Young Justice (animation)/Characters/Minions of the Light

This page is for listing tropes related to villians who operate on the behest of the orginization known as The Light in the animated series Young Justice.

For other characters that appear in the series, see the Young Justice Character Index.

Independent Agents
Villains who are in the employ of the Light, or the employ of one of its members, but are not part of Project Cadmus, the League of Shadows or Kobra.

Abra Kadabra
"Voiced by Jeff Bennett"


 * Brown Eyes
 * Electric Torture: Seems to be a favorite of his.
 * Magic From Technology

Amazo
"Voiced by Peter MacNicol"


 * All Your Powers Combined
 * Calling Your Attacks: It apparently has to say the name of the League members whose powers it copied before it can use them. That design flaw is exploited by the Young Justice team to defeat it.
 * Implacable Man
 * Mega Manning
 * Your Head Asplode

Captain Cold (Leonard Snart)
"Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker"


 * An Ice Gun
 * An Ice Person
 * An Ice Suit

Mr. Freeze (Victor Fries)
"Voiced by Keith Szarabajka"


 * Creepy Monotone
 * An Ice Gun/BFG
 * An Ice Person
 * An Ice Suit

Mercy Graves

 * Arm Cannon
 * Artificial Limbs: Her arm cannon.
 * Battle Butler
 * Cyborg
 * The Dragon: To Lex Luthor. As befitting the trope, she fights so he doesn't have to.

Monsieur Mallah
"Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker"


 * The Dragon: To the Brain.
 * Gatling Good
 * Genius Bruiser: Doesn't say much, but he was prepped to assist in brain surgery.
 * Mighty Glacier
 * The Voiceless: In contrast to his comics counterpart.

Icicle Jr.
"Voiced by Yuri Lowenthal"


 * Childhood Friends: With Artemis. As shown in the tie-in comics. He is unaware she works with superheroes. (In the main DC universe, their counterparts are married.)
 * An Ice Person
 * An Ice Suit
 * Legacy Character: With a name like "Junior", this is pretty much a given.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: His relationship with Icicle Sr.
 * Why Don't You Just Stab Her?: Was given a perfect opportunity to kill M'gann in Season 2, but had to take the time to gripe about her breaking his heart in Belle Reve first.
 * Wisdom from the Gutter: Unknowingly offers some to Superboy about hooking up with Megan.

Icicle Sr.
"Voiced by James Remar"


 * Adaptational Badass
 * Graceful Loser
 * An Ice Person
 * Older Than He Looks: According to Word of God, he's really 85 years old, but is physiologically 50.

Professor Anthony Ivo
"Voiced by Peter MacNicol"


 * Affably Evil
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Fun with Acronyms: Lampshaded.
 * I Shall Taunt You
 * Mad Scientist
 * Smug Snake
 * Villain Exit Stage Left

Killer Frost (Crystal Frost)
"Voiced by Sarah Shahi"


 * Hoist By Her Own Petard: In the pilot, she freezes Aqualad's water weapons only for him to use the chunks of ice to knock her out.
 * Happens again in "Terrors" this time with Superboy.
 * An Ice Person
 * An Ice Suit

Professor T.O. Morrow
"Voiced by Jeff Bennett"


 * For Science!
 * Graceful Loser
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: No more Pinocchios.
 * The Man Behind the Man: Or the man behind the man behind the robot behind the robot. No, really.
 * According to "Humanity",
 * Robotic Reveal:
 * Robotic Reveal:

Psimon
"Voiced by Alan Tudyk"


 * Bald of Evil
 * Catch Phrase: "Psimon says."
 * Combat Pragmatist: When he faces M'gann again after the timeskip, he immediately takes her on despite his previous loss. When called on this by Icicle Jr., he points out that he can keep her occupied long enough for his cronies to dispatch her now-defenseless body. Doesn't work out, of course, but the strategy was sound.
 * The Dragon: To Queen Bee.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: If he gets into your mind, he can do this to you!
 * Mind Rape: Another specialty of his.
 * Surrounded by Idiots: He had a solid plan and good improvisation in "Beneath", unfortunately "Stab Miss Martian while I keep her occupied" was too complicated for Icicle Jr. to handle.
 * Telepathy
 * Telepathy

Dr. Hugo Strange
"Voiced by Adrian Pasdar"


 * Bald of Evil
 * Beard of Evil
 * The Mole
 * The Shrink: Plays a Type 2 until The Reveal.

Mister Twister (Bromwell Stikk)
"Voiced by John DeLancie"


 * Adaptational Badass: In the comics, he's rarely ever a problem. On the show, he repeatedly curbstomps the team.
 * Elemental Powers
 * Blow You Away
 * Shock and Awe
 * Evil Sounds Deep
 * The Man Behind the Curtain
 * Meta Mecha: It's a Powered Armor, but for safety concerns the "human" pilot is an android himself.
 * Mistaken Identity: In his initial appearance, Miss Martian can't read his mind, leading the team to mistake him for a disguised Red Tornado giving them a Secret Test.
 * Powered Armor
 * Scarf of Asskicking

The Riddler (Edward Nigma)
"Voiced by Dave Franco"


 * All of the Other Reindeer
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The only criminal in Belle Reve who actually escaped.
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Sissy Villain
 * Smug Snake
 * Spell My Name with a "The"
 * Underestimating Badassery

Sportsmaster (Lawrence "Crusher" Crock)
"Voiced by Nick Chinlund"


 * Adaptational Badass: His comic book counterpart is about as hokey as one would expect from someone with the name "Sportsmaster", but on the show he's a machine-gun toting, explosive javelin throwing, helicopter flying, badass mercenary.
 * : To Artemis.
 * Badass Grandpa: After the five year timeskip, he's sixty, and still an active operative of the Light.
 * Badass Normal: As far as we can tell, he doesn't have any powers, but he still kicks a lot of ass.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil
 * Cool Mask
 * The Dog Bites Back: In "Usual Suspects".
 * Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humour: "So I hear you're going by 'Red Arrow' now. More like broken arrow!"
 * Expy: He's a badass American mercenary, a total asshole, the father of one of the heroines and has two kids with a Vietnamese woman who may or may not have been shot in the spine. If he starts crying and going on about how "life is just a sport" or something like that, I'm out of here.
 * Hazel Eyes
 * Improbable Weapon User: Some of his many weapons, which include exploding javelins and a discus strong enough to destroy a building.
 * Multi Melee Master
 * Multi Ranged Master
 * Older Than They Look: He's sixty by season two, but barely looks half that.
 * Wrestler in All of Us: At one point knocks down Aqualad with a clothesline move.

Project Cadmus
An underground (literally) genetic engineering lab formerly run by Dr. Mark Desmond and later by the hero, the Guardian. The lab is responsible for creating Superboy from Superman's stolen DNA. The Board of Directors are actually the leaders of The Light.

Blockbuster (Dr. Mark Desmond)
"Mark Desmond voiced by Rene Auberjonois Blockbuster voiced by Dee Bradley Baker"


 * Body Horror: His transformation involves his skin ripping off.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Mind Control: Uses the G-Gnomes to suppress the wills of his co-workers and their subjects.
 * One-Winged Angel
 * Painful Transformation
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: In his Blockbuster form.
 * Smug Snake
 * Starter Villain
 * Super Strength
 * Two First Names

Guardian (Jim Harper)
"Voiced by Crispin Freeman"


 * Anti-Villain: Type IV. He's not a bad guy at all and just happens to work for the villains, and he barely even knows it.
 * Blue Eyes
 * Brainwashed
 * Cloning Blues: Revealed to be a clone after the Time Skip in the second season. He's taken it a lot better than Roy, accepting that the Kill and Replace policy of Cadmus means his original is dead.
 * Cool Helmet
 * Heel Face Turn: The last we see of him in season 1, he's under the control of the Light (and in a way, always was). By season 2, five years later, he has since broken away from the Light and from Cadmus.
 * Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * Retired Badass: He retired as Guardian between seasons.
 * Shield-Bash
 * Strong Family Resemblance: As noted by Superboy, he looks a lot like his nephew, Roy Harper.

Dubbilex
"Voiced by Phil LaMarr"


 * Cloning Blues
 * Creepy Monotone: Though he turns out to be not such a bad guy at all.
 * Enigmatic Minion: To Cadmus, though he turns out to be secretly working against them.
 * La Résistance
 * Psychic Powers:
 * Mind Over Matter
 * Telepathy
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: A subversion since even though he has red eyes, he really isn't one of the bad guys.

Match
"Voiced by Nolan North"


 * The Berserker
 * Berserk Button: Anyone other than him wearing an "S" on their chest.
 * Cloning Blues
 * Composite Character: Comics Match, mixed with a little Superboy-Prime and certain incarnations of Bizarro.
 * More powerful clone of Superboy -- Match.
 * Flawed Kryptonian clone, mirror-image S -- Bizarro.
 * "Original" Superboy, Black sclera, burning the S onto his chest with heat vision -- Superboy-Prime.
 * Flawed Prototype: To Superboy
 * Psycho Prototype

The League of Shadows
An organization of assassins founded and run by super villain Ra's Al Ghul.

Black Spider
"Voiced by Josh Keaton"


 * Actor Allusion: Not the first time Josh Keaton has voiced a loud mouthed comic character with spider powers.
 * Building Swing
 * Captain Ersatz: Despite being based on a DC character named Black Spider, he's Spider-Man if Spider-Man was a criminal. He makes wise cracks during battle, he's voiced by Josh Keaton, and he even refers to swinging through the city as 'web slinging.' Of course, "Spider-Man as a criminal" was pretty much the premise for the original comic character as well.
 * Grappling Hook Gun: His webshooters.
 * Wall Crawl

Cheshire (Jade Nguyen)
"Voiced by Kelly Hu"

"Cheshire: (after pushing Artemis out of an avalanche) "Okay fine, we're sisters. I don't actually want you dead.""
 * Adaptational Villainy: Inverted. She's not nice by a long shot, but she's also a far cry from the Complete Monster of the comics.
 * Abusive Parents: Her father, Sportsmaster, though details are so far unclear other than Artemis' comments in "Bereft." Word of God confirms that Sportsmaster was at least verbally and emotionally abusive, leading the 13-year-old Cheshire to run away from home.
 * Cheshire also mentions in "Usual Suspects" that Sportsmaster would constantly make his daughters fight one another.
 * Aloof Big Sister: To Artemis.
 * Cain and Abel:
 * Anti-Villain: Type I. She's a ruthless assassin most of the time but she definitely has people she cares about and has a tragic past that sort of explains her actions.
 * Badass Normal: Badass enough to go toe to toe with Aqualad.
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: Her mask is permanently set in one.
 * Cool Mask: First appeared in the Teen Titans animated series.
 * Dating Catwoman: She acts like she and Roy have this relationship in the first season, just to mess with Artemis.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Results in her first genuinely altruistic act of the series. As she states:
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Results in her first genuinely altruistic act of the series. As she states:
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Results in her first genuinely altruistic act of the series. As she states:

"Cheshire (to Artemis): "So like the Cheshire Cat, I'll just disappear.""
 * Subverted with Sportsmaster.
 * In season two,.
 * Femme Fatale
 * Freudian Excuse: See Abusive Parents above.
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Or a pair of sai.
 * Lady of War
 * Magic Skirt: Averted in "Targets."
 * McNinja: All of the stealth, finesse, and deadly skill associated with ninjas. It almost makes you forget that she's half-Caucasian, half-Vietnamese.
 * Nom De Mom: Due to issues with her dad.
 * Odango Hair: As part of her disguise in "Targets."
 * Oedipus Complex: Wants to kill her father Sportsmaster, which makes having to work with him difficult.
 * Offscreen Teleportation
 * Pet the Dog: Saving Artemis's life during a fight in "Usual Suspects."
 * Poisoned Weapons
 * Sai Gal
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
 * Villain Exit Stage Left: She is a master at this. That's why she calls herself Cheshire.
 * Villain Exit Stage Left: She is a master at this. That's why she calls herself Cheshire.

Clayface (Matt Hagen)
"Voiced by Nolan North"


 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Hagen hoped to cure his cancer thanks to the Lazarus Pit... but it turned him into a mud monster instead.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Delivers one off-screen to the team. Only to be given one himself by Batman.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Had a whole issue of the tie in comic devoted to about how he became Clayface. It's really something since he only appeared for a few seconds in the show itself.
 * Freak-Out: After his transformation. Ra's uses this to his advantage.
 * It Only Works Once: Five years later, he is immune to electricity, his usual weakness.
 * Sizeshifter
 * Shapeshifter Weapon
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting
 * Woman Scorned: Becomes victim of this from Talia after he uses her to access the Pit.

The Hook

 * Artificial Limbs
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: More like a hook.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Has a giant hook in place of a hand.
 * Spell My Name with a "The"

Professor Ojo
"Voiced by Nolan North"


 * Cyber Cyclops
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Fires artifical Eye Beams from his helmet.
 * His Name Is: A non-fatal example in "Terrors" when Ojo recognizes Superboy and tries multiple times to tell people only to be knocked unconsious by said Superboy.
 * Meaningful Name: "Ojo" is Spanish for "eye".

The Sensei
"Voiced by Keone Young"


 * Badass Grandpa
 * Beard of Evil
 * Covered with Scars
 * The Dragon: To Ra's al Ghul.
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Shown to wield one in issue #12 of the tie-in comic.
 * Old Master

Lord Kobra
"Voiced by Arnold Vosloo"


 * A God Am I
 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Proves to be very much superior to Robin in combat. He basically just stands still whilst blocking all of his attacks.
 * Bald of Evil
 * Also doubles as Actor Allusion.
 * Evil Albino
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * The Stoic

Mammoth (Baran Flinders)
"Voiced by Dee Bradley Baker"


 * Body Horror: He makes Bane's transformation look like a minor adjustment. Some parts of his skin rip to expose his flesh!
 * Half-Identical Twins: He and his sister, Shimmer, before he took the formula.
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Delivers a pretty vicious one to Bane.
 * Painful Transformation
 * Super Serum
 * Super Strength
 * Younger Than They Look: Before his transformation, Mammoth looked about 18 or 19 but after it he looks considerably older.

Shimmer (Selinda Flinders)
"Voiced by Danica McKellar"


 * Bald Woman: At least half her head seems to be missing hair for some reason.
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * The Dragon: To Lord Kobra.
 * Half Identical Twin: To her brother, Mammoth, before his big change.

The Injustice League

 * Villain Team-Up: Obviously.
 * Villain Team-Up: Obviously.

Black Adam

 * Evil Counterpart: To Captain Marvel
 * Fallen Hero: Word of God is that Black Adam was a hero at one time or another.
 * Flying Brick

The Joker
"Voiced by Brent Spiner"

"The Joker: I've always wanted to carve this bird."
 * Ax Crazy
 * Batman Gambit:
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: "Admit it. You just can't look away."
 * Everything Is Better With Monkeys: Uses, of all things, a bunch of crazy green monkeys against the Justice League.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Fingerless Gloves
 * Knife Nut
 * Mad Hatter: Juggling multiple personalities helps practice multitasking.
 * Playing Against Type: For Brent Spiner.
 * Spell My Name with a "The"
 * Taking You with Me
 * Tricked-Out Gloves
 * Wild Card
 * Would Hurt a Child: He singles out Robin in battle, which makes sense considering who his arch-nemesis is.

Poison Ivy
"Voiced by Alyssa Milano"


 * Evil Redhead
 * Green Thumb

The Ultra-Humanite

 * Everything's Better with Monkeys
 * The Voiceless: He doesn't speak at all during his initial appearence.

Count Vertigo
"Voiced by Steve Blum"

"Count Vertigo: Count Vertigo, peasant!"
 * Adaptational Badass: Goes from joke villain to leader of the Injustice League.
 * Aristocrats Are Evil
 * Big Bad: Of the Injustice League, not so much in the long run.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil
 * Cane Sword
 * Catch Phrase


 * Combat Pragmatist
 * The Chessmaster: "Coldhearted" shows him at his finest.
 * Diplomatic Impunity: The reason why he
 * Evil Uncle: Tried to kill Perdita, his niece and the queen of his country in order to gain the throne for himself.
 * Engineered Public Confession: Tricked into one of these in "Coldhearted" after the queen presumably had died.
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Graceful Loser: At least when the Injustice League is defeated. Not so much in "Coldhearted", where he tries to kill Perdita after having his title and immunity taken away from him.
 * Smug Snake
 * Steven Ulysses Perhero: His full name and title are Count Werner Vertigo.
 * Touche: To both Wally and Perdita. "Well played children, admittedly well played."

Wotan
"Voiced by Bruce Greenwood"


 * Beard of Evil
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning

Parasite
"Voiced by Adam Baldwin"


 * All Your Powers Combined
 * Bald of Evil
 * For the Evulz: His supposed reason for destroying Geneva with a "black hole".
 * Mega Manning: Some of his circus skills.
 * Power Parasite

"Ugly" Manheim
"Voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson"


 * Beard of Evil
 * Mind Rape:

Whisper A'Daire
"Voiced by Grey DeLisle"


 * Evil Redhead
 * Mind Rape: