This week, the world will finally be able to see Zack Snyder's original vision for the Justice League movie for the first time. The film was originally torn asunder by studio concerns and personal tragedy, and it was long believed that Snyder's vision would never make it to the light of day— but a series of events led to Warner Brothers and the director coming together to finish what Snyder had started nearly a decade ago with Man of Steel.
How well the movie will go over with viewers remains to be seen, but what is clear is that there are more eyes on the Justice League than there have been in ages. That makes this a great time to revisit the now-classic Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series. These series closed out what is commonly referred to as the "Timmverse" (after co-creator Bruce Timm) by fans, and it showed audiences just how amazing DC's greatest team could be.
10 "Injustice For All Parts 1 and 2" Give Fans The Baddies They Want
For Justice League, each story was broken into two episodes, making every tale an hour-long adventure and letting the people behind the scenes spend time fleshing out the animated world that was built in Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series.
In the Justice League season one two-parter "Injustice For All" the series picked up on the plight of Lex Luthor, dying from Kryptonite exposure, as he works to finally take down Superman and the Justice League once and for all by putting together his own team of villains. Of course, Lex makes the same mistake he always makes: He lets his ego get in the way of winning.
9 "The Savage Time Parts 1, 2, and 3" Brings The Heroes To The War
In a special three-part finale for the first season of Justice League, the team is sent back in time to help stop Vandal Savage from changing the course of history and help the Nazis win. "The Savage Time" gives the show a chance to pay homage to some of DC's lesser-known characters like Sgt. Rock and play with time travel in a way that the previous shows in the Timmverse had not been able to do.
Sadly, as seen in the earlier two-parter "Legends" the animated series— at this time— was not able to show the Justice Society of America. Instead, a made-up team of similar but different heroes was used in a lackluster story. It would have been great to see the JSA in this three-parter, but it wasn't meant to be.
8 "Starcrossed Parts 1, 2, and 3" Reveals The Truth
The three-part series finale of Justice League, "Starcrossed" saw the Thanagarian army invade Earth, thanks in part to the help of Hawkgirl who had been working as a spy for them. No one on the team is more affected by Hawkgirl's secret than Green Lantern John Stewart, who over the course of two seasons had fallen in love with the Winged Wonder.
The League finds itself torn apart by Hawkgirl's deception, but still comes together to stop the invasion and save the day. This powerful story pushed the heroes to their limits and taught them an important lesson; to keep the Earth safe, the Justice League would need to grow, leading the way to Justice League Unlimited.
7 "Wake The Dead" Brings The Sad
Coming from the first season of Justice League Unlimited, "Wake the Dead" picks up on the damaged relationship of the Justice League and Hawkgirl when Solomon Grundy is brought back to life and begins to cause havoc. While both Justice League shows put a lot of focus on the action, this episode really plays at the heartstrings in a way that hadn't been seen before.
It is hard to watch "Wake the Dead" and not feel a great amount of pain and sadness for both Shayera and Grundy, two people who are just trying to figure out how they fit into the world they live in.
6 "The Doomsday Sanction" Brings The Pain
"The Doomsday Sanction" kicks off the major storyline of the second season of Justice League Unlimited where Batman confronts Amanda Waller about the government agency called Cadmus and their plans to destroy the League.
After learning about the Justice Lords, an evil version of the League from an alternate Earth, Cadmus began to plot for the day the Justice League would use their power against the people of Earth. As Batman is discovering this truth, Superman is forced to show just how powerful he truly is in a fight with Doomsday, making the Dark Knight wonder if Cadmus is right.
5 "Question Authority" Starts The Cadmus Conspiracy
Batman has tasked The Question with investigating Cadmus, which has led the faceless detective down a rabbit hole where he discovers the truth of the Justice Lords and why that Earth's heroes turned evil: The murder of Flash at the hands of Lex Luthor. In order to stop the same thing happening on his Earth, Question decides to go against everything he stands for and assassinate Luthor before Luthor has the chance to kill Flash.
"Question Authority" sets up the events for the final episodes of the second season of Justice League Unlimited and heightens the tension in a way rarely seen in American animated series. From this moment on, the League doesn't know who it can trust, and that includes its own teammates.
4 "Flashpoint" Gives Fans Great Hero On Hero Action
Picking up after the events of "Question Authority" which saw Question brutally beaten by Lex Luthor, Superman and Huntress head to Cadmus headquarters to get their teammate back, only to learn that another teammate— Captain Atom— stands in their way.
As Superman and Captain Atom battle it out, Huntress helps a badly injured Question escape. All of this plays into Lex Luthor's plan as he hacks into the Justice League satellite and uses the binary fusion cannon to obliterate the Cadmus facility. With the world believing that the Justice League has attacked the United States, the team finds itself in a great deal of trouble.
3 "Divided We Fall" Brings It All Together
In the season two finale, "Divided We Fall," the Justice League learns that Lex Luthor has been taken over by Brainiac, which means that two of Superman's greatest foes have come together to destroy the League. With most of the team out of action, it is down to the original seven members to save the day.
"Divided We Fall" has one of the best superhero battles of all time as the League fights it out with Lexiac to save the world while also working to ensure that the possible future of the Justice Lords will never come to be.
2 "Alive!" Sees A Civil War Among The Villains
In the third season of Justice League Unlimited, Lex Luthor has put together a new team of supervillains to take on the Justice League. This team, the Secret Society, can match the League in power and size, but one thing they don't have is unity. In "Alive!" the Secret Society turns on itself as Lex and Gorilla Grodd fight for control of the group.
While the Justice League plays no part in this episode, it sets up the major conflict of the season three finale with a savage battle that sees villain vs villain and includes the shocking death of one of DC's best-known baddies.
1 "Destroyer" Ends 14 Years Of Stories
In the series finale of Justice League Unlimited, the heroes of Earth face off against the armies of Apokolips as Darkseid invades the planet in search of the Anti-Life Equation.
Along with being an excellent ending to the universe that Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski began 14-years earlier, "Destroyer" also gave fans the chance to see Superman and Darkseid really go at one another in an epic slobberknocker unlike any battle seen in a superhero show or movie before or since. With any luck, the Snyder cut of Justice League will bring some of this visceral power to the live-action version of the team.