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Justice
League Unlimited
The Doomsday Sanction
Original Airdate - 02/20/05
How brave and bold is Batman?
He's
willing to explore the steamy depths of Amanda Waller's
shower in order to get to the bottom of the government conspiracy
that has been plotting against the Justice League. Since
realizing the events that led to the creation of the Justice
Lords (episode A
Better World,)
could happen again, the US government has been developing
counter measures to bring the League down, "if necessary."
Satisfied with that logic, Batman hands Amanda Waller a
towel and bids her adieu.
Batman and Waller meet with their respective
teams to discuss the situation. The original seven JL members
are still acting as a league within a league, pulling the
strings and calling the shots. They suspect that Lex Luthor
is funding Waller and her team at Cadmus.
Waller's team includes Professor Hamilton,
General Eiling, Hugo Strange, Tala and a meek little man
named Dr. Milo. When Waller belittles Milo's contribution
to the group, he goes to visit his latest project, Doomsday.
A short
back story reveals that Doomsday was created from Kryptonian
DNA and has been brainwashed to hate Superman. Milo explains
that Superman isn't his enemy, though, and that Waller is
really to blame. Milo suggests that Doomsday go kill Waller
rather than Superman.
Unfortunately,
a leopard can't change its spots and Doomsday squashes Milo
like a bug, then escapes to go hunt down Superman.
A number of long running plot threads are
finally addressed here and it has been worth the wait. Several
episodes over the last few seasons have planted the seeds
that are finally starting to bear fruit. Kudos to the writers
for what is clearly a well planned and executed storyline
that has yet to reach its climax.
In
addition to moving the main plot forward, the episode features
a brutal fight between Superman and Doomsday inside of a
volcano (shades of Episode III, perhaps?) While
not as explosive as the fight between Justice Lord Superman
and Doomsday, it's always entertaining to see Superman thrown
around like a dog's chew toy.
Ultimately it is Batman who has the most
interesting character arc as the tension between him and
the league is an unexpected twist. Also the foreshadowing
of a Lex Luthor presidency means plenty of excitement for
the next season of JLU.
Derek's
Continuity Corner
Lex
Luthor actually has been president in the comics, only recently
leaving the office in shame and green and purple armor.
Among his achievements as Commander-in-Chief: colluding
with Brainiac 13 to beat an extra-cosmic menace in the arc
called "Our Worlds at War."
He also
pushed a very strong anti-superhero agenda, specifically
blaming Superman for a meteor hurtling toward Earth in the
first arc of Superman/Batman. When that led to
his shaming, he went nuts and donned the armor before hinting
that there was a larger Crisis looming.
As for
Batman having tension with the rest of the League, it's
been documented in JLA that the Dark Knight has
a plan to take everyone down should they go rogue. Mark
Waid laid out the plan in an arc that had R'as al Ghul stealing
Batman's plans and effectively wiping out the JLA. In this
episode, Superman even alludes to it (if only he knew how
right he is), mentioning that Bruce has a kryptonite ring.
Lastly,
Cadmus scientist Hugo Strange started out as a Batman villain,
appearing in at least one episode of the animated series.
But he goes back to Batman's first year of publication.
Originally a mad scientist, Strange was forgotten for decades
until Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers brought him back
in an arc that recast the villain as a brilliant psychologist
-- so brilliant that he broke Bruce Wayne's mind, discovered
his identity and then assumed it himself for a while. Currently,
he's dead in the comics, but you never know...
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