The characters who went on to form L.E.G.I.O.N. were first introduced in the three-part miniseries Invasion! Vril Dox, Garryn Bek, Strata, Lyrissa Mallor, and the Durlan appeared as prisoners of the Alien Alliance who helped stage a breakout from the Starlag, a prison spacecraft overseen by the alien race known as the Citadel.
''L.E.G.I.O.N.''
L.E.G.I.O.N. '89 debuted in 1989 and reached issue #70. L.E.G.I.O.N. stands for Licensed Extra-Governmental Interstellar Operatives Network. This series followed the adventures of Vril Dox and his allies after their escape from the Starlag in Invasion!. Dox takes his companions to Colu, where they overthrow the Computer Tyrants running the planet. They encounter the bounty hunterLobo, who had been tracking Bek to exact revenge on him for having accidentally killed one of Lobo's treasured space dolphins. Dox smoothly and swiftly turns Lobo into a valued ally. With this group, Dox decides to form an interplanetary police force. He bases his operation on the planet Cairn after a difficult and bloody coup against Cairn's ruler, Bek's father-in-law, whom Dox shoots point blank. The series follows the rise, heyday, and fall of this police force.
''R.E.B.E.L.S.''
As a consequence of the event, the original title was replaced by R.E.B.E.L.S. '94 , continuing the same storyline with basically the same characters. R.E.B.E.L.S. '96 #17 was the last issue. When L.E.G.I.O.N. is usurped by Vril Dox's son Lyrl, Dox and those members who remain loyal to him are forced to flee in a mysterious new ship in order to regroup and regain control of L.E.G.I.O.N. Telepath comes along unwillingly. Garv, Strata's husband, unbalanced by not understanding recent events, becomes involved in a desire to get Strata back. Borb sacrifices his life in order to protect his friends from an other-dimensional army of brain-stealing entities; the very ones that had created the ship they had been fleeing in. They soon name the ship the 'Di'ib', after an old L.E.G.I.O.N. hero. The team has to fight old friends, such as Zena Moonstruk, Gigantus and Davroth. Behind the scenes help comes from old ally Marij'n and Captain Comet. The group also encounters the demonic entity Neron, who plays a critical role in the resolution of the main storyline providing the means to defeating Lyrl in exchange for the soul of a future generation of the Dox line. The heroes regain control in the last issue, with Vril using the knowledge given to him by Neron to find a way to lobotomize his son, stripping him of his super-intelligence. Dox and Stealth retire to take care of Lyrl, whose brain has been reduced to that of a normal one-year-old, while Captain Comet is placed in charge of L.E.G.I.O.N.
Post-series appearances
In the 2004Adam Strange and the later Rann/Thanagar War series, Vril Dox has resumed control of L.E.G.I.O.N. and is using droids as officers. Adam Strange is pursued by the group in the pages of his own series, framed for the seeming destruction of Rann. Former L.E.G.I.O.N. members have been referred to in the subsequent Infinite Crisis series, and many make a cameo appearance in one panel of Infinite Crisis #1, although the lineup appears to be out of date. L.E.G.I.O.N. and Vril Dox are mentioned several times, although not shown, in Mystery in Space featuring Captain Comet. Dox plays a major role in the six-part Omega Men limited series.
''R.E.B.E.L.S.'' (second series)
In 2009, R.E.B.E.L.S. returned as an ongoing series. According to writer Tony Bedard he originally "pitched it as L.E.G.I.O.N. and then the Legion of Super-Heroes exploded.... We needed a title to emphasize that, despite the distant connection to the Legion, this is its own book. We didn’t have to look far." The new series opens with Dox a wanted criminal on the run from a L.E.G.I.O.N. made up of robotic constructs controlled by Silica, a living computer Dox had designed. While a robot-based, computer-controlled L.E.G.I.O.N. had made it easier for Dox to control the behavior of his police force throughout the 80 worlds under their protection, it also enabled the Star Conqueror to wrest control of L.E.G.I.O.N. from Dox and make himself the de facto ruler of all the client worlds just by corrupting Silica. The first issues show Dox building his team based on instructions smuggled to him by Brainiac Five, a team that will be the prototype of the future Legion of Super-Heroes.
''The New 52''
In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, L.E.G.I.O.N. still exists, but it is unclear how much of its history remains intact. L.E.G.I.O.N. officers make a brief appearance in the Larfleeze backup story in Threshold #3. Stealth, a L.E.G.I.O.N. member in previous continuity, also appears in the main storyline of Threshold, although she is not affiliated with the organization.
