It seems clear now why The Light sent members of the Justice League to rampage on the planet Rimbor. The seven members of the League were sent to deliver a message that Earth has beings of immense power and fighting ability amongst its ranks. I doubt that even the great strategist Vandal Savage knew what it would bring, but I am sure he did not care much either. As long as the strongest survive, his work is done. The end result was two very different alien races with two very similar goals. Both sought to isolate and weaponize the human metagene. The Kroloteans’ interest was purely the pursuit of profit, while the Reach have much darker designs. The scarabs augment the natural abilities of their hosts and add additional offensive and defensive capabilities. If said host had the powers of Superman or even Wonder Woman, they would be virtually unstoppable. And if the reach had an army of soldiers like this, they would conquer the universe. With The Reach having made themselves public and claiming to be friendly, public opinion of the Justice League is dropping. Both the League and the team need to regroup and figure out a new strategy before any more “friends” show up.
Poor Cap gettin’ smacked around like a $2 whore.HELL IN A CELL In the wake of the destruction of Mount Justice, Nightwing brings the members of the team that lived there to a warehouse in Blüdhaven. He says it is a temporary home, but Mal is not trying to hear it. He figures he will stay with Karen, but she immediately starts making excuses. As they are gathering their belongings at the Hall of Justice, a robot named L-Ron shows up and covers the Hall in an impenetrable, pyramid-shaped forcefield. He proclaims the arrival of his master, Despero, whom he says has conquered ninety-two star systems in gladiatorial combat. Despero literally starts beating the life out of Captain Marvel and Superboy, while his third eye leaves Zatanna and Bumblebee in a trance state. During the battle, Captain Atom faces a battle of sorts of his own with Prime Minister Tseng and the Reach ambassador. The ambassador always speaks in an even tone, but he takes a page from G. Gordon Godfrey when it comes to spin. He manages to make the Justice League look like bullies and terrorists in front of the Prime Minister, and makes them look even worse when he “saves” them from Despero. The only positive outcome of Despero’s assault was Mal’s role in keeping everyone alive. As the new Guardian, he can finally take a more active role in the team.
I am the terror, that flaps in the – wait, that’s not right. DO OVER!VOX OF THE GUARDIAN For this entire season, Mal Duncan has been little more than a dispatcher for the team. The five year time jump keeps us from knowing how or why he joined the team, but one can guess that it probably had something to do with Karen. Regardless, it could not have felt great being surrounded by heroes and not even being able to be like Nightwing or Robin. In the comics, Mal is a decent boxer and in this episode we hear him thank Black Canary for her training, so we know that he can fight. The desperate (no pun) situation at the Hall forced his hand and Mal is now the second Guardian after Jim Harper’s clone retired. Whether or not he gets cybernetic enhancements like the comics is yet to be seen; I only hope they develop his story so that he moves on to being Hornblower and then Vox. (EDITOR’S NOTE: The appearance of Mal Duncan’s later heroic personae is unlikely being that the series only has nine episodes left.)
Static wonders why he has detention with fake Lex Luthor and the reject Cosby kids.FUTURE HEROES? I mentioned back when he was abducted that Tye Longshadow’s character was based upon the Super Friends character Apache Chief and the Justice League Unlimited character Long Shadow. A character more easily recognized is Virgil Hawkins; even if you never knew his real name, you can tell that he will become the hero Static. With Tye’s friendship with Jaime and Virgil’s clear distaste for The Reach, it would only make sense for them to become future members of the team. Then again, this show’s best pitch has always been a curve ball, so there is the possibility that they would become bad guys too, at least temporarily. It would be cool either way to have more members of the team or to finally have adversaries that are in the same age group as they are.
I get cable with my third eye!Let me get this off my chest right now: This is the worst episode of the series since “Secrets.” If I wanted to watch filler, I would go catch an episode of Naruto: Shippûden. The discussion that Minister Tseng, Captain Atom and the Ambassador had was interesting and the hinting towards new characters was cool. The problem is that one shot style episodes do not fit in a series that has such great continuity. Tossing in random alien A, even a decent villain like Despero, just does not mesh well. It is highly unlikely that he will be seen again and what is worse, he made the team look weak. He was ready to literally rip Superboy’s head off, and the only thing that saved Captain Marvel’s life was turning into Billy. Apparently Despero has some moral, big deal. Jaime’s desire to remove the scarab is definitely not going to go well and trying may be the very act that causes his betrayal. I get that he cannot expect the team to trust him if he does not trust himself, but he has to trust in himself. Black Beetle wiped the floor with both Superboy and Wonder Girl; Jaime was at least able to keep him at bay. That should tell him that the Blue Beetle is not only necessary in this fight, but that he might be essential to winning. Whatever, if this is the only crap episode like last season then I can deal.
EDITOR’S SIDE NOTE: It has been a few episodes, but I had not noticed. Really Rob Lowe? You are so busy that you couldn’t voice Captain Marvel anymore and had to send your little brother? Whatever.
Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice Invasion, Episode 209 – “Darkest”
Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice Invasion, Episode 210 – “Before The Dawn”
