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:
A band of supervillains (composed of Metallo, Kalibak, Livewire, Weather Wizard, and Toyman) team up to get revenge on Superman. When they attack Metropolis, Superman sacrifices himself to save Batman and Wonder Woman from Toyman’s weapon and is seemingly vaporized. The League attempts to cope with the loss of Superman by defending Metropolis in his absence, save for Batman, who does not believe Superman is dead and begins investigating what happened. Unbeknownst to the League, Superman is transported 30,000 years in the future, where Vandal Savage has devastated Earth with a gravitational weapon. Superman works with Savage to return to the present and stop Savage’s past self, altering the timeline and erasing the bad future.
THE EXTRA DUSTY RECAP:
We start the episode with hooded people sitting around a table, plotting revenge against the same man. They pull back their hoods and we see that it’s a group of bad guys. They all then hold up swords, touch them, say “Revenge” in unison, then bring their swords down on the round table where they are gathered. We see as the shot pans up that Superman’s logo is on the table and is now thoroughly stabbed.
The villains are next seen attacking Metropolis. Toyman has a weapon prepared. The JL arrives, but Superman is not among them initially. The right is tilted toward the bad guys, just slightly, though the JL is holding their own, too. WW and Flash target Metallo, in particular, as Flash comments that Supes is going to miss the party.
The fight drags on. After Kalibak gets the best of WW, he starts a fight with Batman and is incredulous that Batman would dare. Batman tells him that he’s not trying to fight him, only to stall him. A moment later we see why as Superman arrives and punches him in the face.
Superman: For what it’s worth, I don’t think you could have taken Batman, either.
Toyman turns on his secret weapon. He aims it at Batman and WW, and fires. Superman jumps between them and the weapon and seems to disintegrate.
Toyman: Superman go bye bye!
After a moment of stunned silence, an absolutely enraged Wonder Woman attacks him.
WW: Do I look like I’m playing games?
Toyman: What are you going to do to me?
WW: I’m going to punch a hole in your head.
Before she can kill him, Flash gets to her and reminds her that Superman would not have wanted that. Batman finds a piece of Superman’s cape in the spot where he vanished.
Later, we see Snapper Carr doing a news cast about the death of Superman. We see everyone in funeral garb gathered for Superman’s internment. Carr questions whether the Justice League can continue without him.
MM: I must admit, I am also concerned about the League’s future.
Flash: I never expected to hear that kind of talk from you.
MM: How many battles did we win simply because he was there?
Flash notes that he goofs around so much because Superman had his back, but now also he has is Superman’s example. He comments that it will have to be enough. Batman continues watching a CCTV video of Superman’s disappearance. Alfred comes to him and tells him it’s time. Batman says he’s not going to the funeral because he’s not dead.
Batman: What tipped me off was the lack of evidence.
Batman explains that the crime scene contained zero evidence of his death. He explains the science, concluding that unless the law of conservation of mass has been repealed, that there is still hope. Alfred still suggests he should make an appearance and Batman asks why and says he has work to do.
At the funeral, we see a seated Justice League as Lex Luthor arrives. Lois stands up, furious. She slaps him, asks if he came to gloat, and eventually ends up crying on his shoulder. Lex tells her quietly that he will miss him, too, whether she believes it or not.
MM gives the eulogy. After, the JL carries out a casket (and empty one) and they carry it to a shrine in the city, with Superman’s shield. Later, we see the JL in the Watchtower telling fond stories about JL and laughing. They also discuss adding a member to replace Superman. After a brief discussion about whether Supergirl is old enough, WW calls Batman to ask if he’ll join officially. He tells her he’s busy and hangs up. Flash brings up Aquaman, just as Lobo crashes into the Watchtower through its window.
Lobo: What’s with all the long faces, Justice dweebs?
He tells them to lighten up and says that the answer to their problems has arrived. MM tells him that he’s not welcome, but Lobo ignores him. A fight eventually breaks out.
WW: You’re no Superman.
Lobo: The ladies say different.
Lobo asks if they want an audition and escalates the fight.
Batman visits Superman’s shrine, alone, and notes that he has hit another dead end and is speculating about whether he might be wrong. He tells Superman that he has some things to say.
Batman: Despite our differences, I have nothing but respect for you. I hope you knew.. know that. You showed me that justice doesn’t always have to come from the darkness. I’ll miss…
[explosion some distance away]
What did you always call it Clark? The never ending battle?
The police are in a shootout with Kalibak, who has escaped from prison. As he’s attacking the police by throwing their own car at them, Batman fires a missile at him from the Batwing. We see other bad guys running rampant through Metropolis, too. Batman tries to fight them alone and is overwhelmed.
Lobo is more than holding his own against the JL on the Watchtower. Lobo finally stands down, and MM tells him that the JL is about more than just power. Lobo argues again that they need him “the main man” and GL points out that Lobo might be right. They turn on the news and hear that Metropolis is under siege with dozens of supervillains running amok. Lobo joins them in the fight, but he’s cautioned strongly to do as he’s told. They all go down to the ground and find out just how much they need Superman – and how much Lobo doesn’t fit in.
They capture all the bad guys, or so they think. They observe Lobo beating up Kalibak and insisting that the supervillain call him “uncle.”
Hawkgirl: He’s beaten. Put the car down.
As Part 1 ends, we see Superman, on a foreign-looking planet, beneath a red sky.
[Part 2]
Superman wakes up in a barren landscape, under a red sun. His powers are gone. He tries using his comms link to talk to the others and it pings off a signal, but nobody answers. He decides to drive on of the cars that traveled with him, via Toyman, to meet up with the others.
After a long drive, he finally runs out of gas and starts traveling on foot. Now bearded, he starts a fire and forges a sword to use as a weapon. He is soon after attacked by a pack of wild futuristic wolf-dogs. He kills the pack leader, makes clothes from its fur, and uses the others as sled dogs to pull him toward the JL ping signal.
When he finally arrives, he sees to his astonishment that the Watchtower is on the ground. He then encounters Vandal Savage, who explains that it only fell from orbit 75 years ago and that Superman is now 30,000 years in the future. He explains that a few months after Superman’s death, he used a gravitational weapon to destroy the earth, including all the other members of the Justice League.
Savage: Green Lantern was the most difficult.
Savage shows Superman his self-constructed home and genuinely seems to regret his previous actions after thousands of years of solitude. They talk and Savage confesses that even though he build a rocket ship, with the intention to leave earth and seek out other life, he decided to stay as a self-punishment.
That night, Superman gets up from sleep and wanders around. He finds a time machine. He is stunned and wakes Savage up and makes him explain. Savage tells him that he spent several decades working on it before losing interest. Superman tells him that he could have gone back and stopped himself, but Savage explains that the design of the machine won’t let him travel back to any time where he already exists. Superman points out that he’s already dead, and thus as a result, he can go back
Superman: On your feet, Mr. Wizard, we’ve got work to do.
Savage shows him the time machine. It works, but it lacks a sufficient power source to operate because the original power source was stolen by some flying roach creatures years ago. He adds that building another will take about 50 more years.
Superman: What do the roaches want with a power cell?
Savage: For all intents and purpose, it’s a miniature sun. They use it to provide warmth to their central mound.
They plan to steal it back from them. The roach creatures and others they will encounter are massive. Nevertheless, they fight their way to the power cell and get it back. Superman uses a sword and Savage uses a gun. When Superman arrives at the power cell, glowing yellow, he gets his super powers back. Savage admits he was hoping that would happen. With his powers, getting the cell back was no problem.
They return and turn the time machine on.
Superman: You ready to send me back?
Savage: No. But I will anyway. You have to stop me. By any means necessary.
Savage explains that four days after Superman arrives, he will still a piece of dwarf star matter from a scientist named Ray Palmer. He adds that without that, he won’t be able to build his weapon.
Just before he enters the time machine, Superman asks what will happen to him.
Savage: Redemption, if I’m lucky. Don’t worry about me. Return to your friends. Do what you do best, what you were born to do. Save the world.
Superman returns.
As we hear (again) Lobo insisting that Kalibak say uncle, we see Deadshot fire at Batman. It’s a kill shot aimed at his head. Wolf-skin wearing bearded Superman emerges from the smoke, having stopped the bullet. They collectively celebrate. Batman tells him that he never believed he was dead in the first place, which Superman takes as sort of a compliment.
Lobo attempts to join the celebration, at which point Superman fires him from the Justice League.
In the future, the version of Savage who sent Superman into the past sits. The environment around him changes into a vibrant futuristic city. He fades away and thanks Superman as he goes.
REACTION:
This is one of my favorite stories from this series.
I really appreciated that Superman – not the Justice League as a whole – was the target of this evil conspiracy. It’s as though they all knew that the JL is largely propped up by Superman and that without him, they can beat the JL. This is a really smart story to tell after the previous one, where we saw Superman speculate to the others that he might be better off without them. We get to see now what that looks like. We find out that they are for sure better off with him.
I don’t know what it says about me that my favorite version of Wonder Woman is an enraged one.
I really hated the scene of Lois crying on Lex’s shoulder in part 1. I think I get where they were going with that, but it felt to me like that scene undermined Lois’s character. Admittedly though, she’s not really even a minor character on this show.
I am not a fan of the Lobo character in general. I didn’t enjoy him here, either. I’m not expecting much from his live-action version, even if Jason Momoa is probably the ideal actor to try pulling it off. For me the character is just too much of a cringey 1980s-specific KISS-looking parody of a super-powered entity. For the purpose of the story, I guess it is important to see how much Superman’s character matters as much as his powers. And that led into Part 2 really well.
Powerless Superman still being *super* is some of the best visual story-telling this show has ever done. It’s among the best sequences in the entire history of DC’s animated studios. He’s still incredibly smart and tough. (He grew a beard, forged a sword, friggin’ slaughtered that wolf creature thing, took over leadership of its pack, tamed the others as pets, and wore the original pack leader’s fur as clothes.) The beard was excellent, too.
The revelation of the crashed Watchtower was well-executed. It had a very Planet of the Apes feel to it.
Using Vandal Savage for this episode was a great use of the character. His immortality is what sets him apart from characters like Luthor and imbues him with a kind of tragedy that Luthor lacks. Savage was a spectator for the entire history of human civilization and has to live on, utterly alone, after it’s over, for eternity. That’s insane. It drove him insane. In his case, insanity eventually pushed him back toward sanity. He had 30,000 years of solitude to regret destroying the world.
Savage says he killed the entire Justice League. I am genuinely in disbelief that he could beat the also-Immortal Wonder Woman, head to head, let alone more easily than he beat GL who is a human with a ring (albeit a powerful one.) We learn at the end of Part 2 that the fight he had with them must have ben sans Batman, as Deadshot definitely kills Batman without Superman’s intervention. Maybe WW didn’t make it to the fight with Savage, either.
Superman now lives having seen a redeemed Savage. This type of perspective informs and justifies his sometimes irritating belief in the possibility of redemption for even the worst people.
I suspect that we were not getting the entire truth from far-future Vandal Savage, though. How did gigantic insects evolve on earth in only 30,000 years? Why did he build a time machine that he can’t use himself to go backward? Did he go back to a time before he was born? Did he go to the far distant future? There is some fun ambiguity there. Either way… his interactions with Superman were really fun to watch and those lurking questions added to that.
Does this two-part story settle the question of whether Superman could fight better without the others? Not really. He got taken out by Toyman because he was defending the others. Their league collapsed almost immediately after he was gone, too. So they absolutely, desperately, need him, and the implication is definitely that he had a point in the last episode about how they make it harder for him to fight. On the other hand, we have seen him need their help sometimes, too.
Final thought: The entire world mourned Superman for a week or two. Then he just shows back up? Will the world take his death seriously again or will it embrace the rule that if there’s no body, there’s no death. Also… imagine Lois. She’s been grieving him and now he’s back? That’s both great and rough. He’s got some work to do there.
Overall… great story. The first half of part 2 contains some of my favorite moments from the entire DC animated universe.