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"Dark Heart" is the tenth episode of Justice League Unlimited. It originally aired on December 11, 2004.

Plot

In Nevada, two rock climbers are scaling a mesa only to discover the Dark Heart, an alien construct capable of rapidly converting raw matter into attack robots.

League fights Dark Hart

The League fights the Dark Heart's robots.

With General Wade Eiling in command, the United States Army arrives to try to keep the alien robots from overrunning the region. The army does what it can but their weapons are useless against the alien threat. The Justice League is called in and Batman determines the aliens consume matter and reproduce then spread further. Batman uses a ice-bomb to freeze the structure, but the League itself fails to stop the escaping aliens. To buy time, J'onn tells the League and Army forces to pull back, clearing the area for the Watchtower's Binary Fusion Generator, an energy cannon "with the punch of a small nuclear weapon". The cannon fires, digging a trench around the mesa to halt the aliens' advance, buying time to evacuate a nearby town. Superman discovers that someone will need to get into the alien structure and destroy the dark heart that is pumping it.

File:Atom heart flow.png

The Atom disrupts the Dark Heart's blood flow.

Superman travels to Boston to retrieve The Atom, who is studying a rogue nanite. Superman tells him that he must shrink down to microscopic size and destroy the Dark Heart. The two of them travel back to Nevada and Superman hands The Atom to Wonder Woman, who will take him to the structure. The other League members attempt to hold off the aliens, giving Wonder Woman and the Atom some space. They finally arrive at the structure and The Atom shrinks down and goes inside it. He accesses its memory and determines it's a programmed war machine that never was told its war is over. He finds the Dark Heart and attempts to destroy it by just punching it, but fails. He realizes that by interrupting the blood flow throughout construct, he can stop the Dark Heart from operating. The idea works and the Dark Heart is neutralized moments before the Justice League is overrun.

Eiling confronts league

General Eiling does not hide his hostility for the League.

The Structure terminally ruptures, the drones shut down, and the Atom is able to make it out alive. The Army takes the structure away, Eiling making it clear that he is taking steps to counter the Justice League now that he knows about the powerful weapon they have in the Watchtower. Atom fears that if Eiling reactivates the Dark Heart, it will destroy everything on Earth, just as it destroyed its creators. When Atom asks what could stop history from repeating itself, Superman assures him that they'll stop it.

Continuity

Background information

Home video releases

Production inconsistencies

  • Eiling announces himself as United States Air Force ("USAF"), but appears to wear an Army uniform.
  • In an early scene where Green Arrow and Crimson Avenger are fighting the mechanical spiders, Aquaman can be seen coming down a Javelin ramp. He does not appear in any subsequent scenes and is unlikely to have been involved in a crisis which takes place in the middle of the Nevada desert and does not directly threaten the sea or Atlantis.
  • Just before he lands with Superman, Batman can be seen on the ground with the others fighting the spiders.
  • Batman's emblem is missing its head when it's first seen and is simply batwings. It vanishes completely when Batman throws batarangs at the attack tigers on the Batwing, though it can be clearly seen almost completely above his harness in the previous and next shots.

Trivia

  • In this episode, Atom's DCAU base of operations is established as Boston. In the comics, Atom is a superhero/college professor who lives in the fictional city Ivy Town.
  • Atom is seen in a petri dish fighting a cell-sized monster (car sized to him). This is possibly a reference to the Frank Miller comic "The Dark Knight Strikes Again" where Palmer is found in a similar predicament.
  • This marks the final time in the series where the opening title sequence uses clips from the episode it is featured in.
  • Atom mentions the theories of John von Neumann.
  • Superman's line before heading into the fray with Wonder Woman and the Atom is a possible reference to the last line of the Buffy spin-off "Angel".

Cast

Actor Role
George Newbern Superman
Soldier (uncredited)
Pilot (uncredited)
Carl Lumbly J'onn J'onzz
Pilot (uncredited)
Kevin Conroy Batman
Atom-Smasher (uncredited)
Susan Eisenberg Wonder Woman
John C. McGinley The Atom
J.K. Simmons General Wade Eiling
Michael Beach Commander
Billy (uncredited)
Catherine Cavadini Katie
Billy's girlfriend (uncredited)

Uncredited appearances

Quotes

(In a petri dish, a tiny Atom is ambushed by a faulty nanobot.)
Atom: He's bigger than my car now, Katie. Personally, I blame you.
Katie: How can it possibly be my fault?
Atom: Because otherwise it would be my fault. That can't be right: I'm a professor.

Batman: (falling from the sky) Batman to all points. I could use some air support... since I can't fly... at all. (reaching the ground) Now would be good.

Wonder Woman: (fighting robots while holding the tiny Atom in her fist) I need both hands, Professor Palmer!
(She slips the Atom into her cleavage.)

Atom: This is incredible. Every atom of it is filled with a book's worth of information. It's beautifully simple, it—
Batman: Save it for the autopsy.

Atom: Amazing. Show him a weapon that destroyed its creators and every other thing it saw, and he wants to play with it. What's to stop history from repeating itself right here on Earth?
Superman: We are.

Previous episode:
"Ultimatum"
Cadmus Story Arc Next episode:
"The Doomsday Sanction"


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