History Recap / JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS1E2ForTheManWhoHasEverything

* CastingGag: The mugger who shoots the Waynes (theoretically Joe Chill) is also voiced by Kevin Conroy, who is the voice of Batman.

* LotusEaterMachine: The Black Mercy, a telepathic parasitic plant, subdues victims by showing them a perfect mental simulation of their greatest desires.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Wonder Woman does a lot better here then she did in the original comics, actually putting up a good fight and being the one to pull the Black Mercy off of Batman to use on Mongul. This doesn't change the fact that Mongul outclasses her, though -- by the time Superman is out of his fantasy and intervenes, she's been beaten so badly that she can't even walk, forcing her to pull herself forward on one arm.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Superman's not trying to stop Mongul; he's trying to kill him.

* UnstoppableRage: Superman comes this close to beating Mongul to death. He only hesitates when seeing the statues of Jor-El and Lara.

They arrive at his fortress' interior to find Superman standing in one spot, a curiously eerie expression on his face, and huge black-and-purple plant attached to his chest. Batman examines him and notes that he appears to be in a comatose trance. Wonder Woman [[IncrediblyLamePun wonders]] aloud who got this for him and why, before [[HurricaneOfPuns wandering]] off to find anything to help take the thing off of Superman's chest.

Kal-El wakes up in his bed, having had a non-restful sleep. Brainiac hovers next to Kal-El's bed, where he and his wife Loana are blearily getting to their feet, and gives him the daily weather report on Krypton while also reminding him that he and his son Van-El have an appointment with Kal-El's father Jor-El later that afternoon. Kal-El tries to start moving around the house to prepare, but he steps in something, and begins to chastise Van about Krypto leaving behind presents inside. Suddenly, the house begins to shake, but no one really notices anything except Kal-El, who is confused. He looks at Brainiac, who simply says that Krypton's Seismic Institute had predicted that minor and completely harmless tremor. Loana manages to pin the distracted Kal-El down and proceeds to give him a kiss...

As soon as he says these words, the world around them starts to crumble. Krypton really is being destroyed. Kal-El says his final goodbye to Van-El, promising him he'd never forget. Finally, with a flash, Krypton is gone, and the Black Mercy is pulled free from Superman's chest, returning him to the real world.

Inside of Bruce's head, a familiar Noir-esque scene plays. A young boy and his father and mother are walking through an alley after a performance of Zorro, when a mugger arrives, brandishing a gun and demanding they hand over their valuables. Rather than stand idly by, the father, Thomas Wayne, charges forward and averts the gun blast, before going to town on the mugger, to the delight of the boy watching, a young Bruce Wayne.

Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is successfully wrestling the Black Mercy free. And just like with Superman, this means that in his head, Batman is starting to see things go horribly, horribly wrong. Thomas Wayne still has the upper hand, but as a familiar voice from far away calls his name, the mugger starts to gain the upper hand in the shadows, before finally, the scene vanishes with the sound and flash of a gunshot.

But Superman finds himself distracted by the statue above him. This momentary distraction proves fatal, as Mongul is able to take control of the fight once again, and prepares a spear to finally end the Last Son of Krypton once and for all.

* NotSoAboveItAll: when Diana asked if Batman brought Superman a gift certificate as a birthday present, Batman replies with a rather uncharacteristically defensive no.

%% * DreamApocalypse

* PragmaticAdaptation: Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything''. They took out some of the darker aspects which gave it its own unique effect while sticking to the overall idea. Notably, this is the only adaptation of his work that [[ApprovalOfGod Moore actually likes]].

->''"You are everything I ever wanted in a son. This... this is everything I ever wanted in a life... But I've got responsibilities Van, and I... have to go now."''

-->'''Superman''': I don't think you're real. I don't think any of this is-- is real.

* BadassBoast: Courtesy of Mongul, who illustrates that Superman being indisposed means he's unstoppable after Wonder Woman [[InvulnerableKnuckles only hurts her own hands trying to punch him out.]]

* CastingGag: The mugger who shoots the Waynes (theoretically Joe Chill) is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who is the voice of Batman.

* CompositeCharacter: Superman's ideal wife, Loana, is a composite of his love interests Lois Lane and Lana Lang in name, appearance, etc. Perhaps the writers were inspired by [[http://www.comics.org/issue/17678/cover/4/ this]] Silver Age comics story issue.

* KarmaHoudini[=/=]KarmicDeath: Mongul's fate. Death being figurative here, of course. Depending on if Mongul's dream turns sour or if he's dissatisfied with it, he got exactly what he wanted and was satisfied with it. In the ''Justice League Unlimited'' episode, Batman bitterly states that whatever he sees is "too good for him".

'''Mongul:''' A... ''jaundiced'' account.

Menawhile, Wonder Woman is successfully wrestling the Black Mercy free. And just like with Superman, this means that in his head, Batman is starting to see things go horribly, horribly wrong. Thomas Wayne still has the upper hand, but as a familiar voice from far away calls his name, the mugger starts to gain the upper hand in the shadows, before finally, the scene vanishes with the sound and flash of a gunshot.

-->'''Wonder Woman''': I wonder what he's seeing.
-->'''Batman''': Whatever it is, it's too good for him.

* AdaptedOut: Jason Todd doesn't appear in the JLU adaptation, as he was never introduced in the DCAU. Similarly, Tim Drake, who held the title at the time the story was set, did not appear. This may not been because of [[ExiledFromContinuity the Bat-Embargo]], which went into effect partway into this season's production [[note]]and led to Hugo Strange being abruptly dropped after a cameo in "The Doomsday Sanction"[[/note]]. According to quotes on [[http://jl.toonzone.net/episode27/episode27.htm this page]], the creative team had some say in this; Bruce Timm and others "didn’t hesitate for a moment to cut Robin" (though Dwayne [=McDuffie=] tried to keep him in before relenting).

* CompositeCharacter: Superman's ideal wife, Loana is a composite of his love interests Lois Lane and Lana Lang in name, appearance, etc. Perhaps the writers were inspired by this Silver Age comics story issue here http://www.comics.org/issue/17678/cover/4/

-->"He'll kill her, Clark, and then he'll kill us all. Come back to us."

-->"Yes, that's it. Fight it, Clark. ''Fight it.''"

-->'''Mongul:''' I suppose Superman told you about our previous encounter.
-->'''Batman:''' [[DeadpanSnarker You mean how he humiliated you?]]
-->'''Mongul:''' A... ''jaundiced'' account.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Superman still can't bring himself to kill Mongul, who mocks him for it.

* KarmaHoudini[=/=]KarmicDeath: Mongul's fate. Death being figurative here, of course. Depending on if Mongul's dream turns sour or if he's dissatisfied with it, he got exactly what he wanted and was satisfied with it. In the ''Justice League Unlimited'' episode, Batman bitterly states that whatever he sees is "too good for him".

-->'''Mongul:''' I suppose Superman told you about our previous encounter.\\
'''Batman:''' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion You mean how he humiliated you?]]\\
'''Mongul:''' A... jaundiced account.

* AllJustADream

* BerserkButton: To escape the Black Mercy, Superman has to willingly reject his ultimate fantasy of a happy life on Krypton with the family he never knew. The pain of this is compared to having to rip off your own arm and it causes Superman to go completely berserk on Mongul, including actually using his eye beams on him, requiring a discretion shot as it burns him. It's not until he sees a statue of his parents that he stops mercilessly pounding a prone Mongul.

-->'''Batman:''' You mean how he humiliated you?

'''Batman:''' You mean how he humiliated you?\\

As soon as he says these words, the world around them starts to crumble. Krypton really is being destroyed. Kal-El says his final goodbye to Van-El, promising him he'd never forget. Finally, with a flash, Krypton is gone, and th eBlack Mercy is pulled free from Superman's chest, returning him to the real world.

-->'''Superman''': Happy!? [[LastOfHisKind Do you have any idea what I've lost!?]]

Speak of the devil, for Mongul steps out of the shadows with an evil grin on his face and an unconscious Wonder Woman in his hands, and explains that ''he'' sent the Black Mercy to Superman. The Black Mercy is a plant that feeds its victims a vision based on the innermost desires of its victim's heart while it slowly feeds on the body -- the perfect distraction for Mongul to take advantage of in order to subjugate Earth's inferior species. Wonder Woman, who was merely playing possum, chooses that moment to wake up and give him a kick under the chin. Fisticuffs begin to occur between Wonder Woman and Mongul while Batman tries to get the plant off of Superman.

** Mongul himself, courtesy of Superman. His face is seriously battered and he himself believed Superman would have killed him had it gone on any longer.

** Possibly played straight, albeit subtly, with Batman: although he enjoys his vision of Thomas Wayne kicking Joe Chill's ass in Crime Alley at first, his child-self in the vision appears increasingly ''distressed'' when the beating goes on and on, as if he's realizing that it wasn't ''like'' Thomas (a compassionate physician) to keep punching someone who was already down. In granting his wish that his parents had lived, the Black Mercy forsook what'd made them the good people they were in the first place.

* ThouShaltNotKill: Superman still can't bring himself to kill Mongul, who mocks's him for it.

** Possibly played straight, albeit subtly, with Batman: although he enjoys his vision of Thomas Wayne kicking Joe Chill's ass in Crime Alley at first, his child-self in the vision appears increasingly ''distressed'' when the beating goes on and on, as if he's realizing that it wasn't ''like'' Thomas (a compassionate physician) to keep punching someone who was already down. In granting his wish that his parents had lived, the Black Mercy forsake what'd made them the people they were in the first place.

** Possibly played straight, albeit subtly, with Batman: although he enjoys his vision of Thomas Wayne kicking Joe Chill's ass in Crime Alley at first, his child-self in the vision appears increasingly ''distressed'' when the beating goes on and on, as if he's realizing that it wasn't ''like'' Thomas (a compassionate physician) to keep punching someone who was already down.

* PragmaticAdaptation: Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything''. They took out some of the darker aspects which gave it its own unique effect while sticking to the overall idea. Notably, this is the only adaptation of his work that [[AprovalOfGod Moore actually likes]].

* PragmaticAdaptation: Creator/AlanMoore's ''ComicBook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything''. They took out some of the darker aspects which gave it its own unique effect while sticking to the overall idea. Notably, this is the only adaptation of his work that Moore actually likes.

-->'''Batman:''' What do you get for the man who has everything?

* SuplexFinisher: Wonder Woman to Mongul in the JLU version. Though not a finisher move -- it barely fazes him.

* GenreSavvy: Batman stops Wonder Woman from attacking Mongul, which (as the villain says) is because he wants to learn all he can about the Black Mercy.