History Recap / JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E7PatriotAct

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Following the climax of the previous Season, Project Cadmus has been completely disbanded and its personnel have all been reassigned or benched. After all, the program failed its primary objective (stop the Justice League if they go rogue), they were hijacked and manipulated by external forces (Luthor and Brainiac), and the senior leadership committed a long laundry list of crimes (from illegal genetic experimentation to launching a military assault on the Watchtower without Presidential authorization). As Waller observes, she, Eiling, and the rest were lucky they all didn't end up in prison -- an outcome which was probably avoided due to factors like PR optics, leverage, and the consequences of exposing Cadmus' crimes to the American electorate.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Following the climax of the previous Season, Project Cadmus has been completely disbanded and its personnel have all been reassigned or benched. After all, the program failed its primary objective (stop the Justice League if they go rogue), they were hijacked and manipulated by external forces (Luthor and Brainiac), and the senior leadership committed a long laundry list of crimes (from illegal genetic experimentation to defying an Executive Order ''not'' to launch an assault on the Watchtower until the President had reached a decision). As Waller observes, she, Eiling, and the rest were all ''incredibly'' lucky they all didn't end up in prison -- an outcome which was probably avoided due to factors like PR optics, leverage, and the consequences of exposing Cadmus' crimes to the American electorate.

* CharacterDevelopment: Shining Knight starts out firmly believing that when your "police captain" tells you to do something, you should "play by the rules". But towards the end, he admits he's no stranger to "[[MeaningfulEcho besmirching orders]]", as he once disobeyed an order from King Arthur he felt was wrong.
** Waller's cameo. She's regretful of Cadmus and her anti-Justice League stance has softened in the interim. This characterization is a subtle CallForward to "Epilogue" and her becoming the League's government liaison and developing genuine respect of the team.

* BadassBystander[=/=]ShamedByAMob: After Eiling gives all the Justice League people a sound thrashing, he gets into another "must protect the people from metahumans regardless of the cost" spiel. The crowd responds with angry stares, and then an old lady calls him out on his disregard of the cost and a little kid tells him ''he's'' the only one with superpowers around. This makes him realize that [[YouAreWhatYouHate he's become what he hates]]. He leaves, [[KnightTemplar but not before he says he will be right one of these days and that they need the likes of him to protect the people from the likes of the Justice League]].

* MeaninglessVillainVictory: Despite their best efforts, the BadassNormal heroes in this episode are completely unable to defeat Eiling and he ultimately wins the fight. Near the end of the episode, he (sort of) has a HeelRealization and simply [[PutOnABus leaves]], making the whole fight pointless. He isn't seen again.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Played with, as the members of the league aren't the immoral tyrants Eiling thinks they are, but that's what he becomes. (It doesn't hurt that the League members he's fighting ''have no powers''.)

* KnightTemplar: Inverted in that Shining Knight is more considerate of civilians and humane measures than his opponent.

General Wade Eiling from Cadmus steals the "[[StupidJetpackHitler Captain Nazi]]" [[SuperSerum super-soldier serum]] and injects it into himself to "protect" the world from metahumans. With the more powerful League members busy, Green Arrow leads Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., Shining Knight, Crimson Avenger, Vigilante, and Speedy against him. Eiling only stops short of killing Shining Knight when a civilian points out that Eiling's reason for attacking the heroes is non-existent, as his entire reason for the attack was to rid the world of meta-humans and he was the only one there with superpowers.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: The Shining Knight recounts one of these as a parable.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Eiling genuinely believes that he's protecting the world from metahumans.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: Invoked repeatedly, as the entire reason that Eiling's not fighting the JLA's A-team is that the parade was considered too unimportant for Superman's busy schedule.
* WinTheCrowd: InUniverse example, this is what the League members have to do with the parade audience, though they themselves never realize this. They do gain some points with the crowd by showing off Shining Knight's flying horse, and by the episode's end, they manage to win over the crowd by defending them from Eiling. At first, though, the reception is...less than stellar.
-->'''Green Arrow:''' The crowd doesn't care who can bench-press a mountain, or who can shoot lasers out of their ears.\\
'''Woman In Crowd:''' Where's Superman?\\
'''Man In Crowd:''' How come none of the GOOD ones are here?\\
'''Kid In Crowd:''' I didn't come here to see some stupid cowboy!\\
'''Man In Crowd:''' I don't think vigilantes are good role models, especially ones with guns!\\
'''Woman In Crowd:''' I came to see Superman!
** It's worth noting that they had already earned the crowd's respect with Vigilante's showmanship. As he notes, if he'd brought his guitar they'd be eating out of his hand.

* GodzillaThreshold: ComicBook/GreenArrow's [[TrickArrow Quantum Arrows]] are painted as such in this episode (given that they seemly create an explosion comparable to a pretty large explosive device), and are used, [[WorfBarrage but they don't work]].

'''Woman In Crowd:''' I came to see Superman!

* HypocrisyNod: When a crowd of civilians defends the members of the Justice League that Eiling attacks, and one kid points out that Eiling is the only one there that has superpowers, Eiling stops and acknowledges that he has become what he hates but still stubbornly holds that they will eventually see that he was right at that they need people like him to protect them from the Justice League.

* NoodleIncident: Green Arrow has parted with his sideki--I mean, partner, Speedy, in less than amicable circumstances.

General Wade Eiling from Cadmus steals the [[StupidJetpackHitler "Captain Nazi"]] [[SuperSerum super-soldier serum]] and injects it into himself to "protect" the world from metahumans. With the more powerful League members busy, Green Arrow leads Stargirl, S.T.R.I.P.E., Shining Knight, Crimson Avenger, Vigilante, and Speedy against him. Eiling only stops short of killing Shining Knight when a civilian points out that Eiling's reason for attacking the heroes is non-existent, as his entire reason for the attack was to rid the world of meta-humans and he was the only one there with superpowers.

--> '''Speedy''': Yeah, but you said -

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Played with, as the members of the league aren't the immoral tyrants Eiling thinks they are, but that's what he becomes. (It doesn't hurt that the League members he's fighting ''have no powers.'')

** The "Captain Nazi" serum is a pretty tongue-in-cheek reference to the ComicBook/{{Shazam}} villain, and the hero who stops them, Spysmasher, was also a Fawcett Comics creation.

* WinTheCrowd: InUniverse example, this is what the League members have to do with the parade audience, though they themselves never realize this. They do gain some points with the crowd by showing off Shining Knight's flying horse, and by the episode's end, they manage to win over the crowd by defending them from Eiling. At first, though, the reception is... less than stellar.

-->'''Soldier''': ''Don't kill me!''
-->'''Eiling''': ''I wouldn't kill you, soldier. [[JustFollowingOrders You're just doing your job.]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist And now I'm going to do mine.]]''

* HowMuchMoreCanHeTake: Even though all the heroes present do not have any superhuman abilities they refuse to yield to Eiling and his demands to bring Superman and refuse to lie down in defeat even in the face of the utter beatings he giving to all of them.

--> '''Green Arrow''': This IS an emergency!

--> '''Green Arrow''': This IS a emergency!

--> '''Green Arrow''': That would be *all* of us.

--> '''Speedy''': ''Ollie, how many guys has this bozo taken out?''
--> '''Green Arrow''': ''That would be *all* of us.''

* WinTheCrowd: InUniverse example, this is what the League members have to do with the parade audience, though they themselves never realize this. They do gain some points with the crowd by showing off Shining Knight's flying horse, and by the episode's end, they manage to win over the crowd by defending them from Eiling. At first, though, the reception is ... less than stellar.

* WinTheCrowd: InUniverse example, this is what the League members have to do with the parade audience, though they themselves never realize this; by the episode's end, they manage it anyway.

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: General Eiling clearly suffers from this.

* StupidJetpackHitler: The source of the the SuperSerum Eiling uses to become a hulked-out monster in his bid to gain equal footing versus the Justice League ,The original batch was confiscated during WWII in the episode opener and reading a report on it's effects is why Eiling steals it for his use during the episode.