Movies / Animé and Toons

Young Justice Season Two Five Year Gap Upset

By Hervé St-Louis
April 30, 2012 - 15:12

The popular season two of the Young Justice cartoon series created by Warner Brothers animation for Cartoon Network shocked viewers with a change of character line up and a five year gap between the last episode broadcast just a few weeks ago. But is it any good?

Young Justice is extremely popular and has probably become the marquee series for the animated DC Universe with its mix of the Justice League and its sidekick who use to be known as the Teen Titans. Five year gaps in television series happen all the time, but usually not after a few seasons. Here, the five year gap was used just after the first season although a lot of stories possibilities were still possible with the first year’s cast. The series itself had a delayed broadcasting schedule with the second half of the first season appearing just in the beginning of March 2012, several months after it premiered in January 2011.

The old team composed of Aqualad, Robin, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Superboy, Artemis, Zatanna, Red Arrow (as a proxy), and Rocket was replaced with an aged Robin now calling himself Nightwing. Miss Martian and Superboy are still members of the team although they are no longer dating. Instead, Miss Martian is dating new member Lagoonboy who was seen briefly in an episode eight of season one. Zatanna and Rocket have just joined the Justice League proper. Characters long associated with the Teen Titans and Young Justice round up the new team with the Latino version of Blue Beetle, Wonder Girl, Batgirl, Bumblebee Beast Boy and a new Robin.

Just like the previous series, it seems that there will be a long running storyline that will involve an alien invasion. What happened to Red Arrow, KidFlash, Artemis, and Aqualad is still unclear. Also unclear is the about the fate of some Justice League members like Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Although I would have liked, like many fans that the series continued with the old cast, the first episode was great and did introduce the new characters quite well. They seem a bit less experimented but all have their own internal issues. For example, Robin is unsure of being ready for action, Lagoonboy has an inferiority complex, Superboy is angry that Miss Martian dumped him. Adding Batgirl and Wonder Girl to the team also opens up a lot of possibilities.

Fans have suggested that Batgirl could be a crippled just like in the comics and revert to her Oracle identity instead.  The new team is also divided in three parts with  Alpha, Beta and Omega tracks for specific missions. Mal Duncan, an old friend of Superboy now works with the team as a support staff. The old manager of the Justice League Europe, Catherine Cobert has also been added to the Justice League which seems to now be lead by Captain Atom. An interesting touch is that the six Leaguers whose whereabouts had been unaccounted for 16 hours, minus the Flash, are all the members of the original Cartoon Network Justice League from 2001.

What I’m hoping we’ll see is an appearance by Cyborg and Starfire as part of a New Titans team along with KidFlash, Red Robin and Aqualad. Once can dream, right? Young Justice plays weekly on Cartoon Network and Teletoon.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12