True Companions / The DCU

There is a reason to why they are called The Justice League!

The DCU

• Batman has the Batfamily. Batman has adopted the three first Robins — Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake — and the third Batgirl Cassandra Cain. The second Batgirl Barbara Gordon is part mother figure (to Cass), part sister figure (to Tim, Jason & Steph), part former lover (to Nightwing). Nightwing (the first Robin) grew to take the role of a Big Brother Mentor figure to Tim Drake and became a pseudo-father to Damian Wayne (the fifth Robin and Batman's biological son). The fourth Robin/fourth Batgirl Stephanie Brown is Tim's girlfriend and Cassandra Cain's best friend. Depending on the version, Huntress is either part of the gang through Barbara & Dick or daughter of Batman himself. Catwoman and Commissioner James Gordon skirt along the edges, and Alfred is Team Dad. Also members of the Batfamily are Bruce's other adopted son Duke as well as Cass and Steph's friend Harper (and her brother Cullen). There's also the Fox family consisting of Lucius, Tanya, Tam, Timothy, Luke (Batwing), and Tiffany Fox. Bruce's two cousins Kate Kane (the second Batwoman) and Bette Kane (the first Batgirl, later Flamebird) are also included. Jean-Paul Valley (Azrael) is on the out skirts. Sasha Bordeaux used to be before the 2011 reboot.
• The Flash's Rogues Gallery, the Rogues, are probably the closest knit collection of villains in comic book history. They aren't an official team (most of the time) but they all stay in touch, throw reunion parties, look out for each other when they can, and are generally as close as friends can be. After the death of Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold starts arranging his funeral immediately, and when a young punk starts mocking the late Captain Boomerang, Cold straight up decks him without warning.
• Justice League of America:
  • Within the organization, there are some stronger bonds among specific teammates. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are especially close. Green Lantern Hal Jordan and The Flash Barry Allen are close friends, as are Green Arrow and Green Lantern, and Hawkman and The Atom.
  • The core members of Justice League International sometimes fall into this category. The perception of them as jokes or rip offs of more popular heroes by the rest of the outside world helped forge a bond between them that has lasted long after the team broke up, highlighted in issues of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. They got back together in Justice League: Generation Lost.
• Justice Society of America:
  • The four statesmen of the team (Hawkman, Wildcat, Flash I and Green Lantern I) have all lost children or otherwise had problems being fathers, as elaborated upon in the "Princes of Darkness" arc. Many other characters have parental issues, such as Jesse Quick/Liberty Belle II (dead father), Hourman II (absentee father returned from the dead), Stargirl (stepfather is crimefighting partner, father is a dead criminal) and Damage (son of the original Atom, created by Vandal Savage). Ma Hunkel, the original Red Tornado, is the maternal glue keeping the team together.
  • The Injustice Society, especially as written by Jen Van Meter, is a rare villainous example. Their actuall respect and willingness to put their lives on the line for one another are a stark contrast to The Secret Society of Supervillains.
  • In addition to the Secret Society, there is their opposition in the Secret Six whom have formed such a strong family bond that, even after Mockingbird leaves them, they still stay a family.
• The inhabitants of Dream's castle become quite close over the course of The Sandman. Similarly, the three guardians of the door (the griffin, hippogriff, and wyvern), which makes the killing of the griffin by the Kindly Ones all the more shocking.
• Easy Company, of Sgt. Rock fame. An example of Band of Brothers.
• Superman:
  • Superman's closest and most trusted friends and allies throughout his history are the Daily Planet's core staff -Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White-, his cousin Supergirl, his dog Krypto and his childhood's (girl)friend Lana Lang.
  • In the Pre-Crisis and -after Geoff Johns restored their relationship in Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes- Post-Crisis eras, the Legion of Super-Heroes were the best friends of the young Superboy and his cousin. Lightning Lad is on the record as saying "[Kal was] more like a brother to [him] than [his own brother] Mekt ever was."
  • In New Super-Man, the Justice League of China grow close to each other, even in spite of Kenan's pigheaded behavior, an early sign of which is by-the-book Bat-Man becoming willing to ignore protocol for Kenan's sake. Kenan considers them his second family.
  • In H'el on Earth, H'el was like family to Superman's birth parents, Jor-El and Lara-El. The day before he was sent into space, they gave him a copy of the family crest; making him an honorary member of the House of El. Subverted in the H'el one shot leading into Krypton Returns, which reveals this is completely untrue, and is simply something failed science experiment H'el convinced himself of to give his life meaning.
• Teen Titans:
  • The various teams in the comics are just as much a surrogate family as the animated version. This is especially true of two teams: the "original 5" (Robin/Nightwing, Wonder Girl/Troia, Kid Flash/Flash, Speedy/Arsenal/Red Arrow, and Aqualad/Tempest) and writer Dan Jurgens' team (almost all of whom were the children of women impregnated by an alien species, the H'san N'atall). Arsenal's late daughter Lian constantly referred to the various Teen Titans as "Aunt ____" or "Uncle ____" just to illustrate how close they are, but she also had the privilege of knowing all her "godparents" REAL NAMES.
  • The "core four" first four members of Young Justice, Robin, Superboy, Impulse, and Wonder Girl.
• Watchmen:
  • Rorschach and Nite Owl II have this sort of bond. In fact, it could be argued that Rorschach sees all masked superheroes as true companions, given that he warns them about a potential mask killer at the beginning of the book, even though he doesn't much care for most of them on a personal level.
    Rorschach: "An attack on one is an attack on all of us."
  • In Before Watchmen: Minutemen, there is the bond between the original Nite Owl, Mothman, and Silhouette, who decide to team up apart from the Minutemen to fight against the kidnapping and exploitation of children. When Ursula is outed as a lesbian, Hollis and Byron are the only two willing to vote against her expulsion from the Minutemen, and part of Hollis Mason's original goal behind writing his memoirs is to expose how the Minutemen's leadership threw Silhouette under the bus to distract people from their own sins.