Plot summary: Seven heroes come together to begin fighting back against the Imperium… but despite their collective power they struggle to overcome the overwhelming alien force.
For background on the creation of Justice League and info about how I’ll be covering it, check out the Series Primer.
Notes and Trivia
Episode: 2 (S1.E2)
Original Air Date: November 17th, 2001
Directed: Butch Lukic (1)
Written: Rich Fogel (2)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (2)
Music: Lolita Ritmanis (1)
The Imperium appear to be stand-ins for the White Martians, a more belligerent genetic offshoot of J’onn J’onzz’s more common Green Martians.
While Green Lanterns’ weakness to the colour yellow is never confirmed for definite in the DCAU, the knockout gas used against Stewart is yellow and easily bypasses his shield after lasers could not.
Recap
On the paradise island of Themyscira, Princess Diana defies the wishes of her mother and steals the ceremonial garb of the Amazon ambassador to Man’s World. Ya know, the Wonder Woman costume.
Batman, Superman and J’onn J’onzz narrowly escape the government facility amid heavy fire from The Imperium. Unfortunately they don’t get very far as alien fighters shoot the Batwing down.
Luckily Green Lantern (John Stewart), Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman arrive, helping to defeat the wave of jets. Flash arrives in the aftermath and is immediately smitten with Diana.
J’onn explains that The Imperium waged war on Mars for 500 years before he was able to seal them all away… until the astronaut from the previous episode released them. He tried to warn humanity but was imprisoned.
The Imperium begin blocking out the sun around the world with noxious clouds. John splits the group into smaller teams and they begin their separate assaults on the smoke machines.
Unfortunately they all struggle to get on the same page, with Superman and Hawkgirl succumbing to knockout gas and getting captured, while Flash barely manages to get GL to safety.
The team of Martian Manhunter, Batman and Wonder Woman have more luck, reaching the central core of one of the sites. J’onn states that destroying a crystal from the core will shut down the entire plant.
He’s able to grab the cyrstal but is injured in the process. Batman orders Diana to get J’onn to safety and she complies, but Bruce is left trapped with the Imperium and ostensibly fucking dies!
To be continued…
Best Performance
I don’t think most of the newcomers have really found their feet yet. I’ve always found Phil LaMarr’s John to be a little hammy and overly forced. Problematically I think this episode relies heavily on him to nail his quasi-leadership role, dishing out the assignments to the others and coming to Flash’s rescue when he gets in trouble. You’re meant to think John is an excellent tactician and highly capable hero. You’re meant to like him. I absolutely did not, and not just because of the raging misogyny. I think he’s just too cocky without receiving any comeuppance for it. Flash was a little dumb, but I don’t think the scolding den-mother routine was necessary.
Michael Rosenbaum understands his assignment, but the writing is a little too weak for him to do much with. He’s the silly one, that’s it. Susan Eisenberg will get a lot more commanding and confident as Diana. Maria Canals-Barrera gets the least lines.
Kevin Conroy and George Newbern are stronger by comparison, but I think I’m going to go with Carl Lumbly. J’onn J’onzz is a difficult character to perform because he’s intentionally monotone, but Lumbly’s hypnotic rumble is great, and giving him an extended narration sequence helps. I like how dismayed he is over his past failure (aka having to sleep at some point over the course of 500 years), and that his telepathy means he takes Superman and Hawkgirl’s failure personally too.
Episode Ranking
At the risk of infuriating people who think this show, and this opening three parter in particular are perfect, I don’t love how they handled the introduction of Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman. We got a little bit of Diana in the first episode and I said I thought it would have been better to move that to episode 2, as Batman, Superman, a quick reminder of Flash and the debut of Martian Manhunter was plenty. I stand by that, as opening Part II with Diana stealing her costume felt cold and devoid of context, and I’d have much preferred they brought in the Hippolyta stuff from Part I and expanded on it, at least verbally explaining why the outfit and weapons are so special. And that’s before you get to the part where 5 of our 7 League members are active superheroes while Diana is labelled a “rookie in [a] tiara” by John Stewart while Martian Manhunter is cool to pass without comment. I get what they were going for, trying to give her a degree of special treatment as the newcomer, but given she never got an episode of STAS and that she’s never had her own animated series etc., that condescending line has always bothered me. Especially as they double-down on it with “Lady, this is no job for amateurs.” Gross.
Then there’s John and Shayera. I talked in STAS about how Superman already knowing characters like Flash and Dr. Fate helps make the world feel lived in, and that is true, but given this isn’t the same Green Lantern we met from ‘In Brightest Day…‘ and that Hawkgirl was considered a bit of an eyebrow-raising selection for the squad when the show debuted, I think they could have done a tiny bit more for them both. Literally just a line of dialogue. Perhaps utilising J’onn or Diana for introductions. Diana gets to share her story once the fighting stops, but we’re meant to just roll with the others. I don’t think it’s unforgivable scripting, but I do think it could have been better.
The actual main crux of the episode is showing that while these heroes are individually powerful, they also struggle with teamwork. Flash, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are all impatient and defy orders/ignore advice, rushing into battle with the Imperium. Flash is immediately taken down while the ladies initially impress Batman and Superman with their skill… but ultimately the episode clearly wants you to disapprove of the ‘fools rush in’ approach, as everyone falls into a trap eventually. In that regard it’s perfectly fine, but I wouldn’t say any of the three teams do anything terribly exciting and not even a child would buy the Batman death fake-out.
I thought the same in episode one but it feels like the backgrounds and characters were animated entirely in parallel and it ends up feeling like our cast were artificially slapped on top, rather than looking like they are organically part of the world. Kind of like the PS1 Final Fantasy games with their bright chibi sprites running around static painted backgrounds. It just hits the eye wrong.
All in all this is a classic weak middle part. When they do two-parters they often struggle with balance, front loading the story, character-work and mood, and then putting all the action in the second part. But this is our third three-parter now, and in all three cases I’ve found the middle portion to be profoundly weak. Maybe that’s a bit harsh in this instance, as I’d say this is more boring and perfunctory. Their goal was to get the team together and provide exposition on the villains. Those are fine things to want to do, but the manner in which both are achieved is suboptimal. I covered the debuting of the characters at the start, and while I enjoyed some of the Martian War scenes, it was also a lot more tell than show, especially compared to the eerie vibes of Part I.
It’s all very paint by numbers. If there were another story to rank against it, it would be moving down a spot.
- Secret Origins (–)
Rogues Roundup
The Imperium (George Newbern) (second appearance)
After a strong start showcasing the more bombastic and disgusting designs of the Imperium, things are a lot more traditional this time, with the foot soldiers packing laser guns, and some fighter jets tossed in for variety. I liked the giant drill tower thing from the outside, though understanding the sense of scale on the inside is tricky. They appear to be about the size of a skyscraper, but Superman and Hawkgirl are flying around inside one for what feels like quite a while. I dunno, maybe the idea is they’ve drilled underground and terraformed the earth? Hmm.
J’onn’s exposition and the flashbacks to their invasion of Mars are solid, as we learn they are able to absorb the powers of others, functionally turning themselves into equals of the Martians. A fine idea made more unsettling when you see them placing their hands on the heads of their enemies and sucking their abilities from them.
Not as cool as in Part I, but they do a good job of conveying how enormous this invasion is and that even these seven superheroes can’t really put a dent in their forces.
- The Imperium (–)
The Matt Signal 
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