List of similarities with Greg Weisman's other works

Young Justice features several similarities—intentional or otherwise—to series producer Greg Weisman's former works. Some are more subtle than others.

Gargoyles

Concerning the allusions to Gargoyles, Greg Weisman stated: "You can chalk up some of them to my sincere lack of imagination. But others are quite intentionally used as fan-service, particularly to Gargoyles fans, who have been beyond ridiculously loyal to me for over a decade. And often it's just for my own personal amusement. Trust me, if I could have figured out a way to put some version of the line 'You beat up a beach!' into Young Justice, I would have."^[1]

Characters

• Sensei has a wonky left eye and a scar over it, like the gargoyle Hudson.
• Three Gargoyles alumni are reunited in one episode: Jeff Bennett (Abra Kadabra), Thom Adcox (Klarion), and Edward Asner (Kent Nelson). Bennett voiced the gargoyle Brooklyn, while Adcox voiced the gargoyle Lexington and Asner voiced the gargoyle Hudson.
• Queen Bee is voiced by Marina Sirtis, who voiced Demona. Both characters share similar physical traits: Queen Bee dons a veil around her shoulders, which mirrors Demona's wings when furled; she also wears a gold armband similar to the one that Demona used on her left arm, and a golden diadem that resembles Demona's headpiece; and both wear golden earrings.
• Vandal Savage has three facial scars that bear a striking resemblance to those that Demona gave to Gillecomgain, which later came to be the signature mark of the Hunters. However, Savage's scars are not an intentional reference to the Hunters. They were part of his original design by Phil Bourassa.^[2]
• Various villains (mostly those who work for the Light) exhibit a Xanatos-like perspective about loss: every time they are thwarted by the Team they never acknowledge defeat, but rather perceive some sort of victory from the events in a very calm and nonchalant demeanor:
  • The Light lost their weapon but claimed they could turn it to a benefit;^[3]
  • T.O. Morrow failed to re-procure Red Tornado, but calmly claimed to have learned a lot about the Team;^[4]
  • The Light failed to acquire the giant echinoderm, but claimed that "everything falls into place";^[5]
  • The Light lost the Sphere and Superboy (again), but dismissed it, because the test of their new partner's delivery system was a success;^[6]
  • Even though the massive prison break in Belle Reve Penitentiary was torpedoed by Superboy and Miss Martian, Hugo Strange asserted that "the main objectives were all reached".^[7]

Episodes

"Revelation"

• Wotan's lightning bolt incantation "fulmina venite!" was a favorite of the Archmage. However, on Gargoyles it was erroneously uttered as "fulminos venite".
• Also, when the Team is listing what Kobra-Venom has done, Superboy adds "And upgrade Wolf". This is a reference to what happened to the namesake character in the episode "Upgrade".

"Humanity"

• 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 & Roll".

"Secrets"

• One of Zatanna's spells ("Erif nrub, nordluac elbbub") translates into "Fire burn, cauldron bubble", which is a quote from William Shakespeare Macbeth (Act Four, Scene One). This line was also used in the recreated scene of the play in the episode "City of Stone" Part Three.

"Misplaced"

• The main plot of this episode turned out to be an over-elaborate ploy contrived by the antagonists in order to divert attentions and secure an unrelated goal. This was also done in "Leader of the Pack", "Metamorphosis", "Legion" and "High Noon".
• Klarion says "Team work is so overrated." Thailog said the same thing in "Sanctuary".

"Satisfaction"

• When confronted by Speedy, Lex Luthor says "Vengeance is a sucker's game", very similar to a line uttered by David Xanatos in "Leader of the Pack": "Revenge, as they say, is a sucker's game".

"Summit"

• Black Manta's line to Aqualad, "[...] even if I must beat that lesson into your skull", echoes what Demona said to her past-self in "Vows": "If I must beat this lesson into you, so be it".

Comics

"Monkey Business" (Issue 2)

• When Superboy breaks free from the illusion, he shouts, "None of this is real". This mirrors Goliath's scream "None of you are real" when he breaks free from his hallucinations in "Shadows of the Past".

"Hot Case"

• Amidst the fight between the Team and Rako, Duk Trang tries to slip away through a hidden passageway behind a tapestry. In "City of Stone" Part Three, Demona hides behind a 12th-century tapestry, also concealing a secret passageway.

"The Pendulum"

• Ubu tells Ra's al Ghul that he "is healed, but not whole". Goliath said the same thing about himself in "The Rock".

"...Here There be Monsters"

• When Miss Martian tries to take Ocean-Master's trident with telekinesis, he asks "What sorcery is this?". This line was spoken four times in Gargoyles:
  • Goliath said it when he saw his clan in stone sleep at night, in "Awakening" Part Two;
  • Coldstone uttered it when a laser blaster popped out of his forearm, in "Reawakening";
  • Kai asked it, bewildered, when he and the other gargoyles found themselves in the theme park upon awakening, in "Bushido";
  • Goliath said it when he walked in on Demona while she was preparing Operation Clean Slate, in "Hunter's Moon" Part Three.
• A few pages before the aforementioned utterance, one hooded purist paraphrases the line, saying "What new sorcery is this?" when Topo spouts his cephalopod ink to confound the engaging purists.

"Monkey Business" (Issue 18)

• Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis watch Celebrity Hockey, the television sports program that Hudson enjoys watching.

"Players, Chapter Six: Rolling Doubles"

• Queen Bee strokes Marie Logan and Ali's hair while enthralling them. In the Gargoyles universe, this was the equivalent to kissing among gargoyles.
• The issue concludes with the same caption used in the last Gargoyles comic by SLG: "Never The End...".

The Spectacular Spider-Man

Characters

• Harm is voiced by Ben Diskin who also voiced Venom. Both characters exhibit idiosyncratic speech patterns: Venom spoke in the first-person plural to refer to himself ("we"), while Harm refers to himself in the third-person singular and uses the impersonal pronoun to refer to others ("it", "they" and a pluralized "its"). Moreover, both are psychotic and both have bound and gagged a character voiced by Lacey Chabert.
• Josh Keaton, who voiced the title character, voices Black Spider, a sort of opposite number to the good-doer web-slinger.
• Kelly Hu voices Paula Crock (née Nguyen) and Jade Nguyen. In The Spectacular Spider-Man, she voiced a character with the same last name: Sha Shan Nguyen.
• Seven SSM alumni are reunited in one episode: Josh Keaton (Black Spider; Spider-Man), Lacey Chabert (Zatanna; Gwen Stacy), Crispin Freeman (Red Arrow; Electro), Kelly Hu (Cheshire; Sha Shan Nguyen), Thom Adcox (Klarion; Tinkerer); Peter MacNicol (Professor Ivo; Dr. Octopus) and Jeff Bennett (Red Tornado; Shocker).

Episodes

"Fireworks"

• The Team defeats Blockbuster by using the same strategy Spider-Man employed to defeat Shocker in "Market Forces".

"Revelation"

• Wotan's lightning bolt incantation "fulmina venite!" was a favorite of Mysterio.

"The Fix"

• Deathstroke's line "I hate to see any poor animal suffer" is very similar to what Shocker says in "Accomplices": "Never did like to see a poor, dumb animal suffer."

"Auld Acquaintance"

• Robin realizes Batman is not "himself" by picking up on an atypical idiosyncrasy, specifically Batman's referring to the Team as "kids". This is reminiscent of how in "Final Curtain" Harry Osborn makes a very similar realization about his father.

Other

• Blue Beetle often utilizes a stable gun to restrain his opponents. This was first done by David Xanatos in the episode "Cloud Fathers" of Gargoyles and then by Silver Sable in the episode "Accomplices" The Spectacular Spider-Man.
• Young Justice uses timestamps to "ground the show in the moment and allow fans to get how much time has passed between episodes". Greg Weisman explained that and it was "the next logical step from what [he] tried to do on Spectacular Spider-Man"^[8] in which the timeline could be pinpointed by seasonal holidays. Prior to this, Weisman had first used timestamps on three issues of the Gargoyles comics by SLG: "The Rock", "Rock & Roll" and "Rock of Ages". The first two of those issues did not include locations, however, the third did: continuing the sense of progression.
• In "Revelation", Steve Blum reprised his role of Count Vertigo from DC Showcase: Green Arrow, written by Greg Weisman. The phrase "Count Vertigo to you, peasant" was also used in that short.
• Perdita, Vertigo's niece, first appeared in DC Showcase: Green Arrow, and was reused in Young Justice.

See also

• List of Gargoyles voice actors in Young Justice
• List of The Spectacular Spider-Man voice actors in Young Justice
• List of W.I.T.C.H. voice actors in Young Justice

References