Young Justice

From left to right: Artemis, Robin Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, & Aqualad.

Young Justice was an animated series based on DC comics’ various “sidekick” heroes. The series followed the adventures of Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis, all of whom have been recruited by Batman to act as the Justice League’s covert-ops team. The series was developed and produced by Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman.

The series was not an exclusive adaptation of the DC comic title of the same name but rather draws from all across over seventy years of DC canon, particularly the original Teen Titans, the Justice League of America as well as the original Young Justice comic series. The series was renewed for a third season in 2016. [1]

Three non-canonical crossovers with Gargoyles and The Spectacular Spider-Man were performed as Radio Plays at CONvergence in 2014, 2016, and 2018. For more information, see "Recruits", "The Cosmos", and "Musicology 101: Songs of the Theme".

Cast Members

The following Gargoyles cast members appeared in Young Justice. They are listed in alphabetical order.

• Thom Adcox - Klarion the Witch Boy
• Ed Asner - Kent Nelson
• Jeff Bennett - Red Tornado, T.O. Morrow, Abra Kadabra, Alfred Pennyworth, Vulko, Red Torpedo, Red Volcano, Wade Eiling, Jason Bard, Casey Klebba
• Clancy Brown - King Faraday
• Keith David - Mongul
• Lacey Chabert - Zatanna
• Tim Curry - G. Gordon Godfrey
• Bill Fagerbakke - Bear
• Michael Horse - Holling Longshadow
• Gregg Rainwater - Tye Longshadow
• W. Morgan Sheppard - Sardath
• Marina Sirtis - Queen Bee, Sandra Stanyon/Mrs. Wheeler
• Kath Soucie - Queen Mera, Lori Lemaris, Joan Garrick, Artur
• Brent Spiner - Joker
• Cree Summer - Madame Xanadu, Tula, Mary West, Mattie Harcount
• Greg Weisman - Lucas Carr, Ultra-Humanite

Both Gargoyles and Young Justice were voice directed by Jamie Thomason.

It is worth noting that actress and long time fan, Zehra Fazal, the model and inspiration for Shari, is voicing Halo, Cassandra Savage, Harper Row, Hawkwoman, Lian Nguyen-Harper, Wendy Jones, and Antonia "Big Words" Rodriguex on the third season of Young Justice.

Comic book tie in

In January 2011, the first issue of a monthly spin-off comic, in continuity to the series, was released. #0 was written by Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps. #1-6 was written by Art Baltazar & Franco Aureliani. The art for #1-4 was provided by Mike Norton. Art, Franco and Mike also produced a Young Justice story for Young Justice/Batman: The Brave and The Bold Super Sampler which was released for Free Comic Book Day of May 07, 2011.

Christopher Jones did the art for #5 and became the book's regular artist from then on. [2]

Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps returned to writing for the comic full time as of #7, while having advised Art, Franco and Mike in terms of keeping #1-6 consistent with the continuity. [3]

Collected Material

• Young Justice: Volume 1 (Reprints #0-6), January 11, 2012 [4]
• Young Justice: Volume 2 - Training Days (Reprints #7-13), November 14, 2012 [5]
• Young Justice: Volume 3 - Creature Feature (Reprints #14-19), February 13, 2013 [6][7]
• Young Justice: Volume 4 - Invasion (Reprints #20-25), December 11, 2013 [8]
• Young Justice: Book 1 - The Early Missions, October 02, 2019 (collecting Volumes 1 and 2 and the 2011 Free Comic Book Day story, "Face Your Fears") [9]
• Young Justice: Book 2 - Growing Up, May 18, 2021 (collecting Volumes 3 and 4 and the 2019 two-parter "Torch Songs" originally released digitally on DCUniverse) [10][11][12]
• Young Justice: Targets, July 18, 2023 (Reprints #1-#6 of Young Justice: Targets)

References to Gargoyles in Young Justice

Snapper Carr on Halloween as... Edmund Tsabard?!

Goliath and Ra's al Ghul are healed but not whole.

Queen Bee strokes Marie Logan's hair and brow.

• In "Revelation", Wotan shouts "fulminos venite!" before firing a bolt of lightning. This was a favorite incantation of the Archmage as well as Mysterio's in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
• Also in the episode "Revelation", when The Team is listing what Kobra-Venom has done, Superboy adds "And upgrade Wolf", referring to his pet in the context of the show, but may possibly be a reference to Wolf and what happens to him in the episode "Upgrade".
• In "Humanity", Red Tornado says that he is not sure if the Team's words are accurate, but they may be true. This is reminiscent of King Arthur Pendragon's line "all things are true... few things are accurate" in "Rock & Roll".
• One of Zatanna's spells ("Erif nrub, nordluac elbbub") translates into "Fire burn, cauldron bubble", which is a quote from William Shakespeare's Macbeth (Act Four, Scene One). This line was also used in the recreated scene of the play in the episode "City of Stone" Part Three.
• In "Misplaced", Klarion says "team work is so overrated." Thailog said the same thing in "Sanctuary".
• In issue #2 of the tie-in comic, "Monkey Business", when Superboy breaks free from the illusion, he shouts, "None of this is real". This mirrors Goliath's scream "None of you are real" when he breaks free from his hallucinations in "Shadows of the Past".
• In issue #15, "...Here There be Monsters", when Miss Martian tries to take Ocean-Master's trident with telekinesis, he asks "What sorcery is this?". This line was spoken four times on Gargoyles:
  • Goliath said it when he saw his clan in stone sleep at night, in "Awakening: Part Two";
  • Coldstone uttered it when a laser blaster popped out of his forearm, in "Reawakening"";
  • Kai asked it, bewildered, when he and the other gargoyles found themselves in the theme park upon awakening, in "Bushido";
  • Goliath said it to Demona after she had prepared Operation Clean Slate in "Hunter's Moon" Part Three.
• In issue #18, (also) "Monkey Business", Dick, Wally, and Artemis are watching Celebrity Hockey.
• In "Satisfaction", Lex Luthor says "Vengeance is a sucker's game", very similar to a line uttered by David Xanatos in the episode "Leader of the Pack": "Revenge, as they say, is a sucker's game."
• In issue #25, Players, Chapter Six: "Rolling Doubles", Queen Bee uses her ability to "control most men and some women" on Marie Logan, and in gargoyle custom, she strokes Marie's hair and brow rather than kiss her.
• Issue #25 concludes with the same caption used in "Phoenix": "Never The End...".
• In the episode, "Nomed Esir!", the Grimorum Arcanorum, Eye of Odin, and the Phoenix Gate turn up in Jason Blood's reliquary.

Greg Weisman also mentioned he wanted to incorporate the Archmage's "You beat up a beach!" line into Young Justice (another recurring reference on other shows he's worked on), but the opportunity never presented itself. [13]

References to Young Justice in Gargoyles

• In the issue, "A Little Crazy", Goliath inadvertently quotes the Caped Crusader when describing human criminals as "a superstitious and cowardly lot". M'comm M'orzz also described Green Martians in the same fashion in the season three episode "Away Mission" when explaining his rationale for assuming the appearance of Ma'alefa'ak to Miss Martian.

See Also

The Flaming C. Sure he's canon, he's just always standing right off camera.

• Young Justice at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
• Young Justice at the Internet Movie Database
• Young Justice Wiki at Wikia

Episode Credits

Season One "Independence Day" Pilot Movie "Independence Day" "Fireworks" "Welcome to Happy Harbor" "Drop-Zone" "Schooled" "Infiltrator" "Denial" "Downtime" "Bereft" "Targets" "Terrors" "Homefront" "Alpha Male" "Revelation" "Humanity" "Failsafe" "Disordered" "Secrets" "Misplaced" "Coldhearted" "Image" "Agendas" "Insecurity" "Performance" "Usual Suspects" "Auld Acquaintance"

Season Two "Happy New Year" "Earthlings" "Alienated" "Salvage" "Beneath" "Bloodlines" "Depths" "Satisfaction" "Darkest" "Before the Dawn" "Cornered" "True Colors" "The Fix" "Runaways" "War" "Complications" "The Hunt" "Intervention" "Summit" "Endgame"