[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jla_adventures_-_trapped_in_time_5900.jpg]]
''JLA Adventures: Trapped In Time'' is a direct-to-DVD animated film set in the DC Universe. The film features the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica attempting to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong after ComicBook/LexLuthor and the LegionOfDoom travel back in time and prevent Franchise/{{Superman}} from ever existing. Partnered with ComicBook/{{Robin}}, as well as Dawnstar and ComicBook/KarateKid from the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, the remaining Leaguers are forced to travel through time and rescue their comrades. It was produced and directed by Giancarlo Volpe, who also worked on ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries''.

Set in its own self-contained AlternateContinuity, the film is a bit of an oddity since it wasn't released under the current standard ''WesternAnimation/DCUniverseAnimatedOriginalMovies'' label. Instead, it was a store-exclusive item for the retail chain Target, at least for a few months until Warner Brothers gave it a wider release. Also unusually for DC animated films, it was only announced a month before it was released, making it sort of a stealth project. It came out the same month as ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueWar'', which is part of the label and got way more publicity at the time for beginning a series of ComicBook/{{New 52}}-based adaptations. The two DC films were noted for wildly contrasting tones; while ''War'' goes for a darker vibe, this is more like a modern ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends''.

!!This film provides examples of:
* ActorAllusion: Karate Kid, voiced by Creator/DanteBasco, is essentially [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Zuko]] in the DCU, right down to the ponytail, personality, and rivalry with a character with Sokka's VA.
* AdaptationDistillation: The movie takes elements from the classic continuity, as well as the ComicBook/{{New 52}} (mainly Superman's costume and the inclusion of ComicBook/{{Cyborg}}) and ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends''. (In fact, Cyborg's first tenure on the League was during the final iteration of the {{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}} show, bringing things full circle.)
* AdaptationalBadass: Dawnstar gets some impressive light magic powers to fill out her comics powerset, which was limited to tracking and flight. And while the the Time Trapper was always a major powerhouse, he's treated like a Lovecraftian horror here, a ShoutOut to the Paul Levitz/Keith Giffen Legion run, where he was in his Entropy Personified incarnation.
* AdaptedOut: Franchise/GreenLantern. Volpe claims that in his head, the film takes place during the events of ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', where Hal Jordan was off in space.
* AllLovingHero:
** Superman, as per the norm. When he hears Lex has gone missing (and is presumed dead) his first instinct is to organize a search and rescue.
** Dawnstar, she uses her light based magic to bless kittens she rescues from trees.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: Dawnstar and Karate Kid return to their own time, only to find that the statue of Superman has been replaced with a statue of Lex Luthor. They then use the hourglass to travel back in time and fix things.
* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Although not your typical loner, Karate Kid certainly qualifies. It's his arrogance that causes the trouble in the first place, and it's a major character flaw he eventually learns to overcome by the end of the movie.
* AuraVision: One of Karate Kid's powers, to see a person's or object's ki and determine its [[AttackItsWeakPoint weakest point]].
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: The trope namer can't, but Toyman can.
* BigBadWannabe: Lex Luthor assumes he has full control over Time Trapper and his powers but is proven dead wrong, with Time Trapper getting the last laugh over him and assuming the mantle of the true BigBad in the movie.
* BondOneLiner: "Times up!" *punch*
* BookEnds: Just as Dawnstar and Karate Kid were responsible for Lex Luthor being freed in the future and his enslavement of the Time Trapper to take him to the past, [[spoiler: so too were they the instrument of their defeat; they went back to the Arctic and thawed out Present!Lex, thus allowing the Time Trapper to undo Future!Lex, and Karate Kid was the one to see Time Trapper was [[EldritchAbomination a being made of Dark Matter]], allowing Dawnstar to use her light energy to kickstart the Trapper's defeat, undoing two mistakes at nearly the same time and allowing them to return to the future with the Time Trapper's hourglass.]]
* CastingGag:
** Creator/JasonSpisak as Franchise/TheFlash and Creator/GreyDeLisle as Franchise/WonderWoman, as they've both previously voiced these characters' respective [[WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010 kid]] [[WesternAnimation/SuperBestFriendsForever sidekicks]].
** A possible one exists in Creator/DanteBasco as Karate Kid - a hot-headed atoner, just like his most famous role, Zuko from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''.
* DeadpanSnarker: Robin.
* EnemyMine: Averted; Karate Kid attempts to form an alliance with Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, and Black Manta at one point due to common interests, but the villains won't have any of it.
* EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily: The Legion of Doom seems to have a stronger bond here than most versions. Cheetah flat-out tells Luthor that they were lost without him.
* GenericDoomsdayVillain: The Time Trapper's main motivation seems to be to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy everything]], without much explanation given. [[spoiler: He's eventually revealed to be living Dark Matter, with no actual emotions beyond the desire to spread and consume.]]
* HarmlessFreezing: Lex survives 1000 years in an iceberg no worse for wear. Curiously enough, he seems actually in worse shape when he is thawed hours after being frozen.
* HereWeGoAgain: When Dawnstar and Karate Kid return to their own time, they find a statue of Lex Luthor where the Superman one had previously stood, and so return to the past to correct this as the film ends.
* HumanoidAbomination: The Time Trapper is in human shape, but looks more along the lines of a corpse, appears to be able to do [[RealityWarper some amount of alteration]] to the environment, and is entirely made of Dark Matter.
* FailedASpotCheck: The Flash - for not stopping to actually check to see [[spoiler:if he really did have the infant Superman before catching up with the Kents - who were frightened out of their minds to have a Toyman baby instead]].
* TheFool: Many, including Bizzaro, Grundy and the Toyman.
* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Bizzaro.
* InsufferableGenius: Gorilla Grodd. He almost can't speak a sentence without mentioning his "superior intellect".
* KidAppealCharacter: According to WordOfGod, Lynell Forrestal suggested adding Karate Kid and Dawnstar to the cast to offset the number of white males in the JLA. (Karate Kid is Japanese, while Dawnstar is Native American) Likewise, Robin was included so the three teens could provide a youthful counterpoint to the adult heroes.
* KnightOfCerebus: While the film itself is LighterAndSofter compared to other animated DC movies during this time era, Time Trapper is played as a completely monstrous, inhuman threat whose presence darkens the story. Other members of the Legion of Doom have their occasionally humorous or humanizing qualities but the Time Trapper is a HumanoidAbomination who has none and is played as a totally serious villain compared to the rest of them.
* LegionOfDoom: The {{Trope Namer}}s appear as the main antagonists of the film.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Robin's first meeting with Karate Kid and Dawnstar goes like this.
* LightEmUp: Dawnstar.
* LighterAndSofter: WordOfGod states that the film was created specifically to provide an all-ages alternative to the DarkerAndEdgier DC films like ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueWar'', which was released around the same time.
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: The villains' goal is to prevent the origins of Superman through time travel. Since he inspired the majority of superheroes, this will effectively cripple the competition.
* ManOfKryptonite: Or Woman of Kryptonite in Dawnstar's case. As the Time Trapper is totally made up of dark matter, Dawnstar's light powers are exactly what's needed to be able to seriously harm him and turn the tide of the battle.
* MerchandiseDriven: The film was commissioned by Target to promote its line of Justice League action figures.
* MistakenForBetrayal: Upon his return to the present, Lex Luthor assumes that Black Manta, Captain Cold, and Gorilla Grodd's failure to report back to the Hall of Doom is because they've turned their backs on him. In truth, they were just as loyal to him as the rest of the Legion; they simply weren't aware of his return and were still looking for him in the Arctic.
* MuggedForDisguise: ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} and [[Characters/GreenLantern1941 Solomon Grundy]] rob a pair of Smallville residents for their clothes in order to fool the Kents.
* MythologyGag:
** Karate Kid's costume (which is unlike any he's ever worn in the comics) looks like that of Samurai, one of the CanonForeigner {{Captain Ethnic}}s from ''Superfriends''.
** A couple of pedestrians resemble Wendy and Marvin, walking their dog looking like Wonder Dog.
** Baby Kal-El is called "Superbaby", the name he's often called in comics featuring a toddler Superman.
** The Legion's overall plot, to erase Superman from history, was used in the ''Superfriends'' episode "Secret Origins of the Superfriends", where they did the same for Wonder Woman and Green Lantern.
** The opening credits have the Justice League and the Legion of Doom running toward each other as in the opening of the ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' iteration of ''Superfriends''.
* NearVillainVictory: Lex Luthor's plan to prevent baby Superman from being found and raised by the Kents [[spoiler: initially succeeds]]. Later, [[spoiler: Time Trapper almost kills the heroes, thereby insuring his victory, but he's done in by [[BigDamnHeroes Dawnstar]].]]
* NeverBringAGunToAKnifeFight: Black Manta mocks Aquaman for trying to fight him with a "fork", only to have his gun cut in half.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Karate Kid kicks off the plot by showing off his ability to almost punch the weak point in the ice holding Lex. The near-miss is still enough to do the job. Later on, Dawnstar and Karate Kid try to [[spoiler:paradox Lex out of existence]], but this leads to the Time Trapper nearly destroying reality and their temporal meddling [[spoiler:changes their relative present so that Lex is the one remembered as a hero]].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** As a consequence of the Time Trapper erasing [[spoiler:Lex, the entire Justice League gets to come back]].
** Not to mention Captain Cold's bungling at the start of the film is what foils Lex's plan to enlarge the polar ice caps and seals in him in ice in the first place.
* NonLinearCharacter: The Time Trapper himself is this, explaining his ability to create gateways through the fabric of time and create and maintain paradoxes. [[spoiler: It's also what prevents him from being erased along with Future!Lex, even though he was acting as his slave.]]
* NotHelpingYourCase: When trying to convince Robin that they aren't from the Legion of Doom, Karate Kid mentions the other Legion they weren't accepted into. Lacking context, this only confirms Robin's suspicions.
* NotInKansasAnymore: Apparently the one time that doesn't work.
* NotSoStoic: Dawnstar was becoming increasingly aggravated when Robin doesn't stop fighting to listen.
* PaperThinDisguise: Solomon Grundy and Cheetah pretend to be Superbaby's parents. Ma and Pa Kent are understandably confused since they saw the baby fall out of the sky.
* PlatonicLifePartners: Karate Kid and Dawnstar.
* RaceLift: The creators have stated that Karate Kid is full-blooded Japanese in this continuity, as opposed to the main Franchise/DCUniverse, where he's a Caucasian kid who was {{Retcon}}ned into being half-Japanese, but [[DependingOnTheArtist rarely]] [[FakeMixedRace looks it]]. Though he's Japanese in ''WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes''.
* SealedEvilInACan:
** The Time Trapper's hourglass is both the source of his power and his can. So long as someone else holds it, he's bound to their will. In his own hands, he's free.
** Plus there's the future version of Lex Luthor who's sealed in ice until Karate Kid frees him.
* SequelHook: The movie ends with [[spoiler: Grodd ominously claiming that with his newfound knowledge of the future, the key to vengeance against the Justice League is in his grasp. Later, when Karate Kid and Dawnstar return to the future, they find Lex Luthor has taken control of the world, and they go back in time again to fix things just before the credits roll.]]
* ShoutOut:
** Cyborg almost says the usual "[[Film/TheWizardOfOz We're not in Kansas anymore]]" when he, Aquaman, and the Flash arrive in the actual Kansas during the pursuit against Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, Toyman, and Cheetah.
** When the Justice League return from being erased from the present to fight Time Trapper, he says "[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi So be it, Justice League.]]" in a similar manner to [[Characters/StarWarsEmperorPalpatine another evil hooded figure]].
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Karate Kid and Dawnstar get most of the screentime.
* TemporalParadox: Though a very selective one. Anyone who shouldn't technically exist in the present can be erased by the Time Trapper, but the timeline doesn't change beyond that. [[spoiler:Despite the far-reaching implications of an absent Superman, the only change seems to be that the Justice League suddenly stops existing ''now'', as opposed to never having existed at all. This is particularly bad with Bizarro, who literally only exists because there is/was a Superman. Justified in that the Time Trapper seems to be selectively enforcing the paradox, and since Lex was controlling him, Bizarro was spared]]
* ThereWasADoor: Dawnstar and Karate Kid blast their way into the Hall of Justice, since they couldn't figure out how to get inside. Apparently the large glass doors at the front mystified them.
* UnderwearOfPower: A given, yet while Superman doesn't have his, Bizzaro [[IncrediblyLamePun bizarrely]] does.
** Then again, a character that does stuff backwards is exactly the type that would wear his underwear on the outside.
* VillainBall: It's noted that Dawnstar and Karate Kid have made themselves walking paradoxes, thus rendering them vulnerable to Time Trapper's erasure power. When he gets the chance, however, he just gloats that they cannot stop him (no points for guessing his undoing).
* WholeCostumeReference: Toyman has his "wooden puppet" appearance from ''ComicBook/{{Justice}}''.
* WholePlotReference: The story is basically a modernization of the ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' episode "Secret Origins of the Superfriends". The main difference is the inclusion of the Time Trapper and the Legion of Super-Heroes.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: The cab driver demands Karate Kid and Dawnstar to pay him. But they either don't seem to understand the concept of money or are unaware that currency is printed on paper.
----