Young Justice season 3 is… here! *Screams and cheering from rejoicing fans*

We’ve waited over five and a half years for this moment – the last release of a Young Justice episode was way back in March 2013. There will be spoilers for seasons one and two, however, none for season three as I strongly believe this new, holy experience should not be spoiled.

We left the second season of Young Justice with a huge cliffhanger in the revelation that Darkseid was somehow involved with all the chaos that Vandal Savage was puppeteering, and the tragic death of one the founding members of the Young Justice team Wally West, AKA Kid Flash.

With Meta-Gene experimentation as one of the main plot points throughout seasons one and two, you can hedge your bets that it’s going to play a big part of season three. The very first scene in Young Justice S3, Ep1 shows us the progression the enemy has made in Meta-Gene manipulation, and the resolution to that Darkseid cliffhanger. We get hints as to where every superhero is in their life (no spoilers of course), we see a little bit of the relationship between Static and Black Lightning, and Kaldur’ahm formally known as Aqualad II is now the Aquaman.

The five-and-a-half year wait for this new season was definitely worth it. Not only are we seeing the heroes’ lives develop in real time, but as the series goes on, the tone has shifted too – it feels like, as audiences get older, the themes become more serious. It’s been extremely gratifying to not only see my favourite characters from the comics on screen, but to also get a bigger role in this new season.

The tone of this new series has already started off with political and ‘grey area’ reflections from real life.  It’s seems that as this season progresses, it’s going to parallel darker parts of the DC comics.

Finally, a quick shoutout to the end credits of each episode, unpacking what you’ve just watched – but bringing you back down to Earth after all the drama. Some serene music and an image of something cute (like Artemis’ dog playing with a Wally West Kid Flash toy) makes leaving each episode even more poignant.

Young Justice: Outsiders is streaming now in the US on DC Universe. Details on international broadcast are yet to be released.