Recap / Justice League S 2 E 7 And 8 Maid Of Honor

Princess Audrey of Kaznia goes out for a last party before her wedding, accompanied by Diana. Meanwhile, Batman interrupts a robbery at S.T.A.R. Labs and captures one of the burglars, who turns out to be a Kaznian special forces officer. An even bigger indication of trouble in Kaznia surfaces when Audrey introduces Diana to her fiance...Vandal Savage.

This episode contains examples of the following tropes:

• Action Dress Rip: Diana, at the party at the beginning when the terrorists try to kidnap the princess.
• Apocalypse How: The League move to deactivate the Kill Sat with J'onn noting that its destructive capability is unimaginable. Green Lantern, having seen a similar weapon before in space, counters that he doesn't have to imagine it.
• Artistic License – Space: Twofold. Vandal's space rail gun uses nearby asteroids as ammunition. Aside from the usual Asteroid Thicket trope being used, it also relies on there being numerous large asteroids within Earth's orbit, which there obviously is not.
• Ballroom Blitz: Batman and Wonder Woman (in their civilian identities) are enjoying a dance when the terrorists come crashing in to kidnap Princess Audrey.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • After Flash's near-suffocation, he responds to Green Lantern's assurance "You'll be all right" with a harsh (especially for him) reply: "Wish I could say the same for them..."; after which he zips through the station, taking the enemy mooks down hard.
  • Audrey viciously scratches Savage's face once his true colors come out. After Savage is brought to justice, he boasts to Audrey that he can't be killed. In response, she adopts a Psychotic Smirk and replies "we'll see", clearly intending to test the limits of Savage's immortality.
• Bilingual Backfire: A Kaznian agent tries to put on a show of bravado after being captured by Batman:
  Agent: (in Kaznian, subtitled) You can't understand a word I'm saying and I wouldn't tell you anything if you could.
  Batman: (in Kaznian, subtitled) I can...and you will. *the thug has an Oh, Crap!*
• Blatant Lies: When Wonder Woman invites Batman to finish the dance she and Bruce Wayne shared, Batman claims to have no idea what she's talking about.
• Body Horror: Savage's body is in a shattered, hideous state after the meteor impact. His howls of agony as his body starts putting itself back together make it very clear how much pain he's in.
• Chairman of the Brawl: Batman knocks Savage out with a desk chair to get at the controls for the rail gun.
• Chekhov's Gun: Audrey's large diamond earrings are used by Diana in the climax as earplugs to block Vox's sonic voice, allowing Diana to beat him after he curb-stomped her in their first confrontation.
• Colony Drop: Savage's agents take over the International Space Station and set up an orbital bombardment gun with which to blackmail Earth into submission. In the climax, the gun is actually used, though Batman managed to change the target coordinates to the Kasnian Royal Palace - targeting Vandal Savage. Though Vandal Savage survives, Colonel Vox most likely died when the palace is wrecked.
• Complete Immortality: Batman, Wonder Woman and Princess Audrey find out the hard way that Vandal Savage is this. Though, Princess Audrey is more than happy to put that to the test:
  Princess Audrey: I don't know how you survived, but I promise you will pay for your crimes in full!
  Vandal Savage: Do your worst, child. I'm immortal. I can't be killed.
  Princess Audrey: (smirks) We'll see.
• Continuity Nod: One of the party guests who swarm Diana asks about the battle against the Imperium.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Vandal Savage's wit remains intact. After stunning Wonder Woman (who, coincidentally, crashed the wedding at the exact moment the priest asked if anyone objected):
    Savage: Any other objections?
  • Audrey took her castle having a meteor dropped on it surprisingly well:
    Princess Audrey: I never liked living in that place. Too drafty.
  • Even Wonder Woman gets on the action when she sees Savage climb out of the wreckage from the same meteor impact howling in pain:
    Wonder Woman: (To Princess Audrey) You sure can pick 'em...
• Deducing the Secret Identity: Wonder Woman is able to figure that Bruce Wayne, the man she danced with at the beginning of the episode, is Batman, although the latter tries to deny this.
• Healing Factor: This is how Vandal Savage was able to live through the millennia, while retaining the same appearance. It's really good, as it allows him to heal wounds from a scratch to his face instantly and survive a ground-zero meteor impact.
• Hidden Depths: Princess Audrey of Kaznia comes off as an irresponsible party-girl who's spoiled rotten by her father King Gustav, but from opening up to Wonder Woman, she reveals that she's very concerned with the welfare of Kaznia, and only adopts that persona as her way of taking her mind off the pressures of being the crown princess and fully understands that after her marriage, she'll have to adopt a more stateswoman-like role. The partying is her way of dealing with her insecurities and uncertainties about her ability to rule Kaznia, particularly when it's in turmoil.
• Homage: To the James Bond franchise. Not the DCAU's first Bond pastiche, but probably the one most fondly remembered. In particular, Vandal Savage comes across as an expy of Hugo Drax, from trying to threaten the Earth with a space-based weapon to even spending the whole episode in a Nehru jacket. His traditional goatee and general appearance only underline it.
• Homoerotic Subtext: Betweeen Diana and Audrey. In the first episode, their partying together serves as One Last Fling for Audrey before she marries Vandal Savage. In the second episode, Diana interrupts Audrey's wedding at the standard "any objections" moment. Admittedly, it was because Diana rightly suspected that Savage was a criminal mastermind, but she still came off as a Clingy Jealous Girl.
• Identical Grandson: Savage is passing himself off as his own grandson to allay suspicion about himself (of course, the sheer incredulity of the truth definitely helps).
• I Know Your True Name: When all's said and done, Wonder Woman makes it clear to Batman she knows that he's Bruce Wayne by referencing their dance at the party.
  Batman: *completely monotone* I don't know what you're talking about.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After his little trip outside the space station, Flash decides to stop playing around and subdues all the remaining Mooks on the station in a few seconds.
• Magnetic Weapons: Savage's attempt to take over the world involves a satellite-mounted mass driver which launches asteroids at the planet below. John is amazed that even he would go this far. Savage's description of its operation, and the animation, match the description of a coilgun or Gauss rifle, but he and the other characters call it a rail gun.
• Ms. Fanservice: Out of the entire series, this episode plays up Wonder Woman’s beauty the most. She wears not one, not two but three gorgeous dresses. The first of which she rips during the opening action scene that results in very sexy torn dress◊ that is barely holding on by a single thread. Not to mention the opening dance scene between Diana and Bruce.
• My Grandson, Myself: Savage poses as his own Identical Grandson.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Colonel Vox is likely a reworking of Vox the Bionic Bandit, an obscure foe of the Metal Men.
  • When Princess Audrey says that Diana has “feet of clay”, the other princess can only say “You have no idea”.
• The Needs of the Many: Green Lantern initially advocates destroying the railgun as soon as possible, even if it means the hostages will die (he notes that the astronauts, being military officers, would understand the risk).
• Noodle Incident: At some point in his career out in space, John saw "the Yoongar of Omega Centauri" use their own Kill Sat to knock an inhabited moon out of orbit.
• Odd Friendship: Wonder Woman, the Fish out of Water superheroine, and Princess Audrey, the fun-loving party girl, hit it off immediately. They're not that different under the surface: Wonder Woman herself is the daughter of a monarch and technically ran off to Man's World, and also enjoyed a moment to let go of her responsibilities as a superhero. Audrey is likewise fully aware of her eventual imminent marriage and her responsibilities to Kaznia, and her party lifestyle will have to end, so why not go out with a bang?
• Oh, Crap!: The Flash when he's Thrown Out the Airlock. Audrey's expression when she witnesses Savage's Healing Factor, after clawing his cheek. Savage himself, despite being immortal, has one when he sees that his weapon was redirected and is instead targeting the Royal Palace...with him inside. (The gruesome visuals of his Healing Factor kicking in, after his body was broken and twisted out of joint, make this kind of response completely understandable, even for him.)
• One-Steve Limit: An aversion that's Lampshaded when Flash refers to Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter as "the two Johns."
• Pass the Popcorn: At the beginning of the episode, an attempt is made to kidnap Princess Audrey. Diana gets the situation well in hand before Bruce can even start changing to Batman...so he just kicks back, has some hors d'oeuvres, and enjoys the show.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • Wonder Woman
    Wonder Woman: (to Colonel Vox) Not another word!
  • Batman has a blunt, understated one as he rushes to Vandal Savage with a chair to stop a Kill Sat:
    Batman: You're in my way.
• Pungeon Master: Colonel Vox enjoys pointing out his Super-Scream powers, threatening a mook by saying "I'd hate to have to raise my voice". Savage and Wonder Woman get in on the action; Savage orders Vox to "have a conversation" with Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman shuts Vox down with a quip of "not another word".
• Really 700 Years Old: Princess Audrey is shocked when she finds out that Wonder Woman's suspicions about Vandal-Savage-the-Nazi-war-criminal were true and is surprised that a man as youthful appearing as he would be at least around a hundred. Savage reveals he's closer to the age of 25,000.
• Red Right Hand: Colonel Vox, the commander of the mercenaries, has an electronic speech synthesiser.
• Rewatch Bonus: How did Diana recognize Bruce as Batman?
  • She may have recognized his voice, which makes her case of accepting a dance from a stranger to get away from other strangers bothering her at the party much stronger.
  • "What brings you to the City of Lights?" could be a lampshade to how a creature of the night is in said City of Lights.
• Ruritania: Kaznia is one of the wealthier examples of this.
• Ship Tease: Diana and Bruce both out-of-costume and in it.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Invoked; Savage puts up a facade of trying to make amends for "his grandfather's" war crimes, but Diana doesn't buy it. Of course, it's revealed that the present Savage and his so-called grandfather from "The Savage Time" are one and the same.
• Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Diana unsuccessfully tries to stop Audrey and Savage's wedding (with a tank).
  Savage: [after shooting Wonder Woman] Any other objections?
• Spoiled Sweet: Diana's assessment of Audrey is that she's "spoiled rotten, but sweet".
• Super-Scream: Savage's right-hand man Colonel Vox has a sonic blast capable of taking down Wonder Woman...unless she's wearing earplugs.
• Sword of Damocles: Savage boasts that the economic contributions to the "space station" or rather - the rail gun, that Kasnia provided, mostly through his funds, gave Kaznia the "ultimate high ground". When you control said rail gun from your base, this becomes more than empty nationalistic boasts.
• Thrown Out the Airlock: Happens to Flash during the battle to retake the space station; a mook opens the airlock, depending on his spacesuit to protect him. Green Lantern manages to rescue Flash before his friend suffocates.
• Unseen No More: After being mentioned in several works in the DC Animated Universe since the Superman pilot, we finally visit the country of Kaznia in this episode.
• You Have to Believe Me!: Audrey isn't inclined to believe Diana when she tries to convince her that her fiancé and the Nazi-era Vandal Savage are actually one and the same. Interrupting her wedding by throwing a tank through the chapel wall doesn't do much for her credibility, either.