Hippolyta having blonde hair instead of black, it's a subtle hint of Hades' role in Diana's birth. Since if she really was born of clay and her mother breathing life into through the gods blessing, then she would have been blonde just like her mother.
In "Hereafter", after Superman is apparently killed, Flash stops Diana from killing Toyman, stating that they (especially Superman) "don't do that to [their] enemies". Flash forward to "Divided We Fall", when Luthor has apparently killed Flash: who springs forward to stop Superman from killing Luthor? Diana. And then she's stopped by Batman, who trusts Clark and knows he won't commit murder, because even in these circumstances, "[they] don't do that to [their] enemies".
The focus on Batman and Wonder Woman's reaction is also a contrast to their Justice Lord counterparts. They were the first to witness the aftermath of Superman's murder of Luthor. And they accepted it. Here, they of course do not, which shows that the 'real' Justice League has taken to heart the lessons they learned by discovering the Justice Lords' dimension.
This may be kind of obvious, but it also reiterates why the Justice Lords fell from grace. Wally was the one who reeled people back in from killing, with him dead, the Justice League would become more and more extreme (ironically, the fastest and most importantly impulsive man alive forces others to slow down and consider their actions).
Also, Wally doing this keeps Superman from killing Luthor. Think about it, Luthor almost destroyed the universe, Wally was dead, Superman was inches from frying Luthors brains out, and Batman and Wonder Woman weren't going to stop him, why did he stop? (You know, besides that fact that he's Superman?) Because he knew that in this exact situation, Wally wouldn't want himself to be avenged, and he also knew Wally would've done everything he could to stop him from killing Luthor just like he stopped Diana from killing Toyman.
All this in mind, it makes sense why the episode prior to this (and following the episode in which the Question attempts to kill Luthor) is called Flashpoint. It's not just a reference to the Watchtower's laser cannon pointing down.
A small, but noteworthy example... when Vandal Savage invites Superman over for a sleepover, it’s a bit funny to see Supes stuck sleeping on Savage’s couch (despite his home being a multi-story museum/mansion). Having been alone for 30,000 years by that point and resigning himself to never seeing another human face for the rest of his immortal existence, Savage likely never saw the ‘’need’’ to ever build a guest bedroom.
Vandal Savage mentions how he abandoned work on a new Time Machine because the technology prevents Savage himself from traveling to any time period where he already exists. While this explains why he sent back a laptop to his younger self in "The Savage Time", even if he found a means to circumvent that issue, he knows himself far too well to realize that his past version would simply refuse to listen. No wonder he considered completing the device pointless until Superman enters the picture.
Brought up in the Radar page: "Epilogue", which was meant to be the end of the DCAU, consists of Amanda Waller confessing to Terry the secrets about his origin. In other words, the Fat Lady is singing.
In "Epilogue", there is another reason why The Phantasm was unable to kill Terry's parents. While it is true that taking a life wouldn't honor the memory and spirit of Batman, there is also the point that Andrea Beaumont couldn't bring herself to harm Bruce Wayne's son, not even psychologically. She loved him that much.
Alternatively, because of how similar Terry and his parents were to Bruce and his parents, she saw Bruce in Terry, and she couldn't bring herself to harm her old love, even by proxy. This would be ironic, as the whole point of the project (including her part in it) was to make Terry as similar to Bruce as possible... which means it failed because it succeeded too well.
A third point — Andrea herself actually lived through a hit man cutting down her father. It's possible on some level this was the idea, choosing her, but that's not going to endear her to the idea of doing it to someone else...
That third point likely has some merit to it, given it is partially the reason for the Phantasm being the chosen hitman (as well as a fun cameo), because Waller knew hiring some other hired killer (Deadshot, Deathstroke, etc.) could've quickly spiraled out of control and just killed everyone (including her future Batman). The Phantasm was pulled because they have standards.
Also in “Epilogue”, there’s a likely reason why Ace allowed Batman to pass through the hedges and she opened a drawbridge so he could approach her while keeping the other members of the Justice League (and Amanda of course) out: Ace might already have read Batman’s mind by the time he approached the hedges and realized that he would not use the weapon Amanda gave him. And she’s proven right, as Batman sat with her and held her hand before she died.
When The members of the Justice League are forced to get out of their costumes to hide from the Thanagarians in "Starcrossed", Wonder Woman compliments The Flash for having red hair saying that it suited him. In Greek Culture, having Red Hair was seen as the individual being the child of one of the Gods. Due to Wally Wests' Super-Speed and being The Heart of the League, Wonder Woman was probably reminded of Hermes, The Messenger God who also filled in a similar role with the Greek Pantheon and privately theorized that the two might be distantly-related.
When Aquaman saves Grundy in "The Terror Beyond", he gets Grundy to come with him by promising him gold. Grundy doesn't seem to have any desire to buy anything and just enjoys having it (rubbing it lovingly against his face), though once he becomes aware of how he has no soul, he calls the gold worthless and demands that. Grundy's love of gold is either a holdover from his past life as a greedy, materialistic gangster or an unconscious pining for the human side of himself; Cyrus Gold.
In the climax of "Legends," it's clearly established that the Justice Guild is merely a figment of the mutant boy's imagination. So why did they turn on him, if they were part of his own fantasy? Why didn't he just force them to abandon the fight? Simple. Even in the boy's own version of reality, he simply could not imagine them doing anything other than the right thing. Even if it meant taking him down, and ending their own existence.
Justice Lord Superman's tendency to use heat vision to lobotomize people makes sense for 2 reasons:
1. He can still claim he didn't technically kill his opponent since most of them survive it and become docile as a result.
2. He killed President Luthor with heat vision. As much as he claims he's better off without him, Lord Superman is trying to fill the void Luthor left by reliving killing him over and over again.
"Injustice For All" of course the traitor in the Injustice Gang wasn't Cheetah. First, Wonder Woman didn't correct Superman when he asked who "he" was. Second, if anyone would recognize Cheetah's voice...
In the same episode, note that the audience is entirely men; none of them have female compainions. Not only does Circe have Batman sing at a nightclub ... apparently she has him singing at a gay nightclub. (No problem with consenting adults having fun, but Circe probably figured it would be more embarrassing for Batman.)
The Z-8 drone that appears in "Fearful Symmetry" makes a recursive moment for the Batman Beyond episode "Zeta". By building Zeta out of an old training drone chassis, it makes it really hard to track who actually made it and on the off chance it was compromised or destroyed.
Batman trapping David and Enid in a time loop may seem uncharacteristically chilling, putting it in the Nightmare Fuel page. But think about it, Batman knows how dangerous even messing with time is, and he's not a monster. He no doubt set up that time loop counting on the future JL to detect it, find and free David Clinton, and arrest him. So basically, Batman didn't trap Clinton in a Fate Worse than Death, he just set off a huge neon light saying "come and get me" over Clinton's house.
It wouldn't even be a time loop from Enid's perspective. How she would see it is that she's yelling at her husband, then he disappears into a time portal, and she never sees him again. She wouldn't relive the loop because she didn't enter the portal and her younger self has already yelled at David.
Superman's "world of cardboard" speech becomes even more awesome when you realize that the very first time he uses his strength back in Superman: The Animated Series, he refers to tearing the door off a van as if it were made of cardboard. Superman has been literally thinking of this comparison as his reality since he first found out he has superpowers.
Why was Justice Lord Batman monitoring parallel universes in the first place? He may have been having doubts about the way they were doing things and wanted to see how things are done differently. The purpose of having the Justice Lords get the Justice League to their world was so that Batman can face himself.
At the end of "Secret Origins", Superman is able to connect with J'onn over their similar pasts. However, this is shown even before that, the first time J'onn morphs into his "human" form. Whereas J'onn's natural Martian form is tall and (comparatively) thin, his "human" form is extremely broad-shouldered, with almost the exact same proportions as Superman. In addition, his wardrobe is the same. Both Superman and J'onn have Underwear of Power with very similar belts, and similar capes. J'onn had already recognized his similarities with Superman – at least subconsciously – and expressed this in his outward appearance.
This idea can be applied to Captain Marvel as well, as there is an undoubtedly obvious Superman influence to the look of his magically created persona. Captain Marvel himself explicitly tells Superman "All my life I've looked up to you, and wanted to BE like you!" With his "wish fulfillment" magic realization endowment, he achieved precisely that, at least physically.
It's occasionally evident that Batman finds Flash somewhat annoying and that Flash finds Batman to be something of an uptight asshole. That fits their obvious personality differences... which may be exacerbated by the fact that, as the two non-flying members of the original seven, they would often be stuck with each other in a vehicle or Green Lantern energy bubble.
At the end of "Legends", after the Justice Guild's world has reverted to its true post-apocalyptic state, the Officer O'Hara-type character thanks the Justice League for allowing them to truly rebuild their world. Listen closely—his accent is much more subdued than it was in all of his previous appearances. Since the whole world was an illusion at least partly based on what Ray Thompson perceived from popular culture and stereotypes of the day, it makes perfect sense that the Irish cop would have a very strong, recognizable Irish accent for the duration of the illusion, either enforced by Ray's psychic powers or done deliberately by the officer to try and stay in his good graces.
Also, the most likely tactic for Batman to establish a rapport with the Ultra-Humanite would be to conduct an educated intellectual conversation that would bore most of the Injustice Leaguers to tears. By the time they got down to negotiation, nobody would be paying attention and even if they did the discussion could be hidden in a fog of Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness. It probably wouldn't have worked on Luthor if he'd deigned to personally monitor the prisoner, but of course he didn't.
Luthor's big mistake that let Batman win? He let Batman see who all was working for him and how they got along with each other.
Every single one of the villains Lex hired is Only in It for the Money. Batman's own series is littered with examples of people just like Lex Luthor hiring supervillains just like the ones working for Lex Luthor with the same promises of a large payout, only to bag on the hired help at every turn and sour the milk. Lex is raising his bribes to keep them from walking out on him instead of threatening them into submission like Batman's villains usually do, but that's only going to work until the other villains decide his money isn't worth it.
Batman's seen villains like Luthor talk down to large, brutish characters like Solomon Grundy and the Ultra-Humanite as though they were Dumb Muscle. He also knows that Ultra-Humanite is actually a Genius Bruiser with an ego of his own, making him the first to decide Lex's money isn't worth it. Bruce Wayne can offer a much tastier counter-bribe to Ultra-Humanite in exchange for his services as The Mole.
Lex would assign the underlings of least use to his engineering project to watch Batman. Cheetah's the lowest in the gang's pecking order, because her schtick of being a sexy catwoman with loose morals doesn't give her any useful skills and abilities Lex can exploit and puts her at a severe disadvantage against Lex and the other villains in combat. Batman has extensive experience with troubled mutants like Cheetah thanks to his Rogues Gallery, and just as much experience with sexy catwomen with loose morals.
The Joker arrives to the party already wise to Batman, but he can't do anything as long as Luthor and his band of much more powerful villains are still in charge. Because of how Batman has his gambit set up, by the time the Joker has his chance to do anything about Batman, the latter will already be free to ambush and subdue him.
At one point, Lex asks Batman straight-up if he has some kind of access code to the Watchtower. The Justice League passkeys are in their commlinks, which are in their ears. In order to get to Batman's commlink, the villains would have to remove his cowl. Batman booby-traps his cowls specifically to keep anyone else from taking it off.
Which Lex would have found out one way or another while Batman was unconscious since Batman comes to still wearing it.
In "Starcrossed", we learn that Hawkgirl was secretly spying on humans to help the Thanagarians invade. This makes Justice Lord Hawkgirl's actions in "A Better World" fridge heartwarming- she cared about Wally so much, that she gave up her original mission in his memory to become a Justice Lord.
In "Hawk and Dove", Ares' interest in the Kasnian Civil War might have been for more than For the Evulz. If you remember that Ares is a Greek god, and depending on where Kasnia is actually located, at least part of it might have been part of Ancient Greece, so his interest in the civil war might have been about regaining territory for the Greek gods.
In "The Once and Future Thing, Part One: Weird Western Tales", Batman says the awesome line "Six guns, six of us, nobody miss". They don't. The fridge brilliance comes in when you consider their weapons. The cowboys and John Stewart all had revolvers, while Diana and Batman had a tiara and Batarang respectively. Diana and Bruce are both proficient in throwing weapons, so it makes sense why they didn't miss, and the cowboys were obviously proficient in their guns, but the big question is, why did a Green Lantern know how to use a revolver (and why did he use it when his ring still had a charge)? Answer: John was a Marine, and moreover, he was a sniper. Of course he didn't miss!
In "Twilight", Superman shows that he is far more clever than people think of him. He sends Batman to fetch Orion in case Darkseid betrays him. And as a bonus, Superman also got rid of Batman, so he could take full leadership of the mission. With Batman away, Superman can deal with Darkseid without any interference, if needed.
A lot could be explained why many of Batman's Rogues Gallery didn't join Grodd's new and larger Secret Society. Discounting Joker, Harley, Clock King, Hugo Strange and Clay Face, the last time these Rogues ever got together was back in "Knight Time", where Batman (Superman in disguise) somehow survived getting crushed under a huge rock, easily beat Bane to a pulp, and Jump Scare Mad Hatter with supernatural speed. If Batman was already terrifying as a Badass Normal with Thou Shall Not Kill, the Rogues might now believe this is what happens to Batman when he cuts loose. To those that joined a team outside their city, Clayface was presumed killed after he exploded. Clock King and Strange only joined Task Force X since Cadmus was the government and that they have the resources to protect them from any retaliation by the League but since Cadmus has shut down, what else is there to protect them now. Not only that, Joker broadcast his show of the Justice League fighting the Royal Flush Gang with him revealing it was all part of a scheme to use Ace to Mind Rape the viewers and later received one soon after. Since Grodd has mind powers similar to what Ace had, the Government fully supporting the Justice League and a Rogue allegedly killed by the League after joining Grodd, they rather take their chances staying in Gotham.
How was Luthor able to gain the more prominent and more powerful members of the Legion of Doom?
Atomic Skull, presumably may have his delusions of himself as a superhero like his comicbook counterpart and views Superman as a supervillain would side with Lex since he is an ally against the fiend.
Star Sapphire would sympathise with Lex since Grodd did cheated on Giganta with Tala and Tala later shown to easily switch sides between lovers which would make her furious due to her own experience with men betraying her.
Sinestro is proud of his alien heritage and Cheetah hated her own mutation. To be forced into another transformation would not sit well with them.
Toyman likes Luthor because he gives more than takes unlike Grodd who more or less like a mobster who extorts victims.
Giganta justifiably hates Grodd for leaving her to die.
Heatwave likes to see things burn and prefered to have the ability to make more things burn.
Volcana simply not wanting to be experimented on.
"For The Man Who Has Everything": Superman's happiest fantasy is living back on Krypton. Batman's is watching his father save himself and his wife from Joe Chill. What is Wonder Woman's? Fighting alongside close friends and compatriots for the greater good. It's what she purposely left Themyscira to do, and she has already received Hippolyta's blessing to continue doing it many times over with the Justice League. She's already living her dream, so naturally she has the least trouble handling the Black Mercy before throwing it at Mongul.
In "The Great Brain Robbery", Flash is in Lex Luthor's body with none the wiser, and uses the bathroom without washing his hands because 'he's evil.' But he has every reason to not wash his hands. It's not his body and not his base, and it would be a small win for the Justice League if Luthor and his allies got sick. And he can low-key rub his hands over everything in the base with none the wiser. When he gets found out, they're going to look for obvious sabotage, not germs all over the keyboards.
He’s also obviously wearing gloves both when entering and when exiting, meaning he wouldn’t need to wash his hands even if he was really using the bathroom. He was basically making a joking response to a stupid question.
From the same episode, Luthor masters Flash's powers in no time; part of this is because Luthor is a genius, but, with Flash's powers, he was also able to think even faster than usual, so it was no problem for him. Not to mention that it was Flash who defeated the Lex/Brainiac fusion in 'Divided We Fall', so Lex has first hand experience on how dangerous Flash can be when he's not holding back.
While the rest of the team sets off to celebrate Christmas in their own ways in "Comfort and Joy", Batman elects to stay up in the Watchtower by himself. Because Christmas is when Batman's villains are at their worst, and one in particular loves using the festivities as a framing device for his biggest and most destructive crimes every year.
"In Blackest Night": The Flash's attempt to delay the trial involves discussing habeas corpus, ipso facto, and Phi Beta Kappa. Anyone unaware of their meanings would assume this is nonsense Flash is throwing around (Hawkgirl seemed to think so), but Habeas corpus (Latin for "that you have the body") is a writ on illegal confinement, ipso facto is Latin for "by the fact itself", and Phi Beta Kappa is both a US honor society and a Greek phrase meaning, "Love of wisdom is the guide of life". A regular viewer wouldn't know any of that, but forensic scientist Wally West would.
Furthermore, the terms define the trial: John Stewart is being illegally detained (habeas corpus) because the facts and actions that led up to his imprisonment (ipso facto) were falsified - the world destroyed as a result of John's actions was never actually destroyed. As a result, a lack of knowledge (Phi Beta Kappa) almost led to John (and the Flash) being executed for a crime he didn't commit.
In the episode "Double Date", Question tries to con Green Arrow after getting caught putting a clue in his pocket (a schedule for boat arrivals), and then swapping it out with a key for a locker at the train station. It's not a great trick, made especially obvious by how poorly acted the Question makes it, and Green Arrow figures it out almost immediately. At first, this may seem like incompetence on the Question's part, until you realize he wasn't actually trying to get rid of Green Arrow and Black Canary. All he wanted to do was delay them long enough to give him and Huntress a decent head start while still having them along for the ride in case the fight with Mandragora went south.
Having watched "Panic in the Sky", it's clear how Braniac managed to escape Earth. Since it's now fact that Braniac has been subtly influencing Luthor's actions over the years, it's possible the Kryptonian AI had him built a rocket or a satellite that secretly contained his codes and memories and shot it into space. Plus with the Kryptonite with him, Superman cannot get close to know the full details of the plan. Thus, giving rise to the Braniac in "Twilight".
In the finale, "Destroyer", Flash hears J'onn talking to his wife on the phone, telling her he loved her. Wally responds by saying, "These are the end times." Which seems like a funny toss away line. Except that he was right. It was, after all, the finale.
An Amazon, a member of fully female warrior tribe is paired with Star Sapphire, a member of fully female space corps and Shining Knight, a member of fully male military order.
Fridge irony: a blink and you miss it during the finale but misandric Star Sapphire, who hates all men because she was hurt by them, is saved from death by being caught on his flying horse by Shining Knight. A knight in shining armor with his heart full of chivalry saves a "damsel in distress"/ evil sorceress. Then a shapeshifting dragon shows up and helps the princess fight the demons. It is almost like a twisted fairy tale.
Why is Katma Tui, rather than Kilowog, the trainer for the Green Lantern Corps? Because John Stewart is the focal Green Lantern in this series, and he was a Marine before he was a Lantern. If he'd been trained by a Drill Sergeant Nasty, things would fit together without any tension; he already knows the military way of doing things. Something more like an apprenticeship, with a woman who he became intimate with, creates drama.
Why is Galatea a grown woman, instead of a teenage girl, like her source material? Well while they are antagonists from their own perspective most of Cadmus saw themselves as the good guys (protecting America from the scourge of the Justice League), albeit sitting definitively in the grey part of the morality spectrum. Naturally therefore they wouldn't want to be using child soldiers. As a result Galatea was made a few years older than Kara, and Cadmus continued telling themselves they were the good guys.
In "Eclipsed" the talkshow host Godrey offhandedly attacks Wonder Woman for her outfit being too skimpy and setting a bad example for little girls. This understandably gets under her skin and Diana punches a hole into the TV (and was prepared to do the same to Godrey's face until GL talks her down). In the episode previous the Justice Lords Wonder Woman does indeed wear a less revealing outfit; a sleeveless jumpsuit with a more conservative haircut. It's likely that someone in the Lords Universe also pointed this out to Diana and instead of reacting violently (which would violate the law), she decided to change instead.
In "Flash and Substance" we see Batman rather proud of the Flash and how he treats his Rogues, especially the Trickster. Knowing that Bruce Wayne sits on the board of Arkham and has worked to see villains such as Harley and Two-Face be rehabilitated, he's not just proud of Flash doing the right thing; he's proud Flash being one of the few heroes to do as he does and try and save even his worst villains.
Flash seems to be more successful at helping his villains than Batman. Because Flash has a different approach to heroism than Batman. While Batman is a masked vigilante who stalks the night, Flash is a friendly guy who is very involved in his community. So it makes sense he can do more to help his antagonists than Batman.
Besides the obvious Heroic Willpower, there's another reason Batman was able to slightly resist Ace's insanity in "Wild Cards": he's partially insane himself. As we see in the episode, while the also-insane Joker was able to resist her powers, he's far from immune when she's actively using them on him. As a common theme with Batman is that he just barely avoids being just as crazy as his enemies, the same applies to him. Note that similarly to the Joker (and Harley), Batman was not incapacitated until Ace specifically focused on him, and she had to concentrate even harder to fully overwhelm him, though Batman’s being such a Determinator might explain why Ace had to concentrate even harder to overwhelm him.
Batman's It's Not You, It's My Enemies speech to Wonder Woman seems excessively paranoid to the point it's funny, especially when Diana casually crushes a stone gargoyle's head into dust. Diana doesn't see how any of Batman's rogues could be a threat to her given her immense strength, combat skill, and Nigh-Invulnerability. Superman thought that once too and the Joker would've killed him for it had Batman not been there to save him, an incident Diana likely remains completely unaware of.
Not to mention, Batman's first point was entirely valid, given what happened between John Stewart and Shayera, and that's not even getting into Vixen being added to the mix. He has justifiable reason how it could simply lead to trouble down the line.
Also, when you remember what happened to Tim at the hands of Joker in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Batman's fear of his Arch-Enemy getting to Wonder Woman turns out to be pretty well-founded. If you are close to Batman, the Joker would not merely be excited about killing you. Oh no, he'll twist your mind and body into being his weapon against Batman. Sure Wonder Woman is tougher than a Kid Hero, but the Joker is surprisingly adaptive in his cruelty, and there is no shortage of things he could do to twist the Princess of Themyscira to his sick whims.
It makes sense why the events of Lord Superman did not happen in the present timeline, everyone already knows about it. The simple fact of Superman knowing the possibility would be enough to persuade him not to go through with it because he saw first hand what it brought in. He even told Lord Superman about it after revealing he got Lex a presidential pardon, "it's better than the alternative". Lex didn't even want Superman to rogue, because even he knew deep down he wouldn't, and that he'd be entirely powerless to do so, he only tried egging him on to mess with him or he simply lost the will to live. Lord Superman was always going to be an alternate version and not reality, because Superman was just not gonna let it happen, despite how much he wanted it.
The League members in "Legends" noticeably struggle against supervillains who are quite a bit weaker than ones they've beaten in the past, with the exception of the Flash, who only loses against Blizzard because he gets distracted. Compare this to the Justice Guild, who consistently perform better against the villains. Heck, Catman takes out all of them single-handedly near the end. Of course this happens; all of these fights are illusions created by Ray, and of course he'd go out of his way to make his heroes look more competent than the much more serious interlopers who are constantly questioning everything about the world... again, with the exception of Flash, who's perfectly willing to go along with the silliness of this world.
In "Epilogue", the fact that the film incorporates story elements from a sequel to Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker wherein Selina Kyle would have been responsible for Terry's creation does explain why Amanda Waller is suddenly so determined to ensure "There must always be a Batman".
Also from “Epilogue”: of course Bruce Wayne would have figured out that Terry McGinnis was actually his biological son as Word of God stated: as Batman, Bruce was the World’s Greatest Detective and probably still is one by the time he meets Terry.
In "Alive", the penultimate episode of Unlimited, we see the inherent flawed nature of evil factions. Both the Society and Darkseid's legions, for all their strengths, are full of petty little jerks who have no real cause but fighting for power and control. Darkseid's forces fight amongst themselves in his absence, leaving them vulnerable to any outside attack. And Society is weakened by internecine conflict, with Lex Luthor's goal of a reunion with Brainiac falling apart due to Tala getting back at him for his betrayal. In the finale, there isn't internecine conflict while fighting back against Darkseid's invasion since all the superpowered factions are unified around the noble goal of protecting their homeland from invasion. Hell Darkseid is so evil and twisted, he "thanks" the Society with a quick death.
Darkseid's betrayal of the Society after he is revived seems, and it is, really cruel and horrible. But there are reasons why he would do this:
Darkseid is so misanthropic and disgusted with the concept of free will that he makes the lives of his subjects a living Hell. His whole goal is to turn all living things into zombie-like puppets. Letting people die is mercy in his twisted mind.
Also, since Darkseid has absorbed some of Brainiac's parts, he may have gained Brainiac's memories. He knows Luthor's revival of him is completely accidental and not done out of any loyalty to the ruler of Apokolips and Luthor wants to be the top dog and won't settle for being a minion. Darkseid trying to knock off Luthor and the Society is him getting rid of the competition and any potential traitor in his midst.
In the climax of "A Better World", Lex forms an Enemy Mine with the Justice League in exchange for a full pardon. You'd think Lex would pass on a deal like that, since with his connections and money he can get out of jail pretty easily. However, there are two reasons why he'd want to take the deal anyway:
First, he'd have the chance to defeat Superman and the Justice League. Just not the ones of his universe. That had to be pretty cathartic for him.
Second, the Justice Lords began their reign of terror by killing their version of Lex. If "normal" Lex learned about that, he'd likely put together that the Lords will kill him too - if not as soon as they find him, then as soon as he slips up. Getting rid of the Lords and still being stuck with the League is far more preferable than the alternative.
When Alfred talks to Hawkgirl at the end of Starcrossed, he starts by saying that he was “neither a superhero or a soldier.” The BTAS episode: The Lion and the Unicorn shows that Alfred, like Hawkgirl, was a spy. In that episode he abandons his post at Wayne Manor to help an old partner, is captured by terrorist and forced to give up secret nuclear launch codes under interrogation. Alfred sympathizes with Hawkgirl because he knows firsthand the challenges and divided loyalties that come with working in covert ops. That’s why, in his eyes, she is still a hero.
It didn't occur to me until many years later, but from "Hearts and Minds", there's a second reason why J'onn was needed to reach the Flame of Py'tar. It seemed to link with Despero in large part because of his third eye. In addition to being telepathic, part of the appeal of using J'onn was likely because he could (and did) grow a third eye thanks to his Martian physiology.
Batman is positively dogged when it comes to ensuring Flash's safety in "Flash and Substance" when he's made aware there's a threat been made against Flash's life. As much as this may seem like Batman's usual levels of paranoia, it makes all the more sense when you consider what happens in another timeline where Flash dies that's constantly on everyone's mind. Batman is probably keeping such a close eye on him with that in mind, trying to protect him in his own odd way.
"In Blackest Night": Even when the plight of the lawyers is used to make an Evil Lawyer Joke, the fact that the accused cannot have lawyers makes one wonder how many innocent people have been wrongfully convicted, just for not having a lawyer.
When the Thanagarians turn on the Justice League in “Starcrossed,” they capture the team using weapons specifically designed to exploit their individual weaknesses based on intel Shayera gave them. Some of them are fairly clear (Superman with kryptonite, J’onn’s propensity to pass out from electrocution, Flash being vulnerable to gravity manipulation) but Green Lantern’s weakness is not so clear. The show never particularly points out the ring’s weakness to yellow (at least until after this episode) which means the Thanagarians would have needed to study the ring itself. Which means Shayera probably took the ring to study at some point... maybe even while John was sleeping after a night together...
During Flash's battle with Lexiac in "Divided We Fall", we see the former literally circling the Earth in a matter of seconds for a running start. This requires traveling at a fraction of the speed of light. At that speed, the kinetic energy would flatten any object in his path. Raindrops. Insects. Birds. Buildings. People. It's the horizontal version of Not the Fall That Kills You…. And Flash has milliseconds to react and veer off should he spot something—or someone—in his way.
This goes back to Fridge Brilliance in terms of why the first strike at Lexiac took ten seconds, whereas the Flash could later strike him four times in a couple of seconds: he needed time to determine the safest path around the world.
Lex Luthor defeated Darkseid by showing him the Anti-Life Equation. This means that if Darkseid ever comes back or his servants bring him back from the dead, the Timmverse is screwed.
Word of God says that both Luthor and Darkseid are alive... but merged with the Source Wall, so I doubt they will be able to come back...
When Lex Luthor hijacks the Watchtower's Binary Fusion Cannon, and targets Cadmus. The first reaction shots are of a simple, bright white light. To anyone nearby, it would have looked liked the predicted effect of a nuclear attack. Judging from the sheer devastation from the clean up, casualties are certain, and their last thoughts were about the horror of nuclear weapons. America's Greatest Fear come true.
It's mentioned that one died, but how many people were permanently blinded by the bright light?
More like a Fridge Tear Jerker, but reflect on this: It's probably not long after "Destroyer" that Tim Drake is kidnapped by the Joker and Harley Quin. That incident is what leads to Bruce slowly cutting himself off from all contact until we see him old and alone in "Rebirth". Look back at how many allies Bruce had to have gained through the League, especially how close he was to Clark and Diana; realize that he'll eventually be shutting THEM out as well. Sorta sours that ending, doesn't it?
Given Tim Drake isn't all that much older than in Batman: TAS when Joker gets to him and the last time we see Joker is in "Wild Cards" this probably happened before JLU even started. Which means Batman was dealing with his protege being tortured and the death of the Joker and no one ever mentions it. You'd also have expected at least Batgirl to have joined the League when it expanded, but aside from a alternate reality Cameo, she's only mentioned. Once in "Comfort and Joy" which is before "Wild Cards" and once in "Epilogue." So all throughout JLU, Batman was dealing with that guilt.
If Robin was patrolling alone because Batman was occupied with League business, that would contribute to his decision to cut off ties — on some level, he'd blame them for keeping him busy at a crucial moment and himself for getting entangled with them in the first place.
In "Epilogue", Warren McGinnis's DNA gets overwritten with Bruce Wayne's DNA, which likely caused a divorce between himself and Mary because of how Terry and Matt looked nothing like them. So a happy family got destroyed to make Batman, which was what Joe Chill did.
In "Maid of Honour", since we never find out the fate of the King of Kaznia and the rail-gun destroys the castle where he was last shown, we're left with the realization that Batman of all people may have just accidentally killed Princess Audrey's father with a big honking space-gun!
Wasn't he supposed to be at the hospital?
Actually, there's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of a Kaznian soldier carrying someone in purple, similar to what the king was wearing in bed, away from the palace over his shoulder.
In "Hereafter" the first thing Superman does when he returns to the past is save Batman from a sniper shot. Batman died in the original timeline. Savage only said that the League tried to stop him, but the only specific member he named was Green Lantern (who was apparently the hardest to kill); if Bats doesn't merit a mention from Savage, he likely was successfully sniped in the original timeline. Tough as he is, he's still only human and the only non-empowered member of the League.
In "Clash", remember that Captain Marvel is a 12-year-old boy that only looks like a grown man, whom Superman is punching six ways from Sunday and pile-driving a bank vault into (multiple times!) so hard he's buried in concrete, only his hand sticking out of the rubble. Superman might not have known this before the battle, but when Marvel transformed back into Billy, Supes' reaction was just a condescending, "Fight's over, son," rather than the horrified realization he was literally beating up a child. Even the pressure of Lex's device about to go off doesn't excuse him.
Look at Supes' face when Captain Marvel changes back into Billy. He's not smug; he's horrified. His tone in his response more reflects on him than Billy; once he realized he was beating up a little boy, even a superpowered one, he didn't want to continue. The realization woke him up from the paranoia and jealousy that had fueled him the entire episode. You can even see it when Marvel gives his resignation to the Justice League. Superman interrupts as if wanting to apologize, but Marvel isn't willing to hear it anymore.
In "Ultimatum", when the Ultimen's cellular degeneration is discovered, Maxwell Lord wants to do everything they can to help. Enter Amanda Waller, gruffly declaring it "not our priority" and bluntly reminding Lord that his opinion doesn't matter. At the end of the episode, Lord promises to take care of the ones being returned to Cadmus custody and see to it that their last days are comfortable... a promise he has no way of keeping if Waller has otherideas.
In "Kids' Stuff", Mordred's spell to get rid of all the adults... well, got rid of all the adults, everywhere, no matter what they were doing. How many kids were in cars, planes, surgery, or otherwise suddenly in mortal danger? Unless the spell somehow accounted for all that, Mordred could be responsible for the deaths of thousands of children.
In "For the Man Who Has Everything", Superman's "greatest wish", as determined by the Black Mercy, shows him back on Krypton, which in this version never exploded. While it would be hard to imagine that he wouldn't want Krypton to be restored, does this mean Earth and all his loved ones here are just Replacement Goldfish for a world he wants but can't have?
Oh no, it's ever so much worse than that. The vision of Krypton Clark experiences in the Mercy's clutches is an amalgamation of the best aspects of his experiences of Earth and everything he could possibly hope for in a life on Krypton: he's a farmer, his wife Loana is obviously an amalgamation of the two loves of his life, he's able to have a son without the potential pitfalls of a Kryptonian/Terran hybrid in a yellow-sun environment. He has no responsibility to save the planet: he's just an ordinary man living an ordinary life with his wife and son. He's truly, completely, and unabashedly happy for the first time since before he received his powers and took up the mantle of Superman. And it's all. Taken. Away. And the worst part? His own mind was slowly rejecting the fantasy, to the point that when he finally breaks the Mercy's hold his subconscious recreates Krypton's destruction. There's a reason that when he wakes up from the vision he spends a single moment seething in abject fury.
Emil Hamilton's fear-induced betrayal has so many layers of horror. First off, the one he stole from, genetically speaking, was his helpless patient. Said patient was nearly mortally wounded facing down the one who actually inspired that fear, a man Hamilton knew was not acting of his own will. This was after he had to be threatened into helping Kara, his own prior familiarity with Superman causing him to forget he was dealing with a Physical God until that moment. The clone that resulted from this panicked theft he treated as a daughter, whose creation he blatantly lied about to his victim's face, then justified (albeit with his heart in his throat) to her enraged older brother figure. Like as not, Waller had to tell him explicitly not to seek revenge for Galatea's ultimate fate, vengeance he likely felt was rightfully his - for the product of his assault on an unwilling helpless young woman. All because, as a scientist, he was too enthralled with aiding Superman to get what he was capable of, and soiled himself upon this realization. Now, if Batman paid him a later visit, like as not Hamilton's attempt at indignation was at least firmly refuted...
In "Initiation", the League demanded answers from Chong-Mai's army regarding the rampaging nuclear robot and one scientist blurted all its secrets. The scientist was probably sentenced to the reeducation camp or even to death for disobeying orders.
Luthor seems much more irrational upon his return in Unlimited. Of course, Brainiac is controlling him by this point. How long has Brainiac been controlling Luthor, and that brings up another possibility: What if Lex's Heel–Face Turn was genuine and Brainiac just kicked in his god complex again?
Bizarro's new backwards and decidedly more hostile mindset is the result of Lex Luthor's "reformatting". Imagine the schadenfreude Luthor felt in mentally crippling and morally destroying (in as painful a manner as possible, no doubt) a genetic duplicate of Superman. He makes Bizarro completely loyal to him and even leaves the lobotomy scar clearly visible, like a slave brand.
On a related note, Cadmus's Doomsday is the result of bastardizing Superman's DNA, just like Bizarro, only with the added "enhancement" of negatively conditioning him with a tremendous, murderous hatred for the Man of Steel. If Luthor (the man behind Bizarro's creation back in Superman: The Animated Series) had taken that further step, we'd have two Superman level, bloodthirsty, nigh-unstoppable mass murderers running roughshod over the DCAU.
More of a "Fridge WHOA!" ,but still. From part one of "Legends", shortly before we meet the Justice Guild, Green Lantern tries to stop a recurring nemesis of theirs who at first think he's his Guild counterpart the Green Guardsman in disguise. Considering how later, it's shown that to take place in a world running on Deliberate Values Dissonance, it puts the idea that he believed Black Face was actually involved in said "disguise" especially since it's not clear if shapeshifting is a part of Green Guardsman's capabilities since his powers are identical to Lantern's.
Cassandra Cain is in Batman's army in the alternate universe of "The Savage Time". So what happened to her and everyone else in the main universe?
Cassandra was shown as a small child in "The Savage Time", if memory serves she was mid teens when she met the Bat family in the comics, so it's possible she is either still with David Cain or on her own having run away in the main universe. Of course with the hints that Justice League ends close to the flashback portions of Return of the Joker and near the end of Bruce's carer all together her chances of meeting the Bat Family in this universe are slim.
Why is Batman's dream in "For The Man Who Has Everything" just a loop of his dad beating up Joe Chill while he and his mom watch? He can't imagine his life after that.
In the Justice League Unlimited, "The Once and Future Thing", Chucko has been outfitted with a ballcycle for moving. This ballcycle begins at the waist down, which means Chucko is now devoid of certain equipment...
How about the Superman and Darkseid fight in Destroyer? Where Superman casually tossed Darkseid through multiple skyscrapers? Now, in Metropolis, everybody probably heads for the basement when a metahuman fight starts, and the alternative was far, far, far worse, but still...
In the Justice League Unlimited, "The Greatest Story Never Told", most of what was sucked into the black hole comes out again, but not the two paramedics or the other people we hear getting sucked in offscreen.
It's because it was offscreen that we don't know they were sucked in. They could've jumped out of the way.
Rewatching the episode where The Flash beats the everloving hell out of Brainthor and nearly gets sucked out of reality throws up another smaller one. When they pull him out Shayera has a hold of his wrist, not his hand. Which could easily mean that when Shayera told him to take her hand...
The point was that, had Flash listened and grabbed Shayera's hand, she would have been holding his hand. She wasn't. Flash didn't listen; he didn't reach for her hand. He wanted to be left behind.
If anybody understands Superman's "world of cardboard" speech then it's the Flash. When he swaps brains with Lex Luthor in The Great Brain Robbery we get to see all the powers he keeps tucked away and while they're played for laughs in the episode, they're clearly just as lethal as Superman's, if not more. Just thinking of what a gone-dark-side Flash could do if he wanted to...
Not exactly fridge horror if you remember Zoom.
Zoom doesnt have Flash's powers, he has a form of time manipulation masquerading as super speed.
Professor Zoom does.
The implied borderline rape in The Great Brain Robbery is terrifying when you think about it. I say borderline because while there wasn't any actual intent on any of the two people involved, think about it: Tala had sex with The Flash thinking he was Lex Luthor... And The Flash did it for fear of having his cover blown up. No actual intent, but a whole mess of consent issues. Let's just hope there are psychiatrists in the Justice League universe for poor Flash's sake (As Tala already died in the last episode)...
Now that her actual mission is brought to light, it makes all her actions take a more darker light. While giving away the Justice League's weaknesses to the Thanagarians was bad, what if that's not the only thing she gave: Aquaman, Dr. Fate, Metamorpho, Static, Gear; these were people she knew and fought alongside and she could have gave away their weaknesses to her people. When the Thangarians invaded Earth, those heroes may not have put up a good fight.
In Epilogue Ace states she read Batman's mind and knew he wasn't going to use Amanda Waller's weapon on her. Given that Ace is a Reality Warper and can sense hostile intent, trying to kill her with the weapon wasn't going to work anyways, she would have detected the thoughts of her assailant and killed them before they got the chance to use it.
During Season 3 of Unlimited, Luthor continued to speak to Brainiac's consciousness, apparently still existing within his mind. Said consciousness claims it enjoyed the brief time they were merged and wishes to re-merge once reconstructed. However, after he unwittingly resurrected Darkseid, Luthor claimed to no longer be able to hear Brainiac inside his head. Was a part of Brainiac truly speaking to Luthor, or was Lex manipulated into reviving the New God all along? Or did Darkseid succeed in killing what was left of Brainiac?
So for all intents and purposes the world that the Justice Lords come from is exactly the same as the one that the Justice League comes from. The main differences between the two only coming after the events of the Flash's death. OK... so that means that the Thanagarians are going to find a world without a Justice League to protect it making the Earth's destruction inevitable. And the irony is that the Justice Lords were far more likely to have attacked the Thanagarians the moment that they arrived instead of letting them gain a foothold and would have been able to organise a global resistance faster due to their status as absolute dictators. Its even possible that this far more rebellious Hawkgirl may be on the Lords side from the get-go, meaning that the Thangarians would be without any meaningful intelligence. The Justice Lords planet went from being better placed to defend against its enemies to being completely undefended in the space of a couple of days.
