Unfortunately, the main motivating force of this story seems a little week - Lex Luthor comes across less as the desperate opponent of "Injustice for All" and more as the generic bad guy with a power suit that needs repairs and can blackmail someone (Mercy) into helping him. Sure, there's a scene or two of Lex grabbing his chest and moaning in pain, but overall the whole thing is rather...relaxed. There's no real emphasis on Lex dying here.
(One also wonders why Lex is just flying around Metropolis blasting the heroes, but anyhoo...)
It is nice to get an update on LexCorp these days, but Mercy (previously a hard-boiled martial artist/bodyguard) gets a new hairdo and seems like an entirely different character. The hints of a relationship between her and Lex are kinda interesting for a "kids" show and are done just right.
That brings us to the real antagonist - "Amazo." Although never identified by name (a cute touch), we'll keep referring to him as such (as the credits do). We don't see much of him here personality-wise, and Robert Picardo is barely recognizable as the voice-artist. Amazo's powers (which seem patterned more on Marvel's Super-Adaptoid, then the comic book version of Amazo - Amazo never gets wings and weaponry, for instance) seem really, really, powerful. So he can see someone and adapt their tactics as well as their powers? Presumably there's a lot more going on then just visual scanning, but still I'm not sure I buy him creating a duplicate power ring. He does make a suitable menace against the League, although I wouldn't have minded GL, Flash, HG, and WW make a little better standing against him. Their lack of teamwork seems pretty obvious here (although that may be addressed down the road in "The Secret Society.")
The animosity between Superman and Batman (from "Twilight") seems lost here - from what happened in that episode it's hard to imagine them casually hanging out in the Batmobile (although the bit of Superman drinking coffee is cute). This is really a Batman/Superman-specific episode - they're the ones who outthink Amazo (even if Superman's blindfold ploy ultimately fails) while the others kind of sit on the sidelines.
Except for J'onn, which brings us to the B story. The storyline subtly emphasizes one thing, which is that J'onn doesn't seem to have much contact with humanity other then his teamates or the bad guys they fight. With the exception of GL (in "In Darkest Night" and "Metamorphosis") the League members don't seem to interact with normal humans except to rescue them. J'onn continues to be the "heart" of the show, providing some much-needed emotional content.
One last thing is that Superman tends to dominate a bit here - Superman leads the fight, Superman is most effective against Amazo, we have a major Superman villain as the protagonist. Hopefully they'll vary this a bit but having "Twilight" and "Tabula Rasa" in sequence, both being Superman-centric, might not have been a good idea.
Overall, this episode does a decent job of setting up part 2 and the final battle.moreless
Episode Summary
EDIT
Lex Luthor, on the run from the League, reactivates an old LexCorp project to stop the League - an android that can duplicate the powers of anyone it sees.
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GUEST STAR
Lisa EdelsteinMercy Graves
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GUEST STAR
MasasaBeautiful Woman
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George Newbern
Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El
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Phil LaMarr
Green Lantern/John Stewart
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Maria Canals
Hawkgirl/Shayera Hol
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Michael Rosenbaum
Flash/Wally West (Seasons 1-2, 4+)
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Carl Lumbly
Martian Manhunter/J'onn J'onzz
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Kevin Conroy
Batman/Bruce Wayne
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (2)
ADD TRIVIA-
As in the comics, it seems odd that Professor Ivo can utilize Earth technology to create a fully-functional power ring. The power ring is the "ultimate weapon" forged by the immortal Guardians of Oa, who have been around for millions of millennia. (Note that the android can't duplicate Wonder Woman's lasso, which is also super-powered insofar as being pretty much unbreakable, sans its truth-divining powers from the comics.)
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Somebody's been watching too much Titanic. The old-fashioned open-topped lifeboats the passengers leave the liner on are almost never used on modern-day ships.
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QUOTES (4)
ADD QUOTES-
Hawkgirl: I don't need any help! Superman: You're welcome.
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Wonder Woman: Hera help us! Green Lantern: She'd better - no one else can.
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Mercy: (Lex) is the most deeply twisted man I've ever met. Of course I'll help.
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Superman: (Mercy) was almost too cooperative, wasn't she? Batman: You're learning.
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NOTES (5)
ADD NOTES-
Character bios: Amazo, Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor
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The entire League appears in this episode.
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During the premiere airing of this episode, no advance previews were shown but during commercials they showed brief blurbs of "Maid of Honor" and "The Terror Beyond."
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The android is never referred to by "name," although we see two shots of its plans describing it as "A.M.A.Z.O." We never find out what that stands for. He is also referred to as "Amazo" in the end credits.
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When Cartoon Network premiered this episode, they aired the two episodes back-to-back, without inserting closing credits at the end of part one or opening credits/recap at the beginning of part 2. They still listed the title and writer/director credits, though.
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ALLUSIONS (3)
ADD ALLUSIONS-
Lex's Power Suit Although Luthor's power suit is based in design on the old comics, the creators seem to have borrowed several aspects of Marvel's Iron Man in its design as well. Folding the armor to fit in a briefcase, as shown in this episode, is a classic Iron Man motif, as is the use of the armor's chestplate as a medical device as indicated in "Injustice for All."
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Amazo the Adaptable? Amazo as presented here also bears some physical resemblence to the Super-Adaptoid, a Marvel villain who is a featureless android until he starts adapting super-powers. Unlike the comic book Amazo, but like Amazo presented here, the Super-Adaptoid can create weaponry and wings from the matter of his body - Amazo in the DC comics is always a green-tighted bald android with pointy ears and a skullcap who only adapts powers, not weaponry.
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The Amazing Nuclear Man? The idea of Lex playing father figure to an artificially-created lifeform with superpowers parallels several aspects of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace - particularly the cut scenes which have Lex create two Nuclear Men and the first one melts down after Lex convinces it to kill Superman to protect its "father."
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Who's your fav. non-founding member of the JLU??
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Wich episodes...?
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S 5 : Ep 12
Aired 5/6/06
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Ancient History
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Far From Home
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