Ten years after the destruction of the Justice Society of America, Courtney Whitmore finds the Cosmic Staff and finds herself thrust into a conflict she never knew existed.
Tropes:
- Action Survivor: One of only two survivors of the downfall of the original JSA was the non-powered sidekick, though he was absent for most of the battle and retreated with Starman almost as quickly as he arrived.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: The first scene shows the Injustice Society invading the Justice Society's headquarters to kill them all.
- An Ass-Kicking Christmas: The original JSA's final battle took place on Christmas Eve.
- Atrocious Alias: Courtney is not a fan of "Stripsey."
- Bully Hunter: When Courtney sees some Jerk Jocks messing with other patrons at the drive-in theater, she decides to screw with them by letting the air out of their car's tires. And doesn't seem to mind at all fighting them when they notice and attack her (though she does get angry with the Cosmic Staff for blowing up their car).
- Combat Pragmatist: Icicle lets the other villains distract Starman then impales him with an ice spike from the shadows.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- The plot only gets started due to Starman's old sidekick marrying the mother of the girl the Cosmic Staff chooses as Starman's successor, followed by said mother getting a new job and moving to the same small town where their old enemy Brainwave lives. This may not be entirely coincidental, though, as Pat's files indicate that he tracked the Injustice Society to Blue Valley and Courtney mentions that the move was his idea, even though her mother insists she chose to take the job there.note
- Even more contrived is the fact that the bully that Courtney tried to mess with is the son of Brainwave.
- Lampshaded by Pat pointing out that the chances of Courtney being Starman's daughter and Pat ending up marrying her mom is "the coincidence to end all coincidences."
- Disproportionate Retribution: When a teen bully attacks its wielder, the Cosmic Staff shoots an energy blast that blows up his car. Even Courtney found this a bit much, as she immediately calls the Staff out for it.
- Downer Beginning: The episode opens with the deaths of the Justice Society.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Brainwave has a son, and when Courtney attacks him with the Cosmic Staff, he ignores Icicle's order to stay put to get revenge.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Jay Garrick's helmet can be spotted for a few frames in the chaos of the opening battle. From the look of it, he was killed by Icicle, which makes sense given what we know about speedsters' weakness to subzero temperatures from The Flash.
- Heroic Lineage: Courtney thinks Starman may be her father, since they both disappeared/died on the same day and the low-res picture she has of her father looks similar enough to Pat's photos of Starman, but Pat doubts it as he knew Starman's civilian identity and her father went by a different name.
- Loyal Phlebotinum: This appears to be the case with the Cosmic Staff, which only works for those it chooses.
- Made Out to Be a Jerkass: When Henry Jr. starts picking on Yolanda, Courtney tries to defend her. Henry Jr. then turns to her and tries to take her phone, which she fights with him over, causing him to fall back into a walking lunch lady behind him. The Principal ignores what Henry Jr. was doing and escorts Courtney to detention.
- Mood Whiplash: Starman's plea to Pat to find someone worthy of the staff is somewhat undercut by him insisting Pat isn't that person. The mood then switches back to serious when Starman's last words are about how Pat was a good friend.
- Mythology Gag:
- A particularly heartwarming-slash-heartbreaking one: one of the pictures on Courtney's bulletin board is a photo of Courtney Johns, Geoff Johns's younger sister who died in a plane crash and who inspired the creation of Stargirl.
- The moving truck used by Courtney's family is labeled "Action Movers", a clear reference to Action Comics — including the font of the word "Action". This counts as a Double Mythology Gag, since the truck also appeared in Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E., the comic that the show is inspired by.
- When Courtney is flying through the town, she passes a movie theater showing The Liberty Files, referencing the popular JSA Elseworlds storyline.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- Courtney sticking up for Yolanda against Henry Jr. gets her sent to detention.
- Later, her Bully Hunter actions at the drive-in bring her to the attention of Brainwave.
- Oh, Crap!: Said verbatim by Pat, when he sees that the Cosmic staff had vanished.
- Refused by the Call: Starman tells Pat to find someone to wield the staff, and tells him flat-out that he's not worthy of it himself. The staff stops glowing whenever Pat touches it.
- Transforming Vehicle: Pat's car can deploy rocket boosters to make it flight-capable.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Courtney's mom doesn't seem to find anything strange with the sight of her daughter sleeping in her full school clothes including her shoes and jacket.
- Villain Team-Up: Icicle, Brainwave, the Wizard, Sportsmaster, Tigress, and Grundy teamed up to take out the Justice Society. In the present, they still keep in contact just in case.
- Would Hit a Girl: During the JSA vs ISA battle, Hourman fights hand-to-hand against Tigress and pulls no punches. He even briefly has the advantage before Wizard attacks him.
