Plot summary: With Amazo hurtling back towards Earth, The League assembles its full might to try and protect Lex Luthor from The Golden God.

Notes and Trivia

Episode: 7 (S1.E7)

Original Air Date: September 18^th, 2004

Directed: Joaquim dos Santos (4)

Written: Stan Berkowitz (3) (story) & J.M. DeMatteis (2) (teleplay)

Animation: DR Movie Co., LTD (4)

Music: Michael McCuistion (3)

Amazo of course appeared in ‘Tabula Rasa‘, leaving the planet with a grudge towards Lex Luthor, setting up this episode.

The future version of Vandal Savage implored Superman to save Ray Palmer in order to prevent the apocalypse in ‘Hereafter‘. Feel free to try and do some head canon to directly link the two episodes.

I’ve said repeatedly Bruce Timm grew up a big Marvel fan. Lex Luthor’s secret hideout below a barbershop comes directly from Nick Fury.

The Thanagarians were originally intended to have destroyed Oa as part of the events of ‘Starcrossed‘, but with that plan cancelled it left Amazo free to do it instead. Insanely even though that’s undone at the end of the episode, and them designing new uniforms, this is the last time you’ll see the Green Lantern Corps in the DCAU.

Shayera’s back! We’ll next hear from her in ‘Wake the Dead’.

From this episode onwards the end credits feature clips from upcoming episodes.

DCAU Debuts

Of course The Atom would be the most important hero in an episode overflowing with heavy hitters. Ray Palmer debuted in 1961, starting life as an updated version of 1940’s Atom, who was just super strong, before Julius Schwartz and Gardener Fox modified him so much he became a character in his own right, gaining his iconic shrinking powers. He beat the far more famous Ant-Man to print by 4 months, and just like Hank Pym is one of the more prominent scientists in DC.

Brandon Routh played him in Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow, while Zheng Kai appeared as Ryan Choi (Palmer’s successor) in Zack Snyder’s Justice League in a move that truly infuriated me.

Recap

John Stewart calls the GL Corps to request a transfer away from Earth but they’re interrupted by Amazo hurtling towards Oa at such intense speed… he destroys the planet!

Amazo is heading for Earth, so The League set up 3 massive waves of defence and then send Supergirl and Steel to escort an allegedly reformed Lex Luthor to safety.

Lex gives them the slip and locks himself away deep in a heavily fortified secret bunker… unaware The Atom hitched a ride in miniature form. The pair get to work on plans to defeat Amazo.

Unfortunately Amazo cuts through the first line of defence like butter, despite it consisting of Superman, Green Lantern, Captain Atom, Orion, Dr. Light, Starman, S.T.R.I.P.E. and a fleet of ships.

The second and third waves fare no better, with Supergirl, Red Tornado, Rocket Red, Fire, Ice, Wonder Woman, Flash and Steel all getting their asses resoundingly kicked.

Amazo breaches all of Lex’s defences and shrugs off the weapon he and Palmer cooked up, having evolved beyond his nanotech origins. They cant even hide from him in a subatomic universe.

However Amazo instead asks Lex for help finding a purpose in the universe. His answer is decent enough to resolve the situation, with the surviving Green Lantern Corps standing down when it reveals it simply moved Oa to another dimension.

Dr. Fate offers continued council, taking Amazo back to the Tower of Fate… where it turns out Hawkgirl is another of his guests!

Best Performance

There’s very little left for me to say about Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor at this point. He’s just always so incredibly good. I loved his gentler demeanour as he tries to sell the (presumable) lie about his reformation, or at least coming across better in his television interview, only to snap back into his hotheaded persona once he’s away from cameras. He’s also surprisingly solid as an unnamed Guardian of the Universe at the start of the episode, denying John Stewart a transfer away from Earth. He’s got such a distinct voice that it’s difficult to mask it, but it turns out softening it significantly does the job.

John McGinley always feels like a semi-reluctant participant in voiceover roles, but he does lend a certain throwback vibe to Ray Palmer, fitting with his 1960s scientist persona. He also provides a shocking amount of warmth given he’s best known for angrier characters, seeing straight through Lex’s bravado and offering words of comfort.

Robert Picardo as the third leg of the tripod, mostly just unleashing quiet fury on the cast, but then descending into abject hopelessness and pure rage as he and Lex trade philosophical musings.

Elsewhere Phil LaMarr replaces Michael Dorn as Steel, with Bruce Timm claiming he’s doing an impression of a young Morgan Freeman. I do not hear that at all. Likewise Will Friedle steps in as the new Kyle Rayner and does a solid job. It’s not his exact performance as Terry McGinnis, but it’s not that far off it either, more changing the tone than sound of his voice.

Episode Ranking

Even if they’re all revealed to be fine in the third act, opening an episode with the ostensible destruction of the Green Lantern Corps is a hell of a move.

Obviously the thing most people are here for is watching Amazo stomp through all the most powerful members of The Justice League like they’re nothing, and while that stuff is cool for the spectacle, to me the real juice is in Lex Luthor and Ray Palmer tinkering away while the clock ticks down. They’re a really fun odd couple and I hope Clancy Brown and John McGinley got to record in the same room, because it certainly has that vibe. Lex tries to express his disgust with Palmer, but Ray’s simply too mature to take any of the bait, instead offering reassurance and calmly carrying on with the work.

That transitions nicely into the big conversation between Lex and Amazo, and you’re always going to win points from me when you can find a way to resolve a giant conflict by talking it out instead of action figures smashing into each other. It’s a solid bit of writing by J.M. DeMatteis, subverting the expectation Amazo is doing all of this to simply murder a man that tricked it for a bit, identifying that Luthor also continually amasses power and can never be satisfied. That it actually makes sense why Amazo would seek his advice is no small thing. Both actors bring it, the visuals are cool thanks to the temporary defensive measure of slipping into ~~The Quantum Realm~~ a subatomic dimension, with Amazo’s giant golden face looming over Luthor and Palmer.

In terms of the stuff a lot of people prefer, I do question the configuration of these waves of defence, as the first is so comically more powerful than the others, so why even bother once Amazo broke through? I did like how much detail they put into Lex’s secret bunker, really showing off all the defence systems and layers of heavy blast doors so that when Amazo easily cuts his way inside later you realise how damn powerful it truly is.

Overall while this hasn’t exactly turned me into an Amazo Stan, I do appreciate where they went with everything after what it seemed like it was going to be about. Not as interesting as the dive into Superman’s subconscious, or even the tight Gallatea mystery, but also clearly better than everything else in the season so far.

For the Man Who Has Everything
Fearful Symmetry
The Return (NEW ENTRY)
Initiation
This Little Piggy
Kids’ Stuff
Hawk and Dove

Rogues Roundup

Amazo (Robert Picardo) (first appearance)

If you haven’t read my reviews of Tabula Rasa let me just again preface that I know I’m on an island with this, but I have simply never cared that much for Amazo in any form, and don’t really get why this version is held up on a pedestal.

Sure, it’s scary to see such an insanely powerful character slice through the strongest heroes The League has to offer, barely even slowed down for a moment at any point… but it’s also kind of… boring? This thing is so beyond comprehension that I struggled to really engage with it as a character… until it asked Lex to help it find a purpose.

The conversation that follows is genuinely interesting, and Picardo really makes it sing with his range of emotional responses. This is the closest the damn thing has had to a personality… but I’d still go with the charisma of Circe. Sorry!

Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) (first appearance)

The last time we saw Lex in Justice League he honoured a bargain with the Justice League to stop the Justice Lords and then declared his intention to run for office. Here we see him doing a full-tilt charm offensive on television, claiming his Kryptonite poisoning makes him want to use his remaining time to do good. Solid character journey. But of course he’s not entirely sincere, as we see him revert to rage-filled duplicity the moment he’s escorted out of sight. Even when he tries to be vulnerable later on, Ray Palmer sees right through it.

His final conversation with Amazo really summarises everything. At first inviting the android to go ahead and kill him, he ends up pulling enough philosophical wisdom out of his ass to placate the omnipotent Golden God, imploring him to see how everything in the universe turns out, as well as carving his own path instead of asking others for guidance. Aaaaand then he smack talks Amazo for being pathetic and almost gets them all killed, and shit talks Ray Palmer in the end too. Never change, Lex.

Straight to the top of the list. What a wonderfully nuanced character.

Lex Luthor (NEW ENTRY)
Circe
Amazo (NEW ENTRY)
Mongul
Galatea
Brimstone
Ares (and The Annihilator!)
Mordred (and Morgaine le Fey!)