Best and worst super team headquarters

[Gotham Central]

What would you consider to be the best and worst examples of the super hero team headquarters?

Personally I think that the best team headquarters is the fairly recent Justice League paring of the Hall of Justice and the Watchtower. The Hall of Justice serves as the public facade of the League housing meeting rooms, museum, and trophy room while the Watchtower is the place where the real work is done. It helps that the space based headquarters is out f reach of most villains, thus forcing them to focus most of their hostility on a ground based structure that serves as little more than a PR tool. The other thing that I appreciate about the Hall is that even though its a public place in a major city, it is never shown to be close to any other structure. Its usually sitting by itself in a park thus minimizing the risk to the surrounding city should it be attacked. (though the Metrotower on JLU, despite having ample parkland, was uncomfortably close to the other buildings in Metropolis). Asthetically I prefer the Young Justice Hall of Justice and the JLU/pre New 52 Watchtower III.

The worst headquarters, to me at least, are the crazy public skyscrapers that the Avengers and Fantastic 4 tend to use. They just seem reckless. They are everything that the Hall of Justice and Watchtower combo are not...they are insanely public targets that also manage to put the public at risk. The Baxter Building/Four Freedoms Plaza actually had tenants that frequently complained about all the destruction/difficulties caused by haing the FF in the buildings. Similarly, why would anyone agree to go to work in Stark/Avengers Tower?

 

[Trekker4747]

The Teen Titans being based on out of a T-Shaped building?

 

[Thestral]

Haha, I was gonna say Titans Tower too, because what's more awesome and practical than a giant T-shaped skyscraper, right?

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I've always loved The Hall of Doom, something about it like Black Manta and Lex Luthor's green-and-purple armored suits are cool no matter how objectively silly they might be.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Worst? That would be the 'Hall of Evil' from the Superfriends "Universe of Evil" episode. It has absolutely no defense mechanisms of any kind (it's right out there in the open), despite the fact that extremely dangerous super criminals are inside. Plus it has that goofy devil face right on there.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

It's funny how old superhero cartoons willfully refused to make any sense whatsoever.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Then again, they were made for children, and you can only go so far with that. Such as the Superfriends vampire episodes, which in both cases spread vampirism by...laser beams.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Avengers Mansion. the JLA Satellite and Titans Tower are the best. The X-Mansion/School is pretty good, but reminds me too much of Avengers Mansion. Even though they first appeared at the same time. Though being away from NYC in a semi rural setting is plus for the neighbors.

The worst, the various mountain caverns used by the JLA, the COTU and the Teen Titans. It worked for Batman because his name is Batman!!!!!

 

[Dick Whitman]

Random thought, With current communication technology would superhero team headquarters even be necessary?

Plus with characters like Superman, The Flash, and Green Lantern, etc, being able to meet up with someone any place in the world quickly, what is the point?

Its just makes them a public target for super-villains. Now the lower power level teams like the Titans I could see but not the JLA. So in that way The Hall of Justice works as their only "headquarters". Its a public embassy more than anything.

 

[Thestral]

^ Then again, they were made for children, and you can only go so far with that. Such as the Superfriends vampire episodes, which in both cases spread vampirism by...laser beams.

Well, that's not exactly fair. Avatar TLA, Batman TAS, and Gargoyles were also all made for children, but took themselves and their audience seriously. Just because it's made for kids doesn't mean you have to do it poorly or crappily.

 

[Gotham Central]

Random thought, With current communication technology would superhero team headquarters even be necessary?

Plus with characters like Superman, The Flash, and Green Lantern, etc, being able to meet up with someone any place in the world quickly, what is the point?

Its just makes them a public target for super-villains. Now the lower power level teams like the Titans I could see but not the JLA. So in that way The Hall of Justice works as their only "headquarters". Its a public embassy more than anything.

Communications would not diminish the need for a HQ. The other reason for having a meeting place is to promote the idea of "the team" as a single unit. That means all the members need t spend time together, train together, and share common tasks. This gives each member of the group an idea of what the other members are capable of doing out in the field. Groups inherently work better when they spend time together.

Headquarters also serves as a means of equalizing the resources of the team. Historically, through the headquarters, the rich members end up subsidizing the activities of the other members. Less affluent members or members not from Earth will frequently live in the HQ full time

 

[Admiral_Young]

Both the Baxter Building and Stark/Avengers Tower have upgraded security with their more sensitive areas that aren't for public access...but yeah they do make easy targets despite that. I'm guessing the pay is good? Wonder if hazard pay is part of their salaries for the people that are employees of the buildings Plus I'm guessing some take the job because there are superheroes in the building, something exciting about that.

 

[Mike Farley]

In Marvel's NYC you can get attacked by a super-villain no matter where you are. Might as well work where you KNOW there's super-security.

 

[Christopher]

Well, that's not exactly fair. Avatar TLA, Batman TAS, and Gargoyles were also all made for children, but took themselves and their audience seriously. Just because it's made for kids doesn't mean you have to do it poorly or crappily.

Absolutely right. In fact, the attitude that anything meant for children can be handled shoddily, that quality should be reserved only for adults, is quite a horrifying notion if you think about it. Surely we owe it to our children to strive for the highest quality in everything we do for them.

Communications would not diminish the need for a HQ. The other reason for having a meeting place is to promote the idea of "the team" as a single unit. That means all the members need t spend time together, train together, and share common tasks. This gives each member of the group an idea of what the other members are capable of doing out in the field. Groups inherently work better when they spend time together.

Headquarters also serves as a means of equalizing the resources of the team. Historically, through the headquarters, the rich members end up subsidizing the activities of the other members. Less affluent members or members not from Earth will frequently live in the HQ full time

There's also the matter of operational security. Communications can be intercepted. Although that rationale works best for a secret HQ, or an inaccessible one like the Watchtower.

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

Absolutely right. In fact, the attitude that anything meant for children can be handled shoddily, that quality should be reserved only for adults, is quite a horrifying notion if you think about it. Surely we owe it to our children to strive for the highest quality in everything we do for them.

I dunno, I LOVED all those crappy 80's cartoons and I'd like to think I turned out alright. I was very entertained and still think back on most of that stuff quite fondly.

 

[ElScoob]

I think the Justice League ground/satellite combo in its various incarnations (pre-New 52 comics, Young Justice, JLU) probably works best. If I had to nail down one favorite out of those it'd be the JLU Metrotower/Watchtower combo, probably due to the versatility and speed of deployment offered by the Trek style transporters (as opposed to the YJ Zeta tubes, needing a station on each end).

Outside of the practical question, I have a nostalgic fondness for the original JLA Satellite and the classic upside-down rocket ship Super-Hero Clubhouse of the Legion. The Moon-based Watchtower of Grant Morrison's JLA was pretty cool as well. And I think the futuristic Legion HQ of the classic Levitz/Giffen years--with its antigravity architecture, storage tesseracts, and tamed Computo to run the show was pretty awesome, too.

--g

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I've always loved The Hall of Doom, something about it like Black Manta and Lex Luthor's green-and-purple armored suits are cool no matter how objectively silly they might be.

I thought the Super Friends Hall of Doom sucked, with its shameless rip of the Darth Vader mask. But, Hanna-Barbera turned into such a hack company by that time, I should have expected rip-offs (like that pirate episode where the villains are using lightsaber clones).Then there's the interior--talk about a waste of space! The meeting room like the U.S. senate floor, leaving little room for whatever powered the thing.

 

[Stevil2001]

Outside of the practical question, I have a nostalgic fondness for the original JLA Satellite and the classic upside-down rocket ship Super-Hero Clubhouse of the Legion. The Moon-based Watchtower of Grant Morrison's JLA was pretty cool as well. And I think the futuristic Legion HQ of the classic Levitz/Giffen years--with its antigravity architecture, storage tesseracts, and tamed Computo to run the show was pretty awesome, too.

Yeah, the Levitz/Giffen Legion run is one of those times a group's HQ has really come alive for me. The story where it gets invaded by Computo (annual #1, "Monster in a Little Girl's Mind") is one of the best comics I've ever read.

I thought the giant headquarters the Canadian government built for Alpha Flight during Fabian Nicieza's run was really cool. Shame that when Scott Lobdell took over, he leaned heavily on the hoary and boring "the public hates superheroes" trope.

 

[Dantheman]

One thing about the Baxter Building/Four Freedoms Tower is that the Fantastic Four would conduct spacecraft launches from it....on a building situated in Manhattan!

I don't know much about New York's city codes, but I don't see this happening in real life. This is the kind of thing Bloomberg should be more worried about, rather than how much soda a person drinks.

 

[Nerys Myk]

One thing about the Baxter Building/Four Freedoms Tower is that the Fantastic Four would conduct spacecraft launches from it....on a building situated in Manhattan!

I don't know much about New York's city codes, but I don't see this happening in real life. This is the kind of thing Bloomberg should be more worried about, rather than how much soda a person drinks.

You save the city from a giant monster or two they give you some perks.