New JLU on tap

Justice League Unlimited concludes its 3rd season (the first two without Unlimited in the title) with a 2-parter, "The Once and Future Thing." It's a time travel story with Part 1 (airing this Saturday at 8:30 pm) occuring in the past and Part 2 (Saturday, January 29) taking place in a future we've seen before in the animated DCU.

Bruce (Batman) Wayne and John (Green Lantern) Stewart are headin' for the last round-up.

According to story editor and writer, Dwayne McDuffie, who told Silver Bullet Comics ' All the Rage column:

“The Once and Future Thing” is a really, really fun story that’s going to surprise a lot of people. A couple of major revelations for our characters and several guest shots that we couldn’t have done any other way. It really is an apocalyptic season finale. (And that’s not a Jack Kirby pun.) I can tell you that the bad guy is Chronos and the League will be going to the old west and meeting a lot of the DC Comics western heroes, including Jonah Hex and (my favorite) Bat Lash, among others. They will also be going into the future of the DC animated universe. Batman from Batman Beyond will appear, as will Static (from the Static Shock animated series, which I co-created). Static's a pretty old guy at the time the episode occurs. And speaking of old guys, we'll also see... oops, almost gave too much away.

The 4th season starts right after that, where we'll see the continuation of the government conspiracy subplot that's been running under many of the episodes this season. According to Cartoon Network, the new season will feature Black Canary, Shayera (Hawgirl), Vigilante, Vixen and The Question battling such villains as Lex Luthor and Felix Faust. Superman will also take on Cadmus in a battle that will determine the future of the League.