RWBY/Justice League is a 2021 DC Comics limited series, featuring a crossover between RWBY and the Justice League.
Set in the world of Remnant, Team RWBY encounters mysterious warriors in their fight against the Grimm. Ruby and Yang team up with a local farmboy to take down a new type of Grimm set loose on their home island of Patch, while on Menagerie, Blake meets an enigmatic woman who seems out of touch with the current times, and in Atlas, Weiss meets a brooding, troubled heir.
It was released on March 30th, 2021 digitally, and April 27th, 2021 in print.
Another series called DC/RWBY has been announced for 2023 with the Grimm invading the world of The DCU instead.
During RTX 2022, an animated adaptation, titled Justice League × RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, was announced
to be in development by Rooster Teeth and Warner Bros. Animation for a DTV release in 2023. It is also announced that the feature film will be split into two parts and serve as the second DTV movie to use CGI following Batman And Superman Battle Of The Super Sons. The storyline, while adapting several elements from the comic, instead has the two done in a more traditional crossover with the Justice League being pulled from their universe and de-aged.
Tropes in this series include:
- Adaptational Badass: Bruce by virtue of having a puzzle-solving Semblance, instead of being a Badass Normal.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: The Witch Warriors, RWBY's equivalent of the Amazons, are much more open to interacting with the outside world, having created Diana so she could help protect Remnant, encouraging her to journey outside of Bird of Paradise Island, and being happy that an outsider helped her and can guide her in Remnant. Also surprisingly, they don't hold a grudge against the rest of Remnant (although they do see it as "broken"), despite being composed of not only women, but especially Faunus women.
- Adaptational Wimp: Jessie Quick's is shown to be fast, quick enough to make usual speedster Ruby slip up, but seems to be nowhere as fast as her main counterpart.
- Adaptation Deviation: Bruce, a charismatic playboy in most depictions, is seen as a black mark among other upper-class Atlesians for being a Faunus.
- Adaptation Species Change:
- Age Lift: The Justice Leaguers are shown as teenagers, with Clark and Bruce being around Team RWBY's ages and Blake saying that Diana doesn't look to be any older than she is.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Clark makes vague mention of having previously frightened people with his powers, while Bruce is barely tolerated by Atlas high society because of his Faunus heritage.
- All Your Powers Combined: In the end, the Watchtower is constructed using Weiss's glyphs, Arthur's hydrokinesis, Pyrrha's Polarity, Victor's skill at advanced technology, and "so much more", Ozpin is able to devise a small amount of Dust to bring the Watchtower just above Remnant's atmosphere.
- Alternate Continuity: Similar to Justice League/Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, the RWBY continuity is played loosely and hand-waved as taking place during the Beacon era. The first three issues take place during spring break — likely the same spring break between Volume 2 and 3, though Blake doesn't return to Menagerie until Volume 4. The disappearance of every other Huntsman and Huntress and a new species of Grimm also seem like things that would've been brought up in the show.
- Ambiguously Bi: Weiss shares several flirty moments with Bruce, but also becomes flustered when interacting with Diana.
- Artificial Human: Diana claims to be made from dust rather than clay, though her mothers claim otherwise, so this may just be a Badass Boast on Diana's part.
- Badass Cape: Clark's jacket has a short cape pinned on in a manner not dissimilar to Ruby's cloak.
- Big Damn Heroes: Jessica Cruz drops in to help Team RWBY and the League as the brainwashed Hunters start to overwhelm them.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The central threat of the story involves a mystery force capable of brainwashing people, animals, and even Grimm.
- The neon Grimm hypnotize Clark, briefly turning him on Ruby and Yang.
- The suspicious Huntsmen that had been pursuing Barry turn out to be Pyrrha and Jaune, both hypnotized into doing the bidding of whoever or whatever kidnapped them.
- The brainwashed people and animals begin displaying a distinctive marking, that Jessica confirms is caused by Starro the Conqueror.
- But Now I Must Go: The final chapter reveals that the new Justice League hangs out on the Watchtower to make sure no other extraterrestrial threats attack Remnant. That way, this would take them out of the main story and allow those like Salem to wreck our heroes without the League interferring.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Being forged from dust/clay, Diana would count as a homunculus, but the official term given is that she's an "Automata", as in, an automaton.
- Call-Back: Diana is an Artificial Human forged from dust/clay rather than born of flesh, and we know from Volume 6's "The Lost Fable" episode that the Faunus were mysteriously created after the magic humans were wiped out, so as far as we know, this didn't involve magic. This makes her similar to Penny, a metal-based artificial human created recently to the main events of RWBY. Like Penny, Diana having an Aura means that she isn't some sort of ancient robot, but just a human in an artificial body.
- The Cameo:
- General Ironwood makes one when the group realizes that Starro has the Atlesian military under its control. He also makes another brief appearance in the end at Bruce's orphanage, recognizing Victor.
- Summer and Raven, the respective mothers of Ruby and Yang, as well as Bruce's parents Martha and Thomas, make appearances as hallucinations created by Starro.
- Chekhov's Gunman: In Chapter 3, one of the miscellaneous conversations among the guests at the Schnee Manor party is about a recently failed attempt at space travel and "those poor astronauts". It later turns out Cyborg was one of those astronauts.
- Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames:
- None of the Leaguers use their superhero names and don't even go by "the Justice League".
- Victor calls himself a cyborg as a nod to this.
- In a case of Adaptation Name Change, Jesse's name is Jesse Quick, which was her superhero name in the source material — her civilian name in usual DC media is Jesse Chambers.
- The Watchtower is constructed at the end, though it isn't called that in the comic.
- Continuity Nod:
- Official art for Jessica shows that her power ring still uses Hard Light here, as Velvet's Anesidora had previously demonstrated use of weaponized hard light at the end of Volume 3. Issue 9 reveals that while the power ring is Hard Light, it's still a Green Lantern Ring and not a RWBY-themed creation.
- Weiss is dressed in a ballgown similar to the one she wears throughout Volume 4 to 6 while being made to perform for her father's guests during spring break.
- It's mentioned at the Schnees' party that an astronaut either died or suffered injuries, presumably because of Remnant's attempts at space travel. As we learned in the World of Remnant shorts, space travel is nonexistent in Remnant because Remnant's machinery is powered by Dust, which won't work outside of the atmosphere. Apparently, this was the incident when they learned this.
- At the end, Bruce opens an orphanage in Atlas, accepting of orphans from all across Remnant. That way, children who have been enslaved like Clark, have no resources like Jesse, or just don't have a family like Bruce, have a place to turn to. Gee, Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder would've liked something like that…
- Cool Mask: Official art shows Bruce and Barry with masks on. Bruce wears a mask over his eyes and wears a scarf to cover his mouth, while Barry has his usual Flash mask.
- Crossover: A variation. This isn't so much a direct crossover between RWBY and the DC Universe, but rather, the DC heroes being transplanted into the RWBY universe. According to the solicitation for the first issue, these are versions of the DC heroes that already live in Remnant. Essentially, akin to a Fusion Fic. Though the arrival of Jessica reveals she's not from Remnant and chased Starro to their world. Implying she's from the mainstream DC Universe.
- Cunning Like a Fox: Jesse Quick is re-imagined as a Fox Faunus, playing decoy to throw off people looking into the rumors of a "Red and Gold Blur". She doesn't have her super-speed, but is quick-footed and notes that she's "wily" enough to outrun Ruby.
- Demoted to Extra: In the series proper, Team JNPR serve as the deuteragonists of the series, and have just as much importance/plot relevance as Team RWBY. Here, they've gone missing and becoming brainwashed mooks, the Leaguers taking their place as lead characters.
- Eye Beams: Clark has this in classic fashion, using it to start a campfire.
- Fantastic Racism:
- It's heavily implied that Clark's "Semblance" is really his alien powers as survivor of Krypton. He's very antsy about letting others see his vast array of powers, lest they realize that he's not as normal as he appears and ostracize him for it.
- Bruce is ridiculed by the Atlesian elites as "vermin" for being the only Faunus with the money to attend one of the Schnee's dinner parties. He's immediately accused of swiping Alban's antique pocket watch and the rest of the crowd believe the accusations until Weiss points out that she and Bruce had been speaking on the balcony the entire time.
- Arthur is incredibly distrustful of humans and attacks Yang, Blake and Clark when they show up by the ocean.
- Farm Boy: Clark's dialogue is written with a noticeable accent to reflect country colloquialisms like "y'all", and he's an able farm hand who Taiyang hired to help him manage the homestead in Ruby and Yang's absence.
- Fast as Lightning: Barry's iconic lightning effect remains intact, providing the "gold" aspect of the rumors of a "Red and Gold blur". Wanted posters for him simply feature the classic Flash lightning bolt.
- Flying Brick: In addition to his strength, speed, and toughness, Clark discovers his ability to fly after Yang punches him skyward to knock him out of the hypnosis he was put under. He doesn't even realize he's doing it until Ruby and Yang point it out to him.
- For Want Of A Nail: Bruce seems to believe that Starro's arrival led to their births, suggesting that if Jessica caught him earlier, they wouldn't be here.
- Genre Shift: With Jessica's arrival, the series starts to abandon the usual fantasy trappings in favor of DC's usual sci-fi angle.
- Gold Digger: Weiss initially assumes that Bruce is there to try and suck up to her for the Schnee family fortune. To her surprise, Bruce thought the same of her, believing that she was trying to get close to him for the Wayne's money. After apologizing to each other for their rude first impressions, they strike up a friendly chat over hot chocolate.
- Hero of Another Story: Blake meets Diana while she's completing her last of the Twelve Trials of the Zodiac.
- He Knows Too Much: The Cyborg of this universe was an astronaut bankrolled by the Schnee Dust Company to test an experimental new starship. But, as established previously, Dust doesn't work in space and the shuttle exploded. Cyborg barely survived and now assassins are on his tail to hide another one of Jacques' failures.
- Hide Your Otherness: Bruce wears a top hat to hide his bat ears from the other Atlesians to avoid garnering unwanted attention. But Alban knocks the hat off his head to reveal them, and Bruce doesn't bother to wear his hat from then on.
- Hidden Elf Village: Diana's home, Bird of Paradise Island. The Witch Warriors that make it their home are a secretive and ancient group of Faunus women that study history and astrology, as well as ancient myths long lost by the rest of the world.
- Hyper-Awareness: Bruce's Semblance makes him keenly aware of patterns in his surroundings as well as the mechanisms behind puzzles.
- Hypnotic Eyes: A new breed of Grimm has been gifted with colorful masks and eyes that can hypnotize people, turning Clark on Ruby and Yang. Ozpin reveals that these Grimm have been popping up all over Vale, kidnapping anyone with a powerful Semblance, including every Huntsman at Beacon Academy while they were away for spring break.
- "Join Us" Drone: Those under Starro's mind control in Issue #12 when they attack the Allen household, chanting "Join us".
- Let's You and Him Fight:
- A mild example. Victor initially attacks Diana and Weiss when they meet him, as he's been evading assassins for the past few days and is paranoid. Luckily, he calms down when Weiss explains things.
- Another mild example occurs when Arthur attacks Clark, Yang and Blake as he thinks they're the mysterious people kidnapping people. It takes Blake revealing her Faunus status to get him to calm down.
- Lightning Bruiser: As per Clark's own words, his Semblance makes him stronger and faster than any tractor, able to easily chop down grown trees with nothing more than a hand axe while Taiyang uses a chainsaw. He's also tough enough to take a Semblance-fueled punch from Yang and be none the worse for wear other than knocking him out of his hypnosis.
- Little Bit Beastly: Bruce is a bat Faunus, the product of a marriage between a human and a Faunus, and he suffers from Fantastic Racism for being one of only a handful of individuals in Atlas with the wealth to afford a ticket at the Schnee's dinner parties.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Due to being a rare Faunus coming from Old Money, Bruce is an outcast among Atlas' business elite. Following the deaths of his parents, he is raised by his unnamed butler, and he quickly strikes up a rapport with Weiss over their similar feelings of isolation. Lampshaded by Yang, who notes that both Weiss and Bruce were essentially raised by their butlers.
- Magical Girl Warrior: This Diana functions similarly to a magical girl rather than regular Wonder Woman.
- Martial Arts and Crafts: Ruby and Yang help out on the family farm by using their weapons to dig up vegetables.
- Meaningful Name: Keeping with RWBY's name theming, the Leaguers' names all have various meanings.
- Clark is derived from "clerk" or "scribe". This works as a reference to Clark's job in most comics - working for a newspaper, which tend to be printed in black and white.
- Diana, in-story, is named after a lost goddess of the moon. This goddess Diana is also the goddess of the hunt, befitting RWBY's monster-hunting theme.
- Bruce, in-story, is described as like the wind blowing through bushes and trees.
- Mole in Charge: The strange events occurring in Atlas are because General Ironwood is one of the villain's mind-controlled agents.
- Multiverse: Jessica comes from another universe where the Green Lantern Corps protect the multiverse. While chasing down Starro, mysterious ripples in the multiverse caused them to end up on Remnant.
- Must Not Die a Virgin: Heavily implied between Blake and Yang on the night before the final battle.
- Mythology Gag:
- Clark describing his Semblance as letting him haul more than a tractor and outrun one too is reminiscent of the classic, "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive..." line from his original TV show.
- Diana's hair is partially based on her hairstyle from the Justice League Action cartoon.
- Jessica's hair has green streaks and reaches her waist, much like her DC Super Hero Girls (2019) counterpart.
- Clark's hairstyle is reminiscent of Conner Kent's usual hairstyle combined with his own.
- Bruce's weapon is known as the "Batwing", usually the name of his jets. The weapon being an axe is also what his counterpart briefly wields in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.
- Arthur joking describes his Semblance (a form of telepathy) as being able to talk to fish, in reference to the "Useless Aquaman" meme from Superfriends.
- There being an enemy with mind control abilities that turns the Hunters and Huntresses against each-other evokes similarities to RWBY: Before the Dawn. note
- The villain of the event is Starro, who was the first enemy of the Justice League.
- Additionally, an alien invasion is also how the Justice League was first formed in the comics and has been used in subsequent adaptations, like in the Justice League cartoon, Young Justice (2010) cartoon, Justice League: War, and the live-action Justice League films.
- Issue 6's physical cover homages the cover for The Brave and the Bold #28. Fitting given who the final opponent is.
- Clark describing his Semblance as letting him haul more than a tractor and outrun one too is reminiscent of the classic, "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive..." line from his original TV show.
- No Name Given: Other characters loosely based on DC characters appear but aren't named, presumably because they're Out of Focus and to avoid complications with RWBY's color name convention. Diana is close to one of her mothers, who is implied to be Hippolyta, and Bruce was raised by his butler, obviously supposed to be Alfred. This is averted with Jessie Quick and Nora Allen.
- No-Sell: As Diana is technological in nature, Cyborg is able to defeat her Lasso easily.
- Out of Focus: Despite taking place between Volume 2 and 3, almost nothing from the show's story is brought up, and barely any characters outside of Team RWBY appear, much less have a major role, all in favor of the comic focusing on Team RWBY meeting and working together with the Justice League. This is handwaved away in-universe as the mysterious threat causing the disappearances of Huntsmen throughout Remnant, later revealed to be caused by Starro.
- The Power of Friendship: Jessica creates a ship for our heroes to escape in, but they need to use their skills to get it into the sky.
- Primary-Color Champion: Clark wears a blue jacket with a red inner lining over a black shirt with a huge gold breastplate bearing the crest of the House of El, providing his classic blue-red-yellow color scheme.
- Reality Bleed: In Issue #9, Jessica explains that a disturbance in the multiverse led to Starro arriving to Remnant. Somehow his presence led to analogs of heroes from the DC Universe being born in the world of Remnant and, in cases like Bruce and Diana, their backstories being integrated into its history. The only one who isn't a transplant is Jessica herself, who's not only still a Green Lantern but also acquired a semblance upon arrival.
- Ship Tease: As of the end of chapter four, Yang is the only one who doesn’t have some sort of moment like this with the Leaguers.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The mainstream Nora Allen was murdered by Professor Zoom, her Remnant counterpart is alive and well. That said, this is Truer to the Text as far as her status pre-The Flash: Rebirth is concerned, where she and Henry lived to see Barry grow up and become the Flash and said murder was, in fact, a Cosmic Retcon (the Cobalt Blue arc establishing Barry's parents originally died shortly after his Comic Book Death in Crisis on Infinite Earths).
- Superhuman Trafficking: Clark mentions that he keeps his Semblance for this reason, and as revealed in issue 7, he was actually imprisoned and forced to labor in a Dust mine until he escaped somehow.
- Technopath: Cyborg's power is the control over machinery, thus can easily overpower certain things and control machinery.
- Took a Level in Badass: While Jessica Cruz is a Green Lantern, she notes that entering Remnant gave her a Semblance as well.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Characters in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 allude to a "great war" that is nearing, though it's unclear if this is referring to upcoming developments in the comic or what happens in the main show after Volume 3. Chapter 9 seems to suggest that Starro is influencing everyone to kick off a great war.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Clark's Semblance only works under the light of a yellow sun, thus he runs out of juice once he's in the dark.
- Your Magic's No Good Here:
- As established in the World of Remnant shorts, Dust stops working once it exits Remnant's atmosphere, as Victor and the SDC horrifically discover when they attempt to rocket into space using Dust.
- Issue #9 reveals that Semblances also only occur on Remnant, with Jessica saying she gained her Semblance upon entering Remnant's atmosphere.
- At the end, through a combination of various Semblances, skills, and technology, as well as whatever Ozpin was able to "devise" in its small amount of Dust, Remnant is able to raise the Watchtower just above the atmosphere.
