Spoilers follow for the two-episode premiere of Young Justice: Phantoms, "Inhospitable" and "Needful," which is now streaming on HBO Max.
The relationship between M’gann M’orzz/Miss Martian (Danica McKellar) and Conner Kent/Superboy (Nolan North) has been one of the most well developed plots throughout Young Justice’s run, a complicated romance that was broken off and then resumed as the two characters grew and changed for the better together. Young Justice: Phantoms opens by addressing the different opinions M’gann and Conner had about the question at the center of Young Justice: Outsiders — should superheroes try to do good secretly or out in the open? — and then comfortingly acknowledges that they can have different philosophies while still being very much in love.
The idea of embracing their differences together is at the heart of the two-part surprise premiere of Young Justice: Phantoms. While Conner just wants a simple civil wedding ceremony on Earth, M’gann wants to return to Mars for a complex religious ritual involving her huge family. So M’gann and Conner set out with M’gann’s adopted brother Garfield Logan/Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) and her uncle J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter (Kevin Michael Richardson) on a month-long trip to the Red Planet, leaving the rest of the show’s huge cast behind in favor of really delving into M’gann’s backstory.
Young Justice has always combined traditional superheroics with space opera, drawing heavily from the cosmic conflicts imagined by Jack Kirby, but these two episodes owe more to Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom stories than anything published in DC Comics. There’s even a nod to Robert A. Heinlein’s story of a Martian-raised human coming to Earth, Strange in a Strange Land. It’s an ambitious way to start a new season, but co-producers Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman have found huge success in pushing animation to new frontiers, and they’re continuing that strong work here.
M’gann is a White Martian, a persecuted minority, and racial tensions have only escalated since she fled to Earth ahead of the show’s first season. While White Martians were previously depicted as more physically monstrous than Green ones, this season, all varieties of Martians are depicted as equally unsettling to human eyes. It’s made very explicit they are all the same species, though intermarriage is a major taboo.
The premiere provides commentary on race as a construct while also tackling nationalism. Mars is in the midst of political turmoil following the assassination of the planet’s reformer king, with both the Green and White Martians blaming each other for his death. The other cause of conflict is the increasing influence of Earth on the planet’s culture. It seems M’gann wasn’t the only Martian teen who found comfort in television from another planet and used it to craft her identity. Martians are natural shapeshifters, and conservative Martians are disgusted with how many kids seem to prefer to walk around looking like their favorite human celebrities.
Grounding the story in real-world conflicts helps make Young Justice’s journey to Mars feel authentic. The writers have done a phenomenal job introducing a whole new cast of Martian characters, terminology, and beliefs in such a short period of time. The complicated feelings M’gann has for her home planet and family feel earned after seasons of development, including the introduction of her radical brother M’comm (Ben Diskin) in Outsiders. The animation of the planet’s underground cities and rivers is also spectacular, providing a visual allure that helps explain why M’gann would risk so much to come home.
Martians primarily communicate telepathically, and the writers have also richly fleshed out how that would impact their culture. Lips rarely move in these episodes, creating a visually unsettling touch that adds to the feeling of alienness. Conner was created alongside numerous telepathic creatures at Project Cadmus and is very comfortable with telepathic communication, often talking with M’gann that way, but Garfield is experiencing significantly more culture shock as psychic attacks and even information downloads meant to be helpful take a huge strain on him. As fascinating as it is to see a political protest take the form of a massive mind link, the true impetus for this exploration seems to be a way to comment on mental health and how Garfield is dealing with psychic strain that’s as much internal as it is external. Garfield’s long been a source of comic relief for the team, so seeing him struggle hits especially hard.
There’s plenty of intrigue and mystery unfolding on Mars, including the introduction of Legion of Superheroes members Phantom Girl and Saturn Girl (both voiced by Kari Wahlgren). The writers of Young Justice have made major changes to DC characters before and it seems like they may be doing the same for the time-traveling young heroes who have historically counted Superboy among their members.
This season, the writers have also found a clever new storytelling technique to make the most out of every second of episode time. Throughout Season 3, each episode ended with a sort of moment of Zen, rolling the credits over a serene image like Conner’s pet Wolf dozing while soothing music played. In Season 4, those static moments are accompanied by dialogue that provides a bit of insight into what’s going on in a character’s head that wouldn’t fit easily within the main plot.
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