Recap / Justice League: S1 E24 to 26: "The Savage Time"

The Justice League returns from a mission in space to find the world transformed — a result of villain Vandal Savage feeding information to his younger self in the 1940s, allowing him to help take over the world during World War II. The League travels back in time themselves to stop him, and fight Nazis alongside DC Comics' WWII-era heroes (including Easy Company, the Blackhawks, and Steve Trevor).

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Tropes:

• Accidental Pervert: The Flash accidentally grabs Hawkgirl's chest when the team pile up in a human heap as Alternate Batman's rocket train starts up.
  Hawkgirl: Whose hand is that?
  Flash: Sorry!
• All Germans Are Nazis: Averted; Wonder Woman helps an American secret agent rescue an undercover spy and crypto agent from a Nazi prison. The spy turns out to be a native German working against the Nazi regime.
  Wonder Woman: You're German?
  Spy: Believe me, we're not all like that.
• Allohistorical Allusion: Towards the end, the members of the German High Command are beginning to resent Vandal Savage's actions and position. When speaking about the previous Fuhrer, they admit that he was crazy, but at least he listened to his generals. In real life, one of the key reasons often given for the collapse of the German military was Hitler's refusal to accept advice or corrections from his military staff (although this interpretation has come under scrutiny in recent years due to it being part of said generals trying to distance themselves from war crimes in the eyes of the Western Allies, who gave them jobs in the Bundeswehr to turn West Germany into a buffer state against the Eastern Bloc).
• Alternate History: Thanks to Vandal Savage, the League could only correct the outcome of the D-Day invasion, yet every other event that was changed still made it into the history books.
• Alternate-History Nazi Victory: Thanks to Savage sending the laptop containing blueprints for advanced tech and the Allied war plans to his past self, he manages to get Nazi Germany to win World War II, albeit with himself as the new leader in place of Hitler. He rules over the resulting world by the 21st century, and has created a dystopian society with him in charge.
• America Won World War II: Vandal Savage chose to plan a massive invasion of America after learning about the outcome of World War II, particularly when his future self also warned him to ready the Third Reich for a massive US/UK/Canada/Resistance movements seaborne invasion of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. While the success of Operation Overlord in 1944 was definitely very bad news for Germany, wouldn't a specific warning not to invade the Soviet Union in 1941 before neutralizing the Western enemies first have been a higher priority?
• Artistic License – History: When the League make it back to 1944, they end up in Caen, where American forces are being beaten back by German forces with their new War Wheels. Thing is, Caen was in the British sector during the Normandy invasion and subsequent campaign. A more appropriate location would have been Carentan, which was firmly in the American sector.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: One of the big things that clues in the League that things are off is the fact the Savage-altered-timeline, Bruce, is willing to use firearms.
• Big Badass Battle Sequence: The entirety of the League and the Allied forces going up against the Nazis and their advanced super weapons. It's entirely lopsided in favor of the good guys.
• Bring News Back: The League learns that Vandal Savage is leading the Nazis to invade the United States. As they lack any means of radioing this information, the Flash runs across the Atlantic to warn the US. He manages to alert the US Navy, who shoot the remainder of Savage's bombers out of the sky.
• Brought Down to Badass: John’s ring, already depleted before the time jump, soon runs out of power. But even powerless, he kicks ass alongside Easy Company thanks to his service in the Marines.
• Can't Take Anything with You: Vandal Savage's time machine works with a sort of inversion: You can't go back to a time where you already exist, but you can send any objects through that you want. Being an immortal caveman, Savage can't go back himself, so he sends a laptop to his past self during World War II. No mention is made of how Wonder Woman, an immortal princess who was likely already alive during that time, and J'onn, a Martian who was DEFINITELY alive during that time, if on another planet, could be there.
• Catchphrase: The Blackhawk battle cry: "Hawkaaaaaaa!".
• The Cavalry:
  • Hawkgirl is in trouble with three Me109s on her tail shooting at her accurately enough that she has taken a bullet through her wing. Suddenly more tracer fire comes in from offscreen and through the Luftwaffe planes. Cue dramatic music as the Blackhawks swoop in.
  • The Flash shows up, and he's brought the U.S. Navy with him!
• Cliffhanger
  • Part One—Hawkgirl is forced to abandon GL, whose ring has run out of power as a War Wheel is baring down on him.
  • Part Two—Steve and Wonder Woman rescue the codebreaker, only to discover they've been Lured into a Trap.
• Close-Enough Timeline: Sure, the Justice League made it so that the allies would win World War II, but history as we know it has changed. Vandal Savage still made his mark on history and is infamously remembered as a Nazi War criminal.
• Composite Character: Without his ring, John Stewart briefly joined Easy Company, taking the place of Jackie Johnson, the African-American trooper from the comics.
• Conqueror from the Future: Except instead of coming from the future, this conqueror sends information back to his past self to make him a conqueror of the present.
• Continuity Cameo: Young versions of Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon (making out), as well as Tim Drake and Cassandra Cain show up as members of Batman's resistance in the dystopian timeline.
• Conveniently Empty Building: Downplayed. The Nazi super-tank blows up the Allied tank that doesn't have a gunner hanging out of the top, but it was firing back, so presumably there was an unseen crew inside. It fails to destroy the tank that is visibly occupied, though.
• Cold Equation: In the middle of a retreat, Green Lantern tells Hawkgirl to leave him behind so she can carry wounded soldiers out in his place. She does so without argument.
• Cool Train: The freedom-fighting Batman uses a rocket-powered subway car to get around.
• Darker and Edgier: Befitting of a season finale, the tone of the three-parter is much more serious than previous episodes. Notably, the League forgo their normal stance of Thou Shall Not Kill when fighting the Axis, destroying dozens of planes that almost certainly killed their pilots unless they were explicitly shown parachuting to safety, with Superman himself even Beam Spaming his heat vision on enemy planes. This is all justified, of course, given they're actively fighting in WWII.
• Day of the Jackboot: The alternate present in the beginning of the episode where the Justice League find an authoritarian Metropolis and Vandal Savage as supreme Evil Overlord.
• Deadpan Snarker: J'onn's reaction to the video of 21st-century Savage, who is completely identical to the 40s version.
  J'onn: You age gracefully.
  Savage: You have no idea.
• Diving Save: Happens a couple of times when someone is about to be crushed under a War Wheel, only to be snatched by a superhero.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Subverted by the alternate Batman, who grabs a gun and points it at the League, convincing them that he isn't the same Bruce they know. This is due to the different circumstances of his parents' deaths.
• Dramatic Irony: Alternate-universe Batman expresses the hope that Justice League altering history would prevent his parents' murder. Superman ^note  the only member of the League currently aware of Batman's true identity and the Death by Origin Story of his parents pauses for a second, then cautiously says he cannot promise that.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: Savage says he just wants to bring peace and order to the world, under his rule of course.
• Emperor Scientist: Vandal Savage, whose mastery of Wunderwaffe has so impressed the Nazis it's enabled him to usurp Hitler.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In his video to his past self, Savage calls Hitler a "Madman", indicating even a world conqueror like him didn't think very highly of Adolf.
  • Savage's Generals don't think very highly of their new leader either, noting that Hitler at least listened to them (though in reality he didn't)
• Face-Revealing Turn: To show the Fuhrer has both a moustache AND Beard of Evil! It's not Adolf Hitler but Vandal Savage.
• Finger in a Barrel: A more effective version by GL when he hovers in front of a War Wheel's cannon to taunt the gunner into firing, while using his ring to block the muzzle.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Hawkgirl chooses rescuing injured soldiers and bringing them to safety over rescuing John, a hint to her The Needs of the Many mindset that will be a major problem in "Starcrossed".
  • Also, the fact that Savage's present-day self is identical to the one in WWII. This will be explained in "Maid of Honor".
• A God Am I: As the two fight during the climax.
  Green Lantern: Say your prayers, Savage!
  Savage: A god doesn't grovel!
• George Lucas Throwback: Part 2 is a love letter to DC's war comics, complete with Sergeant Rock, the Blackhawks, and Steve Trevor as guest stars.
• Giving Radio to the Romans: Vandal Savage sends a laptop with a message on it to his past self, the information on the laptop allowing the past Savage to take control of Nazi Germany by deposing Hitler, build considerably advanced weapons and lead them to win World War II with advanced knowledge of D-Day.
• Glove Snap: Savage's Torture Technician with his rubber gauntlets before going to work on J'onn with Electric Torture.
• Godzilla Threshold: Superman himself says, "All bets are off" on seeing just how close the Allies are to losing during the Normandy landings, causing the League to break their No Killing rule.
• Got the Whole World in My Hand: The alternate Daily Planet’s globe is based on this image.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: When Wonder Woman offers to help Steve Trevor, the spy points out that she and J'onn aren't exactly dressed inconspicuously.
• Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act:
  • After gaining power, Past Vandal Savage deposed Hitler by placing him in cryonic suspension. However, after the League guys beat him, Hitler was dethawed, putting WWII back on track.
  • Mostly. According to Stan Berkowitz, part of the reason Savage's Germany was winning was because Savage directed Germany's resources and manpower toward the war, rather than genocide. So when the Justice League defeated Savage, that resulted in a timeline where WWII was fought but the Holocaust was cut short or never happened at all.
• How Did We Get Back Home?: The time vortex dumps our heroes in Germany and then vanishes. At the end they are seen exiting the vortex back into our time, but how they activated it from 1944 is left to the imagination.
• Human Popsicle: This is what happened to Hitler after Vandal Savage came to power.
• Idiot Ball: For all his evil scheming, Vandal Savage really should have known better than to leave the laptop from the future, "the most powerful weapon in the world" in his own words, in the same room as a prisoner who aims to stop him and has powers that he doesn't know of.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Superman, losing patience with alternate-Batman's threats, grabs his gun at Super-Speed. "If we wanted to hurt you, we would have."
• I Got You Covered:
  • GL can do this literally with his ring, but after his ring loses its power, Sgt. Rock tells him to cover Easy Company with a rifle. When a sniper shoots one of them before GL can countersnipe him, he gets blamed for not doing his job.
  • Steve offers to create a distraction so Wonder Woman can escape, only to watch in amazement as she takes apart the attacking force.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • For all the other alterations to the timeline, Bruce Wayne still watches his parents die at the exact same age.
  Superman: Incredible.
  Bruce: Not really. It happens every day.
  • For unknown reasons, Savage has not killed Hitler but is keeping him as a Human Popsicle. After Savage is apparently killed during his failed attempt to invade America, the Nazis decide to put their original Fuhrer back in charge, with the same consequences as in OTL.
• La Résistance: Batman leads a resistance movement in the Bad Present Metropolis.
• Man Hug: When the League returns to the present, Superman finds that Batman is in fact alive and well and glomps him. This causes an awkward pause of Batman staring at him from inches away and very dryly asking: "Am I missing something?"
• Military Mashup Machine: The War Wheels. These were taken from the old Blackhawk comics during that time.
• Missed Him by That Much: Flash can't find GL because he's hiding in the river, emerging just after Flash gives up and leaves.
• Mistaken for Afterlife: When Wonder Woman saves Steve Trevor the first time, he briefly thinks he's in heaven and she's an angel. When she assures him otherwise, he has no problem continuing to call her "Angel". Though on seeing J'onn turn invisible and sink into the ground, he has to check with Wonder Woman that he's really not in the Afterlife.
• Monowheel Mayhem: Giant spiked monowheels with mounted guns, and armor that even Superman can't break through.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The alternate-timeline Batman refers to the group of freedom fighters he started in the absence of the Justice League as "orphans and outsiders." In the 1980s, Batman left the Justice League to found a new team called the Outsiders.
  • Two of DC's war comics that don't feature in the episode get visual references. The first episode features an M3 tank^note Although it's an M3 Lee, rather than an M3 Stuart variant whose driver resembles Jeb Stuart of The Haunted Tank. And one of the wounded soldiers at the aid tent has a fully-bandaged face, making him visually resemble the Unknown Soldier.
  • The flaming Superman shot invokes a similar scene in The Dark Knight Returns.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Savage only freezes Adolf Hitler instead of, say killing him. As a consequence, when Vandal is beaten by the time-travelling Justice League, his subordinates release Hitler, who goes on to lose the war like he would have done in the first place, instead of another potentially more competent individual taking over. Even better: Word of God is that due to Savage's interference, the temporary removal of Hitler meant The Holocaust never occurred due to him being unable to implement it in the time left after Savage's defeat and Hitler's return to power.
• Noodle Incident: The episode begins with most of the League returning from a mission in space. Green Lantern complains about how he had to use his ring to drag everybody else across the galaxy, and Flash consoles him with the fact that they at least won the battle, but what they actually did is never expounded upon.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Savage’s right hand man airs his complaints to an unnamed Hermann Goering.
• No Swastikas: Justified as Past Vandal Savage hijacked the Nazi war effort, and they used his symbols instead. Later episodes had no problem referring to said villain as a "Nazi war criminal", worth noting, though that the insignia he uses is the the SS insignia, Hitler's elite guard and it actually makes sense in the context of the story: An ancient symbol that arose individually in almost every basket-weaving culture and which just happened to be used in the flag of a fascist nation? BAD! A symbol for a group of soldiers from said nation who were primarily responsible for the holocaust? A-OK!
• Not the Fall That Kills You…: Wonder Woman rescued Steve Trevor after he was forced to abandon the plane he was flying, and caught him with only a few feet to spare before he hit the ground. He shows absolutely no negative effects from his sudden deceleration.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: At one point the scene cuts away from Martian Manhunter as he's screaming in pain from being tortured. Next we see him, he somehow escaped his bindings, overpowered his torturer, and locked him up, all without the two guards outside noticing a thing.
• One-Way Visor: Alternate Batman's headgear covers his entire upper face, which helps make him look even more intimidating than main-universe Batman.
• Piggybacking on Hitler: Vandal Savage was piggybacking until he simply decided to fully supplant Hitler. In his case it seems it's less to do with racial ideology and more because the Third Reich's rabid expansionist policy best suits his "world domination" agenda.
• Power Fist: Savage wears a gauntlet that he uses for Shock and Awe and Electric Torture.
• Power Loss Makes You Strong: Green Lantern's ring runs out, there's no battery around, and he becomes a rugged infantryman. Justified as John is a US Marine veteran. When The Big Guy Bulldozer questions what John can do without his ring, John promptly beats Bulldozer down with his bare hands. This helps John to get in with Sgt. Rock's Easy Company.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Savage, in the process of usurping Hitler, puts an end to the Holocaust because it's a pointless waste of resources that's getting in the way of the main goal of taking over the world.
• The Scottish Trope: Hitler appears in all but name, albeit in suspended animation. Savage refers to him as "that raving lunatic". After Savage's defeat, his soldiers ask who will lead them then. The General simply responds "Who, indeed".
• Ship Sinking: Diana meets Steve Trevor, her canonical Love Interest, but their romance is brief because he's from the World War II era and she has to return to the present.
• Shout-Out:
  • Superman flies directly through a German plane and emerges from the inevitable explosion covered head to toe in flames - which makes him a dead ringer for the Marvel Universe's original, Nazi-fighting Human Torch. An unidentified Allied soldier later in the episode is shown injured and clutching his eye in reference to Nick Fury.
  • The Flash heckles the Nazis by yelling "Over here, Colonel Klink!"
• The Slow Path: Once the League returns to the present, Wonder Woman reunites with Trevor — this time as an old man, in a retirement home.
• Someone's Touching My Butt: The League is riding a rocket train, which abruptly starts and throws them all into a pile. Then:
  Hawkgirl: ...Whose hand is that?
  Flash: [pulling his hand from what almost certainly was her boob] Sorry!
• Spanner in the Works: Present Day Savage's plan only fails due to sheer chance. He had no way of anticipating that the Justice League would be protected from the changes in the timeline by Green Lantern's ring.
• Stupid Jetpack Hitler: The future Vandal Savage's laptop that was sent to his past self which contains mechanical schematics, including the aforementioned War Wheels, and Allied war plans, including the Normandy Invasion. The Nazis actually turn the tide of the war before the League sets things right.
• That's No Moon: Green Lantern telling Easy Company that the hill they were standing on does not exist in the map they have. It turns out to be Vandal Savage's hanger for his advanced jet bombers that he plans to use to invade the USA.
• Timeline-Altering MacGuffin: The laptop Savage sends back to his younger self.
  Savage: Sixty years from now, it will be a child's toy. But today, it's the most powerful weapon on Earth.
• The Time Traveller's Dilemma: Averted. Alternate Batman doesn't like living in an authoritarian regime after the Allies lost World War II. His hope was that his parents can be saved, but sadly, he doesn't know that if things do get back to normal, his parents still can't be saved anyways.
  Martian Manhunter: You understand that if we do change the past, you - this version of you - will never have existed?
  Alternate Batman: Nothing would make me happier.
• Trampled Underfoot: As War Wheels advance to destroy the building, Wonder Woman puts the two spies under a mattress and uses her super strength to hold a slab of masonry over everyone. Despite having a War Wheel run directly over her, they survive. She also removes the cover of the top secret communications device they're after, so when the soldiers search the wreckage afterwards and find it, they think it's been destroyed as ordered.
• Underside Ride: Green Lantern is forced to do so when he's behind enemy lines and his ring is completely drained.
• Walk on Water: Flash runs across the Atlantic, to warn the Americans that Savage and the Nazi stand-ins are headed their way.
• You Can't Fight Fate: The alternate Batman opines if the League stopping Savage in World War II will bring back his parents. Superman, who is well aware of the Waynes' fate in the proper timeline somberly notes he can’t guarantee that outcome.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • Alt-Batman says, "You're joking!" when our heroes don't know the identity of the Glorious Leader with his face up on posters all over Gotham.
  • The Flash's response when a couple of policemen in the Bad Future demand his identity papers, which would kinda defeat the whole Secret Identity thing.