List of running gags

In the interest of making this wiki the leading authority on Young Justice, we list here all the running gags seen on the show and in the tie-in comics.

Laughter
As Robin, Dick Grayson was prone to moving out on his own, and engaging the enemies while laughing. Incidents include:
 * "Independence Day":
 * Robin laughed before he jumped Mr. Freeze.
 * Robin laughed before he went off to save Kid Flash from falling off the Cadmus building.
 * "Welcome to Happy Harbor":
 * Robin laughed as he attacked Brick's men.
 * Robin laughed as he went into the power plant before Aqualad could assess the situation.
 * "Bereft" – Robin had some batarangs play a loop of recorded laughter in order to lure some Bialyan soldiers into a trap.
 * "Hack and You Shall Find" – Robin laughed while moving to intercept the assassins approaching Selena Gonzalez's office.
 * "By Hook or by Web" – Robin laughed as he disappeared after freeing himself, Aqualad and Kid Flash from Black Spider's web.
 * "Hot Case" – Robin laughed as Henry Yarrow realised he had disappeared and was, in fact, moving to attack Yarrow.
 * "The Pit..." – Robin laughed as he moved to the top of the rocket to remove the diamond lens Ra's al Ghul had had planted there.
 * "Performance" – Robin laughed as the Team caught a masked thief in the process of robbing a warehouse.
 * "Gorilla Warfare" – Robin laughed after escaping his restraints and retrieving his utility belt.
 * "Players, Chapter One: Wheelbarrow, Shoe, Thimble" – Nightwing referred to his tendancy to laugh on missions during his early days as a hero while talking with Wonder Girl, saying he had so much fun that he couldn't stop laughing.

Unwords
Dick Grayson was very fond of removing actual or supposed affixes from words, and using the resulting neologism as a pun. Greg Weisman dubbed this phenomenon "unwords".


 * (Over/Under) Whelmed: Robin twisted the words of Mister Freeze to form a word that means to be level-headed, or when an event neither falls below, nor rises above expectations.
 * In "Independence Day", he wondered why nobody's just whelmed after looking at the Hall of Justice. Later, he declared himself officially whelmed upon entering the Cadmus lab filled with G-Sprites.
 * In "Fireworks", he described Desmond as "not whelmed" after the sidekicks made their escape. Kid Flash asked what was up with him and "this whelmed thing".
 * In "Schooled", Superboy was whelmed after laying his eyes on the real Professor Ivo.
 * In "Bereft", the amnesiac Robin repeated his statement on why nobody's ever just whelmed.
 * In "Misplaced", Zatanna was hesitant to replicate Zatara's magic locator spell. Robin told her to try to stay whelmed.
 * In "Performance", when the Team confronted the Parasite who had Miss Martian's powers, Robin told the Team to stay whelmed.
 * In "Auld Acquaintance", after taking down Superman with kryptonite, Superboy claimed it hurt a lot. Hence the reason Robin said it was stored in an overwhelmingly impenetrable vault in the Batcave. But since he hacked it, it was now "whelmingly penetrable".
 * In "Salvage", Red Arrow was whelmed by the attention he received at his intervention.
 * In "Before the Dawn", Nightwing counseled Barbara Gordon, who was in a containment pod, to stay whelmed after she reported Aqualad's presence.
 * (Dis) Turbed: In "Welcome to Happy Harbor", when Mr. Twister claimed he found the presence of the Team without adult supervision quite disturbing, Robin retorted that he wanted him to be more "turbed". After beating them, Mr. Twister found the experience "turbing". At the end, when Miss Martian was instrumental to defeating the android, Robin was "turbed" she was on the Team.
 * (Dis) Concerted: In "Drop-Zone", Robin confronted Kobra and found him disconcerted. The terrorist would later flip it around when beating Robin up, saying the boy wonder looked disconcerted. When Kobra was vexed after the destruction of the venom factory by Bane's bombs, Robin said he was mighty concerted over Kobra's pain.
 * (Dis) Aster:
 * While on motorcycle escort duty with Superboy in "Schooled", Robin made idle chatter pondering whether, if dislike was the opposite of like, "disaster" was the opposite of "aster". When Superboy sped ahead, he noted that Superboy was not feeling the "aster". After the MONQIs abducted their half of Amazo, Robin muttered that the mission was a disaster, heavy on the "dis-". After the Team took down Amazo, Superboy was finally feeling the "aster".
 * In "Common Denominators", Robin said he was feeling the "aster", but fine, after Batman asked if he was alright after being hit by a Kobra cultist.
 * In "Usual Suspects", after defeating Bane, his henchmen, Sportsmaster and Blockbuster, Robin happily told Zatanna that disaster was averted, and he was feeling the aster.
 * At the end of "Monkey Business", Nightwing described the Team's first year as "All aster. No dis."
 * (In) Filtrate: After shutting down the Fog in "Infiltrator", Robin happily declared that the infiltrators were "out-filtrated".
 * (Dis) Traught: In "Homefront", while on the run from Red Volcano and Red Torpedo, Robin observed that Artemis seemed distraught. She agreed, and began having a panic attack before he bluntly told her to get "traught" or get dead. After Artemis managed to set off an electromagnetic pulse and defeat the Reds, she resuscitated Robin, who praised her with "way to get traught".
 * (Non) Chalant:
 * In "Alpha Male", Kid Flash commented on the mind-link that he was irritated how Aqualad was so nonchalant about not telling them about the mole. Robin then chimed in saying Aqualad should be "chalant", "way chalant", "extremely chalant".
 * In "Humanity", after Zatanna caused Ivo to blurt out T.O. Morrow's location, Robin wanted to nonchalantly learn more about her powers. Zatanna told him he should be as "chalant" as he would like.
 * (De) Nial: In "The Pit...", after Ra's al Ghul said "no" as he saw Robin was about to foil his plan, Robin told him he was in denial and should perhaps try "re-nial".
 * (Di) Sheveled: In "The Pendulum", Robin said he expected Clayface to be less "sheveled" than he was after he and Batman tasered him.
 * (Im) Penetrable: In "Auld Acquaintance", after taking down Superman with kryptonite, Superboy claimed it hurt a lot. Hence the reason Robin said it was stored in an overwhelmingly impenetrable vault in the Batcave. But since he hacked it, it was now "whelmingly penetrable".

Codenames
The codenames of several heroes have been the subject of confusion and derision.
 * "Independence Day":
 * Tourists at the Hall of Justice were confused over Kid Flash's name. One called him "Flash Junior", only to be told he is "Speedy", before a third tourist correctly stated that Speedy is Green Arrow's sidekick. Another tourist didn't think that made any sense.
 * At Cadmus, a firefighter called Kid Flash "Flash Boy". Kid Flash emphatically corrected him.
 * When Guardian found them, Robin joked that he at least got Kid Flash's name right.
 * "Fireworks" – Robin called Wally "Kid Mouth" after he annoyed Superboy.
 * "Denial" – Wally told Artemis he thought Dr. Fate was really "Dr. Fake". Later, Kent Nelson called himself "a former Dr. Fake" after conjuring a protective shield around himself and Wally.
 * "What's the Story?" – When Kid Flash told the story of his origin and the Flash family history, he admitted that it would have been less confusing had his uncle chosen a different name rather than using that of the original Flash. He painfully overcompensated by explaining exactly which Flash he was talking about everytime one was mentioned.
 * "Revelation" – The Joker said he'd "always wanted to carve this bird" while attacking Robin with knives.
 * "Humanity" – When Black Canary congratlated the Team on a successful training session, Artemis pointed out that did not apply to "Kid Malingerer"; Wally had skipped the training due to his broken arm.
 * "Beneath":
 * Bumblebee reminded Cassie she was Wonder Girl, not "Stealther Girl" after she complained about being left as a lookout.
 * When Wonder Girl refused to identify herself, Devastation came up with several possible names for her clearly Wonder Woman-themed captive: "Wonder Baby", "Wonder Brat" and "The Blonde Wonder".
 * "Bloodlines":
 * A Central City police captain mistakenly called Kid Flash "Speedy". Impulse told him Speedy was "the other guy", noting that history books would be unclear why the confusing name was used.
 * Impulse shortened Kid Flash's name to Kid, much to the older hero's annoyance.
 * "Uncommon Dominators" – After Green Arrow told the "kids" to protect Jason Burr, Kid Flash objected to be being called kids. Artemis pointedly reminded him of the first half of his codename.
 * "Satisfaction" – The original Speedy commented on the lack of originality of his clone's current alias.
 * "Darkest" – Icicle Jr. called Blue Beetle "Bug" as he herded him toward the Manta-flyer.

Don't call them sidekicks
"Don't call them sidekicks" was the tagline first used to promote the show, and the young heroes'–and especially Red Arrow's–aversion to the term is well documented.
 * "Independence Day":
 * When Kid Flash pointed out that the four sidekicks were together for the first time at their induction to the Hall of Justice, Speedy quickly admonished him–"Don't call us sidekicks. Not after today."
 * Unhappy with their treatment at the Hall, Speedy exclaimed they were being treated like kids, or worse, sidekicks.
 * "Face Your Fears" – Robin thought that the Team were determined to prove they were more than "just sidekicks".
 * "Targets" – When Lex Luthor referred to him as Green Arrow's sidekick, Red Arrow was quick to insist he was an "ex-sidekick."
 * "Insecurity" – Green Arrow suggested the original sidekicks should team up for a mission, but quickly corrected himself to "ex-sidekicks".
 * "Usual Suspects" – When Red Arrow was officially inducted to the Justice League, Robin happily said no-one will call him a sidekick anymore. Rocket was surprised by their dislike of the word.
 * "Satisfaction" – When Speedy referred to the sidekicks forming their own team, Red Arrow told him they tried to avoid calling themselves sidekicks.

The Light
The Light's members have a habit of making puns based on the groups name.
 * In "Fireworks":
 * Superboy's programmed objective is "to replace him should he perish, to destroy him should he turn from the Light."
 * L-1 said that eventually everyone sees the light.
 * In "Targets", Ra's al Ghul, toasting his and Lex Luthor's successful manipulation of the Rhelasian peace talks, said another corner of the world "sees the light".
 * In "Revelation":
 * Following the successful test of their plant weapons, Count Vertigo said that, after being in the shadows for too long, it was time for the Injustice League to step into the light. In fact, the League was to be the Light's proxy.
 * After the Injustice League was defeated, Vandal Savage stated that shadows still concealed their light.
 * In "Misplaced", following the successful theft of the Starro piece, the Brain said they would bring it into the light.
 * In "Auld Acquaintance", as Vandal Savage explained the origin and mission of the Light, he described the other members he recruited as his "more enlightened colleagues".

Shimmer
Shimmer has faced the Team on numerous occcasions, but usually fails to aid her side in battle. Often, she finds herself tied up before she can join the fight.
 * In "Drop-Zone", when she first faced Robin, he was called away before the fight could begin. When the Team later made their move against Kobra's forces, Robin snared her in a bola.
 * In "Usual Suspects", Shimmer watched the ongoing battle by Riddler's side, until Robin tangled her in a bola and knocked her out.
 * In "Beneath", Shimmer was telepathically probed and knocked out by Miss Martian before the Team was discovered trying to rescue Batgirl and the abducted teens.
 * In "Uncommon Dominators", Artemis tied Shimmer up with a rope arrow early in the Team's battle with Kobra.
 * In "Before the Dawn", Shimmer initially bucked this trend; she disarmed an abductee when he took a Manta Troopers weapon, and engaged Batgirl in combat for a time, though was eventually defeated. When she regained consciousness, however, she accidentally created a hole in the Reach ship's hull which began to flood the ship and ended up as Blue Beetle's exit point.

School bus in distress
A school bus from Metropolis, with the same bus driver and twelve students every time, have been shown to have problems crossing bridges on top of water. Its appearances include:
 * In "Schooled", a bridge accident pushed the bus over the brink. The combined efforts of Superboy and Superman saved the bus denizens from impending doom.
 * In "Revelation", Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Red Arrow worked together to prevent the Joker-controlled giant plant from harming the bus on the Star City bridge. They were unsuccessful—the bus was thrown into the water, but Guy Gardner caught it in a ginormous baseball mitt.
 * In "Misplaced", the driver-less bus was rescued from falling off a bridge in the child dimension by Rocket.

Love-hate relationship with monkeys
Superboy hates monkeys and doesn't hesitate to remind everyone of that fact whenever he encounters a simian.
 * In "Schooled", Superboy uttered his monkey hating phrase when a number of robotic monkeys attacked the truck he was escorting.
 * In "Monkey Business", Superboy was caught up in a psychic blast from the past when he relived Joker's invasion of Mount Justice with a horde of green exploding monkeys. Although this was a simulacrum by a wayward G-Gnome, this is where he acquired his hatred of monkeys.
 * In "Alpha Male", Monsieur Mallah was one of the antagonists faced by the Team. Superboy commented on his hatred upon fighting the giant ape.
 * In "Revelation", the Ultra-Humanite was one of the antagonists faced by the Team. Upon meeting the giant silverback, Superboy expressed his hatred of monkeys.
 * In "Image", the Team encountered a playful green monkey, who proceeded to steal Kid Flash's energy bar and fling it in Superboy's face. He muttered his monkey-hating phrase here. Robin noted that Monkey seemed to hate Superboys.
 * In "Earthlings", Beast Boy shifted into the form of a giant gorilla as he and Superboy wreaked havoc on a Krolotean starship. The brutal efficiency caused Superboy to comment that he might yet rethink his opinion on monkeys.
 * In "Common Denominators", upon finding monkeys in the repile house lab, Kid Flash remarked that Superboy would hate it.
 * In "Depths", Superboy donned Superman's costume to impersonate the Man of Steel in a press conference. Upon dropping the subterfuge, he told Miss Martian that he hated monkey suits.
 * In "Uncommon Dominators", Superboy reacted negatively to the teaser for the next issue.
 * In "Monkey Business", Superboy noted that the Bwundan jungle "reeks of monkey" before reminding the Team of his distaste for them.
 * In "Gorilla Warfare", Superboy reiterated his hatred for monkeys when Miss Martian shapeshifted into a gorilla while fighting Monsieur Mallah, but was chastised by Solovar; gorillas are not monkeys.

Literal names
Superboy likes to name things for what they are.
 * In "Alpha Male", Superboy gave the Kobra-Venom enhanced wolf the name "Wolf".
 * In "Disordered", it was revealed Superboy had given the spherical alien pet he picked up in "Bereft" the name "Sphere".
 * In "Image", Superboy opined that Gar had given his pet green monkey, Monkey, a good name despite his dislike of monkeys.

"We're not human!"
Superboy and Miss Martian have repeatedly found themselves in the position of having to inform or remind others that they are not humans. The other parties often fail to understand or care about the distinction.
 * In "Humanity", after Red Volcano declared the humans stood no chance against him, Superboy and Miss Martian told him (in unison) that they were not human. The robot apologised and corrected himself to "meatbags."
 * In "Failsafe", Kid Flash described the unknown, unseen aliens invading Earth as ugly. Artemis reminded him of the two non-human teammates present and he backtracked, saying not all aliens were automatically ugly.
 * In "Under the Surface...", La'gaan asked Superboy and M'gann if they were typical of the surface. Superboy admitted they weren't.
 * In "...Here There be Monsters", a purist called Superboy an "Earther". Superboy corrected him, but had to pause to come up with an Atlantean translation for Kryptonian.
 * In "Happy New Year", the joke was inverted when the Kroloteans' terrified captives mistook Lagoon Boy and Blue Beetle for more aliens. Blue Beetle's reassurances did little to move them, until La'gaan freed them from their cage.
 * In "Earthlings", Superboy became annoyed with Sardath repeatedly calling Miss Martian and himself "earthlings". Sardath was not moved by Conner's correction–that they came to Rann from Earth was all that mattered.
 * In "Gorilla Warfare", after Grodd and Primat called her human, Miss Martian tried to explain that she was Martian. Solovar told her they didn't understand due to their still limited vocabulary. M'gann admitted it probably didn't matter.

Reach
The Reach use a number of idiosyncratic terms. They have been adopted and adapted by Impulse and other humans from his time to form slang words.

"Meat"
The Reach use the derogotory word "meat" to refer to organic life forms such as humans. Impulse also uses the term.


 * In "Salvage":
 * The Partner told Sportsmaster to deal with Ugly and Whisper A'Daire, referring to them as "interloper meat."
 * He used the term again in reference to Superboy before destroying the Appellaxian Golem.
 * In "Bloodlines":
 * While trying to convince the Team he was a tourist from the future, Impulse said that half the "meat" at Comic-Con were from his era.
 * Impulse referred to Neutron as meat as he and Flash easily dodged Neutron's energy blasts.
 * One of Neutron's handlers noted that his Meta-Gene performed well against the meat–Flash and Impulse.
 * In "Before the Dawn":
 * Black Beetle thought the Scientist's desire to study the malfunctioning Scarab was really because she enjoyed playing with the meat.
 * When the Scientist told him they would need a new host after rebooting the Scarab, Black Beetle was not concerned as meat was plentiful on Earth.
 * When Black Beetle sealed the docking bay with most of the Team inside, he referred to them as "meat".

"Crash the mode" and derivatives
To the Reach, "crashing the mode" refers to a loss of control or failure. Humans have inverted its meaning: "crashing the Mode" refers to success; to be "crash" is to be cool. In general, such terms are used to indicate happiness and positivity.


 * In "Bloodlines":
 * Bart noted that the word "impulse" was crash before taking it as his alias.
 * Nightwing repeated the unfamiliar term after sending Robin and Beast Boy to capture Impulse.
 * When Nightwing later caught Bart himself, he declared that "that was crash." Impulse begged to differ, adding that he was "totally feeling the mode."
 * Impulse later said he didn't mind if he was called Bart or Impulse, it was all crash.
 * When Beast Boy asked him about the meaning of "mode", Impulse said that it is always better to crash the mode.
 * Upon introducing himself to his grandfather, Impulse described their meeting as crash.
 * While saying goodbye, Impulse said it was crash to see his grandfather.
 * When Barry told Bart that he looked forward to watching him grow up, Bart responded that that will be crash.
 * When Nathaniel saw that Bart had altered the timeline, he exclaimed "that kid is so crash".
 * In "Satisfaction":
 * Impulse wondered why the fallen Justice League and Team members didn't get the public statues—"big, crashing memorials"—he felt they deserved.
 * Impulse invited Jaime to hang out, saying it would be totally crash.
 * In "Darkest":
 * Impulse disregarded Jaime's concern for hiding their secret identities, and asked what was the point of hiding how crash they are.
 * Impulse asked if his self protrait is crash. Blue Beetle affirmed it was "totally crash."

"Mode" and derivatives
To the Reach, "on-mode" means to be within their control or in line with their plans. Humans have inverted its meaning: to "feel the mode" is to fail or suffer; to be "moded" is to be doomed to failure. In general, such terms are used to indicate unhappiness and negativity.


 * In "Bloodlines":
 * After being caught by Nightwing, Impulse said he was feeling the mode.
 * Impulse warned that revealing to much about his time could alter the timestream, causing everyone to feel the mode. A confused Beast Boy then asked if the mode was bad, which Impulse emphatically affirmed.
 * Impulse forewarned that he, Flash and Kid Flash would feel the mode just before Neutron's first overload.
 * After the explosion Impulse said Neutron had felt the mode while trying to excuse himself and get to him. Kid Flash noted that Neutron wasn't "feeling modes", he was putting himself back together.
 * While pretending to be surprised he could not return to his own time, Impulse exclaimed he was moded.
 * In "Darkest":
 * Impulse remarked that a boulder destroyed by Blue Beetle was feeling the mode.
 * Impulse taunted Aqualad with "Moded!" after he took the tracking device Aqualad used to find Blue Beetle.
 * Impulse said he was moded after realising he had lost his superspeed.