JLU’s second season has come to an end, and almost the entire DCAU with it after the conclusion of the lauded Cadmus arc. Time to assess what worked, what didn’t, and if I’ll ever figure out a better way to review these seasons.
For the new folks: I keep track of all the episodes with a spreadsheet, assigning point totals based on their placement in the ranking. I then use that to calculate an average score for the directors, writers, animators and composers. It’s incredibly flawed because a bad episode can still have good direction etc., but I’m deeply committed to it at this point and it’s fun to see the trends if nothing else.
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 Two)
Justice League Unlimited (Season One)
Batman: Caped Crusader (Season One)
- Season Review
- Director Rankings
- Writer Rankings
- Animation Rankings
- Composer Rankings
- Episode Rankings
- Rogues Roundup
Season Review
This season is best remembered for The Cadmus Arc, putting aside the anthology nature that was originally pitched to justify the greatly expanded cast and instead tying almost every episode into the larger government conspiracy story. The results were… mixed.
I think the build of the Cadmus story was excellent, picking up what were ostensibly scraps from the DCAU’s history and tying them together into a cohesive ongoing plot. For a pair of episodes as mediocre as ‘A Better World‘ to suddenly become the catalyst that terrified the government enough to sanction Amanda Waller putting a bunch of villains on the payroll to prepare for the hypothetical scenario of The League trying to conquer the world was a master stroke. I don’t necessarily love how fixated they became on the notion of Superman fulfilling ‘the prophecy’ by killing Lex Luthor as the first step of a global takeover. I get it from a pattern recognition standpoint, with someone like The Question fully buying into it, but for Cadmus to have simply run a bunch of simulations that say this is likely to happen is… iffy. I get that a lot of big corporations are listening to AI as we speak, but this still felt a little too far to me.
Regardless, there was plenty of reason to be generally distrustful of The League thanks to things like Superman being brainwashed to work for Darkseid, Hawkgirl being revealed as a spy leading to an invasion by The Thanagarians, Wonder Woman and Batman battling the Kaznian military and The League hoarding a secret weapon of mass destruction. The team never answered to any authority and conducted whatever operations they chose, which is not great. That of course led to Lex Luthor setting a trap that Superman walked right into, levelling a town in front a crowd of orphans and assembled press. Professor Hamilton signed up to help Cadmus in the first place because Superman snapped at him about saving Supergirl, perhaps my favourite little moment they picked up off the floor and made pivotal. This of course leads to his participation in creating Galatea and the Ultimen, government-controlled superheroes that underlines their hypocrisy (important to remember they’re villains, even if they do have some points!)
They even revealed Doomsday’s seemingly random attack in Justice League was Cadmus trying to cut bait on a failed experiment. Doomsday’s return encapsulates the Cadmus arc perfectly, as the big picture plot elements of that episode were tremendous, with Batman and Amanda Waller taking turns to threaten each other, and Bruce snapping at his teammates about the way they conduct themselves. Unfortunately the episode itself isn’t very good, with an extremely uninspired fight between Superman and Doomsday, and one of the lowest stakes missile chases in history. They also spend a decent amount of the runtime doing Plot Admin, stating the themes out loud, reminding the audience of things they already know etc. I admire them organically tying disparate elements together into a satisfying Big Picture, but as writers of a television show you should never lose sight of your goal to entertain the audience episode-to-episode.
I also don’t think the story wrapped up as well as it could have, especially given the highly compelling table-setting they did in the run up to the conclusion, with Luthor going rogue and framing The League for an attack against the American government (originally implying mass casualties until the network made them say nobody died) and six of the founding members arrested while Batman went on the run. To turn that into an incredibly dull extended brawl with Luthor/Braniac was disappointing to me, concluding with an incredibly rushed Big Speech where Superman tries to disband The League only for Green Arrow to talk him out of it. That should have been a huge moment given multiple minutes to play out, but was instead executed at breakneck pace so they could squeeze in Epic Moments like Flash finally tapping into The Speed Force.
The biggest triumph for this season is undoubtedly the return of The Question, who helped make ‘Double Date’ a sublime slice of television There was a token mention of Cadmus but it was mostly an episode in a vacuum, bringing back popular characters in Question, Green Arrow and Black Canary for improved outings and debuting The Huntress to create two competing couples racing to reach a gloriously shitty villain. All of them bounced off each other wonderfully and it makes all the sense in the world that it’s such a fan favourite.
It’s telling to me that the episode was penned by guest writer Gail Simone, hired by Bruce Timm back when the series was intended to be an anthology, alongside the likes of Warren Ellis, Darwyn Cooke, Andrew Kreisberg, Henry Gilroy and Ron Zimmerman. Not all of those people turned in fantastic work, but they certainly provided a great deal of variety over the course of the series, as compared to every single episode being written by either Dwayne McDuffie or Matt Wayne next season. McDuffie is a figure I have mixed feelings about. It’s difficult to ignore the towering reverence DCAU fans have for him, but I think most of his scripts are somewhat lacking compared to his big ideas. So I can absolutely praise The Cadmus Arc overall but point out most of the episodes that focused on it most heavily were not very good.
Conversely, ‘Task Force X’ was driven by wanting to give Cadmus a win but mostly worked in a bubble, which to me is the platonic ideal for a season of TV that wants to pull off an ongoing story. The episode works on its own while still technically contributing to their long-term plans. But at is heart it’s another one written by a guest (Darwyn Cooke) and was driven by strong characters in the titular Suicide Squad, while also giving some of the lesser-used members of The League a moment in the spotlight. It’s an episode dripping in personal tastes, with Cooke demonstrating his love of campy spycraft, and honestly all I’m looking for in entertainment is personality, both on the screen and from behind the ‘camera’ as it were.
It may sound like I’m trying to argue the most beloved story in the DCAU is Actually Bad and this season sucks, but I do think it’s probably the best season of TV we’ve seen since at least Season 2 of STAS, perhaps earlier. Utilising strong guest characters like Question, Shazam, Mister Miracle & Big Barda, Task Force X, while also renewing their commitment to The Flash and Hawkgirl who were mostly absent for different reasons in Season 1 led to a wonderful melting pot of memorable moments. Cadmus was at its best when it was a background element, sewing subtle seeds or providing an initial impetus for stories rather than being the main attraction.
To bookend all of this with the controversial but mostly good ‘Epilogue’ was certainly a choice. I get why they did it, and I’d be half-tempted to do a custom watch order that moves it to after the end of Season 3. I hate the Big Decision they made there, but love their ambition to pay final tribute to Batman given BTAS launched this empire in the first place, taking care to have the final shot of the episode mirror the first of ‘On Leather Wings’, right down to Kevin Conroy voicing scared cops in both episodes. It’s also the episode that contains one of Bruce’s all time best moments as he holds Ace’s hand to provide comfort before she dies, proving they absolutely still have the goods when they’re focused on making good television.
I’m cautious heading into Season 3 knowing they’re going to try and replicate the Cadmus arc with The Legion of Doom, and with a greatly reduced writing staff, but it would be insane of me to overlook what this creative team are capable of, especially when they’re in homage mode. When strong characters are leading the way there’s very little like this continuity.
Director Rankings
Season 2
- Joaquim Dos Santos (6 eps)
- Dan Riba (7 eps)
Our only two directors who are going to work on the show actually tied for first place this time after Riba was the standout in Season One. I elected to place Dos Santos first as he had the highest ranking individual episode.
I wondered last season if they simply assigned Riba to the episodes they liked better, also giving him their most experienced animation studio, and he was thus fated to end up with better results… or if he’s just better. I’m ditching my tin foil hat this time as they allowed Joaquim to work on the quasi series finale, so obviously fully trust him.
Overall
- Dan Riba (13 eps) (-)
- Joaquim Dos Santos (13 eps) (-)
No change in the overall rankings though, with Riba way ahead despite them tying in Season 2, such was his Season 1 dominance. It is funny to think Riba’s start came from filling in late on abandoned BTAS episodes originally intended for Kent Butterworth, and now he’s their most experienced director. But you could also argue he often just played things safe and many of his episodes lack true flair. You could certainly argue that.
Writer Rankings
Season 2
- Gail Simone (1 ep)
- Darwyn Cook (1 ep)
- J.M. DeMatteis (2 eps)
- Bruce Timm (1 ep)
- Dwayne McDuffie (10 eps)
- Jim Steranko (1 ep)
- Robert Goodman (2 eps)
- Stan Berkowitz (4 eps)
We have four ‘guest’ writers here, with comic legends Gail Simone and Darwyn Cook writing episodes, Jim Steranko getting a story credit he didn’t do any actual work on, and of course Bruce Timm getting his annual one-and-done story credit that usually brings him to the top of the rankings. No such luck this time though, with Simone and Cook powering their way to the top of the list instead.
It’s still wild to me Darwyn Cook even wrote an episode given he’s such a prolific artist (including making contributions to the art team of the DCAU), but he does have some incredibly renowned writer/artist books to his name including my beloved New Frontier. It makes total sense to me that two creatives with such success in the world of comics would place so highly, in the same way that those with more extensive TV/Film backgrounds placed higher in Justice League compared to the DCAU regulars.
Of those regulars Dwayne McDuffie is notable for writing TEN of the thirteen episodes, many of them solo, essentially penning the entire Cadmus arc himself. I’m wary of a single voice having so much influence on the show, but his work was definitely better than it has been in the past. Good pals Bob Goodman and Stan Berkowitz get to hang out near the bottom, with Stan seemingly shunned in favour of McDuffie.
Overall
- Gail Simone (1 ep) (NEW)
- Darwyn Cook (1 ep) (NEW)
- J.M. DeMatteis (5 eps) (↓)
- Jim Steranko (1 ep) (NEW)
- Dwayne McDuffie (14 eps) (↑)
- Andrew Kriesberg (1 ep) (↓)
- Stan Berkowitz (6 eps) (↓)
- Bruce Timm (2 eps) (↑)
- Robert Goodman (4 eps) (↓)
- Warren Ellis (1 ep) (↓)
- Paul Dini (1 ep) (↓)
- Henry Gilroy (1 ep) (↓)
- Ron Zimmerman (1 ep) (↓)
The only real takeaways here is how high Dwayne McDuffie has risen and Stan Berkowitz has fallen. Stan was the top ranked writer of Season One and now falls to roughly the middle thanks to placing last in Season Two.
McDuffie technically only rose 2 spots, but given basically everybody shifted down three spots thanks to the high-placing debuts, he functionally rose FIVE spots, which is quite something. I’m still wary that he’s better at big ideas than actual scripts. I know that’s blasphemous to most DCAU fans, especially given how highly thought of the Cadmus arc is, but I am always going to be cautious of a single voice having too much weight in a writer’s room. It was one thing for Paul Dini to write so many scripts for BTAS, which was an anthology series that saw thirty scribes contribute work, and quite another to hand one guy the keys to what’s become a more serialised show, with not that many writers to begin with.
Animation Rankings
Season 2
- DongWoo Animation Co., LTD. (4 eps)
- DR Movie Co., LTD. (6 eps)
- Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (3 eps)
DongWoo made their JLU debut after working on three of the most memorable pairs of Justice League episodes, functionally replacing Dong Yang entirely. Thus they got to work with Dan Riba on all of his episodes, and perhaps his experience as a DCAU director led to them producing better work… or maybe they’re just good! Their four episodes all placed in my top six, which is pretty solid.
By comparison DR Movie had two of my top three… and also my least favourite episode, good enough for second place, while all of Dong Yang‘s episodes placed low. Did they jump, or were they pushed???
Overall
- DongWoo Animation Co., LTD. (4 eps) (NEW)
- Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD. (9 eps) (↓)
- DR Movie Co., LTD. (13 eps) (↓)
Essentially DongWoo debut at number one (by a HUGE distance), pushing the other two down one spot each. DR Movie‘s much stronger season two wasn’t quite enough to get them out of last place. As I’ve said since the start of Justice League, I can’t personally detect a difference in quality between the studios anymore, a far cry from the wild variation of BTAS, which is exactly what Bruce Timm wanted. I maintain that it’s come at the cost of the highest highs, but hey, if you eliminate the low lows, who I am to argue?
Composer Rankings
Season 2
- Kristopher Carter (5 eps)
- Lolita Ritmanis (5 eps)
- Michael McCuistion (5 eps)
It was very close between Carter and Ritmanis, with McCuistion a little further behind despite providing the score for my favourite episode of Season 2, as his other four episodes placed in the bottom five compared to Carter getting 4 in the Top 6. Naturally Ritmanis claimed the middle by having a lot of episodes in the middle. See! Maths is fun!
As always this segment is dumb on my part because the music has been of a consistent high standard no matter how good or bad the episodes are and I lack the technical acumen to break down their work week to week. I will say Lolita Ritmanis’ work on ‘Question Authority’ stuck out to me more than any in this season.
Overall
- Lolita Ritmanis (9 eps) (↑)
- Michael McCuistion (9 eps) (↓)
- Kristopher Carter (10 eps) (-)
Weirdly despite scoring so high this season, Carter remains in last place while Ritmanis manages to dethrone McCuistion. I dunno what to tell you. Numbers don’t lie! Except when they do. Frequently.
Episode Rankings
Season 2
- Double Date
- Clash
- Task Force X
- Question Authority
- Panic in the Sky
- Epilogue
- Flashpoint
- The Ties That Bind
- The Cat and the Canary
- Divided We Fall
- The Balance
- Doomsday Sanction
- Hunter’s Moon
The Cadmus Arc gets all the love, but most of my favourite episodes were much lighter on that aspect, even if they were technically part of it. ‘Double Date‘ and ‘Task Force X‘ are just so much unbridled fun, letting charismatic characters lead the way, while ‘Clash‘ gets into some compelling moral quandary stuff.
My placement of the big four Cadmus episodes might be the inverse of what most would expect, as I really didn’t think they stuck the landing very well, delivering a rushed, borderline disappointing finale after starting off extremely well. The reason for that is simple though: ‘Question Authority’ relied heavily on The Question, Huntress, Superman and Lex Luthor, with each combination of characters providing a different energy that would work for basically anybody. Conversely, ‘Divided We Fall’ was mostly just a giant brawl, and while it did try and land some more emotional moments with Flash’s Speed Force adventure and Green Arrow talking Superman out of disbanding The League, these beats just didn’t get enough breathing room to land properly. I’m always going to be more endeared to episodes that are more dialogue and acting heavy and less impressed by action figures smashing together.
‘The Cat and the Canary‘ is a pretty interesting case study for this, as I think the Ollie/Dinah/Ted triangle is extremely strong… but the rest of the story is lacking, with no strong villain presence to make the action click.
I HATED ‘Hunter’s Moon‘. I think it’s one of the worst things they’ve ever written even if it’s nice to look at.
Overall
- Double Date (S2)
- For the Man Who Has Everything (S1)
- Clash (S2)
- Task Force X (S2)
- Question Authority (S2)
- Fearful Symmetry (S1)
- Panic in the Sky (S2)
- The Return (S1)
- The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales (S1)
- Epilogue (S2)
- Flashpoint (S2)
- The Ties That Bind (S2)
- The Cat and the Canary (S2)
- The Greatest Story Never Told (S1)
- Divided We Fall (S2)
- The Balance (S2)
- Dark Heart (S1)
- Initiation (S1)
- This Little Piggy (S1)
- Kids’ Stuff (S1)
- The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time Warped (S1)
- Doomsday Sanction (S2)
- Wake the Dead (S1)
- Ultimatum (S1)
- Hawk and Dove (S1)
- Hunter’s Moon (S2)
Pretty hard to argue Season 2 isn’t better than Season 1 given how many more of the sophomore season episodes placed in the top half. Only two of the bottom ten are from Season Two, while only four from Season One placed in the Top Ten. Pretty cut and dry!
Rogues Roundup
There’s actually very little variation between the two lists so I’m just going to talk about both at once. There’s simply no way around it: The villains have gotten worse over time. BTAS has the best ones, STAS‘ are weaker, but still surprisingly solid given the overall reputation of his foes. Batman Beyond had a handful of extremely strong ones and then a sea of forgettable mediocrity. Justice League and now JLU have some that are kiiiiind of fun, but precious few that are genuinely engaging, three-dimensional characters. There are just too many personalities at play now in these ensemble shows to give them the time and attention required to be interesting.
Lex Luthor enjoys an advantage thanks to having so many appearances in STAS, so they feel more comfortable leaning into what already worked with him and by comparison he looks like a freakin’ god compared to the rest of this list. The Cadmus Arc really shores him up on this front, going all the way back to ‘Clash‘ where he’s so incredibly manipulative. The gap between him and everybody else is HUGE.
Mandragora is a delightful shithead. It’s important that you actually dislike the villains and want to see them get beaten up, and very few have exceeded him on that front, but that he coasted all the way into second place off the back of that says more about everybody below him. Waller and Cadmus got there in the end, but I generally felt they were more a plot function than an actual antagonistic force. It was more about implication than the characters themselves. Galatea improved greatly compared to her debut, adding more depth by giving her some foibles.
But my word, so many of these characters are just generic punching bags. At least they got away from death by a million groups like in Justice League, and there are a few bright-spots in terms of charisma like Granny Goodness and last season’s Circe, but there are also way too many mute powerhouses, or characters like the Thanagarians and Solomon Grundy who got actively worse.
Season 2
- Lex Luthor
- Steven Mandragora
- Amanda Waller & Project Cadmus
- Task Force X
- Galatea
- Brainiac
- Granny Goodness
- Felix Faust
- The Annihilator
- The Ultimen
- Tala
- Doomsday
- Hades
- Roulette
- The Thanagarians
- Virman Vundabar
Overall
- Lex Luthor
- Steven Mandragora
- Amanda Waller & Project Cadmus
- Circe
- Task Force X
- Amazo
- Galatea
- Chronos
- Mongul
- Brainiac
- Granny Goodness
- Dark Heart
- Tobias Manning
- The Jokerz
- Felix Faust
- The Annihilator
- The Ultimen
- Tala
- Doomsday
- Hades
- Roulette
- Solomon Grundy
- The Thanagarians
- Brimstone
- Ares
- Mordred (and Morgaine le Fey!)
- Mordru
- Virman Vundabar
The Matt Signal 
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