Justice League Unlimited

Justice League Unlimited (or JLU) was an American animated television series produced by and aired on Cartoon Network. Featuring a wide array of superheroes from the DC Comics universe, and specifically based on the Justice League superhero team, it is a direct sequel to the previous Justice League animated series. JLU debuted on July 31, 2004 at 8:30 p.m. EST/PST on Toonami and ended with the episode aired May 13, 2006 at 10:30 p.m. EST/PST.

Overview
The series is a continuation of its predecessor, taking up soon after Justice League ended. It is sometimes considered to be the same series as the original; the first season of Justice League Unlimited is referred to by the producers as the third season of Justice League. However, seasons referred to below treat Justice League Unlimited as a separate series.

It features a greatly-expanded League, in which the characters from the original series are joined by a number of superheroes (in the first episode, well over 50 characters appear), as well as a number of DC heroes who had made guest appearances in the first two seasons of Justice League.

Also unlike Justice League, which primarily consisted of two- or three-part stories with only light continuity between them, Justice League Unlimited features ongoing story arcs, the first involving the building conflict between the league and a secret government agency known as Project Cadmus. This plot line heavily builds upon events that occurred during the second season of Justice League, and has affected the plotlines of most of its episodes. It was resolved in a four-part story at the end of the second season of Justice League Unlimited. The third season story arc focuses on the Legion of Doom as the main villains, a loose-knit organization formed to combat the increased superhero coordination of the first two seasons.

Besides the addition of dozens of new League members, the show has changed format somewhat, though keeping the same Bruce Timm style artwork. The stories in the second and third seasons of Unlimited have, however, tended to align along a season-long story arc.

Also, towards the end of the series, certain characters became off-limits to the show. Namely any character mainly associated with Batman (Aside from Batman himself), and every Aquaman character. This was due to un-related animated series The Batman, and the pilot of a Smallville-like series for Aquaman which wasn't picked up. Many have seen the decisions to outlaw these characters odd, seeing as Smallville & JLU make use of several of Superman's supporting characters, namely Lex Luthor, however, this ruling would seem to apply to JLU's use of Lois Lane, as she did not have a speaking role once the character was added to Smallville's cast. On the other hand, the sibling superheroes who are featured in the League, Hawk and Dove, are among the few Teen Titans who do not appear in the television series depiction of that superhero team.

Justice League Unlimited, similar to the second season of Justice League, is animated in widescreen. The show also features a new theme song. It was the last Dini/Timm show in production, although there is currently two other, nonrelated animated series set in the DC universe: The Batman and Legion of Super Heroes. The two-part series finale was aired in the UK on February 8 and February 18 2006 and in the United States on May 6 and May 13 2006.

Characters
The seven founding members on Justice League Unlimited consist of the League's members during the original two Justice League seasons; these members continue to have greater authority and responsibility in the League.

Connection with Batman Beyond
The term "Justice League Unlimited" was used first in the two-part episode ("The Call") of the animated series Batman Beyond that aired more than a year before the first Justice League series began. Decades into the future of the DC Animated Universe, the Justice League still exists, and is referred to as the "Justice League Unlimited". This future League consists of Superman, a new Green Lantern, Big Barda, Warhawk, Aquagirl, and Micron. Like his predecessor, the new Batman becomes a part-time member of the League.

Justice League Unlimited ' s first season two-part finale ("The Once and Future Thing") again features the league of the future, with a reduced lineup. Villain David Clinton and the Jokerz killed most of the future members of the league, leaving only the original Batman (now the 80-year-old Bruce Wayne), the second Batman (Terry McGinnis), Warhawk and Static alive. This episode also features the revelation that Warhawk is the son of Jon Stewart and Shayera Hol. Some of these members appear again, along with the rest of the now-restored future heroes, in the season two finale, "Epilogue".

DVD releases

 * Saving the World (released February 15, 2005) - Contains Season One episodes "Initiation", "Hawk and Dove", and "Kid Stuff".
 * Joining Forces (released September 20, 2005) - Contains Season One episodes "For the Man Who Has Everything", "The Greatest Story Never Told", and "The Return".

Fans of the series have been lobbying for the release of complete seasons (along with the original Justice League episodes) rather than collected editions such as those above, and with the announced first season box which was released on March 21, 2006 for Justice League it seems likely Justice League Unlimited will receive similar treatment. There are tentative reports that there will be 2 more single-disc releases, New Heroes and Once and Future. The first set of Justice League Unlimited is planned for release on October 24, 2006 and will contain both season 1 and 2 episodes, for a total of 26 episodes. 

Episode trivia

 * Hawk and Dove were voiced by Fred Savage and Jason Hervey, who played the bickering brothers Kevin and Wayne on the TV series Wonder Years. Ironically, Fred voiced the older, more aggressive brother Hawk/Hank Hall while Jason voiced the younger, more docile brother Dove/Don Hall, which was a complete reversal of their roles on Wonder Years. It was originally intended for Jason to voice Hawk and Fred to voice Dove, mirroring the Wonder Years relationship, but during the voice over readings they unexpectedly swapped parts and it was left that way for the episode.
 * Dwayne McDuffie stated that the golden shield on the back of Superman's cape would never appear in Justice League Unlimited
 * Supergirl received a redesign because they said that the white-T design was "too 90s". The new design is described as being partially based on the new Supergirl from the Loeb/Churchill series
 * All characters but Batman received minor redesigns following the end of Justice League and start of Justice League Unlimited. Some, like Green Lantern, were redesigned with new haircuts, or (in the case of Hawkgirl and Supergirl) completely redesigned wardrobes. Superman had some face lines changed, because his facial expression in Justice League was "too" mature. The Flash had some of his lines changed, while Wonder Woman got a more feminine face and her lines softened in general.
 * The Justice League's Metro-Tower in Metropolis at the start of the third season is the former site of Lexor City and the future site of the Justice League Watchtower in Batman Beyond ' s time. Its current design is based a homage of the Hall of Justice from the television series Superfriends, with its shape extrapolated as a tower and pavilion rather than a hall.
 * The cast of the TV show Firefly has made several appearances in Justice League Unlimited. Nathan Fillion (Captain Malcolm Reynolds) voices Vigilante, and Gina Torres (Zoe) provides the voice of Vixen. They appear together in the episode Hunter's Moon. Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra) plays Black Canary, and Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb) has played three supporting roles: Jonah Hex, Hal Jordan, and Rick Flag, Jr.
 * Two actresses and one actor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel have made several appearances. Amy Acker does the voice of Huntress while Juliet Landau has done Tala and Plastique and Alexis Denisof has appeared as Mirror Master. In addition, Giselle Loren, the voice of Stargirl, was the voice of Buffy in video games.
 * The voice actors of 6 out of 7 of the main characters of the show Futurama have appeared in JLU. Phil LaMarr (Hermes) is the voice of Green Lantern, Static, and Steel. Billy West (Fry, Farnsworth, Zoidberg) appeared as Booster Gold's robot, Skeets. John DiMaggio (Bender) voiced Dreamslayer in the episode "Shadow of the Hawk." Lauren Tom (Amy) voiced Dana Tan, Doctor Light, and the Future Green Lantern in "Epilogue."
 * In Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, several actors from the various Star Trek series have provided voices: Michael Dorn (Worf) voiced Kalibak. Rene Auberjonois (Odo) played Kanjar-Ro, DeSaad (for the second time; the first was on the Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians series) and General Steppenwolf. Armin Shimerman (Quark) voiced Doctor Achilles Milo. Robert Picardo (The Doctor) played Blackhawk and Amazo. Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun, Brunt, Shran) voices The Question.
 * In the episode "Double Date", the flashback of the assassination of Huntress' father Franco Bertinelli shows him to appear very similar to another famous gangster, Scarface.
 * Also in "Double Date", Tommy Monaghan is mentioned in passing. In the comics, Monaghan was a superpowered hitman and star of the comic series "Hitman" by Garth Ennis and John McCrea.
 * In the episode "The Great Brain Robbery," Luthor and Flash switch bodies and their voice actors trade roles. Clancy Brown, Luthor's original voice, becomes the Flash and Michael Rosenbaum, the Flash's original voice, becomes Luthor. Coincidentally, Rosenbaum also plays Lex Luthor on Smallville.
 * In the final episode of the third season, "Destroyer," there is a scene at the end where the League descends down a flight of stairs at the Metro Tower. The rows of heroes and the order in which they descend are indicative of generations of the League in the comics: Starting with Steel III, the first row is the Brave and the Bold characters (Metamorpho, B'wana Beast) and Steve Ditko's contributions (the Question, Captain Atom, the Creeper and Hawk and Dove), the Seven Soldiers of Victory (Stargirl and STRIPE, Crimson Avenger, Vigilante, and Shining Knight), the JSA (Hourman, Doctor Mid-Nite, Doctor Fate, and Wildcat) the "Detroit" JLA (Vibe, Steel II, Gypsy, and Vixen), the "Giffen era" JLA (Fire, Ice, Booster Gold, and Elongated Man), the "Satellite era" JLA (Red Tornado, Atom, Zatanna, Green Arrow, and Black Canary) and finally the seven mainstays (Flash, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman in the middle). This was the final visual for the show paying homage to the various characters that were incorporated into the cartoon. Also, as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman run toward camera, Batman is the last image before fading to black, which pays homage to the Dini/Timm era which began with Batman: The Animated Series. Incidentally the final scene in "Epilogue" (The episode that was intended to be the final of the DCAU) is an homage to "On Leather Wings", the opening scene in the very first episode of the first Batman animated series that the Timm/Dini team collaborated on. Both scenes share very similar visuals - dark rain-laden clouds, Man-Bat/Batman (Terry McGinis) streaking past darkened buildings and buzzing a pair of astonished policeman in an airship/aircraft.

Cancellation
Paul Dini, writer for the show, announced on January 25, 2006 via a reply to a blog entry that the show had been cancelled. However, in July 2006 it was learned that Warner Bros. is currently developing an animated movie that will once again team up many of the Justice League characters. This movie is an adaptation of DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke.

Voice cast

 * Martian Manhunter/J'onn J'onzz - Carl Lumbly
 * Superman/Clark Kent - George Newbern
 * Batman/Bruce Wayne - Kevin Conroy
 * Flash/Wally West - Michael Rosenbaum
 * Green Lantern/John Stewart - Phil LaMarr
 * Wonder Woman/Diana - Susan Eisenberg
 * Hawkgirl/Shayera Hol - Maria Canals
 * Lex Luthor - Clancy Brown
 * Aquaman - Scott Rummell
 * Green Arrow - Kin Shriner