The Justice League Needs a New Leader, and 1 Surprising Hero Deserves the Role

Warning: Spoilers for Amazons Attack #6!

The queen to whom Wonder Woman answers, Nubia, just proved why she’s fit to be the next leader of the Justice League. While Nubia may be a more obscure name for some readers, Wonder Woman’s Amazon sister has slowly gained newfound fame in more recent years following her coronation as Queen by the Amazons. Included in the character’s new exposure is a staring role in the Amazons Attack miniseries.

Amazons Attack #6 by Josie Campbell and Vasco Georgiev sees Queen Nubia lead the charge in a way befitting of a future Justice League leader. Wonder Woman has been a staple of Justice League lore for decades, and even Superman would argue an Amazon could be the best fit for the League’s leader.

However, all things considered, the Amazons Attack series as a whole has illustrated that Queen Nubia is not only on Wonder Woman’s level, but she may have surpassed her sister. With that in mind, everything that Nubia brings to the table in this series makes her the perfect choice as the leader for a new version of the Justice League.

How Queen Nubia Surpassed Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman’s Sister Deserves a Spot in the League

Before becoming Queen of the Amazons, Nubia made her debut in 1973’s Wonder Woman #204 by Robert Kanigher, Don Heck, Dick Giordano, and Milt Snapinn, introducing herself as the Wonder Woman of the Floating Island and claiming that the Wonder Woman title should be hers alone. She even went as far as to challenge Diana to one-on-one combat. The two fought to a draw, which resulted in the two gaining a mutual respect for each other that continues to grow to this day. Shortly after, DC revealed that Nubia was the second child molded by Hippolyta from clay, making her Diana’s sister.

Nubia’s presence would be prevalent throughout the Bronze Age of Comics, and even back then it could be argued that Nubia was not just the better Wonder Woman, but technically the first Wonder Woman. Before Diana was born, Nubia was canonically already an Amazon champion and a bonafide warrior. Technically speaking, Nubia acquired the credentials to lead the Justice League long before Wonder Woman even joined the flagship team. It’s no wonder that Nubia understands that the Amazons must be a beacon of hope before anything else

Wonder Woman has always served as a symbol of hope and peace for a world that desperately needs both, but Nubia started putting that role into practice long before Diana ever did. As such, she understands the qualities that the Wonder Woman mantle must represent — and what Amazons as a whole need to represent for the world — better than most. That worldview is hard to come by for any hero or any Amazon. That perspective is vital for a leader — especially a leader of the Justice League.

Why Nubia Has What It Takes to Lead the Justice League

Panels from Amazons Attack #5 by Campbell, Georgiev, Alex Guimarães, and Becca Carey

For those doubtful that Nubia has what it takes to lead the Justice League, one ought to look no further than the aforementioned Amazons Attack series, where Nubia essentially leads a super-team of Amazons that’s equivalent to the League. The likes of Yara Flor (now officially Wonder Girl), Faruka of the Bana-Mighdall, other high-profile Amazons, and even Mary Marvel join the fray in the fight against Asylum as led by Nubia. Of course, it helps that Nubia is already the Queen of the Amazons, hence why taking orders from her comes so naturally for the charging Amazons.

However, any super-team demands a strong leader to get such an influx of personalities to work together in harmony. Nubia is such a leader, someone who understands that her people, including separate tribes of Amazons, are at their best when everyone is united as one team. Nubia has proven time and time again that she has a commanding voice that anyone would be willing to charge into battle for and take orders from. Even with a tongue sharp enough to cut down Superman, Nubia’s war cry is thunderous enough to inspire any soldier in her ranks.

Again, Nubia’s leadership skills are on full display during the series, but especially during the final issue’s concluding fight, in which she leads the Amazons against the villain Asylum. Seeing Nubia lead the charge and save the day through an “AMAZONS ATTACK!” battle cry really puts in perspective just how good Nubia is at what she does. Queen Nubia embodies the spirit of the Amazons in a way that only Wonder Woman has done as strongly. If this is what she can pull off with her Amazon kinship, there is no telling what she can do at the helm of her own version of the Justice League.

Nubia Has Already Won Over the Justice League

Art from the Nubia & the Justice League Special #1 Story “New Salvation” by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Amancay Nahuelpan, Tamra Bonvillain, and Pat Brosseau

If there ever comes a day when Nubia does make her way into the ranks of Justice League leadership, she won’t be entering the team as a stranger. Nubia & the Justice League Special #1 sees Nubia team-up with several members of the League. She wins them over so strongly that they basically beg her to join them at the story’s conclusion. While her time with the team wasn’t permanent, her inclusion made her the Justice League’s best recruit in years. The team immediately warms up to her upon meeting, so getting the DCU’s most powerful heroes to follow her as a leader should come with ease.

Without officially, permanently lending her assets to the Justice League, Nubia is already a person of interest in demand by the League. If not for the fact that the Justice League has temporarily ceased operations following the conclusion of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (which commenced not long after the Nubia team-up one-shot), the League likely would have doubled back by now to try to make Nubia a permanent member already. Nubia has the vote of confidence from the world’s best superheroes.

It’s not hard to imagine how that collective vested interest from the Justice League in Nubia’s membership could one day evolve into a leadership invitation from the team. The Justice League will eventually return to the forefront of the DC Universe, but when it does, it shouldn’t be the same usual suspects. The DC Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman can surely still be included, but such a dramatic hiatus means that the classic team shouldn’t return to business as usual. Such a move would beg readers to ask what the point of dissolving the Justice League was.

The Justice League Is Destined to Return with a New Leader

Nubia Could Lead the DCU’s Next Era

The Justice League needs to feel different upon its return, both to captivate the interest of readers and to justify the team’s intentions to “rethink the Justice League.” As Batman illustrated in Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 by Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval, Jack Herbert, Daniel Sampere, Giuseppe Camuncoli, and more: “It needs more than just new members. It needs to find a new mission. A new legacy.”

Few heroes are qualified to lead a team with such rich history in a new way as Nubia is. If Nubia carries the same mission statement for Amazons as she does for the Justice League, her leadership potential could lead DC into a whole new era of storytelling.

Amazons Attack #6 is available now from DC Comics.