Justice League and Justice League Unlimited are American animated series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2006 on Cartoon Network. Since April 2006 it is being shown on Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang and it is also shown on Teletoon every Friday night for Superfan Fridays. It is based on the Justice League and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.
After the second season, the show was renamed Justice League Unlimited, had a vastly expanded cast of characters, and largely changed from two part episodes, to single episode stand-alone stories that often intertwined to form long (even season-long) story arcs.
Justice League and Justice League Unlimited were considered by their creators to be one series (albeit renamed), so Season "1" of Justice League unlimited is in fact Season "3" of the overall series, simply renamed, and with a new theme song and opening and closing credits. There were a total of 91 episodes, along with 2 crossover episodes of Static Shock in which the League appeared.
The show is, to date, the penultimate in a series of animated features that together constitute what is known as the DC animated universe (ending chronologically with Batman Beyond, although Justice League/JLU was the last series to air in real time). It consists of a series of 8 television shows and 4 films, largely surrounding DC Comics characters and their respective mythos.
Contents |
| # | Title | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Original Airdate(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1
2 3 |
"Secret Origins" | Dan Riba and Butch Lukic | Rich Fogel | November 17, 2001 |
| As alien invaders (vaguely modeled after the White Martians from the DCU) who were accidentally awakened on Mars begin to take over the Earth, Superman and Batman rescue J'onn J'onnz who telepathically recruits Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, the Flash, and Green Lantern to defeat the invasion. Superman gathers everyone at the newly-built Watchtower funded by Batman (through Wayne Aerospace's R&D budget) and asks to be part of a team, which he dubs the Justice League. | ||||
| 4 5 | "In Blackest Night" | Butch Lukic | Stan Berkowitz | November 19, 2001 2001-11-26 |
| Green Lantern surrenders himself to robotic Manhunters to stand trial for the destruction of a planet. While Flash acts as John's attorney, the rest of the League discovers that Kanjar Ro actually helped the Manhunters frame John. | ||||
| 6 7 | "The Enemy Below" | Dan Riba | Kevin Hopps | December 3, 2001 2001-12-10 |
| A nuclear submarine is attacked in the Atlantic, forcing the League to come face-to-face with Aquaman and his Atlantean army. Aquaman goes to Metropolis to take his problems up with the various governments of the world. When a mercenary Deadshot attacks Aquaman, the League steps in. Aquaman discovers that Lord Orm, his own brother, was behind the attack. Orm takes Aquaman and his infant son and places them on a cliff over a vein of molten lava, leaving them to die. In order to save his son, Aquaman must make the terrible sacrifice of severing his own hand. | ||||
| 8 9 | "Injustice For All" | Butch Lukic | Stan Berkowitz | January 6, 2002 2002-01-13 |
| Exposed as a criminal, sentenced to prison, and terminally ill due to long term kryptonite exposure, Lex Luthor escapes and assembles a supervillain team consisting of Cheetah, The Shade, Solomon Grundy, Star Sapphire, Copperhead, and Ultra-Humanite to take on the Justice League, calling themselves the Injustice Gang. The Joker also becomes part of the team, but on his own choice. However, even with their combined power, this gang proves no match for Batman's wiles. | ||||
| 10 11 | "Paradise Lost" | Dan Riba | Joseph Kuhr | January 21, 2002 2002-01-28 |
| Sorcerer Felix Faust threatens to keep Wonder Woman's home population transformed into stone if she does not gather artifacts for him. He uses the artifacts to release Hades from Tartarus. The League succeeds in banishing Hades and his minions, but the victory is bittersweet as Diana is exiled from Themyscira for allowing the males of the Justice League to help. | ||||
| 12 13 | "War World" | Butch Lukic | Stan Berkowitz | February 23, 2002 2002-03-03 |
| Superman and Martian Manhunter are abducted by extraterrestrial slave traders and are sold to a planet of the despotic ruler Mongul where the population spends its time watching aliens kill each other in an enormous colosseum. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl set out to rescue them. | ||||
| 14 15 | "The Brave and the Bold" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | March 10, 2002 2002-03-17 |
| Green Lantern and the Flash uncover a plot by Gorilla Grodd to destroy Gorilla City, a hidden city of hyperintelligent talking gorillas in Africa. Grodd has a device that allows him to control the minds of others, and uses stolen gorilla technology to steal all of Central City and put its inhabitants under his control. Locked inside the force field-shielded city, Flash and Green Lantern work together with Solovar, Gorilla City's chief of security, to destroy the enemy from within before Grodd carries his revenge to Gorilla City. | ||||
| 16 17 | "Fury" | Butch Lukic | Stan Berkowitz | April 7, 2002 2002-04-14 |
| A rogue Amazonian named Aresia (born in the mortal world, raised in Themyscira) gathers a small group of Luthor's former Injustice Gang including Star Sapphire, Shade, Copperhead, Solomon Grundy, and Tsukuri, and sets out to kill the world's male population, who she holds responsible for the death of her family members in a war. | ||||
| 18 19 | "Legends" | Dan Riba | Andrew Kreisberg | April 21, 2002 2002-04-28 |
| The Justice League are accidentally transported to a parallel world and find the Justice Guild of America, comic book characters in the Justice League's world. While battling super villains in this other dimension, they discover that the world is just an elaborate illusion. The episode is dedicated to Gardner Fox, a Golden Age writer who co-created both the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America, upon whom the Guild are based. | ||||
| 20 21 | "A Knight Of Shadows" | Butch Lukic | Keith Damron | September 20, 2002 2002-09-27 |
| Jason Blood and his alter-ego Etrigan the Demon, seek the assistance of the Justice League in preventing the Philosopher's stone from falling into the hands of his ancient enemy, the sorceress Morgaine Le Fey. | ||||
| 22 23 | "Metamorphosis" | Dan Riba | Len Uhley | October 4, 2002 2002-10-11 |
| Green Lantern's old friend Rex Mason, now working for a shady industrialist, suffers an "accident" arranged by his jealous employer and is transformed into the superhero Metamorpho. | ||||
| 24
25 26 |
"The Savage Time" | Butch Lukic and Dan Riba | Stan Berkowitz | November 9, 2002 |
| The Justice League return from a mission in space to find the world transformed - a result of supervillain Vandal Savage feeding information to his younger self in the 1940s, allowing him to help take over the world during World War II. The Justice League travel back in time themselves to stop him, and fight Nazis alongside DC Comics' WWII-era heroes (including Easy Company, the Blackhawks, and Steve Trevor). Batman is the only member not involved in this mission — his time-altered counterpart, a Resistance leader, aids the League in hope that this will keep the Nazis from murdering his parents. The tale closes with Wonder Woman finding Steve Trevor in a veterans' home, giving him one last visit from his "Angel". | ||||
| # | Title | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Original Airdate(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 28 | "Twilight (Of The Gods)" | Dan Riba and Butch Lukic | Rich Fogel and Bruce Timm | July 5, 2003 |
| The League is tricked into defending Apokolips, Darkseid's homeworld against the threat of Brainiac. The team solicits the aid of the New Gods, including Orion, Lightray, and Highfather. The resulting destruction of Brainiac's base is thought to be the end of Darkseid, until the events of the JLU episode "Alive", where he is inadvertently reconstituted by Lex Luthor. | ||||
| 29 30 | "Tabula Rasa" | Dan Riba | Stan Berkowitz | October 4, 2003 |
| Lex Luthor manipulates a powerful android named Amazo with the ability to copy and collect any superpower, posing as a father figure to it. Meanwhile, J'onn questions the nature of humans and struggles with the burden of hearing thousands of their minds in his head at the same time after performing a psychic sweep of the city of Metropolis in a failed attempt to locate Luthor. | ||||
| 31 32 | "Only a Dream" | Butch Lukic | Stan Berkowitz | October 11, 2003 |
| Small time crook John Dee volunteers for an experimental treatment while in prison. While the authorities are distracted by a mass prison break (led by Volcana, Firefly, Solomon Grundy, Copperhead, and Luminus) John Dee overdoses to become the dream-controlling Doctor Destiny. Destiny takes telepathic control of most of the team in their sleep, leaving Batman and J'onn to save the others. As the League members become trapped in their dreams and unable to wake up, J'onn tries to force them awake, while Batman goes to confront Dr. Destiny. | ||||
| 33 34 | "Maid of Honor" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | October 18, 2003 |
| Wonder Woman befriends the princess of Kasnia, a jet-setting party girl who is reluctant to end her wild ways in order to get married. Unfortunately, her fiancé is the immortal Vandal Savage, and he already has plans for both the throne and the Justice League. It is up to Wonder Woman and Batman to stop them. This is also the first episode of the Justice League series in which Batman appears as Bruce Wayne. | ||||
| 35 36 | "Hearts and Minds" | Butch Lukic | Keith Damron | October 25, 2003 |
| Kilowog crashes to Earth, seeking Green Lantern's help to rescue other members of the Green Lantern Corps from the would-be conqueror Despero. He also explains that John's former mentor and lover, Katma Tui, is one of the captives. After facing Despero and losing, John has to retrain himself to use his power ring to help the League end Despero's reign. | ||||
| 37 38 | "A Better World" | Dan Riba | Stan Berkowitz | November 1, 2003 |
| Following the death of the Flash, the Justice Lords launch an assault on the White House, where Superman kills President Lex Luthor. Two years later, the Lords now rule over the planet with an iron fist. Batman discovers the dimension which the Justice League inhabits. Considering their counterparts naive, but wishing to spread order to the newly discovered world, they cross over and trap the League in a force field. They then take their places in a quest to make this Earth like their own. The idea of evil counterparts from an alternate realm is loosely based on the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 (Pre-Crisis)/Anti-Matter Universe (Post-Crisis). | ||||
| 39 40 | "Eclipsed" | Dan Riba | Joseph Kuhr | November 8, 2003 |
| An ancient lunar crystal called the Black Heart is discovered. Little do the members of the Justice League know, it harbors an evil snake spirit with the ability to possess its bearer. The crystal's power contaminates almost all of the League, except for the Flash, who manages to prove his mettle and save his friends from the solar eclipse that will destroy both the Sun and the Earth. | ||||
| 41 42 | "The Terror Beyond" | Butch Lukic | Dwayne McDuffie | November 15, 2003 |
| Doctor Fate and Aquaman rescue Solomon Grundy, intent on using him to help battle an ancient evil. The pairing of these heroes is an homage to the Marvel Comics superhero team The Defenders and the plot is based upon H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Hawkgirl's atheism is shaken by Grundy's sacrifice to recover his soul, and to a lesser extent by the reliance of Wonder Woman and Aquaman on their deities when in need. | ||||
| 43 44 | "Secret Society" | Dan Riba | Stan Berkowitz | November 22, 2003 |
| While the Justice League are quarreling about the value of mutual trust and teamwork, Grodd organizes a Secret Society composed of Parasite, Giganta, Sinestro, The Shade, Clayface, and Killer Frost. The Society captures most of the League, but J'onn frees the others and the Society is defeated in front of a crowded stadium. | ||||
| 45 46 | "Hereafter" | Butch Lukic | Dwayne McDuffie | November 29, 2003 |
| A band of supervillains team up to get revenge on Superman. When they attack Metropolis, Toyman shoots from an experimental weapon towards Batman and an injured Wonder Woman, but Superman sacrifices himself to save them and is seemingly vaporized. The League attempts to cope with the loss of Superman by defending Metropolis in his absence. Eventually Lobo arrives at the Watchtower and nominates himself as Superman's replacement, but does more harm than good. Superman wakes up 30,000 years in Earth's future, and is powerless because the sun has turned red. He is aided by Vandal Savage who is the only human left alive as the result of an attempt at world domination staged a few months after Superman’s disappearance. Writer Dwayne McDuffie wrote on his forum that the episode title “Hereafter” is a subtle pun: Part One shows the apparent death of Superman, which according to most religions would send his soul to some sort of “Hereafter.” But as we learn in Part Two, actually, he’d been sent to the future while remaining geographically in the same place (the future ruins of Metropolis), and was thus “here, after.” | ||||
| 47 48 | "Wild Cards" | Butch Lukic | Stan Berkowitz and Dwayne McDuffie | December 6, 2003 |
| Taking over a TV station in Las Vegas, the Joker announces that he has placed a series of bombs that will destroy the Strip in twenty-two minutes and fifty-one seconds if they are not stopped by the Justice League. With the whole world watching Joker's version of reality television, the League must first get past the Joker's own super-team, the Royal Flush Gang. However, the threat imposed by the Joker is not as simple as it seems, and Batman must track down his location to stop his nemesis. This episode is notable as a 'hidden crossover' with Teen Titans, as the Royal Flush Gang is voiced by the five principal actors from that series (further, the gang's designs are based on the Teen Titans voice talent themselves). The episode also features the confirmation of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl's romantic relationship with a kiss to conclude the episode. | ||||
| 49 | "Comfort and Joy" | Butch Lukic | Paul Dini | December 13, 2003 |
| After saving two worlds, the members of the Justice League decide to take a break to celebrate the holidays. Flash spends his Christmas Eve with the children of an orphanage, who ask that he find them a special animated toy duck. The popular toy is broken by the Ultra-Humanite, who eventually comes around and helps Flash. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl show each other how they spend the holidays. Lantern engages in a snowball fight with Hawkgirl. Hawkgirl reciprocates by starting an interplanetary barroom brawl. Batman spends Christmas on Watchtower duty; Wonder Woman is not mentioned at all. Meanwhile, Superman invites J'onn over to Smallville for Christmas Eve with his parents. Although J'onn is initially uncomfortable, he eventually learns to enjoy Christmas. This was the first standalone episode of the series. | ||||
| 50
51 52 |
"Starcrossed" | Butch Lukic (Pts.1 & 3) and Dan Riba (Pt.2) | Rich Fogel (Pts. 1, 2, & 3) and Dwayne McDuffie (Part 3) | May 29, 2004 |
| After Earth is attacked by a Gordanian battleship, the League is aided by an army of hawkmen from Hawkgirl's home planet of Thanagar. The Thanagarians offer to help Earth build a shield to defend against the Gordanians, but Batman discovers that this is just a ruse. Hawkgirl finds herself torn between her allegiance to Thanagar and her commitment to the Justice League, as well as between her betrothal to the Thanagarian commander Hro Talak and her budding love for Green Lantern John Stewart. (Hro Talak is an anagram for Katar Hol, Hawkman's given name in the comic series). The original Watchtower is destroyed in the climax to this story. | ||||
| # | Title | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Original Airdate(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30, 31 | "A League of Their Own" | Uncredited | Ernie Altbacker (Part 1) Dwayne McDuffie (Part 2) |
March 1, 2003 2003-03-08 |
| When the Watchtower has a sudden power drain, the Justice League recruit Static to "jump start" their station before it reenters the atmosphere. Unbeknownst to either Static or Gear, the power drain also releases Brainiac from his confinement. Static and Gear manage to bring Brainiac down, but the villain has a loophole left to slip through... | ||||
| 43 | "Fallen Hero" | Chuck Drost | Stan Berkowitz | February 7, 2004 |
| Static faces off against his idol, Green Lantern, (actually Sinestro in disguise) when he causes chaos all over town. | ||||
Note that chronologically, these episodes must have taken place prior to "Starcrossed" as they make use of the original Watchtower, and the league is obviously much smaller than in its JLU incarnation.
After the first two seasons the show changed its two part episode format and was renamed Justice League Unlimited. As such, the series ran two more seasons from July 2004 to May 2006. These episodes featured an evolved Justice League that include a wide array of superheroes and supervillains from the DC Comics universe.
| # | Title | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Original Airdate(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Initiation" | Joaquim dos Santos | Stan Berkowitz | July 31, 2004 |
|
The League expands their operations, enlisting new recruits across the globe. The newest of these is Green Arrow, who has repeatedly refused to respond to invitations to join the League. He is therefore pulled to the rebuilt, and much larger, Watchtower by teleport. Opting against joining, he hitches a ride back to Earth with the team of Green Lantern, Captain Atom and Supergirl, who have been sent on a mission to stop a giant, uncontrolled, nuclear-powered defense robot in an unnamed Asian country existing in self-imposed international isolation. This episode also features cameos from over 30 other heroes, many of whom would be featured in subsequent episodes. Most notably, Green Arrow's decision to join the League is shown to be influenced by catching his first glimpse of Black Canary. |
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| 2 | "For the Man Who Has Everything" | Dan Riba | J. M. DeMatteis (Adapted from a story by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) | August 7, 2004 |
| Batman and Wonder Woman find Superman held captive by Mongul in the Fortress of Solitude and dreaming of an idyllic life on Krypton, courtesy of a wish-fulfilling parasitic plant known as the Black Mercy. This episode is adapted from a popular story written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons for Superman Annual #11 in 1985. This also marks the first appearance by Joe Chill in the DCAU, as Batman's idyll is revealed to be watching his father beat the thug senseless over and over. | ||||
| 3 | "Kids' Stuff[1]" | Joaquim dos Santos | Henry Gilroy | August 14, 2004 |
| Morgaine le Fey transforms Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern into 8-year-olds after Mordred uses his magic to remove all adults from Earth and keep children on the earth. Lots of comic relief in this episode comes from Wonder Girl displaying a crush on Batboy, who simply acts like a smaller version of his adult self, a clueless Superboy in every situation, a young Green Lantern who hides his nerdish side, and the Demon Etrigan as an infant. Based loosely on elements of the DC Comics events JLA: World Without Grown Ups and Young Justice: Sins of Youth. | ||||
| 4 | "Hawk and Dove" | Joaquim dos Santos | Robert Goodman | August 21, 2004 |
| Wonder Woman teams up with two super powered brothers, Hawk and Dove, to stop Ares' plans to escalate a European civil war by loosing a war machine called the Annihilator into the fray. As a nod to their earlier roles as brothers on The Wonder Years, the two brothers were voiced by Fred Savage (Hank/Hawk) and Jason Hervey (Don/Dove), though at the last second Savage and Hervey switched roles. | ||||
| 5 | "This Little Piggy" | Dan Riba | Paul Dini | August 28, 2004 |
| The centuries-old enchantress Circe transforms Wonder Woman into a pig as revenge against Diana's mother. Batman and Zatanna work together to return her to normal, while B'wana Beast attempts to find the "Wonder Pig" before she's butchered at a slaughterhouse. It contains the famous scene of Batman singing the jazz standard "Am I Blue?" to a nightclub audience. In this episode Batman confesses that there is something between him and Wonder Woman. Throughout the entire episode it is very visible that Batman has feelings for Wonder Woman, and that she feels the same. This episode features the singing of actress/singer Rachel York, who performs Lulu's Back In Town by Al Dubin and Harry Warren on this episode | ||||
| 6 | "Fearful Symmetry (a.k.a. Galatea)" | Dan Riba | Robert Goodman | September 4, 2004 |
| Supergirl, Green Arrow, and The Question investigate Supergirl's disturbing dreams. They discover that Cadmus created a clone of Supergirl named Galatea while she was recovering from her fight against Superman on Earth. | ||||
| 7 | "The Return" | Joaquim dos Santos | J. M. DeMatteis | September 18, 2004 |
| The full power of the newly-expanded League is unleashed for the first time while trying to keep Ivo's android Amazo from reaching his goal: vengeance against the recently-reformed Lex Luthor. Luthor and the Atom attempt to create a weapon to neutralize Amazo's nanotechnology, though their victory is largely assisted by Dr. Fate. | ||||
| 8 | "The Greatest Story Never Told" | Dan Riba | Andrew Kreisberg | September 11, 2004 |
| The Justice League battle Mordru in the background, while the narrative follows Booster Gold as he attempts to close a walking black hole while he's supposed to be on "crowd control". | ||||
| 9 | "Ultimatum" | Joaquim dos Santos | J. M. DeMatteis | December 4, 2004 |
| The Justice League meets the Ultimen, a popular group of young heroes. The Ultimen discover they are the results of a government experiment in creating super humans and only have a short time to live. In frustration and anger all but one Long Shadow strike out against the Justice League. The Ultimen are pastiches of several superheroes that were created for (and are unique to) the Super Friends animated series. The members were Long Shadow (based upon Apache Chief), Wind Dragon (Samurai), Juice (Black Vulcan), Downpour (Zan of the Wonder Twins), and Shifter (Jayna of the Wonder Twins). |
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| 10 | "Dark Heart" | Dan Riba | Warren Ellis | December 11, 2004 |
| Most of the League battles with powerful alien nanotechnology, but realize that the waves of self-replicating robots cannot be simply destroyed. The diminutive Atom shrinks himself to stop the robots from the inside. | ||||
| 11 | "Wake the Dead" | Joaquim dos Santos | Dwayne McDuffie | December 18, 2004 |
| A trio of college kids accidentally resurrect Solomon Grundy, reviving him more powerful than ever but with no memories of his past. Dr. Fate, Amazo, Aquaman, and Shayera assist League regulars stopping his rampage. This episode marks the return of Shayera Hol (Hawkgirl) to the Justice League. | ||||
| 12 | "The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | January 22, 2005 |
| Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern chase Chronos to the past, where they team up with some of the greatest DC heroes of the Old West. After defeating stolen future tech in that era, they again follow Chronos to the future. Warhawk from the Batman Beyond era is revealed to be Green Lantern and Hawkgirl's son. Guest starring: Bat Lash, Jonah Hex, El Diablo, and Ohiyesa "Pow-Wow" Smith. |
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| 13 | "The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time, Warped" | Joaquim dos Santos | Dwayne McDuffie | January 29, 2005 |
| Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman chase Chronos into the future Gotham City of Batman Beyond, just in time to face a battle with a group of Jokerz beside that era's Justice League. The time travelers are taken to the Justice League Unlimited refuge. An older Bruce Wayne reveals the street gang they fought together was enhanced by Chronos who led them to kill the rest of the League of that era. The combined heroes defeat the retooled Jokerz, and Batman traps Chronos in a time loop. Guest starring: Batman (Terry McGinnis), Warhawk, a 65 year old Static, and Hal Jordan (in his only appearance in the DCAU as Green Lantern). |
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| 14 | "The Cat and the Canary" | Joaquim dos Santos | Robert Goodman | February 5, 2005 |
| Black Canary convinces Green Arrow to help save her mentor, Wildcat, from his involvement in an underground, super-powered fight club known as MetaBrawl. | ||||
| 15 | "The Ties That Bind (a.k.a. Miracles Happen)" | Dan Riba | Jim Steranko (Teleplay by J. M. DeMatteis) | February 12, 2005 |
| Mister Miracle and Big Barda solicit Justice League assistance to free Oberon from Apokolips. J'onn refuses, but Flash decides to help out on his own. | ||||
| 16 | "The Doomsday Sanction" | Dan Riba | Robert Goodman | February 19, 2005 |
| Superman battles Doomsday in the heart of a volcano. Doomsday is revealed to be an imperfect clone of Superman. Batman probes the Cadmus conspiracy to destroy the Justice League. | ||||
| 17 | "Task Force X" | Joaquim dos Santos | Darwyn Cooke | May 21, 2005 |
| A team of supervillains dubbed "Task Force X" (better known in comics as the Suicide Squad) composed of Deadshot, Plastique, Captain Boomerang, and the Clock King is recruited by Cadmus. They steal the Annihilator armour from the Watchtower. | ||||
| 18 | "The Balance" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | May 28, 2005 |
| Felix Faust, imprisoned in a mirror, fools Tala into letting him out, whereupon he possesses the Annihilator and casts Hades out of Tartarus. After her armor and lasso's full powers are activated by Hippolyta, Wonder Woman teams up with Hawkgirl to help Hades reclaim his kingdom at Zeus's command. Meanwhile Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl must deal with their anger towards each other following the events of "Starcrossed". | ||||
| 19 | "Double Date" | Joaquim dos Santos | Gail Simone | June 4, 2005 |
| Huntress is kicked out of the Justice League for attempting to murder mob boss Steven Mandragora, the man responsible for her parents' death. She recruits the Question to assist her in finishing him off while Green Arrow and Black Canary attempt to thwart their efforts. | ||||
| 20 | "Clash" | Dan Riba | J. M. DeMatteis (Story: Dwayne McDuffie) | June 11, 2005 |
| Lex Luthor's candidacy for President moves forward as Captain Marvel appears to endorse his candidacy. Luthor expertly manipulates Superman's mistrust, tricking Superman into fighting Marvel. Superman was humiliated after knowing that the bomb he defused turned out to be a generator. At the end, it is revealed by Batman that Superman had been baited by Luthor and Amanda Waller to discredit the JLU. | ||||
| 21 | "Hunter's Moon (a.k.a. Mystery in Space)" | Joaquim dos Santos | Dwayne McDuffie | June 18, 2005 |
| When the Justice League receives a distress call, Hawkgirl, Vigilante and Vixen investigate only to find that it was a trap set out by the remaining Thanagarian warriors who blame Hawkgirl for their loss in the war (as recounted in "Starcrossed"). Likewise, Hawkgirl has to deal with her teammates' resentments for her betrayal of the Justice League and her own, still-lingering self-doubts. | ||||
| 22 | "Question Authority" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | June 25, 2005 |
| After helping Superman defeat Mantis, Captain Atom's Air Force Reserve commission is reactivated. Meanwhile, the Question discovers the records about the Justice Lords, and Luthor's attempts to discredit the Justice League. The Question is captured, and Superman and Huntress attempt to rescue him. Almost successful, they are confronted by Captain Atom, who has orders to stop them. In the DVD release of the first season of JLU, this is episode 21. | ||||
| 23 | "Flashpoint" | Joaquim dos Santos | Dwayne McDuffie | July 2, 2005 |
| Lex Luthor seizes control of the Watchtower's main gun to fire on Cadmus, causing massive collateral damage on the city and falsely implicating the League as responsible. Convinced it is an act of revenge, Amanda Waller commands Galatea to attack the Watchtower with an army of Ultimen clones. | ||||
| 24 | "Panic in the Sky" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | July 9, 2005 |
| The founding members of the Justice League, with the exception of Batman, surrender to the government. In the middle of a huge battle between the "Unlimited" part of the League and the army of Ultimen, Supergirl and Steel battle Galatea to keep her from destroying the Watchtower. | ||||
| 25 | "Divided We Fall" | Joaquim dos Santos | Dwayne McDuffie | July 16, 2005 |
| With most of the League unavailable, the League's original seven battle against the fused Luthor and Brainiac. It is then up to the Flash to stand up against the Luthor-Brainiac team, prepared to pay the final price. | ||||
| 26 | "Epilogue" | Dan Riba | Bruce Timm & Dwayne McDuffie | July 23, 2005 |
| In the future of Batman Beyond, Amanda Waller reveals to an older Terry McGinnis she created the project Batman Beyond to continue Bruce Wayne's work. The episode is not only the Justice League season finale, but, as a cross over, containing a lot of information that applies to after the end of Batman Beyond. The episode contains many references to prior episodes of Justice League in that some of the episode showed the current team and Waller who had been a big part of previous episodes. | ||||
| # | Title | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Original Airdate(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | "I Am Legion" | Joaquim dos Santos | Dwayne McDuffie | September 17, 2005 |
| After Lex Luthor escapes from prison, Gorilla Grodd baits him into joining the new Secret Society with a piece of Brainiac technology. Luthor, the Key, and Doctor Polaris steal the Spear of Longinus from Blackhawk Island despite the efforts of Flash, Fire, Shayera, and the last surviving Blackhawk to stop them. This new Secret Society is similar in scale to the Legion of Doom (a supervillain group from the Challenge of the Super Friends animated series), and its base is an updated version of the one used by the Legion of Doom. The title of this episode is a variant on a verse from the Bible (Mark 5:9), specifically the last half of the verse that states 'My name is Legion, for we are many.' This is a reference to the Secret Society being a veritable legion of super villains, as well as the appearance of the headquarters of the Legion of Doom, updated for the 21st century and used as the base for the Society. | ||||
| 28 | "Shadow of the Hawk" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie (Teleplay by J. M. DeMatteis) | September 17, 2005 |
| Shayera agrees to meet with Carter Hall, an archaeologist who has discovered Thanagarian artifacts from ancient Egypt. With a suspicious Batman eavesdropping, Carter reveals himself to be her reincarnated lover from the past and Hawkman to a confused Shayera. The Shadow Thief attempts to steal the artifacts, which results in the destruction of the tomb, and the question unresolved. | ||||
| 29 | "Chaos at the Earth's Core" | Joaquim dos Santos | Matt Wayne | September 24, 2005 |
| Supergirl, Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., and Green Lantern help Warlord liberate Skartaris (a hidden world inside the Earth's core) from Deimos, a brutal dictator while protecting a very large piece of Kryptonite from Metallo and Silver Banshee. Originally titled "Heart of Stone". | ||||
| 30 | "To Another Shore" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | September 24, 2005 |
| Wonder Woman protects the body of the Viking Prince from Legion agents who want it for reverse engineering of invulnerability powers. Troubled by his isolation, J'onn leaves the Justice League to better understand humanity. This episode references the 1970s Wonder Woman TV series by having Diana execute the same costume-changing spin to transform into Wonder Woman as that performed by Lynda Carter in the live-action version. Originally titled "Elegy". | ||||
| 31 | "Flash and Substance" | Joaquim dos Santos | Matt Wayne | February 11, 2006 |
| Orion attempts to understand Flash's antics as Wally and Batman battle four of Flash's rogues that attack the museum that is opening in his honor. This episode includes many references to Flash's comic book and television history, including a guest appearance by Linda Park and bringing back Mark Hamill as the Trickster. | ||||
| 32 | "Dead Reckoning" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | February 18, 2006 |
| Deadman convinces Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to help him retrieve the stolen souls of a mystic order of monks that the Secret Society has stolen. They force the Secret Society to retreat from Gorilla City, ending Grodd's attempt to turn all people on Earth into apes. Back at a general meeting in the Secret Society's HQ, Lex Luthor cites that Grodd's plan failed and his "master plan" (turning everyone on Earth into apes) was silly, and shoots him, taking over leadership of the Secret Society. | ||||
| 33 | "Patriot Act" | Joaquim dos Santos | Matt Wayne | February 25, 2006 |
| General Wade Eiling from Cadmus steals the "Captain Nazi" super-soldier serum and injects it into himself to "protect" the world from metahumans. With the more powerful League members busy, Green Arrow leads Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., Shining Knight, Crimson Avenger, Vigilante, and Speedy against him. Eiling only stops short of killing Shining Knight when a civilian points out that Eiling's reason for attacking the heroes is non-existent, as his entire reason for the attack was to rid the world of meta-humans and he was the only one there with super powers. This sub-team is an homage to the Golden Age Seven Soldiers of Victory. The episode also features a cameo by a group of street urchins who resemble either the Golden or Silver Age incarnation of the Newsboy Legion. Though Eiling's transformation is due to the Captain Nazi serum, his resultant form is reminiscent of his more recent comic appearances in the body of the Shaggy Man, or the contemporary villain known as the General. The WWII flashback that opens this episode shows Spy Smasher stealing the formula from the Nazis. | ||||
| 34 | "The Great Brain Robbery" | Dan Riba | Dwayne McDuffie | March 4, 2006 |
| Magic and science collide, placing Lex Luthor and Flash's minds in each other's body. The Justice League must now contain a super-speed powered Luthor on the Watchtower while Flash tries to hide the reversal from the Secret Society. In this episode Michael Rosenbaum, who provides the voice of the Flash, also voices his Smallville character Lex Luthor, as during the body swap the bodies retain their own voices. |
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| 35 | "Grudge Match" | Joaquim dos Santos | Matt Wayne (Teleplay by J. M. DeMatteis) | March 11, 2006 |
| Roulette restarts Metabrawl, this time with an all-female fight card ("Glamour Slam") made up of mind-controlled Justice Leaguers. First the Huntress and Black Canary are set against Vixen and Hawkgirl; then the four must contend against the night's main attraction: Wonder Woman. , it takes place in the city of Blüdhaven. | ||||
| 36 | "Far From Home" | Dan Riba | Paul Dini | April 15, 2006 |
| Supergirl, Green Lantern and Green Arrow are kidnapped and taken to the 31st Century by Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes, where Supergirl is destined to embark on her very last mission - a battle against the Fatal Five and the Legion itself. | ||||
| 37 | "Ancient History" | Joaquim dos Santos | Matt Wayne (Teleplay by Geoff Johns) | February 8, 2006 (UK) 2006-04-29 (US) |
| The Hawkman story concludes here when Shadow Thief captures Green Lantern, Shayera and Hawkman, then forces them to watch a vision of their past selves developing an ancient society of Egypt with Thanagarian technology. It turns out Shadow Thief is a villain from Carter Hall's mind that was released when he touched the Absorbacron in "Shadow of the Hawk." Hawkman defeats Shadow Thief and leaves. John Stewart, not wanting to have destiny play out his life, does not get back with Shayera, even though the two say they love each other. GL goes back to Vixen, but not before he tells Shayera about Rex Stewart (Warhawk), their alleged future son. In the final scene of the episode, Shayera asks Batman about this future son, but the credits roll before he can answer. | ||||
| 38 | "Alive!" | Dan Riba | Matt Wayne | February 8, 2006 (UK) 2006-05-06 (US) |
| Luthor and the Secret Society refit their headquarters and fly into deep space in a last-ditch attempt to reanimate Brainiac. En route, Tala frees Grodd who leads a mutiny of other disaffected villains against Luthor and his supporters. Luthor uses his intellect and resourcefulness to counter his various adversaries' powers; Grodd's mind-control ability is used against him, forcing him to step into an airlock, from which he is released into the void. Luthor uses Tala's magic in an attempt to reconstitute Brainiac, but instead resurrects Darkseid, with Brainiac enhancements, who makes clear his plans to lay waste to Earth before dispatching the Secret Society. Darkseid returns to Apokolips just in time to stop a war between the two factions of his Elite fighting for power, and reveals to them his plans of massive invasion. The surviving Secret Society members turn to the Justice League for help. | ||||
| 39 | "Destroyer" | Joaquim dos Santos | Dwayne McDuffie | February 18, 2006 (UK) 2006-05-13 (US) |
| The Justice League reluctantly teams up with the Secret Society to repel Darkseid's full-scale invasion of Earth. As the League and Secret Society members battle the Apokolips fleet across the planet, Superman, Batman, and Lex Luthor take on Darkseid atop the Daily Planet building. | ||||
The comic series spun off from the show (Justice League Adventures and Justice League Unlimited respectively), are loosely set in the same continuity as the series. They occasionally use characters unavailable for use on the show, such as Blue Beetle, Mary Marvel, Power Girl, Black Lightning and Firestorm and sometimes contradict events already shown, such as Wonder Woman remembering the events from "The Once and Future Thing".
Matt Wayne (who wrote "Chaos At Earth's Core", "Flash & Substance", and "Patriot Act") wrote issues 37 and 38 of the comic. His stories are based on unused episode ideas.[2]
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