Teenage superheroes strive to prove themselves as members of the Justice League.
Young Justice Online
Within the Justice League, its members' teen sidekicks push for full membership, but it's only after they successfully investigate Cadmus in which find and free its secret young clone of Superman, Kon-El, is the League convinced. In response, the League organizes the teenagers into an apprentice team to both be trained and act on behalf of the League at their own pace. Now these teen superheroes, soon strengthened by more members, must battle the forces of evil in their own way, even as the mysterious cabal known only as The Light has a sinister agenda of their own.
Series cast summary: | |||
Jesse McCartney | - | Dick Grayson / - 52 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Nolan North | - | Conner Kent / - 52 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Danica McKellar | - | M'gann M'orzz / - 49 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Khary Payton | - | Kaldur'ahm / - 46 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Stephanie Lemelin | - | Artemis Crock / - 45 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Jason Spisak | - | Wally West / - 39 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Bruce Greenwood | - | Batman / - 26 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Crispin Freeman | - | Roy Harper / - 24 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
Masasa Moyo | - | Cat Grant / - 23 episodes, 2011-2019 | |
Kevin Michael Richardson | - | J'onn J'onzz / - 22 episodes, 2010-2019 | |
On November 7, 2016, Warner Brothers Television announced that the show would return to production due to huge demand after a three-year absence. A little over two years later, the 3rd Season of the show made it's debut on DC's streaming service in January 2019.
Aqualad/Kaldur'ahm was created for this series. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis liked the character so much that they subsequently adapted him for the DC comic books (with dreadlocked hair and the alter ego Jackson Hyde) debuting in Brightest Day #4. Johns revealed the reason the new Aqualad was added to the comics was because his voice actor Khary Payton asked for the character to be included in the comics.
The Producers went into this series with two goals: to capture the interests of not only the youngest kids but also the older crowds and to make the show feel as realistic as they could with animation.
One of the deciding factors on how the producers chose the main characters (Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis) is that they wanted to have adults that the kids viewed as mentors or as parental figures.
Fairly early on in development the decision was made that this was going to be a young DC universe, where the heroes haven't been around that long. Once that decision was made, producer Greg Weisman decided to use Dick Grayson and Wally West as Robin and Kid Flash because he felt that rather than be a strict adaptation of the comic Young Justice, which used Tim Drake and Bart Allen, they were really working with an entire history and legacy which were critical to the story.
Rob Lowe voiced Captain Marvel for two episodes. His brother, Chad Lowe voiced the rest.
In this series, Artemis is portrayed as a biracial (half-Vietnamese) vigilante heroine who is mentored by Green Arrow unlike the comics where she is depicted as a Caucasian supervillain.
Season three will be set for release in 2019 and titled Young Justice: Outsiders and deal with meta-human illegal trade happening globally and throughout the Galaxy.
Lead character designer Phil Bourassa and producer Brandon Vietti made a conscious decision to try to handle the Justice League with a little more of a classic design sensibility than the Young Justice team. They did this to try to visually show the difference between generations since the series is all about that dynamic.
There was a spin off comic based on this series. Even though it's based on the show, the creative team wanted the comic to have it's own continuity that runs alongside the series and be interesting in its own right.
In January 2016, producer Greg Weisman finally revealed the reason for the show's cancellation stating was due to Mattel canceling the toy line, pulling the funding for the show since the show's funding was based on a toy deal with Mattel. With no sources of income large enough to replace the money from Mattel, the show was not picked up for Season 3.
This is the second DC comics based animated series in over 20 years to NOT be voice directed by Andrea Romano. Legion of Super Heroes (2006) was the first.
This series uses the same character designs as Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (2010) and Justice League: Doom (2012) which were done by the lead character designer, Phil Bourassa.
Although it's adapted from a combination of comics from the 1960s Teen Titans run through the 1990s Young Justice run, the series mostly draws from Geoff Johns and Mike McKone's Teen Titans (vol.3) comic run.
Artemis and Green Arrow use a zeta-tube location, the outward appearance of which is a blue police box. This is a clear reference to the TARDIS from Doctor Who (1963).
To illustrate the genetic similarities between the two characters, Superboy and Superman are both voiced by the same voice actor, Nolan North.
The Guardian officially makes his first appearance outside of the comics in this series.
The Justice Leagues member numbers are based on when they joined the team such as Batman is 002, Aquaman is 006, and Martian Manhunter is 007 because they were original members yet Green Arrow and Red Tornado are 008 and 016 respectively.
The Young Justice team is similar to the Impossible Missions Force from Mission: Impossible (1966) with teenage superheroes. They operate from the abandoned Justice League cave, are supervised by the android Red Tornado, trained by Black Canary, and given their covert assignments by Batman.
Garth, who was the original aqualad in the comics, references his alias of Tempest. He also resembles his appearence in Teen Titans where he is Dark Skinned with long black hair and wears blue.
In January 2013, Cartoon Network announced that the show would be canceled after remaining episodes of Season 2, Young Justice: Invasion, aired on their DC Nation Saturday morning block. Cartoon Network replaced the show on their DC Nation block with reruns of Teen Titans Go! (2013) (which aired new episodes on Thursdays). Though the Block still used artwork for this show on it's commercial bumpers.
Black Manta appears to be of West African heritage as he sports a slight accent and owns many tribal masks and artifacts.
It took months to have this series get the green light, because Warner Brother and Cartoon Network and DC are all part of the same Time-Warner family, so getting them to communicate with each other takes a long time. In October 2009, the series finally got the green light.
Robin in the show is Dick Grayson, but wears the 2nd costume (the red, yellow, and black one) Tim Drake wore as Robin in the comics.
Most of the cast from Greg Weisman's previous series Gargoyles (1994) play small or recurring roles in this series; including Jeff Bennett (Owen/Brooklyn - Red Tornado), Thom Adox-Hernandez,(Lexington - Klarion the Witch Boy), Bill Fagerbakke, (Broadway - Big Bear), Edward Asner, (Hudson - Kent Nelson), Marina Sirtis (Demona - Queen Bee), Brent Spiner,(Puck - Joker) and Keith David, (Goliath - Mongul). Notable exceptions include Salli Richardson, (Elisa Maza), Frank Welker, (Bronx), Brigette Bako, (Angela) and Jonathan Frakes (Xanatos)
Aqualad's tattoos are only visible because he never finished his training in the sorcery of magic. The tattoos would have become invisible if he had finished it, just like the other atlantian magic users Garth and Tula whose tattoos are hidden and become visible when they use their magic.
This version of Blockbuster has a very different appearance from the comic book version. The creative team purposefully redesigned him because they felt the original design was too similar to Marvel Comics' The Incredible Hulk.
During the intro sequence scenes from the episode can briefly be seen right before the group show and the title in the opening sequence.
Superboy wears the iconic black shirt and jeans look he started wearing Teen Titan in the comics which was designed by artist Mike McKone. In the Young Justice comics, he wore a blue and red costume.
This version of Robin/Dick Grayson started fighting crime in 2006 at the age of 9.
A new Robin joins the team in Season 2. This Robin is a character named Tim Drake, the third character to take the mantle. Tim's Robin costume is similar to the original, but updated with Batman like rippled cape and gloves and an italicized "R" that doubles as a shurken.
In Season 2, Wally West is semi-retired as Kid Flash, wanting to live a normal life with Artemis. In the comics, Wally West questioned his super hero career and eventually gave up being Kid Flash during the Marv Wolfman & George Perez era of "The New Teen Titans" comic.
The Hall of Justice is similar to the one that was introduced in the comics in "Justice League of America" (Vol. 4) #7 where it is not designed to be the central headquarters for the heroes, but rather more a museum of sorts to allow the public to witness firsthand what the heroes do. There are many exhibits, including trophy rooms of weapons used by villains and heroes, all of which were dismantled and made useless. The Hall also works as a transfer station for the heroes in which has teleporters to teleport the League's main basis of operation, the orbiting Satellite Watchtower, which is considered a more secured location for the JLA to assemble. This is unlike the previous animated Hall of Justice from Super Friends which did serve as a central headquarters for the JLA.
Kid Flash is in the show is Wally West, but wears the Kid Flash costume Bart Allen wore in the comics with goggles.
Most members of the team can turn their costumes darker color scheme in stealth tech, which helps them try to blend in with their environment on covert missions. Robin and Superboy are the only ones who don't have costumes that change to stealth mode. Although, Mattel did release a Robin figure in the toyline with a blue Stealth Tech costume instead of his usual red look.
After the team formed Kid Flash was very fond of collecting souvenirs, often exclaiming "Souvenir!" upon acquiring one. Kid Flash eventually grew his collection from taking an item from every mission he goes on with the team.
One of the quirks of Robin on this series is using the term "whelmed". He wonders why people are always "overwhelmed" or "underwhelmed" and never just "whelmed".
Superboy 's hatred of monkeys comes from the Joker attacking the team with green monkeys as seen in the show's companion comic "Young Justice" #2.
The Super-Cycle makes its first animated appearance in this animated series. It first appears as a Sphere with artificial intelligence and it is rescued by Superboy he adopts it as a pet. The Sphere was revealed to be originally called the "New Genesphere", as told by the Forever People, and had the ability to change into a flying advanced tricycle from New Genesis. It had several weapons that it could use and could program itself with technology from New Genesis.
This show marks Cat Grant's first appearance in an animated show.
Mark Rolston voices Lex Luthor in this series making him the second actor from Shawshanki lunastus (1994) to voice Lex Luthor. Clancy Brown, who also starred The Shawshank Redemption, voiced Lex Luthor in Superman (1996), Justice League (2001), and Justice League Unlimited (2004) in the DCAU continuity.
Superboy takes Wolf as a souvenir. It is similar to how Superboy was given a dog named Krypto in the comics.
Red Tornado is revealed to be one of several super powered androids created by Dr. TO Morrow. Morrow decided to create his own super hero to infiltrate and destroy the Justice Society of America (JSA). His first creation was Red Torpedo, hero of the ocean deep, who was programmed to think he was a man, but never fit in. Morrow continued and made another android. Red Inferno, who joined the JSA as Firebrand but was also a failure. The plan worked the 3rd time and Red Tornado was inducted into the Justice Society, but Red Tornado's original heroic programming and Pinocchio-like desire to become more human caused him to betray his creator and actually became a legitimate super hero.
The original wielder of Nabu's Dr. Fate helmet, Kent Nelson, dies in a conflict between the team and Klarion the Witch Boy. Nelson's spirit stayed in the helmet a little longer convincing Nabu which to allow Kid Flash and Aqualad respectively to remove the helmet. However, when Zatanna had to use it to fight Klarion, Naba refused to release he due to believing the world needs Dr. Fate, but her father Giovanni Zatara offers to wear the helmet become the new Dr. Fate. Zatanna would then stay with the team and joined them full time.
Speedy/Roy Harper became Green Arrow's sidekick in 2007.
Kid Flash became the Flash's sidekick in 2008.
Kaldur'ahm became Aquaman's sidekick Aqualad in 2008.
Icon & Rocket are Milestone characters and appear for the first time outside of the comics in this series.
The Justice League inducted 5 new members to the team Dr. Fate, The Atom, Plastic Man, Icon, and Red Arrow. At the same time, Rocket, Icon's sidekick, joins the team.
The second season was fundamentally plot-driven and less about the core six characters established in the first season. The goal was never to give everyone equal time, but rather to make the most of what time they had to offer.
Season 2 features new team leader Nightwing (formerly Robin) along with founding members Superboy & Miss Martian and several new members to the team: Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle, Batgirl, Bumblebee, Mal Duncan, Lagoon Boy, Beast Boy and a new Robin (Tim Drake).
In Season 2, Superboy updates his costume with the longer-sleeved shirt he briefly wore on one mission towards the end of Season 1 and fingerless gloves.
In Season 2, Miss Martian gets shorter hair and begins wearing her black stealth costume full time. She wore her stealth quite often in Season 1, just as often as her white costume.
Garfield Logan, Maria Logan's son that Miss Martian saved through a blood transfusion in "Image", becomes Beast Boy and has joined the team by Season 2. He is now green all over with a monkey-like appearance including a tail, and the super power to change into any animal. changing powers are a side-effect of the blood transfusion from Miss Martian, whom he considers a blood sister. He also quite often says "noted" when speaking.
Karen Beecher joins the team in Season 2 as Bumblebee. Megan (Miss Martian) and Conner (Superboy) went to high school with Karen in Season 1.
A full opening sequence is discontinued in Season 2 with a new intro that's just 5 seconds that shows the title "Young Justice: Invasion" with only a small portion of the theme music. This was done for time constraints when the show aired on Cartoon Network's "DC Nation" block to make room for more commercials and the DC Nation shorts.
Lagoon Boy joins the team in Season 2. He is an Atlantean named La'gaan and was originally shown as a student at the Conservatory of Sorcery alongside Lori Lemarisin Season 1. Lagoon Boy is prone to use Atlantean slang or euphemisms in regular conversation, usually when caught off guard, such as "Neptune's Beard!" He is also dating Miss Martian whom he refers to as "Angelfish".
Zatanna and Rocket, who both joined the team near the end of Season 1, are the Justice League's two newest members in Season 2.
Mal Duncan joins the team in Season 2. Conner (Superboy) and Megan (Miss Martian) and went to high school with Mal in Season 1.
Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark makes her first official animated appearance outside of the comics in this series. In the comics,she is an early member of the Young Justice team and was the second to use the name Wonder Girl after the original one, Donna Troy.
In Season 2, Miss Martian and Lagoon Boy begin dating after Superboy broke up with her after being disappointed in the way she began using her mind reading powers on the bad guys.
In the time skip before Season 2, Cheshire and Red Arrow get married then divorced and have a baby.
Impulse arrives from the future and joins the team during Season 2. This is the first time Impulse is used on an actual aired animated series for the first time. In the comics, Impulse is a founding member of Young Justice.
Artemis goes undercover as Tigress, the right hand lieutenant to Black Manta Jr. She uses a magic amulet necklace that alters her appearance to everyone except: Wally West, Kaldur'ahm, Nightwing, and herself.
The Reach are the primary villains in the invasion story in Season 2, thanks to the suggestion on DC comics writer Mike Carlin. In the series, the Reach started their invasions Millennia ago by sending out a scarab to every planet sporting primitive life. The scarab bonds with and takes full control of its native host giving the Reach an advanced operative for their inevitable invasion.
Black Beetle is used for the first time outside of the comics in this series. Though, Black Beetle in this show is a member of the Reach, and based off the character named Dawur, while the Black Beetle from the comics simply stole Reach technology. The two are often confused as being the same because they have the same name.
The team's headquarters is a base called the Secret Sanctuary and is located on Mount Justice, which was the original headquarters of the Justice League. The Young Justice team in the comics also used the Secret Sanctuary after the Justice League passed it on to them.
Mister Twister is the first adversary the team faces after officially forming is Mister Twister. In the comics, he is also the first villain Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad fought together in "The Brave and the Bold" #54 and formed the Teen Titans soon after.
On the late-night program Conan (2010), Conan O'Brien visited Bruce Timm during one of his segments and they developed a super hero named The Flaming C. However, on several occasions, their original creation would be animated in preexisting sequences from this show using the voice acting of whichever character Flaming C was placed over. These scenes were taken from "Fireworks", "Welcome to Happy Harbor", "Schooled", and "Denial". In the comic book "Young Justice/Batman: The Brave & The Bold: Super Sampler", the Team is seen watching the Flaming C on television.
In this series, Hawkman and Hawkwoman feature costumes that resemble their 90's comic look with traditional feathered wings.
Wendy Harris and Marvin White are student peers of Megan (Miss Martian) and Conner (Superboy) at Happy Harbor High School, along with Karen Beecher and Mal Duncan. This is the first time Wendy & Marvin appeared outside of the official mainstream comics since being introduced in "Teen Titans" (Vol. 3) #62 and their first time in an animated show since being first introduced on Super Friends (1973).
Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor's henchwoman, is built by Luthor to be a living weapon with has a cybernetic arm gun in this series.
The Forever People (Vykin, Beautiful Dreamer, Serifan and Big Bear) make their first full expanded animated appearance in this series. They arrived on Earth in order to reclaim the "New Genisphere" (the same sphere that the Bialyans found) where they witness Intergang using technology from Apokolips and strike a friendship with Superboy and Wolf to take Intergang down.
The Number 16 is referenced in the show numerous times: the show is set on Earth-16, Superboy was created in 16 weeks and is 16 years old, there are 16 members in the Justice League, and in issue #0 of the "Young Justice" show companion comic Kid Flash takes Superboy to a clothing store called Forever 16.
Starting on March 3rd 2012, the show began airing on "DC Nation", Cartoon Network's weekend hour of DC comic shows. It aired every weekend after Green Lantern: The Animated Series (2011).
Miss Martian often says "Hello Megan" from picking it up from a character from her favorite TV show.
The man that raised Aqualad/ Kaldur'ahm was Calvin Durham, a henchman of Black Manta, who was biologically altered by Black Manta so that he could live under the sea. He was meant to infiltrate Atlantis, but instead fell in love with Aqualad/Kaldur'ahm's mother and left Black Manta's organization. Aqualad always believed Calvin Durham was his father until he found Black Manta was actually his bio logical father, which led to the events in Season 2.
With Kid Flash semi-retired from the team, new members such as Beast Boy and Blue Beetle collect souvenirs for the trophy room in Season 2.
In Season 2, an obnoxious opinionated windbag cable news anchor character G. Gordon Godfried starts appearing.
The Kroloteans appear as major villains throughout the invasion story in Season 2. In this show, the Kroloteans are presented as a culture that revolves around theft. Their presence is first made known after the bounty hunter Lobo captures a Krolotean who had kidnapped and replaced Secretary-General Tseng, leading to the revelation that there were numerous Kroloteans disguised as humans on Earth. They appear to be extremely afraid of Blue Beetle due to the fact that the Kroloteans and The Reach are fierce rivals. The heroes discover that the Kroloteans have been arriving on Earth via the use of stolen Zeta tubes from Rann.
Midway through Season 2, Deathstroke replaced Sportsmaster as the Light's enforcer and assassin after Sportsmaster wanted revenge on fellow Light member Black Manta and Mata Jr. (Aqualad) whom he believed killed his daughter Artemis.
This is the first animated series to allow Slade Wilson to use his codename Deathstroke. Ironically, the show aired on the same network as Teen Titans (2003) which simply called him Slade since the network refused to allow that series to use the name Deathstroke.
Tim Drake has stealth tech in his Robin costume that turn the red of parts grey in stealth mode. The original Robin, Dick Grayson, never incorporated stealth tech into his costume.
Green Beetle is an archaeologist from Mars who two Earth years ago stumbled on a scarab that attached itself to him. From the scarab he learned of the Reach and their plan for the Galaxy. The scarab was not prepared for a Martian's physiology allowing him to take control of the scarab instead of the other was around. He learned the Reach were on Earth through television signals Martian Manhunter sent to Mars (all Martians love television) and figured his assistance would be required on Earth.
The runaway heroes from S.T.A.R. Labs Virgil Hawkins, Tye Longshadow, Eduardo "Ed" Dorado Jr., and Asami "Sam" Koizumi are inspired by the ethnic heroes from "Super Friends": Black Vulcan, Apache Chief, El Dorado, and Samurai.
All Seasons of the show take place in a span of 6 months.
Season 2 was only 20 episodes instead of 26 like Season 1, because of a reduced budget. The toyline was not doing well and Mattel cut back a on funding for the show. Mattel was so underwhelmed with the toyline and only released 2 action figures for "Young Justice: Invasion": a Kid Flash and Batman figure for their 6" action figure series. None of the new characters from "Young Justice: Invasion" received an action figure.
The scar on Vandal Savage's face was made from a fight with a pre-historic cave bear. It was received before he became immortal as all wounds after he became immortal heal without leaving a scar.
Issue #25 of the show's "Young Justice: Invasion" companion comic revealed the fate of Marie Logan, the mother of Garfield Logan/Beast Boy. Marie was enthralled by Queen Bee who used her mind powers of attraction to convince Marie Logan to kill herself as revenge on the team for foiling her plots.
A video game based on this series called Young Justice: Legacy (2013) made for PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS. The game takes place between Season 1 and Season 2 to bridge the gap and show what happened between the seasons.
Danica McKellar and Jason Mardsen share the same birth date: January 3, 1975.
L-Ron appears outside of the comics for the first time in this series. This version is a majordomo to Despero helping him attack the Hall of Justice.
This version of Despero is a gladiator who arrives on Earth to prove himself as the greatest warrior in 93 Star Systems. He does not fly or talk and lets his majordomo L-Ron speak for him.
Mal Duncan assumes the identity of Guardian after an attack on the Hall of Justice by Despero.
Stephanie Lemelin, who plays Artemis on the show, the daughter of Sportsmaster, actually has a former athlete father in real life. Her father is former NHL goalie Rejean Lemelin.
In this series, Deathstroke has long hair that's tied up in a ponytail.
Wentworth Miller voiced Deathstroke for his first speaking appearance. After that, Fred Tatasciore voiced Deathstroke for the rest of the series.
The companion comic was re-titled "Young Justice: Invasion" starting with issue #20. The book didn't last too long after that as it was cancelled after issue #25.
While Brainiac never appeared in the show, he appeared in "Young Justice: Invasion" issue #25, the final issue of the show's companion comic.
This series is the first animated series to feature Superboy and Miss Martian and both characters ended up dating each other in the show. In the comics, Superboy had a relationship with Wonder Girl.
During the episode "Agendas" the clone Superman that fights Superboy/Connor Kent uses his heat vision to burn a backwards S symbol into his chest via a reflection. This is most likely a hint to fans that this clone is Bizarro Superman who, in the comics, had a similar S on his suit, was pale, deformed, and much bulkier than the original Superman. He also had a violent temper and would speak in broken backwards English eg "Me am hurt you".
It is revealed that Red Arrow is not the real Roy Harper, but actually a clone made to infiltrate the team. The real Roy Harper later reappears with a missing arm and takes the name Arsenal.
When looking at the memoriam statues after Artimis dies, there is an unnamed Robin amongst the fallen. This is most likely the 2nd Robin Jason Todd (1st being Dick Grayson/Nightwing, 3rd being Tim Drake). In the comics Jason eventually returns as the villain/anti-hero Red Hood and eventually creates his own super team called the Outlaws. There have been two versions of this group, one featuring Arsenal and the other featuring Bizarro Superman, both characters have appeared in the show.
Most of the villains in Season 1 were revealed to be working together for the Light.
Miss Marian's main form is modeled after the main character from her favorite TV show "Hello Megan", which aired in the 1979-1980 TV season, only with green Martian skin. When choosing a secret identity, she uses the name Megan Morse and changes to Caucasian skin. She uses this form to hide what she really looks like and the fact that she is really a white Martian, who faced constant rejection from on Mars.
When Superboy finds out that half of his DNA comes from Lex Luthor, Superboy is given shield patches by Luthor that suppress his human DNA and gives him full Kryptonian powers. As a side effect, these shields also make Superboy angrier than usual.
In Season 2, Kaldur'ahm has given up being Aqualad and the role of leading the team to join Black Manta after the team let his former girlfriend Tula die and Aquaman withholding the identity of his biological father, Black Manta. It turns out he is actually undercover completing a mission.
Match, the Superboy clone, appears outside of the comics for the first time. In this show, Match is not an actual clone of Superboy, like in the comics, but Cadmus' first attempt to clone Superman. Match has full Kryptonian DNA which proved to be too unstable making him excessively violent. Project Match was considered a failure so Cadmus created another Superman clone, Superboy, with only half of Superman's Kryptonian DNA. The other half is human DNA from Lex Luthor.
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