This is the beginning of a great series but in a way it is the middle. This series was preceeded by Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, and Batman Beyond. It ran concurrently with two other series which started before it: The Zeta Project and Static Shock.
This is a good start but by no means my favorite story. I'm pretty sure I saw it when it first aired in late 2001. As with most of the Justice League stories this is a multi-part story. This is just one of three three-part stories in the two-season run of JL. As the title implies this is the Justice League's origin story. It is not the origin from the comic books but the one for the Animated Universe.
Definitely worth a watch if you liked the predecessor series. There are links to events in S:TAS in this series.
Part 1
Batman and Superman encounter aliens at the Waynetech Metropolis substation. The aliens are disguised as scientists. They look human but possess superhuman strength, agility, and the ability of change shapes. The aliens escape but not before blowing up the sub station.
Two years before the aliens arrived on Earth, the United States sent a manned mission to Mars. Two astronauts explored the Mariner Valley, looking for signs of water. A fissure opened and one of them fell down into it and into and underground tunnel that looks like it was shaped by an intelligent life form. Two years later, J. Allen Carter, the astronaut who fell into the fissure on Mars, is now a US Senator. He gets into an argument with General Wells of the US Army at the United Nations about getting rid of all nuclear weapons. The senator wins the argument when he gets Superman to lend a hand disarming the world's nuclear weapons.
A large meteorite lands in Metropolis. It breaks open and a giant non-humanoid alien that walks on three legs emerges from it. Batman and Superman do their best against it, Batman in his Batplane, but neither can seem to make a dent in it. Soon there are more giant aliens, not just in Metropolis but around the world.
Superman departs the fight when he gets a telepathic message. Batman follows him to a US military installation. There they find J'onn J'onzz imprisoned. He came to Earth to warn humanity of the invasion but he was captured and unable to deliver the message until now. Superman frees J'onn but when the three men try to leave they are met by platoon of US Army soldiers who turn out to be aliens in disguise.
Wonder Woman and Flash also make brief appearances in this episode. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl have yet to make an appearance, other than in the opening credits. The only other character that I recognized from the comic books is Snapper Carr. He is a TV reporter who reports on the events as they unfold after the first meteorite lands.
Part 2
Superman, Batman, and Martian Manhunter fight with the aliens at the US Army base, first on the ground and then in the air. It looks like once again the aliens are too much for them. The Batplane gets shot down and looks like it is going to crash when Green Lantern shows up. Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman and Flash aren't far behind GL. They were all summoned telepathically by Martian Manhunter. Once they have dealt with the aliens J'onn tells them what he knows about the invading force.
The aliens who just invaded Earth landed on Mars 500 years earlier. They feed on psychic energy and gained their shape shifting abilities from the Martians. The battle on Mars didn't end until the Martians used a nerve gas on the aliens. It paralyzed them. J'onn was the only Martian survivor of the war. He kept watch over them until J. Allen Carter inadvertently freed them. With no one left on Mars (except J'onn) to feed on the aliens headed for Earth.
The seven superheroes break up into three teams. Each team attacks one of the "factories" that the aliens have set up to blot out the sun. According to Martian Manhunter they are nocturnal creatures and hate sunlight. Flash wants to team up with Wonder Woman but instead finds himself paired with Green Lantern. GL has a plan but Flash rushes in and gets caught. GL has to come in and save him. Flash repays the favor when Green Lantern is overcome by gas that the aliens use on them.
The second team is the trio of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter and the third is Superman and Hawkgirl. At first both of these other teams are more successful than the first one. They each break into a factory but Superman and Hawkgirl are eventually overpowered. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter make it to the center of the factory they breach. Batman whips out his electric brass knuckles and starts to inflct some damage on the aliens. They grab the Ion Matrix Crystal, which powers the whole factory. They try to escape with it but they get separated.
Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter jump through a portal inside the factory just before it closes. Batman is still stuck on the other side of the portal with the aliens. Wonder Woman and J'onn hear fighting noises and then they stop. J'onn is convinced that Batman is dead. This seems silly for two reasons. First, he should be able to use mental telepathy to verify if Batman is still alive. Second, they aren't going to kill off Batman in the first story.
General Wells and Senator Carter make another appearance, along with Snapper Carr. The general blames nuclear disarmament for leaving the Earth without the resources it needs to defeat the aliens. The senator doesn't see it quite the same and says that everyone needs to come together if they are going to overcome the alien invasion.
It is interesting to note that Batman recognizes Hawkgirl but none of the superheroes know who Wonder Woman is when she shows up. I believe this is her first appearance in the DCAU.
Part 3
Batman is dead. Superman and Hawkgirl have been captured. Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, and J'onn J'onzz join forces and attack the factory where Superman and Hawkgirl are being held. They fight their way in and find their way to the chamber where Superman and Hawkgirl are being held only to discover that they have been tricked. J. Allen Carter reveals himself to be an alien. The real Carter never returned from Mars two years ago. The superheroes are gassed into submission and locked up with Superman and Hawkgirl.
A spaceship bigger than any other makes its way from Mars to Earth. It is the Supreme Intelligence of the invaders. It confronts the heroes and starts to feed off of J'onn. It senses that he is hiding something. He resists revealing anything as best he can but then his secret comes out: Batman is still alive!
Batman appears out of practically nowhere. He attaches a device to the Matrix Ion Crystal. It reverses the polarity of the crystal. The clouds begin to part. the sunlight burns the aliens. Superman is able to free himself and then help the others to get free. They fight back and defeat the aliens. It looks like for the most part the aliens are killed, including the supreme intelligence.
Everyone seems happy except General Wells. He still has his doubts about the superheroes ability to defend the Earth. Batman has an idea. The scene shifts to the satellite. Superman asks him if his stockholders know about it. Batman says that it is a line item hidden in the aerospace R&D budget. Somehow I have my doubts about that. That satellite has to be mega-expensive. I can only imagine what the upkeep alone must cost not to mention the process of getting it built and into orbit.
Superman suggests that they should all stick together and work as a team. Everyone agrees except Batman. He claims not to be a people person but agrees to lend a hand if they need his help, and he's sure they will. There's a touching moment between J'onn and Superman before the Martian agrees to join the team.
So J'onn was lying when he told Wonder Woman that Batman was dead. Interesting.
I have a problem with stories in which it seems to be okay to kill aliens. There's something about it that creeps me out. It isn't okay to kill people or animals but aliens, especially ones that look kind of horrific you can kill without a second thought? Seems kind of dodgy to me. As long as they don't look like us don't worry about killing them. Of course, by the same token, the writers and illustrators of the story don't do anything to make the invading aliens seem like anything other than killing machines.
The aliens have multiple forms. The two most prevalent forms are the giant walkers and the vaguely humanoid form. The walkers seem much more like machines than the humanoid ones do. The humanoid ones talk to one another in a foreign language which isn't translated.
Even at this stage one of the themes that will carry through and become a major plot point in Justice League Unlimited is raised: should the safety of the planet be entrusted in the hands of a groups of superheroes or, as they are sometimes called, loose cannons. In this story it is General Wells who seems most suspicious of placing too much trust in assembled heroes, even after they save the day and drive off the alien invaders.
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