by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Welcome to Cross-Platform Partners! In honor of a new movie release, I have selected a TV show to watch to pair with the movie. Think of it as a way to get hyped for the new movie, a preview of things to come, a means to tide you over if the movie won’t be released where you live for a little while, or a change of pace if you’ve run out of related movies or sequels.
October is typically a month filled with an interesting array of new movies. There’s usually a good mix of blockbusters, scary movies, and Oscar contenders released. I took a look at the top-grossing movies released in October and found a great mix of original movies, as well as movies based on existing properties. It was quite surprising to see that October is a strong superhero movie month. Joker, Venom,and Venom: Let There Be Carnage are all in the top 10 for highest-grossing movies released in October. When picking a movie to pair with a TV show, it seemed like an obvious choice to pick Black Adam. The real question became, what show should I pair with it? There are a lot of options for DC shows, but after seeing which shows had Black Adam in them, it was suggested I check out the 2010 TV show, Young Justice.
Young Justice, created by Greg Weisman, Brandon Vietti, and Geoff Johns, is about the teenage and sidekick heroes of the DC universe. The team originates with six core members that include Robin (voiced by Jesse McCartney), Aqualad (Khary Payton), Miss Martian (Danica McKellar), Artemis (Stephanie Lemelin), Kid Flash (Jason Spisak), and Superboy (Nolan North). They are formed as a covert unit that partners with the Justice League. The team expands in terms of members and responsibilities based on the bandwidth and needs of the Justice League. Young Justice is four seasons and is currently streaming on HBO Max.
Young Justice starts as a mission-of-the-week show where they introduce a new threat every episode. It eases us into the team because they are just starting to bond and figure out how to work together. Since most of the core members are younger and sidekicks, they don’t know what it means to be front and center. In the first few episodes, they make a lot of mistakes. I did like watching the struggle because the formation of the team feels more organic, instead of it magically working from the start. They receive a lot of training and help from members of the Justice League. Batman (Bruce Greenwood) assigns them on missions, Black Canary (Vanessa Marshall) trains them, and Red Tornado (Jeff Bennett) watches them at their headquarters.
If you are a casual DC fan, there are plenty of heroes and villains to recognize. However, if you are a devoted DC comics reader, this show is a treasure trove of characters, stories, and Easter eggs. Young Justice goes deep into the DC war chest to bring out several different characters on screen. I’m sure this introduced a generation of fans to lesser-known, diverse characters that DC had to offer, but who weren’t well-known enough to make it into a feature-length film. The number of characters that is introduced in a very short amount of time is very overwhelming. Not only do you get to know the members of Young Justice, but you also get to know members of the Justice League as well. The number of characters explodes from Season One to Season Two, as there is a five-year time jump after the events of Season One. In those five years, Young Justice grows to be an integral part of the Justice League and expands its membership to include a lot more people.
For a show about two superhero teams, I appreciate how rich and complex the stories are. It’s a testament to the great number of storylines within the DC universe. As a Marvel guy myself, I learned a lot about DC from Young Justice and gained a much deeper appreciation for all that DC has to offer. Season Two begins a trend of a more season-long story, making it essential that you have to watch all the episodes or you’ll potentially become lost. I accidentally skipped an episode and felt the need to backtrack because I wanted to know what happened and how it connects to the previous episodes. The more serialized storylines continue into Seasons Three and Four, with a lot of overlap, particularly with the stories from Seasons Two and Three in particular.
I have to give Cartoon Network credit for bringing this show to fruition. It has a lot of great history with DC shows, but Young Justice was in a whole different league. It garnered a lot of popularity from fans because the show was aimed at both kids and adults. The mature content also gives way to truly emotional storylines. Young Justice deals with themes involving death, betrayal, mistakes, and loss. Not all missions go according to plan, and people often struggle with their roles. Leadership is questioned, and Young Justice and the Justice League butt heads frequently. The idea that heroes don’t feel worthy of their membership in Young Justice shows how important this group is.
Young Justice’s third and fourth seasons both depart from their origins. When Season Three became part of the DC Universe’s streaming platform, a bet was made that it would be part of the success of the platform moving forward. Once DC Universe folded into HBO Max, Season Four focused on core members, and went back to basics with a more contained story. I like what Season Four does for the characters, particularly Superboy and Miss Martian. It delves deeper into the emotional well, and has a great payoff for fans of the show who had been there since the beginning. It is a shame that Warner Bros. Discover has no plans to bring Young Justice back for more, because there are a lot more stories to tell and leaves some things unresolved.
I would put Young Justice up there with the likes of Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men as some of the best animated comic book shows out there (maybe even just comic book shows, period, regardless of medium). The lengths to which the creators go to tell compelling and mature stories with characters you spend years getting to know will be something that fans, who have been loyal through two cancellations so far, will never forget.
Black Adam is a feared and powerful enemy of Young Justice, and one that they struggle to defeat. I want that same feeling from Black Adam, specifically Dwayne Johnson’s portrayal. Black Adam is menacing, and we need him to skew more towards a villain, instead of a cheeky hero who happens to toe the line between good and bad from time to time.
You can follow Mike Hilty on Twitter and Letterboxd