What are the Justice League members’ weaknesses?

Question

So, I started reading the Justice League comics, and Batman, being Batman, apparently keeps a hidden bunker with a sample of everyone's weakness except Wonder Woman.

Superman's weakness is obviously kryptonite, Wonder Woman's weakness appears to be Superman, and Batman's only known weakness is Batman. What are the weaknesses of the other Justice League members?

Specifically:

• Aquaman
• The Flash
• Green Lantern
• Cyborg

Bonus:

• Anything else Superman may be vulnerable to
• Any weakness Wonder Woman has had in past/alternate canons

Ultra Mega Bonus:

• Batman's weakness

Any canon is fine, but comics would be preferred. The JL from that canon also need not have the same member makeup to count.

Answer 1

This has also been covered somewhat in the animated movie Justice League: Doom, where Batman's computer is hacked by Mirror Man after hiding in the rear view mirror of his Batmobile. Cyborg plays a role in this movie, but he is not a member of the Justice League during the movie, and so is not included in the plans to take advantage of each member's weakness. Aquaman does not appear in the film at all.

Mirror Man uncovers Batman's files on the Justice League's weaknesses, including plans to neutralize them, while acting on orders from Vandal Savage. Vandal Savage modifies these plans to permanently eliminate the Justice League, and then enlists the help of several others to carry out the plans: Cheetah, Star Sapphire, Mirror Man, Bane, Ma'alefa'ak, and Metallo.

• Superman is lured to a man holding a gun to his own head on a rooftop, surrounded by a crowd below. The man turns out to be Metallo in disguise. Little did Superman know, the gun Metallo was holding contained a kryptonite round. Metallo shoots Superman with the gun and he falls from the roof to the ground, unable to be operated on by first responders due to his skin being impervious to their medical tools. From this we can deduce that Superman's weakness is kryptonite. We know from other material that Superman is also weak to magic, though that weakness is not exploited in this movie.

• The Flash is lured to a train heist, where Mirror Man has devised a special cage with a woman trapped inside. Flash can reach in and open the cage, but in so doing, triggers a metal spike that gets shot through Flash's wristbone. Attached to this spike is a bomb with a timer and an accelerometer; if Flash does nothing, the bomb will explode. If Flash runs off, and then slows down at all when he's at a safe distance, the bomb will explode. From this we can deduce that The Flash's weakness is his urge to help others, even at the cost of his own safety/life.

• Wonder Woman is lured to a crime scene on a dock where Cheetah lies in wait. Cheetah has nanobots of some kind painted onto her claws in a form of high-tech poison. When this nano poison enters Wonder Woman's bloodstream via a scratch attack from Cheetah, it causes her to hallucinate and see everyone around her as Cheetah. She therefore goes on the attack against everyone she sees. This is dangerous to Wonder Woman because, due to her warrior upbringing, she won't stop fighting until she killed or her heart gives out due to exhaustion/exertion (or wins). From this we can deduce that Wonder Woman's weakness is her lust for battle and disdain for giving up a fight, which could lead to her death by a superior foe or exhaustion.

• The Martian Manhunter is in his human form and out to drink at a bar on the pier with coworkers. A lovely woman (Ma'alefa'ak shape-shifted in disguise) offers him a drink, which he accepts, only to find out that it is laced with magnesium carbonate (a chalky salt). This compound is harmful to Martian biology, and highly flammable, even in water. Ma'alefa'ak uses a lighter to set the Martian Manhunter on fire. This combination will keep him ablaze for days, if not weeks, with no apparent way to put out the fire, and no one around knows anything about Martian physiology to offer any help. From this we can deduce that the Martian Manhunter's weakness is fire. Especially chemical fire.

• Green Lantern is lured to a hostage situation at a mine, where he first attempts to negotiate the miners' release, and then attempts to rescue them by force. In the process, one of the hostage takers is able to detonate a bomb, killing all the miners, including a woman that looks a lot like Carol Ferris (who becomes Star Sapphire, and who was the love interest of Hal Jordan, this movie's Green Lantern). This causes Green Lantern to question his ability to do his job to protect the galaxy and those in need, and to doubt his own willpower (the trait that gives Green Lanterns their strength). Little did he know, the mine was filled with thin vapors of a refined form of Scarecrow's fear gas, and the miners were all robots designed to look like humans. From this we can deduce that Green Lantern's weakness is fear, or anything that can shake his will to continue fighting.

• Batman did not have a plan to neutralize himself stored on his computer in the Batcave, so the plan enacted to kill him must have been one of Bane's and/or Vandal Savage's making. A gardener rushes to the Wayne Manor to tell Alfred and Bruce Wayne (Batman) that someone has vandalized/destroyed the mausoleum holding Batman's parents. Batman is immediately moved into a frenzy and rushes out to the mausoleum. The gardener then reveals himself to be Bane, and proceeds to beat the crap out of Batman, who is both completely unarmed/unprepared and also still in psychological shock after seeing his parents' resting place so desecrated. Bane knocks Batman unconscious, and then buries him alive in his father's casket. From this we can deduce that Batman's weakness is his psychological trauma from the past, specifically involving his parents and their death. Of course, we all know the real truth is that Batman has no weakness, so he was able to overcome Vandal Savage's plans and save the team from their own potential demises.

Since Cyborg and Aquaman are not covered by the movie, I can only posit that Cyborg, being a cyborg and largely an electronic being, could be disabled via an EMP or some kind of advanced computer virus/nanobot technology. Aquaman probably overestimates and isolates himself, seeing himself as above others due to his status as King of Atlantis, whose domain covers nearly 75% of the Earth's surface, and covers much more depth than the realms of Earthlings.

All the Justice League mentioned above are susceptible to magic, especially Superman. Without Doctor Fate or Zatara (or Zatara's daughter) on the team, they don't have much of a defense against magic. Shazam (Captain Marvel) utilizes magic, but as far as I know it's only to transform from his normal child self into Shazam, and to call down magic lightning bolts.

Answer 2

The basic scenario behind this was covered in the JLA: Tower of Babel storyline, as Jason Baker's comment mentioned. As with most such storylines, plausibility has to be stretched in order to maintain the premise of "X kills the Y group." This leads to some of these things not being true "weaknesses," in the sense of something that negates or bypasses a characters powers, rather than something to which they were never immune in the first place.

• The Martian Manhunter's vulnerability is to fire. This is a straightforward sort of weakness, as normally he is inhumanly tough.
• Superman, naturally, is vulnerable to Kryptonite. He is also susceptible to magic. He loses his powers when exposed to a red sun, or pieces of Krypton, depending on the writer.
• The Green lantern is vulnerable to wood or the color yellow, depending on the incarnation.
• Plastic Man is susceptible to very high temperatures (melting) or very low temperatures (freezing). He has also been shown to be vulnerable to chemical agents such as acetone (and possibly other solvents). Whether these are true weaknesses is debatable.
• The Flash has on occasion slipped on ice, been restrained, or been taken out through a variety of other methods. Some make more sense than others. Depending on the writer, when caught unawares the Flash may be as vulnerable as any normal human.

As for Wonder Woman's weaknesses, this answer suggests a very early one, but canonically she does not have weaknesses in the sense that Superman or the Green Lantern do.

Batman is an ordinary human being (most of the time). His strengths and weaknesses come from his psychology, rather than some external source. Is being unwilling to use firearms a weakness?

Answer 3

Batman

• Concussions: unless his mask happens to have the inertial dampers of the Starship Enterprise strapped to it, no armour can stop his brain from bouncing around his skull. Area of effect attacks that release large amounts of concussive force will be extremely effective on him, rendering him unconscious or worse. Repeated head trauma will result in cognitive impairment, rendering him progressively less capable after every such incident.

• Mask: leaves half his face unprotected. A long-range sniper could easily put a high-velocity bullet (faster than the speed of sound) through his brain stem before he has the chance to react. Best combined with flash suppressor and a non-reflective lens for the scope.

• Requires air: as a human, Batman needs to breathe, making chemical weapons an obvious choice, Sarin Gas in particular. Colourless and odourless, the Bat won't have any inkling of being exposed until it's too late. Carbon monoxide (also odourless) is a viable alternative.

Answer 4

Historically, Aquaman was only able to be away from water for an hour.

Exactly what "away from water" means has generally been left up to the writer. I believe some stories from the 1960s and 1970s have shown him "saved" by splashing a glass of water in his face. Also, the actual consequences and mechanism surrounding this were never clear, either. The way it was played, he would presumably just keel over dead once the hour was over, as opposed to beginning to have difficulty breathing, or his (presumed) gills being damaged, or something.

I don't believe this is true in the comics at present - at the very least, I can't recall any recent stories to use this.

Answer 5

These weaknesses were deduced from YouTube videos about heroes, "Justice League Doom", and common scientific, general, and superhero knowledge.

Aquaman: A silicon puddy about the size as him. The silicon would slowly dehydrate him. A puddy would be hard to move out of.

Green Lantern: There are three ways to defeat him.

1. Some how distort his vision or blind him.

2. Use fear gas to make his ring useless.

3. Trap him in a yellow room, in many incarnations of green lantern, he is weak to the color yellow. This is because yellow repres ents Parralax, the respresentative of fear.

Batman: Use his parents as a distraction to deliver a blow to the windpipe.

Flash: A paralyzing agent like a neurotoxin would make him unable to dodge projectiles.

Cyborg: Emails containing viruses(Spam) should severely weaken him.

Wonder Woman: A hologram of a villain, her warrior upbringing will tell her to defeat it, yet she can't making her continue to fight it untill exhaustion.

Superman: A red solar lamp would take away his powers.