Plot summary: Superman is determined to take the fight to Cadmus despite advice to the contrary. Lex Luthor takes drastic measures to escalate their conflict.

Notes and Trivia

Episode: 23 (S2.E10)

Original Air Date: July 2^nd, 2005

Directed: Joaquim dos Santos (12)

Written: Dwayne McDuffie (11)

Animation: DR Movie Co., LTD (12)

Music: Lolita Ritmanis (8)

While most DC fans immediately think of the continuity-resetting comic event when they hear ‘Flashpoint’, this episode actually pre-dates it by several years and the two share zero similarities.

Batman told Green Arrow his role on the team would be to keep them honest back in the first episode of the series, something Ollie reminds Superman of here.

While the President doesn’t get a name in this episode his last name is ‘Stone’ per various Dwayne McDuffie scripts.

Galatea briefly wears a red towel over her shoulder, making her even more closely resemble Power Girl.

DCAU Debuts

Who was that lady who flew into space and saved Superman? Why it was Dr. Light, of course! Not to be confused with Dr. Light. Wait, what? Arthur Light is a supervillain, while Kimiyo Hoshi is a hero. Well… they’re probably linked in some way given they share a name and powers (light based, obviously) and have very similar costumes, right? Nope! Comics, baby! She appeared prominently in The Flash.

Recap

Captain Atom and Superman beat the holy hell out of each other while Huntress gets Question to the Watchtower. Clark eventually wins and takes Cap in for medical treatment as well.

Question again expresses his scepticism Superman can resolve the situation without sparking a war, with Green Arrow, Flash and Martian Manhunter insisting they do things the right way.

While they’re talking everything out, Lex Luthor forces their hand, hacking the Watchtower’s orbital laser canon and opening fire on a Cadmus facility, obliterating a nearby town in the process.

The President demands an explanation, promising a full-scale investigation and retaliation from the US Armed Forces if he’s unhappy with the findings.

The League get to work rescuing survivors but struggle to answer their questions about who was responsible, with many turning away from their offers of help.

Amanda Waller opts not to wait for The President’s decision, ordering Galatea to take out The League, putting dozens and dozens of Ultimen clones at her command.

Best Performance

Amy Acker is still so damn fun as Huntress. I legitimately laughed out loud at her response to Superman telling her not to wait for him: “What made you think I was gonna?” Clancy Brown playing Lex as scarily calm has been a fun contrast to his outbursts in the past. Jefrrey Combs is great even with his more limited dialogue.

George Newbern doesn’t get enough love from me. He’s really found his stride as Superman and does a good job with the beats where Clark is being kiiiind of a dick without taking it to extremes. He’s frustrated as hell and wants to take action for the greater good, but he’s also seeing red.

I think I’d give it to Kin Shriner though, speaking truth to power about The League’s terrifying capacity for destruction. He’s very believable in his dismay over how everything plays out, expressing guilt for even being part of the team anymore. I was honestly a little dubious he could pull off this ‘conscience of the team’ role that Batman cast him in back in episode one, but he’s really grown on me as an actor.

Episode Ranking

I feel like giving a soft positive review to this is a tacit confession I’m a philistine who finds ‘talking episodes’ boring. It’s good! It’s just also so painfully the middle part of a larger story. The ‘all is lost’ moment, if you will. I think it adds a great deal to the overall Cadmus arc, but isn’t necessarily stellar in a vacuum, which is how these episodes are reviewed.

While various writers tried to communicate that Captain Atom is one of The League’s heaviest hitters (such as ‘Task Force X‘ singling him out as someone to worry about), seeing him actually throw hands with Superman and more than hold his own is still somewhat shocking. It’s a well-executed brawl as they really lay into each other in brutal fashion, levelling much of the Cadmus facility in the process (big fan of Huntress giving up on picking a lock when they blow a hole in the wall.) Lolita Ritmanis’ score really shines here, giving the whole thing a somber, almost tragic feel, and it becomes clear why as it progresses beyond the sadness of teammates fighting and moves towards Captain Atom trying to push past his obvious defeat while Clark implores him to stay down. Capping the scene off with Superman angrily shooing away Cadmus medics so he can take him to The Watchtower for treatment instead was very nice… though I am painfully aware they introduced this friendship dynamic literally one episode ago. In an ideal world Captain Atom should have been given more focus through the series, but it still broadly works.

While it’s a tiny bit on the nose, I mostly liked Green Arrow, Flash and Martian Manhunter talking Superman down from going to war with Cadmus, with Ollie in particular arguing the government should have means to defend the people from The League, while Flash preaches Ghandi. GA goes a step further by pointing out – probably correctly – that the mere existence of their WMD allowed the incident to happen and that simply nobody should wield so much power.

I appreciate how long they stretched out the hacking of the orbital laser, devoting several minutes of screen time to the powering up – complete with J’onn temporarily averting the crisis only for it to draw reserve energy – then the looks around the town at all the civilians moments before impact, the slow pull-out to reveal the crater and plenty of shots around the devastated town. Even when it’s over you get J’onn getting chewed out by the President and a few minutes of The League on search and rescue duty. They really want you to feel the weight of what all of this means. Shame they reveal next episode NOBODY died to hugely undercut the whole thing.

Oh, Question face reveal and Huntress thinking he’s hot was nice! Absolutely insane that they’d been dating for a little while and this was the first time she’d seen him without the mask, but I’m not going to kink shame them.

Double Date
For the Man Who Has Everything
Clash
Task Force X
Question Authority
Fearful Symmetry
The Return
The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales
Flashpoint (NEW ENTRY)
The Ties That Bind
The Cat and the Canary
The Greatest Story Never Told
The Balance
Dark Heart
Initiation
This Little Piggy
Kids’ Stuff
The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time Warped
Doomsday Sanction
Wake the Dead
Ultimatum
Hawk and Dove
Hunter’s Moon

Rogues Roundup

Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown) (fourth appearance)

He’s already got the top spot but he really justified it here. His ability to hack The Watchtower (and work around their countermeasures) demonstrates how damn smart he is, something that’s actually been somewhat downplayed at times in favour of him just being evil. Sure, he outfoxed The League when they tried to escort him to safety in ‘The Return‘, but you’d be forgiven for not realising he’s meant to be among the most intelligent people walking the Earth.

But damn, that immorality is something else. Functionally nuking a town for a false flag operation is perhaps the most underhanded thing anyone has done in the DCAU, and that includes multiple planetary invasions. My favourite thing about it is that it’s somewhat unclear of the rest of Cadmus knew he was going to do it or if he was going rogue.

Project Cadmus (CCH Pounder) (fifth appearance)

It’s a bit difficult to separate them from Luthor at this stage, but I think the ambiguity over how many of them knew Lex was going to blow up a town to frame The League is interesting. Waller prooooobably knew, and she definitely puts Galatea and The Ultimen into play before being given permission to do so, but does Eiling know? Hamilton? ~~Strange~~ Moon? Regardless, their endgame has been revealed as they bring out their big guns to set up a big confrontation next time.

Lex Luthor (–)
Steven Mandragora
Circe
Task Force X
Amazo
Chronos
Mongul
Project Cadmus (–)
Granny Goodness
Galatea
Dark Heart
Tobias Manning
The Jokerz
Felix Faust
The Annihilator
Tala
Doomsday
Hades
Roulette
Solomon Grundy
The Thanagarians
Brimstone
Ares
Mordred (and Morgaine le Fey!)
Mordru
Virman Vundabar