Marvel’s X-Men ’97 animated superhero series is the talk of the town these days. Another animated series named Young Justice once attracted a fair amount of attention. Developed by Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman, the show’s first two seasons were aired on Cartoon Network. While the third season was aired on DC Universe, the fourth was released on HBO Max.
Being an animated show did not deter Vietti and Weisman from exploring realistic topics. One of the DC heroes in the series even became a symbol of mental health and the showrunners once revealed how it turned out that way.
The Superhero in Young Justice Whose Mental Health Issues Were Explored
Although the title Young Justice suggests otherwise, the show is not an adaptation of the eponymous comic series written by Peter David, Todd Dezago, and Todd Nauck. Instead, the show has an original story, set in the DC Universe and features young superheroes. The series was initially canceled after the second season. However, Warner Bros. Animations picked it up for a third season in 2016.
The series sees young superheroes and sidekicks like Artemis, Superboy, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin as part of a fictional undercover operational group. This team is attached to the superhero team Justice League but works in the fields in which the adult superhero team finds itself limited by the bureaucracy.
Another superhero seen in the series is Garfield ‘Gar’ Logan, also known as Beast Boy. Gar’s primary superpower is transforming into various animals. In the twelfth episode of the third season, Gar’s mental health struggles are explored.
In an interview, showrunner Greg Weisman reflected on why they chose Gar to explore the sensitive topic (via DC), saying:
“I was on a convention panel once, and an Iraqi vet talked about his post-traumatic stress and wished that his favorite shows dealt with this topic more. I felt like a cloud was lifting. Of course, Young Justice should deal with these issues. And given his history, Beast Boy seemed like the character to focus on.”
The fact that the showrunners put so much thought into the show and decided to explore such a topic rather than sticking to the simple purpose of entertaining the audience is appreciable.
Brandon Vietti on Why They Chose to Explore Mental Health Issues in Young Justice
There are numerous Marvel and DC superhero shows, and even hundreds of shows apart from those. While every show serves its own purpose, mental health is a topic that is often not given enough importance or falls short of doing it properly.
Young Justice showrunner Brandon Vietti revealed the reason they explored mental health issues in the series:
“High stakes superhero lifestyles must have an impact on mental health at some point. So, we wrote therapy scenes into our series as early as season one in order to add realistic consequences to dramatic events.”
Vietti further said that they understood that they needed professional help to ensure that they were depicting mental health issues properly. Fortunately, they had Dr. Janina Scarlett to help them.
