Justice League Unlimited S03E03 Review: Kara and Courtney Beat Up Dinosaur People

Justice League Unlimited, Season 3, Episode 3: Chaos at the Earth's Core

Okay, this episode did what I didn't think possible -- it explored a corner of the DC universe that I have never heard of before. Like, some of the things that JLU references are pretty obscure, but I have tangentially heard of them, or knew of them. Like the cowboys, who aren't characters I'm super familiar with, but at least I kind of knew that characters like Jonah Hex and Bat Lash existed in DC history from huge character guidebooks and whatnot. Here, we have out heroes transported into the very strange realm of Skartaris, the setting of DC's 'Warlord' comics, which was a story set in the DC universe but with minimal interaction to the greater superhero lore. I have no fucking clue that DC even had anything like this going on, but the episode quickly took the concept, introduced it, and ran with it. And, well, it's a decent story!
Of course, the heart of the episode was still the Justice League characters, as well as Grodd's new Legion of Doom who were both starring pretty heavily in this episode. And this episode holds a special place in my heart, because it stars one of my all-time favourite superheroes -- Stargirl, and her step-dad STRIPE. Stars and Stripes was one of the first comics from DC that I read, and Stargirl was a member of the exceptional 90's/00's JSA run. Supergirl herself has been a great and wonderful character in the DCAU, who went through a huge series of great character development in JLU's second season, but it's amazing to see how other characters react to Supergirl. Rounding up the cast of superheroes is Green Lantern, who is always a delight to have around, if only to be the straight man of the bunch.

Honestly, the insanity of the Warlord setting should probably be enough. Dinosaur riders! Half-naked barbarians! Giant quasi-medieval warfare! Weird funky dimension in the center of the Earth! Hell you've even got the hints of the Legion's big plans brewing with Metallo and Silver Banshee acting as Grodd's goons in Skartaris. But it wouldn't be a JLU episode without some emotional center, and Stargirl and Supergirl serve as this.

It's your basic case of teenage rivalry between Stargirl and Supergirl. Supergirl's grown far more confident and popular over recently, and her sheer overpoweredness in being, well, Superman's cousin, easily one-shotting the gigantic Blastoise kaiju in Japan, is pissing Stargirl off. It doesn't help that both Stargirl and Supergirl are relatively similar. They're both teenage girls with blonde hair, a blue-and-red costume that bares their midriff, and Supergirl's new costume even follows Stargirl's lead in having long sleeves. Hell, even their name is S___girl, highlighting their similarities even more.

Stargirl's more than a little petty throughout the episode, perhaps justifiably so due to her relatively young age. Her stepfather, STRIPE (the dude in the giant mecha suit) is a lot more calming, similar to Green Lantern, and acts more for Stargirl to bounce dialogue off of more than anything. Of course, compared to some of the great character work that JLU is shown to be capable of, it's a little... underwhelming, I guess, not helped by some rather abysmal 'teen girl' dialogue that doesn't sound like anything an actual teen girl would say. Sure, Stargirl and Supergirl learn to respect each other, and Stargirl realises what a huge bitch she was being and helps Supergirl out when she's incapacitated by Kryptonite, and while it's not at any point actually bad, coming off the pretty awesome character works for Shayera and Luthor, it's a little underwhelming for sure. Yeah, I get that Stargirl is basically what Supergirl was, pre-character development, before she matured over the course of JLU, but I felt like there was a fair bit lacking that made this episode not especially engaging character development wise.

Metallo and Silver Banshee team up with local villain Deimos, while Team S-Girl teams up with the local hero, Warlord, and his allies. The Skartaris characters are honestly pretty flat and generic, but the colourful setting and great action scenes they give us kind of makes up for the lack of any depth. Metallo's kryptonite heart helps out in destabilizing Supergirl, easily the biggest powerhouse of the League team, and Metallo himself is a pretty huge asshole recurring villain throughout Superman: TAS and both JLA and JLU. And the hints of a bigger organization is shown when Metallo's brain sparks and shuts down during interrogation.

Overall, it's perhaps one of the weaker outings for Justice League Unlimited, which is a shame because it features a lot of personal favourites, but it's still a very watchable episode.

Justice League Roll Call:

• Speaking Superheroes: STRIPE, Stargirl, Green Lantern, Supergirl, Warlord, Jennifer Morgan, Shakira
• Major Supervillains: Deimos, Metallo, Silver Banshee

DC Easter Eggs Corner:

• Stargirl and STRIPE have shown up many times in the background for the past two seasons, but this is the first time they've actually done anything, and in Stargirl's case, I think it's the first time she even speaks. STRIPE is Patrick Dugan, previously went by Stripesy, and is the retired and now-adult former sidekick to the Golden Age hero, the Star-Spangled Kid. Pat married Courtney's mother, and Courtney discovers her stepfather's legacy and began posing as Blue Valley's new superheroine, the second Star-Spangled Kid. Over time, she quickly gains a power converter belt, as well as being gifted the Cosmic Staff by the retired superhero Starman. To honour the two superheroes whose legacy she's carrying, Courtney changes her superhero name to Stargirl. Pat, for his part, built a suit of armour he calls STRIPE, to fight crime alongside his stepdaughter. Stargirl and STRIPE would later join the Justice Society of America, and would be major players in it. 
• Silver Banshee, a.k.a. Siobhan McDougal, is a member of an ancient Gaelic clan who underwent a magical ritual that was interrupted, causing her to have magical powers of the banshee, and thus she began menacing Metropolis as an enemy of Superman, especially iconic for her screaming banshee shriek that can damage Superman due to her magical nature. 
• Supergirl's changed her costume in this episode, and for the rest of JLU season three, into a blue top with long sleeves and a red skirt, which is a combination of the original Golden Age Supergirl (colour-scheme wise) and the modern post-Crisis version of Kara Zor-El (long sleeves, mainly blue and red), which was the current Supergirl in the comics when the show aired. Previously, Supergirl's white-top, blue-tube-skirt costume was based on the Matrix/Linda Danvers version. Quite ironically, Stargirl was actually one of the first young superheroes to bond with the mysterious Kara Zor-El when she arrived. 
• The whole Skartaris setting, as well as the involved characters, is based on Warlord's comic-book series, who is an Air Force pilot that finds himself in the strange fantasy realm of Skartaris and fights to liberate them. I wish I could tell you more about this, but I can't.