Lex Luthor is saved from a failed jailbreak by none other than Gorilla Grodd, who has started an organization of super-villains to combat the effectiveness of the Justice League. While Lex wants nothing to do with this so-called "Legion", Grodd makes a tantalizing offer- if Luthor can retrieve a certain artifact, he'll receive a tiny piece of Brainiac's hardware. Enticed by the idea of reconstituting Brainiac and regaining the power he had when they merged, Luthor goes to Black Hawk Island, where the Black Hawk Squadron of World War II hides many dangerous objects. The Justice League is alerted to the break-in, and they send the Flash, Hawkgirl, and Fire to investigate.
Tropes
- Arson, Murder, and Admiration: Luthor vents at Grodd for all the things he's been through in this episode alone, just to give Grodd a "wall decoration", then comments that it's Actually Pretty Funny. It was Grodd refusing to give the Brainiac fragment that ticked Luthor off.
- The Artifact: The Key's presence was meant to hint at a larger role in the season: he was going to be revealed to have been built by Brainiac and used for his return. When the writers decided to bring back Darkseid for the finale instead, this plot was dropped, and the Key became just a background villain.
- Animal Mecha: Blackhawk Island's defenses consist of robot animals like sharks, squids, and piranha.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Luthor gets the Spear of Destiny. Subverted somewhat in that Luthor’s reason for going on the mission— getting the last piece of Brainiac on Earth— remains out of his grasp thanks to Grodd’s loose interpretation of their deal, and the Spear isn't even important to Grodd's plans; he just thinks it'll look nice in his office.
- Bus Crash: The surviving Blackhawk notes that his teammates have died. Of course, it has been roughly 60 years since their service, so even the youngest of them would be pushing 80 by the time of the episode.
- Call-Back:
- Luthor's introduction to the expanded Secret Society is played as a villainous equivalent to Green Arrow's introduction to the expanded Justice League. The situation also calls back to when Shade is inducted into Grodd's first Secret Society.
- Luthor doesn't want in on Grodd's "Society", probably because of what happened last time he was working with a villain collective. It so happens that the guy who betrayed Luthor back then has something in common with Grodd.
- A Blackhawk requesting an SOS to the League, specifically Hawkgirl, harkens back to their team-up with the group back in "The Savage Time".
- Call-Forward: The League has built a second base in Metropolis. It loosely resembles the Hall of Justice, but more importantly, it becomes the League's primary headquarters in Beyond.
- Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: Grodd's group is obviously an updated Legion of Doom, but they're never referred to as that in this or any other episode. The show's writers were perfectly okay with using the name, but DC reportedly told them not to.
- Emerging from the Shadows: How Grodd first appears to Luthor.
- Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: At one point, Shayera mutters in annoyance in another language — presumably a Thanagarian one (except none of the Thanagarian characters have been shown speaking other languages). The captioning only labeled what she said as "foreign language" or "alien language", and didn't translate it.
- Foreshadowing: Luthor promises to kill Grodd one day.
- Indy Ploy: Flash makes Fire drop him so she can help Shayera fight in the air better. As he's plummeting, he voices his hopes to think of something to save himself. He does.
- Legion of Doom: Well, obviously. The group is described as a protection racket. Grodd says all members are free to do commit whatever crimes they want, but they can get back-up if attacked by various Leaguers.Luthor: Right, he does it out of the goodness of his heart.
Grodd: Plus 25% of the gross. - Male Gaze: In the Javelin, Fire comes over to Flash. When he turns around, he was first greeted with a view of her impressive rack before slowly looking upward towards her face.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane:
- It's unclear if Lex Luthor really is talking to Brainiac's ghost; as far as everyone is else is concerned, he's talking to himself.
- The Spear of Destiny; in a Fantasy Kitchen Sink world, it may actually be the real deal, but for Grodd the real reward is seeing if Luthor's passed his test.
- Mistaken for Gay: Shayera mentions hearing rumors that Fire is "Brazilian"; it's not clear if she's just messing with Flash.
- Mythology Gag: Unsurprisingly, most of the line-up from Challenge of the Superfriends are in the Secret Society: Sinestro, Bizarro, Cheetah, Giganta, and Toyman.
- Police Are Useless: They failed to keep Lex in custody after all. The one in charge insists they don’t need the Justice League in finding Lex, but Faraday will have none of that.
- Priceless Paperweight: The Spear of Destiny Grodd wanted Luthor to get? He thought it'd look nice on his mantle.
- Remember the New Guy?: The featured Blackhawk is not one of the people the League met during World War II.
- Secret Test of Character: The whole thing was a test to see how Luthor would handle himself in the field.
- Ship Tease: The series doesn't follow up on it, but Flash and Fire show some interest in one another.
- Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to a passage from The Four Gospels.
- On the island, the villains face a robot that resembles The Iron Giant.
- The Slow Path: Discussed. The surviving Blackhawk notes how it's been longer since his group saw the League than the other way around.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The formation of the Legion. With the Justice League having expanded its ranks and having brought nearly every hero on the planet under its umbrella in the preceding two Seasons, it was inevitable that somebody in the supervillain community would take a page out of Superman's playbook and do the same thing for their side (be it for revenge, to help their friend(s), or seeing the profit and advantages of such an organization).
- Trap Is the Only Option: Chuck Sirianni lets himself get taken hostage by Luthor, then trips a trap on a bridge, allowing him to escape while Luthor is still shocked he walked right into a trap.
- Two-Fisted Tales: The episode comes across as a loving homage to 30’s-40’s pulp fiction.
- Villain Protagonist: The episode is the first of many this season that portrays Lex Luthor as the POV character as he goes about attempting to find Brainiac again. The actual mission itself—acquiring the Spear of Destiny—means little to anyone other than as a Secret Test of Character for Lex who needs to succeed to get closer towards his goal.
- Wham Shot:
- Grodd unveiling his new base and organisation.
- Luthor talking to Brainiac.
- Worth It: Fire says that Superman is not going to be pleased about how they let Luthor get away, but Flash mentions that it's probably for the best seeing Hawkgirl preserve her friendship with the last living Blackhawk.
- Your Size May Vary: The warwheel shown here is drastically smaller compared to the ones from "The Savage Time".
