Episode 19: Misplaced
Takes place on November 5 - 7
Klarion the Witch Boy, with the help of four other sorcerers, casts a spell that splits the world in two, one for adults and one for everyone under 18. Each half of the population thinks the other has vanished.
Captain Marvel discovers the truth when he switches to his adult form and is whisked to the "adults' world." He helps the Justice League get in touch with the Young Justice team, and together they attack the four sorcerers and Klarion (respectively.) Zatanna is forced to put on the Helmet of Fate to fight Klarion, who escapes.
After the Earths re-merge, Fate refuses to release Zatanna saying his presence is needed, until her father, Zatara, agrees to be his host instead.
In the end, the effectively orphaned Zatanna stays with the team at their Mountain Headquarters. We also see that the whole deal was a distraction so other members of The Light could recover a piece of Starro The Conqueror from S.T.A.R. Labs.
Notes:
- Cameo appearances in this episode include Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Bette Kane, and Rocket.
- Klarion went to Roanoke Island to start his spell, which, in Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers, is tied to where Klarion grew up since his home of Limbo Town was based on "The Lost Colony" that had once tried to settle in Roanoke Island, but mysteriously disappeared.
- The sorcerers helping Klarion are: Felix Faust, Blackbriar Thorn, Wotan and The Wizard, enemies of (respectively) The Justice League, Etrigan, The Spectre and the Justice Society.
- The magic chant used to cast the spell, "Wir sind die Pfeifer von Hameln", is German for "We are the piper from Hamelin," a reference to The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
- This episode is based on the story "World Without Grown-Ups" that (in the comics) led to the formation of Young Justice in the first place.
- Zatara's fate sidesteps the Cruel and Unusual Death he got in the comics.note
This episode provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: The episode is loosely based on JLA: World Without Grown-Ups, but has Klarion, Wotan, Blackbriar Thorn, Felix Faust and The Wizard replacing the storyline's original antagonists Bedlam and Matthew Stuart.
- Both Order and Chaos are Dangerous: Klarion is an evil Lord of Chaos who casts a dangerous spell For the Evulz but Nabu is not that heroic.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: Captain Marvel uses his Magical Incantation to travel between the child world and adult world.
- Inferred Holocaust: A sudden worldwide absence of adults would have resulted in mass deaths, starting with car crashes and babies drowning in baths, then continuing with children undergoing surgery, critical care wards, airplane crashes, and accidents at home with no supervision.
- Internal Reveal: Billy's Secret Identity is revealed to the Team and League as a consequence of his unique ability to jump between worlds.
- Loophole Abuse: Billy/Captain Marvel can shift between the child/adult worlds in those respective forms because Captain Marvel counts as an aged-up version of himself.
- Mythology Gag: The episode is an adaptation of the "JLA: World Without Grown-ups" story, previously adapted into Justice League's "Kid Stuff".
- Order Is Not Good: Nabu, a Lord of Order, refused to release Zatanna from the Helmet until Zatara made a Heroic Sacrifice so that he would become the new Doctor Fate.
- Rabble Rouser: Sportsmaster stirs a mob to attack the GCPD officers defending STAR Labs to distract the authorities from Riddler, who is stealing something placed in a suitcase.
- Smokescreen Crime: Klarion and his allies cast a spell that splits the world in two, with one dimension for adults and one for children and teens. While the heroes are eventually able to trace the magic to its source and stop them, they fail to notice that in the confusion, Sportsmaster and the Riddler have stolen Starro's tissue sample from STAR Labs. Since Klarion loves causing chaos for fun, the heroes had no reason to suspect a larger scheme.
- Spanner in the Works: Captain Marvel's Voluntary Shapeshifting allows the heroes to break the spell earlier than intended, though the Light still got what they wanted out of it.
