Young Justice Season 1 Review
An excellent team-based DC series that uses many parts of the DC mythos
In the realm of live-action movies, Marvel has reigned King. DC Movies, most recently Suicide Squad, have not been up to par with the films from their rivals or good by most standards.
However, in the world of animated series', DC runs the show and has done so for many years. Various Batman shows, Justice League in many forms, and the Teen Titans of old (a personal favorite of mine), rank among some of the best fare DC has to offer in their animated offerings.
And Young Justice deserves to be put on the same tier as the ones listed. Young Justice is centered around the ex-sidekicks of the Justice League members. The core six of season 1 are:
Robin (Dick Grayson)
Batman’s protege. Detective. Martial artist. Knows way more secrets than he probably should.
Superboy (Conner Kent)
The ostensible son of Superman and Lex Luthor. Clone. Not as overpowered as Superman and not nearly as nice and calm. Has anger issues.
Miss Martian (M’gann M’orzz)
Martian Manhunter’s niece. She has the powers of shapeshifting, telepathy and telekenesis. The middle one is her strong suit. She is naive and has self-image issues.
Artemis Crock
Archer ‘sidekick’ of Green Arrow with slightly unsavory personal connections. Insecurity over her place when compared with Red Arrow (Speedy)
Kid Flash (Wally West)
Relative of The Flash. Chatty, eats a lot, and really wants to work with the Justice League. Science-minded.
Aqualad (Kaldur)
Super chill. Has water sword-whip-things. Atlantean. Takes more of a leader role. Sounding board for the team.
There are other characters that join the team, but those are the ones that define season 1 of Young Justice.
This lineup may seem slightly underwhelming (or maybe just whelming.) They are the sidekicks, how cool could they possibly be?
If you watch the show, definitely more than the vanilla Justice League at points. I was really surprised by it. I was like, ugh, they are the B-team. Teen Titans at least had some cool, unique members to it. What can the JL do that the YJ team can’t? Well, power-wise, lots, but the show doesn’t focus on that aspect of them or their age. It focuses on their personal struggles and their growth as a team. Each character has their arc and defining moments, and the team starts off rocky and becomes strong by the seasons end.
Throughout the season, various interesting aspects of the DC universe are explored. You get: magic, aliens, genetic experimentation, geopolitical threats, mind control of various schools, and conspiracies.
This show is stacked with cool. As someone who was skeptical going in, asking the question of how it could compete with Teen Titans and so on, I was blown away and by expectations destroyed. This is a high quality show that I became addicted to. I’m venturing into season 2 (regrettably, the last, as the show was canceled) with all good feelings and a strong desire to see where they go with all the material they have at their fingertips. Definitely recommend for fans of good animated shows, specifically comic-based ones.
