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Justice
League Unlimited
Question Authority
Original Airdate - 06/25/05
One typical Metropolis
evening, Captain Atom and Superman battle Mantis, the Power
Parasite. He is the latest visitor from Apokolips bent on
conquering Earth and increasing the amount of work the Metropolis
building reconstruction team has (it's a never ending job).
After sending
Mantis back home, Superman picks up Lois for a date. They
chit chat about old times and Lois nags him about how public
opinion regarding the Justice League has shifted. It seems
no one has forgotten about the time Superman turned evil
at the hands of Darkseid or about the giant laser cannon
inside the JLU Watchtower.
Meanwhile, Captain
Atom is visited by General Eiling who informs him that he
is being called back to duty to serve in the Air Force.
See, Captain Atom gets his rank from a military organization
unlike Captain Marvel who is a Captain of nothing. NOTHING,
I TELL YOU!
Superman and
Captain Atom aren't the only Justice League members out
on dates that night. The Question and Huntress are canoodling
in an underground Cadmus lab while simultaneously stealing
data from a computer in the hopes of acquiring more pieces
of the government conspiracy puzzle together.
After days of
trying to break the file encryption, Question finally discovers
what he believes Lex Luthor's role in the conspiracy to
be. Huntress shows up in time to see a video of Superman
killing President Luthor in the White House. This is important
because this was the trigger event for the creation of The
Justice Lords in the Justice League episode A
Better World
Aboard the Watchtower,
The Question confronts Superman about the Justice Lords
and how the League's founding members covered up the truth
behind their alternate universe counterparts. Superman says
that what happens in an alternate universe stays in an alternate
universes and that those things could never happen here.
The Question remains unconvinced that destiny can be thwarted.
A short time
later, The Question confronts Luthor and accuses him of
manipulating the Justice League to gain political power.
When Question decides that the best course of action is
to murder Luthor before Superman can (will?) Luthor reveals
that not only does he have something bigger in mind than
the Presidency, but that he now has super powers. A fresh
can of whoop ass is opened in The Question's honor.
Oh
my, what an episode. Question Authority references
and recalls plotlines not only from past Justice League
and Justice League Unlimited episodes but also Superman:
The Animated Series. This is either a brilliantly
laid out storyline that has taken years to develop or the
writing team took dozens of memorable plot threads and wove
a beautiful sweater.
While not a
lot of action this week aside from Huntress's thug bashing,
the plot elements and surprises were more than entertaining.
The Question steals the show with his humorous dialogue,
masterfully delivered by Jeffery Combs.
Question
Authority fittingly raises more questions than it answers.
We've known for awhile now that Luthor was involved, but
we were led to believe that he was doing it for the power
of the Presidency. What are his real motivations? How did
he get super powers? How did he cure cancer?
Has Captain
Atom really joined the dark side? Does Luthor really kill
The Flash with a shotgun during his inauguration? That's
ballsy even for a Republican.
Question
Authority is an outstanding episode that delivers on
the buildup that has been brewing and leaves you wanting
more.
Derek's
Continuity Corner
President Luthor. It has a ring to it, doesn't it? It also
takes a more strict Constitutionalist than myself today
to figure out if a convicted criminal like Luthor could
actually run for the highest office in the land.
Technically,
as he mentions in this episode, Luthor has been pardoned.
But is that enough? In the actual DC Universe, they got
around this sticky wicket by having all of Luthor's crimes
pinned on a clone. What no one actually understood was that
the cloned body still had Luthor's brain in it.
He started
out as an older, fatter businessman with a mean streak.
When the kryptonite ring that he loved flashing in Superman's
face gave him cancer, Luthor faked his own death, then had
his brain implanted in a clone's body. After a suitable
mourning period, he emerged from the outback of Australia
claiming to be his own son -- and with the genetic disposition
toward hair loss corrected. Lex Luthor, Jr. sported a wild
mane of red hair and a shaggy beard.
Chicks
dug it, because for a while he even dated Supergirl. Chew
on that.
Unfortunately,
the pirated Cadmus Project cloning technology also meant
that the clone had an expiration date. As Lex II inexplicably
got sicker and sicker, he determined that he would take
Metropolis out with him. Superman foiled that plan, but
before he could bring Lex to justice, the villain slipped
into a coma. Ironically, perhaps, the breakdown of his cells
struck his hair first.
Essentially
on his deathbed, Luthor made a pact with an aspect of the
devil called Neron, who not only restored him to health,
but made him young, a little extra strong and vital again.
The trade-off? His soul and ...natch, his hair.
So when
this version of Luthor did go on trial, he blamed the clone,
got off scott free, and resumed control of his corporation
until stepping down to run for President -- which, of course,
he won.
Goodson
warned me to prep a bit about Mantis, too, but really, there's
not much to say. He's from Jack Kirby's Fourth World, an
energy vampire from Apokalips. He spent some time in the
Secret Society of Super-Villains and had a featured role
in the DC action figure crossover series Super Powers,
and why not, as Kirby actually wrote and drew that toy tie-in.
As a comic book character, Mantis makes a nifty action figure
and random bad guy to be dispatched in the first three minutes
of JLU.
Next
Time on Justice League Unlimited
After an unexpected battle, Superman considers declaring
war on Cadmus in an episode called "Flashpoint."
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