Warning! SPOILERS for Young Justice season 4, episode 9

A recent episode of Young Justice season 4 featuring Klarion the Witch Boy and Vandal Savage examined a common logic problem in DC Comics stories involving villain teams. Namely the problem of why beings of phenomenal cosmic power would stoop so low as to work with mortal criminals on matters that would seem to be beneath their notice. It also explored why criminals who depend on secrecy and a low profile who seek to build something lasting would ever agree to work with those supervillains who have no motive beyond random chaos.

The chief adversary of Young Justice is a supervillain group called “The Light,” which has worked in tandem with other evil organizations such as the League of Shadows and the Injustice League. The leadership of the Light has changed from season to season, as various members were either arrested or left the organization over ethical disagreements, as when Young Justice‘s Ra’s Al Ghul quit the Light and the League of Shadows. The conqueror Vandal Savage and the magical Klarion the Witch Boy have both been a part of the Light’s leadership since Young Justice season 1, though many have questioned just why Klarion, as a Lord of Chaos, would ever be part of a group like the Light, which is largely made up of mortal villains seeking to build their own empires.

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The Young Justice season 4 episode “Odnu!” explored this question, through a flashback narrated by the Phantom Stranger. In ancient times,  Vandal Savage (then known as Vandar Adg) established a utopian village which was inhabited entirely by metahumans like himself. Young Justice‘s immortal Vandal Savage returned home from a round of exploration and conquest to find his people dead and a gleeful Klarion the Witch Boy laughing at the slaughter he had brought about. The two were said to have battled for 300 days and nights, with Vandal Savage being unable to best the Lord of Chaos, but Klarion being equally incapable of overcoming Savage’s regenerative abilities. Klarion and Savage both eventually relented, having become fascinated by the riddles posed by the other’s existence. This led to the two striking a bargain, with Klarion agreeing to end the slaughter of Savage’s people for 1,000 years, so that Savage might give him a reason to tolerate any restrictions upon his behavior.

The idea of organized and chaotic criminals coming to blows seems to be a theme in Young Justice season 4, with an earlier episode having revealed how Joker rebelled against the Light because they didn’t take him seriously except as a distraction from their real plans. Yet, these stories also come back to the conundrum of why cosmic beings like Klarion the Witch Boy or the New Gods bother helping common criminals for no benefit other than spreading chaos and undermining existing systems. While beings such as Darkseid may have higher goals such as finding the Anti-Life equation and Klarion may need no excuse for what he does beyond it being amusing to him at the time, it still seems to be beneath them to work with the likes of Intergang and Lex Luthor. Despite this, early on in Young Justice season 4, the New God scientist Desaad built a genetic weapon for a group of White Martian terrorists, for no apparent reason other than “I find your petty racism very entertaining.”

The exact details of the alliance forged between Vandal Savage and Klarion have yet to be revealed. It is apparent, however, that Vandal Savage must have found a way to convince Klarion the Witch Boy to behave himself for the two to still be working together thousands of years later. Presumably the details will come out as the Phantom Stranger continues his story in upcoming episodes of Young Justice season 4.

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About The Author


Matt Morrison
(1835 Articles Published)

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Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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