| 1 | !!For the animated series: |
| 2 | * AdaptationDisplacement: |
| 3 | ** The popularity of the series pushed the John Stewart version of Green Lantern into the minds of the mainstream audience. It got to the point that when trailers for the 2011 ''Film/{{Green Lantern|2011}}'' movie were released, many people wondered why the Green Lantern wasn't a black man. |
| 4 | ** Hawkgirl. Many viewers were unfamiliar with her character before this show, but she was so awesome and memorable that she quickly became a fan favorite. Many did not know that ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} was the original main character of the comics. |
| 5 | ** ComicBook/TheQuestion has gone through [[DependingOnTheWriter a lot of interpretations:]] extreme borderline-{{Jerkass}} objectivist avenger in the early Creator/SteveDitko comics, mellowing out under Denny O'Neal into a Zen-like investigator, eventually becoming cheerfully fatalistic before [[LegacyCharacter passing on his name to Renee Montoya]]. However, the most famous one by far is ''Justice League Unlimited'''s take of a LighterAndSofter [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach,]] voiced by Creator/JeffreyCombs and obsessing over shoelaces. |
| 6 | ** This show's version of Ace is so much more well known and popular than the original version that she's the first thing that shows up when you type "Royal Flush Gang Ace" into Google images. |
| 7 | * {{Adorkable}}: |
| 8 | ** The Flash is the one guy with a runner's build in a group of HeroicBuild types and a cheerful man who's still just a boy in many ways. |
| 9 | ** Not as often, but Wonder Woman does show this at times, usually when she shows a more playful side (like how her child self was crushing on child Bruce) or is a FishOutOfWater. |
| 10 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: |
| 11 | ** The Flash acts flippant, flirtatious, and downright ''not serious'' as he does presumably because he's fully aware that one day he may run fast enough that he'll [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence vanish into the Speed force]]. He ''knows'' that his power could eventually kill him -- though the Speed Force seems like a neat place for his kind to end up, and he probably knows that, too. He's keeping the "every moment counts" mentality: no sense in wasting time being angsty -- you might run out of time to laugh and have fun. "Divided We Fall" supports this. |
| 12 | ** ComicBook/VandalSavage. His HeelFaceTurn in the BadFuture of "Hereafter", having had 30,000 years of solitude to regret his past actions, begs the very real question that Savage's villainy and attempts to take over the world might simply be because there is '''nothing''' left for him to occupy his endless existence with. Since (in the present) he's been around for 25,000 years already, he's probably been pretty much everywhere, seen pretty much everything, and done pretty much everything ''else'' worth doing. |
| 13 | ** A minor one in regards to the restaurant in the Justice Lord's universe that the Batmen passed on their way to Arkham Asylum. As they're "following the little laws" by stopping at a red light, they witness a customer complain about the restaurant providing poor service and subpar food, yet overcharging him in spite of this. His loud complaining end up drawing over armed police, who proceed to drag him into their truck and take him away, [[AintTooProudToBeg despite him desperately trying to apologise and saying he'll pay]]. Was it all a genuine blunder on the restaurant's part, or do they, and by extension other such business, realize that customers causing a ruckus is grounds for arrest under the Justice Lord's laws, and intentionally over-charge regardless of their service quality, [[LoopholeAbuse realizing that anyone who complains about it would get arrested]], [[KarmaHoudini which would deter people from complaining and allow them to get away with it unpunished.]] |
| 14 | ** Superman's actions during the Cadmus arc are very much open to interpretation when it comes to how forgivable his intentions really were. Is he an essentially good but sometimes stubborn and shortsighted man thrown into a political and moral wringer who still manages to get out the other side with his soul intact? Or is he a short-tempered, condescending, borderline authoritarian who only maintains his grip on his morals from the shame of literally seeing the man he could become? |
| 15 | ** [[spoiler: Relating to Professor Emil Hamilton and his FaceHeelTurn after feeling "betrayed" by Superman back in the series finale of ''Superman: TAS'', one has to wonder if Hamilton was always a narcissistic BitchInSheepsClothing who took too much pride in being Superman's personal Mr. Wizard ally, or if he was a genuinely good man who sadly never overcame the trauma of seeing just how destructive and dangerous Superman could be if he were evil or brainwashed into being evil. If the latter, did he really join Project CADMUS in ''JLU'' of his own free will or was he manipulated by Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller for their own ends? If the latter, does that make him a victim as well as a villain?]] |
| 16 | ** When Captain Atom is conscripted back into the Air Force, he's ordered to keep Question from being rescued from the Cadmus detention facility. While he gets into a vicious fight with Superman, not once does he manage to actually impede Huntress from getting Question out. Is he genuinely trying to follow his orders or is he purposely focusing exclusively on Superman to give them time to escape? |
| 17 | ** Did Grodd transform Giganta from a gorilla into a meta-human, or was that just a lie he told to manipulate Clayface? Grodd's scientific expertise in that area is never mentioned again, and the wink Giganta gives Shade could mean that Grodd is lying. |
| 18 | ** What ''was'' the illusory Brainiac that Luthor saw during ''Unlimited'' season 3 (that no one else did)? A simple hallucination by a delusional Lex? A remnant of Brainiac's programming in Lex's body urging him on? A psychic projection by Grodd to manipulate Lex without him realizing? |
| 19 | * AngstWhatAngst: |
| 20 | ** The Justice Guild is surprisingly quick to accept that [[spoiler:they died in a nuclear war, one of their fans brought them back to life and has them go through the motions of saving the city. They accept the explanation readily after seeing the newspaper recording their deaths. When Ray attacks the Justice League, the Guild quickly decides that it's more important to save the world again than to preserve their own lives.]] |
| 21 | ** In "Epilogue", Terry takes the fact that [[spoiler: Waller tried to have his parents killed]] surprisingly well. This may be due to the fact she ''didn't'' and thus has no reason to be as angry as he would've been had the plan gone through. |
| 22 | * AssPull: |
| 23 | ** [[spoiler: Amazo gaining the Justice League’s weaknesses as well as their powers (at first). It comes out of nowhere because nothing at any point hints that Amazo copies both the powers and weaknesses of the heroes. Before then, all that was shown was that Amazo could copy a hero’s powers without any significant drawbacks. There’s no build-up to it and it ends up coming across as a thinly veiled excuse to make Batman look more useful at the expense of his teammates by pulling out a kryptonite shard to hurt the Android when no one else could, because otherwise Batman wouldn’t have stood a chance against Amazo. And to make it even more blatant, Batman had never encountered the Android before, nor had he ever had a chance to properly study and analyze it, so there’s no way he could’ve known that Android had both the powers and weaknesses of the heroes it copied]]. |
| 24 | ** Solomon Grundy being able to syphon AMAZO's energy comes out of nowhere and is a thinly-veiled excuse to write the [[StoryBreakerPower overpowered]] android out of the show. |
| 25 | ** [[spoiler: The power disruptor from the Justice Lords episode. It appears with little to no build-up and is a thinly-veiled excuse to end the episode quickly. It also makes no sense because it even affects members of the Justice Lords who don’t have true super powers and derive their “powers” from technology, like Lord Green Lantern]]. |
| 26 | * AwesomeEgo: Princess Audrey from "Maid of Honor" manages to make the LovableAlphaBitch plain fun to watch. She's shallow, self-centered, and completely oblivious to threats, but the humanizing factor of wanting to cut loose before her ArrangedMarriage and her genuine friendliness toward Wonder Woman make her ego endearing instead of annoying. |
| 27 | -->You couldn't have had this much fun before. You've never partied with ''me'' before. |
| 28 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: Some fans love Wonder Woman's depiction as a confident, fierce warrior whose abilities are almost on par with Superman, while others feel her aggressive attitude made her an unlikable AdaptationalJerkass, given that her FriendToAllLivingThings traits from the comics are heavily downplayed on the show. There's also the question of whether or not the heavy ShipTease between her and Batman works or not, with some finding it a FanPreferredCouple that should have moved to OfficialCouple status ([[RetCanon if not outright been moved to the comics as well]]), and others finding it a forced pairing that comes off as the writers using Batman as an author-insert (not helped by the fact that it is ''far'' from his only DCAU pairing, bringing ShipToShipCombat into it as well). For the most part, where you sit on that issue tends to depend on whether you view the show's treatment on it as "they're equal partners" or "Wonder Woman is Batman's love interest." |
| 29 | * BizarroEpisode: "This Little Piggy" is centered around the antics of the Justice League as they try to find and catch Wonder Woman, who has been transformed into a powerless pig by Circe. The premise of the episode is silly enough, but the resolution is even more bizarre: Circe agrees to break the curse after [[spoiler:Batman performs a singing number to her]]. |
| 30 | * BrokenBase: |
| 31 | ** "Clash". Some fans absolutely love the episode for the epic smack down between Superman and his old Fawcett Comics "rival" Captain Marvel and love it for depicting Superman being cynical, jaded and generally paranoid rather than the nice, affable boy scout he tends to be. Other fans absolutely hate the episode for rushing Superman's descent into jaded, cynical paranoia when the last time he'd been seen four episodes earlier he was still more or less himself and still sensible enough not to be suckered into such an obvious smear campaign trap. |
| 32 | ** "Epilogue": |
| 33 | *** Some fans love it and see it as the definitive end of the ''DCAU'', while other fans hated it for being all about Batman's legacy, essentially feeling more like a lost episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' and not a true finale to the actual ''Justice League'' (''Unlimited'') series that it was supposed to serve the role as (before it got renewed anyway). |
| 34 | *** The episode reveals that [[spoiler:Terry [=McGinnis=] was the biological son of Bruce Wayne all along, due to Amanda Waller injecting the late Warren [=McGinnis=] with Bruce's DNA to override his genetics. Her intention was to stage a similar tragedy to propel Terry down the path of the Dark Knight, which fate ultimately did for her anyway when she came to abandon the idea. Learning all this when he thought Bruce was manipulating him to his own ends and considering the damage that being Batman did to his predecessor, Terry ultimately decides to continue working as a hero but on his own terms, such as not alienating those closest to him]]. While some fans felt that this twist allowed for a compelling story about Terry's identity crisis, his feelings towards Bruce, and determinism vs free will, others saw it as a slap in the face to Terry's character that undermined the idea of passing on the torch, by basically saying that you can't be worthy of being Batman unless [[spoiler:you are literally a blood relative]]. There's also a segment of people who just found the whole thing really goofy. |
| 35 | * CantUnHearIt: As with the other ''DCAU'' installments, this show has a large supply of people imagining the voice actors from this show as their comic counterparts and viewing them as their definitive voice actors, including Creator/SusanEisenberg as ComicBook/WonderWoman, Creator/MichaelRosenbaum as ComicBook/TheFlash (Wally West) (along with the Barry Allen Flash if you have watched ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDoom'' and/or played ''VideoGame/InfiniteCrisis''), Creator/PhilLaMarr as ComicBook/GreenLantern (John Stewart), Creator/CarlLumbly as the ComicBook/MartianManhunter, and Creator/MariaCanalsBarrera as Hawkgirl. Thanks to his performances in this series, ''WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite'' and ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', Creator/GeorgeNewbern has also begun to overtake his predecessor, Creator/TimDaly, as Superman's definitive voice actor for many fans (but there are fans who like Daly and Newbern equally). |
| 36 | * CharacterRerailment: After his [[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE8GrowingPains last appearance]] when he crossed the MoralEventHorizon and considered BeyondRedemption, Clayface not only returned to his TragicVillain status, but has TookALevelInKindness to further enforce this in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E17And18SecretSociety Secret Society]]" in contrast to his past egotistical and obnoxious self in prior appearances in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. |
| 37 | * CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/DCAnimation here]]. |
| 38 | * ContinuityLockout: Many episodes rely on references to events from earlier in the ''DCAU'', [[ArchivePanic a franchise that would take about six full days to marathon from start to finish]], so good luck keeping up with all the [[ContinuityNod continuity]] [[CallBack refer]][[CallForward ences]]. The single biggest example is probably the Cadmus arc, which deals with the repercussions of the finale of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries''. |
| 39 | * CrackPairing: |
| 40 | ** In the few fanfics that feature her, [[EvilTwin Supergirl's clone Galatea]] is paired up with [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Nightwing]] for reasons undefined. |
| 41 | ** For whatever reason, Supergirl/Flash exists despite [[spoiler: Kara deciding to stay in the future with Brainiac 5]] and the fact that the two of them have rarely, if ever, interacted. |
| 42 | ** Hawkgirl/Flash also has a bit of a following despite both characters saying that they view each other as [[LikeBrotherAndSister siblings]]. Although, to be fair to shippers, the two ''did'' have ''some'' flirtatious dialogue, especially on Flash's part, early in the series. However, as they get to know each other and become closer it's clear that they do begin viewing each other as surrogate siblings, even before either one says so. |
| 43 | * CrazyIsCool: The Question, who has been reimagined as a crackpot ConspiracyTheorist....who is still a brillant, if unorthodox detective. His crimefighting techniques include interrogating someone while playing bland teen pop and using whatever he has on hand to help him in a fight whether it be a bedpan or his '''car'''. |
| 44 | * EscapistCharacter: The entire Justice League. They are an NGOSuperpower with the best minds and best technology gathered in one place, and individually and collectively defend the world from multiple threats and carry out their tasks with competency and efficiency, and by Season 5 shut down single-villain crime altogether and more or less keep the world safe in 9-5 shifts. It's about the only time you see superheroes actually coming close to ending crime altogether and in a manner that is believable. |
| 45 | * EvilIsCool: |
| 46 | ** Darkseid, the galactic conqueror with a hellish army to spread his will over the universe, who is also incredibly intelligent, composed, and in control, and with a skill for manipulation and voicing eloquent BreakingSpeech that is memorable and unforgettable. |
| 47 | ** The Justice Lords, dark reflections of the League who take a serious stand against their enemies while conquering universes, and also coming across as highly competent, efficient, and believably self-righteous. |
| 48 | ** Vandal Savage for being the rare single villain who is a League-level threat by himself (even Luthor is only a major threat when combined with Brainiac and the Legion of Doom) and who is an Immortal caveman with a HealingFactor that makes Wolverine's look like chump change. Like ComicBook/DoctorDoom, he's a villain who can fit in a wide range of plots, from AlternateHistory (''The Savage Time''), to James Bond international intrigue (''Maid of Honour'') to post-apocalyptic buddy comedy [[spoiler:with Superman in ''Hereafter'']] and his appearances are considered among the best episodes even if [[SmallRoleBigImpact he appeared in just three of them]]. |
| 49 | ** Back in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'', Lex Luthor was a Kingpin-esque GreaterScopeVillain who was often dwarfed and outsmarted by Metallo, Joker, and Brainiac and was often saved by Superman from his own arrogance. By the time of ''Justice League'', he [[TookALevelInBadass has taken many levels in badass]], becomes a MagnificentBastard during the Cadmus arc, proves to be a VillainousUnderdog scientist-inventor from the [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] [[spoiler:and solves the Anti-Life Equation]]. |
| 50 | * FauxSymbolism: The Thanagarian generator in "Starcrossed" looks like a swastika. |
| 51 | * FanonDiscontinuity: |
| 52 | ** Despite "Clash" being part of the Cadmus arc, some would pretend it never existed due to Superman's JerkassBall, his poor treatment of Captain Marvel and causing the DownerEnding. |
| 53 | ** "Far From Home" can be tempting to ignore, despite some good moments, due to its StrangledByTheRedString moments and [[spoiler: Supergirl staying in the future.]] There's even some CanonDiscontinuity as well, given how [[spoiler: she's still living in the 21st century]] in ambiguously canon comics apparently set after that episode. |
| 54 | * FanMyopia: Fans of ''Justice League'' and the DCAU's take on the characters in general tend to vastly overestimate the show's relevance to the general public, particularly when talking about how these characters should fare or be portrayed in films. US viewership of new Justice League episodes [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Justice_League_Unlimited_episodes averaged around 1 million viewers]] - which is pretty typical for a kid's action cartoon, but absolutely paled in comparison to even average shows aimed at general audiences. The contemporary DC series ''Smallville'' for example (which was of at best middling popularity) [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Smallville_episodes#Series_overview averaged about 6 million viewers]] in the US for new episodes, six times as much as ''Justice League'' - to say nothing of comparing either of them to average superhero ''movies'' of the day that would invariably sell tens of millions of tickets and home video copies per new release.[[note]]By the home video numbers we have, [[https://m.the-numbers.com/tv-show/Justice-League Justice League]] in its entirety also only sold [[https://m.the-numbers.com/tv-show/Smallville about as much]] as ''one'' season of the aforementioned ''Smallville'' (tracking with ''Smallville'' having several times the TV viewership). It had ten.[[/note]] By most standards ''Justice League'' is outright obscure. But its small fandom remains loud and loyal online, due to mostly being composed of Millennial American boys. This causes a small-scale fandom war with fans of more recent and popular takes on the characters, such as the ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries'' and especially the ''Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse''. |
| 55 | * FanNickname: “Wonder Loli” for Diana’s aged down appearance from the episode ''Kids' Stuff''. |
| 56 | * FranchiseOriginalSin: Though the concept of an evil Superman has been around about as long as Superman himself (it wasn't even the first time it was done in the DCAU), ''Justice League'' was the first time a longform high-profile story focused its plot on the idea of the "main" Superman willingly becoming a murderous dictator. What's more, to make the plot in any way credible, it forces Superman to hold the ConflictBall with such frequency that even ''Doomsday'' was making note of it. However, not only did the series have an entire preceding show to suggest why this was out-of-character for him, but when it came down to the wire, Superman ultimately rejected the idea. This idea became far more contentious when it showed up in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' and ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', partly for reasons of the plot feeling overexposed at that point, and partly because both stories introduce the idea extremely early: the former has Superman be evil from the start, the latter introduces it in the second film after a first film of him being troubled, distant, and violent. This caused many fans to feel like "evil/asshole Superman", rather than being a twist or an out-of-character moment, was officially just how the character was going to function from now on. |
| 57 | * GatewaySeries: ''Justice League'' (''Unlimited'') was the main exposure that people had to the wider parts of DC Universe. It was the first exposure many had of Green Lantern and the Corps (see AdaptationDisplacement above), Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, J'onn J'onzz and in the Unlimited phase, the Question, Green Arrow, Black Canary and Booster Gold among many others. Likewise, it introduced many unknown and little regarded areas such as Amanda Waller and Suicide Squad, Vandal Savage (who was once seen as PoorMansSubstitute to Ra's Al Ghul even if he came first), Solomon Grundy, Dr. Destiny, and Amazo. Heck, even ComicBook/{{The Warlord|DCComics}} got an episode that had him as a major character! |
| 58 | * GrowingTheBeard: This trope is expressly discussed in the season two DVD. The producers felt that season one of ''Justice League'' was a competent production, improving as it progressed, but that it was in season two that the show became what they always wanted it to be. Many of the changes came about from their own disapproval and from listening to fan complaints. Bruce Timm explained that much of season one was just trying to get the series started and they ended up rushing things where they should have taken more time. The second season opened with "Twilight", a ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} episode, and the level of quality leaped over the best of the first season. Among the items discussed: |
| 59 | ** They made a policy decision to avoid "[[TheWorfEffect Super-wimp]]" with Superman, which had a much larger effect on the first season than they had realized. In the first season, Superman's primary job in fights was to get thrown into buildings or otherwise knocked around with relative ease (he was beaten up back in ''Superman: TAS'' in a similar way, but [[HeroicSecondWind always came back to win the fight]]. In ''Justice League'', another hero would just step in for him). A noticeable example appeared in "The Enemy Below" where Superman is incapacitated by Deadshot's electrified manhole cover trap. By the time of the second season, he was more likely to tank or quickly recover from any attack that came his way, including Darkseid's Omega Beams and catching thrown vehicles instead of being hit by them. This is especially seen in “The Terror Beyond” where he treats back-to-back brawls with Grundy and Aquaman as mere annoyances. |
| 60 | ** They wanted to increase the scale of the stories with larger backgrounds, more character models animated in critical scenes, bigger stakes, a visceral sense of physical contact and added emotional conflict even between the heroes. The rationale was "the show doesn't necessarily have to be ''dark'', but it has to be ''intense''" in order to make sure viewers were engrossed. The action became faster, more chaotic, more creative, and less repetitive. Green Lantern was even chastised for being too straightforward with his ring. |
| 61 | ** They featured a lot of the {{Call Back}}s to ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Batman: TAS]]'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries Superman: TAS]]'' along with some {{Call Forward}}s to ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', that had not been included in season one. Originally, they wanted ''Justice League'' to stand on its own merits, but understood fans are generally watching the show to see their favorite characters. |
| 62 | ** They began laying the groundwork for many future story arcs, while the first season had episodes largely self-contained. In particular, many hints about Hawkgirl's history would come to a head on "Starcrossed" (the season two finale). Likewise, the flirtation between Green Lantern and Hawkgirl became more obvious until they finally admitted their feelings to each other. |
| 63 | ** Bruce Timm said that he was often spurred on by Creator/MelBrooks's advice to [[RefugeInAudacity Ring the Bell]]; if a scene seemed like it might be too much and you were having second thoughts, do it anyway and ''make it bigger''. It was the official mantra of the production team that "Good enough isn't good enough". The animators had specific instructions to work until a scene was good enough and then make it better. |
| 64 | ** This happened again during the relaunch of the series as ''Justice League Unlimited''. The first season was slightly more shaky with the writers getting used to the new half-hour format, greatest emphasis being put on [[ADayInTheLimelight Characters of the Day]] instead of the original seven, and the fan-favorites Hawkgirl and Flash being PutOnTheBus. The second half of the first season rectified this; Flash and Hawkgirl were back full-time, the series focused on a continuous storyline instead of self-contained episodes, and the writing and characterization got better. |
| 65 | ** Speaking of the Flash, the first season presented him getting easily defeated usually by tripping over things and generally being clumsy as a superhero. This, along with his bad jokes and arrogance, were designed to make him the PluckyComicRelief but made him come across as incompetent to many fans. Starting in the second season, steps were taken in "Maid of Honor", "A Better World", "Hereafter", and "Eclipsed" to make him not just more effective but as TheHeart of the team that keeps them from going too far. After his relative absence in the first ''Unlimited'' season, he returns to save the day in a major fashion in the Cadmus arc. In the final season, the Flash has become a well-respected veteran of the team with no less than three CharacterFocus episodes about him in a season of 13 episodes. |
| 66 | * HarsherInHindsight: |
| 67 | ** While searching GL's apartment, the Flash has to fend off John Stewart's landlady and her mop. He jokes that, if they ever need a replacement for Hawkgirl, they'll give her a call. This quip at his teammate's aggressive nature becomes much more awkward when she later turns out to be TheMole and quits the League. |
| 68 | ** Batman dodging Darkseid's Omega Beams. [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis It didn't go so well in the comics]]. |
| 69 | ** When Wally is [[spoiler:almost taken by the Speed Force but is saved by his friends. It didn't turn out as well for his ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'' animated series counterpart]]. |
| 70 | ** In "The Savage Time, Part 1", an alternate-universe Batman leads a resistance to fight a regime, and is helped by the other members of the League. Same thing happens in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', except some of those League members are leading the regime. |
| 71 | ** In "Hearts and Minds, Part 2", John Stewart complains to Hawkgirl that Katma, his old instructor, still thinks of him as a raw recruit. Hawkgirl calmly notes that "we tend to cling to images from when we knew them best, forgetting that they do change". This comes off a bit harder to take after Shayera's own ordeal with this in "Starcrossed". |
| 72 | ** The League calling out Batman on his IWorkAlone attitude becomes a bit harsh when in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDoom'' [[spoiler: he goes through with quitting the team.]] |
| 73 | ** "Kids' Stuff" was a largely lighthearted episode dealing with a child making the world a sort of Neverland, but [[InferredHolocaust any negative side effects of losing all the adults on the planet for an unknown period of time]] isn't really addressed for the sake of that tone. When Klarion the Witch Boy pulls a similar stunt in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'' animated series, we actually do see exactly how terrifying (and dangerous) it was for ''both'' sides of the adult/child split. |
| 74 | ** In "The Savage Time", Diana crosses paths with Steve Trevor while having an escapade in World War II. The two are forced to part once Diana and the League complete their mission and return to the present day, but Diana searches him up and reunites with him at a retirement home. Come the 2017 ''Film/{{Wonder Woman|2017}}'' movie, where we already know that Diana lives to present day, and we see that [[spoiler:Steve never lives to old age, Diana witnesses his death, and in the present day, all Diana has left of him is a photograph.]] |
| 75 | -->'''Steve:''' I wish we had more time. I love you. |
| 76 | ** In "Far from Home", there's a subplot where it's feared [[spoiler:Supergirl would die after traveling to the future.]] Sequel film ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVsTheFatalFive'', Star Boy travels back to the past and [[spoiler:unlike Kara, who merely chose to stay in the future, Thomas really did die in the past, far from home.]] |
| 77 | ** The episode "Destroyer", which is the finale episode to the animated series, in a lot of ways would be remade in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueDarkApokolipsWar'', the (also) finale to the later WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedMovieUniverse, except this pseudo-remake being BloodierAndGorier and DarkerAndEdgier, full of AnyoneCanDie and does, and the film ends on a feel of near-complete hopelessness. |
| 78 | * HeartwarmingInHindsight: |
| 79 | ** In "To Another Shore", Diana is concerned of J'onn being cooped up at the Watchtower for two years and advised him to take some time off. At the end of the episode, J'onn decided to go on leave from the League for some soul-searching [[spoiler:and ended up having a relationship with someone as seen in the GrandFinale]]. In a Season 9 episode of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', J'onn is the one who concerned of Chloe being isolated in the Watchtower [[note]]This version's Watchtower is on Metropolis not on orbit[[/note]] [[spoiler:after her husband's death in the Season 8 finale]]. Chloe grows out of it thanks to Clark and Oliver, [[spoiler:who ended up having a relationship with her as well]]. |
| 80 | ** The last time we saw Phantasm, they had decided to pursue revenge and fight Batman for getting in the way, with [[spoiler:Andrea apologizing to Bruce and saying goodbye to him. Andrea then refuses to gun down Terry's parents after Amanda Waller hired her, knowing what it was like to lose parents and what that could do to a child.]] |
| 81 | * HesJustHiding: Given that ''Justice League'' is a kids' show that can't be ''too'' explicit about characters dying (even if it pushes the boundaries more than most animated shows of the time), plenty of character fates can inspire this. |
| 82 | ** Clayface's TragicVillain status and ability to reform his body have many fans arguing that he must have survived being blown apart by firecrackers. |
| 83 | ** The fact that [[spoiler: Ace's]] death doesn't cause a massive psychic backlash like Waller had said it would (and her reality warping powers having the potential to heal her aneurysm) can cast a little doubt on Waller's claim that she did die. |
| 84 | ** There are those who hope that ReasonableAuthorityFigure Nardoc was only knocked unconscious and not murdered when Ares starts impersonating him in "Hawk and Dove." |
| 85 | ** It's nice to hope that Grodd's mutineers in "Alive" (Shade, Blockbuster, Copperhead, Fastball, Rampage, Goldface, etc.) might have survived. This is made somewhat plausible by Luthor giving the order to jettison them after they're frozen but before his ship is blown up. Additionally, the episode "Epilogue" implies Parasite, who is part of that group, is still alive forty years later). |
| 86 | ** Despite the graphic nature of her fate and WordOfGod, some people doubt that [[spoiler:Tala]] really died in '"Alive." She's still screaming a second or two before the experiment using her as a LivingBattery concludes. While that would have left her on a ship about to explode, she ''does'' have teleportation powers. |
| 87 | * HilariousInHindsight: |
| 88 | ** The way that Luthor and the mutated gorilla Ultra-Humanite get on each other's nerves in many scenes in "And Injustice For All" become a lot funnier after watching Luthor's hostile and snarky interactions with a different gorilla supervillain (Gorilla Grodd) during the final season of ''Unlimited''. [[spoiler:Both evil alliances also end in betrayal, although in the former storyline the gorilla is the one to betray Luthor, and in the latter one Luthor betrays his gorilla associate.]] |
| 89 | ** [[spoiler:Grodd swears he will have his revenge on Luthor as the latter ejects him into space. In ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' (2014), Wade Eiling (played by Creator/ClancyBrown who also voices Lex in ''Justice League'') is killed by the former show's version of Gorilla Grodd as revenge for his torturous experiments. Basically, Grodd gets his revenge on Luthor on two levels.]] |
| 90 | ** This dialogue between Speedy and Green Arrow, in light of Speedy's efforts to be independent of Green Arrow in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Young Justice|2010}}'' animated series ''and'' Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'': |
| 91 | --->'''Green Arrow:''' You wanted Superman? Now you've got--\ |
| 92 | [''pauses to let the two teleport in.'']\ |
| 93 | '''G.A.:''' [flat, disappointed] ...the Crimson Avenger and my ex-sidekick.\ |
| 94 | '''Speedy:''' [annoyed] Ex-''[[InsistentTerminology partner]]''.\ |
| 95 | '''G.A.:''' Speedy, we gotta do this now? |
| 96 | ** In "Patriot Act": |
| 97 | *** The featured heroes (and villain) have designs and powers that bring to mind the main cast of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': STRIPE = ComicBook/IronMan, Stargirl = ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, Vigilante = ComicBook/BlackWidow, Shining Knight = ComicBook/TheMightyThor, ComicBook/GreenArrow = ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} and General Eiling = [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]. |
| 98 | *** Speaking of Eiling, he's a GeneralRipper who [[HeWhoFightsMonsters becomes]] [[YouAreWhatYouHate what he hates]]. Years later, his [[AlternateCompanyEquivalent Marvel equivalent]] Gen. Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross [[ComicBook/Hulk2008 would follow the same path]]. |
| 99 | ** In "The Savage Time": |
| 100 | *** Vandal Savage's plan to attack America with giant bombers is basically the same as Red Skull's plan in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. |
| 101 | *** The episode featured an AlternateTimeline version of Batman fighting against a totalitarian government as a leader of LaResistance. The exact same concept would be explored in greater detail in both ''ComicBook/SupermanRedSon'' and ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''. |
| 102 | ** In "The Enemy Below", both the human doctor trying to treat Aquaman ''and'' the doctor in Atlantis who gives him his hook hand sound suspiciously like Creator/JeffreyCombs. Moreso after Combs actually joined the cast later on. |
| 103 | ** Batman's disarming of the nuke in "The Doomsday Sanction" is extremely similar to the climax of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', down to [[spoiler: escaping by ejection, though in the former case everyone knew he lived.]] |
| 104 | ** The producers of the show said they tried to make Aquaman an "underwater Conan". Then in 2014, [[Film/ConanTheBarbarian2011 Jason Momoa]] was cast as the sea king in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice''. When his [[http://s3-ak.buzzfeed.com/static/2015-02/20/2/enhanced/webdr02/enhanced-8209-1424416909-9.jpg first official picture]] for the movie came out, his design is closely similar to his ''DCAU'' counterpart which is also based from his 90's outfit minus the HookHand. |
| 105 | ** In "In Blackest Night", there is a legal system which "[[EvilLawyerJoke solved its lawyer problem]]" by sentencing the lawyer to the same punishment as the defendant if found guilty. This is the central plot of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'', where this law is known as the ''DC''[[labelnote:*]][[FunWithAcronyms Defense Culpability]][[/labelnote]] Act. |
| 106 | ** After the large amounts of destruction from Superman's battles in ''Film/ManOfSteel'' causing significant backlash, seeing the fight between [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BJ1-trrgqc Superman and Captain Marvel]] in "Clash" is rather amusing. Dozens of buildings are literally shredded, and in one instance Superman is knocked back into a bank and is stopped only by the heavily armored vault. [[note]]It's stated that the community was recently built and largely vacant, but there were still people around for the opening ceremony.[[/note]] |
| 107 | ** Hawkgirl and Vixen spend the last season or two being friendly rivals in a love triangle. Jump forward to ComicBook/DCComicsBombshells, and their counterparts are in a relationship with each other. |
| 108 | ** Two episodes are named "In Blackest Night" and "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS2E10Flashpoint Flashpoint]]". Neither have anything to do with Zombie Lanterns or Flash-created alternative timelines. |
| 109 | ** Star Sapphire claims she doesn't believe in love. Very ironic considering what the Star Sapphire corps represent and are powered by nowadays. |
| 110 | ** In "Double Date", Huntress and the original (male) Question became a couple. Years later, in ''ComicBook/{{Convergence}}'', Batwoman [[MistakenForGay erroneously thinks that Huntress is sleeping with Renee Montoya]] (Batwoman's ex), who, in that story, is [[AffirmativeActionLegacy the second]] Question. |
| 111 | ** [[WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm Phantasm]] had a vendetta on the Joker and failed. "Epilogue" reveals that Phantasm's final(?) years included working for Amanda Waller, who would have the Joker's ex, Harley Quinn, as a central member of her Suicide Squad. |
| 112 | ** The story "Hereafter" involves Lobo trying to join the Justice League following Superman's [[spoiler:presumed]] death, with the rest of the League doing everything they can to get him away. Many years later in the mainline comics, Lobo would actually end up joining the Justice League (albeit for a short time). |
| 113 | ** The 'Bat Embargo' preventing any Batman villains from showing up in the final season actually saved them all, in-universe, from dying in outer space along most of the Legion of Doom. |
| 114 | ** This series established that the DCAU Flash was Wally West, who takes on many qualities from Barry Allen such as his civilian job and role as a League founder. Years later the ''WesternAnimation/DCAnimatedMovieUniverse'' version of Barry Allen [[https://mobile.twitter.com/JTuckerAnimator/status/1385088842768609281 would be revealed]] to have been the first Kid Flash and take Wally's place as a founder of the Teen Titans. |
| 115 | ** The episode "Kid Stuff" featured kid versions of four of the Justice League members, including a young John Stewart who needs glasses. Fan comic ''Webcomic/{{JL8}}'' would later turn this concept into its central focus, featuring 8-year-old versions of both League members and their rogues gallery, including a guest arc by a young John Stewart who wears glasses. |
| 116 | ** After Luthor betrays Grodd and takes control of the Secret Society, Sinistero snarks about Grodd's plan to turn all humans on Earth into Gorillas and asks if Luthor is going to make everyone bald. The Teen Titans Go! movie shows a bad timeline without superheroes allowing the villains to run free without opposition and Luthor is shown shaving people's heads. |
| 117 | ** Creator/MichaelRosenbaum simultaneously starred as The Flash and in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' as a young Lex Luthor. In "The Great Brain Robbery", Flash switches bodies with Lex, so Michael also technically got to voice an animated version of Lex as well. |
| 118 | * InformedWrongness: |
| 119 | ** "The Doomsday Sanction" ends with Superman and the rest of the Original Seven members of the Justice League, sans injured Batman, sentencing Doomsday to the Phantom Zone since they have a strict No Killing policy, and later on the injured Batman chews Superman and Wonder Woman - and by extension the rest of the League's founders - for doing this, saying that they were playing judge, jury, and executioner themselves instead of letting the law handle it. Now earlier Batman had been having a chat with Amanda Waller that hit closer to home than he initially realized, but the problem with this is... Doomsday is a really big, really strong, and really destructive monster who was on the rampage and clearly could not be contained by conventional methods, it's not like they tossed an ordinary criminal in there for shoplifting. |
| 120 | ** The Justice Lords' lobotomizing all the inmates at Arkham Asylum into model prisoners was treated as horrific, and rightly so. The trouble is...the supervillains in question were all mass murderers incapable of being reformed, especially the Joker. Arkham Asylum is a CardboardPrison that can't possibly contain them, never mind cure them of their laundry list of psychoses. And if the only other option was execution, well... |
| 121 | ** Superman received this treatment in ''JLU'''s second season, particularly during the Cadmus arc. While there were legitimate criticisms of him becoming more jaded, angry, and eager to jump to conclusions (most notably when he and Captain Marvel destroyed a city to rubble as result of fighting on one another), some fans got so overzealous as to make him out to be the bad guy for every little thing. The most notorious example was when he teamed up with Huntress to rescue The Question from Cadmus where Captain Atom ''initiated a fight'' with him by throwing the first punch. It should also be noted Atom seemed to ignore the fact that his bosses had obviously been torturing Question. Superman beat him to a pulp, but he only did so because Atom had decided MyMasterRightOrWrong and was defending himself plus his non-powered (and one severely injured) teammates. This turned him into evil incarnate for some fans. |
| 122 | * InferredHolocaust: "Kids' Stuff" is a relatively lighthearted episode at first glance. A bratty little kid gets rid of all adults, and four members of the League are turned into kids so they can go and return the world to normal. Good guys win, everyone's fine. Except for the fact that every adult ''on the planet'' was gone for ''at least'' a few hours, if not days. How many toddlers, especially those in undeveloped regions, ended up dying without supervision? How many newborns and babies starved to death? And what the heck happened to all the pregnant women and their children, especially those in labor at the time of the incident? Driverless cars (some with kids as passengers), planes falling out of the sky? The lack of teenagers shown on-screen suggests that Mordaine's minimum age to be considered an "adult" seem to be at least thirteen, so did they disappear too? Even ignoring that, how many of the kids will be traumatized for the rest of their lives, afraid of losing their parents again? |
| 123 | * JerkassWoobie: |
| 124 | ** The real villain of "Legends", a [[spoiler:RealityWarper mutated by a nuclear apocalypse, who recreates his childhood heroes who died trying to save the world. This means Ray also forces the other survivors to act out mundane roles for ''forty years,'' which the ice-cream man said was like a nightmare, rather than build their city. He makes himself appear as a KidSidekick to the Justice Guild and makes them fight various villains. Flash expresses SympathyForTheDevil on learning that Ray was trying to recreate his childhood]]. |
| 125 | ** Tala is a backstabbing, self-centered member of Project Cadmus, and then the Legion of Doom, but she can still inspire some pity after being betrayed and trapped in a mirror by her mentor Felix Faust, putting up with Luthor's abusive behavior and [[spoiler: finding out Luthor planned to sacrifice her to retrieve Brainiac the whole time.]] |
| 126 | * LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: J'onn J'onzz and Diana are safe on one side of a barrier, while Batman is trapped on the other side and facing the Imperium. J'onn and Diana hear Batman get attacked and J’onn tells Diana that the Imperium killed Batman. But any fan would probably suspect that Batman was still alive. And of course, in the end Batman was still alive, with J’onn [[FakingTheDead concealing his survival until the time was right.]] |
| 127 | * MagnificentBastard: Has its [[MagnificentBastard/DCAnimation own page]]. |
| 128 | * MemeticLoser: Superman and Martian Manhunter earned the reputation of being the weakest members of the League due to being recurring victims of TheWorfEffect, despite being among the strongest heroes in-universe. |
| 129 | * MemeticMolester: ''Batman'' of all people gets this in “Ultimatum”. |
| 130 | -->'''Batman''': (Smiling smugly): Mine are bigger than yours. |
| 131 | * MemeticMutation: |
| 132 | ** Wonder Woman punching a TV screen and declaring "I will not tolerate this!", usually after showing a clip of [[FanPreferredCouple Batman]] [[ShipToShipCombat making out]] with someone like Catwoman or Cheetah. |
| 133 | ** "Wally West, Clark Kent... [[BaitAndSwitch BATMAN!]]", from "Starcrossed" where Batman reveals the identity of the Flash, Superman, and himself, except edited to him to take off his mask to reveal another mask, because [[MemeticBadass Batman is the goddamn Batman.]] |
| 134 | ** The Question's dismissive "''Please''... I go through ''everyone's'' trash." is a popular reaction image. |
| 135 | * MisaimedFandom: The Thanagarians in "Starcrossed" get this from a large number of fans, despite the fact that they considered ''destroying the Earth'' an acceptable sacrifice for winning their war over the Gordanians. In addition to that, being shift and sneaky (with Hro lying to Shayera and clearly avoiding telling her the truth about the Bypass), general superior racists not to Earthlings but also to Martians and Kryptonians (such as when Paran Dul mocks J'onn's interest in Thanagarian tech) and using human slave labour to build their bypass while converting Earth into a totalitarian government. Fans justify this by insisting that the Gordanians are AlwaysChaoticEvil basing themselves entirely on the words of the Thanagarians (who are proven UnreliableNarrator) which doesn't even square with what we see. "Hunter's Moon" says the Gordanians defeated the Thanagarians and have conquered the world, but the existence of a Resistance implies that the Gordanians are conquerors which makes them bad guys but far less dangerous than the Thangarians who wanted to exterminate a random planet ''just to win a war''. |
| 136 | * MoralEventHorizon: |
| 137 | ** Most of the Justice Lords get one scene in "A Better World" to establish them as irredeemably evil. From the [[WordOfGod DVD commentary]], the writers did that on purpose so that it showed that the Justice Lords, while having [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]], ultimately are truly [[FallenHero heroes turned villains]] who deserve to be defeated. |
| 138 | *** Lord Green Lantern when attacking League Lantern attempted ''to stab his neck'' for his first move. Not trying to disarm him or to knock him out. He chose to go immediately for the kill. |
| 139 | *** Lord Wonder Woman knocks League Batman down and picks up a building rubble to straight away attempt to kill the latter. |
| 140 | *** Lord Superman had Flash by the neck, with Flash trying to appeal to any remaining good in him, reminding him that [[spoiler:the Flash in their world had been killed and his death]] was one of the main reasons why they all became such cynical {{Knight Templar}}s. However, Lord Superman, referring to moral lines he never thought he'd cross, coolly tells him that "one more won't hurt", that this universe's Flash's death was just another means to an end. |
| 141 | ** John Dee in "Only A Dream", where he [[MindRape "operated"]] on his wife in her dreams via torturing her until she died of fright shortly after he had found out that she was planning to leave him for another man. |
| 142 | ** [[TheEvilPrince Orm]] tried to kill [[CainAndAbel his brother]] and [[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} his brother's]] infant son. |
| 143 | ** Luthor crossed it by [[spoiler:killing Tala. He had to pay the price for it when Darkseid came along. Granted, Lex Luthor is not as bad as Darkseid, but this was by far the most despicable and heinous thing he's ever done.]] |
| 144 | * {{Narm}}: The infamous scene in "Starcrossed" where Wonder Woman escapes from her cell. Diana bites a Thanagarian's ''metal gauntlet'', causing him to somehow feel pain and drop the knife he was holding. She then grabs the knife in mid-air with her ''teeth'' and hurls it towards a control panel, managing to hit precisely the one button that sets her free. The scene is supposed to display Wonder Woman as a badass, but the sheer absurdity of her plan and the fact that it miraculously '''worked''' make it much more comical than intended. |
| 145 | * OneSceneWonder: Hal Jordan's cameo in the second part of "The Once and Future Thing." He shows up for less than a minute when time shifts and temporarily causes him to replace John Stewart, but it's still considered a highlight. Creator/AdamBaldwin's performance as him was so well-liked he even reprised his role for Hal in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''. |
| 146 | * ParanoiaFuel: |
| 147 | ** "Only A Dream" in a nutshell. Thanks to his newfound telepathic powers, Dr. Destiny can invade the dreams of his victims and induce horrific nightmares they cannot wake up from. There are no explicit restrictions when it comes to how many people he can influence at once or how far they are from him, so if you go to sleep, he ''will'' find you and torture you until your heart gives out. |
| 148 | ** The Question is a walking version of this trope. His crazy conspiracy theories would be comical if the episodes centered around him didn't prove that he is a remarkably efficient detective. |
| 149 | * ReplacementScrappy: Vixen got some hate for replacing Hawkgirl as Green Lantern's love interest. |
| 150 | * RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: |
| 151 | ** John Stewart was initially greeted with disdain from fans who either instead wanted the more well-known Hal Jordan or (in a follow-up to [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries "In Brightest Day"]]) Kyle Rayner. Not helping was the creators admitting to adding him to the roster solely because of the color of his skin - making him look like merely a TokenMinority. However, over the course of season one, Stewart received a good deal of CharacterDevelopment - becoming a well-rounded character and a fan favorite, to the point that he started getting some more face time in the comics. Years after the show finished, you can find people utterly convinced that John Stewart is ''the'' Green Lantern & DC are being racist by "changing" Green Lantern into a white guy for the [[Film/GreenLantern2011 2011 film]] & any [[VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse video game]] [[VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs appearances]], despite Stewart being the ''fourth'' human Lantern introduced in the comics. |
| 152 | ** ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} was also helped by the ''DCAU'', although some of the heavy lifting to rescue him from the Scrappy heap had already been done in comics continuity. The ''DCAU'' version was DarkerAndEdgier in all the right ways - one of the few characters that could plausibly appear as a hero ''or'' a villain. |
| 153 | ** Superman initially had a poor reception from fans in the first season due to his redesign and tendency of suffering severely from TheWorfEffect. It also didn't help that Creator/TimDaly couldn't reprise his role and there was a distinct lack of follow-up to the way ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' ended, making the show feel less connected to the ''DCAU''. This was rectified in the second season when the return of Darkseid fully bringing back memories of what he did to Superman last time. The second season also allowed Creator/GeorgeNewbern to grow more into the role as Superman gets more emotional in the face of his old nemesis. The writers also gave Superman a better design that was more closer to how he looked back in ''Superman: TAS'' and prevented him from continuing to suffer from TheWorfEffect. |
| 154 | ** In the first season, Lex loses his status as a respectable businessman and becomes the DiabolicalMastermind of the Silver Age, a move many fans had long hoped for. However, the first season makes Lex look incompetent via presenting him being easily deceived by Batman and a later episode shows the Injustice Gang much prefers one-off character Aresia as a leader. However, following his pardon at the end of "A Better World", Lex became a morally unpredictable Machiavellian schemer playing both the Justice League and Cadmus before almost destroying the world by merging with Brainiac. The fifth season maintains his status as a MagnificentBastard by having him outmaneuver the entire Legion of Doom and shown to be as deadly competent as his comic book counterpart. |
| 155 | * RetroactiveRecognition: |
| 156 | ** Superman's son in the dream world apparently grew up to become [[Film/TheHungerGames Peeta Mellark]]. |
| 157 | ** Booster Gold is voiced by [[Film/DiaryOfAWimpyKid Mr. Heffley]]. |
| 158 | * RomanticPlotTumor: |
| 159 | ** Quite a few, depending on the fan - Batman/Wonder Woman (LovingAShadow) and Supergirl/Brainiac 5 (both StrangledByTheRedString). |
| 160 | ** The Vixen/Green Lantern/Hawkgirl triangle. The writers themselves admitted that they really backed themselves into a corner with this one when they were trying to tie up the series. First they treated Vixen as just being a rebound for John after the fallout between him and Shayera at the end of the second season (after two seasons of build up), but then by the end it was shown that John had truly grown to love Vixen and their relationship blossomed to the point that they were either living together or at least involved enough that they had access to each other's apartments. However, the future had also shown that John would reunite with Shayera and have a son with her, though many details were still up in the air, and it seemed that no matter how they approached it there was no way that John could not come away looking like a jerk no matter which heroine he chose to be with, so they went with the only option that seemed both in character and least offensive [[spoiler:by having John choose to stay with Vixen, telling Shayera that he won't abandon Vixen and rush back into a relationship with the winged red head just because destiny says so. Whatever happens has to happen naturally and because they want it. WordOfGod is that John and Shayera do eventually get back together after the series end.]] |
| 161 | * SelfFanservice: Some of the characters come across as {{Fanservice}} for the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom. Examples include [[InterspeciesRomance Gorilla Grodd]], [[CatGirl Cheetah]], [[DracoInLeatherPants Ultra-Humanite]], and any other AnimalThemedSuperbeing. |
| 162 | * ShipToShipCombat: |
| 163 | ** The Green Lantern-Hawkgirl ship versus the Green Lantern-Vixen ship. [[spoiler:Hawkgirl won.]] |
| 164 | ** To a lesser extent, Batman-Wonder Woman vs. Batman-Cheetah. [[spoiler:Nothing comes of either because Bruce is DoomedByCanon]]. |
| 165 | * ShockingMoments: |
| 166 | ** In the teaser for "A Better World, Part 1", Superman uses his heat vision to ''burn Lex Luthor into ash.'' |
| 167 | ** "Starcrossed" brings the revelation that [[spoiler:Hawkgirl was TheMole the entire time, and her race is planning to destroy Earth. Though she ultimately pulls a HeelFaceTurn and helps defeat the invaders, the preceding events cause both the Thanagarians and earthlings to view her as a pariah]]. The series is never the same afterwards. |
| 168 | * SignatureScene: |
| 169 | ** Ask anyone what they remember of the series, and the first scene that pops up is Flash's talk with The Trickster in "Flash and Substance" for showing how Flash empathizes with one of his enemies. |
| 170 | ** Batman sitting on a swing next to Ace, extending a hand out to her is another scene as it shows Batman's compassion to [[spoiler:a girl who is dying and is afraid of being alone.]] |
| 171 | * SignatureSeriesArc: The Cadmus arc which runs across the third and fourth seasons is considered this for the entire series as whole. |
| 172 | * SpiritualSuccessor: |
| 173 | ** With Aquaman having the violent, arrogant and aggressive demeanour of Creator/{{Marvel}}'s ComicBook/{{Namor}}, "The Enemy Below" seems like a story that would have had Amalgam's Aqua-Mariner as the protagonist. |
| 174 | ** The showrunners openly admitted that "The Terror Beyond" was their take on ComicBook/TheDefenders with Dr. Fate (as ''ComicBook/DoctorStrange''), Aquaman as Namor, Hawkgirl as Nighthawk and/or Valkyrie (even being described as "birdnose") and Solomon Grundy transformed into the Hulk, complete with an opening scene of him escaping the military led by a Thaddeus Ross analogue. |
| 175 | ** "Starcrossed" noticeably borrows elements from ''ComicBook/JLATowerOfBabel'', with Hawkgirl and Hro Talak taking the places of Batman and Ra's al Ghul, respectively. In both works, a leaguer's actions lead to a villain learning the heroes' secret weaknesses, which are exploited in order to ensure minimal opposition during a world-endangering scheme. Both stories also end with the League taking a vote to decide whether the traitor deserves to remain in the team, with Wonder Woman voicing her strong disapproval of her former friend, Superman acting as the tiebreaker, and the defector leaving before hearing their decision. |
| 176 | ** The episode "Hearts and Minds" heavily reimagines the mythology behind the DC villain Despero to make him a former outcast desert nomad who used his psychic powers to rise from obscurity and become a tyrannical prophet, promising to remake his barren home planet into a lush paradise and lead his armies in a fanatical religious crusade across the galaxy. The result? The closest thing to an animated ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' adaptation that you'll ever see. |
| 177 | * {{Squick}}: |
| 178 | ** Grodd is a sapient gorilla who is romantically attracted to human women. Sarah Cowin and Tala both reciprocate his feelings, as some scenes show them cuddling him or stroking his chest in a suggestive manner. |
| 179 | ** In "The Great Brain Robbery", the Flash needs to pass off as Lex Luthor after the two accidentally swap bodies. It's heavily implied that he had to perform sexual favours to Luthor's lover, Tala, in order to not arouse any suspicions. |
| 180 | * StrangledByTheRedString: |
| 181 | ** [[ComicBook/GreenLantern John Stewart]] and ComicBook/{{Vixen}}. Vixen had previously only made a handful of silent cameo appearances, but without any buildup or reference to it, she and John are already in a serious relationship by her first speaking role. For bonus points, his behavior towards her for most of the show screams "rebound". |
| 182 | ** Poor Supergirl - [[spoiler:she meets a guy in the future, has a few lines with him, and is suddenly so in love that she abandons all she knows and cares about by [[PutOnABus staying in the far future]].]] They tried to justify the suddenness by saying that she felt out-of-place and stuck in Superman's shadow on Earth, but the only time that ever came up was during the episode in question. [[spoiler:Braniac-5]] is hit pretty hard by this too: he's barely spoken to her, has only known her for a few minutes, and suddenly he's agreeing with Green Arrow's suggestion that he's fallen for Supergirl. |
| 183 | * TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Wonder Woman was introduced as a newly-debuting hero at the start of the show so, unlike her Trinity counterparts of Superman and Batman, much of the traditional elements associated with her origin story were discarded, to the ire of fans from the comics and previous versions. Some of the most contentious elements include Steve Trevor not crashing on the island and being rescued by Diana, the Amazon Contest being replaced with Diana stealing the Wonder Woman outfit, and the Magic Lasso not having the ability to force people to tell the truth until near the end of the last season. |
| 184 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: |
| 185 | ** Wonder Woman's rogues gallery noticeably has less screen time than the other villains. |
| 186 | *** The Cheetah is ComicBook/WonderWoman's {{Archenemy}} in the comics, so a lot of fans assumed she would get more character development after receiving a lot of focus in her debut episode. However, she got DemotedToExtra. WordOfGod is that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen she was meant]] to be KilledOffScreen by Solomon Grundy in her debut two-parter and was only saved by an animation error showing her alive later on, so getting to appear several times more was an unexpected boon for her. |
| 187 | *** Ares and Circe are among Diana’s most powerful foes, but only appear in one episode each. The former is overshadowed by the Annihilator as the episode's main threat, while the latter plays a largely comedic role. |
| 188 | *** Giganta appears intermittently but barely has any interactions with Wonder Woman beyond the occasional fight. Instead, her main trait becomes her relationship with Grodd, which ultimately turns sour off-screen. |
| 189 | ** [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner]] only appear as cameos in the entire series, and have very little interaction with the League. One episode even teased at Kyle switching out with John, only for it to be shot down as the Guardians call John out on trying to use it as an excuse to get a break from his messy love triangle. |
| 190 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 191 | ** In "The Savage Time", history is changed so that the Nazis won World War II. The Justice League is protected from changes to the timestream and granted RippleEffectProofMemory, except for Batman, whose altered counterpart is leading a [[LaResistance resistance]] against the Nazis. [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake]], and Cassandra Cain are shown in a cameo as part of Batman's movement too. However, this potentially interesting plotline is dropped entirely as soon as the Justice League minus Batman travel back in time to World War II, as the remainder of the arc centers on the team's efforts to return things to normal. Batman remains behind in the future, reasoning that if they fail he can still fight the Nazis, but his adventures along with the other members of the resistance are not touched upon. |
| 192 | ** Captain Marvel only appears in a single episode, which ends with him getting disillusioned by the League. It would've been interesting to see him return especially with the latter revelation that Lex was pulling the puppet strings. This one has more to do with red tape, as the creative team had been wanting to use Captain Marvel since they were working on ''Superman: The Animated Series'', and would've had him again if they could. Just getting him in that one episode required them fighting tooth and nail for it. |
| 193 | ** Superman's descent into cynical paranoia during the Cadmus arc suffered a bit from not having more episodes that showed him gradually losing it, opting instead to shoehorn the bulk of his SanitySlippage into one episode ("Clash"). |
| 194 | ** The real story of "Legends" is that [[spoiler: the world that Flash, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern stumble into is a StepfordSuburbia created by a PsychopathicManchild RealityWarper keeping all of its inhabitants trapped.]] Unfortunately, this takes a back seat for most of the two-parter to Flash, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, and the Justice Guild fighting a LegionOfDoom Expy, with John spending only a couple of minutes investigating the town. |
| 195 | ** After much build-up, Luthor does ''not'' become a [[PresidentEvil president]], nor does he turn back into a MadScientist in the next season, despite the many interesting stories and conflicts between JL and the USA that could have been told. |
| 196 | ** The Legion of Doom story arc was wasted on account of the Bat-Embargo preventing the original members Scarecrow and Riddler from joining. Also, the fact that the writers had the majority of the Legion's original members, but failed to do anything important with most of them. Then, the whole Legion arc was thrown out the window in the finale when [[spoiler:Darkseid]] [[DiabolusExNihilo returned]] and took over as the main villain for the final story instead of creating a battle between both teams. Apparently [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original plan]] was that Luthor would've succeeded in bringing back Brainiac, but for whatever reason, these plans fell through. |
| 197 | ** Hawkgirl's nightmare in "Only a Dream". The other characters' nightmares were based on their deep-seated fears and insecurities. Hers was... getting stuck in a box. Granted, claustrophobia ''is'' a thing, but since she'd never given any indications that she suffered from it... [[spoiler:Then again, given her true identity, a more personal nightmare could have been too much of a spoiler]]. |
| 198 | ** "Epilogue" served as a FullyAbsorbedFinale for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'', but ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'' fans feel that the episode could've served as a FullyAbsorbedFinale as well and were disappointed as a result since it was the only ''DCAU'' show to be LeftHanging. Since Zeta's fate was left unresolved by the end of his series, it would have been a nice touch to see him as a member in the scene with the future Justice League to show that he was able to prove his innocence to the government and [[EarnYourHappyEnding earned his happy ending]] with Roe. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Too bad he's not seen or mentioned at all in this]]. |
| 199 | * ToughActToFollow: ''Justice League'' is ''very'' popular and widely regarded as one of the best superhero shows ever made. Such reasons include, but are certainly not limited to: Their creative, compelling plots that manage humor and tragedy, faithfulness to the source material, bringing many heroes and villains into the spotlight, creating a very interesting and believable dynamic with their cast ''especially'' the core seven, and introducing many aspects of characters that were popular enough to turn into RetCanon. Unsurprisingly, many people are eager for the original cast to reprise their roles whenever any ''DC'' animated adaptation is announced. As such, many of the series that came afterwards often get some flak for not attaining that high bar that they felt the series set. |
| 200 | * UnexpectedCharacter: Clock King's appearance in "Task Force X" was a shocking, and very welcome, surprise as the so-called Bat-embargo which largely prevented most notable Batman characters, even DCAU creations, from appearing in the show was in full effect at the time. His inclusion managed to stay a secret right up until the episode aired. |
| 201 | * UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Profound and sweeping changes to the DC Universe which took place mostly after the show ended - through events like ComicBook/FinalCrisis and full-blown reboots or re-reboots like ComicBook/New52 and ComicBook/DCRebirth - make the show a time capsule of sorts as an AdaptationDistillation of the DCU when it was made, mainly ComicBook/PostCrisis [[ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths on Infinite Earths]]-inspired but taking bits from all eras. |
| 202 | ** One of the most notable differences is having Wally West as the Flash, with Barry Allen only given [[MythologyGag a brief mention]] as Wally's unnamed uncle, though Wally being a LegacyCharacter to him was obscured or omitted. After the show aired, Barry Allen was brought BackFromTheDead and has been the main Flash again in the comics and all adaptations to date. |
| 203 | ** Similarly, John Stewart (and Kyle Rayner before him, in ''Superman: The Animated Series'') was the main Green Lantern with no Hal Jordan in sight, until he appeared as explicitly an alternate-timeline anomaly for a few minutes. Hal returned to life in the comics while the show was airing and, similar to Barry, has become the main GL again everywhere ever since. However, the show chose to make John its main GL instead of Kyle as in the comics at the time and is directly responsible for John's renewed presence in the comics ever since. |
| 204 | ** The expansion of the Green Lantern mythos with various-colored Corps came after the show and is nowhere to be found here, while it is an integral part of the mythos now (and reflected in the later ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', which adapts the TimmStyle into 3D CGI animation despite not being part of the DCAU). Sinestro in particular is depicted as his classic version wearing blue, while his revamp as head of the Sinestro Corps, with "Yellow Lantern" suit to match, was so popular that it's hard to imagine him as anything else now. |
| 205 | * UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: |
| 206 | ** WordOfGod has stated that Project Cadmus, the [[GovernmentConspiracy anti-Justice League government think tank]] in the fourth season, were supposed to be sympathetic {{Anti Villain}}s with [[VillainHasAPoint a strong point]] about the dangers of unrestricted superhumans. In fact, the writers found Cadmus so sympathetic that they introduced a ConflictKiller in the form of Brainiac so he could be revealed as having been manipulating both sides to [[DebateAndSwitch avoid having to paint either Cadmus or the League as in the wrong]]. Fans, on the other hand, overwhelmingly sided with the League, considering Cadmus's deeds included attempting to nuke an inhabited island simply to kill Superman and Doomsday, creating Doomsday to begin with, manufacturing an army of cloned SlaveMooks and sending them to massacre the League, including the completely innocent Watchtower staff, and teaming up with supervillains including ComicBook/LexLuthor, all before the League had done much of anything to them. If anything, the audience viewed Cadmus causing all that shit just to get justification for what they do.[[note]]At the core of it all, probably, is a problem as old as CapePunk itself: if the government thinks it can do so much better than those loose-cannon superheroes, [[TheLopsidedArmOfTheLaw why]] doesn't ''it'' ever take care of the supervillains before the capes show up?[[/note]] |
| 207 | ** The ending of "Fury" attempts to elicit some sympathy for Aresia, as Wonder Woman laments that her fall from grace could have been prevented had she been exposed to men's world and their more noble qualities. However, it's really hard to see Diana's point of view given that, misguided or not, Aresia is by far one of the most heinous villains to be created for the show, as she attempts both genocide '''and''' matricide and doesn't give up on her schemes even after Hippolyta points out the flaws on her logic. |
| 208 | * UnpopularPopularCharacter: The Question. To his teammates including the founding seven think he's antisocial nut job, and even Batman of all people thinks he's "wound too tight". But the fans loved him because of his CrazyIsCool tendencies. |
| 209 | * WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: |
| 210 | ** The show sways between children and adult entertainment. The writers have admitted that they knew adults would be watching the show so they perfectly made it acceptable to both groups. However, it still doesn't stop parents from complaining about the FamilyUnfriendlyDeath and {{demographically inappropriate humour}}. |
| 211 | ** By season three of ''Unlimited'', the show had been eclipsed in the network's eyes by the LighterAndSofter ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'' as the premiere superhero show for kids, pushing ''JLU'' to one late night airing a week. As such, the creative team started making pretty blatant sexual references, openly displaying multiple deaths onscreen, and generally making a show pretty squarely directed at teens and adults. |
| 212 | * TheWoobie: Ace of the Royal Flush Gang. Poor, poor Ace... [[spoiler:As she described it in "Epilogue", she was a ChildSoldier who was forced by Cadmus to do tests, to play their games and to move what they wanted. They robbed her of a childhood. Then the Joker tried to use her in a scheme to hurt others, and when she was free she only wanted friends. The only people that would stay with her were criminals, just to have her powers. After all this, she develops an aneurysm that is most likely incurable since Waller didn't even mention operating on Ace to save her life, and is scared. She bonds with Batman who comes to convince her to change the world back to normal before she dies]]. |
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