When it was announced that Warner Brothers was delivering a third season of the beloved animated ‘Young Justice’ via its new DC Universe streaming service, fans were ecstatic. But when the subtitle of the series was revealed– ‘Young Justice: Outsiders’– many were curious. There is a team in DC Comics called ‘The Outsiders’, but was this title to be taken literally, or was it just a nod to the comics that referenced something else?
Warner Brothers has released a new image from ‘Young Justice’ season three and it appears that the show is literally introducing a team based on the comic book heroes. There have been multiple iterations of The Outsiders. Batman formed the original lineup, but the group has operated without him. Nightwing led a newer version in the early 2000s.
It looks as if the animated team will mash together various lineups. The presence of Nightwing to the far right implies that he will be the hero responsible for assembling them. On the far left is obviously Katana, a founding member of the Batman-led version who returned for later relaunches.
Beside her appears to be Geo-Force, who has worn a green costume at times and was, like Katana, a founding member, so his inclusion would make sense. Geo-Force has Earth-based powers, including the ability to project lava, create earthquakes and manipulate gravity. He is most notable for being the adoptive brother of the traitorous Teen Titan Terra, who was taken in by his parents, the King and Queen of Markovia. Terra hasn’t appeared on ‘Young Justice’ but was a prominent member of the ‘Teen Titans’ on that series.
Skipping ahead a bit, standing beside/behind Nightwing seems to be Metamorpho, who is heavily modified from his comic book appearance. Metamorpho first appeared in 1965, headlined his own stories at times and also worked with the Justice League. He is nicknamed “the Element Man” because he can convert his body into any mixture of elements from the Periodic Table, which also allows him to shapeshift.
The two in the center are more of an enigma. It has been speculated that the large red insect-like character is Forager of the New Gods. The finale of Season Two showed that the New Gods were about to enter the equation, so that could be true.
Finally, the figure floating above the others is the biggest mystery. At the top of this picture is the image of Black Lightning, between Tigress and Superboy. Black Lightning was also a founding member of the Outsiders in the comics, so his presence makes sense. But Black Lightning was only a minor character in the prior episodes of ‘Young Justice’. But he could be taking a more active role with this group because one of them is his daughter. His older child, Anissa, a.k.a. Thunder, was a member of Nightwing’s Outsiders but she had the power to create shock waves, which doesn’t appear to be this character’s ability. Plus it would be redundant if Geo-Force is present.
It could be Black Lightning’s younger daughter, Jennifer a.k.a. Lightning. However, although she is glowing with power, it doesn’t appear to be electric in nature. Some have speculated that it could be a newer character named Solstice, an Indian girl with light powers and that certainly seems to fit this character.
It’s also possible that this is a modified version of Halo, another founding member of the comic book Outsiders. She has the power to glow in various colors of the spectrum, with each colored aura granting her a different power. (Maybe her suit changes color to match her auras and she is simply using the orange power here?) The big variation from the comics, though is her skin tone. The comic book character is Caucasian, while this hero has brown skin, however, an African American version of Halo appeared in the Elseworlds miniseries ‘Justice League: The Nail II’.
‘Young Justice: Outsiders’ will be one of the initial offerings when Warner Brothers rolls out their DC Universe streaming service later this year, although a date has not been announced.
What do you think about these Outsiders? Any guesses on the more mysterious figures?
Source: Newsarama
