Vixen

Vixen joined the Justice League at a time when it was led by Aquaman. Her uncle, General Maksai, came seeking the Totem. He held an old woman hostage, demanding Mari give him the Totem in exchange for the old woman's life. Mari complied, and General Maksai put on the Totem. But the Totem would only grant its full power to those who protect the innocent, so instead of empowering him, it transformed the evil Maksai into a monstrous, feral beast. The powerless Mari confronted Maksai and bravely grabbed the Totem off his twisted body. Her powers restored, she battled the monster that had been her uncle. Maksai died in a fall during the fight.

Vixen‘s lineup of the Justice League was attacked by their old foe, Professor Ivo, ending in the deaths of Vibe and Steel. Afterward, Martian Manhunter disbanded the team. Mari briefly teamed with Animal Man, whose powers were similar to hers, to investigate a disruption in his abilities. They discovered they both tapped into the Morphogenetic Field, also known as The Red, where they accessed animal traits. Mari returned to modeling, but a photo shoot in the Caribbean was attacked by drug smugglers, and Mari's colleagues were killed. Seeking justice, Vixen joined the Suicide Squad on an undercover mission to take down the drug ring. When confronting its leader, Mari's animal instincts took over, and she killed him. Realizing she needed to learn better control over her powers, Mari stayed with the Squad.

Mari remained with the Squad longer than she needed to due to a romance with Ben Turner, the Bronze Tiger, one of the world's foremost martial artists and a former member of the League of Assassins. After a mission to Apokolips where a number of team members and support staff were killed, Bronze Tiger had a mental breakdown. The Squad disbanded for a year and then reformed. Bronze Tiger was deeply troubled, distancing himself from Vixen and seeking out fights. Though he became more like the man he'd once been, Vixen left both him and the Squad when she realized he'd never get the help he needed to truly deal with his emotional problems. Returning to fashion, Mari not only modeled but also established herself as a fashion designer, achieving great success and building a business empire.

As Vixen, Mari worked with the Birds of Prey and rejoined the Justice League. When she and Animal Man had their powers disrupted again, Zatanna helped them enter the Tantu Totem to discover why. They met Anansi the spider-god, who said he'd changed their powers to test them, and as god of stories, he'd rewritten the Justice League's past so they never existed. Vixen escaped, gathered a new league to fight Anansi, and confronted him, threatening to destroy her Totem to destroy him, even though she'd die too. Anansi returned everything to normal, saying the whole thing was a test; he needed a champion who could fight an enemy that could alter reality, and one day, he would call upon her to do just that.

Mari returned to her home village for the first time since obtaining the Tantu Totem. She learned that a warlord named Aku Kwesi—the same poacher who killed her mother—had taken over several villages. Confronting him, Vixen found he had powers that rivaled hers, stemming from advanced technology obtained from Intergang. The rest of the Justice League came to assist Vixen, but that was part of Kwesi's plan. He used a specially treated "Vodun zombie potion" to mind-control Black Canary and Superman and turn them against their allies. But Vixen found the antidote and freed them. Vixen defeated Kwesi in single combat, humiliating him publicly and ending his dreams of power. In the process, she learned that her powers were in her, not the Totem; she just used the Totem to focus the power.