Justice League Unlimited/I Am Legion

I Am Legion
Season 5, Episode 1
Airdate	September 17, 2005
Written by	Dwayne McDuffie
Directed by	Joaquim Dos Santos
← 4x13 Epilogue	5x02 → Shadow of the Hawk
Justice League Unlimited — Season Five

I Am Legion is the first episode of the fifth season of Justice League Unlimited, and the seventy-ninth episode overall.

Starring the Voices of: George Newbern (Superman), Maria Canals (Shayera), Michael Rosenbaum (Flash), Clancy Brown (Lex Luthor), Powers Boothe (Gorilla Grodd), Corey Burton (Brainiac), Scott Patterson (Agent Faraday), Seymour Cassel (Chuck Sirianni), Takayo Fischer (Mairzey)

Plot Overview

When Luthor escapes for prison, he's abducted by Gorilla Grodd's minions and joins his team of villains. But, only after he steals something for Grodd on Blackhawk Island, prompting Flash, Hawkgirl and Fire to check out the alarm.

Notes

Comic Book Parallels

• Fire: Beatriz daCosta was a small-time superheroine from Brazil who owed allegiance to the Global Guardians for a brief period of time. However, when their United Nations funding was revoked following the creation of the Justice League International, she joined the new team. Her powers are drawn from being exposed to a material called "Pyroplasm", which allows her to burst into flames and fly. She can also hurl balls of flame at her opponents. Fire is most notable for having the longest continuous membership in the Justice League International group.

First Appearance: Justice League International #12, written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• The Legion: Grodd has founded a "co-op" of villains as an evil counterpart to the Justice League. Due to a test of Luthor's skills, Grodd's organization now has the Spear of Longinus, which is supposed to make anyone who possesses it invincible. However, it seems that Grodd only wanted something to look nice in his office.

• The League: The Justice League has splintered off into several terrestrial bases, as Superman suggested would happen in Divided We Fall.

Characters

• Lex Luthor: Lex has escaped from prison and has been recruited by Gorilla Grodd into his legion. It also appears that Lex is either insane or he really does have a piece of Brainiac still in his brain. Brainiac continues to appear as a hallucination that only Lex can hear and see.

Referbacks

• The Savage Time: The Justice League first met the Blackhawks when they were sent back in time to stop Vandal Savage's Nazi empire.

Trivia

The Show

The Hall of Doom from Super Friends.

• Super Friends: Although Grodd never mentions his organization by name, it's an obvious re-imagining of the Legion of Doom from Super Friends. Not only does their headquarters look nearly identical to the original Hall of Doom, but they even rise out of a swamp in the same way. To compound the Super Friends parallels, the League's new Earth headquarters also bears some resemblance to the Super Friends' Hall of Justice.

• Supervillainpalooza: Some of the villains spotted in the League's headquarters but not mentioned by name: Atomic Skull, Bizarro, Copperhead, Doctor Destiny, Giganta, Heatwave, Killer Frost, Livewire, Metallo, Parasite, Silver Banshee, Sonar, Star Sapphire, Toy Man and Weather Wizard.

• Chronology: This episode takes place approximately six months after "Divided We Fall".

Behind the Scenes

• Working Title: This episode's title was originally We Are Legion.

Allusions and References

• Mark 5:9: The episode's title is both a reference to the new Legion of Doom introduced (but not named) and a play on Mark 5:9: "And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, I am Legion: for we are many."

Quotes

• Flash: War Wheels, robot condors. You got a pretty goofy security system here.

Chuck: Yeah. Good times!

• Luthor: You mean you recruited me, sent me to an island full of death traps, and up against the Justice League. You made me risk my life, and all for nothing?!

Gorilla Grodd: Essentially... Yes.

Luthor: Monkey, I like your style.