Justice League (Season 2, Ep 27): Twilight Part 1

Hi! Welcome to my episode-by-episode recap of, and reaction to Justice League. There will be no spoilers beyond the current episode. As is my custom with recaps, I will give you a short summary recap followed by a long and unnecessarily helpfully detailed version. My reaction will follow at the end if you just want to scroll past all of the recap.

If you want to see my prior Justice League episode reviews, click HERE:

THE QUICK AND CLEAN SUMMARY:

The League is tricked into defending Darkseid’s homeworld of Apokolips against the threat of Brainiac, despite Superman’s skepticism and his anger at what had last occurred between him and the ruler of Apokolips. 

THE EXTRA DUSTY RECAP:

The episode begins in the midst of a fierce space battle. Darkseid’s forces have intentionally broken a treaty with the New Gods and entered their space borders, with the result being that the New Gods routed Darkseid’s forces. They retailiate against Apokalips itself, and leave with a warning that if he breaks the treaty again, he will be destroyed.

I love the intro theme for this show, and its animation, but I always laugh at how they all look like they’re wearing 1980s-era football shoulder pads.

After a brief scene wherein Martian Manhunter finds Hawkgirl alone, and comments that she seems to be missing her home world, the show cuts back to scenes on Apokolips. Da’Saad questions the failed attack and earns a blast from Darkseid’s laser beam eyes. Darkseid notes that the antilife equation is almost within his grasp.

A few moments later, a strange new ship enters the planet’s atomosphere. When asked what it is, Darkseid replies “it’s death.”

Back at Justice League’s Watchtower, Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl continue talking. When he asks if she knows where home is, she tells him that Thanagar is so far away that their planet has never even come into contact with the Green Lantern Corp.

Martian Manhunter: I was just thinking… you, me, Wonder Woman, Superman, we are all of us orphans and exiles.
Hawkgirl: Maybe we should call ourselves the “just us” league.

They are interrupted by an alarm. Batman does not recognize the signature, but Superman does – he tells them that it’s a “boom tube.” A moment later Darkseid appears on the deck of the Watchtower and greets Kal El. Superman immediately begins attacking him until stopped by Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter. Superman asks Darkseid what he wants. The baddie replies that he needs Superman’s help, noting that his current enemy is Superman’s enemy.

Darkseid: Even as we speak, Apokolips is being assimilated by the Kryptonian menace known as Brainiac.
Superman: You’re lying. I destroyed him.
Darkseid: Apparently he is harder to kill than you realized.

When Darkseid says that Brainiac will annihilate the planet, the rest of the Justice League is shocked when Superman says “good.” Darkseid points out that even if Superman does not care about Apokolips, if Brainiac is not stopped, countless millions more will perish. Then he leaves through a boom tube. After he goes, Superman tries to convince the others that they don’t know Darkseid like he does. They push back, hard, until Superman relents. He tells Batman that they can play Darkseid’s game on the condition that Batman does something for him.

On Apokolips, the battle rages. Darkseid is informed that the Justice League has agreed to come to their aid, so Darkseid orders that they be transported here now.

Wonder Woman and Batman arrive on New Genesis, to meet with the New Gods. They’re looking for Orion, but they first run into a giant monster. IT takes down both Batman and Wonder Woman until Forager shows up to save them both. They ask him about Orion. He tells them that the gods are far above them, pointing upward. We see a grand city in the clouds.

Batman: I’m gonna need a longer grapple.

The war against Brainiac is not going well. After Superman gets up from beneath a boulder, Darkseid tells Superman he has a plan.

On New Genesis, Wonder Woman is flying Batman upward, telling him that this place even outshines Themiscira. They are met and inadvertently led to Orion.

Superman confronts Brainiac, who asks him why he is so far from his adopted home. They begin to fight, which distracts Brainiac long enough for Darkseid to attack him successfully. Superman then follows him as he tries to flee the planet’s atmosphere. He is thrown back to the planet’s surface, and saved by Hawkgirl from a deadly landing. Darkseid implores them to chase him before he gets away. They do not trust Darkseid, but follow cautiously. They follow his craft and find that it has docked with a much larger craft, in the shape of Brainiac’s face. It then grabs their ship with a tractor beam and pulls them inside.

to be continue

REACTION:

So Darkseid can jut boom tube himself directly and accurately into the Justice League’s Watchtower (proving in the process that he’s far more technologically advanced than they are) but he heeds their help? Really? I think Superman is the only one being sensible here. Darkseid is struggling against a foe Superman has previously beaten more or less alone? That makes no sense.

On the other hand, are they better off ignoring him? Maybe not. I guess all things being equal, it might be the best option to just see what he’s up to on his planet, rather than having him visit again (or send visitors.)

I never really quite know how I feel about Darkseid. He was a DC precursor to the Marvel Universe’s Thanos, and in a lot of respects is a better and more menacing character than Thanos. However, he’s consistently better when he’s a threat on earth, as opposed to on his own planet. There’s something kind of weird and corny about him and his henchmen when he’s on Apokolips. I think I have trouble squaring the Dungeons and Dragons aesthetic with sci-fi and futuristic technological beings. A lot of these guys are short, hairy, and look like they should be talking about amulets, not fighting space ships. The problem is more with his henchmen than with Darkseid himself, though. That said, I thought Zach Snyder did a pretty good job (in the Snydercut version, at least) of bringing some of those characters to live action and really finding that sweet spot between Medieval magic and technological alien beings.

At any rate, we get two of Superman’s top three adversaries squaring up and the whole thing justifiably feels like a trap. On the plus side, the stakes are high so season 2 is starting with a bang.

This is all just a story prelude, as Part 1, so it’s hard to give it much of a rating, but I think we’re off to a good start.