Young Justice (animation)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Young Justice: The Comic

  • Complete Monster: Harm. For a series that was usually fairly light-hearted, it was shocking just how dark and evil Harm was. He nearly slashed his adoptive father's jugular open at age 11, he murdered his sister to gain superpowers from a demon, and his motivation was simply to train by hunting young heroes so he'd be prepared to kill the JLA when he was older. A pure sociopath, even the fact that he was killed in his first storyline didn't stop him. He came back as a ghost and gleefully tormented his family, possessing his father (now on death row for his killing) and used his body to drive Secret insane. The guy was one long walking Kick the Dog moment.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Impulse.
  • Ho Yay:
    • Only one time, and nothing sexual, but when Arrowette and Wonder Girl's moms found out they went on a co-ed camping trip with the boys, they flipped their lids and went to give the girls what-for... only to find them asleep in their own tent, holding hands, with Secret in mist form hovering asleep around them.
    • Tim Drake and Conner Kent/Kon-El. Full stop.

Young Justice: The Series

  • And the Fandom Rejoiced:
    • News of who were serving in the production of the show, and the image of the show's first promotional poster.
    • Oh, they are making a new animat... Holy crap, Greg Weisman is producing (and writing)!
    • To a lesser extent, Brandon Vietti's involvement in the show as producer sparked excitement from those who were familiar with his directing Batman: Under the Red Hood.
    • Bruce Greenwood got a pretty good appraisal for his previous voice work as Batman (some have gone so far to measure him against Kevin Conroy) and is apparently voicing him again, for whenever he appears in this series.
    • Peter David, the man who wrote almost all the issues of Young Justice, is on board to write for the series.
    • Phil Bourassa had a good reception for the character designs he produced for Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Once it was announced that he would be one of the main character designers for this show, a lot of fans were happy.
    • Secret appearing in an episode appropriately written by Peter David (although it's probably a one-time thing and her new Pokémon-Speak may turn off some.) She's the first such Young Justice comics member to appear in the show -- if one doesn't count Superboy, since his cartoon characterization is drawn from his later Teen Titans days and much unlike his earlier self.
    • For many, Superman warming up to Superboy in the end of Season 1.
    • There was much rejoicing when it was revealed that Jaime Reyes would join in Season 2.
    • Tim Drake coming in as the new Robin while Dick grew up to become Nightwing.
    • Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark) finally being used in a DC animated show. Like Tim Drake and Superboy -- and unlike most of the cartoon team -- she was in the original Young Justice comics, all the more reason for some fans to rejoice. (At the same time the original Wonder Girl, Donna Troy, is in Super Best Friends Forever).
    • Whenever a season 1 team member that wasn't immediately seen in the season 2 premiere appeared later. Except possibly when Aqualad returned as a villain. Affected the shippers in particular. (Happy now?)
    • Lian Harper exists.
    • Bart Allen/Impulse has arrived, again in an episode appropriately written by Peter David.
      • In the same episode that Wally returned as Kid Flash, and Jay Garrick appeared as the original Flash, in a team-up with all four of the Flashes. Needless to say, with DC's treatment of Wally following Barry's return in Final Crisis & the events of Flashpoint seemingly erasing Wally's tenure as a superhero from existence, the episode in general was very well received by fans of the Flash family.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Some think that Kid Flash has trust issues and is actually rather insecure and that his cheerful attitude we've seen so far is really just him being a Stepford Smiler.
  • Arc Fatigue: For some fans, the yet-unresolved continuing grand scheme of The Light has become this in the second season. So the heroes foil the season-long plans of the Light - surprise, all that was only Phase 1! And some other fans were already thinking this during the first season. See Villain Sue below.
  • Base Breaker:
    • Some fans of the Young Justice comics give this show flak for using the name while being closer in sensibility to the more serious Teen Titans comics. In the same way, the Teen Titans cartoon is closer to the less serious Young Justice comics. Still, roster additions in season 2 have increased the number of Young Justice comics characters.
    • Miss Martian. Horrible abomination of a character, or delightful breath of fresh air in a team full of jerks? Her Catch Phrase ("Hello, Megan!") isn't helping matters. Though these turned out to be Arc Words as well, directly connected to her character issues (and indirectly, Beast Boy.)
    • Artemis seems to have her share of haters as well. An intriguing character (Dark and Troubled Past, Broken Bird, Badass Family That Slays Together) or just a snotty bitch? You decide!
    • There's also people's views on how Superman is acting on the show in regards to Superboy: some think he's behaving in an understandable manner and others think he's being a Jerkass and very un-Superman-like compared to other incarnations. Superboy has since become this as well.
    • The Light are either Magnificent Bastards, Generic Doomsday Villains, or Villain Sues, depending on who you ask.
    • The Joker also suffers from this: some are criticizing how the show handled him, others defending the show's take. Some are also annoyed he isn't voiced by John Dimaggio or Mark Hamill.
    • Klarion the Witch Boy. It's not so much his personality as his role in being a member of the Light. Even then, you have people saying he's a funny Faux Affably Evil villain, and people who find him annoying.
    • Aqualad is either viewed as being an awesome stoic leader, or a Flat Character who never expresses any emotion.
      • And then in Season 2 there's his off-screen Face Heel Turn. And then this turns out to be fake.
    • Kid Flash is either viewed as a childish Jerkass, or being one of the funnier and more genuinely likeable characters on the show. However, some see the episode "Coldhearted", late in Season 1, as the point where he gets some much-needed maturity.
    • The Season 2 Time Skip has divided fans over the new characters replacing most of the old team, as well by as its very nature. It's either a hackneyed plot device which only leaves them wanting more of the old team as they were, or an awesome way to hit the ground running plot-wise and introduce more DC characters who wouldn't be the right age in season 1.
  • Complete Monster: Harm intentionally invoked this in order to acquire the power of the Sword of Beowulf. Only the pure of heart can wield it, but it doesn't distinguish between pure good and pure evil. To become the latter, he murdered his own sister in cold blood. The moment he shows a tiny hint of remorse when confronted by this, the Sword rejects him. Oddly, he's less of a Complete Monster than his comic-book counterpart, since he seems to have actually cared for her at one point... which might make it even worse, that he cared and could still do that to her.
    • Lord Orm/Ocean Master is the treacherous younger brother of Aquaman, King of Atlantis. Masquerading as a loyal brother and supporter of the crown, Orm participates in the evil activities of the council known as the Light, while attempting to seize Atlantis. Using a racist group of Atlanteans known as the Purifiers against the "impure" Atlanteans, Orm attempts to inspire them to wipe out anyone they deem as impure, knowing it will cause a civil war, after which he will take over what’s left. He also kidnaps his sister-in-law Mera and tries to drain her powers, slowly killing her, despite knowing well that she is pregnant. After the attempted genocide and civil war fail, Orm is eventually exposed and imprisoned for six years until he escapes. Seeking revenge, Orm intends to enact the "nuclear option": finding where the heroes' loved ones have their play dates, Orm waits until 18 of them have arrived, including babies and children alike, before planning to blow the house up and kill them all solely out of spite for being deservedly punished for his crimes.
    • Frederick DeLamb, from the first three episodes of the Outsiders season, is the security chief and brother to the Queen of Markovia; he is also secretly Baron Bedlam, leader of the heinous Bedlam Syndicate. Bedlam masterminds the capture and trafficking of countless young metahuman children and teenagers, having them tortuously experimented on and drowning them in a thick tar of his own creation to awaken their metagene. Killing enough of them to warrant regular mass burials of failed experiments, those who do survive are mutated and auctioned off as living weapons to the highest bidder. In his own grab for power in Markovia, Bedlam has his own sister and the King assassinated before killing the Quraci assassin himself, throwing pressure onto the Quraci populace as a convenient excuse to screen for more metagenes. Bedlam even has his own niece and nephew, Tara and Brion Markov, subjected to the experiments, with no loyalty to his family, country, or anyone except himself and his own ruthless designs for power.
  • Crazy Awesome: Adam Strange quoting Alice in Wonderland and Jabberwocky to escape the space gestapo.
  • Derailing Love Interests: M'gann's antiheroic activities have caused Conner to dump her.
  • Die for Our Ship: Lagoon Boy, and it only took a single episode.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse:
    • While people are divided about the characterization of most of the cast, particularly Superman and The Joker, there's one character nobody dislikes: Captain Marvel. He's the most fun character in the cast, and seems to be be as popular with the fans - and even non-fans - as AQUAMAN was.
    • Roy Harper/Red Arrow. He has an unprecedented prominent role in the show (much larger than in Teen Titans and Justice League Unlimited), despite not being part of the main team until late in season 1 - and even that was temporary.
    • Blue Beetle in Season 2 is very popular, though whether he's a secondary character or a main character is still unclear.
  • Evil Is Sexy:
    • Cheshire.
    • Harm.
    • Queen Bee. It doesn't hurt that she shares her voice with Demona.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: A lot of this. For instance, there's a lot of preference for Artemis/Robin.
  • Foe Yay: Between Roy and Cheshire, especially on her part. During the Time Skip, they get married and have a child.
  • Genius Bonus: "Whelm" is, in fact, a real word all by its lonesome. It basically means the same as the colloquial meaning of overwhelm. (i.e., Overwhelm should mean whelm, but turned Up to Eleven.)
  • Growing the Beard: Some possible points:
    • Around or after the middle stretch of the first season.
      • Especially Episode 19, "Misplaced", and after, when the show finally stopped suffering from Cartoon Network Schedule Slip and the plot development seemingly picks up the pace in time for the season 1 finale.
    • The second season.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • In "Downtime" (aired March 4, 2011) Superman tells Aquaman that "The Justice League have a problem in Tokyo". A week later, Japan was hit by a devastating earthquake.
    • In-universe, most of Red Arrow's bits about how he can't trust [certain team member] because anyone might be The Mole becomes this by the end of "Usual Suspects" since it's him, and his tone of voice as he realizes this implies that he realizes exactly how much of an idiot that makes him. All he needed to do to find the mole was look in the mirror.
  • He Really Can Act: Jesse McCartney as Robin/Nightwing, pulling off some epic confidence, authority, deadpan snark, and inner turmoil.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • In a funny coincidence, this version of Superboy was introduced at the same time that Smallville was doing its own Superboy storyline, and the reactions of the respective Supermen to the existence of Superboy could not be more opposite.
    • In "Bereft," Robin wakes up without his memories of the last six months, and yells "In September?! What happened to March?" "Bereft" was the last episode aired before the six month hiatus... in March. "Targets" didn't officially premiere until... September.
    • Miss Martian tells Superboy to "Stop behaving like a character in a 70s Sitcom" during "Alpha Male", then several episodes pass, and during "Image", this is shown to be Hypocritical Humor as we learn that her entire personality and appearance is based around that of a 70s Sitcom character.
  • Ho Yay: Has a page for it.
  • I Am Not Shazam: Word of God says "Young Justice" is just the name of the show while the team is just "the team". Thus they have yet to be called "Young Justice" onscreen. In-universe, since the team isn't public like the Justice League, it doesn't get to have a "fancy name". This also further differentiates the team from the original Young Justice of the comics.
  • Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: Spitfire (Wally/Artemis), Chalant (Dick/Zatanna), Freshness (Dick/Wally), Traught (Dick/Artemis), and Christmas Arrow (Roy/Artemis or Roy/Ollie), to name a few.
  • Internet Backdraft:
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
    • Superboy, very quickly. Superboy/Aqualad, Superboy/Miss Martian, Superboy/Artemis, Superboy/Black Canary.
    • Robin. Yes, the 13-year-old one. Maybe it helps that his other canon counterparts in the comics and other media are the same way.
    • Artemis and Kid Flash get their fair share as well. They've been paired with each other, Robin, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, Zatanna, Red Arrow, and their respective main-stream comic love interests. And that's not even getting into threesomes, mentor-shipping, or crossover shipping.
    • Heck, anyone in this show basically plays this trope straight. Aqualad and Miss Martian aren't entirely spared.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: One of the problems with "Failsafe". In the opening thirty seconds, Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and John Stewart are vapourised without warning. That would be pretty unbelievable in itself, but then in the next thirty seconds so are Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Martian Manhunter, Superman and Batman. Yeah, sure.
  • Magnificent Bastard: The Light may be this to some, but the one with the most awesome moment so far may be Vandal Savage. You know, the guy who brainwashed the entire Justice League and got them to bow down to him.
  • Memetic Badass:
    • Robin, soon after the pilot premiered.
    • Aqualad developed into this over the course of season one.
    • Sportsmaster, due to the implications of his name.
  • Memetic Mutation:
  • Memetic Sex God: Roy. It helps that he's voiced by Crispin Freeman.
    • Nightwing is this by default.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • The Light technically crossed it before the series even began. The finale reveals that they kidnapped Speedy and cloned him more than three years ago. The Roy Harper we've been following in the series was a clone and part of their plan, which even he didn't know. Not only that, the real Roy somehow lost an arm (either lost in battle when they caught him, or by amputation after, which would be even worse). They then take the original Roy with them alongside Match when covering their tracks from Cadmus following the events of the episode.
    • Queen Bee is revealed to have killed Garfield Logan's mother purely out of spite, if the Light's overall moment isn't enough to push her over the line. Seeing Beast Boy so broken shows how horrible she truly was.
    • In the eyes of Superboy, Miss Martian's increase of mind raping criminals. But the biggest would be her trying to wipe his mind of their fight.
  • Narm: The show has its moments, though they don't happen often.
    • As of Season 2, Blue Beetle has become increasingly 'Narmy', however most of his fans seem to think of it as a Narm Charm
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • Joker gassing the firefighters through the giant plants, or when he takes an interest in Robin while carrying an absurdly huge knife.
    • "Failsafe" is an entire episode of it. And it keeps. Getting. Worse.
    • The fact that the series actually averts Infant Immortality with Harm murdering his sister. This itself makes Harm this trope incarnate, combined with his creepy monotone, Third Person Person tendencies, and weird scars on his face.
  • Pandering to the Base: The show's target audience is teenagers. Episode six contains a beach scene and the beginnings of a Love Dodecahedron.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name: SuperMartian and AquaRocket, though a portmanteau of their hero names rather than civilian names, still count.
  • Replacement Scrappy / Contested Sequel: Not literally the latter, because of alternate continuities, but the principle applies:
    • The series as a whole, particularly the first season, is viewed as such by some Teen Titans fans since it covers similar ground but is generally Darker and Edgier and "less fun", depending on how "fun" is defined. However, that Lighter and Softer series ended in 2006, long before it was "replaced".
    • It's also been viewed as such for Justice League (Unlimited) by those who prefer to see the grown-ups over the young 'uns. However, like Teen Titans, that series already ended way back in 2006.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Superman in season two with respect with his relationship with Superboy and his questionable behaviour towards him in the first season.
    • Bizarrely, Aqualad's Face Heel Turn and Ms. Martian's new penchant for Mind Rape are appreciated by some fans as finally giving them some character depth.
  • Romantic Plot Tumor: The Superboy/Miss Martian relationship for some. As of the Season 2 premiere, the two have mysteriously broken up.
  • The Scrappy: Any member of the team, specifically if they aren't one of the first nine from Season 1. ESPECIALLY Lagoon Boy. Poor guy gets hate for everything, from his catchphrase to his Atlantean abilities (he's constantly being compared to Aqualad) to the fact that he's now dating M'gann
    • The writers may be aware of this, most of the other characters treat him like they would a really obnoxious and annoying co-worker.
  • Squick:
    • Miss Martian and Superboy making out... while still disguised as brother and sister. Would it have been so hard for Conner to give Megan some sort of warning so she could drop the disguise before she and Superboy played tonsil hockey? Icicle Jr. has this exact reaction in-universe.
    • In "Image", a recording shows Superboy losing in a sparring match against Black Canary and then as a reward for almost winning she kisses him and they start making out. Sure, it's M'gann in disguise but...
    • Queen Bee creepily splayed out on the bed next to Garfield in the same episode. Knowing that she had him in her thrall certainly didn't help.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks:
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Ocean-Master. He was the least featured member out of of the original seven members of "The Light", and whilst it is known that he is secretly posing as Aquaman's ally as Prince Orm by DC fans and from reading the tie-in comic, those who are only following the show will have no idea that Orm and Ocean-Master are one in the same. In between seasons 1 and 2, he has been "disgraced" and replaced by Black Manta, who was already featured in an episode.
  • Unfortunate Implications:
    • The show at one point had a tie-in toyline at the McDonald's burger chain. All four male members of Young Justice were included in the line, as were Superman and Batman. Guess who was excluded from the line? You guessed it, Miss Martian and Artemis. To add insult to injury, they were replaced by Black Manta and Captain Cold, the latter of whom hadn't even had a speaking role on the show yet.
    • The Young Justice Halloween costumes only feature Robin, Kid Flash, and Superboy -- the three white boys. The two girls on the team and the black boy are left out.
    • Both the series' promotional material (including the tie-in comics) and most fanart depicts the half-Vietnamese Artemis with a more "white" complexion and bright blue eyes[2]. The actual show has her with noticeably darker skin than her Caucasian teammates and dark gray eyes.
    • In "Beneath", Dick is explaining to Batgirl, Wonder Girl, Miss Martian, and Bumblebee that he put together an all-female team to investigate Queen Bee because her persuasion abilities don't work as competently on women as they do on men. Batgirl then asks Dick if he would've "felt the need to justify an all-male squad for a given mission?" At which point the rest of the squad gives Dick a dirty look and sheepishly asks "there's no right answer to that, is there?" When he logs out, Batgirl quips that Queen Bee's not the only one who can mess with men's minds, and the team laughs. Batgirl felt that Dick was being sexist when he was explaining that the team had a logical advantage against Queen Bee that a team of male members wouldn't, and was simply explaining in an intelligent manner that they had an advantage. Batgirl acted as a Straw Feminist and had no reason to jab at Dick. This was a Funny Aneurysm moment for most fans who laughed the first time, then realized what happened and felt Batgirl was being stupid.
      • It's possible that she thought he was being sexist when he wasn't. This can be justified in her case as a misunderstanding, but doesn't stop the Unfortunate Implications.
  • Ugly Cute:
    • The little G-gnomes fall under this.
    • Megan's true form falls under this. Despite being a 'hideous' White Martian? You still want to hug and comfort her due to her genuine sweet personality. Doesn't hurt that she's a full on Woobie.
  • Villain Sue: To some fans, the Light as a whole is starting to become this: almost all episodes end with a "twist" revealing that 1) the villain from this episode (even if he appeared to be an independent villain at first) was working for them, and 2) The apparent defeat the protagonists inflicted them end up at best retarding them a little, at worst went as they planned and allows them to go further in their grand scheme. Even when the heroes undid the damage the Light dealt in the season 1 finale (which had been brewing for all of season 1, and actually had been pulled off), they just went ahead to "Phase 2", and they still have yet to be completely defeated.
  • Wangst: Some of Superboy's angry overreactions.
  • What the Hell, Casting Agency?:
  • The Woobie:
    • Miss Martian in "Welcome to Happy Harbor" and even more so in "Failsafe". Up to Eleven in Image.
    • Artemis in "Homefront".
    • "Disordered" gives nearly all the kids Woobie moments during their therapy sessions.
    • Zatanna in the end of "Misplaced".
    • Jerkass Woobie: Superboy
      • Icicle Jr. is surprisingly sympathetic in "Terrors". Despite being a Card-Carrying Villain, he clearly has severe father issues, and strikes up a camaraderie with a disguised Superboy, trusting him enough to be easily manipulated into thwarting the main plot of the villains
      • As of season 2, Aqualad. His Face Heel Turn makes him this. He may have betrayed the team, but it was only after his first love was killed after joining and the king he believed in and trusted turned out to be lying to him about his father's true identity.
    • Stoic Woobie: Aqualad in "Alpha Male". Seriously.
    • Wheelchair Woobie: Paula Crock, probably because of her implied Dark and Troubled Past and the fact that she seems to genuinely care about Artemis.
    • As of the final two episodes of season one, Red Arrow. First he finds out he's the mole, then it's revealed that he's actually a clone of the original Roy Harper who was captured years earlier by The Light. The real Roy? He's currently in a hibernation pod and missing most of his right arm.
    • Aqualad's friend Topo in the tie-in comics, who was branded "impure" by the Purists.
    • Beast Boy, when you discover that Queen Bee killed his mother.
    • Iron Woobie: Bart Allen/Impulse is from a Bad Future and goes back to the past on a one-way trip to save the Earth. To prevent even more damage done to the future he has to put on a chipper Motor Mouth mask, but that doesn't hide the fact that he needs a hug.
  1. ↑ Brent Spiner, for the record, aka Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation
  2. ↑ Word of God is that early promotional materials showing her with blue eyes are the result of a miscommunication
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