Young Justice


 * This article is about the TV series. For the homonymous tie-in comics, see Young Justice (comic).

"Don't call them sidekicks."

- Tagline

Young Justice is an American animated television series created by Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti for Cartoon Network. Despite its title, it is not an adaption of Todd Dezago and Todd Nauck's Young Justice series of comics, but rather, an adaptation of the entire DC Universe with a focus on young superheroes.

The series follows the lives of teenaged superhero sidekicks, who are members of a fictional superhero team simply known as the Team, and their relationships with their Justice League mentors. The story is set at a time where superpowers and superheroes are a recent phenomena.

Production
Development for the series began sometime in 2009, when Sam Register, Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs of Warner Bros. Animation (and executive producer of the show) wanted a show based on the Teen Titans and Young Justice comic series, but was not solely one or the other.

Register sought Greg Weisman immediately after he finished work on The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, and after seeing Brandon Vietti's work on the DC Universe Animated original movie Batman: Under the Red Hood, hired him also. After taking the production name of Young Justice League, Weisman and Vietti created characters, ideas, and story arcs for at least two seasons, although the number of seasons Warner Bros. Animation wants from Young Justice is unknown.

Although there were several characters the producers were not allowed to use in the first season, such as Wonder Girl, the list has become shorter throughout the course of the development, they were usually in charge of the decisions determining which DC Universe character would or would not be used. Geoff Johns, Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment, and Phil Bourassa, lead character designer for the show, also played a role in the conception and development process. Peter David, who penned the Young Justice series of comics, was approached to write several episodes. The show continued to remain in its development stages in early February 2010, when Stephanie Lemelin announced on her blog that she had been recently cast.

The first two episodes of the series, "Independence Day" and "Fireworks" premiered on Cartoon Network as a special one hour event of the series.

Main title
Animated by MOI Animation, Inc. and Wutitis, the opening sequence starts off with close-ups of the main cast and then dissolves into a montage of assorted scenes featuring the heroes in action. This footage was created either for promotional purposes or specifically for the main title. The end of each main title also features clips from its respective episode. The sequence is 20 seconds long, which was mandated by the network. Finally, the theme music is mostly synth. The special one hour event didn't feature an opening sequence.

Episode titles
Series creator Greg Weisman has spoken about the naming of episodes, saying that "[his] tendency has always been for one word titles", as 21 out of 26 episodes have been (including the hyphenated title "Drop-Zone"). The titles usually have layered allusions, referring to more than their literal meanings.

Timestamps
The Young Justice television series and comic tie-in both feature the presence of timestamps in order to maintain an established timeline. Each timestamp indicates the current date, time and location, and usually appear when the location of scenes are changed. According to Greg Weisman, the timestamps were originally conceived to "ground the show in the moment and allow fans to get how much time has passed between episodes." There has been one instance where timestamps were incorrect. The issue was subsequently resolved by Greg Weisman and the production team, who said "I'm seriously not at all sure how this happened. We did review the timestamps, and they were correct, but obviously at some point during the process of post-production they were changed and nobody noticed it." The timestamps were fixed for future airings and DVD releases.

The Team

 * Aqualad/Kaldur'ahm (Khary Payton) is the Atlantean leader of the Team. He is able to manipulate water at will, and breathe underwater through the use of his gills. His mentor, and his king is Aquaman, a member of the Justice League. Aqualad holds great respect for his mentor.
 * Kid Flash/Wally West (Jason Spisak) is the speedster of the Team. He's always joking around, hitting on girls, and wants to have fun. His mentor and uncle is the Flash.
 * Robin/Dick Grayson (Jesse McCartney) is a vigilante crime-fighter in Gotham City, and the Team's chief hacker. He's not only an incredible acrobat, but also the most experienced member of the Team and the youngest. His mentor is Batman.
 * Superboy/Conner Kent (Nolan North) is a genomorph and a clone of Superman. He is quiet, brooding, serious and is constantly worried about living up to Superman.
 * Miss Martian/M'gann M'orzz/Megan Morse (Danica McKellar) is a shy, caring, happy and kind Green Martian, with the abilities of flight and telepathy. She is also the Martian Manhunter's niece.
 * Artemis/Artemis Crock (Stephanie Lemelin) is a confident, flirty, and very outgoing, sixth member of the Team. She is an archer, and claims to be the niece of Green Arrow, although this isn't actually true.
 * Zatanna: was introduced to the Team by her father, Zatara, during his time as "den-mother". After Zatara became the host of Doctor Fate, she became a member of the Team.
 * Sphere: a machine from New Genesis picked up from one of the Team's missions to Bialya, Sphere is a loyal companion to Superboy. She can transform into assorted machinery, including a motorcycle-like vehicle which Wally has named "the Super Cycle".
 * Wolf: adopted by Superboy and the Team whilst on a mission to India, Wolf was enhanced with Kobra Venom by The Brain that made him smarter and stronger.

Allies

 * Red Arrow/Speedy/Roy Harper (Crispin Freeman) is the former partner of Green Arrow who now works as a solo hero, but helps the Team from time to time.

Mentors

 * Batman
 * Aquaman
 * Flash
 * Black Canary
 * Zatara
 * Red Tornado
 * Martian Manhunter
 * Green Arrow
 * Captain Marvel

Season one
The first season of Young Justice follows the origins of the Team, starting from July 4. The season then proceeds through the Team's missions, and how they interact with one another on and off duty. The main antagonist for the series is the Light.

Greg Weisman has stated that the overall theme of this season is "secrets and lies, and also independence."

Season two
A second season in the form of a ten episode serial was confirmed shortly after the show's regular release in early 2011. Greg Weisman has since confirmed that the second season will contain 20 episodes instead, and he is currently pitching the idea of the arc to DC, Warner Bros., and Cartoon Network. More information on the series is yet to be revealed.

Comics


A tie-in comic further explores the characters and locations of the television series, published by DC's Johnny DC imprint. The first issues were written by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, with Mike Norton providing the art. Christopher Jones took over art duties with #5, and Greg Weisman and Kevin Hopps started writing from #7, after having done the zero issue.

Home video releases

 * Season One, Volume One
 * Season One, Volume Two
 * Season One, Volume Three

Recurring motifs

 * List of similarities with Greg Weisman's other works
 * Main title clips
 * Number 16
 * Timestamp