Reviews

Young Justice Season 3 Episode 2 Review: Royal We

Young Justice: Outsiders continues to revel in its deep cut DC Universe continuity. Also it's still really good.

By Jim Dandeneau | January 5, 2019 | | 0

This Young Justice review contains spoilers.

Young Justice Season 3 Episode 2

While the first episode of Outsiders was dark table-setting, the second episode is mostly just a blast. And not just because of that UN scene. Let’s get that out of the way first, though. And see if we can do it without squealing.

We at the Den are shameless Christopher Priest fans. In addition to Deathstroke, he had the best run of Black Panther of all time, and in it was maybe my favorite single comic scene ever: T’Challa, Namor, Magneto and Doctor Doom all yelling at each other about realpolitik outside the UN. So, friends, when we got a shouting match at the UN between an Aqualad, Donna Troy, and Kaizen Gamorra (the guy the Authority killed in the first arc of Ellis and Hitch’s industry-changing Wildstorm book), well, I feel very seen right now.

I actually think that’s an important thematic moment in understanding the new season, though. Season 1 was setting up the world of the heroes and villains of Earth-16 – the League, the Team, the Injustice Gang, the Light, a little fourth world stuff, and Earth-bound superscience. Season 2 spent a lot of time building out their version of the DC cosmology: Rimbor, Rann, Kroloteans, the Reach, Despero, more Martians, and some more Fourth World stuff. This season seems like it’s going to prioritize the politics of the world – we’ve already seen Qurac and Markovia, and with Count Vertigo’s involvement, Vlatava is likely here too. Relaysia, Themiscyra and Atlantis get nods as soveriegn nations. Don’t be surprised to see more from Bialiya and Santa Prisca come back in force, with maybe Kahndaq or Kasnia filling out the list of made up DC international flash points in this season. The UN places this conflict solidly in the world of Young Justice, and with all the changes in the League, it’s only a matter of time before the camera gets pulled back on the world political situation even further.

But before that, the situation in Markovia gets fleshed out more.The episode opens with Beast Boy raising awareness about the plague of kidnappings happening around the world, and to have the teenage star of a Star Trek knockoff recording PSAs about it means its probably vastly understated in the public consciousness. Markovia appears to be a hub for disappearances, with even the Princess being stolen (a story element that will hopefully end up somewhere other than where the comics landed…blech). Meanwhile, Baron Delamb is going to take over as regent of the realm for a year while the oldest son ages up. And Brion, the youngest son (by a whole 16 minutes) is desperate to do something about his country and his parents’ murders, so he’s poking around trying to find out about becoming a metahuman.

This new status quo is drawn largely from the comics, where Markovia played a huge role in the formation of Batman’s Outsiders: Frederick Delamb and Brion Markov were both very important in the first arc as Baron Bedlam and Geo-Force, and they are (or will be) here too. With the deaths of the King and Queen, there’s a cocktail reception to honor the incoming ruler that Dick and Artemis decide is the perfect place to infiltrate, so they go full super-spy at a fancy party while Superboy and a semi-depowered Black Lightning try and infiltrate a children’s hospital fronting for the Markovian child soldier shipping company run by Count Vertigo.

Outsider Trading Tips

– It took a minute to realize, but did you catch that Beast Boy’s new voice was Greg Cipes, the same guy who plays him in all the other Titans cartoons?

– Catherine Cobert was the Justice League’s liaison to the UN in the Bwa-ha-ha era of the League.

– We get a couple of additional resignations from the League in Cobert’s UN speech – Plastic Man and Hardware, the Iron Man of the Milestone Universe. Be ready for some fun Milestone stuff later this season!

– Kaizen Gamorra was actually introduced in the pages of Stormwatch but stayed a problem through multiple eras of The Authority and I can’t believe that’s on the table in Young Justice. GUYS WHAT IF WE GET GEN 13?

– Something’s up with Black Lightning. The show definitely wants us to pay attention to his back injury falling away from Plasmus, and the fact that it gets better very quickly.