You could also have them have already been employed for a bit and gloss over their recruitment as something that had already happened.
@Sanity43217 Just gotta change the background character, doesn't need to be somebody tied to your hero or with similar powers. I need some randoms LOL. And JL Dark wasn't a thing yet, just a few of the groups from around the world in the early 90's. I'd put him in JL Europe. Daemon Hellstrom was a favorite back in the 90's too so I'm looking forward to this!
@NubianLegend Booster Gold often had corporate sponsors so it's not out of the realm for DC. Every now and again Lex Luthor will sponsor one or more heroes.
@Bounce Sent you some ideas on Discord! I generally write out GL's cause of how OP they can be, but there's a few options in DC with similar moves and power sets.
___________________________________
As far as background heroes, if anybody needs any ideas for complete randoms here's a list of a dozen or so characters.