This animated
adventure series is
Cartoon Network's update of
Super Friends, with seven core heroes:
Superman,
Wonder Woman,
Batman,
Green Lantern (John Stewart),
The Flash (Wally West),
Hawkgirl and the
Martian Manhunter. Existing in
the same universe as
Batman: The Animated Series,
Superman: The Animated Series,
Static Shock (post retcon),
Batman Beyond, and
The Zeta Project, this show continued several story threads from those series and introduced new characters who had not previously appeared.
Justice League
(Seasons One and Two)
Banding together for the first time to face powerful alien conquerors, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, the Green Lantern John Stewart, Hawkgirl, and the Martian Manhunter officially organize themselves as a team, anticipating having to deal with other threats that they cannot face alone. This incarnation lasted two seasons and 52 episodes (most of which were two-parters, with three three-parters and a single standalone episode). A decision was made to not feature every member in every episode in order to allow for character focus; between two and five members would have an episode together and the entire League appeared only a few times. Turning most stories into two or three part episodes allowed for a much larger scope that could not be accomplished in 22 minutes.
Justice League Unlimited (Seasons Three, Four and Five)
The successor series,
Justice League Unlimited,
added more heroes from DC Comics, many of whom had never before been animated. Instead of the two or three part episodes, this series returned to the single episode format, which allowed for the more obscure heroes to be spotlighted. To balance this out, a very strong
myth arc was formed telling of a
government conspiracy against the League, picking up from a few previous episodes. This incarnation lasted 39 episodes.
Both iterations of
Justice League were distinctive among superhero series for being true ensemble pieces. Pick any member of the core cast and in any given episode he or she might be the main hero of the story, used mainly as part of the larger team, or never even mentioned at all. Supporting cast members rotated out weekly, especially in
Unlimited. In addition, while
Jack Kirby's
Fourth World creations were used extensively in
Superman: The Animated Series,
Steve Ditko's creations got the same treatment in this incarnation.
To date, the series comprises the last installments of the
DC Animated Universe.
For the comic this show was based on, see
Justice League of America. See also
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, A
Direct-to-DVD movie which started off as a movie
bridging the gap between the end of
Justice League and the beginning of
Unlimited. Though not set within the DCAU, the film retains many of the plot points and themes of the original story.
Now has a
Best Episode Crowner and a developing
episode guide.
This series has named the following tropes:
Due to the number of tropes present, the page has been split into two sections.
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