Justice League Unlimited season 1 episode guide

Justice League Unlimited season 1 episode guide – the League expands

With the start of the 2004 season, the Justice League cartoon series was renamed Justice League Unlimited, and dealt with a greatly expanded Justice League, allowing many “second string” characters to have starring roles, including many of my personal favorites.

• Initiation
  • Green Arrow has repeatedly refused the Justice League’s invitation to join, since he views himself as more of a street fighter who fights for “the little guy” — and after he’s teleported to the League’s expanded Watchtower, he demands to be returned home.   On the way home, he tags along on a mission with Green Lantern, Supergirl, and Captain Atom to stop an atomic robot — and Arrow sees how he can help protect “the little guy” from the menaces that the Justice League faces.
• For the Man Who Has Everything
  • An excellent, character-centric episode dealing with Superman (and to a lesser degree Batman and Wonder Woman) where Mongul seeks revenge on Superman — by granting him his heart’s desire.
• Kids’ Stuff
  • Morgan Le Fay’s son, Mordred, casts a spell banishing all adults from the world — and in order to stop him, Le Fay changes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern to children, in order to stop him.
• Hawk and Dove
  • Wonder Woman, Hawk and Dove struggle against Ares’ plan to use the newly-created Annihilator armor to expand a conflict into full-blown war.
• This Little Piggy
  • The enchantress Circe transforms Wonder Woman into a pig as revenge against Diana’s mother, Queen Hippolyta. Batman and Zatanna work together to return Wonder Woman to normal, while B’wana Beast attempts to find the “Wonder Pig” before she’s butchered at a slaughterhouse.   Batman and Wonder Woman finally admit their feelings for each other — and Batman sings!
• Fearful Symmetry (a.k.a. Galatea)
  • Supergirl is having recurring dreams of herself committing horrible acts — and with the aid of the Question and Green Arrow, she visits S.T.A.R. Labs where she spent time recuperating — but did something else happen to her there?   Introducing the recurring theme of the Government’s fear of metahumans.
• The Return
  • The super-powered android Amazo returns, seeking revenge on Lex Luthor.   The entire Justice League tries to stop him, but Amazo’s power is now off the scale.  He’s moved the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps, Oa, simply because it was in his way.   Can Dr. Fate succeed where the others have failed?
• The Greatest Story Never Told
  • Booster Gold as the center of the story.
• Ultimatum
  • The government has created its’ own squad of super-humans, to stand against the Justice League if needed — the Ultimen. However, the Ultimen have a deadly secret.   The episode is an homage to the SuperFriends cartoon series, with the various Ultimen modeled on various characters created for that series — as well as continuing the theme of the government’s paranoia against metahumans.
• Dark Heart
  • Focusing on the Atom.
• Wake the Dead
  • The return of Solomon Grundy, who returns with no memory of his past.   Doctor Fate, Aquaman and Hawkgirl try to stop his rampage.   Hawkgirl’s return to the Justice League.  An homage to the Marvel Comics’ series, The Defenders.  With a sad ending …
• The Once and Future Thing, Part 1: Weird Western Tales
  • Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern chase the time-traveling villain Chronos into the past, meeting various DC Comics characters set in the old American West (Jonah Hex, Bat Lash, El Diablo, etc.) and joining forces to stop Chronos.
• The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time, Warped
  • Continuing their pursuit of Chronos, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern travel to the future of Batman Beyond, where they assist Terry McGinnis (the Batman of the future), and older Bruce Wayne, and the remnants of the Justice League against the Jokerz who have been aided by Chronos.
• The Cat and the Canary
  • Focusing on WildCat and Black Canary, trying to break up a metahuman fight club.
• The Ties That Bind (a.k.a. Miracles Happen)
  • Mister Miracle and Big Barda seek the aid of the Justice League to rescue their friend, Oberon, who has been kidnapped by the villainous Granny Goodness in an attempt at blackmailing them into rescuing Kalibak the Cruel.  But when the League refuses, the Flash helps — and Mr. Miracle faces ghosts from his past.
• The Doomsday Sanction
  • Superman battles Doomsday in the heart of a volcano. Batman probes the Cadmus conspiracy to destroy the Justice League, and nearly dies trying to protect Superman.
• Task Force X
  • A very different episode, told from the villains’ perspective, as government agent Rick Flagg leads Task Force X — a group of villains that are forced to work for the government, including Deadshot and Captain Boomerang, in a mission to recover the Annihilator armor from the Justice League’s orbiting Watchtower satellite.
• The Balance
  • Felix Faust escapes from his magical prison, and Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl are forced to set aside their differences (from Starcrossed) to put an end to his scheme to overthrow Hades.
• Double Date
  • A very good episode, dealing with the romantic relationship between Green Arrow and Black Canary, as well as a romance beginning between The Question and the Huntress.  And Huntress’ attempt to deal with the super-powered mobster who murdered her parents when she was a little girl.
• Clash
  • Lex Luthor, pursuing his candidacy for the President of the United, makes it appear that Captain Marvel is endorsing him, manipulating a battle between Captain Marvel and Superman.   Batman deduces that Amanda Waller is using the situation to help discredit the Justice League.
• Hunter’s Moon (a.k.a. Mystery in Space)
  • Hawkgirl, Vixen and Vigilante answer a distress call in space, only to find out that it’s a trap for Hawkgirl, set by vengeful Thanagarians after the results of Starcrossed.
• Question Authority
  • After helping Superman defeat Mantis, Captain Atom’s Air Force Reserve commission is reactivated. Meanwhile, the Question discovers the records about the Justice Lords, including how that world’s Superman assassinated President Luthor, triggering a sequence of events that led to the Justice Lords taking control of that planet.   Further, the Question discovers Luthor’s attempts to discredit the Justice League, and something unexpected is revealed about Luthor. The Question is captured by the Federal government, and Superman and Huntress attempt to rescue him. Almost successful, they are confronted by Captain Atom, who has orders to stop them — at all costs.
• Flashpoint
  • Lex Luthor takes control of the Watchtower’s main gun to fire on Cadmus, causing massive collateral damage on the city and falsely implicating the Justice League as responsible. Convinced it is an act of revenge, Amanda Waller commands Galatea to attack the Watchtower with an army of Ultimen clones.
• Panic in the Sky
  • With the exception of Batman, the founding members of the Justice League surrender to the federal government, in an attempt to defuse the situation. In the middle of a huge battle between the “Unlimited” part of the League and the army of Ultimen, Supergirl and Steel battle Galatea to keep her from destroying the Watchtower.
• Divided We Fall
  • With most of the League unavailable, the League’s original seven battle against the ultimate Luthor and Brainiac team. It is then up to the Flash to stand up against the Luthor-Brainiac team, prepared to pay the final price.
• Epilogue
  • Set in the future of Batman Beyond, Amanda Waller reveals to an older Terry McGinnis that she created the Batman Beyond project to continue Bruce Wayne’s work.

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