Terry is starstruck when Superman arrives in Gotham one day and invites him to join the Justice League Unlimited. He reluctantly accepts a trial membership role, despite suspicions from Bruce and the cold welcome he receives from the other League members. Superman then reveals the real reason he brought Terry in: He suspects that there is a traitor within the League trying to kill off the other members and needs Terry's help to investigate the matter. Terry begins to spy on the other League members but reaches a dilemma when he discovers that the traitor is none other than Superman himself...
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: The undersea native Marina is voiced by Jodi Benson, who is perhaps better known for another undersea native’s voice.
- Actually a Doombot:
- Everyone thought Warhawk was killed by the missile, but he himself reveals it was actually just a remote-controlled drone.
- The League find Superman in the Fortress of Solitude, but after a brief altercation learns it was just a drone, which was soon followed by a couple more. The real Superman would show up shortly, however.
- Adaptational Heroism: While still a villain, Starro is far more evil in the comics, where he and his spawn have a malevolent intelligence, and are intent on galactic conquest.
- Adaptational Wimp: While incredibly dangerous here, Starro was much more so in the comics, where he's the core of a Hive Mind of parasitic creatures that can brainwash entire planets. He's much bigger too, only his offspring being the size of the starfish aliens in this version.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Most of the new League members are a Legacy Character:
- The female Aquagirl, daughter of Aquaman.
- The biracial Warhawk, later revealed to be the son of Hawkgirl and John Stewart.
- The Tibetan Kai-Ro, the Green Lantern.
- The African-American Micron, successor to The Atom.
- Anti-Villain: Starro, given that he did not come to Earth by choice and had only been acting in his own self-interest after being held prisoner for years, possibly centuries. Superman points this out at the end, and he has Starro and his clones sent back to their homeworld instead of destroying them.
- Art Evolution: Superman's STAS character model is updated to reflect the Time Skip since STAS and to give Clark a new costume blending the basic Superman look with the DCAU Kryptonian fashion style.
- Badass Bystander: Terry engages long-time enemy Inque in yet another battle near the beginning of the episode. In an attempt to hold Terry off, Inque grabs who she thinks is an Innocent Bystander to hold hostage. The bystander turns out to be Superman in disguise. This does not end well for Inque.
- Berate and Switch: Warhawk calling Batman out for disobeying orders...then admitting that he liked that about him.
- Beware the Superman: Bruce, being Crazy-Prepared, had always been concerned about the possibility that Superman would make a Face–Heel Turn and reveals to Terry that he had stored a piece of Kryptonite in the Batcave just in case of such an emergency.
- Black Dude Dies First: Micron is the first, and the only successful, incapacitated Justice League member who spends the rest of the two-parter in a stasis tank except for one brief moment.
- Brain Bleach: In the Fortress of Solitude, Batman inspects some strange substance on the ground of an open cage, and thinks it's food, but gets grossed out when Green Lantern tells him it "used to be".
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Superman turns out to have been attacked by a Starfish Alien named Starro and had been acting under his control for some time. Starro had been plotting for Superman to help him breed millions of clones of himself to take over Earth. Some of his clones later gain control of the other JLU members save for Batman.
- The Cameo: Pictures of Mr. Miracle and Aquaman are shown when Terry is reviewing profiles of the League members.
- Cassandra Truth: Even when presented with evidence, the Justice League (especially Barda) refuse to believe Batman's accusation that Superman is the traitor. It was the presumed-dead Warhawk backing him up that the League decided to confront Superman.
- Continuity Nod:
- Starro appeared as one of the many captured rare alien species from the Superman: The Animated Series episode "The Main Man".
- Bruce mentions that this isn't the first time that Superman has "gone rogue", likely referring to the events of "Legacy".
- Dark Reprise: When Superman is chasing the Batmobile in the arctic the music is the main STAS theme pitched flat.
- Dead Hat Shot: Warhawk's helmet flies through the air and smashes into the Batmobile's windshield after the blast.
- Didn't Think This Through: Terry is called out on this when he stole Barda's war-rod in order to rescue Aquagirl, when he could have just called the other Leaguers through the comms.
- Disney Death: Warhawk is thought to have died near the end of Part 1, but turns up alive early in Part 2. It was actually a remote-controlled decoy that blew up with the missile.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Aquaman's Justice League file uses his character design from his STAS appearance ("A Fish Story"). By the time Aquaman appeared on Justice League, Bruce Timm and company ultimately chose to discard the STAS model and redesign Arthur Curry from scratch.
- Enemy Rising Behind: Heroic example: Once the League confront Superman for his treachery, he has them on the ropes, but Micron momentarily wakes from his coma and grows to giant size before grabbing Superman from behind.
- Exposed to the Elements: Aquagirl can walk around in the Arctic barefoot and in a swimsuit, while Barda in her bikini-like outfit is similarly unaffected. Superman spends the climax in the Arctic shirtless.
- Fighting from the Inside:
Word of God has confirmed that this is why Superman had gone to Bruce in the first place. In the episode itself, this can be inferred by how surprised he is when the rest of the League turns on him. - Fire-Forged Friends: In the end, the entire League (including Batman's biggest critics Warhawk and Barda) are ready to accept Terry into their ranks, but this time Terry turns it down - though in the comics he ends up as a part-time member in much the same fashion as Bruce was.
- Foreshadowing:
- At one point when Terry calls Bruce from the Watchtower, the latter is reading up on Superman's profile on the computer. This implies (and, considering he is a Great Detective, short of actually confirming) that Bruce has already suspected Superman as The Mole.
- Superman's parting words that Terry and Bruce have more in common that he thinks pays off in the Justice League episode Epilogue. Where Terry is revealed to be Bruce's biological son through Waller's machinations.
- Godzilla Threshold:
- Bruce, the patron saint of Thou Shall Not Kill, implies pretty strongly that, if Terry needs to kill Superman to stop him, then Terry needs to do it.
- When Batman escapes the possessed League and alerts Bruce of the situation at the Arctic, he was informed that Bruce is planning to have Commissioner Gordon call in the military. Terry protests that the military will bomb the whole place, but Bruce tells him that's their job.
- Superman is ready to cause a cave-in to prevent the Starros from escaping into the open world. When Barda points out that Batman and the possessed Aquagirl are still down there, he tells her that Batman already knows the risk involved.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Both Big Barda and Warhawk.
- Hero of Another Story: Every member of the current League, Superman included.
- Hurl It into the Sun: After defeating the Starros, Barda volunteers to use her Mother Box to send all of them to the sun. Superman talks her out of it.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Batman tried to talk the League into fighting off the possession, but to no avail.
- I Owe You My Life: Terry notes wryly that Marina is the first of the League to warm up to him, after he rescued her from the tank.Bruce: That's one way to make friends.
- I Work Alone: Although Terry gains the respect and acceptance of the JLU after helping them defeat Starro, he ends up deciding to follow in Bruce's footsteps and turns down an offer to become a permanent member.
- Leitmotif: Superman's theme from his animated series is played several times during his appearances. A distorted Dark Reprise version is heard in the scene when a Brainwashed and Crazy Superman is chasing down the Batmobile.
- Logical Weakness: Starro is an aquatic creature, so electricity is repeatedly used to fight him. Batman manages to escape possession because of his suit's defenses (twice, even) and it's what allowed him to finally wake Superman from Starro's control.
- Lured into a Trap: The League has Superman at their mercy thanks to the kryptonite. Starro, communicating with Aquagirl, leads the League further into the Fortress of Solitude...right where Starro made his nest, full of his spawn. The many Starros then proceed to possess the League (aside from Batman thanks to an electric trap).
- The Mole: An odd variation of the theme occurs. After a member of the Justice League is injured in a suspicious accident, Superman recruits Terry in an effort to find out if there is, indeed, a traitor among their members. Due to the growing tension between the League and Batman, Big Barda and Warhawk automatically assume Batman is the traitor. As it turns out, Superman himself is the traitor, but not intentionally; he's under the Mind Control of one of the aliens he had kept at the Fortress of Solitude for so many years. His reason in recruiting Batman was likely to keep suspicions off of him.
- Mugging the Monster: Really bad choice of hostages there, Inque.
- Mythology Gag:
- While Batman is being chased in the Batmobile by Superman:Terry: What's the top speed on this thing?
Bruce: Mach 3.
Terry: Is that faster than a speeding bullet? - The older Superman in this episode was voiced by Christopher McDonald, who voiced Jor-El in Superman: The Animated Series.
- The first episode to feature the Justice League in the DCAU production-wise features Starro as the villain, just like the Justice League's first published appearance.
- While Batman is being chased in the Batmobile by Superman:
- New Meat: Batman to the other JLU members, at least initially. Warhawk and Big Barda, in particular, clearly express their disapproval of his new membership. Mostly because Superman recruited him without even telling the team first, which Big Barda took personally.
- Noodle Incident: Bruce's dislike of Boom Tubes. The circumstances of how he acquired this dislike would later be revealed on Justice League.
- Older Than They Look: Due to his Kryptonian DNA, Superman appears to have aged very little in the time since Superman: The Animated Series, acquiring only a few wrinkles and gray hair.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: Although this was not the original intention of the creators, the popularity of this episode soon led to the creation of the Justice League series.
- Pretender Diss: Warhawk says Terry is not Batman, just a punk. He changes his tune by the end.
- Sickbed Slaying: The League catch Superman as he is about to sabotage Micron's stasis field and finish him off.
- Smart Ball: Lantern comments that Warhawk anticipating that the missile as a trap was actually a rare occurrence.
- Spotting the Thread: Warhawk sensed something fishy about the distress call he received on the JLU frequency when he hears that Batman didn't. This makes him suspicious enough to send his remote-controlled armor to intercept the oncoming missile in his place, and the missile blowing up just as it does proves him right.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Inverted, literally, but for the opposite reason.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Word of God states that Wonder Woman had originally been intended to appear in the episode, but due to legal issues preventing such, Big Barda was used in her place.
- Starfish Alien: Starro, literally.
- The Swarm: The Starros get their strength not just in their mind control powers, but also of their sheer numbers. At one point in the climax, Terry gets incapacitated by having dozens of Starros pounce on him.
- Trojan Prisoner: How Terry and Superman fool the Starro-brainwashed JLU members and catch them off-guard. The ruse is only discovered when the League see that (shirtless) Superman doesn't have Starro on him.
- The Worf Effect: Inque, who is one of Terry's strongest enemies, is brought in for the beginning of Part 1 solely for the purpose of demonstrating just how easily Superman can defeat her.
