10 Best Episodes Of The Justice League Animated Series, Ranked

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The DC Animated Universe"s crowning jewel, Justice League, has some phenomenal episodes, holding up incredibly well to this day. After setting up its own take on the DC universe with the likes of Batman: The Animated Series, Static Shock, and Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League brought things full-circle for the DC animated universe timeline. The ensemble cast facilitated some particularly strong episodes that stand out from the others.
The best episodes of Justice League go beyond a simple villain-of-the-week format, expanding on the team"s dynamics or alternate universes to help flesh out the worldbuilding. It would be a stretch to say that the series had any bad episodes at all, but there are definitely a few standouts in its 52-episode run. Boasting one of the best depictions of the Justice League in movies or TV anywhere, Justice League knew how to use DC"s best heroes to tell a story.
10 The Savage Time Season 1, Episodes 24 to 26

A heavily serialized cartoon, the best episodes of Justice League commonly stretch into multi-part sagas that make for a gripping whole. The Savage Time sees the League arriving back to Earth after one of their spacefaring missions, only to find that the planet is not how they left it. Somehow, they"ve entered an alternate dimension in which the immortal warrior villain Vandal Savage was able to lead the Nazis to victory in World War II, resulting in a whole new timeline.
The climactic finale of Justice League"s first season, The Savage Time is one of the show"s many fish-out-of-water stories in which the League or some of its individual heroes are stranded in a strange new time. It"s great to see the League team up with their pulpy 1940s counterparts like Steve Trevor, the Blackhawks, and even the real-life battalion Easy Company of Band of Brothers fame. That being said, it"s hard not to feel like their time in the alternate history isn"t a bit inconsequential.
9 Legends Season 1, Episodes 16 and 17

The Savage Time wouldn"t be the only time the Justice League endured a period piece story, as what happens earlier in season 1 with Legends. Here, yet another explosion sends the superheroes hurtling through time, ending up in an idyllic version of the 1950s. It"s here that the Justice League meets their old-fashioned predecessors, the Justice Guild of America, hearkening back to DC"s Golden Age of superheroes.
True to its setting, Legends has a campier and perhaps altogether more lighthearted tone compared to most episodes of Justice League, making it stand out as unique. Despite the happy-go-lucky set dressing, the fictional past also holds a dark secret that the League have to uncover if they ever wish to go home, a fascinating dissection of how rose-colored glasses and nostalgia can cover up the nastier realities of the past. The episode ends with some heavy pondering, making it worthwhile if a bit at odds with the show"s normal tone.
8 Comfort And Joy Season 2, Episode 23

Not every great episode of Justice League is necessarily such a multi-part epic saga, with some of the show"s quieter moments also being some of its best. Everyone loves a good Christmas episode, and Comfort and Joy proved that even the world"s finest heroes need a break for some festivities every now and then. Here, snippets of several heroes" holiday traditions are shown, as Hawkgirl and Green Lantern engage in some Christmastime roughhousing, Flash races to get the latest hit toy for the Central City Orphanage, and Clark Kent invites Martian Manhunter for Christmas on the farm.
Comfort and Joy has so many adorable beats, truly living up to its name as a reliable comfort episode. Superman admitting he still believes in Santa Claus (and considering the DC universe of magical beings he inhabits, he may not even be wrong) is a particularly nice touch, with J"onn J"onzz"s experience with Earth culture being an episode highlight. Even if nothing of world-ending significance happens, the character progression in this episode is unreal.
7 A Better World Season 2, Episodes 11 and 12

By now, the elseworlds Injustice storyline has been made famous thanks to the animated movie and video games exploring the premise, but Justice League got an earlier look at a similar premise. In a world where Lex Luthor succeeds in murdering The Flash, prompting Superman to kill him in response, the Justice League have morphed into the Justice Lords, tyrannical versions of their normal selves that rule the planet with an iron fist. Coming into contact with their more laid-back alternate universe selves, the Justice Lords mount a full-scale invasion.
It"s interesting to see the Justice League"s home reality invaded by a copycat team for a change, rather than the usual other way around. Seeing Superman go all-out in a rare display of carelessness is a decadent treat, and the two Batmen"s battle of wits is a legendary bout to behold. Best of all, the episode sets up a storyline that further explores the League"s relationship to the Earth"s governments in Justice League Unlimited. There are certainly more poignant episodes than A Better World, but few are more exciting.
6 The Terror Beyond Season 2, Episodes 15 and 16

Sometimes, Justice League is at its best when its exploring a lesser-known character and expanding upon their development. Enter The Terror Beyond, an episode which sees Aquaman, Dr. Fate, and Solomon Grundy, of all people, team up to perform a ritual that"ll prevent the coming of a Great Old One, the dreaded Icthulhu. Aquaman and Dr. Fate agree to use Grundy as a sacrifice to seal away the eldritch horror, but Superman, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl arrive at a different conclusion - Simply slay the titanic beast.
It"s amazing to see the presence of heroes like Aquaman and Dr. Fate before their full membership in the League in Justice League Unlimited. All the better that they should turn up in an episode featuring Lovecraftian nightmares, clearly inspired by Cthulhu. But most compelling of all, the redemption of Solomon Grundy is a fabulous note to end on, exemplifying how well Justice League ages by putting unique groupings of characters together in new situations.
5 Only A Dream Season 2, Episodes 5 and 6

Speaking of Solomon Grundy, the undead brute shows up in another great episode featuring a breakout at Stryker"s Island prison, which unleashes a brand-new villain upon the world. The so-called Doctor Destiny is a Freddy Krueger-like character capable of invading the dreams of others and torturing them with horrific nightmares. With the rest of the League incapacitated, it"s up to the only two heroes who were awake for Doctor Destiny"s attack, Batman and Green Lantern, to save the day.
As the League"s two most serious members, it"s great to see Batman and Green Lantern isolated for a no-nonsense dynamic duo. Doctor Destiny is an incredibly fun villain who boasts some trippy visuals, nearly bringing the League to its knees, and seeing Batman struggle to stay awake for so long adds a nice layer of tension. Even if it is something of a standard villain-of-the-week story for the cartoon, Only A Dream proves what a solid handle the series has on the format.
4 Hereafter Season 2, Episodes 19 and 20

The infamous comic The Death of Superman has been adapted many times in movies and TV shows both live-action and animated, to varying degrees of success. Even if it wasn"t at the hands of Doomsday, Superman"s death in Hereafter at the hands of his worst villains working together is a tear-jerking start to an incredible duology. It"s soon revealed that Superman wasn"t killed, but stripped of his powers and flung into a distant future in which the only human alive is the immortal Vandal Savage.
Superman"s funeral is one of the strongest emotional beats of the entire series, with each League member (save for Batman, who is positive that Superman isn"t actually dead) mourning in their own way. Clark"s own harrowing journey through a post-apocalyptic wasteland that forces him to work with one of his greatest enemies is also quite engaging, and proves Clark"s mettle as a mere mortal even without the ability to rely on his powers. In the end, Batman smugly and matter-of-factly getting a huge "Told you so" moment when Superman does return is a phenomenal ending.
3 Injustice For All Season 1, Episodes 8 and 9

Many incarnations of an evil Justice League would turn up throughout the seasons of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, from the Justice Lords to the Legion of Doom. But it"s the very first assembly of supervillains under Lex Luthor"s command, the Injustice Gang, the results in one of the franchise"s best episodes. Assembling Cheetah, Solomon Grundy, Star Sapphire, The Shade, The Ultra-Humanite and (against his will) The Joker, Luthor leads the villains on a rampage against the Justice League
This episode is a particularly great standout for Batman, proving just how valuable he is to the team despite having no powers when the rest of the League fail at interrogating a captured villain without him. Meanwhile, Batman seducing Cheetah and pitting Ultra-Humanite and Grundy against each other with his words alone proves just how dangerous of a hero he is. But aside from the Batman praise, this episode is also great for giving the villains a rare chance to bounce off of one another just as the heroes do.
2 Starcrossed Season 2, Episodes 24 to 26

It figures that the climactic three-part series finale of Justice League would be some of the show"s best episodes. In Starcrossed, Hawkgirl is thrown into disarray after her own race of Thanagarian warriors is set on building a hyperspace bypass generator to use against their ancient enemy, the Gordanians. Activating the generator would essentially destroy the Earth, making Hawkgirl choose between her earthbound found family and her loyalty to her old home.
Betraying her team for the latter, Hawkgirl"s internal conflict is among the most violent of any storyline featured thus far. As dramatic of a set-up as any episode could be, Starcrossed is also a boiling over point for Hawkgirl and Green Lantern"s romance, taking a so-called kid"s cartoon into some very heavy waters. With storytelling that rivals most animated Justice League movies, Starcrossed is a devastating final beat for the series to leave on before evolving into Justice League Unlimited.
1 Wild Cards Season 2, Episodes 21 and 22

Wild Cards proves that the Joker is just as terrifying of a villain as Batman is useful as a hero, despite both their relative lack of power compared to other costumed characters. Setting up bombs all over the Las Vegas strip, Joker taunts the League into action before setting the Royal Flush Gang against them, resulting in a harrowing race against the clock. All of this is really just a distraction for the Joker"s real plan, using the powerful meta-human telepath Ace to drive a huge chunk of the population insane.
Wild Cards is a true voice acting treat for Justice League, with Mark Hamill"s Joker leaving the DCAU with a triumphant bang and each villain of the Royal Flush Gang boasting the voice of a 2003 Teen Titans member. But the true strength of the episode is in the emotional final moments, with Batman"s tender treatment of Ace demonstrating why he has a true heart for hero work despite his coarse personality. It"s hard to beat the kind of spectacle, excitement, and narrative strength that the DCAU brings forth with Wild Cards.
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