Humanity

"Humanity" is the fifteenth episode of Young Justice and aired on October 21, 2011.

Logline
The Team is on the hunt for Red Tornado, determined to find out once and for all whether the robot was the mole – even if it means kidnapping their new friend Zatanna and dragging her along on their quest!

Synopsis
In their hideout, T.O. Morrow and Brom Stikk repair and reprogram Red Tornado, Red Torpedo and Red Inferno.

With the Justice League still having no leads in finding Red Tornado, the Team decides to take the search into their own hands. They sneak out of Mount Justice under the noses of Black Canary, Zatara, and Captain Marvel and take with them a possible new recruit, Zatanna, Zatara's daughter.

Figuring that the League would have already taken every logical way in finding Tornado and his creator T.O. Morrow, they take a chance in the illogical route. Kid Flash suggests that they confront Morrow's greatest technological competitor Prof. Ivo who is locked up in Belle Reve. They succeed in extracting the information with much help from Zatanna.

Meanwhile, Morrow proceeds in downloading Red Tornado's memories into a new android. He tells Tornado of how he once wished to infiltrate the Justice Society of America by building superpowered android "heroes". His first two creations failed due to their programmed belief of being human. His third creation, Red Tornado, succeeded because he knew he was an android but betrayed his father because of his "Pinocchio complex". Morrow then decided to build a new android, one free of the desire to be human. Thus, his new creation Red Volcano is born but Morrow's plan backfires. Volcano contains all of the androids' memories but without their sense or sympathy for humanity and tries to kill Morrow. But it turns out Morrow is an android himself.

The team finally find Morrow's base in Yellowstone Park but is confronted by a mute Red Tornado. They appear to be defeated but Red Volcano sees through his brother's act. Tornado warned the Team to feign defeat by writing "Play Dead" in the sand. The two androids tussle but Red Tornado soon realises that he is too strong and seems to flee, leaving the Team to take down Volcano themselves. Red Volcano responds by activating a large volcano, one that can wipe out all of humanity. Red Tornado returns but with back-up, his reformed siblings Red Torpedo and Red Inferno. They succeed in destroying Red Volcano but Torpedo and Inferno sacrifice themselves in the process. Red Tornado manages to stop the eruption.

While repairing Red Tornado and restoring his voice function, the Team discovers that he was not the mole. He explains that he volunteered to be their den mother because he did not require sleep and had no secret identity or second life to live. But the Team discovers further that he also volunteered because he wanted to learn from them how be more human, which he cannot achieve while staying with the Justice League.

Red Tornado visits the real T.O. Morrow who is revealed to be extremely old and hooked up to multiple medical machines. He promises that he will take care of his father and creator because it's the "human" thing to do. Meanwhile, the Team flies back to Mount Justice, the end of their first mission with Zatanna who hopes that her father will allow her to stay. This seems less likely as Zatara is furious and states that he will never let her join the Team.

Title
The title may come from the assumptions the Team made about Red Tornado wanting to be more like a human, or because Red Tornado saves "humanity" as he calls it, when he stops a level 3 volcano from erupting.

Cast and characters
! colspan="3"| Non-speaking roles
 * Stephanie Lemelin
 * colspan="2"| Artemis
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2"| Robin
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2"| Miss Martian
 * rowspan="2" | Nolan North
 * colspan="2"| Superboy
 * colspan="2"| Zatara
 * Khary Payton
 * colspan="2"| Aqualad
 * Jason Spisak
 * colspan="2"| Kid Flash
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * colspan="2"| Wolf
 * rowspan="3"| Jeff Bennett
 * colspan="2"| T.O. Morrow
 * colspan="2"| Red Tornado
 * Red Volcano
 * Lacey Chabert
 * Zatanna
 * Rob Lowe
 * colspan="2"| Captain Marvel
 * Peter MacNicol
 * colspan="2"| Professor Ivo
 * rowspan="2" | Vanessa Marshall
 * colspan="2"| Black Canary
 * colspan="1"| Red Inferno
 * Red Volcano
 * Lacey Chabert
 * Zatanna
 * Rob Lowe
 * colspan="2"| Captain Marvel
 * Peter MacNicol
 * colspan="2"| Professor Ivo
 * rowspan="2" | Vanessa Marshall
 * colspan="2"| Black Canary
 * colspan="1"| Red Inferno
 * Peter MacNicol
 * colspan="2"| Professor Ivo
 * rowspan="2" | Vanessa Marshall
 * colspan="2"| Black Canary
 * colspan="1"| Red Inferno
 * colspan="2"| Black Canary
 * colspan="1"| Red Inferno
 * colspan="1"| Red Inferno
 * colspan="3" | Brom Stikk
 * colspan="3" | Doctor Fate
 * colspan="2" | Dragon King
 * colspan="2" | Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
 * colspan="3" | Hugo Strange
 * colspan="3" | Flash (Jay Garrick)
 * colspan="3" | Red Torpedo
 * colspan="2 "| Sandman
 * colspan="2 "| T.O. Morrow (human)
 * colspan="2" | Wildcat
 * colspan="3" | Hugo Strange
 * colspan="3" | Flash (Jay Garrick)
 * colspan="3" | Red Torpedo
 * colspan="2 "| Sandman
 * colspan="2 "| T.O. Morrow (human)
 * colspan="2" | Wildcat
 * colspan="2 "| Sandman
 * colspan="2 "| T.O. Morrow (human)
 * colspan="2" | Wildcat
 * colspan="2 "| T.O. Morrow (human)
 * colspan="2" | Wildcat
 * colspan="2" | Wildcat
 * colspan="2" | Wildcat
 * colspan="2" | Wildcat

Continuity

 * Aqualad compares Red Tornado's situation to "the Weapon", the name used for Superboy by Cadmus in "Independence Day" and "Fireworks".
 * Kid Flash still has a broken arm from the Team's encounter with the Injustice League from the previous episode.
 * The Justice League (and later the Team) are still searching for Red Tornado since his 'betrayal' in "Homefront".
 * Hugo Strange became the new warden of Belle Reve Penitentiary in "Terrors".
 * This is the first episode in which someone other than Miss Martian calls Superboy by his new civilian name, "Conner".

Trivia

 * Main title scenes:
 * Red Tornado zooming in (14:03)
 * Superboy, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Miss Martian looking over (03:19)
 * Miss Martian's eyes glow (07:59)
 * T.O. Morrow talking (00:44)
 * Brom Stikk examining Red Torpedo (00:16)
 * T.O. Morrow pulls a sheet out (08:36)
 * Number 16: The Team decides to start their own investigation into Red Tornado, as the League has had no apparent results on October 10, 16:58 EDT.
 * The cover identities of Red Torpedo and Red Inferno are actual Golden Age heroes. Red Torpedo was James Lockhart, a Quality Comics hero who became a member of the Freedom Fighters. Firebrand was Danette Reilly, member of the All-Star Squadron.
 * Firebrand is killed at the 1939/1940 New York's World's Fair. In the comics, the World's Fair played a large role. The Perisphere and Trylon was the headquarters of the All-Star Squadron, and DC published two special comics in 1939 and 1940, featuring a lot of heroes, like Superman, Zatara, and Batman. Sandman debuted in the 1939 issue.
 * Red Volcano refers to humans as "meatbags", a term popularized by the robot Bender in Futurama and HK-47 in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
 * The photograph of the Justice Society matches Doctor Fate's official artwork, also seen in his promotional playing card released at the San Diego 2011 Comic-Con.
 * Red Tornado says that he is not sure if the Team's words are accurate, but they may be true. This is reminiscent of King Arthur's line "all things are true... few things are accurate" in the Gargoyles comic "Rock and Roll", written by Greg Weisman.

Goofs

 * The closing credits showcase the billing for "Failsafe".
 * When Zatanna first enters the Cave, her knee socks are missing.

Cultural references

 * T.O. Morrow compares Red Tornado's return with The Parable of the Prodigal Son, paraphrasing Luke 15:11-32.
 * T.O. Morrow calls his failed Reds "Pinocchios", after the wooden puppet who wanted be become a real boy, created by Carlo Collodi in his 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio.

Unanswered questions

 * Did the real T.O. Morrow act on his own initiative to destroy the Justice Society of America, or did he do it at someone else's behest?
 * How is Professor Ivo capable of eluding telepathic probing?
 * Professor Ivo contacted T.O. Morrow to warn him about the Team with Hugo Strange standing next to him. Is Ivo also affiliated with the Light?
 * Who is the real mole?