#looking at you whoever styled stray kids and Jennie like come on

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Zendaya and Dove Cameron killing it at the met gala was very good for my inner child thank youuuu ladies

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Characters That Need To Be In Young Justice S3, Part 1: Here Comes a New Challenger!

As The new Season of Young Justice is getting closer and closer to actually seeing the light of day, I thought of characters that would be good to see in it and, if we’ll be graced with such thing, following season. Of course what initially was supposed to be a short list simply exploded into a colossal one that will require at least few posts to cover. In this part I’ve decided to take a look not as the core cast themselves but rather characters that could in some way provide a challenge to them - be it as rival hero groups they come into conflict with for various reasons, antiheroes that supposedly have the same goals but take things too far or straight-out villains to beat. So without further delay, let us get right into it

Number Ten: Lord Havok & the Extremists

When it comes to obscure villains few things strike out like an entire supervillain team based on characters from your biggest competition. Marvel has both parodied and homaged DC multiple times with various incarnations of Squadron Supreme, while DC has the Extremists - an entire team “inspired” by iconic Marvel supervillains. They come from another world and their goal is less world domination but the extermination of heroes and domination for the protection - as their world has been destroyed, they have decided it was the heroes who were responsible. So now they aim to save another world from the same fate. By conquering it and eliminating heroes one by one.

A team of varied antagonists, at least some of which are extremely powerful, who do not play by the rules of heroes and villains game and are lead by megalomaniacal mastermind based on Doctor Doom would certainly upset the balance of power between the heroes and the Light, forcing both side to adapt or even team up to take them down before they can resume their own spy game.

Speaking of Extreme measures....

Number Nine: Manchester Black

I have mentioned it in the past that I’m not actually a fan of Superman story “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice And American Way?” or animated movie “Superman vs the Elite” it is based on. However, I can respect the villainous potential of Manchester Black. A British thug with incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers he what would happen if you gave Jean Grey power set to Frank Castle. Only, you know, British. While he usually sticks to antagonizing Superman and obsessively trying to turn him to break his vows and start killing the villains, lately he seems to have turned towards corrupting younger generation in his image. And that’s a role that would be extremely resonant in series like Young Justice. Heroes of this world already have strayed a bit too close to certain lines, especially during the second season. Seeing how the next season will likely continue diving into spy stories in superhero world, these lines might get blurry again. Even without somebody like Manchester with his twisted black and white sense of morality whispering in your ear.

While the obvious choice would have him go after Superboy, I think he would actually play a good antagonist to Miss Martian as well. Not only is she in need for a decent telepath to challenge her since I think everyone is just done with Psimon, but she had a history of going too far with her powers or using them too recklessly, something that caused her a great deal of grief. Not only that would make her a perfect target to somebody like Black but it would make him a warning sign of what lies at the end of this road and what kind of person it could turn her into.

Fun fact: Manchester was loosely based on Jenny Sparx, leader of team the Authority from Wildstorm comics, whose characters are now not only owned by DC but a part of their Universe. One of Wildstorm’s most popular stories was the Sleeper, which featured our next spot on the list

Number Eight: T.A.O

Because when the Tactically Augmented Organism looked at life, he saw only chaos and order. And humanity's denial of chaos appalled him. So he would tear it all down and fill the whole world with chaos, if only to watch mankind cling to their illusions as they burned around them...would he destroy the world at the same time? It's certainly a possibility.

T.A.O. or Tactically Augmented Organism is an interesting villain being a human basically grew in a lab and possessing both incredibly high intelligence and a compelling voice he uses to plant ideas he wants into people’s heads. He started supposedly on the good guy’s side, but have turned out to secretly been manipulating good guys and bad guys alike into starting a war among superhumans and countless destruction, just because he could. He turns out to have an extremely misanthropic worldview and likes the idea of overthrowing existing status quo in favor of chaos. He built his own villain empire just for that purpose. This all makes him perfect an antagonist in the type of story Young Justice is operating on. He could easily have started as an ally, only to turn out to try and “spice things up” between the Team and the light. Or he could be working with the latter, as he fits their “mastermind” style like a glove. He would also provide an interesting contrast for Superboy, seeing how they both were artificially created by scientists, yet turned out as total opposites.

And if we touch upon providing a contrast, let’s stay in WIldstorm corner for a moment.

Number Seven: Apollo & Midnighter

One of the advantages of jumping to a new online service is supposed to be that Young Justice can now show more LGTBQ characters. So I say, let them put their money where their mouths are and bring in one of the more popular gay couples in DC - a pair of antiheroes, Apollo and Midnighter. Due to their background, they could fit easily into the black ops feel the show is trying to have and they would also provide a contrast to the Team in a way similar, but less extreme than Black. These guys don’t play around if they have to kill a villain, they will. But they don’t actively go trying to enforce their way on others, but that would only present a dilemma to the team - can they afford to leave these two to their own devices? Or maybe they are worth having around, in case there were lines to be crossed?

We’ll stay in Wildstorm part of DC for one more group to visit.

Number Six: The DV8

Some might be surprised I’m bringing up them over Gen 13, heroic group of teenagers on the run from evil government conspiracy. But honestly, Young Justice already had a group that fits a similar niche in their Runaways. And while it would be fun to have Gen 13 around, they are, how Warren Ellis put it, kids you look at and you know they wash their teeth three times a day. Their antagonists on the other hand....

DV8 or Deviants consist of a team of 8 superpowered teenagers - Threshold, Bliss, Frostbite, Sublime, Copycat, Powerhaus, Freestyle and Evo. What makes them different from other teen supervillain teams is that these guys are mercenaries. Working for ruthless and ambitious Ivana Baiul they take on black ops mission for whoever is paying and whatever is advancing her ambitions. And that’s what makes them so appealing - because there might be situations where they will be hired to oppose the Team but in other instances, they might have to join forces towards the same goal, at least for a while. Plus some of DV8 members had shown shades of moral ambiguity so they could have a potential to turn good.

And in case somebody would say I’m crapping on Gen 13 for being heroic, let us leave Wildstorm to go take a look at another team.

Number Five: The Movement

Created by Gail Simone and Freddie Williams II, the Movement is a team of teenage superheroes who try to take on more “grounded” problems than supervillains. The movement is a team of young activists and disfranchised - Virtue, Mouse, Vengeance Moth, Tremor, Burden, Katharsis and Rainmaker -  who, to use Gail Simone’s own words  "all have reason to be mad at the system, which hasn't protected them or even tolerated them".

And this is precisely why I want them in Young Justice. Moving to a different network and being able to tackle more mature themes is a perfect opportunity to bring in the Movement. This is a team who is mad at the system, yes, but clearly idealistic and good-natured and they help people were official services cannot. This is something that I feel is often good if not outright necessary to have in stories taking so much from the spy genre’s handbook. The Team has risked and lost a lot and even did few things they might not be proud of in defense of the status quo. It’s about time somebody showed up to make them question if the status quo is actually worth all of this as it is or if they as superheroes cannot do something to also improve it. And the Movement is a perfect team to challenge them on that level instead of some unnecessary battles.

No, that we can leave to the next position on the list

Number Four: The Blood Syndicate

Young Justice was not shy of using characters from late Dwayne McDuffie’s Milestone Media imprint - that’s where they got Icon, Rocket and Static from after all. Well, how about one of their more controversial creations, even at the time. Blood Syndicate is not a team. They’re a gang. A gang of individuals who all gained superpowers in the same incident and now band together. Consisting of several characters like Wise Son, Brickhouse, DMZ, Tech-9, Dogg, Boogieman, Aquamaria, Fade, Masquerade, Flashback, Third Rail, Oro Kwai or (I kid you not) Holocaust. While a gang and very angry at everyone for what happened to them, they could easily be used to be opponents for the Team. But they also have at least some moral ambiguity and conflicting goals and dreams and at least few could potentially turn on the side of angels, while the others...well, I see no reason why Holocaust couldn’t be a big threat on his own as he was upon leaving the Syndicate in the comics, only now working with the Light.

So far there was at best some moral ambiguity connected to most if not all of the mentioned examples. How about some very heroic group next? 

Number Three: The Justice League of China

China’s attempt at beat Americans at their own game and create their own, improved version of its most well-known superheroes resulted in a team of teenagers bearing the names of Super-Man, Bat-Man, Wonder-Woman and Flash of China. They are at heart idealistic and deeply heroic, even if still rather inexperienced. That means they not only provide contrast to the Team (double than China’s other superhero team, the Great Ten, due to being teenagers themselves) but it might be very easy to set them as rivals trying to prove themselves or have them go into conflict with the Team, would one of their missions involve messing around on Chinese territory. And they also add a bit of world building as a whole, show that it’s not only the Justice League and the Light who are in the race for domination on the superhuman scene.

Let us not leave China too soon as there is a certain another character from there I wanted to bring up.

Number Two: Lady Shiva and League of Shadows

With the death of Ras Al Ghul (assuming he’s going to stay dead as, well, this is Ras we’re talking here about) it is a perfect opportunity to bring more focus on his League of Assassins and how it adapted and developed without their immortal leader. And Lady Shiva with her more extremist offshoot of the organization, the Lague of Shadow, designed to for most exists only as an urban legend might be a very good for just that. Leading more dangerous part of the League, maybe breaking out of the Light and even turning against them, trapping the Team between the two organizations. Not to mention that Shiva herself is a deadly oponnent that deserves to be able to showcase her skill in animation.

And if we’re touching on the League of Assassins

Number One: the Demon’s Fist

Lead by Ras’ granddaughter, Mara Al Ghul, Demon’s Fist is a fairly new addition to DC Universe, yet still an interesting one. A team of superpowered children - Nightstorm, Stone, Plague and Blank - kidnapped at birth, raised and trained to be assassins and servants of Ras. They never knew they were deceived nd once they found out, turned against their former master. But how could that story play in young Justice? Maybe with Ras dead, they will aid Mara in her efforts to seize grandfather’s position for herself? Or maybe they discover the League has been using them and ask the Team to help them get out? There are multiple possibilities to consider, which is what makes this team so interesting.

If there is a character who didn’t make it to the list, fear not - this is merely part one out of at least 3 DC Unvierse is rich and ripe with characters that would make a great addition to Young Justice, a single top 10 would not do them all justice. And when you look at the final two entries of this list, you can probably guess which corner of DCU we will visit next

- Admin