Plot summary: Green Lantern runs into an old friend, Rex Mason, who is ‘volunteered’ for the Metamorpho project by his employer, Simon Stagg.
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: 22 (S1.E22)
Original Air Date: October 4th, 2002 (October 11th, 2002)
Directed: Dan Riba (11)
Written: Len Uhley (1) (Len Uhley (2) (story) and Dwayne McDuffie (5) (teleplay)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (22)
Music: Michael McCuistion (8) and Lolita Ritmanis (8)
The original script called for the opening train incident to be a plane crash. This change was of course made due to 9/11.
Rex Mason’s apartment recycles elements of one of the rich douchebags’ home in ‘The Terrible Trio‘.
In the timeline of Batman Beyond the JLU member Warhawk reveals his real name as Rex Stewart, suggesting a future version of John named his son after Rex Mason.
Recap
Simon Stagg tries to hard-sell an oil-drilling company on ‘Metamorpho’ a super-powered worker that can thrive in any environment. They’re sceptical, so he endeavours to prove his concept.
To that end he has his heavy, Java, transport in a dangerous briefcase of chemicals, which are forcibly checked into baggage by a train attendee.
The case is spilled, damaging the train and requiring Green Lantern to step in to avert total disaster. By happy chance one of the passengers is Rex Mason, an old marine corps buddy of John’s.
The two catch up over drinks, where we learn Mason is secretly engaged to Simon Stagg’s daughter, Sapphire. Conversation sours when John learns the cause of the crash, accusing Rex.
Rex confronts Stagg the next day, and after disliking the answer, elects to quit and drop the ‘dating your daughter’ bombshell all in one fell swoop.
Stagg gives his blessings to their faces, but later elects to make Rex the ‘volunteer’ for his Metamorpho test case, unleashing the mutagen on him.
Sapphire is terrified of Rex’s new appearance, causing him to flee in anger and despair, scaring bystanders as he gets to grips with his new powers.
Stagg makes matters even worse by showing Rex photos of Sapphire and John that imply a romance, tricking him into fighting his old friend.
To Be Continued…
Best Performance
Earl Boen is perfect for Simon Stagg thanks to his 1-of-1 voice. He sounds so much like he’s from another era, when movies featured more shady board room scenes. A truly evil character from the word go, thanks to that unsettling timbre to Boen’s voice that makes the audience immediately distrustful. Boen is also superb in how he tackles every conversation, growling at Mason when he tries to threaten him, laying on the charm when greeting his daughter, and sounding genuinely wounded when he learns they’re planning to leave for Chicago. His best work is the manipulative whispering in Sapphire’s ear in the wake of Rex’s transformation, making her believe only he can keep her safe.
Nice to hear Richard ‘Two-Face’ Moll again, this time as the oil CEO Mr. Braddock. It’s a small role, but he nails what they were looking for, downplaying the severity of the accident and then sassing Stagg a little over his pie in the sky pitch. Luckily we get a double-dose (fitting!) as he also plays Java, but that’s not really anything to write home about as he’s a generic meathead, so Moll doesn’t get as much of an opportunity to act.
Danica McKellar understood her assignment: flirt outrageously from start to finish.
Add Tom Sizemore to the list of fantastic performers who just don’t take to voice acting. He is truly and profoundly awful in this role. I don’t think he even matches the character for one thing, as they styled Rex to be a throwback charismatic-yet-rugged pulpy action hero, and Sizemore isn’t really smooth enough for that. But beyond that he just delivers most of his lines in terrible, wooden fashion.
Episode Ranking
I feel like a broken record at this point, but I enjoy the smaller scenes they’re afforded time for due to every episode being a two-parter. In this instance it’s the oil-drilling accident in the opener, which is far more detailed than it really needed to be, but it just feels right. Similarly, the exchange between John and Shayera after they thwart a bank robbery near the end served nothing but character development, so I’m thrilled they opted to do it anyway, as generally plot is king when it’s time to trim.
I’m glad they switched from a plane to a train because there’s not nearly enough train stuff in these shows. Trains are cool! Obviously it made Rex’s flirtations with what was meant to be an air stewardess a tiny bit more contrived, but hey! Fun luxury train where people pour your champagne and whatnot! John struggling to get the runaway locomotive to stop was fun too, especially when he briefly looked like he was waterskiing as he dug his heels into the ground and was dragged along behind it. Superheroes should regularly engage in helping large groups of innocent people, rather than exclusively trading punches with bad guys. I’ll never stop banging this drum.
That really nice opening act is ruined somewhat by the clunky leap from John and Rex catching up as old buds… to John flipping out at Mason over Batman’s intel about the chemicals. I know I harp on about John being a typical cop, but this was a bit much even for that, as it felt like a minor leap in logic and a major leap in their relationship dynamic. Everything seems buddy buddy and then all of a sudden it appears John looks down on Rex. If you want to argue it is in fact perfectly plausible that the mutagen could only be affiliated with Rex’s employer that’s fine, but the entire exchange just felt wildly out of pocket. Likewise, Rex knows he’s innocent but the manner in which he protests sure does make him look guilty and like he resents John right back.
I do get what they’re fumbling around at here with John, Rex, Sapphire and Simon, but I think it needed a bit of a rewrite to properly come together as the relationship dynamics just feel a little off. Part II has a chance to remedy some of this, but if we look at Part I in a vacuum it sure is strange how Sapphire is so overly friendly with John. I assume they just decided they wanted Rex to fly into a jealous rage with encouragement from Simon Stagg – which is a solid idea – but weren’t quite sure how to get there properly so decided she’s a biiiig ole flirt and/or maybe these two have got the hots for each other almost instantly, to the point Hawkgirl teases John about her. Again, I get the instinct, given they’re teasing the John/Shayera romance, and throwing another love interest into that equation makes it more fun, while also giving them a reason to have a heart-to-heart… but yeah, the central emotional core really doesn’t feel earned.
Rex ends up feeling overly stilted thanks to a combination of all of this and some poor voice acting, which doesn’t help anything as his role is meant to be a sympathetic and misguided one. He is forcibly transformed into a monster by Stagg and then tricked into trying to murder his friend. Due to the writing/acting combo I think he ends up feeling pretty unlikeable, even with what he’s made to endure with the… well… metamorphosis. He’s generally a fun character visually given his wildly over the top powers (like Clayface on steroids) and the very brief fight scene does live up to that billing, but that doesn’t make up for how awkward and disjointed the middle portion of the episode is.
Simon Stagg IS excellent. Trains are great. Metamorpho is fun to see in action. There are some nice smaller moments. But at the risk of repeating myself, this episode is less than the sum of its parts thanks to a rot at its core.
- Legends
- Injustice for All
- Paradise Lost
- In Blackest Night
- The Enemy Below
- Secret Origins
- A Knight of Shadows
- Metamorphosis (NEW ENTRY)
- Fury
- War World
- The Bold and the Brave
Rogues Roundup
Simon Stagg (Earl Boen) (first appearance)
Just a really solid execution on a very generic villain archetype: greedy industrialist. Given the DCAU already heavily features one of the best iterations of this type in Lex Luthor, along with a half dozen or so decent ones in BTAS, you’d think they’d have run out of mileage on this front. Earl Boen certainly helps to breathe extra life into Stagg, but I think his manipulation of his daughter is what helps the character the most. She is a legitimate soft-spot for him, which doesn’t justify his actions but does make him more layered as a character.
It was a really great idea to use photos of Sapphire and John to trick Rex into attacking his friend, and that it’s a two-for-one opportunity, as he also gets to test the limitations of Mason’s abilities, giving him a hard-on for the potential military implications.
I’ll package Java up with him, though his impact on the rankings will be minimal. He’s a perfectly fine henchman. With Stagg you have proof that a really well written personality and strong acting performance can take you much further than simply being cool. Strong debut.
- Lex Luthor
- The Joker
- The Injustice Guild (and Brainwave!)
- Simon Stagg (and Java!) (NEW ENTRY)
- The Imperium
- Hades
- Draaga
- Aresia
- Deadshot
- Orm
- The Injustice Gang
- Felix Faust
- Morgaine le Fey
- The Manhunters
- Kanjar-Ro
- Mongul
- Gorilla Grodd
The Matt Signal 
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