*** SPOILER ALERT: GO AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING!!! :) ***

Justice has many faces, but which one can you trust the most? Sometimes there is a fine line between justice and revenge which is explored in Justice League: Justice On Trial, the second DVD installment on the Justice League series brought to you by Warner Bros. Sometimes the deeds of a hero has dire consequences no matter how good the intention might be to begin with.

“In Blackest Night” (Episodes 4 & 5)

Trials are an everyday occurrence where the guilty party is being processed and judged in front of the court of law, but what happens when a super-hero is tried for the atrocity that he has committed? This is the dilemma that John Stewart, the Green Lantern, faces as he is summoned to a galactic courtroom to be punished for a heinous and unforgivable act. But how do you bring in a person who wields the most powerful weapon in the galaxy? Easy, just release the hounds!

“No man escapes the Manhunters!”
— Manhunters, Justice League “In Blackest Night”

The Manhunters are a robotic group of enforcers who seek out John Stewart on Earth. Their appearance doesn’t go unnoticed as Flash, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter and Superman intervene to stop them, but to everyone’s surprise Stewart relinquishes his power ring to the Manhunters without a fight. From there he is taken to Ajuris 5 where his trial awaits (Ajuris... a jury... law talk...get it? Nevermind.)

The League arrives only to find out why Stewart has been arrested... he is the sole reason for the destruction of Ajuris 4, an entire planet consisting of over 3 billion inhabitants. This is all relayed through the eyes of the space pirate known as Kanjar Ro.

Green Lantern puts up no fight against these accusations as he knows it is all true. This doesn’t sit well with Superman and he plans to discover the truth along with J’Onn J’Onzz as they travel to the now extinct Ajuris 4. Meanwhile, Flash and Hawkgirl try to stall for time regarding Stewart’s trial. As Flash states “You’re asking the world’s fastest man to slow things down? It won’t be easy.”

Hawkgirl does some investigating of her own which leads to a melee against the Green Lantern Corps members. For the record, never challenge this woman in a fisticuffs battle.

In space, Superman and J’Onn land on one of Ajuris 4’s moon, something that they shouldn’t be doing since the moon would have drifted off into space as a result from the planet’s destruction. From there they discover that a device has been cloaking Ajuris 4 by the space pirate Kanjar Ro. In other words, Green Lantern was set up to take the fall for something that never occurred.

However, there is more than meets the eye. The true conspirators behind Kanjar Ro’s actions are the Manhunters themselves! The whole trial was a smoke screen to flush out the Guardians of the Universe, the caretakers of the giant Central Battery which give the Green Lanterns their power, from the planet Oa which is now vulnerable to an attack.

The Guardians created the Manhunters long before the GL Corps was ever established as a policing force to the universe. The only problem with using robots, as opposed to sentient beings, was they couldn’t distinguish between the subtleties of right and wrong; hence, the Corps was developed as a result of this failed experiment which saw the Manhunters relegated to lesser duties. The Manhunters quietly dissented against this over the years and were waiting to strike back at their former masters.

The time is now.

On Oa, the remaining Guardians try their best to shield against the attack from the Manhunters but eventually falter, until the League, the Corps and the Guardians make a time intervention. Through a lengthy battle, the main Manhunter taps into the Central Battery and absorbs all the power of the Green Lanterns, but John recites the Green Lantern oath to reabsorb that power to restore the Central Battery and vanquishing the Manhunter into the deep recesses of space.

“In Blackest Night” reveals more into the John Stewart character as it delved a bit into his history as both a man and a Green Lantern. He is a hard-nosed, no-nonsensed professional who takes his job as a Green Lantern very seriously, but he is also a man who takes full responsibility for his own actions whether it be right or wrong.

“This isn’t right, we can’t just sit here!”
— Flash

“We have to. Think of the others like us. We have to be held accountable. We have too much power not to be.”
— Green Lantern, Justice League “In Blackest Night”

Or as another super-hero so wisely summed it up: “With great power comes great responsibility.” (Thanks Spidey)

The design of the Manhunters is a nod to the late Jack “The King” Kirby which translated really well for the small screen. It was also nice to see characters such as Kanjar Ro (voiced by Rene Auberjonois, Odo of Star Trek: DS9 fame), The Guardians of the Universe, and even the renowned Green Lantern Corps.

“The Enemy Below” (Episodes 6 & 7)

Imagine that you are the ruler of 71% of the Earth’s surface area? Imagine being the ruler of the fabled underwater city of Atlantis as the King of the Seven Seas? How would you feel each and every day to have such a responsibility on your shoulders? Exactly. That’s just how Aquaman feels.
He and his Atlantean army detain a nuclear submarine conveying a message to the rest of the surface world not to dump toxins and pollute the oceans. The Justice League come to rescue the sailors and have a brief skirmish with the Atlanteans. Aquaman allows the League to rescue the men but demands that they leave behind the submarine. This doesn’t sit well with Green Lantern.

“That’s a nuclear sub. If you think we’re just going to walk away and leave it—”
— Green Lantern

“What makes you think you have a choice?”
— Aquaman, Justice League “The Enemy Below”

Superman quickly agrees since the men are running out of air. Before he leaves, however, Superman asks Aquaman to voice his concerns to the world leaders about the situation.
While pondering on this back in Atlantis, his general suggests that Atlantis should invade and destroy the surface dwellers, but Aquaman isn’t so sure and tries Superman’s suggestion. The world council, however, find Aquaman’s demands to be impossible for all nations to agree upon together. This frustrates the King of the Seas and he storms out only to incapacitated by an assassin’s missile. Someone has hired to take him out of the picture.

Meanwhile, Green Lantern discovers that the plutonium has disappeared from the submarine. His only logical conclusion — you guessed it.

Aquaman’s life is in jeopardy until Batman comes in to save the day. He also devises a plan to flush out the assassin who turns out to be Deadshot. The League learns that someone from Atlantis has hired this mercenary to kill Aquaman. There’s a great moment when Batman takes Deadshot off to side to get information out of him, and puts the fear in the mercenary.

“What did he say?”
— Wonder Woman

“You don’t want to know.”
— Superman, Justice League “The Enemy Below”

During all this Aquaman races back to Atlantis only to find out that Orm has staged a coup d’etat and branded Aquaman as a traitor to the city.

The League rushes to warn The Sea King only to be captured themselves and sent to be executed. Too bad the Alanteans didn’t count on Mera, Aquaman’s wife, to do some last minute rescuing. She explains the situation about her missing husband to the League and they agree to help.

Aquaman, on the other hand, is bound in chains overlooking a pit of molten lava. Orm realizes that he must get rid of both his brother and nephew in order to succeed as the new king of Atlantis. As Aquaman frees one hand from its shackles he realizes he’s running out of time before he and his son meet their fiery death. In a bold move, he amputates his left hand using the sharp edge of his belt buckle to free himself and his son. As a result he replaces his lost hand with a giant hook-like harpoon.

“His own hand. I can’t believe it.”
— Superman

“I told you he was a madman.”
— Green Lantern

“Is it madness to sacrifice all for someone you love?”
— Mera, Justice League “The Enemy Below”

The situation grows worse as the polar ice caps in the North Pole are melting which will cause to entire Earth to be flooded underwater. This is the Doomsday Device that was constructed by the Atlanteans as a last resort but it was never armed... until now.

Aquaman and the League travel to North Pole to stop this madness only to again meet resistance from the Atlantean army. Aquaman breaks away from the rest of the group to confront Orm and the two of the battle it out. The unlikeliest duo of Batman and Green Lantern succeed in shutting down the Doomsday Device while Orm meets his fate by falling down a long crevice to meet his doom.

“I only blame myself. My fear of the surface dwellers blinded me to those I should have feared the most, and it cost me dearly.”
— Aquaman

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. Maybe we all misjudged.”
— Green Lantern, Justice League “The Enemy Below”

Final Thoughts

These are the early episodes of the Justice League and the producers are trying to find a right tone for this series in which they are succeeding. However, it isn’t without its problems as pacing seems to be the biggest concern. The hardest series to do is one with many characters. When you have seven main characters as opposed to just one or two, giving each one equal due becomes a challenge and it’s obvious by the way the producers are feeling their way through these episodes.

The one problem that stands out like a sore thumb is how weak Superman has become when battling enemies. I understand that they don’t want to make Superman too powerful. After all, why would he need to be in the League if he could stand up to anything? At the same time, though, this is Superman... he shouldn’t be struggling all the time when someone like Hawkgirl is faring better than the Man of Steel.

I absolutely love how different characters from the DC Universe have been popping up — The Manhunters, the Guardians of the Universe, the Green Lantern Corps, Kanjar Ro, Deadshot, Aquaman, Mera, Orm. People have complained that there aren’t too many interesting or enough characters like there are in the Marvel Universe. This isn’t true at all and the producers are definitely have fun finding logical spots for these characters to appear. Bruce Timm, the producer of this series, explains that they will never have to create new characters since there is a plethora of them to choose from and utilize.

This version of Aquaman is not the one many are familiar with from the Super Friends series. You know, the orange-and-green garbed, short-haired blonde who rode on sea horses and talked to fish. As explained by Timm, they rebelled against DC by doing that version of Aquaman in the Superman: The Animated Series, but found that the current version was more suited for the Justice League. This Aquaman is really moody, gruff and crabby (moreso than Batman), but his demeanour is explored as we see him as a king, a husband and a father; we understand his attitude which, perhaps, makes him the most, well-rounded character.

What disappoints me about this DVD is the lack of episodes and extras. Four episodes in all which are really two 2-parters. I would have liked to see at least six, maybe even eight to get my money’s worth.

The extras are almost an afterthought, an illusion to make it seem as if there is something worthwhile besides the episodes.

There are short vignettes by Bruce Timm before each episode which is actually quite revealing and interesting. I would have loved to have seen more of that in a lengthy manner to see what was really going on in the heads of these creators as they produce these shows.

The JLA Watchtower contains character profiles of all seven League members with a short music video to accompany it.

The Look of the League segment has Bruce Timm describing the little nuances in creating the look for the main characters but it’s only about 5 minutes long.

And there is a game for kids to match their favourite Justice League members with their origins.

Warner Bros. needs to look at drastically expanding what they offer in their product because it is severely lacking in anything substantial.

As much as I love the episodes, the rest of the DVD doesn’t whet my appetite enough, and that’s where the dilemma falls into place. Does it balance out in the end? I don’t know yet, but I’m beginning to understand why Aquaman is such a crabby person.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8