Justice League Unlimited S02E08 Review: Cowboys vs Aliens

Justice League Unlimited, Season 2, Episode 8: Hunter's Moon

"Darned son ding-busted horse-thievin' alien control panel which can't nobody work proper!"

God damn I love the Vigilante. Like, I harp on and on about how the DCAU has the absolute perfect voices for characters like Batman, Lex Luthor, Grodd, J'onn J'onzz, Amanda Waller, the Joker, Mr. Freeze and all that stuff, but damn, the Vigilante's awesome. I've never been a huge fan of cowboys, not at all. While Westworld was entertaining and I certainly like both animated and live-action adaptations of Jonah Hex, I would be perfectly fine if they were something else other than cowboys. But Vigilante? Vigilante's absolutely insane accent and his general design just makes him one of my favourite characters in Justice League Unlimited. 

Which is a shame, because other than hanging around Shining Knight a whole lot in the background and maybe fighting some villains in huge group fights, Vigilante never does anything major beyond this episode. Neither does he actually do much in the comics, which is a huge bummer for me. But man, he makes every scene in this one count. Which is absolutely amazing since this episode is primarily Hawkgirl-centric as she literally has to do battle with her past and deal with Green Lantern's new girlfriend, and all Vigilante's doing is fanning the flames of dissentment and being hilarious to stop the episode from being way too drama-embroiled, but he's still pretty fucking hilarious.

Also the idea that this superhero who doesn't even have superpowers other than two revolvers can participate in this huge battle between winged aliens, aliens riding mechanical warsuits, Nth metal weaponry, spaceships and mytsical African animal totems is just my kind of cake.

Hawkgirl's return into the Justice League isn't a decision that sat well with a lot of superheroes, one of them being Vigilante, who suffered under the Thanagarian invasion of Earth. Yes, Hawkgirl does feel bad about it, and she's a changed and conflicted person, she made up with Wonder Woman a couple of episodes back, but a good portion of the humans will always see her as the traitor that allowed the Thanagarians to invade -- and while Vigilante still takes orders from this ma'am, he makes his distaste and irritation for Hawkgirl's presence known. The villains of this piece are returning antagonists Paran'Dul and Kragger, members of Hro Talak's crew during the events of 'Starcrossed'. Hawkgirl learns that her choosing sides with the humans dealt a severe blow to the Thanagarian-Gordanian war, causing them to lose their homeworld and leading to Hro Talak's heroic sacrifice to buy his crew time to escape. So Hawkgirl finds herself hated by all, and rejected by all.

And to make things worse, Vixen, feeling insecure because Green Lantern's being somewhat wishy-washy, volunteers for the mission to see Hawkgirl in action and see just what her boyfriend's ex is all about. (J'onn telling Green Lantern off that he doesn't take his love life into account when picking teams is also absolutely hilarious, mind you).

All of this -- pressure from both Thanagarian and humans; as well as basically losing two of the men she has had a relationship with -- puts Hawkgirl in a particularly difficult spot, and after the pretty cool ambush scenes, Hawkgirl considers surrendering to the Thanagarians, if only to make them back off -- a decision that's partly based on shame for essentially playing an integral part in dooming their race. But not even the Thanagarian-hating Vigilante will allow a fellow Justice Leaguer to basically offer herself up as a sacrifice, because no matter how angry he was feeling before, they're still all heroes. It is Vixen who ends up really shaking Hawkgirl back into the mood, though, by telling her that all she's been hearing about Shayera is how awesome she is, how badass she is, which is something that Hawkgirl isn't really standing up to by surrendering. Like Vigilante, while Vixen's initial volunteering for the mission might not be entirely altruistic, she's still a hero and she knows where her allegiance ultimately lies. J'onn notes how he specifically picks this team for the mission, so it's not really too hard to really note that J'onn (and the writers of the episode) plucked Vixen and Vigilante, two characters who has reason to dislike Hawkgirl, and pair them up with her to basically force her to prove herself.

Also I'm a really big fan of how all the characters are treated here. Vigilante's just full of charm and gruffness. Vixen's full of fire and can be sultry at times. Hawkgirl's conflicted. Paran Dul is filled with righteous anger at someone who betrayed her race. Kragger, brain-damaged after his last encounter with the Justice League and being unable to feel anything but anger at the loss of Hro Talak, is single-minded despite his pain.

The action sequence is pretty awesomely tense as it shows just how outmatched Vigilante and even Vixen are against the Thanagarians -- if not because of their hawk wings and electrified maces, then because Kragger's got a fucking mecha suit with him. But they superheroes persevere, Vigilante lets out some absolutely great one-liners, and they all gain respect for Hawkgirl. Who I really should stop calling 'Hawkgirl' and start calling 'Shayera', considering how she makes a huge deal about shedding that identity, associating the Hawkgirl moniker with the masked double-agent that betrayed Earth and the Justice League. Yes, it's unsubtle symbolism that Shayera's current costume in Unlimited shows her entire face, but hey, it's there. It's also unsubtle symbolism that Shayera gets rid of her white top from the first season of Justice League Unlimited and opts for a more Hawkgirl-esque yellow top, showing that she's not running away from her past anymore but instead confronts and embraces part of it that makes her who she is now.

Shayera and Vixen ends up really hitting it off and even ditch Green Lantern in a hilarious scene, simply because, well, they're so similar. Yes, they're different in personality -- Vixen is more sultry while Shayera is more business and warlike, but they are both powerful women warriors and the bonding experience they had while fighting an army of aliens have certainly drawn them together in a very believable manner. And both make it clear that they love John, and while they respect the other, they're not going to give up fighting for the love of John Stewart. And can I just say I appreciate having the 'old girlfriend, new girlfriend' dynamic without putting unnecessary conflict between them?

Justice League Roll Call:

• Speaking Roles: Green Lantern, Vixen, Martian Manhunter, Hawkgirl, Vigilante
• Non-Speaking Roles: Crimson Fox, Blue Devil, Ice, Waverider, Zatanna, Question, Nemesis, Dove, Hourman, Vibe, Gypsy, Rocket Red, Red Tornado
• Major Villains: Paran Dul, Kragger 

DC Easter Egg Corner:

• Paran Dul and Kragger both last appeared in Starcrossed, and this episode tells us of the aftermath of the Thanagarian war with the Gordanians, as well as the fate for Hro Talak. Kragger's mind being broken is the result of J'onn's forceful invasion of his mind in the same movie.
• I've covered Vixen's origin story in several various posts, so I don't need to go there, but this is the first time Vigilante's really played part in a major role. This version of Vigilante, Greg Saunders (not to be confused with Adrian Chase, the second Vigilante) is a bona fide cowboy, and later joined the superhero group known as the Seven Soldiers of Victory. While his status as one of DC's cowboy heroes means that he was eventually phased out, Greg Saunders was later brought into the future via time travel shenanigans in the pages of the Justice Society of America. Vigilante does hold the title of being one of the first DC superheroes to be adapted into live-action in 1947, though, 
• The episode's working title is "Mystery in Space", and is still solicited as that in various episode listings. Reportedly the title's changed because the showmakers wanted to avoid confusion about the lack of Adam Strange (Mystery in Space is the title of Adam Strange's comic book).