1x01 Secret Origins

I grew up with only the first few episodes on disc, so while this show is part of my childhood it also isn't at the same time, so my reviews are unaffected by nostalgia (outside of this one).

And damn, did I forget how abridged & rushed the pacing is in this show. It's like they wanted to quicky adapt several popular comic runs without giving them the time needed to properly flesh out the story - something that still rings true for the other episodes.

And while I haven't read said comics, the show is still great after over 2 decades.

The characterization is done really well, the designs & artstyle are great, the animation is solid, some of the dialogue is raw af (J'onn's line of "You hide underground and shun the light! Why? Does it burn your pale, putrid skin?!" is so damn great that I gotta start referencing it more) while the rest is solid, etc.

It's a good adaptation of the characters, but I do wish they spent more time on each story arc. For example , the next arc - Blackest Night - is so rushed it kinda undermined the point of the story.

Still, it's a great watch. Even as an adult, you'll be able to enjoy this.

I also love the design of the white martians ("invaders", as the show calls them). It looks incredibly alien while also being intriguing, and the Imperium takes the cake. His design is damn good.

But still, it is quite rushed and kinda skips out on things. I feel like it was meant to continue the established lore of previous series (like the Batman and Superman ones), but I haven't seen those so I can't be entirely sure (but even then, the "staple villains" of each character don't really appear).

[8.0/10] I’m impressed at how well Justice League roars out of the gate, and maybe I shouldn’t be. Despite a new title and new cast members, this isn’t a brand new series. It’s a continuation of two characters who’ve been through nearly two hundred episodes combined, with writers and directors who’ve been on board for years. It makes sense that the braintrust would have a handle on the major players, this world, and how to expand it without missing a beat, but it’s no less impressive!

I like that the first part of “Secret Origins” kicks things off with a Batman/Superman team-up. Granted, maybe that’s not shocking, since they’re inarguably DC”s most marketable icons and it makes sense to use them as launching pad to expand the franchise. But they’re also the two characters that the audience not only knows already from their prior DCAU series, but who’ve teamed up multiple times in the past. It makes sense that they’d join forces, and it’s a natural seed for the Justice League to grow from.

I also like how the episode gives us hints at other Leaguers to come. Flash snarking about Superman as Earth’s defender is on brand for his hotdogging ways. Diana countenancing the bad omens but being told by her mother that it’s not her concern establishes her altruistic bona fides. And the show builds to a great introduction to J’on J’onzz, with a great swerve from making the audience think Superman’s psychic flashes are an attack from the alien invaders, when in reality, they’re a warning call from Martian Manhunter. It’s in bits and pieces, but the episode nicely lays the groundwork for how its major figures are intertwined.

It’s a hell of challenge too. In telling the story of the start of the Justice League, “Secret Origins” has to come up with a threat worthy of the combined force of the planet’s greatest heroes. The martian invaders definitely fit that bill. The opening scene gives them a proper horror movie introduction. Their pod person/shape-shifting abilities and alien language are appropriately creepy, making it so that we don’t know who’s already been replaced.

There’s some body horror both to the footsoldiers’ rearranging their corpus after a fall and in the regular human beings trapped in cocoons, Alien-style. The design of the alien creatures is unnervingly great, with an asymmetrical, white blood cell look that immediately provokes revulsion and alienness. And their strength, size, and ability to do damage to the Man of Steel immediately marks them as Serious Business, even before we learn they’ve spread to major cities across the globe. The episode shows both Batman and Supes getting knocked around by them, immediately establishing that it’s going to take more than the World’s Finest to neutralize this threat.

The little touches throughout are great, as is usually the case in the DCAU. Batman not only stopping the medic from unmasking him, but grappling hook-ing his way out of the stretcher is unbelievably cool. The animation of Superman’s psychic flashes is really well done, conveying the internal in a way that jumps off the screen. The duo’s dynamic is still great -- frosty but respectful. Hell, even the fact that Supes gives Batman a watch-pager feels of a piece with the similar pager he gave to Jimmy Olsen, adding a touch of continuity to the affair. Once again, the fact that Batman even uses it at all helps signify the severity of what they’re facing here.

There’s also an interesting thematic idea at play with a Senator not only putting Superman forward as a global protector, but using him as an excuse to dismantle the planet’s nuclear warheads. My guess is that The Senator is almost certainly a Martian pod person, who’s only dismantling Earth’s nuclear arsenal so that his white blood cell buddies can have an easier time overrunning the place. But regardless of what’s in store, the prospect of the nations of the world coming together in the name of intergalactic peace, with a metahuman protector, is a thematically rich one. (Shades of Kingdom Come!)

All-in-all, this is an exciting start to the final show in the DCAU canon (depending on how you want to think about Justice League Unlimited.) While it was cool to jump to the future with Batman Beyond, and I can appreciate the boldness of both Static Shock and The Zeta Project cutting a new path in the DCAU, there’s something cool about picking up where The New Batman Adventures left off and seeing its title character begin to enter a broader world.