Nubia Queen of the Amazons joins the Justice League ... but is there a Justice League?

Nubia and the Justice League Special #1 art
Nubia and the Justice League Special #1 art (Image credit: DC)

The newly-returned Justice League will get a new member this month: Nubia, Queen of the Amazons.

 If they'll even be a Justice League, that is...

To celebrate Nubia's 50th anniversary, DC is changing her status quo by having her apparently join the most powerful team in the DC Universe. Nubia and the Justice League Special #1 is a 48-page one-shot exploring the character's reintegration into Man's World as she learns how to work with various members of the JLA.

There's no indication whether Nubia will be a permanent part of the team or if she'll part ways from the other members at the end of the one-shot, but either way, it won't matter much if there won't be a Justice League in the DC Universe for the foreseeable future. 

Nubia and the Justice League Special #1cover (Image credit: DC)

With its recent announcement regarding the first few months of Dawn of DC, the Justice League doesn't appear as if it will be an operating team for a while, and will for the immediate future be replaced by a Nightwing-led new Titans (per Superman's suggestion) as DC's premiere superhero team

So the special either occurs before Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, in the future when the team is operating again or isn't in mainstream continuity.

That said, DC's description for the Nubia and the Justice League Special one-shot teases "a bright new future" for the character, who was created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Don Heck in 1972.

Nubia and the Justice League Special #1 is written by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, and Stephanie Williams, with art by Amancay Nahuelpan and Alitha Martinez. The one-shot features cover art by Travis Moore, Mateus Manhanini, and Joshua 'Sway' Swaby.

Check out a preview of the special and a gallery of its variant covers below. 

Could Nubia joining the JLA lead to one of the best Justice League line-ups?

Samantha Puc
Editor, Newsarama

Samantha Puc (she/they) is an editor at Newsarama and an avid comics fan. Their writing has been featured on Refinery29, Bitch Media, them., The Beat, The Mary Sue, and elsewhere. She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative nonfiction at The New School.