"And So My World Ends", one of several stories that is often viewed as marking the line between the Silver Age and Bronze Age. With a blue fire engulfing all of Mars, the Justice League arrive on the scene only to discover that Martian Manhunter adversary Commander Blanx has already won and turned Mars into a scorched, dead world with only a handful of survivors managing to escape—and his reason for doing so was purely out of greed and evil. Believing Mars' people had gone soft, Blanx offered to sell the planet as real estate, but it would only be collected if he was the last living Martian. In the end, J'onn punches him to his death and mourns his lost people.
J'onn: We were so close! After untold hundreds of centuries, we were about to find maturity... Outgrow senseless strife... Become all we might have been! And one individual, sick with the need for violence, deprived us of our destiny!
Post-Crisis:
The last issue of the original Justice League of America truly feels like the end of an era. Several Leaguers have died and only two members remain. Martian Manhunter is determined to carry on, but Vixen is sick and tired of it all.
Vixen: I don't intend to beget any more violence in this lifetime, J.J. I want to be free of the animal, and embrace the human. Maybe the League should continue. But it won't continue with me.
Justice League of America (Volume 2) #0 is a special issue analyzing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman's friendship since the foundation of the League to Infinite Crisis. It's heart-wrenching to see their relationship deteriorating due to endless conflict and tragedies. Toward the end, Superman has become a brooding whiner unable to inspire anybody, Batman is a paranoid, sanctimonious, insufferable jerkass and Diana is morally compromised and feared across the world as a ruthless murderess. They break it off right when the world needs them the most, leading to the survivors of Crisis on Infinite Earths to take matters into their own hands.
In the Lightning Saga, Superman tells his teammates about that time when he and other six Legionnaires volunteered to give their lives in exchange for Lightning Lad's. The Leaguers are appalled, in special Batman:
Batman: You were kids. Superman: No, Batman. We were Legion.
In Justice League of America (Volume 2) #55, Batman -Dick Grayson- flies the Batplane to the belt of space debris which used to be New Krypton. Supergirl -who is struggling against depression, PTSD and Survivor Guilt- has asked him to erase all what remains of her second homeworld so she can forget and maybe move on.
Supergirl: I want it gone, Grayson. Every piece, every bit. Maybe then I can forget. Batman: (thinking) Lord, I hope so. After all she's endured, her world, her people gone...
Right before Flashpoint, the Justice League of America get together for last time. Batman -Dick Grayson-, Wonder Girl -Donna Troy-, Supergirl, Jesse Quick, Jade, Congorilla and Starman have gone through a lot together and have triumphed over the kind of planet-shattering enemies the League was created for, but now they agree to go their separate ways. Dick and Donna are the last to go, and they switch the lights off before teleporting out of the Watchtower.
Right before they leave, Donna asks Dick if he thought the world would remember them. It's tough to see after Flashpoint erased not just their time as Leaguers, but their extremely close friendship entirely.
