Young Justice: Invasion is the second season of Young Justice, preceded by season one, and it is comprised of 20 episodes.[2] It was expected to air in March 2012, during the premiere of DC Nation,[3][4] but was later set to premiere on April 28.[5]
The story follows the teenage superhero members of the Team, as they must deal with an alien invasion.[6] The first episode takes place on January 1, five years after the first season concluded.[3]
In early stages of development, this season was originally conceived as a special 10-episode mini-series dubbed "Invasion", spinning out of Young Justice.[7]Greg Weisman soon clarified that this was not a spin-off, but rather the second season of the show, which happened to have only ten ordered episodes by March 2011,[3] but they were likely to get ten more[8] (which they did five months later).[9] Unlike the previous season which featured a spate of guest directors, the season two production team hired a permanent set of three directors: Tim Divar, Doug Murphy and Mel Zwyer.[10]
Five years have passed since season one, bringing drastic changes, including many alterations to the line-ups of both the Team and the Justice League.
Public perception of super-heroes takes a turn for the worse, thanks in particular to the GBS commentaries of G. Gordon Godfrey.
The heroes discover what occurred over the missing 16 hours, during which six Leaguers were under Vandal Savage's mind control. As a result, those same Leaguers leave Earth to undergo a criminal trial on Rimbor.
Multiplealiens have secretly invaded the Earth, operating there for unspecified purposes that include abducting and experimenting on humans.
Having nearly been consumed by his five-year search for Speedy, Red Arrow finally finds the original Roy Harper with the help of his estranged wife Jade Nguyen, who also introduces Clone-Roy to their daughter Lian Nguyen-Harper. Together, they bring Speedy back to Star City.
Aqualad is on a deep cover mission for Nightwing, posing as the loyal lieutenant of his father, Black Manta. As part of this mission, Artemis's death is faked and Mount Justice is destroyed, all to advance Aqualad's credentials with Manta, the Light and their Partner.
Miss Martian has begun abusing her psychic powers by forcefully extracting intel from enemies, rendering her victims in catatonic states. Miss Martian expresses no remorse or regret and continues her abuse of power until her confrontation with Aqualad. Following the events, she is left deeply traumatized and guilt-ridden and sets out to make atone for her actions.
Sportsmaster and Cheshire vow vengeance on Aqualad and Black Manta for the 'death' of Artemis, when in fact, Artemis has gone under cover as Tigress.
In a paroxysm of anger, Miss Martian puts Aqualad in a catatonic state, before finding out that his betrayal and Artemis's death were staged. This results in her being kidnapped at the behest of Black Manta and coerced to undo the damage.
The Reach makes themselves known to the public, professing good intentions, but all the while concealing a hidden agenda.
The Reach manufactures food for human consumption with eerie purposes.
The abductees manifest superhuman abilities and are recruited by Lex Luthor.
Learning from Impulse that he will bring upon an apocalypse, Blue Beetle is determined to remove his scarab.
Sportsmaster defects from the Light and pursues his vendetta against Black Manta and Aqualad with Cheshire. Deathstroke takes his place as the Light's enforcer.
A new Beetle appears, pretending to be an ally of the heroes, and offers to help Blue Beetle to take control of his scarab. However, it was all an elaborate ruse, as he is actually an agent of the Reach and manages to put Jaime under the control of the Reach.
Nightwing tasks Blue Beetle with chasing down a group of potentially dangerous super-powered teenage runaways. But Blue's not the only one hunting them...