Young Justice: Phantoms – “Odyssey of Death!”

Director: Christina Sota

Writer: Aaron Sparrow

Don’t let my screenshot fool you — this is an image for Young Justice: Phantoms and not Young Justice: Outsiders. HBO Max just doesn’t know the difference. Also, don’t let the closeup on Kid Flash fool you. He’s barely in this episode. In fact, he doesn’t even speak. (Maybe Jason Marsden’s fee is too high?) However, his role is significant enough to warrant a quick review.

We catch up with Bart, Saturn Girl and Chameleon Boy riding the Bio-Ship through Subspace on August 28 at 0:31 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) — less than a day after they loaded up in the ship with its own Cosmic Treadmill. So far, they’re just using the treadmill (powered by Kid Flash) to travel at super speed. It took the Bio-Ship a whole month to fly from Earth to Mars. But now it can go from Earth to New Genesis in just a day.

Since the Legionnaires believe they failed to prevent Superboy’s death, their new mission is to destroy the Phantom Zone projector before Lor-Zod can use it to release his parents and all their followers. However, Saturn Girl admits they don’t have a concrete plan to obtain the projector.

Our heroes reach New Genesis the next day, arriving on a rather chaotic scene. Lor-Zod has obtained the Phantom Zone projector and is attempting to release his father, General Zod. Jay Garrick is blocking off access to the portal with a whirlwind, and Rocket has placed Lor-Zod and Orion in a bubble, where the two heavyweights can wail on each other without interruption. While camouflaged, Bio-Ship quickly destroys the projector with a laser blast, and as the portal closes, Saturn Girl senses Superboy and Phantom Girl inside the Phantom Zone. Phantom Girl had been unconscious the whole time she was in the zone, and the months of isolation nearly destroyed Superboy’s mind. General Zod eventually located the pair and easily molded Superboy into one of his devout followers.

Saturn Girl manages to wake up Phantom Girl, but that leaves her unprepared for Lor-Zod’s counterattack. Upon seeing the projector destroyed, Lor throws Orion off him, destroys Rocket’s bubble with a blast of heat vision, and flies straight into the Bio-Ship, even though it was still camouflaged. Miss Martian’s evil brother, Ma’alefa’ak, follows close behind. Lor instantly grabs Saturn Girl and threatens to snap her neck unless Chameleon Boy and Kid Flash unless they help him retreat. Bart and Cham exchange worried glances, but the Bio-Ship ultimately flies away without any of the other heroes below them knowing they were ever there.

Jay doesn’t get back to his home in Central City until September 2, 16:17 CDT. And sadly, Bart is not there waiting for him.

This was a pretty explosive episode for the show. Not so much for Bart, who’s been reduced to a human battery. In fact, I was pretty mad with this show until I saw the next episode. But we won’t be talking about that episode next time because Free Comic Book Day brought me an unexpected surprise!