Art by Phil Jimenez
As one of the new members of the Legion Academy, Gravity Kid (Tel Vole) is eager to help when he and fellow students are charged with stopping a wildfire for which the Science Police have requested help. As is often the case with new heroes, he and the other students bungle team work. While eager to train, he and the others haven’t learned much in this area when they’re ordered to report to a session under Night Girl.
Like Power Boy, Gravity Kid has his eyes set on high marks for graduation, yet puts his career in jeopardy because of a sense of loyalty after he and the other recruits are talked into an unauthorized trip to Phlon by Chemical Kid to check up on his family whom he thinks may be in trouble. Trouble is definitely afoot, as they learn in a surprise attack by Black Mace and other Taurus gang thugs who extorted Chemical Kid’s father’s genetic research as gambling debt payment. Despite inexperience, Tel and the others work together to defeat the thugs and free Chemical Kid’s family. Tel shows his commitment by helping Chemical Kid uncover and put an end to the larger problem of illegal “gene running” on Phlon.
In Adventure #528 Night Girl, Duplicate Girl and husband Chuck Taine rush from the Academy facility to investigate the situation at Legion headquarters after alarms are set off. They’re ambushed by Cosmic King who’s broken into the building while the remaining Legionnaires are on mission. unknown to Tel, Glorith and Variable Lad, the others rush off to see if they can help, and in turn, are surprised by the villain. Noticing something amiss, Tel reboots the security monitor system and is shocked to see his teammates and instructors attacked or unconscious. Tel takes initiative and gathers Glorith and Variable Lad and arrive just in time as Cosmic King appears to be on the verge of defeating the other students. Tel and Glorith go on the defensive but Variable Lad mounts an offensive attack that ends the rogue’s threat at the cost of his life. Tel learns from Chuck that his actions greatly increased his chances of becoming a Legionnaire. It’s Tel who surprises Chuck by leaving the Academy.
Why is Gravity Kid considered gay? There are two moments when Power Boy and Gravity Lad are seen together. The first is one panel toward the end of Adventure #523 where a shirtless Tel had briefly spoke to Comet Queen in the hall outside a lit room. A bare chested Jedidiah walks out of the same lit room after she leaves and asks Tel what their conversation was about. The second time is in #528 after Power Boy has been rejected for the Legion when later in private he confides his disappointment. Tel embraces him and tries to reassure him by saying, “I promise if you start rotting [with the Science Police] I’ll come get you and bring you home…” In #529, Tel rejects continuing as an Academy student when he tells Chuck Taine that he’s going to join Jedidiah with the Science Police because they have a “trailing spouse” position at the same station for him. Kudos to Levitz for creating not one, but two more gay heroes and perhaps our first married couple in the 31st century. Plus, Phil Jimenez designed his costume, a homoerotic update to Mike Grell’s corset costume for Cosmic Boy.
Art by Geraldo Borges or Ransom Getty
Gravity Kid first appeared in Legion of Super-Heroes #6 (2010). He has the power to affect his personal gravity or the gravity of any nearby proximity.
Read Power Boy’s entry here.
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This entry is concerned only with the version of Invisible Kid post Zero Hour. Please read the entry at 
The previous creators of the Legion books had said on numerous occassions that one of the Legion members was going to be revealed as gay. Then exiting penciller Jeff Moy spilled the beans one day and announced that it was going to be Lyle who turned out gay – but since the Legion books were getting new creators that revelation has since been shelved for the time being. Current writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have said they have no problem with continuing this eventual character trait – but unfortunately have no such plans in the immediate future due to a year-long story commitment called “Legion Lost” – where Lyle, and numerous other Legionnaires, won’t be seen for some time.
In November of 1989, the Legion of Super Heroes began it’s third series. Set five years after the last series ended, the Legion is shown to have disbanded. Issue #1 quite clearly points out that the relationship between Vi and Ayla is still alive. Being discharged from the Imsk Occupational Army, Vi writes Ayla “… and while my MIND is still confused, my HEART knows EXACTLY where I belong. I’m coming ‘home.’” With this, Vi joins Ayla on the planet Winath.
Contributed by Chris Companik
From that point on, no DC writer seemed willing to rock the boat one way or the other till Paul Levitz. Paul was well aware of fandom’s firm belief in Jan’s sexuality but angered many by including Science Police Officer Shvaughn Erin as a potential love interest. Nonetheless, the relationship seemed to be more spiritual than sexual, with Erin definitely the pursuer. It took Tom and Mary Bierbaum in LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #34 (fourth series) to rectify the question. In the dark future the story was set in, it was revealed that Shvaughn Erin had been born male (Sean) and took a futuristic sex-change drug called Pro-Fem in the belief that was the way to win Element Lad’s heart. In the economically crippled era, Pro-Fem was no longer available and Shvaughn soon reverted back to Sean. As the panels here show, it didn’t faze Jan, it was the person he loved in any case. When last shown, the couple went off to explore space together. (Someone looking suspiciously like Jan turned up in BOUND AND GAGGED #59 but only as a spectator.) In the post-Zero Hour continuity, Element Lad has yet to be linked with anyone, male, female (or reptilian) and Shvaughn is now established to be considerably older. What gender Erin was born with has never been stated.
It remains to be seen what will become of Jan and Shvaughn as individuals or a couple after Legion of Three Worlds ends and Geoff Johns begins telling new stories of whichever Legion follows.
In the 30th century, a group of super powered teenagers banded together to form the Legion of Super Heroes. The Legion were deputized agents of the law and help keep interplanetary peace throughout the United Planets. Two members of this peace keeping force were Shrinking Violet and Lightning Lass.
Not long after this incident, Ayla was also kidnapped by her older brother Mekt (who unlike his younger siblings had decided to use his lightning powers for evil as Lightning Lord). During an attempt to break free, Mekt and Ayla battled and her lightning powers were restored during the process. The battle was a turning point in Ayla’s life and she decided to rejoin the Legion of Super Heroes as Lightning Lass.
Not long after this reunion, the two both join the Legion again as it is re-formed. They continue to nurture their relationship and serve the team throughout the remainder of the series. In Legion of Super Heroes #61 (9/94) Ayla and Vi join together for a final embrace as time is warped around them and they fade from existance. “All the choices we made in our lives… ” Ayla begins. “I’m glad we’re making this one together too,” Vi concludes. In the next few moments, the entire Legion of Super Heroes and it’s long rich history are erased.
According to a story written by Robert Loren Fleming (Secret Origins #47), Condo Arlik’s birth caused seizures and a nearly fatal diabetic coma in hospital staff. Doctors believed the newborn carried a highly infectious virus that accelerated glucose metabolization, and wearing protective gear, was given an IV tube of glucose. Not long afterwards, the infrastructure of the hospital collapsed, leading to a new theory that the infant had somehow caused the building’s disintegration. The baby was sedated and sent to Earth. His parents seemed either disinterested or fearful and allowed their son to be studied in isolation by scientists.