"A Better World" is composed of the 37th and 38th episodes of Justice League. It originally aired on November 1, 2003.

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Plot

Part I

The Justice League storms the White House. Batman and Wonder Woman take on the Secret Service, clearing Superman's path to the Oval Office. Inside the Oval Office, President Lex Luthor frantically gathers up papers. Superman busts in, saying he's taking Luthor in for crimes committed in office.

Half-mad while still going through papers, Luthor rants that he's not to blame. The people are, for not being able to see or accept his "grand design" for the world. Luthor prepares to press a button that will start a nuclear war, saying they will "burn" for their mistake. But then he calms himself, and waits to see what Superman will do; he points out that Superman can't stop him without deadly force.

Superman hesitates, and Luthor mocks him, saying that the Kryptonian has been Luthor's greatest accomplice all along: he loves being a hero and all the glory that comes with it so much that he continues to thwart Luthor time and again, rather than having the guts to end it once and for all. Although Luthor may lose his presidency, he'll find a way out of prison eventually, and the whole thing will begin all over again. Alas, this proves to be Luthor's final error; clearly affected by his arch-enemy's accusations, Superman decides that if being a hero has led to this endless cycle, he's done with it. He glares at Luthor, eyes glowing red...

...and outside the Oval Office, a strange smell reaches Batman and Wonder Woman's noses. They rush in, and stop dead in their tracks to see that Superman has burned Luthor to death. Wonder Woman is shocked while Batman coldly proclaims that it had to be done. Wonder Woman asks Superman if he's all right; turning around, Superman reveals an unnerving smile on his face, and says he is great.

Two years later, Earth has become a very different world. Superman and his five remaining teammates are now the effective rulers of the planet. It is revealed that the catalyst for their rebellion was the death of the Flash, murdered as part of Luthor's schemes. Monitoring events from their new, heavily-armed Watchtower, they have taken over governments and subverted freedom of speech, all in the name of the people's safety. After denying the current U.S. President permission to hold an election to choose his successor, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern are sent to disperse a protest in Smallville. Batman has retreated to the Batcave, claiming to be busy with a project.

The mere appearance of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl causes the protesters to disperse, out of fear. Hawkgirl shows some doubts, wondering why they need to go to such lengths, when the world has already become a much safer place. Lantern says that they have to remain vigilant, and he's at ease with their actions because the dangerous world needed their leadership.

While Superman dines awkwardly with Lois Lane, she too voices her misgivings about the Lords' fascist regime. Superman tells her that she's missing "the bigger picture", but their conversation is interrupted by Batman, who calls an urgent Justice Lords meeting. As Superman leaves, Lois tries to follow him out of the apartment, only to be stopped by guards at her door. She berates the soldiers, and by extension the people of Earth, for being blindly obedient and complacent under the rule of the Justice Lords.

In the Batcave, Batman shows the other Justice Lords an image of the "Justice League" battling Lex Luthor. What they are seeing, Batman explains, is a real-time event from an "alternate reality" - the reality in which the rest of the series takes place. In this reality, the Flash is still alive and the League is still playing a passive, law-enforcing role. Deciding that the alternate world needs their brand of law and order as much as their own did, the Justice Lords decide to intervene.

In the primary universe, the Justice League continues to battle Luthor, ultimately defeating him and disassembling a weapon he had been preparing. Shortly thereafter, the Lords' Martian Manhunter emerges from an inter-reality portal, saying he has been sent from an alternate reality by an embattled League that needs the "primary" League's help. Although the League, especially Batman, has some doubts, they decide to trust Justice Lord J'onn.

Once the League has emerged into the alternate universe, they are quickly incapacitated by a trap. Hawkgirl, however, refuses to go down without a fight (a fact noted with some pride by her Justice Lord counterpart) and is badly injured when Lantern has to knock her out.

While Hawkgirl is taken for medical attention, the other League members are locked in a specially designed cell block. The Lords, with the exception of Batman, then cross over to the primary universe, planning to impose order on the new world.

It seems that the Justice Lords arrive just in time: the rogue behemoth Doomsday is on the loose. The Lords each attack, but none is a match for the creature except Superman. When it becomes clear that they are outmatched in strength and endurance, Superman ends the fight by lobotomizing Doomsday with his heat vision. The primary version of Lois Lane is shocked by Superman's brutality, but others in the crowd cheer, saying "It's about time" the heroes took a more aggressive approach. Watching this from prison, Luthor alone realizes that these heroes aren't the true Justice League at all.



Part II

Back in the Lords' reality, Justice Lord Batman acts as jailer to the rest of the League. Batman and Flash both berate him for the extremes to which the Lords have gone. Justice Lord Batman only retorts that such a thing could just as easily have happened to them if they were pushed far enough—for the Lords, he admits, the "push" came with Flash's death.

Justice Lord Batman tells them not to bother with trying to escape, because he's already thought of everything their Batman would have. But Flash's heart rate becomes erratic, and then stops altogether. Afraid that another Flash has just died on his watch, Justice Lord Batman rushes to the cell and opens it to see what's going on. As soon as Justice Lord Batman unshackles Flash's arm, the Fastest Man Alive clobbers him with a flurry of super-speed punches, knocking his warden across the room. Flash escapes, shackles the Justice Lord in his place, and emerges from his cell to free the others. Batman says he didn't know that Flash could speed up his own heart rate to the point where it appears to flatline, prompting Flash to confess that he didn't either; it was the first time Flash tried such a stunt, but since Batman couldn't come up with a plan, it fell to him to think of something.

Batman heads to his counterpart's Batcave to activate the inter-reality portal, while the rest of the League heads off to find Hawkgirl.

As he nears the portal device, Batman is confronted by his counterpart, who escaped from Flash's cell and has anticipated all his moves. Concealed in the shadows, the two stalk each other through the cave, all the while debating the ethics of what the Lords have done. Batman says they have crossed the line by seizing power, but Justice Lord Batman replies that, with said power, they've made a world where no other eight-year-old boy will lose his parents to meaningless violence, as they did. At that, Batman drops his batarang, steps into the light, and surrenders.

The League track Hawkgirl to Arkham Asylum, the only hospital equipped to hold metahuman patients. But the asylum is a far different place than the one from their reality. The staff are all former criminals, particularly from Batman's rogues gallery, all of whom are placid, docile zombies. All of the inmates have apparently been lobotomized by Justice Lord Superman's heat vision, revealing that Doomsday wasn't the first victim of Justice Lord Superman's brutal tactic.

A very calm and polite Joker is the superintendent. Pretending to be the Lords, the League asks to be taken to Hawkgirl. Joker requests a password, which J'onn J'onzz gives by reading Joker's mind ("applesauce"). Joker says they got it right, but apologetically triggers the alarm, because Wonder Woman was supposed to say it. Robotic versions of Justice Lord Superman attack the League, but are easily defeated, and the League breaks Hawkgirl out.

Batman and his counterpart, with Batman at the wheel of the Justice Lord's Batmobile, drive through Gotham City towards Arkham. Batman is surprised to see Gotham without litter; the Justice Lord states that if one wants the people to respect the 'big' laws, the 'small' laws must be enforced. When they stop at a red light, they see a restaurant, where a customer is arguing with the manager about refusing to pay for the poor quality of his meal, and in short order is arrested by the police for disturbing the peace. Seeing Justice Lord Batman looking at them, the staff and the other patrons hurriedly and nervously look away to their own business. Batman needles his counterpart, wondering what "Mom and Dad" would think.

By the time they reach Arkham, the military has been alerted and the League is barricaded inside. Justice Lord Batman has now had a change of heart, and tells the military to back off.

As the League prepares to return to their reality to confront the Lords, Batman wonders openly what they will have to do: The Lords are their equals in powers and intelligence, and they are willing to kill whereas the League isn't. Superman isn't willing to cross that line, but Batman says that some kind of line will have to be crossed if they mean to succeed.

In the primary reality, the Lords have occupied the League's Watchtower, when they receive an alert of a prison breakout: Luthor has escaped.

The Lords fly to the prison, but it is a trap set by the League, mirroring the Justice Lords' own trap that captured the League. In the fight that follows, each League member fights his or her counterpart, and neither side is able to gain the upper hand. The exception is Lord Superman, whose own counterpart is mysteriously absent, and who ends up fighting Flash. Flash attempts to appeal to the good in Lord Superman by reminding him of his friendship with Lord Flash, but fails. Lord Superman prepares to kill Flash, but then Superman arrives with Luthor, who has rebuilt the weapon from his earlier fight with the League.

Luthor fires the weapon at each of the Lords, draining them of their powers. He is tempted to turn the weapon on Superman, but then hands it over, as "a deal's a deal." It is revealed that Superman secured a presidential pardon for Luthor in exchange for his help in defeating the Lords, who are taken away.

Lord Superman rages that everything Luthor does from now on will be on Superman's head. Superman agrees that it's a high price, but declares that it's one of the many hard choices he's had to make.

Later, Luthor holds a press conference to answer questions about his new freedom. He says that the business world doesn't seem as challenging as it used to be, but he has been giving some thought to politics.



Continuity

Background information

Home video releases

Production notes

Production inconsistencies

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Doomsday Sanction", Project Cadmus is credited with Doomsday's creation. However, Cadmus itself was formed in reaction to the rampage of the Justice Lords. Also, Doomsday's motive and personalty seem different (not just after Superman).

episode "The Doomsday Sanction", Project Cadmus is credited with Doomsday's creation. However, Cadmus itself was formed in reaction to the rampage of the Justice Lords. Also, Doomsday's motive and personalty seem different (not just after Superman). When John Stewart tries to shoot down Justice Lord Hawkgirl, her mace is strapped to her back, even though she had previously thrown it at Batman.

In the reaction shot when the Leaguers are shocked to find a mild-mannered Joker working at Arkham Asylum, J'onn J'onzz's belt looks like Superman's belt, only colored differently. By the next scene, J'onn's belt returns to normal.

During the fight at Arkham Asylum, one of Justice Lord Superman's robots displays a white "S" symbol on a yellow background, instead of Justice Lord Superman's red background.

When Green Lantern picks up Hawkgirl and carries her from her hospital bed, his power ring disappears.

The American Flag on the White House is backwards in the opening sequence - being mounted along the stripes edge, not the proper stars and stripes edge.

J'onn reads Joker's mind to find out the password, but somehow his telepathy fails to detect that it was Wonder Woman who was supposed to say it, when such a chain of memories would likely have been detected by J'onn at once.

Trivia

Cast

Uncredited appearances

Quotes

Justice Lord Superman: There are at least six different ways I can stop you right now.

President Luthor: But they all involve deadly force, don't they? And you don't do that. No, you need me. You wouldn't be much of a hero without a villain, and you do love being a hero, don't you? The cheering children, the swooning women, you love it so much, it's made you my most reliable accomplice.

Justice Lord Superman: Accomplice? What are you...?

President Luthor: You could've crushed me any time you wanted and it wasn't the law or the will of the people that stopped you. It was your ego. Being a hero was too important to you. You're as much responsible as I am. So go ahead, fix it somehow, put me on trial, lock me up, but I'll beat it and then we'll start the whole thing all over again.

Justice Lord Superman: I did love being a hero, but if this is where it leads, I'm done with it.



Luthor: (after being caught) Watch. I'll be out in days.

Wonder Woman: Not with a broken leg you won't.

Justice Lord Superman: What do you want?

Doomsday: Same as you, I imagine. Power. Control. But I had to see the best this planet had to offer. I am not impressed.

Batman: One question: why?

Justice Lord Batman: Because you and your friends couldn't do what needed to be done.



Batman: You've thought of everything.

Justice Lord Batman: No. Just everything you'll ever think of.

Flash: What are you lookin' at? Huh?

Justice Lord Batman: Calm down. You'll appreciate this someday.

Flash: Yeah? I don't think Hawkgirl's gonna appreciate it too much.

Justice Lord Batman: That was an accident. She's in our best hospital now, and...

Flash: I don't want to hear it.

Batman: I think he likes you.

Flash: Must be my magnetic personality.



Batman: How did you get out?

Flash: I sped up my heartbeat until it looked like it flatlined.

Batman: I didn't know you could do that.

Flash: Neither did I. But I had to come up with something if you weren't going to.

Batman: I couldn't. Not with him anticipating everything I could ever think of. But who could anticipate you?



Justice Lord Batman: Think about it. A world where there's no crime, no victims, no pain.

Batman: And no choice. Who elected you, anyway?

Justice Lord Batman: Who elected you? The problem with democracy is it doesn't keep you very safe.

Batman: It has other virtues, but you seem to have forgotten them.

Justice Lord Batman: I didn't forget. I just chose peace and security instead.

Batman: You grabbed power!

Justice Lord Batman: And with that power, we've made a world where no eight-year-old boy will ever lose his parents... because of some punk with a gun.

(Batman drops his batarang on the ground and stands silent for a minute)

Batman: You win.

Batman: They'd love it here, don't you think?

Justice Lord Batman: Who?

Batman: Mom and Dad. (sarcastically) They'd be so proud of you.

Justice Lord Batman: Just drive.

Flash: Hey, he was the conscience of your group and that means I must be...

Green Lantern: Come on, Jiminy!

Flash: Wow, Supes, you really know how to bring down the house!

(Justice Lord Superman picks Flash up and raises his fist but then hesitates)

Flash: Can't do it, can you? I'm the last piece of your conscience, and this is the one thing you'll never do.

Justice Lord Superman: I've done a lot of things I thought I'd never do these past two years. One more won't hurt.

Lex Luthor: (aiming a weapon) This would be so sweet. (hands it to Superman) But... a deal's a deal.

Green Lantern: What deal?

Superman: A full pardon in exchange for his help.

Justice Lord Superman: Everything he does from now on is your fault!

Superman: It's a high price, but it's better than the alternative.