SPACE JAM: A New Legacy
*CUT TO THE CHASE*NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy
1998 – Young LeBron James (Stephen Kankole) is attending a basketball game at his school which his mother has to miss because of work. Just before the game, his friend lets him play a Game Boy Color with a Looney Tunes game. LeBron goes up to play and misses his shot during the game. The coach tells him that he has great potential, but he has to let go of distractions. LeBron agrees and throws away the Game Boy, promising to dedicate himself to the game.
The credits show LeBron throughout his successful basketball career, playing for different teams and starting a family with wife Kamiyah (Sonequa Martin-Green) and children Darius (Ceyair J. Wright), Dom (Cedric Joe), and Xosha (Harper Lee Alexander).
Present Day – Darius is practicing his basketball skills while Dom is more interested in video games and has even designed a basketball-themed game of his own. LeBron thinks Dom has potential in the sport, but he doesn’t know how to tell his dad that he has different interests. Kamiyah tells LeBron to hear out their son and respect his desires.
At the Warner Brothers studio, an AI named Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle) studies all of LeBron’s career and laments to his buddy Pete that he is stuck in the studio’s ServerVerse with all of their IP’s. He has a plan to finally get himself noticed, and he plans to use LeBron and some new tech to accomplish his goal. He creates an email to a studio executive, and the idea is hatched.
Dom is working on his game and wanting to go to a video game design camp the following weekend instead of the basketball camp that his dad wants him to go to. He is working on a character based on LeBron with his own special skill, but unfortunately, Dom’s computer crashes when the LeBron character does his special move, causing a glitch and for the character to be erased. LeBron tries to reassure Dom that things will be okay and invites him on the WB studio tour that he was invited to.
LeBron goes with Dom and his friend Malik (Khris Davis). They meet with two execs (Sarah Silverman and Steven Yeun), who present them an ad that Al-G emailed them. It involves the new tech called Warner 3000 and would apparently scan LeBron and put him in the world of several WB properties, like Batman, Game of Thrones, or Harry Potter. LeBron finds the idea to be dumb and tacky, which Al-G overhears through a camera, enraging him. However, Dom thinks the idea is cool and admits to his dad that he is planning to go to the game design camp instead of basketball camp. This leads to an argument between father and son, with Dom telling LeBron that he never lets him be himself.
As the two start leaving, the elevator takes them to the lower level where the ServerVerse room is. Dom is lured in by a giant mechanical ball that pulls him, and later LeBron inside. There, they meet Al-G, who charms Dom, but LeBron quickly figures he’s a bad guy. Al-G makes Dom disappear and tells LeBron that he will get him back, but first he must beat Al-G at a basketball game of his own creation. He then has Pete send LeBron to “the rejects”, so LeBron passes through several other WB worlds before landing in Tune World.
LeBron becomes animated and finds that the world of the Looney Tunes is vacant, until he comes across a poster for “Rabbit/Duck Season”. This summons Bugs Bunny (Jeff Bergman), who has continued living there alone since all the other Tunes abandoned him. After LeBron tells Bugs that Al-G has his son, Bugs expresses his own grudge with Al-G, since it was he who convinced the other Tunes that there is more to see than their own Tune World, leaving Bugs all alone. LeBron then looks out at a clock that is counting down for less than 24 hours for him to assemble his team. Bugs agrees to help LeBron in order to save Dom.
Bugs makes a fake claim to the land for Earth, which brings Marvin The Martian (Eric Bauza) and his dog K-9 so that HE can claim the land. Bugs just uses this as a distraction so he and LeBron can steal Marvin’s ship and go look for the other Tunes. While LeBron thinks they can use strong WB characters like the Iron Giant and Superman, Bugs thinks it’s best to reassemble the Tune Squad. They first go to the DC Animated Universe where Daffy Duck and Porky Pig (also both Eric Bauza) trying to make Daffy look like a hero so he can join the Justice League, but he nearly causes a train to crash into an orphanage before Superman and the other heroes stop them and nearly beat up Daffy before he and Porky agree to join Bugs. Next they find Wile E. Coyote in the world of “Mad Max: Fury Road”, joining the War Boys as he hunts down Road Runner. After that, Elmer Fudd (also Eric Bauza) and Sylvester (also Jeff Bergman) are in the Austin Powers world trying to work for Dr. Evil. Yosemite Sam (also Jeff Bergman) is in “Casablanca” while Foghorn Leghorn (also Eric Bauza) is in Westeros flying dragons with Gossamer. Granny (Candi Milo) and Speedy Gonzales (Gabriel Iglesias) are in The Matrix before they are recruited back to the Tunes. Tasmanian Devil is brought to the Tunes by Rick and Morty (Justin Roiland). Finally, Lola Bunny (Zendaya) is training to be an Amazon under Wonder Woman (Rosario Dawson), but when Bugs and LeBron come asking for her help, she refuses as she completes the obstacle course, until LeBron says he is doing this for his son, at which point Lola has a change of heart and rescues him and Bugs from falling to their deaths, but failing to complete the course in time. Wonder Woman still commends Lola for putting her values first, and Lola still becomes an Amazon before joining her old Tune friends again. Also, Tweety shows up after Sylvester coughs him up.
LeBron and the Tunes try to get some training done for the big game, but their wacky antics get in the way of actual skill, so LeBron thinks they had better tone down their Looney-ness if they want to win. Meanwhile, Al-G appeals to Dom by showing him how cool the world of the ServerVerse is, as well as showing interest in Dom’s video game endeavors, something he never got from his dad. Al-G tricks Dom into coming up with the code for his own game into this world, with Dom giving his own character the highest skills before assembling mutated versions of other basketball players.
Outside in the real world, Malik is frantically searching for LeBron and Dom until he is found by Kamiyah, Darius, and Xosha. As they go look for the two, Al-G starts to set his plan in motion, as the countdown for LeBron to find his team is up, and the game is set to take place in Tune World. Using his own app, Al-G gets all of LeBron’s social media followers, including his own family, trapped in the ServerVerse to watch the game. Ernie Johnson Jr and Lil Rel Howery are also pulled into the game as commentators. Soon, a vast majority of characters from the ServerVerse show up for the game, including (deep breath) King Kong, the Iron Giant, the Flintstones, the Jetsons, Pennywise, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo, the White Walkers, the Gremlins, the Animaniacs, and even the Nerdlucks (from the last movie). LeBron is turned back to his regular human form while the Tunes are given CGI upgrades as the game commences.
Al-G brings out the Goon Squad, comprised of water-and-fire hybrid Wet/Fire (Klay Thompson), snake monster White Mamba (Diana Taurasi), spider-creature Arachnneka (Nneka Ogwumike), bird-like The Brow (Anthony Davis), and a time-bending robot called Chronos (Damian Lillard). Al-G announces that if the Tune Squad wins, LeBron and his family can return to their real world, but if the Goon Squad wins, all the humans will remain trapped in the ServerVerse, AND Al-G will permanently delete the Tunes. Dom utilizes his special skills in the game, to LeBron’s surprise. Since they are playing by Al-G’s rules, anything goes, which allows the Goons to dominate in the first two quarters since LeBron is still making the Tunes play through basic fundamentals.
After halftime, the Tunes are feeling wiped out. Sylvester tries to cheer them up by saying they found Michael Jordan in the crowd and can help give them a boost they desperately need…except it’s actually the actor, Michael B. Jordan, who still encourages LeBron and roots for him and the Tunes. When Lola says that they are doing everything that LeBron told them to do, he realizes that he is preventing them from playing with their own special skills, just as he was with Dom. He hands the reins over to Bugs, who tells the gang that they are going to go full Looney for the next half.
When the Tunes return, they bring their A-game, with Wile E. and Road Runner helping score multiple points with a clone machine (at Wile E’s expense, of course), and Granny scores major points against Chronos, even getting him to rapidly age. Taz causes the court to spin around and make The Brow score for the Tunes. Gossamer also absorbs Wet/Fire to slow him down. Porky even raps a ferocious freestyle to Al-G, giving them special skills points. The Tunes finally manage to catch up on the scoreboard. LeBron and Dom then have a public reconciliation after LeBron admits that his son designed something special and that he wishes he had seen it earlier. The two express their love for one another, and Dom leaves the Goon Squad after seeing that Al-G truly is a bad guy. This further enrages the AI, especially after he sees that even Pete wants to join the heroes, and he morphs into a giant robot that takes full control over the game in the fourth quarter.
Al-G cheats and steals points from the Tunes. With mere seconds left on the clock, LeBron and the Tunes try to figure out a strategy, until Dom remembers that the LeBron character glitched after performing his special move, causing the game to freeze. If they do the same there, Al-G won’t be able to have power in there, but the one performing the glitch move may be permanently deleted. LeBron agrees to try out the move. The game resumes, but as Lola passes the ball to LeBron, Bugs takes it and pulls the move off himself, causing himself and the game to glitch. LeBron uses a power-up to launch himself to make the winning basket, only for Al-G to jump and try to pull him down. Dom thinks quickly and tosses his dad another power-up, giving him enough of a boost to score the winning basket and defeat Al-G. He is turned into a poster and is destroyed when Pete flies through him. The humans return to the real world, while LeBron and Dom say goodbye to the Tunes before reuniting with the rest of the family (and Malik). The gang gathers around Bugs as their world is restored. He continues to glitch but expresses happiness that he got his friends back together, and then he apparently disappears after saying “That’s all, folks”.
LeBron prepares to bring Dom to what the boy thinks is basketball camp, but he is actually bringing Dom to sign up for the game design camp, finally allowing his son to reach his full potential. However, Dom keeps a basketball with him so he can practice on the side. LeBron then finds that Bugs is now in the real world, as he is a Tune and therefore cannot die. He asks LeBron if he can crash at his place for a while, to which he agrees…until Bugs says that he is bringing the whole gang with him.
Basketball superstar LeBron James brings his son Dom to the Warner Brothers studio after receiving an invitation from a sentient AI called Al-G Rhythm to try out a new tech, which would allow Al-G to gain more public recognition. LeBron and Dom have an argument since Dom is more interested in designing video games, but his dad wants him to practice his basketball skills. Al-G lures the two to the WB server room where they become trapped inside the ServerVerse full of other WB IP's. Al-G keeps Dom as his prisoner and forces LeBron to recruit a basketball team for an upcoming game.
LeBron is sent to the world of the Looney Tunes where only Bugs Bunny continues to live since Al-G convinced the other Tunes that there is more to see in the ServerVerse. After getting his friends back from different WB worlds, Bugs helps LeBron to train them for the upcoming game. However, LeBron forces them to hold back their Looney-ness and play the game as he would. Al-G then gets LeBron's wife and other kids, plus all his social media followers, trapped in the ServerVerse as the game begins, with the plan being that if LeBron wins, Al-G will set everyone free, but if his team loses, the humans will remain trapped in the ServerVerse, and Al-G will permanently delete the Tunes. Al-G then presents the Goon Squad, made up of basketball players Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, Diana Taurasi, and Nneka Ogwumike as mutant creatures, all designed by Dom since the game is based off the basketball game he created himself.
The Goon Squad dominates in the first half until LeBron lets Bugs take over and utilize the team's fully Looney skills. After LeBron apologizes to Dom for not recognizing his own skills earlier, and after Dom realizes Al-G is a bad guy, Dom joins the Tunes. Al-G turns into a giant robot that takes over the game to his own advantage. Remembering a glitch from Dom's game, the team plans for LeBron to use his character's special move, which will cause the game to glitch and prevent Al-G from interfering. Bugs is the one who pulls off the move, and Dom helps his dad use a power-up to score the winning basket. Al-G is turned into a poster and is destroyed by his own buddy Pete. LeBron and Dom bid farewell to the Tunes and reunite with their family.
LeBron lets Dom go to the video game design camp, while Bugs comes to the real world and crashes with LeBron for a while.