CASE FILES - Justice League's "Paradise Lost"

NOTE:  This article obviously contains SPOILERS.  Proceed at your own risk!

Episode Details

• Writer:  Joseph Kuhr

• Director:  Dan Riba

• Animation Studio:  CNK International (formerly Koko Enterprises Ltd.)

• Original Airdate:  January 21, 2002 (Part One), January 28, 2002 (Part Two)

Official Summary

Wonder Woman finds that a powerful sorcerer named Felix Faust has turned her mother, Hippolyta, and her Amazon sisters to stone. The only way that she can free them from this evil enchantment is to help Faust find the lost fragments.

My Summary

Wonder Woman returns to Themyscira to find that sorcerer Felix Faust has attacked the island and turned her mother, Hippolyta, and her Amazon sisters into stone.  In order to save them, Diana agrees to help Faust recover pieces of an artifact that will help him attain ultimate knowledge.  However, all is not what it seems, and Faust has an ally…

Voice Cast

• George Newburn as Superman, Demon (Uncredited)

• Kevin Conroy as Batman

• Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Demon (Uncredited)

• Michael Rosenbaum as The Flash

• Carl Lumbly as J’onn J’onzz

• Susan Sullivan as Hippolyta

• Robert Englund as Felix Faust

• John Rhys-Davies as Lord Hades

• Jason Marsden as Snapper Carr

• Serena Berman as Cassie

• Lauri Fraser as Cassie’s Mom

• Jan Rabson as Professor Erlich

• Andrea Romano as Amazon Officer

Background

Seeking to create a Wonder Woman spotlight episode that was a “change of pace […] after doing huge sci-fi epics like ‘Secret Origins’ and ‘In Blackest Night’” (Harvey, “Rich”), the creative team tapped freelance writer Joseph Kuhr (pronounced “koor”; Harvey, “Toon”) to craft a tale that heavily featured Greek mythology and the supernatural.  In a 2002 interview with The World’s Finest, Kuhr discussed how he came to be hired by the creative team:

I knew Bob Goodman and his wife a little bit at NYU.  We ran into each other again in Los Angeles, and when Bob got The Zeta Project off the ground, his wife read a few samples of my earlier work and passed them along to Bob.  He liked them enough to bring me into the studio, and before long I was pitching Zeta stories to Bob and Rich Fogel (who was a [Zeta Project] story editor first season).  The eventual result of all this was the episode “Taffy Time.”

A few months later, Rich called to tell me he was producing Justice League and—based on the work I did on Zeta—asked if I’d like to do some writing for it.  I carefully deliberated—for all of a nanosecond—then responded with a completely cool, utterly aloof, “Yes, thank you … you are my God!” (perhaps I embellish, but that’s how it should have happened).  Soon thereafter, I was writing “Paradise Lost” for Justice League. (qtd. in Harvey, “Toon”)

(It is worth noting that the writer’s name is remarkably similar to “Joseph Kerr,” an alias used by the Joker during the Going Sane story arc, which began in Batman:  Legends of the Dark Knight #65 [November 1994]; this was later referenced in The New Batman Adventures [TNBA] episode “Joker’s Millions.”  In fact, during the aforementioned interview, Kuhr revealed that, upon receiving what was presumably the first draft of the “Paradise Lost” script, Producer Bruce Timm initially thought it “was Paul Dini playing a prank” [qtd. in Harvey, “Toon”].)

As for the plot of the episode, Producer Rich Fogel discussed its origins in a January 25, 2002 interview with Comics Continuum:

I wanted to do a magic-based story as a change of pace from all the sci-fi epics we’ve been doing on Justice League, so Felix Faust seemed like a natural place to start.  I also liked the structure of the original Silver Age Faust story from Justice League of America #10 [March 1962] in which the mad sorcerer forces our heroes to go and retrieve magic relics for him.  But something was still missing.  I talked to several writers about this idea, and Joe Kuhr had a take I really liked.  He brought up an idea that relates to the history of Themyscira in the comics and, when we incorporated that into the plot, everything else fell into place.  Joe did a great job on this one, and so did Director Dan Riba and his crew. (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice League Update”)

Despite finding the original Felix Faust stories to be “pretty goofy,” Fogel admitted that “there was something there that intrigued me, so we started tweaking” (qtd. in Harvey, “Rich”). During pre-production, Felix Faust was extensively retooled from his original comic book form, both in terms of his origin and modus operandi.  In an episode introduction on the 2003 Justice League:  Justice on Trial DVD, Bruce Timm discussed Faust’s adaptation:

The Felix Faust character originated in the comics.  Especially on the Justice League show, we never wanted to create brand-new villains that didn’t exist before because the history of DC Comics goes back, you know, sixty-some odd years, and there’s such a wealth of material there.  There [are] so many different villains and so many different kinds of villains that you pretty much never ever have to create a brand-new villain out of whole cloth.  So, this show, having a strong magic base in the plot, it was a natural to bring the Felix Faust character in but, for the sake of this show, we decided to really concentrate more on the sorcerer aspects of this character to kind of play down the typical, stock maniacal supervillain aspects of him.  So, we played him more as a demented scholar, who was digging into the history of sorcery and trying to gain something that will give him, you know, unlimited power. (qtd. in “Episode Introduction to ‘Paradise Lost, Part 1’”)

Above left: Boris Karloff; image courtesy of the Famous Monsters of Filmland page. Above right: Felix Faust in “Paradise Lost.”

As for his physical appearance, Timm was initially drawn to Faust thanks to what he described as his design having “a vaguely Egyptian feel to it. In the weird stream of consciousness that is my head, I kind of connected Robert E. Howard with Weird Tales to Boris Karloff’s The Mummy, somehow.  Kind of six degrees of madness” (qtd. in Gross 11). He continued on during the 2003 “Draw the Dark Side” DVD special feature:

Felix Faust, in the comics, was always a bit more of a supervillain—he always had the robe and the cowl and the headband; he looked a little bit more like an old-fashioned, Silver Age, old school supervillain.  We wanted to eliminate almost all of that—we knew we were going to have the Hades character on the show—who was going to supply the muscle—so we wanted Faust to be much more of a Boris Karloff-kind of sorcerer.  So, we eliminated all of the “supervillain” kind of aspects of him and really focused on going for the kind of “ancient sorcerer” kind of look.  So, we put him in the long robe and made him really, really skinny and—I didn’t literally make him look like Boris Karloff, but I kind of had Boris Karloff in my head as I was designing his face, you know, with the heavy eyebrows and the really gaunt cheeks, and I think they worked really well for the character.

In the comics, he’s kind of a bright fuchsia purple, his robes, and we always try to keep the character as much like their comic book counterpart as possible.  At least some kind of starting point so that it’s just not a brand-new character with the same name.  His colors are still violet and gold, but they’re definitely more towards the bluish end of the purple spectrum rather than the pinkish elements. (qtd. in “Draw”)

His redesign complete, all that remained was casting a voice actor, and—in a serendipitous occurrence—Voice Director Andrea Romano was informed by an agent that Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) was interested in doing animation work (Rossen 48). Securing the role, he would go on to be lauded for his performance, with Rich Fogel describing it as “creepy and formidable” (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice League’s ‘Paradise’”), while Bruce Timm praised him for appearing “menacing without being an over-the-top cartoon supervillain” (qtd. in “Episode Introduction to ‘Paradise Lost, Part 1’”).

Reflecting on “Paradise Lost,” Bruce Timm singled out the climax of Part Two, which he described as “one of the most ridiculously huge set-piece climaxes we’ve ever done” (qtd. in Harvey, “Bruce”). Featuring a “huge army of zombies, the portal into Hell and all the effects, massive columns breaking loose and getting sucked into the portal” (qtd. in Gross 11), the creative team was initially nervous as to whether they could pull off such a visual on a television budget, as Timm detailed in an episode introduction on the 2003 Justice League:  Justice on Trial DVD:

Especially early on, we really wanted to kind of push the widescreen, Hollywood movie kind of feel and have big, earth-shattering events and, you know, once these guys go into battle, we wanted to really rock the house.  At the time, this was the largest scale fight scene that we had ever attempted, and we were actually really, really nervous about it because some of the things that we called for on the storyboard.  I mean, when you see the army of the dead come rising up, and it’s literally an army—it’s, you know, hundreds of zombie warriors, [and] every single one of those zombie warriors has to be drawn by hand.  And so, we were very, very nervous that the show would just fall apart, animation-wise.  We looked at the board and went, “Wow, this is going to be great, but can they animate all this?”

And so, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief when the show came back and it … you know, they literally pulled it off.  They didn’t skimp on anything—I mean, you know, they probably used their computer to double the size of the army, or quadruple the size of the army, but there’s a whole lot of pencil mileage going on in that big action set piece. (qtd. in “Episode Introduction to ‘Paradise Lost, Part 2’”)

Also impressed was Rich Fogel, who exclaimed, in an aforementioned January 25, 2002 interview with Comics Continuum, how “I still can’t believe some of the stuff they [the animation studio] pulled off” (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice League Update”). Concluding his thoughts on the episode, in a January 10, 2002 interview with Anime Superhero (formerly Toon Zone), he added the following:

The story turned out great, and—as Director Dan Riba points out—it plays like a Ray Harryhausen epic with lots of monsters and lots of magic.  This story also puts Wonder Woman squarely in the spotlight.  When her home on Themyscira is threatened, she is forced to make some hard choices.  Susan Sullivan is wonderful as Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother.  When Part Two came back from overseas, we were blown away by what our friends at KoKo had done.  It’s amazing!  This show should be a treat for anyone who enjoys adventure, myth, and magic. (qtd. in Harvey, “Rich”)

Commentary

In “Secret Origins,” Princess Diana of Themyscira defied her mother and left her magically-protected island to join the resistance against an alien invasion led by the Imperium. Roused to action by a series of “omens” (presumably the telepathic summons from J’onn J’onzz) foretelling the potential downfall of Man’s World, she left under cover of night and stole the enchanted armor and lasso created by Hephaestus and housed in the island’s temple dedicated to Athena (not officially named, but the presence of the owl as part of the goddess’ statue is a dead giveaway). Entering the world of men for the first time, she quickly joined forces with what would soon become known as the Justice League, a modern-day pantheon of super-powered beings, and they defeated the invasion. However, rather than return to Themyscira immediately after the threat was over, she elected to remain as Wonder Woman, joining the team full-time and choosing to stay in this strange, new world. In fact, at the beginning of “Paradise Lost,” we learn that eight months have passed since then. Eight months without checking in once with her mother and queen. With that in mind, we must ask the following: why the procrastination? Why did she choose Man’s World over Themyscira? Unfortunately, the Justice League series never delved too deeply into her reasoning, but we can speculate as to her motives based on the Wonder Woman comics, specifically the George Pérez, post-Crisis on Infinite Earths run that this Wonder Woman drew significant influence from. Based on the evidence provided, it can be speculated that Diana’s decision not to return to her home stemmed from a combination of innocence, curiosity, and fate.

Surprisingly, Diana’s origins predate ancient Greece entirely, beginning 30,000 BCE (Before Common Era) when a pregnant, prehistoric woman was murdered in an act of domestic violence by her mate. However, after the deed was done, her spirit—and the spirit of her unborn child—were taken by Gaea and held within the Cavern of Souls (also called the Well of Souls), a sort of holding area for the spirits of women murdered throughout pre-history by men. They remained there until a coalition of Greek gods—Athena, Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, and Aphrodite—seeking to create a new race of humans to honor them, called forth these ghosts to be reborn from water and clay into new bodies. These women arose from the waters and began their second lives as the Amazons.

The first Amazon to rise from the waters was the prehistoric woman from before, and she became Hippolyta, the leader of this race of women. The rest followed suit … save for the spirit of the unborn child from Hippolyta’s previous life who, at least for the moment, remained in the Cavern of Souls. Meanwhile, the Amazons built a matriarchal nation-state superior to the kingdoms of men, and the jealous men fought back through propaganda, with poets spinning stories of Amazon brutality. Meanwhile, Ares—who protested Artemis’ plans to create the Amazons in the first place—convinced Heracles to lead an army against them and, through trickery, the son of Zeus drugged Hippolyta and took her and her people prisoner. Through Athena’s intervention, Hippolyta and her people took their revenge on the army and travelled to the Aegean Sea, where their patron gods promised them a new home, as well as a penance for “losing their way.”

In exchange for immortality on a magically-protected island where they could rebuild Themyscira, the Amazons were tasked with becoming the guardians of the Gates of Tartarus (aka Doom’s Doorway) for all eternity. In addition, their patron gods decreed that no men should trespass upon the island. Freed from the troubles of the world-at-large, the Amazons rebuilt their civilization in isolation over the centuries. Finally, after 3,000 years had passed, the priestess Menalippe instructed Hippolyta to fashion a child from the island’s clay. The quintet of goddesses—and Hermes, for some reason—took the remaining spirit from the Cavern of Souls, gifted it with incredible power, and fused its being into the clay baby Hippolyta fashioned. Brought to life by the power of the gods, Princess Diana drew her first breath and became the first, and only, child to be born on Themyscira.

In addition to the above, “Paradise Lost” added another wrinkle to the character’s mythos, as—rather than displeasing the gods by straying from a vaguely-defined mission—Hippolyta had a liaison with the god Hades and unknowingly aided him by opening the Gates of Olympus to allow an attack by the Titans. As a consequence, Hades was condemned to Tartarus and Hippolyta (and, by extension, the other Amazons) were tasked with guarding the Gates of Tartarus as punishment. Later, in the Justice League Unlimited (JLU) episode “The Balance,” we would also learn that Hades helped Hippolyta fashion Diana’s body from clay prior to his imprisonment, implying that the god of the underworld is her unofficial father. Even though it complicates Wonder Woman’s story arc and timeline (did Hippolyta just have a clay statue of a baby in storage for thousands of years?), I like how the Amazons (and, more specifically, Hippolyta) are being punished for something concrete here rather than abstractly letting the gods down for some reason.

At any rate, young Diana was different from the other Amazons in that, while her essence spent thousands of years in the Cavern of Souls, her sisters and mother experienced firsthand the betrayal and brutality of men on at least two separate occasions: first, when they were murdered during their original lives and, second, when Heracles’ forces destroyed the original Themyscira and enslaved them during their second ones. And, in Hippolyta’s case, she experienced it a third time, when she was used by Hades during his attempt to overthrow Zeus and gain dominion over humanity (technically Hades is a male god, but he’s a man nonetheless). It was only after all this that Diana was born, and while it is true that she was taught about the dangers and evils of men by their ideology, she only knew about them secondhand, having no personal experience to back it up. As a consequence, Diana grew to maturity on Themyscira with an innocence that the other Amazons could never comprehend, and with that innocence came a curiosity regarding Man’s World.

Considering the circumstances, it is hard not to see why Diana would be interested in the world beyond Themyscira’s shores. For example, despite her royal status, Diana must have been something of an outsider to the other Amazons, seeing as they had little shared experience, as her late “birth” conveniently missed all of the darker parts of Amazon history (to use a World War II parallel, if the Amazons were the Greatest Generation, then Diana was a Baby Boomer). In addition, she was a child growing up on an island of adults, which meant that she had no friends or contemporaries that shared her experiences, leaving her to experience the trials and tribulations of childhood alone (the episode “Fury” introduced Aresia, a refugee who came to Themyscira as a child, but Diana admitted that “she was never really one of us”). This disconnect must have certainly been compounded when Diana’s metahuman powers began to manifest, granting her incredible strength, speed, and the power of flight. And while there were no doubt some Amazons that took pride in their princess, there may have been others who looked at her with suspicion, seeing her as just another super-powered, potential menace like Heracles (later, during Gail Simone’s run, she introduced The Circle—a group of Amazons who saw Diana as a destructive presence). At best, she may have had a childhood not unlike Clark Kent in Smallville, but while the Kents took great pains to keep their adopted son’s alien origin and powers a secret, everyone on Themyscira knew about how different Diana was, and her adolescent learning curve was an open secret to the entire population.

This existing difference between Diana and the Amazons would be compounded once one considers how, as a child, she would be in a completely different stage in life than her peers (and I use this term lightly; as I have stated previously, for Diana, growing up amongst the other Amazons must have felt like being around several thousand surrogate aunts). While Hippolyta and the Amazons had already lived two full lifetimes and could potentially be content in their isolation, Diana had just begun hers, and with adolescence comes a desire to see the world and meet new people, despite the horror stories presumably told to her by her contemporaries. In a 2020 interview with Dan Riba, Watchtower Database Producer James Strecker observed how Diana’s first scene on the beach in “Secret Origins” felt akin to Ariel in the 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid (a statement that Riba agreed with; “Great”), and I can certainly see the parallels between the two princesses and their desire to be “where the people are.”

If that isn’t enough evidence, consider that—whether she’s eighteen-to-twenty-two (as writer and JLU Producer Dwayne McDuffie previously speculated; Maestro) or several thousand years old (as writer and Producer Stan Berkowitz previously speculated; qtd. in “Justice”) at the beginning of Justice League—one would suspect that the tedium of immortality would weigh heavily upon someone in Diana’s position. At the low end of the timeline, an individual’s journey from youth to adulthood often involves venturing away from home to make their way in the world independent of their parents or guardians, which is something that would not be easy for someone sequestered away on an enchanted island. Trapped in a static existence, Princess Diana would have to contend with the fact that, as her mother was ageless and eternally young, she would never be called upon to become a queen herself. Likewise, trained as she was as an Amazon warrior, the hidden shores of Themyscira ensured that she would never be called upon to experience actual combat. And, of course, she would never be able to find herself a romantic or sexual partner, as it’s hard to date when your only options all remember you from when you were in diapers. Appraising her circumstances, one can appreciate her decisions to leave the island at the first legitimate opportunity to test her mettle and, afterwards, linger in Man’s World and experience the wonders of iced mochas and costumed crime-fighting.

Unfortunately, after experiencing her first pangs of homesickness, Diana returned to a Themyscira in flames, with her Amazon sisters turned to stone and its shores trespassed upon by Felix Faust. Upon seeing her mother’s petrified form, she immediately lamented how “I should’ve been there to protect you” when, all things considered, a pre-Wonder Woman Diana would have fallen victim to the intruder just as the others did. Temporarily forced into the mad academic’s service, she levelled the playing field by bringing members of the Justice League back to Themyscira to stop him, even though it meant violating one of its most sacred laws. Because of this action, Hippolyta decreed that Diana, her daughter, be exiled for the crime of bringing men to the island. Whereas before, she harbored a curiosity for Man’s World; now, it was her only refuge.

While a cruel, downbeat ending, story-wise it was necessary, as it removed from Wonder Woman the option of returning home whenever she wanted. During an interview on the Justice League: Season One DVD, Rich Fogel admitted that “in order for the chemistry in our group to work, we really needed to initially jettison all of the supporting characters from the other things so that it forced the heroes to interact with each other” (qtd. in “Inside”). For the team’s chemistry to coalesce, they needed to rely on each other, meaning that Diana needed to find solace with her teammates / found family in the Justice League rather than return to the familiar.

Of course, this decision would be reversed during the Justice League Unlimited (JLU) episode “The Balance,” where it was implied that she was being rewarded for performing a service for the gods, but it is worth noting that Diana’s banishment was always Hippolyta’s decision, as the gods never officially revealed their stance on the issue. Furthermore, Diana never paid any penalty for taking the armor from Athena’s temple in the first place, which is odd, considering how vindictive the goddess could be when crossed (ask Medusa or Arachne how their dealings with Athena [aka Minerva] went). In truth, the Greek pantheon of gods were often portrayed as punishing mortals for petty reasons, but at no time did Wonder Woman experience any sort of comeuppance for her theft of the armor, for leaving the island, or for bringing men onto said island. All things considered, it is possible that her actions were, in fact, the will of the gods. In Wonder Woman #1 (February 1987), Athena—while in the Cavern of Souls—observed that the unborn spirit of Diana possessed a “special destiny,” one that apparently required her to be born at a very specific place and time. Perhaps Wonder Woman avoided any divine punishment because, to them, she was always doing what she was meant to do.

Consider: at the beginning of Pérez’s run, Artemis proposed that the Amazons’ purpose was to “create a new race of mortals on Earth [that] shall make men worship [the gods] as never before” (Potter and Pérez 4). Perhaps Wonder Woman was the intended end result: a modern-day mythological hero that, through her actions, promotes the virtues of peace, love, and compassion that—for better or worse—the Amazons themselves attempted to preach to humanity millennia ago. In addition, she—by virtue of her very presence and deeds—brings the concept of the Greek pantheon of gods back into the minds of our civilization (similar to how the Thor movies must have brought a new generation to learn about the Norse gods). After all, according to Apollo in the aforementioned comic, “men worship the gods—and through their worship, we grow strong, [but] without their good will, we shall become as nothing in Man’s World” (Potter and Pérez 4). In the end, the gods were simply playing the long game, recognizing that Diana was always fated to leave Themyscira for the sake of their very existence.

To write this essay, I made extensive use of Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to the Amazon Princess, by Scott Beatty, which is a wonderful archive to the minutia behind the post-Crisis, pre-New 52 version of Wonder Woman.

Stray Observations

• The title of this episode, “Paradise Lost,” is obviously a reference to the 1667 epic poem written by the English poet John Milton. A reimagining of Biblical lore from the perspective of Satan, it details his fall from grace, as well as his attempts to get back at God by corrupting humanity. In many ways, the DCAU version of Hades is obviously a Satanic figure, and his punishment here at the hands of Zeus mirrors Satan’s punishment at the hands of God.

• As stated above, the episode’s story is based upon a combination of Justice League of America #10 (March 1962), featuring the Justice League acquiring artifacts for Felix Faust to unleash demonic horror, and lore from George Pérez’s post-Crisis Wonder Woman series.

• The episode begins with Superman and Wonder Woman assisting the population of Beach City, which is apparently an East Coast city near Metropolis, during a hurricane. The municipality appears to be an original creation, as it has no apparent counterpart in the DC comic books. Personally, I would have gone with Happy Harbor, but that’s just me.

• The weather event was identified as Hurricane Gardner, which is obviously named after famed comic book writer Gardner Fox, who (among other things) co-created both the Justice Society of America and the Justice League of America.

Top right: a panel from Watchmen #3 (November 1986). Bottom right: three panels from Watchmen #11 (August 1987).

• The Bernie’s News newsstand may be a reference to Bernie, the newsstand operator who was a supporting character in Alan Moore’s Watchmen. A street-level New Yorker who made appearances in multiple issues, he would later die during the series’ climax.

• Cassie, the child rescued by Wonder Woman from the tree during the storm, is a reference to Cassie Sandsmark, the second character to carry the mantle of Wonder Girl. First appearing in Wonder Woman #105 (January 1996), she was a daughter of Zeus (granddaughter post-New 52) who would later go on to serve as part of the Teen Titans.

• During the January 9, 2024 installment of the Justice League Revisited podcast, the hosts asked Dan Riba why the girl was up in the tree in the first place, as the storm had apparently been going on for a while, to which Reba replied how “maybe she was scared of the wind, and she got caught out there playing.  And she felt she was safer in the tree than anywhere else ‘cause it was cover” (qtd. in Eisenberg and Enstall). To their credit, the hosts were still not convinced. Seriously though, why was a child out playing in the street during a full-scale hurricane?!

• Neither the mother nor the child bothered to thank Wonder Woman for the rescue. Ingrates.

• I also like how Wonder Woman chooses to blow off the rest of hurricane duty to return home and check in with her mother. You can take care of this whole city that is, presumably, full of little girls stuck in trees by yourself, right, Supes?

• Seeking to make peace with her mother, Hippolyta, Wonder Woman borrows the Javelin-7 to fly back to Themyscira. It’s a good thing then that, in “Injustice for All,” it is revealed that the team also has access to one or more “shuttles” that serve as auxiliary vehicles should the Javelin be unavailable. As Diana “doesn’t know” when she’ll return, this ultimately becomes a necessary plot point.

• During her flight back, Wonder Woman shows a considerable amount of anxiety over what she would tell her mother upon her return. In the aforementioned 2002 interview with The World’s Finest, Joseph Kuhr spoke fondly of this scene, as “[t]he princess loses her ’superior-than-thou’ vibe when, like a high schooler who took mom’s car and stayed out all night, we see her desperately trying out different stories to tell mom when she gets home” (qtd. in Harvey, “Toon”).

• Unfortunately for Diana, she returns to find Themyscira in ruins, with buildings on fire and ships half-sunk in the harbor, and her Amazon sisters all turned to stone. This is some major damage considering that it was a skinny college professor with a Medusa amulet versus one of the fiercest armies on Earth. I cannot help but wonder what horrors Faust pulled from his magical bag of tricks to do all this.

• While surveying the damage, Wonder Woman calls out for “Phillipus” and “Antiope” when she sees their forms obscured by the smoke.

  • Debuting in Wonder Woman #1 (February 1987), Phillipus refers to the “General of the Amazon guard and Queen Hippolyta's most trusted advisor” (Beatty 17). In addition, she was tasked in training Diana and teaching her not to solely rely on her powers, serving—in many ways—as her mentor.

  • Based on a real mythological figure, Antiope first appeared in Wonder Woman #312 (February 1984). Originally Hippolyta’s actual sister, she was retooled post-Crisis into an Amazon who, following the slaughter of Heracles’ forces, renounced Athena and led a splinter group of her sisters to seek their own way. Though she would soon be murdered, her “lost tribe” would eventually settle in Egypt and found the city of Bana-Mighdall.

• Again, as she kneels before the stone body of her mother, Diana weeps and says, “I should’ve been there to protect you.” Let me reiterate: her presence would have made no difference. Without her eight months of field work with the Justice League, she would have been just another statue.

• Presumably a temple dedicated to Athena, the chamber where Diana discovers the statue of her mother is the same room from which she stole the enchanted armor and lasso in “Secret Origins.”

• Debuting in the aforementioned Justice League of America #10 (March 1962), Felix Faust is reimagined here as an archeology professor who became obsessed with magic, seeing it as a way to obtain what he refers to as “ultimate knowledge.” Later, in “The Balance,” we learn that Faust also took on the witch Tala as an apprentice, though I have previously speculated on who was really the alpha in that relationship.

• Felix Faust is named after Johann Georg Faust, the 15th century magician who would become something of a folk legend, leading to English playwright Christopher Marlowe immortalizing him in the 16th century play The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. A story about a scholar who sells his soul through a pact with the Devil to gain magical power, one can pick up on the obvious parallel.

• During a May 2005 Wizard interview, writer Geoff Johns attempted to clarify what made Felix Faust different from other magic users, such as Zatanna or Flash villain the Wizard. To him, Faust “gets his hands dirty—he’s more about a primitive magic, a blood ritual, a sacrificial spellcasting” (qtd. in Morse 17).

• The following is Cartoon Network’s profile for Felix Faust: “[a]n accomplished sorcerer, he is well-versed in the arcane and mystical arts.  He can summon powerful demons from the underworld.  […] The mad sorcerer […] will stop at nothing until he has achieved ultimate knowledge” (qtd. in Allstetter, “Justice League Characters”).

• During Wonder Woman’s interrogation of Faust, I like her pause after he volunteers that he is seeking “the fragments of an ancient, sacred relic.” To her credit, she immediately knew what Faust was up to, as well as the potential stakes.

• While unnamed in the episode, Faust’s primary weapon appears to be an amulet or stone disk containing the image of Medusa, which he uses to transform the Amazons into stone (for convenience’s sake, I’m referring to it as the Medusa amulet). Of course, in “This Little Piggy,” we would later encounter the actual Medusa, who is also a prisoner in Tartarus.

• As for his magical incantations, Joseph Kuhr revealed in the aforementioned 2002 interview the work that went into making Faust’s spells seem authentic:

To help me craft a convincing story, I do a lot of research.  Whatever topics the story touches on—science, mythology, magic—I hit the books, I do a Google search, I make some calls.  The professional term for this is “procrastination.”  For “Paradise Lost,” I found a graduate student in classical languages at UCLA to help me with the ancient Greek spells.  From him, I learned that ancient Greek magicians had their own versions of “Hocus Pocus” and “Alakazam,” so Faust’s spells ended up being a mix of authentic Greek and magical-sounding gibberish. (qtd. in Harvey, “Toon”)

• Freed temporarily from Faust’s enchantment, Hippolyta makes her first appearance since her cameo in “Secret Origins.”

• Once again, Queen Hippolyta is voiced by Susan Sullivan, an actor known for her appearances in television series such as Falcon Crest (1981-1990), Dharma & Greg (1997-2002), and Castle (2009-2016). In a December 24, 2001 interview with Comics Continuum, Rich Fogel praised Sullivan, saying how “Susan had never done a show like this before, and she was a little puzzled by all of the physical grunting and groaning that was required, [b]ut she delivered a sterling performance and provides all the royal stature, grandeur, and heart that the role demanded” (qtd. in “Justice League’s ‘Paradise’”).

• I have previously noted that, as Hippolyta here has blond hair, this design is based on her Silver and Bronze Age designs (compared to the Golden and post-Bronze ones, where the character is brunette, like her daughter). Based on recent research, however, I speculate that this was largely a design choice, as a dark-haired, eternally youthful Hippolyta would look virtually identical to Diana (which would, of course, be exacerbated by the minimalist, Bruce Timm-influenced art style). Also, considering the heavy influences from George Pérez’s post-Crisis revamp of the character, it’s a nice tribute to Wonder Woman’s pre-Crisis, Silver Age past.

• When Faust hands Wonder Woman the gems needed to track the artifacts, I like the detail that the sorcerer has long fingernails. Seems appropriate somehow.

• After Wonder Woman leaves Themyscira to seek the relics, Felix Faust takes a moment to check in with his ally. While not yet officially named, the iconography definitely implies somebody satanic or, at least, Satan-ish.

• It’s also worth noting that it is here where Faust first informs his infernal associate that the artifacts are being sought out by “the Amazon queen’s own daughter.” This detail will later serve as a significant plot point in Part Two.

• Apparently, Wonder Woman is smart enough to ask Batman for help in getting a background check on Felix Faust, but not smart enough to realize that, by getting him involved, he had the capacity to track the location of the Javelin-7 and send Superman to check up on her.

• According to Dan Riba in the aforementioned January 9, 2024 installment of the Justice League Revisited podcast, the museum (and, later, the mall) designs were based on existing ones from Superman: The Animated Series (STAS) and Batman Beyond that were retrofitted for Justice League (Eisenberg and Enstall).

• Breaking into a museum, the first thing that Wonder Woman notices is a an ancient vase dated to the sixth century BC, which she recognizes as made by Menalippe, presumably one of the Amazons. The name of several figures from Greek mythology, in Wonder Woman lore she was the Amazon priestess who initially tasked Hippolyta to create the clay infant that would become Diana. She first appeared in Wonder Woman #1 (February 1987).

• The marker in the museum identified Menalippe’s work as an “example of a red-figured amphora.” For the record, an amphora refers to a Greco-Roman-style jar featuring a two handles and a narrow neck.

• The first gem eventually leads Wonder Woman to the first artifact. Okay, dumb question: was this artifact always inside the vase, or was it placed there after the museum opened? If the former, I find it hard to believe that some archeologist didn’t try to get it out of the vase upon initial discovery (surely they would hear something rattling around inside), which would then awaken the guardian (for that matter, how did the guardian not wake up when the artifact was discovered and / or moved?). If the latter, however, how did the Amazons get the guardian inserted into the museum to watch it without tipping anyone off? I can just imagine the conversation between two museum security guards:

FIRST SECURITY GUARD: “Hey, Ralph, has that giant, bronze statue always been in this room?”

SECOND SECURITY GUARD: “Morton, we’ve worked here twenty years, and we still make minimum wage. Frankly, I don’t give a shit what statues are in this dump anymore.”

• While it looks cool on camera, Diana, it seems a little excessive breaking the vase open just to get the artifact out. I’m just sayin’.

• Attempting to obtain the artifact, Wonder Woman manages to trip not one, but two security alarms. The first one electronically activates the security barriers for the windows and skylight, while the second one mystically activates the bronze guardian who protects the artifact. We have a word for that where I come from: synergy.

• Facing off against the bronze colossus, Diana exclaims, “Great Gaia!” This marks the first time this series where one of her interjections invokes a god other than Hera.

• A fight ensues between Wonder Woman and the bronze statue, which ends with Diana decapitating the colossus and a confrontation with Superman, who was obviously sent by Batman to see what was going on. Now, to keep the episode’s action moving, the story continues focusing on the quest for the artifact fragments, but we have a problem here, as Wonder Woman has just committed several criminal acts as part of her quest (breaking and entering, theft and damage of museum property, etc.). After this episode, this incident is never referenced again. How does the Justice League deal with this?

  • Traditionally, as Wonder Woman is princess of Themyscira, one would think that there would be some kind of diplomatic immunity available. However, as with Aquaman in “The Enemy Below,” Themyscira (like Atlantis) is not yet recognized by the World Assembly (the United Nations of the DCAU) as a legitimate nation. And, at the moment, Wonder Woman—despite her activities in the past few episodes—has committed activities here that make her no better than Catwoman in the eyes of the law.

  • Fortunately for her, there is the matter of the presence of the enchanted bronze statue, which I’m certain was captured on camera fighting Wonder Woman via the museum’s security systems. That, along with an explanation that Wonder Woman was on a mission to safeguard the planet (and a hefty donation from the Wayne Foundation for repairs) was probably enough. There is also the matter that the museum has to reckon with the liability that they had an unknown magical booby trap on their property for potentially years. What if a robbery occurred during daylight hours, like the recent Louvre heist?

  • In the grand scheme of things, the Justice League would survive this black eye, though the incident would most likely be recorded in the ledgers of organizations such as Project: Cadmus.

• With Batman busy with his investigation into Felix Faust’s background, Superman pulls in J’onn J’onzz and the Flash to help Wonder Woman acquire the other two fragments. “C’mon, Diana. We can’t have you going around looting archeological sites and triggering ancient, magical traps to just to help a crazy sorcerer unleash unspeakable terrors upon the world … not without our help.”

• Splitting up into two teams, J’onn and the Flash take the Javelin-7 to either Central or South America to acquire the third artifact, located inside a Mesoamerican pyramid. Fortunately, the Flash easily finds the piece, leaving them plenty of time to deal with its guardian: a giant, fire-breathing snake.

• Eternal horndog that he is, the Flash’s fantasy of using iced mochas as a lure to seduce an island of beautiful Amazon women is a reference to “Secret Origins,” where he apparently got Wonder Woman hooked on blended, iced coffee drinks. Also, as Starbucks apparently holds the registered trademark on the word “Frappuccino,” this is most likely why the show had to use the more generic term “iced mocha” in the script.

• Poking fun at J’onn’s general disinterest in his daydream, the Scarlet Speedster quips that his partner “really [is] from Mars.” This is a reference to the popular relationship book “Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus” (1992), written by relationship counselor and author John Gray.

• Tracking the final artifact fragment to a shopping mall, Superman tells the audience exactly what the creative team thought about our now-obsolete centers of commerce back then.

• One of the mall displays features mannequins based on recycled models from The New Batman / Superman Adventures. Now, I cannot fully place the first figure on the far left, but the hair, boots, sunglasses, and jacket over the shoulder make it resemble one of Poison Ivy’s outfits from the TNBA episode “Holiday Knights.” The center figure’s look was based on the Mary Jane Watson look-alike cage dancer from the STAS episode “World’s Finest.” Finally, the figure on the far right features one of Gsptlsnz’s many costume changes from the STAS episode “Mxyzpixilated.”

• Locating the buried artifact using his X-ray vision, Superman retrieves the item and, following a flash of light, both heroes are magically hypnotized into seeing the other one as a monster. And then, three, two, one … FIGHT SCENE!!!

• Meanwhile, J’onn and the Flash make short work of the fire-breathing snake, even though—in the comics—fire is Martian Manhunter’s main weakness. The reason this wrapped up so quickly is most likely because the creative team wanted to maintain their focus on Wonder Woman.

• It’s a long shot, but the giant snake may be a reference to Quetzalcōātl, a “feathered serpent” deity sacred to the Aztecs, as well as to other Mesoamerican cultures.

• Seeking information about Felix Faust, the Dark Knight tracks down Professor Erlich, presumably a former colleague to the mad sorcerer. I find it interesting how the name “Erlich” is similar to the word “eldritch,” an adjective that was a favorite of pulp fiction author H.P. Lovecraft.

• With the other heroes’ plotlines temporarily serviced, the screen time returns to the Superman and Wonder Woman brawl, which was already in progress. Of the conflict, many fans were critical of the Man of Steel’s showing against the Amazing Amazon, questioning whether Diana could take him down as easily as she did (obviously, this also fed into the ongoing narrative that Superman was portrayed as weaker during Season One). In the aforementioned episode introduction on the 2003 Justice League:  Justice on Trial DVD, Bruce Timm attempted to walk viewers through his logic:

Probably the big centerpiece of Part One is the big Wonder Woman / Superman fight that takes place in the second act.  This goes back to taking a hint from the comics:  there was a large-size comic that came out in the ‘70s [NOTE: Timm was most likely referring to All New Collectors’ Edition: Superman vs. Wonder Woman #C-54 <January 1978>]; it was Wonder Woman versus Superman, and it was, basically, kind of a hokey reason for them to get together and fight.  That’s something that comic book fans have a tendency to talk about amongst themselves anyway, so you’re always wondering, well, who’s stronger or who would win in a given fight.  You know, it’s like, “Oh, if Plastic Man and Elongated Man fought, who would win?”  So, we thought that it would be really fun to do, and we came up with what I think is a pretty clever way of getting them to fight each other without knowing that they’re fighting each other.

I know some of the fans on the Internet were saying, “Well, how could Wonder Woman beat Superman?”  She doesn’t actually—we never actually come down and say what exactly their respective power levels are, but we’ve always kind of assumed that she’s almost in his class.  I mean, she’s a pretty strong character, and she has a lot of the same power levels and abilities that he does:  she flies, she’s super-strong, she’s super-invulnerable, super-tough.  You know, we certainly thought that they would be a pretty even match in a fight.  It’s important to realize also that—at a certain point—he realizes what’s going on and holds back.  So, you know, it’s pretty much a draw, even though she gets a little bit of the better of him during the fight. (qtd. in “Episode Introduction to ‘Paradise Lost, Part 1’”)

• In addition to the above, other members of the creative team backed up Timm’s justifications regarding Superman’s alleged restraint. For example, in a March 16, 2004 post on his now-defunct Delphi message boards, Dwayne McDuffie discussed how, even before learning that the monster was Diana, “Superman was holding back [in “Paradise Lost”] until he was sure how hard to hit Wonder Woman (who he thought was a monster) without killing her” (Maestro). And Dan Riba, during the aforementioned January 9, 2024 installment of the Justice League Revisited podcast, added the following:

The way that we […] retconned a little bit to sort of justify Superman’s [loss is] that he’s pulling punches—always—until he’s fighting [someone like] Mongul or Darkseid.  He’s never really trying to kill anybody.  He just wants to fight, you know, to stop whatever’s happening.  But he doesn’t want to kill, and so he’s always going to pull his punches to some degree.  So, there is that aspect of it because he figures it out before she does, and he gets his ass kicked soundly because he’s trying to stop [Wonder Woman].  But even before that, who knows if he’s, like, “I don’t know what this monster is; how hard do I hit it?”  So, there’s always a little bit of that with Superman. (qtd. in Eisenberg and Enstall)

• Once again, Wonder Woman is guilty of several crimes, only this time it’s with Superman, and they don’t have the bronze colossus to blame part of it on. Once again, another check from Bruce Wayne, and another footnote in Cadmus’ files. Also, on a related note, does the Justice League have a public relations office or, at least, a representative? If this type of property damage will be the norm going forward, they should probably get one.

• Checking back with Felix Faust on Themyscira, we learn that his infernal benefactor has been imprisoned for “over three thousand years.” This roughly tracks with the Wonder Woman comics, where the infant Diana was created / born shortly after the “30th centennial of Paradise Island” (Potter and Pérez 24). Either way, Themyscira is roughly been around for three millennia.

  • Once again, considering Hades’ aforementioned claims in “The Balance,” it really does screw up Diana’s timeline—was her infant, clay form created 3,000 years ago (with Hades’ assistance) or 3,000 years after Themyscira was created (without Hades, but comics accurate)?

  • The only way this syncs up is if Hades is lying … from a certain point of view. Perhaps Hippolyta created baby Diana alone but with Hades in mind, choosing to sculpt her with some of her “father’s” features (such as his thick, dark hair). This way, Hades would have been partially truthful, saying how Hippolyta created her “as a reminder” of him.

• His investigation complete, Batman calls his teammates to Faust’s residence, where they compare notes regarding their enemy. I must confess that the backgrounds in this scene (particularly the mystic artifacts on shelves) are inferior compared to previous DCAU productions.

• The bauble on top of the scepter the Flash accidentally activates resembles the Eye of Agamotto, the mystical amulet worn by Marvel Comics’ Doctor Strange (rendered above right by Bruce Timm).

• I like how Batman’s admonishment of the Flash was strong enough to prompt both Superman and J’onn to put back what they were touching.

• Felix Faust’s revenge against his colleagues—turning them to stone, and then transforming their faces into wall art—for their mockery, as well as for him losing his university position, was particularly dark. There was no way Broadcast Standards & Practices would have let the creative team get away with this on either Fox or Kids’ WB! Still, as a fellow academic, I can relate.

• When Wonder Woman refers to Tartarus, Superman stupidly asks “isn’t that just a myth?” Dude, Diana is literally a mythological figure. Also, you yourself went to an underworld in the STAS episode “The Hand of Fate.” Get with the program, Supes.

• Speaking of previous continuity, considering the stakes, I can think of at least two characters from STAS and TNBA that the World’s Finest could have called for back-up: Doctor Fate and Jason Blood / Etrigan the Demon. Now, as a television series, I get that the creative team wanted to 1) break from continuity and 2) maintain their focus on the Big Seven for Season One but, story-wise, I'm surprised that neither Batman or Superman even considered reaching out to their old mystical contacts for support.

• It is worth noting that the artwork used during Hippolyta and Hades’ flashback sequence was more than regular animation art. As recounted by Rich Fogel in a January 23, 2002 interview with Anime Superhero (formerly Toon Zone), “[t]his is not merely a storyboard.  The actual, finished art that you’ll see on that screen was hand drawn and colored by the illustrious Bruce Timm.  […]  He never ceases to amaze me!” (qtd. in Harvey, “Timm”). Later, when reflecting on his work during an interview with RetroVision CD-ROM Magazine, the ever-humble Timm referred to it as “quite nice” (qtd. in Gross 11).

• It is also worth noting that Hades’ plan—allying himself with the Titans in a bid to invade Mount Olympus and overthrow Zeus—mirrors a similar plot from the 1997 Disney animated film, Hercules.

• Only now, after collecting the pieces and Batman’s investigation, does Wonder Woman reveal to the others that the artifacts they’ve been collecting are, in fact, the key to the Gates of Tartarus. I’m really struggling to figure out Diana’s plan here. Obviously, she does not trust Faust, nor does she want him to succeed, but she refuses to leave the Amazons trapped as stone warriors. Perhaps she was attempting to formulate a plan of some kind while retrieving the artifacts and, when that didn’t work, she decided that the only course of action was to bring men onto the island as backup.

• During this scene, Wonder Woman implies that there are four pieces to the key: the three they collected, and one that Hippolyta kept “in the temple as a daily reminder of her eternal shame.” This implies that Diana took the first piece that Faust collected so Batman could assemble the pieces for the dramatic reveal in this scene. Man, Felix Faust must have been pretty confident that Wonder Woman wasn’t about to take the piece and hide it somewhere else.

• It is worth noting that, in the original story in Justice League of America #10 (March 1962), Felix Faust attempted to free the Demons Three—Abengazar, Rath, and Ghast—by retrieving three relics—the Red Jar of Calythos, the Green Bell of Uthool, and the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath. It’s nice to see that, for his Justice League appearance, Faust traded up to a higher class of demon.

• While a no-show in “Paradise Lost,” the Demons Three would later make a cameo in the JLU episode “The Balance.”

• For an unknown reason, the texture of the Amazon statues has changed between Part One (above top left) and Part Two (above top right), as has the transmutation from flesh to stone (bottom row).

• Their transaction complete, Felix Faust’s immediate attempt to transform both Hippolyta and Wonder Woman into stone is foiled by the Flash, who snatches the Medusa amulet out of his hands at super-speed. Suddenly, I don’t feel so bad about him being double-crossed by Hades in a later scene.

• Confronted by the Justice League, Faust engages them in battle, culminating in Superman, J’onn J’onzz, and the Flash finding themselves tangled in enchanted vines. I can’t help but wonder if Batman looked at this, remembered countless encounters with Poison Ivy, and thought, “God, this again?”

• During the scene where Faust attempts to take out the Flash with energy blasts, eagle-eyed viewers may notice that a clip from the STAS episode “Speed Demons” is inserted into the action. In a May 20, 2005 message board post on Anime Superhero (formerly Toon Zone), Bruce Timm explained why the material was recycled:

You’ll notice that right before the “reuse” footage, Flash is running away from Faust; we needed to have him coming toward Faust, but [we] just didn’t have the shot.  And asking for all-new animation that late in the game is pretty much out of the question; [it] gets very expensive.  “Paradise Lost” was only the third [Justice League episode], so we had very little footage to choose from, but [we] remembered that shot from “Speed Demons” [and] plunked it in.

My film editor and I were worried the shot stood out like a sore thumb (the film grain is a dead giveaway), but we ran the footage for several people, including the [episode’s] director, Dan Riba, and nobody noticed it, even on repeat viewings.  The eagle-eyed fans, however…!

In hindsight, we probably shoulda just gone with the iffy continuity [and] left out the “Speed Demons” footage.  Ah well, live and learn. (b.t.)

• Not to contradict Bruce Timm, but “Paradise Lost” was actually the fifth multi-part episode in terms of production order, with Parts One and Two serving as episodes ten and eleven, respectively. That said, one must take into account that, after a while, the recollection of production probably gets a little blurry over time.

• Comparing the backgrounds of both scenes reproduced above, they both oddly sync up quite nicely (the stone column on the far left and the computer bank, the two doorways, the debris, etc.).

• When the Justice League first appeared, Hippolyta recoiled in shock and horror, taken aback that her daughter brought men onto Themyscira. However, well into the fight, we later see that, while the Justice League continues to struggle against Felix Faust, the Amazon queen remains rooted on the stairs, passively watching the action. What the hell? Either she is physically weak from her transformation (unlikely, considering how quickly she grabbed a sword in Part One) or she is so repulsed by their presence that she refuses to fight by their side. Considering how, during their later battle with Hades’ forces, she was only shown fighting side-by-side with Wonder Woman, I’m inclined to believe that it’s the latter.

• With the Justice League busy with the vines, Felix Faust takes both the key and Hippolyta to the underworld gate. Man, I hope that being turned into stone and back really did take a toll on her because she makes a pathetic showing here attempting to resist a scrawny academic.

• Leading her friends to the catacombs underneath Themyscira, they discover the remains of an underground, ancient city. This could be a reference to the Necropolis, aka the City of the Dead, which is “where the Amazons killed in battle reside for eternity” (Beatty 15).

• The Justice League arrives just in time to see Felix Faust open the Gates of Tartarus to free his benefactor. As previously stated, this portal to the underworld is also known as Doom’s Doorway in the Wonder Woman mythos, and it first appeared in Wonder Woman #1 (February 1987).

• Emerging from the infernal fires, Faust’s ally turns out to be Hades, the Greek god of the dead and lord of the underworld. A mainstay of Wonder Woman lore, he first appeared (as his Roman equivalent, Pluto) in Wonder Woman #16 (Summer 1946), and he made his first post-Crisis appearance in Wonder Woman #12 (January 1988).

• In an episode introduction on the 2003 Justice League:  Justice on Trial DVD, Bruce Timm discussed the adaption of the Greek god for Justice League:

There’s a character in the comics who’s a Wonder Woman villain named Ares, who is the Greek god of war, and he didn’t really quite fill the bill for this story the way the story was structured.  We really needed somebody who was a little bit more of a traditional Satanic figure.  We instead chose the Greek version of Satan, who was Hades. There are some interesting twists that we did with his character—when we first see him, he comes walking out of the flames, and he looks really, you know, mean and scary, and he’s got that nasty helmet on.  Then, he takes the helmet off and, wow, he’s kinda good-looking, and then his true nature is revealed later on, so I thought that was an interesting twist.

We worked with John [Rhys-Davies] before, and he’s a great guy and, obviously, a terrific actor, and he had just come from New Zealand from shooting The Lord of the Rings movies.  And he had an opening in his schedule and was happy to come in and work with us.  He really brought out a real nasty edge to this character.  It’s interesting because he normally plays good guys in movies, you know, from the Indiana Jones movies and The Lord of the Rings movies.  So, he really got to twirl his mustache a lot of this one and pretty much hit it out of the park. (qtd. in “Episode Introduction to ‘Paradise Lost, Part 2’”)

Above, left to right: Hades, from “Paradise Lost”; Ares, from the cover of Wonder Woman #6 (July 1987); a pin-up of Lord Satanus, and a pin-up of Blaze.

• In regard to Hades’ design, he obviously draws influence from George Pérez’s Ares but, in addition, I also see traces of frequent Superman adversaries Lord Satanus and Blaze, particularly in the helmet.

• As stated above, Hades is voiced by actor John Rhys-Davies, an actor best known for his roles as Sallah, in the Indiana Jones film series; Gimli, in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy; and Professor Maximillian Arturo, in the television series Sliders (1995-2000).

• It is worth noting that there is a discrepancy regarding when John Rhys-Davies actually recorded for Hades. As stated above, Timm recalls how the actor had just returned from filming The Lord of the Rings (“Episode Introduction to ‘Paradise Lost, Part 2’”), but according to Dan Riba in the aforementioned January 9, 2024 installment of the Justice League Revisited podcast, he recalls how “this was recorded just before he left [for] New Zealand.  This was like a week or two before.  He was very excited that he was going to be in the movie.  So, this is so cool ‘cause we got him pre-Lord of the Rings.  Just before” (qtd. in Eisenberg and Enstall). That said, considering how the films were shot simultaneously from October 1999 to December 2000, I'm inclined to believe Bruce Timm (though Riba could have been referring to pick-up material filmed between 2001 and 2003).

• As Bruce Timm alluded to above, this is not the first time that John Rhys-Davies has materialized in the DCAU, having appeared previously as Baron Wacklaw Josek in the BTAS episode “The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy.” In addition, he also voiced Edgar Mandragora in The Zeta Project episode “Ro’s Gift.”

• Regarding his performance, Superman voice actor George Newburn spoke favorably of him in a November 2005 interview, saying how “John Rhys-Davies (Hades) is a great English actor.  He’s a very large, barrel-chested guy.  I always liked his work.  He did two or three episodes for us and that was a kick” (qtd. in Rossen 48). However, he may have been too good, as Dan Riba (in the aforementioned January 9, 2024 installment of the Justice League Revisited podcast) recalled how some of the “lines that he gave made us uncomfortable,” and they had to tone down some of the “licking and weird things that were in the board” for broadcast (qtd. in Eisenberg and Enstall). In addition, Wonder Woman voice actor Susan Eisenberg volunteered how Rhys-Davies’ performance “made me uncomfortable [with] the things he was saying” (qtd. in Eisenberg and Enstall).

• To Riba and Eisenberg’s credit, Hades’ blocking and dialogue are intended to be unsettling, such as when, upon his release, he immediately paws at Hippolyta’s face and says how “not a day has passed that I haven’t longed to feel the sweet touch of living flesh again.” This was the first line intended to disturb viewers, but it would not be the last.

• Demanding that Hades honor his bargain, the dark god provides Felix Faust “ultimate knowledge,” but Hades pulls a fast one, accelerating his lifespan to old age, saying how “pain and suffering are all man will ever know.” Even though Faust deserved what he got, it was still a dick move on behalf of Hades.

• Was this really necessary, Hades? I mean, sure, Felix Faust was a schmuck, but he got results and delivered on his side of the bargain even with the intervention of the Justice League. Would it have been too much of an imposition to guide the scholar to his private library and tell him to fuck off unless needed? In “The Balance,” Faust admitted that there was enough reading material there to keep him busy for the next 5,000 years. Problem solved. Instead, Hades set the stage for his later comeuppance.

• When first encountering Wonder Woman, the lecherous Hades exclaims, “Hippolyta, you didn’t tell me you had a daughter; I wonder if she’s as loving as her mother.” Already laden with incestuous undertones, it becomes worse after watching “The Balance,” where Hades claims status as her father, as he alleges that he helped Hippolyta sculpt the infant Diana’s form. It’s unsettling, but considering the sexual activities of the Greek gods—Zeus and Hera are brother and sister; Ares and Aphrodite are half-siblings, etc.—it’s pretty par for the course.

• Stepping up to aid Diana, the Justice League engages the god in combat. Of particular note here is the Flash, who begins raining blows on Hades at super-speed. Of course, Hades retaliates with his fire breath, chasing him amongst the ruins. Still, he put on a good showing.

• Another notable scene here features Hades catching a Batarang and casually examining it before it explodes in his face. Moments later, he would go on to swat another one away as if it was a fly. Yup, Batman’s out of his league here.

• Enraged that he would be challenged by mortals, Hades raises an army of zombies to fight his opponents and, despite their decay, they look decidedly male. Considering the presence of the nearby ruins, I have to ask: was there an ancient civilization on this island that the Amazons had to wipe out to build Themyscira? Their presence on a historically women-only island just seems a little too convenient.

• Considering Dan Riba’s previous mention of the works of famed animation and special effects creator Ray Harryhausen (see “Background” essay above), it stands to reason that Hades’ undead army is a reference to the skeleton warriors from the classic 1963 epic fantasy film, Jason and the Argonauts.

• Again, is it just me, or does Wonder Woman and Hippolyta’s fight against Hades’ forces seem separate from Superman, Batman, Flash, and J’onn J’onzz’s fight with them? Now, obviously Diana is fighting by her mother’s side to protect her, but I’m getting a strong vibe that Hippolyta is actively avoiding her daughter’s male teammates … like she doesn’t even want to recognize their presence.

• Decrepit, but not powerless, Felix Faust rises once more to attack Hades with a blast that reveals his true, demonic form. Considering the somewhat canine features, as well as the three tongues, I suspect that this look is meant to evoke the three-headed dog, Cerberus.

• Following some additional sexual innuendos (“I’ll get to you when I’m finished with your mother”), Hippolyta directs Diana to destroy he key. Fortunately for them, its destruction causes a vacuuming effect that attempts to suck Hades back into the pit.

• Wait, the doorway to Tartarus has been just standing open all this time? As we will soon learn in JLU episodes like “This Little Piggy” and “The Balance,” Tartarus is full of both demons and damned that would love nothing more than to escape. Chalk it up to a premise added later to the series. Besides, adding a phalanx of demons to Hades’ forces would have made it impossible for the good guys to prevail.

• Still suffering the ill effects of Hades’ boon, Felix Faust dies and turns to dust; his remains are then swept into Tartarus via the maelstrom. We would later learn, in “The Balance,” that Tala herself traveled to the Greek underworld to retrieve his mortal remains, eventually placing his spirit into an enchanted mirror.

• In a Herculean feat, Wonder Woman manages to rescue Hippolyta and return Hades to the underworld while literally dragging herself and her mother out of hell before the gates closed. Good thing that the Gates of Tartarus were designed to shut themselves after Hades was sucked back in, am I right?

• The cataclysm averted, Diana asks her mother about her relationship with Hades, to which she wryly replied that it was “ancient history.” Based on mythological precedent, I wonder how much of a willing participant Hippolyta actually was regarding Hades’ advances. More often than not, mortals were stuck in a quandary where they either 1) reject the god’s advances and be punished or 2) accept the god’s advances and be punished later by the god’s wife. Did Persephone ever try to punish Hippolyta for Hades’ infidelity?

• Moments later, Hippolyta thanks Athena that the crisis is over. Obviously, it makes sense that the Amazons would use their deities’ names for thanks or interjections in their speech (like Batman saying “My God” in the BTAS episode “Heart of Ice”), but I cannot help but wonder why Diana mainly evokes Hera instead of someone like Athena considering how 1) Hera had no direct hand in the creation of the Amazons or Themyscira and 2) Athena is often portrayed as Wonder Woman’s mentor and patron goddess, with the Amazon often standing in as her champion (such as in Wonder Woman #213 [April 2005], where Diana aids Athena when she stages a coup against Zeus and takes his throne). Sure, it’s a minor nitpick, but it is a curious choice.

• Deus ex machina! As Themyscira needs to reset before the end of the episode, Flash happens to allow the morning’s light to hit the Medusa amulet, triggering it to return the Amazons back into flesh and bone (and clothing, apparently, but that’s how it worked on Gargoyles). And Batman’s line about how “Faust’s enchantment could only last as long as he willed it”—as well as Wonder Woman's follow-up, “so, now that he’s gone, the spell is broken”—removes the ambiguity! Good job, creative team!

• Wait, does magic really work like that? Remember Dr. Strange’s line in Avengers: Infinity War (2018): “You’ll find removing a dead man’s spell troublesome?” Oh, well … I’m well aware of how there’s no definite set of rules when it comes to using magic in a story. It’s always different spell, different magician, different story, and different creative team.

• Does this mean that the remains of Faust’s former colleagues (you know, the ones that are hanging on the wall of his residence) have changed back from stone as well? Eww.

• In what I assume was a hastily-arranged ceremony, Hippolyta honors the male members of the Justice League with what appear to be gold laurel wreaths. Traditionally made from the leaves of bay laurels, they were often awarded for special achievement.

• Upon first receiving his laurel wreath, I love how the Flash accidentally puts it on backwards first, like it’s a baseball cap. In a later scene, however, he corrects it.

• I also like the callback to the Flash’s fantasy from earlier, where he tries to hit on an Amazon soldier who, based on her reaction, would rather kill him that look at him. Of course, based upon a similar exchange in “The Brave and the Bold,” this appears to be the reaction that most women have with him during Season One.

• After such a heartwarming scene, the next one acts like a punch to the gut, as Hippolyta banishes her daughter from Themyscira for the crime of bringing men onto the island (never mind that Felix Faust was there first, as well as what appears to have been the remains of ancient dead men already there for millennia).  According to Dan Riba in the aforementioned January 9, 2024 installment of the Justice League Revisited podcast, he hated to do this do Diana, but her actions needed to have consequences:

Even the right decisions for an ancient bureaucracy, you know, it’s like, “these are the rules.  […]  We live by these rules, and we can’t change them because this is the way the island was established.”  So, you know, there has to be some kind of consequence, and so even though it seems insane because they all came in, and they helped, and they helped preserve the island.  They saved their lives, and it’s, like, [SARCASTIC] “Thanks a lot.”  [PAUSE.]  Well, they gave them little gold wreaths, I know, but there had to be a consequence.  […] It kills me.  You’d think that, you know, you can make an exception, right?  And they’re like, “No, no.” (qtd. in Eisenberg and Enstall)

• During Diana’s punishment, Hippolyta conveniently forgets to address the matter of the theft of the enchanted armor and lasso (stolen in “Secret Origins”), nor does she bother to unlock the “bonus features” that she would later provide in “The Balance.”  I’m guessing this was due to either parental grief or passive-aggressiveness, though the latter was more likely because the creative team hadn’t thought of it yet. Still, now I can’t stop thinking that the Wonder Woman of the first three seasons of Justice League / JLU was basically Ralph Hinkley from The Greatest American Hero.

• To her credit, Diana handles her banishment stoically, though seeing her tears at her mother literally turning her back on her was devastating.  Obviously, the Flash’s protests were the audiences’ thoughts regarding the perceived injustice of the decision, and Batman silencing him cemented the reality of the moment.  Powerful stuff.

• Listed as “Amazon Officer” in the closing credits, the black Amazon calling her officers to present arms for the departing princess is obviously the aforementioned General Phillipus (seen above right).

• Watching the Javelin-7 fly away, Hippolyta mourns the loss of her daughter, who has now become a part of Man’s World.  Her hands tied by mandate of the gods, Diana has been cast out of paradise and must now make her way in unknown lands.

• Unpopular opinion:  harsh as this may be, Wonder Woman is better off.  While it’s painful to be forbidden from returning home again, there is nothing left for her in Themyscira.  Her people, while family, have twice failed at the tasks the gods have given them, having neither inspired mankind by example or defending the Gates of Tartarus.  In truth, they are a failed experiment and, to make it worse, they appear untouched by the passage of time, and I don’t mean their eternal youth.  The pre-Crisis Paradise Island was a place of progress and advanced technology, with its invisible jets, purple healing rays, and mental radios. In contrast, Pérez’s Themyscira is perpetually stuck in the Bronze Age, implying a culture that has apparently stagnated.  In order to fulfil the “special destiny” Athena laid out for her, Diana had to leave, and Themyscira was holding her back.

• Of course, as previously stated, this story line would be revisited in the JLU episode “The Balance,” and Queen Hippolyta would periodically return in other episodes such as “Fury” and “Hereafter.” As for the Greek gods themselves, they would continue to be invested in their champion, with various ones showing up from time to time.

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Images—unless otherwise indicated—courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, DC Comics, the Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Feature Animation, 20th Century Television, Hulu, the Curiosity Company, and the estate of Boris Karloff. YouTube videos courtesy of the DisneyMusicVEVO and Creature Feature channels.