Is "Young Justice: Invasion" TOO Diverse?

Is "Young Justice: Invasion" TOO Diverse?

With this past Saturday bringing us the premiere of season 2 of Young Justice, subtitled "Invasion", we got a glimpse at how the Team has expanded. But are there too many characters for this tv show?

Editorial Opinion
By Kryptonman87 - Apr 30, 2012 07:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Animated Features



This past Saturday, fans of the show "Young Justice" witnessed the premiere episode of season 2 of the series, now called "Young Justice: Invasion". The episode "Happy New Year" starts where the season 1 finale left off, but then quickly jumps 5 years into the future where we get a good look at familiar faces, and are also treated to some new faces.

Superboy and Miss Martian still look pretty much the same, but are no longer a couple. And perhaps the biggest change was Dick Graysons growth spurt from Robin to Nightwing and leader of the Team. While these are all GREAT things to be excited and happy about, we also saw that the Team roster has been VASTLY expanded. While Zatanna and Rocket have graduated up to the Justice League, Nightwing, Superboy, and Miss Martian remain as part of the Team. New members include the new Robin (Tim Drake), Blue Beetle, Lagoonlad, Beast Boy, Bumblebee, Wonder Girl, and Batgirl. It is yet to be revealed who else is currently on the roster.



The question that I am posing to all of you is this: Are there too many characters/members in this show now? As of right now, if they maintain all characters from last season, we've got: Nightwing, Superboy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Artemis, Zatanna, Rocket, Robin III (Tim Drake), Blue Beetle, Lagoonlad, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl, Batgirl,Bumblebee, and hopefully still Red Arrow. That's 16 characters, not to mention the members of the Justice League who make appearances. My point is, how do you A. devote enough time to each character throughout the season? And B. Don't you risk losing the audience's interest if there are too many characters' storylines and personal plots to keep track of throughout the season? It seems to me that this is what happened with "Justice League Unlimited".



Since I am a HUGE DC Comics fan, with Young Justice: Invasion I am getting to see all the members of the Teen Titans like when Geoff Johns restarted the title back in 2003 with the line-up as we know it now. Of course I find it great to see Nightwing and Tim Drake and Blue Beetle and Wonder Girl and all these characters that I loved reading in the Teen Titans comics. But they spent a year developing Aqualad, Kid Flash, Dick Grayson's Robin, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis into a cohesive team that started out rocky, but eventually learned to work together so well that they were able to take out an out of control Justice League. I feel that by having all these characters, they're taking A LOT of time and attention away from the characters that we spent a year getting to know and love.

Yes, I know this is only the first episode of the season, and it really was truly awesome to see these characters introduced onto the show, but I just fear for the integrity of the show because it's always had such great, tight storylines and episodes, and I fear that by having THIS many characters on the Team, the storyline and season long plots might suffer.

What do you guys think?
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TonyChu
TonyChu - 4/30/2012, 7:50 PM
No I think it is a pretty damn good lineup. I was amazed about the five year jump and to see Nightwing was amazing. I'm guessing Wally is now the Flash, Aqualad is following in his father footsteps but maybe for an undercover mission, and I have no idea about Artemis. Cant wait for next week!!
TheMyth
TheMyth - 4/30/2012, 7:59 PM
Lagoonlad? lol is it supposed to be Lagoon Boy? I only saw the first few episodes of season one. The animation is great and I wish it was more commonly used for the superhero genre, and the characters were cool especially Kid Flash and Artemis, but the stories lost me.

regarding the increased roster, it depends how they handle it. It's an ongoing cartoon series so they've plenty of time to play in the sandbox. I doubt many episodes would feature that entire roster handling a problem at once. Maybe in episode 3 Nightwing takes some of the veterans on a mission while the new Robin is dispatched with a team of the rookies to a perceived less dangerous mission, only for it to prove more complicated and test the mettle of the new Robin as a potential leader. Crap like that. The stories just need to get on par with the characters and animation.
superotherside
superotherside - 4/30/2012, 8:00 PM
Yeah. I'm not exactly throwing stones yet (just seeing where it goes) but I was very surprised about this. I wonder what happened to everyone we know and why Superboy and Miss Martian broke up. It seemed to me that Superboy still had feelings for Miss Martian if you looked at his face when she was kissing that other guy (what's his name?). Anyway... as for the new line up. I'm skeptical but it would be cool to see these guys. I can't wait to see more of Batgirl, and Wondergirl's stories the most. Also I hope that the older members play a prominent role in it. For some reason I'm most interested in what happened to Artemis. I really liked her story.

Anyway can't wait till next episode! :D
LMFA0
LMFA0 - 4/30/2012, 8:04 PM
My advice to you is to stop acting like a fanboy and start thinking like a marketing agent. More characters with more diversity equals more toys and more kids that can relate to these characters. Do they care if their favorite character only talks 3 times in an episode? Nope, they only care about how cool they are and how awesome their powers are. This show may be targeted at a slightly more grown up audience but its still on cartoon network and still aimed toward kids. Just my two cents
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 4/30/2012, 8:24 PM
Justice league unlimited was cool though. They always focused on a few of the main leaguers and then had a guest star or two of the lessee knowns. Everyone got a littlw love. If you think of it as devoting entire episodes to a few characters at a time then I think it could be cool.


Youre right that they wont be able to have story lines for all of them, but its like team comics. story arcs in comics generally pander to a few characters at a time. They could devote this season to some and in the next season focus on others. I meam, I dont really know who else they could add after all thesw clowns. I would like to see Raven though.
BANE5000
BANE5000 - 4/30/2012, 10:43 PM
I have a feeling this 5 year jump is just gonna last for this season, not the whole series, its their way of giving us a glimpse to where the team is destined to go when members get older and either stay on as leaders, graduate to the Justice League or all out leave { Artemis, kid Flash Aqualad }.

Hopefully if and when it goes back to its normal timeline it will explain in later episodes why Artemis, Kid Flash and Aqaulad are absent from the team in the future. To me this is just a way to explain why those 6 league members were missing for 16 hours in the season 1 finale, and then season 3 will continue on from that point, back with its original line up, and show what exactly The Light had planned for " Phase 2 "

Remember, this isnt the first time an animated series, let alone a DC series has jumped to the future to explain something from present episodes, my favorite is JLU " Epilogue " explaing how Terry McGuiness is truly Bruce Wayne's son due to Amanda Waller and CADMUS injecting Terry's mother with Bruce's DNA, knowin the world will always need a Batman :]
kinowolf
kinowolf - 5/1/2012, 1:42 AM
This jump is in keeping with the first season. Remember the team starts as 3 sidekicks. Then they add Superboy, Miss Martian, Artemis, Sphere, Wolf, Zatanna, Red Arrow, and Rocket by the end. That's a new team member every 3 episodes. The cast has never truly been static. Now we have a "Team" cast of Nightwing, Miss Martian, Superboy, Robin, Lagoon Boy, Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, Wolf, Wondergirl, Bumblebee, and Batgirl. That's starting with fewer than we ended with in Season 1. Anyway, the point is that it is complex, but this show has been great about juggling characters and giving everyone their time to shine. I see no cause for concern.

Now of the issue is that you want to go back and spend more time with the original cast at that age... I don't think they should. That story is told. Time to move on and see how the original cast has grown.

PS I like how the Team has combine both Teen Titans and Young Justice. Earth-16, different rules.

PPS Nightwing's costume in the show should become canon. Best one I've seen so far.
Kryptonman87
Kryptonman87 - 5/1/2012, 7:53 AM
Yeah Nightwing's costume is awesome. It looks at bit like the costume they designed for him in the Arkham City game.

Also, I think Aqualad has gone under cover and followed in in his father's, Black Manta's, footsteps. At NY Comic Con last year, I saw some toys and posters tha showed him in a different costume that looked VERY similar to Black Manta's. As for Kid Flash and Artemis, I don't know, but if Dick is now Nightwing, I really hope that Wally is now The Flash.

PS. Is it just me, or does anybody else hate the bird symbol Nightwing wears? I prefer the blue "V", like we see in the comics and like in "Batman: Under the Res Hood"
Action
Action - 5/1/2012, 6:28 PM
I'm sure the show's writers will explain what has happened within the five year gap. YJ has great story telling and It would be pretty foolish not to explain the changes that have happened. I love this show!!! Best superhero cartoon on television!

@Kryptonman87-Why is this article not on the front page and Ultimate spiderman is. Totally, unfair.
Kryptonman87
Kryptonman87 - 5/2/2012, 12:48 AM
@Action Yeah, I agree hahaha. This is probably my favorite animated series of all time and deserves some recognition on the front page
BANE5000
BANE5000 - 5/2/2012, 11:15 PM
@Action

Exactly what i was trying to explain in my last comment, eventually they are gonna have to go back to present time and show what happens in the 5 years that leads up to this season.

Whys are Kid Flash, Artemis and Aqualad absent from the team?

What happened with Red Arrow and his search for the real Speedy?

What purpose was The Light or just Ras gonna use the cryogenically frozen Speedy for ?

and Whats Phase 2 in The Lights plan?

I assume the purpose for Season 2 is to jump ahead and explain what happened during the 16 hours those League members went missing what the consequences of their actions are for what they had done...The Invasion

Who knows how long the YJ series is gonna last and if we would have to wait 5 more seasons for us to catch up to what happeneing now in Season 2. so they decided to jump ahead, tell this storyline and close it, and go back and tell the what happened the 5 years before.
deathangel
deathangel - 10/3/2012, 1:43 AM
Nightwing is really cool and his costume design is pretty cool as well. Tim is also there which is incredible. The light are just annoying....
IreneH
IreneH - 1/27/2013, 3:19 PM
I actually enjoy all of the new characters it's really refreshing to see so many new faces on the show.
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