books for Star Trek :-)
Damin, no.
Regarding #5: When is Michael going to post the Quiz answers???
Nope, not Gates (and "claws" is getting a bit silly as a power, which I put at the same level of Tellus and his race weighing, say, around 350 pounds. Although admittedly the trick one is about as silly or moreso a "power").
Clues I think have been given so far (or which I'll add); the "power" is one at least some folk wouldn't consider such, and what's probably throwing some people off is that there's a similar situation to the Legion having fought Mysa Nal at the Hag, which wouldn't count as fighting a Naltorian since she doesn't have the standard Naltorian powerset.
@ Tom-
Well, I did say this: "1. Bismoll- Calorie Queen never actually fought the Legion as a villain. She wanted membership, so she competed against Matter-Eater Lad for his spot, due to similar/same powers."
Her powers were not quite identical to M-E Lad's... she had the ability to turn those calories into super strength! But again, she never really fought the Legion or M-E Lad. She competed with him for his slot in the Legion.
Was she the one you're referring to?
Nope. I tend to count Calorie Queen as both having fought the Legion (regardless of the reason, that was a definite fight scene, and not of the training or other "we don't really care what the result is" variety of "competition") and having the Bismollian powerset. While she has an enhancement on top of it, she still had the power to eat anything. It's similar to Ken's argument that Kathoonians all have the power of seeing in the dark, while Night Girl has the super-strength enhancement on top of that.
Also, Tenzil's brother, Renkil, was the antagonist in one story where he tried to get Tenzil kicked out so he could take his place.
Two more hints; the planet's common power was not disclosed until quite a while in the Legion's existence. And the Legion has fought at least three people considered at least partially of that planet's race.
@ darrell: no snark intended, but seeing as the sourcebook was written by the bierbaums, it's pretty much accepted as canon. it looks like geoff johns agrees,as the 5YG offscreen members all show up in the big group hug double splash in Lo3W#5. including atmos. and, god help us, visi-lad.
god, i love that sourcebook. a RLLY good read, unlike most of those sorts of things.
HA! confirmation 'word': doxingdi
I think claws have to count as a power. Certainly if any human had them they would be considered one, and they clearly give him capabilities that humans don't have. If you were writing him up in a game system you'd have to write up the claws.
I think given the hints about the trick answer it would have to be something like Spock revealing he is not blinded permanently because he has a second eyelid, and I don't remember any such things happening for Legionnaires.
Is has a nearly 100% chance of fathering/conceiving twins" considered a power?
@peter
The Star Trek encyclopedias and source books were written by official Trek people too, namely the Okudas. Still not canon :-)
However, since Atmos appeared in Lo3W, then I guess he was a 5YG (not a 5YL) member. Yuk! LOL
Confirmation 'word': allverse (is that related to the multiverse? LOL)
"Is has a nearly 100% chance of fathering/conceiving twins" considered a power?"
Bing! Bing! Bing! We have a winner! It's lame, but the Winathian "powerset" consists of almost the entire population being twins, including the ridiculous for Terrans different gender identical twins.
While the Legion has fought three at least partial Winathians, none were functioning as twins; Lightning Lord has no twin (at least not yet...) and note the retcons that make his being a singleton a significant aspect of his character/development in that he's considered crippled on Winath for not having one (which is an argument for twins being the "power"). Lightning Lad as Starfinger had him using a gimmicked up robot arm, and Validus was both a retcon to partial Winathian status and unknown to his twin (and vice versa).
Note that this "power" was a retcon; Ayla's first appearance was the first time we knew Garth had a twin, and I don't think it was until sometime in the Levitz era that it was established that 99.9999% of Winathians were twins.
Tying this question in with the current Earth status quo, I'm wondering if there's a fair amount of xenophobia throughout the UP. There don't seem to be that many folk from the common powered planets showing up elsewhere, nor does there seem to be much interbreeding between them. Of course, it's unknown which power genes are dominant, particularly as compared to others, or how hard it is for the genetically diverse humanoids to interbreed.
Still, I am now curious what you'd get from a Winathian-Carggite cross; two identical twins that'd each split into three identical bodies or one kid who'd absorb the twin in the womb and be able to split into six. : -)
Tom, I don't think the wording of the question allows for your trick answer, since the Legion did fight someone from Winath. The question doesn't say the enemy had to be using the power from the world in question.
Obviously, it's your question, but the way it's phrased...
Technically you're right. But on the other hand, the question does emphasize the sharing of an ability and "common-powered". My intent would've been better phrased as "fought someone from that world who has, and preferably used, the common ability".
So I don't count Mysa as the Hag as fighting a Naltorian, since she neither has the common Naltorian ability nor used it when fighting the Legion. Mekt doesn't have the Winathian ability. Garth as Starfinger was using an artificial power vis a vis a souped up robotic arm. Validus was also using a non-Winathian powerset, and was unaware he was a twin.
It's admittedly borderline in several ways, due to the nature of the "ability", but if the Legion fought Winathians, they should really be fighting twins, not single members. Remember, I did say it was something of a trick answer, and that some folk disagreed with it counting.
How do you know Mekt doesn't have the power to father twins? Has it been shown that he doesn't? He himself is not a twin, but he himself may be able to father twins.
As for that being a power...
Superhero Winathian #1: Here we come, to save the day!
Officer: How do you plan on stopping the theft of the food banks, sir?
Superhero Winathian #2: Why, we'll use our power of fathering twins!
Officer: Great. More mouths to feed and create more problems for the food bank.
The WInathians don't seem to consider their power birthing twins (note: in the DC universe, for all we know the mother's egg splits post fertilization and then one of the embryos may change gender), but being twins. Note that Mekt was considered weird, an outcast, etc. for not having a twin, not Ranzz pere and/or mere for not birthing twins.
You said Mekt doesn't have the ability. That is what my question was about. What makes you think he doesn't have the ability to have twins?
You're assuming the power is to "father twins". From a quick check of Wikipedia, it appears the father has zero to do with twins, other than providing multiple sperm. As noted in my last post, the way the Winathians react to Mekt indicate that they consider their ability *being* twins rather than parenting them. Mekt is shunned due to not being a twin; his parents aren't shunned for not having a twin. Given that identical twins are created by an already fertilized embryo splitting, non-biologist me could see the ability being individual embryo splitting in the womb, so Mekt would've not had that ability. That would also sync with Garth and Ayla supposedly being "identical" twins despite the gender difference.
Ah, but Garth and Imra's kids weren't born on Winath, of two Winathian parents, which implies a possible dominant/recessive genetic link, possibly like gender, tied to the father's....and we're probably thinking about this too much. :-)
Thank you, Jonathan :-) Since Imra is not Winathian and the Titan birth is generally a singlet, then is must be from the MALE Winathian that produced both sets of their twins.
And being a twin is hardly a "power" or ability. Producing them can be an ability, but I'd hardly call it a power.
Some Terrans produce twins. Does that mean they have a power to do so? Or for those twins, since they are twins, that they have the power of being twins?
Darrell, I'm just going by what the books say. In the Legionverse, if you asked someone "What's interesting about Winathians?" you'd get back "They're all twins" (yes, technically not all, but this is your random UP citizen on the streeet). And the way the Winathians treat singletons is to shun the singleton, not the parents, which indicates some form of comic book biology where the fertilized embryo becomes twins and is given the "responsibility" for becoming such. We already know there's something funky going on since Garth and Ayla are supposed to be gender different identical twins.
So if someone (Mekt) is not a twin on Winath, Winathians consider them not to have the fundamental aspect of being Winathian, namely *having* a twin. Not parenting twins, but having a twin.
Yes, this is rather silly and definitely a borderline "power". But it is what the text says is the planetary common "power/ability".
Being twins isn't a power or ability because it's not something they can do. So if it counts as a power at all, the power is the ability to have twins, not that they are twins. But I'd be very surprised if the Legion never fought twin Winathians anywhere.
At any rate, I think Gates' claws are at least as good an answer as this. (Of course, for the same reasons as for Winath, the power would be "the use of claws", not just having claws.)
Well, since it's been quite a while and the answers aren't posted yet, here is the answer to my question (#5):
Q- When was "Lar Gand" revealed as Mon-El's real name?
A- In Superboy v1 #129, on a text page following his origin reprint.
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