The Extremist Vector is a Justice League Europe storyline, during the Justice League International era, cowritten by Keith Giffen and Gerard Jones, following up on a plot-thread from its sibling title. It ran from issues #15 to #19.
Blue Jay and the Silver Sorcerer, the last two heroes of the alternate world of Angor, escape from their prison in Soviet Russia. The Sorceress returns to their dead world, and BJ tries to get asylum with the Justice League. But once in her world, she is attacked by the Extremists, the villains that caused the nuclear apocalypse, and Dreamslayer takes from her the knowledge of how to open a portal to DC's universe. They wreak havok in Soviet Russia, defeat the JLE and leave. Dr. Diehard takes control of all the nuclear warheads in the world and takes them into the sky, to force the world into submission. The JLE attacks them a second time, and Dreamslayer vanishes them to their dead world. Once there, they discover that the real Extremists died in the nuclear war, and the ones they've been facing are just robots made by a self-sufficient community of robots created for running a theme park. The mere sight of Uncle Mitch, their creator, caused the Extremists to fall down to their knees, and they let themselves be deactivated. All except Dreamslayer, who was the real deal...
The Extremist Vector provides examples of:
- Actually a Doombot: It turned out that the original Extremists are already dead, and that the ones seen in this story are just robot replicas. Except for Dreamslayer, who's the real deal.
- All There in the Manual: The Justice League Sourcebook would state the prisoner the Extremists had just finished killing was Bowman, the Angor equivalent of Marvel's Hawkeye.
- Berserk Button: Wally West is easily riled up by comparing him to Barry Allen.
- Big "NO!": Blue Jay, when the Extremists appear.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Three times with the Extremists. First, they don't kill the Silver Sorcerer after getting the spell from her, and send her to Carny. They defeat the Justice League, and let them be. They defeat them a second time, and send them to Carny as well.
- Captain Ersatz:
- Silver Sorcerer and Blue Jay, who had been introduced in earlier issues, are based on the Scarlet Witch and Yellowjacket from Marvel Comics. This story introduces Lord Havok (Dr. Doom), Dreamslayer (Dormmamu), Gorgon (Dr. Octopus), Dr. Diehard (Magneto) and Tracer (Sabertooth).
- And stepping aside from other superheroes, Uncle Mitch and Wackyworld are based on Walt Disney and Disneyworld.
- Cassandra Truth: Tracer can smell that there's a living person out there. But as he had just killed the only prisoner they had, and now they won't be able to torture anyone anymore, the other villains aren't willing to listen to him, as it seems just a convenient excuse. Fortunately for him, Dreamslayer confirmed the discovery with his own powers.
- Cockroaches Will Rule the Earth: After the nuclear war, everything's dead but the Extremists and the rats. The Extremists could conquer them, but why bother?
- Didn't Think This Through: In their original world, the Extremists took control of all the world's atomic weapons, and threatened to blow them up if the world didn't surrender. The world didn't surrender, so they killed them.
- Doomed Hometown: The world of the Extremists, Blue Jay and Silver Sorcerer, destroyed during a nuclear war.
- Everyone Is a Tomato: On Angor, the Justice League find an amusement park filled with people, led by a guy named Carny. When they try to capture him, he activates a self-destruct button, revealing all those people were robots... himself included. Then it turns out the Extremists themselves are robots, too.
- Expressive Mask: Lord Chaos' mask can "smile" while killing people.
- Human Popsicle: The only other survivor of Angor, besides Blue Jay and Silver Sorceress, is "Uncle" Mitch Wacky, who long before the nukes dropped suffered a hideous ailment for which there was no cure, so he had himself put in cryosuspension until someone found one. That disease? Influenza.
- Hypocritical Humor: Flash, who is very angry about things, asks Rocket Red if the ship they're on can go faster. Captain Atom tells him to shut up, because his attitude isn't helping... and asks RR, in a lower tone, if the ship can go faster.
- Missed the Call: The request for help was initially for the JLI, but there was nobody at home except Kilowog. They had to ask those European guys.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: During their go-around with the Extremists, Metamorpho manages to temporarily take Doctor Diehard out. Unfortunately it was his magnetic powers keeping all the nukes up.
- Only Sane Man: The Crimson Fox wonders if the JLE ever decides anything quietly, while Flash, Power Girl, Captain Atom and Elongated Man have a loud discussion.
- The Reveal:
- The heroes of Angor in their prior appearances hadn't actually had a name for their team. Here, it's stated to be "The Assemblers". Probably because that's a little too on the nose, it was later changed to Justifiers.
- While the other Extremists are robots, Dreamslayer is the real deal. He was exiled to his dark dimension by the local heroes, and by the time he returned, the world was already dead. He took advantage of the robot replicas of the Extremists, as he did with the original ones.
- Ridiculously Human Robot: The robot staff of Wacky World managed to build robot replicas of the Extremists with the exact same powers.
- Sequel Episode: To Issues 2-3 of Justice League International.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Metamorpho is not impressed by Blue Jay's powers. He just shrinks and flies, that's all.