| In the Beginning | |
|---|---|
| Season 2, Episode 9 | |
| |
| Air date | March 8, 2008 |
| Written by | Steven Melching |
| Directed by | James Tucker |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Message in a Bottle |
Next Trials |
Summary[]
While on a mission to rescue the Legion's benefactor, R. J. Brande, our heroes find themselves reminiscing about how the Legion was first created by Brande and its founding members: Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl.
Characters[]
Featured Characters:
- Legion of Superheroes
- Lightning Lad (flashback and main story)
- Cosmic Boy (flashback and main story)
- Saturn Girl (flashback and main story)
- Brainiac 5
- Chameleon Boy
Supporting Characters:
- Superman X
- R. J. Brande (flashback and main story)
- Superman (Statue)
Villains:
- Grimbor the Chainsman
- The Scavengers
- Roderick Doyle (flashback and main story)
- Dark Circle (flashback)
Other Characters:
- Winema Wazzo
- Mekt Ranzz (Photograph Only)
- Ayla Ranzz (Photograph Only)
- Blok
- Bouncing Boy (flashback and main story)
- Colossal Boy
- Duo Damsel (flashback and main story)
- Element Lad (flashback only)
- Matter-Eater Lad
- Phantom Girl (flashback and main story)
- Shrinking Violet
- Star Boy
- Sun Boy (flashback and main story)
- Tyroc (flashback and main story)
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
- Earth Cruiser (flashback)
- Battle Cruiser
Synopsis[]
Cosmic Boy, Chameleon Boy, and Kell-El attend a ceremony where Senator Tolway is giving an award of merit to R.J. Brande, Chameleon Boy's father. They wonder where Lightning Lad is, unaware that he's at the hospital nursing Matter-Eater Lad. Saturn Girl has recovered from her injuries against Imperiex. She wonders why Cosmic Boy hasn't visited her and Lightning Lad claims he's busy. They're interrupted when Saturn Girl picks up a telepathic reading of Grimbor the Chainsman and the Scavengers attacking Brande.
As Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad head for the arena, Kell-El, Chameleon Boy, and Cosmic Boy take on the villains but are quickly overwhelmed Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl arrive but are stricken down long enough for Grimbor to capture Brande and escape. Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy start fighting over whose fault it is, and the fact that Cosmic Boy has been ignoring Saturn Girl and spending his time as leader of the Legion. Kell-El breaks up the fighting and the team gets Brainiac 5 and goes after Brande, with Saturn Girl homing in on Brande's mental impulses. Kell-El wonders why the two heroes are fighting over Saturn Girl and Brainiac 5 explains how they first met.
The Past
Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy are traveling to Earth and Lightning Lad quickly gets bored and goes to the upper class section of the ship. Cosmic Boy reluctantly goes along and there they meet Saturn Girl. They try to impress her by pretending to be rich but she quickly sees through their act thanks to her deductive abilities, and her telepathy. Millionaire R.J. Brande arrives along with his assistant Roderick Doyle, and makes a speech about his stellar generation program. Saturn Girl senses hostile thoughts and directs Lightning Lad and Cosmic toward hidden attackers. They take on the killers and stop them from attacking Brande, although one of them puts a ray blast through a port. Working together, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad seal the hole and Brande is impressed. Saturn Girl warns Brande that she senses some plan against the entrepreneur but he dismisses her concerns and Doyle tells them to go away.
Arriving on Earth, the three teens are impressed by the Superman Museum and vow to become real-life heroes. Working together, they use their powers to discover that someone within Brande Industries planned the attack. They go to see Brande and Doyle and warn him that Doyle is the killer. Doyle boasts that he wants to get control of Brande's stellar-manipulation technology to destroy stars for cash. Doyle activates the generators as a distraction and escapes while Cosmic Boy protects the others in a magnetic force field. Brande is impressed and commits his money to establishing the Legion of Super Heroes and his influence to making sure the governments of the United Federation of Planets accept them.
The Present
Saturn Girl leads the team to a Brande Industries stellar nursery. They go aboard and find Grimbor waiting for them along with his employer, Senator Tolway. However, "Tolway" reveals that he is actually Doyle in disguise. He has Grimbor and the Scavengers attack the Legion while he tries to escape. Lightning Lad defeats Grimbor while the rest of the team disposes of the Scavengers. The three founding members corner Doyle who activates the nearby gravity generators to form a black hole. Working together, the three Legionnaires destroy the gravity generators before they can completely form the black hole. Afterward, Cosmic Boy and Lightning Lad resolve their differences, and we see the teams in the past and present repeating their vows as Legionnaires.