History Recap / JusticeLeagueS2E15And16TheTerrorBeyond

Doctor Fate and Aquaman rescue Solomon Grundy, intent on using him to help battle an ancient evil. It's a pity they don't tell the Justice League of their plans, because when they get the story from the army unit trying to capture Grundy, they believe that Dr. Fate and Aquaman are teaming up with Grundy, and when they have to save a cruise ship from a giant octopus, they think that Aquaman wants to declare war on the surface world.

So they bust into Doctor Fate's tower, interrupt a ritual involving Grundy...and accidentally unleash Cthulhu's second cousin, Ichthultu (nobody told the writers that the Cthulhu Mythos was public domain and couldn't get them sued). So now Ichthultu and his betentacled lackeys are loose, and they have a bone to pick with life in general, and the Thanagarians in particular. The Thanagarians used to worship Ichthultu, until they got GenreSavvy and turned away from the ReligionOfEvil.

Doctor Fate, Grundy, and the Justice League go to Ichthultu's world to fight him directly, while Aquaman returns to protect Atlantis. Wonder Woman and Superman (later joined by Aquaman) fight off the monsters streaming into the material world, eventually sealing the portal with a convenient giant boulder, and Doctor Fate, Hawkgirl, and Grundy confront Ichthultu. A comment from Hawkgirl makes Grundy think that Ichthultu might have taken his soul, and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to get it back. He's able to seriously weaken Ichthultu and allow Hawkgirl to finish the monster off, but at the cost of taking mortal wounds himself. He dies with Hawkgirl at his side, and the Justice League give him a proper burial.

** The team Dr. Fate puts together is an {{Homage}} to Creator/MarvelComics ComicBook/TheDefenders, with Dr. Fate as ComicBook/DoctorStrange, Aquaman as Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner, and Solomon Grundy as ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk. Hawkgirl fills in for Nighthawk. One could argue that ComicBook/{{Superman}} (noble alien being with great powers) fills in for ComicBook/SilverSurfer, while ComicBook/WonderWoman (Amazonian warrior) subs for Valkyrie.

* AloofAlly: Aquaman's sole motivation in teaming up with Dr Fate and then the League is protecting Atlantis from the Old One [[EldritchAbomination Ichthultu]] that had once threatened it long ago. He initially refuses to go to the being's dimension with the League and Fate, instead heading back to his home to defend it from the monsters attacking it. He eventually does wind up joining them into the dimension after repelling the army of monsters and assist the League in sealing the breach between their dimension and Icthulhu.

* ArtEvolution: Fate and Inza's character models from STAS are mostly unchanged (though Fate's coloring palette has been slightly tweaked).
* BiggerOnTheInside: Hawkgirl makes her own door into Dr. Fate's home.

* BittersweetEnding: The Justice League were able to stop Ichthultu but Grundy dies in the process. The heroes buried him and honored him as a hero.
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: The heroes do end up killing Ichthultu...but Solomon Grundy dies in the process.
* TheBusCameBack: Dr. Fate returns to the DCAU for the first time since his debut on ''Superman: The Animated Series''. The Doctor (and Inza) will remain a recurring character for the remainder of the show's run.
* CatchPhrase: “Grundy crush!” used as a stand in for HulkSmash.

* DueToTheDead: The Justice League bury Solomon Grundy after he redeems himself fighting Ichthultu. His headstone says 'SOLOMON GRUNDY- BORN ON A MONDAY'.
* EldritchAbomination: Ichthultu.
* FireForgedFriends: Solomon Grundy fights against the Eldritch abominations alongside the League, and strikes up a friendship with Hawkgirl in particular. He gets mortally wounded fighting Ichthultu and indirectly rescuing Hawkgirl. She comforted him in his final moments. Hawkgirl still considers him a friend in the much later episode "Wake the Dead".
-->'''Solomon Grundy''': Bird-nose help Grundy? But Bird-nose and her friends hate Grundy.

** Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are noticeably abrasive with each other, with Hawkgirl lamenting Wonder Woman’s oft repeated catchphrase and Wonder Woman taking Hawkgirl to task for her rudeness and aggression particularly while dealing with Mera. Hawkgirl also digs into Superman’s tendency to give Aquaman the benefit of the doubt, which Superman is initially unamused about. This is one of the few indications that the League is rubbing against each other the wrong way which comes to a head in “Secret Society.”

* GivenNameReveal: After 2 seasons of being OnlyKnownByTheirNickname, we find out that Hawkgirl’s name is Shayera Hol

''(Grundy smiles. Hawkgirl tears up.)''\\

* LovecraftLite: While the monsters are certainly dangerous and Ichthultu is a terrifying CosmicHorror, it isn’t so beyond that the Justice League isn’t incapable of kicking its ass.
* NayTheist: Hawkgirl, and Thanagarians in general, renounced Ichthultu and no longer bow down to any higher power. She believes in Ichthultu, though—enough to smash his brain in with her energy mace.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Superman, Wonder Woman, and Hawkgirl find Dr. Fate and Aquaman seemingly torturing Solomon Grundy. Fate [[PoorCommunicationKills doesn't even try to explain what he's doing]], so [[LetsYouAndHimFight the Leaguers stop him by roundly kicking his and his friends' butts]]. At which point [[EldritchAbomination Ichthultu]] rips a hole between dimensions and starts wiggling its tentacles at the League. Quoth Dr. Fate: "I was trying to prevent ''that''."
* OverusedRunningGag: Hawkgirl gets annoyed at Wonder Woman’s “Hera, give me strength” catchphrase.
* ProngsOfPoseidon: Long ago, King Poseidon gathered nearly all of the planet's mystical energy to build a Trident powerful enough to destroy Icthulhu's minions and stop Icthulu from entering Earth, albeit Atlantis sunk when the Trident wound up absorbing the magic that kept it afloat to start with. In the modern day, it has lost none of its power and Aquaman is able to nearly single-handedly rout an army of Old Ones using it before once again sealing the breach that Icthulhu meant to use to access Earth.
* PoorCommunicationKills: Dr. Fate's group refuses to explain a thing to the Justice League. Aquaman in particular is very belligerent and his wife won't even explain why sea monsters (so far as anyone can tell) are attacking ships while Atlantis itself is clearly prepared for war, which isn't helped by Hawkgirl being overly aggressive about the issue. Superman and Wonder Woman were perfectly willing to give Aquaman the benefit of the doubt while Hawkgirl definitely would have understood with an explanation, meaning the entirely conflict rests on people outright refusing to say ''anything'' in their defense.
* ShoutOut: Suitably, the episode begins with a Hulk-like battle between Grundy and an army.
* UnwantedRevival: Solomon Grundy, upon learning his own origin and the fact that he has no soul, wants nothing more than to get his soul back. It was implied that this happened after he died fighting Ichthultu. However, he is later revived again by Chaos Magic in "Wake the Dead", in which he's really ticked off.

* WritingAroundTrademarks: Interestingly when Justice League writers created Ichthultu, they only did this because they were unaware that Cthulhu was a PublicDomainCharacter.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Dr. Fate's group refuses to explain a thing to the Justice League. Aquaman in particular is very belligerent and his wife won't even explain why sea monsters (so far as anyone can tell) are attacking ships while Atlantis itself is clearly prepared for war. Superman and Wonder Woman were perfectly willing to give Aquaman the benefit of the doubt while Hawkgirl definitely would have understood with an explanation, meaning the entirely conflict rests on people outright refusing to say ''anything'' in their defense.

* VisibleSigh: Superman lets out a frustrated sigh as Aquaman leaps into battle against him...right before Superman knocks him out.

* WritingAroundTrademarks: Interestingly when Justice League writers created Ichthultu, they only did this because they were unaware that Cthulhu was a PublicDomainCharacter.
* YouGotSpunk: Hawkgirl's verbal FlippingTheBird to [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu Ichthultu]] impresses the latter.

* AlternateCompanyEquivalent: The team Dr. Fate puts together is an {{Homage}} to Creator/MarvelComics ComicBook/TheDefenders, with Dr. Fate as ComicBook/DoctorStrange, Aquaman as Namor the ComicBook/SubMariner, and Solomon Grundy as ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk. Hawkgirl fills in for Nighthawk. One could argue that ComicBook/{{Superman}} (noble alien being with great powers) fills in for ComicBook/SilverSurfer, while ComicBook/WonderWoman (Amazonian warrior) subs for Valkyrie.

** When Hawkgirl realizes Fate is using Thanagarian runes in his ritual, she becomes very agitated and demands to know what he knows about Thanagar. This is a subtle hint that Hawkgirl is worried her cover as a Thanagarian spy will be blown which is revealed in “Starcrossed.”