Fry and Leela discover that a muscle cream prescribed by Dr. Zoidberg gives them temporary superpowers, so they decide to team up with Bender in order to form a team of superheroes to stop crime in New New York.
Tropes present:
- And the Rest: The New Justice Team theme song, which names Bender and Leela's superhero counterparts, Super King and Clobberella respectively, and refers to Fry/Captain Yesterday as this trope.Go, go, go, New Justice Team: Fighting justice is their quest: Super King, Clobberella and all the rest.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Leela points out to Bender that as a robot, the miracle cream would have no effect on him, he replies that he already has Super-Strength, he can extend and retract his arms, and then shows off his ability to... automatically open and close the door on his chest.
- The Bad Guy Wins / Karma Houdini: The good guys are forced to steal the Quantum Gemerald for the Zookeeper to free Leela's parents, and since they're Brought Down to Normal, they can't go after him. And they don't even really seem to care much; Bender and Fry even walk off talking about bluffing their way through some super-villainy of their own (while the public still thinks they possess powers).
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Clobberella's emblem is a C-shaped arm wielding a Rolling Pin of Doom, while Captain Yesterday's is a disco medallion containing the letters C-Y, which vaguely resembles a peace sign.
- Career-Ending Injury: The cream that Fry and Leela use to get their powers ultimately runs out. Fry and Bender keep their costumes to use the threat of superpowered beatdowns to steal stuff (at least for one more caper), but later episodes clearly demonstrate neither their superhero nor supervillain careers stuck around.
- Clark Kenting: Somehow the public does not realise that the only one-eyed woman with purple hair in the entire city of New New York is, in fact, the one-eyed purple-haired superheroine Clobberella. Even her own parents are fooled. This is made even more blatant by the fact that Leela and her mother are the only purple-haired female cyclopes in the entire universe.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The security guard who doesn’t believe Morris and Munda have mayoral granted one-day passes. “I don’t know, I ain’t heard of no mayor.”
- Comically Missing the Point: Fry and Leela get too distracted with inaccuracies in the mugger’s story to notice that he’s mugging them.
- Complexity Addiction: The mugger spent years coming up with an excuse he uses before trying to mug Fry and Leela. Never mind that he's got a robot with a gun.
- Confidentiality Betrayal: Fry, Leela, and Bender become superheroes, and Leela stresses the need for their secret identities to remain secret. However, when her superhero work forces her to miss a planned day out with her parents, Leela cracks and reveals the truth to them on the condition that they not tell anyone. Morris promptly blabs to his friends, who blab to their friends, and soon the knowledge finds its way into the hands of their Arch-Enemy the Zookeeper, who kidnaps Leela's parents as leverage. This one goes both ways: Leela is annoyed at her parents for not keeping the secret, but Fry is equally annoyed with Leela for telling her parents in the first place.
- Dark and Troubled Past: One of the Zookeeper's animals is a badger "with a troubled past and nothing left to lose!"
- Death by Irony: A lady begging people not to feed the animals is devoured promptly by an elephant.
- Department of Redundancy Department: The New Justice Team's entire theme songWho's the newest justice team? The New Justice Team!
- Description Cut: Turanga Morris agrees not to spill Leela's secret. Cut to him telling his buddies Leela's a superhero.
- The Dog Bites Back: Zoidberg gets a small one.Fry: Hey, Zoidberg, get in here!
Zoidberg: Screw you! - Dressed in Layers: Leela reveals her identity to her parents by ripping off her clothing, revealing her Clobberella costume underneath it. Later on, she rips off the costume, revealing another set of her normal clothing underneath it. "It was brisk, I dressed in layers." Part of the joke is that neither costume could realistically cover the other properly: the Clobberella costume has a high collar and gloves that couldn't be hidden by a tank top, and Leela's standard outfit has pants that couldn't be hidden by a Leotard of Power.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Fry is hurt by the Zookeeper's "super zeroes" remark.Fry: That was uncalled for.
- Elephants Never Forget: One of the Zookeeper's animal henchmen is "an elephant that never forgets... to kill!"
- Epic Fail: Without his superpowers, Fry is so badly out of shape that even walking a normal distance is too strenuous for him.
- Expository Theme Tune: The New Justice Team's theme song explains their origin and their powers...repeatedly."Clobberella beats you up, Clobberella beats you up, who does she beat up? Yoooooou! Clobberella!"
- Face–Heel Turn: Fry, Leela and Bender are forced to steal the Quantum Gemerald for the Zookeeper after he kidnaps Leela's parents. Once he and Leela lose their powers for good, Fry and Bender decide to renounce heroism altogether and turn to super-villainy while the public still believes they have powers.
- Furniture Assembly Gag: Fry, Leela and Bender are tasked with assembling a flat-pack particle accelerator Professor Farnsworth bought from "πKEA". It lasts all of 30 seconds before exploding and blasting the Professor through a wall.
- A Good Name for a Rock Band: Fry describes the empty miracle cream tube as "El Zilcho"...and Bender decides that he wants to use that as his new superhero name.
- Hero Insurance: Averted. One of Leela's reasons for telling Fry to keep his identity as Captain Yesterday secret is that any collateral damage that comes from crime fighting could find its way back to them unless their real identities remained undisclosed.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Fry and Leela figure out what powers the miracle cream gave them by reading the side-effects on the tube and then testing them out.Leela: Ability to command the loyalty of sea creatures?
Fry (shouting to another room): Hey, Zoidberg, get in here!
Zoidberg (shouting from the other room): Screw you!
Leela: Ain't got that. - Hurricane of Excuses: See I Need to Go Iron My Dog below. Also, part of the mugger's pathetic attempt at mugging.
- Hypocrite: Despite warning Fry and Bender not to tell anyone about their superhero alter-egos, Leela ultimately spills the beans to her parents herself after disappointing them by failing to meet them at the museum.
- I Gave My Word: The Zookeeper is a criminal, but when he gets the Quantum Gemerald in exchange for Leela's parents, he keeps his end of the deal and lets them go.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Each person in the main trio comes up with an on-the-spot excuse to leave the mayor's office.Leela: Oh, I completely forgot, I left my apartment on fire!
Bender: As for me, I'm late for my L.S.A.T.'s.
Fry: And I can't take life anymore! [jumps out the window] - Ladyella: Leela's superhero alter ego, Clobberella.
- Large Ham: The Zookeeper, Mayor Poopenmyer, Teddy Roosevelt's head.
- Leotard of Power: Clobberella.
- Made of Iron: The Professor is right next to his super-collider when it explodes and gets blown through a wall. He's more annoyed than anything else.
- Name One:Leela: Are you crazy? We have to keep our secret identities secret.
Fry: From everybody?
Leela: Especially from everybody.
Fry: Give several reasons why.
Leela: For one, superheroes cause a lot of collateral damage, and we don't wanna get our butts sued.
Fry: Or do we? No, I guess not.
Leela: Also, if our identities get out, every crook in the city will be after us. Or, God forbid, our loved ones.
Bender: Super King has no need for loved ones. *kicks an orphan who asks him for an autograph* - Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Leela telling her parents about her secret identity causes the Zookeeper to also find out and kidnap them in return. This forces Leela, Fry and Bender to steal the Quantum Gemerald to save Leela's parents.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Bender's superhero persona, Super King.
- Retraux: The theme of Fry's superhero persona, Captain Yesterday, whose costume resembles a disco jumpsuit.
- Shout-Out:
- Super King has all the powers of Superman (and all the powers of a king).
- The Quantum Gemerald bears a fairly strong resemblance to a Chaos Emerald.
- The gag about the power to control sea life is a clear reference to Aquaman.
- The New Justice Team's logo looks like the original comic logo of the Justice League of America.
- Skewed Priorities: When Fry and Leela are mugged by the man, their greater concern is that elements of his story don't add up, rather than the fact he's mugging them.
- Spoof Aesop: The theme that plays during the ending includes the line "Winners don't use drugs!" This is heard during a clip that shows how two-thirds of the New Justice Team is essentially powered by a drug.
- Status Quo Is God: Fry and Leela don't get to keep their superpowers.
- Stylistic Suck: The lyrics to the team's theme song are very basic, featuring lines like "Go team go team team team team," "Do the things that make a team/Help each other do some things," and "Fighting justice is their quest."
- Super Serum: The miracle cream Zoidberg gives Fry and Leela grants them various super-powers like Super-Strength, Super-Speed and Not Quite Flight as unintended side effects. Unfortunately, it's a finite supply, running out when they need it for one last job.
- Superhero Episode: Fry and Leela gain Super-Strength, Super-Speed, and Not Quite Flight Wall Jump as side effects of a medicated muscle rub. They are soon joined by Bender (despite his being "more on the supply side of crime"), who could do cool things already.
- Superheroes Wear Capes: Fry, Leela and Bender all wear capes in their superhero costumes.
- Superpowers For A Day: Fry and Leela gain superpowers through alien miracle cream. However, their powers are only temporary, and they lose them altogether once the cream is gone.
- Supervillain Lair: Not seen but mentioned. The Zookeeper apparently has one that's very nice, if covered in animal fur.
- Take That!: The episode begins with the Professor getting a super-collider from πKEA, with the delivery robot calling it "affordable Swedish crap", before falling to pieces as it leaves the room, a jab at Ikea's own quality issues. Later on, the Professor tells Fry and Leela to exchange the remains of the super-collider for a "wobbly CD rack" and "some of those rancid meatballs".
- There Was a Door: When they need to switch to their super-identities, Fry leaps out one window as himself and into a different window as Captain Yesterday.
