She Wore Red Velvet

"**She Wore Red Velvet**" is the fifty-second and last episode of Justice League Action.

## Summary

When Booster Gold is assailed by a super-woman from the future, the Justice League requires him to take time-related corrective action so they are not destroyed along with him.

## Story

Booster Gold is at a book signing event at Gotham Books for his autobiography and has promised an appearance by Batman, but the fans in the queue only complain that Batman is not there. As the scene begins to turn ugly it is interrupted by the appearance of a woman in a red superheroine's outfit. She announces herself as Red Velvet but Booster does not recognise her. Using a red ring she targets him with a ray blast and Booster is forced to shield himself with a protective bubble. As she continues to shoot at him, she says there is not much she won't do to get his attention and then disappears, leaving Booster standing in the smouldering ruins of the book shop.

Later, in the Watchtower, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow are questioning Booster about the mystery woman when Red Velvet suddenly appears from a time travel portal. She addresses Booster, using his private initials 'M. J.', and asks him if he has received her presents. Booster realises she must be a certain Margot that he knows, just before he is blasted again, and after which she disappears. As the superheroes again question Booster about what gift she is likely to have sent, the Watchtower begins to experience the eruption of the volcano on which it rests. Booster assumes that Red Velvet must have caused it by going back in time to trigger the event, and so the four League members make a run for the Justice One hangar as the Watchtower begins to crumble away. Although the platform on which Justice One stands gives way, Wonder Woman is just able to arrest its fall long enough for the other three to get inside and start the engines. With Wonder Woman onboard, the craft accelerates and clears the volcano just before it erupts, destroying the Watchtower.

With their patience gone, the other three superheroes threateningly demand that Booster tells them who Margot is. He now relates how he met Margot Montgomery, a wealthy heiress, while down on his luck in the Metropolis of the year 2462 and decided to get married, but, at the ceremony as he was about to take his vows, he realised that he was not good enough for her and ran out. He made for the space-time museum, where he was the night watchman, and borrowed a time suit so that he could travel back to the twenty-first century to make his fortune and so be able to support Margot. Batman notes, however, that he has not yet married Margot, implying that he never will and that she has come back from the future for revenge. While Booster grapples with the paradox, Red Velvet appears in the sky outside, calling him out and, when he does not respond, she blasts one of Justice One's engines. As the craft plummets to its doom, Batman urges Booster to take the necessary action, and so the latter opens a time portal and steps through with Batman following.

Arriving at the wedding ceremony in the future, Booster has only been gone for a minute and, as Margot runs to greet him, he makes the pretence that he had only gone to fetch Batman as a celebrity guest. As the ceremony proceeds, Batman notices that the ring that Booster produces is the same as that used by Red Velvet and he realises that Booster must have married Margot after all. At this point, Red Velvet appears and declares that Booster Gold was a worthless husband, before continuing to blast him. Batman disables her with an electric shock, and she is caught by Booster. Meanwhile, Margot has been listening to the things being said about her prospective husband and throws the ring away before leaving. At the same time, the ring on Red Velvet's finger disappears as she fades out of existence in Booster's arms. He is left calling out Margot's name.

Later, in the Watchtower in the corrected timeline, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow cannot remember the recent events, while Batman tries to console Booster for his loss. The latter suddenly perks up and asks if he has the number for Giganta (not seen in the show).

## Notes

### Cultural References

* The episode's title is a reference to the opening lyric of *Blue Velvet*, a 1950 love ballad popularized by Bobby Vinton's 1963 cover of the song.
* The Batman fanboy compliments Red Velvet's costume and in a fourth-wall leaning reference, asks if she is an "Elseworlds Harley Quinn". *Elseworlds* was a comic book line which took DC characters and placed them in different settings of alternate universes and timelines. The series laid the groundwork for DC's 52 parallel Earths in its modern multiverse. This seems to imply that comic book series exists as a publication in the Justice League Action universe.
* Booster Gold jokingly refers to the Batman fanboy as "Bat-Mite" when he asks who he should make his autograph out to when signing the fan's copy of his latest book. Bat-Mite was a character from the Silver Age Batman comics, a being from the 5th Dimension and was Batman's biggest fan. Bat-Mite often tried to help Batman, usually with disastrous results.
* One of the disappointed fans thought Booster Gold was Animal Man. This is a callback to a running gag in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Greatest Story Never Told", where people mistook Booster Gold for Green Lantern.
	+ Animal Man is a DC comics superhero character with powers similar to Vixen, in that he can tap into the abilities of animals. Animal Man has blond hair like Booster and a similar goggle lens face mask with blue and yellow colors as part of his costume, so it is easy to see why the fan was confused.