Justice League Unlimited episode
"Dark Heart"
Airdate:	December 11th, 2004 (USA)
Production Number:	10
Airdate Order:	10
Animation Services by:	Dong Yang Animation Co., LTD.
Written by:	Warren Ellis
Directed by:	Dan Riba
Episode images (7)

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

Plot Edit

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.

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.

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 bloodflow 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.

The Structure terminally ruptures, the drones shut down, and the Atom is able to make it out alive. The Army takes the structure away, possibly for use against the League now they're aware the superheroes have an orbital weapon in the Watchtower. Atom fears that if Eiling tries to reactivate it, 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 Edit

• This episode reveals the existence of the Watchtower's orbital cannon.
• First appearance of General Eiling. In the subsequent episode "The Doomsday Sanction", he is shown to be working for Project Cadmus.
• The remains of the Dark Heart re-appear in "Divided We Fall".

Background information Edit

Home video releases Edit

• Justice League Unlimited - Season One (DVD)
• Justice League - The Complete Series (DVD)
• Justice League: The New Frontier (2DVD, Blu-ray only)

Production inconsistencies Edit

• Eiling announces himself as United States Air Force ("USAF"), but appears to wear an Army uniform.
• 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 Edit

• 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 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 Edit

Uncredited appearances Edit

QuotesEdit