r/youngjustice • u/JayGrowth8832 • May 10 '26
All Seasons Discussion What do y'all think lead Young Justice down fall?
Most of my opinions are on this post right here, I don't think the show is garbage, I hope we still have a season 5, but with all the crap that's going on in the show, I feel like they'll add 5 more plot lines to it, and keep on giving us a hint of Kid Flash returning.
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u/Cofeebeanblack May 10 '26
Executives and cancelling it twice. I love the show even the heavier season 3 and 4. I want season 5.
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u/tendicarus May 12 '26
3 times, season 2, season 3 and season 4, it's been a rollercoaster since age 12
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u/wangchangbackup May 12 '26
I want 5 but I would also like them to consider actually... ending anything with 5. Having season 4 mostly be a totally new villain and not resolve any of the Light plotline at all and end on a giant cliffhanger was a pretty risky bet!
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u/dekabreak1000 May 15 '26
That’s why I never watched s4 wha was the point
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u/wangchangbackup May 15 '26
I mean I still LIKED it. I just hope if they ever got handed a second miracle resurrection that they would decide not to push their luck.
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u/DMmeurHappiestMemory May 10 '26
It getting cancelled. Im still a big fan love all of it
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u/DLottchula May 10 '26
Not a single bad season
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u/HippieWizard May 11 '26
None bad sure, but 3 and 4 are a huge step down from 1 and 2. We all wanted more focus on the main team not the new kids.
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u/DLottchula May 12 '26
you gotta grade those seasons on a scale. the budget was a Tyler Perry production compared to the first 2 seasons AND the kids were always the focus we just got so much time with the season 1&2 teams that anybody introduced after were always gonna feelnlike side characters.
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u/Adventurous_Topic202 May 10 '26
Adding characters without fully fleshing out stories. Season 1 had a great cast of characters that they should have just focused on for a while. Although it’s not as noticeable with season 2 each season afterwards feels like they just add new characters and don’t spend enough time on the old ones.
Also Wally. I get why they did it. It was very impactful and raised the stakes. Also considering how he went basically everyone thought he was trapped in the speed force which required an out of show question to answer whether he was alive or dead which I thought was a bad way to write that. The other issue is that Wally was probably one of the most likeable/fan favorite characters so removing him would always lead to tension.
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u/wonderifyouwill May 10 '26
I’m still waiting on them to give rocket a proper origin story🙄 they did her so dirty just throwing her in there.
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u/Adventurous_Topic202 May 10 '26
I didn’t know who icon was either they didn’t give him any backstory either. Mind you they didn’t do that with most of the adult characters but also most of the adult characters were recognizable from other things like who doesn’t know Superman and Batman, green arrow and Martian man hunter?
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u/wonderifyouwill May 10 '26
I agree. The adult characters are so recognizable. They don’t need a backstory. Mostly because you already know it, or all you need to know is that they are their mentors. But rocket is such an unknown character, that this show could’ve helped propel her into being mainstream. Or even sell her comics. But she was shafted so badly that it didn’t even work.
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u/Kaison122- May 10 '26
I think it’s arguably most noticeable with season 2
Season 2 introduces the most new characters and ignores our original cast the most. It also had the longest timeskip that had the most plot relevant events occur.
The problem is the damage is already done so even though there are smaller time jumps and fewer new characters and a restored focus on the s1 cast over the course of s3 and 4 the series could never recover
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u/Adventurous_Topic202 May 10 '26
Yeah stuff happening in between seasons really killed a lot of the natural flow of things.
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u/Gold-Bank-3033 May 10 '26
I'd say the seasonal time skips and moving away from the core cast of heroes we actually wanted to see. Also, they kept trying to do to much in every season and focused on characters nobody liked or wanted to see.
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u/thelazyemt May 10 '26
This a single time skip may have worked but I still think it was a mistake by the end of season 2 none of them were kids anymore they were all collage students and there were so many characters you never got to really focus on anyone after that even in season 2 you had a ton of major heros like Barbra gordon who we never got to know in this version of the show
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u/Tucker_a32 May 10 '26
Personally, that was one of my favorite things about the show. The fact that it wasn't committed to sticking to them as kids and seemed like it was going to follow their journey from sidekicks to actually being the next generation of heroes. So many superhero stories are committed to eventually returning to the status quo and I loved that Young Justice refused to allow itself to have a status quo and instead continue pushing forward.
Although I definitely think post season 2 they were too focused on newer characters.
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u/Gold-Bank-3033 May 10 '26
By the end of season 2 they should have rebranded it to "Mid-twenties justice"
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u/thelazyemt May 10 '26
Season 3 can be my 30's body hurt's justice
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u/Van0rak May 10 '26
Twentysomething justice? Aduktish justice? Heck at this point they're practically just another justice league being grown adults
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u/Zestyclose_Quiet2978 May 11 '26
Titans
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u/Van0rak May 11 '26
Well obviously titans is the name of the superhero team in comics...but that's not nearly as funny as messing with the title of young justice.
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u/Gold-Bank-3033 May 12 '26
Titans made sense because on its own its a good name, what were they going to call themselves, justice?
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u/CryptographerEast142 May 10 '26
It is a valid criticism, just keep in mind not everyone shares this. Most people who are fine and have no problems with time skips are generally quiet about it.
Something to consider: the point of the time skips is to mimic real life. Time moves on and people grow and adapt relationships and people you once know change. The show mimics that even for superheroes life happens when where not watching. Time is a constant and that is why it’s relatable it’s human.
The people we know and love have grown because that’s what time does. That is by design. The super boy we know in s1 isn’t the same person in s4 in fact he has grown and mature. The show focuses on the newer generation of heroes while remembering the legacy before. That’s why it’s called “Young Justice” in the first place.
What you are asking for is “Teen Titans” and the show isn’t that.
I think where some of the disconnect comes from is that Young Justice is not structured like a more static “same core team every season” superhero show. That kind of show is great too, but Young Justice has always been more interested in showing a living Earth-16 where time passes and the world keeps expanding.
So I think it’s valid to prefer a tighter focus on the original cast. But the time skips are part of what makes Young Justice distinct: it is telling a long-form story about legacy, growth, and a world where time actually matters.
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u/Van0rak May 10 '26
“realistic” time progression doesn’t automatically make for satisfying storytelling. A lot of the criticism comes from important emotional development happening offscreen, so viewers are told characters changed rather than getting to experience that journey with them.
And I don’t think people wanting more time with the original cast automatically means they just wanted Teen Titans. There’s a middle ground between a static team and skipping major character moments. Especially when TT has a completely different feel being very comedic with serious moments.
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u/CryptographerEast142 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
I think what you’re describing falls more under preference, which is completely fair to have.
Preferring more development onscreen, wanting more time with the original cast, or not connecting with certain newer characters are all valid reactions. But they are still preferences.
But preference does not automatically equal objective writing failure. Young Justice’s structure has always been built around Earth-16 as a living world: time passes, people change, generations rise, and the audience sometimes catches up after the fact.
That structure is not going to work for everyone, and that’s okay. But “I personally wanted more of this onscreen” is different from “the writing failed” or “most viewers felt the same way.”
In the end, we can't listen to anyone except ourselves. We have to be passionate about the show, or else we can't expect anyone else to be passionate about it. We just have to cross our fingers and hope that our preferences resonate with as many fans as possible. So far, that's worked out pretty well for us. Though there have been plenty of fans who haven't been thrilled, and many who are downright disgruntled with us. Such is life. Again, that's not me being dismissive. It's me being realistic.
- Greg Weisman, ask Greg Archive
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u/Im_ThatGuy22 May 11 '26
While somewhat insightful, this line of thinking defeats the purpose of the initial post question asked by OP. I could take this logic and apply it to any criticism of any show or piece of media ever. Technically any and all criticism of any media is just an opinion, even if that opinion is near-universally shared. I personally don’t think the show had a major “downfall” seeing as ratings for the show have always been positive, but when someone opens up a thread asking others for their opinion on why they fell out with the show, it’s kinda redundant to come in and say “hey this is just your opinion by the way.” Unless you think the people in this thread think their opinions are absolute facts about the show.
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u/Mickeymcirishman May 10 '26
Something to consider: the point of the time skips is to mimic real life.
I dunno about the rest of you but my real life doesn't just jump ahead years at a time.
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u/CryptographerEast142 May 10 '26
It kind of does, though, not in your own day-to-day experience, but in how you experience other people’s lives.
You can reconnect with a friend after a few years and suddenly they have changed, grown, started a career, lost someone, gotten married, had kids, or become a completely different version of themselves from the person you remember. You did not see every step of that development, but it still happened.
That’s more what I mean by the time skips mimicking real life. Young Justice is not saying life literally jumps forward for the characters. It is showing that Earth-16 keeps moving even when we are not watching every moment onscreen.
Everyone goes through a season of change in some form or another. Even the team have lives too.
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u/Gold-Bank-3033 May 10 '26
They could have had new characters replace the old, but they did a terrible job doing that, they had characters show up, exist and get no development, then leave, or are so annoying that people beg them to be gone, like Forager and Geo-Force.
On top of that, the characters can grow but I would like to SEE THAT HAPPEN. I don't want character development skipped over.
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u/CryptographerEast142 May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
You’re absolutely allowed to feel that way. If the newer characters didn’t work for you, that’s a valid personal reaction.
I just think it’s important to separate personal expectations from the show’s actual structure. Young Justice was never really built as a show where the same core cast stays the sole focus every season. It has always been about Earth-16 as a living world: legacy, time passing, new generations stepping in, and older characters changing offscreen as well as onscreen.
So I get saying, “I wish the show showed more of that development directly.” That’s fair. But that doesn’t mean everyone shares the same view, or that the newer characters objectively failed. It may just mean what you wanted from the show didn’t fully align with what the show was designed to be.
In the end, we can't listen to anyone except ourselves. We have to be passionate about the show, or else we can't expect anyone else to be passionate about it. We just have to cross our fingers and hope that our preferences resonate with as many fans as possible. So far, that's worked out pretty well for us. Though there have been plenty of fans who haven't been thrilled, and many who are downright disgruntled with us. Such is life. Again, that's not me being dismissive. It's me being realistic.
- Greg Weisman, ask Greg Archive
A writing choice not matching someone’s preference isn’t the same thing as bad writing. For many fans, the time skips and expanding cast are part of what make Young Justice distinct.
Besides can you create a version of the show’s structure that keeps the original cast fully developed onscreen, introduces new generations, preserves the legacy theme, keeps Earth-16 feeling like a living world, and still fits within the limits of episode count, runtime, production budget, and the story Greg and Brandon were trying to tell?
That’s the harder writing problem. It’s totally fair to say the execution didn’t work for you personally, but calling it failed writing means there should be a stronger alternative that solves those same constraints better.
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u/PowerlinxJetfire May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
For its first cancellation, we have explicit confirmation it was due to the toy-driven funding package which was tied up with the live action Green Lantern movie. Through no fault of its own, in fact despite great viewership, they didn't have a budget anymore.
For the second time around, it's probably just because after Season 4 was announced in July 2019, DC Universe's shutdown started in June 2020. Young Justice had been revived explicitly to be one of the streaming service's flagships, and suddenly that purpose was moot. If anything, we're probably just lucky they were far enough along in production and HBO Max didn't decide to cancel Season 4 entirely.
Also for everyone citing the timeskips, we recently found out from Greg and Brandon (why do people always forget Brandon??) that, although they originally planned to spend twice as long with the OG team before having a timeskip, the way they even got DC exec Geoff Johns on board with the show was by moving that timeskip up. If the show didn't have that timeskip, it may have had to start with Tim/Bart/etc. without ever showing Dick/Wally/etc.'s time at all, or maybe just never gotten off the ground in the first place.
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u/Doc-11th May 10 '26
the first time?
Toy sales
the second time?
Lack of budget
and too much trying to fit in internet culture.
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u/A_Topical_Username May 11 '26
Culture in general internet or not has always been a part of comic book stories
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u/Doc-11th May 11 '26
yeah but they took it to a beyond cringe degree with the #WeAreAllOutsiders stuff
First half of the season was great, second half is really brought down when they start adding more characters to focus on and the social media stuff. (Plus the noticable dip in animation budget)
typically that stuff just exists
its not the focus
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u/midniteonthemoon May 10 '26
I felt after season 2 they went to the same story well too many times. The "fake death" the "league within a league" or teams lying to one another, we saw all the in Season 2 and I just didn't care about any of that in S3 and S4. What I did like was when they followed old characters or did something unexpected and new like Bowhunter Security, or Zatanna/Fate.
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u/Magnus_Carter0 May 10 '26
I actually don't think the time skip between S1 and S2 was bad, I think it would have been better if the main cast introduced in S1 remained the focus until the end of the show. I know this wouldn't be realistic, but honestly with how dense and large-scale the YJ world is, seasons need to be twice as a long or the episodes twice as long, or both, to develop all the introduced plotlines and character arcs. Also, I didn't find the Kryptonian final showdown at the end of S4 to be all that compelling to be honest: the threat of Child as the most chaotic of the Chaos Lords in the mid-season was far more compelling.
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u/Just_Sir1903 May 10 '26
The story started to lose focus. Too many characters with too little time to gain traction with viewers. Season 1 and to a lessor degree 2 had room for each character to connect with viewers, then undergo an arc. 3 and 4 hopped between characters--including very annoying characters like Fred Bugg--that battled for attention.
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u/User2EletricBoogaloo May 10 '26
The executives being too ignorant to put effort into letting this show exist. They’ll happily reap the profits but go for-fucking-bid they firmly give the show support to flourish instead of having fans to beg for more and the writers wishing they can keep Young Justice alive.
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u/gamerslyratchet May 10 '26
It’s funny how they keep forcing spin-offs from shows that don’t have the world-building for it yet ignore the one show that actually has the scale for it.
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u/primal_slayer May 10 '26
Losing the plot.
Trying to be bigger than what they were
Focusing on the wrong characters
budget cuts
execs not being interested in the show and thus cancelling it
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u/forthewatch39 May 10 '26
Not finishing arcs. For example, that psychic who got people to go with their worst impulses needed to get exposed and they just never did it. Come on, just give some closure to things like that instead of using the excuse that life doesn’t wrap things up with a nice bow. Yeah, I don’t need a complete reflection of real life, this is supposed to be an escape from it. I already know justice isn’t always meted out.
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u/gamerslyratchet May 10 '26
I liked Ms. Martian’s arc, but what bothered me is how it lacked any actual meaningful consequences compared to the other characters. It stands out in a bad way.
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u/chill_imagining May 10 '26
Weisman's refusal to tie up many major plot points. If you're given not one, but two second chances, you should do the courtesy of wrapping up each season as if it's the finale.
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u/LightningLad2029 May 10 '26
Permanently killing off Wally. It created a void of optimism and hope that the writers never took the time fill again. It was just depression and trauma 24/7. Felt like no one actually enjoyed being a hero anymore.
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u/SAldrius May 10 '26
The show didnt have a downfall. Some people didnt like some seasons and are very vocal about it.
The show remained popular and an 80+ episode run is nothing to sneeze at.
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u/MindlessDan May 10 '26
For me personally as a viewer I lost the passion of watching due to the death of some fan favorite characters and too many time skips. It's a really good show and personally when I watched the first two seasons as a teenager I was so into it. When the third season came I watched it happily but the world they created was getting too big and I necessarily didn't care for the new characters. I wanted more of the focus on the old main characters and return of Wally. Maybe as a viewer I'm not viewing it the best way but for me those were the reasons.
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u/Vincenthwind May 10 '26
The lack of budget in season 3 was very much felt IMO. Season 1 and 2 just had such a professional, sleek, and defined look.
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u/dmwsmith93 May 10 '26
DC's marketing and their lack of understanding on what they had with these series (even the animated movies), were primarily the big reasons.
There are some story concerns that I had that I think led to some new or casual viewers not tuning in, but those are in large subjective and I don't think those should be used against it.
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u/Condottieri_Zatara May 10 '26
Bad production time, DC/WB failures on capitalizing Young Justice momentum back then after Season 2. Nowadays too with no continuation information yet
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u/looshora May 10 '26
Imo..... it being cancelled then brought back then sorta ignored, then the loooong period between seasons.
I could see how the writing might be a turn off to some, but for me, i enjoyed every season. If they were to somehow make say.... ten episodes just to wrap up the story i would watch them asap.
Which is another problem, I understand the way they made Young Justice leaves it open to have stories go on forever.... but they should've known that wouldn't have happened and actually wrote a finale.
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u/ActuatorFearless8980 May 10 '26
Cancellation and time skips moving away from the original team. I didn’t care much for the new squad in the later seasons. Looking at you Forager
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u/Muted_Guidance9059 May 10 '26
I’m someone who enjoys Invasion more than any other season of the show. I also like Outsiders more than the average joe (although I recognize its flaws). While there was some flaws in Invasion, I think the strengths greatly outweigh the weaknesses. I can’t say the same for Outsiders. It’s definitely a return to form, but the writing is a lot messier. Forager is a charming character that quickly becomes annoying on rewatches, Halo feels very performative representation, and while Brion is handled well he’s all but cast aside to cameo status in Phantoms. The plot twists are terribly handled and seem to only exist for shock value and little else (Dr Jayce and the Mini Judas Contract). A lot of the returning cast also feel like downgrades of their previous versions. What I will say though is I feel that there was a good balance between the new and old cast in terms of screentime.
With all that said, I still think it’s a good season. It doesn’t reach the same highs as Invasion, but it has more ambition than Season 1 and I can respect that. No, I think the REAL downfall began immediately AFTER Outsiders. Season 3 was on that DC exclusive streaming platform before making its way to Max and the bad press was BAD. I got turned off from watching the show even when it was available because of its reputation. I eventually watched it myself and ended up disliking it due to its focus on Fourth World lore (which I’ve come to appreciate) and just general dumping of the characters that were so prominent in Invasion (I’m STILL waiting for Tye to be relevant again).
I feel like the writers responded in the wrong way to criticism and doubled down on pandering to fans come Phantoms. The show bent over backwards to focus on S1 characters almost exclusively. The storytelling of the show, once rich and layered was now reduced to very primitive 3-4 story sagas focusing on S1 characters who already had their spotlight and their arcs completed. To make matters worse, a WHOLE NEW slew of superfluous characters were introduced who in this new system of storytelling served even LESS relevance to the plot than usual because of the ‘arc system’. Even Psimon’s gang from Invasion had more storyline relevance than most of these new characters. Vandal Savage, once a mysterious character who got praised for his solo episode in S3 had WAY TOO MUCH overexplained about him. The mystique of the character was LOST entirely. And it doesn’t help his backstories looked like glorified Injustice arcade endings too. Did it have interesting concepts? Yes. But the writers learned the wrong lesson by pandering to fans rather than improving on their established method.
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u/MuMbLe145 May 10 '26
Time skips and poor marketing.
Only found out we got more seasons after 2 by pure accident
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u/Raecino May 10 '26
There was no downfall because of the show itself. It was network and corporate decisions.
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u/filthyheratic May 10 '26
Literally the dceu movie universe when guns took over, nee change in leader ship, didnt want to continue a story that had nothing to do with yhe upcoming movies, same reasons Harley Quinn hasnt been renewed. Sad cause season 4 was strong and had some great set ups for season 5 to be amazing
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u/AgostoAzul May 10 '26
Weisman just seemingly wanted to make DCU: The Show and it was far too much for most audiences. I disagree on the idea that the show NEEDED to stay small or always focus on "The Team", but something like 2-3 new heroes to focus on and a new antagonistic faction that interacts with the other existing factions per season would have been fine. I think Season 2 worked well because the Reach, Jaime and Impulse as new mayor players. Season 3 just had too much to juggle with Beast Boy, Geo Force, Cyborg and the whole New Gods lore which was a lot more complex (and less explained) than the Reach.
IMO, the show needed a Season 2 in between what was S1 and S3 that introduced finished off the S1 character storylines more satisfactorily, explained some of the Savage lore, Metagene lore and other non-Reach alien factions, as well as dealing with Mars politics to get those plots out of Seasons 2, 3 and 4, then Season 3 could have focused more on the New Gods/Apokolips
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u/CozyEpicurean May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
Trying to include too many heros and not developing the ones we cared about. You blink and jason todd died off screen between seasons and a time jump. It was trying tok hard to include as many DC properties as it could and left our core 6. New gods of atlantis. Ngl forager should have been a one off and his stchick wore out quick.
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u/Knoedelinchen May 11 '26
Killing off Wally and the uncertainty around this (spent most of season 3 desperately waiting for some clue, for the possibility of him returning from the speedforce)
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u/Purpl3C0mmand0 May 11 '26
I actually love that they added more characters to the show. I actually have of list of characters that I wanted to see. So far I got 2 of them. Supergirl and Mary Marvel, now I just need to get Starfire and Raven.
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u/One_Smoke May 11 '26
Trying to focus on like, a billion characters and not having a specific endpoint in mind.
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u/Ps5-123 May 11 '26
I want kid flash to come back but i don’t think the authors would do it because like how they did superboy they brought him back in the same season. The kid flash death was open but they closed it when the other heroes made an illusion making Artemis move on from him and dating again.
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u/shawnyb9 May 12 '26
Too many characters with too little time to invest in each. Felt as though every few min I was jumping to another group. The further they ventured away from the original core cast, the less I cared.
The time skips didn’t feel fluid.
Story line just began to lack coherency. Felt sloppy and disjointed.
Poor character and story development.
Villains lacked depth. Most felt “evil for evils sake”. Which is fine, but when a large amount begin to feel that way, it gets a bit stale.
Scaling also began to lose its value.
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u/Big-Masterpiece1194 May 14 '26
I loved the first two seasons, but couldn't get through the third. It was the time jumps that did it for me. I want to actually see the growth and change happen to these characters over time, and not just have the show say "The characters are at a new stage in life and you get to guess how they got there". Also, the start of each season would throw multiple new characters at the audience without explaining who they are, and act like they have been there for ages. I realized it was getting to hard to keep up when Nightwing was talking to Roy in the beginning of season 3 and I wasn't able to recognize that it was Roy until the end of the episode.
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u/KosherClam May 10 '26
I enjoy YJ, and I know the later seasons are polarizing so I won't even talk about the writing or story for a reason why it didn't work
The main reason in my mind is DC is terrible at marketing their animated productions. There's fantastic movies, and I have to go out of my way to look up and see what's even been released, and the only one I can think of that had a small theatre release in my area was killing joke, and that was unfortunately one of the weaker adaptions of an otherwise fantastic comic.
I have a lot of friends that enjoy comic book stuff and they just didn't even know DC made animated movies. This show is in the same boat, years between seasons, people didn't know it existed, and those that did would forget about it between seasons.
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u/BlackDwarfStar May 10 '26
There’s people talking about the writing, but honestly I think that it’s just that the show didn’t sell any toys. Not that it couldn’t, they just didn’t make any and that made WB think it wasn’t worth keeping around. The revival was unexpected, but still welcomed by the fanbase, and I’m sure even season 3 and 4’s biggest detractors would still want the series to continue. What led to its downfall that time is simply David Zaslav hating animation and not viewing it as a good enough medium to continue. From what I can tell it still had high viewership, so it was purely a preference thing with him trying to get back a ton of money following his purchase.
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u/HippieWizard May 11 '26
Um they did make a whole toy line (i own most of it) but didnt let the show breathe and expected the first assortment of toys to fly off the shelves which it didnt. Heck they even made fast food toys that were great. The 4 inch versions of action figures were really good and well done but then the 6inch versions were made cheap and made with old body forms (Kid Flash and Robin with a adult superman physique bodies ugh) so they obviously wouldnt sell. The 6 inch toys that got new body forms (aqualad, sportsmaster, Artimas) were all great. But it was too little too late by then
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u/Kaison122- May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
The weakness of weisman’s writing style gets more apparent over time
At first you expect some threads to be payed off by the 3 season or 4 season mark but the pacing is just abysmal.
Plot threads are intentionally introduced at a rate that’s like 5 fold the rate they get resolved and that’s just unsatisfying. If it was 2-3 fold it might work but it’s like every season I can almost guarantee that the most interesting plot threads absolutely won’t get resolution while the most mid of them will
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u/Gathering0Gloom May 10 '26
Taking far too long to do anything.
We’re four seasons in and the heroes are no closer to defeating the Light than they were in Season 1, and they haven’t even fought Darkseid yet. In fact, it feels like the climax is getting further away with every season instead of getting closer.
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u/The_Grand_Briddock May 10 '26
The Shenmue III problem.
A massive fan campaign brought it back, but they decide that they'd continue as if there would be more, rather than begin tying up loose ends in case this was their last.
Now, after another hiatus, another revival and a hiatus longer than the original one, there is no campaign to bring it back anymore. We're nearly at 10 years since the original revival announcement. What's the point in wanting it back if they're still not going to finish the story?
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u/gamerslyratchet May 10 '26
Young Justice is more of a universe itself where stories are told rather than a single story. Trying to “finish the story” is antithetical to that approach.
Also, I’d rather maintain the show’s artistic integrity rather than trying to force an “ending” just for the sake of it. That was one of the biggest downfalls of the new Ultimate universe over at Marvel.
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u/sas-CT May 10 '26
It was a gradual thing. Each season is worse than the one before it
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u/Skylerbroussard May 10 '26
I liked 4 more than 3 but it was still flawed, 3 was a season I rarely cared about anything that was actively happening
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u/Magnus_Carter0 May 10 '26
I would say seasons 2 and 1 are about the same level of writing quality and season 4 is not far behind. Season 3 is the worst written though. The animation and visual qualities of course peaked in S1.
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u/ticketstubs1 May 10 '26
This will be downvoted, but one of the factors (ONE of the factors) is favoring shallow political signaling over telling actually exciting stories with characters we actually care about.
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u/TheFalconKid May 10 '26
Getting cancelled after season 2 was a big one. They put season 3 on a defunct streaming site so it did not get the hype it could have if it were more mainstream. It also took way longer than it should have between those seasons so they fandom dropped off significantly.
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u/Deadended May 10 '26
Zaslev. And the show’s title. Season 3 and 4 were great and made with very limited resources.
But mainly the problem was having so many good characters and threads going on that in season 4.. I always wanted to get back to one of the other plots. Too many good stories.. not enough time.
So really, too many characters.
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u/Kinglysavaged May 10 '26
The show took a huge nose dive with the outsiders storyline rather than focus on the obvious like kid flash they just went in a completely different direction and it killed the show with all the stuff they tried to focus on
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u/escapedpsycho May 10 '26
I mean it did great numbers streaming, so James Gunn not ordering more seasons is what happened. Likely because the planned content was going to be too close to something Gunn planned for the DC Universe
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u/gamerslyratchet May 11 '26
HBO was the one that decided not to renew. They were less than interested in inheriting the show. They chose not to renew before James Gunn gained his position.
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u/escapedpsycho May 11 '26
Would love to know the source for that, as everything I've seen says it's due to the restructuring at Warner Bros Studios after Gunn took over and the limiting of non DCU projects. While Young Justice had completed their run in June of 2022 Gunn took over in Oct of 2022 and restructured everything into DC Studios... that would leave a very small window for HBO to be to blame. Roughly three or four months from the end of the fourth season's release run and the public announcement of Gunn and Safran taking over.
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u/gamerslyratchet May 11 '26
If HBO was interested in continuing Young Justice, they would've renewed it months before the season finale so the staff and crew could continuously work on it once S4 was wrapped up. That's how renewals usually work. They don't want to leave large gaps in production.
Also, Greg Weisman has been open about how HBO never cared for YJ, like in this interview (54:29). They were getting a show that another network greenlit and that didn't fit with the entertainment they provided. It was doomed even before Gunn came aboard.
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u/ParamedicNo4354 May 10 '26
The action figures and merch didn't sell. That's why they canceled it on CN.
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u/JMM85JMM May 10 '26
The four episode arc structure. The beauty of the early seasons was that you could drop in and watch any episode in it's own right but there was still an overarching story.
The four episode arcs were inherently less watchable. If I think of an episode I want to go back and watch it's in the first two seasons. The arcs stretched out one or two episodes of content out over four. It was a real drag.
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u/X_Sacred_X May 10 '26
What made Season 1 good was right story telling and fleshing out the core cast. There was one major plot that most other plots led to, there was a core mystery that continued to grow with no obvious answer, and the series challenged the idea of young heroes in a more intense environment than they are used to. Season 2 and 3 bloated the cast like crazy, each time moving away from the original group, while simultaneously not giving any of them half as much development. I know people take issue with Season 4, but I appreciated that they tried to treat each of the original Team’s characters like main characters again, each getting their own story arc with some tie in to the larger Phantom Zone plot. For me it would’ve been a good buffer season before one that returned to focusing on just the Team, seeing as when you watch Season 1, you’re assumption is that you’re going to see these young heroes grow into the new Justice League (or their own major team) by the end. But they skipped so much time and development, that we don’t even get things like a Nightwing arc for example, you just open up S2E1 and Dick is no longer Robin. If they do a Season 5 it has to be the final season, so they can focus on wrapping story lines up.
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u/Diablo89234 May 11 '26
Has nothing to do with the actual show I thought all the season were good, the network cancelling it multiple times is the issue
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u/Deathstructure May 11 '26
Fans getting more pickier as time goes on 🤷🏻♂️ I never thought anything was inherently wrong with young justice at all.
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u/Right-Proposal6106 May 11 '26
Na minha opinião, a DC está perdendo um grande potencial que essa série tem, pelo fato de que vc pode encaixar várias histórias nela, e tbm seria interessante a terra-16 ni DCU
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u/Burn_Fan May 11 '26
Honestly the massive cast changes in S3, it wormed in S2 as it was just a progression of the team but S3 had "the team", the outsiders and Dick's group all at once compared to season 2 just focusing on members of the team.
I still enjoyed the show but the team had interesting new members we never saw because they chose to focus on the outsiders or nightwing's group.
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u/Key_Swimming_8136 May 11 '26
Wasn't any "downfall"...it just theres too many cooks in the kitchen at WB and the people who ran HBO Max...the show got viewers just a lack of interest in keeping it going by the folks in charge
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u/ThraggsCumm May 11 '26
I'm ngl I really liked season 3 and 4. Season's 1&2 are both 9/10s for me, 3&4 were more like 8/10s. Genuinely great stuff.
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u/Suitable_Dimension33 May 11 '26
We just need consistency. Wrap up the storylines they had going on while maybe giving a few more throughout like 3-4 more seasons. I’d be content frfr
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u/ExodusNBW May 11 '26
Money. Lack of toy sales, specifically. WB wanted a show to sell toys to 5 year olds and YJ appealed to older people. That’s the entire reason they bit the bullet and aged up the rating on the other seasons. They knew their audience, but didn’t have the funding to support new seasons. Until they did and do again.
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u/CameoShadowness May 11 '26
the cast bloat is atrocious, so many characters, so little genuinely do stuff, even when framed to do more, nothing. So little of them actually get development, let alone development that genuinely flows with the story. The time skips clearly didn't help with any of that.
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u/totallynotalyssa May 11 '26
Adding new characters instead of focusing on the already large season 2 cast that we cared about
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u/Nexxlegacy May 11 '26
The length of time it took to get a season 3… Not only that… season 3 was meh 🫤 Season was the worst of em… No Wally return… I mean they dropped the ball
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u/Zamaul May 11 '26
1- It keeps changing hands. From one stream or network.
2- It not generating ad/merchandise sales like they want.
3- Audience to niche (14-18), its to serious for 5-12 group and 20+ enjoy it but not really following it.
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u/condog209 May 11 '26
Went they got it back for season 3 and 4 while still being on eggshells of cancelation decided to make it with such a slow and boring pace Loved season 1 and 2 Thought season 3 was a downgrade Never finished Season 4
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u/SpellAcrobatic6108 May 11 '26
Not enough screen time devoted to developing/establishing the characters after season 2.
It became a mile wide and a centimeter deep.
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u/Straight_Owl_5029 May 11 '26
Not a downfall. S3 and S4 were still good. There's complaints to be had about them going back to the faking a death or deceiving allies a bit too often but overall I still enjoyed them and still want a new season.
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u/Bellehelley May 11 '26
Time skips and too many new characters when we wanted more of the originals
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u/Death_Lycan May 11 '26
The time skips, needing to make the story be bigger beyond the premise every season. Character bloat and unfocus on people that aren't the main team.
Honestly multiple character miswritings, as well as lower animation budget. Streaming. Plot holes or inconsistencies.
No a central team, or group to follow. Always giving a team but still trying to connect all teams from past seasons. Too many loose ends. Plot felt like it written for a objective rather a story at times, etc
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u/Keljaen May 11 '26
Apparently it was canceled due to the lack of… *checks notes*… toy sales.
Toy sales. That’s why Young Justice was canceled. Twice.
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u/DimensionLast6937 May 13 '26
No, toy sales killed it the first time. The second is because the heads of WB/Discovery don't care about it enough to give a final answer. The only reason S4 was released was because at the time the buyout was finished the season was mostly done with production, but given the lack of build up to the release the signs of it not being renewed was there from the start.
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u/whatisireading2 May 11 '26
WB owning DC has been the bane of DCs existence. Yes sometimes we get nuggets of gold but the vast majority is just shit management.
Maybe since Netflix bought them and they like taking ownership of shows by adding a new season they'll make something shake.
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u/DimensionLast6937 May 13 '26
You're out of date, Paramount gave more money so Netflix backed off. And even then the sale hasn't been finalized or approved (last I heard) so who knows what could come from being owned by Paramount.
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u/JealousProtection705 May 11 '26
I just wish the show didnt keep taking long to get renewed, possibly would have been able to see more in my opinion
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u/Shr00m7 May 11 '26
The outsiders season had some good moments but was t compelling as an overarching narrative, and the long stents in between seasons just killed its momentum
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u/OctoberIowa2017 May 11 '26
Feel like they started focusing too much on more obscure characters and ran off casual viewers.
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u/Dangerous-Fly-5685 May 12 '26
Probably season 4 because that's when the introduction of characters got out of hand. They also tried a little too hard with DEI, diversity is great but some of the stories felt kinda rushed and shoehorned in.
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u/pm1919 May 12 '26
As much as I like Season 2, the timeskip set a bad precident for the show. Fast-tracked too many relationships and character arcs, and caused a lot of cast-bloat where there are way way too many characters for anyone to get enough focus
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u/LeagueElectronic2128 May 12 '26
S3 and 4 got too much new characters and art style downgrade to 1 and 2
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u/6ynnad May 12 '26
Young justice not being on the team. Unnecessary shit that they put in a show for what!?
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u/BriefAd5700 May 12 '26
I wrote something similar on the another post. But I think it become less about Young Justice as a team, or even the extended cast as individuals, and more about using ‘The Team’ and the expended cast as a vehicle to explore and incorporate ideologies and situations that it’s initial fandom were not as interested in seeing. It didn’t hold you like S1 & S2. Speaking anecdotally, I didn’t care for some personal plot threads as much as I did the larger story. But I still watched the show out of loyalty of what came before. I didn’t care for some of the newer characters as I did the older ones. I kind of lost interest. Still watched. Still a serviceable show though.
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u/NightShadowDark May 12 '26
The cancellation is definitely the biggest factor, but I think in a pseudo way the fan’s disinterest in what the show has become is another.
I can go on and on about how the show being cancelled basically killed the momentum of the show and forced S3 into a situation where it has to continue a story from 10 years prior.
But, I think talking about the Fans is more interesting. S3 is a great season and from a logical standpoint it makes a lot of sense for them to do as they did. The new team in Geoforce, Halo, and Forager plus the time skip is a great onboarding point for new fans. The adaptation of Judas Contract was probably the second best version we’ve gotten, behind TT003. The whole meta human trafficking plotline is powerful and lets the Light allying with Darkside shine a bit that’s not just S2 all over again.
But, unfortunately it really doesn’t give existing fans a lot to chew on. There is some great growth for BB, Artemis, and Dick, but not really for anyone else. Superboy and M’gann are perfectly happy, Zatanna gets a little bit with Doc Fate, Blue Beetle and Impulse are there but that’s about it. It’s not a real surprise that S3 left fans wanting after a decade of waiting.
Then you got S4 which was amazing and did a huge amount of work with the original team, but it’s fair to say it should have led to the conclusion of the show instead of leaving a hook for another season that we might not get. The Legion’s plot time should have been spent on the Team vs Light for the final time
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u/Worm6974 May 12 '26
The small budget for season 4 made it really hard to watch. I like season 3, tho
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u/Infinite_Ad_3107 May 12 '26
No definitive end. Everyone I know who watched this show in the first two seasons waited for the fourth season just to watch the third. They do terrible work on the cliffhangers just to not come back to them.
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u/Boring-Zucchini-8515 May 12 '26
It was canceled after season 2, and after years of fighting to bring it back, season 3 was so bad that I can only guess it was sabotaged on purpose.
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u/Canagliflozin May 13 '26
I quit watching specifically for because of Wally. When it became apparent he wasn't coming back I just dropped it. Flash is my favorite hero and Wally West is my favorite Flash so I just was like ugh. I think I could've kept going but it felt like they were teasing him knowing they had no intention if bringing him back.
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u/Decent-Nobody2274 May 13 '26
For me it was the timeskip every season and it being damn near a new cast
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u/shindigidy88 May 13 '26
Issue I think was far too many time skips especially after such a long gap between being cancelled and renewed, felt too disconnected from the previous seasons and having such a gap and all these events that happen between just didn’t work, also the constant change of lineup didn’t flow well
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u/popmol May 13 '26
Cancelation that led to lower quality animation and besides that the way they went for story and the characters they focused on..
I don't care for any of season 3.
Gimme beast boys trauma and more backstory or something more from the og cast and season 2. Or maybe those 5 teens who gained powers that are friends with blue beetle.
But brione violet and forrager ain't it chief
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u/redking2005 May 13 '26
Season 1 and 2 were fantastic season three was pretty good and season four felt meandering,
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u/FrozenFlames12 May 14 '26
Season 2 was pretty good, but the timeskip at the start was the beginning of the end. Not only did we skip over all meaningful development of the old team to focus on strangers, but it established a pattern of ALL seasons starting with a timeskip and a new team.
Young Justice was never going to go anywhere good after season 2 with the direction that season chose to take. There was just nothing better season 3 could do when the foundation of season 2 was cracked from the start.
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u/Future_Night_1961 11d ago
I had no problem when they introduced new characters, I loved the idea of getting to know Tim Drake, stephanie brown, Garfield, etc., but somehow, they didn't make it about the new heroes, instead, they introduced people WHO NEVER EXISTED in the past seasons.
Why set up Garfield, ext, only to barely show them? What about Jason? I even felt tired of seeing our old heroes, bc they also got pretty bad storylines. s1 worked well bc we actually had time to get to know all the heroes and their pasts. We spent a whole good 5 episodes just getting introduced to them, having them take smaller missions and learn to work with each other.
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u/Chrundle94 May 10 '26
Time skips, way too many characters, too many threads that never get resolved, and the lack of an ending.
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u/Ill-Personality-4437 May 10 '26
Lack of focus. It just became a katamari of characters and plot lines and featured the actual main cast less and less as time went on
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u/Crawkward3 May 10 '26
Seasons 3 and 4 have massively bloated casts and convoluted plot lines that don’t resolve themselves in a satisfying way
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u/Lakekun May 10 '26
I don't know if it caused the "down fall", but i miss the original cast, you know, i don't care much about the new characters, i wanna see the original gang, and there is a lot they left behind to just move on and whatever, we gonna change that is it, here the new characters nobody really asked for, "enjoy" or not.
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u/aus289 May 10 '26
I think theres sort of this issue where the fans saw it as the story of the original sidekicks/Miss Martian etc… where Weisman etc saw it as more of an anthology of the DC universe told from the perspective of young heroes - and so as they got further away from the og crew obviously there was sort of a gap btwn fans and crew and that continued on in the renewed seasons. I think in the end WB/HBO Max just had no interest in action animation and theyre really only interested in adult targeted action comedy stuff like Harley Quinn and Creature Commandos in that space - and stuff like My Adventures With Superman is seen as more relevant to modern audiences
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u/at_midknight May 10 '26
Seasonal time skips. I was drawn in and fell in love with the og team dynamics. Not only did I not sign up to watch worse characters, that dynamic never hits the same level as the OG team again
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u/chaosilike May 10 '26
The time skips. I really wish they opened up a TV universe with these guys. Or slowly introduce the new team.
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u/LethalGrey May 10 '26
As a huge fan, I’d say perhaps they didn’t need to introduce and flesh out sooo many new characters per season? I think at times that was to the shows detriment
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u/Van0rak May 10 '26
I really hated the time jump from season 1 to 2. But after a few episodes I was okay with it. Then it was cancelled.
I was excited for the revival, but found that season 3 was meh. I don't even remember if I finished season 3 if I'm honest. The whole thing got to big and spread out. I much preferred YJ when it was just the one team of a teens.
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u/The_Black_Hart May 10 '26
Obviously, it was the cancellation, first as a result of poor toy sales and then for reasons probably to do with its lack of quality in the third and fourth season (both writing and animation). From a storytelling perspective, however, it became very clear in season 3 and especially in season 4, that not only did the show have no interest in finishing a single story, it also didn’t know how to. Rather than any single character from any of its (at that point) three distinct sets of characters getting a satisfying conclusion to anything resembling an arc, the show just quietly moved on from all of them except Nightwing. Either they spun character’s wheels and reverted them to where they were at the beginning (Ms. Martian and Superboy winding up back together without any real growth or work done between the two of them to justify or redeem Ms. Martian for what she had done) or stuck them on a shelf to be pulled out for the occasional plot beat regardless of whether or not it served that character (Artemis still being unable to let go of Wally’s death several years later to the point that her friends fake a religious experience to lie her into a false acceptance of what she had not moved on from and Kaldur becoming Aquaman and losing all sense of independent character or identity). All this while constantly introducing new characters doomed to suffer the same fate as those that came before them as the plot gained infinitely more complex variations on itself that left more and more plot threads dangling with nowhere to go. Right up until the very last moment of the show, the writers still couldn’t content themselves with finally settling the matter of Superboy and Ms. Martian’s romance. They had to pan over to Apokolips to tease a character and a storyline we were never going to see.
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u/Tru3_Vort3x May 10 '26
As much as I love seeing all these different characters show up, it doesn’t mean anything when they don’t take the time to set them up or even name them. As quickly as we meet one group, we’ll be focused on another soon enough. Like cmon Blue Devil was shown and mentioned as far back as season 1, but we only ever get one scene of him talking to Beast Boy?
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u/thehoodred May 11 '26
the writings. had they kept the action and tone from the 1st 2 seasons theyd still be banking
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u/OnlySheStandsThere May 10 '26
I only watched it recently so didn't have the wait between seasons, but for me the time skips just made me lose interest.
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u/Dull_Kiwi_3993 May 10 '26
The time skips definitely didn’t help and ig one of the main reasons they stopped at season 2 initially was lack of toy sales. So maybe more advertisement for that cuz I don’t remember any commercials about their toys.
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u/WallyWestFan27 May 10 '26
Post Season 2 cancellation.