If you haven’t already heard the good news, Young Justice, one of the beloved and critically-acclaimed superhero TV series of all time, was finally renewed for a third season. After years in suspense, Young Justice fans will finally see the show’s story, which ended with plenty of unanswered questions, continue as its creators intended.
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The central themes of Young Justice include the superhero legacy and the superhero family. Legacies are passed from mentor to sidekick, and the superhero family grows. These themes are solidified by the jump from the first season of Young Justice into the second, titled Young Justice: Invasion. Five years of in-universe time passed between the two seasons, allow a new crop of heroes – including a new Robin, Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, Batgirl, Wonder Girl, and others – to make their mark and join the Team.
We’re hoping that we see more of this when Young Justice Season 3 premieres. It isn’t that we don’t love the character already present in Young Justice, but there are so many great young characters from the DC Universe we’d love to see join the Team. To that end, we chose seven that we would specifically love to see in Young Justice Season 3s.
Young Justice Season 3 is now in production.
More Young Justice: The Five Best Episodes Of Young Justice Season 1 / The Five Best Episodes Of Young Justice Season 2 / Young Justice Season 3 Officially Announced / Five Plot Threads Young Justice Season 3 Needs To Resolve / Which Network Will Young Justice Season 3 Air On? / Twitter Reacts To Young Justice Season 3 / Young Justice Season 3: Who Will The Villain Be?/ What Fans Want To See In Young Justice Season 3 /Young Justice Showrunners Thank Fans For Young JusticeSeason 3 / Listen To The Young Justice Soundtrack
Supergirl
Some might call Supergirl a bandwagon choice, but there’s no denying that the Girl of Steel is as popular as she’s ever been thanks to theย Supergirl TV series on The CW. Why not bring some of that magic to animation as well?
In truth, Supergirl has already made a mark on DC Animation. She was a key character in theย Superman/Batman: Apocalypse animated movie, but the best animated Supergirl so far was the introduced to the old DC Animated Universe inย Superman: The Animated Seriesย and had a great character arc inย Justice League Unlimited.
Supergirl inย Young Justice would be set apart from her live-action television counterpart by age, with her being portrayed as a teenager of age with the rest of the Team. Superboy could help set her apart from her previous animated version as well, with her being mentored by both Superman and Conner. This would also provide and interesting character arc for Superboy, who would likely view Supergirl with suspicion or even jealousy at first,ย given she would have all of the Kryptonian abilities that Superman whereas Superboy is limited by the human portion of his DNA. In time, we imagine he’d come to look at Supergirl as a kind of little sister.
Damian Wayne
Throughout its first two seasons,ย Young Justice already established the role of Robin, the Boy Wonder to Batman’s Dark Knight, as a legacy. The original Robin, Dick Grayson, was one of the founders of the Team and graduated to team leader in the persona of Nightwing by the timeย Young Justice: Invasion premiered.
During the five years between the first season ofย Young Justice andย Young Justice: Invasion, Jason Todd had taken over as the second Robin. However, by the timeย Young Justice: Invasion begins, Jason has died and Tim Drake has taken over as the current Robin.
Forย Young Justice Season 3, we’re hoping that the Robin legacy continues to grow. Nightwing stepped down as leader of the Team in the finale ofย Young Justice: Invasion, meaning there’s room for Tim Drake to step up, perhaps in his Red Robin persona.
That would also leave room for the introduction of the current DC Comics Robin, Batman’s son Damian Wayne. Damian has been a fixture of the DC Comics Universe for years and has appeared in the DC Comics animated movie universe several times. However, those stories tend to focus on his relationship with Batman, be it his father or Dick Grayson wearing the cowl.
Damian inย Young Justice Season 3 would offer the character an opportunity to play with some kids his own age and experience real, healthy relationships with his peers, assuming he can tone down his own intensity and arrogance long enough to get to know them. His presence would also offer an opportunity to further explore what it means to Robin, not just for him, but for Tim and Dick and even the fallen Jason as well.
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Cassandra Cain
Cassandra Cain has been cast in several roles in the DC Comics Universe. She was once a new Batgirl, then briefly took the name Black Bat as an agent of Batman Incorporated. She has since been reintroduced into the DC Comics’ New 52 Universe as the barely verbal assassin called Orphan.
We imagine the introduction of Cassie Cain intoย Young Justiceย Season 3 to be something of a combination of her Orphan persona (no need to kick Barbara Gordon out of the Batgirl role) and aย Teen Titans comic book storyline that saw the Titans’ archnemesis Deathstroke the Terminator forming a “Teen Titans East” team of young villains to battle the real Teen Titans, with a brainwashed Cassie Cain (then still Batgirl) as their field leader.
Forย Young Justice Season 3 we imagine Cassie would be introduced as an antagonist, perhaps as a new agent of the Light, who proves deadly dangerous, but eventually is brought around to theย side of the angels by the continued outreach of various members of the Team.
Starfire
There’s a danger of makingย Young Justice a bit too similar toย Teen Titans. The tone, at this point, is different enough to not worry there, but fans probably don’t want to see the Team become too overrun with Teen Titans members, particularly the ones that already starred in a show of their own.
The Team already has Nightwing and Beast Boy, but we’d still like to see Starfire make an appearance inย Young Justice Season 3. However, we don’t really see her as a member of the Team, but more of an outlier.
Starfire is known for being a free spirit. We expect that, after arriving on Earth, she may chafe at the constraints of being on the Team and working under the Justice League. She may be more comfortable flying solo.
Or maybe she’d do better with a partner? In the New 52 DC Universe, Starfire was a member of the Outlaws alongside Arsenal, a character who definitively went solo at the end ofย Young Justice: Invasion. Arsenal’s story is one that needs some further exploration and the birth of the Outlawsย as a rival hero group to the Team, especially if Jason Todd ends up resurrected as the Red Hood, could be an exciting way to go.
There’s also the on-again, off-again romance between Starfire and Nightwing, which could be fun to explore inย Young Justice.
Raven
So, about that whole “let’s not overload the show with Teen Titans members” thing…
Raven could be a fun addition to the Team and, with Zatanna now a member of the Justice League, could provide some needed magical muscle.
More importantly, Raven could provide hooks for more magicalย Young Justice storylines. Some of the best episodes of and long-term plots ofย Young Justice have revolved around magical characters and artifacts, like the Helmet of Fate possessing its wearer to become the new Doctor Fate and the frequent hijinks of Klarion the Witch Boy.
Raven provides her own magical powers, which are tied to her emotions and therefore to her emotional journey. On top of all of that, her father is the demonic ruler of a hell dimensions who would like to use Raven as a gateway to conquer Earth, so there’s story potential there.