The 12 Best Moments From Young Justice Season 4
Spoilers for "Young Justice" Season 4 ahead.
The 4th season of "Young Justice" is subtitled "Phantoms," for reasons that only become clear halfway through. It is divided into several arcs that focus on one or two characters while occasionally looking in on others. The main arc is the wedding between Superboy and Miss Martian. It starts on Mars, where Superboy (aka Kon-El, aka Conner Kent) is seemingly destroyed by a bomb laced with Kryptonite. His death shatters both M'gann M'orzz (Miss Martian) and Garfield Logan (Beast Boy).
Other arcs include Artemis Crock coming to terms with her sister, the villain Cheshire, and exploring the meaning of found family. Zatanna's arc starts off with her as a benevolent teacher of enthusiastic students of magic and ends in a much darker place. A grieving Kaldur then takes center stage in a story filled with the political and religious intrigue of Atlantis. Rocket is the star of an arc on New Genesis, where she makes an unlikely friend in Orion. Finally, the search for Conner — trapped in the Phantom Zone and in thrall to General Zod — concludes the season with a bang.
From big battles to quiet victories, Season 4 contains a number of emotionally resonant scenes. Let's take a closer look at the season and single out its best moments.
Rocket sees Orion
Rocket travels to New Genesis during her arc in "Young Justice" Season 4, leading to a memorable meeting with Orion. Her purpose is to hammer out a treaty with New Genesis and the Green Lantern Corps against the threat of Apokolips. On New Genesis, she meets Orion, the adopted son of Highfather but the biological son of the evil Darkseid. Initially, Rocket views him with mistrust because she thinks he's a monster, and Orion views her as an outsider who disrupts his rules. When rogue Martian M'comm tries to turn Rocket against Orion by playing on her fears, it backfires. She now sees Orion as someone constantly fighting against his own darkness.
"I see you, Orion," she tells him. "I see you in a whole new light. I can't imagine your struggle, but the fact that you fight against the darkness that threatens to consume you, it makes you more, not less. It makes you a hero in my eyes." This allows him to break free of M'comm's hold and defeat him. Later, when she's leaving New Genesis after the treaty is signed, Rocket tells Orion she's glad she met him. He responds with: "Thank you for seeing me." It's a great character moment and one of the best Season 4 has to offer.
Forager becomes a Green Lantern
The Green Lantern Tomar-Re (who harbors guilt about the destruction of Krypton under his watch) is a member of the delegation sent to New Genesis to work on a possible treaty between the Corps, New Genesis, and Earth. On New Genesis, the New Gods live above their planet in Supertown, while the race known as Bugs live in the mountains. They are generally considered second-class citizens, though a red-brown Bug named Forager has become a member of the Outsiders on Earth.
All Forager-type bugs are simply named Forager. When the Justice League arrives, a blue-purple Forager steals a piece of equipment but later redeems herself by saving her hive when the equipment malfunctions. She and Outsider Forager quickly fall in love and later eagerly assist the heroes when villains arrive to steal a Phantom Zone Projector.
In the end, Tomar-Re sacrifices himself to save New Genesis from the sinister Kryptonian Lor-Zod. Upon his death, his ring seeks a worthy successor and chooses Blue Forager. She recites a modified version of the Green Lantern oath and helps save the day. This moment shows us that even a humble Bug can become a Green Lantern, if they have the courage.
Mera becomes the High King
Atlantis is in turmoil in "Young Justice" Season 4. Divided into several undersea city-states, it's ruled by the High King Arthur, aka Aquaman. He is not a popular ruler, nor is it a role that he particularly enjoys, but he does his best dealing with disgruntled Atlanteans of various races and interlopers like his brother Orm. When Orm attacks a peace conference, he gets stopped by a mysterious man.
This is apparently the second coming of Arion, the king of ancient Atlantis. When he teams with Orm and Mera to defend Atlantis against a deadly red tide, everyone is clamoring for him to fulfill an ancient prophecy and take his place as High King. He passes every test and earns the crown, but Aquaman is still suspicious.
The newcomer ultimately gets disintegrated by the Lords of Order, who discover that this "Arion" is a clone sent by Vandal Savage in an effort to control Atlantis. Mera Nereus — Aquaman's wife and the daughter of the disgruntled ruler Ryus Nereus — tries to anoint Arthur as the High King again. However, in a passionate speech, he puts the crown on Mera instead, saying that she fulfilled the prophecy and is the best of them. In a memorable scene, everyone is unanimous in their support of the humble Mera as High King.
The Legion of Super-Heroes gets involved
In the finale of "Young Justice" Season 3, a young woman wearing an unusual ring inscribed with an "L" serves Superboy in a diner. This is a flight ring worn by members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, a group of stalwarts from the 30th century. Why was a Legionnaire hanging around Superboy? It all becomes clear in Season 4, in which Superboy and M'gann "Miss Martian" M'orzz go to Mars to meet her parents and prepare for their wedding.
We soon see that Superboy is being followed. Instead of a villain, it's revealed to be three members of the Legion from the future: Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, and Chameleon Boy. Saturn Girl uses her psychic abilities to shield herself from M'gann, but they don't want to engage Superboy directly in case they upset the space-time continuum. They are simply there to protect him from an enemy who has come back to the past, later revealed to be Lor-Zod, the son of General Zod. Lor-Zod causes an explosion that nearly buries Superboy, and at that moment, M'gann detects Saturn Girl's presence, meaning they have to stay further back.
When Chameleon Boy asks Saturn Girl what they should do next, she says, "We watch. We wait. We stay ready." In one stand-out moment, Saturn Girl (disguised as M'gann) saves Beast Boy when he recklessly goes to the surface and advises him to get help.
Orphan spares Lady Shiva's life
Cassandra "Orphan" Wu-San is the daughter of assassin Lady Shiva, the sensei of the League of Shadows. Cassandra was raised from birth to be a deadly killer. As part of her training, her mother severed her vocal cords in an effort to make Cassandra more attuned to body language. For her first mission, she gets sent to assassinate the Joker. As she prepares to strike, Batgirl pushes him aside and takes the blow. She tells Cassandra that she didn't do it to save the Joker's life — she did it to save hers. Orphan immediately switches sides and looks to Batgirl (later Oracle) as a new mother figure.
Later, two defectors from the League of Shadows (Cassandra Savage and Onyx) come to Artemis. Orphan doesn't trust either of them, and with good reason — Savage tried to kidnap her. Artemis and her team (including Oracle on comms) invade Shadows headquarters. As they are escaping, Lady Shiva orders Orphan to return to her. She says that if she doesn't, she will hunt down her friends and kill her beloved Barbara Gordon (Batgirl/Oracle).
This threat absolutely enrages Orphan. Oracle is in her ear via radio communicator, begging her not to react, but emotion takes over. After stabbing Lady Shiva, Orphan is about to finish her. Then she thinks about Barbara saving her, and instead spares Lady Shiva's life in a great moment.
Zatanna's plan is revealed
When Zatanna was 14 years old, she put on the Helmet of Fate in order to stop Chaos Lord Klarion. Doctor Fate wasn't willing to give up Zatanna as his host, but her father, Giovanni Zatara, begged Fate to use him as a host instead. Fate allowed him to remove the helmet for one hour a year to spend time with his daughter. Zatanna, understandably, thought this wasn't enough.
Later, Zatanna takes on some magical proteges, the Sentinels of Magic. This includes Thirteen, who has bad-luck powers; Khalid Nassour, a medical student with natural magical abilities; and Mary Bromfield, the former Sergeant Marvel. As she was training them, the Lords of Chaos sent a new agent to Earth — the destructive Child, who was there to replace Klarion and wreak havoc.
After mass destruction, Zatanna's crew stops Child, though Mary abuses her energy-absorbing powers to do so. Zatanna then unveils her plan: She and each member of the Sentinels (except Mary) will take turns as Doctor Fate, meaning she and her father can see each other again. When Khalid asks if this was the real reason she took on trainees, Zatanna doesn't answer. It's further revealed that training the Sentinels caused the Chaos Lords to put Child on Earth in the first place, because she had upset the balance between chaos and order.
Beast Boy finally gets help
While every hero goes through their share of tragedy, few have had it as hard as Garfield "Beast Boy" Logan. His mother Marie was murdered, and his godmother Rita "Elasti-Girl" Farr was killed on a Doom Patrol mission, but he always found a way to bounce back. He formed his own team of young heroes, the Outsiders. However, when Geo-Force killed his uncle, he crossed a line. He took the throne and threw the Outsiders out when no one supported him.
Garfield is in a bad place during "Young Justice" Season 4. He is already fragile when he goes to Mars with Superboy and M'gann for their wedding, and brain blasts from some angry Martians send him over the edge. Saturn Girl heals that psychic damage but tells him he needs to seek help for his unresolved trauma. Superboy's death finally sends him into a depressive spiral. He starts taking sleeping pills, ignoring Outsider missions, dismissing his girlfriend, and brushing off his friends.
Logan is soon forced into a therapy session with Black Canary, and she gets to the heart of the matter: He feels responsible for the deaths of his loved ones, even his mother, despite being just eight at the time. His eventual breakthrough is a huge moment for him and for viewers — he gets into therapy, begins taking meds, and even gets an emotional support dog.
Metron smiles
Metron is a crafty, powerful New God with his own agenda. He's a dispassionate scientist who only cares about knowledge. He created a great deal of New God tech, including Motherboxes, Boom Tubes, and his own Mobius Chair, which allows him to go anywhere he wants in the universe.
Lor-Zod and his cronies know that Metron has a Phantom Zone Projector somewhere in his Inter-Dimensional Vault. But, without knowing where to look, finding it is an impossible task. However, they get the drop on Metron and knock him out of his Mobius Chair. Lor-Zod then tortures him to get what he wants. When Metron learns Lor-Zod is a Kryptonian, he cunningly leads him to Green Kryptonite and then flees. Later, he confiscates Lor-Zod's broken time sphere.
Metron rallies the heroes to track Lor-Zod down. He rescues Rocket from a collapsing Boom Tube, puts her in the time sphere he has fixed, and sends her to the final battle against the Zods. After they win, Lor-Zod escapes in the time sphere. He discovers it has been set for when Superboy seemingly perishes on Mars. Lor-Zod realizes he has a chance to definitively kill Superboy and leaves the sphere. However, Metron has programmed it to leave seconds after it arrives, leaving Lor-Zod to get disintegrated by his own bomb. Upon seeing this, Metron makes his most disturbing gesture — he smiles.
Two new Furies are introduced
The final scene of "Young Justice" Season 4 is a real shocker. Grayven introduces Darkseid to two new members of the Furies, Granny Goodness' squad of deadly killers. The first is Black Mary, aka Mary Bromfield. Mary's brother Billy Batson gave her some of his power as Captain Marvel, and she became Sergeant Marvel. However, she spent more time as the adult Sergeant Marvel and stopped changing back to her 10-year-old form of Mary — she had become addicted to the power. Billy intervened and Mary swore not to say the word "Shazam" again to become Sergeant Marvel.
She was still connected to her magic powers, however, and she ended up becoming a protégé of Zatanna. Among her other abilities, Mary can absorb the life force of others to gain greater power. As we have already discussed, Zatanna was secretly recruiting people to take over as Doctor Fate, but she rejects Mary because she is too easily attracted to great power. A furious Mary returns to her home, where Granny Goodness gets in her ear and tempts her to say "Shazam."
The second Fury reveal is an even bigger shock: Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl. They pulled her out of the Phantom Zone, where she had been left by accident, and she was brainwashed into Darkseid's service.
Never mess with the Els
Superboy doesn't die on Mars, because Phantom Girl saves him and phases both of them out. However, they get stuck in the Phantom Zone and Phantom Girl is unconscious. Superboy becomes increasingly disoriented and is eventually saved by General Zod. Zod brings him under his control, making Kon-El loyal to him and the House of Zod. Even when he brings Superboy to Earth, Superboy remains loyal to him, as he is deep in a false memory of having killed Superman.
When Zod orders Superboy to execute a Kryptonite-stricken Superman on live television, Superboy finally disobeys, saying, "I can't kill him again. He's family." Zod is about to kill him when Kid Flash intervenes. Superboy defends Zod against Kid Flash until M'gann is finally able to get to him and heal his mind. Zatanna heals Superman's Kryptonite sickness, and then we get the big showdown — the House of El against the House of Zod.
Superman and Superboy recognize that the Zods are powerful, but they don't work together as a team. As such, they can outmaneuver them, and when the rest of the heroes send his disciples back to the Phantom Zone, they team up on General Zod. Superman says, "You should have learned on Krypton. Never mess with the Els!" In an awesome moment, they punch him right back into the Phantom Zone.
Death fakeouts
In Episode 25, it appears as though Lor-Zod kills Nightwing. It also seems like the Emerald Empress kills the heroes approaching the Fortress of Solitude. We get led to believe that only Superman is left alive, and Zod quickly subdues him with the Kryptonite that Nightwing had procured to use against Zod. Nightwing did at least prevent the Zods from being charged to full power by destroying the charging pods in the Fortress before his apparent death. A triumphant Zod leaves with his family and goes to Metropolis, intent on executing Superman there.
When Lor-Zod threw Nightwing against a wall, he cut himself ("An old pro-wrestling trick") and then slowed down his heartbeat ("An old Batman trick") to make it seem like he was dead. In the case of M'gann's team, Saturn Girl relayed a last-second warning that the Emerald Empress was about to attack them with the mystical Eye of Ekron. Superman and Orion moved forward to absorb most of the impact, sparing the rest of the team. M'gann and Saturn Girl created an illusion of the team being dead, and Superman rose up to sell the illusion. "Young Justice" has never been afraid to kill major characters, so these cliffhanger fakeouts were especially effective. The ingenious way they got out of it was even more impressive.
Conner and M'gann finally get married
Perhaps the best moment of "Young Justice" Season 4 is the simplest one: The wedding of Superboy and Miss Martian. Considering that his friends had to mourn him, then find him, and finally help save him, it was a long time coming. It was also a long time coming in the bumpy relationship that Conner Kent and M'gann M'orzz had over the years, as they learned to forgive and fully embrace each other.
The wedding takes place in Happy Harbor on earth, in Snapper Carr's big backyard. M'gann's parents are there, and Bioship morphs into a limousine for the occasion. They even let Icicle Jr. out of prison for the wedding — he inadvertently got them together when Conner and M'gann were on an undercover mission in Belle Reve Prison.
Snapper Carr leads the ceremony, saying, "I think we can all agree that even death can't part these two." He gets right down to the vows and the exchanging of rings, "before the next super-villain attacks." The ceremony goes off without incident, and it's a great scene for fans of the lovebirds. For their first dance, they fly and twirl above the dance floor. Icicle Jr. catches the bouquet. In a season full of sorrow, this joyous moment is most welcome.