Justice League Animated: The Series Begins / by Mark

We're covering the first episodes of the Justice League animated series...

  • We start with "Secret Origins". This is a pastiche of two DC stories (White Martians and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace) with a dash of War of the Worlds, intended to introduce the team.
    • Love the "Snapper Carr" reference - he was the "mascot" of the original Silver Age JLA. Jason Marsden voiced the character.
    • It's established that the Martian menace is bigger than the World's Finest team can handle
    • Like most JL stories, the group splits up into teams to take out the bad guys. This never works--the teams get their butts kicked.
    • However, once the team is reunited, they take out the alien menace
    • We are also introduced to the JL Watchtower--the orbiting satellite HQ. It had already been used in the comics (JLA #4, 1997) as a base on the dark side of the moon, and a satellite predecessor goes back to the Silver Age (Justice League of America #78, 1970).
  • "In Blackest Night" continues the cosmic theme you'll see a lot in the series. Green Lantern is captured by the Manhunters (big robots that predated the GL Corps--think space cops--in the comics) for the crime of destruction of a world.
    • This is a take on a large John Stewart story where he actually caused the destruction a world (Cosmic Odyssey).
    • Of course, it's a scam from classic JL villain Kanjar Ro (voiced by Rene Auberjonois).
    • We get a view of various GL Corps members--this may the first time we see them in animation
    • We also get the first appearance of the Javelin--their plane/spaceship, necessary since at least some of the members couldn't fly
    • The Guardians also appear--they're the GL Corps' bosses and immortal blue midgets
    • The Manhunters rebel as expected, but the League stops them in the end
  • "The Enemy Below" introduces Aquaman (voiced by Scott Rummel) to the continuity. As in the comics at the time, he's essentially an eco-terrorist fighting the rest of the world. 
    • Superman seems to spend a lot of time on the series hanging out in the Javelin--why is he inside? It's like when he had the Supermobile.
    • Meanwhile, we see Batman--the only one without powers--showing up the rest of the team. Keep in mind Batman was the most popular character at the time (and arguably still is).
    • We also get an appearance by Deadshot, DC's sniper vigilante, voiced by Michael Rosenbaum (who also played the Flash). He takes the League on a merry chase. 
    • Aquaman is Mr. Hubris--he's duped by his brother Orm (this happens on a regular basis). We even get Aquaman chopping his hand off to save his son (I'm surprised he has any limbs left in the comics).

 

JL biography: Superman

  • aka Kal-El, Clark Kent, Man of Steel, Man of Tomorrow, the Action Ace 
  • 1st appearance in the comics: Action Comics #1, 1938
  • Considered to be the start of the Golden Age
  • A copy was sold in 2001 for $2.16M
  • Last survivor of the planet Krypton (at least until Supergirl, Krypto, et al)
  • Powers: Just about any with "Super" in front of it
  • Voice Actor: George Newbern
  • Main events in the comics while the series was on the air (2001-04)

If you would like to play along, the DVD box set is available on Amazon.