Previously on Top Ten Justice League/Justice League Unlimited episodes....
10. "The Greatest Story Never Told" (JLU)
9. "The Enemy Below" (JL)
8. "Only a Dream" (JL)
7. "Eclipsed" (JL)
6. "Wild Card" (JL)
5. "For the Man Who Has Everything" (JLU)- Alan Moore is one of the most famous comic book writers of our time, so naturally the Timm Team would adapt one of his works into an episode.
This particular story, "For the Man Who Has Everything," takes place in the Fortress of Solitude on Superman's birthday. Batman and Wonder Woman are visiting him to get him a gift when they find that the alien warlord Mongol has gotten their first and given Superman a gift of his own: the Black Mercy, a plant that causes the host it's attached to to enter a dream state in which they get the illusion of everything they've ever wanted.
In Superman's fantasy, he's back on Krypton and married with a child and a dog. He has a regular, ordinary, suburbanite (for an alien planet) life: no bad guys to punch and no worlds to save as Superman.
While Batman and Wonder Woman engage Mongol, Superman slowly comes to terms with the fact that everything he's imagined to be real is only an illusion. We get a heartbreaking moment when he tells his imaginary son that "he has to go now" while the imaginary Krypton crumbles around him. We get to see Superman have everything he ever wanted, and it only to be taken from him.
Batman eventually gets attached to the Black Mercy as well, and we get to see his imaginary fantasy: his father beating the crap out of the burglar that killed him in real life. It's also another sad moment as we see Bruce receive his own false happiness, but he breaks free sooner than Superman did, so we don't really see it fully realized.
Overall, this episode is great because we get a firsthand glimpse into the psyche and the desires of DC's most famous superheroes, and we also get the lesson that false happiness is no happiness at all.
4. "Hereafter" (JL)- The Death of Superman was one of the most publicized comic events EVER.
It all turned out to be a ploy to sell more comic books, but at the time, the idea of killing Superman was completely unheard of.
A story as big as that definitely deserved the DCAU treatment.
I say this episode is Justice League's take on The Death of Superman, but in all honesty that's oversimplifying it. The stories differ vastly in many ways, however the similar themes are warrant enough to draw comparisons.
It starts with Superman being apparently disintegrated by a beam from Toy Man, which shocks and disturbs the Justice League immensely. Being a second season episode, we get to see just how far the bonds have been established between the team by their reaction to the loss of one of their own.
All are depressed about the loss of their friend. All that is, except Batman. He is convinced that Superman isn't dead, and he adamantly pursues evidence supporting his conclusion.
Eventually we even get to see Batman give Superman a sort of eulogy, with Batman becoming the most vulnerable that the show has ever let him be. It's a touching moment that helps to define the relationship between Batman and Superman.
Of course, Superman isn't dead. He's been flung into the far future, which has Earth being taken over by wild beasts and only one human remaining: Vandal Savage, who caused the postapocalyptic future Supes is in by destroying the world.
However, instead of becoming all the more ruthless, Vandal Savage has become a pitiable figure, realizing the error of his ways in his millenia in solitude. It's incredibly compelling to see a renowned villain in the DCAU like Savage seeking redemption. Realizing he has a chance to undo the horrible thing he did, he agrees to aid Superman's quest to return home, and it's up to them to figure out how to do so.
Overall, it's a touching story of friendship and redemption, and with the wonderful writing that the Timm Team has become known for, it's a phenomenal episode.
3. "Starcrossed" (JL)- Season finales by nature have to be big deals.
The stakes have to be higher, the conflict has to be bigger, and the action has to be more intense.
And MAN, did Justice League's season two finale deliver.
It begins with a visit from the Thanagarian army, from which Hawkgirl hailed.
Turns out, she's been a spy for them for the entire time she's been on the Justice League, analyzing the Earth's weaknesses and strengths and relaying them to the Thangarians in order to help prepare the Earth for an offensive from Thanagar's deadliest enemies: the Gordanians.
At least, so she thought.
Turns out Thanagar is going to destroy Earth in order to be able to launch an invasion on the Gordanians' home planet. And quicker than she can figure it out, they institute martial law on the Earth while they prepare a weapon to destroy the entire planet.
Torn between her two lives, Hawkgirl at first sides with Thanagar, still thinking that Thanagar is going to save the Earth instead of destroying it.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Justice League goes underground in order to hide from the Thanagarians. In a dramatic and surprising moment, they all ditch their costumes, revealing their secret identities, in order to go into hiding. Even Bruce Wayne, who keep in mind, trusts absolutely no one.
Eventually, Hawkgirl tries to help the Justice League, marking herself as a traitor to both the Justice League and Thanagar, becoming a sort of Benedict Arnold.
As the time is running out, it's up to everyone on the Justice League, traitor or otherwise, to overcome their overworldly occupation to save the day.
As for Hawkgirl's defection, there actually is no happy and easy answer. I won't spoil what happens, but let's just say that the writers decide not to give their audience a squeaky clean ending.
An epic and emotional conclusion to an awesome series, "Starcrossed" truly displays the depth of dedication that the Justice League has to fighting the good fight, and it also displays the writing ability of the staff, who flesh out their three dimensional characters in the best possible way.
2. "Divided We Fall" (JLU)- As I said before, season finales by design have to be big and epic.
And the season one finale to Justice League Unlimited went above and beyond this principle.
Concluding up a conflict that had been building for the entire season, this episode focuses on Lex Luthor's ultimate endgame. To sum up a season's worth of plot as quickly as possible, Lex Luthor and Amanda Waller joined forces to form Cadmus as a failsafe if the Justice League ever tries to take over the world, which an otherdimesional Justice League actually did when their Lex Luthor killed their Flash in cold blood.
Unfortunately for Waller, Lex betrays her and bonds with Brainiac, who has taken refuge in Luthor's body from the Justice League. Bonding with Brainiac gives Lex ultimate godlike power, which has been his chief desire for like, ever.
The new Brainilex (I made that up, I promise) is set on destroying the world, and with his newfound power he intends to do it. Eventually the only remaining Justice Leaguers available to take him out are the original seven, including a recently redeemed Hawkgirl. To stop them, Brainilex creates clones of the seven founding members, who try to psychologically manipulate the seven as well as physically overpower them. Here we get to see the seven come face to face with their biggest internal struggles, made external with the clones. It's up to them to overpower their inner fears and their most powerful foe in order to save the day.
It's awesome, it's epic, and it's engaging. What more could you ask for with an awesome, epic, and engaging series like Justice League Unlimited?
1. "Epilogue" (JLU)- I said that "Divided We Fall" was the season one finale of Justice League Unlimited. Technically, that's not true.
Episode 26 of 26 in season one is actually this one, "Epilogue." However, true to name, it serves more as an epilogue than a season finale.
An epilogue to what? Many things, actually.
Admittedly, it's a weird choice for the best episode of Justice League/Justice League Unlimited. Is it the most action packed or epic? No. Does it have the highest stakes? No.
However, it is the most well developed episode of the entire series, both emotionally and morally.
It takes place in the future with an adult Terry McGinnis breaking into the home of an aging Amanda Waller to find answers to some burning questions he has.
Terry McGinnis is the main character of the DCAU's Batman Beyond, a show about a teenaged Terry taking the mantle of Batman in the future and being mentored by an aging Bruce Wayne.
The show received much critical acclaim and is still beloved by fans to this day.
Anyway, Terry has just discovered that Bruce is his father and it has rocked his world and shattered his motivations. He's just quit being the Batman and broken up with his girlfriend because he fears he is cursed by the mantle of the Batman forever, feeling forced into the destiny of Batman and denied an opportunity to choose to shun it.
Displaying these feelings and more to Waller and demanding answers, he finds the answers he seeks to be surprising at the very least.
Waller tells Terry of her history with the Justice League and her begrudging respect for Batman. Turns out since her Cadmus days Waller eventually became the government liason to the Justice League, growing to value them as allies over the years.
However, she saw that Batman was getting older, and sought to remedy that by creating another.
Turns out she was the one who altered Terry's father's DNA to match Bruce's and hired an assassin to kill his parents after exiting a theater to try and create another Batman through Terry.
Except her assassin didn't pull the trigger, saying that Waller's whole approach was not morally sound. Eventually Terry's dad is murdered by a common thug, which inspires Terry to become Batman later.
After telling him this, Waller then tells Terry a story of how Batman handled a situation in which a powerful psychic child named Ace was about to die, and if she did die of whatever was ailing her, she could send out a psychic shockwave. Waller gave Batman a device that was designed to kill Ace without setting off the shockwave. Batman entered Ace's psychic world and to the surprise of Waller, didn't kill Ace. We see Batman comforting as she is dying, feeling a commonality with the child, who grew up alone with no one to love her. He stays with her until she dies, no shockwave produced.
We see that Batman had every opportunity to make what was seemingly the most logical and appropriate choice, and yet, he didn't.
Waller then says something that will forever cement this episode as the greatest episode ever in my mind:
"You know, the Lord's been a great comfort to me all these years. Try not to look so surprised. Yeah, I've got a lot to answer for when I meet him, but I'd like to believe that for all the harm I've caused, I've also done some good. Maybe the angels need a sharp sword too. Like the Good Book says, He moves in mysterious ways. His plan is a mystery, but here's what isn't. He gave us free will. We choose our own fate, for good or ill. I've known Bruce Wayne for over fifty years, and I've been keeping an eye on you your whole life. You're not Bruce's clone, you're his son. There are similarities, mind you, but more than a few differences too. You don't quite have his magnificent brain, for instance; you do have his heart though, and for all that fierce exterior I've never met anyone who cared as deeply about his fellow man as Bruce Wayne, except maybe you. You want to have a little better life than the old man's, take care of the people who love you. Or don't. It's your choice."
This is hands down the greatest moral that Justice League or Justice League Unlimited has ever taught.
Because it's the most solid: God gave us free will, and it's up to us to use it for good or ill.
From the beginning, Terry always had the choice to be Batman or not. Even if the circumstances aligned, he still could have walked away. And now, sitting in Waller's household, Terry has a choice to make: does he return to the world or run away from his heritage?
There's something like Terry in all of us, I believe: a desire to break away from what we think is fate. At the end of the day, we have to be reminded that we choose our own destiny and we decide our own fate. You may not feel pressured to be Batman, however you will feel pressured to be something you don't want to be. Realize that your fate in becoming who you want to be always lies in your hands.
I don't know why they decided to have Amanda Waller turn to the Bible for a strong moral, and you know what, I really don't care. Having a secular show giving theology this good is something I've never really seen before in the modern era, and I doubt I'll ever see it again. Either way, it makes my heart happy to see the Bible used so well in such an unexpected.
All this and more is what makes "Epilogue" my choice for best episode of Justice League/Justice League Unlimited.
What do you think?
