Justice
League
Injustice For All, Part Two
Original Airdate - 9/13/02
Following
the tradition established by Grant Morrison, this week proved
that the League works best when they just act as Batman's
assistants. Held hostage and immobile by the Injustice League,
The Dark Knight outwits Solomon Grundy (not that hard), gets
a little action, and convinces Miggs to swallow his tongue.
The rest of the League, however, just sort of runs around
ineffectively. Superman and The Flash try to interrogate the
captured Copperhead, but the snake knows that any threats
the Kryptonian makes ring hollow. Without beating us over
the head with the idea, this episode proves that sometimes
we need our superheroes to be absolute bastards. (As opposed
to just kind of jerks, like The Flash, who sits in the interrogation
room smirking - way to help, Wally.)
While the team laments the loss of Batman, Luthor and his
pals try to unlock the secrets of the Bat-utility belt. After
Grundy's brute strength fails to rip it open, The Joker sends
him outside and double dog dares him to lick a frozen flagpole.
Inside, Luthor exposes the belt to a series of energy spectrums
which finally cause all the compartments to politely click
open. With the key to the Watchtower in his grasp, Luthor
sends an away team to plant a bomb at the Justice League headquarters.
Cleverly disguised as a golden satchel, the bomb remains
undetected. If only J'onn J'onnz had not fallen for a sucker
punch while looking for intruders. If only he had thought
that perhaps when looking for intruders he should use his
Martian intangibility or invisibility. Beaten down by Solomon
Grundy does not look good on the resume.
But a traitor exists within the ranks of The Injustice League,
and the JL receives a warning just in time to save their satellite.
Who could the traitor be? The Shade, remembering that he was
a good guy in the pages of Starman? The Cheetah, earlier
seen making out with Batman? (No lie - what is it about bats
and cats?) The only real villains we can count on are Lex
Luthor and The Joker, who irritate the crap out of each other
just as much as they irritate their arch-enemies.
Borrowing heavily from Morrison's portrayal of Batman, Injustice
For All proved satisfying. Buried in the in-jokes is the
complete evolution of Lex Luthor; watch carefully, and you'll
see him in every single one of his comics incarnations, with
a far more sensible reason given for his silly pre-Crisis
armor, too. (It did make for a nifty Super Powers action figure,
though.) Timm and company also take a dig at their parent
company, housing the Injustice League in a shuttered "Metropolis
Pictures Store," an empty and obvious failed Warner Brothers
Studio Store. Thank heavens the Justice League accidentally
smashes the Zan and Jayna statues there. We'll have no such
luck if their movie ever actually happens.
Once again, every member of the League gets a shot at the
action, most of the villains are at least recognizable versions
of their comic book selves, and Batman proves himself the
toughest hero of them all. And to think that in part one,
J'onn belittled him for having no actual powers. Silly Martian.
Next week: Etrigan!
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