I am an animated Justice League junkie. I have seen the animated series no less then ten times and every animated movie at least twice that. But if I had to choose between the original Justice League or the Justice League Unlimited then my favorite is the first one. The second series had great plots, no argument. But it was so busy with so many characters, most of whom rarely had much screen time.When it was Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl, Flash, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter against the world it was better. WHat do you think?
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Forever will I love Justice League Unlimited over its predecessor.
Justice League was great, but JLU dramatically opened up the DCAU in terms of characters, stories and overall development.
All of the background cameos in crowd scenes, the Watchtower and elsewhere were fantastic as well. Watching an episode and saying “There’s The Ray! Oh look, there’s Doctor Mid-Nite!” was and is fun.
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JLU is better, in my view. They needed to do JL to get experience doing a “team show”. That said, JLU is better because it had such a variety of characters. They could mix and match and create chemistry and conflict. (STRIPE, GL, Supergirl & Stargirl all in the same episode as lead characters along with Warlord. Or Batman and Zatanna (when WW got turned into a pig) with big spots by Bawana Beast & Red Tornado. Or Superman and Huntress going to Cadmus to rescue question, and the Captain Atom fight. Shiera, Vixen, & Vigilante. Talk about chemistry and conflict. My all time favorite though has to be the Shiera & WW teamup, but Flash, Batman & Orion was chemistry and had some good comedic conflict between Wally and Orion.
Having such a broad cast of characters to choose from really set that show apart from every other DCAU and is the crowning accomplishment of the entire DCAU body of work.
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Man, it’s not as interesting when we all agree with each other. Shoot!
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Well, I think JL is a better show, overall. JLU has some really standout episodes, but also a lot of forgettable ones. Every JL story strives to be a classic.
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Another on team JLU here.
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Depends on what you’re looking for in a show: character development and story arcs or just a wide variety of characters from every corner (as everyone pointed out above) of the DC universe.
JL went in-depth on the main members and delved into their backgrounds and personalities because of all the screen time each one had.
JLU was great for fan-service (in the best way) by getting the chance to bring in and introduce characters that would’ve never (and may never) get a chance to get on a screen.
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@HubCityQuestion picked the one that didn’t have the Question!?
I loved both. JL had great plots and could focus better. JLU had great plots slightly less focus but more characters.
I am going to have to go with JLU. I loved all those characters. It introduced me to a few (including the Question) and I loved the stories.
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A lot were two parters. So it gave them more time to work with, developing each story. It’s interesting, because for me the inverse is true. I have a hard time off the top of my head thinking of the various story arc of JL. But, it shows the power of the medium of comics in general. One person can be “it was good, but emotionally didn’t stick with me”, while another person finds it much more emotionally invested and memorable.
Vive Le difference
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Look: “Question Authority” is the best EPISODE of either show. But I think League is stronger overall.
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Honestly there’s no wrong answer as far as I’m concerned. Both are great shows.
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I prefer tighter ensembles and more character-driven stories, so my vote goes to JL for most of the reasons @ccanonico95.31316 mentioned. It made me take interest in characters I had never paid attention to (or really known). I might have never grown to love some of the Lantern Corps and Flash family if not for my JL intro to John and the Wally-Bart-Barry hybrid.
JLU, on the other hand, introduced me to a ton of new characters, but it didn’t give me as much a chance to get to know them; I never felt the same emotional connection to the story arcs. I can see how it was a dream come true for fans who had a broader love of the DC world, though.
But even if JL was my fav, both were fantastic.
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I’m about a season in to Justice League, but so far it suffers from an EXTREME case of the Worf Effect Trope. Basically in Star Trek The Next Generation, to prove that the bad guy was a real tough bad guy, he or she had to beat up Worf. For 1 episode, it’s an interesting thing to do. But in reality, it meant that Worf was getting beaten up on a weekly basis.
And the same thing is happening with this Justice League cartoon. Basically everyone is kneecapping Superman, and most of the heavy hitters in an effort to prove how “dangerous” they are in almost every single episode. I’m not a Superman fan, but it’s getting old quickly, and I don’t think I have the stamina to watch season 2.
Here’s hoping JLU is better. I’m going to watch that instead.
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Gonna have to go with JLU. While I agree that having a smaller cast for the JL was great for more character centric stories and longer storylines, JLU just holds a special place in my heart for having, in my own opinion, more memorable scenes and quotes as well as introducing me to so many awesome characters. Trying to remember all of my favorite episodes between both always leans more towards JLU. For The Man Who Has Everything, Kid’s Stuff, The Greatest Story Never Told, The Cat and The Canary, Double Date, Question Authority, and my absolute favorite Superman scene in Destroyer. Not to mention my favorite characters in the whole DCAU, Green Arrow, Question, Vigilante, and Booster Gold.
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Interestingly enough, the creators of the show ended up realizing the same thing (though I don’t think Bruce Timm mentioned Worf in the interview I read). In the early days of the internet, there were a lot of fans calling them out on it too. It’s why Season Two opens with Twilight. If you want to skip the rest of JL to get to JLU, I’d suggest you at least watch Twilight because they made a lot of subtle changes between S1 and S2.
As to the OP’s question, I have to go with JLU. Yes, they expanded the roster to include some of my favorites, but I just thought that the writing got so much better. I felt like a lot of JL episodes were padded because of the two-part format, but when the writers were forced to fit a story into 22 minutes, everything got so much sharper. And then there’s the Cadmus arc. And The Great Brain Robbery. And Grudge Match is a guilty pleasure.
If I have to choose, I’m going to go with JLU.
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“The plastic pieces on the ends of shoelaces are called agletts, their true nature is sinister.”
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I think I prefer JL over JLU because of its more intimate feeling stories, but really, I see JLU just as a continuation of JL. I don’t think I even realized they were separate shows when they first aired.
True that. The original is definitely better as far as character backgrounds.
And I add the last 3 episodes of JL S2, it sets up Shiera for all of JLU.
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What is their sinister purpose I think is the only question @HubCityQuestion has kinda dodged. Makes me wonder if he is keeping that information to himself for a reason. 
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