Recap: Young Justice "Independence Day"

Happy 25,000 views, everybody! I've been doing this for almost a year at this point, and I can get the hint when you guys want something. Especially when you guys vote in a poll! So without further ado, here's the Recap/Review you guys wanted!

Let's begin our look back at...

Bring it back, DC Nation!

The episode, and series, opens up on Gotham City in the daytime, a rarity to be sure. Usually in Gotham, the only times of day are sunset, twilight, night, and inexplicably red skies. A helpful caption informs us that it’s July 4, 12:00 EDT. As is usually the case for Gotham City, a supervillain attacks the local populace. The scélérat du jour is Mister Freeze, flashfreezing innocent bystanders.

Mr. Freeze: “Enjoying ‘family time’? My family has other plans.”

What, no "ice to see you"? Before he can keep going, it seems as though Batman has mustered up the courage to enter the daylight and throws a batarang at Freeze’s ray. Robin soon joins in with his creepy laugh and birdarangs. Robin, it seems, is in quite the hurry to defeat the bad guy. I wonder why.

Meanwhile, over in Star City (which according to the “PDT” time zone is somewhere on the West Coast) Icicle, Jr. is causing a ruckus over on a bridge. Green Arrow and his sidekick Speedy soon show up and begin firing arrows at the frosty fiend. Speedy, it seems, is also in a hurry to be somewhere.

Meanwhile… again, over at Pearl Harbor, it seems as though someone has taken it upon themselves to freeze a few battleships. Or destroyers. Possibly aircraft carriers. Sorry for my unfamiliarity; I learned about the Navy by playing Battleship. Anyway, yet another ice-themed villain, this time the femme froideur Killer Frost, is fighting Aquaman and his young partner Aqualad. In a subversion of what’s been going on so far, Aquaman seems to be more excited than Aqualad is about the mysterious “something.” All Aqualad wants to do is focus on getting the job done.

Meanwhile, for the final time, in Central City, Flash and Kid Flash are running circles around Captain Cold, who has just robbed a jewelry store of diamonds, which even the Flash points out is a bit of a cliché. The impatient Kid Flash steals Cold’s freeze gun, and tells Flash to get his rear in gear because, once again, “today’s the day.”

Later, at Washington DC, Batman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman are taking their sidekicks Robin, Speedy, and Aqualad to the Hall of Justice (the Justice League headquarters). Flash and Kid Flash show up a few seconds later. Funny, you’d think that the Fastest Man Alive wouldn’t be the last one there. You know what we get after this? A theme song accompanying clips of the team in action. It’s only, like, 10 seconds, but I’ll take it after this 5-second crap I’ve been putting up with from other shows.

Pictured: Everyone but the slowpokes.

The episode resumes with the general public taking pictures as the Justice Leaguers take their young wards inside the headquarters. After all, today’s a big day.

Kid Flash: “Have all four sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?”
Speedy: “Don't… call us ‘sidekicks.’ Not after today.”

After a bit of friendly camaraderie, where Robin decides that the word “whelmed” needs to be used more often, the team is taken inside and greeted by the Martian Manhunter in front of the citizens inside the Hall. I should probably explain, in this continuity, the general public is allowed into certain areas of the Hall of Justice. This makes sense; after all, Congress and the White House do the same thing in real life.

Anyway, Martian Manhunter takes them into the Authorized Personnel Only area and tells them that they now have unlimited access to the Hall of Justice. They reach the library, and Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad begin enjoying the comfy chairs. Speedy, however, is unimpressed with the whole deal as he watches Batman talk to the Leaguers about the ice-villain attack. The Leaguers are about to go back into the Justice League Only area, when Speedy calls them out on the whole situation.

Speedy: “You promised us a real look inside. Not a glorified backstage pass.”

Aquaman tries to explain that this is a rare honor, but Speedy motions toward the people behind the glass in the balcony taking pictures. "Authorized Personnel" my spleen. Speedy demands respect. After all, he’s not a kid anymore. None of the sidekicks are. I think, at this point, Robin’s the youngest one at the age of 14. Kid Flash and Speedy appear to be around 16, and who knows how Atlanteans age. Speedy insists that he’s through being treated like a little kid.

Kid Flash brings up that he was told that Step 1 for becoming a Leaguer was a tour of the HQ. And he’s right. Only Speedy brings up that the Hall of Justice isn't the actual HQ, it’s a front for the benefit of the public. The “back room” leads to a teleporter that takes Leaguers to their real HQ on a satellite called the “Watchtower.” Batman is not happy that Speedy knows about the secret Satellite HQ.

Green Arrow: “I know, I know, but I thought maybe we could make an exception…or not.”

Sick and tired of not being treated the way that he feels a crime fighter of his age and experience should be, Speedy throws down his doofy-looking yellow hat and leaves. Well, enough of that; Superman shows up on the viewscreen in the room and informs the Leaguers about an explosion and subsequent fire at a sciencey organization called Project CADMUS.

Batman: “I’ve had my suspicions about CADMUS.”

Batman, you probably have suspicions about PBS. …What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, a suspicious fire at a suspicious laboratory. Before Batman can assemble the League, Zatara (a powerful sorcerer who dresses like a stage magician) appears on the screen and informs the League that an evil sorcerer named Wotan is going to use the Amulet of Aton to blot out the sun. Naturally, such an emergency requires the whole League. After all, if the sun goes out, they don’t have the ghost of Hal Jordan to reignite it. As the League leaves to take care of the imminent destruction of the sun, Batman orders Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash to stay behind. The three sidekicks are incredulous as the League insists that, despite their years of experience, they don’t have the proper training to work with the League yet.

Aquaman: “There will be other missions. When you’re ready.”

Uh, not without the sun, fish stick. Couldn’t you use all the help you can get? I guess not, because the Leaguers leave the youngsters behind.

Kid Flash: “How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like sidekicks?”

Even the stoic and serious Aqualad is disheartened to find out that Aquaman, his partner and king doesn’t trust him enough for this mission. Secret missions, secret spacebases… the three begin to wonder what else is being kept from them. Aquaman asks what Project CADMUS is, so Robin goes to find out. He manages to hack into the Hall of Justice computer (because it works on the same system as the Batcave) and gets very little information besides the location. Robin suggests that the three of them should take it upon themselves to investigate.

Aqualad: “Solve their case before they do…it would be poetic justice.”

Later, at CADMUS, the local authorities are dealing with the fire as another explosion throws a couple men out of the building, before being saved by Kid Flash. The team meets up on the second floor, having gone in through an open window. Robin works his hacking magic as Aqualad investigates. Around a corner, he sees a strange, horned figure go down an elevator. The data that Robin got by hacking reveals that it’s a high-speed express elevator, which is pretty weird for a two-story research lab. Aqualad wrenches open the door, discovering a gigantic elevator shaft going down many, many stories. Robin, Aqualad, and Kid Flash slide down a batrope as far as they can to Sublevel 26. (The only reason they stop isn’t from running out of stories, but running out of rope.) Robin hacks his way through the doors, and they enter a room filled with all sorts of dark, dimly lit science. Running around recklessly, Kid Flash discovers ogre-lookin’ things wandering around with little Gollum-things riding them.

Meanwhile, in another part of Project CADMUS, a scientist named Mark Desmond is doing… what appears to be chemistry while surrounded by cyborg embryos in jars. After managing to create a blue glowstick, he gets a visit from the installation’s chief of security, the Guardian. Mark puts his formula in a case labeled “Project Blockbuster,” and Guardian briefs him on the situation. A G-Gnome (the Gollum thing riding the ogre) reports three intruders. Dr. Desmond insists that, what with there being no perimeter breaches, the G-Gnome is confused. A horned-devil-looking guy enters the room, suggesting that Guardian leaves his personal G-Gnome behind while he investigates, in case a fight breaks out. It is then implied, through Desmond’s actions, that the G-Gnome on Guardian’s shoulder is bending Guardian’s mind to Desmond’s will.

Look at the guy on the left. That is the look of guy who's barely putting up with this crap.

Back with the team, Robin is officially whelmed as they enter a room filled with strange creatures in containment units generating electricity. Kid Flash realizes that the real CADMUS is off the grid because it doesn’t need outside energy. This opens up questions with the Law of Conservation of Energy, because CADMUS would need to put energy into these creatures to get energy out of them, but whatever.

Robin does more hacking, discovering that the purpose of CADMUS is to create “Genomorphs.” 

To explain, because I get the feeling some of you may be a bit whelmed at this point, CADMUS is creating monsters with super powers. Little ones that sit on shoulders and can read and control minds, as well as bigger ones for apparent slave labor. Delving further, Robin discovers Project: Kr, but can’t get any info on it before the Guardian shows up.

Guardian recognizes the kids, and wonders why they’ve ended up in CADMUS. He calmly and amicably suggest that they call the League, but Kid Flash fires back that CADMUS is creating weapons. Before Guardian can fully understand what’s going on, the G-Gnome bends his mind and makes him attack the team alongside a squadron of Genomorphs. After a scuffle, the team escapes into the only place they can, the elevator. Robin takes the team down to Project Kr on Sublevel 52, which is designed like the inside of Leviathan from Devil May Cry 3.

Suddenly, the devil-guy appears and forces the team down a hallway. Guardian shows up and quickly heads after them. The team rushes inside the Project Kr vault, and Robin locks the door. Kid Flash, meanwhile, has made a discovery. Project: Kr is a clone of Superman.

Well. Let's hope he doesn't wake up....

More hacking reveals that “Weapon Designation: Superboy” is a 16-week-old clone of Superman, put in a solar-suit to mimic absorption of yellow sunlight. The G-Gnomes have been telepathically teaching him, and probably also brainwashing him. Aqualad attempts to contact the League, but 52 stories under the ground seems to be beyond the range of his belt’s service provider. Should've gone with Verizon.

Meanwhile, Guardian and the Genomorphs wait outside as a scientist attempts to open the project vault. Desmond shows up and yells and demands some “G-Trolls.” He mentally orders Guradian’s G-Gnome to wake up Superboy. At the same time, Robin and the others vow to rescue Superboy from his confinement, so they open the tube containing him. Suddenly, Superboy wakes up and attacks Aqualad and the others. After subduing them all, Superboy opens the vault.

Desmond: “Atta boy.”

And with that, the episode ends. Don’t worry, it’s continued next episode.