In honor of today's relaunch of the DC Universe with Justice League #1, I thought it fitting to honor the Leagues own base of operations. Though best known for the fictional radio station WKRP, Cincinnati Ohio's more heroic, though lesser known claim to fame is that the Queen City is home to the building which inspired the Justice League's own Hall of Justice.
Cincinnati's Union Terminal opened in 1933 and was subsequently converted into a museum center. The Art Deco design would be adapted and immortalized for years to come by various incarnations of the Justice League.
The Hall of Justice was first introduced onscreen in the 1973 Super Friends series as the meeting place for the Friends and home to the Trouble Alert computer system.
Over 30 years after its original introduction, homage would be paid to the Hall of Justice in the Justice League Unlimited episode Ultimatum in 2004. In the episode, a super team called the Ultimen (whose members were a pastiche of the "ethic heroes" and the Wonder Twins created for the Super Friends series) operated out of a skyscraper which was capped with a design reminiscent of the Super Friends Hall.
When the Justice League was introduced on The Batman in 2007, the team operated out of the Watchtower satellite which resembled the Earth-bound Hall of Justice.
In Sidekicks Assemble! an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold which aired early in 2010, a flashback sequence portrayed the Justice League of America operating out of a classically designed and grounded Hall of Justice.
Later in 2010, when Imaginext created an all new animated short featuring the Justice League titled The Jokers Playhouse which paid tribute to the Challenge of the Super Friends, it was only appropriate that a redesigned Hall of Justice be included in the episode. Who knows, perhaps the modernized Hall will be become a playset coming soon to retailers everywhere.
Meanwhile, The Hall of Justice would return for a third time in 2010 on the animated Young Justice series combining elements from previous onscreen designs. In that series, the Hall would serve as a public base of operations for the Justice League with access to the lesser known Watchtower satellite.
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