NOTE: This article obviously contains SPOILERS. Proceed at your own risk!
Episode Details
Story: Paul Dini and Alan Burnett
Teleplay: Stan Berkowitz
Director: Butch Lukic
Animation Studio: CNK International (formerly Koko Enterprises Ltd.) and Dong Yang Animation
Original Airdate: November 11, 2000 (Part One), November 18, 2000 (Part Two)
Official Summary
Part 1: Superman drafts Batman into the league of superheroes when he suspects there is a traitor among them. Batman ferrets out the traitor and the reason for his treasonous behavior. It all comes down to one-on-one battle between Batman and one of the greatest heroes of all time.
Part 2: Batman must go up against the traitor within the Justice League’s ranks, which will have lasting repercussions on Batman and the Justice League itself.
My Summary
Following the attempted assassination of Justice League Unlimited member Micron, Superman unilaterally inducts the Tomorrow Knight onto the team, much to the chagrin of the other members, in an attempt to investigate and uncover a potential traitor to the League. Working with the legendary Man of Steel, Batman discovers a secret that will not only compromise the entire group, but it will force him to face off against the world’s greatest superheroes far, far away from the familiar surroundings of Neo Gotham.
Voice Cast
Will Friedle as Batman / Terry McGinnis
Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne
Christopher McDonald as Superman
Farrah Forke as Barda
Peter Onorati as Warhawk
Jodi Benson as Aquagirl
Wayne Brady as Micron
Lauren Tom as Green Lantern
Shannon Kenny as Inque
Tim Dang as The Driver
Chad Einbinder as Father
Background
As discussed in a previous essay, “The Call” came about due to two reasons: 1) the desire to do a Superman episode and 2) a script shortage that forced Executive Producer Bruce Timm to break a self-inflicted rule about guest stars. Timm originally discussed the creative team’s official stance on team-ups in an August 19, 1999 interview with Comics Continuum:
[W]e don’t really have many plans to [do] any other heroes in the Batman Beyond universe. We kind of have the same rules for the Batman Beyond show that we had for the old Batman show. We would kind of like to keep the superhero team-ups to a minimum. (qtd. in Allstetter, “Batman Beyond Movie, Etc.”)
However, while previously adamant about keeping Terry McGinnis in his little corner of the DCAU, there was one exception, as Timm revealed in a 2000 interview with Comicology:
All the way through the series, we kept talking about doing a Superman episode. We toyed around with a bunch of different scenarios, and the problem with Superman is that he’s such a big icon; whatever we decided to do with him, we felt that it should be something special. So, we got sidetracked, moved onto other things, and towards the end of [production on] the series, there turned out to be a script shortage—a couple of scripts that [the writing staff] had been working on just went south for one reason or another, just weren’t panning out, and so Paul [Dini] whipped up this Justice League episode. (qtd. in Lamken, “Justice” 25)
This two-part episode, “The Call,” introduced a futuristic Justice League, dubbed the Justice League Unlimited, to both Batman Beyond and the DCAU and, in its way, it served as a trial balloon for a potential Justice League spin-off series. As previously discussed, Timm went on record multiple times discussing how he had no interest in working on Justice League for a number of reasons, but he was eventually swayed during production, as James Tucker, director and storyboard artist for Batman Beyond, recounted, saying how “[p]rior to that, Bruce was very public in saying he didn’t think we could do a Justice League show. Then, after ‘The Call,’ it kind of clicked something in his head that made him think we could” (qtd. in Gross).
Of course, while positive about the episode, Timm conceded that, at its core, it was more a backdoor pilot than an episode of Batman Beyond, saying how “[i]t has nothing to do with Batman Beyond. The adventure doesn’t even take place in Gotham City. It’s the problem that I’ve always had fundamentally with team-up books like JLA and Avengers” (qtd. in Lamken, “Justice” 25). And he was correct, as the two-part episode forced the Tomorrow Knight to presumably skip school, ghost his family and friends, and spend the bulk of the episode in either Metropolis or the Arctic Circle, rather than in Gotham City. For an episode that the creative team hoped would air as an unofficial series finale, this was somewhat problematic—introducing seven new, unrelated characters to a series so close to the finish line (Lamken, “Justice” 24).
Finally, despite his initial confidence in 2000 (“I have to say that [‘The Call’ is] gonna be a really cool episode”; qtd. in Lamken, “Justice” 25), Bruce Timm would later be more candid with fans regarding his first attempts at animating a super team for a DCAU show, beginning with a January 26, 2005 post on Anime Superhero (formerly Toon Zone):
Oh, “The Call” is a freakin’ mess, no denying it. I appreciate everyone’s attempts to explain away the plotholes [...] but yeah, we knew all along it was fulla holes back in the day. We were just so far behind schedule; the writers didn’t have a chance to work out the bugs before it had to go out on the floor.
Besides the humongous lapses in logic, the thing that bugged me the most about it was that it was yet another “mind-controlled Superman goes rogue” story, uncomfortably similar to Superman’s last appearance in the DCAU [the STAS episode “Legacy”]. I complained about it to the writers: “Out of all the different things we could do with ‘Superman Beyond,’ and we’re doing this again?” Alan [Burnett] conceded it was a fair point, but it was just too late in the game to do anything about it.
But … even with all its flaws, I do think it’s an extremely fun show, with an excellent cast, interesting line-up of heroes (Dave Johnson and Shane Glines’ character designs are really sweet), awesome score, full of “wow!” moments, and the “scary Superman” bit is somehow fitting within the darker, bleaker context of the [Batman Beyond] world. So, there you go. (b.t.)
He continued, in a February 5, 2005 post:
A few months back, I happened to be discussing the Swiss cheese that is “The Call” with Alan Burnett (I can’t for the life of me remember how it came up), and I asked him, “Explain to me again why the Starro-controlled Superman recruited Terry, with the expressed intent of finding out who the traitor was, when he himself was said traitor?” Alan told me with an absolute straight face that it was Superman himself (not Starro) subconsciously fighting Starro’s influence. I looked at him for a long moment. He grinned, shrugged, and said, “Yeah, I know. Pretty lame, huh?” (b.t.)
And again, in a February 6, 2005 post:
And why exactly is Starro forcing Superman to blow up Neo Metropolis in Part One? I guess it’s all just a distraction so Superman can take out Warhawk without being noticed … but nah, that’s loco. [...] Also, Starro isn’t really “the last of his kind,” as Aquagirl says, if he can suddenly, spontaneously reproduce lots and lots of baby Starros without the help of a Mrs. Starro. (b.t.)
And, finally, in an August 3, 2022 post:
The first time I watched “The Call” in Joe Gall’s editing bay, I realized that having Starro / Superman bringing in Batman to find the traitor in the League was kinda bananas. Someone (Joe or Alan or Glen [Murakami] or Butch [Lukic], I don’t remember, it could even have been me), suggested it could be Superman subtly fighting Starro’s mind control—and Starro either didn’t realize Superman was asserting control or thought teenage Batman was too dumb to be a real threat and went along with it. Sure, it’s all hand-wavy [bullshit], but everything else in the two-parter is so much fun, so—works for me! (b.t.)
Despite “The Call’s” very obvious flaws—both story-wise and animation-wise (more on that later)—the episode is significant as the unofficial “pilot” for both Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, allowing the creative team a trial run before the final lap. Said Timm in an April 25, 2001 interview for Comics Continuum:
We learned a lot about staging scenes with a lot of characters in them. We especially learned a lot of what not to do. It drove us crazy in the editing room because you look at something on the storyboard and you think it works fine, and then you get the film back and you’re going, “Oh, my God, we’re panning all over the place trying to keep all these characters in motion at the same time.” So, that was a good learning experience.
It was a good dry run but, the tricky thing about this show, if the Batman Beyond JLU episodes are, just in terms of scale, a 5, [Justice League] is an 11. This show is so big. It’s just crazy. (Allstetter, “Bruce”)
Without this little experiment, the DCAU would have ended five-to-six years prematurely, effectively robbing fans of what would become the creative team’s return to greatness following the nadir of the Kids’ WB! period.
Commentary
Despite his reputation as a “crazed loner,” Batman has had a long, but complicated, career as a member of various super teams. Initially, due to a Golden Age editorial mandate preventing heroes from two-timing All Star Comics by having solo books, both Batman and Superman were dubbed “honorary members” of the original Justice Society of America, but in March 1960 this was lifted for The Brave and the Bold #28, allowing the World’s Finest to join the fledgling Justice League of America. Now, some may question the presence of a bat-themed vigilante fighting super-powered aliens, monsters, and robots; but that was largely what Batman did in the 1950s anyway, so it was an easy transition to doing this with a team. This would continue over the years until 1983, when Batman would quit the team to form one of his own: the Outsiders. Following 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, his JLA history was washed away, but he still served during the Justice League International era, where the Dark Knight frequently played straight man to comedic characters like Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Batman editor Denny O’Neil allegedly “took pity” on the creative team and allowed him to join the the JLI; Darius). And then, following the success of the 1989 Batman film, the Batman titles sought to keep him street-level and separate from the larger DC Universe, outside of guest appearances and an increasingly frequent number of inter-company crossover events.
I can understand their reluctance. After all, it can make Batman stories rather anti-climactic when he can bring in Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Flash to Gotham with just a phone call. It could even undermine crossover events. After all, would No Man’s Land—the 1999 event where an earthquake decimates Gotham City, leading to the U.S. government declaring it unsalvageable and severing its ties to the United States—have gone the same way had the Justice League stepped in to offer policing and aid? For that matter, would it make Batman look like a lesser hero for being unable to maintain his own house?
It was around this time that a question began to circulate among fandom: does Batman need to be a part of the Justice League? Well, after looking at the DCAU in general and “The Call” in particular, I would argue that not only does Batman need to be a part of the Justice League, but the Justice League desperately needs Batman as a member.
Prior to the Justice League animated series, this would come up in the comics when writer Grant Morrison began working on the JLA series (1997-2000), where they sought to recreate the majesty of the original, Silver Age team. They recounted their efforts in their 2011 autobiography / history of comic books Supergods:
DC’s flagship had simply lost its way, as the cataclysmic drop in sales confirmed. The Justice League title had been created to showcase the incredible adventures of the World’s Greatest Superheroes, so […] I did the straightforward thing and went back to first principles. […] The 1960 Justice League comprised Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Flash, a pantheon of Pop Art divinities. Together with the 1950s stalwart, the green-skinned and noble super-alien J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, this was the roster of champions to which I immediately returned.
I had to fight to restore [the] original lineup and then put them front and center in a superhero title that sought to restore a mythic dimension to the DC Universe. My quite reasonable demands were supported by my editor Ruben Diaz […] Ruben even fought for us to bring Batman into the team against the wishes of Denny O’Neil, now in charge of the Bat-office and determined to make the Dark Knight’s adventures as real and convincing as possible. This meant no fighting aliens or visiting the moon. Diaz kept his creative team safe from the madness and made sure that we could do exactly what we wanted, and JLA no. 1 hit the racks as an instant success story. (Morrison, Supergods 291-292)
Morrison would also expand upon their take on Batman in a 1996 Wizard Magazine interview:
Batman can integrate with these superheroes and not lose what makes him tick. [...] What I’ve done is taken the high-tech, science fiction aspect of Batman and played that up slightly more, so that he does fit into the team. Now that that’s happened, and now that they see that it’s successful, the guys in the Bat-office have decided that it’s okay. We think it’s going to work, so Batman will be in the book full-time. (qtd. in Brady, “Mine!” 10-11)
Of course, this take—which has alternately been described by Morrison as a “high-tech, James Bond Batman” (qtd. in Kardon 8) and “the super-confident, zen warrior” (Morrison, Arkham)—was not the only reason why he is valuable to the team, as the Scottish writer also discussed the most important thing the Dark Knight brings to the table, saying how, “[a]s the ‘ultimate human,’ he’s the team’s problem solver, something humans do best. In a lot of situations, the team will come to Batman and ask, ‘What the hell do we do?’” (qtd. in Brady, “Just” 54).
Grant Morrison’s influential take on Batman became the template when Bruce Timm began working on Justice League, which he discussed in a January 2002 interview with Starlog:
That has always been one of the big challenges. […] How do you put Batman in amongst all these super-powered characters and have him hold his own? They’re fighting larger-than-life villains, so how do you keep Batman from being the guy who sits on the sidelines saying, “Hawkgirl, you do that, and Flash, you do this?” I think we’ve solved it, though. Batman is the darkest of all the characters, but we’ve integrated him into the group dynamic and played up his technical expertise so he won’t really be too much of an outsider.
[Artist / Co-Producer] Glen Murakami came up with a cool idea: “What if Batman is the Reed Richards of the group?” The guy who supplies all their hardware and technology? We play him as Reed Richards / Tony Stark combined with the Batman we all know and love. It’s a slightly different interpretation of Batman, but he still hangs in the shadows. […] It made sense to us [to have Batman build the Watchtower]. We figured, “Who else would have the technology—and the money—to build such a thing?” (qtd. in Jankiewicz 32)
So now, in addition to being the team’s resident detective and problem solver, he is also the source of funding for the team’s headquarters—the orbital Watchtower satellite—and equipment, including their faster-than-light spaceship, the Javelin-7 (as previously discussed, Wayne Enterprises gained access to Kryptonian tech as early as the Superman episode “Knight Time”). Suddenly, the normal human with the utility belt and the good right hook is now the most valuable member of the team. Even Superman—considered to be the public face, if not the actual leader, of the League—recognizes this chain of command, having to confirm with Batman if they could reimburse Lex Luthor for the destruction of Lexor City in the JLU episode “Clash.”
Finally, there is the single, most important reason why Batman is on the team: he keeps an eye on them should they fall. In the years since the 2000 JLA story “Tower of Babel” (the Mark Waid arc where R’as al Ghul used Batman’s protocols to attack the Justice League) was written, there have been numerous debates about whether or not Batman “betrayed” the League by developing plans to defeat them should they go bad. Apparently these critics never read Wizard Magazine’s 1996 book JLA Special: A Special Wizard Publication, where Grant Morrison repeatedly discussed that not only did Batman have such plans, but the entire team knew it (“Everyone’s scared of Batman. They know that he’s got ways to beat them. Should the situation arise, Batman will take them out”; qtd. in Brady, “Just” 65). At any rate, when it comes to the DCAU, I would propose that not only does Batman have these protocols, but it would be foolish of him not to.
There is a reason why 2012’s direct-to-video movie Justice League: Doom is considered to not be in continuity with the DCAU. After all, should any League member protest Batman’s protocols as unnecessary, the DCAU Dark Knight has a laundry list of incidents that say otherwise:
The number of Superman-level threats that popped up during STAS, including Bizarro (“Identity Crisis,” “Bizarro’s World,” “Little Big Head Man”) and Phantom Zone criminals Jax-Ur and Mala (“Blasts from the Past,” “Absolute Power”). The episode “Brave New Metropolis,” with a fascistic Superman teaming up with Luthor to take over Metropolis on a parallel Earth, is another example.
Darkseid’s brainwashing of Superman in the STAS episode “Legacy,” where the New God tricked him into invading Earth as well as, presumably, several other planets.
Grodd mind-controlling the Flash into committing theft on his behalf in the Justice League episode “The Brave and the Bold.”
J’onn J’onzz getting tricked into helping Morgaine Le Fay obtain the Philosopher’s Stone in the Justice League episode “A Knight of Shadows.”
The android AMAZO successfully copying every team member’s powers and abilities in the Justice League episode “Tabula Rasa.”
The Justice Lords—a Justice League team from a parallel Earth—coming to “our” reality to take it over in the Justice League episode “A Better World.” Also, their Superman killed their world’s president, Lex Luthor.
Five members of the League becoming possessed by the Heart of Darkness (and the spirits of the snake people, the Ophidians), in the Justice League episode “Eclipsed.”
Hawkgirl being revealed as a spy for the Thanagarian military and a traitor to the team in the Justice League episode “Starcrossed.”
The Crime Syndicate—another Justice League team from a parallel Earth—becomes an issue in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, which nearly leads to the destruction of the multiverse.
The Cadmus Project successfully creates Galatea, a clone of Justice League team member Supergirl, in the JLU episode “Fearful Symmetry.”
Superman’s fight with Captain Marvel, which destroys Lexor City, in the JLU episode “Clash.”
Deadman having the ability to possess Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman in the JLU episode “Dead Reckoning.”
The Flash and Lex Luthor mind-swapping in the JLU episode “The Great Brain Robbery.”
Lex Luthor using the League’s communications system to hypnotize female League members to fight in Meta-Brawl: Glamour Slam, in the JLU episode “Grudge Match.”
Frankly, any one of the above situations would necessitate a need for there to be such protocols, and if any League member can, with a straight face, say that there isn’t a need, they’re—at the very least—stupid or, worst case scenario, already a threat.
Which brings us to the events of “The Call.” In the 50 years since Justice League and Justice League Unlimited—with its multiple headquarters, full support staff, a fleet of Javelins, and a 50+ army of costumed heroes—the team has obviously fallen on hard times. I’ve previously suspected that when Bruce Wayne stepped down as Batman, his funding for the Justice League stopped as well, and since the two series never directly stated that Wayne Enterprises publicly sponsored the team, it must have been done in secret (and if it was public, I suspect Derek Powers would have pulled the plug himself when he took over). So, if Wayne quit being Batman thirty years from now (see “Stray Observations” below), that means that the League has been left to its own devices for about twenty. Now, obviously “The Call” was written and produced long before the two subsequent series, but in the DCAU timeline isn’t it a little odd that the breakdown listed above has been reduced to six active heroes and one eyesore of a headquarters at the time of Batman Beyond?
Speaking of the team roster, we can only imagine what happened in the interim to the legion of superheroes from JLU (death during a major conflict, they got old and retired, etc.), but the fact that the current team is comparatively depleted certainly says something. JLU also showed viewers that previous eras had costumed heroes and super-powered champions of their own (Etrigan the Demon, the Shining Knight, the Viking Prince, Jonah Hex, Spy Smasher, etc.), so I suppose it’s possible that their numbers can ebb and flow with the times (it would certainly explain the lack of guest stars during Batman Beyond). Still, I find it odd that the Justice League of the future only consists of Superman, Barda, and a bunch of second-and-third generation kids standing in for their forebears (Warhawk, Aquagirl, and Micron strike me as being on the young side; Green Lantern is eight-years-old). Did a Starro-possessed Superman cause further damage by alienating and driving away the League’s older talent, resulting in lesser numbers and inexperienced heroes that didn’t know Superman as well as, say, Wonder Woman and J’onn J’onzz? Did the sinister alien starfish arrange “accidents” for other members? Maybe Micron wasn’t the first one targeted, just the first one targeted most recently.
If Batman—or someone like Batman—was still in the League, he could have stopped this. He would have noticed immediately that Superman was acting strangely, and rather than him being possessed “for years,” the Dark Knight would have fixed this in the span of one episode of Justice League Unlimited. Starro’s attempted invasion of Earth could have been stopped with years to spare, rather than hours. And that is ultimately why Batman needs to be in the Justice League: you cannot protect Gotham City if the rest of the world falls to ruin. To quote Amanda Waller in the JLU episode “Epilogue,” the world, like the team, “needs Batman.”
Unfortunately for the Justice League Unlimited, the current Batman—Terry McGinnis—turned down the offer of membership at the end of “The Call.” It’s just as well, seeing how he’s only 17-years-old and still in high school. Moreover, he still has a bit of hero worship in him (“I’ve considered them heroes my whole life”) and, for a Batman, this is a problem (they need to be in awe of him). Fortunately for them, the Tomorrow Knight will change his mind sometime within the next 15 years (as per the JLU episode “Epilogue”) and join the team. Hopefully this will also mean that Bruce Wayne—who regained control of Wayne Enterprises as of Return of the Joker—will reopen his coffers to once again provide financial support and, in turn, help restore the Justice League to its earlier, more powerful state.
Stray Observations
Before we begin, a quick word about the Batman Beyond timeline. According to a January 7, 2000 post on the Anime Superhero (formerly Toon Zone) message boards, Executive Producer Bruce Timm discussed how “[t]he Batman Beyond world is always 50 years from now, whenever ‘now’ is, not 50 years from 1997 (note that we never put an actual date in the shows and try to avoid topical references whenever possible, in a blatant attempt to extend the respective series’ shelf lives)” (b.t.). He would later elaborate further in a January 23rd post:
For the record, there is, in fact, no “official” date for the [Batman Beyond] world. I always wanted Bruce to be in his early eighties in the show, [but] the network wanted him to be younger (this is Kids’ WB! we’re talking about here, remember). According to me, [Batman Beyond] is 50 years from now; according to publicity materials, it’s only 40. It has to be 50, when you think about it: Bruce has to be at least 60 when he quits at the beginning of “Rebirth,” and he meets Terry 20 years after that. (b.t.)
It is also worth reiterating here that, while I am aware that “The Call” aired prior to Justice League and Justice League Unlimited (JLU), I am still looking at these episodes through the lens of the larger DCAU timeline.
According to production art from the episodes (such as the one provided below), “The Call” was originally titled “The League.”
The episode begins with a shot of the Justice League Watchtower, which could be interpreted as a combination of the orbital satellite Watchtower (from Justice League and JLU) and the Metro Tower (first appearing in the JLU episode “I Am Legion”). In fact, it is quite possible that this headquarters is on the same land as the original Metro Tower. Finally, despite the fact that this Watchtower is not in orbit, I suspect that they used the name because that was the name of the lunar headquarters from Grant Morrison’s hugely influential JLA series.
Described as “sort of like the original version of the Atom mixed with a little bit of [Marvel Comics’] Giant-Man” by Paul Dini in an August 7, 2000 post on Comics Continuum, Micron is officially the first Justice League member seen in the DCAU (qtd. in Allstetter).
While Micron is voiced by actor Wayne Brady, it is worth noting that Bruce Timm accidentally credited Phil LaMarr with voicing the size-changing hero in the January 2022 issue of Starlog. He explained the reasons for his error in a January 15, 2021 post on Anime Superhero:
Oh dear. I had kinda hoped that egregious faux pas would stay buried in the back pages of forgotten fan mags. How could I have gotten Wayne Brady and Phil LaMarr mixed up? Seeing as how the two actors don’t look anything alike? Here’s how…
I wasn’t actually at “The Call, Part 1” session when Brady recorded his lines as Micron. We had recorded the bulk of that show with the whole cast, but Brady wasn’t available that day, so Andrea recorded him separately later.
(Or maybe a different actor had originally been scheduled to play the part but had to bail at the last minute and Andrea replaced the first guy with Brady at a later date. That actually seems more like what happened. But it was decades ago, and I can’t swear to it. In any case…)
For whatever reason, I couldn’t make it to that pick-up session, so I never met the gentleman. I was vaguely aware that he was a black actor / comedian, mostly known for sketch / improv comedy, but I’m pretty sure I’d never seen him in anything at the time we recorded “The Call,” so I didn’t even know what he looked like. Upon hearing his [voice over] performance, I made a parenthetical mental note that his accent was “ethnically neutral,” meaning you couldn’t tell if he was African American or Caucasian (or Latino or Indian or Asian or whatever) just by hearing his voice. My shorthand mental profile for him was something like “Black actor, neutral accent, sketch / improv, superhero.”
After working with Phil LaMarr on the first season of [Justice League], my shorthand mental profile for him was roughly similar (Phil’s natural “default” accent is likewise very “neutral,” doesn’t sound at all like his accent when playing John Stewart or Static or Steel, and he—of course—was a featured player on Mad TV for several seasons). So, at some point, my brain obviously conflated the two actors into one.
Years later, I was watching Wayne Brady on an episode of 30 Rock, and casually thought to myself, “He’s very good, I should get him to do a voice on one of my shows someday.” And some time after that, I happened to reread that interview and realized I had already used him as a voice actor and, to my horror, I’d mixed up the two actors. In print, yet!
So, there you have it. Mea culpa. (b.t.)
For an alien starfish who probably doesn’t care that much about human life, Starro seems intent on keeping the human casualty count low here (the sabotaged monorail only had the conductor on board), compared to the full-on assault on Metropolis later in the first episode.
Also, when Micron first enters the monorail front car to rescue the conductor, why bother allowing the hero to save him and exit the car only to trap him after he reentered the car a second time? Why not just kill both of them in the crash? For that matter, what if Micron just stayed giant and grabbed the mostly empty train like a snake?
When Micron disengaged the monorail from the track—to prevent a head-on collision with another train coming at them on the same track from the opposite direction—it fell into a nearby, conspicuously empty building, thus sparing the children’s program a body count. How convenient, Kids’ WB! How very convenient.
When spying on Batman, why does Superman bother with the raincoat? I mean, yeah, he’s doing it for the dramatic reveal on behalf of the audience, but … seriously?!
While the black-and-white costume is a new creation, the older Superman heavily resembles the Man of Steel as seen in Kingdom Come, the 1996 miniseries written by Mark Waid and painted by Alex Ross. Even Superman’s stylized “S” symbol is reminiscent of the one from the book.
Considering how “Legacy, Part 2” aired on February 12, 2000 and “The Call, Part 1” aired on November 11, 2000, it had been nine months since we, the audience, had last seen the DCAU Superman when it initially aired.
Unfortunately, Tim Daly—the voice of Clark Kent and Superman for the duration of Superman: The Animated Series (STAS)—was not available due to his involvement in the 2000 remake of The Fugitive (Dimino). To compensate, the creative team made a familial casting choice, as Timm recounted in an August 3, 2022 post on the Anime Superhero message boards:
Well, Tim [Daly] was unavailable to play Superman in “The Call,” so that was beyond our control. Despite having never seen Happy Gilmore, I’m a huge fan of Christopher McDonald’s, I thought he was great as Jor-El on our Superman series and the idea of Superman starting to sound like his father as he got older made all kinds of sense to me. (b.t.)
Frankly, I found the “stunt casting” of Superman on Batman Beyond to be—at best—underwhelming, and I thought having Christopher McDonald perform the voice so soon after STAS ended was jarring. Please keep in mind that, in 2000, we were still one year away from George Newburn taking over the role of the Man of Steel for Justice League, and I considered Tim Daly as irreplaceable as Kevin Conroy’s Batman back then (and, in many ways, I still do). Sorry, but the guy appearing in “The Call” with the different costume, different design, and different voice just came off like a different character.
Apparently, earlier drafts of the story attempted to humanize Superman and harken back to the previous series. In a January 19, 2005 post on the Anime Superhero (formerly Toon Zone) message boards, Bruce Timm discussed a potential deleted scene: “[w]hen we were plotting ’The Call,’ I actually suggested showing still-young Supes caring for his 80-year-old invalid wife Lois. I dunno, I thought it was kinda sweet, but Murakami, Burnett, and Dini just about ’EEEEWWWWWWWW!’-ed me out of the room” (b.t.).
Unlike the other members of the Justice League Unlimited, “The Call” is the only appearance of the older, Christopher McDonald-voiced Superman. However...
Christopher McDonald would return to voice Jor-El in Superman’s Black Mercy-induced dream in the JLU episode “For the Man Who Has Everything.”
An early draft of “The Once and Future Thing” two-parter included the older, Batman Beyond Superman fighting against the forces of Chronos. An outline of the episode pitch, titled “A Brief History of Time, Part One,” can be found on the late Dwayne McDuffie’s official website.
In the JLU episode “Epilogue,” the now ninety-something Bruce Wayne informs Terry McGinnis that “Kent” called to ask the second Batman about his opinion on “a case he’s working.” Fortunately, it was “nothing apocalyptic” (Apokoliptic?).
When Superman is examining the costume case in the Batcave, is he merely checking out Bruce Wayne’s original TNBA costume, or is he looking through it to check and see if Bruce still has that kryptonite in the hidden room?
Considering how Bruce Wayne declines to shake Superman’s hand, I wonder what their last meeting was like. In the larger scope of the DCAU, these are two men who were close friends. After all, the Dark Knight saved both Superman and Lois Lane in the three-part “World’s Finest,” and the Man of Steel saved Batman’s life in “Starcrossed.” Superman even trusted Batman enough to allow him to carry kryptonite in his utility belt (such as in “Tabula Rasa”), and he allowed him access to the Fortress of Solitude in “For the Man Who Has Everything.” Why the brush off?
For that matter, I find it hard to believe that, for the entirety of Batman Beyond, it took this long for anyone in the Justice League to check in on either the new Batman operating in Neo Gotham or the old one (I know the story brushes it off when Superman says he’s both “watched” and “studied” Terry, but it’s just as likely that it was Starro). Anyway, even if Wayne told them all to leave him alone at their last meeting, the other “original six” were still close to Batman, and I would think that they would check in, at least to make sure that their friend’s legacy was untainted and intact.
Compare this to Marvel’s Ultimate Comics line, where both the superhero community and S.H.I.E.L.D. were immediately interested when Miles Morales was first seen wearing the late Peter Parker’s old Spider-Man outfit.
Unfortunately, this could imply that—fifty years into their future—Wonder Woman, the Flash, John Stewart, Shayera Hol, and J’onn J’onzz are either dead, off-world, incapacitated, or incredibly distracted. I mean, we all lose touch with certain friends as the years pile on, but not one “Hi, how are you, Bruce? Who’s the new protégé?”
Still, even with his tough guy persona, you do get a slight smile from Wayne when Superman says he’s “too stubborn to die.”
As stated above, in a Spring 2000 interview with Comicology, Bruce Timm revealed that the creative team hoped that “The Call” would originally serve as the series finale (Lamken, “Justice” 24). With that in mind, it does make sense then that Superman would try to recruit the new Batman now, after fifty episodes of him learning the ropes. That said, I like how Bruce Wayne does not push Terry to join the Justice League and allowed him to make his own decision.
First appearing in Mister Miracle #4 (October 1971), Barda (known in the comics as Big Barda) was a supporting character from Jack Kirby’s New Gods cast who initially functioned as Mister Miracle’s partner and, later, wife. Her DCAU backstory was provided as a character profile on the original Kids’ WB! Superman website, implying that they had bigger plans for the character on STAS:
Big Barda was born and raised on Apokolips in Granny Goodness’ orphanage. She trained with the Female Furies and was a member of the elite Special Powers Force, made up of herself, Bernadeth (sister of Desaad), Lashina, Mad Harriet, and Stompa. Though she was, at first, loyal to Granny, she questioned the ways of Apokolips, and covered for one of her fellow Furies who had come under the sway of Himon’s teachings. It was during a mission to retrieve that individual from Himon’s quarters before an imminent raid that she first encountered Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and though she was taken with him almost immediately, she could not bring it upon herself to escape for Earth at the time he did through Metron’s boom tube.
Later, however, Barda did flee Apokolips and come to live with Scott on Earth and assist him in his escape act. After several attacks upon the two of them by Darkseid’s minions, Barda accompanied Scott back to Apokolips, where Scott earned his freedom through trial by combat, and Barda convinced her old unit to return to Earth with her for a time. Returning to Earth, Scott and Barda had several adventures and gradually fell in love. After a time, they were married and left Earth to live on New Genesis so that Scott could explore his lost heritage.
Barda previously made a silent cameo appearance, along with Mister Miracle, in “Apokolips…Now!, Part 2,” where they served as reinforcements from New Genesis during Darkseid’s first invasion of Earth. In addition, there were also plans for a separate Mister Miracle episode of STAS that would have featured Barda (“We want to use Mister Miracle in an episode separate from the New Gods two-parter” [Allstetter, “Men”]) in a story that eventually became Superman Adventures #42 (April 2000; Liu).
As previously discussed, Barda was used in place of Wonder Woman due to rights issues with the family of her creator, William Moulton Marston. In fact, it was recently revealed that Barda almost replaced the Amazing Amazon on Justice League as well.
According to Paul Dini in the aforementioned August 7, 2000 post on Comics Continuum, Barda functions in “The Call” as “sort of [Superman’s] second-in-command” (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice”) and, as for her costume, Bruce Timm wanted to skip the full armor and cape look in favor of the metal bikini, but he had to change it to a one-piece to placate Broadcast Standards & Practices (qtd. in Lamken, “Ever”).
It is worth noting that Barda is a popular subject for Bruce Timm’s pin-up art. In fact, Timm’s Barda illustrations have graced the covers of Comic Book Artist Special Edition #1 (December 1999) and Back Issue! #54 (January 2012).
Big Barda would later appear, along with her husband, Mister Miracle, in the Justice League Unlimited episode “The Ties That Bind.” Finally, it is worth noting that Barda was not a member of the Justice League in that episode, which means that she must have joined the team in the fifty years between Justice League Unlimited and Batman Beyond.
Making his debut in “The Call” is Warhawk, who was described by Paul Dini as “sort of like Hawkman, but who is also the badass of the group” (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice”).
Aside from the obvious Hawkman parallels, there was no “Warhawk” character in DC Comics in 2000, though he has since been adapted for Batman Beyond comics. That said, it is worth noting that a character bearing that name appeared in the notes for Alan Moore’s Twilight of the Superheroes, the Kingdom Come-like, 1987 comic book pitch that the legendary comic book writer created before his very public split from DC Comics. A member of the “House of Titans” (the future’s version of the present-day Teen Titans), Warhawk was described by Moore as an older version of Hawk (of Hawk and Dove fame) who acts as “a sort of super Rambo who Nightwing tends to use as a human weapon” (qtd. in Johnston).
Warhawk would later appear in three Justice League Unlimited episodes: “The Once and Future Thing” two-parter—“Weird Western Tales” and “Time, Warped”—and “Epilogue” (technically, his appearance in “Epilogue” was in a dream sequence, but it counts). It is during “The Once and Future Thing” that Warhawk is revealed to be the son of Green Lantern John Stewart and Shayera Hol.
In addition, we also learn that Warhawk’s real name is Rex Stewart. Considering how, in the Justice League episode “Metamorphosis,” it is revealed that John Stewart was both friends and former Marines with Rex Mason, who would later be transformed into the superhero Metamorpho, it stands to reason that he named his son after his old friend.
In response to questions regarding Warhawk and Thanagarian anatomy, Justice League Unlimited writer and producer Dwayne McDuffie provided some background in a September 19, 2005 post on his Delphi Forum message boards:
Thanagarian Cheat Sheet: Shayera’s wings are organic; like all modern-day Thanagarians, she was born with them. Carter Hall is human; his wings strap on. He learned how to make them from the Thanagarian tech in the tomb he was studying. Not explained on the show (but according to Bruce Timm), Thanagarians used to make their wings; only in the past several hundred years have they genetically engineered themselves to grow organic wings.
The pre-Egyptian history era Katar Hol and Shayera Hol had artificial wings. They lived thousands of years before Thanagarians engineered themselves to grow organic wings.
Warhawk—Rex Stewart, future son of Shayera Hol and John Stewart—was born without wings; this is as a result of his half-human heritage. Warhawk’s wings are artificial. Shayera and a Thanagarian male would produce organically winged offspring, like any other Thanagarian couple. (Maestro)
Also, in regard to John and Shayera’s relationship status at the end of Justice League Unlimited, McDuffie reassured fans in another September 19, 2005 post that Warhawk was, in fact, still a result of their future pairing:
The important thing to remember is that Warhawk isn’t even thirty in Batman Beyond years. Warhawk won’t be conceived for another 35 years. A few things are going to occur in that time period to change the current status quo. (Maestro)
Man, I really hope Dwayne McDuffie meant to say “twenty-five years” in the previous comment, rather than “thirty-five years” (he did say that Warhawk “isn’t even thirty in Batman Beyond years,” rather than twenty). Based on his physical appearance, he certainly looks more like twenty-five that fifteen, but I’m no expert on Thanagarian adolescence … even if he is half human.
Finally, I don’t care if the Justice League Unlimited’s files claim that Warhawk’s wings are made of “remote retractable polynized aluminum steel casing,” as shown in the above photo. Considering his Thanagarian heritage, I’m convinced that his wings (and armor) are made of Nth Metal, just like his mother’s mace.
Also making his first appearance in “The Call” is a new Green Lantern, who was described by Paul Dini as “an Asian child, who’s about [eight-years-old] and is sort of like the Dali Lama—he just sort of hovers and is mystical all the time” (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice”).
While only the second human DCAU Green Lantern in 2000, it is worth noting how in 2025 we’ve been graced by Kyle Rayner (the STAS episode “In Brightest Day...,” the JLU episode “The Return”), John Stewart (Justice League, Justice League Unlimited), and Jessica Cruz (the 2019 film Justice League vs. The Fatal Five). Considering how 50 years have passed, it’s possible that they could have died, retired, or simply been reassigned by the Guardians of the Universe.
In addition, Justice League vs. The Fatal Five hinted at the presence of Hal Jordan (despite being a “time glitch” in “The Once and Future Thing: Time, Warped”) and Guy Gardner.
However, these were probably just Easter Eggs referencing Bruce Timm's Green Lantern: The Animated Series.
While unnamed in “The Call,” this Green Lantern’s real name was revealed to be Kai-Ro in Batman Beyond #21 (July 2001). He was named after the Venusian boy Kyro, who was an original character created to be a Hal Jordan’s sidekick during his appearances on The Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure (1967); he was created to replace Silver Age Green Lantern sidekick Tom Kalmaku.
In a July 7, 2005 post on his Delphi Forum message boards, Dwayne McDuffie heavily implied that superheroes had to be legal adults to be official members of the Justice League, but exceptions could be made (for example, in JLU, Stargirl was underage, but her father and partner—S.T.R.I.P.E.—was a member, so she could participate on missions under her father’s supervision; Maestro). However, in “The Call,” the team now has an eight-year-old member. Now, I have a strong feeling that this was probably a concession to Kids’ WB! to have more kids in this episode, but is the future version of the team really letting a child be a senior member? What the hell?! I don’t care how mature and adult he may appear to be; frankly, I’m disturbed that both the Justice League Unlimited and the Guardians of the Universe would allow this.
Green Lantern Kai-Ro would later appear in the Justice League Unlimited episode “Epilogue” (technically, he appeared during a dream sequence, but it counts). Also, while Superman appears to have been team leader during “The Call,” according to Dwayne McDuffie in a November 8, 2005 post on his Delphi Forum message boards; Kai-Ro will eventually lead the “Epilogue”-era team 65 years in the future (Maestro).
Finally, also making her first appearance in “The Call” is Aquagirl, who was described by Paul Dini as “the daughter of Aquaman and Mera” (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice”). Her real name is Marina, which is another word for “a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats,” according to Wikipedia. I can literally see the writers high-fiving each other over how clever they think this joke is.
There have been a number of Aquagirls that have appeared in DC Comics over the decades, the most famous being Tula, who first appeared in Aquaman #33 (June 1967). In addition, she more physically resembles the character of Dolphin, who first appeared in Showcase #79 (December 1968).
While Aquagirl being identified as the daughter of Aquaman was a nice nod to the continuity, I’m a little skeptical. I’m not an expert in the life expectancy of Atlanteans, but I wonder if Arthur and Mera would be interested in or capable of having children in what I would assume to be their sixties and seventies. Taking into account the larger DCAU continuity, it would make more sense if Aquagirl was the granddaughter of Aquaman, as she could actually be the daughter of Aquaman’s son, who first appeared as an infant in the Justice League episode “The Enemy Below.” That would potentially mean that “Arthur, Jr.” would be in his fifties in the Batman Beyond era, leaving the presumably late teens / early twenties Marina to join the Justice League Unlimited.
In a January 2007 post on his Vibrational Frequencies blog, veteran DCAU storyboard artist and character designer Tommy Tejeda provided a sketch of what a Batman Beyond-era, eighty to ninety-year-old Aquaman might look like.
Surprisingly, it turns out that Aquagirl possesses a rather unique vocal pedigree, as she was voiced by Jodi Benson, who also voiced Ariel in Disney’s 1989 animated film, The Little Mermaid.
Aquagirl would later appear in the Justice League Unlimited episode “Epilogue” (technically, she appeared during a dream sequence, but it counts). Finally, it is worth noting that in “The Call” she exhibited traditional “Aquaman” powers (enhanced strength, dual respiratory abilities, telepathic communication with sea life, etc.), but in “Epilogue” she also displayed hydrokinesis, the ability to manipulate water, which was no doubt inherited from Mera, who possesses that ability in the comics.
The attempted murder of Aquagirl was explained as a “malfunction” in the tank caused by a burnt-out micro-controller. It wasn’t really spelled out exactly what was happening during this scene, but it appears that the damage to the circuitry caused the temperate of the water in the tank to drastically increase, threatening to boil the Atlantean alive which, for Starro to do this to a fellow marine lifeform, was a dick move.
Barda and Warhawk’s training session (and Micron’s, from the beginning of the episode) were obviously meant to evoke the Danger Room from Marvel Comics’ X-Men titles.
Don’t you just love it when you’re investigating a crime scene, and your partner just up and destroys the evidence you just handed to him to analyze?
The storyboards used here for the Justice League Unlimited’s arrival during the attack on Metropolis were repurposed to create the sizzle reel for the creative team’s Justice League pitch. Fast forward to 2:42 in the video above to compare.
Granted, this aired in 2000, but I still get strong 9/11 vibes from these scenes of devastation, with entire buildings collapsing and citizens falling from the sky. I cannot help but wonder if the creative team would have been forced to change the episode had it aired one year later.
Bruce Wayne’s ability to shift the camera around to locate the source of the energy beam probably owes quite a bit to the future of the modern surveillance state. Using the Batcomputer, he could hack into the Metropolis grid—along with every overhead satellite and security camera—to create a composite of local activity during the crisis.
Presumably following the events of the Superman episode “Legacy,” Batman always made sure to keep a stash of kryptonite around just in case of emergencies and even carried it during League missions (the Justice League episode “Tabula Rasa,” referenced in the JLU episode “The Doomsday Sanction”). It became an open secret; in fact, I suspect that the Man of Steel, afraid of losing control again, actually encouraged his friend to do so for his own piece of mind.
Check out the above images—the one on the left is a screenshot from Part One of “The Call,” while the one on the right is from Part Two’s “previously on...” segment at the beginning of the episode. Look how bleached out the first image is, as well as the weird green tint on Superman’s costume where black meets white. I don’t think it’s the HD remaster—for further comparison, click on the Internet Archive’s copy of Comics Continuum’s November 11, 2000 page to see similarly washed out pics from the first episode. I guess they just really messed up the colors in “The Call, Part One” during production.
When Warhawk makes his grand return at the beginning of Part Two, he claims that he was operating his armor remotely when the missile exploded. Since we obviously saw him wearing it when he attempted to stop the missile in Part One, I’m calling bullshit unless he has a teleporter in there or something (and if he does have a teleporter in his armor, the writer should convey that detail to the audience). I suppose the helmet Batman retrieved from his windshield was not bloody (and didn’t have Warhawk’s severed head still in it), so there’s that, I guess.
It’s worth noting that, prior to the JLU episode “For the Man Who Has Everything,” this episode featured more scenes in the Fortress of Solitude than any episode of STAS.
Not seen in STAS, the giant statues of Superman’s Kryptonian birth parents—Jor-El and Lara—are a frequent feature of the Fortress of Solitude in the Superman comics. They would also appear in the JLU episode “For the Man Who Has Everything.”
The toothy worm beast that startles Batman in Superman’s alien zoo appears to be the same alien creature that Superman and Lobo encountered in the Preserver’s ship in the STAS episode “The Main Man, Part 2.”
A mainstay of the Superman mythos going back to the Silver Age, his robot duplicates first appeared in the STAS episode “Legacy.” In addition, they appeared in the Justice Lords’ version of Arkham Asylum in the Justice League episode “A Better World.”
Making its debut in The Brave and the Bold #28 (March 1960), Starro the Conqueror has the distinction of being the first adversary that the Justice League of America ever faced.
Starro made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo as a prisoner Preserver’s ship in the STAS episode “The Main Man, Part 1” (above left).
Traditionally, Starro controls its victims by attaching its body to their head, so its taking control of Superman by attaching to his chest an unusual deviation, but one necessary for the plot.
While Starro the Conqueror never appeared as an official villain on STAS, it is worth noting that he was considered as a potential foe. In a January 28, 2008 post on his LiveJournal blog, freelance DCAU writer Evan Dorkin revealed his attempted pitch for a Starro story that apparently was rejected from both the animated series and the tie-in comic book, Superman Adventures.
Even after appearing in decades worth of comic book stories, Starro the Conqueror is best known for his live-action appearance in James Gunn’s 2021 film, The Suicide Squad.
A character created for STAS, The Preserver served as the primary villain in the two-part episode “The Main Man.” A collector of rare, exotic lifeforms, he is obviously based on the Marvel Comics character the Collector (played by Benicio del Toro in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), with a bit of the original Brainiac thrown in (the green one who collected miniature bottle cities).
The flashback to the events of “The Main Man” feature a few inaccuracies. For example, in the Batman Beyond flashback, Superman frees himself from his sealed habitat, while in the original episode he was weakened by red solar energy and freed himself by irritating a nearby creature into breaking into his cage. Also, “The Call” makes no reference to Lobo’s involvement in the adventure.
Rather than recycle animation from the previous episodes for the flashback (like STAS did with “Warrior Queen” and “Little Big Head Man”), the creative team elected to completely reanimate the sequence for “The Call.” This choice was likely made because the animation and color palette did not match the rest of the episode but, if may be blunt, I suspect they feared that the superior animation from “The Main Man” would stick out like a sore thumb.
According to Aquagirl, Starro has been attached to Superman “for years.” Based on the costume and the visual age of the Man of Steel in the flashback, that appears to be the case. Call it a hunch, but I suspect that he’s been possessed for at least the entirety of Batman Beyond.
To quote the Flash in the Justice League episode “Secret Society,” Superman “[s]hould have used [his] heat vision.”
While terrestrial starfish can reproduce through conventional means, they can also reproduce asexually. It appears that Starro can do so as well. For years, he has used Superman to create new Starros, either through fission or through autonomy of arms. Given this development, I don’t see why the Preserver considered this species as rare and endangered, or why he didn’t just take a cutting from Starro to grow his own Starro for his collection. What a jerk.
Batman was fortunate that he could use the suit’s energy to shock the Starro off his chest. However, even if he couldn’t he might have been safe, as Starros do not appear able to bond with lifeforms wearing a full mask (which is what saved Ratcatcher II in The Suicide Squad).
Bruce Wayne’s comment about how he “never did like those Boom Tubes” would later pay off in the Justice League episode “Twilight,” where he appeared visibly queasy upon arrival on New Genesis. Apparently it’s a distain shared by Terry McGinnis, considering how he face-planted upon arrival at the Fortress of Solitude.
Obviously, the missile that Batman fired at Superman would have no affect on him, but not a scratch on Starro? Just because its affixed to the Man of Steel’s chest doesn’t mean that its invulnerable, right?
Upon returning to the Fortress, it looks like Superman suddenly knows how to use his heat vision again. If he did that during the initial Starro attack none of this would have happened.
When Superman is trying to block the underwater hatch with debris to prevent the alien starfish from escaping into the Arctic Ocean, Barda reminds him that Batman is down there (and Aquagirl, for that matter), to which he replies, “he knew what he was getting into.” I don’t care if he’s right; it’s still a very un-Superman thing to say.
Even though Batman turns down League membership at the end of the episode, we do know that he eventually joins, as he appears to be a member in good standing in the JLU episode “Epilogue,”
As the episode ends, Batman walks away from the Justice League Unlimited and back to the Batmobile, which Superman just damaged by slicing a wing off with his heat vision. Fortunately, the Man of Steel has a knack for Bat-auto repair, having used his heat vision to reattach a wing to the Batplane in the Justice League episode “Secret Origins.” The immediate scene after the fade out would be Batman turning back to Superman and saying, “Hey, little help?”
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Images courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, DC Comics, The Walt Disney Company, Marvel Studios, and Marvel Comics. YouTube video courtesy of the Watchtower Database channel.
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