System Error

"**System Error**" is the forty-fourth episode of Justice League Action.

## Summary

An unlikely collection of super-villains perpetually battle the Justice League until the superheroes realise that they themselves are merely robots and then have to discover who has made them and why.

## Featuring

 Cameos by Black Adam, General Zod, Parasite, Gorilla Grodd, Harley Quinn, Bane, Poison Ivy, Kanjar Ro | -

## Story

Batman wakens to find himself in the Batmobile but cannot remember why he is there. Booster Gold contacts him on the video display and reminds him that they are in Metropolis and have been involved for days in a street battle with multiple super-villains. As Batman drives through the streets to join his colleague, he sees Green Lantern overhead in combat with Black Adam and Gorilla Grodd but then apparently witnesses him smash into a building and explode. Carrying on, Batman finds Booster in a fight with Harley Quinn and intervenes to dispose of her but is then assailed by General Zod. Booster steps in and deals with the villain easily, much to Batman's surprise and he senses something is wrong. Cyborg appears, pursued by Parasite, and is overcome, so the Batmobile knocks down the villain and drives away with Cyborg onboard. Batman calls the other members (Superman and Wonder Woman) to meet at S.T.A.R. Labs.

Examining the unconscious Cyborg there, he detects something unusual and removes the human half of Cyborg's face to reveal that he is a robot. The other four superheroes do the same to establish that they are all robots and that they are only programmed to think like the real Justice League. Then, a squad of parademons (from Apokolips) bursts in and a fight ensues, but the superheroes are programmed not to harm their opponents and run out of the building.

They run down the street but come to the edge of a precipice. The city is seen to be a detached piece of landscape floating in a void that looks like a computer simulation, and Wonder Woman speculates that it might be a "pocket dimension". The superheroes go into hiding as the parademons reappear who are in turn signalled by Darkseid telling them to bring the heroes to the command center for reprogramming once they are found. When they leave, the superheroes realise that this whole place is just an experiment to gather data to be used against the real Justice League and they decide to stop Darkseid's plan.

They go to the Daily Planet building (the command center) but there are eight robot super-villains standing outside (the five aforementioned plus Bane, Poison Ivy and Kanjar Ro). Batman is able to send an alert to the real Justice League before the 'battle royal' that follows, but the five 'good' robots get inside while the 'bad' ones stay outside as they have been programmed to do. Inside, they are assailed by more parademons, but Booster decoys them while the other four take the lift to the control room. They, joined by Booster, go in and are confronted by Darkseid but they are programmed not to harm him. However, Cyborg is able to sabotage the controlling system, destroying the test data. The pocket dimension begins to unravel and disappear as Darkseid escapes through a 'Boom Tube', leaving the five robot heroes facing oblivion. But another portal opens and the real Batman ushers them in and takes them to the Watchtower.

The real League thanks the robots for foiling Darkseid's plan and offers to find a suitable planet for them to continue their existence as genuine superheroes, though the real Booster is unimpressed by the behaviour of his duplicate.