The representatives of the Green Lantern Corps arrive at New Genesis.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Lor-Zod secured resources from Darkseid by promising to hold a winner-take-all confrontation once Dru-Zod has built an empire, saying Darkseid decided on this course of action from a deal he made with "some savage or other".
- The Cameo: Lightning Lad and Braniac-5 are shown amongst the members of the Legion who helped defeat Zod in a flashback. Additionally, both Jor-El and Zor-El appear in Lor-Zod's exposition.
- Canon Welding: Barring a few Broad Strokes, this show makes reference to events that happened in Green Lantern: The Animated Series, along with the debut of main characters Kilowog and Razer with their returning voice actors Kevin Michael Richardson and Jason Spisak. It also serves as a parallel to the Justice League Action episode "Barehanded", which ended with Aya seeking out Razer.
- Chekhov's Skill: Combined with Chekhov's Boomerang— who knew Bart's ability to build a time machine would come in handy again?
- Didn't See That Coming: Metron is caught by surprise when Razer's Blue Lantern ring breaks containment and returns to its owner, causing Razer to create a fusion of his Red and Blue Lantern powers.
- Easily Forgiven: Nobody holds anything against Razer for going on a rampage and causing destruction across Supertown. All it takes is Kilowog explaining Razer was going to meet with Metron for Orion and Vykin to instantly understand the situation and realize Metron is the true one to blame.
- Entitled Bastard: Lor-Zod definitely has shades of this, thanks to being raised as a scion of Zod. He tries to get out of telling Ma'alefa'ak the truth about his origins by demanding his obedience, and believes that he and his family deserve to rule the galaxy. He also claims that the United Planets robbed the Kryptonian criminals of their "birthright" by settling them on the Kryptonian colony of Daxam which orbits a red sun, even though Krypton itself also had a red sun, so he clearly feels entitled to superpowers.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Metron is apparently such a Jerkass disliked even among New Gods that Orion and Vykin do not hold it against Razer for attacking him and causing a trail of destruction across Supertown, seemingly deducing that Metron provoked the rampage to begin with.
- Fully Absorbed Finale: Perhaps more of a coda than a finale, but this does serve as a resolution to Razer's character arc in Green Lantern: The Animated Series, showing how he accepted the blue ring and subsequently reconciled both his anger and his hope.
- Fusion Dance: Razer achieves a perfect balance between his rage and hope, causing his outfit to take on the properties of both Red and Blue Lantern powers.
- Gone Horribly Right: Metron wanted to test Razer's potential with both the Red and Blue rings, manipulating him so he'd eventually lose the ability to control the latter and return for the former. Instead, Metron's brazen admission of this fact, and Razer's subsequent rampage, teach Razer to harness both rings and send Metron packing with neither ring to show for it.
- Healing Hands: The Blue Lantern Ring has healing abilities, shown when Razer heals Forager after accidentally hurting her.
- Humans Are Special: Orion questions why so many Green Lanterns came from the same planet. Kilowog assumes it is because of the "screwy conditions" on Earth that make a ton of candidates for the ring.
- Insignificant Little Blue Planet: The Justice League aren't able to make much headway on the metahuman issue because of this. The Green Lantern Corps protects the entire galaxy and New Genesis has a non-aggression pact with Apokolips, so neither can do much about the troubles of one planet even if that planet has become a center of Superhuman Trafficking.
- Just Between You and Me: Justified when Metron details his plan to Razer. The intent isn't merely to gloat, it's to make Razer angry enough for the Red Lantern ring to bond to him once more.
- Just One Second Out of Sync: Lor has been hiding from any detection by the Legionnaires by being unphased with time in his Time Bubble.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Kilowog and Razer establish that the (roughly equivalent) events of GLTAS happened four years ago, meaning it was about the same time frame as Invasion... the season that it mostly aired alongside, including running their finales on the same day.
- Longest Pregnancy Ever: General Dru-Zod's wife, Ursa-Zod, was unknowingly pregnant by the time they were imprisoned, and since no living being ages in the Phantom Zone, Lor could not develop or be born until after they were released, a millennium late. Fortunately, she was only one month along, so didn't have to suffer the debilitating and painful effects this trope usually has.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: Lor-Zod's goal is to kill Superboy in the past, thus preventing him from inspiring the Legion of Superheroes, who were the ones that prevented his father from taking over the United Planets. He (as far as he knows) succeeded in doing that on Mars, while also destroying the Legionnaires' time sphere, thus stranding them in the present timeframe. He now plans to free his parents and the other criminals from the Phantom Zone in the 21st century by stealing the Phantom Zone Projector from Metron.
- Motif Merger: Besides his new costume being half red and half blue, Razer's Chest Insignia is also a blend of the Red and Blue Lantern Corps.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Razer snaps out of his rage when he accidentally injures Forager.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Metron claiming that he wants to see Razer's true potential helps convince Razer to reconcile his anger and his hope, thereby allowing him to wield both rings and denying Metron his prize.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- The United Planets released the Phantom Zone prisoners because their sentences had long since ended. This kindness was repaid with an attempted coup by Dru-Zod.
- Lor-Zod was spared the Phantom Zone because he was a minor. He returned that favor by repeatedly trying to free his parents, then wiping out the entire Legion timeline when they destroyed the Phantom Zone Projector to stop him.
- Place Beyond Time: Everyone in the Phantom Zone is conscious (if they were conscious when they entered), but kept in an unaging stasis at the age they were when they first got there.
- The Reveal:
- In the 31st century, the last remaining Phantom Zone Projector was found on New Genesis and since all of the prisoners were never meant to spend eternity there, they were all released. This included General Zod, his unknowingly pregnant wife, and other Kryptonians, some of whom followed Zod as he attempted to conquer the galaxy. Lor-Zod, who was 15, was spared from being returned to the Phantom Zone after their defeat at the hands of the Legion of Superheroes.
- Lor-Zod attempted to free his parents, but was thwarted when the Legion destroyed the projector to stop him. He then stole a Time Sphere and decided to get Revenge by Proxy via killing Superboy who would be the inspiration for the Legion and also a member of the House of El. The three Legion members followed and prevented an attempt at the U.N. from when Conner revealed himself to the world and shadowed him for the year since. With their time sphere destroyed and failing to save Conner, they sought out Kid Flash's help to build a Cosmic Treadmill for Bio-Ship.
- With his successful "assassination" of Superboy, Lor-Zod has decided not to wait for his family to be released from The Phantom Zone and instead free them now in the 21st century. To that end he struck a deal with Darkseid for aid in order to breach Metron's interdimensional vault where the Phantom Zone Projector is being kept.
- A Broad Strokes version of the events of Green Lantern: The Animated Series is confirmed to have occurred in the Young Justice universe.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: When announcing his hatred of the Legion of Superheroes, Lor-Zod's eyes glow red with rage. Instinctively, Ma'alefa'ak and Mantis flinch backwards in fear.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Being caught in the wake of chronitons from Lor-Zod's departure in the Time Bubble rendered Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy immune to the timeline changes he enacted. This also retroactively explains Bart's similar immunity, hence why they seek him out to build them a new time machine.
- Seen It All: Bart Allen is familiar with all the time travel experiences the Legionnaires share with him, casually saying he's been there done that.
- Shout-Out: At one point, Razer tells Metron: "You want to make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry!"
- Super Cell Reception: Rocket's cellphone has reception clear across the galaxy.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: The Legionnaires and Lor-Zod explaining how and why they traveled from the future to people in the present who refuse to aid them without clarification forms the A-plot of the episode.
- Villain Cred: Ma'alefa'ak thanks Lor-Zod for killing Superboy, his sister's fiancé.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Metron deliberately left false trails for Razer to follow so he could study how long it took him to lose hope and embrace the red light again. As soon as he explains this, he gets his wish.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Razer's red ring on its own hardly bothers Metron, barely cracking his protective bubble. It's only when it's combined with the power of the blue ring that Razer is able to put Metron in his place, something previously only Black Lightning proved capable of doing, and only when Metron was separated from the Mobius Chair.
