Young Justice has been an established part of the DC Animated Universe. The animated series follows the story of a young group of DC heroes created by the Justice League for covert operations.
The original group featured Robin, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Kid Flash. The team later expanded its roster to include more heroes like Zatanna, Rocket, and Beast Boy as the story progressed.
Young Justice has no clear lead character in its narrative, mainly because it juggles different heroes, villains, and storylines throughout. For example, there are some characters who may or may not appear in every episode of the series.
As the fourth season's premiere date inches closer, Young Justice's showrunners have provided more insight on how the show will balance which characters get the screen time.
Young Justice Season 4 Receives New Poster
Collider officially unveiled a brand new poster for Young Justice: Phantoms, showcasing an impressive look at the original members of the team featuring Miss Martian, Superboy, Zatanna, Tigress/Artemis, Aquaman, Nightwing, and Rocket:
Alongside the reveal, Young Justice showrunners Greg Weisman and Brandon Vietti sat down with Collider to talk about next season's large ensemble of characters.
As the roster of heroes expands with every new chapter, Weisman admitted that they "don't attempt" to give every character "full coverage" in each season:
"We expand the cast with every season, always introducing new young heroes (It’s not called Young Justice for nothing!). But, as always, we don’t attempt to give every character full coverage in every season.
The needs of [the] story and the growth of our original core cast of heroes (now going by Nightwing, Aquaman, Superboy, Miss Martian, Tigress, Zatanna and Rocket) dictate which other characters — new and old — we’ll focus on."
Vietti then followed up by saying that each new character has a "unique story" that "further explores the reaches" of the DC universe, while also citing the time-jumps that Young Justice has continued to use throughout its run:
"From the beginning, we set out to use the entire DC Universe as a backdrop and a catalyst of evolution for our core characters. Each new character introduced has a unique story that helps us further explore the reaches of the DC Universe and the depths of all characters involved. Using the literal passage of time to introduce new generations of young characters gives our series a unique method of showing real growth, and that’s something we continue to have fun with in Season 4."
Will the Original Team Take Season 4's Spotlight?
The fact that the original Young Justice team is featured in the latest poster could hint that they will play a major role in the show's fourth season. It's possible that they will be reunited for a one-time mission, or that this iteration will serve as a permanent team for specific operations throughout the season.
Whatever the case, many would agree that seeing the original Young Justice members for a reunion mission would be a sight to see.
Meanwhile, the showrunners' comments about giving characters their own chance to shine is a welcome development. Throughout the three-season run of the series, the balancing act of characters has been consistent, so it's good to know that it will continue in Phantoms.
Finding the right balance between stories and characters has been a tough juggling act, but many would agree that Young Justice managed to make it work. It will be interesting to find out how the series will achieve this task again, especially now that the Season 3 finale teased the arrival of the Legion of Superheroes.
The Legion's imminent arrival means that there will be another team of teen heroes set to enter the fray, and the fact that they can time-travel presents even more story opportunities.
This would allow Young Justice to experiment with more storylines while also giving the original characters more definitive roles that would help the newcomers shine as well.
Young Justice: Phantoms is set to premiere on HBO Max on October 21.
