Awesome / Young Justice (2010)

Animated Series

General

• Season 2 as a whole involves a lot of awesome on Nightwing's part. In the five years since the first season, he's grown up and become his own hero, as well as a mentor figure to Tim Drake as Robin. In the latter part of the season, all members of the Justice League on Earth defer to him, an eighteen year old kid. Not to mention his role in coordinating with Kaldur throughout the season.
• Throughout the Season, it's confirmed that Blue Beetle is one of the most powerful members on the Team. He is able to take out his entire team single-handedly (granted that he was under the Reach's control, but it still means that he is capable of killing his entire team), and is able to hold his own against one of their most powerful enemies. Not only that, but the Scarab had advised him to kill, not only enemies, but everyone who potentially opposes them multiple times (including his friends). But what does Jaime do? Nothing. He has one of the most powerful alien tech embedded in his spine, but Jaime is the kindest and most empathetic person on the team next to Mal, and he just wants to do good and becomes so paranoid that he was the cause of the bad future, that he does everything in his power to prevent it though, that turns out well... That's awesome in its own right.
• Season 3 features a character openly wearing a hijab, with both her and Artemis saying that not only is there nothing wrong with this but that there's everything right with it because she wants to, and Forager's race being displayed as nonbinary with no need for pronouns (gendered or otherwise).

Season 1

Independence Day

• The Goddamn Batman making his dramatic entrance in the first episode.
• Robin hacks various systems in Cadmus' facility, but Dr. Desmond believes he forgot to hack the motion sensors, and so will be overwhelmed. Nope, he hacked those, too.
• A few seconds after being freed from mind control, Guardian realizes what happened, orders the kids to get out and get help, and decides to take on Desmond on his own. It doesn't work, but it shows that he really possesses heroic qualities to size up and take control of a situation that fast.
• At the end of the episode, the whole team calls their former mentors out on their refusal to give them any independence and let them be heroes of their own instead of simply sidekicks. In particular, Superboy tells off The Goddamn Batman to his face and all of them line up, with the clear implication they'll fight them for this if they have to.
  Superboy: "It's simple, get on board or get out of the way."
• In the opening scene of the series, four of the world's deadliest ice-themed villains attack four different major cities in a coordinated strike. We're treated to four awesome battle scenes as Batman and Robin battle Mr. Freeze, the Flash and Kid Flash battle Captain Cold, Green Arrow and Speedy battle Icicle Jr., and Aquaman and Aqualad battle Killer Frost. While it's a pretty awesome action scene on its own, it's even cooler if you're a long-time DC fan. Why? Mr. Freeze is one of Batman's most iconic foes, Captain Cold is one of the most iconic members of the Rogues, Killer Frost is a major recurring enemy of the Justice League, and the original Icicle was one of the oldest enemies of the original Green Lantern and the Justice Society of America. When all four of those characters appear in the same scene, it's instantly clear that the showrunners did their homework about the DC Universe—and anybody can show up from this point forward. A great Establishing Series Moment for a great show.

Infiltrator

• Red Arrow single-handedly breaking into a League of Shadows base, rescuing Dr. Roquette, and holding all the guards off long enough to be able to escape.

Schooled

• Superboy brain-punching Amazo.
• Black Canary easily wiping the floor with Kid Flash and Superboy in training without her powers.
  • Which makes it all the more awesome when, in "Auld Aquaintances": Robin almost effortlessly defeats her. Granted, she had a handicap.

Downtime

• Aqualad going toe to toe with Black Manta.
• Mera, Aquaman's wife, creates a magic giant octupus construct to wipe the floor with a large contingent of Black Manta's troops. Just minutes ago, Aquaman announced that she was pregnant.
  Queen Mera: "I need no protection!"
• In the intro, the team has gotten their collective ass handed to them by Clayface. Suddenly, Batman breaks in from the skylight and drops Clayface in around ten seconds, as if it was part of his daily routine by now.

Bereft

• Miss Martian's Battle in the Center of the Mind with Psimon, along with Superboy's assist. "Get! Out! Of my! Head!"

Targets

• Lex Luthor is introduced as his full Magnificent Bastard self, teaming up with Ra's al Ghul and hiring the League of Shadows to disrupt a peace summit while also hiring Red Arrow to protect it, ultimately getting that peace and a bundle of cash with it.
• Aqualad forming a water shield to protect the peace summit, while Red Arrow shoots an explosive arrow through at Cheshire at the last second.

Terrors

• Superboy tricking Icicle Jr. into helping him take down damn near the whole prison. Bonus points for Superboy also using his head while angry with Killer Frost.
• Amanda Waller's introduction, full stop.
  Waller: I am the law of last resort. My name is Amanda Waller. I am not your mother, your maiden aunt, or your friend. I am your warden; and you are my prisoners. The propietry collars you wear are customed designed to inhibit your specific meta abilities. No ice, no strength. In addition, the collars can and will be used to disipline inmates. A con who breaks the rules, gets ''one'' warning....At the slightest hint of trouble, this facility goes into lockdown. Belle Reve's walls are thick enough to hold Superman. We know. We checked. No one's ever escaped Belle Reve. No one ever will.
• Later, Waller facing down Icicle Sr. (who has taken over the Belle Reve prison, but is still struggling to actually get out of it.)
  Icicle Sr.: Tell me how you did it or I swear you won't thaw for a millennium!
  Amanda Waller: At which point, you will still be in Belle Reve.
  • Hell, anything Waller says is her telling the villains in different ways, "You Shall Not Pass!"
• Riddler gets one near the end. After being treated as a worthless nobody by the other prisoners, he is the only prisoner who escapes.
• Strange trying to stop Icicle from hurting Waller. Not because it's a Badass Normal moment, given how Strange is a member of the Light, but because of the Xanatos Gambit nature of doing that to make him look like a hero and get a villain promoted to Waller's job.

Homefront

• Red Tornado's "siblings" Red Torpedo and Red Inferno invade the cave and have captured and are about to kill Superboy, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, and Robin. Artemis pretends to surrender and instead of handing over her bow, kicks one, jumps on another and backflips and while still in midair fires an arrow across the room to Robin's E.M.P. device, activating it and shutting down the robots, saving the lives of the rest of the team.
• Robin basically spends the middle part of the episode being a hyper-competent badass, always thinking two steps ahead of the situation, leaving no possible advantage untapped, never panicking, never giving in, and still managing to get in some snark and wordplay. It's a truly breathtaking display of exactly how well-trained he is, and his usual childishness seems to vanish. He only snaps at Artemis once to try and get her head on straight.
  Robin: [dead calm] You seem distraught.
  Artemis: [panicking] Distraught?! M'gann is dying, we have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow! Of course I'm distraught!
  Robin: [raising his voice] Well, get traught or get dead.
  • Lets put this in perspective, every single action of his never seems to be without a point. He throws a Robin-rang and it lands near Kid Flash after ricochet-ing off the enemy. It seems like a coincidence, but it turns out, Robin needed Kid Flash's scientific expertise to make an EMP so he ricocheted the rang off the enemy at Kid Flash knowing that the rang had a built in communicator. Batman would have been proud.

Alpha Male

• The Brain gets one when he pulls off a Stealth Hi/Bye on the team. Let's put this in perspective. A brain in a robot the size of a Dalek took a giant gorilla and himself and disappeared while freaking out the Team.
• While the team was arguing to Aqualad, Batman was able to silence them with one word.
  Batman: Enough!
• The usually docile Aqualad gets one when, after the entire team constantly put him down and bicker against him for the mole deal, he basically takes command, tells them to shut up, and obey his orders until the end of the mission.
  Aqualad: Enough! Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him!
  Kid Flash: Heh, under your leadership? I don't think s-
  Aqualad: This is not up for debate! You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader, I will happily step down. But until that time, I am in command here!

Revelation

• The fact that the team was sent on a mission to battle 7 villains. Also the team established that they have a plan B. Plan B is to use the Helmet of Fate against Wotan in case they were underpowered.
  • Robin also get one in the fact that throughout the battle Count Vertigo kept wondering where he was. Let's put this in perspective; instead of dealing with the other teenagers with super powers (and the wolf), the Count was worried about a 13 year old boy. For good reason too. It was Robin's exploding discs that took out the control center.
• Aqualad/Dr. Fate pulling a Big Damn Heroes moments after The Joker goes Ax-Crazy and releases all the Joker Venom in a last ditch effort to kill the heroes and the whole Injustice League too! Aqualad/Dr. Fate saves everyone by getting rid of the Venom with one spell.
  "Fate Lad": "FEAR NOT. FATE HAS INTERVENED!"
• Mention really ought to be given to Robin going toe to toe with the Joker. Especially with Joker's one-liners, beforehand.
  The Joker: Always wanted to carve this bird. *Flips open a switch-blade*
  The Joker: [imitating Dr. Fate's earlier proclamation] WONDER BOY! YOU ARE MINE! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!
• The Injustice League themselves, for bringing Deconstructed Character Archetype in a pretty awesome way: as good as the Team are, they're still just kids, and the Injustice League is made up of A-List villains like The Joker and Black Adam. The Team simply cannot beat them on their own, and the Team has to resort to Dr. Fate to turn the tides. (And even after that, they still need a Big Damn Heroes moment from the Justice League)
  • Wotan in particular incapacitated the entire Team with a single spell, and then fought toe to toe with Dr. Fate, something even Klarion couldn't do.

Humanity

• Zatanna's first onscreen display of magic (in turn, her first MOA) is forcing Ivo to spill T.O. Morrow's location. Before this, Ivo was facing off against M'gann, confident that he'd ward off another telepath. Afterwards...

  Ivo: Wait! Wha-, what just happened!?

• KF coming up with a way to deal with the supervolcano. Forget superspeed, Wally's real superpower is science.
  • Not to mention that he was able to hold his own in a fight with the Reds with a broken arm. Barry Allen chose well!
• Red Inferno and Red Torpedo do not see why they should help save humanity, since they are no longer human. Red Tornado gets them with a single response.
  Red Tornado: The premise of your question is flawed. You were never human, but you were heroes.

Failsafe

• The Team's Rousing Speech. Everyone was inspired by their words. Even Alfred gave a victorious "HUZZAH!" and cheered with the rest of the people watching!
  Miss Martian: ...And though we know all seems lost, the one thing the aliens cannot destroy is hope.
  Superboy: Hope survives because the battle is not over. Not as long as even one of us is willing to fight.
  Kid Flash: It doesn't matter how many fall, for new heroes will always rise to carry on, bringing all their resources, their skills to bare, to defeat the enemy.
  Robin: The people of Earth will survive this. We will rebuild, and we will thrive. Never doubt and never forget, the Earth will never surrender!
• Superboy acting as a distraction by fighting the aliens.
  "ALRIGHT, YOU GLORIFIED TRESPASSERS! YOU WANNA SEE HOW A REAL ALIEN FIGHTS?!"

Disordered

• Batman comments that he expected the Team to rally after the disastrous events of "Failsafe." Martian Manhunter completely cows him.
  Manhunter: Trauma tends to linger, as I know you know, my friend.
• The Forever People when they form Infinity-Man.
  Forever People (as one): TARUU!
• Superboy using the Super Cycle to gain control of Infinity Man.

Secrets

• Artemis is all kinds of badass in this episode, but the best part is when she blows up the kitchen.
  Harm: Oh that little- BOOM!
• Zatanna was no slouch either. Her creating a giant ring of fire so they could retreat and trapping Harm in ice really stood out. Also the girls teamwork in of itself was awesome, pulling off an interesting take of Bow and Magician. And this is only the second time they've met/teamed up.
• M'gann, Conner and Wally's plan for turning Marvin's Halloween prank on himself. Even includes M'gann shapeshifting into a demonic Marvin the Martian to scare him off, just for the sake of irony. Pretty hilarious as well.
  • Marvin's prank itself was pretty darn awesome, a delicious modern version of the Orson Welles The War of the Worlds broadcast.

Misplaced

• Billy Batson/Captain Marvel definitely deserves one when you take into account the first time he changed into Captain Marvel that episode he had no idea what had happened to the adults. It was this fear of not knowing what would happen to his Older Alter Ego that had prevented him from changing right away.
  Billy: I can't! If I say it, I'll be an adult! And maybe disappear forever! Captain Marvel may have the courage of Achilles, (defeated) but Billy Batson... (steels himself) ...has the courage of Billy Batson. SHAZAM!!!

• Not to mention Billy's extremely impressive display of smartness when he, knowing how ridiculous it would sound if he told them he was Captain Marvel, simply said "Quick! Read my mind!" to Miss Martian.
• The whole episode is one for the Light. They need a distraction so they can steal something from S.T.A.R. Labs, so what do they do? Arrange for a few different thefts simultaneously? Unleash some Dumb Muscle to attack the League directly? No, they basically split the goddamn world in two!

Coldhearted

• Kid Flash getting Count Vertigo to confess to attempted regicide.
  • The entire climax was one long MOA for Kid Flash.
• There's a quick shot of Zatanna destroying one of the ice fortresses with a massive fire spell.
• The best part is that this is one of the few times the Light's plans fail completely. An organization of borderline Villain Sues was outwitted by Kid Flash.
• Kid Flash deciding that once the police officers are safe from Vandal Savage to just keep on going, because the little girl who needed the heart was much more important than fighting a super villain at the time. Especially awesome because you know just how much he wanted to keep fighting.
• Vandal Savage surely deserves a spot here, too, engaging someone capable of approaching the speed of sound in hand-to-hand combat.
  • And vice versa, Kid Flash deserves a spot just for matching Vandal in physical combat. Consider that Kid Flash is frequently Overshadowed by Awesome when it comes to actual fighting (plus, he often doesn't seem to be moving much faster than the others on the team), and that Vandal is thousands of years old, incredibly strong, and the inventor of cannibalism. This guy can go toe-to-toe with most of the Justice League, and Kid Flash fights him to a draw.
• When Wally spots the deception by Vertigo, he is still able to bring out one last burst of speed to save the girl. Dude has just run across the country with a lowball mile count of 3,000 and literally said just before he arrived at the hospital that he was running on fumes, and he still managed to save the girl. Never doubt the Heroic Willpower of Kid Flash.

Image

• Superboy saves Marie Logan and her son Garfield from a stampede by leaping from the ship, slamming into the ground hard enough to make a crater, grabbing one of the beasts by the horns, and forcing it to the ground, causing the entire stampede to split in two around them like the goddamned red sea.
• M'gann managing to defeat Psimon again to protect her secret is kind of a scary one; judging by his vacant stare and drooling, the implication is that she broke his mind!

Agendas

• At the meeting of the Justice League to decide on new members. Batman definitely gets one for standing up for Captain Marvel. Flash pointed out that, since they were for making the cut-off age for being eligible for League membership 18-years-old, that Cap technically shouldn't be allowed to join, since he's really only 10-years-old. Black Canary suggests that Cap should leave while they discuss this, but Batman states that, as a current member of the League, Captain Marvel still had the right to participate in the discussion about his eligibility.
• Superboy's second fight with Match.
  Superboy: (After catching a punch from Match) My turn...

Usual Suspects

• The team, particularly Miss Martian, Superboy, and Artemis, get two. First the whole team comes out on top after being set up and ambushed. Then the three of them finally come clean with their Dark Secrets, and because of that, the whole team is able to pull wool over the eyes of their respective evil Secret Keepers and come out on top again]]. Brainwashed mentors? They'll be fine.
  • The Light get one too. Their efforts to subvert the Team may have failed miserably, but their plan to brainwash the Justice League went perfectly.
  Watchtower computer: Access granted. Vandal Savage: A-04.
  • In other words, not one but two cases of Out-Gambitted. By different groups. In one episode.

Auld Acquaintance

• The battle between the Team and the mind-controlled Justice League is absolutely full of these.
  • Robin and Superboy tag-teaming Batman and Superman.
    • What's more, in order to win, Superboy makes Robin briefly expose him and Superman, whom he's got in a hold, to Kryptonite. Superboy was clearly in pain, but he endures it anyway to save Superman from the mind control.
    • The beat before Batman and Robin face off drips with this. No words if there even is any to be said. Just Batman cracking his knuckles and Robin knowing that it's time to see if he has a shot at being a Superior Successor.
  • Miss Martian knocking out her uncle by projecting visions of fire.
  • The fight in the airlock with Kid Flash, Artemis, and Aqualad against their mentors.
  • Zatanna using a spell to revert Captain Marvel back to Billy Batson. As he's flying at her. It 's such a close call, Billy ends up colliding with her.
  • Rocket using her powers to capture Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman, one of the most powerful heroes in the planet in regards to sheer brute strength, and Rocket stops her cold, namely because any struggling from Wonder Woman actually makes Rocket's power that much more effective against her.
  • The fact that The Team outgambited the Light again. Even if they are yet again out-outgambitted. They know they've been out-out-gambited, they just have to figure out how.
  • Perhaps the biggest goes to Roy Harper, or more accurately the Roy clone, who is the Roy we've known since the start of the series since he referred to the original Roy as "Speedy". He's cloned by the bad guys to infiltrate the good guys, and only realizes the truth when it's too late. But he still helped save the day. In the end, he vows to find and rescue the original Roy who is being held captive by the Light. If that's not heroism, nothing is.
  • Another one goes to Red Tornado, for managing to subvert his own mind control. It seems small, but if he hadn't, the whole team might have gotten the Starro-tech treatment. Aqualad missed getting mind-controlled by that much. And all Tornado needed to do it was a 0.16-nanosecond delay.
  • Batman should also get credit for resisting the Starro-tech. While he couldn't resist it like Tornado, he was able to give the Team a hint that something was wrong when he called them "the kids".

Season 2 (Invasion)

Happy New Year

• Lobo. Just Lobo. Even though it's to be expected, the Main Man is practically made of awesome. He heartily trounces both Wonder Girl and Batgirl without even breaking a sweat, completes his contract as promised, and then takes his leave of Earth like it was nothing.
  • Wonder Girl also gets one as well for actually giving Lobo a run for his money for a little bit there. She makes her entrance on the scene by flipping over him just as he's about to kill Secretary-General Tsang, and then punches him in the gut so hard it staggers him, brings him to his knees, and shatters the all the windows in the room.
    Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark: Okay, big guy, let's see how much punishment you can take!
  • Robin (Tim Drake), Blue Beetle, and Lagoon Boy handling themselves like pros when they unexpectedly run into the main alien base staffed by hundreds of the aliens.
• Lagoon Boy ripping open the cage containing the prisoners.

Earthlings

• Beast Boy and Superboy versus a whole shipload of Kroloteans, plus the ones that escaped from last episode. Total ownage by our boys in the most awesome way possible.
  Superboy: (Sees destroyer-ship overhead, smirks) You game?
  Beast Boy: Me? I'm big game!
  Cue Fastball Special, Gorilla-style, and Curbstomp Battle
• Adam Strange's reveal of his jetpack.

Alienated

• The team and the League track both the Krolotean invaders and Black Manta's crew to an island where their main base is held beneath a volcano. It starts as a recon mission, and escalates into an all out brawl as the Batman Family, Aquaman and La'gaan, Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, and Superman and Superboy proceed to mop the floor in a coordinated assault that pushes the invaders and the villains back. That is, before the Light's latest partners plant a bomb of alien origin that blows the place up.
  • Superboy especially for OHK-ing four alien mecha in a row, especially considering a single mecha almost killed him in the previous episode.
  • Superman gets a major one for trying to talk the Kroloteans into letting him save them from said bomb, staying behind while the rest of the League and the Team get clear as he tries to convince them that they're in danger and he's trying to help. Regardless of the language barrier (though it's clear they understood him), and the fact that these are invaders bent on taking over the world, "Big Blue" still wants to do the right thing and save them as well. That's why he's the one people look to for inspiration, guidance, and hope. No matter who you are, he's not going to give up on you. He's a hero, through and through.
    • He also gets one for taking a bomb to the face. Without a scratch.
  • Even before that, Blue Beetle's reputation continues to prove a bane to the invading Kroloteans. Not only does his mere presence make one of them drop impersonation of Bibbo Bibbowski, cut and run, but the Kroloteans later talk about the Reach in hushed voices as "The Competitors", like some kind of boogeymen.
  • Hell, Bibbo himself even gets one. Not only does he appear as a One-Scene Wonder (at this point at least), but he lays out his impostor with one punch! It's even presented in the same slo-mo manner as Wonder Girl's punches!
    Bibbo: There's only one Bibbo Bibbowski. Remember it!
  • The Krolotean Bibbo knocks out then gets an impressive escape down into the sewers to another ship.
  • Kaldur gets numerous ones, evil or not.
    • Takes down Superboy in three seconds.
    • Blasted Aquaman with his helmet Eye Beams (didn't hurt him, but it knocked him down).
    • Leads his entire group of henchmen very effectively, and spots the intruders almost immediately after one of his squads fails to report.
    • All in all, it's safe to say Kaldur hasn't lost his edge, even if his morals have taken a dive.

Salvage

• Black Canary quickly shows Red Arrow that no, he is not in the best shape of his life. She nearly knocks him off the building they're on and she was holding back. way back.
• A good chunk of Superboy and Blue Beetle's fight with the Appellexian golem could count as this. Actually, Superboy is all kinds of awesome in this episode- it shows how much he's matured in the last five years.
• The fact that Jade/Chesire managed to find a lead to where Speedy is when no one in the Justice League, including the Batman could do the same thing.
• There's a good Badass Normal moment from the two guards at the nuclear power plant, trying to shoot a gigantic monster without showing the slightest consideration about fleeing their post.

Beneath

• Wonder Girl managing to actually pull a good stealth moment by reaching Miss Martian in time to warn her not to us the psychic link with some quick hand gestures. of course it's undermined by how this causes her to get overconfident and make a mistake right afterwards.

Bloodlines

• Bart Allen/Impulse travels from Mount Justice to Central City in mere seconds. He crossed states in SECONDS. Compare that to Wally needing 4 hours to get to Seattle in "Coldhearted".
  • Earlier in the episode he blinds Robin. With paper.
• Nightwing taking down Impulse. He throws a bunch of marbles in the hallway to trip him up. Bart sees them coming, grins, and avoids them by running up on the wall. He stops to gloat, yelling about how something like that's not gonna stop—when Nightwing comes out of nowhere to elbow him in the gut, knocking him to the ground, and handcuffs his wrists and ankles.
  • Then when Nightwing gives Impulse a glass of water, Impulse quickly realizes it's to get his DNA for testing but drinks anyway. A little later when Bart escapes Nightwing reveals that the water also had nanotrackers, truly shows how he was trained by Batman by always being two steps ahead.
• Roy shaking off years of decline — right down to shaving off his Beard of Sorrow — to take down the entire guard retinue of a large complex alongside his wife Jade/Cheshire. Bonus points, for good or ill, for bringing their baby along the entire time.

  • Word of God confirmed that the arrival of Lian inspired Jade to make drastic changes in her life for the well being of her daughter. Just knowing that confirms that Jade would do anything for her baby girl, even give up "bad life". It also shows that she is different from her father Sportsmaster, who didn't quit the Light even after his wife was paralyzed and eldest child ran away.

Depths

• Nightwing, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Artemis have been running a scheme to infiltrate the Light, and Kaldur's Face–Heel Turn and Artemis' death were all a part of the plan. They kept this a secret from the entire Justice League and the Team, including Batman.
  • By the same token, they get a crowning moment for completely reversing the usual formula of the show. The show usually ends with the team thinking they've won, only for The Light to reveal that while they suffered some sort of loss, they still achieved this or that objective. "Depths" ends with Black Manta thinking the shuttle destruction, the capture of La'gaan and the death of Artemis went the way The Light planned... only for the team to reveal that, while they suffered losses, their true objective — increasing Kaldur's credit with The Light and planting Artemis among the operatives — was reached.

Satisfaction

• Original Roy breaks out of the hospital, tries to assassinate Luthor, takes on Mercy Graves and blows up her arm, and was about to do the same to Luthor using illegal Detonation Cord his company sold even willing to go on a Taking You with Me when the guards arrived.
  • Luthor himself. Even when the explosives were wrapped around his arm, he never lost his cool.
• Luthor himself gets props when his desk withstood a rocket and he had a replacement arm to give to Roy in order to stop him from trying to assassinate him. Badass in a Nice Suit indeed.

  Lex Luthor: And that, my dear, is why I spent top dollar for a customized desk.

  • Roy's line before firing off a missile:
    Roy: You gotta love modern military weapons. It's easier for a one-armed man to fire a rocket launcher than it is to put on his pants.
  • This is a fifteen year old boy. He'd only been trained by Green Arrow a few months when the Light took him. He's been in suspended animation for eight years, is probably not in the best shape, is still groggy from being woken up and he's missing an arm. He takes on an entire complex of trained guards and manages to impress Lex Luthor with his tactical skill and determination. He is one badass kid.
• The hapless Captain Cold attempting to rob a bank... Not realizing it's directly across the street from a bridal shower of about seven extremely powerful super-heroines.
  Captain Cold: I'm completely doomed, aren't I?
  Rocket: One hundred percent.

Darkest

• Blue Beetle and Impulse vs the Terror Twins, Icicle Junior, Tigress (Artemis), and Aqualad. Two of these were formerly senior members of the team and the twins went toe to toe with Superman and Martian Manhunter. Bart and Jaime are the newest members of the team. That's how badass they are.
• Mal saving Nightwing's life after Aqualad blows up Mount Justice and Superboy, Nightwing, Wolf and Sphere are caught in the explosion. If Mal hadn't hurried and swam the harbor Nightwing's unconscious body would have fallen into the water and he would have died.
  • Also, had Mal stayed longer at the lab—Karen noted that he would get bored quickly—he would've been too late.
• Wally's massive What the Hell, Hero? speech to Nightwing. The cave has exploded, three more members have been taken hostage, and Superboy, Nightwing, Sphere and Wolf would have drowned if Mal hadn't come home early. Nightwing tries to explain it by saying the flashdrive he had explained why it had to be done, and says that Aqualad gave them time to get out, but Wally shuts him down by pointing out that he has no proof of that and is just guessing. To cap it off, he asks Nightwing if he's so sure Aqualad really can be trusted. Dick may be okay for a starting Magnificent Bastard, but he's in way over his head and somebody needed to point out that there are too many variables for this to be safely controlled.

Before the Dawn

• Blue Beetle vs. Black Beetle. Jaime has just been released out of his tube after almost a week of being experimented on and tortured. He was so weak, needed Impulse's aid to even walk and is so disoriented he can't even see straight. Not only that, but Jaime was just told that he was going to be the cause of a worldwide apocalyptic alien invasion, which definitely emotionally shocks him. But after seeing his friends in trouble, what does he do? Engage the guy who just decked his entire team, of course! - and amazingly hold his own. He does give the Scarab control at first since he was too weak from the experiments, but his desire to fight for his friends and himself, as well as symbolically, his own bad future, snaps him of the Scarab's control and motivates him to hold the fight long enough for everyone to escape.
• Also the fact that this mission almost went perfectly in achieving its objectives: they broke in, rescued the hostages, and discovered the name of their enemies. The hiccup in The Mole plan aside, the league now is much more prepared to face The Reach when the time comes.
• Don't forget about Wonder Girl here! Remember when Cassie first faced off against Black Beetle? He nailed her with a punch that not only threw her back, but sent her to the floor, doubled over and clutching her chest/stomach in obvious pain. Its very likely he either broke a rib or another major internal organ with that hit, and yet, she gets back up and keeps on fighting, even endures being repeatedly slammed into the door by Black Beetle, never once backing down.
• Virgil Hawkins grabbing a gun and aiming at Black Beetle. He's been abducted, placed in a pod, and just watched Black Beetle take down several experienced heroes, but does that stop him? No.
• Lagoon Boy's rescue of Blue Beetle. He dodges plasma blasts, swings and grabs a very heavy Blue, and all while holding on to a drop line and being towed and then reeled in by it at high speeds. And this was after he got electrocuted and thrown across the room into a console.
• Credit where credit is due, Black Beetle hands the entire rescue team their asses. Even when Blue Beetle joins the fight, their battle ends with him unconscious (but all things considered, Jaime was already terribly weakened after almost a week of experimentation) and Black fine (although he did have to let them go to repair damage to the ship).
• Batgirl taking charge during the mission and giving orders to Nightwing.

Cornered

• Mal becoming Guardian to face down Despero. Considering that Mal is only Mission Control while Despero's strong enough to resist mystic lightning attacks and everything else thrown at him, that is nothing short of amazing.
  • Big props to Captain Marvel for giving everything he could towards Despero and downright acting something like a Papa Wolf towards the team, ironically considering true age
  • Later, Zatanna and M'gann working together to turn Despero's power back on himself.
  • Jaime ignoring advice from both the Scarab and Impulse and telling the League the truth about the future Reach apocalypse and his part in it. He then tells them that, whatever it takes, they need to get the Scarab off his spine.
  • The Ambassador gets his for the expert way he manipulates things. First, he forces Captain Atom to admit that the team ambushed the Reach with bad intel; then gets the league to admit to having The Watchtower. Captain Atom himself admits that "he beat me without firing a single shot."

True Colors

• The much anticipated arrival of Deathstroke. In space of one scene, Deathstroke intimidates Sportsmaster just by showing up, prevents him from assassinating Black Manta- thus securing his position as the former's replacement as enforcer for The Light- and nearly offs his competition in one fell swoop.
• Sportsmaster himself did not disappoint. After spending much of the show serving the Light's whims, when his request for retribution is denied, he just attacks Black Manta, one of his superiors, without second thought. Takes a lot of guts to do that.
  • Not only that, but Sportsmaster knew exactly what he was doing going into this meeting with his superiors, and he knew that regardless of the outcome, he was going to get his way. If they decide to grant his request and allow him to kill Kaldur, he achieves his goal of revenge and repairs the damage to his reputation. If they deny him his vengeance, he simply goes for his true target (i.e. Black Manta), and attacks him in front of all of them. If he kills him, fine, he has his revenge and reputation; and if not, then he's "fired" from his position as their enforcer, which leaves him free to pursue his vendetta against Manta unabated. Quite The Plan for a villain people usually don't think twice about. Hell, the only reason he bothered making a formal request to the Light instead of outright killing Manta was because of his "code of honor."
  • Plus, his one-liner before attacking Manta is pretty badass:
    Sportsmaster: Fine. If the minnow is under the size limit, then I'll go fish for the whale. (Hurls a wicked-looking fuuma shuriken at Manta)
  • As is his parting one-liner to Vandal Savage, reminding him that he's not the only one that can plan ahead. Probably the closest anyone's ever gotten to saying Shut Up, Hannibal! to the Light.
    Savage: Fortune favors the prepared.
    Sportsmaster: You don't say. *wall behind him explodes and he gets away scot-free*
• Jaime letting Bumblebee and Atom cut into his spine. He's screaming in pain, but he's still letting them work. That takes guts.
• Green Beetle and The Team VS Black Beetle. Probably Black's first legitimate defeat.
  • Heck, Robin (Tim Drake) gets one by landing two hits (one electrified) on Black Beetle with his staff at the start of their fight that cause him to stagger and grunt. They don't seem to hurt him much, but the fact that his hits are having any effect at all on a guy strong enough to overpower Superboy and shrug off anything else thrown at him is really something.
  • Watching Green Beetle/B'arzz O'oom fight is just awesome itself. He completely catches Black Beetle off guard, slashes at him (which is blocked), flips over his attack, and the second Black attacks him on his descent from the flip, grabs the arm-blade with his feet, and uses it to flip Black through the air and attack him mid-flight.
  • Also, the voice Phil LaMarr seems to be using for him echoes that of Samurai Jack.
  • And again, great mastery of the heroic one-liner:
    Black Beetle: Warrior, you dare attack ME?! You scarab-rejects are coming out of the woodwork tonight!!
    Green Beetle/B'arzz O'oomm: Better to be a reject than a slave!
• For some reason, Arsenal (the original Roy Harper) blowing up a production lab was pretty cool, even if it called down the thunder.

The Fix

• Deathstroke spending most of his on-screen time kicking ass.
• Artemis is also all kinds of awesome in the episode. First, she knocks Psimon out with a small dart of catatonic poison that lasts for weeks. Then, completely on the fly, she makes up a plan to get Miss Martian on Black Manta's sub...and it works! And then she guides Aqualad out of his catatonic state through The Power of Friendship, though he's still far from full recovery.
• Finally, when Nightwing reveals the truth about Aqualad to La'gaan and Superboy, the latter is at first supportive. Then, in private, he gives him the verbal smackdown he deserves, pointing out what a bad idea it was to lie to the team.

The Runaways

• The four runaways (Virgil, Eduardo, Tye, and Asami) gain a foothold on their powers by rescuing the members of the Star Labs.
  • Especially Tye, who not only holds off Red Volcano, but prior to that, create a massive astral form and protects his friends on sheer instinct alone, while he's asleep!
  • And when Blue Beetle gets buried underground, the rest of the kids are wondering what to do. After an entire episode of them struggling and coming up with poorly thought out plans, Tye pulls himself together, orders the rest of them to follow Red Volcano and evacuate the bystanders, and then finally uses his powers voluntarily to get Jaime out.
  • Eduardo Jr., too. Despite not being happy with his newfound abilities, he pulls himself together in order to teleport both him and his dad to safety. Pretty impressive, considering that he said he could only teleport himself at the beginning of the episode. His CMOA also doubles as a Heartwarming Moment.
  • And how about Virgil? The kid could only magnetize small objects at first in "Cornered," and yet, here we see him firing full-on blasts of electrical energy at Red Volcano, and surfing around on manhole covers/trashcan lids, as easily as someone would a skateboard. He's a natural at this!
  • Asami also deserves a mention here. Her English isn't very good, so she doesn't understand much of what everyone else is saying or doing (she even Lampshades this at one point (in Japanese, of course), and yet, she puts herself in harm's way time and again, because she knows its the right thing to do, and because she sticks by her tomodachi (her friends). She even tries to topple Red Volcano by hurling herself at him like a cyclone-propelled cannonball, just so she can buy Eduardo Jr. time to get his dad to safety!
• Blue Beetle's takedown of Red Volcano, even if he was a bit overzealous in it, was supremely awesome. The entire team couldn't defeat that guy before. It is a shame that it was foreshadowing the fact that he's now a Reach agent.
• Lex Luthor, being The Chessmaster he is, earned the trust of the runaways by revealing key information, playing Even Evil Has Standards and orchestrated the entire attack. Bad guy or not, he's got style.

War

• The Justice League attacking the missiles while the Team takes on Mongul. The whole episode is just awesome scene after awesome scene.
  • Notable mentions to Dr Fate, who deflects a planet-destroying beam like it was nothing, and to Bumblebee, who rerouts the Warworld's generator and doing so, severely electrocutes Mongul.
• From the end fight, between Blue Beetle and Impulse, Batgirl, Robin, Beast Boy, Superboy, Wonder Girl, Arsenal, Bumblebee, and Guardian. He wins. And give Superboy props for being the last man standing, allowing Arsenal to get away.
• Superboy, Wonder Girl, Wolf, and Arsenal's battle against Mongul. They're obviously outclassed, but they keep on fighting. After Bumblebee reroutes power to Warworld's helm and electrocute's Mongul, they all rush him and lay him down flat, finished off with a wicked left hook from Superboy. The victory is punctuated by an awesome howl of triumph from Wolf.
  • Granted, he was going to destroy the earth, but you have to give Mongul credit for standing up to three of the team's heavy-hitters (Superboy, Wonder Girl, and Wolf) without even breaking a sweat. Bonus points go to his voice actor, Keith David, for really nailing his voice and personality.
  • Not to mention his aggressive assault on the earth forced the Reach to reveal the fact that they do indeed have an invasion force lying in wait on the seabed, which was significantly cut down to size with his onslaught against the planet when they joined the fray to "protect [their] investment" (i.e. Earth).
  • The reaction that the Reach has to Mongul is a moment of awesome all on its own. They contact the War World, declaring that it belongs to the Reach as per Guardian treaty. Mongul says that he's there because the Reach is, and with barely more than a single sentence, he causes a mutual flinch among the two top officers of the Reach and a frantic 'cut the signal' hand gesture from one. Even Black Beetle looks like he's treating the situation with the utmost seriousness.
  • Vandal Savage for instigating the whole affair, which necesitated the full force of the League, the team, the world's militaries and 2/3rds of the Reach's fleet, with a few words. There's a reason he's the prima inter pares of the Light.
  • Out of universe, the assault on Warworld was what Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti first came up with when spitballing ideas for what purpose a covert team of sidekicks would serve in a world with the Justice League. It just took them 41 episodes to build a situation, and a team, worthy of the tale.

Complications

• Sportsmaster, who throws down hard with Black Manta, his minions, Tigress, and Deathstroke—and came out on top.
• Nightwing figuring out that Blue's on mode. Say nothing of the fact that he came to that conclusion primarily through good old fashioned detective work! The TV thing was little more than solidification for the conclusion he'd already drawn from his own investigation. At which point he stares at the TV, narrows his eyes, and snaps Robin's birdarang in half.
• M'gann, Kaldur, and Artemis spend the episode playing a massive game of Xanatos Speed Chess, and they win. Miss Martian's off the sub, Aqualad's recovered, they won't have to worry about Sportsmaster or Cheshire, and their covers are intact. Despite the fact that they only had a slim chance of succeeding, they used the Spanner in the Works to their advantage and came out on top.
• Bonus points for M'gann in this episode as she spent the majority of the episode without her powers but was still able to hold off Cheshire on her own. Once she does regain her powers, she seems to have fully overcome her hesitance from her past misuse of them and proceeds to kick ass and wreck havoc across the ship.
• A minor one, but when Cheshire throws a sai right at Kaldur's head, M'gann is able to deflect it at the last second, but Kaldur doesn't even flinch the whole time even though he really isn't catatonic and M'gann doesn't have her powers at the time. He's that good an actor and has that much faith in M'gann.

The Hunt

• The Runaways are back and they saved the Team.
• Arsenal avoiding capture the longest and playing an instrumental part in freeing the Team.
• Arsenal leading the Runaways in fighting Black Beetle to a standstill, long enough to release his physical equal Mongul, to occupy him further.
  • The little moments within the fight when the Runaways show how they've Taken A Level In Badass since we last saw them. Sam modifies her cannonball attack that had previously been useless against Red Volcano, Ed combines Teleport Spam with Beam Spam, Tye rejoins the fight by punching Black Beetle across the room, and Virgil, who had trouble with a trash can the last time we saw him, yanks an entire stasis cell out of the wall to use as a weapon.
  • And let it be known that 4 meta teens with little experience were able to hold on against the Reach's strongest enforcer, while the Team was barely able, if not at all, hold their ground against Black Beetle.
• The Runaways and Arsenal going solo after being lied to and manipulated by both sides.
• Think about this, their actions in this episode are the only thing so far to make the Reach Ambassador completely lose his cool.
• When they all take on Black Beetle, Arsenal opens a Stasis cell, to get the prisoner to help them fight, he doesn't choose any of the team he chooses Mongul, as soon as he sees Black Beetle, they start brawling.
• The Ambassador tells the whole public of how The Reach and only The Reach saved earth from the Warworld, even implying that the Justice League brought the threat upon themselves. G Gordon of all people calls them out on their hypocrisy and lies, pointing out their warfleet they had hidden when the Ambassador clearly stated they had only 1 ship (even showing the footage of him saying so) All according to Plan.
  • Major points to The Light as well. After helping The Reach with their invasion, they turn the tables by orchestrating the reveal of their fleet, use their own experiments to distract them, and steal the key to War World.

Intervention

• Even though Jaime has no control over his body and trapped in his own mind, what does Jaime do? Fight with the only thing he has left, his words. He drives the ambassador with all he's got, with plenty of snark too.
• Zatanna, Rocket, Impulse, and Batgirl taking on Queen Bee's goons. Even if the goons were throwing the fight, it was awesome.
• Zatanna's ritual. Channeling an ancient priestess/possible god? Why not? Lighting up the entire room with runes? Sure! Not to mention that the entire point was to free Green and Blue Beetle and that she mentions that she trained for months to get it right.
• The team versus Green Beetle, on both sides.
  • Batgirl and Impulse trapping Green in a ring of fire. Green density shifts through the floor to escape and gets them from behind with a sonic cannon.
  • Beast Boy dropping on Green's head as a lizard, then turning into an elephant and crushing him. He throws him off.
  • Wonder Girl and Robin teaming up to knock him down again.
  • And the best part: Blue and Green Beetle both fire a plasma shot at Zatanna. Impulse grabs the lasso still tied around Green Beetle, drags him over to Zatanna, and swings him into both shots. The disruption knocks Blue down, leaving both Beetles incapacitated long enough for Zatanna to complete the ritual. He is so fast he can hit you with your own energy blast.
• Kind of an understated one, but Ted Kord as Blue Beetle gets a cool moment in the flashback. We see that his last battle was against the duo of Sportsmaster and Deathstroke. Lawrence and Slade obviously don't care for each other, and are two of the most dangerous members of the Light in direct combat, as befitting its Enforcers. It says a lot for Ted that they had to team up to take him down.

Summit

• Holy crap, is this the Crowning Episode of Awesome if there ever was one.
• Both the Reach & the Light, who have been so successful, were completely outsmarted in every conceivable way by (In their eyes) a group of children. Kaldur's gambit of infiltrating the Light paid off, in the process 1) destroying the union of the two groups, 2) clearing the Justice League of the crimes they were forced to commit 5 years earlier, 3) setting up an Engineered Public Confession that ruins the Reach's status as Villains With Good Publicity by revealing their true motive is conquest of Earth, and 4) ending with half of the Light arrested, on the way to a Lazarus Pit, or outright fleeing the planet. Vandal Savage was not exaggerating when he said they'd done more to derail his plans than anyone in his entire immortal life - Not bad for a group that he's been writing off as sidekicks and children.
• Ra's al Ghul immediately recognizes the Glamour Charm worn by Artemis and exposes her as The Mole, and Aqualad with her... Only it goes right back around to being one for the team, when you realise they wanted that to happen, as evidenced by Kaldur's video message initiating the split between the Light & the Reach.
• ...Which in turn led to the team confirming the location of the Warworld key, and Kaldur & Artemis getting up; and M'gann revealing she'd been posing as Deathstroke to fake the two deaths in the first place.
  • In an Offscreen Moment of Awesome, Kaldur evidently took down Deathstroke, allowing M'gann to secretly replace him and further The Plan of the Team. On top of that, it was impressive watching Deathstroke go toe-to-toe with Black Beetle, then you realize it was actually M'gann in disguise pulling off those awesome moves!
• Kaldur's Shut Up, Hannibal! to Vandal Savage certainly counts. The Team has them cornered, and Savage reveals that he had a bunch of assassins waiting on standby just in case. So, a straightforward case of Out-Gambitted right? Wrong!
  Savage: Kill them all. Superboy may present a problem, but we'll deal with him when the other children lie bleeding on the floor.
  Kaldur: Still you refer to us as children. No wonder our successes mount, you consistently underestimate us.
  *Several of the assassins take off their masks, revealing themselves as Team members*
• Wally, who gets back in the game so casually it's like he never left, whether it be chatting it up with Impulse, flirting with his lady Artemis, or zipping by a bunch of shadows at full speed, taking the pins out of their smoke grenades.
• Ubu's only appearance in the show, going up against and subduing Lagoon Boy, knocking Artemis out of the way, rescuing Ra's and getting away clean, swiftly kicking Artemis down when she tries to intervene.
• Jaime nailing both the Ambassador and the Scientist to the wall. After months of being under their control, it's quite satisfying seeing him get some payback like that. Even better, is that he doesn't take the moment to rub it in their faces, he just has a general "And now that's been taken care of..." attitude about it, immediately turning around & getting back to the fight.
• Lagoon Boy taking out the fire serpent that Klarion had set on M'gann.
• Black Beetle's few moments in the final brawl. Particularly the way he threw Superboy away as if he was a minor nuisance.
• Kaldur vs Black Manta. Not only do both sides put up a great fight, Kaldur ends it by using the smoke from an attack collision to knock out Black Manta with a mace. The same move he used on Killer Frost in the very first episode.
• Let's not forget: Kaldur successfully faked two deaths literally seconds after proving that he likes to fake people's deaths.
• Nightwing, after being sidelined and left out of the action due to his status as mission leader, is finally seen mopping the floor with a couple of assassins. He even kicks one of them straight through a stalagmite.

Endgame

• Wally goes to join Flash and Impulse in preventing the explosion, despite knowing he couldn't keep up with them, because they couldn't produce enough kinetic energy to stop it. Wally does this, even knowing full and well that it's going to result in his death.
• Blue Beetle destroying Black Beetle's Scarab.
• Superboy and Miss Martian tag-team the Rimbor court, convincing them that if they let the Justice League off, more people will come to their court with more bribes than a single bribe can offer.
• The Team being welcomed to use the Watchtower as the new base. What Wally, Kaldur, and Dick first started as a group of barely trained, inexperienced kids not trusted outside the library of a fake Justice League headquarters has become a an elite, highly-trained unit that has saved the world. They're no longer a glorified hang-out group for sidekicks, but some of the world's greatest heroes who stand equal to the Justice League itself. Awesome.
• Vandal Savage using the freakin WARWORLD to intimidate the galaxy into leaving Earth alone.
• Darkseid is now The Light's new partner.
  • Which he most likely has been ever since "Bereft." Remember, Sphere originally came from New Genesis, not to mention the guards in "Image" using Apokoliptan weapons. They obviously had plans for this partnership before the show got cancelled.

Season 3 (Outsiders)

Princes All

• Nightwing shutting down a meta-human trafficking house solo.
• Kaldur is Aquaman, and co-chair of the Justice League, leading the entire Earth-based contingent. Quite the achievement after just a few years.

Eminent Threat

• Halo and Sphere saving Artemis from Plasmus.
  Halo: No kill.
• Gregor Markov expertly manages to figure out that his uncle Frederick DeLamb is behind the trafficking ring in Markov by realizing simple facts: 1) he has meta human powers, so he must have done business with the traffickers and thus known about their activities and 2) his experience with his power (allowing him to wipe the floor with his other nephew Brion, who he attempted to frame) means that he has had training with them longer. He correctly summarizes that this was all so he could steal the throne from him, Gregor, by orchestrating his parents' murder.
  • The above is then followed up with a moment of complete catharsis when Frederick, in a petty attempt to kill his nephew, is stopped by Superboy who proceeds to utterly wipe the floor with him in four punches flat. Frederick had been all but curb stomping Brion the entire time, and the only reason he got to do it for as long as he did was because Superboy was looking after the bystanders getting caught in the middle of the fight. Conner wasn't simply stronger than him either, he was just a better fighter, after seven years of superheroing and training with the best in the world.
• After having spent the first couple episodes getting put through the ringer, Black Lightning regains his powers at a crucial moment after seeing Halo get burned to death (temporally) by Plasmus.
  Black Lightning: COME ON! YOU WANNA KILL SOMETHING!? TRY ME!

Rescue Op

• The bioship is now capable of taking on different forms (it could only alternate between the ship and inert modes in earlier seasons), including a sports car and an RV.
• A villainous example; the Sensei, Ubu and a third assassin beat down Brion, Halo, Forager and Sphere without taking a single hit. As in, three Badass Normal assassins easily defeating a group of superhumans. Granted, said superhumans have had very little experience in actual combat, but it's still impressive how none of the assassins even get a scratch. Highlights include:
  • Sensei doesn't even take them seriously and treats them as nothing more than just unwanted guests.
  • Sensei catch and, for lack of a better term, judo throwing a charging Forager at Brion, and then walking menacingly toward Halo across lava Brion conjured up.
    Halo: Doesn't that hurt?
    Sensei: Pain is an illusion.
  • The unnamed assassin easily taking Forager out of the fight, flipping over him while he's charging and planting a bomb on his back.
    • Speaking of him, the reason the unnamed assassin was so dangerous? He recognized Nightwing as Dick Grayson, and he was wearing a red hood…
• Talia al Ghul makes a brief cameo alongside a baby in her arms. The Son of Batman cometh

Evolution

• Vandal Savage led Mongols (with Metahumans) vs Apokolips. They lost, but they impressed Darkseid.

Triptych

• The Justice League, the Team, Batman's group, and the Outsiders are all revealed to be sharing info and in-sync with one another. Only some of them know this, in order to better keep it a secret from the Light.
  • Adding to this was the impressive way that each group was coordinated, giving them just enough leeway to claim that they had no idea of the others being involved. The Leaguers stunted the prison escape, Robin's group busted Mad Hatter's operation, the Team pulled an offscreen op that setup Stagg to be arrested, and Nightwing's rookies took down Cheshire's group.
• When Shade teleports Geo-Force away and threatens to keep him "bottled", Halo unleashes her Light 'em Up power for the first time, burning him until he relents and gives Geo-Force back.
• The prison transport incident. At first, it looks like a pair of guards are going to become victims of Sportsmaster. And then, while the truck is in the middle of flipping over, one reveals the Flash Ring, while the other shouts in slow motion, "SHAZAM!". Seconds later, a team of Leaguers descend upon escapees and their liberators. Sportsmaster and Shade got away, but it was rather awesome to see the League is still a force for good despite their Out of Focus and the restrictions Luthor has placed them under.

Home Fires

• Lobo vs. Nightwing's team is, at best, a Curb-Stomp Cushion. Holograms, brute force, tactics, and strategy simply can't match Lobo's superior strength and Healing Factor. They hold up fairly well against a foe who could have a slugging match with Superman, and Lobo even complimented them for lasting longer that his usual targets, but it still takes Forager Faking the Dead (Forager being Lobo's bounty target) to get him to leave the team alone.
• The Light is still active, with Lady Shiva succeeding Sportsmaster and Deathstroke as their main enforcer. The inner circle is now comprised of Queen Bee, Vandal Savage, Ultra Humanite, Deathstroke, Klarion, Lex Luthor... and the New God Granny Goodness.
• The writers pull off a pretty good Bait-and-Switch, implying that Lobo is the one hired to attack the heroes' families, only to reveal it's Ocean Master. And since the Light doesn't want to unleash that nuclear option yet, Lady Shiva kills him in a second and disappears the evidence in a matter of moments.
• While this is more of a hypothetical moment of awesome, Shiva reveals that the reason the Light didn't just start attacking the heroes families long ago is because they know this "nuclear" option would likely lead to the whole league if not every hero on Earth deciding to throw off the kid gloves and stop playing but the rules and laws and just go to outright war to exterminate them, consequences be damned. And that's not a fight the Light is completely sure it can win.

Exceptional Human Beings

• In Hindsight: Metamorpho has spent the entire episode being irreverent and joke-y to the point of slapstick. Only to reveal at the very end that his powers leave him in chronic pain. (For reference it is not uncommon for persons with the real world condition to be bedridden for an entire day after having spent the day previous taking their kids to an amusement park. Metamorpho is running missions with Batman.)
• When Bane discovers Batman and his allies presence on Santa Prisca he starts off with a Badass Boast on how no one makes it on or off the island without him knowing. Batman’s response:
  Batman: Except the Cult of the Kobra, Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Rocket, Zatanna….
• A villanous one with Bane. Having overcome his addiction to Venom during the Time Skip, Bane no longer relies on it at all, using his own skills and physical superiority to almost beat Batman.

Nightmare Monkeys

• Garfield has a He's Back! moment after going through all of his traumas.
  Garfield: I'm ready to get back to reality. Ready to get back to the life.

True Heroes

• Victor becoming the first person in series to resist mind control, keeping Father Box from killing Violet. It inspires her to use her emotions to fuel her powers, permanently purging Father Box from Victor's cybernetics.
• Wolf, after sleeping through a good portion of the season, finally gets in on the action and attempts to attack Fatherbox (who is controlling Victor) to protect Violet. Fatherbox easily deals with him but the effort was still noble.

Influence

• The Justice League's attack on the Orphanage. While it at first appears as though the league is going in headfirst, it's revealed that they had several members get close first and then infiltrate. They even time a punch from Superman to match exactly with a missile strike. Proof that the League doesn't just get by with their powers. Pity that Granny saw it coming.
• The Furies give a good accounting of themselves in their first fight, going toe-to-toe with Superman, Wonderwoman, and Hawkwoman.

Leverage

• Props to Captain Boomerang, a powerless individual, taking on both Geo-Force and Terra. He also kills Halo (again) and is really the only member of the villains attacking the Russian base to hold their own against the heroes.

Illusion of Control

• After Perdita gets kidnapped by "Count Vertigo" (really Psimon in disguise), she's able to turn the tables on her captor and defeats him herself. The moment Psimon takes his attention off her, she kicks him in the groin and punches him hard enough to knock him flat on his ass. This is made even more awesome since Perdita believed that she was facing her murderous Evil Uncle and showed no fear of him, even declaring that this was for her father as she attacked.

Early Warning

• The Outsiders prove to have some serious balls when they accept a mission to fight Klarion despite being down some of the more powerful members (Bart and Jamie) and having no magic users.
  • When Zatanna shows up to give them a hand, she beats Klarion by teleporting him to the Tower of Fate and trapping him there. Klarion promptly freaks out when he realizes he is in his enemy's magical stronghold. Considering that Fate is the one hero that can go toe to toe with the witch boy and even best him in battle, even without a Homefield Advantage, that was possibly the smartest choice he's made...but even worse, Klarion, who famously cannot be contained in any prison or held by any bonds, finds that he can't get out of the Tower of Fate.^note Until a few later cameos confirmed he did finally get out.

Quiet Conversations

• Given that Tara apparently hasn't been keeping Slade up-to-date on recent happenings, it seems that she has begun to shrug off the League of Shadows' grip on her.

Antisocial Pathologies

• Black Lightning giving a heck of a What the Hell, Hero? dressing down to Batman and those in the Anti-Light for pulling the wool over everyone's eyes again. It even leads to Barbara also giving one to Bruce with how angry Jefferson is.

Terminus

• Team Alpha during the rescue mission consists of the original (remaining) Young Justice line-up. Due to commitments with different teams and their complicated lives the remaining members haven't been all together on one mission since the end of the last season - at least on screen. They've also gathered to recover one of their charges after being tipped off my Vandal Savage, making their reunion that more profound.
• When the League and their Lantern allies try to rescue Halo from the Orphanage, Granny responds by activating the same device she previously used to incapacitate the heroes. Everyone is instantly crippled with pain, although to their credit the Lanterns and Captain Atom are able to maintain their shields, and Superman exhorts everyone else to keep going. The only exception is Guy Gardner, who isn't even fazed.
  • And then...Granny does it. She has solved, and enacts, the Anti-Life Equation, enslaving the entire League force attacking the Orphanage.

Into the Breach

• Vic uses his cybernetics and ever-increasing self-acceptance in all kinds of new ways in this episode. Moving forward and rolling with the punches as he demonstrates several abilities he is literally using for the first time, and using old ones he'd ignored previously to find Granny's master plan in the first place.
• Garfield taking on Gretchen Goode alone, getting back up after every hit from the New God, and even getting a few good hits in before she is dragged back to the Orphanage.

Nevermore

• Conner defeats Lex Luthor the way no one else could, with the truth. Luthor can talk around a lot but a DNA test is hard to refute. Made all the more powerful as Conner would much rather live a quiet life, but this is the right thing to do, so he calls out his "father" in front of the entire UN, revealing the entire Cadmus plot.
• The reveal that the heroes knew all along that Tara was a mole and were willing to let their love and acceptance for her sway her to their side. It works and Tara agrees to turn herself in for her crimes.

Season 4 (Phantoms)

Inhospitable

• When the racist R'ess E'dda starts insulting both Miss Martian and her sister Em'ree, Martian Manhunter quickly comes to their defense and intimidates R'ess into backing off or else.

Needful

• Megan intimidating her brother for information, but M'comm pushes back by saying he can tell she won't go the 'hard way' anytime soon.
• We see in a picture of the Outsiders that Gar has enlisted Livewire into the team. It also mixes with heartwarming as she started out as a mind-controlled criminal.

Volatile

• We get a small flashback of Gar's last mission with the Outsiders; with Cassie and Tim, they have two new members; Stargirl and Windfall. It seems the girl has really gotten ahead of herself as a hero.
• Like his sister, Gar is clearly having none of the caste system's mess; while he is not doing well due to the events of last episode, he is also not going to pretend he likes what is going on.
• M'gann calling out her older sister for her rather backhanded way she's acting towards their family, even telling her outright that she is fully accepting of who she is. Even telling her (and through it, her mother) that her natural Martian form isn't how she views herself, but her Humanoid Alien form is how she sees herself.

Involuntary

• When the racist R'ess E'dda once again tries appealing to the Queen on the involvement of Earthlings on Mars, going so far as to say that even the late King S'turrn would have changed his mind on Earthers by now, Prince J'emm has had enough and confronts him. R'ess once again tries to dismiss him as a child who doesn't understand only for J'emm to interrupt him and remind him of exactly who he is, managing to make R'ess back off with a little bit of help from the Queen.
  R'ess: These are adult concerns. I would not expect a child to understand.
  Prince J'emm: I am Prince of the Realm. Do not tell me what I do and do not understand. And do not put words in the mind of my late father.
  R'ess: Your Majesty, surely you will not allow this youth....
  Queen J'arlia: Your prince has spoken, R'ess.
• Although it quickly turns into a Tear Jerker, the awesome cannot be denied: Conner goes out honoring everything the House of El stands for - ordering his friends and fiancé to evacuate, saving the lives of innocents. He does this knowing full well that he is nowhere near full power and doing it will at the very least seriously hurt him if not outright kill him. Still, he (relatively) calmly stares down the dangers as he does what he has to to avert disaster, no flinching, no hesitation. If there was any doubt in anyone's mind, this is where it's settled: Conner Kent is worthy of that shield on his chest.

A Tale of Two Sisters

• Red Arrow fights against three ninjas armed with just a clipboard and a ballpoint pen. The ninjas lose.

I Know Why the Caged Cat Sings

• When Shiva seems to have her enemies cornered, what should happen but a brilliantly-timed betrayal from Shade— who teleports them all away to give fighting odds, repaying his debt to Cheshire, and resigns from the League of Shadows.
• Orphan's second fight with Lady Shiva, proving her claims that her daughter could surpass her were not unfounded. In fact, Shiva only lives because her friends begged her not to kill her.

Ondu!

• Just to emphasize how powerful the Lords of Chaos and Order can really be, when one of them arrives on Earth every character with magical powers senses it.
• Klarion reappears, and once again, shows why he's a Lord of Chaos, by nearly killing Zatanna and her entire group of students without breaking a sweat. Hell, he even stops Zatanna's attempt to send him to the Tower of Fate like the last time they faced. If not for the Child summoning him, Klarion would've killed them right then and there.
  Klarion: No more ankhs! No more meddling! YOU ALL DIE TODAY!
  • It's revealed that Klarion was trapped in the Tower of Fate for 16 days before he escaped. Keep in mind that Fate himself said that Klarion can't be contained. And Zatanna managed to keep a Physical God like Klarion pinned down for half a month with her trick.
  • Zatanna and her students give themselves an admirable Curb-Stomp Cushion despite Klarion's sheer power. They pool their power together, think tactically to stop his efforts at killing them and even turn his own magical attacks against him at points. They might not have stood a chance but dang if they didn't go down swinging.
  • Mary Marvel channels some of Klarion's own magical energy to call upon the Strength of Hercules, which she uses to punch Klarion so hard that he literally splatters against a wall.
  • Khalid uses his magic to weaken Teekl, which puts Klarion out of phase for a few moments. And he did this entirely nonviolently, just casting a spell on Teekl to invoke the needed effect rather than blasting the cat.
• Savage's and Klarion's first meeting was from the Witch Boy destroying Savage's village, just for yuks. Savage attacked him and Klarion predictably killed him with zero effort. Then Savage recovered and tried again, getting the exact same result. This went on for 300 days straight and only ended because Klarion was intrigued by Savage's continual efforts against him. Savage went up against an almost literal god for nearly a year straight and the god was the one to stop first. Villain or not you can't deny how much of a Determinator Savage was to pull that off.
• The narrator that's been telling the story for the whole episode. None other than the Phantom Stranger! And he makes Savage stumble a bit at the end by pulling a Stealth Hi/Bye when the man's back is turned. The last time Savage's composure was shaken like that was when the Anti-Life equation fell into Darkseid's hands. The Stranger rattled Savage with far less effort than Darkseid needed.

Nomed Esir!

• The Child is revealed to have EVERY CHAOS LORD granting her and Flaw additional power. They utterly Curb Stomp Klarion, and Zatanna’s team, even with Etrigan the Demon aiding them.

Teg Ydear!

• The Sentinels of Magic overcoming Doctor Fate's test and proving they are ready to fight Child.
• Zatara's speech to Nabu about the Sentinel's strength. He then reveals that his own faith in God has been a source of power to him and convinces Nabu to help the Sentinels.
  • When Zatara makes the Sign of the Cross, a huge shining cross appears behind him in the same way that Fate's Ankh does. And when he recites the Lord's Prayer, another voice repeats it in Italian. And all of this inside the Helmet of Fate, Nabu's own domain.

Kaerb Ym Traeh!

• Phantom Stranger takes Vandal Savage to confront the Lords of Order and Chaos to convince them to stop Child from terrorizing the Earth. They both refuse to aid Savage believing his alliance with Darkseid has upset the Holy Balance, but...
  Stranger: Fortunately, the Savage never learned to surrender.
  Savage: You referenced my alliance with Darkseid. But you ignore how that alliance is fated to end. With a final conflict between Apokolips and Earth, wherein if Earth falls, the Anti-Life Equation reigns supreme. Chaos will virtually cease to exist, rendering Order moot. For what is Order without Chaos? It is as light without shadow. And if Darkseid's will comes to pass, the balance will be forever lost. Remember, Lords. Victory was never the point. It is the balance that is all. Rather than fight over one embryonic world, we should join forces with an eye toward long-term goals. In the name of the Holy Balance, I charge you to honor your true purpose. What say you all?
  (beat)
  Lords: The Lords of Order agree to your proposal. Chaos also agrees. The Child will no longer have our support. But we will not withdraw her. Let the scales balance themselves.
  Savage: It will suffice.
  • During this exchange Savage tries to win the Lords over with how his actions have benefitted them but they cut through his crap; both sides tell him that the problems Earth is facing are because of his games with higher powers that he's deluded himself into thinking he's equal to. After spending the whole series leading near everyone around by the nose it is cathartic to see Savage get called out for how awful he actually is.
• Of all people, Traci is the one who ultimately defeats Child, seeing the one tiny crack in Flaw's construction and shattering the golem with a precise hit. Traci might be the weakest magically, but damn if she doesn't know how to use it.

Emergency Dive

• Beast Boy continues to coldly shut down all help for his depression, including rudely dismissing his friends' intervention and balking at his sister's inability to accept Conner's death. M'Gann puts her foot down and gives him an ultimatum: either attend his one, mandatory therapy session with Black Canary, or leave the Justice League, the Team, and Outsiders for good. Gar can only sigh in defeat. It might be hard, but M'Gann will not let Garfield suffer alone.

Leviathan Wakes

• After seasons of always coming out on top with only slight hiccups along the way Vandal Savage takes a full blown loss. When a clone of Arion that has Orm's mind is crowned as the new king of Atlantis it looks like the Light have just gained control of some very powerful resources. But when Orm puts on Arion's crown the Lords of Order take back the magic of the crown, killing him in the process, and this allows Mera to be crowned the new ruler of Atlantis; which also ends the turmoil that was plaguing it throughout the arc. For once all Savage has managed to do is help his enemies.
  • Fate even swings by to rub the failure in his face. When Savage tries to claim his plan would have served order, Fate quickly shuts him down. He created chaos by sinking Atlantis, and order is served by freeing them of his influence. The Lords of Order make something very clear to Savage with their actions; despite what he may think, there are forces in the universe that are far more powerful than he will ever be and, in spite of his immortality, he is not their equal. Especially when you remember the last arc where he dared to call himself a servant to the balance they uphold after all the trouble his ambitions have caused for Earth and beyond. The Lords of Order remind him that one mocks the higher powers of the universe at their own peril. Savage is so enraged by the setback that he actually visibly loses it.

Encounter Upon The Razor's Edge!

• Razer figuring out how to use the Red and Blue Lantern Rings together, then punching Metron into the Mobius Dimension. This is especially impressive as Blue Lantern rings normally suppress Red Lantern abilities, but Razer was able to synergize his rage and his hope to let them work together.

Forbidden Secrets of Civilizations Past!

• After Garfield's friends, family, and team have all failed to get through to him, he's sent to Black Canary for a mandatory check. She immediately sees through his lies and deflections, figures out the root of the problem (his Guilt Complex) and helps him realize it too, and convinces him that he needs help in a single session. It's an excellent display of her skill in psychology and the advantage of professional help.
• Mantis fighting through the intense pain, saving Lor and M'Comm, sending the time sphere into the past, and then figuring out where the projector is by using his memory, showing that he's far more than a mere brute.

Odyssey of Death!

• Rocket manages to use Orion's anger and claustrophobia to their advantage against Lor-Zod. She traps them both in one of her bubbles, and Orion goes ballistic, beating the ever loving crap out of the Kryptonian, who can barely defend himself due to the small space.
• Red Forager faces off against Mantis. Mantis reminds him he warned him to never return to New Genesis, but Forager retorts that was before he received training from Nightwing, and proceeds to kick Mantis' ass!
• A two-for-one thanks to Tomar-Re.
  • He focuses all of his ring's energy to funnel a waking Promethean's energy from New Genesis to save the planet. But when he is attacked from behind from Lor-Zod, his ring can't protect him and continue funneling the energy, with one of them needing to stop. Tomar-Re refuses to fail another planet like he failed Krypton, and with a simple "Never again," weakens his own shield to allow Lor-Zod's heat vision to pierce through him, but his will keeping the funnel going just long enough to save New Genesis.
  • After his death, Tomar-Re's ring searches for a worthy successor. It is immediately drawn to Blue Forager, who uses her own Heroic Willpower to partially break through the Kaizer-Thrall's Agony Beam when she sees Red Forager in danger. Upon getting the ring, a hologram of Tomar-Re explains she has been chosen by his ring to join the Green Lantern Corps and recites the usual Badass Creed. Blue Forager repeats it, but puts her own unique spin on it thanks to her Third-Person Person speech.
    In brightest day, in blackest night!
    No evil shall escape Forager's sight!
    Let sentients who worship evil's might!
    Beware Forager's power, Green Lantern's light!

Rescue and Search

• Nightwing, in less than 24 hours, pieces together all the plots and most of the sub-plots happening in this season and finds out the real threat he and the heroes are facing. He really is Batman's son.

Death and Rebirth

• The Zods versus the Els. The Zods put up a good fight, but ultimately Conner and Clark's superior experience and teamwork wins out.
• M'gann taking down Ursa-Zod solo with a particularly powerful brain blast, then fighting Lor-Zod with Conner. Don't mess with her man.
• Tigress and Nightwing, the team normals, vs Non, the strongest of the Kryptonians. It's clear that he would have won had he been at full strength, but the fact that they were able to match him even in a weakened form is very impressive.
• Metron arranging for Lor-Zod to die by travelling back in time to the moment Conner was exploded; he in fact turns out to be the stain on the rock initially mistaken for Conner. You truly do not fuck with the pettiest of the New Gods.
• After all the suffering Danny Chase went through, a pep talk from Saturn Girl allows him to literally kick Ma'alefa'ak out of his mind. And it is glorious.

Tie-in Comic

• In an early issue of the tie-in comics, to start, the Joker launches a one-man attack on the Justice League's base with an army of bomb-carrying monkeys. But the main CMOA comes when...◊
  Martian Manhunter: This comes to an end now. I will enter your mind and simply—AARGHH!
  Joker: Scary in there, isn't it?
• Also in the tie-in comics, the team gets ambushed and captured one by one by an army of gorillas led by Grodd. Superboy is the last to go down. Despite getting an inhibitor collar put on him like the rest, rendering him no stronger than a normal human, he manages to force his way out of the grip of a mutant gorilla, spin kick him in the face, and then take several steps towards another one while the collar is shocking him continuously with what is supposed to be enough voltage to render the wearer unconscious immediately, and he even manages the strength to at least attempt to throw a punch at Grodd before finally being knocked unconscious by a punch in the face from another of the mutant gorillas.
• In an earlier comic showing Artemis' origins in-universe, she is able to fight off Ivo's Monqi Robots and fires an arrow JUST IN TIME to save Wally. We see it from another perspective, and it shows it all in full circle with that.
• The Team was able to deduce an over 60 year old mystery and take on the powerful samurai Rako (Who's sword can pierce SUPERBOY'S SKIN). But double goes to General Eiling, who gets a villainous one as he is the true murderer and no one suspected him.
• Toward the climax of Young Justice: Targets, the team has infiltrated Bialya to rescue Perdita, but find her trapped in her own mind by Psimon, are taken by surprise by Count Vertigo, and finally Queen Bee herself shows up, easily puts Red Arrow, Arsenal and Halo under her thrall and immediately has them kill Tigress, Arrowette and Miss Martian. Psimon then wakes up Perdita so Vertigo can gloat before Bee orders Halo to kill the young queen... whereupon a flashback reveals that over the years of trying to take down Queen Bee the Team and the League have discovered how her powers work and devised countermeasures, and the not-really-enthralled Halo proceeds to blast all three villains unconscious. Especially satisfying given that Queen Bee has largely managed to remain a Karma Houdini for most of the series due to her political status.
  • After Perdita is safe, all the former Team members who have since joined the League - Aquaman (Kaldur), Zatanna, Rocket, Cyborg, and Aquaman (La'gaan) - briefly kidnap Lex Luthor right from under his security detail's nose and INFORM him in no uncertain terms that he and the Light will be leaving Perdita alone from now on, implicitly threatening him in all but words. The encounter actually leaves the normally-unflappable Luthor visibly unnerved.
    Kaldur: Let us be clear with each other. Perdita Vladek is family. From this point forward, she is off-limits to the machinations of you and the Light.
    Luthor: (smug grin) Please. I've faced down Superman. Do you truly believe you children can intimidate—
    Kaldur: (gives him a very dark Death Glare) Yes.

Young Justice: Legacy

• While also a Tear Jerker, Aquagirl like Marduk before her committing a Heroic Sacrifice to save everyone. Willingly using her magic to contain Tiamat as the pair were buried under rubble.

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