Are you a fan of superheroes? Cannot get enough of superhumans with incredible abilities and supervillains who step up to fight? You may recall a show called Young Justice from the early 2010s if you like superheroes. Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman created the Cartoon Network superhero animated television series, Young Justice. Despite its title, it is not a direct translation of Peter David, Todd Dezago, and Todd Nauck’s Young Justice comic book, but rather an original story set in the DC Universe with a focus on teenage and young adult superheroes.
Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, Red Arrow, Miss Martian, and Artemis are among the teen superheroes and sidekicks who make up “team,” A squad is a group of young superheroes that are part of the well-known adult team, the Justice League, but who operate outside of the organization’s bureaucracy. The main setting is a fake world set at a period when superheroes are a new phenomenon and supervillains have all started working together in a big conspiracy on behalf of The Light, a cabal of major villains, independent from the previous DCAU and other continuities.
However, there is good news: this gem of a show is returning for a fourth season, yes, you read that correctly! Fans were ecstatic when it was announced that a new season of “Young Justice” was in the works. Warner Bros. Animation appears to have heeded the online buzz, particularly after the second season was released on Netflix and enjoyed a successful run, followed by the third season in 2019, and has decided to bring back the critically acclaimed animation, which aired on Cartoon Network from 2011 to 2013.
Details on when and where it will air have yet to be announced, but you can bet fans will be clamoring for more when they do. Put your seatbelts on because we are about to show you the 9 darkest scenes in the entire series that are currently available for viewing, so buckle up!
Black Beetle Kills Ra’s Al Ghul
In the second season of Young Justice, Black Beetle is a key opponent. He is the archenemy of Blue Beetle or Jaime Reyes and a Reach agent. In “Summit,” the 19th episode of Young Justice’s second season and the 45th overall, Black Beetle kills Ra’s Al Ghul, resulting in one of the show’s most disturbing scenes. Ra’s al Ghul is a former member of the Light’s council and the former head of the League of Shadows.
In this episode, the Light and the Reach meet in Santa Prisca for a conference. Prior to inviting the Reach inside, Black Beetle scouts the cave where the meeting will take place. When a fight threatens, Manta confronts Black Beetle, who slams Manta backward, prompting the Light to strike him and the Reach.
Beetle is eventually ordered to stand down by the ambassador. When the Young Justice team arrives, however, a battle ensues, and Black Beetle watches as Vandal Savage and Klarion flee the scene, much to his chagrin. He then joins the fight, easily defeating and throwing Superboy aside as he goes after the sole member of the Light, Ra’s al Ghul, impaling him through the chest and killing him.
The murder was incredibly brutal and ruthless. As a result of Vandal’s exit during the fight, Black Beetle labels him as cowardly meat. Ra’s al Ghul, on the other hand, believes he had a perfect idea: the heroes have no jurisdiction in Santa Prisca, thus the Light and the Reach don’t have to fight them. Black Beetle, however, is persuaded that every bit of flesh on the Light is a coward. He stabs Ra’s al Ghul in the back, penetrating his chest, after batting Superboy away. After removing his arm blade, he muses that this is the fate of all meat.
Kid Flash Died While Saving The Earth
What do superheroes do best? Save the world of course! However, there comes a time when a superhero must sacrifice his life to save mankind, and that is exactly what happens when Kid Flash goes to save the Earth. “Endgame” is the 20th and last episode of Young Justice’s second season, as well as the 46th episode overall. This one is the unfortunate episode where Kid Flash or Wally, meets his demise.
The episode is set in a backdrop of multiple terrible natural disasters where superheroes are running from solving one crisis to the next in an effort to save the people. They believed that the disasters were a result of Black Beetle’s doing. It is during one such rescue mission, we see the extremely emotional death of Kid Flash.
As things start to go from bad to worse, Kid Flash arrives to contribute his kinetic energy, and the three speedsters, including Flash and Impulse, begin to have a greater influence on the Magnetic Field Disruptor, which had already reached the chrysalis stage. Nightwing, Superboy, Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Aqualad, and Artemis are dropped off at the area by the Bio-Ship.
The heroes are beginning to stabilize the Earth’s magnetic field, but Jaime is informed of a problem by the scarab. Kid Flash’s reduced speed has turned him into an energy exit valve for the chrysalis, and he will die in 16 seconds after absorbing it. Flash senses the issue and instructs Impulse to slow down and suck off the energy that is assaulting Wally. However, they are simply too late.
This hurts even more because he had just shared a passionate kiss with Artemis, making his death heartbreaking.
Vandal Savage Killed His Daughter
One of the darkest moments has to be when a parent kills their own child, no matter what the reason is and this is exactly what happens when Vandal Savage kills his own daughter. This unfortunate incident takes place in episode number 7 of season three, titled ‘Evolution’ which signified the evolution of Vandal Savage from a Neanderthal to the first meta-human. We know that Savage has two children, Cassandra Savage and Olympia Savage. He kills Olympia at the very end of this episode.
The episode mainly revolves around Vandal Savage and his gang protecting the Earth from an invading Armada. In the end, after all the action is over, Olympia says she’ll chronicle Starro’s recent victory in her writings when Vandal places him in a stasis pod. Vandal informs Olympia that he does not want his story recorded because he does not want his long-term plans exposed.
When Vandal notices Olympia’s mental state deteriorating, he snaps her neck and kills her. Cassandra refers to it as a mercy killing and promises to bring Olympia’s journal right away. Cassandra is told by Vandal to give Olympia a dignified burial. So, it is not a spiteful killing or a form of revenge but it was terribly dark nonetheless because Vandal Savage quite literally snaps his daughter’s neck in half.
Count Vertigo Let His 10-year-Old Niece Die
Another moment with death seems to be sort of a recurring theme but very little is as sad as letting a little child die as you stand and watch and that is exactly what happens when Count Vertigo lets his 10-year-old niece die in the 20th episode of the first season called Coldhearted, which seems like quite the apt name. A person with a “cold heart” lacks sympathy and emotion. This is true of Count Vertigo, who schemes to kill Kid Flash, who was protecting his 10-year-old niece, in a coup d’état if necessary.
Count Vertigo’s niece, Perdita sat on the throne of Vlatava and he wanted the throne and all the power for himself. Thus, he hatched a plot to kill her while she was scheduled to receive a heart transplant. Kid Flash gets involved when he tries to save Perdita and almost falls into the Count’s trap before realizing his true intentions.
He gets captured however and awakens in a hospital bed to discover a happy Count Vertigo—or King Vertigo, as he now refers to himself—waiting for him. Despite Kid Flash’s best attempts, he is unassailable as King of Vlatava now that Perdita is dead. Both his and the young hero’s actions, according to Vertigo, were ultimately useless, as she died on the operating table. No one can hold him responsible for regicide.
It was extremely dark and scary to see this side of man however, things did not go well for the count because Kid Flash had seen through his plan at the last moment and ensured Perdita’s safety so, in the end, she was alive and well.
Harm Killed His little Sister In Order To Become Pure
Aaaand there’s even more inner-family killing, this time it is between siblings. This heinous incident takes place in the episode titled Secrets which is the eighteenth episode of the first season. The episode opens with Harm, a psycho, stealing the Sword of Beowulf from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The curator assures them that they need not be concerned because the sword’s power can only be used if the wielder is pure of heart and utters the incantation “Abannan AFOL Beowulf.” Harm, on the other hand, appears and says that he overheard the ritual. He utters the incantation, which activates the sword’s strength, and effortlessly dispatches the cops. Harm spots Zattana and Artemis on Halloween and decides to hunt them for sport and practice before he takes on their mentors Zatara and Green Arrow.
A mysterious girl called ‘Secret’ however leads them all the way to Harm’s house where we finally learn his horrible, dark secret. ‘Secret’ reveals to them that she was Harms’s sister, Greta Hayes’ ghost because Harm had killed her to achieve whatever ‘purity’ was needed for him to be able to wield the powerful sword. When Harm is faced with this dark secret of his, he brags about how pleased he is with it.
Greta was the only thing he cared about, and he needed to get rid of her if he wanted his heart to be clean. When he sees his sister’s ghost, he dismisses it as another illusion spell, but Zatanna points out that she did not say any illusion spell. Harm is adamant that he has no sentiments of guilt and that he is not sorry. But this is revealed to be wrong when Secret approaches him and steals his heart’s purity, rendering him unable to use the sword ever again. Tit for Tat if you ask me, he definitely deserved worse.
Miss Martian Brain Wipes Aqualad
Memory wiping and brain wiping have often been considered absolutely heinous, even in the fictional world because of how brutal it is and how it renders a person aimless and without a sense of self. Well, Miss Martian did just that in the episode titled ‘Before the Dawn’ which is the tenth episode of the second season.
In the second season, Superboy and Miss Martian’s relationship shifted from cute to distant. Superboy was jealous of her new romance with Lagoon Boy, and they weren’t in a relationship any longer. The manner she went about harnessing her mental powers, moving away from being responsible and loving and toward a more serious and icy tone, prompted Superboy to call it quits with her.
He noticed that as she gained experience and got more competent at using her skills, she became less hesitant to use severe tactics to collect information. He noticed she didn’t exhibit any sorrow afterward and conveyed his displeasure with her tactics and this incident where she completely fries Aqualad’s brain is a prime example of her unhinged abilities.
She’d eventually run into Aqualad on a raid shortly after he’d researched The Reach’s meta-gene studies, and in order to avenge Artemis, she used her mind-blast on him, unlocking all of his memories and learning the truth about Tigress’s deceit. This encounter, on the other hand, put Aqualad unconscious and demonstrated exactly how powerful and potentially murderous she had grown.
She wasn’t the same happy-go-lucky girl anymore, and she had to hustle to mend his mind in the midst of a family feud in which Sportsmaster and Cheshire launched a simultaneous attack on Manta’s ship to avenge Artemis. Her power brought Aqualad down on his knees, which is quite tough to watch and thus deserved a mention on our list of darkest Young Justice Moments.
Metahumans Trafficking
Episode number 13 of the third season of the show revolved around metahuman trafficking, more specifically, the enslavement and trafficking of meta-teens. It’s quite an uncomfortable episode and one cannot help but root for our superheroes who try to stop this horrible act.
As Nightwing recounts what he knows, Forager pilots the Bio-Ship to Greater Bialya, at the beginning of the episode. He reveals that Goode World Studios created the VR Goggles in order to test for the Meta-Gene. Subjects that tested positive were taken to a neighboring depot where meta-humans were abducted and brainwashed by subliminal messages. The Justice League and the Team are sending squads to knock down all of the depots at the same time, according to Nightwing.
Nightwing dispatches a bug to examine a shopping mall and modifies his espionage technology to allow others to see what he sees. The majority of the individuals are wearing white masks, but Nightwing is more concerned about Onslaught, or Queen Bee’s meta-humans. However, what they find is far more serious than anything that they had anticipated.
As they watch, Mister Bliss appears on the scene and introduces the first two meta-humans up for auction: Holocaust and Tara Markov, who goes by the moniker Terra. Nightwing understands the depot is a combat club for control-chip-enslaved meta-human teenagers.
This in-human behavior outright shocks our superheroes but they hesitate to intervene because they realize that emotions were running high and a terrible fight would definitely break out. However, all is well that ends well and the episode ends with almost all the meta-teens being rescued and taken away from their lives of forced slavery and combat.
The Original Speedy Found
Speedy’s story can best be described as a rollercoaster clone saga, as he was kidnapped by CADMUS and sent back to Green Arrow as a clone early in his career. This clone broke away and became Red Arrow, venturing out on his own before eventually returning to the team. He became a Leaguer under Green Arrow’s supervision, only to discover that The Light was using him to incapacitate the heroes and gain control of the Watchtower.
After overcoming this, his hardships were still not over and one day he discovered that he was a clone and embarked on a quest to find the genuine Roy. One can only imagine what it feels like to know that you have been a clone all your life, it must be absolutely terrifying.
Later, a relationship and a child with Cheshire brought him back from the brink, and details about his origins surfaced. While the League seemed to have given up hope, Red Arrow and Cheshire went on a quest and discovered Roy cryogenically frozen, bringing months of hard work to a close.
When Roy regained consciousness, he praised Red for finding him but chastised his mentor for abandoning the search. As part of his transformation into the bitter, one-armed Arsenal, the original bolted from the hospital to go pursue Lex Luthor. He and Red would end up collaborating with everyone in order to thwart The Reach’s final goal. This one is a tragic tale of its own and is rather heartbreaking to watch.
Lady Shiva Sliced Off Ocean Master’s Head
What is better than a good old beheading to round off our list? This act of violence that we absolutely did not see coming took place in season 3, episode 9, called “Home Fires”. The episode largely revolves around an intergalactic assassin who is now working for The Light. Lady Shiva is the sensei of the League of Shadows and the enforcer for The Light so it only makes sense that she will cut down people that intend to cause damage but this one was ruthless to the bone.
Iris West-Allen organized a superhero playdate, which was featured in a segment of “Home Fires.” Red Arrow, Black Lightning’s daughters Anissa and Jennifer, Mera and her son Artur, the Tornado Twins, and, most shockingly, Lois Lane and Jonathan Kent were on hand to talk, mingle, and enjoy a few hours of relaxation where they weren’t worried about threats to their family.
However, a threat was far closer than anybody realized: Orm the Ocean Master, the brother of King Orin, the former Aquaman, was spying on the party from across the street. He’d bugged the house and was waiting for all 18 guests to arrive before attacking and killing everyone inside, he’d later disclose.
Ocean Master was out for vengeance after spending six years in an Atlantean prison. Ocean Master’s plot was discovered by the Light, who dispatched Lady Shiva, their new enforcer and the new leader of the League of Shadows, to prevent him from carrying out his “nuclear option.”
In a rented house right across the Allen family’s home, Lady Shiva confronted Ocean-Master, hoping to persuade him not to kill them. Lady Shiva slashed off Ocean Master’s head in one fell swoop, sending it flying through the air in slow motion while still photos from inside the Allen home flashed on the scene.
Lady Shiva stood over Ocean Master’s decapitated body, which was surrounded by a pool of blood and his trident, Neptune’s Beard, which lay on the ground. It was remarkable to see Young Justice shift from making vague hints to off-screen character deaths to seeing a villain being beheaded.
That concludes the moments we found truly and terribly dark, even if this animated series is appealing to an older audience. If you haven’t watched it yet, this series will definitely have you hooked and you will be rushing to finish it before season 4 hits our screens!