"The Brain Buster" is the thirty-ninth episode of Justice League Action.
Summary[]
When some superheroes and villains are abducted and made to participate in games where victory goes to the smartest, the Justice League instead uses its intelligence to establish who is behind it and why.
Featuring[]
| CHARACTERS | VOICED BY |
|---|---|
| Heroes | |
| Batman | Kevin Conroy |
| Mister Terrific | Hannibal Buress |
| Villains | |
| Lex Luthor | James Woods |
| Calculator | Ely Henry |
| The Brain | Jim Ward |
| Mister Mind | Oliver Vaquer |
Story[]
At an isolated prison patrolled by hovering drones, the defenses open fire on an incoming object in the sky. The shots bounce off, and it bursts through the wall of the prison building to reveal itself as a robot with wheels instead of feet. It passes along the corridors looking for a particular prisoner in the cells. After rejecting Edward Nigma and Gorilla Grodd it settles on Lex Luthor and tears down the cell door. As Luthor picks up a device that he has been using to play chess, the robot takes hold of him and makes off pursued by the drones and, at the end of a corridor, enters a travel portal and disappears.
Later, in the Watchtower, Batman and Mister Terrific watch video footage of the abduction together with that for similar ones of Calculator and the Brain. Unable to determine who is responsible, they are about to leave to find out when a portal opens and the robot enters. It identifies the two superheroes as its targets and a fight ensues. Mister Terrific is hit by a beam from the robot's head and is transported to where the three abducted villains are held. Batman soon joins them as the fifth prisoner.
Standing on a ledge in a barren, rocky landscape under a multi-colored, alien sky, they hear an imposing voice tell them that each has been chosen for their great intelligence - the voice is only represented visually by a large pair of spectacles floating in the air and edged with flames. The five are told that they will have to compete in games to determine who has the greatest mind and that the losers will be obliterated. First, they are placed in gliding vehicles on a racetrack and, to get going, have to solve a problem to provide the "brain fuel". Racing around the track, each tries dirty tricks to beat the others. Nearing the finish line, Calculator forces the Brain off the track so that he is eliminated. The voice decides to humiliate the losers by placing them in floating transparent boxes to await disposal.
Next, the remaining four stand on floating blue discs and are told that two have to reach those discs that change to red occasionally. Batman reaches one by causing Calculator to fall so the latter is placed in a box. Luthor makes his chess-playing device into a gun and shoots at Mister Terrific. The latter is about to reach a red disc but instead decides to attack the big spectacles accompanied by his T-spheres and fails. He goes to a box less his spheres. Luthor successfully stands on a red disc, so he and Batman are moved to a giant chessboard, moving the pieces in a game while a jet drone shoots to hurry them up. Luthor uses his gun to gain advantage and gets checkmate, sending Batman to a box.
Expecting a great reward, Luthor is instead gripped from behind by the robot and has a helmet placed on his head. The voice now materialises as Mister Mind, wearing a similar helmet, who says that he intends to transfer his mind into Luthor to take control of his great brain. Suddenly, however, a T-sphere intervenes and stops the transfer process. Using the one that goes flat across his face as his mask, Mister Terrific has hacked open his box and that of Batman too. The robot attacks but the superheroes dispose of it and capture Mister Mind. Batman tells Luthor that he has been used in order to discover Mister Mind's plan.
Video Excerpts[]
Notes[]
- When Luthor and Batman participate in the chess match, Luthor moves first. However, he is playing black and, in chess, white always moves first.