Desmond: Activate the cloning process.
Robin: Pass! The Batcave’s crowded enough as it is.

Kid Flash: Are you here to help us or fry us?
Superboy: <squints> Huh, I don’t seem to have heat vision so I suppose helping is my only option.

Superboy: Superman can fly. Why can’t I fly?
Kid Flash: I don’t know, but you can still leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Previously in “Independence Day Part One”: Today was meant to be the day that the teen sidekicks were given access to the Hall of Justice, but what they got was less than they expected. Speedy, Green Arrow’s sidekick, stormed off in disgust and the League were called away on another matter. Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad decided to prove themselves to the Justice League by infiltrating Project Cadmus – a place Batman had voiced his suspicions about. They discovered a vast underground facility beneath Washington where Chief Scientist Doctor Marc Desmond has assembled an army of genetically engineered creatures. In its deepest caverns they discovered a teenaged clone of Superman. They woke the “Superboy”, but he was being telepathically controlled by Desmond’s gene-gnomes and attacked his liberators.

July 4th - Marc Desmond convenes an electronic audience with the Light – the faceless board of directors behind Project Cadmus – to inform them of the current situation. The sidekicks are contained and Desmond believes that the Justice League does not know of their mission. The Light tells Desmond to clone the sidekicks, to create willing mind-controlled duplicates, and to dispose of the originals. The Guardian doesn’t understand why Desmond is so upset that Superboy has not returned to his pod. Desmond is then forced to use his gene-gnome’s telepathy to once again enforce his will on his increasingly vocal Head of Security.

Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin are unconscious in the Cadmus cloning chamber when they hear a voice in their heads telling them that they must wake up. They wake to discover that the Superboy is staring at them. He confesses to knowing “how to read and write, the names of things”, but to never having actually been allowed to experience those things first hand. They ask him if he knows what he is and he tells them “I am the Superboy. A geneomorph. A clone made from the DNA of the Superman. Created to replace him should he perish; to destroy him should he turn from the light.”

Kid Flash and co. offer to introduce Superboy to the real Superman, but Desmond interrupts them and orders Superboy back to his pod. He then starts the painful cloning procedure. As Superboy is walking back to his pod his superhearing hears Aqualad call out to him asking “What would Superman do?” Seconds later the door to the cloning room is ripped open and Superboy returns. He throws the scientists aside and angrily tells them not to order him around. He tells Robin the same thing when he suggests that he helps Aqualad. Robin then blows up the cloning machine to prevent their clones from being recreated.

A furious Desmond orders every geneomorph in Cadmus to be sent after the four teenagers. Massive gene-trolls block their path to the elevator whilst smaller geneomorphs close in behind. The sidekicks evade the gene-trolls, but Superboy knocks out two of them making it clear that he has anger issues. They have made it to sub-level 15 when Superboy hears a voice guiding him through the corridors to an air vent which they use to escape into the ductwork. Robin then hacks the security sensors to send Desmond on a wild goose chase. The four heroes eventually make it to the surface exit, but its proof against even their superstrength.

The escaping teens run straight into a legion of gene-trolls, -morphs, and -gnomes led by the Guardian. The combined telepathic power of so many gene-gnomes forces the teens to their knees. Dubbilex then steps forward and identifies himself as the telepathic voice that has been directing their escape. He was also set the fire that drew them to Cadmus in the first place. Dubbilex believes that Superboy is a geneomorph hero who will lead the other Cadmus geneomorphs to freedom. He then commands the gene-gnomes to release the teens and allows Superboy to choose between freedom or servitude. Superboy tells him that “I chose freedom.”

The Guardian’s mind is also clear again and he tells the boys to “go” and to leave Desmond to him. However, Desmond arrives and tells everybody that Project Blockbuster will give him the power to restore order to Cadmus. He then swallows a vile of blue liquid and is transformed into a hulking grey-skinned “Blockbuster” who is strong enough to withstand even Superboy’s punches. Aqualad and Superboy take on the Blockbuster while Robin pulls Kid Flash to one side. He has noticed the support columns that the Blockbuster keeps damaging and tells Kid Flash to lead him on a dance which further weakens them. The other heroes follow suit and bring the entire above-ground Cadmus building down on top of the Blockbuster.

The four teen heroes are just crawling from the wreckage as Superman and the rest of the Justice League descend out of the night sky. The full roster perches around the wreckage. They, and Superman, are stunned when Superboy steps forward and introduces himself as Superman’s clone. Batman tells then “Start talking”. Afterwards Batman bluntly tells them that they will not be working as a group again. However, Aqualad corrects him and tells their mentors that it is exactly what they will be doing it again. They, including Superboy, fought as a group and are unwilling to just let the Justice League break them up again. Superboy puts its more bluntly when he tells Batman to “get on board or get out-of-the-way!”

July 8th -Four days later at Mount Justice – the original Secret Sanctuary of the Justice League – the League are preparing a new headquarters. Batman tells Superboy, Kid Flash, Robin, and Aqualad that if they’ll be “fighting the good fight” they’ll be doing so “on League terms.” The Red Tornado will live in the new headquarters as their supervisor, Black Canary will train them, but it is Batman alone who will deploy them on missions. They will be his covert team, operating outside of the media spotlight that is focused on the very public Justice League. They will also be joined by Miss Martian, the Martian Manhunter’s niece.

Back at Cadmus, the Board has placed the Guardian in charge with Doctor Spence promoted to chief scientist. The Light, the true force behind Cadmus, are less concerned by the loss of Desmond than they are with the appearance of a new faction of the Justice League.

• Setting: July 4th (Independence Day) and July 8th.

The Young Justice/Teen Titans comics

This new series mixes up characters from several different generations of teen sidekicks. The original sidekicks appeared during the 1940s. They were brought in to humanize the violent vigilantes, to give young readers somebody to identify with, and to serve the Watson role (somebody for the detective to explain his thoughts to). Robin was the original and first appeared in Detective Comics #38 (April 1940). He was followed by Speedy who first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941). This early period is generally called the Golden Age of comics.

Superhero comics then went into something of a lull until the later 1950s and 1960s when they were relaunched with new versions of old characters. This is the period that is generally refered to as the Silver Age. Kid Flash appeared in The Flash (Dec 1959) and Aqualad first appeared in Adventure Comics #269 (Feb 1960). The adult heroes were first brought together as the Justice League in the Brave and the Bold #28 (Feb/March 1960), but it wasn’t until Brave and the Bold #54 (July 1964) that Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin were brought together for a team-up.

The sidekicks’ team-up was considered a success so they were brought back as a proper team called the Teen Titans in Brave and the Bold #60 (June/July 1965). A significant addition to that appearance was the introduction of a female character called Wonder Girl. She was explained to be Wonder Woman’s sidekick, but she had never appeared in the Wonder Woman comics and was a completely new character. Speedy wouldn’t join the Teen Titans as a full member until 1969. The roster expanded and contracted over the years until the 1980s when their title was relaunched by Marv Wolfman and George Perez as the New Teen Titans with new members Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy.

DC Comics characters aren’t entirely ageless. The sidekicks have been allowed to slowly age and today those first Teen Titans are young adults – Kid Flash and Robin have taken on new identities and have even succeeded their mentors in the Justice League. However, the idea of teen sidekicks persisted and a new generation of younger sidekicks were introduced to fill the void left by the now adult Titans. The first of these was Jason Todd, the second Robin, but he was something of a misfire and proved unpopular (his story is told in the Under The Red Hood DVD).

After Todd, a third Robin called Tim Drake was introduced. He proved really popular and other characters including Impulse (the Flash’s grandson), Superboy (Conner Kent as shown in the Young Justice cartoon), and others were introduced. These characters were less sidekicks than they were young heroes in their own right. They were brought together in 1998 as a new group, originally mooted as JLA Junior by Grant Morrison, in two stories (JLA: World Without Grown-Ups and Young Justice: The Secret) written by Todd DeZago and illustrated by Todd Nauck. However, the on-going Young Justice series was written by Peter David. He and Nauck created a deceptively cartoon-like book that hid a very dark under current.

The Young Justice series ran parallel to a Titans series which featured the adventures of the former Teen Titans. After 55 issues – nearly all written David and drawn Nauck – DC decided to stage a hideously plotted stunt called “Graduation Day” (avoid this book like the plague! – the books before and after it are quite good, but the GD mini-series itself is rubbish). The two teams were merged into a new iteration of the Teen Titans. The Young Justice members were joined by a couple of the original New Teen Titans who acted as mentors.

Despite it’s patchy genesis this new book, written by Geoff Johns, was popular and was broadly responsible for the creation of a Teen Titans cartoon. Johns introduced an entire generation of new teen heroes during his run including a teenage version of the Martian Manhunter called Miss Martian although in the comics they aren’t related by blood.

Superboy

• Alter Ego: To be established
• Age: 16 weeks as of “Independence Day”
• Abilities/Powers: Clone of Superman. Has inherited solar-powered speed, strength and endurance. Also super hearing.  However, he yet to develop Superman’s heat vision or flight.

This two-part episode is an adaptation of Superboy’s origin. The original Superboy was just Superman as a boy, but the modern Superboy didn’t appear until Superman was killed by the monster Doomsday. Project Cadmus saw an opening to create their own clone of Superman and to announce him to the world as the original returned to life. Their plans were discovered by a group called the Newsboy Legion (clones of the Guardian’s original 1940s sidekicks) who freed the clone before he was fully mature. Thus the new clone had the body of a  teenager, but he also lacked the mind control conditioning that Cadmus had wanted to insert.

The real Superman ultimately returned from the dead (that happens a lot in the DC Universe) and the cloned “Superboy” stuck around as a new character. Young Justice “Independence Day”  follows Superboy’s origin pretty closely, but substitutes Young Justice for the Newsboy Legion. In the comic books Young Justice formed after they helped a girl called the Secret escape from a government laboratory. So you can see how both origin stories have been woven together.

The comic-book Superboy was a half-clone of Superman – they couldn’t extrapolate his entire DNA sequence so grafted the half they could decipher onto a human base. This base was originally believed to be Director Westfield (Desmond’s analogue), but was eventually revealed to be Lex Luthor.

Both Superboy and Superman are voiced by Nolan North. He also pulled dual duty on Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths when he voiced Green Lantern and Power Ring. Superboy’s white solar collector suit is needed to power his abilities because he’s never been allowed to absorb direct solar radiation. Its colour references the glowing white costumes from the Krypton segment of Superman: The Movie.

The Light

The Light are the secret group behind Project Cadmus. The name could be another name for the Illuminati (the illuminated ones) which are a secret society beloved of conspiracy theorists. In the comics the Illuminati are led by the immortal Vandal Savage. Candidates for the Light have to include the (Secret) Society (of Super Villains) or the Agenda. The former are the old Brotherhood of Evil – a reverse Justice League of all the League’s baddest villains. The latter are a group of evil cloners who tried to set up their own version of Project Cadmus and clone an evil version of Superboy called Match.

Project Cadmus

Project Cadmus, or the DNA Project, was first introduced into Superman’s sidekick’s comic (Jimmy Olsen) by Jack Kirby as a federally funded wonderland that created all sorts of stage alien like genetic mutants. As public opinion – and real cloning science – has caught up with science fiction the Project’s portrayal has become more jaded. It should be familiar to fans of Justice League Unlimited as it was used as the secret agency behind much of the first two seasons stories. In the Young Justice universe the Project is based in Washington DC, but in the normal DC Universe it is buried in a vast underground facility beneath a mountain outside of Superman’s Metropolis.

• Dubbilex is a DNAlien created by Project Cadmus. He appears alien, but was always one of the more human characters with a genuine concern for the creatures that Cadmus created – he was after all one of them.
• Cadmus, as Aqualad describes, was originally a Greek legend. He was a prince responsible for bringing writing to the Greeks. He also slew a dragon and then planted its teeth as if they were seeds. Warriors sprouted out of the ground where they teeth had been planted.
• The YJ character of Marc Desmond is a combination of two comic book characters. The first is Paul Westfield, the Cadmus director who tried to clone Superman, the second is the Blockbuster,  a mindless brute who once fought that Batman. The look of this incarnation – grey skin, red eyes, bony protrusions - appears to be influenced by Doomsday (the monster that  killed Superman in the comics).
• The Guardian is Cadmus’s original security chief from the comics – he didn’t appear in JLU. He is the clone of James Harper, a 1940s police officer who also fought crime as the Guardian. He was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby and there are obvious parallels with Captain America (who the pair also created) when you see him use his shield.
• A gene-gnome – the little creature on the Guardian’s shoulder was originally a manipulative, mind controlling creature created by rogue Cadmus scientists. Here they appear to be a rank of more intelligent Cadmus workers and serve as the labs telepathic intercom system. They are also used by Desmond to control the Guardian.
• The comic book version of the scientist name checked at the end of this episode (Amanda Spence) was the daughter of Paul Westfield (the character Desmond replaced) and an agent for the Agenda (the agency that the Light might be). Her inclusion could be significant or it could be a tip of the hat. Time will tell.

Mount Justice

Mount Justice – nice name, a new one I think – is located is a placed called Happy Harbour, Rhode Island. It was a hollowed out mountain that held the Justice League’s original headquarters, a base called the Secret Sanctuary (which gets name checked in this episode). The League gave it up when they moved to the Satellite. It has since been used as a warehouse and hanger, and by a succession of groups including the Doom Patrol, the Justice Society, Young Justice, and various League factions – it tends to be the place they default back to when whatever current headquarters they are using gets destroyed (which invariably they do).

Misc. Notes

• “These aren’t your typical meddling Kids.” – Scooby dooby, doo!!!
• Desmond: “you’re not a real boy” is a reference to Pinocchio, the wooden puppet who wanted to be a real boy.
• Shown with the Justice League are Superman, Red Tornado, Captain Marvel, Zatara, and the Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, Hawkman, Wonder Woman, Hawkwoman/girl, Green Lantern (Hal), Black Canary, Aquaman, Batman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern (John).
• At one point Kid Flash calls Blockbuster the “incredible bulk” which is a reference to Marvel Comics’s Incredible Hulk who was also grey-skinned (originally).

Highlights

Seeing the Secret Sanctuary on screen.

Oddities

Are you seriously telling me that Robin carries around sticks of chalk in his utility belt?

First Impressions

The first episode was brilliant for showing us all the glamour and fun of the hero/sidekick team-ups — the Hall of Justice, the descent into Cadmus, and a hundred other cool bits. This second episode has arguably the tougher sell as its  has already got past the cool bits and needs to really focus on story. The pursuit from Cadmus has a number of set pieces which work really well, but you don’t quite get a sense of dire urgency or threat. The Team are in danger yes, but it all still feels like a romp. This, I believe, is a good thing as it prevents the show descending into mock teen angst (let’s leave that for the X-Men).

Almost this entire episode is set in the dark Cadmus caverns or at night so it is quite jarring when the flip is made to the bright, daylight Mount Justice. The Producers really get their money out of the claustrophobic Cadmus setting and it’s very atmospheric, but it’s getting a bit overused by the end. The Mount Justice reveal was a real surprise and shows that they’re sticking to the original comic-book premise of Young Justice quite closely. Something has to be said about the manner of Miss Martian’s inclusion. Parachuting in a character to the new group isn’t such a bad thing, but did it really have to be done to the sole female character?

The Verdict

• 2010-12-06 – Added Ask Greg credits