COMICS: More From Geoff Johns On The JUSTICE LEAGUE's Newest Member, Lex Luthor

As Forever Evil wraps up — and I don't want to totally, obviously, spoil the ending of it all, but things lead to Luthor feeling like he is the world's greatest hero and that he belongs with the world's greatest heroes, and he's going to give it a go, despite the fact that he doesn't have a code name, and he doesn't have any experience being a superhero. Ultimately, that's a big part of what he's going to deal with in Justice League, is what happens when he has an arch-enemy, or when he's going to get attacked by somebody, and they hit him on a personal level? When he puts himself out there, it becomes very clear to him that he's going to experience things, when he's on the Justice League, that he never really considered.

uthor brings the ambition to the team that they actually desperately need. It's ambition to do more than just fight villains and aliens, but also asking, shouldn't we be changing the world? Why should we be listening to them? We should be doing things differently. The world should be different. And they might not totally agree with Luthor's ideas, or the way he approaches things — which isn't a surprise — but they might agree with the content, the actual leaning behind it. So it really is driving the Justice League to evolve and change and galvanize in a way they probably don't expect. But the humor, and the tension, and the story lines that Luthor helps bring to the team are going to be a lot of fun.

I think it's about challenging things that they're told, challenging things they're asked to do, challenging the people that are telling them, you know, "this is who you are and this is your role in the world." Well, no, we're going to find our own role, and this is who we are, and this is what we're going to do. And so it's going to be more of, I think, a theological question to them, and a bit of a… you know, I talk a lot about themes for my books, and "what's our personal responsibility" is part of this. You know, collectively, what's our personal responsibility as the Justice League? Is our personal responsibility just to stop that guy who hijacked a super tank? And make sure he doesn't hurt anybody? Or does our personal responsibility go beyond that? Do we need to use our powers in ways that we might not have considered? And Luthor brings a lot of those questions with him — asks a lot of those questions. So does Shazam, on a different level.

Shazam brings a kind of innocent look at what the Justice League should be, whereas Luthor brings, I guess, a more ambitious and slightly ego-driven viewpoint on what the Justice League should be. But the questioning starts to happen. And the League's going to move forward, answering these questions and determining how they're going to work together, even when they don't want to work together, because tensions will rise with Luthor on the team — and, as you can see over on the corner [of the cover], Captain Cold. And there are some big heroes missing, like Superman. And Flash. So there are going to be a lot of interpersonal dynamics that are going to alter and change.

Well, you've got two guys that have massive, massive egos, and are used to being the alpha dog, with both Batman and Lex. And in Forever Evil, maybe Lex had the upper hand. Post-Forever Evil, they're not sure. That could be on even ground. And you've got, between these two guys with huge egos, you have some that have no ego, like Wonder Woman, who's trying to keep the peace and make decisions and help lead the team. For me, Luthor adds so much drama to the center of what the Justice League's all about. He's the perfect character to put on the team at this point, because he's going to challenge them.