Time Share

"**Time Share**" is the ninth episode of Justice League Action.

## Summary

Chronos intends to travel back in time to eliminate Batman from history, but the Justice League are on to him.

## Story

Batman, in the Batmobile, and a flying Blue Beetle pursue Chronos, who has just stolen a small glowing device from a company owned by Bruce Wayne in Gotham City. Chronos, on his monocycle, turns and shoots his 'time bombs' at his antagonists, but they hit bystanders, who freeze in time for a few seconds. The novice Blue Beetle flies ahead of Batman and obstructs him, earning scorn for his mistake, but they still manage to follow Chronos to his hideout in a building elsewhere in the city.

There, searching inside for their enemy, they find newspaper cuttings concerning Batman's first case in which he had brought down gangster Carmine Falcone. Elsewhere in the building, Chronos uses the glowing device to charge his time-travelling gauntlet before Batman eventually finds him, so he runs away, mocking his opponents. After Blue Beetle blunders again when trying to stop him, Chronos opens a time portal with the gauntlet and goes through, but the two superheroes, a few seconds behind, are also able to enter before it closes.

They find themselves in the same the building, which appears newer. Looking through a window, Batman recognises the scene and realises Chronos has come back to the time of his first case in order to change events and erase him (Batman) from history. The two superheroes move outside to see the earlier version of Batman go into the warehouse for his confrontation with Falcone and they follow, being careful to avoid being seen and causing a time anomaly. Inside, they see Chronos high up on a gantry and who has forewarned Falcone of the approach of the early Batman. Below, the latter is surrounded by gangsters who are about to open fire to eliminate him. Blue Beetle impetuously attacks Chronos and knocks his time bombs downward so that they hit everyone below, freezing them. This threatens the proper sequence of events but also allows Chronos a second chance to alter them.

Batman and Chronos become involved in a lengthy fight, but the villain is able to dodge Batman's punches, using his gauntlet to continually see one second ahead. Batman eventually drops a smoke bomb and hits Chronos suddenly from the haze, knocking him out. Meanwhile, Blue Beetle makes amends for his earlier mistakes and adjusts the positions of the frozen gangsters just before they wake and open fire. Their bullets miss, and early Batman is able to deal with them by smashing the lights before smashing the gang in the darkness. The ending scene is still not right, however, as Falcone has gone missing, so the later Batman finds him and knocks him out so that the other Batman can capture him - all without the two heroes ever spotting one another.

Returning to the present, while Chronos is handed over to the police, Batman surprisingly acknowledges his young companion's contributions. Superman and Wonder Woman, who are also there, are stunned at their colleague's out-of-character behaviour, but still manage to welcome Blue Beetle to the Justice League.

## Notes

* This episode makes multiple references to Batman: the Animated Series:
	+ The theme song can be heard throughout the episode. Also Batman's pose was used at the very end of it.
	+ The "I am Vengeance, I am The Night, I am Batman!" Line was made popular during the episode: *Nothing to Fear*.
	+ The red sky and the dirigibles in the air are also references to the intro.
* The earliest version of Blue Beetle first appeared in the comics in 1939, the same year as Batman. This may be why these two have been paired together in this story of the early Batman.
* In the comics, Chronos is sometimes seen standing on a flying platform in the shape of a sundial. Here, a small version of it is seen leaning against the wall in his hideout.