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In the latest episode of Young Justice: Phantoms, we discover Zatanna is way more manipulating and selfish than Batman thanks to a sinister deal.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Young Justice: Phantoms, streaming now on HBO Max.
In Young Justice, one of the key aspects of Batman the show has been consistent with is his how deceitful he can be. The Dark Knight’s manipulative ways drew the ire of Black Lightning and many others, so much so Bruce Wayne even resigned from the Justice League. Now, in the latest episode of Young Justice: Phantoms, we discovered Zatanna is way more manipulating and selfish.
The Bat’s never been one to trust because as reliable as he is, he has always had ulterior motives, treating teammates like pawns rather than people. He’s been lambasted for this time and time again, and it’s quite ironic one of his ex-charges in Zatanna displayed the same conniving attitude.
It occurred in Episode 13, “Kaerb Ym Traeh!” when Zee’s mystical crew was able to defeat the Child, using Klarion as an ally in a shocking move. But when the dust settled, she quickly brokered a sinister deal with Doctor Fate to share the helmet with herself, as well as Thirteen and Khalid. But the latter didn’t like how Zee duped Thirteen, gaslighting her into taking the offer, as he realized it was all a long con.
He confronted and discovered the truth: Zee was never training them to be better mystical superheroes; she just needed replacement hosts for Nabu. It’d allow them all to take duties up for one week, giving her dad, Giovanni, three weeks off so they could spend time together. For years, he’s only gotten a brief amount of time with her so while we do sympathize with Zee, Khalid is right in pointing out this subterfuge was unacceptable.
Thirteen didn’t even talk it over with her family so Khalid can’t stand that Zee’s such a puppet master, taking advantage of her innocence and naivety. She should have been forthcoming and told them everything from the start as this training did rob them of freedom and agency, especially as Nabu has been known to enslave hosts and be cruel. Plus, the teens don’t know how this bond would affect their bodies moving forward, which really paints Zee in a dark light, preying upon them after grooming them with lies of omission.
After all, Batman would still have protected his apprentices physically, rather than secretly using them as sacrificial lambs. The way Zee also sent Mary Marvel off with her own anger issues, Khalid can tell she didn’t care about helping them — she just needed mindless drones who’d accept what she said as gospel. Ultimately, he felt like he could make it work with Fate, taking the first shift, but he doesn’t trust Zee anymore, which is sure to sow tension and create an avenue for this entire deal to backfire.
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