WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for "Unknown Factors," Episode 21 of Young Justice: Outsiders, streaming now on DC Universe.
Young Justice: Outsiders created a deep sense of mystery in recent episodes when it was revealed there was another mole on the team: Markovian scientist Dr. Helga Jace. Apart from the threat posed by Tara spying for Deathstroke, Helga was reporting to a sinister "mentor" regarding the developments of Terra, Geo-Force and, recently, Halo.
Fans have been guessing as to who's this boss ever since Helga's duplicity came to the fore, something made all the more difficult by Helga's seemingly genuine love for Black Lightning. In the latest chapter, though, the curtain's raised, and her boss is revealed as the Ultra-Humanite.
Over the course of the show, this villain worked with the Injustice League and then the Light to foil the Justice League. The tie-in comic revealed his history as a gorilla who had a brain implanted into his body from a frail old woman, and as time passed, he'd expanded his evil resume, working with the likes of Solovar, Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, especially when it came to fortifying Gorilla City.
He earned a promotion, with Lex Luthor and Count Vertigo entrusting him with various science and arms projects, although when he was officially inducted into the Light, Ultra-Humanite didn't get much screen-time. The show shifted towards Lex, Vandal Savage and now, with Darkseid in the mix, it's not really clear what the remaining members of the Light are up, save Klarion with his warped experiment, Project Rutabaga. This changes now with Helga texting her boss about getting her kids out of the Outsiders' base. The camera cuts to the white ape receiving and acknowledging her issues, possibly teasing that he's about to get some potential weapons to run his own tests on.
Helga's been pretty worried about Halo's waning health, as the Mother Box inside Violet's body is destroying her human form, but she's also concerned over Brion's state of mind. He broke up with Halo and has seemingly become slightly depressed too, not to mention Terra is still yet to truly integrate with the rest of the team. Admittedly, this doesn't mean her intentions are noble. Helga activated the royal kids' meta-gene in the first place and who knows what other experiments she performed outside of her Markovian projects.
Fans are eager to see just how long she's been working for the Ultra-Humanite and if the Light knows of their activities. The ape could have been running a side-project with metas on his own, and as Helga has full faith in him we'd love to their endgame. It could be he's mind-controlling her too, but Helga has had her shady ways in the comics as well, something also seen in the Black Lightning TV series, so we could have been witnessing a front from her all along. It could have been her way of infiltrating the League and by literally sleeping with the enemy, Helga may have tricked us with this innocent facade of wanting to be den mother to Brion and Tara.
Either way, if Lex is in on this and he gets access to her metahuman info or the kids themselves via Ultra-Humanite, it'll be a disastrous blow to the Outsiders and League. They trusted and protected Helga, risking limb and life for her, so this betrayal will certainly sting and leave our heroes very distrustful of who next they welcome into their inner circle with open arms in the future.
New episodes of Young Justice: Outsiders premiere Tuesdays throughout the summer on DC Universe.