Editing Legion of Super-Heroes (section)

===="Five Years Later"====
[[Image:Legion of Super-Heroes (Post-Crisis version).jpg|thumb|The Legion "five years later" by [[Keith Giffen]] and [[Al Gordon]]]]
Giffen took over plotting as well as penciling with the ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' volume 4 title which started in November 1989, with scripts by [[Tom and Mary Bierbaum]] and assists by [[Al Gordon]].<ref>Manning "1980s" in Dolan, p. 241: "Plotted by Keith Giffen and inker Al Gordon, scripted by Tom and Mary Bierbaum, and pencilled by Giffen, this relaunch of the formerly teen team of heroes and heroines broke new ground in the fictional realm of the 30th Century.</ref><ref>{{gcdb series|id=3810 vol. 4}}</ref> Five years after the Magic Wars, the United Planets is a darker place and the Legion a distant memory. However, a group of former Legionnaires worked to re-form the Legion in this harsh new universe, in which Earth was ruled by the [[Dominators (DC Comics)|Dominators]].

Shortly after this storyline began, the decision was made to retroactively remove Superboy completely from Legion history. Writer [[Mark Waid]] stated that "Because of inter-office politics and machinations&nbsp;... it was decided that there was no Superboy, but we weren't even allowed to reference him at ''all''." This left the question of where the Legion's inspiration came from without the influence of Superboy. The writers' solution was a massive [[Retroactive continuity|retcon]], in which Mon-El served in the role of paragon instead of Superboy, with several more retcons to follow.<ref>{{cite journal|last = Ford|first = Jim|title = Too Much Time on My Hands: The History of the Time Trapper|journal = Back Issue!|issue = 68|page= 68|publisher = TwoMorrows Publishing|date = October 2013|location= Raleigh, North Carolina}}</ref> Issue #5 featured an [[Parallel universes in fiction|alternate universe]] story in which the restructuring took place, and the Time Trapper was replaced in continuity by his onetime underling Glorith.

One major storyline during this period was the discovery of [[The Terra Mosaic|Batch SW6]], a group of clones of the early Legion (from their ''Adventure Comics'' days), created by the Dominators. Giffen's original conclusion for the storyline was that the clones would have been revealed to be the real Legion, and the ones whose adventures had been chronicled since the 1950s were the clones. The adult Legion's secret programming would kick in, forcing them to fight the younger Legion and leading to a fight to the death in which Legionnaires on both teams would die, with the victims' names being picked at random. Afterwards, the older team would explore the Vega System as a 30th-century version of the [[Omega Men]] in a new series while the younger team would act as the main Legion on Earth. Giffen's other conclusion was for several of the younger and older Legionnaires to die while liberating Earth from the Dominion. The older Legion would defend Earth while the younger Legion would act as the last line of defense for the United Planets as the Omega Men.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-60/ |title=Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #60 |first=Brian |last=Cronin |date=July 20, 2006 |website=[[Comic Book Resources]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126032134/https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-urban-legends-revealed-60/ |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |access-date=April 2, 2022}}</ref>

Instead, a parallel title, ''Legionnaires,'' was launched, starring the "SW6" Legion, whose origins were not resolved until the ''[[Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!|Zero Hour]]'' crossover. ''Legionnaires'' was lighter in tone than the main Legion book, and it was written by the Bierbaums and drawn by [[Chris Sprouse]]. Giffen left the book after a storyline which involved the destruction of Earth,<ref>{{cite comic| writer= [[Keith Giffen|Giffen, Keith]]; [[Tom and Mary Bierbaum|Bierbaum, Tom; Bierbaum, Mary]]; [[Jason Pearson|Pearson, Jason]]| penciller= Giffen, Keith; Pearson, Jason| inker= [[Karl Story|Story, Karl]]| story= Requiem| volume= 4| issue= 38| date= Late December 1992}}</ref><ref>Manning "1990s" in Dolan, p. 255: "Writer/artist Keith Giffen was leaving the ''Legion'' title, and he was determined to go out with a bang."</ref> and the Bierbaums continued writing, overseeing the return of several classic characters. When the Bierbaums left, writer Tom McCraw took over and made a number of changes, such as forcing several Legion members underground, which required them to take on new identities and costumes, and bringing back long-absent Legionnaire [[Wildfire (Drake Burroughs)|Wildfire]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2016}}

In 1994, DC [[Reboot (fiction)|rebooted]] the team's continuity.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Roach|first1= David A.|author-link1= David Roach (comics)|last2= Misiroglu|first2= Gina Renee|chapter= Legion of Super-Heroes|title= The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes|publisher= [[Omnigraphics]]|year= 2005|location= Detroit, Michigan|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=BlKKx5aOSukC&q=Legion+of+Super-Heroes+hopelessly+confused+Housecleaning&pg=PT678|isbn= 978-0780807723|quote= ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' continued to build upon decades of already cluttered continuity, and readers—as well as editors and writers—were hopelessly confused. Housecleaning was in order. ''Zero Hour: Crisis in Time'' (1994) was DC's answer.|page=678}}</ref> As part of the ''Zero Hour'' storyline, the Legion's original continuity came to an end in September 1994 with ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' (vol. 4) #61. The "Five Years Later" era of the Legion was not subsequently reprinted by DC Comics until the announcement of a hardcover omnibus collection scheduled for release in 2020, almost 26 years after the conclusion initial storyline.