Young Justice: Phantoms is doing admirable work with temporary superhero death

If there’s one good thing about superhero stories dominating mainstream media, it’s that journalists have gotten much savvier about covering the deaths of prominent superheroes as publicity stunts, rather than as massive cultural milestones. DC Comics’ 1992 “Death of Superman” arc got such widespread mass-media attention that it launched a fad for killing off major legacy heroes — who inevitably returned in one way or another once the novelty wore off. Long-time comics readers chuckled, noting that super heroes rarely live long. Usually, killing a hero is just another gimmick to sell comics, goose sales, and shake up the status quo — so the 13-episode first half of Young Justice’s fourth season has been a compelling change of pace.

Temporarily dead protagonists in comics are a well-established cliché, which makes it much harder to get emotionally invested in a hero going down for the count. Even hero deaths that were initially intended as permanent — like Captain America’s sidekick Bucky, or the Jason Todd version of Robin — usually get reversed when new writers take over. In the worst cases, they’re reversed instantly, as with the X-Men series’ Dark Phoenix saga, where Cyclops is dramatically declared dead in the final-panel cliffhanger for Uncanny X-Men#133 was then offhandedly brought back to life in issue #134’s first panel.

Young JusticeBrandon Vietti, Greg Weisman and Greg Weisman co-created.. That’s given the show more credibility and gravitas for its current running plotline about one of the series’ primary protagonists dying in action. It’s always seemed obvious that the character was coming back, and even likely that he wasn’t dead in the first place. But the series hasn’t been in any hurry to get to his resurrection. And in the interim, the writers have explored the best reasons to temporarily kill off a hero — the reasons that aren’t just about short-term drama and profit.

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for season 4 of Young Justice.]

Image via Polygon: HBO Max

Season 4 subtitled Young Justice: PhantomsThe story is divided into several arcs which are focused on one small part of the huge featured cast. Phantoms’ first arc has Miss Martian, aka M’gann M’orzz, returning to her native planet Mars so she and her fiancé Superboy, aka Conner Kent, can have a traditional Martian wedding.

Meanwhile, M’gann’s brother M’comm has become the leader of a group of radicals trying to fight back against Martian bigotry by killing off higher-ranked red and green Martians on behalf of the minority white Martians. When M’comm tries to set off a “gene bomb” designed to target red and green Martians, Superboy intervenes and disposes of it. However he’s caught in the blast, leaving nothing behind but a vaguely humanoid smear on a stone wall.

On most TV shows, that lack of a corpse would be clear evidence that Superboy didn’t actually die. And for viewers in the know, the three characters who were trailing Superboy and M’gann earlier in the arc — three members of DC’s far-future Legion of Super-Heroes, pursuing a secret mission — suggest a time-travel plot that could explain how Conner survived the Kryptonite-laced gene bomb by getting yoinked into the future at a crucial moment.

But Phantoms isn’t rushing any reveal. Episode 13 ends with the final installment. Phantoms Zatanna, the magic-wielding superhero, has a flashing vision in which Conner is transparent and calling out to her for help. She thinks she’s hearing his restless ghost, but he just as well might be reaching out through a time portal, from the Phantom Zone, or through any number of other magical or super-science-based phenomena. But that’s the first hint the show has offered about a possible Superboy resurrection.

In the meantime, the series has been exploring Superboy’s legacy, in the form of the people he left behind, and how they cope with losing him. This focus on moving forward after loss is a key part of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s past years: the MCU series WandaVision, The Falcon and Winter SoldierAnd Hawkeye films have all dealt in detail with the fallout from 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, So have the Tom Holland Spider-Man movie. Up until very recently, however, it wasn’t common for a superhero story to devote significant thought or time into mourning and the stages that accompany grief.

Young Justice: Phantoms has particularly drawn out the effects of grief on Beast Boy, the shape-changing hero who owes his life to M’Gann. He’s been seen throughout the season first struggling with past traumas, then being overwhelmed with this latest one. His depression and insomnia have given way to erratic sleep patterns and dependency on sleep aids, all of which have come with a denial that anything’s wrong, a refusal to talk to anyone about his worsening mental health, and a tendency to lash out at anyone who pushes him to open up.

But the effects on Artemis Crock, now operating as Tigress, have been just as strong — her own initial depression and distress rapidly give way to determination throughout her arc in the first half of the season, as she becomes almost irrationally protective of her sister, her fellow heroes, and even some turncoat villains. It’s all come at significant risk to her own safety, as she’s put her own body on the line every time she’s faced a choice between endangering herself, or accepting further loss. M’Gann, meanwhile, has gone through phases of intense rage and looking for someone to blame, followed by detachment, disassociation, and eventually a renewed connection with family.

Like other animated series that have dealt with the effects of trauma and the desire to shut other people out while dealing with it — Steven Universe immediately comes to mind — Young Justice Communication and openness are the most effective ways to recover from loss. It’s a warm and helpful message for younger viewers in particular. Artemis’s struggle to get through her tears in the car and then pulling herself together for her job feels real. This is a rare superhero moment. All too often, heroes aren’t allowed to express vulnerability onscreen, except as pain and rage. Letting them feel the weight of Conner’s loss over a longer arc makes them feel more like people, and less like interchangeable power fantasies.

Image via Polygon: HBO Max

By taking so much time with the fallout from Conner’s “death” (if that’s what it is), Phantoms Because death in superhero stories is rarely significant, this season has reclaimed some sense of danger. Everything this season, from the private moments to the big hero-on-villain action, has come with a heightened sense of the characters’ potential mortality, and an awareness of how it makes their choices braver and nobler.

But season 4 has also emphasized, without preaching on the subject, that grief looks different for different people, and it doesn’t happen on a predictable timeline. And the writers are exploring how much people may struggle when they’re trying to find ways to support someone who’s hurting, especially people who insist they don’t need help.

Not all of the season’s thoughts on grief have landed well. In particular, the time spent on Superman trying to explain death to his toddler son Jonny feels like it’s aimed at much, much younger viewers than most of the show. The show’s focus on Superman crying over Conner, which is unusual considering it hasn’t spent as much time with him before due to its emphasis on younger heroes.

One of the most unique aspects about this is Young Justice as a series has been the way it portrays a broad community of heroes, who all have their own problems and struggles, but are all affected by each other’s experiences and choices. The series has always had a refreshing sense of commonality and community, even among heroes who don’t work together directly, or who strongly agree about fundamental aspects of the work they do. Exploring what death means to that community — how it changes the protagonists’ choices and the tone of their interactions — helps the show’s world feel a little more organic and lived-in.

Young Justice: PhantomsThe focus and arcs have changed, leaving some fans-favorite characters behind for the second half of the season. The writers try to include as many viewpoints and as many different arcs in each season, just like they do with the previous seasons. It has taken the time to allow Conner’s death to sink in so that the episode feels meaningful. And in the process, it’s showed that death doesn’t You can find it here to be cheap and clichéd for superheroes — even if Conner is on his way back later this season.

Three seasons in the first season of Young Justice The second half of PhantomsYou can stream them on HBO Max. Second half Phantoms’ 26-episode season is due to continue later this spring. The release date of the series has not yet been set.