Most people who care enough to read this review don't need to be told how good Justice League Unlimited (hereafter JLU) is. On the other hand, it did originally air on cable TV, so there are undoubtedly those who are just now getting their first chance to see the show now that the entire series is available on DVD. And there may be those out there who've ignored JLU, assuming it to be just a latter day version of the hilariously - even legendarily - bad Challenge of the Superfriends. That perception could not be farther from the truth (except in the ways in which it is accurate: both series do feature a team composed of DC Comics' all-stars, plus a few guys from the b-squad, and a handful of d-listers who have no business pulling on a mask and tights but at least they show up to get smacked around by Bizarro on a regular basis which is more than you do so cut them a little slack). Where Superfriends was absurd on almost every level, JLU takes itself seriously (although never too seriously) and is well animated, well acted, and generally well written.
(Another thing I probably don't need to explain but would be remiss not to: the vast majority of popular superhero comics are put out by two companies: Marvel and DC. Marvel publishes the adventures of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk, among others, while DC characters include Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash. With one very small exception, this review deals exclusively with DC characters.)
In a perfect world this review would be preceded by reviews of the rest of the series that collectively make up what fans have dubbed the "Diniverse" (Named after Paul Dini, who, along with Bruce Timm, is generally credited with heralding in the golden age of DC Comics animation, beginning with Batman: The Animated Series and running through Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Batman Beyond, Justice League Unlimited and, arguably, Static Shock and Teen Titans) but there are only so many hours in the day and my attention span can only last so many of them. JLU is the climax of the Diniverse shows, both qualitatively and chronologically, and if you see only one animated superhero TV series, this should be it (although if you have the time and inclination, the other series are generally worth tracking down, and JLU is chock full of continuity nods to the earlier shows).
Okay, with all that out of the way, I can get down to the show itself. I intend to cover every single episode of the series, so you'll understand if I don't get into too much depth, but first a few notes about the series as a whole. Justice League Unlimited is the follow up to the series Justice League. In the original series, seven heroes teamed up to fight off an alien invasion, and decided to stick together to handle threats that no one of them could handle alone. The founding members of the League were Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, the Martian Manhunter, the Green Lantern (Not the one from Superfriends, that was Hal Jordan. There are actually a lot of Green Lanterns; this one is John Stewart. Not the host of the Daily Show, that's just a coincidence. This John Stewart is black, and voiced by the incomparable Phil LaMarr) and Hawkgirl (they needed another female member - thanks to her animated appearances, Hawkgirl is, arguably, much more popular than her better-known male counterpart, Hawkman, these days). At the end of the original series, the League faced another alien invasion and found themselves outmatched, barely managing to save the day. In JLU, six of the founding Leaguers (Hawkgirl having left the team after the events of the previous series finale) have come to the realization that there are things even Earth's six (or seven) greatest heroes can't beat, and have resolved to do the only logical thing: recruit an army composed of every superhero they can get. By the end of the first episode of JLU the Justice League has over thirty members, from the iconic (Superman, Batman) to the ironic (Booster Gold, B'Wana-freakin'-Beast) that can be dispatched - in small groups or en masse - to deal with any threat that arises. They operate out of a satellite orbiting the planet and commute via Star Trek-like teleporters and shuttlecraft (paid for by Bruce Wayne, naturally).
The series consists of 39 episodes, available on two DVD sets. Counterintuitively, the first set is labeled "Season One" but includes the first two seasons of the show. The second set, labeled "Season Two" contains the third season. As I said above, the show is generally top notch, although, as with any series, not every episode is exactly an instant classic. One of the more remarkable things about the show is the level of talent involved. Many episodes are written by experienced comic book professionals like J.M. DeMattheis, Dwayne MacDuffie, and Gail Simone (if you don't recognize those names, chances are you don't read mainstream comics - or don't pay attention to the names of the people who write them) and/or adapted from issues of the comics, and the show may feature more celebrity guest voices per episode than some seasons of The Simpsons (in particular, it seems like at least half the people who've worked with Joss Whedon have appeared in at least two episodes).
With no further ado, here are the episodes. I'm only going to hit the high points, but these reviews will contain spoilers (can't really review the later episodes without at least hinting at how the earlier ones end). I'm also going to call attention to some of the more prominent guest voices. For the most part, I'm only going to mention them the first time they pop up (except for some of the regulars, who I'll point out when they get a major role in an episode without a lot of guest voices). Be aware that there are frequently more characters than they have room for in the credits, so I may miss some uncredited voices, and I'm only going to mention the names I recognize and can cite another role for (although if I may not cite roles for names I think are so well known they don't need references - if you don't recognize them, www.imdb.com can give you a hand; I know it helped me with a lot of names I knew I knew but didn't know how I knew them, you know?); I'm sure there are plenty more I would recognize if I saw their faces, and there are plenty of names that seem familiar but I just couldn't come up with a role they had performed that I thought would be familiar to the majority of readers, so if you're a big fan of Maria Canals (Hawkgirl) or Peter Onorati (B'Wana Beast and Warhawk), by no means do I mean to diminish their contributions.
1) Initiation: The first episode sets up the premise of the series and gives us at least a glimpse of most of the characters who will make up the League over the next 38 episodes as Green Arrow is somewhat aggressively recruited. The main plot, which features Green Arrow, Captain Atom, Supergirl, and Green Lantern fighting a giant rampaging atomic monster is nothing to write home about (and the way they find to make Green Arrow useful is a tad transparent - they just need to insert these arrow-shaped carbon rods), but the formation of the League is very cool, especially the pan across the assembled heroes that would certainly be a two-page splash in a comic. We get our first hint that this cartoon isn't necessarily aimed at kids when Green Arrow agrees to join the League after seeing Black Canary getting dressed in the locker room. Voice highlights: Captain Atom is voiced by George Eads (Nick on CSI) although he won't be in some later episodes; the Martian Manhunter is voiced by Carl Lumbly (Dixon on Alias).
2) For the Man Who Has Everything: Towards the beginning of its run, the show seemed to alternate between episodes featuring the larger team and episodes focusing on the founding members. This is one of the latter. Wonder Woman and Batman arrive at the Fortress of Solitude to give Superman his birthday presents ("Bruce, you didn't get him a gift certificate..." "No ... cash.") but discover that Mongul (an obscure villain from the comics who appeared in the original series - think Darkseid with yellow skin and less pure concentrated awesome) has given him a plant that leaves him catatonic while his mind experiences his perfect fantasy life. Can Wonder Woman hold Mongul off long enough for Batman to free Superman? (Here's a hint: the series is more than two episodes long.) The Superman fantasy sequences can be a little dry (especially if you've been interested in comics long enough to have already seen Clark work through his personal demons a time or two in the past) but the Wonder Woman fight is excellent and a lot of the character stuff is amusing. Voice Highlights: Mongul is voiced by Eric Roberts; Dana Delany, who was Lois Lane on Superman: The Animated Series, voices Superman's fantasy wife: "Loana," a fusion of Lois Lane and Lana Lang.
3) Hawk and Dove: Ares, the god of war, is stirring up a civil war in some made up country ("Casnia," which appears to be both eastern European and central American) and unleashes the Annihilator, a huge magical automaton built by Hephaestus, onto the battlefield. Wonder Woman (who's in a really bad mood) gets sent in with Hawk and Dove, a pair of brothers with superstrength, superspeed, and diametrically opposed ideologies. Dove is a pacifist, so you just know he's going to be the one to save the day. My friend absolutely hates this episode, but it has its moments: the bits with Ares and Hephaestus are very well done, and they do a good job coming up with what a superstrong pacifist's fighting style would look like. Still, we're pretty much marking time waiting for the series to his its stride at this point. Voice Highlights: Brothers Hawk and Dove are voiced by Fred Savage and Jason Hervey (who played brothers Kevin and Wayne Arnold on The Wonder Years) respectively; Michael York voices Ares and Ed Asner voices Hephaestus.
4) Fearful Symmetry: Supergirl is having dreams about doing bad things, and she's afraid they may be real (refreshingly, she comes to that conclusion almost immediately, rather than dismissing it as "probably nothing" as TV characters usually do, no matter how weird their daily lives). She investigates with the help of Green Arrow and the Question (the Question is a paranoid nutcase with no powers and little in the way of useful skills. He is the best character on this, and possibly any, television show) and they ultimately run afoul of what's basically the Diniverse version of Power Girl, Supergirl's clone Galatea. This is the first continuity-heavy episode, referencing major plot points from Superman and the previous Justice League series as what may be a prototype of an android that appeared on Batman Beyond. The Question is absolutely brilliant, and if you're not eager to see as much of him as possible by the end of this episode, there is no hope for you. Unless you find Supergirl intolerable (which is possible - she hasn't had a chance to get likeable yet) this is a great episode, and it's sufficiently open-ended to indicate that the show is setting up a strong ongoing plot arc. On the downside, you'll see some of the problems the show will have using computer animation for large machines; it's well-done enough, but meshes poorly with the traditional animation that makes up the vast majority of the show. Voice Highlights: The Question is voice by Jeffrey Combs (The Re-Animator, the head Vorta, Weyoun, on Deep Space Nine and the head Andoran, Shran, on Enterprise).
5) Kids' Stuff: Morgaine Le Fey gives her son - the eternally childlike Mordred - a powerful amulet, which he promptly uses to banish all the adults in the world to limbo. Morgaine turns Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern into children so they can go back and stop him. Sounds dreadful; is, in fact, hysterical. Just watching little kid Batman trying to be as cool as adult Batman is worth price of admission. An excellent episode. Voice Highlights: Dakota Fanning the young Wonder Woman; Olivia D'Abo is Morgaine Le Fey.
6) This Little Piggy: Wonder Woman's arch-enemy, the sorceress Circe, turns her into a pig. Hilarity ensues. Batman recruits Zatanna on his increasingly desperate quest to change her back. Another episode that works much better than it has any right to. Voice Highlights: Not many household names in this episode. Laraine Newman (Saturday Night Live) has a cameo as a (literal) underworld informant; Zatanna is voiced by Jennifer Hale - you may not know the name, but if you've played a video game in the past ten years you've heard her voice. This is as good a place as any to mention that Batman is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman on Batman: The Animated Series and both Justice League series, as well as elderly Bruce Wayne on Batman Beyond, making him the voice of the definitive Batman for an entire generation of TV watchers.
7) The Return: A nearly invincible android (the Diniverse version of the comic book villain Amazo, although he's only referred to by that name in the credits and on his blueprints in an episode of the earlier series) returns to Earth from deep space and he's gunning for Lex Luthor. The bad news: The League has to protect Superman's arch enemy. The worse news: The android is more powerful than the entire League put together. The first episode where you see the entire extended League in action (not to mention the Green Lantern Corps) and it is impressive (even if they don't do so well). Plus Red Tornado gets dismembered, which is always good for a few laughs (if you don't know, Red Tornado is an android - in the comics he gets torn to pieces so often it's practically one of his powers - in fact, coming back after being torn to pieces is one of his powers). Voice Highlights: Robert Piccardo (the Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager) is Amazo; Clancy Brown (The Kurgan from The Highlander) reprises his role as Lex Luthor from Superman: The Animated Series; John C. McGinley (Dr. Cox on Scrubs) voices the Atom; Oded Fehr (Ardeth Bey - the desert warrior guy - in The Mummy and its sequel) is Dr. Fate. Comic fans may be amused to see that Green Lantern Kyle Rayner gets a cameo, voiced by Will Friedle (the voice of Ron Stoppable on Kim Possible and the Batman of the future on Batman Beyond).
8) The Greatest Story Never Told: While the entire League battles a giant rampaging wizard (that's right, giant rampaging wizard) Booster Gold (a loser from the future who came to the present to try to become rich and famous) and Elongated Man (just like he sounds) end up on crowd control duty. At least, until the League actually needs the Elongated Man. The episode follows Booster, a la the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Zeppo." Another very funny episode. Voice Highlights: Booster is voiced by Tom Evrett Scott (the star of An American Werewolf in Paris who had a recurring role on ER); Booster's robot sidekick Skeets is voiced by Billy West (Fry on Futurama and about a million other voice roles - he's like the modern Mel Blanc); Elongated Man is voiced by Jeremy Piven.
9) Ultimatum: An homage to the Superfriends: the League runs into "The Ultimen," (pastiches of Samurai, Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, and the Wonder Twins, the characters made up for the Superfriends to make the show more "diverse," or, in the case of the Wonder Twins, provide comic relief and characters for kids to relate to) a new team of heroes with a dark secret. It also includes appearances by Superfriends regulars Aquaman, Bizarro, and Giganta. Other than that, though, the episode plays it straight - if you've never seen the Superfriends, you'll have no idea why the people who have are giggling so much. A strong episode that's important later on in the plot arc. Voice Highlights: Tim Matheson (Otter from Animal House) voices Maxwell Lord; C.C.H. Pounder voices Amanda Waller. Lord and Waller are the people behind the Ultimen.
10) Dark Heart: A self-replicating machine from space crashes in the desert and starts getting bigger and bigger. The entire League turns out to fight a satisfyingly epic battle against the armies of robotic drones the machine generates. Practically an episode-long fight scene with a lot of character moments sprinkled in (plus the Atom gets stuffed in Wonder Woman's cleavage - in case you'd forgotten it wasn't a kids' show). Voice Highlights: J.K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man) is General Eiling, a recurring character that shows up when the League has to deal with the military.
11) Wake the Dead: Hawkgirl (from here out referred to a Shayera, her real name) returns to action when Solomon Grundy is accidentally raised from the dead, more powerful than ever, and goes on a rampage. Another episode that's almost all fighting, with some very cool choreography, especially with regards to the effects of superstrength in battle. Also sets up a love triangle between Green Lantern, Shayera, and another member of the League, Vixen. Voice Highlights: Gina Torres (Zoe on Firefly) is Vixen; Bruce Timm himself voices Solomon Grundy.
12) The Once and Future Thing Part 1: Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Batman pursue a time traveling thief and end up in the old west. After going native, they team up with a group of western heroes to get home. Between the humor elements of the heroes in the past (while blocking six-shooter shots with her bracelets, Wonder Woman looks casually notes, "Those are the biggest, slowest bullets I've ever seen."), the fun of modern heroes teaming up with their counterparts from the past, and some great dialogue and action sequences, this is a remarkable episode. Voice Highlights: Peter MacNicol is the time traveler; Ben Browder (Farscape) is gunslinger Bat Lash; Adam Baldwin (Jayne on Firefly) is bounty hunter Jonah Hex; Nestor Carbonell (Bat Manuel on the live action Tick) is Zorro-esque hero El Diablo.
13) The Once and Future Thing Part 2: The Leaguers chase the thief to his own time and meet the Justice League of the future, including the Batman of Batman Beyond and an adult Static of Static Shock. Green Lantern meets his son, Batman meets his future self and we get another reminder that this isn't a kids show as the time traveler kills one of his minions so dead he's extinct ("Do you know what killed the dinosaurs? Well Chucko does!"). All heck breaks loose as time starts to unravel, Wonder Woman periodically vanishes, Hal Jordan replaces John Stewart, and then the woolly mammoth shows up. Plus there's a cameo by God (uncredited). Voice Highlights: Dee Dee, a pair of twin villains from the future are voiced by Melissa Joan Hart; another of the future villains, Ghoul, is voiced by Michael Rosenbaum - in addition to playing a young Lex Luthor on Smallville, Rosenbaum is also the voice of the Flash, although this is the first time he's appeared on JLU so far.
14) The Cat and the Canary: Black Canary discovers that her mentor, Wildcat, is taking part in illegal underground cage fights because, as an aging heavyweight boxing champ with no powers, he feels less-than-useful among the Justice League. She gets Green Arrow (who, you'll remember, joined the League to ogle her) to tag along as she tries to get him to quit. Wildcat doesn't want to leave the place where he can feel like a champ again - and Roulette, the woman who runs the fights, doesn't want to let him. Another strong episode with a lot of villain cameos among the pit fighters, some good fight choreography, and Green Arrow getting beaten to a bloody pulp (if you like that sort of thing). Voice Highlights: Morena Baccarin (Inara on Firefly) is Black Canary; Dennis Farina is Wildcat; Virginia Madsen is Roulette.
15) The Ties That Bind: A tribute to Jack Kirby, as super escape artist Mr. Miracle's sidekick Oberon is kidnapped by Darkseid's henchwoman Granny Goodness to force Mr. Miracle to rescue Darkseid's son Kalibak. Miracle and his wife Barda turn to the League for help, and the Flash goes with them in his first major role of JLU. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Kirby's Fourth World stuff (if you don't know, it'd take too long to explain) so this episode doesn't resonate much with me, but it has its moments. The Flash is always fun, and Kalibak is amusingly petulant. Voice Highlights: Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four movie) is Mr. Miracle (is that a trend?); Ed Asner has appeared on JLU before, but this time he plays Granny Goodness (!) so how could I not point that out? Michael Dorn (Worf on Star Trek) is Kalibak.
16) The Doomsday Sanction: Dr. Milo (remember him from Batman:TAS? Guy with the Moe haircut?) releases Doomsday (the guy who killed Superman in the comics in the 90s - he's bad news) and it hits the fan. Plot light episode, and frankly Doomsday is kind of a one-note character, but it has several intense moments, including a brutal, no-holds-barred fight between Superman and Doomsday in a volcano and Batman racing to stop a Kryptonite-tipped nuclear missile. Voice Highlights: Armin Shimmerman (Quark on Deep Space 9 and Principal Schnyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) is Dr. Milo; Juliet Landau (Drusilla on Buffy) has a brief role as a sorceress named Tala - she's much more important later in the series; an electronically altered Michael Jai White (Spawn) is Doomsday.
17) Task Force X: A tribute to the comic book Suicide Squad. Increasingly suspicious of the League's intentions, the government assembles a team of incarcerated supervillains and coerces them into infiltrating the League's headquarters on a sabotage mission. It's always fun to get a villain-centric episode, and this is no exception, although it would have been nice to get at least one scene with the villains in their familiar costumes (they're only seen in prison uniforms, civilian clothes, and the uniforms the League support staff wear). Half the fun of JLU is seeing dozens of different characters, and call me easily amused, but it's not the same without the familiar, flashy costumes. Voice Highlights: Mostly people I've mentioned before in different roles (Task Force members Plastique, Deadshot, and Rick Flagg are voiced by Juliet Landau, Michael Rosenbaum, and Adam Baldwin, respectively). Of special note is Alan Rachins reprising is role of the Clock King from Batman:TAS.
18) The Balance: Sorceress Tala releases the spirit of super nasty sorcerer Felix Faust (there's lots of sorcerers and sorceresses on this show) who promptly inhabits the Annihilator (remember the Annihilator?) and conquers Hell (well, Tartarus). All the magic-using members of the League go all spazzy and need to be strapped to tables in the infirmary. The Greek gods send for Wonder Woman to sort it out, and Shayera tags along because Wonder Woman needs her anti-magic mace (yes, Hawkgirl has an anti-magic mace. It's weird, but it's been fairly well established at this point in the series). Surprisingly funny (Shayera discovers it's hard to intimidate someone who's already in Hell) but a little too linear plotwise. Not bad, but not one of the more impressive episodes. When the addition of dozens of new characters is the main selling point of the series, an episode where two of the founders are the only leaguers with a significant role starts off with a strike against it. Voice Highlights: Robert Englund (Freddy Kreuger) is Felix Faust; Jason Bateman is Hermes; Wayne Knight (Newman on Seinfeld) is a demon the heroines interrogate; Michael T. Weiss (The Pretender) is Jason Blood.
19) Double Date: The Huntress (sort of a female Batman with a crossbow) is expelled from the Justice League because she keeps trying to kill the mobster that killed her family (she's naughty that way). When the mobster turns state's evidence, the League dispatches Green Arrow and Black Canary to guard him, while the Huntress convinces the Question to help her track him down. Hilarity, needless to say, ensues. The Huntress isn't quite as good in a fight as Black Canary (in both pairs the woman is the better fighter) and the Question isn't even close to Green Arrow in a fight, but the Question is relentlessly awesome, and the psychos lead Arrow and Canary on a merry chase. Actually, everyone comes out pretty well in this extremely fun episode. Voice Highlights: Amy Acker (Fred on Angel) is the Huntress, making her the sixth regular from a Joss Whedon show to appear, and hardly the last.
20) Clash: Captain Marvel (the Superman-like hero that most people refer to as "Shazam") debuts on the scene, and is invited to join the League. But when the somewhat naive (in his secret identity, he's actually a child) newcomer makes a statement to the press that's spun to endorse Lex Luthor's bid for the presidency, Superman tears him a new one (verbally). When the Captain subsequently stumbles into the middle of an attempt by Luthor to make Superman look like a dangerous renegade, the result is a slugfest in which several city blocks worth of valuable real estate MUST DIE. A good fight, some clever machinations, and a central conflict in which both sides manage to do the wrong thing with the very best of intentions make for a satisfying episode. It also does a very good job of illustrating why the government and the general public are becoming increasingly suspicious of the League's intentions, by showing us how even another superhero has his doubts - and giving him a good reason. Voice Highlights: Jerry O'Connell is Captain Marvel; Lisa Edelstein (Cuddy on House) is Luthor's henchwoman Mercy.
21) Question Authority: The Question discovers that Luthor knows about an alternate dimension in which the Justice League went bad (as seen in an episode of the original series) and is trying to replicate the same set of circumstances in the "real" world (Lex Luthor's a jerk). When Superman's response fails to assuage his worries (it's essentially "Note to self: Don't become evil") he takes matters in his own hands in the most awesomely insane way possible. It doesn't go as well as he'd planned, unless he planned to end up in a secret government facility being tortured to find out how everything he knows ("The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets - their true purpose is sinister!"). When the cavalry arrives, they run into Captain Atom - who, as an active member of the armed forces, is duty bound to try to stop them. Dramatically a very good episode, and the Question's dialogue is hilarious as always; the only real flaw is that understanding Luthor's plan requires knowing what happened in an episode of the previous series. They do a reasonably good job of bringing newcomers up to speed, but you could be forgiven for feeling a little lost. Plus the Huntress ties up Jimmy Olsen. Voice Highlights: There are no new characters in this episode (at least none credited) so it seems only fair to finally mention the voice of Superman: George Newbern. I'm not sure if he's done anything most people would recognize him from, but he's been in single episodes of a lot of TV series, and is the voice of Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (the English language versions only, presumably).
22) Hunter's Moon: I'm not sure whether the episodes in the DVD set are in the wrong order or what, but episode 21 ends with a cliffhanger, but this episode has nothing to do with it. A distress signal is received from deep space, and the League sends Shayera, Vixen and Vigilante (a cowboy-themed hero - presumably he ate Martian Manhunter's last bag of Oreos or something, to get assigned to a mission with two opposing points of a romantic triangle) to help out. It's a trap set by Thanagarians (the alien race of which Shayera is a member, who invaded Earth in the previous series' finale) to get revenge on Shayera. There's not much to this episode - it's basically just one long chase scene - but for some reason I actually rather like it. Vigilante's a lot of fun, for one thing. The Thanagarians remind me of a Warhammer 40K unit, complete with a Dreadnaught. Voice Highlights: Vigilante is voiced by Nathan Fillion (Mal on Firefly). Elizabeth Pena (the voice of Syndrome's right hand woman Mirage in The Incredibles) is the Thanagarian leader, and Hector Elizondo is the guy in the Dreadnaught.
23) Flashpoint: We now return to our regularly scheduled programming - the second part of the cliffhanger from episode 21. Superman and Captain Atom fight. Atom makes a good showing (he can generate red solar radiation) but come on - it's freaking Superman. After the Leaguers bust out of the government facility, Luthor hacks their satellite's offensive systems to make them appear to take drastic retaliatory action on the planet below. This is the episode where virtually all of the dangling plot threads set up in earlier episodes come home to roost (that's not a mixed metaphor - threads can roost) and it ends with all the pieces in place for a final confrontation that you'll be genuinely excited about if you've enjoyed the series at all so far. Voice Highlights: Mostly the same people from episode 21, so let me mention that Chris Cox has taken over as Captain Atom for some time now (since episode 8, I believe) and Green Arrow is voiced by Kin Shriner; both have varied careers featuring lots of TV shows and voice work. The President of the United States is voiced by Robert Forster (Best Supporting Actor nominee for Jackie Brown).
24) Panic in the Sky: In the wake of the public relations nightmare Luthor inflicted on the League in episode 23, the founding members vote to turn themselves over to the authorities until the League can clear its name. (The vote is 6-to-1. Batman is the holdout. "You want me to what?") This leaves only the newer recruits on the satellite when it's attacked by Galatea (remember her) and an army of clones of the Ultimen (remember them?). The previous times we saw the entire League at once, they were fighting a single android and a swarm of identical robots. This time we get to see an all-out battle between two armies of superheroes. It's quite a spectacle to behold. Leaguers you get to see in action include Steel, Hourman, Fire, Ice, the Creeper, Metamorpho, Dr. Light, Atom Smasher, the Ray, Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., the Crimson Fox, Aztek, Obsidian, Blue Devil, Dr. Mid-Nite, and many others. Voice Highlights: Most of the Leaguers in the fight don' get dialogue, and almost all the ones that do are uncredited, so I'll just tell you that Nicholle Tom, who voices Supergirl and Galatea, played the older daughter on The Nanny, among other credits.
25) Divided We Fall: The finale of the entire series to this point. While the rest of the League is stuck up on the satellite due to damage sustained in last episode's battle, the seven founding members who are on Earth after turning themselves in (see how they set that up?) try to stop Lex Luthor and Braniac from eating the planet. No, not literally, but ... kinda close, actually. It's a great battle with an absolutely fantastic ending that I'm not ashamed to say had me cheering the first time I saw it (okay, maybe a little ashamed). A great end to what's come before. Voice Highlights: Braniac is voiced by Corey Burton, one of those guys who has a metric buttload of voice credits dating back decades, including Soundwave on the Transformers, Tomax on G.I. Joe (to my dismay I do not know if he also voiced Xamot), and Count Dooku in a couple of Star Wars video games; the fact that those voices sound nothing alike will give you an idea of this guy's range.
26) Epilogue: And now for something completely different! Twenty-five years in the future, Terry McGinnis (the Batman of the future) confronts an elderly Amanda Waller about a shared secret. This episode is a series finale for Batman Beyond in all but name, although it does include flashbacks that fill in some of the adventures of the Justice League over the intervening 25 years. If that sounds a bit anticlimactic after the previous episode, you're not wrong. If you're unfamiliar with Batman Beyond (like me the first time I saw this episode) prepare to wonder what the point of that was. Even if you are familiar with it (like me the second time I saw this episode) it's kind of underwhelming, if only because JLU is a much different show than Batman Beyond. A flashback battle between the League and the Royal Flush Gang is fun and clever (their 10 looks like Bo Derek - if you don't get the joke, you're making me feel old. Stop it), but also fairly brief. Probably the most missable episode of the entire series, by dint of barely being part of the series. Voice Highlights: Ace of the Royal Flush Gang is voiced by Hynden Walch, who also Voices Starfire on the Teen Titans cartoon. This was more notable the first time she played this role in an episode of the original Justice League which featured a different King, Queen, Jack and 10, who were voiced by the other actors who voice the Teen Titans.
That's the end of the first DVD set. And remember how I said JLU wasn't much like Superfriends? Well, the next season is where I'm a dirty liar. Qualitatively, it's still a vast improvement, but the villains of this season are a direct homage to the Superfriends' nemeses, the Legion of Doom. Due to events of the previous season, Solomon Grundy is unavailable, and the producers weren't able to use any members of Batman's rogues gallery due to Warner Bros.' belief that having different versions of the characters appear simultaneously on JLU and The Batman, which had just begun production, might be confusing to, like, stupid people or something so the Riddler and Scarecrow were out (be glad they were allowed to use Batman). A similar conflict with Warner Bros.' ultimately abortive hopes to cash in on a fluke (ha!) wave (double ha!) of popularity for Aquaman caused Black Manta to be renamed Devil Ray. But that aside, you'll see Lex Luthor, Bizarro, Gorilla Grodd, Brainiac, the Cheetah, Sinestro, Giganta, Toyman, and Captain Cold in roles of various prominence, and their headquarters bears a striking resemblance to the old Hall of Doom. According to legend (which a little research could probably confirm or refute with minimal effort. Moving on...) the production crew didn't expect to do another season, and pretty much jammed all their ideas into the first 26 episodes, so from here out it's practically pure fanservice, and not in the "naked anime characters" sense, but rather the literal "giving the fans what they want in return for their support of the show" sense, and result is possibly the best superhero television ever. Only 13 episodes left; there's no turning back now!
27) I Am Legion: In response to the superhero army that is the JLU, Grodd gathers together every supervillain he can find. When he springs Luthor from prison to join his society (with an offer to help him track down the remnant of Brainiac lost deep in space) and send him on a mission to prove his worth, the League teams up with a retired member of WWII fighter aces the Blackhawks to try to stop them. Along the way, the Flash tries to hit on Barzillian superheroine Fire. Voice Highlights: This season of JLU tends to feature far more characters per episode than they could fit in the closing credits. Of the credited guests, Gorilla Grodd is voiced by Powers Boothe, and Agent King Farraday is voiced by Scott Patterson (the "spongeworthy" guy from Seinfeld, among other roles).
28) Shadow of the Hawk: After a battle with the Extremists (villains from the comics who are thinly-veiled parodies of prominent Marvel villains) Shayera is approached by her number one fan, Carter Hall with a Thanagarian artifact he found in Egypt. The increasingly absurd investigation leads to the introduction of the Diniverse version of Hawkman. A funny episode with a lot of Easter eggs for comics fans (especially those familiar with the even more absurd continuity of Hawkman and Hawkgirl in the comics), though probably a little slight for more casual viewers. Voice Highlights: James Remar (Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) voices Carter Hall.
29) Chaos at the Earth's Core: After saving Tokyo from an homage to both Gamera and Jimmy Olsen, Stargirl discovers she isn't as big in Japan as Supergirl, even though her step-father is a mecha! On the way home, the Leaguers crash (Green Lanterns should never travel in vehicles - it doesn't end well) at the center of the Earth (they got really off course) and run into one of the least likely DC characters to appear in an episode of JLU: fantasy warrior Warlord, just in time to help his entire supporting cast fend off an invasion by a standard issue fantasy villain helped by representatives of Grodd's intent on securing the good guys' sacred GIANT CHUNK OF KRYPTONITE. Supergirl shows Stargirl learns what it means to be a hero. Or at least not a whiny little brat. Voice Highlights: Paul Guilfoyle (Lt. Brass on CSI) is Warlord; Malcom McDowell is Metallo.
30) To Another Shore: If Warlord can be on JLU, why not Viking Prince? Grodd sends an expedition to recover the body of an invulnerable Viking from an ancient boat recently discovered frozen in a glacier. Fortunately, Wonder Woman is representing her homeland (poorly) as a nearby summit on global warming. Hilarity ensues. Wonder Woman's consternation at having to play diplomat are amusing, and as is often the case this season, the battle between heroes and villains chosen seemingly at random is both comedy and action gold. And how can you not any episode with Giganta in a prominent role? Voice Highlights: Michael Beach (18 episodes of ER, although I don't watch the show so I couldn't tell you how important his character was) voices Black Manta stand-in Devil Ray.
31) Flash and Substance: The Flash's hometown builds a museum to commemorate his exploits, and Batman draft Orion to help him provide security at the opening. Which is a good thing because the Flash's Rogues Gallery is determined to spoil it. Orion learns why the Flash is such a big deal. Because being able to run around the entire world in the blink of an eye isn't impressive to a guy with superstrength AND a flying one-man ski lift, or whatever that thing is (granted, Orion is Darkseid's son, so it would be a little suspicious if he wasn't a bit of a pill). One of the funniest episodes of the season. Voice Highlights: Ron Perlman is Orion; Mark Hamill (the voice of the Joker whenever he appears in the Diniverse, as well as, you know, Luke Skywalker) is the Trickster (a role he played live-action on The Flash); Alexis Denisof (Welsey on Angel) is Mirror Master.
32) Dead Reckoning: Grodd's forces attack a Buddhist monastery, sending spectral hero Deadman running to the League for help. It all comes to a head in Gorilla City (a city of gorillas) where Grodd's master is plan is revealed: turn everyone in the world into gorillas! Gorillas! Luthor is suitably unimpressed. Another episode that mixes great action (even insanely lame Green Lantern villain Goldface looks cool) with great comedy (did I mention Luthor becomes a BALD gorilla?). And a villain dies a horrible, on-screen death, in case you had any doubts that this show wasn't playing by Saturday-morning cartoon rules. Voice Highlights: David Ogden Stiers is Solovar, king of Gorilla City.
33) Patriot Act: Convinced that people with superhuman powers are the greatest threat to the security of the nation, General Eiling steals a Nazi serum confiscated in 1944 and mothballed since WWII to make give himself superpowers, and heads off to challenge Superman at a parade where the big blue Boy Scout is scheduled to appear. Unfortunately, Superman has been called away, and in his place the league has sent Green Arrow, Vigilante, Stargirl, Shining Knight, and S.T.R.I.P.E., not one of whom actually has superpowers (can you sense the irony?). The lineup is actually a tribute to a WWII-era comic Seven Soldiers of Victory, which featured the WWII-era versions of the same characters (plus Speedy and the Crimson Avenger, who turn up later in the episode). Every one of them gets a moment to be hard-core awesome in the face of an enemy they don't have a single chance in hell of defeating, and strongly sell the point that being heroic is more than being good in a fight. The ending is a little pat, but the trip there is exciting to balance it out, resulting in a good, if not great, episode. Voice Highlights: The only credited voice who hasn't appeared before is Mike Erwin, who played the teenage Bruce Banner in Ang Lee's Hulk, as Green Arrow's former sidekick Speedy.
34) The Great Brain Robbery: Luthor tries to probe Grodd's mind at the same moment that Dr. Fate is probing the Flash's mind to find a link to Grodd (the Flash and Grodd were in telepathic contact in an episode of the first series). Luthor and the Flash end up switching bodies. Hilarity, once again, ensues as the Flash tries to keep the other villains from catching on while Luthor simply goes on a superspeed rampage through the League's headquarters. The Flash's delightfully incompetent attempts to pass as Luthor (including referring to himself as "I, Lex Luthor" at every opportunity and not washing his hands after using the bathroom "because I'm evil") make this possibly the funniest episode of the season. And the Flash has sex with Luthor's girlfriend. They're not even really subtle about it. Voice Highlights: Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs) is Sinestro.
35) Grudge Match: Remember how I mentioned fanservice? Roulette (from Episode 14) needs a new angle to renew interest in her underground fighting operation. Luthor needs money to keep the Secret Society afloat. Their solution: mind control the female Justice Leaguers for all superheroine-on-superheroine fights! It's so crazy it just might work! Briefly! Before backfiring like a '68 Camaro! Some serious plot holes in this episode (any plan in which step two begins with "Having mind controlled the female members of the Justice League..." is, shall we say, a tad ambitious - and let's not even get into the fact that 99 out of 100 people probably would not end that sentence with "...make them fight each other"). But, hey, it's all the female Leaguers fighting each other, and they don't need the male heroes to save them. Dumb fun, but still fun. Voice Highlights: No credited voices that haven't appeared before, so let me just mention Susan Eisenberg, the voice of Wonder Woman, the only founding member voice I haven't at least mentioned yet, which isn't really fair.
36) Far From Home: Green Arrow, Green Lantern, and Supergirl are transported to the distant future to help the Legion of Superheroes save the world. In my experience comics readers consider the Legion of Superheroes either the inevitable future of, and worthy successors to, the legacy of the modern DC heroes or not even really a part of mainstream DC continuity. I've always fallen into the latter camp, so the premise of this episode made me kind of roll my eyes, but the execution really does have it's moments, especially when Supergirl has to fight the entire mind controlled Legion. The irony of this episode is that it's basically a backdoor pilot for a Supergirl of and the Legion of Superheroes show (coincidentally airing about the same time the comic of the same name debuted), which concept was promptly scrapped in favor of a different LOS cartoon completely divorced from Diniverse continuity featuring a young Superman instead (Supergirl really got screwed in this one). Voice Highlights: Joanne Whalley (Sorsha in Willow and former wife of Val Kilmer) voices Legion of Superheroes villain Emerald Empress; Matt Czuchry (Logan on Gilmore Girls) is Brainiac 5.
37) Ancient History: The other shoe drops in the Hawkman/Shayera plot started in Episode 28, as the pair discover they may be the reincarnations of Thanagarians who crashed on Earth in ancient Egypt (with a strange connection to Green Lantern), thanks to a sex-and-murder-filled flashback. Primarily of interest to those who appreciated "Shadow of the Hawk," feel free to skip it if you didn't see - or didn't like - that episode. Still, the flashback is kind of nifty (I did mention the sex and murder, right?). Voice Highlights: Robin Atkin Downes (Byron on Babylon 5) voices the Gentleman Ghost, a villain the Green Lantern chases at the beginning of the episode.
38) Alive!: An all-villain episode, Luthor finally locates Brainiac's remains, and takes the entire Secret Society (headquarters and all) into deep space to retrieve them. But when Grodd escapes from captivity, the two evil masterminds square off with the villains loyal to each side erupting in a massive brawl. Funny thing - turns out it wasn't really Brainiac Luthor tracked down. Lots of villains die where no one can hear you scream. One of my personal favorite episodes. Voice Highlights: Not to give away the ending (massive spoiler alert!) but Michael Ironside voices Darkseid; Daniel Dae Kim is Metron; Bud Cort (Harold of Harold and Maude, and a lot of things since then) is Toyman.
39) Destroyer: The legions of Apokalips attack the Earth, and the entire Justice League teams up with the surviving members of Luthor's Society to fight them off in an epic, globe-spanning battle. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Superman and Luthor steal the show, but almost every major character gets a moment in the sun. To really enjoy the proceedings, it helps to know a bit of DC Comics cosmology - if the phrases "Source Wall" and "Anti-Life Equation" don't mean anything to you, you might find yourself a little confused, but at least one of the people I watched it with the first time fit that description and still thought it was great. A great finale to a great show, right down to the last scene which highlights all of the major characters from the series in a way that actually gave me a little lump in my throat the first time I saw it. Heck, even the closing credits, which feature many of the best scenes from the preceding 38 episodes, are worth watching. Voice Highlights: The time has come to discuss Mr. Phil LaMarr, who voices Green Lantern, and several other characters on JLU. His best known live-action work is probably as a cast member (arguably the funniest cast member) on Mad TV, but he's also the voice of Samurai Jack, Static on Static Shock, Hermes on Futurama, and dozens of other voices on shows like Family Guy, Kim Possible, Avatar: The Last Airbender and others, not to mention video games like Ultimate Alliance. Seriously, he has 156 credits on IMDB, including Riverwind and Gilthanas in a Dragonlance movie still in production. His first role was Woody on the Mr. T cartoon in the 80s. He's also the guy Vincent accidentally shoots in the car in Pulp Fiction.
Okay, sorry that was so long, but to sum up (quickly, because, like I said "that was so long"): it's a great show. Any fans of comics, superheroes, or grown-up animation in general should check it out, and the entire series is available on DVD. (And apologies for any names I may have misspelled - my spellchecker is powerless against proper nouns, or for any incorrect references - if something‘s wrong, it probably means I remembered incorrectly and didn‘t bother (or forgot) to go back and fact-check it, although IMDB and Wikipedia - which were tremendously helpful - have been known to be wrong too.)
