The Return of Young Justice

by TIMMY

When it comes to the war of comics, there are a few well known facts:DC always owned the best animated shows and movies, while Marvel had a lock on their live action universe. Every 90s baby remembers where it all began – Batman: The Animated Series. It didn’t stop there though. From 1992 – 2006, we had Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. This era is referred to as the DCAU (DC Animated Universe” and spawned the loyal fandom of DC fans that we know today.

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Pretty much our extended family

We were also treated to the Teen Titans between 2013-2016 which did a good job of fleshing out the characters of Robin and Slade Wilson. During 2006, we were in the middle of the live action era of comic books. Marvel’s Cinematic Universe was still two years away, but Fox’s X-Men movies were already in full swing. 2005 saw the first of the epic Dark Knight Trilogy, and the big budgets were geared towards “real” adaptations. Smallville was in the middle of it’s run but there was a gaping hole in the animation side of DC Comics.

Then out of nowhere…we were blessed with greatness. In 2010, Young Justice was born.

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The Dream Team (not pictured: Chuck Daly)

Unlike Teen Titans, which still featured a bit of playful banter, Young Justice was a more mature show. Robin, Speedy and Kid Flash are tired of being the sidekicks of Batman, Green Arrow and Flash, and express their concerns to the trio and Superman. Unable to understand their feelings of existing in someone else’s shadow, the older heroes brush it off. This leads to the young trio taking on a Justice League mission by themselves, infiltrating Cadmus. They find that there are cloning experiments being done, and find the clone of Superman, now called Superboy. Disappointed by the secret mission but intrigued by the thought of having a stealth Justice League Team, Batman creates “The Team” which is to be led by Aqualad. Speedy refuses and changes his name to Red Arrow. They are set up in the old Hall of Justice, and are joined by Miss Martian, Aqualad and Artemis (Green Arrow’s new apprentice). Red Tornado becomes their overseer, and the show begins.

Even though the show is called Young Justice, we get a lot of scenes and stories about the main Justice League team, and are introduced to comic book heroes and villains that only avid readers know about. You realize that even though they are sidekicks, they are heroes in their own right, with their own drama convictions. Red Arrow is found to be a clone made by Cadmus, and the real Roy Harper is found after being in cryo-freeze for 8 years, thanks to Lex Luthor. He changes his name to Arsenal, in part to his missing arm being replaced by a mechanical arm. Miss Martian turns out to be a white martian in disguise, the last member of the race that murdered the Martian Manhunter’s green Martion race. Season 2 sees the original Robin (Dick Grayson) grow up to be Nightwing andrefuse the Justice League to continue leading “The Team. Tim Drake, better known as the younger Robin joins the team as well as Batgirl. The show had so much possibilities and subplots going on, it could run for at least 5 seasons. The finale of season 2 had a death that was so abrupt and unexpected, you can tell that it had plans to go on for more seasons. So why was it cancelled?

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The world may never know why it was cancelled at it’s peak, but yesterday, an announcement that we never thought would come, came. It was announced that Young Justice Season 3 is being developed. It’s original run was on Cartoon Network, and popularity in the show has grown since it was placed on Netflix. #RewewYoungJustice was one of the popular hashtags on Twitter, and I have a feeling that this is one of the reasons why they decided to bring it back. DC is having trouble finding stable footing with this movie universe, but their TV universe and animated movie universe is perfect.

It’s a no brainer that they bring back the one show that appealed to kids and young adults. The only question that remains know is..which station will air the channel? Will it head to Netflix so we can binge it? Or will DC give fans over the age of 10 a reason to watch Cartoon Network again? Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. Young Justice is back and life feels whole again.

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