5 DC Heroes So Hardcore, They Got Fired from the Justice League

Published Aug 1, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT Derek is the Training Lead for ScreenRant. Before his current position, he spent 20 years working in games, TV, and film while also writing for several entertainment sites. Derek is also the co-host of three pop culture podcasts: Across the Omniverse, The Bad Batch, and Watch Men. There are few things worse than getting fired. Losing a job can be the first domino to fall in a series of dominoes that lead to nothing more than depression, a total lack of cash, and the need to move back in with your parents. Luckily, in most cases, losing a job is a relatively private matter. You know, your family and friends know, and your former co-workers know. But if you happen to be famous, like a celebrity or, say, a superhero, then everyone is going to find out. Even worse is getting fired from a premier company. Or superhero team. It's one thing if a hero is cut loose from Section 8, but to get the axe from the Justice League has to be one of the most painful things that could happen to a superhero, right up there with getting killed in a Crisis event or being trapped in a ship with G'nort on a mission on the other side of the galaxy. It's pretty rare for the Justice League to fire members. Usually, heroes leave when they feel the time is right or, on a few rare occasions, the whole team has disbanded for one reason or another. So when the League does fire someone, it means that the hero did something so shocking, so out of line with the League's beliefs, that there was no other choice. Honorable Mention: Everyone In The JLI Justice League: Breakdowns The Justice League International was a rather new concept for the greatest superhero team in the DC Universe. Here, the team would be sanctioned by the United Nations and members would be paid and given housing, making it a great gig for some of the heroes. But it also came with a few strings, like doing what the UN wanted, as well as taking orders from the team's monetary backer, Maxwell Lord. After a number of years together, the Justice League International began to collapse under its own mistakes and missteps. And when the team broke one too many international laws, the United Nations order them to disband, firing the members of both Justice League America and Justice League Europe. It was a hard time for many of the members, and no verison of the League has felt as much like a family since. Snapper Carr Was The First Member To Be Fired Justice League of America vol. 1 #77 When the very first iteration of the Justice League made their debut in The Brave and the Bold #28, Snapper Carr was there. It is actually because of Snapper that the League figured out how to defeat Starro, and, in return, they made him an honorary member of the team. They even supped up his hot rod so he could jet over to the League's base in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island, at a moment's notice. While sidekicks like Robin and Superman's best pal Jimmy Olsen, weren't allowed anywhere near the League, Snapper was more than welcome to hang out at the Secret Sanctuary and put his feet up on the League meeting table. At least, he was welcome right up until he betrayed the Justice League and helped Joker — disguised as John Dough, "the most average man in America — take Batman hostage and turn the people of Happy Harbor against the League. Making matters worse, Snapper even told Joker where the Justice League's secret headquarters were. Needless to say, the League gave Snapper the boot. The League did invite their teen mascot to join them in celebrating a League anniversary, but, still ashamed of his actions, he politely declined. Flash Was Put On Probation Awaiting Trial The Flash vol. 1 #327 Barry Allen, the second man to go by the moniker of Flash, was a happily married man right until his greatest rival, Eobard Thawne, the Reverse-Flash, killed his wife, Iris West, by vibrating his fingers into her brain. In time, Barry was able to move on and he even found love again with a woman named Fiona Webb. And, on the day Barry and Fiona were to marry, that pesky Reverse-Flash showed up to ruin it for everyone. Flash and Reverse-Flash raced around the world and, just as Thawne was about to reach Fiona, Barry finally caught up with him and grabbed his foe from behind. The two speedsters went from running well past the speed of sound to a sudden stop and, at that moment, Flash broke Reverse-Flash's neck, killing him. After being arrested for manslaughter, Barry Allen went to face his fellow Justice Leaguers, who would vote on whether he should be kicked off the team. The vote was three to three: Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Hawkman all voted to toss Flash out while Firestorm, Green Arrow, and Elongated Man voted to let the Crimson Comet stay on the team. Tied, the vote came down to Superman, who voted to let Flash stay, but with a catch: Flash would be put on leave and would have to wait for a final decision based on if a jury found him to be innocent or guilty. Flash was indeed found innocent, but it didn't matter. As soon as the trial ended, he went off to live in the future. And then, tragically, the Crisis came and, less than a year later, Barry Allen was dead. In a fun twist, all three people who voted to fire Flash would go on to kill way more people than he did. Huntress Was Fired For Attempted Murder JLA #39 The Justice League has a "no kill rule" except for the times they are OK with members who kill, like Green Arrow. But Huntress happened to be a member of the team at a time when the League — especially Batman — were being pretty strict about the rule, which led to a bit of an issue. When the Injustice Gang was making short work of the Justice League and their Watchtower, one of the primary targets was Oracle, aka Barbara Gordon, and it was up to Huntress to save her. Just moments after Orion of the New Gods threw General Wade Eiling out of an airlock and into the cold nothingness of space with the help of his dog, Huntress is about to kill an unconscious Prometheus when Batman shows up. Huntress tries to plead her case, but the Dark Knight had no interest in her reasoning and revoked her membership on the spot. As for Prometheus, Batman wiped his mind and left him an invalid, which doesn't really feel like it would fall under the kind of thing the Justice League would be OK with. Wonder Woman Killed The League's Former Benefactor Wonder Woman vol. 2 #219 Maxwell Lord went from funding the Justice League back when the team was sanctioned by the United Nations to running Checkmate and working to destroy all superheroes. In his efforts to rid the Earth of superpowered beings, Lord killed Blue Beetle and took over Superman's mind, forcing the Man of Steel to fight Wonder Woman. Unable to find a way to defeat Superman, Wonder Woman went after the person controlling him — Maxwell Lord — and snapped his neck, killing him instantly. The taped footage of Wonder Woman killing Lord was seen by the world and while Wonder Woman felt that she was justified in what she had done, her peers disagreed. Her peers on the Justice League decided that Wonder Woman had no place on the team anymore, but what truly made it really hard on the Amazonian princess was that Superman didn't stand up for her, even though she did what she did to save him. In theory, Superman may have felt that, with her many powers and experience, Wonder Woman should have been able to find a way to end the conflict without killing, but considering he had condoned in the moment kills in the past — he voted to keep Barry Allen in the League — this seemed to be a little unfair. Batman's Paranoia Almost Destroyed The Justice League JLA: Tower of Babel Batman is known for two things: having a lot of cool gadgets and being the most paranoid superhero. As the theory goes, the Dark Knight can beat pretty much anyone if he's given time to prepare, and a big reason why so many fans believe this is because that is exactly what he did to his own teammates on the Justice League. Often being the only member of the League who doesn't have superpowers, Batman understandably worries about what would happen if his teammates ended up going evil one day. After all, it isn't uncommon for a superhero to go dark after a bad day, and Batman knows that if someone like Superman, Wonder Woman, or Flash decides to destroy the world, it would be very hard to stop them... unless he already knew how to do it. So the Caped Crusader decided to do the pretty logical thing and built out a series of plans on how to stop each member of the League, including himself. But, when Ra'l al Ghul got his hands on the plans, the Lazarus Pit-loving villain used them to decimate the League, nearly killing them all. After taking Ra's down, the League convened to vote on tossing Batman to the curb. As these votes tend to go, it was all tied up, leaving Superman to make the final decision. But before the Man of Steel could cast his vote, Batman pulled the old "you can't fire me because I quit!" move. He's always two steps ahead of everyone else.