NYCC: Robin! Aqualad! Kid Flash! Superboy! Miss Martian! Artemis! They're kids! They're superheroes! And they were in New York today!

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New York Comic Con, that is, where producers Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood) and Greg Weisman (The Spectacular Spider-Man) showed up to present new footage from their upcoming Cartoon Network animated series Young Justice Not specifically an adaptation of the comic book of the same name, Young Justice is more of an amalgamation of that series, Teen Titans and characters and tales from the overall DC universe -- but with a focus, of course, on the sidekicks of that world. Set in a time when superheroes are a relatively new phenomenon, Young Justice's central concept involves its young team of heroes acting as covert operatives for their more famous elders in the Justice League.The panel kicked off with a sizzle reel. It's Gotham City on July 4 (each episode will be dated, and the first season will take place over the course of about six months). We cut to a park where people are running in terror… and getting frozen. It's Mister Freeze! "Enjoy family time," he says as he freezes a father and his child. But suddenly Freeze is hit by a batarang. He thinks it's Batman, but it's actually Robin who appears. Freeze is mildly insulted, though he shouldn't be because the Dark Knight appears in the sky above the villain and smashes him.Cut to Star City. Icicle is causing havoc high up on a bridge. Green Arrow and Speedy attack him with their arrows. As they dodge his ice blasts, Speedy does a flip in mid air and takes the villain out. "The kid had a glass jaw," laughs the Arrow. But Speedy isn't amused -- they apparently have someplace else they need to get to.In Pearl Harbor, Killer Frost is going at it with Aquaman and Aqualad. Aqualad calls his elder "my king." They're both excited about something… "Today is the day," says Aqualad.Central City. Flash and Kid Flash speed around an attacking Captain Cold. Kid Flash says they don't have time for this as he grabs the gun from Cold's hand. Then Flash punches Cold… out cold. "Today is the day," says Kid Flash.The scene cuts to Washington, D.C. It's the Justice League's Hall of Justice headquarters, where all the sidekicks stand with their elders. This is the Hall, just like in the old Super Friends cartoon. The Flashes arrive. "Oh man, I knew we'd be the last one here," says Kid Flash. Clearly this is what they've all been waiting for.A second clip was also screened. Superman informs the League that there's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. The kids are told to stay behind while the adults take care of it, but they decide to investigate anyway. They infiltrate a lab of some kind. The scene picks up the pace with quick cuts as the young heroes engage in Mission: Impossible-esque acts of espionage. Suddenly the Justice League shows up, dropping from the sky -- Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Superman, Hawkwoman, Captain Marvel and others. And then… Superboy/Connor suddenly awakens in the lab and flies towards screen. End of clip.The show is firmly set in the DC multiverse, specifically taking place on Earth 16. The producers said they were looking to take a more grounded, realistic approach with this show. The comic-book series of the same name will tie in directly to the show in terms of continuity.It's an early era for the superheroes, so not a lot of the continuity that comics fans know has happened yet. It's a bit of a reboot, the producers explained, so we'll be watching the sidekicks do things for the first time. Superman has been around for 10 years and the Justice League is fairly new and just 16 members strong. (Some other members include Hawkman, Captain Atom and Black Canary). The show is using the same designer who handled the recent DTV film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, and it shows -- the characters are rendered somewhat more realistically than they've been done in some other shows.The guys broke down the main characters too. They are:Robin (Dick Grayson): He's the youngest member but also one of the most experienced. Four years ago his parents were killed and he joined Batman.Kid Flash (Wally West): He's 15 and good friends with Robin. He's not as fast as the Flash, but he uses his speed in a different way. He can't stop on a dime like the Flash but instead has to accelerate and decelerate. He has shoulder pads and knee pads and the like because he uses his body kind of like a cannonball.Aqualad: This is not Garth, another Aqualad in DC, but Garth is his best friend and will be in the series. He's from Atlantis and is the leader of Young Justice. There's a big secret that goes with Aqualad -- his father is actually the villain Black Manta, though not even Aqualad knows this yet. He can bend water and control it, using it as a weapon.Superboy (Connor Kent): He looks like he's 16 years old but he's actually only 16 weeks old and newly cloned. He'll eventually take the name Connor Kent. This is a new interpretation of the character that will be true to his origins. The producers feel that he may be the breakout star of the show.Ms. Martian: She's 16 and Martian Manhunter's niece. She is very powerful but has never actually used her abilities in combat before.Artemis: She's 15 and is an existing DC character. The producers are keeping her story kind of secret for now.Next up was a Q&A. Some highlights follow:-- The Justice League aren't in the show "a lot a lot." Batman is around to hand out missions and Red Tornado is kind of like the kids' den mother, while Black Canary is in charge of training them.-- Captain Marvel will hang around with the group since he's secretly a 10-year-old kid.-- "Secrets and lies" will be a big part of the show. The Justice League is keeping secrets from Young Justice. The kids are keeping secrets from each other, and even from themselves.-- Dick Grayson's identity is secret, though he does tell Kid Flash. But don't tell Batman that he did.-- Will we see Wondergirl or Captain Marvel Jr.? The producers are staying quiet now, but you can expect over 150 DC universe characters to show up in the first 18 episodes alone.-- Speedy's membership in the group is unclear. "Watch the first episode."-- Going with Wally and Dick was in keeping with the whole concept of portraying the early years of the DC world.-- The show will be dark, but also expect a lot of humor and romance. Joss Whedon's work is a big influence.-- There is "tremendous significance" to the ice theme of the villains in the clips screened.-- There are no embargoes from the studio on any characters, though at the beginning of the series there were four characters they couldn't use. That's no longer the case.-- The producers heavily hinted that the Wonder Twins might show up.-- Jay Garrick will show up, meaning that there was a Golden Age of superheroes in this world.-- Characters will age.-- The producers have great hopes for the toys, bed sheets, talking banks and so on that will be based on the series.-- The technology won't be too far advanced beyond what exists in reality.To sum it all up, this show looks like it's gonna kick ass.Young Justice will preview next month as a one-hour pilot on Cartoon Network and then air regularly starting in January.