Justice League Unlimited | |
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Genre | |
Based on | Justice League by Gardner Fox |
Developed by | Bruce Timm |
Written by | Stan Berkowitz (seasons 1-2) Dwayne McDuffie (seasons 1-3) Matt Wayne (season 3) |
Directed by | Joaquim dos Santos Dan Riba |
Voices of | |
Theme music composer | Michael McCuistion |
Composers | Kristopher Carter Michael McCuistion Lolita Ritmanis |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 3 |
No. of episodes | 39 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Editor | Joe Gall |
Running time | 21–23 minutes |
Production companies | DC Comics (2005–2006) Warner Bros. Animation |
Original release | |
Network | Cartoon Network |
Release | July 31, 2004 – May 13, 2006 |
Related | |
Justice League |
Justice League Unlimited (JLU) is an American superhero animated television series that was produced by Warner Bros. Animation 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 and picks up around two years after it. JLU debuted on July 31, 2004, on Toonami and ended on May 13, 2006.
It is the eighth and final series of the DC Animated Universe, serving as the conclusion to a shared universe which began with Batman: The Animated Series . Notably, it is the most continuity heavy show of the DC Animated Universe, and weaves together characters and plot lines from past series. Justice League Unlimited received critical acclaim.
According to producer Bruce Timm, the series finale of Justice League , "Starcrossed", was possibly meant to be the final episode of the series; however, Cartoon Network ordered the production of season 3 and 4. The network wanted the show to be rebranded, including changing the episode format, so instead of two-part episode stories, the standard half an hour format was used. [1] Additionally, alongside the name change, the show features a greatly expanded League, in which the characters from the original series—now referred to as "founding members"—are joined by many other superheroes from the DC Universe; in the first episode, well over 50 characters appear. A number of these were heroes who had made guest appearances in Justice League , but many heroes and other characters made their first animated appearances in this series. The general format of each episode is to have a small team assemble to deal with a particular situation, with a focus on both action and character interaction. This extension of the Justice League was originally planned to be explained in a planned direct-to-video feature film, but the project never materialized.
Justice League Unlimited features both episodic and serialized episodes, the first major overarching story arc involves the growing conflict between the League and a secret government agency known as Project Cadmus. This plot line builds upon events that occurred during the second season of Justice League (which in turn built upon events in Batman: The Animated Series , Superman: The Animated Series , Batman Beyond, Static Shock , and The Zeta Project ), and would go on to affect 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 and final season story arc focuses on the new Secret Society (which is based on the Legion of Doom of the Challenge of the Superfriends season of Super Friends ), a loose-knit organization formed to combat the increased superhero coordination of the first season. Towards the end of the series, certain characters became off-limits to the show, particularly characters associated with Batman and those who appeared in Batman: The Animated Series (aside from Batman himself) were restricted due to the unrelated animated series The Batman and Christopher Nolan's live-action The Dark Knight Trilogy , in order to avoid continuity confusion. Aquaman and related characters were unavailable due to the development of a pilot for a live-action series featuring the character as a young man (planned to be a spin-off of Smallville ). To compensate for this, the last season focused their stories on previously overlooked DC Comics characters and mythos. These included characters like Deadman, Viking Prince, Warlord, and an unnamed modern equivalent of The Seven Soldiers of Victory.
The series, along with the entire DC animated universe, was originally planned to end after the second-season finale "Epilogue", but a third season was greenlit by Cartoon Network. The third season started in 2005 with the episode "I Am Legion" (which was written before the announcement of a third season) and ended in 2006 with the episode "Destroyer". Stan Berkowitz, a member of the production team, left the show later for the TV series Friends and Heroes , and writer Matt Wayne was contracted to replace him. According to Matt Wayne, if the show had been renewed for a fourth season, he would have liked to write more episodes focusing on Superman and Wonder Woman.
DC Comics created an ongoing monthly comic book series based on the TV series, as part of its Johnny DC line of "all ages" comics, which did not have the same restrictions regarding character appearances.
Justice League Unlimited, like the second season of Justice League, is animated in widescreen. The show also features new theme music and intro (nominated for an Emmy). [2] The two-part series finale was aired in the UK on February 8 and 18, 2006, and in the United States on May 6 and 13, 2006.
Justice League Unlimited received critical acclaim and is listed as one of the best animated television shows of all time. IGN named Justice League/Justice League Unlimited as the 20th best animated television series of all time. [3] Similarly, IndieWire also ranked the series as the 20th best animated show of all time. [4]
James Whitbrook, editor of io9, wrote "Justice League Unlimited is simply the greatest superhero show of all time", further stating "it embraced its source material wholly, and was unafraid to be the wildest, biggest, comic-book-iest show it could be." [5]
Producer Bruce Timm has stated that amongst all the shows he has worked on, this show is his favorite. [6]
From 2006 to 2007, Warner Home Video (via DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Family Entertainment) released the entire series of Justice League Unlimited on DVD. The series is presented in original broadcast presentation and story arc continuity order. The series was also released on Blu-Ray.
Name | Release Date | Ep # | Notes |
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Season One | October 24, 2006 | 26 | 4 DVDs. Featurette: And Justice for All: The Process of Revamping the Series with New Characters and a New Creative Direction, Themes of Justice: Choose Your Favorite JLU Musical Theme Audio Tracks, Creators' Commentary on "This Little Piggy" and 'The Return.” Contains all episodes of Seasons One and Two from the original airing. Episode 21 – "Hunter's Moon (AKA Mystery in Space)" – is placed out of order between episodes 22 ("Question Authority") and episode 23 ("Flashpoint"). |
Season Two | March 20, 2007 | 13 | 2 DVDs. Actually Season Three from the original airing. Cadmus: Exposed: Mark Hamill and the Series Creative Personnel Discuss This Popular Series Story Arc, Justice League Chronicles: Series Writers, Producers and Directors Discuss Their Favorite Moments Among Final Season Episodes, Music-Only Audio Track for the Final Episode Destroyer. |
Justice League: 3-Pack Fun | July 19, 2011 | 11 | 3 DVDs. Contains "For The Man Who Has Everything," "The Return," and "The Greatest Story Never Told," as well as the two-part Justice League stories "The Brave and the Bold" and "Injustice For All,” and the Young Justice episodes "Independence Day," "Fireworks," "Welcome To Happy Harbor," and "Drop Zone.” |
The Complete Series | November 10, 2015 | 39 | 3 Blu-ray discs. Featurette: And Justice for All: The Process of Revamping the Series with New Characters and a New Creative Direction, Creators' Commentary on "This Little Piggy" and 'The Return,” Cadmus: Exposed: Mark Hamill and the Series Creative Personnel Discuss This Popular Series Story Arc, Justice League Chronicles: Series Writers, Producers and Directors Discuss Their Favorite Moments Among Final Season Episodes. Episodes are shown in the correct order. |
Warner Home Video also released another DVD set titled Justice League: The Complete Series. It contained all 91 episodes of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited on a 15-disc set with the 15th disc containing a bonus documentary. The same episodes were later sold as a 10-disc set without the bonus documentary.
La-La Land Records released a 4-disc Justice League soundtrack on July 29, 2016. [7] A potential Justice League Unlimited soundtrack depends on how well the Justice League soundtrack sells. [8]
DC Comics published a series of 46-issue numbered comics based on the television series, between 2004 and 2008.
It is a sequel comic to Justice League Unlimited, written by James Tucker and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Ethen Beavers. 7 numbered issues were published by DC Comics between 2021 and 2022.
The Justice League, or Justice League of America (JLA), is a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28. The team was conceived by writer Gardner Fox as a revival of the Justice Society of America, a similar team from DC Comics from the 1940s which had been pulled out of print due to a decline in sales.
Superman: The Animated Series is an American animated superhero television series based on the DC Comics character Superman. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and originally aired on Kids' WB from September 6, 1996, to February 12, 2000. It was the second series in the DC Animated Universe after Batman: The Animated Series, and like its predecessor it has been acclaimed for its writing, voice acting, maturity, and modernization of the title character's comic-book mythos.
Super Friends is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics.
Justice League is an American animated television series which ran from November 17, 2001, to May 29, 2004, on Cartoon Network. The show was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is based on the Justice League of America and associated comic book characters published by DC Comics. It serves as a sequel to Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, as well as a prequel to Batman Beyond and, is the seventh series of the DC Animated Universe. After two seasons, the series was rebranded as Justice League Unlimited, a successor series which aired for three seasons.
Teen Titans is an American animated superhero television series created by Glen Murakami and developed by Murakami, David Slack and Sam Register. Based on DC Comics's superhero team of the same name it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and DC Entertainment. The show premiered on Cartoon Network on July 19, 2003; its first two seasons also aired on Kids' WB. Initially, only four seasons were planned, but the popularity of the series led to Cartoon Network's ordering a fifth season. The final half-hour episode of the show, "Things Change", aired on January 16, 2006; it was later followed by a TV movie, Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, that premiered on September 15 the same year, serving as the series finale. A 15-minute episode titled "The Lost Episode" was released as part of an online promotional campaign by Post Consumer Brands in January 2005.
Bruce Walter Timm is an American artist, animator, writer, producer, and director. He is best known for contributing to building the modern DC Comics animated franchise, most notably as the head producer behind Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1995), Superman: The Animated Series (1996–2000), The New Batman Adventures (1997–1999), Batman Beyond (1999–2001), Justice League (2001–2004), and Justice League Unlimited (2004–2006).
The DC Animated Universe is a shared universe centered on a group of animated television series based on DC Comics and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It began with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992 and ended with Justice League Unlimited in 2006. Animated feature films and shorts, comic books, video games, and other multimedia adaptations are also in the continuity that continued to be released years later.
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While Batman and Superman had their own animated series and comic book follow-ups, the rest of the characters in the DC Comics Universe appeared in the following comics often.
The Justice League, also called the Justice League of America or JLA, is a fictional superhero team that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Since their first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #28, various incarnations of the team have appeared in film, television, and video game adaptations.
Glen Murakami is an American animator, artist, character designer, director and producer best known for his work on Teen Titans, Batman Beyond, Teen Titans Go!, Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien. Murakami is the creator and producer of the Cartoon Network series Teen Titans.
The many incarnations of the DC Comics superhero Green Lantern have appeared in numerous media over the years.
Originally created in 1967, the fictional comic book character Barbara Gordon has been adapted into various other forms of media. The character has appeared in both live action and animated television series and films, as well as in video games in her alter-egos as both Batgirl and Oracle.
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