Plot summary: The League devise a plan to take the fight back to the Thanagarians as loyalties are tested on both sides in the final battle for earth.
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: 52 (S2.E26)
Original Air Date: May 29th, 2004
Directed: Butch Lukic (27)
Written: Rich Fogel (10) & Dwayne McDuffie (15)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (40) & Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (4)
Music: Michael McCuistion (23)
Batman uses Sonic Batarangs to summon a swarm of bats to attack the Thanagarians, lifted from ‘Batman: Year One’.
Victor Rivers was uncomfortable performing the fight scene between Hro Talak and Hawkgirl as he was a leading advocate to protect women from domestic abuse. Indeed their exchange was originally a lot more in that vein, but was toned down, possibly because of Rivers’ involvement.
The producers were so impressed with Elizabeth Pena in particular that they wrote the JLU episode ‘Hunter’s Moon’ for her.
I mentioned these episodes being based on ‘Tower of Babel’ from the JLA comics. Both end in a vote over whether the guilty Leaguer should be expelled, with Superman getting the final vote, only for the member to quit before the outcome is revealed. The full results of this vote will be revealed in JLU episode ‘Wake the Dead’.
The final appearance of Alfred in the DCAU, and the final television performance for Efrem Zimbalist Jr. 😦
Recap
Upon her return, Shayera is brought before Hro Talak by Kragger, who presents proof of her betrayal. She’s locked up and Kragger is sent to take care of The League once and for all.
He and his men breach the Batcave… where they get their asses summarily kicked by our heroes, now back to full strength.
Bruce splits them into two teams, with the aim of taking out the shield protecting the galactic bypass tech, and retaking the Watchtower using Kragger’s conveniently delivered ship.
Batman, Flash and J’onn achieve the latter, with Bruce revealing his true plan was to drop the Watchtower directly onto the bypass to destroy it… with himself inside after he jettisons everyone else!
Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern storm the Thanagarian mothership, with Diana reluctantly freeing Shayera, while Hro invites John to single combat in the forcefield control room.
John seems to emerge victorious, but then Hro destroys his Power Ring. Shayera tries to help but the heartbroken Hro smacks her around too. John eventually manages to trick Hro into disabling the forcefield.
Superman swoops in and saves Batman moments before impact, and Hro recalls his troops and leaves Earth when their plans go up in literal flames.
The League vote on whether Shayera should be permitted to stay, but she takes the decision out of their hands by quitting. The others pledge to rebuild The League, while John and Shayera have a final moment.
Best Performance
Kevin Conroy’s “gentlemen, it’s been an honour” ruled. His desire to go down with the ship made total sense, but it’s kind of his only big moment. I’ve said before that Maria Canals-Barrera has an argument as the most consistently good member of the main cast, and she kept that true to the end, carrying all her scenes with Victor Rivers, as well as ending the episode nicely with her farewells to the team and especially to John. Phil LaMarr brings it on his side too.
Honestly, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. takes it again though. From his savage putdown of Kragger as ‘trash’, to his genuinely comforting words to Shayera as she awaits the results of the vote, he’s just the best. “Whatever they decide in that room, in my eyes you’ll always be a hero.” I mean come on!!!
Episode Ranking
Seeing the Thanagarian ship landing right outside through the giant windows of Wayne Manor as Alfred goes about his business was a delightful little shot. And bless Al’s little heart for trying to take on Kragger by himself. In fact it’s been so nice to see these more Batman and Superman-specific corners of the world in the final days of the series that it makes you wonder why they didn’t go to them more often. The team waging a battle that incorporates the giant penny and Batman’s various other trophies felt like a payoff of a decade of seeing this iconic location. Using Alfred, Lois and other members of their supporting casts, seeing the characters out of costume… truly, they left money on the table for a long time, though I understand the difficulties of juggling so many characters and wanting to keep it simple by having them be functionally ‘in action’ at all times. And if you do it for these two you have to do it for the other five, most of who seem to have precious little going on at home.
Big fan of the depiction of J’onn using far more invasive telepathy against Kragger, paying off the various comments about Thanagarians appear more resistant to his abilities. More resistant does not mean immune, and J’onn is generally polite, so to see him drop that for the sake of urgency and metaphorically tear an opening into Kragger was gnarly. Also a little sexually evocative? The shape of the ‘opening’, Kragger’s latent desire for his commanding officer, complete with the severed (statue) head of the rival for these affections, spilling hot fluid to force a climax… come on now, boys. My (kinda) jokes aside, it’s a cool visual sequence. I’ve made it clear many times I am a sucker for creative depictions of telepathy, and while this isn’t the most elaborate one of those, the birds as a defence mechanism works well.
There have been several Hro/Shayera conversations throughout these three episodes, with middling results because of Victor Rivers’ terrible voice acting. I found the one where they talk around her love for Green Lantern the most interesting though, especially as the two functionally make the same offer but with very different connotations. Hro will pardon her treachery if she says John was meaningless and she still loves him. Shayera will be his bride if he’ll save the earth. Sincere feelings being the difference, of course. Don’t love John referring to Shayera as “stuff” during his macho standoff with Hro.
There’s obviously pressure to deliver some of the biggest action in the series for the finale, and I’d say they pretty much achieved that, with aerial battles only a step below those of ‘The Savage Time‘, while the John/Hro fight was an improvement on GL’s one with Vandal Savage from those same episodes. Everybody was kicking ass in every direction… though certain members inevitably had to shrink into the background just a smidge for the sake of time.
The big emotional ending worked well, largely thanks to Alfred as I mentioned above. Shayera’s own words for the team were well done, and I loved that Wally gave her a big hug given she’s often been the most irritated with him. Choosing the downer ending with the… well, Starcrossed lovers, simply exchanging ‘I love you’s’ and then parting ways was probably the correct decision as well.
If they made one misstep it’s that I think Diana should have been the one to save Bruce given how heavily they leaned back into WonderBat in the last two episodes, only to go completely unacknowledged in the finale. I suppose there’s still some payoff to the DCAU OG’s getting one last big moment together, each accusing the other of needing to be a hero, but just made it feel like the ‘Part III’ was written somewhat in a vacuum.
Overall I think they made a huge mistake not keeping John Ridley around to finish the story, because this is a definite step down from ‘Part II’, but as an overall trilogy it’s really solid. I can’t take it past the number four spot though, because they could have stuck the landing more emphatically than they did. There’s plenty to like here, but it doesn’t feel quite enough like a true series finale to me. I know that in many ways it isn’t, as JLU may as well just be Season 4, but they didn’t know that 100% at the time they wrote the episodes.
I fundamentally believe the three episodes I have above this did a better job as satisfying multi-parters, and had an extra ‘hook’ to them. ‘Legends‘ paid wonderful tribute to DC’s past. ‘The Savage Time‘ incorporated a World War II setting in a genuinely affecting way. ‘Wild Cards‘ is anchored by an absolute tour de force outing by the company’s most famous villain, while also finally getting John and Shayera together. By contrast these episodes do the big reveal of Hawkgirl’s true mission, which you’d think would qualify, but it’s just not quiiiite enough for me. Definitely a tonne of strong elements that could have been taken further to fight further up the list, but I don’t think 4th out of 25 sets of episodes is anything to scoff about.
- Wild Cards
- The Savage Time
- Legends
- Starcrossed (↑)
- Hereafter
- Only a Dream
- Twilight
- Hearts and Minds
- Injustice for All
- Paradise Lost
- In Blackest Night
- Tabula Rasa
- The Terror Beyond
- The Enemy Below
- Secret Origins
- A Knight of Shadows
- A Better World
- Fury
- Maid of Honor
- Comfort and Joy
- Secret Society
- Eclipsed
- War World
- Metamorphosis
- The Bold and the Brave
Rogues Roundup
The Thanagarians (Victor Rivers/Hector Elizondo/Elizabeth Pena) (third appearance)
Kragger was a solid stooge to the end, taking great delight in his coup against Shayera to become number one in Hro’s heart. Or something. I mean come on, when J’onn dives into his mind there’s twin statues of the them! Also it’s fun that despite his personality he was never depicted as particularly weak, with a big strapping physique and leading the charge against The League personally… though he did lose rather easily.
Hro punching Kragger out for revealing the truth is one of his better moments, as it proves there is complexity to the man and he sincerely loves Shayera… which then turns dangerously ugly as her confirmation she does not love him sends him off the deep end, even savagely assaulting her near the end. His battle prowess proves more than a match for both Hawkgirl and Green Lantern, with him ultimately falling victim to a trick rather than being bested outright. The touch of him opting to withdraw his forces and just go elsewhere to try and implement their plans was an interesting wrinkle, I suppose. If he’d had a better voice actor I might think even better of him.
I just don’t know if there’s any real improvement on what they’ve done up to now though. They’re a fitting set of antagonists for the end of the series, with enough manpower to be a convincing occupying force, and two compelling personalities sitting at the top of their food chain. Call it diminishing returns if you want, but I just don’t feel the urge to slide them any further up the list.
- The Joker
- Darkseid
- Dr. Destiny
- Lex Luthor
- Despero
- Vandal Savage
- The Injustice Guild (and Brainwave!)
- Amazo
- Solomon Grundy
- The Thangarians (–)
- The Injustice Gang
- The Imperium
- The Royal Flush Gang
- Brainiac
- Hades
- Draaga
- The Ultra-Humanite
- Aresia
- The Superman Revenge Squad
- Deadshot
- Gorilla Grodd
- Harley Quinn
- Orm
- Simon Stagg (and Java!)
- Colonel Vox
- The Secret Society
- Felix Faust
- Ichultu
- Eclipso
- Morgaine le Fey
- The Manhunters
- The Justice Lords
- Kanjar-Ro
- Mongul
- Doomsday
The Matt Signal 
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