Young Justice: The Animated Series

Young Justice: The Animated Series is an American animated series created by, and , based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. It is based primarily on of the Young Justice comic, the Teen Titans Vol. 3 comic, The New 52 Teen Titans comic, and also takes inspiration from the Young Justice TV series.

The series follows a group of teenage superheroes named Young Justice, who face supervillains and deal with teenage problems.

Original Team

 * Tim Drake (voiced by ) is Robin II, Batman's sidekick who is skilled at hacking and is shown to be very good at espionage and hand-to-hand combat, using a bo staff as his main weapon. He's 15 years old and is the most experienced on The Team but at times is shown to be immature and is known for making jokes and puns.
 * Bartholomew "Bart" Allen (voiced by ) is Impulse, The Flash's sidekick. His main superpower is his super speed, capable of running at the speed of light. He's 16 years old, and the most immature on the team but when moments become intense Impulse becomes serious.
 * Cassie Sandsmark (voiced by TBA) is Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman's protegee and was introduced to Young Justice shortly after it was formed. She possesses superhuman strength and uses a lasso and indestructible bracelets for combat. She develops a relationship with Superboy, sympathizing with him due to being the clone of Superman.
 * Kon-El (voiced by ), also known as Superboy and Connor Kent, is a Kryptonian-human hybrid. He's a D.E.O clone of Superman sharing most of his powers with him, with the rest of his DNA filled in by Lex Luthor. He at first has anger issues due to his lack of relationship with Superman but manages to control it afterward. Connor has super strength, super speed, enhanced durability, frost breath, and a super leap, but as the series progresses his powers develop (eventually gaining flight, lasers, and the rest of Superman's powers) Superboy is biologically one month old but was programmed to be 16 years old.
 * Krypto (voiced by ) is a genetically modified dog. He was an experiment done similar to Superboy and Match, trying to replicate Kryptonian DNA and fusing it with animals. Krypto was then rescued from D.E.O by Superboy while he was facing Match. He had displayed high intelligence for a dog, along with super strength, super speed, and enhanced durability.
 * "Suzie" or Greta Hayes (voiced by ), known as Secret, is a ghostly spirit that was murdered by her brother, Billy, who became the psychotic supervillain known as Harm. Stuck in a gateway between the living and dead, she was captured by D.E.O and experimented on, developing metamorphosis and teleportation powers alongside her telekinesis and intangibility.

Season 1 additions

 * Suzanne-King Jones (voiced by TBA), known as Arrowette, is the sidekick of Green Arrow. Born into an Olympics family, she was taught archery and practiced it her entire life. Her mother was sent to a mental facility shortly after the death of Suzanne's father, and Suzanne became an orphan who lived on the streets as a street fighter. Green Arrow then adopted Suzanne, and Suzanne became Arrowette. She's a competent hand-to-hand fighter and archer, trained by her Olympics mother and Green Arrow.

Season 1

 * 1) "Graduation Day, Part I": Robin goes after one of the cases the Justice League is tackling after he, Kid Flash, and Wonder Girl are told they can't go on a mission: The D.E.O. The three heroes unite to investigate the D.E.O.
 * 2) "Graduation Day, Part II": Uncovering the D.E.O's illegal metahuman cloning, the three teens face Superman's clone, Superboy. They're saved by a spirit named Suzie, who D.E.O experimented on and called Secret.
 * 3) "Welcome to Happy Harbor": The officially titled Young Justice group sets up their base in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island at the Secret Sanctuary. Discovering the presence of an android named Red Tornado, Robin activates it, only for the D.E.O to be notified. The D.E.O sends Mighty Endowed to hunt the team down, and Robin will have to take charge.
 * 4) "TBA": After a training session with Red Tornado, Wondergirl decides to blow off some steam and goes for a walk. She encounters an Apokoliptian vehicle called the Super-Cycle but is quickly attacked by Rip Roar for trying to take it.
 * 5) "TBA": Impulse is told off by Robin for causing a mission to go wrong with Dr. Light, and so he's restricted from missions. Deathstroke decides to take the opportunity to kidnap Impulse, who has to defeat him all alone.
 * 6) "TBA": Robin decides to investigate the D.E.O related cases Young Justice has recently run into, and Superboy decides to take off by himself to find out. His clone, Match, isn't happy to see him, and neither are the rabid Kryptonian-animals.
 * 7) "TBA": Secret starts to have dreams of her brother, Harm, killing her. The team learns of Secret's origins right around the time Harm comes into town, who wants to kill the team.
 * 8) "TBA": Impulse decides to find out who saved him from Harm with an arrow a few days ago, and finds out it was from a villainous archer named Arrowette, who he finds himself falling for.
 * 9) "TBA": Robin finds out Deathstroke was hired by the D.E.O to kidnap the entire team and learns of Impulse's relationship with Arrowette. Things start to go down as Rose Wilson, daughter of Deathstroke, comes to avenge her father's loss to the team.
 * 10) "TBA": Atlantis is targetted by the D.E.O, and Lagoon Boy needs the team's help in stopping the D.E.O. The only problem is, most of the team is busy fighting Klarion the Witch Boy. Robin, Secret, and Superboy's pet Krypto will step up to save the day.
 * 11) "Child's Play": Klarion the Witch Boy has turned everyone on Happy Harbor into kids, including Impulse, Wonder Girl, and Superboy!
 * 12) "TBA": Secret mysteriously disappears one night, and Robin decides to go after her alone. The team is wondering where Robin and Secret are when they find Robin fighting a villain named Empress.
 * 13) "TBA": Arrowette is with the team, planning to backstab them the moment they free Secret, but it appears Harm is the only person who'll be stabbing people. Robin meanwhile is facing the leader of the D.E.O, Harvest, and is on the brink of death.

Reception
Young Justice: The Animated Series was met with positive reviews, mainly for its character development and storytelling, which IGN said "was unlike anything before seen" and "the characters felt lively to us". On Cartoon Network, episodes averaged out to 1.2 million live viewers.

The series has an 8.4/10 on IMDb and received an 8.5/10 from IGN. Common Sense Media gave it a 4/5 and rated it for 8 years old and above.

Concept and Creation
The original Teen Titans series was pitched as a Young Justice series and was denied. The pitch was brought back up again three years after the cancellation of the series in 2009. A screen test was developed by 2011 by James Tucker, along with a series bible and a few character designs. The screen test wasn't picked up by Cartoon Network and was released to the public in late 2014.

After the massive positive reaction from the screen test, WB Animation repitched the idea and Cartoon Network greenlit it. Bruce Timm and Glen Murakami, notable for their work on the DCAU and Teen Titans, were placed onto the series as executive producers along with James Tucker. Development began mid-2015 with writing.

The series finished writing by mid-2016, and then, voice casting and music were worked on simultaneously. After the animation was completed, the series was announced to air on Cartoon Network in early 2019.

Writing
The series bible was already completed by the time it was greenlit, and episode production was beginning. Bruce Timm, Glen Murakami, and James Tucker all collaborated on the writing together and visioned the series as 26 episodes, before cutting it down to 17 episodes. They noted that they made plans for the series based on their visions, trying to incorporate as much from the comics while being its own project. Bruce Timm noted that the first 10 episodes were done in early 2016.

Animation
Animation started for the series in late 2015 and was outsourced by WB Animation to Digital eMation. The character designs by Bruce Timm were given an anime-esque style by Glen Murakami, similar to the Teen Titans series, and that style was kept by Digital eMation who finished animation by late-2016.

Trivia

 * The series is reminiscent of the original Young Justice comic book, with an anime-esque art style.
 * The D.E.O is an amalgamation of the D.E.O, Project Cadmus, and N.O.W.H.E.R.E, being responsible for Superboy's creation along with Secret's.
 * Superboy's original suit at the D.E.O is based on his original New 52 costume, before changing into a black shirt with a red Superman shield and jeans.
 * Scott Porter reprises his role as Superboy, from Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
 * Arrowette's origin story is somewhat similar to her own, mixed with Mia Dearden's (Speedy's) origin story.