History Recap / JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream

* AffablyEvil: Destiny initially comes across as this, being polite and courteous to the warden and staff at the prison...
** FauxAffablyEvil: But when his life starts falling apart, the politeness is revealed to be something he uses for tormenting his enemies and victims, as well as covering his pettiness and inferiority complex.

** The barrier J'onn encounters when trying to enter Hawkgirl's dream. His inability to read her mind will come up again [[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E24And26Starcrossed later]].

* AndCallHimGeorge: Superman accidentally [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength kills]] ComicBook/JimmyOlsen by hugging him during his nightmare. His out-of-control SuperStrength snaps the kid like a twig. It isn't pleasant for either of them, and is played completely for drama.

* CradlingYourKill: Superman, having lost control of his strength, crushes Jimmy Olsen to death while hugging him. When he realizes what happened, he cradles Jimmy's body and desperately apologizes. Luckily, as implied by the title, it's AllJustADream.

* DreamRealityCheck: Closing his eyes for a bit and opening them again had always worked for Flash in his nightmares. Not this time.

* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Lois' death gets a ScreamDiscretionShot, but presumably she was either shot through or fried by Superman's EyeBeams. Either way, it's easy to see why it got a GoryDiscretionShot.

* FrightDeathTrap: Destiny's powers work on the same principle as the "Scared Stiff" variant--with the exception that you ''don't'' have to be in poor health for it to work.

* PersonalHorror: Poor Superman has a hefty dose of WhatHaveIDone in his nightmare as he betrays his self-image as TheCape in the most horrible way possible -- by killing three people who have always stood by him.

* RaceAgainstTheClock: Batman and ComicBook/MartianManhunter have to save their Destiny's victims before he kills them. They ''do'' manage to save everyone (except Dee's wife, Penny), but it's a close thing.

* RealityEnsues:
** Firefly and Volcana try to use fire to escape a construct Green Lantern used to trap them. They literally knock themselves out because their fire uses up all their oxygen. Later, Volcana is seen inside a container with a breathing mask, suggesting that she's encased in inert gas to neutralize her power.
** Copperhead attempts to force Hawkgirl to fly him to safety. She simply flies about 400 feet straight up and stops, and when he threatens her again, points out that if he kills her, the fall will kill ''him''.
** Doctor Destiny's victims don't die because he kills them in a dream, they die because the nonstop stress from the nightmares they are trapped in overworks their hearts. Even Flash and Superman can't survive that.
** John Dee tries taunting Batman with the idea that rest of the League thinks little of him. It doesn't work. Nor was trying to fight Batman without his powers a good idea, even if he was on the verge of falling asleep.
** No matter how much of a defiant badass Batman is, he is still a human being who's prone to exhaustion and needs rest.

* AndIMustScream: After getting an overdose of his own drug, John Dee ends up trapped in a coma, unable to do anything except hum "Are You Sleeping, Brother John?" over and over again.

* DreamRealityCheck: Closing his eyes for a bit and opening them again had always worked for Flash in his nightmares. Not this time.
** Played for laughs in the conclusion, when Hawkgirl finally wakes from the nightmare:
--->'''Hawkgirl:''' [[DreamWithinADream Is this another dream?]]\\
'''Flash:''' [[ChivalrousPervert I could pinch you...]]\\
'''Hawkgirl:''' [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay It's real.]]

* OhCrap:
** Hawkgirl gasps in alarm when she realizes that the "J'onn" to whom she's been talking is Dr. Destiny.
** Without much in terms of expression: J'onn realises how crucial the situation is when he sees the news report about Dee's wife's death; similarly, Batman's response to hearing about this is to ''allow'' him to [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness enter their minds deeply, at great personal risk to himself, before they suffer the same fate]].

* PinchMe: Closing his eyes for a bit and opening them again had always worked for Flash in his nightmares. Not this time.

* PinchMe: Flash recognizes that he's in a dream a few minutes after Dr. Destiny shows up and believes that his alarm clock will wake him up.
-->'''Flash''': Huh? This isn't supposed to happen.
-->'''Dr. Destiny''': That's because this time, there isn't going to ''be'' a wake-up call.

* {{Personal Horror}}: Poor Superman has a hefty dose of [[WhatHaveIDone What Have I Done?]] in his nightmare as he betrays his self-image as TheCape in the most horrible way possible -- by killing three people who have always stood by him.

* {{Power Incontinence}}: Green Lantern, Flash, and Superman all fear suffering from this in differing ways. Lantern fears that he's become nothing but the ring's wielder, alienated from all of humanity. Flash is terrified of going too fast and being alone for the rest of his life. Superman fears losing control and destroying the very people he wants to protect.

* {{Primal Fear}}: Dr. Dee forces the claustrophobic Hawkgirl into a dream of being {{buried alive}}.

* {{Psychic Static}}: Batman uses the song "Frere Jacques" to keep Destiny from completely invading his mind.

* {{Tear Off Your Face}}: Destiny does this to himself when confronting his ex, as part of embracing his nightmare powers.

* {{Time Stands Still}}: The Flash's worst fear. He suffers a nightmare where he winds up locked in super-speed, effectively freezing him in time. The color is black-and-white. He recognizes that it's a dream and mentions that he's been having it ever since he got his speed powers.

* {{Troubled Fetal Position}}:

** It's also a jab at Dr. Destiny, given his powers.

* BilingualBonus: Batman hums the lullaby "Frère Jacques" to keep himself awake. Translated into English, the first two lines of the song are:

--->''Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?''

* YourCheatingHeart: John Dee's wife comes to visit him in prison only to inform him that she is leaving him for another man (who is already living in their house with her). This triggers his StartOfDarkness, causing him to become Doctor Destiny.

* {{Never Sleep Again}}: Unless you're very close to him, Destiny can only affect you when you're asleep. This causes difficulty for Batman, who's already been awake for three days prior. However, he grinds through on willpower, noise, cool air, and coffee.
* {{Nothing is Scarier}}:

* NightmareWeaver: Dr. Destiny can trap a person in their worst nightmare.

* DreamWeaver: Dr. Destiny can trap a person in their worst nightmare.

** Copperhead attempts to force Hawkgirl to fly him to safety unless she wants him to kill her. She simply flies a good distance in the air and tells him that if he goes through with his threat, Copperhead is going to fall forty stories if she dies.

* {{Tear Off Your Face}}: Destiny does this to himself when confronting his ex as part of embracing his nightmare powers.

-->"And now that I'm a doctor, I think I'll perform some surgery."

** Then there's the rather chilling scene end, with Dee himself lying on his cot with his eyes wide open, mumbling the tune to ''Frère Jacques'' to himself. One can only imagine what he's seeing.

* SelfDeprecation: Superman happily greeting Jimmy as "my pal" and then accidentally crushing him to death. This is a knock on [[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries the infamous "Superman's Pal" episode]], which Creator/BruceTimm and other carryovers were regretful about even years later.

* BrickJoke: In Flash's dream, he's watching a cartoon about himself with a group of children, one of whom questions what the TV Flash's use of "cur" means. Flash defines it as a bad person. A few minutes later, after having to run for his life when the children attack him, he calls then "rotten little curs."

* RoleReprisal: Dana Delany and David Kaufman return as the voices of ComicBook/LoisLane and ComicBook/JimmyOlsen, solely for the purpose of suffering an in-universe DeathByCameo.

* SquishyWizard: John is a nigh-invulnerable RealityWarper in the nightmares he creates, but his true body is mortal and far more fragile. ''In comparison'', that is. He's actually able to take a few blows from ''Batman'' before being knocked out.

-->'''Green Lantern'''(to his neighbors): Where are you going? What are you all afraid of?\\

* GodzillaThreshold: With the attempts to wake of the members of the Justice League proving ineffective, Martian Manhunter enters the dreams himself to save them, at the risk of being trapped himself. Batman objects until he's told that John's wife died.

* EvilLaugh: Destiny has a truly chilling one when the League members fall asleep. Notably, it isn't the standard cackle; it's just a chuckle...but a very sinister chuckle.