Justice League Unlimited, Season 1, Episode 11: Wake the Dead
If you told me before I was watching this series that Solomon Grundy would be the character that drew tears from my eyes, I would have laughed in your face. Rudely. Well, Solomon Grundy's death way back in Justice League was sad, but also cool in that it's heroic. However, he makes a return in this episode and it's honestly very tragic as we get our first proper Hawkgirl episode in JLU. (Yes, she's abandoned the name Hawkgirl in-universe. No, that's not going to stop me from calling her that.)
Also, if you told me that I would be super-invested in a love triangle in this show of all things... yeah. The execution of love triangles in fiction have always irked me. It's a very simplified way to inject romantic conflict between supposed allies, and, yeah, it's realistic and all... but when adapted into shows or comics or whatever, it's an easy shorthand to just doing some huge filler in the name of romantic progression. I could easily point out various shows that get bogged down and dragged down so badly due to examples of this trope. But Justice League Unlimited introduces a love triangle that, while initially sprung upon us out of nowhere, felt very satisfactory, very self-contained within this episode, and develops both the two old love interests (John and Shayera) while making the newcomer, Vixen, a likable character that isn't just a catty bitch meant to come between the way of a previously happy couple.
But let's put the romance subplot on the backburner and talk about the setup of this episode. A bunch of stupid little kids muck around with a spellbook they bought online to curse their bullies. In real life, all this would get you is disappointment. These kids live in the world of DC comics, though, so what they got was a resurrected immortal swamp zombie in the return of Solomon Grundy. As with his comic book counterpart, though, Grundy's resurrection only brings back his body, and none of his former self's bumbling brute characterization made it out of the grave.
Solomon Grundy's rampage attracts the attention of two different groups. First, it interrupts Green Lantern's date with his new girlfriend Vixen (Superman tags along too). And it being Solomon Grundy, it also attracts the attention of Hawkgirl, bringing with her the people staying in Fate's Tower -- Fate himself, Amazo and... Aquaman? Who's hanging around, I guess?
Honestly, that short scene in Fate's Tower where Amazo uses his powers to levitate a chess set into place and asks Aquaman for a game, and Aquaman's absolutely incredulous expression at being challenged to a game of chess by a godlike android is hilarious.
Anyway, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl accidentally meeting up after Hawkgirl leaves Green Lantern behind undoubtedly leads to some... awkwardness. Hawkgirl has been absent for a significantly long time, and while we didn't really get to see a lot of Green Lantern (he's got like one episode where he's a main character, and while he's not as shafted as poor Flash was, his presence isn't felt as well as some of the other characters) in this season, the dialogue and general tone of the story does show very well that a significant amount of time has passed. Granted, Lantern does seem like he has a type of woman -- the independent, very assertive kind. Hawkgirl, though, has been almost entirely absent other than that one cameo in Fate's Tower.
The writers do an impressive job at showing just what Hawkgirl has been doing in that period of time, though. The opening chess game between Hawkgirl and Aquaman in Fate's Tower, where Aquaman is absolutely LIVID that Hawkgirl has absolutely no fighting spirit to compete even in a simple game as chess (Amazo's happy to oblige him) shows just how broken the formerly trigger-happy war lady has been reduced to. I'm honestly confused just why Aquaman is chosen -- he did work with Hawkgirl and Fate before during the whole Ichthutu thing, yes, and while I'm not really complaining about Aquaman having more screentime, it does feel like an odd choice for what basically amounts to Hawkgirl's therapist. Though I guess Fate is looking for someone he can trust will hide Hawkgirl's existence (Aquaman doesn't play well with the other Leaguers, we know that) and is enough of an abrasive asshole to try and jolt Hawkgirl's fighting spirit back to life... and abrasive asshole Aquaman is.
The thing is, Hawkgirl is well and truly lost. She's not a superhero, she's not a Thanagarian officer, and she's not even John Stewart's girlfriend. There's no real reason for her to fight, or to resume superheroics, especially with everyone she can consider friends -- the humans and her own Thanagarian people -- considering her an invader or a traitor. It's not particularly apparent until the final scenes that the human hatred towards Thanagarians is still there,
What truly jolts Hawkgirl into action is the emotional bond she has to Solomon Grundy, and that slow scene when Fate presents her with an option to carve her own fate as her old Nth Metal mace swings into view from the void, and Hawkgirl takes it into her hand... it's a great moment that represents the kindling of her fighting spirit and her self-acceptance. Ideally we probably should've had a couple of scenes with Hawkgirl in previous episodes, but this is a wonderful way of showcasing just how far Hawkgirl has fallen since Starcrossed, how she has grown as a character, as well as the final legs of her journey to self-forgiveness... without having to sit through the possibly dull and repetitive journey. It's a bold move, because done wrong it would be shoehorned character development, but here I'd argue that it's done right.
Hawkgirl wasn't given much chance to shine outside the Thanagarian plotline and her own romance with Green Lantern, but her episode with Solomon Grundy, befriending the simple-minded brutish zombie and eventually watching him die in heroic sacrifice, is one of the highest emotional points, and this episode aims to top that... by having Solomon Grundy return to life as a rampaging monster, and the animation really sells Grundy as a mindless, ravaging ghoul without even the simple dumbness that he had in his first appearance.
Grundy is presented as a legitimate threat this time around, and the two big hitters in their little party get neutered very quickly. Superman can't do shit because Grundy is magic, while Amazo makes himself scarce, banishing himself into deep space when he realizes that Grundy can siphon his own immeasurable powers. It's a bit of a shitty cop-out for Amazo considering how powerful he has been presented to be, but indeed, in that episode where Amazo rampages he didn't really face any magic-users. So it's justified, sorta.
I feel like all the talk of Hawkgirl would cheapen Vixen... so let's talk about her. She isn't a character I remember much of from JLU, because I think like any simple-minded child from back then I disliked her for getting in the way of the established One True Pairing. But now watching the show as an adult, Vixen was... an extremely pleasant woman, and not in the extremely saccharine way either. She's a genuinely likable person, and while she does have similarities with Hawkgirl as powerful, independent warrior women, she's notably different, being more down-to-Earth (obviously, since she's a human) and having a more relaxed sense of humour. And she would be a very great new romantic partner to John Stewart, too.
Hawkgirl's meeting with Lantern is a bit awkward, though she brushes it off quickly with a "I hate the beard" comment, which makes the message clear -- mission first, mushy feelings later. With Amazo and Superman neutered, and neither Lantern, Vixen, nor Aquaman really proving effective, Hawkgirl is forced to wield her special anti-magic mace and end Solomon Grundy... like a pet dog gone mad. For what it's worth, John does offer to do it for her, but she's strong. She goes down to the sewers Grundy has escaped to, and does the dirty did of mercy-killing the rabid beast that barely resembles the Solomon Grundy that Hawkgirl used to know.
Grundy's death is not quite as emotionally devastating to the audience, because, shit, it's just an angry zombie that's clearly not the Solomon Grundy we knew from before, not really, but the conflict in Hawkgirl's face when she is forced to do the deed herself really got to me, and it's a poignant scene and one of the few ways where the revolving-door-of-death in the superhero genre can actually be used for effective storytelling.
And really, one of the biggest chunks of meat in the story is when Hawkgirl comes out of the sewer. The public swarms around her, demanding answers, accusing her of being an invader and all that jazz, not helped by Green Lantern telling Hawkgirl that she's welcome to rejoin the Justice League whenever she wants because she was not voted out (Superman apparently broke the tie, voting for redemption because he himself has been turned against humanity before). Of course Hawkgirl finds a small silver lining because the mother and daughter she saved earlier thanks her life, and all the people around her -- Superman and especially Green Lantern being old friends -- accepting her, so at the very least, even when the world hates her, she has friends.
So yeah, we didn't get much in lieu of the love triangle -- though the fact that John has a girlfriend now is definitely placed squarely on the table. But Hawkgirl has apparently rejoined the League (kinda sorta), she has worked through her emotional issues, and... well, allowing a known Thanagarian traitor to rejoin this already uncontrollable army of superheroes is definitely not going to sit well with Cadmus, because 'she felt bad' isn't really going to cut it for them. So it's another strike against the Justice League in Cadmus's books, even if it isn't explicitly stated.
Oh, and in the middle of all this heavy storytelling? Aquaman with his badass bare chest and harpoon hand is using a giant octopus to stop a bridge from collapsing. You go, king of the seas. You go.
Justice League Roll Call:
- Speaking Roles: Aquaman, Hawkgirl, Amazo (well...), Dr. Fate, Inza, Green Lantern, Vixen, Superman
- Major Villains: Solomon Grundy
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Solomon Grundy's death and his friendship with Hawkgirl happened in the episode "The Terror Beyond", and it is established there that Grundy will be revived by the voodoo magics of the swamp he is bound to. Dr Fate also makes several references to his battle with Hawkgirl from that episode. The events of Hawkgirl's treachery and exile all happened in "Starcrossed", and the results of the vote from that three-parter is revealed here.
- As with "The Terror Beyond", the lineup of superheroes here homages the Marvel Comics team the Defenders. 'Reprising' their roles are Dr. Fate as Dr. Strange, Hawkgirl as Nighthawk, Solomon Grundy as Hulk, Aquaman as Namor... and this time around, Amazo stands in for Silver Surfer.
- Amazo finally gets referred to by its name in this episode! (Sadly, it's also the last episode Amazo appears in).
- In the dorm room where the nerd students do their ritual, there is an action figure of Hellboy (of Dark Horse comics fame), as well as a poster of Swamp Thing (who is from DC). Also in that room is a DVD of Wicked Scary, a fictional movie from the Teen Titans episode "Fear Itself. At the point that Justice League Unlimited aired, it was being produced alongside Teen Titans as a sister show.
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