It is difficult to cheer for our heroes from this perspective. Despite their almost unblemished win record, all of their wins seem hollow to the observer. There remains the ever looming threat of The Light, which none of the team even know about. This group of masterminds is planning something on a global scale and every victory that Young Justice has claimed has been but a step in their overall plan. The losses mean nothing to them because the overall plan is still moving forward for them. The only thing The Light needs to do ironically is to remain in the shadows until said plan is ready to reach fruition. The issue there is that neither the Justice League nor Young Justice are idiots; eventually they will put it together. So what is the best course of action to throw them off yet again? I smell a scapegoat coming; maybe a few of them.
WACKY WEEDS On a calm day in Metropolis a giant plant suddenly springs from the ground and as quickly as it attacks, it dies. The problem is that several other plants are emerging all over the world and they are not dying. The entire Justice League is dispatched to deal with the threat, whose pods spew Joker Venom spores when the plant dies. Before jumping into the fray, Batman informs Young Justice of the threat but says they are to hit at the heart of the problem, the Injustice League. A group of seven supervillains claiming responsibility for the plants who demand a ten billion ransom to end the assault. The group consists of Count Vertigo, Black Adam, Atomic Skull, Poison Ivy, Ultra-Humanite, Wotan and The Joker. Young Justice, assisted by Superboy’s pet, Wolf, must defeat the Injustice League before it is too late.
INJUSTICE FOR ALL The Injustice League is definitely formidable, but are we really to believe that these seven are the masterminds of all that has been going on? Yes, the plan they enact seems to be a culmination of everything else that the heores have faced recently, but let’s really look at our membership here. First off, you have The Joker and Poison Ivy, who granted, are among Batman’s greatest foes. I can see them being a part of this plan, but they are both way too mentally broken to have devised such a scheme. Clearly they are in the group (in terms of this plan) for the Joker gas and Ivy’s ability to control plants. Count Vertigo really is a Count, but he (by choice) does not lead anyone anymore. He’s so messed up that he wants to die but cannot decide whether or not to tell Deadshot to pull the trigger. Black Adam has the intelligence to pull off a world domination scheme and he has (in the past) had the desire to conquer but he is usually too busy deciding which side he is really on. One day he can be taking down a whole team of heroes and the next he can be fighting against Darkseid or even Death. Not counting on him too much. This leaves us with Wotan, who definitely would be part of a takeover plan, but once again we have a problem. This dude once tried to steal the powers of God Himself; you think he really cares about any amount of money? Ultra-Humanite has actually led a Secret Society of Super Villains before, but he betrayed them. He is probably the smartest of the group and the only one that might have devised this scheme, but then why does it seem that Count Vertigo is in charge? Atomic Skull, leads SKULL, a crime organization. Still, he was part of one of the Secret Societies of Super Villains before, so I will leave that at that. The bottom line is that this group is unlikely to be masterminding anything. It seems as though they were put together specifically for this operation, with four of them being specifically suited to handling and caring for this killer plant. Now who would go and do something like that, I wonder…
STEP INTO THE LIGHT It’s funny that the day this episode aired, I was about to write an article speculating on who the final three members of The Light were. We already knew about Lex Luthor, Ra’s al Ghul, Queen Bee and The Brain. Now we have our full roster and in order, they are:
- Vandal Savage
- Ra’s al Ghul
- Lex Luthor
- Queen Bee
- Ocean Master
- The Brain
- Klarion (bum-bum-bum) the Witch Boy
And yes, he does demand that you say his name that way; I really wish they would have him do that in the episodes because it is so stupid that it’s funny. Anyway, the reason for the numbering clearly has to do with a hierarchy within the group. Vandal Savage is definitely the oldest member of the group and possibly the oldest DC character, period. He has tried several times to take over the world. You might have heard of some of his aliases like Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Cain, and that is just when he decided to run the show. He’s helped people like Napoleon and Hitler, so make no mistake, this is one very bad guy. His immediate subordinates are Ra’s al Ghul and Lex Luthor. Right there we have enough of a trio of terror, but we still have four more members. We still know little about Queen Bee; in the comics, there were two that ruled Bialya. One was killed and the other was overthrown. However, we already know the show does not exactly follow the comics, so I am going with the first, whose name was Beatriz, since she was the more powerful of the two. Ocean Master would not have been my pick out of Aquaman’s foes. Granted, he is his half-brother, has tried to overthrow Aquaman and has serious magical powers, I would have preferred Black Manta. He ties in better with our story since he is Aqualad’s father. The Brain I have discussed in the review for “Alpha Male” and he definitely has a place here. Klarion (bum-bum-bum) the Witch Boy earns his spot having battled many times with Etrigan the demon and throwing the entire hero community into chaos by changing Young Justice into adults and making the Justice League into children. His spell also changed half of the Titans back into teens, but that is a whole other story. And with all this explanation we still have no idea what The Light is really up to so the speculation continues.
This episode in itself was fantastic. Cameos were all over the place, including some surprises out of left field. How many people who watch this show know who Rocket and Icon are? I doubt that anyone will ever question Aqualad’s commitment to the team ever again after he put the helmet of Fate on to save everyone from Wotan. And props to the team period for working so well together under the worst of conditions. Robin telling M’gann that they have to stick to the mission seemed cruel but it was what had to be done. Young Justice realizes finally what they really are: Batman’s strike force and when they have an assignment, they have to get it done or there is no need for them to continue together. When The Light finally do surface and execute whatever their final agenda is, this team is going to be ready. The team will persevere, although I have doubts that everyone will still be there when the season ends.
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- Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice, Episode 13 – “Alpha Male” (mytakeradio.com)
