In “Identity Crisis,” the JLA is faced with an ethical question. Indeed, the rape and the murder mystery of Sue Dibny drove deep wounds within the superhero community. Without a doubt, the Elongated Man’s wife was beloved. Regularly, she visited the Justice League atop the Watchtower.

Because of Sue Dibny’s rape, the Justice League faced a daunting ethical problem. In addition, Doctor Light was a threat to the League and their loved ones. In order to stop the psychopath, it was going to require drastic measures. But, the JLA members who responded to Sue’s signal and took down Doctor Light were split.

Divided, the JLA put the mindwipe to a vote. On one side, Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Black Canary voted against the mindwipe. On the other side, Zatanna, Hawkman and Atom voted for the mindwipe. Decisively, Flash (Barry Allen) broke the tie in favor. Without a doubt, a watershed moment in DC history that led to a breach of trust. When Zatanna lobotomized Doctor Light, Batman also arrived on the Watchtower. To prevent opposition from the Dark Knight, Zatanna also mindwiped him.

Later, during “Identity Crisis,” Batman recovered his memory of the event. Because of the breach of trust, this led to Batman creating Brother Eye to spy on the metahuman population. As Superboy-Prime argued, the heroes stopped behaving like heroes. The consequences were the Omac Project and the “Infinite Crisis.” In retaliation for Superman’s mind-control, Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord in cold blood.

Given its intrusive nature, mindwipe is highly traumatic. Definitely, the mindwiped may end up worse off morally and personality-wise. In Batman’s case, this may explain the dark path he set upon after recovering his memory of the incident. For Doctor Light, it set him on a path to revenge. To this end, to destroy the JLA and the Teen Titans.

Later, Doctor Light accepted membership into the Secret Society of Supervillains. Certainly, it was a darker DC Universe. For its part, the JLA should have followed Green Lantern’s advice. Instead, Zatanna should have incapacitated Doctor Light’s use of his super powers. Also, to protect Sue, Doctor Light should have been sent under solitary confinement at a maximum security prison.