The following article contains spoilers from Dark Crisis: Young Justice #1

The death of the Justice League has affected everyone. It's unmoored the surviving heroes and even caused villains to question their place in the universe. It has also exposed just how little Young Justice has been able to process their trauma from the past and how it is manifesting in unhealthy coping mechanisms today.

Dark Crisis: Young Justice #1 (by Meghan Fitzmartin, Laura Braga, Luis Guerrero, and Pat Brosseau) showcased how Superboy, Robin, Impulse, and even Wonder Girl, have not handled their pasts properly. It manifested in unhealthy behavior from the boys, and hurtful thoughts from Wonder Girl. Young Justice has been through its fair share of losses, and much like their mentors, the next generation has done very little to try and process that to ensure they can make better choices in the future.

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Impulse Makes a Tasteless Joke

It is important to understand that grief manifests in everyone differently. Impulse, who is always racing ahead, but never really looking where he's going, ended up making tasteless jokes at the memorial service. He asked if they would get as much fanfare as their fallen mentors, something that silently infuriated Wonder Girl. It wasn't a good joke, but the motivation behind it is understandable. Impulse uses humor to deflect from a serious situation, but that also means he never confronts it, leaving the emotional wounds to fester.

Superboy was more up front about his feelings, responding to Impulse's joke by saying that no one cared about their previous deaths in the past, and no one would care if they all died now. It was dark, but there was a measure of truth to it. Superboy, Impulse, and even Robin (technically) have either died or been presumed dead. There was no worldwide coverage of the loss, or honoring of their sacrifice, merely the emotional voids left by their absence. Superboy's words however, showcase that Conner is growing increasingly disillusioned with the life he leads and may even have self-worth issues when compared to Superman.

Interestingly, Robin did the least in this scenario, but that may be indicative of an entirely different problem. As a member of the Bat-Family, Tim is unfortunately prone to putting up walls when in emotional turmoil, either blocking people out intentionally or unintentionally. Granted, taking time for oneself to grieve is never the wrong thing, what is concerning is being in emotional distress and not letting others know how he is feeling. He may feel it is his duty to hold it together for the sake of his friends, but that only hurts him even more.

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cassie-argument

Even Wonder Girl, who was spared the same fate as her friends, is guilty of not handling her grief properly. Her recent losses in Hippolyta and Diana have led her to a place where her grief is making her silently lash out at her friends. It is not them she is angry with however, but the state of their lives. That this keeps happening, and somehow, instead of uniting in their pain and moving on together, they feel like strangers to one another.

Ultimately, their attitudes will not help them cope with their loss. Deflection, self-degradation, emotional distance, and rage these things do not enable better coping mechanisms for the team. By isolating themselves in their problems, they have created a rift that has fractured their friendships. Where once was a team that could open up to one another, now exists a group of strangers pretending that the little they have in common anymore is justification for them to be a team.