Justice League Unlimited – Episodes – Season 3, Episode 9 – Grudge Match

Review by Stu
Media by Bird Boy

Voices:
Morena Baccarin as Black Canary
Amy Acker as Huntress
Virginia Madsen as Roulette
Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor
Maria Canalas as Shayera
Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman
Juliet Landau as Tala
Gina Torres as Vixen
Corey Burton as Brainiac
Jeffrey Combs as The Question

Superhero chicks fighting each other.

I?m guessing that was all the pitch amounted to, because to be blunt there?s so little else here. If you?re looking for deep, character-defining exploits of a group of superheroes saving the world, my suggestion is to watch "Divided We Fall" again, because you simply won?t find it here.

The plot here is so thin you could write it yourself but a few minutes into the episode you really won?t care, the fights are so well staged and everything seems to have such an ?ommph!? to it you?ll ever be completely unable to take your eyes of it or end up wincing with your head turned every couple of seconds. The supergals themselves are all finely presented here and were more than welcome to return after some of the disappointing episodes this season.

Whilst the big seven are undeniably cool (Wonder Woman aside) the
B-stringers have really made for some fascinating characters, especially when compared to their rather boring and needless comic book counterparts. I couldn?t give a crap about Huntress and Black Canary in the books, but the animated versions have such a charm to them that?s it?s hard not to love them. Given how dull Hawkgirl was before her relationship with Green Lantern kicked and how tedious Wonder Woman is all the time, one has to give kudos to the creative team for making such an interesting, diverse group of women in such a small amount of episodes and so little time devoted to most. Shayera, Huntress, Vixen,
Zatanna and Black Canary have all proven to be so much fun, it seems a shame that we didn?t see more of them earlier. Whilst they aren?t all perfect they?re a massive improvement over previous attempts.

Of course the main talking point of the episode will be Nightwing?s 2
second cameo (poor Joaquim dos Santos, he spent the other 21:58 minutes working oh so hard) but to be blunt, it?s so utterly cool to see
Nightwing again it?s too hard not to go on and on about it. The fact it came as a complete surprise was probably a huge factor in it all (heaven help the internet if it had spoiled this for me!) The blood red sky?s of
Gotham also made a welcome return here and helps erase the utterly poor backgrounds of JL season one that still haunt me to this day.

But other than Nightwing, it?s super chicks fighting each other. Sit back and enjoy. Or complain that Wonder Woman should be the focal point of every situation ever and how she is far above the rest of the League and should?ve snapped Luthor in half the moment she got the slightest sniff of his plan. Your choice.