JUSTICE INC. SUPPORTING CAST
Justice Incorporated have had a range of friends and allies supporting them over the years. These are some of the more important ones.
Justice Incorporated have had a range of friends and allies supporting them over the years. These are some of the more important ones.
A writer inspired by the Mystery Men he read about, Jonathan Law donned a costume and began fighting crime in New York City. As the Tarantula, Jon served with the wartime All-Star Squadron for the duration of the Second World War. He retired his costume at some point in the late 1940s and settled down and got married. Around this time he had an affair with his All-Star Squadron teammate Danette Reilly (aka Firebrand), which unknown to Jon resulted in a child. The girl was secretly put up for adoption and Jon would not learn the truth until decades later.
Jonathan achieved some success with the publication of Altered Egos: The Mystery Men of World War II, published in the 1960s. Jonathan had a son, also named Jonathan, who decided to follow in his father's heroic footsteps and adopted the Tarantula identity for himself. The second Tarantula's heroic career was tragically cut short when he was killed by the villainous Dr. Trap. The tragedy cost the elder Jonathan his wife, who divorced him shortly after their son's death, and his daughter-in-law and infant grandson when the former cut off all contact with Jon, blaming the father for her husband's death.
Jonathan's grandson, Jon Junior, would reconnect with his grandfather two decades later when he sought out details on his father and learned of the family's heroic legacy. Jon Junior later decided to also become a hero, initially calling himself the Web but later taking on the Tarantula mantle with his grandfather's blessing. When the new Tarantula joined the New York City-based hero team Justice Inc., the elder Jon began assisting the heroes in a supporting role.
Justice Inc.'s headquarters was hidden underneath a superhero-themed museum and Jon took on the role of administrator to the museum. In this position he helped maintain the secrecy of the team's headquarters and also provided logistic support to the team, even occasionally engaging in field work to help the team despite his advancing age. Jon Law nearly suffered another tragic loss several months later, when a bizarre time-travel incident resulted in several alternate reality versions of his grandson appearing in New York City. This culminated in a fight between Tarantula and an alleged future version of himself which appeared to lead to Jon Junior being murdered by this future self.
In reality Tarantula had been saved by another of the time-travel alternate reality versions of himself. The elder Jon Law helped both Jonathan Junior and the time-displaced version of him establish new identities in order to maintain the illusion that Tarantula was dead (see Renegade and Zodiak). When Justice Inc. founder Quiksilver, believing that Tarantula was actually dead, established the charitable Jonathan Law Jr. Foundation he asked Jon to become its director. To honor his "late" grandson, Jon agreed and ran the Foundation while continuing to operate the Hall of Justice Museum.
Just before Vandal Savage kidnapped Justice Inc. and made everyone think they were dead, Jon Law suffered a minor stroke and was taken to hospital. When he regained consciousness in the hospital days later, he found his world in ruins. Justice Inc. was believed dead, the island and museum were destroyed, and Savage was in control of the Foundation's resources. Not wanting to work for Vandal Savage, Jon quit as the Foundation's director, even refusing any severance package or pension, and moved to Blüdhaven. His initial intent had been to go back to Gotham City, but the city was still recovering from a plague, and a short time later the city was devastated by an earthquake.
The stroke, combined with the trauma of what had happened to Justice Inc., had caused Jonathan to suffer from partial memory loss, including the knowledge that his grandson had faked his death. When Justice Inc. turned up alive, the leader Mindblade offered Jon a position with the restored Foundation, but New York City and Justice Inc. now held too many painful memories so he declined the offer and stayed in Blüdhaven.
Jon later recovered some of his lost memories, including that his grandson was still alive under a new identity. He contacted Joshua briefly to let him know, but has deliberately kept his distance to not draw the attention of Death Spider.
In his prime Jon Law was a skilled athlete who maintained a good physical condition. He was adept at acrobatics and made use of his Tarantula gear to climb and swing to get around. Jon was also skilled in basic hand-to-hand combat. As Tarantula he carried around a Webgun which fired a fast-hardening synthetic fiber he would use to create lines to swing with or to ensnare opponents, and his costume was equipped with special suction cup-like attachments at various points that let him adhere to surfaces and climb like his namesake.
As he grew older Jonathan's physical condition deteriorated some, but he still tried to keep in reasonable shape for a man of his age. After his stroke, Jonathan lost some of the use of his legs and needed a cane to get around.
A team of young heroes-in-training inspired by Justice Inc.
Streaky is an anthropomorphic kitten who was born of ancient Egyptian magic and further evolved by later exposure to other powerful magic. Streaky was initially born from Cat invoking the Egyptian cat goddess Bast for assistance in saving her teammate Quiksilver. In response to the plea Bast created a vessel to contain Quiksilver's soul, a vessel in the form of a small grey female kitten with a lightning-shaped streak of white fur. After Quiksilver's soul was transferred into a new body cloned from his original the kitten remained, by all appearances now a completely normal kitten. Cat adopted the kitten and named her Streaky, treating her almost as a daughter.
Streaky became a mascot for Justice Inc. and could be found wandering around the headquarters when she was not being fawned over by Cat. When the villain Vandal Savage captured Justice Inc. and exiled the team to deep space while destroying their headquarters and faking their death on Earth, Streaky was exiled alongside the heroes. While off in deep space Streaky was exposed to a powerful magical artifact which transformed her from a normal kitten into an anthropomorphic humanoid cat, though still a child. Cat was ecstatic to have a "real" daughter now, and Streaky returned to Earth with Justice Inc. when they were rescued by their allies.
Back on Earth, Streaky remained with Cat when she became leader of a group of intelligent humanoid animals. When Cat later had to leave and returned to Justice Inc. she brought Streaky back with her. Streaky is still living with her mother at Justice Inc.'s New York City headquarters.
Streaky does not possess any unusual abilities, beyond being a humanoid cat. In spite of, or perhaps because of, the fact she was created by Bast at Cat's request, tests show that Streaky appears to be Cat's actual daughter, at least genetically. In this case it is possible, even probable, that as she grows older she may develop many of the superhuman level physical traits that Cat possesses. For now Streaky possesses the skills and abilities of a four year old human child.
Pandora is the name given to the Artificial Intelligence that monitors and supervises Justice Inc.'s headquarters in New York City. When Justice Inc. returned from their exile in space they needed a new headquarters and so acquired a large skyscraper, with the upper floors renovated to serve as the new base of operations for the team. With a complex new headquarters as well as the more conventional office space in the building, Justice Inc. needed a majordomo to oversee the day-to-day operations there. Returning team member Metalmorph proposed they turn these responsibilities over to the advanced computer systems that had been installed in the facility.
Working with S.T.A.R. Labs experts, Metalmorph programmed an Artificial Intelligence system designed to run the headquarters. Due to using cutting edge hardware and the most advanced techniques in its creation, the AI would develop sentience soon after coming online and it would choose to present itself with a female persona, taking the name Pandora.
Pandora became an invaluable asset supporting Justice Inc., not only by helping manage Justice Tower but also providing assistance to the team in the field. Thanks to network connections to government systems and to S.T.A.R. Labs, Pandora could perform searches and retrieve valuable information for the team at high speed in critical situations. As part of her regular functions Pandora monitors the electrical, mechanical, environmental and security systems for Justice Tower. She also occasionally serves as babysitter to Streaky when the rest of the team are off on a mission.
Pandora frequently makes use of a holographic avatar to interact with people and Justice Inc. and their allies consider her a member of the team.
Pandora is a synthetic entity, a fully sentient Artificial Intelligence that is considered a true individual. She exists inside the computer network of the Justice Tower, but can interact with remote computer systems as long as there is a network or Internet connection she can leverage to connect with it. Inside of the Justice Tower, Pandora can remote control a series of drones that handle routine maintenance of the facilities as well as more advanced security systems that are used to defend the headquarters against attacks. As a purely digital entity, Pandora can act at the speed of thought, with the primary limitation on her reaction time being the speed of the networks she uses to interact with the outside world.