Justice League Unlimited, Season 2, Episode 11: Panic in the Sky
So the previous episode was a huge, huge blow against the Justice League. The League's space cannon was hacked onto and fired upon civilians, and even members of the Justice League are starting to lose faith in what they're doing. The League's credibility is trashed, Captain Atom was turned against the League and beaten down, the Vigilante was tortured and out of the battle. Mercifully (and because this is a cartoon) Flash notes that there are no fatalities, but the destruction is clear that, yeah, a lot of damage is done.
None that he knows of, anyway -- I find it hard that no one's killed in that blast, and feel like it's something for the censors more than anything.
Superman calls a meeting of five of the seven founders -- Batman and Flash, being on the planet helping people, aren't around -- and asks "what have we done?" It's clear, now, to Superman, why the people has a reason to be afraid of him, of them, and they decide that the seven founding members will give themselves into custody until everything is cleared. Naturally, though, Batman's reply is a hilarious, incredulous no ("if you're feeling guilty, clear your own name"), but it doesn't stop six of the seven from surrendering themselves into custody like criminals as a gesture of goodwill.
Batman being the lynchpin of uncovering this episode's machinations is awesome. Sure, the gesture of trust is one thing, but Batman is used of being painted as the boogeyman of Gotham City, of being equalized to the bad guys, and unlike Superman and like the Question, Batman revels in it. And he knows people -- Waller shares so much of Batman's own paranoia without Batman's trust in his comrades, that Batman going off to fix everything and regain Waller's trust is a pretty awesome thing.
Steel gets to give a pretty awesome speech about why the First Seven are special -- it's not because they're the most powerful, but because they set the best example of what a hero should be, inspiring the small legion on the Watchtower, and surrendering for the greater good, a gesture of innocence and goodwill, trusting in the others to clear their name, is probably the right thign here.
Of course, the surrendering leaguers contains some of its most powerful fighters in terms of raw power -- Superman, Wonder Woman, J'onn and Green Lantern in particular are easily four of the most powerful beings on the planet full stop. And the fact that Galatea is arriving with an army of Ultimen to wipe out the entire Justice League... well, on the plus side, the episode finally delivers on something that the show hasn't really done since "Dark Heart", which is to show thirty-plus superheroes with unique abilities do battle. Having the enemies be the Ultimen, with their own superpowers, instead of dispensable generic mooks like Parademons or Thanagarian soldiers, is a great choice, too.
Surprisingly, though, the episode serves to humanize the spearpoint of this invasion, Galatea, who has grown from being a Supergirl clone into her own person, even considering Emil Hamilton her 'daddy'. It's a nice bit that still doesn't really make Galatea as awesome as her more fleshed-out Cadmus handlers, but Galatea has grown from being a bit of a meta in-joke to a relatively decent character, all things considered.
There's definitely a lot of parallels to the post-9/11 American administration about pre-emptive strikes, and Galatea and the Ultimen, as well as the Justice League themselves possessing a big-ass space cannon, are all symptoms of a similar mindset. To do harm to enemies because they have the potential to be dangerous, thereby provoking an actual response. Except we're using, y'know, colourful superheroes with powers instead of doing something more depressing. And, yes, showing that both sides actually have a point -- with Waller not being portrayed as a full villain since assholes like Luthor and Eiling are pulling a lot of strings in the background -- is a surprisingly mature bit of storytelling.
We get to see a huge ton of superhero fighting which is always a huge treat, but at the same time, Batman, the independent agent refusing to be beholden to anyone, shows up, knocks the raging Eiling and confronts Waller. Batman knows that Waller is as smart as he is, and tells her to reconsider -- moral considerations aside, Batman tells Waller that if they wanted to shoot the cannon, they would've aimed for a facility where the higher-ups would be instead of an empty facility, and Waller knows that. And that there's one person that can fire the cannon other than them... Lex Luthor. Batman doesn't accuse Luthor straight-up, but tells Waller to "start looking at him hard", telling Waller to do her own digging. Because as hard and as indifferent to collateral damage as the Wall is, she's not evil.
Yes, the huge full-out brawl in the Watchtower is amazing, with a lot of great character moments like Captain Atom finally choosing his side, or the faceless, nameless support staff joining up in defending their home. Supergirl fights Galatea, two women with the same drive to do good by their families -- Supergirl wanting to protect her Justice League family, and Galatea wanting to do her daddy proud. It's an amazing action sequence, least of all the awesome montage of all the superheroes on board the Watchtower doing battle with armies of superpowered Ultimen.
As amazing as it is to see background extras like Crimson Fox, Obsidian, Sand or Aztek actually having action scenes for once, a quick listing of some of the most memorable moments of the brawl:
- STRIPE one-punching a Shifter that turned into a rhinoceros so hard he reverts back.
- Ice creating a gigantic ice pillar that comes out of nowhere to rescue Steel.
- Vigilante, Shining Knight and Atom Smasher holding the line, being far more successful than they do against Task Force X -- the three of them are three of the quirkiest heroes on board the Watchtower, and they do hang out together a lot, yeah? Kudos to Atom Smasher for pulling off some wrestling moves against a Longshadow, and despite Longshadow being able to expand himself into a larger size than Atom Smasher, he's still the better.
- Black Canary literally being unstoppable against a half-dozen Ultimen by simply screaming.
- Fire being so hot that her flames burn through a bubble of water Downpour creates around her. Type effectiveness, this ain't.
- The nameless guards hiding in a room, being confronted by a Shifter that turns into a dinosaur, and instead of running away (they're clearly scared shitless) they charge at the invader.
- Starman and Dr. Light combining their powers to take down a Longshadow.
- Red Tornado standing in front of not one, not two, but three Wind Dragons, very, very effortlessly raises his arm to summon a tornado that counters their three tornadoes, and while they look like they're straining Red Tornado's face is impassive as he shows that, yes, he is just the premier wind-controlling superhero.
- Commander Steel, Wildcat and Hawk, three superheroes whose superpowers are punching, fighting back-to-back despite being outnumbered, and later taking down a Longshadow together.
- The freaking Creeper, jumping around and headbutting a lightning-spewing Juice, before tossing two other Ultimen around.
- Huntress defiantly shooting crossbow bolts against a wall of tornadoes, and later Question rescuing Huntress by whacking a Juice with his bedpan.
- Captain Atom rising up from his bed to blast the Ultimen threatening Huntress and Question, showing where he stands in the end. Really, a bit of a shame that Captain Atom didn't have any meaningful screentime before the four-parter finale, otherwise this would be a far more badass moment than it already is.
It's all fun punchy-punchy stuff, but the real battle happens around Amanda Waller herself, who, alongside Emil Hamilton, discovers that Luthor has been stealing Cadmus technology under their noses, and, yes, he's the one responsible for triggering the Watchtower's cannon. Their attempts to stop the assault, however, fails because it's a bit of a stupid idea to allow Galatea to have control over the Ultimen without Cadmus having any real reason to control Galatea herself.
Galatea is blinded by rage, absolutely intent on killing Supergirl out of hatred and out of a misguided desire to be the only on. There's a bit of poetic justice where Galatea, despite being enhanced to be stronger than Supergirl, ends up being the one that falls simply because Supergirl has allies like Steel that can help her out. Galatea dies courtesy of Supergirl ramming a gigantic power line into her, and it's a gruesome end... yet she still manages to be a pretty memorable villain in her short life on-screen, making her a lot more interesting than just being a Supergirl Clone. Also, that image of her twitching, burnt-out corpse is a lot more graphic than I expected.
Supergirl herself really came through in this episode, doesn't she? The DCAU's version of Supergirl tends to ramp up the 'girl' part. Not that she's a female, but that she's very young, even compared to other younger heroes like Flash. And here, moreso than anyone else on the Watchtower, she ends up taking charge. She's grown into an adult, a full-fledged superhero of her own that isn't stuck under the shadows of her titan of a cousin. Supergirl and Green Arrow (and to a far lesser extent Captain Atom) were the first members of the expanded League that shows up in Unlimited's first episode, and where last episode puts a fair amount of focus on Green Arrow being the man who keeps the League honest, here we get to see Supergirl grow from a girl into a woman.
Steel and STRIPE also get a fair amount of spotlight, though nowhere as much as Supergirl. On the villainous side, Eiling and Hamilton both contrast against Waller pretty well, with Eiling being the very angry one that wants the League locked up o matter the cost, while Hamilton, despite his fear of heroes, is still willing to look at the information in an objective way.
With Cadmus venerated and Galatea dead, there's only one real threat left in all this, a bald scientist with too much money. Luthor has been creating a new body based on Amazo, but Batman and Waller show up to blow up the android body while Luthor monologues about his real goal -- to get superpowers, and then kill Superman in an act that will be seen as heroic now that the Justice League is evil in the public's eye. It's an amazing bit of chessmastering where even Cadmus itself is a chess piece in Luthor's plans.
Waller's a badass in this bit, yeah? She's a normal person, not even trained in superhero acrobatics like Batman, but she just shows up with a huge space gun and blows Luthor's android body up, gets an awesome one-liner "y'ain't got weeks, baldie." and her revealing that she's got far bigger guns in bringing the original seven members of the League with her is a badass moment.
And, well, Luthor gets overtaken by his new, mysterious robotic body as he convulses and reveals that he's actually... Brainiac! Well, part of him is, actually. It's a pretty horrifying transformation, too, with cylinders bursting out of the dude's back, and his arms transforming into tentacles, and the skeletal robotic face showing up in Luthor's stomach... It's a bit of a twist that's cool, setting up the two true masterminds behind all this. The Cadmus storyline is extremely integral, and while Cadmus isn't 100% villainous, it's a cartoon and we do need a villain to, at the end of the day, defeat before he can continue pulling the strings. It's a bit of a twist that comes slightly out of nowhere, yet at the same time explains Luthor's super strength and unexplained recovery from his Kryptonite poisoning, so I can't completely blame him.
A great episode with a lot of great moments for Batman, Amanda Waller and Supergirl... but shit, the big superhero battle on the Watchtower is just amazing. Sorry. I'm easily distracted. Yes, there are some problems with the episode and the finale as a whole. Like abandoning the more subtle 'should we use this great power given to us?' and 'how much should we be proactive against someone that's likely to be evil?' into 'oh god stop the mad scientist before he kills us all'. Introducing a definite villain like Luthor to band the two groups with good reason to distrust each other is a cheap conflict killer, and for a show that's been so intent on blurring the gray areas between the League and Cadmus it's a bit of a cheap get-out-of-jail card... but then again Lex is such a good villain and as everything is going on I'm just waiting for Luthor to unleash his big plan. Brainiac coming out of nowhere, even if it's awesome simply to have another major villain menacing out heroes, is less forgiveable, even if I really, really like Brainiac I do admit that his appearance this late and without much foreshadowing is kind of weak.
But shit, with so much that the climax did right, I'm willing to forgive a couple of things.
Justice League Roll Call:
- Speaking Roles: Martian Manhunter, Steel, STRIPE, Flash, Green Arrow, Superman, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Supergirl, Batman, Atom
- Non-Speaking Roles: Stargirl, Ice, Metamorpho, Fire, Black Canary, Question, Huntress, Red Tornado, Ray, Shining Knight, Vigilante, Atom Smasher, Aztek, Hourman, Crimson Fox, Blue Devil, B'wana Beast, Starman, Dr. Light, Commander Steel, Wildcat, Hawk, Sand, Creeper, Obsidian, Captain Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite
- Major Villains: Galatea, Ultimen Clones, Emil Hamilton, Amanda Waller, General Wade Eiling, Lex Luthor, Brainiac
DC Easter Eggs Corner:
- Batman's confrontation with Waller stems from their conversation in "Ultimatum" and "Doomsday Sanction", Galatea and Supergirl continue their rivalry from "Fearful Symmetry", Luthor's obsession and association with the Amazo android, as well as him seeing Amazo's blueprints, comes from "Tabula Rasa" and "The Return". The disassembler gun that Waller uses was also used briefly by Luthor in "The Return", though Amazo has evolved so much that it didn't work on him.
- Flash's response to the government about how Batman's absent because the "Batmobile lost a wheel, the Joker got away" is a variation from Joker's Jingle Bells remix, from Batman: The Animated Series.
- "Panic in the Sky" is a reference to a Superman story in the comics that starred Brainiac as the main antagonist, hinting at Brainiac's return at the end of the episode.
No comments:
Post a Comment