War
Original Airdate – February 9th, 2013
A conqueror from another world becomes a wild card in an intergalactic game of supremacy – placing planet Earth square in the jackpot.
Written by Jon Weisman
Directed by Mel Zwyer
Review by GregX
Media by Warner Bros. Animation
Additional Images
Review:
Now this episode kicked ass. After the more low scale stories of the previous weeks, we get a sense of grandeur that seems like it’s going to permeate through the final five episodes following this.Having not seen several major members of the Justice League since the third episode of the season, we catch up with them on trial on Rimbor. It does not seem to be going well as news breaks that the Reach are on Earth, and as they were invited, have every legal right to now be there. Vandal Savage, also on Rimbor watching the trial, whispers some suggestions to Mongul who brings his War World to Earth in order to prevent the Reach from gaining enough power to challenge his own plans. The Team takes him down before Blue Beetle sucker punches them all and makes off with the key to the War World.
Greg Weisman and Jamie Thomason have a history of reusing certain voice actors from his previous shows. Thus far, “Young Justice” has brought back Josh Keaton (Spider-Man); Thom Adcox (Lexington, Tinkerer); Ed Asner (Hudson, Napoleon, Uncle Ben); Clancy Brown (Hakon, Wolf, Rhino, George Stacy); Bill Fagerbakke (Broadway); Tim Curry (Anton Sevarius); Brent Spiner (Puck); Cree Summer (Hyena, Ember, Glory Grant); Kath Soucie (Princess Katharine, Mary, Weird Sisters, Nerissa, Martha Conners); Jeff Bennett (Brooklyn, Owen, Magus, Vinnie, Shocker); Ben Diskin (Venom); Kevin Michael Richardson (Tombstone); Steve Blum (Green Goblin); Lacey Chabert (Gwen Stacy); Vanessa Marshall (Mary Jane Watson); Peter MacNicol (Dr. Octopus); and my personal favorite, Marina Sirtis (Demona), among others. But, from almost day one, I’ve been wondering when Keith David (Goliath, Thailog, Officer Morgan, Tombstone) would make his debut on the show. He had to be coming. I definitely had my theory on who he would portray, and it wasn’t Mongul. Not that I’m complaining at all, because Keith was perfect for Mongul. It was a joy to hear that voice again.
The action was fast and intent, and it’s a lot of fun to sometimes watch our supers cut loose. But this episode is, thankfully, far more than just super-powered wrestling as it seems to be laying the groundwork for what’s to come.
One gripe I have with this season is sadly summed up in this episode. I wish we had twenty-six episodes instead of twenty, because I feel some character focus was lost. It’s not as big a deal as some other comments out there seem to think it is, the characters who need the most focus are getting it, and in the realities of this world, there is only so much time to go around. Wonder Girl has gotten barely any development this season, outside of one episode where she proved she could cut it. Likewise, Guardian and Bumblebee’s reunion lacked a little bit of punch. Yeah, we got some moments here and there with them this season, but more would have been nice. But hey, more would be nice for every aspect of this show. I wish we had more of Batgirl, too. But it is what it is, and that gripe aside, the twenty episodes of screen time seem to be budgeted as best they can be, and certain choices need to be made. So far, those choices haven’t been wrong choices, I just wish there was more. But wanting more is hardly the worst complaint in the world.
Now comes the question, what is Vandal Savage’s game? We know he wants to evolve mankind to take its place among the cosmos, and they can’t really do that as just meat for the Reach. The Reach obviously had no idea the War World was coming, so Savage clearly did not fill them in. I doubt Vandal wanted Mongul to destroy the Earth, so he probably banked on the Team and the Justice League defeating him, which they did. Does he know that Blue Beetle is a pawn for the Reach now? Did he expect the Reach to steal the key to the War World? Was the gambit for the Reach to lose most of their fleet to make them easier to defeat once they had outlived their usefulness? Time will tell.
Also interesting that Mongul was overthrown once, and feels the best way to retake his throne is to conquer the galaxy first… to defeat someone. Hmm, who is this someone?
[ Back to Reviews ]
The World’s Finest and all original content on this site – copyright, The World’s Finest.
Contact us and share your thoughts on social media via Twitter and Facebook pages!
Check out WF video content at The World’s Finest’s YouTube channel!