Dark Designs (JLA: KOR Episode)

Dark Designs is the 24th episode of Justice League: Knights of Rao.

Featured Characters

 * Terra / Tara Markov
 * Justice League
 * Atom / Ray Palmer
 * Batman / Bruce Wayne
 * Flash / Barry Allen
 * Green Lantern / Hal Jordan
 * Martian Manhunter / J'onn J'onzz
 * Star Sapphire / Carol Ferris
 * Superman / Clark Kent / Kal-El
 * Winter Star / Caitlin Snow
 * Wonder Woman / Diana of Themyscira
 * Teen Titans
 * Beast Boy / Garfield Logan
 * Cyborg / Victor Stone
 * Nightwing / Dick Grayson
 * Raven
 * Starfire / Koriand'r

Supporting Characters

 * Oracle / Barbara Gordon
 * Knights of Rao
 * Blue Lantern / Collin Hill
 * Static / Virgil Hawkins
 * Toymaster / Hiro Okamura

Villains

 * Vandal Savage
 * Bane
 * Doctor Light / Arthur Light
 * Giganta / Doris Zeul
 * Kobra (final appearance) (defunct)
 * Mirror Master / Sam Scudder
 * Slade (as a disguise only) (impersonated by J'onn J'onzz)
 * Lex Luthor

Other Characters

 * Vicki Vale
 * Iris West

Summary
In order to help the Justice League and the Teen Titans stop Kobra from weaponizing metahumans and discover what Vandal Savage plans to do, Terra posses as Slade's apprentice and fakes the heroes' deaths by her hands with Martian Manhunter disguised as Slade in order to distract Savage while the Leaguers and the Titans move forward. Lex Luthor, determined to clear his name out of the New Brainiac incident, works his way through brute force to apprehend Savage, which will furtherly cost his own reputation.

Plot
Vandal Savage is watching as Kobra agents introduce him their device which allows the wielder to absorb metahumans' abilities, which Savage plans to use to "become a new god to the world", as Lex Luthor (who is planning to apprehend Savage and have him clear his name out of the New Brainiac incident ) spies on him with one of his Lexcorp drones. As the agents work to finish the device, Savage demands one of his agents to capture the Justice League and the Teen Titans, but is reported by one of them about their deaths at the hands of "Viktor Markov's bloodline".

Savage oversees an footage of the Watchtower and the Titans Tower being destroyed and Superman getting killed by Terra (the footage shows her stabbing Superman with a Kryptonite dagger and leaving him to fall into the Watchtower's reactor). Unknown to both Savage and Luthor, the Justice League and the Titans had faked their deaths and the destructions of the Watchtower and the Titans Tower with help from Vicki Vale and Iris West's deceptive reports and extra-realistic holograms designed by Toymaster as the Watchtower turns out to have been teleported into another dimension of Space by Green Lantern, Star Sapphire and Raven and the Titans Tower was shrunk into the size of a scale model by Atom, Cyborg and Terra. The two teams plan to sneak through the Kobra fortress to rescue the metahuman subjects of Savage's experiment and destroy his device before it can be used. Martian Manhunter (posing himself as the Titans' nemesis Slade) and Terra (disguised as Slade's brainwashed apprentice) keep Savage's forces occupied as their teammates make it through the fortress' underground. Feeling his plan to clear his name furtherly threatened by the heroes' supposed deaths, Luthor dons his Battle Exosuit and takes off.

As the Justice League and the Titans continue to go underground, Martian Manhunter (still disguised as Slade) and Terra continue distracting Savage's forces with Anti-Bullies (disguised as Slade Robots) until J'onn demands a truce and bargains with Savage. Under Toymaster's instructions, Beast Boy (who was hiding within Terra's disguise in the form of a flea) sneaks through the fortress' security systems and sabotage them. As J'onn speaks with Savage over their plan, Beast Boy and Terra manage to collect data containing information about Savage's future plans and report back to the others. Just as they overhear Luthor ambushing the fortress with an army of Lexbots with him, Toymaster tells Terra that it is time for Phase 3: to break Luthor's confidence.

As Luthor and his robots directly attack the Kobra agents, J'onn eventually claims that he "changed his mind about his bargains" and takes Savage to a fight, on which he stages an accident (on which Savage damages the remote control systems of Slade's armor), on which Terra (as her teammates suggested her to do) pretends to have gone berserk and uses her Geokinetic powers to create an chaotic earthquake around the fortress, causing it to slowly collapse. Savage orders Mirror Master, Giganta, Bane and Doctor Light to recover the weapon and evacuate the fortress, but the two villains are ambushed by the League and the Titans, who defeat them and successfully destroy the weapon. Seeing the failure of his plan, Savage retreats as he taunts Luthor that he has lost everything. As she continues shaking the fortress, Terra stops Luthor from trying saving her and fakes her own death by letting herself get apparently crushed to death by the collapsing debris until Superman speeds up to her position and saves her. Luthor returns to Lexcorp enraged with his failure as hallucinations of Tara's spirit haunt him (he also hallucinates having her blood in his hand). With their mission complete, the Justice League and the Titans return their headquarters back to their respective places as they overhear news about Kobra's ultimate downfall. Terra, feeling that she almost became what Slade planned to turn her into for real (even if she was just pretending to be), disposes of her Slade Armor, vowing to never wear it again, and dresses on her JLA Tech-made costume (which she made by herself in the Watchtower and enjoys wearing more). Feeling confident that their friend is no longer conflicted as she was before, the Titans offer Terra and her Knights of Rao a place in the team, which she and her teammates accept and vow to join when they are ready.

Voice Cast

 * Ashley Johnson as Terra / Tara Markov
 * Kevin Conroy as Batman / Bruce Wayne
 * Greg Cipes as Beast Boy / Garfied Logan
 * Carl Lumbly as Martian Manhunter / J'onn J'onzz
 * Grey DeLisle as Wonder Woman / Diana of Themyscira
 * Tara Strong as Raven, Vicki Vale
 * George Newbern as Superman / Clark Kent / Kal-El
 * Hynden Walch as Starfire / Princess Koriand'r
 * Scott Menville as Nightwing / Dick Grayson
 * Kath Soucie as Oracle / Barbara Gordon
 * Eric Bauza as Toymaster / Hiro Okamura
 * Khary Payton as Cyborg / Victor Stone
 * Josh Keaton as Green Lantern / Hal Jordan
 * Jodi Benson as Star Sapphire / Carol Ferris
 * Wally Wingert as Flash / Barry Allen
 * Colleen Villard as Blue Lantern / Collin Hill
 * Phil LaMarr as Static / Virgil Hawkins
 * Catherine Taber as Winter Star / Caitlin Snow
 * Kari Wahlgren as Iris West
 * Grant George as the Atom / Professor Ray Palmer
 * Ron Perlman as Slade
 * Phil Morris as Vandal Savage
 * Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor
 * Rachael MacFarlane as Giganta
 * Robin Atkin Downes as Mirror Master
 * Rodger Bumpass as Doctor Light
 * Fred Tatasciore as Bane

Note

 * Superman's faked death by Terra's hands was similar to Han Solo's death by Kylo Ren's hands in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.