[7.8/10] If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s seeing Batman outsmart a crop of villains with his hands tied behind his back. As cool as it is to see The Dark Knight bash the baddies with his various tools and toys, there’s few things as satisfying as watching him disarm his foes using only his mind. Keeping him tied up with a rotating roster of Injustice Gang members looking after him makes for a series of fun exercises in sabotage and manipulation from the hero.
That means convincing Solomon Grundy that he’s underpaid, setting him and the Ultrahumanite at odds with one another, and even romancing Cheetah to cause trouble among his would-be captors. Him holding back with his houdini tricks so that he can learn more about the gang’s plans is, perhaps, a little too much, but the fact that he’s clearly in control even when he’s restrained with titanium bindings and a phase shield makes the Batman that much cooler.
I particularly like how he seizes on the fact that the Ultrahumanite in particular is in this for money, not out of some loyalty to Luthor. Batman just buying Ultrahumanite off is a nice counterpoint to how Lex assembled this team and gained UH’s help in the first place. The Justice League are in this for, well, justice, not to mention camaraderie, which leads to a lot more loyalty than the mere promise of a paycheck, particularly when you treat your crew as badly as Lex does. The button to all of this, that Ultrahumanite once again pesters his prison neighbor Lex with opera, only this time it’s paid for by a grant from the hulking gorilla, is hilarious and perfect.
Who could forget the Joker, though? He is as hilarious and menacingly delightful as always. There’s a knowing quality to him, particularly the way he practically begs Lex to kill The Bat while he has the chance. The way he still pesters Luthor, like a kid forced to hang out at his dad’s office, is very amusing. That amusement turns to intimidation when he sneaks down to try to do the deed himself when the other Injustice Gang-members aren’t looking. Naturally, Batman gets the upper hand in the end, but the show plays Joker’s “pretty please” approach to eliminating The Bat to the hilt.
The rest of the league members get enough to do here as well. The show comes up with some fun obstacles like Martian Manhunter being out of commission and thus unable to identify the threat or contact Batman, in addition to the presence of a bomb on the Watchtower. In the same vein, Luthor trying to crack open Batman’s utility belt and retrieve his Watchtower garage door opener is an amusing objective for the increasingly mad scientist.
That’s the other big element of this one -- Luthor’s draining sanity and emergence as a straight up supervillain. His kryptonite blood poisoning gives the show an excuse to make him a villainous Iron Man, somebody who needs his new super suit to prevent his malady from killing him. His dwindling sanity and bubbling anger create a new spin on the character, and it provides Justice League an excuse to put him in something approaching his Super Friends guise. (There’s even a brief visual shout out to the Wonder Twins.)
Overall, this is a nice Batman-focused outing for the show, which shows Bruce at his best, and develops Lex at the same time it gives him some ironic punishment via Ultrahumanite.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-07-15T19:59:23Z
[7.8/10] If there’s one thing I enjoy, it’s seeing Batman outsmart a crop of villains with his hands tied behind his back. As cool as it is to see The Dark Knight bash the baddies with his various tools and toys, there’s few things as satisfying as watching him disarm his foes using only his mind. Keeping him tied up with a rotating roster of Injustice Gang members looking after him makes for a series of fun exercises in sabotage and manipulation from the hero.
That means convincing Solomon Grundy that he’s underpaid, setting him and the Ultrahumanite at odds with one another, and even romancing Cheetah to cause trouble among his would-be captors. Him holding back with his houdini tricks so that he can learn more about the gang’s plans is, perhaps, a little too much, but the fact that he’s clearly in control even when he’s restrained with titanium bindings and a phase shield makes the Batman that much cooler.
I particularly like how he seizes on the fact that the Ultrahumanite in particular is in this for money, not out of some loyalty to Luthor. Batman just buying Ultrahumanite off is a nice counterpoint to how Lex assembled this team and gained UH’s help in the first place. The Justice League are in this for, well, justice, not to mention camaraderie, which leads to a lot more loyalty than the mere promise of a paycheck, particularly when you treat your crew as badly as Lex does. The button to all of this, that Ultrahumanite once again pesters his prison neighbor Lex with opera, only this time it’s paid for by a grant from the hulking gorilla, is hilarious and perfect.
Who could forget the Joker, though? He is as hilarious and menacingly delightful as always. There’s a knowing quality to him, particularly the way he practically begs Lex to kill The Bat while he has the chance. The way he still pesters Luthor, like a kid forced to hang out at his dad’s office, is very amusing. That amusement turns to intimidation when he sneaks down to try to do the deed himself when the other Injustice Gang-members aren’t looking. Naturally, Batman gets the upper hand in the end, but the show plays Joker’s “pretty please” approach to eliminating The Bat to the hilt.
The rest of the league members get enough to do here as well. The show comes up with some fun obstacles like Martian Manhunter being out of commission and thus unable to identify the threat or contact Batman, in addition to the presence of a bomb on the Watchtower. In the same vein, Luthor trying to crack open Batman’s utility belt and retrieve his Watchtower garage door opener is an amusing objective for the increasingly mad scientist.
That’s the other big element of this one -- Luthor’s draining sanity and emergence as a straight up supervillain. His kryptonite blood poisoning gives the show an excuse to make him a villainous Iron Man, somebody who needs his new super suit to prevent his malady from killing him. His dwindling sanity and bubbling anger create a new spin on the character, and it provides Justice League an excuse to put him in something approaching his Super Friends guise. (There’s even a brief visual shout out to the Wonder Twins.)
Overall, this is a nice Batman-focused outing for the show, which shows Bruce at his best, and develops Lex at the same time it gives him some ironic punishment via Ultrahumanite.