The Joker: With so much power at my finger tips some might call me a control freak. Others, just a freak.

October 1st – The peace and quite of a Metropolis street is shattered by the sudden eruption of a mutant thorny vine from beneath the side-walk. The writhing vine is small at first, but it coils around itself and rapidly grows to skyscraper size. Not only is its size unnatural, but the vine is animate and sprouts flower/arm like tendrils which throw police cars around. The “test” is watched from afar and is declared a complete success by Count Vertigo and his Injustice League (Poison Ivy, Black Adam, Wotan, Ultra-Humanite, the Atomic Skull, and the Joker).

At the Cave, Robin is sparring with Aqualad when Miss Martian and Superboy walk past. Robin gossips that they a couple and asks Aqualad if they should tell Artemis and Kid Flash, but Aqualad tells him that it is none of their business. Batman then arrives and orders the computer to display the national news. The plant creature has reappeared in Metropolis and is bigger than ever. Superman and the Justice League are attacking the plants, but the vines contain trace amounts of a Kobra Venom variant – a trail that links them back via the Brain’s animals, to Kobra and Bane’s formulae, and the Cadmus Project. It is now abundantly clear that unrelated criminals are cooperating with each other in some kind of “super villain secret society”.

Robin accesses the Cave’s computer and announces that the Metropolis attack was only the beginning. Other cities – including Gotham City, Paris, Star City, and Taipei – are also under attack. However, his satellite signal is interrupted by a global broadcast by the Injustice League. Count Vertigo demands a ransom of 10 billion dollars or the cities will be destroyed. Robin guesses that the Injustice League were behind everything they’ve faced so far. Batman says the Justice League will handle the actual plants and assigns the Team to hunt down and eliminate whatever system is controlling them. Kid Flash is disappointed as he thinks he’s being sidelined until Artemis points out that they’ll probably be coming into direct conflict with the Injustice League.

Zatara’s magic locates a site of concentrated sorcerous activity suggesting Wotan’s presence in the Louisiana Bayou. Captain Marvel, who had been hanging around the Cave, is eager to join the Team, but Batman tells him that he is needed elsewhere. They return to Gotham City where the Batman uses the Batplane to spray herbicide on the creature, Captain Marvel then throws a large part of its mass into space while Zatara’s magic burns more of it away. The plant responds by releasing Joker’s lethal laughing gas. The Joker is controlling the plants from the Injustice League’s HQ, but Poison Ivy is concerned by the strain all this activity is placing on her “baby” (the giant vine that is acting as control hub for all the rest). The Ultra-Humanite and Wotan help care for the vine while the Atomic Skull pumps more power into it.

The Bioship’s approach toward the Bayou is detected by the Injustice League’s sensors. Kid Flash is interested in why Aqualad brought a duffel bag along and is told that it contains “Plan B”. Miss Martian is suddenly overcome by waves of dizziness and disorientation transmitted to her through the Bioship. It is protecting them from the worst of Count Vertigo’s attack, but the living ship can only take so much and drops it’s invisibility. Black Adam spots the Bioship and punches it into bayou where it is grasped by more of Ivy’s mutant vines. The Team bail out as the ship sinks, but are met on dry land by Vertigo and Adam. Aqualad orders Miss Martian and Robin to vanish into the swamp and fulfil the mission objective while the rest of the Team keep the villains busy.

Meanwhile, the Justice League are spread out around the world fighting the mutant vines. The Paris Vine had engulfed the Eiffel Tower and is being fought by the Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. The Taipei Vine has overwhelmed a nuclear power station causing its reactor to under go meltdown, but Captain Atom is on hand to absorb its energy. Vines grapple the Star City Bridge and are fought by Red Arrow, Green Arrow, and Black Canary. The Joker is controlling each scenario in parallel, a talent he ascribes to his multiple personalities. He commands the Star City Vine to attack a school bus, but Green Lantern Guy Gardner is on hand to catch it. Other heroes helping the Justice League include Blue Devil in Taipei, Plastic Man in Gotham City, and Icon and Rocket in Paris.

Vertigo and Black Adam subdue the members of the Team that are fighting them, but Vertigo recognises that two of them are missing. Robin and Miss Martian have found the Injustice League’s headquarters and the central vine that is acting as a control antenna for the rest, but are discovered by Poison Ivy and the Ultra-Humanite. Wotan creates cage to contain the rest of the Team as Black Adam flies them back to the Injustice League’s base. However, the Bioship has regenerated and Miss Martian uses it to clobber Wotan causing him to drop his spell and the captured teens.

The heroes are briefly reunited, but face the combined might of Ivy, Adam, Vertigo, and the Ultra-Humanite. Count Vertigo is worried when he notices that Robin is missing again, but Ivy senses the danger to her Vine too late. Dozens of Robin’s throwing discs detonate, destroying the control vine and cutting its signal to the mutant vines. The mission objective is a success, but the rest of the Injustice League are now free to concentrate their reprisal attacks on the Team. Vertigo commands “Kill them. Kill them all!”

Wotan’s sorcery brings the Team to their knees. Aqualad shields Miss Martian for a moment and tells her “Plan-B”. She telepathically commands the Bioship to deliver Aqualad’s duffel bag to him. Inside it is the Helmet of Fate and its appearance causes Wotan to pause. Kid Flash – who had his own experience wearing the Helmet (“Denial”) – calls out to Aqualad not to put it on, but its too late. There is a blaze of light and Aqualad is transformed into Doctor Fate. The Doctor’s intervention shifts the balance of the battle and keeps Wotan from hurting the others. Nevertheless, its still a pitched battle with the Joker looking to carve Robin, and the others cooperating to knock down Vertigo.

The battle is decided by the arrival of the massed Justice League. Together they push the villains back into a circle and force them to surrender. The Joker alone refuses and uses his remaining connection to Ivy’s mutant vines to blanket the area in his Joker gas. Batman decks the Joker, but its Aqualad – still as Doctor Fate – who destroys the gas before it can cause harm. Kid Flash is furious that Aqualad was allowed to put on the Helmet of Fate and fears that he’s lost his friend forever to Nabu, the Lord of Order who inhabits it. However, Nabu agrees to relinquish Aqualad after help from Kent Nelson’s spirit.

Batman describes the Team’s performance as satisfactory and says that they have successfully neutralised the super villain secret society which had been acting against them. However, this scheme has merely been another part of the Light’s plan. The Injustice League were a set of proxy villains designed to distract attention from the Light, the real super villain secret society, and its members Vandal Savage, the Queen Bee, the Ocean Master, Ra’s Al Ghul, Lex Luthor, Klarion, and the Brain.

The Injustice League/Society/Legion of Doom

The idea of a reverse Justice League, of a group comprised of the individual Leaguer’s enemies, is a reoccurring one, but there is rarely a any relationship between the differning incarnations. The very first version of this villain grouping was the Injustice Society – a collection of the Justice Society’s enemies who first appeared in All-Star Comics #37 (Oct-Nov 1947). The Injustice Society persists in the comics until the present and inspired a string of similar groups who fought the Justice League. The League’s opponents can broadly be split into two groups by splitting the Injustice Society’s name.

The Injustice League

The first set of groups are variously named the Injustice Gang or the Injustice League and are random assortments of villains who come together for single attacks on the League. There will normally be little relation between one incarnation of the Injustice Gang/League and the next. It is this general shape of this group which was picked up by the Super Friends writers as the Legion of Doom.

The Super Friend’s group gets a shout out from the design of the Injustice Society’s swamp based headquarters.

The villains in this incarnation of the Injustice League are:

• The Atomic Skull – An enemy of Superman. This version of the Atomic Skull plays up the skull part of the motif and appears almost zombie-like. The Skull doesn’t appear to speak.
• Black Adam – Captain Marvel’s arch-enemy. He was a former agent of the Wizard Shazam (like the Captian currently is), but turned against his patron. Adam doesn’t appear to speak.
• Count Vertigo – The leader of this group. An enemy of Green Arrow. He is a minor European nobleman who’s own inner ear problem was corrected by sophisticated electronics. However, that technology now allows him to broadcast to other peoples inner ears – the part of the body that controls balance – causing vertigo, sickness, and other balance related problems in his enemies. Vertigo is voiced by Steve Bulm who previously voiced the same character in the DC Showcase: Green Arrow short from the Superman/Batman: Apocalypse DVD. Bulm previously voiced Killer Croc in the Batman: Arkham Asylum video-game and Marvel Comics’s Wolverine in string of their cartoons.
• The Joker – Batman’s arch-enemy. His true identity isn’t known for certain in the comics (he may be a hitman, a gangster, or just a failed comic). But, he appears to have been turned insane by almost drowning in a vat of chemicals. A younger of this incarnation of the character appeared in flashback in Young Justice (vol. 2) #2 (May 2011). The Joker is voiced by Brent Spiner, who will be most recognisble to genre fans as the android Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Spiner was one of the Next Generation stars who worked with Greg Weisman on Gargoyles (he voiced the reoccuring character Puck).
• Poison Ivy – Another of Batman’s enemies. She was a shy botanist who was transformed into a plant-controlling vixen by her mentor, the unscruplous scientist Jason Woodrow. In common with her Batman: The Animated Series appearance this Ivy is very protective of her planets and refers to them as her “babies”. Ivy is voiced by Alyssa Milano. She voiced the character of Aimee Brenner in the DC Showcase: The Spectre short from the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. She’ll be best known to genre fans as Phoebe from Charmed. Milano hasn’t played DC’s Ivy before, but she was the lead character of the direct-to-video production Poison Ivy II.
• Ultra-Humanite – Originally an enemy of Superman from the 1940s, he later became a reoccurring foe of the Justice Society. He was a typical mad scientist, but developed a talent for having his brain transplanted into different bodies. He most famously posed as the film star Delores Winters before his brain ended up in the body of an albino gorilla. The Humanite is voiced by Dee Bradley Baker and in common with the intelligent gorilla Monsieur Mallah from last episode he doesn’t appear to be able to speak.
• Wotan – An enemy of Doctor Fate. Wotan was previously mentioned in “Independence Day” when the Justice League were called away to stop him blotting out the Sun thus leaving Robin and co. free to investigate Cadmus and liberate Superboy. Wotan is voiced by Bruce Greenwood (the regular voice of YJ’s Batman).

The Light

The second set of these villain groups take on the “Society” element of the Injustice Society and operate as the “Secret Society of Super Villains”. That group even had their own short-lived comic book series and persists into the present as a more serious grouping called the Society. The Society fought DC heroes in the Infinite Crisis maxi-series and were really effective, but like all these groupings, their effectiveness only lasted as long as their was proper leadership and they could be convinced not to kill each other.

In tone and effectiveness the Light, the true running badguys in this series, appears to be inspired by the Society. However, it also appears that the Light may be a continuation of the original Injustice Society. The first comic book version of the Injustice Society included Vandal Savage who is shown her as the leader of the Light. The second incarnation of the comic book Society included Sportsmaster and Tigress (Artemis’s parents in the YJ reality) and Icicle Senior (from the Belle Reve breakout attempt).

The various members of the light have been disguised in previous episodes with voice credits only attributed to codenames like L-1 or L-2. However, we’ve also seen most of these characters in separate episodes so we can match up disguised codenames with the normal voice artists.

• L-1 – Vandal Savage - Vandal Savage (he’s named in the credits) is an immortal caveman who has been manipulating and sabotaging humanity’s affairs since the stone age. The comic book version has claimed to have been all sorts of historical despots and is the head of the DC Universe Illuminati, the secret society for which the Light may be named. He hasn’t been seen on screen before in this series, but he appears to be the leader of the Light. Savage is voiced by Miguel Ferrer who also voiced the disguised character L-1 (presumable Savage) in “Fireworks” and “Drop-Zone”.
• L-2 – Ra’s Al Ghul - Ra’s is the head of the League of Shadows. This is the organisation which employs the Sportsmaster, Cheshire, Black Spider, and the Hook and thus is behind the events of “Infiltrator” and “Targets”. Oded Fehr voiced Ra’s Al Ghul in “Targets” and the disguised character L-2 (presumable Ra’s) in “Infiltrator”.
• L-3 – Lex Luthor - Is Superman’s arch-enemy. He appeared in “Targets” as the mediator of an international treaty. He and Ra’s Al Ghul arranged for it to appear as if the League of Shadows was trying to assassinate Luthor as part of their manipulations of the treaty discussions. He was voiced by Mark Rolston in “Targets”. Rolston also voiced the disguised character L-3 (presumable Luthor) in “Fireworks”.
• L4 – Queen Bee - The Queen Bee has not appeared in person until this episode, even then she is only briefly seen on screen. She is the monarch of the desert country Bailya which was featured in “Bereft”. Marina Sirtis voiced the character of L-4 in “Bereft” so is presumably the Queen Bee, the Light’s sole female member.
• L-6 – The Brain - Is one half a villianous duo (Monsieur Mallah being the other one) who fought the team in “Alpha Male” where they were using Kobra Venom to mutate wildlife in Northern India. He was voiced by Corey Burton in “Homefront”. The French speaking disguised member of the Light, L-6, was voiced by Nolan North for “Drop-Zone”.
• L-5 or L-7 – Klarion - Is an extra-dimensional Lord of Chaos. He tried to steal the Helmet of Fate from Kent Nelson during “Denial”, but it was taken in custody by Kid Flash. Klarion was voiced by Thom Adcox in “Downtime”.
• L-5 or L-7 – Ocean Master - Is Aquaman’s arch-enemy. Like the Queen Bee, he had not appeared in person until this episode, but he was shown in flashback in “Downtime” as part of Aqualad’s origin – Kaldur became Aqualad after defending Aquaman from an attack by the Ocean Master.

The Guest Stars

A handful of DC Heroes appear in this episode to assist the Justice League against the mutant vines. These are:

• Blue Devil – The Blue Devil was a stuntman who designed and built an advanced costume in order to play the character of the Blue Devil in an otherwise low budget film of the same name. Unfortunately for him the filming woke a real demon who transformed the stuntman in a devil suit into a real devil.
• Green Lantern Guy Gardner – Hal Jordan’s back-up as Green Lantern. He was chosen by the ring as an equally valid candidate for Earth’s Green Lantern, but Hal happened to be closer. Guy later became Hal’s proper backup, but was rendered invalid after a head injury. It was at that stage that John Stewart was chosen as the alternative backup. Guy later returned to the GL Corps, albeit with a more bombastic attitude.
• Plastic Man – Plastic Man is a character, like Captain Marvel from last episode, who was a massive success in the 1940s, but has never really recaptured his old glory. He’s probably best known nowadays for his own 1980s cartoon series.
• Icon and Rocket – These are two character from a comic book company called Milestone Publications which was set up to present an ethnically diverse set of comic book characters. Milestone’s biggest hit was the character Static who was adapted into his own cartoon series Static Shock and crossed over with the Justice League Unlimited cartoons. Icon is a superman-like alien-character, but the star of his series was really his human teenage sidekick Rocket.

Misc.

• Kid Flash’s diet: Is being eaten in Captain Marvel. Later a banana.
• Kid Flash’s souvenir: A scrap of Vertigo’s cloak.
• Artemis has started carrying rebreathers after almost drowning in “Homefront” and “Alpha Male”. Megan breathes underwater by growing gills.
• Superboy: “I hate monkeys”. As with last episode, this is something of a catch phrase. It originated in Young Justice (vol. 2) #2 (May 2011) as a reference to the telepathic G-Gnomes from Cadmus and got repeated in “Schooled” as a response to the MONQUI robots.

Highlights

• The guest stars.

Oddities

• The School Bus that gets attacked in Star City has “Metropolis School District” on the side of it.

Open Questions

• What will somebody as powerful as Wotan or as insane as the Joker do when they realise that they’ve been used as puppets by the Light? Or, do some members of the Injustice League realise their role in this charade?

My Thoughts

A great episode which showed the team operating collectively again – as compared to last episode’s squabbling. The Justice League is shown facing a very credible threat and the Team are sent on an absolutely critical mission with regard to it. It shows Batman’s faith in Aqualad’s Team, but it also served to show YJ in their place – they’re powerful enough to find and disrupt the control vine, but are not powerful enough to take down the assembled Injustice League. I like it that the status of the Justice League is maintained, it serves to give YJ a defined position and role in this version of the DC Universe.

I was quite impressed that they managed to get Brent Spiner and Alyssa Milano to voice characters as part of an assemble and not just as single leads. I found Spiner’s Joker to be different than I was expecting. Mark Hammill’s Joker (from Batman: TAS and DCAU) is a very strong character who revels in his insanity and laughter where as Kevin Michael Richardson’s Joker (from The Batman) was more of a tough guy. Spiner’s Joker feels a lot more serious and less jovial than Hammills, there is a greater degree of menace in his performance, but not quite the same level of banter.

Apart from the Joker and Ivy the Injustice League are just cyphers who could have been replaced with any number of guest villains. Yet that may have been the point – they were always meant to be a distraction for the Team, a throwaway bunch of wannabe’s sacrificed by the Light. The massing continuity is generally handled well and it felt that this was one of those episodes, like “Targets”, that the season arc pivots around. The only down side of this was the cringworthy information dump where, as a group, the voice artists relate off the Light’s former activities yet seem to forget to include any intonation in their delivery.

The Verdict