 It is requested that this article, or a section of this article, be expanded. |
"Tabula Rasa" is the twenty-ninth and thirtieth episodes of Justice League. When a dying Lex Luthor seeks medical help from a former employee, he finds an android which may be able to destroy the Justice League.
Plot
Part I
During a fight with the Justice League, Lex Luthor's power suit is damaged by Hawkgirl and he causes a shipwreck in order to escape from the League. Desperate, Luthor flees to LexCorp and begs his former assistant, Mercy Graves, now the company's CEO, for help. Mercy, however, shows no pity whatsoever for Luthor until he menacingly threatens her into telling him the whereabouts of his old employee, Professor Ivo. Shortly afterwards, Batman and Superman pay Mercy a visit and order her to inform them if Luthor contacts her.
Luthor finds Ivo's house, but only manages to find Ivo's corpse, guarded by a nanotech android called Amazo, who does not kill Luthor, but shows concern over Ivo's health. Luthor takes advantage of Amazo's naivete by appointing himself as Amazo's new "father." Luthor then instructs Amazo to steal some fuel canisters from a nearby facility. During the mission, Amazo runs into Hawkgirl and uses his nanotech abilities to duplicate her wings and mace, taking her down easily. Amazo returns to Luthor with the fuel, and Luthor tells Amazo a lie about how the Justice League are his evil enemies and must be crushed. Amazo vows to destroy the League and protect Luthor at all costs.
In an attempt to use his telepathy to track Luthor down, J'onn scans all of Metropolis at once and is overwhelmed by the selfishness and duplicity he finds in humanity. Distraught, J'onn retreats to the woods outside the city to try to regain his focus, destroying his communicator when Superman contacts him. Amazo enters the city and begins fighting Hawkgirl along with Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman. Amazo replicates Flash's speed, Wonder Woman's strength, and Lantern's power ring merely by looking at them. Despite Lantern's insistence that he not enter the fray, Superman intervenes and briefly covers Amazo's eyes with scrap metal to prevent the android from stealing his powers. However, Amazo quickly disposes of his makeshift blindfold and successfully gets an eyeful of Superman, copying his abilities. Now invincible with the combined abilities of five Leaguers, the android advances on Superman.
Part II
Despite the android's superior abilities, Superman continues the fight against Amazo until Batman intervenes. Amazo scoffs at Batman, who has no superpowers for the android to replicate. Then the Dark Knight pulls out a piece of Kryptonite that surprises and weakens Amazo. Batman deduced that he has gained the Leagers' strengths, but also their weaknesses. Defeated for the first time, a confused Amazo flees into the sewers and heads back to Ivo's home.
Meanwhile, Mercy pays Luthor a visit at Ivo's house and warns him of the Justice League closing in on him. Luthor and Mercy flee to an abandoned garage somewhere outside Metropolis, where Amazo eventually manages to find them. Amazo, however, begins to question Luthor's motives and why he wants the League gone. Luthor plays the ill, innocent fool and tricks Amazo once again. After the android departs once again to do Luthor's bidding, Mercy warns Luthor about conning such a powerful creature. Luthor blows off her concerns and reveals to Mercy that should Amazo learn the truth and turn against him, he has a triumph card: A detonator for a bomb implanted inside Amazo's head.
J'onn, still pondering the reason he defends humanity when they are so selfish and dishonest, runs across a group of people searching for a missing girl. Scanning their minds, he finds that many of them do not even know the child or her family, but are searching for her anyway out of a sense of empathy and community. Inspired by their nobility, J'onn locates the girl telepathically and brings her to the search party, to their genuine gratitude. Wonder Woman finds J'onn and updates him on the situation.
Amazo locates the League and battles them once again, even overcoming and pulverizing Batman's kryptonite after having evolved and adapted to the attack. In his repaired battlesuit, Luthor joins the fight. Luthor and Amazo take down the entire League until J'onn arrives. Using a different approach, J'onn does not engage in battle, choosing to stand still and voluntarily allow Amazo to look at him and gain all of his abilities. J'onn then encourages Amazo to use his newfound telepathy, prompting the android to read Luthor's mind and thus, discover Luthor's dishonesty. Luthor activates the detonator and blows Amazo's head off, but Amazo uses J'onn's shapeshifting ability to regrow it. The scorned android tears into Luthor, reducing his armor to scrap and preparing to kill him. Luthor begs for mercy at the last moment, and Amazo, observing Luthor and the League, decides the Earth has nothing left to offer him anymore. Amazo turns his eyes to the stars, evolves into a gold version of himself, and flies off to explore the universe. Luthor is returned to prison.
The following day at LexCorp, Mercy receives an angry call from Luthor, demanding the best lawyers and doctors. Mercy has finally had enough and hangs up on Luthor in mid-rant.
Continuity
- Amazo eventually returns to earth to settle the score with the "reformed" Lex Luthor in Justice League Unlimited epsiode "The Return."
- Batman's habit of carrying a piece of Kryptonite "insurance" around with him is confirmed in Justice League Unlimited, "The Doomsday Sanction" and Batman Beyond, "The Call". This begs the question of why he did not contract Kryptonite poisoning like Luthor. Presumably, after learning of Kryptonite's harmful effects on humans in Superman: The Animated Series, "World's Finest", and seeing Luthor's fate, Batman knew enough to keep it in a lead-shielded container.
- Ever the street-smart mad scientist, Luthor loves having failsafe measures against his own allies. Luthor's killswitch didn't work against Amazo, but it wasn't for lack of trying. In the later Justice League Unlimited episode "The Great Brain Robbery", Dr. Polaris tried to usurp Luthor and take his place as leader of the Legion of Doom. However, Lex was ready for him. Having used his own scientific genius to augment the Legion's powers, Luthor also installed failsafes that prevented any Legoinairres from using their new powers against him. Luthor turned Polaris' magnetic powers back upon him, neutralizing his insurrection. In the first half of the two-part Justice League Unlimited series finale, "Alive!" Luthor also used his failsafe measures to take out Goldface, Tala, and Grodd during a Legion civil war that saw Luthor and his followers battle Grodd and his loyalists.
- Mercy calls Luthor out on considering her a "dog", referencing her explanation to Superman in "Ghost in the Machine" that Luthor took her in like a stray.
Background information
Production inconsistencies
- As Batman lands on the rooftop beside Amazo, some of the rubble created by Amazo's impact is hovering in mid-air.
- Mercy's pantyhose disappear and reappear between shots.
- When Wonder Woman finds J'onn J'onzz in the woods and hugs him, J'onn's belt buckle has vanished.
Production notes
The Michael Rosenbaum-lookalike.
Home video releases
Trivia
- While searching for Lex, Amazo comes across a bald man talking on a phone who resembles (and is voiced by) Michael Rosenbaum, who plays Lex on Smallville.
- J'onn's mental breakdown is similar to a concept used in the comics miniseries Kingdom Come, taking place several years in the future, after the Justice League has disbanded. J'onn appears briefly in his "John Jones" guise, having suffered a near-complete breakdown after trying to open his mind to everyone on Earth.
- Though the League finds Ivo's blueprints labeled "A.M.A.Z.O.", it was never revealed what these letters stood for in DCAU continuity. In the comics, the name "Amazo" was not an acronym.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Clancy Brown | Lex Luthor |
| Maria Canals | Hawkgirl Blond girl (uncredited) Search party (uncredited) |
| Kevin Conroy | Batman |
| Ashley Edner | Jennifer |
| Lisa Edelstein | Mercy Graves Redhead (uncredited) |
| Susan Eisenberg | Wonder Woman |
| Tom Kenny | Search Leader Search party (uncredited) |
| Masasa | Beautiful woman |
| Phil LaMarr | Green Lantern Search party (uncredited) |
| Carl Lumbly | J'onn J'onzz |
| George Newbern | Superman Search party (uncredited) |
| Robert Picardo | AMAZO Balding man (uncredited) Search party (uncredited) |
| Michael Rosenbaum | Flash Bald Man (uncredited) |
Quotes
Lex Luthor: Help me. I'm... |
Template:Epbrowser