Far from Home

Far From Home Justice League Unlimited Season 3, episode 10 Television » DCAU Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes Previous episode (JLU) Grudge Match (Legion) New Kids in Town Next episode (JLU) Ancient History (Legion) none Original airdate (US) April 15, 2006 Original airdate (UK) March 1, 2006 Creators Directors(s) Dan Riba Writer(s) Dwayne McDuffie (story), Paul Dini (teleplay) Guest actor(s) Matt Czuchry: Brainiac 5 Googy Gress: Bouncing Boy Joanne Whalley: Emerald Empress Tomas Arana: Tharok

Story Synopsis

TV listing

• On her 21st birthday, Supergirl, Green Lantern & Green Arrow are kidnapped and taken to the 31st Century by Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Boy of the Legion of Super-Heroes, where Supergirl is destined to embark on her very last mission -- a battle against the Fatal Five and the Legion itself.

Expanded synopsis

A futuristic landscape leads to the Legion Clubhouse. Brainiac 5 and Bouncing Boy walk through the Hall of Heroes (with statues of Legionnaires such as Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Ferro Lad, and others). Brainy says that "they" would never think to look for the Legionnaires there, which gives them a chance to mount a counterattack. Bouncing Boy notes that they are the only two left. Brainy's plan: use the Time Bubble to go back in time and recruit some heroes from the past to help. His research shows that three members of the Justice League once came to the future, but only two went back home.

Back in the present, Supergirl and Green Lantern (John Stewart) are ready to stop the next menace to Metropolis. She encounters Queen Bee and Dr. Cyber and easily dispatches them, at which point they turn back into the Justice League's training robots. GL tells Superman and Green Arrow, back at the simulator console, to turn it up. Training versions of Atomic Skull and Blockbuster come out swinging. Green Arrow notes to Superman that today is Sueprgirl's 21st birthday, but she'd rather be training than going out with him and Black Canary. They discuss how left out she must feel, having come from a planet more advanced than Earth, as opposed to how Superman grew up on Earth. Superman had tried to let her develop into her own person by taking a hands-off approach, that he didn't want her to feel in his shadow. GA notes that she's so proud of being Superman's cousin that she changed her costume to resemble his. Outside, GL tells Supergirl that he's got nothing left to teach her, and GA comes out to talk to them. Suddenly an energy bubble appears around them and they disappear, before Superman has a chance to get them. They reappear in the Legion HQ, and Supergirl recognizes the Brainiac symbol on Brainiac 5's head. Thinking they're under attack, Supergirl takes the offensive, only to be repelled by Brainy's force field. He explains that the original villainous Brainiac was his ancestor, and he later learned to pass his code biologically. They didn't kidnap the Leaguers maliciously; they're part of a group called the Legion of Super-Heroes, and a team of criminals called the Fatal Five attacked their new HQ and kidnapped their teammates. While he's talking, images of the various Legionnaires appear on the wall behind him. Brainy and Bouncing Boy couldn't figure out what the Five's plan was, so they needed help from Earth's past. It was just random luck that brought those three to the future. GL offers help, but Supergirl is skeptical. Alone with Brainy, Bouncing Boy notes that they day the pulled her from was the day she vanished from the historical records. They think that they've pulled her into the future to die, but Brainy tells him not to do so in order to avoid time paradoxes. The three Leaguers decide to help, but on their way to the lab, the Emerald Eye appears in front of them.

GL throws up a barrier in time to protect them - then the Emerald Empress and Persuader appear. She remarks that it's rare to see a Green Lantern in the galaxy these days. Green Arrow fires explosive arrows, which fail to stop Persuader. In return, he picks up GA and throws him to the Empress, who places a disc on his head. The Persuader then beats back GL's force blast, with the feedback knocking him unconscious. Bouncing Boy tries to rebound into Persuader, but harmlessly bounces off and crashes into a wall. Brainy uses some martial arts to leg-whip Persuader down, but he recoils against Brainy, sending him flying - straight into Supergirl's ams. Bouncing Boy rebounds into Persuader, this time from behind, knocking him down, but the Emerald Eye catches him in mid-bounce. Brainy, too, is taken down by the Empress, and both have a disc affixed to their foreheads. Supergirl, being restrained by Persuader, has her own disc. Brainy manages to remove his own, protected by GL who attacks the Emerald Eye. He's no match for the Eye, and when he is knocked out, Persuader gives GL a disc. Brainy jumps Supergirl from behind and removes her disc shortly before being blasted by Persuader. He tells her that she must bring the others. But now that the Empress has Green Lantern, she's content, so she leaves Green Arrow behind and the Emerald Eye transports the Empress, Persuader, Bouncing Boy, and GL away, leaving Green Arrow, Supergirl, and Brainiac 5. Brainy and Supergirl take one of the left-over mind control devices to the lab for analysis. He notes that it uses psionics, and she notes that she is familiar with them as they used psionics back on Argo. She asks Brainy why he saved her first; GA remarks that GL was the strongest, but Brainy replies that he doesn't expect Green Arrow to follow his 12th Level intellect. After Supergirl leaves the room, GA teases Brainy that he's in love with her, but he replies that as a Coluan, that's not possible as he's ruled by intellect, not emotion - then considers that maybe he is in love with her. Green Arrow conveniently leaves to upgrade his arrows with the Legion's future tech as Supergirl arrives back in the room. Aboard the Fatal Five's ship, Tharok is angry with Emerald Empress that she and Persuader failed to bring back Brainiac 5. She says that a Green Lantern is hardly a failure, since he's more powerful than a dozen Brainiacs, and although it wasn't part of the original plan, they are now better armed to strike at the United Planets, and after that, they will have the run of the galaxy. Back at Legion HQ, Brainy and Supergirl are still working. He can't trace the Legionnaires via the mind control discs or via their Flight Rings, or via the Justice League transponder that Green Lantern wears. But, as they both exclaim simultaneously, if they had a quantum tunneling RF transponder, that might do the trick. They get to work, then soon call Green Arrow in the armory that they've found Green Lantern. They've tracked GL to the Fatal Five's ship, headed for the capital of the United Planets. They've tried to destroy it before, but now with GL and the entire Legion, they might succeed. Brainy offers his personal cruiser to head there, then GA offers that once they get there, they'll improvise. Quickly arriving at the planet, they see that they've got company: a host of mind-controlled Legionnaires and a Green Lantern.

Supergirl presents her plan: while she holds off GL and the Legion, Brainy and Green Arrow will get to the Fatal Five's ship and shut down the mind control devices. She's the only one who can stop them. Brainy tells her that she can't go - he almost tells her that he loves her, but he says that he lied to her, that history says she never returned from this battle. She replies that there's still a planet of people that need her, so they should do their jobs and she'll do hers. Then she kisses a stunned Brainy - "in case I don't see you again." She leaves through the airlock, flying through space towards the planet. Brainy's plan for getting inside the ship involves flying low, below the guns, and ramming the Fatal Five's ship. On the planet, Supergirl psyches herself up for the upcoming battle, as a dozen Legionnaires and Green Lantern prepare to attack her. She goes first for Green Lantern, then takes on the Legionnaires one by one as they approach: Ultra Boy, Saturn Girl, Timber Wolf, then Colossal Boy, who grows to giant size. She flings the giant towards Bouncing Boy, Apparition, and Blok, sending them all crashing to the ground, but then falls herself after being zapped by Live Wire. On the ship, Brainy and Green Arrow blast their way into the control room, where the Fatal Five surround their mind control device. GA's first arrow, using Legion tech, creates an energy field that stuns Tharok and Mano, while Brainy's force field protects them against the Emerald Eye. Supergirl faces off against the Legionnaires one by one as they keep coming back: Chameleon Boy, Wildfire, Phantom Girl, Cosmic Boy, Wildfire again, Ultra Boy, Saturn Girl, and Blok, until Cosmic Boy hurls a large object at her, knocking her down. Green Arrow finds his arrows ineffective against Mano's disintegration powers, but GA trips him with his bow, causing Mano to melt a hole in the ship. Mano falls through the hole towards the ground far below. Cosmic Boy encases Supergirl in metal, but she melts and blasts her way out. Chameleon Boy morphs and attacks. Brainy is slammed against a console by Validus, and Green Arrow tells Tharok that Validus is right where he wants him: he fires an arrow which ricochets off several objects (including Validus) and hits the mind control device, causing it to explode. Wildfire, Cosmic Boy, and Shadow Lass continually blast against Supergirl, who fights her way through the beams. She beats them all back but is hit by Ultra Boy. She falls to the ground, winded and wounded, and then Green Lantern picks her up with his ring, crushing her and swinging her around through some buildings. The mind control devices suddenly stop working, and GL sees her beaten body lying on the ground. The Legionnaires recover as well and are horrified at what they see. Back on the ship, Green Arrow is struck by the blunt end of the Persuader's axe, while Validus uses a mind-beam to blast Brainiac 5 to the floor. The Emerald Empress tells Validus to tear him to bits, slowly, but before Validus can act, a hole is blasted through his robotic chest. It's Supergirl, now recovered, who hit the giant. Bouncing Boy bounces off the Empress, knocking her down, and rebounds off the walls towards the Persuader, who falls into Tharok. All are unconscious. Supergirl smiles at Brainy, the Legion and Green Lantern at her back. Back at the new Legion HQ, Phantom Girl explains that they wanted to thank the time travellers by making them honorary Legionnaires, an act which gives them each a flight ring. It's only symbolic, as they can't keep the rings, since the future technology of the rings might pollute the time stream. GA and GL give their back, but Supergirl announces that she's keeping hers: she's not going back to the 21st century. As she holds on to Brainac 5, she tells them that history said Supergirl never returned from the mission, because she's staying in the 31st century. Back at the JLA compound, Superman and Steel are using instruments to sweep the area where the three disappeared. Suddenly the Time Bubble discharges GA and GL. They give Superman a holo-cube with which Supergirl says her goodbyes to him and Ma and Pa Kent, that she's found a place where she can make a difference. She feels she belongs there, where she's not just Superman's kid cousin. Also, she met this boy... Superman says that she was always headstrong, but he trusts her judgment. But what's this boy's name?

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Cast

Legionnaires

The following appear in the episode. Only Bouncing Boy and Brainiac 5 are named. The names of the others are speculated based on their costume design in relation to their appearance in the comics, some of which are different from their previous appearance in New Kids in Town:

• Blok
• Bouncing Boy
• Brainiac 5
• Chameleon Boy
• Colossal Boy
• Cosmic Boy
• Lightning Lad (formerly Live Wire)
• Phantom Girl (formerly Apparition)
• Saturn Girl
• Shadow Lass
• Timber Wolf
• Ultra Boy
• Wildfire

Justice League

• Green Arrow (voice of Kin Shriner)
• Green Lantern (voice of Phil LaMarr)
• Supergirl (voice of Nicholle Tom), joins the Legion in this episode
• Superman (voice of George Newbern)
• Steel

Villains

• Fatal Five
  • Emerald Empress
  • Mano
  • Persuader
  • Tharok
  • Validus
• Queen Bee, Dr. Cyber, Atomic Skull, Blockbuster (as training holograms only)

Other Characters

• citizens of 31st century Metropolis
• citizens of Weber's World

Miscellaneous

• Time Bubble
• The Fatal Five's ship
• A mind-control master console which powers multiple small discs
• Legion flight ring
• Brainiac 5's personal cruiser
• Justice League transponder
• Justice League training facility
• holo-cube

Locations

• 21st century Justice League training facility
• 21st century Argo (mentioned but not seen)
• 31st century Metropolis
  • original Legion HQ
• Weber's World (unnamed)
• Colu (mentioned but not seen)

Trivia about the episode

• This is the second (and to date, final) appearance of the DCAU Legion.
• The future segments are set after the Legion's prior appearance in New Kids in Town. In the first episode, the Legion uses their upside-down rocketship Clubhouse, while in this episode, that same Clubhouse (using the same animated backgrounds) is referred to as their old place, where unused equipment is stored. Thus, some time has passed.
• As Supergirl lies wounded on the ground, Green Lantern picks up and cradles her in his arms, with the Legion floating behind them. This scene is adapted from the cover to Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 where Superman carries Supergirl.
• Phantom Girl has several lines but her voice actor is not credited.
• Phantom Girl wore an Apparition-style costume in her first appearance, but now she wears an all-white outfit with a "P" similar to her Silver Age costume. Similarly, Lightning Lad wore an outfit resembling Live Wire's but now wears one more closely resembling his post-Silver Age costume. Costume changes for the others were mostly cosmetic and minor, but all changes moved the Legionnaires away from their SW6 Batch-based costumes towards earlier versions.
• Supergirl's costume changes in this episode to one similar to that worn by the current version of the character in the comics.
• This episode was held back by Cartoon Network (US) for several weeks, as the show had already been announced as ending with that season. Cartoon Network (UK), however, aired episodes without that delay, so UK viewers (and internet downloaders) saw the episode about 6 weeks before viewers in the US saw it.

Quotes

• Bouncing Boy: "I know you are a Level 12 Mega-genius, but you are seriously out of your mind."
• Brainiac 5: "Yes, I am a Brainiac, but I'm not a machine."
• Bouncing Boy: "You're the famous John Stewart! The father of -- " GL: "You wanna shut up before you create a time paradox?"
• Supergirl: "Just because he's seriously cute doesn't mean that we should trust a Brainiac."
• Bouncing Boy: "You know, Brainiac, being organic and having a heart -- not the same thing."
• Supergirl: "So what's your power? Super-strength, speed?" Brainiac 5: "I have a 12th level intellect." Supergirl: "Great. You can knock them out with your diploma."
• Brainiac 5: "That was unnecessary. My belt protects me from any impact." Supergirl, who has caught Brainy flying through the air: "Maybe I was just trying to cop a feel."
• Brainiac 5: "Increased sweat gland production... shortness of breath... inability to concentrate... I thought it was guilt, but I am in love!"

DVD Information

• This episode was released in the Justice League Unlimited Season 2 DVD set.