Libra (DC)
Libra is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.
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Biography
Pre-Crisis
Justin Ballantine was a male human born in the modern age on Earth.
As Libra, he became the secret founder of the group of super-villains named the Injustice Gang. By the end of the first appearance, it was revealed that their entire operation was massive feint by their organizer, Libra, to test the limits of the Transmortifier; the testing showed it simply had none. A series of 'Plan B' devices the villains had been given in case the JLA defeated them absorbed half of the heroes' powers and transferred them to Libra, who succeeded in draining half of the powers and abilities of the Pre-Crisis Flash, Superman and Batman of Earth-One. Satisfied with these results, he then turned his device upon the universe itself, hoping to become a god. While the Transmortifier worked perfectly, Libra's body could not control the massive power flow and was absorbed into the universe itself, effectively disintegrating him and spreading his essence across the cosmos. (Justice League of America v1 #111)
Post-Crisis
Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Justin Ballantine was a male human born in the modern age on Earth. As a boy, he came to lose his mother when he was 8 years old due to an alcoholic pharmacist mismeasuring medicine his mother needed. Soon after his father turned to alcoholism himself and brutally abused the young Justin on a regular basis. Justin would later use all the money he had to buy a telescope so that he could stargaze and imagine a better life among the stars. His father threatened to beat him with his telescope one night but he lost his balance and fell to his death, which led Justin to see the importance of balance in the universe. Later in his life, he came to be admitted to Opal University where his physics professor was Ted Knight. Based on Knight's idea that the stars were possessed of boundless energy, Ballantine built a special device designed to create a 'cosmic balance', draining half an object's power and transferring it to the wielder of the device, with technology based upon stolen blueprints of the Gravity Rod. (Final Crisis: Secret Files v1 #1)
After re-surfacing, he began to claim that he represented a New God who will give the bad men whatever they desire, provided only that they follow him. (DC Universe v1 #0)
He appeared to save the Human Flame from capture at the hands of Hawkgirl Kendra Saunders where he knocked her out and took the supervillain to safety. The villain was taken to the gathering of other supervillains that Libra had assembled in Central City where he offered them all their hearts starting with the Human Flame as he intended to offer him his revenge against the Martian Manhunter who had humiliated Miller eight years ago. (Justice League of America v2 #21)
He had amassed an extremely large army of supervillains, reuniting the old Secret Society of Super-Villains, and claimed to be attempting to 'end the age of heroes.' His loyalties were Apokoliptian, as he had made allusions to working for one such as Boss Dark Side, and it was explained that a New God, Glorious Godfrey, was the one to originally give him control of the Injustice Gang, and that it was none other than Desaad who returned him to physical form after his disastrous attempt to drain the galaxy's energies. He has also been directly making use of the Anti-Life Equation in his work, which seems to be the center of his professed religion, as most clearly seen when he shoved an equation-emitting helmet onto the Human Flame's head, and turned him into a Justifier. (Final Crisis v1 #3)
At this point, Lex Luthor tried to kill Libra, having concluded that Libra's effectiveness makes him too dangerous to be left alive, but the newer villain instead surrounds him with more Justifiers. He offers Luthor a choice to either swear an oath to the God of Evil Darkseid or become a mindless slave. At the time Libra is leading the Secret Society of Super-Villains at a public execution. Some savant with access to the Society's computers has been breaking codes for the Resistance, and Libra has condemned Calculator for the action. Lex Luthor is silent on the matter, but has been picked to lead the rearguard action against the heroes at Blüdhaven. He assumes it is an honor, but he does not look very pleased. A hole in the sky opens over the hanging, and as Libra tells the Society of the 'night of anguish that lasts forever', Darkseid gains the fullness of his power. Libra, having discovered, at this time, that Lex Luthor was the actual mole, attempts to kill him only to have Doctor Sivana use a device to disable the Justifiers. Luthor blasts Libra, seemingly killing him. Lex Luthor reveals that Libra was a living embodiment of the Anti-Life Equation. (Final Crisis v1 #6)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Justin Ballantine was said to have had a twin sister named Juliette Ballantine where they kept each other in balance since day one. (Deathstroke Inc. v1 #5)
After his death, his twin sister Juliette Ballantine took on the mantle of her brother and became the new Libra. In that time, she came to join the Society which began to operate publicly as an organization called the T.R.U.S.T.. (Deathstroke Inc. v1 #5)
Overview
Personality and attributes
It was said that he had a twin sister named Juliette Ballantine where the two were said to keep each other in balance. (Deathstroke Inc. v1 #5)
Powers and abilities
Those capable of focusing their will onto something else were able to resist the mind control performed by Libra. (Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge v1 #3)
Notes
- Libra was created by Len Wein and Dick Dillin where he made his first appearance in Justice League of America v1 #111 (June, 1974).
- On Comic Book Resources, writer Grant Morrison said in an interview about the characters return:
- "The reason I chose them was because Libra came from my favorite ever run of 'Justice League of America' and he's never been used again. He was a character who had stolen all the powers of the Justice League, but then couldn't handle it and ascended to some kind of screaming godhood where he became a million transparent body parts spread across the sky. So I thought if I was doing a thing about the New Gods, he'd be an interesting guy to bring back because I needed a masked mystery man to start a new recruitment drive for the Secret Society of Supervillains (sic), because they become almost a terrorist sect. Under Libra's guidance, they start doing quite bad things, even to superheroes' wives and families, crossing the line. So there's that element to the story and I needed a masked guy, who people didn't really know that well. And I remembered Libra and the fact that he is connected to this ascending to godhood thing tied him in really quite nicely. What's really going on under the hood will be revealed later in the series."
In other media
Television
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the character Equinox was seemingly inspired by Libra where he appeared in the setting of the animated television series and was voiced by actor Oded Fehr.
Appearances
- Justice League of America v1: (1974)
- Justice League of America v2:
- Final Crisis v1:
- Final Crisis: Secret Files v1:
- Deathstroke Inc. v1:
External Links
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