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Context Recap / JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E12Alive

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1Lex Luthor has been hard at work to resurrect Brainiac so they can fuse like in ''Divided We Fall'', but nothing works, until Tala manages to use her magic to find that residue of Brainiac still exists in that base of his that was destroyed in ''Twilight''. So he makes a new plan; refitting the Secret Society's base into a spaceship to go there and reconstitute Brainiac.
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4%% Bastard Boyfriend has been rehauled into FetishizedAbuser (for then the narrative portrays an abuser as sexually desirable). Otherwise, it's an example of DomesticAbuser. If both people display toxic behaviors, it's RomanticizedAbuse. If the romantic partner is an unpleasant person but not outright abusive, then they are just a JerkAss. Please sort accordingly.
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7But on the way, Tala gets angry at Lex, and frees Gorilla Grodd, with the two of them leading a mutiny amongst the Society members who'd like Grodd to be leader again. Unfortunately, they fail, with Lex having taken precautions against Tala's magic and Grodd's psychic powers. In fact, Lex is able to turn Grodd's powers around after taunting the gorilla into using them, and mind-control Grodd into walking out an airlock. Tala's fate is even worse, especially because she never had a chance. Lex ''always'' intended to betray her, and her betraying him first just gives him a neat opportunity to do what he'd wanted all along: plug her into the Brainiac-resurrecting machine and use her as an unwilling power source, which disintegrates her.
8
9But... There's a problem. See, Tala wasn't about to die without one last 'screw you' to Lex, and Brainiac wasn't the only valid target for the device. Darkseid was ''also'' in that base when it exploded, and Tala's final act of revenge is to revive ''him'' instead. He then blows up the Society's ship, and the episode ends on Darkseid reclaiming his position on Apokolips, and Lex, along with what remains of the Society, going to the Justice League for help.
10----
11!!This episode includes examples of:
12* AlasPoorVillain: [[AffablyEvil Gorilla]] [[BenevolentBoss Grodd]] and Tala both die a CruelAndUnusualDeath. The rest of Grodd's supporters (other than [[IFightForTheStrongestSide Killer Frost]]) also count given their deaths.
13* ArtEvolution: While Darkseid's redesigned character model from "Twilight" is reused, it's also been tweaked to account for his fusion with Braniac's technology. Metron's STAS character model (which briefly appeared during "Apokolips...Now!") has also been updated with a tweaked color palette and new details.
14* BackFromTheDead: ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}.
15* BadBoss:
16** Luthor as always. Grodd points out that the entire EnemyCivilWar happens because of Lex.
17** Then, Lex retorts that many of the mutineers didn't side with Grodd out of loyalty either.
18* TheBadGuyWins: Although Grodd and Luthor were both villains, Luthor was the true villain that caused Darkseid's resurrection ignoring Metron's warning. All Grodd truly wanted at this point of the story was Tala's love and Luthor dead. If Grodd had won, Darkseid never would have been resurrected, making Luthor the true villain of the episode over Grodd.
19* BatmanGambit: Lex goads Grodd into using his psychic powers by consistently insulting the gorilla’s intellect and bruising Grodd’s FantasticRacism and ego. It works and Lex uses the metagene controller on his belt to reverse and defeat Grodd. Had Grodd simply relied on his brute strength, Lex probably would have died. To be fair to Grodd though, it didn't ''exactly'' work the way Luthor had planned. Grodd didn't immediately take the bait, meaning the physical fight and beating lasted ''much'' longer than Lex had anticipated. A bruised and battered Lex even admits he was starting to get worried he'd completely misread Grodd's psychology.
20* CallBack:
21** Luthor discovers from Tala that pieces of Brainiac are still intact in the middle of space, all the way back when Brainiac's base blew up back in "Twilight". And since Darkseid ''also'' died in that explosion, Tala uses his leftover presence to bring him back instead of Brainiac.
22** Giganta is peeved about Grodd [[Recap/JusticeLeagueUnlimitedS3E4ToAnotherShore frying her brain and leaving her to be captured]].
23* CameBackStrong: Darkseid comes back with a new outfit and, apparently, teleportation. WordOfGod says that his redesign is due to him being fused with non-sentient remnants of Brainiac's technology.
24* CameBackWrong: While Darkseid has always been pure evil, he was at least pragmatic about it. Apparently, dying at the hands of Superman drove him insane enough that he now plans to destroy Earth *and* New Genesis even though doing so will likely bring about his destruction as well.
25* CardCarryingVillain: Tala realizes that Luthor was always going to sacrifice her, even before she turned on him.
26-->'''Luthor:''' I'm a sick person, too.
27* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Several villains change sides in the Civil War several times.
28* ConflictKiller: The EnemyCivilWar on Apokolips looks poised for a climactic battle, only for the revived Darkseid to suddenly appear on the battlefield between both sides. The dozens of fighters all stare in shock before bowing before him.
29* CrazyPrepared: Luthor has ways to protect himself from all the most dangerous Society members, mostly through the metagene controller on his belt as poor Goldface finds out. This includes a magic talisman for Tala (hugely expensive, according to him) and a way to deflect Grodd's telepathy back onto him.
30* {{Determinator}}: Even as Grodd is sucked to his death, he still vows that he's going to get out of getting sucked into space and get back at Luthor.
31* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Parasite, one of Superman's main rogues, was one of the Legionnaires who were killed offscreen in the ship explosion.
32* DyingCurse: Tala tampering with the process and bringing back Darkseid instead as a final middle finger to Lex.
33* EnemyCivilWar:
34** The bulk of the episode is spent on one between Team Luthor and Team Grodd.
35** We also get a glimpse of one on Apokolips...which ends the very second [[TheDreaded Darkseid]] shows up.
36* EnemyMine: The episode ends with Lex and the Society being forced to go warn the Justice League about Darkseid's revival and incoming invasion.
37* EurekaMoment: While they argue at the beginning of the episode, Lex dismisses Tala's magic as useless in bringing back Brainiac. Tala spitefully offers to use her magic and show that it won't work, not because it's useless, but because what Lex wants is transmutation. Lex is about to counter her about how transmutation is impossible (which is her point, or at least it's difficult), but he stops himself mid-sentence, realizing that Tala means that transmutation ''can'' be done, and he immediately orders her to do it.
38* EvilerThanThou: Lex to Grodd and Tala. Then Darkseid arrives and shows ''him'' up.
39* EvilIsPetty: Even though Luthor had already won after having Grodd put himself into the airlock, he turns off the mind control device before opening the airlock to kill Grodd just so that Grodd will die while conscious and while also realizing that 1) Lex is responsible for his impending demise and 2) Lex has zero respect for the gorilla. There's also kind of 3) That Grodd had to spend his final moments alive while being killed in the space vacuum watching his killer and hated rival smiling happily about it. As if all of that weren't cruel and evil of Luthor enough already, Luthor also even forced Grodd to bow down to him and admit that Luthor is his master before forcing Grodd to put himself in the airlock while Grodd was under the mind control device.
40* EvilPowerVacuum: As soon as Darkseid returns to reclaim his post as the ruler of Apokolips, the two factions that started fighting for control when he left surrender to him.
41* EvilVsEvil: The premise of this episode.
42* ExactWords: Poor Tala.
43* FatalFlaw: Grodd’s need to show off his superiority in dramatic flair is what gets him killed. Had he simply used brute force to kill Lex, he’d have won. Instead, Lex taunting his intellect spurns Grodd to use his telepathy which backfires into a cruel and humiliating death.
44* FauxAffablyEvil: Luthor as always.
45* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Luthor introduces what he thinks is Brainiac as "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS1E12ToolsOfTheTrade your new lord and master]]".
46* HesBack: Darkseid IS once more! [[CameBackStrong And now even more powerful than before!]]
47* HoistByTheirOwnPetard: Luthor gains the upperhand against Grodd and puts him in a position to die by using his own telepathy against.
48* IWarnedYou: Metron appeared at the last moment to warn Lex not to do what he's attempting, saying ''everyone'' will regret his decision.
49** This trope actually also applies to Grodd. In the first episode of the season, Luthor does specifically say "I should kill you" to Grodd, yet "Not today." Grodd should have taken that threat seriously and not as a bluff. Grodd should have known the type of person Luthor is from the beginning and backed off from Luthor after that threat, as in this episode Luthor fully follows through with his initial threat. Luthor's taunt of "It could have gone the other way" before he killed Grodd could also be interpreted as, in a very cruel and insulting way, Luthor's reminder of his original threat/warning from the beginning to Grodd.
50* InadvertentEntranceCue
51-->'''Luthor:''' People... Meet your new lord and master!\
52''[Enter Darkseid]''
53* IronicEcho: "I'm a sick person."
54* KarmaHoudini: Killer Frost takes part in the mutiny against Luthor but when given a chance to save herself she does...by freezing her fellow mutineers. Even the villains on Luthor's side were shocked at the ease with which she did this.
55* KillItWithIce: Killer Frost's specialty.
56* KilledOffForReal: Gorilla Grodd, Tala, and a host of other Legionnaires.
57* KneelBeforeZod: After Luthor manages to turn the mind control back on to Grodd, he forces the gorilla to kneel before him and call him the superior being. And that's before he has Grodd put himself into the airlock.
58* LivingBattery: Luthor uses Tala as one of these to revive Brainiac.
59* MassOhCrap:
60** The entire Society's reaction when they see who they've really brought back.
61** Darkseid's Elite and the rest of Apokolips follow the Society's lead a minute later when Darkseid returns home.
62* MercyKill: For a certain definition of "mercy" -- Darkseid "rewards" the Society for reviving him by blowing up their ship, a much quicker fate than the one he has planned for Earth.
63* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal:
64** Several of the members of Grodd's coup were members that Lex had previously yelled at, threatened, or hurt in some way.
65** Conversely, Giganta, previously Grodd’s girlfriend, sides with Lex because Grodd had earlier tried to wipe her mind to cover his tracks.
66* MythologyGag:
67** Luthor modifies the Legion's domed base with rockets so it can fly just like in the earlier cartoon.
68** Among the villains that side with Luthor are Bizarro, Sinestro, Toyman, Giganta and Cheetah -- all of whom were in the Legion of Doom in ''Challenge of the Superfriends''.
69* NoHonorAmongThieves: The Society splits into two between folks who think Luthor is a fool, has a terrible plan, is an asshole, find Grodd better, and/or figure that they have a better chance picking the side with more villains, and folks who trust Luthor and want in on his plan. Subverted in the case of Luthor's people, since them working together against Grodd's people (who are disorganized and impulsive) is what allows them to win.
70* NotQuiteDead: Though Darkseid destroyed their base, what's left of the Society turns up on Earth in the last scene to warn the League of what's coming.
71* OhCrap:
72** Grodd over being in the clutches of his very angry ex, Giganta.
73** Tala when she realizes that Lex was planning to sacrifice her well-before she betrayed him.
74* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Lex's conversation with Metron, as noted in the PoorCommunicationKills entry. Lex thinks Metron is warning him that Brainiac's going to pull the previous season finale plan again (which Luthor is fine with, as he helped Brainiac do it and gets the universe partially rewritten in his image), while Metron is ''actually'' saying that his plan will probably revive Darkseid instead, which is something ''nobody'' wants.
75* PlotArmor: Everyone from the original Secret Society except Giganta and Sinestro side with Grodd against Lex. While Giganta is seeking revenge against Grodd for betraying her, the creators admitted Sinestro has no real reason to side with Lex over Grodd. He only sides with Lex because the creators wanted to keep him alive for the next episode. Possibly justified in that Sinestro is on the bridge with Lex (and thus can’t be roped into the initial mutiny) and then just sides with the faction not pointing a blaster in his direction.
76* PoorCommunicationKills: Metron arrives to warn Lex that trying to resurrect Brainiac from the remains of his asteroid will probably doom the universe. However, his warning is so vague that Lex assumes Metron just doesn’t want him to merge with Brainiac again and ignores him. Had Metron simply told Lex that the most likely scenario was resurrecting Darkseid, Lex probably would have not gone through with it. This gets [[IWarnedYou lampshaded]] next episode. Of course, that isn't necessarily completely true, because Lex was so determined and desperate to merge with Brainiac again that he may have just assumed Metron was lying or he may have not even cared about the risk of resurrecting Darkseid if there was still the possibility that he may resurrect Brainiac. There's also the possibility that Metron thought he may have messed with the space-time continuum too much if he had directly told Lex what might happen, so Metron may have had a reason for being vague.
77* PreemptiveDeclaration: Luthor scares the Secret Society into compliance by asking them to "remember what happened to poor Goldface" when he rebelled, shortly before Luthor uses his metagene controller to burn his face.
78* RedShirtArmy: Grodd's forces.
79* RevengeBeforeReason: Darkseid was warned that if Apokolips attacks Earth, New Genesis will retaliate, as per the Highfather's pact. Darkseid doesn't seem to care anymore, as he just wants to kill Superman and all that he loves. Regardless how his planet and people will end up in the end, he hints that New Genesis will be their next target once he eradicates Earth.
80* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves:
81** Tala receives a CruelAndUnusualDeath. Subverted because she'd have received it even if she didn't betray Luthor.
82** Averted with Killer Frost -- when Luthor asks the defeated mutineers if any of them can suggest a reason why he should let them live, she steps away from the others and freezes them.
83--->'''Luthor:''' Killer Frost...you've got a future. Get rid of the rest.\
84'''Frost:''' You got it.
85* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Darkseid makes it clear his desire for this precedes even getting the Anti-Life Equation.
86-->"Superman must suffer for killing me. His adopted world will die screaming. Only then will I seek the ultimate end."
87* SpannerInTheWorks: Tala's last act is to completely torpedo Lex Luthor's plan by reviving Darkseid instead.
88* TheStarscream: Tala.
89* TemptingFate: As Toyman marvels over being the navigator, Luthor stresses that he be careful, as any mistake could mean death. Grodd immediately blasts his way into the room, saying Luthor is dead regardless.
90* ThrownFromTheZeppelin: A non-fatal version occurs at the beginning of the two-part finale when Lex Luthor tells the Legion of Doom about his plan to resurrect Brainiac and conquer the universe. Several members, such as Goldface, are clearly unhappy with this plan.
91--> '''Luthor:''' Of course, if you don't like those terms, you'd better stop me now while you still have a chance. But you'd also better remember what happened to poor Goldface.
92--> ''Luthor presses a button and subjects Goldface to some FacialHorror.''
93* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Gorilla Grodd.
94-->'''Luthor''': Goodbye, Grodd. It could have gone the other way.\
95'''Grodd''': ...It really could have, couldn't it?\
96'''Luthor''': [[BaitAndSwitch No;]] [[PreMortemOneLiner but why speak ill of the dead?]] ''[opens airlock]''
97* {{Understatement}}: The cliffhanger shows Luthor and what remains of the Society appearing at the footsteps of the Metro Tower, telling Superman...
98-->"We have a little problem."
99* UndyingLoyalty: All of the members of the Society that remain on Lex's side, despite previously ordering them around without totally explaining his plan to them and Grodd's coup outnumbering them later. Special mention goes to Bizarro, who realizes Luthor is in trouble and rushes to save him, and Sinestro, who warns Luthor to watch out before Grodd blasts him.
100* VillainEpisode: The majority of the episode is spent on Luthor and Grodd's civil war.
101* WhamShot: Smoke clearing to reveal Darkseid was revived instead of Brainiac, followed by a MassOhCrap.
102* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Averted and then played straight. Grodd initially does attempt to just shoot Luthor with an energy gun, but Sinestro warns him at the last minute and Luthor is sporting metallic energy gauntlets that render it useless, so Grodd tosses the gun aside and settles for a fist-fight. He completely dominates Luthor and quickly has him at his mercy, but instead of snapping Luthor's neck [[IronicEcho like he said he wanted to]], he gives into Luthor's taunts and tries to brainwash him. Luthor uses a button on his belt to turn the tables, and Grodd ultimately loses.
103* WomanScorned:
104** Tala. She instigates the mutiny against Lex.
105** Giganta too towards Grodd for frying her brain in "To Another Shore".
106* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Tala realizes Lex was planning on [[LivingBattery using her to revive Brainiac]] all along, whether or not she stayed loyal to him, even though it would kill her. When it finally happens, [[WomanScorned Tala]] tampers with the process in a final act of defiance by reviving Darkseid instead. The evil alien invokes this trope by killing almost all of the remaining rogues for their efforts.
107* YouWillBeSpared: "Though your world will suffer slowly, I grant you a quick death." Given that it's Darkseid, this probably ''is'' his idea of being grateful for his revival.

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