Schooled

"Schooled" is the fifth episode of the first season of Young Justice, and the fifth of the overall series. It premiered on February 4, 2011.

Logline
Superboy's anger over his non-relationship with Superman is getting out of control. He refuses to train with Black Canary, and when the Team faces an opponent that even the Justice League had trouble defeating, the Boy of Steel goes rogue.

Synopsis
During the morning rush hour, the road of a suspension bridge in Metropolis suddenly collapses. Cables fall on the road, causing a pileup. A car and a school bus dangle over the edge.

From his office, Bruce Wayne watches. He prepares to change into his Batsuit, but decides to sit this one out when Superman arrives. The Man of Steel uses his strength and heat vision to restore the tear near one of the bridge's pillars. Superboy has also responded to the emergency, and leaps onto the bridge to help the stranded cars. Superman manages to hold on to the bridge as his clone's landing shakes the structure. Bruce watches on as Superboy lifts the first car onto the road with little difficulty. He struggles with the bus, and is not pleased Superman picked it up for him. Superman is not happy either, lecturing him on the dangers he created by leaping on the bridge. He shies away from suggestion of spending more time with his clone to find out what his limits are. Before Superboy can pry further, Superman receives a call from Green Arrow, who needs his help. As Superman flies away, Bruce calls him, and demands that they discuss things.

Superboy returns to the Cave, but refuses to talk about his trip to Metropolis. Black Canary and Martian Manhunter arrive, and Canary starts her training course. She is still wounded from an engagement earlier in the day, but is determined to teach the Team. Battle, she claims, is all about taking the initiative, never let the other dictate the terms. Kid Flash volunteers, and though he manages to block her first hit, he misses her leg sweep and is promptly thrown on the ground. Superboy is not impressed; with his strength, the battle would always be on his terms. Black Canary proves him wrong by flooring him. Twice. Angry, Superboy wants to leave.

Batman calls into the Cave from the site of a fight. A new threat attacked Green Arrow and Black Canary earlier in the day, and with every reinforcement the League threw at the android, it got stronger. It took eight Leaguers four hours to defeat and dismantle the android. Robin asks if this is T.O. Morrow's work, but Red Tornado had already ruled that out. Martian Manhunter recognizes it as Professor Ivo's work, though he is believed dead.

The remains of the android will be moved to STAR Labs facilities in Boston and Manhattan, with additional trucks acting as decoys. The Team will escort the real transports.

In a field in rural Connecticut, the trucks are ready to depart, overseen by the Justice League. Superman checks in on the Team, who is wearing civilian clothing and waits in a nearby forest. He avoids eye contact with Superboy. As the trucks leave, Batman reminds Superman they need to talk. Robin and Superboy follow the Manhattan truck. Superboy is still angry with his treatment by Black Canary. He still thinks that, since he has super strength, he should be trained by Superman. Robin disagrees—taking down stronger opponents is part of the superhero business. He speeds up to avoid further discussion.

Miss Martian, Kid Flash and Aqualad track the Boston cargo. Miss Martian is worried about Superboy, but Aqualad reassures her that he just needs time to cool off, and this quiet mission will clear his head. Suddenly, out of nothing, robots with a simian appearance—MONQIs—attack their truck. Aqualad calls in to Robin, who tells him they have the same problem.

Robin switches his bike to battle mode. Superboy doesn't—he just jumps on the truck. Robin can't evade the falling bike and has to shoot a batrope to get on the truck as well. Superboy fights the MONQIs on the roof, but is hit in the face by one and lifted off the truck by others.

On the other truck, Kid Flash and Miss Martian are forced to abandon their bikes as the MONQIs overwhelm them. They move their fight to the truck, but are outnumbered. The MONQIs escape with the cargo.

Robin climbs on top of the truck, and Superboy made it back as well. The MONQIs blow on of the truck's wheels, and escape while Robin secures the driver as the truck veers out of control. Superboy leaps after them, and ditches his comm link because he doesn't think he needs help.

The Team discusses what to do next. Aqualad determines that they have to find the parts before they are reassembled. Miss Martian can't track down Superboy or Ivo. Since the decoy trucks weren't attacked, Robin hacks a MONQI and finds that the parts have GPS beacons. He triangulates their position, and finds they are headed for Gotham City. The Boston team is too far away, but Kid Flash heads there on foot.

Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne meet in Bibbo's Diner. Bruce is adamant: Superman needs to interact more with Superboy. Clark disagrees. He thinks Superboy looks up to him too much, and is nowhere near his own power. He leaves angry when Bruce calls him the boy's "father".

The MONQIs bring the parts to a cargo train. Superboy finds them, and meets their maker: Professor Ivo. He takes out the MONQIs, but by now, the amazing Amazo has been reassembled. The android can easily withstand Superboy's punches and throws him off the train. At Ivo's command, Amazo follows Superboy to the school he crashed into.

Robin and Kid Flash converge on Gotham's city limits. Robin realizes the android is at his school, the Gotham Academy. Superboy fights Amazo in the halls and the science lab, and end up in the gym. Ivo joins them, seeing the amusement value in Superboy's feeble attempts to stop Amazo. Kid Flash saves his teammate before the android crushes him. But Kid Flash and Robin's attempts at fighting the android are fruitless as well. They are beaten back. Amazo grabs Kid Flash and crushes him with Superman's strength. However, the android is forced to use Martian Manhunter's intangibility to evade an arrow that came out of nowhere. Kid Flash escapes; the arrow lands next to Robin. Superboy decides to change tactics by attacking Ivo instead, forcing the frightened scientist to give Amazo new orders. Instead of attacking the three heroes, Amazo now only acts to protect Ivo. Robin throws a batarang at him, which he easily evades by turning intangible. But before he can change back, Superman punches him. As he becomes tangible again, Superboy's fist is lodged in his head. It promptly explodes.

Aqualad and Miss Martian finally arrive. Robin secures the android, but Ivo is gone.

Batman debriefs the Team in the Cave. Ivo is moved to a League priority. They did a good job, and the League is impressed—though Superman may need some more time to warm up to Superboy. Batman tells them they can call the League for back-up at any time. Robin rebuts him, and shows the arrow that saved Kid Flash. He accuses the League of following and babysitting them, but is forced to take back those words when Green Arrow shows it's not his arrow. The Team is certain that it was Speedy. Kid Flash keeps the arrow as a souvenir. Superboy apologizes to Black Canary, and resumes training.

Title
The title may refer to the Team's training in hand-to-hand combat by Black Canary. The word schooled can also refer to an individual being defeated in a comprehensive and humiliating manner, as both Kid Flash and Superboy were by Black Canary, and various characters were by Amazo. Also, the climatic fight against Amazo takes place in Robin's school, and Superboy and Superman rescue a schoolbus of children from falling off a bridge.

Cast and characters
! colspan="3"| Non-speaking roles
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2" | Robin
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2" | Miss Martian
 * rowspan="2" | Nolan North
 * colspan="2" | Superboy
 * colspan="2" | Superman
 * Khary Payton
 * colspan="2" | Aqualad
 * Jason Spisak
 * colspan="2" | Kid Flash
 * Bruce Greenwood
 * colspan="2" | Batman
 * Stephanie Lemelin
 * colspan="2" | Computer
 * Vanessa Marshall
 * Black Canary
 * rowspan="3" | Peter MacNicol
 * Professor Ivo
 * Amazo
 * MONQI
 * Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2" | Martian Manhunter
 * Vanessa Marshall
 * Black Canary
 * rowspan="3" | Peter MacNicol
 * Professor Ivo
 * Amazo
 * MONQI
 * Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2" | Martian Manhunter
 * Amazo
 * MONQI
 * Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2" | Martian Manhunter
 * MONQI
 * Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2" | Martian Manhunter
 * Kevin Michael Richardson
 * colspan="2" | Martian Manhunter
 * colspan="2" | Bibbo
 * colspan="3" | Captain Atom
 * colspan="3" | Flash
 * colspan="3" | Green Arrow
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado
 * colspan="3" | Flash
 * colspan="3" | Green Arrow
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado
 * colspan="3" | Green Arrow
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado

Continuity

 * When Miss Martian wonders about Superboy's state of mind, she assures Aqualad and Kid Flash that she didn't read his mind. This is a call back to "Welcome to Happy Harbor", when the Team didn't react well to her telepathy, deeming it an invasion of privacy. Ever since then, she stopped doing it without permission.

Ratings
"Schooled" garnered an average of 2.5 million viewers among kids between 2 and 14.

Trivia

 * Main title clips:
 * Black Canary throwing a punch (03:57)
 * Superman flying and disconnecting his comm (02:07)
 * Superboy looking mad at the sight of MONQIs (08:42)
 * Batman calling in the Cave, with Black Canary and Superboy's staring at the screen (04:58)
 * Kid Flash talking to Robin while running (16:50)
 * Amazo looking menacing (14:59)
 * Superboy being attacked by a troop of MONQIs (14:28)
 * Robin uses eskrima sticks in this episode. In the comics, Dick Grayson didn't use these weapons until he took on the identity of Nightwing.
 * As of this episode's airing, the text on the computer screen in the Cave was taken from the Wikipedia article on India.
 * This is a featured episode in Young Justice: Season One, Volume Two.

Cultural references

 * Batman uses a statue of the head of William Shakespeare to hide the button that reveals his batsuit. This is a reference to the 60's Batman TV show, where when he pressed a similar button at his house, a bookshelf would lift up to reveal two poles that lead to the Batcave.
 * The school bus falling off the bridge is a reference to Superman: The Movie.
 * Robin yelling "Get out!" to the truck driver is a reference to The Terminator.
 * One of the posters in the science lab has Einstein's famous E = MC2.

Answered questions

 * Why does Superboy hate monkeys? (Answer)
 * Who shot the arrow that saved the Team? (Partial Answer, Full Answer)

Unanswered questions

 * Why was Professor Ivo thought to be dead?
 * Why did Professor Ivo create Amazo?
 * Was Professor Ivo working alone or was he in cahoots with someone else?