Justice league: Gladiators

So this would have been wild. Long story short, when I was first fleshing out the unnamed universe, I came up with a kinda sub-story about Hawkman. This was way back when Hawkgirl was a main part of the original era Justice league.

 

So the story behind these characters is this. Hawkman had seemingly disappeared from Earth without a trace. Though this wasn't massively out of character, it was unlike him to not tell Hawkgirl where he was going and why. Cut to Hawkman, battered and bruised, in an alien arena squaring off against alien gladiators. No wings, no mace, just his bare wits and whatever weapons he could scrounge from the arena floor.

 

So we'd follow Hawkman for a bit, and finally, he'd be pitted against a familiar face, Aquaman. Somehow, word had reached the Justice league that one of their members had been sighted on Warworld, a planet controlled by the tyrant ruler Mongul. It would turn out that Mongul's minions had been going planet to planet kidnapping beings they thought held potential as gladiators. Hawkman had been one of these individuals. So the Justice League caught wind of this and hatched a plan. Being from warrior races, Aquaman and Wonder woman decided they would be best suited to go and retrieve Hawkman.

 

So the two somehow managed to infiltrate the Grand Championship, the main contest for the gladiators to win Mongul's approval and mercy. They battled their way through the ranks and finally came up against Hawkman, in what was called a group battle, where multiple gladiators would fight each other for a place in the grand finale against the Grand Champion, an unnamed warrior who was said to be the strongest gladiator to ever live. I think you can see where this is going.

 

So long story short, the three members of the Justice league team up, and start causing trouble in the arena. They beat the other fighters, and the arena falls silent. Then a single person clapping is heard throughout the arena. Surprise surprise, it's Mongul. He goes off on some monologue about how there's no big meaning behind all of this, and he simply did it for his own amusement. He wanted to see who the Justice League of Earth considered to be their champions, their strongest members. So he snatched Hawkman, and allowed images of him in the arena to work their way back to Earth, knowing the Justice league would undoubtably come to free him.

 

He then offers the trio an ultimatum. If they can beat the Grand Champion in the arena, they will have won their freedom, and will be free to leave Warworld. If not, they will be bound in servitude to Mongul for the rest of their lives. Y'know, classic big fight stakes. The trio agree, and say they will face this Grand Champion in combat. Mongul smirks, and leaps down from the stands into the arena. Surprising exactly nobody (the readers, those in the story are gobsmacked) Mongul reveals he is the mysterious Grand Champion. Naturally, by working together, our trio of heroes turned gladiators beat Mongul, though not without considerable effort, and win their freedom. As Mongul is a man of his world, he lets them leave and return to Earth.

 

And they all lived happily ever after. Not gonna lie, I had planned exactly one small piece of this, that Hawkman would come up against Aquaman. Everything else I made up on the spot. Kinda wish I'd done something with it now...Well at least it's out there.

 

So as always, lemme know if you like what you see, and if you'd like more of these abandoned storyline type posts from me :D

Done