Several of the League's heavy hitters set off on an "outing" into deep space to forestall an invasion by the Red Lantern Corps. Plastic Man is left behind to dog-sit Krypto. They find and rescue a cat clinging to debris in the ocean nearby. However, the cat is actually Dex-Starr, infiltrating the Watchtower to deactivate the defense systems and allow the Red Lantern invasion force to arrive while most of the heroes are off on a wild goose chase.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Animal Care: Plastic Man feeds poor Dex-Starr several things that are not suitable for feline consumption, causing him to get indigestion. Worse, Plas interprets the tummy rumblings as signs that he's still hungry and keeps feeding him.
- Didn't Think This Through: Dex-Starr creates a red energy locomotive to attack Streaky. It shatters the walls of the red sun chamber, releasing Krypto and admitting yellow sunlight to restore his powers.
- Exasperated Perp: Plastic Man annoys Dex-Starr to the point where he puts on his power ring and blows his cover. It isn't a calculated ploy, it's just Plas being Plas.
- Fluffy Dry Cat: Dex-Starr looks like this after Plas blow-dries him.
- I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: Plas has no idea how he shaped his arms into working blow driers.
- Jaw Drop: Plas's jaw literally drops to the floor when Dex-Starr reveals himself.
- Mundane Utility: After doing his business, Krypto cleans up after himself with his heat vision.
- Potty Emergency: After being fed a dubious diet by Plastic Man, Dex-Starr is afflicted with indigestion and desperately needs to use the litter box. However, he keeps getting delayed by calls from Atrocitus and interference from Plas, Krypto, and Streaky.
- Shout-Out: When Dex-Starr hits Plastic Man with a red energy hairball and causes him to collapse into a puddle, he exclaims, "I'm melting! What a world, what a world!", echoing the last words of the Wicked Witch of the West.
- Toilet Humour: As noted in the Potty Emergency entry, Dex-Starr gets increasingly desperate for the litter box as each attempt at relief is interrupted. Finally, he makes it — only to be caught and stripped of his power ring by Plastic Man, who had shape-shifted into a litter box to trap him. Plas concludes the episode by coughing up a batch of kitty litter and making several bad puns on the subject.
- Troublemaking New Pet: Dex-Starr sets Krypto up to take the blame for fiddling with the controls and making messes, until Plas puts the superdog in a red-sun room to neutralize his powers until Superman returns.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Dex-Starr gets into the Watchtower by pretending to be an ordinary cat stranded on a bit of seaborne debris. Later, he acts injured when Plas walks in on a fight so that Krypto will get the full blame.
- You Are in Command Now: Played with. Plas is very pleased with himself at the thought of being in charge when the other heroes depart, until he's informed that the Watchtower computer will be running the defenses and outranks him. This actually leaves him third in command: Krypto also outranks him.
- You, Get Me Coffee: Supes tells Plas he has "a very important job for you" — dogsitting Krypto.
