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Message: <blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 2362639" data-attributes="member: 5171">Danke, Reveal. Alright. The very short spoiler-filled version:Sequel to "Question Authority":[spoiler]Superman and Cap Atom throw down -- Atom refuses to give up, and it looks like it might be close for awhile, but it is of course revealed that the Blue Boy Scout was going easy on his friend, and eventually takes the gloves off. Despite Atom's ability to create red-sun radiation through his energy manipulation, Atom gets pounded -- and then rescued from Cadmus techs by Superman, who takes him back to the watchtower.Waller and Luthor argue about the ramifications of Question being rescued, and Luthor hangs up on her, hacks into the Watchtower computer system, overrides the commands, and fires up the fusion beam. Several quick shots of people trying to stop it -- including Superman taking a fusion-beam to the chest before getting blasted off into space -- but their attempt fails, and the Watchtower turns the Cadmus lab into one gigantic crater. The rest of the episode has the Justice League trying to help people near the blast (because JLU is a kid's show, there were no fatalities, but lots of damage -- and if you're an adult, the clear implication is that the JLU just appeared to nuke Cadmus) while Waller goes over the President's head and orders Galatea (Supergirl's lithe and very mature clone) to take out the Watchtower -- showing her a massive army of Ultimen clones with which to do it.Mostly a setup episode, although the Superman/Atom fight was good in a lot of ways.[/spoiler]Sequel to that one (I'm horrible on titles)[spoiler]The Big Seven turn themselves in -- except for Batman. They know that they didn't nuke Cadmus, but they want to show the world that they're cooperating. This is poorly timed, since a whole mess of zombie Ultimen (no minds, controlled by Galatea) are on course to blow up the Watchtower.This quickly turns into a gigantic battle. Put briefly, if you saw a hero anytime this season, they're on the Watchtower beating up bad guys. It's a chance for every non-big-seven person to shine. Lots of great fighting, with my personal favorite parts including: watching the ordinary tech-guys finally break and turn on the shapeshifting girl in her T-rex form; watching Captain Atom save Question and Huntress from attackers without getting out of his hospital bed; and watching Supergirl finally show her evil clone who's the boss once and for all.Batman, meanwhile, pays a visit to Cadmus (which suffered no real casualties -- after Superman compromised their location, they relocated, and all the big fusion-beam got was an empty facility) and tells them to stop being idiots, that it's obviously Luthor playing them for fools. (He also does a great one-shot on General Eiling. Waller calls off the attack, but Galatea "doesn't get her message" -- which works out poorly for her, as Kara does not go down quietly.In the end, we see Luthor about to merge his mind into a copy of the Amazo android -- his whole plan was a front to get that technology. He's stopped by Batman, who then underestimates Luthor's new super-strength and gets tossed out a window for his trouble. The android is blown apart by Waller herself, who is also knocked about by an angry Luthor -- until she reveals that she brought some friends, namely the Big Seven (one of whom catches Bats on the way down). Luthor looks to be in serious trouble, until he suddenly contorts in pain, mutates, and sprouts tentacles and a metal face from his torso that declares "I'd hoped to stay hidden until he transferred my consciousness into the android body..." And Superman says "Brainiac!" to end the episode.[/spoiler]"Divided we Fall", the kickass conclusion[spoiler]Luthor appears to have no idea what's going on, and Brainiac has apparently been driving Luthor subconsciously, tweaking his ideas here and there. The note of how Brainiac got into Luthor is fantastic – back in the Superman series, Brainiac blasted Luthor, and Brainiac notes that Luthor would never have survived such a blast unless Brainiac desired it. That blast carried a nanotech payload that basically served as Brainiac’s backup plan. A bit silly, but I loved the nod to an old Superman episode.Then we get Big Fight Scene number one. Lots of scenery blown up, big tentatcled-Luthor monster throwing down, Justice League pummeled. They nearly get killed, then saved by J’Onn spending a Hero point to use his incorporeality (come on, that’s got to be the only reason he doesn’t do it at the beginning of every fight), and then a gigantic Brainiac mothership appears and gets destroyed (it comes out of the bottom of Luthor’s building – evidently Brainiac was really good at hiding financial stuff). It’s a diversion, of course – Brainiac is escaping.In fact, Brainy plans to get a new body and kill Luthor, but Luthor talks him out of it with his usual Luthor style – almost exactly the taunts he used on the Amazo android, in fact. Brainiac doesn’t trust organics after the incident with Darkseid, and Luthor opts to solve this problem by merging their personalities… and upping their power a bit by taking a trip to Cadmus and getting their hands on all the nanotech material that the army commandeered at the end of the Atom-centric “Dark Heart”.The League figures out the same thing, and the big seven arrive at Cadmus just in time to see Cadmus, via nanotech, turn into a giant swirly tentacle of doom with energy cascading all around it. And there in the middle is a Luthor/Brainiac merge – it looks like the humanoid Brainiac with Luthor’s face.Big Fight Scene number two erupts. This fight, in my opinion, is the best of the season. If the previous episode was the chance for all the little people to show off, this is the chance for the Big Seven to do their thing. To up the character-interaction, Luthor creates nanomonsters that are exact duplicates of the Justice Lords, and who shout out all the worst fears of the heroes. Superman is fighting evil-Superman, who shouts that Superman is evil, that absolute power corrupts absolutely… all kinds of good stuff. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl work out a little tension killing off each other’s robot doubles, and the Flash (who has an evil-looking Flash to fight) responds to comments like “Flake! Loser! You don’t belong with the real heroes!” with a great line I can’t quite remember, something along the lines of “Are you kidding? I’ve got a seat at the big table! I’m even gonna carve my logo in the seat!” and puts his fist into his duplicate and vibrates the bastard until he explodes.The fight ends with the building destroyed by Wonder Woman’s well-placed javelin-throw (ah, the irony), but the League is out of the fight, and Luthor prepares to kill Flash, joking that he’s only fulfilling his destiny. Luthor at this point is an armored horror who appears nigh-indestructible. Flash breaks away from the goons, and Luthor asks if has the nerve to fight. And the Flash runs away, and Luthor laughs.…Until we hear a noise coming from the other direction, and a moment later the Flash, who ran AROUND THE FRELLING WORLD TO BUILD MOMENTUM, hits Luthor hard enough to tear off a chunk of armor. And then he does it again. And again. Everyone who got annoyed because the Flash was too immature to really use his powers as well as he could, everyone who was annoyed because he had to be stupid so that things didn’t get solved too easily… this is your day. Watching the Flash zip past islands, pyramids, and mountains in Flash-speed vision to knock the living crap out of the bad guy who just punked the rest of the Justice League… dang, that was awesome.Flash puts Luthor down and uses the vibration-trick, and the sheer force of his power causes an enormous explosion that looks suspiciously like a bolt of lightning. When it fades, Luthor is just Luthor again, Brainiac having been blown clear out of him. And as Superman gets up shakily, the Flash, sparking with electricity, says, “I don’t feel so good…” and then flickers. And then vanishes.And Luthor says, “Well, what do you know? Looks like I killed Flash after all.”A second later Luthor is being held up by his throat, and Superman’s eyes are glowing red. Wonder Woman is ready to stop him, but Batman holds her back (well, emotionally, not physically). There’s a long, tense moment. And then Superman says “I’m not that man. I wish to God I were, but I’m not.”And then J’onn says that Flash is actually alive, nearby but in some kind of dimensional flux. Hawkgirl finds him (possibly through the mace, but I’m not sure), and reaches into the convenient vortex to pull Wally out of the “Speed Force” place that his super-speed use put him into. She’s getting pulled in as well, and the whole league links hands to form a human (and Martian, and Amazonian) chain, shouting, “We’ve got you, Wally!” It’s corny as heck, and it’s not physically realistic, since, well, Supes could do it all by himself. But as an emotional moment, watching them all pull together to save their friend, to show how they are completely and totally NOT the Justice Lords… it worked for me.Flash is saved, and we cut to Waller telling the President that no, it’s alright, call everything off.There’s a short epilogue in which the Big Seven say that they’re going to discontinue the League, after concerns about their role – and then Green Arrow, dragged in at the beginning of its formation, shouts them down and tells them to shut up and get back to work, because they’ve saved the world again and the world needs them. The episode ends with Clark Kent talking with Lois Lane about the Justice League article she’s working on… a wonderfully human touch, and a great closing shot.[/spoiler]I’ll leave Epilogue for somebody else. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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