WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms, streaming now on HBO Max.
The new season of Young Justice has been largely a mystery for fans anticipating the fourth outing of the superhero series. With nothing more than its subtitle, Phantoms, to go off of, there has been little indication of what to expect from the future of the young heroes fighting on the fringes of society. But with the surprise debut of the season's first two episodes, it seems the fringes the Team will explore go far beyond the fringes of society indeed. They go so far, in fact, they seem to emerge on Mars. But do we know about the world in Young Justice?
Featured prominently in the debut episodes are Beast Boy, Miss Martian and Superboy, the three main characters who head to Miss Martian's homeworld in order to undergo a marriage ceremony for her family. Along the way, fans learn more about Mars than ever before, with much of it springing out of the tension between the Martian people, which includes Green, White and Red Martians.
There was little known about the Red Martians from the show itself prior, but creator Greg Weisman revealed varying details about the subspecies over the years through his AskGreg fan forums. Red Martians are not a concept familiar to the lore of the comics, but in Young Justice, they are an elite class of royalty among Martian society. It is also noted that Martians can be born the same color as either of their parents but not a color one of their parents did not share. In this way, the caste system of their society formed over time to favor the elite, with the position of an individual largely determined by which color they turn out to be. Beyond that, little is known about Red Martians in general, though the recently-slain Martian leader is said in the episode to have been a great ally for Earth/Martian relations.
Martian politics also percolated in the background of the series previously, without ever quite boiling over into the foreground. Miss Martian's brother Ma'alefa'ak already stirred up tensions between the New Gods and the Bugs by taking the shape of Orion, and that plotline finally sees satisfaction in the episodes as Ma'alefa'ak receives a gene bomb from Darkseid's underling Desaad that he plans to use to wipe out his Green and Red fellows.
But one aspect that may come as a relief to fans looking forward to the new series is the restricted focus on fewer members of the team. Rather than cramming as many characters as possible into the episodes, or featuring a promotion that carries the broadest appeal as possible to fans of the show's considerable cast, the focus is on a trio. And given that Miss Martian's engagement ring was already visible in the previously released poster for the season, her relationship with Superboy and her adoptive brother Beast Boy are both worthy of exploring and fleshing out during their adventures in space.
There is no doubt that the larger cast will return for other episodes, but based on what details are currently available, there is much to be excited about when it comes to the exploration of the Martian culture. Young Justice was always a show that knew its characters and its setting well, and diving deeper into both is part of the magic that made fans clamor for more. Now on its fourth season and on a streaming platform where the show has more freedom than ever, Young Justice: Phantoms could well be the most adventurous season yet.
To see the Martians be explored, the first two episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms are streaming now on HBO Max.