In 1997, DC Comics launched a new Justice League series titled JLA, written by Grant Morrison with art by Howard Porter and inker John Dell.

This series, in an attempt at a "back-to-basics" approach, used as its core the team's original and most famous seven members (or their successors): Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner), and the Martian Manhunter.

[5] Morrison introduced the idea of the JLA allegorically representing a pantheon of gods, with their different powers and personalities, incorporating such characters as Zauriel, Big Barda, Orion, the Huntress, Barbara Gordon (the Oracle), Steel (John Henry Irons), and Plastic Man.

[6] Under Morrison, the series pitted the League against a variety of enemies including the White Martians, renegade angels, a new incarnation of the Injustice Gang led by Lex Luthor, and the Key.

Morrison's run culminated in an arc titled "World War III", which involves the New Gods preparing the Earth for battle against a creature known as "Mageddon", a super-sentient weapon of mass destruction.

Enemies faced by this new JLA included an invading army of aliens, a malfunctioning war machine from the future, a horde of renegade angels, a newly reformed coalition of villains as a counter-league, mercenaries armed with individualized take-down strategies for each superhero, various cosmic threats, and the enraged spirit of the Earth itself.

Developments from a hero's own title (such as the new costume and electric-based powers temporarily adopted by Superman in 1997–1998) were reflected in the League's comic book, however.