History Recap / JusticeLeagueS2E24To26Starcrossed

** The storyline borrows some elements from the ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel Tower of Babel]]'' storyline. The book's plot point about Batman betraying the League's trust and using countermeasures against them is transferred to Hawkgirl, and the final scene of the League debating whether to let Hawkgirl stay or not, and Shayera making the decision for them, comes from the final scene.

** Shayera's sudden arrival at the Batcave demonstrates that she figured out at some point who Batman really was but kept that knowledge to herself.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Shayera wasn't briefed on the Hyperspace Bypass Generator until the Thanagarian occupation is udnerway. She genuinely thought it was a Force Field Generator.

* EndOfAnEra: Meta example. Due to the Bat Embargo that went into effect following Season Two, this episode marks Alfred Pennyworth's final appearance in the DCAU. This also makes it Efrem Zimbalist Jr.'s final outing as Alfred after over a decade of playing the Batman's batman since the early days of BTAS (and after having succeeded Clive Revill).

** Batman dispatches the Thanagarians in the Batcave in the same manner as Brandan’s cops in ComicBook/BatmanYearOne. On the DVD Commentary, Dwayne [=McDuffie=] points out that despite being one of the most famous then-modern Batman moments, he was surprised that Bruce Timm and company had never used it during BTAS (or in later Seasons and series).[[note]]In fact, Timm would later admit he'd never ''read'' ''Year One'' until work began on the [[WesternAnimation/BatmanYearOne DTV movie]] in 2010.[[/note]] [=McDuffie=] was understandably delighted to finally be the one to bring that gag into the DCAU.
** The storyline borrows some elements from the ''[[ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmericaTowerOfBabel Tower of Babel]]'' storyline. The book's plotpoint about Batman betraying the League's trust and using countermeasures against them is transferred to Hawkgirl, and the final scene of the League debating whether to let Hawkgirl stay or not, and Shayera making the decision for them, comes from the final scene.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Bruce's autopsy on a dead Gordanian in Part 1. As Diana correctly points out, Bruce knows nothing about Gordanian physiology and doesn't know what he's looking for. Bruce agrees...but alien biology or not, Bruce has enough experience examining dead bodies to recognize the telltale signs of long-term decomposition.
** Given his paranoia and detective skills, it is completely unsurprising that Batman had discovered the Flash's secret identity at some point since the Pilot.
** Similarly, with her mission as a spy and infiltrator, it's likewise unsurprising that Shayera uncovered Batman's secret identity and home base (to say nothing of how to infiltrate it undetected).
** In Part 3, when J'onn gets into a Thanagarian ship and takes a look at the controls, he comes to the conclusion that he has no idea how to drive it. The Thanagarians are just as alien to him as they are to humans after all.

** In Part 2, the prison ship departs from the Gobi desert and when the League make their GreatEscape, the ship was conveniently flying over Metropolis.

* DescriptionCut: During the peace summit at the beginning, J'onn thinks that terrorists may have already infiltrated the meeting, but Batman assured the League he's "got it covered". We next see Clark Kent inside as one of the press.

* EasilyForgiven: Flash vocally defends Hawkgirl when the team is debating whether to expel her, and he gives her a goodbye hug when she announces her resignation. Alfred, too, is forgiving of her, being grateful that she helped the League save Earth and letting her know that whatever decision they make in regards to her staying with them, in his eyes, she'll always be a hero.

* MasterRace: The Thanagarians clearly see themselves as superior to humans and even Kryptonians and Martians. When J’onn questions Paran on the mechanics of the shield generator, she dismisses him as likely not able to understand. He passive-aggressively then demonstrates his grasp of the potential science is pretty solid, annoying Paran for proving her wrong (and perhaps indicating J’onn might figure out it’s not a shield generator at all.

* TragicVillain: Hro Talak may be an enemy of Earth and the Justice League, but on Thanagar, he is possibly its greatest hero, in addition to being Shayera's fiancee. He sacrificed a lot as part of the war against the Gordanians, and was even captured and tortured by them for years before breaking free. [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil This is implied to be why]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist he was so deadset in making sure the Hyperspace Bypass plan works, even if he had to sacrifice Earth to do it]]. Shayera's comments suggest that at some point, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he changed from the man she knew, to the man the audience saw]]. In the end, his uncompromising stance on putting the Earth in the crossfire in the war against the Gordanians, pushes Shayera away from him, and he is further incensed when he comes to know about her attraction to Green Lantern, to the point that every plead Shayera makes to spare Earth is interpreted as her saying she loves Green Lantern more, which eventually [[CockFight brings them into conflict]], and eventually with Shayera. In the end, the hyperspace bypass is destroyed by the League and he is defeated by Green Lantern. Broken, he surrenders and orders his army to leave. Had he not allowed his experiences in the war to cloud his judgement, he may have [[TakeAThirdOption found a third option]] in the war (like say, requesting the League's help in fighting it) and Shayera would have remained at his side.

** The League get fooled into helping the Thanagarians until Batman learns the truth.

* WasItAllALie: Green Lantern asks this of Hawkgirl at the end of the three-parter. Hawkgirl replies, "I love you John. I never lied about that", and flies off to parts unknown.

** Shayera tearfully pleads to Hro to spare Earth and not destroy their love in the process. It seems Hro is about to stop until he smashes his axe right into Shayera before saying to his former fiancee that there's nothing between them.

** A large number of friendly aliens land, whip up fear of an external threat? They ever-so-helpfully offer the "technology" to defeat that threat, initiate a propaganda campaign against any doubters, and possess a hidden world-ending agenda? You could be talking about [[{{Series/V1983}} V]]; though the Thanagarians have somewhat different motives, the end result for Earth and humanity would be the same.

* DeducingTheSecretIdentity: the League members are forced out of their costumes in order to sneak around Earth which is currently under Thanagarian martial law. The Flash attempts to interject, stating that while he trusts the other members enough that he doesn't mind them knowing his identity, he's unsure if the rest of them are. Batman immediately calls him and all the other members by their real names before ripping his mask off and stating his own.

* BookEnds:

** There is also considerable similarity to ''Literature/InvasionEarth''. An alien invader ship crashes on Earth, seemingly as part of an invasion, and another alien race, their long-standing enemy, offers assistance against them. In the end, it turns out the enemy corpses were planted, and the aliens' motives are much less benevolent (although they involve robbing Earth instead of destroying it).

** After she announces she's quitting, Flash gives her a hug on her way out the door.

* AliensAreBastards: The Thanagarians don't see much of humans - considering them to be a weak, primitive people - (the last bit is all the more interesting [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy given their own culture]]), and use them as slave labour for the hyperspace bypass. They don't even think much of the Justice League at first having captured them (largely thanks to Shayera's intelligence on their abilities) - one of them openly expresses doubt that any of them, even the Martian amongst them, could understand how the properties of Nth metal works; and even the protests from [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch one of their own]] to stop the project as it will kill billions of lives is met with accusations of disloyalty to Thanagar.

* AscendedExtra: Kragger in the comics was an ordinary member of the Wingmen Corps with Katar Hol who died fairly early in the first issue he debuted in. Here, he's TheDragon to Hro Talak and even makes an appearance later in the series.

* AnyLastWords: Hro to John. John's response? "Yeah. You can kiss my axe!"

* AlienAutopsy: Batman's analysis on a dead Gordanian taken from the Gordanian ship and finding out that they were long dead before the ship appeared on Earth, which lead to suspicions on the Thanagarians' true motives.

* AgainstTheSettingSun: Green Lantern and Hawkgirl say their goodbyes against such a backdrop, complete with Hawkgirl flying towards the horizon.

** Batman dispatches the Thanagarians in the Batcave in the same manner as Brandan’s cops in ComicBook/BatmanYearOne. On the DVD Commentary, Dwayne [=McDuffie=] points out that despite being one of the most famous then-modern Batman moments, he was surprised that Bruce Timm and company had never used it during BTAS (or in later Seasons and series). [=McDuffie=] was understandably delighted to finally be the one to bring that gag into the DCAU.

* WholePlotReference: A large number of friendly aliens land, whip up fear of an external threat? They ever-so-helpfully offer the "technology" to defeat that threat, initiate a propaganda campaign against any doubters, and possess a hidden world-ending agenda? You could be talking about [[{{Series/V1983}} V]]; though the Thanagarians have somewhat different motives, the end result for Earth and humanity would be the same.