‘The Guardians of Justice’ is a satirical superhero comedy on Netflix. The part live-action, part animated series is about the titular Guardians of Justice and how they save the world after their leader commits suicide.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Summary
The Guardians of Justice have replied to the call of humanity whenever they were in danger. Marvelous Man, from planet Coultron, descended on Earth 40 years ago when humans needed him the most; during World War III. Celebrating his anniversary, the hero addresses the world but commits suicide instead for everyone to watch on the television.
Now, with the saviour of the world gone, lieutenant Knight Hawk has the responsibility on his shoulders to prevent the nuclear war. Other members include Blue-Scream, Golden Goddess, King Tsunami, The Speed, Awesome Man and Black Bow. Knight Hawk sends everyone to their missions.
Marvelous Man’s wife, Laura Louis, suspects foul play in her husband’s death and so does Hawk Knight. He starts investigating if it was a murder disguised as a suicide.
This investigation takes him to Doctor Ravencroft, Marvelous Man’s therapist, who is writing a book about the God-like hero’s mental health issues. Upon being threatened by Hawk Knight, he discloses that he is not the one to write the book and someone asked to put his name on it.
That someone is Logan Lockwood, the inventor of the “god-killer” bullet that Marvelous Man used to kill his bulletproof self. After the superhero’s death, he sees it as an opportunity to break the illusion of perfect God-like superheroes in the eyes of the public.
After digging in, Hawk Knight realises that the members of the Guardians of Justice are the prime suspects for stealing the bullet. He decides to interview them one by one.
He contacts one of his rogue understudies, Red Talon, who now works for the President. The once Hawk boy sidekick of Knight declines to help him.
Annubis is a terrorist who shakes hands with Russia intending to spark a World War IV. One of Red Talon’s teenage boys, Sepia Spider, who works for the President, infiltrates the Anubis headquarters.
He disobeys Red Talon’s order and tries to take the Annubis organisation down by himself but is killed by Annubis Quen. Knight Hawk convinces Red Talon to put an end to the Annubis and take all the credit. Alas, Red Talon also dies.
Knight Hawk summons Little Wing, who is a little boy superhero, trained by him. The child single-handedly ends all of Annubis.
Awesome Man feels lonely while on his mission and contacts Speed. They go on a date and sparks fly.
Knight Hawk interrogates King Tsunami and discovers that he and Marvelous Man’s wife, Laura Louis are having an affair. This is enough sandal for Knight Hawk to buy her obedience. She reports that she has complete faith in the Hawk’s leadership to the media.
Knight Hawk comes across footage of Black Bow and Blue-Scream killing people to steal the drug, Mellow Devil. Marvelous Man had reached the crime scene and decided to reveal their true face to the people.
After researching the drug, Knight Hawk gets to know that it contains Mind Master’s DNA, a villain who was killed by Marvelous Man. So, he assumes that someone must have saved his blood and made the drugs.
The investigation of the Black Bow and Blue-Scream reveal that the night Marvelous Man died, they were out getting high and had nothing to do with the supposed murder. They need the drugs after all the gruesome things that they witness daily.
Next, Knight Hawk goes to the Golden Goddess’s realm. She tells him that Marvelous Man always held back from killing the supervillain Zedd but it was her who finally put the sword through his chest. An argument breaks out between Golden Goddess and Knight Hawk. He calls for Awesome Man to save him.
Speed receives a call from her arch-nemesis Motion Blur, an avid user of Mellow Devil. He confesses that he stole the bullet but his mind was being controlled. He informs that Marvelous Man killed himself and trusted Knight Hawk for the bigger picture.
In an old interview, Mind Master discloses that he is gay and finds little respect from others because of his sexuality. He can’t hold the hand of his lover and he is abused by his own family.
Knight Hawk has an informant from the underworld, The Meow. She is an ex-Guardian of Justice whose girlfriend was killed by a policeman for being her lover. In a fit of rage, she had killed many police people which goes against their code and Marvelous Man had to revoke her membership. The Meow informs him of the Mellow Devil warehouses where he finds fresh samples of the drugs. The tests show that the new samples also have Mind Master’s DNA.
Thus, he concludes that he must not be dead after all and Marvelous Man lied about killing him. Cortex, Marvelous Man’s super-intelligent computer, shows Knight Hawk’s deleted memory to him. The memory shows that after the lover’s murder, there was public outrage against gay people and to save Knight Hawk and Marvelous Man’s love, the latter decided to alter Knight Hawk’s memory.
Knight Hawk inspects the video file of Marvelous Man’s suicide and realises that Mind Master was there with him that night. He needs a confession from Mind Master to stop the nuclear war. Speed is contacted by Logan Lockwood who claims that he has dirt on Knight Hawk.
If you have any doubts from the ending, here’s a detailed breakdown.
The Guardians of Justice ending explained in detail:
How Marvelous Man Died
Knight Hawk starts investigating Mind Master. He reveals that Marvelous Man actually asked him to steal the bullet and so he did. He controlled Motion Blur through Mellow Devil to steal it.
Marvelous Man and Mind Master were dating. They realised that their love would not be well received. He tried to stop his lover from committing suicide but failed.
Knight Hawk records the whole session and edits it unfairly. The clip makes it seem as though Mind Master confesses to his crimes. Humanity finds its new God; Knight Hawk.
Knight Hawk: A fascist?
Speed initiates her own search for the truth which leads her to Logan Lockwood’s warehouse but he is dead. Fortunately, he saves files with proof that Knight Hawk is building his own army.
Knight Hawk had gathered people who had lost their hope and given them something to put their energy in.
Though Mind Master is now dead, he keeps his body to cultivate Mellow Devil to keep his army under influence. Anyone who doesn’t agree with his ways must go.
Little Wing’s Truth
After learning Knight Hawk’s truth, Speed convinces Awesome Man to help her take him down. He explains how Knight Hawk is working for the greater good but Speed doesn’t buy it. Awesome Man eventually agrees.
Together, they go to Knight Hawk’s base. After a hands-on battle between Speed and Hawk’s army, she finally reaches the boss level i.e. Knight Hawk.
During their battle, she receives a message from Awesome Man to get to the portal immediately so that she can get out of his base.
When she reaches the portal, she finds Little Wings waiting for her. Turns out, Little Wing is actually Awesome Man’s disguise. His mission was to end Speed if she hampers the greater good. Thus, he chokes and kills his girlfriend even though he loves her.
Finally, it is revealed that Knight Hawk is working with Addison Walker, who manages a private army funded by big corporations. Together, they stopped the nuclear war from happening.
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