Justice League‘s sophomore season is also its last, so it’s time to talk about another batch of 26 episodes, as well as the series overall. We’ve got numbers! We’ve got takes! We’ve got bad jokes!
For background on the creation of Justice League and info about how I’ll be covering it, check out the Series Primer.
More Season Reviews:
Batman: The Animated Series (Season One | Season Two | The New Batman Adventures)
Batman Beyond (Season One | Season Two | Season Three)
Superman: The Animated Series (Season One | Season Two | Season Three)
Justice League (Season One)
- Season Review
- Director Rankings
- Writer Rankings
- Animation Rankings
- Composer Rankings
- Episode Rankings
- Rogues Roundup
If this is your first encounter with one of my season reviews, I keep a giant ridiculous spreadsheet that assigns point totals to the episodes. At the end of each season I use this to calculate an average score per episode for the various creatives, present the rankings as pure data (I generally break ties based on highest individual episode placement) and provide some commentary to point out how flawed my metric is or pat myself on the back.
Animation rankings are back because we actually got multiple studios working on the show compared to Season One being all Koko, all the time.
For the purposes of tallying writer/director/animation/composer totals, I treated each combined story as one episode rather than splitting them into their individual parts.
Season Review
There were some clear lessons learned from Season One.
Superman’s design was restored to something closer to STAS after his foray into looking more haggard, which went hand-in-hand with him no longer being portrayed as ‘too weak’. I do think fans exaggerated a little on this front, as it’s simply a necessity of a show like this to find ways to incapacitate a character so powerful he could arguably solve most problems by himself… but I also can’t deny that there was a clear bias shown to certain characters, and it was nice to see Superman cut loose way more this time around. Between finishing up his lingering beef with Darkseid and becoming ‘the last man alive‘, it seemed like a return to form. But they also just got more creative with how they ‘weakened’ him, from Dr. Destiny’s dream powers, Ichultu’s mystical energies or the direct mirroring of the likes of Amazo and Lord Superman.
There was also a more notable effort to delve into the backgrounds of several characters. Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne got to make some appearances, as well as guests from their respective shows. John got more of a home life and specific Green Lantern backstory thanks to ‘Hearts and Minds‘. Martian Manhunter had an existential crisis and explored his seasonal depression. Flash’s name and face were finally revealed, and he actually got to step up to the plate a lot more after being pure comedic relief with nebulously defined capabilities. They even made a single attempt to show what Diana does on her days off, and even teased getting very bold with her sexuality, but of course chickened out. I wish they’d taken this even further, and regularly depicted the group in their civilian lives and given them more supporting characters to talk to, but juggling seven people and a villain of the week was of course challenging. It’s just whenever they did lean in this direction, I think the show was better for it. Plus it all culminates in those who have secret identities finally sharing them, which feels like making the best of a bad situation, and you might lose it if they’d done more before then.
I don’t know if they knew when the series started where things were going with Hawkgirl, but they clearly did as soon as Season 2 started, as hints were dropped left and right about her mysterious past. It was a solid card to play, as revealing a traitor in the team right at the end is inherently compelling, and she made the most sense as an evasive outsider. They also chose to reveal it very quickly after finally paying off the flirtations between her and Green Lantern that were definitely present throughout Season One but were escalated significantly in Season Two. Or rather they got better at writing them, as John was often just being a dick early in the show (part of them getting a better handle on all the character voices in general.) This for sure pays off as it’s a legitimately feel good moment when they finally confess their feelings and kiss. Along the way they used Katma Tui for jealousy reasons, while also expanding John’s backstory and the Green Lantern mythos. There’s probably slightly less world building and cultural exploration compared to Season One, which is a shame, but if that’s the trade-off required to flesh out these characters better, I’ll take it.
On the subject of romances, WonderBat was an accident in Season One, a throwaway moment Bruce Timm almost got deleted, but following fan feedback they opted to lean into it this season, with them getting very close in ‘Maid of Honor‘, and even more so in ‘Starcrossed‘… though it’s perplexing why that was seemingly dropped altogether right at the end. They’re cute together, in my opinion, and they felt like the most benched team members over time, so it gave them something to do.
Beyond all of these specifics, it’s also clear the creative team felt far more comfortable with the show they were trying to make. The animation became slightly smoother, mostly eliminating my oft-mentioned gripes about the backgrounds looking out of sync with the characters, or the line work not holding up to zooms and pans. The characters had stronger voices as I’ve said, and I’ll talk about it a lot more below, but the villains are better. They also fully learned how to balance multi-part episodes, with it being much rarer to feel like you got an unsatisfying or incomplete piece of television.
When all is said and done, there’s plenty you can say Justice League should have done more of – chiefly putting Batman, Superman and especially Wonder Woman more front and centre, and giving them their own private lives – but I do understand their mentality that they’ve already given us so much Bruce and Clark. I’ll never get why they seemed so disinterested in Diana, but they can definitely hang their hats on what a good job they did with Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and to a lesser extent The Flash. Wally ends up serving a useful purpose relieving tension through his antics, while the other three are who the writing staff were most engaged with, giving Shayera and John the full-series romantic subplot, and hinging the three-part finale around them. Green Lanterns come with a degree of baked-in support, but Hawkgirl was always the odd one out in the team composition, added over Aquaman to try and balance things out better, but when all was said and done she may have been their best written and performed character in the series. Plus she unlocks a slightly downer ending, which I always respect being brave enough to try.
My instinct is Season 2 is better than Season 1, with more memorable episodes, more ongoing subplots, and a better overall handle on the characters. Some of Season 1’s strengths were lost, and they still never fully addressed some of the series’ weaknesses, but it was still a really fun time overall, especially given 5 of the 7 (we’re not counting Flash’s single appearance in STAS) were brand new characters.
Director Rankings
Season 2
- Butch Lukic (8 eps)
- Dan Riba (7 eps)
Last time around our director duo actually tied and I chose to put Butch Lukic ahead on the strength of having the highest ranked individual episodes, but this time he simply won outright. Wasn’t all that close either as he worked on 7 of my top 8, while Riba’s name is on 4 of my bottom 5. In fact if you take out the ones they split duties on, Riba’s highest ranked episode is the precise mid-point. Absolutely smoked.
As always, I’m not saying these raw numbers are a reflection of their talents. Riba was clearly an extremely trusted creative voice on the DCAU, stepping up to fill a void in BTAS and then becoming a workhorse throughout STAS and TNBA. But I do note that Butch Lukic works with Bruce Timm to this day, and Dan Riba does not…
Overall
- Butch Lukic (15 eps)
- Dan Riba (14 eps)
Pretty similar story where the overall is concerned, which makes sense if they were tied in Season One and then Lukic dominated Season Two. Simple maths!
Lukic walks away with 8 of my top 10 episodes, and only 1 in my bottom 5. Riba’s got some relatively even distribution of his episodes, but all of highest scoring ones were shared.
Writer Rankings
Season 2
- John Ridley (1 ep)
- Rich Fogel (2 eps)
- Dwayne McDuffie (5 eps)
- Bruce Timm (1 ep)
- Keith Damron (1 eps)
- Stan Berkowitz (5 eps)
- Paul Dini (1 ep)
- Joseph Kuhr (1 ep)
Poor Paul Dini. His name is attached to the atrocious ‘The Brave and the Bold‘ in Season One, which he has dubious credit for given he broke his hand and Dwayne McDuffie took over, and then he writes the charming but not awe inspiring ‘Comfort and Joy‘ in Season Two. As I’ve said in the individual episode reviews, I have a long-time conspiracy theory that he and Bruce Timm fell out around this era as they rarely work together after this, but officially we’re going to pin his reduced involvement on the broken hand.
John Ridley pulls an Andrew Kriesberg and comes in with a great deal more writing experience than the average scribe for this show, running rings around the regulars in his singular attempt. ‘Starcrossed’ Part II might be the single best script in the entire series.
The likes of Rich Fogel and Dwayne McDuffie fare much better in Season 2 than their overall rankings, with both stepping up their game in my opinion. Conversely, Stan Berkowitz’s quality dipped. I’ve always thought he was somewhat middling for the DCAU writers who racked up a large number of episodes, but many above him started to fade away and he just isn’t up to being the main go-to guy, in my opinion. He’s capable of good work, but his average outing is lacking.
Overall
- Andrew Kreisberg (1 ep) (-)
- John Ridley (1 ep) (NEW)
- Bruce Timm (1 ep) (NEW)
- Stan Berkowitz (10 eps) (↓)
- Keith Damron (2 eps) (-)
- Rich Fogel (4 eps) (-)
- Dwayne McDuffie (8 eps) (-)
- Kevin Hopps (1 ep) (↓)
- Joseph Kuhr (2 eps) (↓)
- Paul Dini (2 eps) (↑)
- Len Uhley (1 ep) (↓)
Bruce Timm, miracle writer returns! He gets his name onto ‘Twilight‘ (alongside multiple others) because of how personally invested he was in the New Gods stuff and coasts off a single writing credit to land really high up a list of ‘real’ writers. Never change, Bruce.
I feel a need to talk about Dwayne McDuffie, who many would feel I was overly harsh about in Season One. His work definitely improved as he made his way deeper into the ‘inner circle’ and his number of credits began to rise. That he and long-time DCAU workhorse Stan Berkowitz end up the only writers with significant episode counts is fascinating to me, as they moved back to the BTAS model of bringing in a lot of one-time guests. The era of TNBA, STAS and Beyond seemed to prefer trusting a smaller handful of regular voices.
But this approach brings you people demonstrably more qualified like Andrew Kriesberg (who retains the overall top spot) and John Ridley (who storms straight to number two).
Animation Rankings
Season 2
- DongWoo Animation Co. LTD. (3 eps)
- Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (2 eps)
- Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (7 eps)
- DR Movie Co., LTD. (3 eps)
DongWoo and Dong Yang tied, but the former worked on more episodes and had the highest placing among them.
I do think adding three more animation studios into the mix compared to Koko handling all of Season One was a wise move, as the show got better looking in my opinion. It does ask questions about whether Koko were simply cheaper, though I’ve talked a lot about Bruce Timm prioritising staying on model over artistic flourishes. I respect why he feels that way, but for all the way these shows got ‘better’ looking than BTAS, that’s the only show in the DCAU with an actual aesthetic legacy.
Overall
- DongWoo Animation Co. LTD. (3 eps)
- Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (2 eps)
- Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (19 eps)
- DR Movie Co., LTD. (3 eps)
No real difference in rankings, other than this time it’s Koko and DR Movie who tied. This is because Koko’s sheer number of episodes means different point totals on the overall list compared to just Season 2.
Copy and paste the above, really. Koko are perfectly fine, but the show looked nicer once they started to share their work. Also kind of cute to see them reunited with long-time collaborators Dong Yang, who vanished for a while.
Composer Rankings
Season 2
- Michael McCuistion (6 eps)
- Kristopher Carter (5 eps)
- Lolita Ritmanis (5 eps)
As a reminder, this is the section I feel the least confident about presenting data about. The music in the DCAU is always good, and some of the worst episodes still have good scores. I also personally struggle to pick out the quality difference between this trio of Shirley Walker proteges. Queen Shirley? I knew she was good, but these three are so in sync they might as well be sharing every episode to my untrained ear.
Anyway! Michael McCuistion takes the top honours, though each of them was separated by only a point. Helps to get your name on 4 of the top 5 episodes, though it should be noted there was a lot more sharing than in the past. McCuistion finished the series up by handling all of ‘Starcrossed’, which helps his case, but his other two solo efforts placed much lower. By comparison Carter’s placement was a mix of highs and lows, while Ritmanis placed pretty consistently in the middle.
Overall
- Kristopher Carter (11 eps)
- Lolita Ritmanis (11 eps)
- Michael McCuistion (12 eps)
Carter and Ritmanis tied, but Carter has the highest ranked episode of anybody.
It’s nice that the order is so different despite them splitting the work pretty evenly. Carter wins by getting his name on half of the top 10. Otherwise see the above, really. I think they’re all great and do almost identical sounding work to me.
I REALLY need to stop doing this segment…
Episode Rankings
Season 2
- Wild Cards
- Starcrossed
- Hereafter
- Only a Dream
- Twilight
- Hearts and Minds
- Tabula Rasa
- The Terror Beyond
- A Better World
- Maid of Honor
- Comfort and Joy
- Secret Society
- Eclipsed
In a vacuum, this is a pretty solid group of episodes. I actively like the top 8 (though with some caveats on fan-favourite ‘Tabula Rasa‘), and see the potential in the next three on the list. That bottom two? Ehhh, needed a lot more work, but not terrible!
I do note that in the top end of this list we have a strong villain showcase in the vein of BTAS, a singular character focus episode in a show that sometimes struggled to balance the ensemble, two episodes that delve into the backstories and psyches of our heroes, and a payoff of the DCAU’s past. Basically all the stuff I was constantly asking them to do more of, while the more ‘episode of the week’ stories placed lower.
Overall
- Wild Cards (S2)
- The Savage Time (S1)
- Legends (S1)
- Starcrossed (S2)
- Hereafter (S2)
- Only a Dream (S2)
- Twilight (S2)
- Hearts and Minds (S2)
- Injustice for All (S1)
- Paradise Lost (S1)
- In Blackest Night (S1)
- Tabula Rasa (S2)
- The Terror Beyond
- The Enemy Below (S1)
- Secret Origins (S1)
- A Knight of Shadows (S1)
- A Better World (S2)
- Fury (S1)
- Maid of Honor (S2)
- Comfort and Joy (S2)
- Secret Society (S2)
- Eclipsed (S2)
- War World (S1)
- Metamorphosis (S1)
- The Bold and the Brave (S1)
My assessment that Season 2 felt better holds up when you consider 6 of my top 8 episodes are from this season, while the entire bottom 3 are from Season 1. Though of course Season 1 bags 2 of the top 3, so it’s not entirely one-sided. It’s just that the overall quality curve is higher this time.
I talked above about the themes of Season 2’s top episodes, but it is interesting to see the comparison to Season 1, which relied on extremely high concepts to score well, while several of its best ‘normal’ episodes landed more in the middle of the pack overall.
Rogues Roundup
Season 2
- The Joker
- Darkseid
- Dr. Destiny
- Despero
- Vandal Savage
- Lex Luthor
- Amazo
- Solomon Grundy
- The Thangarians
- The Royal Flush Gang
- Brainiac
- The Ultra-Humanite
- Gorilla Grodd
- The Superman Revenge Squad
- Harley Quinn
- Colonel Vox
- The Secret Society
- Felix Faust
- Ichultu
- Eclipso
- The Justice Lords
- Doomsday
One of the first season’s biggest shortcomings was the lack of truly compelling villains. Lex Luthor and The Joker casually strolled their way near the top of the list by simply leveraging their pasts and strong personalities, while newly established foes frequently felt half-baked. Several were really cool, but lacked charisma. Some were fun but one-note. Given the DCAU hangs its hat on these mostly definitive takes on various characters, this was a big problem.
I don’t know if they ever truly got there, but Season Two was definitely a step up. Not only did they give in and deploy more returning favourites like Darkseid, Brainiac, Luthor and Joker (this time with much stronger focus episodes), plus a bunch of minor returning STAS foes (making the world feel like it has genuine history), but they introduced more compelling solo villains like Amazo, Dr. Destiny and Despero. Plus they made improvements to the likes of Vandal Savage, Solomon Grundy and even Gorilla Grodd.
Unfortunately they’re still far too addicted to ensembles. Getting The Justice Lords, Secret Society and Superman Revenge Squad in a short span of time was pretty rough sledding. Especially as two of these don’t differ much from The Injustice Gang. I get why they do it; it’s hard to find a singular villain for seven extremely powerful characters to fight at once, but the drawback is the more characters you have, the less depth there is to each of them.
The Thangarians make for a fitting final set of antagonists though, combining the fun visual diversity of The Imperium, the overwhelming force of the Nazis Savage’s army, and some of the ‘palace intrigue’ or infighting that came with the aforementioned sects of villain supergroups. Their leader, Hro Talak is let down by his voice actor, but proves to be pretty badass, and ties together the Hawkgirl/Green Lantern story nicely.
Overall
- 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
It is striking how many of the top spots are due to their Season 2 outings. Lex Luthor is the only one to really suffer, as he had such a strong singular appearance in Season 1, but then came off a bit worse this time around.
When all is said and done this is probably the weakest list of villains of any of the series I’ve covered to date. Even when they tried a bit harder to improve things in this arena, it’s just really difficult to find good bad guys for a seven-person team. It’ll be interesting to see how things change when we get more team size and composition variety in JLU.
The Matt Signal 
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