Imperium (DC Animated)

The Imperium are a parasitic extraterrestrial race that feature in the cartoon series Justice League.

History

The Imperium were an ancient race of parasitic beings that preyed on the known universe. Their origins were largely unknown except that they first arrived in the Solar system around 1,000 Earth years ago. This incursion was during the height of the Green Martian civilization on Mars. Similar to their previous invasions, the Imperium struck without warning and nearly destroyed all life on Mars. The parasitic nature of the invaders meant that they quickly absorbed and duplicated the shape shifting abilities as well as telepathy of the Martian race. Whilst peaceful, the Martians quickly learnt the ways of war and formed a small resistance movement against the invaders with one of the key members being J'onn J'onzz who had encountered the leader of the Imperium. Despite their efforts, they faced a losing war and staged on final strike against the Imperium where they entered into their underground network in order to distribute a powerful nerve gas to paralyse the aliens. This act saw all the Martians slain except for J'onn J'onnz who was the only survivor of his race and decided to become the warden of the imprisoned Imperium who were sealed within their underground stronghold for centuries. This remained the case for 500 years where they remained undisturbed whilst life grew and flourished on the neighboring planet Earth. By this point, a manned human expedition was launched from Earth to explore Mars where the astronauts stumbled on the Imperium during their imprisonment when J'onn J'onzz was undergoing a hibernation state. The act broke the seal that kept the aliens in stasis and thus awoke them whereupon they killed the astronauts whilst one of their kind took their identities which included that of J. Allen Carter.

As a result, the aliens saw a new target in the form of Earth and thus made their plans to conquer this world. This led to them sending their advance agents to infiltrate the populace whilst they used the guise of J. Allen Carter to create a political career that would manipulate global politics. Among the greatest threats to the Imperium were the stockpiles of nuclear weaponry and thus Carter was used to spark a campaign to remove these weapons. This act was accomplished by manipulating Superman into aiding in a disarmament campaign. Furthermore, alien infiltrators began using their agents to insert their technology in communication facilities which included one being operated by Wayne Tech in order to project landing coordinates for their invasion forces. These actions attracted the attention of the superhero Batman but he was unable to discern the true nature of the Imperium. By this point, the aliens had also captured J'onn J'onnz and held him prisoner at a United States Army Base that had been taken over by the parasitic species. At this moment, the aliens decided to embark on their invasion of Earth where they brought into walker-like vehicles that landed in meteor-like constructs. These same meteors were used to root structures onto the planetary surface that began pumping a black smoke into the air in order to blot the sky. The heroes of the world at first struggled against the alien invaders that were arriving in cities such as Metropolis but the telepathic call of the captive J'onn J'onnz led to Batman along with other superheroes arriving at the U.S. army base in order to free him.

Once freed, he informed them of the nature of the opinion he joined the newly formed Justice League that decided to work together in combating the Imperium.

Overview

Members of the race appeared as a bipedal protoplasmic alien race with a liquid styled whitish skin with black/gray patches in their bodies. They gained the capacity to alter their bodies making them appear as a member of another race which made them skilled infilrators with a level of strength somewhat greater then an ordinary Human.

The race were a nocturnal species who had an aversion to sunlight which actually burnt their skin and actually killed them. This was why when they attacked a planet, they choked its atmosphere in gases in order to prevent the rays from the sun from harming them. In addition, they were a parasitoid race which absorbed qualities from species they conquered.

The leader of the Imperium appeared different as a large balloon shaped purpled skinned creature with numerous tentacles. These tentacles were capable of penetrating the skin of another being and causing tremendous pain. Furthermore, the leader of the Imperium was able to attempt to absorb its enemies into its body.

Members

• J. Allen Carter : a male human who was an astronaut that was on the expedition to Mars where he got replaced by one of the Imperium and used the disguise to spark a political career to disarm Earth's nuclear weapons in order to remove the threat of such arsenals for the invasion. The alien was ultimately killed when the invasion fell when he tried to escape with the Imperium leader but was thrown back where he was exposed to sunlight leading to his death.

Notes

• Certain elements of the Imperium are similar to the DC comic race known as the White Martians.
• The Batman had a similar infiltrating mechanical race known as The Joining.

Appearances

• Justice League: "Secret Origins" (2001)

External Link

• DCAU Wiki Entry

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