Batman Quits the Justice League in Young Justice: Outsiders

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for "Princes All," the Season 3 debut of Young Justice: Outsiders, streaming now on DC Universe.

The roster of the Justice League lost some key members in the Season 3 debut of Young Justice.

Following an emergency meeting called by Aqualad, now going by the Aquaman name and co-leader of the Justice League, Batman, Green Arrow, Plastic Man, Katana, Hardware and Batwoman officially tender their resignations from the team.

"Princes All" begins with the Justice League dealing with the increase of metahuman trafficking not only on Earth, but out in the galaxy as well. It has gotten increasingly difficult for the Justice League to do its job with the United Nations, led by Lex Luthor, constantly handcuffing the superheroes. Batman comes to the conclusion that the Justice League has outlived its usefulness, and could operate more freely if they disbanded.

"All that matters is the mission," Batman said. "And if the U.N. is a roadblock to that mission, then we remove it be removing the League."

Batman and Green Arrow are the only superheroes to resign in-person on the Watchtower, with Plastic Man, Batwoman, Hardware and Katana sending their resignations via holographic projections. Black Canary correctly deduced that Batman and Green Arrow planned this stunt ahead of the meeting and refused to join them on the basis that they hid their plans from her, knowing she wouldn't go along with blindsiding Kaldur. Though he wasn't a part of Batman's secret scheme, Black Lightning also resigned over the grief he feels after accidentally killing an abducted 14-year-old metahuman girl on Rann.

The Young Justice Team also fell victim to some surprising defections. Batman and Green Arrow proteges Robin (Tim Drake), Spoiler and Arrow also join their mentors when they teleport out of the Watchtower. When Batman asked Black Lightning to join them, he told the Dark Knight, "I want nothing to do with Batman Incorporated." Of course, Batman Incorporated was the title of a Batman comic that saw Bruce Wayne assemble a worldwide network of Bat-themed superheroes.

The new team of heroes under Batman's leadership could be considered the makings of the Outsiders, especially since Katana was one of the original members in the comics. We asked producer Brandon Vietti if these resignations were a sign of Young Justice bringing the Outsiders to the fan-favorite animated series, though he remained mum on how the season would progress.

"What I will say is our show is about what 'Outsiders' means thematically," Vietti told CBR. "Whether or not that comes together as an official team, and what form that team takes, we'll let play out as the episodes are revealed."

The opening plot of Young Justice: Outsiders appears to be following the Batman and the Outsiders comic, with Batman quitting the Justice League when it refused to help him investigate a war-torn Markovia. Batman and Black Lightning travel to Markovia, where they team up with Geo-Force, Metamorpho and Halo to battle Baron Bedlam. Young Justice: Outsiders replaces Batman with Nightwing, with only Metamorpho absent from the first three episodes available on DC Universe.

If Batman goes through with forming the Outsiders with the former Justice League members, the team lineup could be even larger than what fans are accustomed to in the comics, especially when you consider the sidekicks he brought along with him. An even more intriguing possibility would be Robin, Spoiler and Arrowette forming a junior Outsiders unit, similar to how the Young Justice Team worked under the Justice League in Season 1.

Young Justice: Outsiders is now available to stream on DC Universe, with three new episodes debuting every Friday.