The Enemy Below, Injustice for All & Paradise Lost Review

The Secret Origins Podcast, Episode 2. Hello

and welcome to the second episode of the Secret

Origins Podcast. I am your host, DFJ1Mike, and

I am joined by Lupus Convoy. Hello. Hello, good

sir. How are you? Not too bad. How are you doing?

Oh, well, we are actually recording this on the

evening of my third birthday. It will not air

until a week after I've turned 30. But, yeah,

I think I've mentioned before on this show, or

I know I've mentioned on the other Geekcast Radio

podcast, I'm no longer single, I do have a girlfriend

now, and she spoiled the hell out of me for my

birthday. Unfortunately, none of the presents

got here yet. So, I'm getting the rest of the

currently released G .I. Joe Mighty Mugs from

BBTS. I'm getting a Flip Minnow HD video camera

and the PS3 60 gig backwards compatibility PS3

thing from GameStop. Everything else is pretty

much going according to the way it's supposed

to go, except for GameStop. They needed her to

verify her information, and the account status

still says that it's verifying when we're supposed

to have gotten overnight shipping. and she ordered

it like four days ago. Is that how it always

works? I don't have any idea. This is the first

time I've ever had anyone or even myself order

anything from GameStop .com, so I don't know

how the hell they work stuff. But yeah, I'm 30

years old. I'm already missing my 20s, damn it.

It's not that bad. Is this the guy who's 28?

Yeah, so you have two years left. Bastard. So

what's been going on with you this week? I got

a clean bill of health from the doctors, and

I've been spoiled rotten by my other half giving

me the Indigo and Blue Lantern action figures

from DC Universe. Cool. So I am ecstatic. Other

than that, I've been buried up to my neck in

biology and anatomy, and that's pretty much my

life. Uh -huh. Well, there you go. There you

go. All right. Well, I guess without any other

news items coming up, we will get into some episodes.

Enjoying the view? Getting rid of me won't make

the people of Atlantis serve you. I know. That

whole lineage thing could get messy. Fortunately,

I have a solution. What do you mean? A pity.

The young prince will be yet another innocent

victim of the surface -dweller's aggression.

Sadly, that will also make me the rightful heir

to the throne. Well, I'm off to avenge your deaths.

First up today on the Secret Origins podcast

is The Enemy Below Part 1. To synopsize this

episode, a U .S. Navy submarine is on patrol

beneath the ocean when it happens too close to

an armada from Atlantis. The Atlantean ships

attack and the submarine sinks to the ocean's

floor. Aquaman, captaining the lead ship, coldly

orders it abandoned. The Justice League leads

a rescue and retrieval team to the submarine

before the crew suffocates. Where they confront

Aquaman and his troops, Aquaman grudgingly allows

them to rescue the crew, but says that the submarine

is now his property. Green Lantern angrily objects,

saying that the submarine's nuclear material

is too dangerous, but Superman says that they

have to rescue the crew before it is too late.

And again, this just goes to show you, and I'm

just kind of stopping here with the synopsis,

but it just goes to show you, while I do agree

with Green Lantern, As far as, yeah, we don't

need them having nuclear stuff. Just the way

he went about it, it was just that brash, marine,

you know, I'm right, you're wrong thing. Yep.

Yep. He urges Aquaman to visit the surface world

and to air his grievances before the upcoming

conference of the world leaders. Aquaman is skeptical,

but promises to consider the suggestion. Back

in Atlantis, he listens to the counsel of his

brother Orm and the head of his military, General

Brack, both of whom say Atlantis has the technology

and the manpower to wipe out the surface world.

He refuses to listen to them. In private, he

confers with his queen, Mira, and looks fondly

at his baby son. Above all, he wants to make

it safe and prosperous kingdom for his son, but

wonders whether there isn't a peaceful way to

do it. Aquaman goes to the surface and visits

the World Conference. Unfortunately, his approach

is less than diplomatic, which is very true.

He arrogantly insists that the surface nations

must cease their intrusion into the pollution

of the oceans, outraged the world leaders say

he is being unreasonable, and he walks out in

anger. Superman tries to convince him to stay

and be more moderate. Aquaman continues to walk

out. Just then, a sniper fires a bazooka rocket

which hits the pavement in front of Aquaman,

gravely injuring him. And even though we don't

see who this sniper is, it'll be revealed a little

bit later. Aquaman is rushed to the hospital

in critical condition where they are unsure of

how to treat him. And then, of course... Batman

appears and orders that he should be moved to

a saline water tank, which allows his natural

healing abilities to work. I find it funny that

Batman is sulking around a hospital room in the

shadows. A hospital? Well, as soon as you see,

I don't know if it's his voice coming up, and

then his foot steps out, or if his foot steps

out and then he starts talking, but you hear

in the background, I don't think it's the BTS

theme, but it's just some sort of heroic theme

for Batman, and it's like, holy crap, where the

hell did Batman come from? Back in Atlantis,

word comes that Aquaman has been injured, possibly

killed. And, let's see, crap. You know, they

take that way too easily. They don't really look

into that too much. Arm reassures Mira and assumes

the crown and Royal Trident in his brother's

absence. The League decides to try a ruse to

catch Aquaman's would -be assassin, putting the

word out that they are moving Aquaman to a specialist

facility as they wait for the assassin to try

again. And he reveals himself, dead shot. He

realizes that he's been fooled. The Aquaman on

the gurney is Jaune in disguise. And he has a

well -prepared escape plan in place. The real

Aquaman decides that he is recovered enough and

is returning to Atlantis immediately. Over Green

Lantern's objections. Which, yeah, Jaune got

cold cocked. He, that was one big... He deserved

it, though. He deserved it. True, but... It's

a good thing, and I'm kind of spoiling the plot

of the second part of the episode, but it's a

good thing Aquaman didn't have his hook hand

yet. Spoiler alert. Yeah, that would have been

really messy. After a long, hard chase through

the sewers and then the streets, Deadshot is

finally caught by Superman. He admits casually

that someone hired him to kill Aquaman, but refuses

to say who. Batman takes over the interrogation.

A few seconds later, Deadshot cracks. He doesn't

know the name of his employer, but he was paid

in gold. Actually, he was paid in Spanish doubloons.

They look at the gold, antique coins, and crosses,

obviously salvaged from sunken ship. And I've

got to bring up, I didn't do this in the first

episode, but I'm going to do it in this episode.

I'm going to try to find the best quote out of

each episode that we're watching. I'm going to

try to find the one that I like the most. And

it'll be the quote of each podcast episode. And

the quote that I got for this one was that scene

where Batman takes over. But you can't quote

something you can't hear. No, but that's not

the quote, though. The quote is the fact that...

What did he say? You don't want to know? Yeah,

yeah, because we don't want to know. Exactly.

And, of course, only Superman could hear that.

I kind of wish we would know, just to know. I

vaguely remember somebody saying something about

that in an interview, but I really don't remember

what it was. Yeah, I don't remember either. Aquaman

returns to Atlantis and is stunned to see Orm

sitting on the throne. Orm says he is sick of

Aquaman's tolerance for the surface dwellers

and has decided to take matters into his own

hands. Brack's soldiers surround Aquaman and

imprison him. Mira is told he is still missing,

but begins to suspect Orm. This is the first

true underwater adventure for the Justice League.

At least for this cartoon. Honestly, when I first

saw this when it originally aired, I was like,

oh great, now they're going to add Aquaman to

the team. Woohoo! What's he going to do? He's

going to talk to fish! Yeah! No, since you bring

that up, this Aquaman design is not the normal,

at least it's not the one I remember from Super

Friends. It's not the old school Super Friends.

This is definitely the old, like, oh my god,

I cut my own arm off, I've got a harpoon for

a hand. Actually, it's funny, even before he

gets his hand cut off, which actually happens

in the second part of the episode, or the second

episode of this two -part, but... When I first

saw him on the throne in Atlantis with the Trident,

I'm thinking, holy crap, where's Ariel? Because

King Trident's right there. From The Little Mermaid.

Right. I saw that and I'm like, why do they have

a Trident from Poseidon or something? Yeah, yeah.

And of course, one of my other notes is, Wonder

Woman sympathizes with Aquaman since they're

both royalty. I mean, she can see his position

where Great Lantern can't. But at the same time,

they're not playing up that factor. Right. And

there's the point where he barges into the assembly

and he's about ready to leave. And she's like,

wait, stop. And then nothing. And he's just like,

what? Shoves her out of the way. And I'm like,

you really shouldn't have shoved her out of the

way, but I can understand your frustration there,

Arthur, because you're kind of like, what? Stop?

Why? Okay, I'm looking for something here, but

there's nothing. Yeah. There's one exception

to my next note, and that exception is the television

show Sequest DSV. Other than that, I'm not usually

a fan of underwater anything on TV or film, but

they pull it off very nicely here. I remember,

I don't know if it was for this show or other

shows, Bruce Timm has said it is very hard to

animate, I mean, it's very hard to show water

in animation. And I think they pull it off very

well here. It wasn't that bad, actually. I was

interested to see that when they're doing the

sonar blips, it looked like Sequest or another

giant kraken. And I'm like, really? They're thinking

it's a boat? How do they know it's a boat? It

kind of looks like a squid to me. Yeah, yeah.

And again, like I said in the synopsis, Aquaman

sucker -punching GL. Ha! Yes. And he's... I think

prejudice is a definitely good word for what

his motivation is in all this. Yeah. I mean,

obviously they're not off to a great start in

the beginning, but as it goes through the episode,

it's like, yeah, he really just has an axe to

grind for some reason. I mean, Atlantis isn't

Iran. You don't have to worry about them having,

like, plutonium. Really, it's okay. Yeah, very

true, very true. And then I got two more notes

here that you can go into yours, but I was like,

Oh, Deadshot. Wait, who? I love Deadshot. But

anyway, Michael Rosenbaum voiced him, so that's

pretty cool. Yeah. Future Lex Luthor. Yes. No,

current Lex Luthor. This started in 2001. Smallville.

I'm trying to think if this came out first or

Smallville did. I don't remember. I don't know.

They both came out in 2001, so. Overall, I think

it's because it's an underwater story, and I

don't really like those outside of Sequest. The

other thing, I didn't really like the Aquaman

design. It wasn't, you know, wasn't what I was

used to seeing. I understand what they were going

for, where, you know, Bruce Timm specifically

says, because there is a commentary on, I believe,

this episode on the DVD set that, you know, he

said that they were going for, Instead of Aquaman

being like King Arthur, they're making him more

as the barbarian. Which is fine. That's the way

they decided to go. What do you have to say about

part one here? Oh my god, I got a ton. Going

through, they just jump out of the javelin in

the middle of the fight. I'm like, really? Who's

piloting this thing? Does it have an autopilot?

Because it's just kind of going... you know,

willy -nilly into what I can assume is a bunch

of underwater caverns or something. They're just

like, oh, we need to go stop them. Let's just

jump out. Who's piloting the thing? GL gets out

too. Yeah. I find it funny that the Javelin is

not only a shuttle, but it's an underwater submarine.

Because it's made by the goddamn Batman. He'll

think of anything. Okay, well, all right. You

know, that too. I mean, if it's... If it flies

through air and space, I don't see why it wouldn't

go through water, because it's airtight, but...

I'm trying to think, who wasn't in this episode?

Uh, we didn't see Hawkgirl or, um... The Flash.

Oh, okay, well, maybe they're off having... Maybe

they're off having fast hawk sex. Oh, God. Not

much I didn't need. But yeah, if they had the

flash in this episode, he would have been able

to run down Deadshot like nothing. Like, that

entire chase scene, like, really, when John first

goes through the cement and, oh, here comes Deadshot,

he stayed transparent and phased out, but he

could have just become ultra hard and just, you

know, blown up the bike, grabbed Deadshot, chase

would have been over. And then, you know, obviously

Deadshot gets away. Wonder Woman flies like,

oh, I'll stop him. Smashes the hell out of the

ground. Destroys a road and the off chance that

the shockwaves will go through. Break through

the barriers and give him a small avalanche to

get trapped in. Really? You couldn't have just

flown right through and grabbed him? Really?

It was great to see Arthur's motivation. I saw

a lot of They made comments about grips, strong

hands, things like that. I'm like, oh, no subtle

foreshadowing there. We know what's going to

happen. Yeah, and we'll get to that once we get

into the second part of the episode. And something

from the very beginning part of the episode,

there's a whole bickering back and forth about

Green Lantern saying, no, you can't take the

plutonium. He's a freaking space cop. I think

he has... a little bit more experience when dealing

with situations like this than the other members

of the Justice League, because it's not just

Earth he has to worry about. True. I don't know.

But yeah, Aquaman has no diplomacy skills whatsoever.

No. Which, I don't know if that's because he's

an underwater king and there's not many people

to be diplomatic with. I don't know. I think

if Supes had been like, no, don't go to them

as a king, If he had said, you know, go to them

as an equal, that might have been a little bit

better. Instead, he might have taken it, like,

really personally and be like, okay, I'm your

king. Cut the crap, man. Where did Batman get

the giant sea tank? Yeah, I don't know. Was he

like, okay, Wayne Industries, deliver this here.

Ha ha. I'm going to just magically appear out

of the shadow in a hospital that's normally well

lit. Exactly. Yeah. I'm going to sit here in

this one shadow all day and hope that they come

in here. And waiting, and waiting. Oh, what else?

GL, Diana, both need tactics intact. I love Deadshot's

snark. Yeah. Like, just the... OG, why would

anyone hire a mercenary, a hitman, to kill someone?

I can't imagine. They wanted me to do interior

decorating. You know, it was just... It was just

pretty awesome to see Deadshot play up that way.

Yeah. You know? I think that's all I got for

this episode. Alright. I kept wondering why Diana

wasn't talking to him like a dignitary. Like,

hey, you know, I'm the queen of Themis... The

queen's daughter of Themyscira. And why exactly

did Meera not take over when Arthur was presumed

dead? Because she is the crown queen of Atlantis.

She should have. Yeah, see, that's one thing

I don't understand. You know, Orm's always talking

about the bloodline. And I guess you could argue

the fact that Meera married into... I mean, obviously,

I seriously doubt... I seriously doubt they would

have Aquaman marry his sister. So she couldn't

very well be blood, you know. But I don't know.

I honestly don't know. It's a little jarring

considering I've been reading Blackest Night

and she is this badass character in the comic.

And she's a red lantern for... the foreseeable

short future of this comic series. Wow. You know,

she's beating the crap out of people. She's...

I mean, true, this is happening earlier in that

character's timeline, but to see someone that

is such a strong character currently and then

seeing her as this basic, like, wimp. Like, oh.

You know, oh, my husband's been killed. Oh, oh,

someone's trying to usurp the throne. I can't

deal with this. Oh. That's another thing you

reminded me of just now. Orm wants to get in

her pants. Yeah, the entire episode. Like, it's

completely blatant. Yeah. And I don't know if

his plan is, okay, I'm going to, like, bump off

my brother and then sleep with the wife. Very

Hamlet. Ha ha ha. Yeah. You know, I don't know

if that's his way of trying to solidify his power

for the throne or if he's just got the hot pants.

I don't know. I don't know. You know, the other

thing is, Meera's design... she's basically,

at least her legs, you know, from her waist down,

she's basically just wearing, like, a green piece

of silk, because I don't think she's got pants

on underneath that. So she's pretty much naked.

I thought she was wearing, like, a one -piece.

Yeah, yeah, she's pretty much naked. So going

into part two, the Justice League hurries to

Atlantis to warn Aquaman, but they are ambushed

and taken prisoner by Brack soldiers. Orm says

that he plans to destroy the surface world to

keep Atlantis safe and sentences them to death

by drowning. They are held in a chamber filling

with rising water. Passive by headbands that

make them unable to use their powers. Alright,

I gotta stop here because one of my notes on

this one is where is it? Yeah, if the little

headband thing, if it's an electronic headband

thing on their head, uh, wouldn't they be electrocuted

in the fucking water? Not drown? Because you

see this, I mean, if you go back and you watch

the episode and you watch that part, before the,

the chamber fills up with water, you can see,

like, electrical current running in between the

two parts, like, on the left side of their head

to the right side on those headbands. So wouldn't

they be shocked all to hell like Mel Gibson was

in What Women Want when he put the hair dryer

in the bathtub? You would think so. Yeah, you

would think so. What the hell's up with that?

Maybe it's supposed to signify something, but

it just didn't come out right. I don't know.

I don't know either. I mean, I know that we're

nitpicking here with it, but it's just one of

those things where you think it would make more

sense. If they got electrocuted by that, instead

of drowning. You would think so. Alright. Then

Mira appears and knocks out their guards and

frees them. She says she suspects her husband

is still alive and asks for their help. Elsewhere

on the ocean floor, Aquaman is chained to the

side of a rock outcropping above a lava fissure.

As he struggles to get free, Orm arrives and

shows how he plans to ensure... His succession

to the throne, he has brought Aquaman's baby

son and pins him to the rock beside Aquaman.

With mocking goodbye, he uses a blast from the

trident to send the outcropping on a slide down

the cliff face towards the lava. Aquaman wrenches

desperately at his chains, managing to free one

arm, but the other is held fast. He grabs the

sharp metal buckle from his belt and hacks at

the chain, but without effect. As they draw nearer

to the lava, his son cries for help. Aquaman

raises the buckle and brings it down with a roar.

That was fucking awesome. Badass. You knew immediately.

Forget about dealing with the chains. You knew

as soon as he picked up that A that he's going

to be slicing off his own hand. Definitely. At

the royal palace, the League reports that Aquaman

is nowhere to be found, and then he returns,

carrying their son. Mira embraces him and gasps

in horror as his left hand is gone. Now, we do

have to bring up that Aquaman's son's blanket

is red. Bruce Timm has said that they could not

show the blood from his hand being cut off, but

having the red blanket wrapped around his arm

where his hand's supposed to be signified blood.

A lot of people thought it was a bloody hand,

but it was the blanket wrapped around the wound,

is what it was. That's what they were going for.

That's why they made the original, when we see

the son originally, why he's wrapped up in red.

Right, right. Instead of another color that would

signify royalty. Right. While Aquaman is being

fitted with a prosthetic, Batman calls from the

surface and tells them... that temperatures in

the Arctic Circle are rising dramatically. If

it continues, the ice cap could melt, causing

catastrophic flooding all over the globe. Aquaman

resurfaces from the operation and reveals the

source of the trouble, the Doomsday Thermal Reactor.

He admits that he had had it built as a weapon

of last resort if it ever came to war with the

surface world, but he never armed it. Instead,

Orm has done that using the nuclear material

from the submarine and activated it. Aquaman

swears to stop his brother, and the League insists

on aiding him. At the Arctic Circle, the League

is joined by Batman and the Batwing before clashing

with Brax forces. The Atlantean soldiers manage

to hold the League at bay, and Aquaman breaks

through, as do Lantern and Batman. Um, yeah.

Aquaman riding Shamu. That was awesome. That

was awesome. Hell, GL even says it. I saw it,

but I don't believe it. I don't believe it, yeah.

So, in the Glacier Cavern, Aquaman reaches the

reactor and confronts Orm, who has the advantage

with the two good hands and the Royal Trident.

While Aquaman engages him in a brutal fight,

Lantern and Batman try to shut down the reactor.

In a break in the fighting, Orm sees them and

destroys the controls with the blast from his

trident. Batman will have to shut it down manually.

Lantern creates a body shield with his ring and

Batman climbs inside the reactor. Alright, there's

something really wrong with that. What's that?

Can you say Green Lantern Construct Condom over

Batman? Not what I was thinking, but my guess

was this. What were you thinking? I was thinking,

come on, this is Batman. He would not ask for

a shield. He would just dive right in. Yeah,

you're right. Um, but then again, at the same

time, it wouldn't, he would never get to where

he was supposed to go, though. Uh, okay. Alright.

Maybe it was Blight from Batman Beyond? I don't

know. Um, as they fight, Orm loses the trident,

but critically wounds his brother with a knife.

Suddenly, the ice beneath them crumbles. And

Orm is left dangling off a ledge with Aquaman

standing over him. Orm begs for his brother's

help, but Aquaman coldly picks up his trident.

Orm loses his grip and falls with a scream into

the abyss. Batman closes the manual shut -off

valve and the reactor shuts down. The world is

safe. Yay. At Atlantis, Black and his men plead

that Orm forced them and they would never have

otherwise gone against their king. Aquaman coldly

orders them locked up. With the League present,

Aquaman reflects on his mistakes but resolves

to go on working for a peace between Atlantis

and the surface world for the sake of his son.

Okay, um... I know that there's a big debate

on whether Superman can breathe in space. I know

that Mike and James from World's Finest Podcast

brought this up when they did the review of In

Blackest Night, when he has the space suit. But

does he really need... Why the fuck does Superman

need a mask for breathing underwater? He's Superman,

dammit. What the hell? I don't think he's shown

anywhere. I don't know. I may have to retract

this statement, but I don't think he's shown

ever in the rest of the series with a mask underwater.

I'm not sure. But at the same time, in the earlier

part of the episode, earlier part of the story

arc anyway, John's swimming about without a mask

at all. The only two that have masks are Superman

and Wonder Woman. Yep. I'm kind of like, okay,

they're going to drown the person that can breathe

underwater normally, apparently. Really? Really?

Well, I mean, I know John isn't, I know GL isn't

in, he wasn't in one of his bubbles, but you

could kind of argue that, and Bruce Tim mentioned

this in one of the special features, that, you

know, One of the reasons why they wanted to use

Jon Stewart for the Green Lantern in this show

was diversity, but most of the Green Lanterns

have that little domino mask over their eyes,

and they wanted Jon to be, well, I don't care

if people know that I'm a Green Lantern. I'm

proud of the fact that I'm a Green Lantern. So

they wanted to give him some sort of look that

would signify that he's been a Green Lantern

for a long time, and that's why his eyes and

his entire body fuses with the green glow. So

you could argue that the green glow protects

him from having to breathe underwater, but that's

kind of sketchy at best. Yeah, normally they

would have the automatic overriding force field.

It should automatically come up, regardless of

if he wants it to or not. So I'm kind of like,

how come that didn't pop up? That's kind of weird.

Giant toilet flushing when Mira releases in the

tank. He's like... That was a combination of

a toilet flushing and Donald Duck. Donald Duck.

I saw that and I'm like, okay, they're in a toilet.

Yeah. Ooh, he cut off his own hand to save his

son. And then, of course, we have Bloody Blanket.

And then we have GL going, oh, I told you he

was crazy. I'm like, really? You're going to

say that? What an asshole. You know, that just

goes to show how they portrayed him in here.

And as I said before, Aquaman riding the killer

whale was awesome. And, of course, the first

thing I thought of was, hello, Shamu, because

Shamu was the most famous killer whale, yeah.

Well, eh, Free Willy, whatever. No. Just no.

Even though I think it's cool that Batman got

cloaked in the Green Lantern thing, like I said

before, you know, lantern condom, basically.

But the problem with the whole GL Batman team

-up in this is generally Batman is not a team

player. He's even said so. So why does when he

comes out when GL says, Man, way to go. You did

it. And Batman's like, no, we did it. I'm like,

what the hell? Okay, my thought was he's saying

that just to make Green Lantern feel like he

actually did something. Like, it's okay. No,

you had a lot to do with this. Yeah, you used

the ring. Yeah. Ah, way to go. Team player. Yeah.

This two -parter just to... kind of give my own

final thoughts here. This one, it's not one that

I would put in, like if I was just going to watch

an episode of Justice League, either season one

or season two, the two -parter, three -parters,

this is not one I would watch. I just, I don't,

I just don't like them. I don't like these two

episodes. I don't know. What about you? I'm sorry,

I got distracted for a moment. Well, that needs

to stop happening. Yes, I'm sorry, it was something

very important. I'm sure it was. Okay, um, do

you want me to, what? Overall thoughts on this.

Overall thoughts. Okay, um, from what I said

in the first episode, how we were talking about,

how I said there's a definite... separation going

on between the prior incarnations of the Justice

League and Super Friends, and what we've got

now, like, they've really gone the extra mile

with this just to prove, hey, this isn't the

guy that goes, oh, Wonder Woman, my ability to

talk to fish is of no use. You know, we definitely

see Mr. Hardcore Arthur here, where, you know,

he's got the hook hand, he's chopping off his

own limb to save his son. Yeah. And, you know,

the cold -heartedness of, no, you tried to take

over my kingdom. You threatened me. You almost

killed my son. No, I'm going to let you fall

to your death. We're seeing a lot more of a segregation

that they're attempting between the prior incarnation

and what we've got now. And it really comes through

in this episode. Yeah, it does. You know, I think

it works. This version of Aquaman works well

for the Justice League cartoon. But it's not

my favorite. I have to disagree because I really

do like this Aquaman. Honestly, I read the comics

way back when they started to come out and he

was Mr. Insanely hairy barbarian dude with a

hook hand that turned into a harpoon. That's

the Aquaman that I really dig. True is not in

the comics right now, but I don't know. There's

some things about the episode that really bothered

me, like why are they attacking the queen? She's

still the sovereign queen of the nation. Why

are they assaulting her? Yeah, true. And GL was

just an absolute dick in this episode. Yeah.

He's a dick in a lot of the episodes in the first

season. It kind of goes along with the same thing

of, you know, we brought it up last episode of

Secret Origins podcast where, you know, Superman

throughout the first season is a wimp because

as soon as he gets hit the first time, you don't

see him for like, I don't know, 20 minutes of

the 30 minute or 20 minutes of the 22 minute

episode. There were some things that popped out,

like Batman's like, oh, can your ring protect

me? Really? I mean, Green Lantern flies in space.

How much radiation is in space? Yeah, true. And

the entire time I was watching this, I'm like,

oh my god, it's like global warming. Yeah, this

was a global warming episode. It's kind of like

when I said in the first episode of the podcast

about Secret Origins. did we really need Superman

IV retold in animation? Yeah. This is the same

thing with the whole global warming issue. And

honestly, they've got these massive... They obviously

have advanced technology. If they've got that

level of technology for the ships and the buildings,

I find it really hard to believe that... Arthur

and the rest of his people would be like, okay,

we're going to create something that's going

to be a doomsday weapon that's going to raise

and destroy the global ecosystems. Never mind

what it's going to do to the oceans and potentially

ruin our livelihoods. We're going to do this

to get back at the Earth people. Yeah. That threw

me. It's like, really? You're going to do something

that's going to heat up the oceans, raise the

ocean levels, completely destroy all the ecosystems.

And you're really going to build this? Yeah.

I don't know. Yeah, it's just... And see, the

whole thing is, though, he said in the episode

that it was built to destroy the surface world.

So if you destroy the surface world, is the ocean

even going to still be around? I seriously doubt

it. I mean, it seems so stupid that they would

come up with something like that. Yeah. All right.

Well, I think we are going to move on. So this

is how it ends. You know, I've carried this around

for years, waiting for just the right moment.

But now that it's here, I almost feel a little

let down. Almost. Any last requests? Luthor,

I have to know. Those weapons you sold to the

terrorists, how... How did I get them through

customs? A gift here, a bribe there. When money

talks, people listen. Like Stavros at the shipping

company. Or Schneider, the Interpol agent who

looked the other way. Sounds like you're going

to have company in prison. It can't be! The Kryptonite!

Won't protect you any longer. No! You're usually

more careful, Lex. You slipped up. And you're

going down hard. Mission accomplished. So much

for your image as the benevolent businessman.

This is the end of an era. The end of your era,

maybe. Why do they always run? Up next, we've

got Injustice for All, Part 1. And a quick rundown

of the plot is, Lex Luthor's criminal activities

have finally exposed, using a sting by which

the Justice League, when Luthor lords it over

Superman, rendered helplessly by Kryptonite,

who turns out to be John Jones. In disguise,

of course. With Batman and Green Lantern recording

the conversation, Luthor flees the LexCorp tower

in a personal aircraft. Which, I'm not quite

sure how that flew, but... We'll leave that for

suspense and disbelief. Yes. Superman flies after

him. You almost said Spider -Man, didn't you?

Yes, I did. Superman, not Spider -Man, flies

after him, but Luthor has an unexpected seizure,

and Superman must act quickly to keep him from

crashing. Didn't really look like a seizure,

but... Luthor awakens to the hospital bed. and

Superman and a doctor inform him that he is suffering

from an incurable form of blood cancer caused

by a long -term exposure to the kryptonite's

radiation. Now, I do have... Well, before you

continue, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but this

is not the first time that humans getting cancer

was brought up in the DC animated universe because,

going back, and I know you haven't seen it yet,

but you really need to look it up on YouTube,

World's Finest. or the Batman -Superman movie,

that three -part Superman the Animated Series

episode, the Jade Dragon, which was basically

a giant dragon made of kryptonite. It had been

passed down through generation after generation

of some emperor in China or something, and they

all died from having been exposed to it for a

long period of time. So kryptonite can kill humans.

I'm surprised Luther didn't see that originally

when he was doing research on it, because you'd

think he would come up with something like that.

Very true. Okay, where was I? Blood cancer. Right,

so Luther loses interest in defending his case,

and so he is sent to prison. He convinces the

ultra -humanite, who occupies an exile to him,

to help him escape in exchange for a large sum

of money. Once free, he summons a group of other

super criminals, Cheetah, Copperhead, The Shade,

Solomon Grundy, and Star Sapphire for one purpose,

to destroy the League. In their first attack,

they lure the Justice League into a trap, but

quickly find that the League is too well organized

for them to overcome. Both sides suffer one casualty.

Batman is wounded by Copperhead's venom, while

Copperhead is taken captive. While Luthor is

ranting about the gang's failure, the Joker appears.

Luthor orders him out, but the Joker says they

need him, as he is the one who knows Batman best.

To demonstrate, he plucks a bat -shaped humming

device off of Luthor. Refusing to rest after

being cured of the venom for a fear of being

considered the weakest among a team of super

-powered beings, Batman follows the signal to

the gang's hideout, but is ambushed and knocked

out. Um... Thoughts? Yes, uh, thoughts. Lex is...

Okay, outside of, like, Brainiac and Darkseid,

Lex is Superman's mortal enemy. Why the hell

is Superman feeling sorry for him? He's like...

Superman's a very compassionate person. I understand

that. But... I don't know. And he is the type

of person that would try to... If he sees anybody

in danger or even someone that he doesn't like,

that... potentially die. He would be the person

to try to save them. But the thing is, though,

even ever since all these shows are connected,

ever since Superman the Animated Series, he has

always had a grudge against Luthor for, you know,

all the stuff that he's done and all the stuff

that he has supposedly done. Why all of a sudden,

even if he is dying, I mean, I'm not saying Superman

has to be like, oh... what the fuck, Luther,

I'm not going to save you. But, I mean, just

the way it came off, he's like, he's like, Lex,

are you okay, buddy? It's like, what the fuck

is wrong with you? What kind of kryptonite pipe

are you smoking? I just, I don't know. He's the

Boy Scout. He's going to try to help you. Well,

that changes rapidly as these seasons progress,

though. Yes. Was the Ultra Humanite from Gorilla

City? Um, I don't know. This is the first episode

that I've ever actually heard of him. And I looked

at the DCAU wiki on this, and it didn't mention

anything in this episode's synopsis. Maybe it

would mention it on his character page, but I

didn't look at that. So, how the hell does the

humanite have an electroplate on the floor to

shock the guards? That makes no sense. It's one

of the minor perks. Yeah, minor perks that you

only use once in a while. Uh -huh. Oh, good lord.

Apparently he's an old supervillain of Superman.

True. I know Lex is rich, you know, rich beyond

rich, but how the hell did he get a dynamite

package in prison in such a short period of time?

Because from the time that he crosses the wires

to break into Humanite's TV signal, To the time

humanite lets him out of the cage, or the, excuse

me, or the cell, he has this package of dynamite.

The guards didn't search him for that. Okay,

my thoughts are, well, okay, first, let me say

that I think it's highly unlikely that he would

get that so rapidly after being thrown in jail

for embezzlement and bribery of higher officials.

But, that being said, um, He is uber rich, so

he probably did pay some people, and my thoughts

are that he had that in the first place before

he contacted Ultra Humanite, so he had the means

to get out, but he wanted to have some other

things in place so that he had a safe way out

and use that as a backup. Right. Like, okay,

I could blow the doors out, but it'd be much

easier to have Ultra Humanite just... Leap me

out and then use this as a diversion. Yeah, that's

true. I hate the new Batmobile design. See, they

all kind of look the same to me. No, no, no.

If you go back, and the reason why I hate the

Batmobile design in Justice League, if you go

back to Batman the Animated Series and you look

at that, that is pretty much modeled after the

1989 film. This Batmobile design, I don't know

what it's modeled after because it's completely

different. This is the first villain team -up

episode of Justice League. Yes, it is. The Batarang

hits Star Sapphire right in the forehead. Ow.

Now, again, I'm going to... Mind you, it's also

right in the Star Sapphire itself, so I'm kind

of like, what, they didn't, like, depower her

at all? Yeah. That doesn't make any sense. I'm

going to have to go back and look, and of course

you can probably give more on this, but I've

heard rumors, I don't think it's rumors, I think

it's, I've just read somewhere that also Carol

Danvers was Star Sapphire. I'm wondering if the

JL version of Star Sapphire is supposed to be

Carol Danvers. That would make sense. Okay. That

doesn't look like her. Honestly, if that is Carol

Danvers, I'm kind of confused as to why she would

want money. Yeah, true. Because she's richer

than anything. She's in charge of her own air

company. Yeah, aerospace. What would be her motivation

for this? Yeah, so it's probably not her. Something

else that kind of bothered me is he says that...

Lex says that these are the best at what they

do, and I'm thinking, really, Lex? You've got

more money than dirt at this point. Why would

you choose these guys? Because obviously, you

know, they're going to be... They're not the

highest tier villains in the world. Like, you

could have, like, bribed some more people. You

get the Joker eventually, but, like, is he going...

Is he saying this to try to stroke their egos

a bit and get them more compliant? Probably.

I mean, we do have Cheetah to counteract Wonder

Woman, who they are, nemeses. Yeah. But, I don't

know. I'm a little confused as to, like, is he

just saying that so that he can try to get some

power behind him that he's paying for and he

doesn't have to... Well, that's the whole plot

of the thing, though. He keeps bribing them and

keeps, like... Every time they screw up and he

yells at them and they say, oh, well, fuck you,

Lex, we're not going to do shit for you anymore.

He's like, oh, I'll double, I'll triple, I'll

quadruple. And that's the whole underlying premise

between Lex and them is he's just going to keep

paying them more money as long as they stick

around. But honestly, when I think about Lex

Luthor, I do think frugal businessman. So I'm

like, okay, is he going for what he knows is

going to be budgetary okay? Because they're going

to renege and want some more money. for all the

crap. No, he's not going through. He is, as you

said in the synopsis, this pretty much breaks

Lex as a businessman. This episode, this two

-parter pretty much shows him as an all -in -out

villain. He pretty much drops the businessman

thing. But at the same time, you can't just shut

that off of someone's personality. True. They're

always going to have that mentality. Well, right.

No, I'm not saying the personality part. I'm

saying as far as how he's portrayed throughout

the rest of Justice League until the end. For

the most part, he is a... I guess you could call

him a supervillain. Especially once he goes brainiac.

But... Strikers Prison. Is it supposed to be

Rikers Island from New York? I'm not sure. That

would make sense. That would make sense. It would

also... give more insight as to where Metropolis

is, whether it's New York or New Jersey or whatever.

And, of course, my last note is the first appearance

of the Joker in the Justice League. Oh, and it

was so good, too. Yeah. Oh, there were some great

lines in this, too. Like, oh, Lex Luthor, the

plot thing. I'm like, really? That was great

shit. And then, Hawkgirl and Batman. Like, okay,

the whole scene where they're trying to save

the people and the kid in the fiery building

and first thought is, okay, the kid's in there,

the dad's outside. What exactly happened and

how come the dad didn't grab the kid? But, um,

when... Batman gets the girl, and the girl's

like, oh, I'm scared. And he's all like, no,

don't be. Like, really? You're not cute and fuzzy,

Batman, really. You're the embodiment of fear

in Gotham. All right, well, I can kind of counteract

that. I can kind of explain that away. And yes,

you are correct about he's supposed to put fear

into the hearts of criminals in Gotham and around

the world. But however old the little girl was,

And I will bring this up constantly throughout

this show. One of the greatest things about the

fact that Kevin Conroy has voiced Batman for

over 10 years now, for the most part, he has

a distinct Bruce Wayne voice and a distinct Batman

voice, where he's all calm and soothing as Bruce,

and then when he puts that mask on, I'm Batman

and you're going to shit your pants. You know?

Of course, obviously, I can't... mimic Kevin

Conroy, and not that I would try, but his voice

softens when he talks to her, and I think that's

him delving into his childhood where his parents

got killed. So he doesn't want to see her scared,

and he wants to protect her. Granted, it's kind

of against the Batman character, but it works

for the show, I think. I think it works for that

portion of this episode. And then something that

the synopsis didn't cover was they're in that

fiery building, but Hawkgirl comes in and saves

them. And she's like, you know, normally people

say thank you for me saving them. And Batman's

like, well, normally I'm not saved. Yeah, yeah.

Like, that's a great line. Batman has a lot of

great lines throughout the entire series. And

then, you know, like I said before, the Joker

arrives and it's like... Lexi, kid, you need

me around because I know how the Bat thinks.

And it's so true. Yes. Oh, God, what was it?

There was a recent comic series that was a big

crossover arc, and the Joker was really, really,

really pissed off because they were getting all

the supervillains in for some giant supervillain

group, and nobody wanted Joker. And the entire

time, he's like, you know, how come nobody wants

me? And someone finally said, don't you know

that everyone thinks the Joker's too wild? At

that point, Joker's killing, like, villains left

and right. But, you know, on the good side, though,

Luther did take him in, and if this was going

with the character of the Joker, if he didn't

take him in, there would have been a lot more

problems. Oh, yeah, no, no doubt. But the thing

that kind of bothered me was, The Joker knocked

out Solomon Grundy with some knockout gas. Really?

You need knockout gas to kill a zombie? What?

Yeah, that makes sense. Oh, I need to point something

out about Grundy. I never knew this. I don't

know if people know this at all. I was looking

on the DCAU wiki for this episode because I was

looking for different trivia things and everything

else. You know who voices Grundy? Who? Mark Hamill.

But he is uncredited as doing so. Wow. That's

really cool. Yeah. So is that it for part one?

I believe that's it for part one. What else?

Oh, we did see that Hawkgirl took out Solomon

Grundy in the huge fight. And that could be a

little prelude to later on episodes when the

two do continue on their pseudo -relationship

and connection between each other. Yeah. Bird

nose, me like bird nose. So, shall we go into

part two? Yes, sir. Okay, part two. So the synopsis

for this is Batman first appears encased in full

-body titanium restraints and a stasis field

shielding him from John's telepathy. With various

members of the gang taking turns to guard him,

Luther takes his utility belt to the lab. Superman

and the Flash interrogate Copperhead in jail.

He refuses to talk, and when Superman physically

threatens him, Copperhead mocks him by calling

him a Boy Scout and comparing him to a school

bully. As Copperhead is taken back to his cell,

having revealed nothing, Superman wonders aloud,

how does Batman do it? Which I find very, very

jarring, because, and I don't know how much you've

seen of Superman in the animated series. I know

you said you haven't seen the world's finest

three -parter. There's an episode of Superman

the Animated Series where Bruce, Tim, and them

were doing the new Batman adventures and Superman

at the same time. So they crossed over the shows

and they did an episode called Night Time where

Bruce slash Batman disappears and nobody knows

where he is and Superman has to take over being

Batman to help Robin find him. You know, so why

the hell would... Superman asking this how does

Batman do it when it comes to interrogations

when he pretended he was Batman for another 22

minute episode you know two or three years previous

to this episode I mean come on Superman you're

not fucking brain dead you're not a moron you're

not Joe Dirt there is no part there is no business

in the front party in the back no no there was

there was a time when he didn't have that mullet

Not in this show. True, but the comics. Okay.

All right, well, you are the comic guru here,

so I'll... Yeah, I agree. Continue. You were

at the... How does that name end? Yeah. In his

cell, Batman works his magic on Cheetah, his

current guard. He listens with symphony... With

symphony... Sympathy! to her story on how she

was forced to use experimental genetic techniques

on herself, and feeling a rush of attraction,

she kisses him. Luther manages to disable the

anti -theft devices in the utility belt, and

finds a remote control entry for the watchtower.

Shade, Sapphire, and Grundy infiltrate the tower,

knock out Jaune, and plant a bomb. On Earth,

Luther has another seizure, and afraid that he

won't live long enough to even see his revenge,

he asks for help. Humanite agrees, for an extra

fee. The League returns to the tower, and while

they're ministering to Jaune, someone telephones

the tower and warns them about the bomb. Conducting

a hurried search, they manage to find it, and

the Flash throws it into space seconds before

it explodes. Seeing his plan has failed, Luther

then takes out his anger on the gang, who decide

to quit. He only manages to keep them around

by offering triple their pay. Now, I do have

to interrupt you here, because there is one thing

that the synopsis does not mention. Before the

whole... No, after the whole cheetah thing...

She does look really dejected at one point. Right,

but I'm not talking about cheetah. Joker comes

in with a VHS and TV and whatnot and said...

A bag of popcorn. Yeah, yeah. A box of popcorn.

He's like, it's time to watch the show. Your

friends are going to go bye -bye, but there's

a sequel to this because after they're gone,

I get you. Which is insanely creepy, but very

cool. Yes, so they tripled the pay. Right. So

in the cell, the Joker is guarding Batman. He's

also disappointed to see that the plot failed,

but he decides to dissipate. disobey Luther's

orders and kill Batman anyway. Fortunately, Grundy

arrives and forces the Joker away. Batman thanks

him and asks him for a glass of water. Grundy

gives it to him and Batman spits it into the

stasis field device and causes the short circuit.

Immediately, Jaune knows where he is. Yes. In

another part of the hideout, Humanite devises

a treatment that temporarily stabilizes Luther's

condition, which involves encasing his... chestnut

containment suit. I wish cancer worked this way.

Grindy comes running to tell him that the League

is on their way. Before preparing their last

ambush, Luther says he needs to expose the traitor

who tipped them off to the League. He checks

his surveillance videos and sees Cheetah kissing

Batman. Grindy drags her away even as she screams

that she's innocent. So you mentioned to me before

we started this in Skype, you wrote Batman is

a cat pimp, and the first thing I thought was...

Oh my god, yes. The first thing I thought was,

he's good with pussy. Wow. Okay. Well, it relates

to cats. True. The cat and the bat phenomenon,

I can see. I'm trying to think, like, who else?

Like... I'm trying to think about any other female

cat characters. Because we're not touching Catman.

No, no, no, no. I can't think of any other female

cat DC characters off the top of my head. I can't.

Between Catwoman and Cheetah, I can't either.

Yeah. Okay, anyway. The League enters the hideout

and attacks. They seem to be winning, but Luthor

appears in his armored battle suit that harnesses

the kryptonite radiation in his body that has

been absorbed. He's about to use it to kill Superman,

but Humanite disables him and surrenders, revealing

himself to be the traitor. The Joker decides

to run, but not before finishing Batman off.

He runs back into the cell and finds that Batman

has already freed himself from the restraints.

He says, I could have escaped at any time. before

knocking out the Joker. You are despicable. Yes.

If anyone, any other character in this series

can pull off the really cartoony scene, it would

have to be him and the Creeper. Yeah. Anyway,

Luthor and the gang are taken into custody. Humanite

asks Batman if he'll keep his end of the bargain.

Batman agrees, double what Luthor is paying.

It seems that he... suborned humanite while he

was being guarded. Back in Stryker's Island,

Luther pounds on the wall of his cell, yelling

at a humanite that he'll pay for his treachery.

Humanite who is watching an opera program on

public broadcasting serenely ignores him. The

program concludes that this program was made

possible by the gift of the ultra -humanite and

viewers like you. That was a great ending. Yes,

it was. I honestly don't know. This is one of

those episodes where I'm going to be watching

it, and while I really want to take notes, I

just end up watching it because I like it so

damn much. And this is one of them. I have four

Could that be subliminal for touch my nipple?

Because if you look at the Lex Luthor design

where his gun is, it's right over his left breast.

or where his left breast would be. And Joker

just takes his long -ass fingernail and taps

the barrel of the gun. Oh, God. I just... I noticed

an animation error where he's tapping it at first,

and then when they zoom out to another shot,

he's just tapping his chest. Right where the

gun should have been. So there you go, there's

your Luther nipple theory. There you go. Batman

gets the water. Uh, Grundy, you fool. Which,

it's really not that much of a stretch to say

Grundy is a fool. He is an undead zombie, for

Christ's sake. I believe this marks the first

time that any villains get into the Watchtower

in this cartoon. I believe you are right. And

last one is, Humanite ensures his prison lifestyle

remains in glory, as well as infuriating Lex.

This is true, because in the beginning of the

story arc, he's like, well, what do I need money

for? Honestly, I've got everything that I need

right here. I've got my culture channel. I've

got my computers. I've got my TV. I get my Salisbury

steak. No, he was disgusted at that. He's like,

Salisbury steak? Really? But, you know, one thing,

going back to that first episode, actually, going

back to the first part of the two -parter, when

they pan over what all you're just saying that

he has, that keyboard is way too small for his

hands. He had picks. Oh, good. Or he uses a pen

or a pencil. What are your thoughts on that?

Okay, so... Batman is a psychological master.

He's played almost every character off one another.

He knows that Luthor is going to sit there and

fiddle around with his belt. He makes everyone

think that he's completely unable to escape when

he can get out at any time. He's trying to figure

out what's going on. He psychologically manipulates

Cheetah into lust. gets Inhumanite and Grundy

to fight with each other. He manipulates Grundy

to give him a thing of water whenever he wants

so he can escape. You know, the only person that

he wasn't manipulating was Shade and Sapphire.

That's because they weren't really around. I

mean, they were up there looking after Luthor.

And if they had come down, he would have manipulated

them too. This episode just illustrated how superb

he is at the criminal mindset. And why the Joker,

who is showing signs of so many different psychoses,

but no significant one, that is for sure why

they can counterplay off each other so well.

But other than that, Batman and Cats, he's a

major player. He just has a furry fetish. And

the thing of... Jean getting knocked out so easy?

Like, okay, the lights are going out. His first

instinct isn't to go transparent or super hard

or something? I don't think he ever goes... I

know this is kind of weird saying super hard,

but I don't think he ever goes super hard in

this series. There's a lot of things that I've

seen in other comic book DVDs and stuff like

that, like Justice League, New Frontier. There's

a lot of things about Jean Jones' character that

they don't really touch on. They kind of touch

on the fact that he... His weakness is fire or

the color yellow, but not really. I don't think

I've ever seen him harden in this entire cartoon.

I've seen him phase and shapeshift. I thought

in the first story arc, like the Secret Origins,

I thought that there was a point where he became

uber hard and something smashed into him. I don't

remember. I'm not sure. What else? Let's see.

Right, a gold blinking briefcase that isn't very

well hidden. And they can't find it. Oh, my God.

They're not going to be like, oh, what's this

briefcase? Did Santa come? You know, it's right

out in the jet bay. No one seems to notice this.

Well, you know, and the other thing, the poor

part about that is, though, they were in the

landing bay. Superman didn't look around with

his x -ray vision. And then you have to have

GL. Use the ring to track the thermal pattern.

Well, it's in the same key of, okay, they've

got the Flash and he's looking for Ultra Humanite

and Lex Luthor. Really, the Flash, who's like,

oh, I found the bomb. Bam, here. You know, like,

he really couldn't find them. What was he looking

at that entire part of the first episode? Like,

oh, hey, I'm going to look up some girls' skirts.

They'll never notice. I mean, really? I don't

know. That just kind of irked me. So I think

we are going to move on. You look more radiant

than ever. No. Gone, Mother? I didn't go anywhere.

I was in my room. Alone. For eight months. Definitely

not. The world was in peril. Would you have me

stand by and do nothing? Hera, give me strength.

Home at last. What? Sisters! Philippus! Antiope!

By the Goddess! Mother! No! Forgive me. I should

have been here to protect you. I should have...

And finally up today is the two -parter Paradise

Lost. To synopsize this one, after helping Superman

to rescue a family during a hurricane, Diana

decides that she has been away from Themyscira

for too long. She travels back to the island,

only to find that all her Amazon sisters have

been turned to stone, including her mother Hippolyta.

Diana also discovers sorcerer Felix Faust, who

blackmails her into gathering certain artifacts

for him. He claims that if she brings the artifacts

to him, he will restore the Amazons, believing

she has no other choice, Diana agrees. During

Diana's search for the first artifact, Diana

is confronted by Superman. She reluctantly explains

the situation to him, and he, along with Flash,

Jean, Batman, and Batman volunteer to help Diana.

Superman, Flash, and John collect the artifacts

facing several protective spells and magical

guardians along the way. Batman researches Faust's

background and finds that he was a respected

professor of archaeology until he lost his position

for dabbling in black magic. Diana realizes that

Faust is working under the direction of Hades,

the lord of the underworld, Tartarus. She explains

that her mother had a brief affair with God before

he was banished. The gate to Tartarus is located

beneath Themyscira, and the artifacts form a

key that will open it. Despite this information,

Diana insists that she has no choice but to give

Faust the key in order to free her mother and

sisters. The other League members insist on accompanying

her, and she reluctantly agrees after delivering

the key. Faust attempts to betray Diana. The

four other League members reveal themselves,

but Faust restores Hippolyta to life, but then

kidnaps her. Oh, I've got to stop. Because I

know a lot of the wiki pages, both wikipedia

.org and other wikis that are created, it's user

generated. The reason why the second part of

Paradise Lost Part two doesn't have a synopsis

on the DCAU wiki. It's because they put it all

in part one. So I don't actually remember where

the hell part one ends. I believe it's... I don't

know. So we're just going to talk about it as

one... Up to this point? Yeah, well, I'm just

going to finish the synopsis and we'll just talk

about the... The overarching story? Yeah. Jesus

Christ. So... We're dealing with the wrong deities

if you're talking about Jesus Christ. We're talking

about Hades. Yeah, I know. Faust attempts to

betray Diana. The four other League members reveal

themselves, but Faust restores her politics to

life, but then kidnaps her and chains her out

front of the gate as it is opened. Hades appears,

and Faust demands... What, Hades? has promised

him, in return for his help, ultimate knowledge.

Smiling, Hades touches Faust, who begins to age

rapidly and scream in terrible pain. As Hades

explains, ultimately, pain and suffering are

all any mortal will know. Wonder Woman and the

League appear freeing Hippolyta and fighting

against Hades and his demonic magic, which he

uses to summon the army of skeletons to battle

the heroes. By a slim margin, Diana manages to

destroy the key. causing the gate to close. It

took Hades back and his minions back to Tartarus,

including Faust. Hades also attempts to drag

Hippolyta with him, but Diana is able to pull

her mother free before the gates close. With

Faust's entry into Tartarus, his spell on the

Amazons is broken. The victory turns bittersweet.

Hippolyta honors Superman, Jaune, Flash, and

Batman for their help, naming them heroes of

Themyscira. However, because Diana broke the

sacred law by bringing men to the island, Hippolyta

has no choice but to exile Diana from Themyscira.

Though shaken by her mother's decree, Diana accepts

her ruling and departs from Themyscira with the

other League members. Okay. Yeah. First note,

Hurricane Gardner. I believe that's a comic book

reference, isn't it? I'm not sure. I don't think...

I don't think it's referencing Guy Gardner, is

it? It might be referencing his brother, who

was a cop but also was a football player at one

point. Oh. I thought... Who's the Green Lantern?

Guy Gardner. Okay, that's what I thought. In

the hurricane scene with the little girl, Wonder

Woman goes, I've got you, little sister. And

the little girl says, you're not my sister. I

know this is the way Wonder Woman talks, but

really, if a stranger came to me claiming they

were family, I'd say the exact same thing. Okay,

I will say that there's... I don't see how that

would be any different than someone saying, I

got you, bro. No, I understand that, but... I

don't want to say this as politically correct

as possible, but the 1970s viewpoint of African

-American communism, where everyone was a brother

or sister or family, At that point, it would

be okay, but I'm not sure. It's a cultural thing,

I guess is what I'm trying to say. Right, and

that's fine, but I've never, I mean, just the

way I grew up, because I grew up in southeastern

Massachusetts, even though unfortunately I'm

in Kentucky now, there was one black family in

our entire neighborhood. We knew. When I grew

up, I was a dare kid. I knew not to talk to strangers.

If I didn't know somebody, I don't. It's not

like down here in the south where everybody says

hello to everybody. I'm like, what? You know,

I just kind of like nod my head. I don't say.

If I don't know the person, I won't say shit

to them. Right. That's just the way I am. It's

the way I've always been. I had to, when I wrote

this next note, I had to. I had to invoke Scooby

-Doo. I was like, run, roll, Raggy. There's a

man on the island. And then the fight between

Superman and Wonder Woman. I know that they are,

out of the entire league, you can set GL aside,

but they are the two strongest out of the entire

league as far as physical strength. I could argue

that. Okay, but I'm saying out of the seven that

are there, As far as physical brute strength,

Superman and Wonder Woman, to me anyway, it seems

like they are the strongest. They're battling

each other as monsters? That's just lame. The

monsters didn't even look cool. It's lame. I

agree. Oh, what the hell else was I going to

bring up? Crap. I don't know. What do you have?

Well, about them being the strongest, people

tend to forget that John Jones, the Martian Manhunter,

is also as strong as Superman. Physically. It

is nice to see Hades actually shown as a badass

in comparison to the Wonder Woman release that

came out. Yeah. Because now when he's just this

fat slob, I'm like, that is not the Greek god

of death. No. So we got around with Hippolyta,

okay. What happened with the whole thing with

Persephone? I mean, are they kind of glazing

over that? But mind you, I'm also, like, a Greek

mythology, like, Greek reconstructionist, so

I'm kind of like, oh, really? Okay. Way to really

treat those deities with respect. Woo. God, what

else? There was, like, you could definitely feel

the heartbreak going on with Diana because...

If you're in a point of authority in a family

like that, you cannot bend the rules as you see

fit. So, you know, Hippolyta's really like, I

don't want to do this, but I have to follow the

laws. Because if she doesn't follow those laws...

Zeus is going to come down with a trident or

something. Oh, who was it? Athena, I think? Yeah.

Hera. Hera would have set that entire situation

up, but... In that position, in that type of

culture, she could not bend the rules for that

and expect people to actually keep following

her. They would depose her as ruler of the kingdom.

I understand that the Flash is trying to back

her up, going, hey, this isn't right. We just

saved your butts. If it wasn't for her, you guys

wouldn't be around. But Batman's the one that's

sitting there and is trying to shut the Flash

up, going, this is not easy for her. It's not

easy to lose your family. She has no choice of

coming back. Shut up, Flash. Yeah, exactly. I

am kind of curious, though, as to what would

turn them all into stone. Because if... It was

the Medusa Medallion. Okay, I understand that.

The original origin of... the Amazons that I

know of from when I started to read comics was

they were all women that were killed previously

through abuse or war or things like that, and

the gods made new stone bodies for them and instilled

their souls into it. Oh, okay. So I'm like, okay,

are they severing the soul and body connection,

or is there something else? Hmm. I honestly don't

know. If that's the case, that's some really

serious power that Faust was throwing around.

If he can negate what the gods have done. Right.

Exactly. And as far as part two, a couple of

my notes, I only took two notes for part two

because, I don't know, I started watching, I

like part two better than part one, but... There's

a lot more action to it. Yeah. Overall, I don't

like either of the episodes overall. Again, these

aren't ones that I would just pop into watch.

My two notes are both about Flash. When Flash

runs really, really fast and trips up on something,

it's funny the way he can't stop himself. He's

the fastest man alive and he can't stop really,

really fast. That's ridiculous. And then he ends

up tumbling six feet or six yards away or whatever.

And the other one was, where the hell did Flash

keep the snake -headed doohickey? There are no

pockets in his costume. He stuck it in his ring,

where he puts his... This is not the Barry Allen

Flash. This is the Wally West Flash. I don't

think there was... There was no ring costume

for this one. Aw. Well, it was a thought. Yeah,

it was a thought. Do you have anything else you

want to say about this one? Not really. I was

just kind of expecting there to be more to the

god interference, like, oh, Hades is doing something.

You know, as much as Wonder Woman's calling Hera

for strength, like, oh, Mother, give me strength.

Oh, Hera. Oh, Mother, I've been stuck in my room

for the past six months. Oh, Hera, give me strength.

You know, honestly, I would have liked Hera to

show up. Susan Eisenberg does not... She does

an excellent job voicing Wonder Woman, Susan

Eisenberg does, but the whole... Every time she

says, Hera, give me strength, or Hera, help them,

it's not very convincing. True. Alright, well,

I think that about does it for this episode.

We are going to the... the information that you

need to find out where our show is. And yeah,

so I'll see you in a minute. Whoopsie. Time to

run. But there's still one unfinished piece of

business. What? I could have escaped any time,

but I thought I'd stick around to keep an eye

on you clowns. You're despicable. This is the

quote of episode two. Let me give you one word

of advice. Okay, I'll tell, I'll tell. What did

he say? You don't want to know. Thank you for

joining us here on the Secret Origins Podcast.

There are several ways to get in contact with

us to leave feedback for the show. The first

is you can stop by Predacon Empire. No, wait,

that's the second. Geekcastradio .com. Find all

the other podcasts there. You can stop by PredaconEmpire

.com slash Nexus. Those are our forums. And the

third is you can leave the show feedback in iTunes.

We now have a voicemail line. Call us and leave

us your thoughts on each episode. Be sure to

say what show you're leaving the message for

and your name. The number is 502 -526 -5821.

You can also follow us on Twitter. The show name

there is Secret Origins. Mine is TFG1Mike. And

what is your Twitter? CaminitiStyle, C -A -M

-I -N -I -T -I -S -T -Y -L -E. We hope you enjoyed

this episode of the Secret Origins podcast. We

wish you'll join us next time when we will be

reviewing three more stories from Justice League

Season 1, those being War World, The Brave and

the Bold, and Fury. For now, I am TFG1Michael

with Lupus Convoy. See you next time. Thank you

for listening.