Justice League Unlimited S01E03 Review: WIDDLE BABY ETWIGAN

Justice League Unlimited, Season 1, Episode 3: Kid Stuff

I've gone on record for saying how despite the fact that Teen Titans was a more light-hearted, comedic superhero show, it can still pull off great serious, emotionally-driven episodes. Justice League Unlimited, on the other hand, is primarily a more conventional, serious superhero show, but this episode shows just how they can do absolutely ridiculous, fun episodes.

I've never really been a fan of Morgaine le Fay or her twat of a son, Mordred, so those two are easily my least favourite parts of this episode. Morgaine shows Mordred this powerful amulet of the first magic, but Mordred uses the amulet to rid the world of all adults, including Morgaine, putting himself as a self-styled king in Disneyland. In this eldritch dimension between worlds, Morgaine seeks out four members of the Justice League -- Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, turning the four of them into children so they can defeat Mordred.

We also get a short little fight between the four Leaguers and four minor villains, featuring some absolutely hilarious lines from Copperhead about how "we're sent to the BAD PLACE!" and absolutely freaking the shit out. This episode also marks the return of Cheetah, which is a fun bit.

But the main bulk of the story stars the four old-timer Leaguers as children. On one hand, this is two episodes in a row that feature almost exclusively heroes from the original lineup (even guest star Etrigan is an old recurring character). On the other hand, turning some random superhero we've never seen before into a kid probably wouldn't have the same impact. Flash and J'onn sit this one out from the original lineup mostly because, well, Flash would still be 100% the same and J'onn's different culture would be hard to portray well on-screen.

It's fun to see how little some of them change as kids, with Green Lantern finally addressing a problem that has been simmering in the back of my mind for two seasons of Justice League, which is that he has no creativity when using his power ring. Partly it's probably because of his rigid military mind, but here we get some absolutely ridiculous and fun Green Lantern constructs like the iconic boxing glove, a huge mechanical robot suit and all that stuff, which is just a grand fun to look at. There's also a little nod to why Lantern focuses so much on simple structures as an adult -- a hyperactive mind like that of a child goes from one construct to another so quickly that Kid Lantern has so little time to focus. Green Lantern's also a lot more relaxed and less rigid than his usual self. Diana is a bit flirtier and Superman's mostly the same, albeit younger... but Batman? Batman is an irritable little kid.

Which brings the slightly dark undertone that, yeah, kid Bruce Wayne died that day in the alleyway, and Batman was born. "I've never been a kid since I was eight years old", Batman says when he returns back to adulthood, and while Diana, Clark and John all had some measure of fun while saving the world, Batman just... doesn't feel anything. It's a very strong emotional moment in what is otherwise a fun-filled madcap episode.

Baby Etrigan is an absolute highlight, looking super-adorable. Why did he get turned into a little toddler when none of the other adults (even Morgaine) were? No one cares. He shows up out of nowhere in Mordred's dungeon, Diana gives him a stern talking to and he hangs out with the Leaguers in the final fight. Adult!Etrigan going "mommy!" when they were transformed back into adults with Wonder Woman still carrying him is hilarious.

The little cheat loophole that turns Mordred back into an adult is hilarious, but apparently Mordred breaks one of his mother's enchantments -- Mordred still has immortality, but he has lost the eternal youth spell, meaning that, yeah, he's going to live forever, but he'll never stop aging. And after the very fun episode with dungeons and giant mecha suits and baby Etrigans, the final shot of Morgaine baby-talking Mordred, aged to an old, drooling man that's barely aware of what's going on, is a very chilling shot.

I'm a big fan of the weird super-mommy complex that Morgaine has. In addition to this bit where she baby-talks her super-old son (with that unmoving golden mask), the look on the JLA's faces when she tells them that she's been bathing and feeding her son for thousands of years is hilarious.

Justice League Roll Call:

• Speaking Roles: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Etrigan
• Major Villains: Morgaine Le Fay, Mordred
• Minor Villains: Cheetah, Copperhead, Blockbuster, KGBeast

DC Easter Egg Corner:

• While Cheetah and Copperhead had appeared before in Justice League, this features the debut of two new villains:
• Blockbuster, specifically the first Blockbuster, Mark Desmond, who is a scientist that developed a serum that transformed him into a hulking brute, but left him mindless. His criminal activities is ultimately caused by his criminal brother, Roland Desmond, manipulating him into hating the Batman. He's one of Batman's earliest villains, though he has never been well-known. It's this relative obscurity that let him escape the Bat-Embargo, I guess.
• KGBeast, a.k.a. Anatoli Knyazev, is another Batman villain. He's an assassin hired by the KGB, and had a gun attached to the stump that was his left hand. For whatever reason, despite his relative obscurity KGBeast had appeared in both Arrow as a major supporting character, and in Batman v Superman, though neither gave Anatoli his rather questionable codename nor his cool comic-book mask.
• Kid!Green Lantern's mask is similar to the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern's first mask.
• I'm not sure which came first, but the origin of the Young Justice team is when a young boy came across a magical artifact and brought about a situation similar to this episode in which all adults disappeared. Instead of the Justice League being turned into kids, however, the sidekicks banded together to defeat the demonic genie.
• Etrigan first appeared in The New Batman Adventures episode The Demon Within, and appeared in the Justice League episode A Knight of Shadows. Morgaine Le Fay and Mordred also debuted in that episode.