Plot summary: With Superman’s mounting popularity Mongul elects to fight him personally, while the rest of the Justice League mount their rescue attempt.
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: 13 (S1.E13)
Original Air Date: March 3rd, 2002
Directed: Butch Lukic (7)
Written: Stan Berkowitz (6)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (13)
Music: Lolita Ritmanis (5)
Hawkgirl is very panicky about the notion of being trapped on an another planet forever. Put a pin in that…
When J’onn is no longer able to hold his impersonation of Mongul he should probably have reverted to his true Martian form rather than the humanoid design we see him in throughout the series.
I guess future spoilers, but Mongul will seek revenge in the JLU episode ‘For The Man Who Has Everything’
Recap
J’onn manages to get a Superman chant going in the stadium, forcing Mongul to call off his attempted execution as he knows what’s Best For Business, brother.
Superman’s fellow gladiators are so impressed that they arrange an escape for him, but Clark of course declines, telling them to give his spot to Draaga.
Green Lantern and Hawkgirl’s rescue attempt hits a snag when the alien flying them to War World takes advantage of their bickering to gas them and dump them on a random planet.
Only it turns out it’s not so random after all, as it’s the same one Draaga involuntarily escaped to. Keen to get a rematch with Superman, he agrees to guide them to War World.
Mongul informs Superman they will be fighting next, and if Superman doesn’t comply he will destroy Draaga’s homeworld with a fancy doomsday device…
Which Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl destroy, removing the dramatic tension and allowing Draaga to defeat Mongul in Superman’s place and become the new ruler of War World.
Best Performance
William Smith retains, fitting of a champion gladiator. There are diminished returns on the general sound of his voice compared to last time, but once again there’s very little competition, and he really nails his final line-read as he declares himself unworthy of the crown. It’s such a powerfully honest and vulnerable admission.
Poor Carl Lumbly. It’s so difficult to perform a largely monotone character, which has been detailed in his work collaborating with Andrea Romano on how to pull this voice off. So far the results have been good but his opening lines in this episode questioning the treatment Superman is receiving were straight up awful.
Episode Ranking
I complained at length last episode about how uninteresting and half-baked everything felt, especially the focus on shining a spotlight on new cultures. They do a slightly better job this time around, with the gladiator code of honour and Draaga’s pride being so wounded by being spared execution that he rejects his freedom. But that stuff isn’t even done overly well, and certainly not well enough to overcome what’s fundamentally not a very interesting story.
The gladiators being able to arrange an escape does more harm than good given the questions it invites. Even stuff like our window into life for the common folk on War World is poorly done. The kid spray painting dozens of Superman logos around town should be a nice touch, feeding into Clark’s growing legend and Mongul’s frustrations with him… but I personally found it distracting how empty and lifeless the planet feels outside of the arena fights. We couldn’t have had some bystanders in that scene?
Green Lantern and Hawkgirl’s bickering is slightly more fun this time around, stripped of most of John’s unlikeable traits. Their traitorous pilot teasing them helps things along, as well as their forced close proximity. They just cranked the sexual tension up a notch, placing them into more of a desert island scenario… but this lasts like 18 seconds, as they almost immediately happen upon the inhabitants of the garbage world. Pretty funny when John tries to grab the smutty alien calendar though. I’m also forced to lodge my first complaint about how John’s ring never needs recharging in this show. He talks about being worried about power reserves, but I have zero memory of him ever touching a Lantern to power back up. Wouldn’t this situation with him stranded on an unknown planet have been the perfect time for him to run out of juice?
J’onn’s impersonation of Mongul was a cute idea for a scene, but they wrote themselves into a corner previously by stating the planet has somehow weakened him. Thank goodness that despite being too weak to hold the facade (while having no trouble maintaining the one that stops him looking like a monster at all times), he’s plenty strong enough to take on most of the security team for Mongul’s plot device planet-destroying laser. There are a couple of abrupt/awkward transition shots around this section too, which to me feel like clues that this part of the script was overly chaotic.
That takes us to the strongest part of the episode. Superman having his hands tied against Mongul for fear of a whole planet being destroyed is the perfect dilemma for such a powerful character. He briefly tries to bluff Mongul by pointing out Krypton was already destroyed, which is smart as this dude doesn’t know he hangs out on earth. But Mongul knows what kind of person Clark is and it turns out threatening literally any inhabited planet is enough to ensure compliance. Superman would genuinely die to protect the innocent. Draaga learning this shakes him, given he can’t understand someone giving their life for another person’s world. Naturally our heroes destroy the laser, allowing Draaga to get a fair fight with Mongul and finish him off. Green Lantern offers some coaching which… he completely ignores and wins anyway. Missed opportunity, but not a dealbreaker. It also feels a little bit rushed, with the crowd not shown again, though they are heard at least.
Fundamentally even with that it’s not enough to overcome all the weaknesses in Part I and most of Part II, so I’m leaving it in last place. There’s definitely a cool story in here somewhere, one that focuses more on life for the civilians of War World, does way more with Mongul, and delves into the more interesting parts of Draaga sooner. There are simply too many issues, big and small.
- Injustice For All
- Paradise Lost
- In Blackest Night
- The Enemy Below
- Secret Origins
- War World (–)
Rogues Roundup
Mongul (Eric Roberts) (second appearance)
This show is under no compulsion to mirror the comics, but Mongul was explicitly designed to be a physical match for Superman, and they instead chose to make him a snivelling coward, fixing his match against Superman while getting beaten up far more easily than Draaga. I always say changes are fine as long as they are interesting and serve the story… but this does neither, really. It just means Mongul looks like his imposing self, but is the most generic of cowardly villains.
Even if Draaga didn’t surpass him on merit, I think I’d have moved Mongul to last place for this episode.
Draaga (William Smith) (second appearance)
This episode does a lot of work to undo the sins of the previous. If this were his only appearance I’d probably put him over Hades too.
We established previously he’s a lifer, pleading for a warrior’s death. This episode adds even more to this, as he’s so furious that he was granted his freedom against his will that he brands himself with a giant S and returns to War World the first chance he gets, seeking revenge on the man that beat him. He inserts himself into the match and it ends up changing into him vs Mongul, where the cheers of the crowd rally him to victory. He tells others that he fights because he has to (and we now know he used to have loftier ambitions of revolution before Mongul held his world ransom), but it becomes clear here that he simply loves it. Adoring fans. The big stage. The adrenaline rush.
All of that is capped off with his vulnerable doubts about being able to lead. Does it all take him away from true villainy? Maybe! But he’s positioned as an antagonist and he ends up being well executed so I have no choice but to applaud this near total 180.
- Lex Luthor
- The Joker
- The Imperium
- Hades
- Draaga (↑)
- The Injustice Gang
- Deadshot
- Orm
- Felix Faust
- The Manhunters
- Kanjar-Ro
- Mongul (–)
The Matt Signal 
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