Who is Legend (All Dudes Edition)

As I’d hoped, my previous blog post did spark some conversation about who Legend really is, with at least one name tossed out that I hadn’t considered.  Since we’ve covered all the possibilities of the female persuasion (though I did miss a few the first time out…head on back and scroll to the bottom to see who I added!), I thought I’d go over all the men-folk this time, just in case I’m barking up the wrong tree with that “Don’t blame a girl for wishing” comment.

Now, before I get started, let me cross one name off the suspect list, despite having multiple run-ins with Hex: Swamp Thing.  Seriously, the two of them have crossed paths three times over the past 36 years, but if you’re gonna try and convince me that big ol’ Swampy squeezed himself into that armor without anything oozing out, you’ve got a serious uphill battle, kiddo.

And for those wondering why the Lord of Time isn’t on here, even though he’d seem like the #1 contender for Legend due to him fucking with Hex on two separate occasions…that dude was slaughtered within the first few pages of the Justice League: Dark Tomorrow Special.  Seriously, one of them Omega Demons punched a hole though his chest.  Seems he changed his name to Epoch at some point -- a fact I learned when checking up on his status for this post -- so I didn’t know it was him when I read the comic.  Damn shame, as I was formulating an “Iron Lad from Young Avengers” situation in my head.

Okay, same rules as last time, minus the presumption that Legend is female.  Here we go...

SUPERMAN: Only a single meeting near the end of J&J’s All-Star Western run, but we’re counting it.  I don’t know about you, but I seriously doubt it’s him, if only because we already have at least two Supermen running around by the end of the “We Are Yesterday” arc.  Why add another, especially one that appears to be rather non-super?  Also, Supergirl was listening to Legend’s heartbeat to see if they were telling the truth, and something tells me she’d recognize that heart as her cousin’s.

BATMAN: Bruce had a Black Lantern version of Hex as his righthand man during Dark Nights; Death Metal, they teamed up in the Batman Giant Walmart series, he sprang Jonah from jail during the aforementioned ASW, not to mention the bounty hunter’s associations with the Waynes during the 1880s…fuck, Hex is pretty much honorary Bat-family at this point!  All that being said, there’s the same issue here as with Superman -- multiple Bats running around, so why add another? -- plus Legend’s dialogue doesn’t 100% ring true as Bruce’s.  The real clincher for me dismissing Bruce as a suspect is how he talks about Helena Wayne aka Huntress as being “Batman and Catwoman’s daughter”.  Not his daughter.  So does Bruce compartmentalize his thoughts that damn much?  Maybe.  You know who might think of Helena that way, though?

THE BATMAN OF 2050: A longshot only in the sense that he was presumed dead after his last appearance in HEX, but there was no dead body shown, and know you the rules of comics, folks.  The idea of our time traveler being the historian who found the Batcave after Bruce’s death and resurrected his legend (pun intended) after the bombs dropped in 2045 seems very plausible.  If he could find the Batcave, he might also find one of the old Justice League HQs and some time travel equipment, then try to stop the apocalypse before it happens (see what I said about Stiletta in the previous post).  We’re also back to the “helmet points as bat ears” notion, which would also apply if Legend does end up being Bruce…yeah, I’m gonna keep bringing up this vague feature until we find out who’s under that helmet.

STANLEY HARRIS: This one was suggested by Dwayne Hendrickson of Matching Dragoons, and admittedly, this didn’t occur to me prior to my concentrating solely on female suspects, and I kick myself for not thinking of it.  The time-displaced Vietnam soldier who begrudgingly teamed up with our favorite bounty hunter during HEX, Harris would eventually be given superpowers and drafted into the Dogs of War (“As far as ‘rag tag’, ain’t nobody more rag tag than the Dogs of War!” Dwayne said, and I wholeheartedly agree).  Last seen taking off into space with his team in order to head off an alien invasion, there’s nothing to say he couldn’t have gone bouncing through time afterward.  However, I will dismiss one clue that Dwayne pointed out, namely the coffee-colored sleeves of Legend’s armor.  Dwayne believes that to be bare skin (Harris being African-American), but that same color is present on the lower half of the suit, especially over the crotch.  So unless Legend has the features of a Ken doll and is walking around pantsless, I’m presuming they’re completely covered, with no bare skin at all showing.  Damn shame, as narrowing down their race would’ve trimmed the list even more than narrowing down their gender.

BOOSTER GOLD: Another suggestion, this time by Darren Schroeder of the Jonah Hex Corral and founder of the Jonah Hex, Via Pony Express Facebook page.  While I personally dismissed Booster as a cheat since he’s already a time traveler, Darren pointed out that “he’s always doing that ‘fake ID cause I don’t want to get caught or break time’ Kind of B.S.”.   Good point, Darren.  I’d still consider it a cheat, but then again, Jonah slugged Booster real damn hard last time they saw each other in ASW, so yeah, I’d want to hide my face too and avoid a repeat.

THE FLASH: Barry Allen has encountered Jonah twice, and he certainly has more than enough time-travel experience, but unless he’s become depowered, I don’t know why he’d be depending on a timeship instead of just bopping through the Speed Force like usual.  Low odds.

GREEN LANTERN(S): My mind is mainly on Hal Jordan here, but John Stewart got to meet Hex during Crisis on Infinite Earths, so we’ll group the two Lanterns together.  For sure, both Hal and John have experience with “failure and redemption”, and there’s always the possibility of them losing their rings and having to rely more on tech.

HAWKMAN: Same rationale as Hawkgirl, this time via his former incarnation of Nighthawk.  On a side note, do you realize how damn nuts it is that Jonah Hex knows so many classic Justice League members?  I bet there’s actual people in the League that haven’t met as many as him!

STEVE TREVOR: In case you didn’t look back at the previous post for my revision, I added Wonder Woman and a few others due to Hex running into them in the Walmart Justice League/Wonder Woman Giant titles.  One of the few men in that storyline -- other than ol’ Jonah, of course -- was Steve Trevor, and though they barely even spoke to one another, I’m adding him to this list just to be a completist, as I seriously doubt he’s Legend.  Be a nice surprise, though, giving him some character development unrelated to the Amazon.

JOHN CONSTANTINE: Near-zero odds because Legend doesn’t swear enough, plus Constantine isn’t one to rely on technology.

Okay, pretty sure I’ve got all the angles covered this time.  Once again, comments are encouraged, and more posts will come when we learn anything new regarding Legend and/or Jonah Hex.  Really hoping we get something in the next JLU issue, because I hate waiting!