JLUCast 23: “Secret Society”

Gorilla Grodd assembles a new Secret Society of super villains, comprised of Sinestro, Giganta, the Parasite, Killer Frost, the Shade, and Clayface. Their mission: Destroy the Justice League! But will the League destroy themselves before their foes get the chance?

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Clip credits:

Clips from Justice League “Secret Society”, music by Michael McCuistion, theme by Lolita Ritmanis.

Clip from Challenge of the Super Friends “History of Doom”, theme by Hoyt Curtain.

19 responses to “JLUCast 23: “Secret Society”

  1. Great show, Franklins, as always.

    I’m generally not a big fan of “heroes fighting each other” storylines, but the writers of JLU found a way to plausibly have our heroes on the outs with each other, at least temporarily. Hawkwoman aside, the JL team is pretty powerful, with no one really bringing up the rear like in the JLA comics. But, sure, I can imagine Superman, somewhere in the back of his head, is like, “Why do I need the lady with the mace and the motormouth?”

    Giganta’s social media profile is so disproportionate to her comics one, all because of the cartoon and the live action specials, as you pointed out. She was such a zero in comics she didn’t even get a Who’s Who listing!

    1. That was in my notes to bring up Rob, but I somehow forgot it! So thanks for pointing out, that YES, Giganta did NOT receive a Who’s Who entry in any of the formats, but Angle Man did!

      Chris

  2. For years, the “Get ‘Em!” kid was the only thing I remembered about these episodes, but it stuck in my head, so much so that I’d be constantly attributing it to the “Clash” episode from JLU, two seasons hence. (I had a similar experience with a Superfriends memory of Aquaman being mutated into a giant walking shark monster and attacking a building)

    Looking at the other people in the zoom, everyone else seems interested or concerned, except for the woman to the right of the kid. She has a very “I don’t really care what these superhero blockbusters are about, but Bobby likes them, and and it gets us out of the house for a couple hours” look.

    1. The Aquaman memory is real! It’s a riff on Fantastic Voyage, with Superman and Wonder Woman using the Supermobile to go inside Aquaman and cure him!

      I hadn’t noticed the Mom, but I love it!

      Chris

  3. I’ve always liked Giganta because she reminds me of an exchange in the Dudley Moore movie ARTHUR:

    “A real woman could stop you from drinking.”
    “It’d have to be a real big woman.”

  4. Impressive Pod cast. Most impressive. Wow home girl was Jennifer Hale was Killer Frost and Giganta. Commander Shepard her self, She was also fun in the Star Wars MMO. I always enjoy her work. Yeah Shade has good taste. With what we find out about him in Star Man not shocked he can get over things quickly. Flash was good in this one. As was the rest of the team. Not buying Bats doesn’t want to practice. His whole thing is Mr. Prep time, How can he not be into training?

    I can see the Kanō Jigorō in Bruce’s wall in the Bat Cave. “We are what we repeatedly do, Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” So Bats being to cool for school to train makes no secne. The Man has trained since birth to Bat man. So him saying nah to training does not work. John wanting to train works. Flash wanting to skip would fit. WW skiping nope. Hawk Girl sigh fits. She’s a bit to hot headed to realy on teams. And not go “Charge.” She’s BA but some times she’s the female Lee Rory Jenkens.

    Shocked no one did clips from the show with the Lee Roy Jenkins bit. But, yeah a few things that are out of character here. As well as J’ohn waiting for the showmen ship moment to save the day. Flash scaring the Shade goon was good. Can’t wait to hear the next pod cast.

  5. Personally, I’m a sucker for an all-out heroes vs. villains war, especially when it’s done with the DC characters. Forget Darkseid or Thanos or some other megalomaniacal mastermind pulling strings and secretly orchestrating a world takeover. Give me my favorite heroes grudge-matching against a group of villains any day. And, the fight scenes in “Secret Society” are what make this episode really shine despite some clunkiness with its central conflict (the JLA not getting along) and certain plot beats (J’Onn waiting to reveal himself). There is just something immensely satisfying about seeing the JLA members finally getting their act together and whooping some villain ass.

    Thanks for another great episode, Chris and Cindy!

    1. It’s amazing that none of the comic cinematic universes havet done the villain team thing yet. I think we may be seeing the seeds planted in the MCU right now, and of course Justice League set up a Legion of Doom/Injustice League conflict, but I don’t think that’s happening.

      Chris

      1. It’s kind of difficult to pull together the villain team from established villains when the narrative conventions of the Action Movie (superhero) genre are that the villain usually winds up dead.

        That said, you get the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in X-Men, the Hellfire Club in X-Men: First Class, and Apocalyspe’s Horsmen in X-Men: Apocalypse.

  6. Luthor! Superman’s Greatest foe
    JOKER! THe laugter that brings DEATH
    Giganta THE Least Assinine wonder woman foe
    COPPERHEAD! Somebody needs to get caught so we get code approval

  7. I’ve never bothered to look it up, so before this episode, I had no idea about Giganta’s pre-Super-Friends appearances! JLUCast bringing the knowledge to the lazy and uninformed! Thank you, Franklins!

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