Andrew A. Smith

Tribune Content Agency

Young Justice, an animated show that ran on Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2013, is returning for a third season on the DC Universe streaming service Jan. 4. The series is modeled on the Teen Titans, but it’s a Teen Titans – and a Justice League – you haven’t seen before.

To describe the show, it’s almost easier to say what it’s not.

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The original Teen Titans began in 1964 with Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad, and very quickly added Wonder Girl and Speedy (the archer) to its core croup.

Young Justice is not the original Teen Titans comic book. The idea of a team of sidekicks began in the 1960s with the original versions of Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Aqualad, who were, respectively, junior versions of Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. That team grew over the years to include most of DC’s young superheroes, especially Speedy (a junior Green Arrow), Hawk and Dove.

This series is remembered fondly for the art by Nick Cardy in its early days, and not-so-fondly for its bizarre attempt at teen slang. If you think ‘60s teens really used words like “ginchy” and “fab,” you weren’t there.

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O.G. Teen Titans Robin, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl were joined by three new characters and Beast Boy, who had occasionally guest starred in the old series, in 1980.

 

Young Justice is not the New Teen Titans comic book. The 1980 re-launch of the original team once again starred Robin (soon to be Nightwing), Kid Flash and Wonder Girl, but added Beast Boy (from Doom Patrol) and three new, non-sidekick characters: Cyborg, Raven and Starfire. This version was enormously successful, and ran for years, adding other characters from the DC Universe, inventing new ones and spinning off titles like Team Titans (Teen Titans from the future!) and Titans (the original Teen Titans grow up!). It’s generally what most people think of when they think Teen Titans.

Young Justice is not the Titans TV show. That series, currently running on DC Universe, stars Robin (soon to be Nightwing), Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy, with Wonder Girl, Hawk and Dove playing significant roles in the first season.

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Brendon Thwaites stars as Robin (soon to be Nightwing) in the OTT streaming service series Titans, which, of course has to star a Robin.

Young Justice is not either of the other two animated versions of the Teen Titans, which both starred (and used the same voice actors for) Robin, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy. Teen Titans (2003-06) was strongly influenced by anime. So is Teen Titans Go! (2013-present), only it’s played for laughs.

Young Justice is not the comic book of the same name, which ran during a hiatus in the Teen Titans franchise from 1998-2003. But there are some superficial similarities, and you can see how the cartoon’s creators got from Point A to Point B.

 

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The stars of the Young Justice comic book were (from left) Impulse, Arrowette, Wonder Girl, Robin, Secret and Superboy.

For example, the gang got around in the comics through the use of the high-tech Super-Cycle from the “New Gods” series, while the show has “Sphere,” of similar origin. Both the comic book and the cartoon use a Superboy who is the clone of Superman, although their personalities are vastly different. Both platforms feature Red Tornado in a mentor role and oddball characters not used anywhere else.

But they also diverge strongly, both in premise and history – which are nothing alike – and characters they don’t share with each other (and generally, with anyone else). For example, Young Justice the comic book featured Secret, who was the ghost of a dead girl, whereas Young Justice the cartoon used obscure characters like Miss Martian and Lagoon Boy.

Lastly – and this is a real Inside Baseball trivia, for which I apologize – Young Justice occurs on a parallel earth that is – and is not – Earth-16. Since the cartoon was going to diverge so strongly from its comic book counterpart, the showrunners put it on Earth-16, where they could do anything they wanted without regard to the print version. Unfortunately, Earth-16 was already in use – it had been previously described as the home of the “Super-Sons,” a concept so wacky I don’t have room to explore it here – and was expanded in Multiversity, a 2014 series by the legendary Grant Morrison. In Multiversity, Earth-16 was the home of the children of the Justice League and other second-generation heroes, who were little more than bored celebrities who spent all their time on social media, because an army of Superman robots had eliminated all crime and war. (But Young Justice is shown on TV there.)

 

Nobody wants to argue with Grant Morrison, whose work on Animal Man, X-Men, JLA, Doom Patrol, Happy! and other titles is worshiped by comic book fans. So he gets Earth-16. But that leaves “Young Justice” without a home, so we can invernt whatever earth we want. I vote for “Earth-2-Serious.”

That’s because Young Justice has always been, to my mind, waaaaaaay too downbeat. Maybe it just seems that way because it contrasts so strongly with the comic book, which was fairly light-hearted and full of youthful energy. (Well, except for the dead girl.) Anyway, in Young Justice the Justice League members are all cruel jerks, the adventures are undercover and deadly, and the teens themselves are depressed and dreary all the time.

And yet, the show is popular. I guess teen angst never really goes out of style.

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The stars of the first season of Young Justice were (from left) Artemis, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Aqualad.

Anyway, the first season began with Aqualad (not the original), Robin, Kid Flash and Speedy being invited to the Hall of Justice – but, despite their enthusiasm, the League dumps them in the lobby and goes on a mission. It also turns out that the League’s real HQ is a satellite that they kept secret from their sidekicks, and the trip to the Hall is really just a pacifier.

Because the Justice League are cruel jerks throughout this series.

Anyway, “Speedy” – who later turns out to be a clone – quits, while the other three investigate shenanigans at a science lab called Cadmus. There they find and free a teen clone of Superman who has only been alive for a few weeks and kept in a test tube. To say he’s unsocialized is an understatement.

The new team – they never give themselves a name – succeed in bringing down Cadmus, but the League yells at them anyway.

“End results aside, we're not happy,” says Batman. “You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives. You will not be doing this again.” (Hint: Yes they will.) As for the Superboy clone, he’s excited to meet Superman, who takes one look at him and flies away. Flies. Away.

As I may have mentioned, the Justice League are jerks throughout.

Needless to say, the kids team up in defiance of their elders, who concede and decide to use them as … covert espionage agents. As you do with minors. The League forces two new members on “The Team,” Martian Manhunter’s niece Miss Martian, and Green Arrow’s niece Artemis. (Hint: Neither are really nieces.) The kids are given the League’s original HQ as their base of operations, one all the supervillains already know about (see “cruel jerks” above). Red Tornado is their babysitter.

More characters follow. Roughly a metric ton of them.

In the 26 episodes of the first season, Young Justice adds Zatanna (a magician), Rocket (who flies and projects force) and the second Robin (Jason Todd). Superboy gets a name (Conner Kent) and a dog (Wolf), while “Speedy” (He’s a clone! A cloooooone!) takes the name Red Arrow and goes solo.

In the 20 episodes of the second season, subtitled Invasion, the show introduces Beast Boy, Blue Beetle (wears alien armor), the third Robin (Tim Drake), Bumblebee (basically The Wasp), Guardian (basically Bumblebee’s clingy boyfriend), Lagoon Boy (expands like a puffer fish, because why not), Batgirl, Wonder Girl (not the original), Impulse (Flash’s time-traveling grandson), Arsenal (the real Speedy) and Static (from “Static Shock”).

All those new characters – with new costumes and powers and back stories – was pretty exciting. But the show was definitely not fun and games. There was an alien invasion, at least two characters died, another was a traitor and three turned out to be the children of supervillains (with one modeling herself on a 1950s sitcom star). Red Arrow’s clonishness was finally revealed, while the original Speedy was found maimed (he’d lost an arm). Good times, right?

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The stars of the third season of Young Justice are (from left) Static, Kid Flash, Robin, Wonder Girl, Spoiler, Blue Beetle, Thirteen, Arrowette, Arsenal and Beast Boy.

The third season, subtitled Outsiders, will pick up a few years after the second season and deal with metahuman trafficking. The team will consist of Wonder Girl (still not the original), Aqualad (also still not the original), Oracle (formerly Batgirl), Kid Flash (formerly Impulse) and Blue Beetle, plus three new members: Arrowette (yet another archer), Spoiler (wild card daughter of a supervillain) and Thirteen (another magician).

Where’s everyone else? Well, Nightwing (formerly Robin),  Huntress (formerly Artemis) and Superboy are members of another super-team, The Outsiders, alongside new characters Forager (insect powers), Halo (light-based powers) and Geo-Force (earthquake powers). Needless to say, other characters – both new and familiar – will appear as plots warrant.

As for the Justice League, they’re still around. And yes, they’re still be jerks.

Find Captain Comics by email (capncomics@aol.com), on his website (captaincomics.ning.com), on Facebook (Captain Comics Round Table) or on Twitter (@CaptainComics).

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