The Centre, also known as Dinosaur Island, is a sentient island and eldritch being that is a villain in the DC universe. It was the main antagonist of Justice League: The New Frontier and DC: The New Frontier, the comic book the animated film was based on.
It was voiced by Keith David, who also voiced Tublat in The Legend of Tarzan.
Biography[]
The Center was born in the core of the Earth. It had been observing the activity of the surface for millions of years via telepathy. Upon viewing the growth of humanity and their potential to replicate the destructive force that killed all the dinosaurs, the Centre decides to wipe them out.
The Centre first possesses a children's illustrator, compelling him to produce a picture book detailing its history and intentions. Upon realizing his fate, the illustrator kills himself. The Centre also possesses various supervillains and forms cults in its honor, attracting the attention of the superheroes. It decides to counter their might by spawning dinosaur-like monsters and having them act as bodyguards.
Once Lois Lane reports on the creature's presence over the Atlantic Ocean, Superman rallies all the superhumans he can find. Superman leads the charge against the Centre, but is taken out by an energy blast. The other superheroes come to the conclusion that they'll need more than raw power to stop the Centre and invest in the help of Ray Palmer's shrinking device, which would cause its atoms to destabilize and self-destruct.
While the other superheroes fight off the Centre's dinosaur spawn, Hal Jordan and Ace Morgan enter the Centre and attack it from the inside. The Flash meanwhile races around the Centre's exterior with the shrink-ray, making sure the light covers as much of its surface as possible for the shrinking process to work. Finally, Hal Jordan, now mastering the powers of the Green Lantern, uses his power ring to hurl the Centre into space where it self-destructs.
Siege on Humanity[]
The Centre began sending its own mutated flying dinosaurs to scout the world for natural resources that could fuel the being to leave Earth. Some of these dinosaurs came into conflict with humans, including Task Force X's debacle with a pterodactyl in New York City. The American government was aware of the existence of "Dinosaur Island," the Centre's disguised natural form, as it was previously explored by humans in the past (such as Vandal Savage, a viking explorer, and the ill-fated Losers) but remained unaware of its true, hidden form. The Centre also project its often violent mental influence across the world, in which many people were subjected to madness and even creating doomsday cults for the being.
Finally in 1958, one of its saurian agents discovered vast jet fuels at Florida's Cape Canaveral. The Centre decided to head there and made its existence known to the world. On the way, the Centre attacked Paradise Island while passing through. Once it arrived off the Floridian coast, the Centre utterly destroyed America's sea and air defenses, and even defeated Superman. However, America's heroes and military forces planned a well-laid assault on the Centre in which they significantly harmed the being after pilots Hal Jordan, Ace Morgan, and Nathaniel Adam detonated nuclear warheads within it, and the Flash took the advantage to destabilize the being with Ray Palmer's shrink ray. Though it was going to die, the Centre attempted to take out every living being on the mainland, but was captured by the power ring of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Jordan then took it into orbit and flung the Centre into space, where it then exploded and ending its threat.
Powers[]
- Telepathy/Possession: The Centre has the ability to use telepathy to communicate with or attack others, cast illusions, and mind control people with high susceptibility. Often the ones who are possessed aren't aware and don't have any memory of it afterwards. When Hal Jordan and Ace Morgan got inside its mind, the Centre's brainwaves nearly tore them apart.
- Shapeshifting: It can use its substance to extrude tentacles.
- Creature Spawning: The Centre has the ability to give birth to dinosaurs and other reptilian creatures. These in turn can also reproduce asexually or break up into smaller dinosaurs.
- Energy Projection: The Centre can discharge intense blasts of energy from the glowing ports on its body. These are powerful enough to destroy military aircraft and take out Superman. It can even use this to propel itself above the ground to fly as a means of travel.
Trivia[]
- The Centre itself is an homage to the rising trend in comics during the 1950s where superheroes were falling out of fashion and audiences were becoming more interested in science fiction.