While working on Earth for a few months under the alias of investigator John Jones, the Martian Manhunter crossed paths with Batman.
Both were pursuing a group of dangerous conspiracists who believed in the existence of a powerful alien being that would cause the end of mortal free will. Together, the two heroes began to look for other vigilantes who had also intercepted the dozens of branches of this same group.
Batman contacted the sorceress Zatanna, who found evidence of the creature's arrival in various prophecies scattered among thousands of pagan groups over the centuries. Many were even in languages that could no longer be translated, which led the detective to contact the greatest linguist he knew, Wonder Woman. Thanks to the gifts received from Hestia, she easily translated all the records.
Martian Manhunter turned to Superman, who found records of a creature matching the prophecies' descriptions in the Fortress of Solitude's zoo. Then, Green Lantern reluctantly contacted his old allies from the Green Lantern Corps to locate the creature, but the communication was interrupted when the monster took possession of the bodies of those responsible for the Corps' communication.
Flash contacted the Gotham vigilante, with whom he had worked alongside during his years as a Titan, and warned that the creature had already reached Star City, having manifested small copies of itself to keep some local scientists under control. Finally, the young Kendra Saunders, who had recently been acting as the vigilante Hawkgirl, revealed that she had been haunted by visions warning about the event, which could no longer be ignored. She had the key to defeat Starro, the Conqueror.
The Justice League's performance in their battle against Starro in the Gobi Desert was a worldwide success. The creature's defeat ignited a long-abandoned spirit in humanity, as the last super-team to have operated around the globe had been the Justice Society. Together, this group of superheroes understood that they could be the key to unifying humanity through a shared feeling of hope.
The Justice League was founded and chose to operate independently of any Earth government, while still seeking to maintain a good relationship with the United Nations. Famous private companies supported the heroes' decision, such as Wayne Enterprises, which provided its newest satellite for the team to use as a base of operations, the Watchtower. This greatly displeased the U.S. government, which, led by Secretary of Defense Amanda Waller, sought to undermine the superhero team's right to operate.
To end Waller's persecution, the Justice League gathered evidence about the existence of a secret task force organized by the Secretary and formed by blackmailing dangerous members of the American prison system. The evidence was only obtained with the help of an agent infiltrated in the group, the heroine Vixen, who, after being sentenced as innocent for her contribution, was invited to join the Justice League.
The power offered by the superhero team was so great that certain nations around the world showed interest in hiring the League's services, which they certainly refused. However, this offered a business opportunity for the Weapons Manufacturer Professor Ivo, who studied the League to replicate their powers in an android that could be capitalized on: Amazo.
When the lunatic Doctor Destiny altered the reality of Metropolis, causing widespread chaos that made it impossible to distinguish between dream and reality, thanks to the newly acquired Dreamstone artifact, the League was the only one capable of intervening. They acted alongside one of the city's protectors, Black Lightning, who sought to keep civilians safe. Thanks to his fundamental role in John Dee's defeat, the team invited the hero to join the group.
The superhero team's presence in local wars, such as in Qurac, completely affected global geopolitics, which made them the main target of the Quracian Empress Beatriz Zazzala. Now in control of the HIVE, she began to offer anti-Justice-League weaponry to all countries that decided to join her in her endeavor against the team.
The group also contained Despero's presence on Earth, offering themselves as his champions so that he would stop trying to conquer the planet. Fighting each other in a tournament to keep the alien entertained, Batman—who had been dismissed from the tournament by the tyrant due to his fragile human nature—infiltrated the ship and was able to free his colleagues, so that together they could expel Despero from the solar system.
Flash begins to be pursued by a mysterious figure. Hunter Zolomon is a former Star Labs employee who gained powers thanks to the same lightning bolt that turned Wally West into the Scarlet Speedster, and now he has become obsessed with getting closer to what he believes is his "counterpart." Using his powers, he ends up discovering not only the hero's secret identity but also the identities of everyone around him, becoming a personal stalker with information on every member of the Justice League. This is until Hunter is captured by Vandal Savage, an eccentric millionaire who plans to use these secrets to defeat the Justice League.
The Japanese heroine Doctor Light once sought help from the Justice League, as the Acolytes of Light had warned her that darkness was about to manifest on the Terrestrial Plane through the presence of the evil Eclipso. He slowly bewitched each member of the group, using illusions to guide them into the darkness. Wonder Woman and Doctor Light fought hard to reach the original Obelisk in Tokyo so that together they could finally put an end to the creature's presence. The young hero was so skilled that she also earned her place on the team.
Vandal Savage prefers not to know the secret identities of the League members, in order to avoid getting involved in this battle on a more personal level. Instead, he unites a whole group of disturbed individuals who will do real damage by possessing the secret identities of their arch-enemies; thus, the Secret Society is born. William "The Wizard" Zard envies the sorceress Zatanna for her natural abilities. Jason Woodrue wants to seize Vixen's connection to the Red, in order to regain his humanity. Deborah Darnell is possessed by an alien crystal, which motivates her to pursue John Stewart's power ring. Mark Desmond wants to study the Martian Manhunter's physiology to further enhance his brute strength. And Aviva Metula holds a primitive hatred for Hawkgirl, a feeling certainly originating from past lives. The villains are subsequently defeated by the union of these heroes and the contribution of Black Lightning, who offered to help deal with the disturbed individuals. But he regrets it when he is faced with a dirty secret shared by his coworkers, who do not think twice before invading the minds of the Secret Society members and "expunging the evil" from their souls.
A new Justice League lineup is finally established with the entry of Doctor Light into the team and the departure of Black Lightning, after the hero had served alongside the team for 3 years.
What initially motivated him to leave his post is a secret, but one that will not survive for much longer. Jefferson Pierce abandoned the team when he discovered the Secret Pact signed by some of the original members almost 1 year before he joined the team, and he could not agree with it.
The sorcerer Felix Faust invades the Stonechat Museum to steal the legendary Ring of King Solomon, and is stopped by the Justice League, but uses the artifact's powers to keep all members of the team in an endless trance. Except for Wonder Woman, immune thanks to her uncorruptible heart, and the sorceress Zatanna, thanks to the protection sigil in her amulet. Both must work together and put their differences aside to pursue the sorcerer and retrieve the artifact, even if separating the ring from the wizard's body might lead to his death, which Zatanna is willing to do, but Diana is not.
The Justice League is summoned for a séance promoted by Doctor Fate, who believes that spirits from the past clamor for the heroic intervention of the team. A body-swap ritual is accidentally performed, and Kent Nelson connects to his ancestor Inza Cramer. While Batman invades Doctor Midnite's body, Superman is connected to Power Girl, John Stewart to Alan Scott, Flash to Jay Garrick, Vixen to Amazing-Man, Kendra Saunders to her grandmother Shiera, Zatanna to Zatara, Martian Manhunter to Hourman, and Wonder Woman to Wildcat. They are now in World War II, and along with the remaining members of the Justice Society, who do not know about the body swap, they must prevent the meeting of the members of the Injustice Society of America.
A temporal tear is created from Earth-77, and three members of the Justice Lords decide to come to Planet Earth to study its properties. Initially, the relationship of Power Ring, Johnny Quick, and Ultraman with the Justice League members is good, until our heroes realize the true intentions of the multiversal visitors, who seek to discover if our Planet Earth is fit to be invaded and colonized by their dimension, since their Planet Earth is collapsing due to climate change, caused by the actions of that society's rulers, the Justice Lords, who reign with absolute control and pure injustice.
The Royal Flush Gang, the largest organized crime group in the world, plans a heist invasion of the Watchtower, in order to infiltrate among the facility's staff and the political guests of the large charity party promoted by the Justice League at their operations base. The crime of stealing the technology behind the Zeta Tube is almost perfectly executed, if not for Snapper Carr infiltrating among the criminals. The new Justice League secretary, hired after Sue Dibny's retirement, now wants to show the group that he can also fight crime.
While attempting to seal the multiversal tear left by the Earth-77 Invasion, Batman, Superman, and Flash cross the portal to contain the growth on the other side of the crack, but end up being taken to a new dimension in the process. In this world, they are well-treated and recognized as heroes until they are taken to meet the defenders of that Earth, and are introduced to supremacist and racist versions of the Justice League. On Earth-X, Nazi Germany won World War II and began to dictate how the new modern world should be organized. To return to their universe, the heroes join the Freedom Fighters to cause mass destruction of the Concentration Camps installed around America.
Facing the villain The Key, an untamed scientist with a time-space travel device, part of the Justice League, such as Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Vixen, Superman, and Flash, end up being taken to the Wild West. To find the scientist again, who also got stuck in that time jump, they must ally with the mercenary Jonah Hex to follow the clues that lead them to The Key to get out of there.
Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, and Vixen are sent to Detroit to deal with the rising violence due to a gang war. The national hero Commander Steel is also sent by the mayor's office to enforce the law on criminals, but members of the Global Guardians are also dispatched, such as the Latin heroes Vibe and Runaway, making Detroit the stage for a new gang war, but this time of superheroes. It is J'onn who concludes that they must work together to solve the problem of local violence.
Flash and Wonder Woman go to Europe to contain a reactor explosion at a secret government base, but the Global Guardians accompany them again, represented by the Australian hero Animal Man, the Russian Rocket Red, and the Danish detective Elongated Man. There they discover that a powerful governmental agent called Captain Atom has already been recruited to handle the operation, and that the hero Metamorpho was contacted to absorb the radioactivity of the explosion. But this is not enough for Power Girl, the retired World War II heroine who now lives there in a nearby village, and who believes that unofficial experiments are being operated by the government in that area. The heroes must work together to discover the origin of the explosion. It is during this mission that Wonder Woman discovers that the wife of Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, who worked as the Justice League's secretary since the group's founding, died shortly after her retirement, but the hero decided not to contact them about her passing, foregoing his wife's official funeral and her recognition as a member of the super-team.
The death of Sue Dibny, however, brings unbelievable consequences. Thanks to a posthumous letter delivered by Ralph Dibny, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman become aware of the Secret Pact, and things may never be the same again.