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:
In an alternate reality, the Justice League launches an assault on the White House, where Superman kills President Luthor in retaliation for the Flash’s execution by Luthor. Two years later, the League, now called the Justice Lords, rule the planet with an iron fist. Justice Lord Batman discovers the dimension where the Justice League lives. The Lords cross over and trap the League in a force field. They then take the League’s places, attempting to make this Earth like their own. After finding their way back to their world, the Justice League ends up having to turn to their world’s version of Lex Luthor for help.
Note: The idea of evil counterparts from an alternate reality is loosely based on the Crime Syndicate of America.
THE EXTRA DUSTY RECAP:
The episode begins with the Justice League attacking the White House. When Superman finds Luthor, the President, he laments that the world is on the brink of war because of his adherence to the law and the will of the people. Lex, meanwhile, babbles about how there could have been a paradise but “they” couldn’t see it, so they’re going to burn.
Superman: You’re nothing but a mad dog now, aren’t you?
Lex laughs and places his finger on a red button. Superman tells him that there are at least six different ways he can stop him right now. Luthor mocks him, noting that all six involve deadly force and that he doesn’t do that.
Lex: No, you need me. You wouldn’t be much of a hero without a villain, would you, and you do love being a hero, don’t you?
Lex continues, explaining to Superman that his refusal to use deadly force has made him his most deadly accomplice. The word accomplice shocks Superman, as Lex explains that Superman is as much responsible for the current situation as he is. Superman tells Lex that he loved being a hero, but adds that if there is where it leads, he’s done with it.
Outside, Batman and Wonder Woman fight their way into the Oval Office with Superman. Batman notices a smell. He and Wonder Woman charge in and find Superman has killed Lex Luthor. Wonder Woman approaches Superman, who is staring out the window, and asks if he is okay. He turns to her smiling and says he’s great.
Two years later…
The Justice League members are now wearing black in their costume color scheme. MM is operating a massive surveillance station, with people reporting to him that areas are “all clear.”
Superman is discussing things with the President. We learn that he is telling the President that the people are not ready for an election, yet. The President squeamishly asks when he thinks the people will be ready, but is not given an answer other than an admonition to be patient.
GL and Hawkgirl are discussing The Flash, in the past tense. They both miss him. They are interrupted by news of an on-campus college protest. GL and Hawkgirl both want to go personally, to assist the police in putting it down. MM is hesitant but agrees, though he also suggests that they need to get Batman out of his cave while they are on the planet. Superman does not want to go with them because he has a dinner date. The JL member sand the police break up the protests, which are demanding that they be allowed to conduct elections again. The protesters run in fear when GL and Hawkgirl show up.
GL: Punks.
Hawkgirl: Remember when everyone liked us?
GL: Since when does that matter to you?
Hawkgirl: Since I started seeing the fear on everyone’s faces.
GL: You wanna talk about fear? When I was a kid, I went to bed every night scared that the whole world was gonna blow up. That’s the way things were back then.
Over dinner, Superman and Lois argue over the planet’s state of permanent lockdown. He is exasperated, as they’ve discussed it numerous time, but so is she. Their argument is interrupted by Batman, who overhears some of their argument on the comms link, and quips about love. He then tells Superman that he needs to see him and the others immediately. She follows him to the door, arguing, but is stopped by security. As he leaves, the guard tells her that this is only temporary, and she replies that he’s a sucker.
In Batman’s cave, the Justice Lords get a glimpse into another dimension, wherein their Flash is still alive, as is their Luthor, and they call themselves the Justice League. As they comment that this is sad, and that they’re sorry they cannot help them, Batman answers that they can. He opens a portal into the other dimension.
Superman: You’ve been a busy little bat, haven’t you?
Batman: What else is there to do around here anymore?
The Justice Lords wonder aloud whether the Justice League even want their help, but they go anyway.
We see the JL apprehend Luthor. Apparently he had escaped confinement while Flash went to the bathroom. Just then, the Justice Lords version of MM meets them. He tells them that their two dimensions are collapsing upon one another and asks the Justice League to travel to his dimension to help investigate solutions. They agree to go. Batman asks the JL version of MM if he has read the other MM’s mind yet, and is told that Martians do not, and cannot, do that to each other. After stepping through, the JL is trapped. The Justice Lords version of Superman says they will thank them for this later.
On the Justice League’s earth, Doomsday crash lands from space and begins tearing up the city. The Justice Lords arrive, with their version of Superman arguing that when they stop it, the earth will be so grateful that they roll right over for them. The fight then commences. The fight is a difficult struggle.
Elsewhere, Lex Luthor is talking to a guard in his prison, where we learn he is bribing one of the guards.
Doomsday confronts the Justice Lords Superman, one on one. To the surprise and alarm of onlookers, he is demolishing Superman. To the equal alarm of onlookers, Superman abruptly fires his heat vision into his brain, lobotomizing him. Lois and other reporters approach him. She notes that what he just did is out of character, while her peers chatter that it’s about time. Luthor watches the press conference from his prison cell and murmurs that it’s not “them.”
PART 2
[previously on Justice League]
On the Justice Lords’ earth, the Justice League is being held captive, with their Batman watching over them in their prison. League Batman asks Lord Batman why, and Lord Batman answers that he and his friends couldn’t do what needed to be done. Lord Batman then talks to captive Flash, who is struggling.
Lord Batman: Calm down, you’ll appreciate this some day.
Flash: Yeah? I don’t think Hawkgirl is going to appreciate it too much.
Batman: That was an accident. She’s in our best hospital now.
Flash: I don’t want to hear it.
Batman: Believe me, the last thing we want is to lose another…
Flash: Another what?
The captive Batman and captive Flash talk after the other Batman leaves. He tells Flash that he thinks the other Batman likes him, because of what seems to have happened to this world’s Flash. Flash is shocked that they’d go this far, even over himself. Flash asks if he’s figured a way out of there yet, and is told by Batman that he isn’t going to. So Flash starts trying to get out.
On the Justice League’s earth, the Justice Lords are making enhancements to the Watchtower. Their Wonder Woman is shocked at how unprotected they left it, but Hawkgirl reminds her that they did the same thing, for a long time. Superman notes that it came back to bite them often, too.
Justice Lord Batman is watching over his captives, when Flash’s heartbeat seems to flatline. Alarmed, he runs to his cell and frees him. As he does, Flash overpowers him and puts him into the cell, in turn.
Flash: [mocking] You’ll appreciate this someday.
Flash goes to free his own Batman, who tells him the code to open his cell door – knowing the numbers because they’re the same ones he uses. He asks Flash how he escaped and Flash explains that he sped up his heart rate until it looked like he flatlined.
Batman: I didn’t know you could do that.
Flash: Neither did I, but I had to come up with something if you weren’t going to.
Batman: I couldn’t, not with him anticipating anything I could ever think of. But who could anticipate you?
After freeing the others, Superman is ready to fight, but is forestalled with the knowledge that they need to find Hawkgirl before the Justice Lords learn about her escape. Batman leaves to go find their portal and tells the others that he needs to do this alone.
The other Justice Leaguers realize that they would have taken her to a bad guy hospital. Leaving Flash outside, because he is supposed to be dead in their world, they go inside and find Joker – sane and calm – manning the front desk. He says he will take them to Hawkgirl. First, he asks them for a password. When MM reads his mind and says it, Joker points out that Wonder Woman was supposed to say it. He then presses a security button. Someone looking like the Justice Lord Superman steps out from behind a wall. GL notes that it’s a robot, and Superman reminds him that he had one to take over for him while he was away, too.
Batman and Justice Lords Batman fight in his cave. Their fight turns into a philosophical debate. Meanwhile, the Justice League is fighting robot Superman. Outside, Flash encounters Poison Ivy, who notes that he was not supposed to pick any of the flowers outside. He apologizes, and she assures him that it does not bother her, but she suggests that he might want to watch out for Superman.
The Batman debate goes on for a while, as they discuss peace and security verses choice, freedom, and democracy, until Justice Lord Batman seems to win it.
League Batman: You grabbed power.
Lord Batman: And with that power, we’ve made a world where no 8 year old boy will ever lose his parents because of some punk with a gun.
Lord Batman tells League Batman that his friends are tearing up Arkham. League Batman suggests that they should stop them, so they go together.
As the two Batmen travel, they discuss Gotham.
League Batman: Where’s the litter?
Lord Batman: If you want people to respect the big laws, you gotta enforce teh small ones.
While they are stopped at a red light, they observe a man being arrested for arguing over his restaurant bill. League Batman comments sarcastically that their parents would be so proud.
GL finds Hawkgirl in the hospital and carries her away. When the League gets outside, they are surrounded by police. Justice Lord Batman swoops in and takes charge of the prisoners, calling off the police.
In the bat cave, Flash discusses recent history with Justice Lord Batman, noting that once they lost their Flash, they lost the conscience of their group.
Flash: And that means I must be…
GL: Come on, Jiminy.
The Justice League leaves through the portal opened by Justice Lords Batman, with the two Batmen nodding at each other as they part. Back in their own world, Batman points out to Superman the the Justice Lords are as smart and as powerful as they are, but are also willing to kill. Superman says he will not cross that line, but Batman counters that they need to cross some kind of line.
The Justice Lords are on the Justice League’s Watchtower, and they are given a notification that Luthor has escaped prison. Superman leaves, planning to kill him, but Hawkgirl tells him not to do it, noting that this world isn’t ready yet. Superman seems doubtful. All of the Justice Lords leave with him.
When they arrive, they discover that the escaped Luthor is actually MM pretending to be Luthor. They spring a trap, but the Justice Lords’ Hawkgirl escapes. They subdue her, but this gives the other Lords an opportunity to escape, too. A big fight ensues. The Justice Lords eventually get the upper hand, with the Lords’ Superman preparing to kill Flash. As he’s about to do it, the League Superman arrives with the real Luthor, who fires a special gun at Lord Superman and then at Lord Hawkgirl.
League Superman: [to the Justice Lords] It’s a power disruptor and yours are now gone.
We learn that League Superman arranged for a full pardon, for Luthor, in exchange for his help. He tells Flash that he knew he wouldn’t be able to change the Lord Superman’s mind, noting he’s felt the same temptations and knows how strong they are.
Flash: So you’re not such a boy scout after all?
Superman: Never even made it to my first merit badge.
As the episode ends, Lex is giving a press conference, explaining how he worked with Superman to build the disruptor. When asked if he is going to reclaim LexCorp, he says no, but adds that he has been giving some thought to politics.
REACTION:
This is one of my favorite stories from the series. It really drills down on a philosophical debate over the value of free will with dangers, contrasted against safety and security. The story wants the audience to decide that freedom with risk is preferable to a safe but unfree world, but you can see the appeal of the Justice Lords’ approach. How many people from their world, if suddenly thrust back into a world wherein superpowered psychopaths are running amok, would sign back up for a ruthless Superman? I’d guess that most would. They allowed the Justice Lords’ takeover for that precise reason. They were merely starting to forget after 2 years.
When does the person keeping you safe become your jailor? Does it make a difference if that person was – from the start – operating above the law and outside of it? The answer seems to be that the above-the-law hero becomes a villain when the sense of danger begins to wane. That’s ultimately why the Justice Lords were the bad guys. The danger was gone but they refused to return autonomy to the people and they were dishonest about the fact that they were unlikely ever to do so. Superman’s motivations shifted from wanting to protect people to not trusting anyone else with power. It’s worth asking, though, whether he was correct in not trusting them, and also worth asking whether his being correct would justify his actions.
Personally, I think the Justice League and the Justice Lords are both wrong. The Justice League operates in a world wherein their undemocratic actions allow repeat offenses that usually result in widespread death and devastation. We saw that with the reaction to the lobotomization of Doomsday. Reports were saying “it’s about time.” They were frustrated that Superman didn’t permanently eliminate bad guys. The Justice Lords are self-justifying tyrants, controlling a world that would look little different than one Lex Luthor might build if they weren’t in the way. It seems to me that there is a middle ground between those two extremes. If the Romans used to appoint a temporary dictator, perhaps Superman and his team could serve a similar role. They’d just need to do better than Caesar and be trustworthy to give back power.
The real focus, among the superheroes, was on Superman, Batman, and Flash. With Superman, you see him wrestling with the fact that he can force humanity into better behavior. Justice Lord Superman saves far more lives than Justice League Superman. Is trading in adoration for fear worth all of those lives? He thought so and it’s hard to argue with the logic. He concluded that he was being selfish to let so many people die, in the name of being heroic.
Batman had the same internal debate but ended up on the other side of it. What decided him with that he knew his parents would hate the world the Justice Lords made. The world created by the Justice League could always be better, and there was hope in that, but the world created by the Justice Lords was destined to be a self-affirming and self-justifying tyranny forever. There was no hope for the future.
We see in Flash a connection with humanity that the rest of their group lacks, for various reasons. Superman exists apart from the world, due to being an alien and being so powerful. Same goes for MM, Hawkgirl, and WW (though she’s not precisely an alien.) GL was on board with safety above freedom, due to his vivid memories of the previous danger. Batman was largely in that camp, too. Flash though, more than anyone else in the League, didn’t just love humanity. He liked humanity in an almost child-like way. You can sometimes justify things in the name of love that you cold never justify in the name of “like.” That’s his value to the team (not to mention his ridiculously undersold powers.)
Luthor is an interesting figure in this story, too. He exists as a check on the Justice League’s power. That’s why he is always allowed to live. That check is necessary, even if Superman does not always quite state that overtly. In a world where the Justice League is bad, Luthor becomes good. He’s motivated by a desire to oppose them and come out on top.
Other small things. The story added some more grounding for the inevitable GL-Hawkgirl future romance. Lex’s ending was clearly going to be relevant in future episodes. Superman also now has more reason to be cautious with his own exercise of his powers.
Good episodes! Looking forward to what’s up next.
If I was Superman, or any hero with actual superpowers, I wouldn’t use law enforcement as my model, but search and rescue. Superman of course does a lot of that, but it’s rarely the focus of a story, rather an excuse why Superman can’t be in the story and other heroes have to solve the problem. But let’s say, as a thought experiment, that Superman handed Lex or the Joker over to the police. If Lex or the Joker escape from prison and do more damage, it is not Superman’s fault any more than it would have been Commissioner Gordon’s or another police officer’s. The penalty for a criminal act is determined by judge and jury.
That’s the tension always present within a Superman story. We’ll see the montage of him rescuing kittens, etc., but eventually the threat becomes so great that his task moves from a search and rescue job to a policing and prevention-of-crime job and when that happens, he ends up in these moral dilemmas. And even if it’s not technically his fault that the non-super government let Lex or Joker or whoever escape, he must always live with knowing that had he wanted, he could have prevented them from new criminal offenses. So when does his desire to save lives override his desire to let the process work as it should? It’s definitely easy to see how he might eventually embrace a Justice Lords approach (and how society would accept it and cheer it, at least initially.)