Libra (DC Comics)

Libra
Libra meets with The Society. Interior artwork by Doug Mahnke from DC Universe #0 (2008).
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Justice League of America vol. 1 #111 (June 1974)
Created by	Len Wein (script) Dick Dillin (art)
In-story information
Alter ego	Justin Ballantine
Team affiliations	Injustice Gang The Society
Notable aliases	Equinox
Abilities	Superpower absorption

Libra is a fictional character, a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Justice League of America #111 (May-June 1974), where he formed the first incarnation of the Injustice Gang (though there had been other villain groups with similar names, like the Injustice Society and the Injustice League). Libra made his return with a leading role in Final Crisis in 2008.

Libra's only major appearance, prior to his appearance in Final Crisis, was in Justice League of America #111–112, in 1974. In 2004, he made a brief cameo in the JLA/Avengers crossover (#4) by Kurt Busiek and George Pérez.

Grant Morrison, the writer of Final Crisis, explained the reason for picking an obscure villain:

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.