Justice League: Doom

King:
No way Batman came here alone.

Jack:
What, I'm supposed to be worried about Robin?

Green Lantern:
That's three you owe me.

Batman:
We keeping score?

Green Lantern:
Not literally.

Batman:
Because if we are, it's 8 to 7, my favor.

The Flash:
Batman, you okay?

Batman:
I'll live.

Superman:
So will Ace, apparently.

Martian Manhunter:
He's still a little embarrassed from last time.

Superman:
He sucker-punched me.

The Flash:
Found him.

Batman:
You fast enough to go in there and knock him out before he glances in your general direction?

The Flash:
We could just wait until his eye laser runs out of power.

Batman:
Flank him. I'll make sure he stays inside until you get there.

The Flash:
That will work too.

Green Lantern:
All right, now come the warning shots. Give up? Please say no.

Ten:
You'll never catch me, Lantern.

Green Lantern:
Lots of women say that.

Alfred Pennyworth:
Late night playing cards, Master Bruce?

Batman:
Something like that. How did you know?

Alfred Pennyworth:
[picks out a card from the driver seat] I believe tradition for hiding these up one's sleeve.

Batman:
Was that sarcasm, Alfred?

Alfred Pennyworth:
Mild teasing, at best. I'm being uncharacteristically gentle with you mainly because you're bleeding all over my nice clean floor.

Batman:
Not going to let me go to work.

Alfred Pennyworth:
That is correct, Master Bruce. Not until you've had proper medical attention...

Batman:
Fine.

Alfred Pennyworth:
...food, and a minimum of eight hours' bed rest.

Batman:
Let's get this over with.

Alfred Pennyworth:
I made chicken soup. You can eat while you brood and I'll put in your stitches myself. It will be delightful, I'm sure.

Batman:
All right.

Alfred Pennyworth:
By the way, the part about the stitches? That would be sarcasm.

Bane:
When we fought before, I broke the bat. Today, I break the man.

Star Sapphire:
[as Carol] She sort of looks like me, doesn't she?

Green Lantern:
Carol?

Star Sapphire:
Yes. Her name was Carol too. She's beautiful, of course, and she has dark hair like mine. And the stench of your failure hanging over her.

Green Lantern:
I didn't mean...

Star Sapphire:
You didn't mean to get all those people killed? You didn't mean to betray me, drive me into becoming this?

[changes into Star Sapphire]

Star Sapphire:
What didn't you mean, Hal?

Green Lantern:
I don't know. I'm...

Star Sapphire:
Afraid? Afraid that you don't deserve to have so much power? That nobody does?

Green Lantern:
Yes. I don't deserve this.

Star Sapphire:
Then I hope you have the decency to do what's right and suffer for your many sins.

Henry Ackerdson:
[shoots Superman] Kryptonite bullet.

[turns into Metallo, opens up his metal chest]

Metallo:
Kryptonite heart.

Bane:
Hello, Bruce. Sorry I couldn't be there for this, but I have a rather large check to pick up. Payment for dealing with you. Oh, you were concerned about where I put your parents. Don't be. They're very close. Rest in peace.

Bane:
Wait. A further toast. I've been trying to kill Batman for 10 years. Well, this time, I did better than kill him, I humiliated him.

Metallo:
Here, here.

Mirror Master:
Each of us finally got the better of our opposite numbers and it's all thanks to the genius of one man. Vandal Savage.

Metallo:
Yes, he's the man.

Bane:
Ha, ha, to the man.

Metallo:
His check's clear.

Bane:
I love my money.

Vandal Savage:
Our business is completed. You are, of course, free to go.

Ma'alefa'ak:
You hinted at a larger scheme and said there would be a place for us in it should we so choose.

Vandal Savage:
I did. And the offer remains open to you all. But I fear you lack the vision to go along with me. The next stage of my plans might be considered genocidal.

Metallo:
What are you gonna do, destroy the world?

Vandal Savage:
Nothing so crude. Half. Two-thirds at the most.

[Metallo laughs]

Vandal Savage:
It's not a joke. It's the next step in a plan to transform the planet in a manner that will render your $100-million payday both trivial and meaningless.

Bane:
What possible profit could be in destroying the world?

Vandal Savage:
The first thing you have to understand is that I am old. Older than the human race.

Ma'alefa'ak:
I know that you believe this to be true.

Vandal Savage:
It is true.

Vandal Savage:
Eighty-thousand years ago, I was living in what is now the island of Sumatra. One night, the sky lit up with streaks of fire. Meteors. But my primitive mind thought the stars were falling from the sky. One meteor fell to Earth in my valley. My compatriots ran, but it was very cold and the glowing stone was warm. I slept there bathed in the meteor's strange radiations. And when I awoke the next morning, I was forever changed. The radiation mutated me, evolving me. I was instantly aware of my increased intelligence. It was only with the passage of time that I discovered the rest of my gift. So far as I know, I cannot die.

Cheetah:
Is that a fact?

Vandal Savage:
Go ahead.

Mirror Master:
[Cheetah slashes Vandal's throat] Why'd you do that?

Cheetah:
Don't you realize what he's planned? In his new world our money doesn't matter.

Vandal Savage:
You are correct. Money won't matter. It's trivial in the long run. [smacks Cheetah] Let me tell you about the long run. I've lived thousands of lives. I've been a laborer, a scientist, a priest, an artist, a healer, thief.

Ma'alefa'ak:
But most often a conqueror.

Cheetah:
I'm still not seeing how this makes up for my money.

Vandal Savage:
Seventy-five-thousand years ago, a disaster nearly rendered humanity extinct. I enslaved the survivors and ruled with an iron hand. In a few generations, my people were well under way to repopulating the Earth and becoming the planet's dominant species. I was happy then.

Cheetah:
You're taking the world over out of nostalgia?

Vandal Savage:
I'm taking over because humanity is prideful and belligerent and once again needs my guiding hand. But before I take over, I intend to soften them up.

Ma'alefa'ak:
By destroying half the world.

Vandal Savage:
Those who survive will happily follow a leader who offers food, comfort and order.

Bane:
That could work.

Ma'alefa'ak:
It will work.

Vandal Savage:
To you, my warlords, I offer dominion over as much of what remains of the planet as each of you can hold, second only to me. Interested?

Cheetah:
You haven't left us much choice.

Bane:
Heh, how do you propose to kill that many people? Even without the Justice League, they will fight.

Vandal Savage:
They'll lose.

Wonder Woman:
Cyborg?

Cyborg:
That's me, all right.

Wonder Woman:
You want to tell me what the hell is going on here?

Batman:
Alfred, get the Batwing ready. The Justice League is under attack.

Alfred Pennyworth:
By whom?

Batman:
By me.

Batman:
I've carefully studied every Justice Leaguer, past and present and created contingency plans to neutralize you should that become necessary.

The Flash:
You've gotta be kidding me.

Batman:
Neutralize, not kill. Whoever implemented my plans altered them.

Wonder Woman:
It's still a completely unacceptable breach of our trust.

Batman:
The members of the Justice League are among the most powerful and potentially dangerous people on the planet.

The Flash:
You think one of us would go over to the other side?

Batman:
Or succumb to mind control. Yes, it's impossible. That's why I developed plans for containing any of all members of the JLA should the need ever arise.

Superman:
None of us would ever do that to you.

Batman:
Then you're damned fools.

Cheetah:
No technology, no superheroes, no functioning governments.

Vandal Savage:
Except the one we control.

Martian Manhunter:
That's quite an ambitious plan. No wonder you wanted us out of the way.

Vandal Savage:
I thought you took care of him.

Ma'alefa'ak:
He should've been burning for weeks.

Martian Manhunter:
Don't feel bad. Actually, none of you managed to finish the job. Did you get all that?

[Justice League teleports in the Hall of Doom]

Superman:
We did. Take them down.

The Flash:
You never asked me how my wrist was healing.

Mirror Master:
Fine, how's your...? Unh!

The Flash:
[punches him] Surprisingly fast.

Green Lantern:
Wake up, King. Got some questions for you.

King:
I want a lawyer.

Green Lantern:
You're getting ahead of yourself. First you want a doctor. Then you want a lawyer.

Superman:
In light of the recent breach of trust revealed to us during the Vandal Savage matter, we have to decide whether Batman should remain in the League. All those in favor of...

Wonder Woman:
Wait. Before we vote, I believe the accused should be allowed a few words in his defense.

Green Lantern:
Seconded.

Superman:
Okay. Batman?

Batman:
My actions don't require any defense. In the same situation, I'd do it again.

The Flash:
Aw, come on!

Batman:
As individuals, and even more so as a group, the Justice League is far too dangerous to lack a failsafe against any possible misuse of our power.

Wonder Woman:
We use our power to protect the world. We always have.

Batman:
And what if we ever used it for some other purpose? [rises from his seat] If you people can't see the potential danger of an out-of-control Justice League, I don't need to wait for a vote. I don't belong here. [walks out of the room]