History Recap / JusticeLeagueS2E11And12ABetterWorld

** The scene where a newsstand called "Bernie's" is destroyed during Doomsday's rampage is a brief one to ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'', an especially famous example of superhero [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] that inadvertently inspired UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* CrapsaccharineWorld: The Earth ruled by the Justice Lords may outwardly appear well maintained and free of crime, with even [[WretchedHive Gotham]] looking upstanding, but it was brought about through tyranny with civil liberties being secondary to the rule of law, [[AllCrimesAreEqual with even the most minute being strictly enforced]]. An old man can't even harmlessly complain about a restaurant bill before a paddy wagon shows up to take him away, and all major criminal's have only been pacified through lobotomy.

* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: This episode goes on to form the backbone of the MythArc in ''Unlimited''.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Superman admits that he has the same urges and temptations as his Justice Lord counterpart, which is why he knew Flash wouldn't be able to stop him from trying to kill him. The difference is that Big Blue [[TheFettered doesn't allow himself to give in to them]].

* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: How the Justice Lords dealt with their RoguesGallery. Amusingly, when we get to see the alternate Arkham Asylum and the various lobotomized supervillains, the Ventriloquist has no lobotomy scars, but [[DemonicDummy Scarface]] ''does''. It's actually justified given Albert Wesker's psychology and how Wesker views Scarface's Dummy as an actual being. 'Lobotomizing' the puppet would, in Wesker's mind, 'kill' Scarface's personality (and make it unnecessary to lobotomize Wesker himself).

* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: How the Justice Lords dealt with their RoguesGallery. Amusingly, when we get to see the alternate Arkham Asylum and the various lobotomized supervillains, the Ventriloquist has no lobotomy scars, but [[DemonicDummy Scarface]] ''does''. It's actually justified given Wesker's psychology and how Wesker views Scarface's Dummy as an actual being. 'Lobotomizing' the puppet would, in Wesker's mind, 'kill' Scarface's personality (and make it unnecessary to lobotomize Wesker himself).

As the Lords arrive, the rogue behemoth Doomsday is on the loose. The Lords each attack, but none is a match for the creature except Superman. When it becomes clear that they are outmatched in strength and endurance, Superman ends the fight by lobotomizing Doomsday with his heat vision. The primary dimension's Lois Lane is shocked by Superman's brutality, but others in the crowd cheer, saying "It's about time" the heroes took a more aggressive approach. Watching this from prison, Luthor alone realizes that these "heroes" aren't the true Justice League.

The League tracks Hawkgirl to Arkham Asylum, the only hospital equipped to hold metahuman patients. But the asylum is a far different place than the one from their reality: The staff are all former criminals, particularly from Batman's rogues gallery, all of whom are placid, docile, and [[EmptyShell lobotomized]]. A very calm and polite Joker is acting as the superintendent. Pretending to be the Lords, the League asks to be taken to Hawkgirl. Joker requests a password, which J'onn gives by reading Joker's mind. Joker says they got it right, but he then triggers an alarm because Wonder Woman was supposed to say it. Robotic versions of Lord Superman attack the League, but are easily defeated, and the League breaks Hawkgirl out.

In the League's reality, the Justice Lords are arming the Watchtower just as they are alerted to a prison breakout committed by Luthor. The Lords arrive at the prison, but are led into a trap by the League. In the fight that follows, each League member fights his or her counterpart, and neither side is able to gain the upper hand. However, the League gains the upper hand when Superman brings in Luthor, who has rebuilt the weapon from his earlier fight with the League, which he fires at the Lords and drains out their powers. Powerless, the Lords are taken into custody while it's revealed that Superman made a deal with Luthor by granting him a presidential pardon in exchange for Luthor's help in defeating the Lords. Lord Superman berates his counterpart that everything Luthor does from now on will be on his counterpart's head. Superman agrees that it's a high price, but declares that it's one of the many hard choices he's had to make.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In ''Unlimited'' it's heavily implied that Lord Superman went berserk primarily because Lex Luthor killed the Flash. But in the episode proper, Lex Luthor did [[RiddleForTheAges something]] so heinous that the world was on the brink of World War Ⅲ so Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman storm the White House to apprehend or talk him down. Flash is dead at this point, but if Luthor was responsible it isn't brought up once.
* EmptyShell: Lord Batman's rogues gallery are barely above mindless zombies, placed in Arkham Asylum. It's truly disconcerting when the League meet the lobotomized Joker in an abnormally calm and docile state, but heartbreaking when the Flash happens to encounter the lobotomized version of Poison Ivy, who now has no signs of her former ambitions and no longer cares what happens to the world and its plants. Even though they were villains, the ruthless lengths the alternate Superman was willing to go through to maintain order places him squarely in KnightTemplar territory. Of course, the Joker states that just because he was lobotomized did not mean he was stupid.

* {{Expy}}: The Justice Lords were heavily inspired by ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'', which the producers had begun to read between seasons one and two, and inspired them to having to see what the world would be like if the League ever tried to emulate their tactics.
* TheExtremistWasRight: The end result between the League and the Lords is the victory of the 'traditional' heroes when the Justice Lords attempt to clean up the League's Earth (out of what appears to be nothing more than the goodness of their hearts) and the message that 'sometimes Utopia Doesn't Justify The Means', but the writers professed the occasional trouble at giving the League the obvious moral high ground.

* FreezeFrameBonus: When Flash throws open the door to the office he threw Justice Lord Superman into, he actually opens it so fast the shockwave blows away most of the dust in the air.

* JokerImmunity: Discussed between President Luthor and pre-Lord Superman. Luthor mocks the whole ordeal as just a typical routine that Superman secretly enjoys because it gives him hero publicity, and taunts the Man of Steel that no matter what he does, Luthor will always find a way out to start the whole dance all over again. This proves to be a fatal mistake as Lord Superman decides to revoke Luthor's immunity permanently.

* LawfulStupid: The Justice Lords' Gotham City is so clean and orderly, people can be arrested just for complaining about being overcharged for food at a restaurant!

** It's rare for either Batman to show too much emotion, especially fear. So it says a lot about how much the other Flash's death effected Lord Batman when he thinks that the Justice League's Flash is dying and he starts to panic.

* SelfDeprecation: According to the commentary for the episode, Lord Superman's robot replicas, at least twice, used unpopular quotes from season one.

* TheStrategist: Batman is supposed to be this for the League, and he acts like one in this episode. When discussing how the League will tackle the Lords, Batman tells Superman that in a straight fight between the League and the Lords, both being evenly matched, the side that is prepared to kill will win. The Lords have the lack of restraint as an advantage and the League's innate sense of mercy will compromise them in a fight.

** This episode was a major inspiration for a lot of "Dictator Superman" stories and especially for ''Franchise/{{Injustice}}'', but unlike the episodes that came afterwards, this one has number of changes. Namely where later AU!Superman have him dress as an EvilOverlord with a darker aesthetic, Lord Superman and the rest of the League wear brighter colors (even Lord Batman, whose costume is a sleek light gray) befitting their more public persona and role, the world they build in is likewise lusher, greener and more verdant with an Arkham Asylum that actually looks like an environment interested in healing its denizens rather than the {{Mordor}} it is in the comics. And likewise, Lord Batman, far from being beholden to ThouShaltNotKill, is the first one to condone Luthor's killing and is a willing fascist until Prime!Batman gets to him.
** Compared to Injustice!Bats who insists on ThouShaltNotKill to ridiculous extremes, DCAU!Prime!Batman points out that a MirrorMatch where one side is willing to kill and the other isn't is not favorable to any real victory or survival for the TechnicalPacifist and that there has to be some real outside solution than a straight fight. As such this Batman comes across as a much better general than later versions.

** The Mirror Universe President Lex Luthor uses a breaking speech on his version of Superman. It partially succeeds. Superman does indeed break down as a result... just not in the way Luthor wanted.

* ChekhovsGun: The League is seen early in the episode battling Luthor who has built some kind of cannon to use on the League, but is taken down before he can use it. In the final battle with the Justice Lords, we learn what it is: a power disruptor, which Lex uses with Superman's permission to neutralize the Lords.

* CounterpartCombatCoordination: Though the League and Lords fought their counterparts, only The Flash fought Lord Superman as the other Flash died causing the Lords to form. Batman and Lord Batman had a one-on-one fight earlier on.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The loss of their Flash clearly affected the Justice Lords. It's also worth mentioning that said Justice Lords (who have ditched the ThouShaltNotKill rule) go out of their way to imprison their doubles when killing them would have been much easier.

** The Mirror Universe President Lex Luthor uses a breaking speech on his version of Superman. It partially succeeds. Superman does indeed break down as a result...just not in the way Luthor wanted.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The loss of their Flash clearly effected the Justice Lords. It's also worth mentioning that said Justice Lords (who have ditched the ThouShaltNotKill rule) go out of their way to imprison their doubles when killing them would have been much easier.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: In the teaser, the Justice Lords wear the same costumes as their Justice League counterparts. After Lord Superman kills Lex Luthor, though, the Justice Lords go through a costume switch that make them not so much evil, but rather fearsome totalitarian anti-heroes. Lord Superman's new costume is black and white rather than its traditional blue, red, and yellow to reflect his new black-and-white morality.

* ChekhovsGun: The League is seen early in the episode battling Luthor who has built some kind of cannon to use on the League. Later, it's revealed to be a power disruptor when it strips the Justice Lords of their powers.

** The Justice Lords' version of the Flash is KilledOffscreen. all that is known is Luthor is involved in some fashion.

** It's rare for either Batman to show too much emotion, especially fear. So it says a lot about how much the other Flash's death effected him when he thinks that the Justice League's flash is dying and he starts to panic.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The easygoing Flash is just as angry as the rest of the League for being duped by the Lords. During imprisonment he even snaps at Lord Batman for being "soft" on him. Once they are set free, Flash is the one to remind the others that they still have to Hawkgirl, critically injured during the League's entrapment.

** VillainHasAPoint: Lord Superman warns his counterpart that it is dangerous to let Luthor go free, which Superman does not deny. Lord Superman's warnings are proven right in later episodes.

At the same time, Batman and his counterpart drive through Gotham City towards Arkham. When they stop at a red light, they see a restaurant, where a customer is arguing with the manager about the amount of his bill, and in short order [[DisproportionateRetribution is arrested by the police for disturbing the peace]]. Batman sarcastically remarks to his Lord counterpart that [[ArmorPiercingResponse their parents would be proud]]. By the time they reach Arkham, the military has been alerted and the League is barricaded inside. By this time, Lord Batman has had a change of heart, and calls the military to back off.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: At one point, both League and Lord Batman witness a man getting arrested simply for complaining about restaurant prices.

* VillainHasAPoint: President Luthor gives Lord Superman a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech about how his refusal to kill or cripple him makes him complicit in whatever Luthor does afterwards, up to and including his presidency, and he doesn't have to listen to the law or the will of the people unless he chooses to. Lord Superman crosses the DespairEventHorizon after realising he's right, and immediately decides to correct it.

** Batman turns it back on him later though, after stopping by a cafe and seeing Carmine Falcone getting taken away by masked police for complaining about the bill:

* AssholeVictim: President Luthor. He somehow nearly caused World War III, and was willing to start launching nukes just to spite Superman, even taunting him over the fact that not using lethal force made Superman his accomplice. Even ''[[ThouShaltNotKill Batman]]'' says it had to be done.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In ''Unlimited'' it's heavily implied that Lord Superman went berserk primarily because Lex Luthor killed the Flash. But in the episode proper, Lex Luthor did [[RiddleForTheAges something]] so heinous that the world was on the brink of World War 3 so Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman storm the White House to apprehend or talk him down. Flash is dead at this point, but if Luthor was responsible it isn't brought up once.

* BerserkButton: When the League first enters the Lords' universe, Hawkgirl goes comatose trying to escape an electric trap. When they rescue her later at Arkham, John is exhibiting TranquilFury.

* HeelFaceBrainwashing: Lord Superman's favored technique is to lobotomize his enemies using his heat vision, which he utilizes to defeat Doomsday. Later when the Justice League visits the Justice Lords' Arkham Asylum, they discover that it is filled with EmptyShell versions of Batman's RoguesGallery, all lobotomized into submission.

** The Justice Lords' version of the Flash is KilledOffscreen.

* PresidentEvil: Lex Luthor in the Justice Lords' reality.

* RecruitingTheCriminal: To help stop the Justice Lords, the League turns to Lex Luthor.

* GodzillaThreshold: Invoked, as Batman tells Superman they're going to have to compromise their morals in ''some'' way to defeat the Justice Lords. Superman refuses to break his [[ThouShaltNotKill most sacred oath]] and instead has a different threshold -- asking Lex Luthor for help.

* IronicEcho: Justice Lord Batman tells a captured Flash, "You'll appreciate this someday." Flash ends up tricking him, escaping, and leaving Lord Batman in his own shackles.
-->'''Flash:''' ''[witheringly]'' You'll appreciate this someday.