This story contains spoilers for Young Justice: Phantoms' first two episodes.
The most notable thing about the trailer for Young Justice: Phantoms (watch it above) that dropped at DC FanDome 2021 is definitely the rough voiceover. Still, beyond all the bombastic talk about how “the heroes of Young Justice have grown into leaders” and warnings that “sometimes, being a superhero isn’t so super at all,” the scenes shown provide some tantalizing looks at what’s to come in Season 4 of the sidekick-centric animated series.
Young Justice is one of DC’s most complex shows, a sprawling space opera with a huge cast of heroes and villains. After Young Justice: Outsiders focused on the creation of a new team packed with fresh faces, it seems like this season is returning the focus to the surviving founding members of Young Justice. Even after watching the first two episodes of Phantoms, which unexpectedly dropped Saturday, there’s a lot of content in the trailer that hints at the challenges to come.
A Team Divided
The heroes of Young Justice have been forging their own paths for a while, which has sometimes put them at odds with each other as they divided up between teams that could perform covert missions and ones focused on inspiring others through public shows of heroism. But this season seems to be even more fragmented, with the characters seemingly divided across three main plots.
The surprise episodes dropped at DC FanDome focused entirely on a trip to Mars taken by Megan Morse aka Miss Martian (Danica McKellar), her fiance Conner Kent aka Superboy (Nolan North) and her surrogate brother Garfield Logan aka Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), who in Young Justice canon received his shapeshifting powers through a blood transfusion from Megan. But as Megan’s uncle Martian Manhunter (Kevin Michael Richardson) notes in the trailer, circumstances leave that group on their own. Two other primary plots seem to be unfolding in the trailer, further dividing the heroes according to their skills and backstories.
Dark Magic
Klarion the Witch Boy (Thom Adcox) has been a major villain throughout Young Justice’s run, serving as one of the leaders of the supervillain group The Light. He appears prominently in the Phantoms trailer facing off against the magician Zatanna Zatara (Lacey Chabert). A Lord of Chaos, he’s the nemesis of the Lord of Order Nabu (Kevin Michael Richardson), who resides in a magical helmet worn by Zatanna’s father, Giovanni Zatara (Nolan North). Giovanni is effectively possessed by Fate, and only gets an hour every year to be himself and visit his daughter.
That arrangement was the result of a previous run in Zatanna had with Klarion, when she donned the Helmet of Fate to gain enough power to defeat him. Nabu saw that she would make a good long term host for him, and agreed to give up control because Giovanni offered himself and his better developed abilities as a replacement.
Zatanna’s become much more powerful since then, joining the Justice League as a full member and taking on her own student Traci Thurston aka Thirteen (Lauren Tom). They’re seen working together to face off against Klarion with the help of some new characters. Klarion seems to be playing for keeps this time. But he also gets splattered against a wall, so the fight’s likely going to go the heroes’ way. A decisive victory against Klarion could potentially persuade Nabu to change the terms of his arrangement with Giovanni.
The League of Shadows
Not all of the characters on Young Justice are equipped to survive on Mars or get into magical battles. Lucky for them, they have the ongoing threat of the League of Shadows to deal with. Founded by Ra’s al Ghul and now led by Deathstroke, the organization serves The Light on covert missions around the globe.
One of their most powerful members is Cassandra Savage (Zehra Fazal), daughter of Vandal Savage. She was introduced in Season 3 and seems to be playing a bigger role as members of the League of Shadows fight with Artemis Crook aka Tigress (Stephanie Lemelin) and the crew of Bowhunter Security, a private security group owned by Roy Harper and his clones Will and Jim (Crispin Freeman). The Bowhunter crew provided some great comic relief in Season 3, so it’s nice to see them returning to that role here. Though, Will is definitely upset that a ninja assassin broke his favorite clipboard.
Grief and Mental Health
The Young Justice trailer seems to show a new focus on the team’s mental health. Multiple scenes in the trailer show Beast Boy in a type of mental crisis, probably partially impacted by being around so many Martians. Since the Martians communicate (and sometimes attack) with their psychic powers, it’s likely pretty draining for anyone without their abilities to be surrounded by them.
Beast Boy’s been through a lot recently. His mother and godmother both died and he was almost mind controlled by Granny Goodness. He’s also struggled with trying to make the most impact as an actor, social media personality and superhero. The trailer seems to indicate that this season will use him as a way to talk about the real feelings of anxiety and depression many teens feel, showing him feeling withdrawn and fearing losing the people closest to him.
The trailer also shows Tigress looking at a picture showing the original team and crying, presumably mourning the death of her boyfriend Wally West aka Kid Flash (Jason Spisak). While she’s tried to move on, enlisting Zatanna to use magic to let her say goodbye to Wally, Tigress still feels his loss deeply and hasn’t been able to bring herself to date anyone else. The question is whether she will move to a new comfort with her emotions, or as many fans speculate, Wally will return having not actually died but instead being trapped in the Speed Force.
Another scene that could be part of the theme is Conner fighting so brutally he winds up with blood on his hands. Since he was created using genetic material from both Superman and Lex Luthor, Conner’s always been afraid of losing control and having darkness within him. Something seems to have pushed him over the edge, but it's likely that his friends and family will be able to bring him back.
What do you think of the Young Justice trailer? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!