History WhatAnIdiot / JusticeLeague

'''Instead:''' He forgets about his own superpowers and gets shot in the face - again.\\
'''Of Course:''' Jonn has done the intangible trick before, so this is more a case of [[TheWorfEffect Worf]] [[ForgotAboutHisPowers Forgot About His Powers.]]

As the DCAU draws to a close, we look back on how, even in the final two shows, heroes and villains failed to do what made the most sence.

* In the ''Justice League Unlimited'' episode "Grudge Match", Lex Luthor finds a way to mind control the members of the Justice League.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' He'd use it to make the JLU members help conquer Earth, defeat other superheroes, rob banks, etc.\\
'''Instead:''' He forces female JLU members to fight in underground cage matches.

''Why'' does he think he can get away with being such an idiot? Because [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome He's]] [[CrazyPrepared the]] [[MemeticMutation GODDAMN]] '' [[BatmanGambit Batman]]!'' That's why!

* One more, this time shared with Batman. In the original series finale "Starcrossed", someone needs to crash a ship into a BFG, making sure that it does not burn up on entry into the atmosphere. In this series, J'onn J'onzz does not have his trademark [[WeaksauceWeakness fear of fire]]. His three most prominently used powers are telepathy, flight, and Intangibility/Phasing.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Batman would evacuate himself and Flash, and telepathically guide J'onn through the whole process, like they did in the series premiere. J'onn would then complete his task, and phase out of the ship, and fly away from the ensuing explosion. Doing the job well would mean there'd be no fire to be afraid of anyway.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' He'd run like freakin' hell, never looking back, because of his powers. Which loosely translate to "I lose against Aquaman."\\

* In the JLU episode "The Balance", the spirit of the sorcerer Felix Faust has taken over Tartarus with the Annihilator armor, imprisoned Hades and has him tortured by vultures in a cold, frozen part of Tartarus. While Faust is satisfying his thirst for knowledge in Hades' library, he is encountered by Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, who have been sent by the gods to restore Hades to power.\\

'''Instead:''' Faust teleports them away into the aforementioned cold, frozen part of Tartarus... you know, the exact same place where he has chained up Hades! Once they're there, there was absolutely nothing preventing them from setting Hades free, which they do. Hades proceeds to teleport them back to Faust, and then helps them defeat him. What... an... ''idiot''!

* In the JLU episode "Clash," Superman uses his x-ray vision and sees what appears to be a bomb beneath Lexor City. Lex Luthor says it's just a harmless generator that could potentially be dangerous to a Kryptonian, but Superman doesn't believe him. [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] arrives and suggests getting the Atom or Steel to inspect it, just to be sure.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Superman to consider it. Captain Marvel has the Wisdom of Solomon, after all. Or that he would actually remember that Lex would never do anything so blatantly evil for no good reason.\\
'''Instead:''' Superman acts like an impatient child and fights off Captain Marvel when he tries to intervene. The two destroy Lexor City in a brawl, and it turns out that the device actually ''was'' a generator. Superman loses credibility with the public (which was Luthor's goal in the first place). Captain Marvel, disgusted by the whole thing, resigns from the Justice League, costing them one of their more powerful members. What's more worse, Superman never makes amends with him.

'''You'd expect:''' Luthor to find some clever workaround (like taking a picture of himself and uploading it somewhere where he can access it later) in order to capitalize on the information at a later date. If all else fails, he knows at least that the Flash's secret identity is that of a red-haired guy, and there's no indication given that he's ever forgotten that point even after getting back into his own body at the end of the episode (in an earlier episode, Batman had indicated that Luthor's got a photographic memory). Plus, it's common knowledge that the Flash hails from Central City; all Luthor would have to do is single out every red-headed male of adult age in the city, and then use his resources (and the skills of the Legion of Doom) to sift through the potential suspects until he gets the right one. From there, he could either just kill the Flash or blackmail him with his secret identity. And one would think he'd want to take revenge on the guy who single-handedly stopped his last TakeOverTheWorld bid, after all.\\

* "Epilogue": Amanda Waller, despite her many reasons to dislike Batman, comes to respect his methods and compassion. She realizes, however, that he's getting old and needs someone to replace him. So she uses Cadmus technology to conceive a child with Bruce's DNA, and he has parents who match the psychological profile of the Waynes. Now she only needs to motivate the child to eventually fight crime.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Waller to realize that Bruce wasn't just motivated by avenging his parents and creating a city that doesn't need him. He also wanted to use his privilege as a Gotham millionaire to reduce crime, and perhaps someday to settle down and have a happy life. Not everyone would make the same choices as Bruce did on suffering a traumatic loss, or have access to the Batman's resources.\\
'''You'd Also Expect''': She would do her homework on assassins and find one who has no connection to Batman or empathy about parents losing their children, if going that route.\\
'''Instead''': She hires [[AntiVillain Phantasm]] to murder Terry [=McGinnis=]'s parents while the young boy is having fun at the movies with them. Phantasm was once Bruce's fiancee, who also lost her parents to tragic circumstances. Instead of fighting crime, she committed murders to avenge her father.\\
'''The Result''': Phantasm, while preparing to kill Terry’s parents, refuses to commit senseless murder because she knows what it's like to lose a family, and that it won't necessarily make you a hero. She tells off Amanda Waller for her scheme, which causes Waller to abandon the project altogether because she realizes the same conclusion. While Terry becomes Batman later, it's not just to avenge his father, but also to atone for being a juvenile delinquent. Same result, different motivation.

'''Instead:''' The vault is sealed with a simple lock that is easily broken with a Earthling's pick. [[AlienInvasion The invaders are now free to attack the Earth]].

'''Instead''': She hires [[AntiVillain Phantasm]] to gun down Terry [=McGinnis=]'s parents while the young boy is having fun at the movies with them. Phantasm was once Bruce's fiancee, who also lost her parents to tragic circumstances. Instead of fighting crime, she committed murders to avenge her father.\\

'''Instead:''' Superman acts like an impatient child and fights off Captain Marvel when he tries to intervene. The two destroy Lexor City in a brawl, and it turns out that the device actually ''was'' a generator. Superman loses credibility with the public (which was Luthor's goal in the first place). Captain Marvel, disgusted by the whole thing, resigns from the Justice League, costing them one of their more powerful members. What's more, Superman never makes amends with him.

'''Instead''': She hires [[AntiVillain Phantasm]] to gun down Terry [=McGinnis=]'s parents while the young boy is having fun at the movies with them. Phantasm was once Bruce's fiancee, who also lost her parents to tragic circumstances but instead of fighting crime committed murders to avenge her father.\\
'''The Result''': Phantasm, while preparing to pull the trigger, refuses to commit senseless murder because she knows what it's like to lose your family, and that it won't necessarily make you a hero. She tells off Amanda Waller for her scheme, which causes Waller to abandon the project altogether because she realizes the same conclusion. While Terry becomes Batman later, it's not just to avenge his father, but also to atone for being a juvenile delinquent. Same result, different motivation.

** In the ''Justice League Unlimited'' episode "Grudge Match", Lex Luthor finds a way to mind control the members of the Justice League.\\

** Another one from JLU - Downpour, a pastiche of Zan from the Wonder Twins, gets into a fight. With Aquaman.\\

** In the JLU episode "The Balance", the spirit of the sorcerer Felix Faust has taken over Tartarus with the Annihilator armor, imprisoned Hades and has him tortured by vultures in a cold, frozen part of Tartarus. While Faust is satisfying his thirst for knowledge in Hades' library, he is encountered by Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, who have been sent by the gods to restore Hades to power.\\

** In the JLU episode "Clash," Superman uses his x-ray vision and sees what appears to be a bomb beneath Lexor City. Lex Luthor says it's just a harmless generator that could potentially be dangerous to a Kryptonian, but Superman doesn't believe him. [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] arrives and suggests getting the Atom or Steel to inspect it, just to be sure.\\

** In "[[FreakyFridayFlip The Great Brain Robbery]]," while Flash's and Lex Luthor's minds are switched into each other's bodies, Luthor-in-Flash's-body has a moment of security in a bathroom; he looks into a nearby mirror and gets the bright idea that, if nothing else, he can at least learn Flash's real identity. With this in mind, he pulls off the mask, and... "I have no idea who this is."\\

* "Epilogue":
** Amanda Waller, despite her many reasons to dislike Batman, comes to respect his methods and compassion. She realizes, however, that he's getting old and needs someone to replace him. So she uses Cadmus technology to conceive a child with Bruce's DNA, and he has parents who match the psychological profile of the Waynes. Now she only needs to motivate the child to eventually fight crime.\\

** In "Injustice For All", Batman puts a tracer on Luthor, which tells him the location of the headquarters of the Injustice Gang.\\

** The Injustice Gang have captured Batman thanks to Joker's help. In doing so, they have knocked him out.\\

** One more, this time shared with Batman. In the original series finale, someone needs to crash a ship into a BFG, making sure that it does not burn up on entry into the atmosphere. In this series, J'onn J'onzz does not have his trademark [[WeaksauceWeakness fear of fire]]. His three most prominently used powers are telepathy, flight, and Intangibility/Phasing.\\

** One more, this time shared with Batman. In the original series finale, someone needs to crash a ship into a BFG, making sure that it does not burn up on entry into the atmosphere. In this series, J'onn J'onzz does not have his trademark [[WeaksauceWeakness fear of fire]]. His three most prominently used powers are telepathy, flight, and Intangibility/Phasing.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Batman would evacuate himself and Flash, and telepathically guide J'onn through the whole process, like they did in the series premiere. J'onn would then complete his task, and phase out of the ship, and fly away from the ensuing explosion. Doing the job well would mean there'd be no fire to be afraid of anyway.\\
'''Instead:''' Batman pushes the Flash and Martian Manhunter into an escape capsule, tells them ItHasBeenAnHonor, and prepares to go through with his suicide mission, NOT knowing that [[spoiler: [[HoYay Superman]] would hear him and come to his rescue]].\\
''Why'' does he think he can get away with being such an idiot? Because [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome He's]] [[CrazyPrepared the]] [[MemeticMutation GODDAMN]] '' [[BatmanGambit Batman]]!'' That's why!

** The Injustice Gang have captured Batman thanks to Joker's help. In doing so, they have knocked him out.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' The Injustice Gang would unmask Batman to learn his secret identity. It would have helped them a lot in taking out the TropeNamer of the BatmanGambit--not quite as much as they'd expect at first, but learning Batman to be Bruce Wayne would have Lex at least know who he is dealing with in case he escaped somehow.\\
'''Instead:''' They just restrain him. Inevitably, Batman escapes with help from a mole ([[spoiler:Ultra-Humanite]]) while having torn apart the Injustice Gang from the inside. There is no subsequent sign of an attack on Bruce Wayne instead of Batman before the Batman Beyond timeline, and when the Joker ''does'' learn of Batman's identity, he ultimately gets himself killed when he tries to use it to his advantage.\\
'''But Even Worse:''' All that could have been avoided had Superman brought J'onn J'onzz to read Copperhead's mind and learn the location of Lex's secret lair.

** In "Injustice For All", Batman puts a tracer on Luthor, which tells him the location of the headquarters of the Injustice Gang.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Him to tell the league so they can all raid the place. Trying to take on six superhumans by himself alone would be suicidal.\\
'''Instead:''' He leaves the Watchtower without saying anything to his teammates and tries to take on the Injustice Gang alone. Predictably, he gets caught, and the League has no idea where he is being held as he couldn't be arsed to say a word about it.\\
'''Even Worse:''' The Gang is able to use Batman's transmitter to infiltrate the Watchtower and plant a bomb there. In the end, if it hadn't been for a mole within the Gang's ranks warning the League about the bomb, they would all have gotten killed thanks to Batman's screwup.
* "Epilogue"

'''You'd Expect:''' Knowing how extremely dangerous the Imperium is, J'onn J'onzz will take all the precautions and apply all manner of Martian advanced technology to entrap them so it will be impossible to release them. Also, knowing that humans might eventually evolve and arrive on Mars, or that other Aliens could find the vault, J'onn will place a huge warning, in every possible known languages, not to open the vault under any circumstances.\\

* J'onn J'onzz has [[SealedEvilInACan sealed the Martian invaders in a vault beneath the surface of Mars.]]\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Knowing how extremely dangerous the invaders are, J'onn J'onzz will take all the precautions and apply all manner of Martian advanced technology to entrap them so it will be impossible to release them. Also, knowing that humans might eventually evolve and arrive on Mars, or that other Aliens could find the vault, J'onn will place a huge warning, in every possible known languages, not to open the vault under any circumstances.\\
'''Instead:''' The vault is sealed with a simple lock that is easily broken with a Earthling's pick. [[AlienInvasion The invaders are free to attack the Earth]].

'''Instead:''' The vault is sealed with a simple lock that is easily broken with a Earthling's pick. [[AlienInvasion The invaders are free to attack the Earth]].\\

'''The Result''': Phantasm, despite preparing to pull the trigger, refuses to commit senseless murder because she knows what it's like to lose your family, and that it won't necessarily make you a hero. She tells off Amanda Waller for her scheme, which causes Waller to abandon the project altogether because she realizes the same conclusion. While Terry becomes Batman later, it's not just to avenge his father, but also to atone for being a juvenile delinquent.

'''Instead:''' Superman acts like an impatient child and fights off Captain Marvel when he tries to intervene. The two destroy Lexor City in a brawl, and it turns out that the device actually ''was'' a generator. Superman loses credibility with the public (which was Luthor's goal in the first place). Captain Marvel, disgusted by the whole thing, resigns from the Justice League, costing them one of their more powerful members.

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Justice League Action]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction'' Circe had managed to turn Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman into trees, but not before finding out that Lex Luthor planned to betray her. Infuriated by this, she proceeds to take the oculus away from him.\\
'''You'd expect:''' With Lex Luthor at her mercy, she would leave the heroes as they were and deal with Lex herself. After that, she could escape without ever having to worry about Wonder Woman again.\\
'''Instead:''' Circe reverses her spell on all three heroes and lets them have their way with Lex while she tries to sneak off. Considering only one of them even needs to bother with catching Lex, she doesn't get far.

'''Of Course:''' Jonn has done the intangible trick before, so this is more a case of [[TheWorfEffect Worf]] [[ForgotAboutHisPowers Forgot About His Powers]]

[[/folder]]
[[folder: Justice League Universe]]

'''Of Course:''' Jonn has done the intangible trick before, so this is more a case of [[TheWorfEffect Worf]][[ForgotAboutHisPowers Forgot About His Powers]]