'Young Justice: Outsiders' Is Overwhelmingly Crash!

From 2010 to 2013, Young Justice and its second season Young Justice: Invasion aired on Cartoon Network. When it got cancelled, DC fans were outraged. Including me, as I perceive Young Justice as the best DC animated show, what with its compelling character arcs and its skillful juggling of many characters from DC Comics. When it was on Netflix, fans streamed the show over and over in hopes that the show would come back. And their efforts were not in vain, as the show got revived for the DC Universe streaming service. Sometimes, shows get cancelled and never revived. Other times, shows are revived with subpar quality. But Young Justice: Outsiders is, thankfully, an instance where the revival maintains excellent quality. Plus, the show got renewed for a fourth season!

The season finished airing a week ago. There is so much to unpack, and I'm certain that I won't be able to cover everything. So I'll try to cover the stuff that stands out to me the most. First, I will delve into non-spoiler thoughts regarding this season. And then I will delve into spoilers. It just so happens that my non-spoiler thoughts involve the older characters, and my spoiler thoughts involve the new characters. So that's pretty much how this review will be divided.

Returning Characters

This third season picks up two years after Young Justice: Invasion. Some time has passed, but the characters still feel the loss of their fallen comrade Wally West. Roy Harper's clone Will even struggles with comparisons to Wally, with Dick seeing him as a substitute of sorts (in the hilarious episode "Private Security"), and Artemis thinking that she might have romantic feelings for Will. We also get updated on the Connor/M'gann relationship after they reignited their relationship in a prequel comic available on DC Universe. Kaldur, now Aquaman, also has a surprising relationship later on. So it is really nice that, while being a natural continuation from Season Two, Season Three shows that the gap in between has been very lived in. This is especially apparent when we see the Bat Family working together.

What's a bit surprising is that the characters one might have expected to gain the focus just based on Invasion, such as Bart Allen, Blue Beetle, and Static, are not really in the limelight most of the time. They do play their part, but other characters are at the forefront. Black Lightning actually goes through a funk, and he's utilized very well. While I do enjoy his live-action show on CW, it's rewarding to see a show where he actually gets to interact with many other DC characters.

When it comes to the returning characters, I was ecstatic to see the growth of Garfield Logan. We would seen him as a kid in Season One, just before he gained his powers. And then we saw him as Beast Boy in Season Two, where we learned about his tragic past. I remember being astonished by the flashback to his mother's death when Season Two aired, as I was so used to the wisecracking comic relief Beast Boy of the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon. This scene alone added more depth to the character. And the brother-sister relationship he has with M'gann has been great to see.

Within this past year, I have been reading Marv Wolfman's legendary run on Teen Titans. And while Garfield (going by the superhero name Changeling in that run) is one of my favorite characters there, he sometimes says things that feel sexist and dated. Though the version of the character in the DCAMU Teen Titans movies may be more comic book accurate, the Young Justice TV show incarnation is my favorite.

By the time of Outsiders, Garfield (voiced once again by Greg Cipes from Teen Titans) has become a TV star on Space Trek 3016 and calling for people to provide aid for those suffering from meta-human trafficking. Like Invasion, Outsiders deals with real life politics in a way that isn't too heavy-handed for the most part. (There's a line from Lex Luthor in the finale that's too on the nose.) It makes sense that there would be a celebrity like Garfield wanting meta-humans to get publicity as the Outsiders. And it's very rewarding seeing how much he has matured. I also find it amusing how he feels a bit annoyed by Bart Allen's comic relief when that was the sort of thing he was known for in the Teen Titans cartoon. We also get a hilarious gag referencing Teen Titans Go! And, of course, we see seeds of the friendship with Cyborg that is so well known.

New Characters (SPOILERS!)

We also get to see this show's version of Victor Stone. Cyborg's storyline in Marv Wolfman's comics is one of my favorite things about that run, so it was compelling to see Victor Stone the football superstar with the inattentive scientist father on this show. Unlike the comics where he's getting into trouble and his father wants him to be more devoted to school studies, Victor here is a good student. It's just that his father is so preoccupied with his research to give him the attention and validation that he deserves.

But when push comes to shove, Silas Stone shows how much he loves his son. The moment when the explosion in the lab nearly kills Victor, Silas' devotion to keeping his son alive is a real tearjerker. The Fatherbox becomes integral to Victor's new identity as Cyborg. And with Halo being connected to the Motherbox, the two have a dynamic that's interesting to see play out. Understandably, Victor feels perceives himself as a freak, but members of the Team and the Outsiders try to make him feel welcome. We see a Victor Stone who struggles, but he eventually accepts who he is by the end of the season.

This whole season is all about figuring out identity, and it's something that Halo goes through, as well as struggling with knowledge of Gabrielle. Toward the end of the season, it's so heartwarming hearing Cyborg say he's comfortable being in the spotlight again, but this time as an Outsider. (It's also been great seeing a more mature Cyborg at terms with who he is in the DC Universe show Doom Patrol, which is currently my favorite live-action DC show.)

Speaking of Teen Titans, Tara Markov was another interesting surprise this season. With the recent release of Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (a DCAMU film based on the storyline of the same name), there was a tiny part of me that kinda worried that this storyline would be rehashed again, seeing as how she's revealed to be in contact with Deathstroke. But then I remembered just how well the creative team behind Young Justice has handled various touchstones of DC, and I trusted that they would reinvent this aspect of Tara in a way that suits the show. Since it's an ensemble piece, the stuff going on with Tara wouldn't take all the focus like it does in The Judas Contract.

I admit that, in the finale, I sincerely thought it was possible that Tara might actually kill Garfield. He's just too good of a character, and it would have been easier for her since they don't have a romantic relationship in this show. But Young Justice subverted expectations, having Tara turn away from villainy without having to die. And then it was a surprise when her brother Brion went over the line killing his uncle. Even though he was shown to be prone to anger early in the season, things seemed like they escalated perhaps too quickly with him. But then we get the explanation that there was a telepathic influence pushing him toward this direction, which makes this twist easier to swallow. The fallout with his former friends and family really shakes up the dynamic, and I'm curious to see how it could affect events of next season.

Conversely, I don't think it was really a surprise for many people that Dr. Jace turned out to be a villain, even if they aren't familiar with her from other materials. There was always this shady vibe about her. But it was a bit surprised at just how mad she actually was, viewing Halo, Geo-Force, and Terra as her children. Now I'm curious to see how she will work with Brion next season.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Forager. It's refreshing to have a hero who is insect-like after we've had so many humanoid heroes. He is so alien, and so wholesome. I just love the comic relief that he provides as he tries to adapt to Earth customs. He is very naive, but I wonder if he'll be more adept when it comes to social situations next season, as a way of showing how much he's grown. Then again, the innocent way that he speaks just adds so much charm to the character. And I love that human students accept him in his natural form at the end.

Closing Thoughts

Young Justice: Outsiders was as epic of a third season as I hoped it would be, even though I did not know what to expect. I think it was better than Invasion, but I still prefer Season One just a little bit. There's just something about that feeling of getting to know these versions of the characters for the first time in that season. The reworking of the intro theme for Season Three took some getting used to, but it was satisfying to see that my prediction of the return of the Season One intro theme in an important fight came true. The Jason Todd and Damian Wayne reveal was a huge surprise, though it makes sense that the creative team would wait until next season to bring either character into play since there's already so much packed into Outsiders. And with the shot of the Legion flight ring at the end of the finale, I am super (pun not intended) excited for the Legion of Super-Heroes to appear in Season Four, which may involve Darkseid War!