Justice League Unlimited Discussion Thread

With Young Justice about to be canceled in most likely less than a month, there's really no good comic book series left. All we can do is discuss another once great series.

The second half of JL and the first half of JLU were incredible. I hated the Legion of Doom stuff.

@Gambit1024 said:

The second half of JL and the first half of JLU were incredible. I hated the Legion of Doom stuff.

So did I. The show reached its peak with the Cadmus Storyline.

I think they may've overused Luthor too much.

Only gripe about the show as that it should've been TV-14, but that wasnt going to happen for obvious reasons.

They kinda did overuse Luthor, but they at least made him entertaining. The rating was fine.

@Gambit1024 said:

They kinda did overuse Luthor, but they at least made him entertaining. The rating was fine.

The rating was fine but they could've gone farther if the rating was put up a notch. Like an episode where the civilians don't like GL because its John Stewart.

Yeah Luthor was entertaining. Just because he was a villain that saw the deeper meaning. He wanted knowledge for gods sake, not money or power, knowledge.

@Jnr6Lil said:

@Gambit1024 said:

The second half of JL and the first half of JLU were incredible. I hated the Legion of Doom stuff.

So did I. The show reached its peak with the Cadmus Storyline.

I think they may've overused Luthor too much.

Only gripe about the show as that it should've been TV-14, but that wasnt going to happen for obvious reasons.

I think cartoons in general reached their peak with that season. It was brilliant. I had a problem with they did Cheetah. She was pathetic.

@Pokeysteve said:

I think cartoons in general reached their peak with that season. It was brilliant. I had a problem with they did Cheetah. She was pathetic.

This is a legitimate gripe of the show. I grew up on it and so when there was a recent thread here on CV about Cheetah (when she appeared in the new52 JL), I thought "huh? Cheetah sucks, she shouldn't be this strong/fast". It didn't help - my mind then, at least - that she was an "animal person" (and typically animal-mutant type people are super strong/fast/durable, but only somewhat, not on WW type levels). I wonder whose choice it was to reduce Cheetah in the DCAU to a street-level brawler....

@lightsout said:

@Pokeysteve said:

I think cartoons in general reached their peak with that season. It was brilliant. I had a problem with they did Cheetah. She was pathetic.

This is a legitimate gripe of the show. I grew up on it and so when there was a recent thread here on CV about Cheetah (when she appeared in the new52 JL), I thought "huh? Cheetah sucks, she shouldn't be this strong/fast". It didn't help - my mind then, at least - that she was an "animal person" (and typically animal-mutant type people are super strong/fast/durable, but only somewhat, not on WW type levels). I wonder whose choice it was to reduce Cheetah in the DCAU to a street-level brawler....

The same kind of thing happened with me. I watched the show before I started reading Wonder Woman. After a couple issues with her in them I was like holy crap did they mess her up. They could have found a way to make her formidable while toning her bloody origins down a bit.

@lightsout said:

@Pokeysteve said:

I think cartoons in general reached their peak with that season. It was brilliant. I had a problem with they did Cheetah. She was pathetic.

This is a legitimate gripe of the show. I grew up on it and so when there was a recent thread here on CV about Cheetah (when she appeared in the new52 JL), I thought "huh? Cheetah sucks, she shouldn't be this strong/fast". It didn't help - my mind then, at least - that she was an "animal person" (and typically animal-mutant type people are super strong/fast/durable, but only somewhat, not on WW type levels). I wonder whose choice it was to reduce Cheetah in the DCAU to a street-level brawler....

DCU did good with Aquaman. The look, the hook. Aquaman could've been a great anti-hero if they wanted to.

@Jnr6Lil said:

@lightsout said:

@Pokeysteve said:

I think cartoons in general reached their peak with that season. It was brilliant. I had a problem with they did Cheetah. She was pathetic.

This is a legitimate gripe of the show. I grew up on it and so when there was a recent thread here on CV about Cheetah (when she appeared in the new52 JL), I thought "huh? Cheetah sucks, she shouldn't be this strong/fast". It didn't help - my mind then, at least - that she was an "animal person" (and typically animal-mutant type people are super strong/fast/durable, but only somewhat, not on WW type levels). I wonder whose choice it was to reduce Cheetah in the DCAU to a street-level brawler....

DCU did good with Aquaman. The look, the hook. Aquaman could've been a great anti-hero if they wanted to.

I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure he had that look in the JLA title, which debuted in 97 (before JL/JLU). But I would agree, I liked that look. Until John's revamp of Aquaman in the new52, that was my preferred Aquaman look/characterization.

@lightsout: Yes he did have it in JLA.

@Gambit1024 said:

The second half of JL and the first half of JLU were incredible. I hated the Legion of Doom stuff.

So did I. The show reached its peak with the Cadmus Storyline.

I think they may've overused Luthor too much.

Only gripe about the show as that it should've been TV-14, but that wasnt going to happen for obvious reasons.

JLU was awesome cause it focused on more then just 1 character, or the original 7. It focused on guys like Question, Green Arrow, Huntress, Vigilante, etc etc and so on and so forth. The show really didn't alinate any character really. Am curious though, if they would do a sort of Justice League: Beyond show with Terry(who would be all grown up) and the future Justice League I think that would be pretty neat.

Awesome show. Did Amazo beomce good in that show

Awesome show. Did Amazo beomce good in that show

@Wolfrazer: At the end i think he turned good

@Wardemon32 Yea, he "evolved" so far that he became a god-like being (becoming "above" the fighting between the heroes & villains). He realized Luthor was using him and left to explore space (coming back a golden god - almost quite literally).

@Wolfrazer: Re-watched the episodes ending. He did turn good

Lex Luthor says Amazo purpose is to watch everything coming to an end... kinda interesting if you think about it.

Anyway, JL and JLU were amazing. There are some episodes there that are truly great.

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

@Gambit1024 said:

The second half of JL and the first half of JLU were incredible. I hated the Legion of Doom stuff.

It wasn't that good, but there were some good episodes. I loved the finale, though.

You didn't like the first half of JL, though?

@Gambit1024 said:

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

My buddy & I used to joke that all you needed to stop the (DCAU) JL was a tazer, since it seemed every damned electrified pole or floor would bring down every member (especially Jonn. Guess they had to neutralize him every battle so the JL side wouldn't be too over-powered).

@JediXMan said:

@Gambit1024 said:

The second half of JL and the first half of JLU were incredible. I hated the Legion of Doom stuff.

It wasn't that good, but there were some good episodes. I loved the finale, though.

You didn't like the first half of JL, though?

Not every episode was a complete winner (wasn't too crazy about Star Crossed, specifically), but the whole Justice Lords to Cadmus thing is one of my favorite JL storylines (in any medium). The finale of the whole series was awesome, and the "World of Cardboard" speech never gets old.

The first half of JL was very hit or miss with me. Because I'm such a Superman fanboy, I cringed whenever he'd get his ass kicked by something embarrassing (which happened almost every time he was onscreen). They fixed that in the second half in the episode where Darkseid makes his comeback, but those were some painful times prior.

@Gambit1024 said:

@JediXMan said:

@Gambit1024 said:

The second half of JL and the first half of JLU were incredible. I hated the Legion of Doom stuff.

It wasn't that good, but there were some good episodes. I loved the finale, though.

You didn't like the first half of JL, though?

Not every episode was a complete winner (wasn't too crazy about Star Crossed, specifically), but the whole Justice Lords to Cadmus thing is one of my favorite JL storylines (in any medium). The finale of the whole series was awesome, and the "World of Cardboard" speech never gets old.

The first half of JL was very hit or miss with me. Because I'm such a Superman fanboy, I cringed whenever he'd get his ass kicked by something embarrassing (which happened almost every time he was onscreen). They fixed that in the second half in the episode where Darkseid makes his comeback, but those were some painful times prior.

Oh, I agree. The whole Justice Lords / Cadmus arc is amazing. I absolutely love that storyline.

Agreed. Superman was treated poorly - but, then, that goes back to Superman TAS, too.

@lightsout said:

@Gambit1024 said:

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

My buddy & I used to joke that all you needed to stop the (DCAU) JL was a tazer, since it seemed every damned electrified pole or floor would bring down every member (especially Jonn. Guess they had to neutralize him every battle so the JL side wouldn't be too over-powered).

Lol, you and your buddy weren't wrong. J'onn also got the sh*t end of the stick when it came to the fight scenes too.

But I never understood the "over-powered JL" argument. If that's the case, why not give the villains power-ups, rather than nerfing and embarrassing the best characters?

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024 said:

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

That was a lot of people's complaints, I think the writers did that to make the threats seem more powerful, but it just made Supes look like a chump. They rectified it in season two by having him kick Darkseid's booty.

They also did it to hype up Batman.

Seriously. The DCAU and the Justice League revolved around Batman. In the finale, the last thing we see is Batman's logo.

@JediXMan said:

Agreed. Superman was treated poorly - but, then, that goes back to Superman TAS, too.

True, but when he's standing next to the other heroes, who weren't treated nearly as bad (with the exception of J'onn), it felt worse to me.

@The Stegman said:

They rectified it in season two by having him kick Darkseid's booty.

One of the best episodes, in my opinion. It was refreshing to see Superman get that pissed off.

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024 said:

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

That was a lot of people's complaints, I think the writers did that to make the threats seem more powerful, but it just made Supes look like a chump. They rectified it in season two by having him kick Darkseid's booty.

They also did it to hype up Batman.

Seriously. The DCAU and the Justice League revolved around Batman. In the finale, the last thing we see is Batman's logo.

@Gambit1024 said:

Lol, you and your buddy weren't wrong. J'onn also got the sh*t end of the stick when it came to the fight scenes too.

But I never understood the "over-powered JL" argument. If that's the case, why not give the villains power-ups, rather than nerfing and embarrassing the best characters?

Right? Or tie in more "smart" villains who would exploit weaknesses, like Prometheus.

@JediXMan said:

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024 said:

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

That was a lot of people's complaints, I think the writers did that to make the threats seem more powerful, but it just made Supes look like a chump. They rectified it in season two by having him kick Darkseid's booty.

They also did it to hype up Batman.

Seriously. The DCAU and the Justice League revolved around Batman. In the finale, the last thing we see is Batman's logo.

To be fair, the whole DCAU started (and ended) with Batman, so I guess I can't be too upset about hyping him up. Epilogue is probably my favorite episode of the entire DCAU, and features one of the best Batman moments of all time (in my opinion, anyway).

@The Stegman said:

They rectified it in season two by having him kick Darkseid's booty.

One of the best episodes, in my opinion. It was refreshing to see Superman get that pissed off.

@lightsout said:

@Gambit1024 said:

Lol, you and your buddy weren't wrong. J'onn also got the sh*t end of the stick when it came to the fight scenes too.

But I never understood the "over-powered JL" argument. If that's the case, why not give the villains power-ups, rather than nerfing and embarrassing the best characters?

Right? Or tie in more "smart" villains who would exploit weaknesses, like Prometheus.

Oh my god, why was Prometheus not in that show? He would've been perfect.

Personally, I loved the way they worked in Dr. Destiny.

JLU was one of the few comic related animated series I found to be not just watchable but actually good

@Gambit1024 said:

@JediXMan said:

Agreed. Superman was treated poorly - but, then, that goes back to Superman TAS, too.

True, but when he's standing next to the other heroes, who weren't treated nearly as bad (with the exception of J'onn), it felt worse to me.

Flash was treated badly, too. He got punched out by John who wasn't even using his ring.

@Gambit1024 said:

@JediXMan said:

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024 said:

One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how, at every chance, Superman would get his ass kicked. Of course, in the episode where Brainiac and Darkseid teamed up, all was redeemed, but those episodes prior were painful.

That was a lot of people's complaints, I think the writers did that to make the threats seem more powerful, but it just made Supes look like a chump. They rectified it in season two by having him kick Darkseid's booty.

They also did it to hype up Batman.

Seriously. The DCAU and the Justice League revolved around Batman. In the finale, the last thing we see is Batman's logo.

To be fair, the whole DCAU started (and ended) with Batman, so I guess I can't be too upset about hyping him up. Epilogue is probably my favorite episode of the entire DCAU, and features one of the best Batman moments of all time (in my opinion, anyway).

Epilogue was awesome!

This, right here, might be my all time favorite scene in the DCAU:

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024 said:

@The Stegman said:

They rectified it in season two by having him kick Darkseid's booty.

One of the best episodes, in my opinion. It was refreshing to see Superman get that pissed off.

I also love how mad he gets at Batman for pulling him away. Batman: "It's over, no one could have survived that.'' Superman, giving him a glare that made him shake in his bat boots- "You know what Bruce, you're not always right.'' Supes wasn't playin' games.

Dat scene <3

Remember how jealous he was of Captain Marvel? lol

@JediXMan: Stoppit, you're gonna make me cry!

They did end up rectifying the Flash's powers. If the Brainac/Lex episode didn't do it, the episode where Lex and Flash switched bodies certainly did.

@Gambit1024 said:

@lightsout said:

@Gambit1024 said:

Lol, you and your buddy weren't wrong. J'onn also got the sh*t end of the stick when it came to the fight scenes too.

But I never understood the "over-powered JL" argument. If that's the case, why not give the villains power-ups, rather than nerfing and embarrassing the best characters?

Right? Or tie in more "smart" villains who would exploit weaknesses, like Prometheus.

Oh my god, why was Prometheus not in that show? He would've been perfect.

Personally, I loved the way they worked in Dr. Destiny.

But nope, they had to dumb-down even the powerful villains, and then make the heroes even weaker @_@

@Gambit1024 said:

@JediXMan: Stoppit, you're gonna make me cry!

They did end up rectifying the Flash's powers. If the Brainac/Lex episode didn't do it, the episode where Lex and Flash switched bodies certainly did.

It's just amazing.

True. It became clear that it was because Wally didn't know how to use his powers to the fullest. Lex knew how.

@lightsout said:

@Gambit1024 said:

@lightsout said:

@Gambit1024 said:

Lol, you and your buddy weren't wrong. J'onn also got the sh*t end of the stick when it came to the fight scenes too.

But I never understood the "over-powered JL" argument. If that's the case, why not give the villains power-ups, rather than nerfing and embarrassing the best characters?

Right? Or tie in more "smart" villains who would exploit weaknesses, like Prometheus.

Oh my god, why was Prometheus not in that show? He would've been perfect.

Personally, I loved the way they worked in Dr. Destiny.

But nope, they had to dumb-down even the powerful villains, and then make the heroes even weaker @_@

But they fixed them! Well, most of them, anyway. I can't think of one instance in the show's entirety that made me take J'onn seriously.

Remember how jealous he was of Captain Marvel? lol

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024:

Remember how jealous he was of Captain Marvel? lol

It was hilarious. Although the Christmas episode made me laugh so hard, the scene where J'onn was floating invisibly through the house, and we see Clark checking all the presents with X ray vision, gets disappointed and mutters "lead..." fantastic.

AH! That was a Paul Dini episode! Oh, and the fact that Superman got defensive when Ma Kent didn't say that Santa wrapped his presents was an excellent touch.

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024:

Remember how jealous he was of Captain Marvel? lol

It was hilarious. Although the Christmas episode made me laugh so hard, the scene where J'onn was floating invisibly through the house, and we see Clark checking all the presents with X ray vision, gets disappointed and mutters "lead..." fantastic.

AH! That was a Paul Dini episode! Oh, and the fact that Superman got defensive when Ma Kent didn't say that Santa wrapped his presents was an excellent touch.

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024 said:

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024:

Remember how jealous he was of Captain Marvel? lol

It was hilarious. Although the Christmas episode made me laugh so hard, the scene where J'onn was floating invisibly through the house, and we see Clark checking all the presents with X ray vision, gets disappointed and mutters "lead..." fantastic.

AH! That was a Paul Dini episode! Oh, and the fact that Superman got defensive when Ma Kent didn't say that Santa wrapped his presents was an excellent touch.

And Flash looking for DJ Ducky for the kids...the entire episode was magical. And if I'm not mistaken, it's the first and maybe only mention of J'onn like oreos, as he grabs one from the chimney while playing Santa.

Yes! lol

I just realized that making a "best of" JL episodes must be done, but it'd probably be the hardest thing I'd ever have to do. There are so many good episodes and moments.

@Gambit1024 said:

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024 said:

@The Stegman said:

@Gambit1024:

Remember how jealous he was of Captain Marvel? lol

It was hilarious. Although the Christmas episode made me laugh so hard, the scene where J'onn was floating invisibly through the house, and we see Clark checking all the presents with X ray vision, gets disappointed and mutters "lead..." fantastic.

AH! That was a Paul Dini episode! Oh, and the fact that Superman got defensive when Ma Kent didn't say that Santa wrapped his presents was an excellent touch.

And Flash looking for DJ Ducky for the kids...the entire episode was magical. And if I'm not mistaken, it's the first and maybe only mention of J'onn like oreos, as he grabs one from the chimney while playing Santa.

Yes! lol

I just realized that making a "best of" JL episodes must be done, but it'd probably be the hardest thing I'd ever have to do. There are so many good episodes and moments.

I'd say that would be a rather tough list. Personal candidates would probably include:

A Better World

Wild Cards

Twilight

A Knight of Shadows

The Brave and the Bold

Comfort and Joy (I have a soft spot for this episode)

I did not include Epilogue or the others, because I'm just talking about the original JL. Using both and limiting it to only 10 would be impossible.

Fun fact: the original JL series had 52 episodes.

That. Is. Awesome!

@The Stegman said:

It was hilarious. Although the Christmas episode made me laugh so hard, the scene where J'onn was floating invisibly through the house, and we see Clark checking all the presents with X ray vision, gets disappointed and mutters "lead..." fantastic.

I got my neighbor's 3yr old into super heroes, and when I watch her all she wants to watch now (of all my vids) is JL & we watched that one recently, and I was probably more wide-eyed & focused on it than she was.

@Wolfrazer said:

JLU was awesome cause it focused on more then just 1 character, or the original 7. It focused on guys like Question, Green Arrow, Huntress, Vigilante, etc etc and so on and so forth. The show really didn't alinate any character really. Am curious though, if they would do a sort of Justice League: Beyond show with Terry(who would be all grown up) and the future Justice League I think that would be pretty neat.

I would like that too. Terry, Barda, Warhawk, etc. Would be good

@JediXMan: He used the Speed Force

@Jnr6Lil said:

@JediXMan: He used the Speed Force

He only used his full power once. All the other times, he was treated like a child who had no idea what he was doing.

Hands-down, the best superhero animated series ever, IMO.

Definitely had some great episodes, as well as utilizing many lesser-known characters (Question, Dr. Destiny, Booster Gold). I actually quite liked the Legion storyline more than the Cadmus one, though. While the Cadmus one was undeniably more weighty and really made the stakes high up - the Legion arc was just more fun. It didn't have such an interconnected story, but the third season had so many great episodes and moments (The Flash brain switch, Patriot Act, the two-part finale).

As for Superman getting his butt handed to him in every episode, I could rationalize that by thinking that this was the 'DCAU Superman'. I didn't really like their portrayal of Supes, and it wasn't just the strength level - it was also his personality. He came across as way more aggressive and emotional than the Superman I know (see: Clash, Twilight of the Gods).