Y’all Zatanna is bacccck and it was already better than her own arc. She was very resourceful and smart and did her own detective work with D!ck. It was very nice and again way more respectful than her arc. I’m very pleased. Very nice to see almost the whole team together, mostly because Zee and Grayson reunited
The episode begins on a prison space station circling the Green Lantern homeworld of Oa, where Lor-Zod is attempting to get back the Kaizer-Thrall, the panic box Darkseid gave him that turns out to be powered by a foresaken child. Lor is currently pretending to be a Daxamite, a Kryptonian colony that developed along different routes and survived the destruction of Krypton itself.
Kilowog is suspicious of Lor, but as he didn’t see him face to face, he doesn’t recognise him. Unfortunately, the son of the GL that Lor murdered a while ago, Tomar-Re, is on reception, who lets Lor know that the Thrall is heading back to his planet of origin (Earth) after being released as that’s public information that he doesn’t have to withhold. Space GDPR and all that. Lor indulges in dramatic irony by low-key mocking Tomar’s death to his unknowing son’s face, and departs for Earth.
After the titles, we cut to the Phantom Zone, where the Team are stealthing around looking for Conner, who thus far they’ve been unable to locate (although there does appear to be a relative of the Super Family wandering around in a daze). The converge on him, only for him to dismiss them as hallucinations, and unfortunately the Zods also appear, and demand that the Team free them too.
Back in the real world, M’Gann arrives on the Justice League Watchtower satellite. She’s there to try and communicate with the human child’s brain that’s been transplanted into the Thrall, the GL Forager having brought them to Earth for that purpose. Oh hey, turns out that the brain inside is Danny Chase, a member of the Teen Titans in the comics, who here was abducted, experimented upon, and then turned into a superpowered box for Darkseid. He has telekinesis and interdimensional travel abilities, but the process of using his powers both causes him immense pain and is ultimately killing him.
They project themselves into Danny’s mind, he says hello, thankful that someone can actually see him now. Their conversation is cut short, however, by a message from the Martian Prince from the first story arc. Evidently he’s bumped into Phantom Girl, who evidently has told him that Conner’s still alive, news that he’s pinged over to M’Gann…
Back in the Phantom Zone, Conner is reeling from his realisation that the Team are actually real and present. Zod attempts to force the Team into freeing himself and his people as well, while Kaldur attempts to telepathically convince Conner to stop doing what the supervillain says. While Conner DOES regard some of his memories… he still thinks that he killed Superman, and thus can’t return to the real world lest he hurt M’Gann too.
Back at the Watchtower, Superman, the Martian Prince and Phantom Girl get everyone else up to speed on what’s going on, including how Conner is currently under the thrall of the Zods. Phantom Girl decided to reveal herself to the Prince so they could contact M’Gann, as PG believes that she is the only one who can free Conner from his current state and return him home (Superman being there too will also help, re him not being dead).
Briefly cutting to Subspace, Lor and Ma’alefa’ak decide to use Chameleon Boy and Saturn Girl’s rings to spy on PG, via the Martian impersonating CB. Clark, meanwhile, asks PG about whether she can contact her friends as they can’t reach Bart, Dick or Zatanna (the only other people who knew of the Legionnaire’s existence). PG and M’Gann attempt to phase into the Zone, which PG warns might be hard as she only got there by accident last time… And it doesn’t work, with them instead overshooting themselves to PG’s homeworld and back to the satellite instead.
Meanwhile in the Zone, Kaldur confirms that Superman isn’t dead but that Conner’s claims about Krypton being destroyed were true. Zod demands to be released from the Zone, but refuses to Kaldur’s suggestion that they old a hearing to determine if people can be released by a case by case basis, leading to fight! As the Kryptonians can phase through things but don’t have the standard superstrength, the playing field is somewhat even, although the Team are quickly overpowered by the criminals home advantage.
Back at the Watchtower, Danny offers to help get Conner out of the Zone, as he was able to get a lock on the place briefly back on New Genesis, but as he’s mostly inorganic, his powers won’t work in conjunction with PG’s powers. So they summon Orion with a Motherbox to help guide them there, who suggests that they open the Boomtube to the Zone on Trombus, a planet with a red sun but Earth-like atmosphere, so that any escaping criminals won’t have Superman’s powers. …And it’s right at this point that Ma’alefa’ak contacts PG, impersonating Bart, CB and Saturn Girl, who PG promptly gushes about what’s happening despite Superman’s suspicions. They agree to meet up with folk on the planet for the rescue attempt.
Back in the Zone, Dick attempts to use Kryptonite to subdue the Kryptonians… only it doesn’t work there due to the whole status effect thing that’s kept the inhabitants passing out from their various injuries. They vanish with the help of Zee’s magic, and attempt to regroup.
Later, on Trombus, they open a Boomtube to the Zone, which Zod, Ursa and Conner enter to make sure it’s safe for the other Kryptonians. And while that happens, Lor and his Martian friend erase Danny’s mind, use the Thrall to incapacitate the surrounding heroes, while the Team plan to block the Boomtube from the inside.
After the Kryptonians exit the Zone, Conner promptly passes out from his multiple burns and claw marks, while Lor welcomes his parents and proclaims the Galaxy is there’s! …Zod for his part seems confused and annoyed at Lor’s presence, remains to be seen if he accepts the whole timetraveler thing or assumes it’s another trick.
The episode closes out with Teekl asleep on a random chair… Weird to see Klarion’s not around too, but presumably he’s up to something nefarious.
- Review
Things continue to come together as we rapidly approach the finale, with every previous character or plot except for the Markovia stuff coming into play here. My guess in terms of resolution? Lor still probably die or trapped in the Zone once more, while the old original Team will arrive at the last minute to save the League folk on Trombus.
Trombus, perhaps unsurprisingly, is from DC Lore, specifically it’s a pre-Crisis home of a superhero group called the Hyper Family. Their deal is while they did end up getting rocketed to safety after their hometown exploded, they landed on Trombus, where the high gravity and red sunlight gave them Superman’s powers (whereas that environment negates Kryptonians’ powers).
I like Phantom Girl, it’s a shame we’ve only gotten her actual personality in the last two episodes, she seems nice!
The episode begins in Markovia, where a reptilian metahuman kid is being pursued by some jerks in a flatbed truck. The shaven head folks proclaim that despite King Brion’s claim that Markovia is a safe-haven for metahumans, “true Markovians“ know this isn’t true and prepare to lynch him.
This act of prejudice-based violence is intercepted, however, by the arrival of Brion and his Infinitors (former Infinity Inc, the team of metahumans Lex created) saves the reptilian kid. The superheroes make quick work of the thugs, but their leader attempts to book it into the surrounding forest.
Brion and the hero Trajectory chase the leader into the forest, only finding their teammate the shapeshifting Everyman there instead, who insists that he never saw anyone come his direction… Because, unbeknownst to Brion and Trajectory, Everyman is in the process of returning to his baseline form. Turns out that he was the guy inciting the attack int he first place, which while bad, at least he’s not eating people like he does in the comics.
After the titles, we cut back to the States, where Harper Row and Violet are in the process of moving into one of the dorms at Ivytown University. Turns out that Violet is starting college, while Harper is instead working at the DWP instead (there doesn’t seem to be a specific agency in the US with that acronym, the closest being LADWP, the Los Angeles Department of War and Power, which considering how Harper in the comics is an electrical engineer that’s not to surprising).
Violet insists though that just because their lives are heading in different directions, doesn’t mean that they still can’t remain close, and is surprised when Harper flinches away. She says that Violet is her best friend and she doesn’t want to mess this up… but for a long time she has wanted to be more than just friends with Violet, and since she’s not with Brion anymore and Harper no longer is dating someone called Jack… Harper says that Violet doesn’t have to make a decision now, with Harper gently asking that they at least think about it, before she makes a swift exit as Violet contemplates things.
Back in Markovia, the cops have shown up to investigate the whole attempted lynching thing (a lynching incited by an American metahuman posing as a Markovian ethnonationalist as a quick reminder). Brion is understandably mad at his being unable to apprehend the man responsible for all these anti-metahuman attacks, a frustration he vents at his adviser (and Light member who has been telepathically making Brion more suggestible) Zviad Baazovi.
Zviad subtly redirects Brion from his concerns about the lead terrorist escaping to focusing on how his rescue of the metahuman kid makes for good PR for his regime (which previously season kinda overthrew the government thanks to Zviad’s nudging, as a quick reminder).
Meanwhile, in the Phantom Zone, the now conscious Phantom Girl explains how she thinks she accidentally got them stuck in the Zone. It seems that in her attempt to save Conner from the bomb, she had to stick her hand into lava in order to reach him and protect him from the explosion. However, the pain of STICKING HER HAND INTO LAVA coupled with Conner’s body’s high density meant that rather than making her phase as normal, the explosion shoved the two of them into the Zone instead.
However, now she has recovered enough (at least, to the extent that the status effect within the Zone allows) she should be able to return them home… Only for her to find that Conner’s will is preventing him from coming with her. It seems that in his amnesiac state he refuses to leave the Zone due to his pledging his loyalty to Zod. Uh oh.
Cutting back to the original Team in Metropolis their attempts at finding the magic school bus that Klarion possessed as part of their plan to save Conner has run into a snag… Turns out that it was turned into a cube at some point… Huh, you’d think that the magical community would have kept it as a curiousity at least?
Meanwhile, back in Markovia, Brion remembers that the reptile boy, Lizard Johnny as he’s apparently called, was actually a kid that Brion had already previously rescued from Klarion when he was back with the Outsiders. Before they can talk more though, he’s drawn away by matters of state, while Zvaid immediately gets to work radicalising the poor kid… And then inserts himself into Brion’s conversation, effectively changing government policy to poach young metahumans from the Justice League facility in Taos in order to concentrate more in Markovia (and, incidentally, weaken the League and Outsiders from getting more potential members). Fury, however, is increasingly suspicious of this behaviour as it’s clear Zvaid is getting more involved than his role really should require…
Speaking of Taos, Black Canary is conducting the latest group therapy session for the younger metahumans, Victor, Garfield and Violet are there amongst others, and, awww, Garfield’s got an emotional support corgi!
(Clockwise from Black Canary: Beast Boy, Cyborg, Mist, Livewire, Terra, Halo, Looker)
Violet gives an update on their situation, starting college, looking into the Ivytown Muslim Student Association, but confesses that their friend confessing that they had romantic interest in them has knocked them for a loop somewhat. They decline to share the name, but Terra, who lived with Violet and Harper, evidently knew that Harper has had a crush on them for at least a year by this point.
As Violet is still trying to sort our their feelings for Brion at this stage, their relationship having needed on an abrupt, bad note, the other folk offer their suggestion that Violet contact him one last time to either get closure on their relationship or at least see if there’s any means of salvaging it.
Back in Markovia, a propaganda cartoon is playing in the style of Batman: the Brave and the Bold, portraying the work of Dr Helga Jace (Light affiliate and mad scientist whose work on creating metahumans killed potentially dozens of abducted people, including children) has a good and humanitarian one while the Infinitors are portrayed as unambiguous good guys. It’s a lot. They’re also clearly hoodwinking Brion into creating a metahuman army for the Light here.
Lizard Johnny is psyched by the cartoon’s promise of potentially joining a superhero team, to Brion’s confusion. He mentions to Fury that if Johnny wanted so much to become a superhero, why didn’t he stay with the League in Taos where he was staying previously? However, his attempts to form a coherent thought on how sus this entire situation is is cut short by Zvaid telling Fury to effectively stop talking to Brion as the king now has to go into a meeting, the superhero noticing how Brion mentally pulled a 180 as he went off to talk about other matters with his “advisor“.
Back in the Phantom Zone, Phantom Girl attempts to explain that Zod is a Bad Dude, that he was imprisoned in the Zone in the first place by attempting to overthrow the Kryptonian government in the first place due to their attempting to open diplomatic ties with the New Genesisians (breaking Krypton’s strict isolationist policy that would eventually contribute to them all dying, fyi). If he escapes, PG says, he’ll try to start it all over again and that he can’t be allowed to exit the Zone. Hearing the approach of Zod and Ursa, she goes to pretend to be in a coma once more, begging Conner not to rat her out… Which he does immediately.
Back in Markovia, Fury meets up with Everyman and Trajectory for that mission Zvaid sent her on. It seems that they are making a housecall on the minister who pointed out that opening an embassy in Taos would potentially draw metahumans away from the Justice League, something that Trajectory believes makes him and his family potential enemies of the state considering how neither him nor his family have the metagene.
After Everyman not so subtly threatens to kill the minister’s family (making the alarmed Fury restrain him), Trajectory suggests that maybe him and his non-metahuman family would feel more comfortable if they left the country and traveled to Vlatava (Queen Perdita’s home, which has had a notable influx of Markovia refugees) instead. Everyman attempts to play it off as an act, implying he was only intending to scare him into leaving… But yeah, Fury is clearly not happy about this situation.
We briefly cut to the Team in Metropolis, where Zatanna bribes the goblin creatures (called Trogalogs) that her students captured in her arc with Nightwing’s car (and some chicken snacks) in exchange for them magically repairing the Magic School Bus…
Back with the support group, Garfield is introducing his emotional support dog: Wingman! Named after the first sidekick in the DCU, Wingman (assistant of the Crimson Avenger, who is widely considered to be the chronological first hero within the DCU in most timelines).
Cutting back to the Phantom Zone, Conner thoroughly drops Phantom Girl in it by explaining how she can get them out of the Zone, but refuses to rescue anyone but Conner, due to her considering Zod to be a tyrant. Ursa attempts to get Conner to restrain her, and after one last desperate plea to get Conner to leave with her, she phases back into the real world…
…Only for the effect of her dunking a hand into lava to finally catch up with her again, yeah, OUCH. Hopefully the Martians can fix that, as she no longer has Saturn Girl around to mask her presence!
Back once more in Markovia, after hours of Brion just staring at Violet’s texts, they decided to just boomtube into his throneroom to talk to him instead. She’s got a new costume, and she’s there for a Serious Conversation despite the League technically being banned from his country.
Zvaid quickly rushes into the room, there to intercept the conversation and misgender Violet in the process, asking if “she“ was there to accept Brion’s earlier marriage proposal. Even without him seemingly influencing the conversation, it ends poorly, with Violet angrily teleporting away and fuming Brion sending Zvaid away.
Later, Brion meets with Fury on the spot he previously murdered his uncle last season. She confesses that while she has done things in the past she’s not proud of (such as working for Luthor on his superteam), she’s also lately witnessed and taken part in a lot of stuff she’s found equally distasteful. Brion, curious now, asks her to tell her what she’s found out…
Back in Ivytown U, Violet has reached their decision, and calls Violet, asking to see her. Aww.
Cutting back to Metropolis, the Trogologs (previously known as Gremlins during WWII, according to Zee, heh) have finally repaired the Magic School Bus. They claim their reward… only to get banished back to their pocket dimension with Dick’s car as she doesn’t want them going on a joyride in their realm.
The Team prepare to travel into the Zone, briefly concerned that they hadn’t contacted M’Gann to tell her what’s up, with Dick saying that they didn’t want to risk getting her hopes up if their suspicions ended up being wrong or their rescued was unsuccessful. The downside is that now no one knows where they’re going or how, as they all jump into the Phantom Zone whilst equipt with Space Belts, off to potentially rescue Conner next season, hooray!
The episode closes out with construction of a new Hall of Justice in New York, opposite the United Nations building. Black Lightning (chairman of the League) and Troia (Themyscria’s representative at the UN) talk about how this marks a new chapter in the closening ties between their organisations. And there is much rejoycing from the unseen audience, even a Booyah from Cyborg, heh.
- Review
The plot continues to accelerate as we approach the end of the season, but while the Markovia stuff has been happening in the background all throughout Phantoms, I kind of think that it’s a bit late in the game for it to receive so much focus if that makes sense? Eh, more groundwork for the Targetscomic, which apparently takes place after Phantomsconcludes. It’s interesting, but in an already overstuffed season I’m not sure where I’d put it for it to fit better in all honesty?
I wasn’t expecting Phantom Girl to have to straight up abandon Conner, but it makes sense all things considered. I hope she’s able to get medical treatment… which in all likelihood will alert the Martians to her presence and from that point M’Gann would likely find out about Conner too via her.
We’ll see how this goes!
Let’s see, Violet getting more focus is nice, as is the reassessment of their relationship with Harper, which wasn’t handled the best last season, with many getting the impression their bisexuality was presented more out drunken recklessness than out of genuine interest. I hope it goes we’ll for ‘em!
Zod’s coup being based on his wanting to prevent Krypton from developing ties with New Genesis is interesting… Although it does also potentially open the door to the “real“ reason that the planet possibly exploded, ie Darkseid’s forces using the same underhanded tactics they’ve used all throughout the show and beyond to prevent those ties going anywhere…
Now I’m not saying that they definitely will say Darkseid had Krypton exploded, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were involved in their inability to escape in some manner. This could interestingly play into Lor-Zod’s relationship with Darkseid if this is the case. Hm.
