Young Justice: Phantoms trailer and premiere episodes drop at DC FanDome

Against all odds, Young Justice is back with season 4. A trailer for Young Justice: Phantoms premiered on Saturday at DC FanDome, announcing the show’s return ... on Saturday. Yes, the first two episodes of the season debuted shortly after the announcement on HBO Max.

Young Justice’s first two seasons ran on Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2013. Produced by Brandon Vietti (Batman: Under the Red Hood and Jackie Chan Adventures) and Greg Weisman (Gargoyles and Star Wars Rebels), it followed the lives of a group of teenage sidekicks, whom were delegated as a covert ops team by the Justice League, as they tried to prove themselves as heroes and deal with their own struggles. The show was cancelled after the second season, inspiring numerous fan campaigns to bring the show back. Those determined fan efforts eventually gave way to the announcement of a third season in 2016, which debuted on DC Universe in 2019.

This upcoming season of Young Justice will focus on the set of core characters introduced in the first season (well... the ones that are still alive). The massive, sprawling third season of the show introduced a whole roster of DC characters, which served for an intriguing and tight plot perhaps at the expense of character development. But the first poster for Young Justice: Phantoms focuses on the original team: Nightwing, Miss Martian, Superboy, Aqualad, and Artemis (with Rocket and Zatanna, who joined later in the first season, also in the spotlight).

When the show debuted 11 years ago on Cartoon Network, the characters were all in their teens and the network made their problems — and the fights! — pretty PG. But now on HBO Max, the Young Justice team is well in their 20s and dealing with more complex issues than they could on Cartoon Network. Plus, onscreen blood!

The first two episodes of Young Justice: Phantoms are out now. New episodes will be available every Thursday (beginning 10/21), streaming on HBO Max.

Image: HBO Max