A storyboard artist on Young Justice's fourth season, Christopher Jones spoke with The Direct about the show's detailed future canon, which does exist despite the series' uncertain future.
Young Justice fans know that much of the show is mapped out, with creators confirming that they know what they would want for a season five — and six and seven, at that. Production for any of that, however, has not been green-lit.
Insider reports indicated that prospects for a potential fifth season of the DC animated show seem bleak, and Jones shared that following the last issue of his tie-in comic Young Justice: Targets, there was no official word yet.
But fans continue to hope. Despite the show being off the air for several years, it made a surprise return in 2019 with its third season, followed by a fourth season which finished in 2022. Plus, the creators have said that the show "NEVER ENDS" and that there will always be new ideas for future stories.
What's the Future of Young Justice's Canon Timeline?
At New York Comic Con, Christopher Jones, storyboard artist on Young Justice: Phantoms and artist on the show's tie-in comics, spoke with The Direct about the detailed knowledge the show's creative team has on the Young Justice universe's past, present, and future.
Jones first confirmed that Young Justice creators and developers Greg Weissman and Brandon Vietti "have a lot of ideas spelled out," be they ideas for future stories" or events that connect the dots between "events in the continuity:"
"Greg and Brandon both have a lot of ideas spelled out that are either ideas for future stories or are just part of a timeline that helps the cause and effect of events in the continuity of 'Young Justice' stories make sense to them, whether or not those details ever make it into a narrative."
Despite there being no word on whether the show will continue, Jones discussed how thorough the universe's canon truly is. He explained that "a character list of every DC Comics character or original character that has appeared in Young Justice" exists, from the most prominent heroes to one-off extras in the background:
"I haven't sat down and read this list myself. But I know Greg Weisman, working with Brandon, maintains ... a character list of every DC Comics character or original character that has appeared in Young Justice — and I'm not just talking like major super heroes and super villains, I mean, the waitress number two at Bibbo's restaurant. So if we've seen them, there's a record of them on a list of established characters in that universe."
Furthermore, Jones noted how Weisman keeps "a timeline of events" in the Young Justice universe that begins at "the known origins of the universe" and stretches to "at least ... the timeframe of the Legion of Super Heroes, if not further:"
"Similarly, [Weisman] has a timeline of events that at this point goes from ... the known origins of the universe, to, at least now, the timeframe of the Legion of Super Heroes, if not further into the future than that."
He said that the two creators have "story ideas on index cards ... up on a wall" and that these ideas are constantly being shifted and moved when "they organize a character arc for a season or plot elements" and determine "the season arc:"
"If anyone's a fan of Greg's or has followed his stories about his writing process, they may have heard that part of the way he works and the way he and Brandon work on stories for Young Justice together is they will write story ideas on index cards and put them up on a wall. And by rearranging and organizing those cards, they organize a character arc for a season, or plot elements and organize them down into the plot of an individual episode, for structuring those arcs across multiple episodes to form the season arc."
Jones explained that this index-card-timeline is not exclusive to stories that have been or necessarily will be adapted — be it into a show or tie-in comic or anything else. It features "ideas that would be nice to include" and those that "could happen in the future:"
"They will track ideas that would be nice to include if there were- there was a place to put it in the story, but they know it happened sometime, or things that could happen in the future, all of these things."
Finally, he said that while he "can't say what's on those cards ... there's some amazing things."
What New Stories Could Exist in the Young Justice Universe?
Even before Season 4 of Young Justice ended in 2022, fans were speculating what a Season 5 could look like.
Fans noted that the show seemed to be laying the groundwork for an adaptation of Tom King and Clay Mann's Heroes in Crisis, a recent DC Comics event that focused on the trauma superheroes face in their line of work.
Young Justice has always featured conversations about counseling, therapy, and mental health. This dates all the way back to Season 1, wherein there was an entire episode devoted to the team receiving counseling. Beast Boy's Season 4 story, too, addressed trauma, depression, and the impact these things can have on a person. These are all things that are centric to the Heroes in Crisis story.
Furthermore, fans even caught a reference to creating a "sanctuary" (the name of where heroes were sent to grapple with their trauma, as featured in Heroes in Crisis) near the end of Season 4 — a reference which Weisman admitted he "literally put ... in there to scare you."
With the knowledge that Young Justice is always thinking about stories beyond the here and now, it could be possible that a Heroes in Crisis-inspired story is on one of those cards, or it was a red herring.
The Season 4 post-credits scene focused instead on characters like Mary Marvel and Supergirl, with a Female Furies revenge-centric story seemingly being set up.
All four seasons of Young Justice are available to stream on Max.
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