Following the tradition established by Grant Morrison, this week proved that the League works best when they just act as Batman’s assistants. Held hostage and immobile by the Injustice League, The Dark Knight outwits Solomon Grundy (not that hard), gets a little action, and convinces Miggs to swallow his tongue.
The rest of the League, however, just sort of runs around ineffectively. Superman and The Flash try to interrogate the captured Copperhead, but the snake knows that any threats the Kryptonian makes ring hollow. Without beating us over the head with the idea, this episode proves that sometimes we need our superheroes to be absolute bastards. (As opposed to just kind of jerks, like The Flash, who sits in the interrogation room smirking – way to help, Wally.)
While the team laments the loss of Batman, Luthor and his pals try to unlock the secrets of the Bat-utility belt. After Grundy’s brute strength fails to rip it open, The Joker sends him outside and double dog dares him to lick a frozen flagpole. Inside, Luthor exposes the belt to a series of energy spectrums which finally cause all the compartments to politely click open. With the key to the Watchtower in his grasp, Luthor sends an away team to plant a bomb at the Justice League headquarters.
Cleverly disguised as a golden satchel, the bomb remains undetected. If only J’onn J’onnz had not fallen for a sucker punch while looking for intruders. If only he had thought that perhaps when looking for intruders he should use his Martian intangibility or invisibility. Beaten down by Solomon Grundy does not look good on the resume.
But a traitor exists within the ranks of The Injustice League, and the JL receives a warning just in time to save their satellite. Who could the traitor be? The Shade, remembering that he was a good guy in the pages of Starman? The Cheetah, earlier seen making out with Batman? (No lie – what is it about bats and cats?) The only real villains we can count on are Lex Luthor and The Joker, who irritate the crap out of each other just as much as they irritate their arch-enemies.
Borrowing heavily from Morrison’s portrayal of Batman, “Injustice For All” proved satisfying. Buried in the in-jokes is the complete evolution of Lex Luthor; watch carefully, and you’ll see him in every single one of his comics incarnations, with a far more sensible reason given for his silly pre-Crisis armor, too. (It did make for a nifty Super Powers action figure, though.) Timm and company also take a dig at their parent company, housing the Injustice League in a shuttered “Metropolis Pictures Store,” an empty and obvious failed Warner Brothers Studio Store. Thank heavens the Justice League accidentally smashes the Zan and Jayna statues there. We’ll have no such luck if their movie ever actually happens.
Once again, every member of the League gets a shot at the action, most of the villains are at least recognizable versions of their comic book selves, and Batman proves himself the toughest hero of them all. And to think that in part one, J’onn belittled him for having no actual powers. Silly Martian.
