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Justice
League Unlimited
Dead Reckoning
Original U.S. Airdate - 02/18/06
Deep
in the secluded frozen mountains of Nanda Parbat, The Master
and the ghost of Boston Brand have a meaningful conversation
about life and death. Boston, aka Deadman, feels
that since he has caught the man who killed him a year ago,
he should be able to pass on to the next level. The Master
explains that Boston's actual destiny is to avenge The Master's
death. This leads to some confusion since The Master isn't
dead…yet.
Sure
enough, at that moment the Legion of Doom appears in the
monastery courtyard bearing ill tidings and guns. Lex Luthor,
Rampage, Devil Ray, Bizarro, Tala and a handful of soldiers
engage the monks protecting the monastery. As the battle
begins to turn in favor of the Legion of Doom, The Master
confronts them. In a shocking twist that no one saw coming,
he dies.
Deadman swears
to avenge his death and starts by possessing the body of
Rampage. He is able to get a few blows in before Tala exorcises
him but it isn't enough to stop them from stealing the Heart
of Nanda Parbat. Once the mystical orb is in their possession,
the monks of Nanda Parbat collapse into a coma. The Legion
of Doom members teleport back to their headquarters leaving
Deadman alone with his dead teacher, two dozen comatose
monks and the condescending spirit of Rama Kushna.
Home, Tala gives
the Heart of Nanda Parbat to Gorilla Grodd. Luthor demands
to know what he plans to use it for. Grodd explains it in
a bunch of technical jargon and then boils it down to they
have to steal one more thing before his plan is complete.
At the Watchtower,
Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are finishing up some
paperwork and making lunch plans when Deadman posses the
body of Superman. He explains what has happened and ask
the JLU for help. Batman, having recently helped Deadman
solve his murder, trusts Deadman and agrees to help avenge
his former martial arts teacher's death.
Deadman looks
through a few mugshots and identifies the Legion members
involved. He also gets visions of Africa which tips Wonder
Woman off that Grodd plans to attack Gorilla City, where
hyper-intelligent gorillas come from and home of the 18
pound Whopper.
Solovar,
mayor of Gorilla City, confirms that they are under attack
by Grodd's super villain army. The big three and Deadman
beam down outside city limits and send Deadman inside to
shutdown the forcefield that protects Gorilla City from
outsiders (although not the Legion of Doom for some reason).
Meanwhile Tala,
Luthor and Grodd reach their main objective. Luthor once
again demands to know wht Grodd's plan is and Grodd explains
that he wants to use the Heart of Nanda Parbat and Gorilla
City's shield generator to rewrite human DNA. The devolution
device will turn every human on Earth into an ape.
Dead
Reckoning is a slight rehash or homage to JLApe:
Gorilla Warfare which DC presented in its 1999 summer
annuals. I know that gorillas in comics usually mean an
increase in revenue but I find them to be silly.
After collecting
powerful magic relics all season it seems unlikely that
turning the Earth's population into apes was Grodd's master
plan, but apparently it was. Luthor ultimately does the
right thing but Grodd's big reveal was a bit of a letdown.
JLU
continues its hot streak of highlighting DCU's second string
heroes by bringing Deadman into the spotlight this week.
His voice (by Raphael Sbarge) and actions were identical
to the ones I had in my head. If time really is running
out on Justice League Unlimited, maybe the writers
have spent the last few shows making pilot episodes for
their next project. I'd watch a weekly Deadman series.
Derek's
Continuity Corner
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