Plot summary: Supergirl, Green Arrow and Green Lantern are pulled into the 31^st Century to help the Legion of Super-Heroes against The Fatal Five.

Notes and Trivia

Episode: 36 (S3.E10)

Original Air Date: April 15^th, 2006

Directed: Dan Riba (18)

Written: Dwayne McDuffie (19) (story) and Paul Dini (2) (teleplay)

Animation: DongWoo Animation Co., LTD. (9)

Music: Kristopher Carter (14)

This episode got a semi-sequel a decade later in Justice League vs. the Fatal Five.

Future events in the episode take place in the 31^st Century, despite the same era being shown in ‘New Kids in Town‘ explicitly stated to be 2979, aka the 30th Century.

Green Lantern stops Bouncing Boy from revealing his future despite already knowing all about his future son with Hawkgirl, Warhawk, which feels about as dramatic a spoiler as you could possibly get.

John holding what he believes to be a dead Supergirl in his arms is an homage to the iconic ‘Crisis On Infinite Earths’ where Kara gave her life to save The Multiverse and remained dead for a long time by comic standards.

There was a Legion of Super-Heroes animated series that aired from 2006 to 2008, but it was never intended to be a DCAU spin-off. Especially given it stars a young Superman instead of Supergirl.

Brainiac 5 being a ‘descendent’ of the Brainiac we know may raise some questions, but Brainiac actually made multiple attempts to incorporate organic beings into itself. These include ‘Divided We Fall‘ from last season, ‘Twilight‘ from Justice League and ‘A League of Their Own’ from Static Shock. I should really decide what I’m doing with that show, shouldn’t I?

DCAU Debuts

The Legion of Super-Heroes did appear in STAS, but most only in short cameo form and I didn’t really talk about their history. Created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino in 1958, they are (as the name suggests) a huge group of young folk with superpowers hailing from the far future. Inspired by the heroics of Superman in his younger days, some of them travelled back in time to meet and recruit him into their group in an Ouroboros moment. They became pretty popular and got a number of comics over the decades, frequently engaging in time-travel adventures involving Superman, Supergirl and others. They also played a huge role in helping shape Darkseid into the ‘Big Bad’ we take for granted today with the incredibly acclaimed ‘Great Darkness Saga’. Their members are too numerous to list but among the most prominent are Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Chameleon Boy, Brainiac 5, Bouncing Boy, Star Boy and Timber Wolf. Sorry if your fave wasn’t listed. They got their own animated series and movie as well as appearing in Smallville, Supergirl and various other cartoons.

The Fatal Five are Emerald Empress (who uses the incredibly powerful Eye of Ekron), Mano (who has a death touch), The Persuader (who wields an atomic axe that can cut Kryptonian skin), Validus (who is huge, insanely strong and fire energy blasts) and Tharok (a cyborg). Created by Jim Shooter in 1967, they were a villain team recruited by The Legion of Super-Heroes to help stop an even greater foe. Rejecting full pardons for their assistance, they instead became some of The Legion’s greatest adversaries.

Recap

In the 31st century, the last members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Braniac 5 and Bouncing Boy see no other choice than to bring 3 heroes from the past, wary that history says one won’t return…

Those 3 turn out to be Green Lantern, Green Arrow and Supergirl, who was spending her 21st birthday completing training missions. Ollie softly scolds Superman for being too distant from her.

Supergirl naturally freaks upon seeing Brainiac 5 but he convinces them he is nothing like his ancestor and persuades them to help save the future.

Before they can fully explain, two of the Fatal Five attack, easily taking down the heroes. They place Green Lantern and Bouncing Boy under mind control and escape.

Kara bonds with Brainy while he’s locating their foes and they give chase, but the Fatal Five unleash the brainwashed Legion and Green Lantern on the capitol of the United Planets.

Brainiac finally confesses Kara is fated to die and they share a smooch before splitting up. Kara fights valiantly against the Legion and Green Lantern but seemingly at the cost of her own life!

Meanwhile Green Arrow and Brainiac 5 attack the Fatal Five directly, disabling the mind control, but they don’t have the manpower… until Kara and the freed heroes arrive to turn the tide.

Kara decides she wants to stay in the future with Brainiac 5, feeling at home for the first time since Superman unfroze her, sending the boys back with a goodbye message for Clark.

Best Performance

Nicholle Tom remains game for trying to convey Kara as a typical teenager (aside from the superpowers) frequently hitting on Brainiac 5 to mixed results. She’s pretty charming in general, trying to play the role of graduating big hero, forging her own path at the end and saying goodbye to her ‘cousin.’ It’s solid but not outstanding work.

The thing is there’s not really much competition for her here, with only Kin Shriner getting a look in. There’s always something a little strained about his voice, but he tackles the material in an earnest way and it was nice to let him keep speaking truth to power where Superman is concerned. None of the Fatal Five are any good at all, with Tomas Arana an active detriment to the team.

Episode Ranking

(Unbelievably this is Paul Dini’s final script in the DCAU, having not written very much since STAS ended. I maintain he and Bruce Timm had/have some kind of beef but there’s no substantial evidence that’s the case. Just seems very strange to me that THE writer from your most popular work wouldn’t be invited to play on any of your future endeavours. Timm did a bunch of non-DCAU projects for Warner Bros. in the years following the end of the DCAU, and of course helmed Batman: Caped Crusader while Dini worked on neither. ANYWAY!)

I think the cold open could have used another pass given the Legion have appeared before, but many years before this and with a completely different lineup, so most viewers would likely have no idea what’s happening. They also don’t show The Fatal Five at this point, so it’s telling, not showing when it comes to the Big Threat they’re facing, and indeed the entire setup. Brainiac 5 might as well have monologued directly to camera and explained the premise, especially as it’s quite a short scene anyway. In fact they avoid sharing the details about what exactly the heroes are brought into the future to help with until a third of the way into the episode, with a bit of awkward dialogue talking around the issue. I really don’t see why they couldn’t have shown the Fatal Five faster or done a better job communicating the dilemma.

Speaking of the cold open, I was surprised they went from the bombshell that one of the heroes wouldn’t make it back, to outright acknowledging Kara is destined to die. With three candidates to play with each action scene would carry a bit more drama and allow for some fake-outs. Instead they call their shot and those familiar with Kara’s history with the Legion of Super-Heroes can see the twist coming a mile away. I get that you can probably still guess it, but it would have gone a little bit further toward selling the tension.

I’m glad that they finally acknowledged Supergirl’s new costume is intended to better replicate Clark’s. Green Arrow looking out for her and telling off Superman for not telling her how proud he is of her and treating her like just another member of the team is cute. Ollie really is the conscience/heart of this team. I get that her sadness when John tells her he has nothing left to teach her is intended to further convey the idea that it’s time for her to move on, but it also underlined how sporadic her appearances have been; Kara is one of several characters who really should have been in the show (and DCAU in general) more often, something I’m becoming more sensitive about knowing we’re approaching the end of the road. We really needed more moments between Kara and Clark, and even Kara and Green Lantern. I can infer the two have been training together since their first mission at the start of the series, but it would have been nice to confirm more of a relationship between them along the way.

I’m not saying Supergirl and Brainiac 5 aren’t kind of cute together, but Green Arrow deducing that Brainy is in love with her after having known her for only a few minutes is absolute madness. This couldn’t have just been ‘you’ve got a crush on her’ or whatever? Or if you’re determined to make it love, say he’s been studying her heroic deeds in history books his whole or whatever. Even Kara asking if him handing her a Legion flight ring means they’re ‘going steady’ is too much. I know teenagers are awkward but they’re a little too keen to let us know these kids are going to end up together. Chill out, earn the moment. They do get a pretty good final joke out of it all though, as Superman asks the name of the boy that’s won her heart, causing John and Ollie to look nervously at each other.

Supergirl vs her mentor and the Legion is set up to be an epic standoff, between the knowledge she’s unlikely to survive and the overwhelming numbers disadvantage. I loved the choice to have her stand at the top of a tower and await them, giving it a real ‘you shall not pass’ vibe. She’s surrounded over and over by some pretty powerful characters and keeps surviving their onslaught and taking them down, leaving John as her ‘final exam’. Him being the one to ostensibly kill her and then fill the Superman role holding her corpse and expressing what passed for sadness by John’s emotionally stunted standards makes some degree of sense.

Unfortunately all of that is severely undercut by having her save Brainiac and Ollie literally seconds later. That’s the kind of moment that works if all the characters are in the same location and you give it a few minutes to breathe first, but as-is it’s incredibly rushed. She basically teleports in and they win the battle in 5 seconds. Bouncing Boy couldn’t do shit to the Fatal Five in the first battle, but then he takes out half of them in one go. It’s just so anticlimactic.

I really wanted to like this one, if for no other reason than to see Paul Dini go out on a high. But I’m afraid this is simply too high concept an episode to pull off in 22 minutes, leading to the most speed-run romance I’ve ever seen and a powerfully underwhelming final fight. The whole thing is threatening to collapse like a house of cards, built as it is on a paper thin foundation of loose ideas they’re unable to do justice in the runtime. The Fatal Five are underbaked, with exposition about them coming far too late, and then an underwhelming version of the classic ‘we don’t know where they are’ scene. Would probably work in a movie though…

Double Date
For the Man Who Has Everything
Clash
The Great Brain Robbery
Task Force X
Question Authority
Fearful Symmetry
To Another Shore
Panic in the Sky
The Return
The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales
Epilogue
Flashpoint
Shadow of the Hawk
The Ties That Bind
The Cat and the Canary
The Greatest Story Never Told
Divided We Fall
The Balance
Dark Heart
Initiation
This Little Piggy
Flash and Substance
Kids’ Stuff
The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time Warped
Doomsday Sanction
Wake the Dead
Ultimatum
Grudge Match
I Am Legion
Hawk and Dove
Far From Home (NEW ENTRY)
Patriot Act
Chaos at the Earth’s Core
Hunter’s Moon
Dead Reckoning

Rogues Roundup

The Fatal Five (Joanne Whalley/Tomas Aranas/Kin Shriner/George Newbern) (first appearance)

The Eye of Ekron does a lot of heavy lifting for this group, outgunning Green Lantern’s Power Ring and letting them teleport and whatnot. That’s not to say they aren’t capable in their own right, with most members proving a physical match for anybody thrown at them, but the Eye is easily their biggest gun.

Mano’s ‘death touch’ gimmick ends up looking dumb as he appears to have no conscious control of it, so Ollie simply makes him trip and place his hand on the ground, burning a hole and causing him to plummet to his doom. And then the other four get taken down shockingly easily after being set up as a huge menace. In fairness, Supergirl punches Validus through the chest from behind as a surprise, but then the other three just get owned incredibly quickly. Threat contained! Galaxy saved! A huge shame as their designs are cool and they come across much better before the episode runs out of time.

Lex Luthor
Steven Mandragora
Amanda Waller & Project Cadmus
Circe
Task Force X
Amazo
Galatea
Chronos
Mongul
Gorilla Grodd and The Legion of Doom
Brainiac
Shadow Thief
Granny Goodness
Devil Ray
The Rogues
The Patriot aka General Wade Eiling
Deimos
Dark Heart
Tobias Manning
The Jokerz
Felix Faust
Tala
The Annihilator
Roulette
Metallo
The Ultimen
Doomsday
The Fatal Five (NEW ENTRY)
Hades
Solomon Grundy
The Thanagarians
Brimstone
Ares
Mordred (and Morgaine le Fey!)
Mordru
Virman Vundabar
Sonar