Justice League Double Date

[Cora Auch]

Welcometo Adventure(s) Time's 162nd installment, a look at animated heroes of the past. This week, a double-date with the Question and the consistently inconsistent treatment of the DCAU Huntress' origin. And if you have any suggestions for the future, let me hear them. Just contact me on Twitter.

One of Justice League Unlimited's strengths was its ability to bounce between single-episode stories and multi-chapter epics and to sometimes work in a fun done-in-one romp amid a massive epic. Debuting on June 4, 2005, "Double Date" from writer Gail Simone and director Joaquim Dos Santos nominally belongs to the show's extended Cadmus arc but is darn entertaining in its own right.

Simone was asked to pen an episode because producer and DCAU godfather Bruce Timm was a fan of her Birds of Prey comics run, which featured numerous female heroes, including the Huntress. (Who'd also recently received a visual revamp during Jim Lee's stint as Batman artist.) Previously a background player, "Double Date" is the show's first attempt at fleshing out Huntress, basing their take on her reinvention in 1980s comics continuity from writer Joey Cavalieri and artist Joe Staton.

This Huntress is Helena Bertinelli, the daughter of a wealthy mob family. In a flashback to her childhood, we see Helena's world shattered when her father's chief enforcer Steven Mandragora enters their home. Executing a ruthless takeover of the operation, Mandragora kills Huntress' parents while she watches horrified from her hiding place in a closet.

The episode's opening sequence is quick and blunt -- Huntress disobeys League orders, infiltrating Mandragora's mansion and unloading her crossbow into his sleeping form. However, this lumpy "body" turns out to be pillows, and Huntress must soon answer to an irate J'onn J'onzz. As it turns out, the League is helping to protect Mandragora until he turns state's evidence at his trial.

The League has assigned flirtatious new couple Green Arrow and Black Canary to aid the federal agents watching over Mandragora in a quiet suburban home. The two couples soon become engaged in a quick, snappy battle that plays to Dos Santos' strengths, with some cool camera angles and each character exhibiting distinctive fighting styles. But in the meantime, two of Mandragora's agents arrive dressed as policemen and enable the mobster to escape.

Green Arrow and Black Canary must now chase Huntress and Question, hence the "Double Date," while both are also hunting the fugitive Mandragora. Along the way, they encounter action set pieces worthy of an '80s Richard Donner movie, sequences that grow so increasingly absurd Green Arrow even feels the need to comment at a certain point.

The Question has two big secrets to reveal -- he knew Huntress was lying about having dirt on Cadmus all along, and he's aware that Mandragora never intended to cooperate with the authorities. The mobster was stalling until his son Edgar could be rescued from his rivals, and the two could then flee to an overseas hideout. Huntress is faced with the opportunity to kill Mandragora in front of his child, an act that would make her no better than the mobster and a participant in a never-ending cycle of blood and violence. Huntress instead turns Mandragora over to the authorities, affirming Question's confidence in her.

When asked why he went along with this foolishness, Question shyly admits it was for a simple reason -- he has a crush on her. The two kiss, leaving Black Canary with one of the show's strongest exit lines: "I'm sorry, but... eww!"

For years, fans of DC's tie-in comics to the animated series typically had the freedom to imagine these comics sharing the same continuity. After all, except for when a proto-Superman teamed up with Batman in that one measly issue, it was difficult to spot any contradictions. However, with the launch of 2002's Justice League Adventures, communications between the show producers and comics editors apparently dwindled, and the comic presented numerous takes on characters that contradicted the show. And since the tie-ins didn't seem to care about maintaining consistency with the show, perhaps the producers were justified in not caring if an issue from a previous Adventures title found itself booted from canon.

June 1997's Batman & Robin Adventures #19 is the first "animated" appearance of Huntress in a story that couldn't possibly be reconciled with "Double Date." Still, it's an entertaining comic in its own right and one of Ty Templeton's strongest covers from the series.

Using her secret inheritance and her father's journal, Helena soon adopts the guise of Huntress and proceeds to attack local mob activities. Those burning dollar bills on the cover are from a gambling operation she destroys, a fiery public act that draws the attention of Batman and Robin.

As she studies her father's journal, Huntress is disgusted to learn he was far more than a bookie and that her family fortune was built on drugs and human trafficking. Balancing these heavy sequences are some cute, classic Batman moments, such as Gordon's self-aware comments on Batman's disappearing trick.

From Enzio, Batman learns that Helena is the Huntress. Confident her reckless crusade will end with innocents getting hurt, Batman confronts Huntress with Robin and, following a rooftop fight, convinces her to give up her revenge scheme. Commissioner Gordon arrives with police to take down the sweatshop Huntress had targeted. Batman somehow leaves the scene with the satisfaction he's convinced a vengeance-obsessed vigilante to leave Gotham. Heaven forfends one of those operate in his town. Self-awareness is perhaps not one of Batman's strong suits.

If Batman's attitude comes across as odd, that's because the story's inspired by Huntress' appearances in the '90s Bat-titles, where she was played as a ruthless Punisher type, one the Bat-family was obligated to take down. Though Huntress wouldn't be allowed to kill anyone in the kid-friendly Adventures title, her use of crossbows and excessive collateral damage is meant to indicate her lethal intent.

While "Double Date" might seem like a fun romp with little connections to wider DCAU continuity, the episode has some deep lore behind it. Edgar Mandragora had previously appeared as an adult with deadly psychic abilities, voiced by John Rhys-Davies, in two series set decades in the future -- Batman Beyond's "Mind Games" and The Zeta Project's "Ro's Gift." And even though Steven Mandragora was eventually established as the man behind the death of Huntress' family in the comics, his visual in "Double Date" is clearly based on Black Lightning foe Tobias Whale. Some official plot summaries for the episode have Mandragora listed as Tobias Whale, indicating this might've been a last-minute change.

According to some reports, the episode would've been even more of a Birds of Prey tribute, with Barbara Gordon becoming injured as Batgirl, adopting her Oracle persona, and recruiting Black Canary and Huntress to stop Mandragora. (Warners' "Bat Embargo" wouldn't allow Barbara to appear on any show but The Batman.) As for the Huntress/Question pairing, this is likely an homage to the Huntress: Cry For Blood miniseries, which had Question and Huntress becoming crimefighting "will they or won't they" partners, but with a very different ending.

And if the continuity contradictions from an old Batman & Robin Adventures issue bothered people, it's amusing to see the tie-ins still creating headaches as recently as 2021. Batman: The Adventures Continue: Season Two #3, from writers Paul Dini and Alan Burnett and artist Rick Burchett, featured another interpretation of Huntress' origin.

In this version, Helena now has a brother who joins her parents in death, and instead of watching in horror from a closet, Helena is lined up with the rest of her family, execution-style. The issue tosses in Batman: The Animated Series villain Jimmy "The Jazzman" Peake as one of the mobsters present during the hit, performing a disturbing tune on the piano to accompany the execution. Amazingly, the DCAU Huntress has accumulated three separate origin stories over the course of three decades.

Regardless of the origin you choose, the Huntress has made strong showings in the "animated" world. And her pairing with the Question is one of the more memorable moments from a show already packed with cool character combinations. Batman, Superman, Green Arrow, Supergirl, Lex Luthor, Huntress -- every character on this series brought out something intriguing, disturbing, or amusing about the Question in their scenes together. It's a shame Unlimited wasn't followed by a weekly Question team-up show.

In Justice League Unlimited season 1 episode 19, titled Double Date, the episode revolves around a romantic double date gone wrong. Green Arrow and Black Canary agree to go on a date with The Question and Huntress, but things quickly go awry when the heroes disrupt a criminal arms deal. As the four heroes attempt to stop the weapons from getting into the wrong hands, they begin to uncover a larger conspiracy and find themselves caught in the middle of a dangerous situation.

The episode opens with Green Arrow and Black Canary arriving at a restaurant to meet up with The Question and Huntress for their double date. While Green Arrow and Black Canary seem to be enjoying themselves, The Question and Huntress appear to be more interested in keeping an eye on the restaurant across the street. When the restaurant is suddenly raided by police, the heroes spring into action and discover a cache of stolen weapons.

As the heroes attempt to track down the source of the weapons, they are attacked by the Royal Flush Gang, a group of criminals who have recently begun arming themselves with advanced weaponry. The heroes manage to defeat the gang and discover that the weapons were manufactured by a company owned by billionaire Maximillian Zeus.

After tracking down Zeus and confronting him about his illegal activities, the heroes learn that Zeus has been working with the Joker to stage a coup against the mayor of Gotham City. With the weapons in their possession, the heroes race to Gotham to stop the Joker and his minions from carrying out their plan.

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