Okay, I’ll just be quickly covering
the core six heroes in the character portion, then get to my overall impression
of the series.
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Robin's holographic, wrist mounted computer. Rich adoptive
Father's must be awesome. |
Robin, the Dick Grayson version, is
your pretty standard boy genius type. He’s show to have been doing the sidekick
thing the longest, I believe they said he started training when he was eight,
so despite being the youngest YJ member at 13 he’s got the most skill. On paper
he’s the best candidate for leader, the issue is, he’s over qualified. He
expected out of the team what Batman expected out of him. Do you think a ragtag
team are up to Batman’s standards? Heck no. So, he somewhat begrudgingly takes
on a sub-commander type role. He spends a good chunk of time mulling over word
meanings, his two favorite thought’s being “Why isn’t anyone ever just whelmed?”
and “Feeling the aster,” as in
disaster.
And while you’d think the boy wonder would be on the same brooding level as
Batman, he’s actually pretty laid back. When no one’s shooting at him, that is. As a matter of fact, one of his biggest bit of development centers around the kind of hero he wants to be, and much to his own shock, he discovers part way through the show that while he'll always respect Batman, he has no desire to be Batman. The lonely brooding, possibly self-hating bits, that is.
He’s on pretty good terms with all of this teammates, though most specifically
Kid Flash whom he’d known for years, and Superboy, who appreciates his love of
words.
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| Just look at that big ol' grin. Who could hate that face? |
Kid Flash, Wally West version, is
more or less the same guy from the comics and my earlier Hero Profile. A
speedster whose main concern is enjoy his powers and having a bit of fun. He
spends most of the first half of the first season attempting to catch the eye
of Miss Martian, despite her obvious-to-everyone-but-Wally attraction to
Superboy. Heck, he nearly get's them killed four or five times in one episode because he keeps trying to impress Miss M. Can't blame a guy for trying, until the second time he nearly gets everyone killed, after that you're just being an idiot man. His main departure from the comics is that he’s slower than his mentor,
and because of that can’t do one of the cooler Flash tricks of vibrating through
solid objects. He, like Superboy, has some difficulty coming to terms with
being the lesser byproduct of a great hero, but tries to not let it get to him.
He also has a habit of shouting “Souvenir,” before pocketing something cool
from the mission.Of the three Original Sidekicks, he seems to be the one with the biggest desire to be in the spotlight with his hero. Though that kind of make sense, Aquaman and Lad have an entire Undersea kingdom of admirers, and Batman and lights really don't mix. Every team needs a glory hound. I kid, he mellows our significantly as the show goes on, going for the Souvenir that has the most meaning, not necessarily the coolest object of said mission.
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| Don't let the smile fool ya, he's scary as heck when mad. |
Aqualad, also known as Kaldur’ahm
is actually a character made specifically for
Young Justice who was later added into the DC canon. He’s a very
serious young man, a dutiful subject of Aquaman, and the most levelheaded of
the teen heroes. He has the Leadership role thrust upon him, given that Robin
is too good and also too demanding, KF is too impulsive, and Superboy and Miss
Martian had no interest in the job. He believes that Robin is the leader that the
Team deserves, and is merely holding the spot for him until he’s ready. Or more accurately the Team is ready for Robin. At
first he has difficulty cracking the whip when his teammates start getting out
of hand, but by the end of season one he’s a capable leader that is respected
by his team. He is probably the only team member who doesn't have a really strong relationship with someone else on the team. Sure, he, Kid Flash and Robin have know each other for years, but of the four sidekicks that assembled on July 4th, his best friend was the guy who stormed off. Great choice in pals there Kaldur'ahm. Like Aquaman, he has a bit of a story arc where he must decide if his heart is in the land or sea, and he is kind of forced to choose land. Sometime you pick destiny, other times destiny picks you.
 |
The Son...brother?... Clone?... Whatever,
of Superman doesn't like capes. Who knew? |
Superboy, later named Connor Kent,
is an anger management therapist’s dream. Or nightmare. He pretty much comes into the world with a chip on his shoulder. But then, if I knew I was a highly dangerous bio-weapon, I'd probably be pretty angry a good chunk of the time too. His major story arc is
centered on coming to terms with the fact that he’s 1. Not Superman and 2. Not
the most powerful thing around. In one of the first episodes he’s humbled and a
little humiliated by Black Canary, a superhero that has no supernatural
strength but was still able to throw the young Kryptonian around like a ragdoll. This
does later help him to take out the baddy of the episode, the Amazing Amazo,
and helps him understand strength isn’t everything. He also does his best to
earn Superman’s attention, and while their relationship is…bumpy, at first the
two work it out by the end of season one. He and Miss Martian develop a
relationship over the course of the series, and it’s that relationship that
seems to help mellow the guy out a little. He also has a somewhat odd habit of
picking up strays. After one mission he adopts a Venom enhanced white wolf he
names Wolf, and on another he picks up an intelligent alien sphere he dubs Sphere.
Kryptonian’s aren’t well known for their creativity.There are like five "Super" somethings running around, Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Superdog (Not kidding), Supercat (Also not kidding).
 |
Doesn't look too intimidating, but keep in mind she can break
your brain. Physically crush it, or destroying your mind.
Pretty damn scary. |
Miss Martian, M’gann M’orzz or
simply Megan Morse, is the middle aged niece of Martian Manhunter. Seriously,
she’s been alive for 45 “earth” years, which I guess on Mars makes her about
fifteen. Not sure if that’s cool or awful… Most of Megan’s knowledge about
Earth comes from old sitcom’s that the Martian’s picked up over the ages. As such,
she’s kind of naive at first, and had this rather annoying habit of spouting a
catch phrase “Hello, Megan” whenever she figured something out. She is kind of the Team's defacto communication's specialist, using her telepathy to link their minds together. Which does make it safer than using radios, but teenagers hearing each other's thoughts. Make of that what you will. Like Kid Flash
and Superboy, she’s shown to have similar powers to her Uncle, but not the more
advanced abilities. For example, she’s telepathic and telekinetic, but she can’t
phase through objects. She can shapeshift, but only into women. Unlike KF and
SB, though, it doesn’t seem to bug her. Probably because she’ll be able to attain
said abilities eventually while it's largely implied that the boys are stuck. Despite her happy-go-lucky
attitude, she harbors a secret that is slowly revealed throughout the course of
the first season. Intrigued? Watch the show!
 |
She's one of those types that make me wonder how much
Damage the "archer" character could do if they used a high
powered sniper rifle. Scary though.
Also, Why. The Damn. Belly Shirt? No tactical purpose. |
Finally we have Atremis, which is
in fact her first name. She’s an excellent archer that Green Arrow started
training after Speedy decided to go solo. Despite being the newest hero with absolutely nothing to really bond her with the Team, she does entrench herself pretty quickly. The only one who really had an issue after her intro was Kid Flash, and that's because he was holding out hope Speedy would stop being a drama queen and join them. So... wrong attitude, but for an okay reason. Her major shtick is to get PO’ed at
Kid Flash whenever he does something stupid, ala Hermione and Ron for the
Harry Potter series. You know the, “You
make me so mad. Grrr. Let’s make out,” kind of way. Like Robin she’s a bit more
secretive of her “civilian” life initially, which is due in no small part to
her family’s less-than-stellar police record. She made a brief appearance in
the fifth episode after saving KF’s life when they were fighting the Amazon
android. She’s formally introduced in the next episode. She and Robin bond a
little in a few episodes since they are the only YJ members without
Superpowers. She has the most to prove of the six heroes given that she doesn’t
have much of preexisting relationship with her mentor or the Superhero
community and does her absolute best to be the best.
This show was great, really, really
great. It had action, a bit of comedy, real stakes, and fresh takes on a few
old characters. The heroes like Batman and Superman are shown from time to time
but the main focus is on the Team, on their missions, trials and relationships.
Their goal to be seen as real heroes on par with their mentors is one that I
think a lot of us can relate to. Not the hero part, the being respected by the
one you respect part. I also liked the show because there weren’t that many
standalone episodes, each one either added to the main story line of the heroes
vs. the Light or served as character growth for the cast. The fact that this
show ended on its second season is a travesty. Especially given what followed it.
Instead of allowing this wonderful and brilliant adaptation of the DC Universe
to get a third season and hopefully a satisfying conclusion it was instead
replaced by a completely disrespectful and visually disgusting follow up to a
different great show. Teen Titans Go, I
shall despise you until the day I die. Don’t believe me? I still hate a
children’s book I was forced to color twice in kindergarten. My hate is eternal,
Teen Titans Go and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?,
Eternal! Now that I’ve gotten that little threat (and possibly disturbing
psychological revelation) out there, let’s move on to something happier, shall
we? Next time I’ll be covering Justice
League: War. Okay, so it’s not happier, but it hopefully won’t lead into
more dark insight into my psyche. No promises, though.
http://youngjustice.wikia.com/wiki/File:Holographic_computer.png
http://justiciajoven.wikia.com/wiki/Archivo:Oh_si_hoy_es_el_dia.png
http://youngjustice.wikia.com/wiki/File:Aqualad.png
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/superboy-vs-spider-man-animated-706114/
http://youngjustice.wikia.com/wiki/Miss_Martian
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/young-justice-robin-nightwing-vs-artemis-tigress-1605680/
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