Young Justice (animation)/Awesome

Animated Series

• The Goddamn Batman making his dramatic entrance in the first episode.
• "I hacked the motion sensors."
  • Also earlier in that episode, Red Arrow single-handedly breaking into a League of Shadows base, rescuing Dr. Roquette, and holding all the guards off long enough to be able to escape.
• Superboy brain-punching Amazo.
• Black Canary easily wiping the floor with Kid Flash and Superboy in training.
  • Which makes it all the more awesome when, in "Auld Aquaintances": Robin almost effortlessly defeats her. Granted she had a handicap
• Aqualad going toe to toe with Black Manta.
• In "Downtime" Mera, Aquaman's wife, creates a magic giant octupus construct to wipe the floor with a large contingent of Black Manta's troops. Just minutes ago, Aquaman announced that she was pregnant. THAT'S awesome.

Queen Mera: "I need no protection!"

• Also in "Downtime", in the intro, the team has gotten their collective ass handed to them by Clayface. Suddenly, Batman breaks in from the skylight and drops Clayface in around ten seconds, as if it was part of his daily routine by now.
• Miss Martian's Battle in the Center of the Mind with Psimon, along with Superboy's assist. "Get! Out! Of my! Head!"
• Lex Luthor is introduced as his full Magnificent Bastard self, teaming up with Ra's al Ghul and hiring the League of Shadows to distrupt a peace summit while also hiring Red Arrow to protect it, ultimately getting that peace and a bundle of cash with it.
• Aqualad forming a water shield to protect the peace summit, while Red Arrow shoots an explosive arrow through at Chesire at the last second.* "Terrors": Superboy tricking Icicle Jr. into helping him take down damn near the whole prison. Bonus points for Superboy also using his head while angry with Killer Frost.
  • Also from "Terrors" - Amanda Waller facing down Icicle Sr. (who has taken over the Belle Reve prison but is still struggling to actually get out of it.)

Icicle Sr.: Tell me how you did it or I swear you won't thaw for a millennium!
Amanda Waller: At which point you will still be in Belle Reve.

• • Hell, anything Waller says is pretty much her telling the villans in different ways, "You shall not pass."
  • Riddler gets one near the end. After being treated as a worthless nobody by the other prisoners, he is the only prisoner who manages to escape.
• In "Homefront", Red Tornado's "siblings" Red Torpedo and Red Inferno invade the cave and have captured and are about to kill Superboy, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, and Robin. Artemis pretends to surrender and instead of handing over her bow, kicks one, jumps on another and backflips and while still in midair fires an arrow across the room to Robin's E.M.P. device, activating it and shutting down the robots, saving the lives of the rest of the team.
• Also in "Homefront," Robin basically spends the middle part of the episode being a hyper-competent badass, always thinking two steps ahead of the situation, leaving no possible advantage untapped, never panicking, never giving in, and still managing to get in some snark and wordplay. It's a truly breathtaking display of exactly how well-trained he is, and his usual childishness seems to vanish. He only snaps at Artemis once to try and get her head on straight.

Robin: [dead calm] You seem distraught.
Artemis: [panicking] Distraught? M'gann is dying, we have no powers, and I'm down to my last arrow! Of course I'm distraught!
Robin: [raising his voice] Well, get traught or get dead.

• • Lets put this in perspective, every single action of his never seems to be without a point. He throws a Robin-rang and it lands near Kid Flash after ricochet-ing off the enemy. It seems like a coincidence, but it turns out, Robin needed Kid Flash's scientific expertise to make an EMP so he ricocheted the rang off the enemy at Kid Flash knowing that the rang had a built in Com. Batman would have been proud.
• "Alpha Male": The Brain gets one when he pull off a Stealth Hi Bye on the team. Let's put this in perspective. A brain in a robot the size of a Dalek managed to take a giant gorilla and himself and disappears while freaking out the Team.
  • The usually docile Aqualad gets one when, after the entire team constantly put him down and bicker against him for the mole deal, he basically takes command, tells them to shut up, and obey his orders until the end of the mission.

Aqualad: Enough. Captain Marvel has been captured, and we must act as a team to save him.
Kid Flash: Heh, under your leadership? I don't think s-
Aqualad: THIS is not up for debate. You all chose me to lead. When the mission is over, if you wish to select a new leader, I will happily step down. But until that time, I AM in command here.

• "Revelation" does not disappoint. Especially the fact that the team was sent on a mission to battle 7 villains. Also the team established that they have a plan B. Plan B is to use the Helmet of Fate against Wotan in case they were underpowered.
  • Robin also get one in the fact that throughout the battle Count Vertigo kept wondering where he was. Let's put this in perspective; instead of dealing with the other teenagers with super powers (and the Wolf), the Count was worried about a 13 year old boy. For good reason too. It was Robin's exploding discs that took out the control center.
  • Aqualad/Dr. Fate pulling a Big Damn Heroes moments after The Joker goes Ax Crazy and releases all the Joker Venom in a last ditch effort to kill the heroes and the whole Injustice League too! Aqualad/Dr. Fate saves everyone by getting rid of the Venom with one spell.

"Fate Lad": "FEAR NOT. FATE HAS INTERVENED!"

• • Mention really ought to be given to Robin going toe to toe with the Joker. Especially with Joker's one-liners, beforehand.

The Joker: Always wanted to carve this bird. *Flips open a switch-blade.*
The Joker: WONDER BOY! YOU ARE MINE! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

• Zatanna's first onscreen display of magic (in turn, her first MOA) is forcing Ivo to spill T.O. Morrow's location. Before this, Ivo was facing off against M'gann, confident that he'd ward off another telepath. Afterwards...

Ivo: Wait! Wha-, what just happened!?

• KF coming up with a way to deal with the supervolcano. Forget superspeed, Wally's real superpower is science.
  • Not to mention that he was able to hold his own in a fight with the Reds with a broken arm. Barry Allen chose well!
• Red Inferno and Red Torpedo do not see why they should help save humanity, since they are no longer human. Red Tornado gets them with a single response.

Red Tornado: The premise of your question is flawed. You were never human, but you were heroes.

• In "Disordered," Batman comments that he expected the team to rally after the disastrous events of "Failsafe." Martian Manhunter completely cows him.

Manhunter: "Trauma tends to linger, as I know you know, my friend."

• • Also from "Disordered," the Forever People in and of themselves are pretty much walking MOAs, especially when they form Infinity-Man.

Forever People (as one): TARUU!

• • • Superboy using the Super Cycle to gain control of Infinity Man. A clone of Superman using a living intergalactic motorcycle to pilot a Combining Mecha made up of five young GODS. If that isn't the most Crazy Awesome thing this show has to offer, I don't know what is!
• Artemis is all kinds of badass in "Secrets", probably the best part is when she blows up the kitchen.
  • Zatanna was no slouch either. Her creating a giant ring of fire so they could retreat and trapping Harm in ice really stood out. Also the girls team work in of itself was awesome, pulling off an interesting take of Bow and Magician. And this is only the second time they've met/teamed up.
• Also, from "Secrets" M'gann, Connor and Wally's plan for turning Marvin's Halloween prank on himself. Even includes M'gann shapeshifting into a demonic Marvin the Martian to scare him off, just for the sake of irony. Pretty hilarious as well.
  • Marvin's prank itself was pretty darn awesome, a delicious modern version of the Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast.
• Billy Batson/Captain Marvel deserves one in "Misplaced". Billy definitely deserves it when you take into account the first time he changed into Captain Marvel that episode he had no idea what had happened to the adults. It was this fear of not knowing what would happen to his Older Alter Ego that had prevented him from changing right away. As he said, "Billy Batson has the courage of Billy Batson. SHAZAM!!!"
• Kid Flash getting Count Vertigo to confess to attempted regicide.
  • The entire climax of "Coldhearted" was one long MOA for Kid Flash.
  • There's a quick shot of Zatanna destroying one of the ice fortresses with a massive fire spell.
  • The best part is that this is one of the few times the Light's plans fail completely. An organization of borderline Villain Sues was outwitted by Kid Flash.
  • Kid Flash deciding that once the police officers are safe from Vandal Savage to just keep on going, because the little girl who needed the heart was much more important than fighting a super villain at the time. Especially awesome because you know just how much he wanted to keep fighting.
  • Vandal Savage surely deserves a spot here, too, engaging someone capable of approaching the speed of sound in hand-to-hand combat.
  • And vice versa, Kid Flash deserves a spot just for matching Vandal in physical combat. Consider that Kid Flash is frequently Overshadowed by Awesome when it comes to actual fighting (plus, he often doesn't seem to be moving much faster than the others on the team), and that Vandal is thousands of years old, incredibly strong, and the inventor of cannibalism. This guy can go toe-to-toe with most of the Justice League, and Kid Flash fights him to a draw.
• M'gann managing to defeat Psimon again to protect her secret is kind of a scary one; judging by his vacant stare and drooling, the implication is that she broke his mind!
• At the meeting of the Justice League to decide on new members in "Agendas", Batman definitely gets one for standing up for Captain Marvel. Flash pointed out that, since they were for making the cut-off age for being eligible for League membership 18-years-old, that Cap technically shouldn't be allowed to join, since he's really only 10-years-old. Black Canary suggests that Cap should leave while they discuss this, but Batman states that, as a current member of the League, Captain Marvel still had the right to participate in the discussion about his eligibility.
• Superboy's second battle with Match in "Agendas".
• The team, particularly Miss Martian, Superboy, and Artemis, get two in "Usual Suspects". First the whole team manages to come out on top after being set up and ambushed. Then the three of them finally come clean with their Dark Secrets, and because of that, the whole team is able to pull wool over the eyes of their respective evil Secret Keepers and come out on top again. Brainwashed mentors? They'll be fine.
  • The Light get one too. Their efforts to subvert the Team may have failed miserably, but their plan to brainwash the Justice League went perfectly.
  • In other words, not one but two cases of Out-Gambitted. By different groups. In one episode.
  • A meta one to the writers and producers for The Reveal of "Usual Suspects." Masterfully done.
• The battle between the Team and the mind-controlled Justice League in "Auld Acquaintance" is absolutely full of these.
  • Robin and Superboy tag-teaming Batman and Superman.
    • What's more, in order to win, Superboy makes Robin briefly expose him and Superman, whom he's got in a hold, to Kryptonite. Superboy was clearly in pain, but he endures it anyway to save Superman from the mind control.
  • Miss Martian knocking out her uncle by projecting visions of fire.
  • The fight in the airlock with Kid Flash, Artemis, and Aqualad against their mentors.
  • Zatanna using a spell to revert Captain Marvel back to Billy Batson. As he's flying at her. It 's such a close call, Billy ends up colliding with her.
  • The fact that the team managed to outgambit the Light again. Even if they are yet again out-outgambitted.
    • But they know they've been out-out-gambited, they just have to figure out how.
  • Perhaps think the biggest goes to Roy Harper, or more accurately the Roy clone, who is the Roy we've known since the start of the series since he referred to the original Roy as "Speedy". He's cloned by the bad guys to infiltrate the good guys, and only realizes the truth when it's too late. But he still helped save the day. In the end, he vows to find and rescue the original Roy who is being held captive by the Light. If that's not heroism, nothing is.
  • Another one goes to Red Tornado, for managing to subvert his own mind control. It seems small, but if he hadn't, the whole team might have gotten the Starro-tech treatment. Aqualad missed getting mind-controlled by that much. And all Tornado needed to do it was a 0.16-nanosecond delay.
• As of Season 2, "Happy New Year," we have Lobo. Just Lobo. Its to be expected though, the Main Man is practically made of Badass. He heartily trounces both Wonder Girl and Batgirl without even breaking a sweat, completes his contract as promised, and then takes his leave of Earth like it was nothing. Extra props goes to his VA, David Sobolov, for getting his character and voice just perfect.
  • Wonder Girl also gets one as well for actually give Lobo a run for his money for a little bit there. She makes her entrance on the scene by flipping over him just as he's about to kill Secretary-General Tsang, and then punches him in the gut so hard it staggers him, brings him to his knees, and shatters the all the windows in the room!

Wonder Girl/Cassie Sandsmark: Okay, big guy, let's see how much punishment you can take!

• • Robin (Tim Drake), Blue Beetle, and Lagoon Boy handling themselves like pros when they unexpectedly run into the main alien base staffed by hundreds of the aliens.
• Season 2, "Earthlings," Beast Boy and Superboy versus a whole shipload of Kroloteans, plus the ones that escaped from last episode. Total ownage by our boys in the most awesome way possible.

Superboy: (Sees destroyer-ship overhead, smirks) You game?

Beast Boy: Me? I'm big game!

Cue Fastball Special, Gorilla-style, and Curb Stomp Battle

• Season 2, "Alienated", the team and the League track both the Krolotean invaders and Black Manta's crew to an island where their main base is held beneath a volcano. It starts as a recon mission, and escalates into an all out brawl as the Batman Family, Aquaman and La'gaan, Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, and Superman and Superboy proceed to mop the floor in a coordinated assault that actually manages to push the invaders and the villains back. That is, before the Light's latest partners plant a bomb of alien origin that blows the place up.
  • Superboy especially for OHK-ing four alien mecha in a row, especially considering a single mecha almost killed him in the previous episode.
  • Superman gets a major one for trying to talk the Kroloteans into letting him save them from said bomb, staying behind while the rest of the League and the Team get clear as he tries to convince them that they're in danger and he's trying to help. Regardless of the language barrier (though it's clear they understood him), and the fact that these are invaders bent on taking over the world, "Big Blue" still wants to do the right thing and save them as well. That's why he's the one people look to for inspiration, guidance, and hope. No matter who you are, he's not going to give up on you. He's a hero, through and through.
    • He also gets one for taking a bomb to the face. Without a scratch.
  • Even before that, Blue Beetle's reputation continues to prove a bane to the invading Kroloteans. Not only does his mere presence make one of them drop impersonation of Bibbo Bibbowski, cut and run, but the Kroloteans later talk about the Reach in hushed voices as "The Competitors", like some kind of boogeymen.
  • Hell, Bibbo himself even gets one. Not only does he appear as a One-Scene Wonder (at this point at least), but he lays out his impostor with one punch!

Bibbo: There's only one Bibbo Bibbowski. Remember it!

• • Kaldur gets numerous ones, evil or not.
    • Takes down Superboy in three seconds.
    • Blasted Aquaman with his helmet Eye Beams (didn't hurt him, but it knocked him down).
    • Leads his entire group of henchmen very effectively, and spots the intruders almost immediately after one of his squads fails to report.
    • All in all, it's safe to say Kaldur hasn't lost his edge, even if his morals have taken a dive.
  • Kaldur fires a missile at the group -- when the smoke clears, Kaldur, Nightwing, and Superboy have all vanished. The scene cuts to Kaldur escaping through a tunnel, and Nightwing emerges from the shadows at the end, saying his name. To put that in perspective: Kaldur fires his own missile to cover his own escape from his own base, and Nightwing still beats him to the exit. Because Nightwing is just that good.
• Black Canary quickly shows Red Arrow that no, he is not in the best shape of life. She nearly knocks him off the building they're on and she was holding back. WAY back.
  • While we're talking about "Salvage", a good chunk of Superboy and Blue Beetle's fight with the Appellexian golem could count as this. Actually, Superboy is all kinds of awesome in this episode- it shows how much he's matured in the last five years.
• Bart Allen/Impulse travels from Mount Justice to Central City in mere seconds. He crossed states in SECONDS. Compare that to Wally's 4 hours in "Coldhearted".
  • Earlier in the episode he blinds Robin. With paper!
  • Nightwing taking down Impulse. He throws a bunch of marbles in the hallway to trip him up. Bart sees them coming, grins, and avoids them by running up on the wall. He stops to gloat, yelling about how something like that's not gonna stop--when Nightwing comes out of nowhere to elbow him in the gut, knocking him to the ground, and handcuffs his wrists and ankles.
  • Roy shaking off years of decline -- right down to shaving off his Beard of Sorrow -- to take down the entire guard retinue of a large complex alongside his wife Jade/Cheshire.

Comics

• Arrowette in Young Justice telling off the JLA for being dicks, including standing up to Batman's glare. Admittedly, she had a mini nervous breakdown immediately afterwards, but...
• Wonder Girl singlehandedly saving Young Justice's reputation on national television, with a little assistance from sketch artist Impulse. A little short lived, but...
• Her metafictional MOA came near the end of YJ's run. YJ's wirter, Peter David, staged a reader's poll election for the next leader of YJ, with the 4 candidates being WG, Superboy, the Ray, and returning former leader Robin. Readers were invited to mail in their postcards with their name and address stating which of the four they wanted leader, and Wonder Girl won! To put this in perspective, Wondy was the only one of the four candidates who had never had her own series, when she debuted, she'd been regarded by many readers as a bit of a Scrappy before Peter David resuced her from the Scrappy heap, and she beat the Goddamned Batman's Goddamned Robin!
• Robin taking on Harm, who had previously knocked Superboy and Wonder Girl around, by himself, and actually winning for a moment.
• Robin, Superboy, Impulse, and the Secret defeating Despero (who tends to give the entire Justice League a hard time) in under 22 minutes and proving themselves to the JLA.
• Nightwing at the Young Justice Parent-Teacher conference. When Arrowette's mother said that he couldn't possibly know what it feels like to have a loved one out there, he fired back with "Lady, every morning when I drift to sleep, I hear the screaming of loved ones I didn't save. Don't you dare lecture me on what I don't know." Then he stuck a piece of paper with the Robin symbol on it over the Batman symbol on the chair he was sitting in.
• Ray gets one while various team members, but ESPECIALLY Superboy and Wonder Girl, were fighting over who gets to be team leader, the following exchange happens after Wondy knocks Superboy over after he boasts about how tough he is.

Superboy: *uses his telekinesis to send Wonder Girl through the roof* Yeah! Who's the man?!
Ray: *blasts Superboy* I'm am! You're the boy, she's the girl, and I am SO MUCH THE FREAKIN' MAN!

• • This is made even better because Ray, despite being by FAR the most powerful member of the team (sans possibly Secret) had been largely marginalized since joining the book. This is one of about four moments in the entire series where PAD gave Ray his due, and it was a great one. It even comes with an awesome power-up shot for Ray.
• Ray gets another one in the second-to-last story, as Lady Zand has been successfully kicking the crap out of 50+ superheroes, Ray expends all his power to take her out... and give all the heroes and villains present sunburn.
• The last issue is basically one long MoA for most of the cast, including Impulse's awesome speech about fear, Robin's conversation with Secret, Snapper's faith in Young Justice, and of course, (blind at this point) Slobo's big finish.

Darkseid: None treat Darkseid, Lord of Apokolips in this manner. And as long as I am master of the Omega Effect, none shall!
Slobo: Oh, I think I shall, gravel puss! 'Cause I got a last hurrah comin' on! *leaps at the personification of cosmic evil*