" I feel like I live in a world made of cardboard. Always taking care not to break something, to break someone. Never allowing myself to lose control, even for a moment, or someone could die. But you can take it, can't you, big man? What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose, and show you just how powerful I really am."-Superman
Some cartoons tend to not hold up as we get older and a lot of them are better if we remember how much we loved the then and never go back and watch them again. Sad, but very true. Then there are some cartoons that always hold up. One cartoon that will always hold up and great from ages five to adult is "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited".
Justice League started with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Flash being the stars of the show. Rounding off the cast are known, but not as known characters Martian Man Hunter, Hawkgirl, and John Stewart as Green Lantern. Everyone knows who Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman are and how skilled and or powerful they are as well. For the people who don't know the Flash can do more than just run fast, or that there are more Earth Green Lanterns than Hal Jordan, and that Martian Man Hunter is one of the few people that can go toe to toe with Superman and win, these facts come as a pleasant surprise.
The writers on this show spent more time developing the lesser-known Justice League originals instead of overdoing it by showing Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman saving the day every episode. Every so often, we would get a two part episode specifically about Wonder Woman and her Amazon home Themyscira or an episode that revolves around the big three just to remind us how good and how close of friends they are.
image source "comicvine.com"
Lex Luthor is the main villain throughout the first two seasons of Justice League and while it might seem like the obvious choice of bad guy and that after a while it might get stale, but that is far from the truth. The way Luthor is portrayed is absolutely perfect. He is just as evil and obsessed with Superman as you'd want him to be, but he is also portrayed as one of the smoothest men ever. Clancy Brown makes Luthor voice sound deep and silky smooth making him likeable even though he is obviously evil.
There are also a few twists and turns that pop up during the show that make Luthor a bit more dangerous. The best thing about Luthor is how creative he got when fighting the Justice League. He finally learned that he couldn’t match them physically regardless of how much tech her created, so he started to use the media and other super beings against them. Luthor didn't lose every episode and even when it looked like he lost, he would smile that sinister smile and you'd realize that he got what he wanted all along.
A year or so later, the Justice League expanded and the show became "Justice League Unlimited". What we had here was the original seven minus Hawkgirl (there was a bit of a...falling out in the previous season) and they brought in more characters. Now, to be completely honest, this writer didn't want to see a bunch of random characters. Who cares about a cowboy in a mask and a guy acting like King Arthur on a flying horse. Well, that was rather presumptuous of and it was a huge mistake. "Justice League" unlimited steppe their game up and turned the idea of making just a few characters worth watching to dozens of characters and making all of them amazing.
A character that might have stolen the show is The Question. A guy who believes there is a conspiracy behind everything (he even uncovered that there are 32 flavors of ice cream). He uncovers that there is an alternate universe where the Flash dies and the Justice League goes crazy and starts a totalitarian world ruled by the "Justice Lords". What he does next is unlike anything we are used to seeing from cartoon characters. Especially members of the Justice League.
image source "comicbook.com"
A personal favorite is "The Greatest Story Never Told" which stars Booster Gold. There's a giant world-ending crisis going on and Booster Gold can't wait to get involved. Too bad for him, Batman puts him on crowd control and even when he does something heroic, he's mistaken for Green Lantern (despite the fact that his costume is blue and gold and has no green at all). He ends up saving the city and no one ever knows because no one takes him seriously (it's his own fault). But, at the end of the episode, he gets his reward and saves the day.
Rating: 10
This cartoon is absolutely flawless. The kids will love it because of its innocence and the teens and adults will love it because it is actually a well-done show. The people in charge of making the Justice League movies should take note from the cartoon. Everything doesn't need to be dark and brooding. It's ok to have some levity in the movie.
image source "ifanboy.com"
