Drop-Zone

"Drop-Zone" is the fourth episode of Young Justice. It premiered on January 28, 2011.

Logline
Batman sends the Team on its first official mission... and they don't even have a leader yet! The teen heroes are sent to investigate the production of a new drug called Venom in a nearby rogue country, but soon find themselves in the middle of a war between Bane and the cult organization Kobra.

Synopsis
Inside the Santa Prisca prison facility, Kobra has taken over. To win back the prison the original owner's champion, Bane, must defeat Kobra's champion Mammoth. The formerly scrawny Mammoth is infused with a dose of Kobra Venom transforming him into a hulking monster. The giant easily defeats a Venom infused Bane.

Mount Justice Batman assigns the Team a mission to Santa Prisca, which is the world-wide producer of the illegal super steroid Venom. Despite the fact that the facility seems to be producing the steroid at full capacity, all shipping has stopped. The Team's assignment; infiltrate the prison, figure out what is going on, and report back to The League. If The League feels they need to intervene they will. When asked about the lack of a clear leader for the Team, Batman states that that is their responsibility to figure out amongst themselves.

Nearing Santa Prisca, Aqualad is dropped in first to dispose of the security systems. After Aqualad gives the all clear the Team lands the ship and move in closer. Superboy, using his super hearing, picks up a patrol while Robin disappears suddenly into the forest. Aqualad is able to point out that there is actually two patrols, one led by Bane, another by a Kobra member. A fire-fight ensues between the two, and while Kid Flash attempts to find Robin he is nearly killed in the crossfire. He is saved by the intervention of Robin, Superboy, and Miss Martian.

During a conversation after the fight Kid Flash and Robin get into a argument over who should be leader, as they both try to assert themselves into that position. Superboy and M'gann, however, want nothing to do with it. Overhearing the conversation Bane offers his services to help kick Kobra out of the Santa Prisca. M'gann is incapable of figuring out what Bane's plans are because he mentally recites sports results in Spanish, blocking her.

Once inside the factory the Team observes that despite all the Venom already produced the Cultests are only taking new product off the line. Kid Flash and Robin break into the control room for the factory and Robin discovers that Kobra has made a new variant of Venom three times more powerful and permanent by combining it with the Blockbuster formula. Kid Flash states that only a major chemistry expert could combine the two formulas.

Meanwhile Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian observe that a helicopter arrives carrying Sportsmaster. Sportsmaster states that with the Kobra Venom they now have the ability to take the League head-on. Fed up with the stealth attempts Bane starts a fight between Kobra and the Team and then bails on the Team when the fighting begins.

Superboy fights and loses against Mammoth, with their radios, jammed Aqualad gets Miss Martian to telepathically link the Team up, using which Aqualad orders a retreat. Now in private, the Team unanimously votes Aqualad team leader with Robin as tactical coordinator, until Robin is ready to lead the Team himself. As they're discussing who is responsible for devising the Kobra Venom formula Bane ambushes the Team.

Bane reveals that he intends to kill the Team in order to get the league to come in a kick out Kobra. Bane is easily defeated by the combined telekinetic powers of Miss Martian and the Super strength of Superboy. Going in with a plan Kid Flash takes out the Cultists, Aqualad takes down Mammoth, Miss Martian and Superboy fights Sportsmaster, and Robin fights the Kobra leader. Sportsmaster is able to get away however Miss Martian destroys his helicopter, in the process destroying the prison and the factory.

At Mount Justice, Batman berates the Team for their antics destroying the factory, but congratulates them for stopping Kobra.

During the meeting between Sportsmaster and the Light, Sportsmaster reveals he saved a single vial of the Kobra Venom from which the formula can be reversed engineered. The Light states that three times now the Team has stopped their plans, they are now a nuisance and a treat that will have to be dealt with.

Title
The title refers to the Team's mission requiring two drop-zones and helicopters were seen flying from their drop-zones.

Timestamp errors
Two of the three timestamps were incorrect on the first airings of this episode. The aired and correct timestamps are included in the table below.

The timestamps had been reviewed and confirmed as correct, but were apparently changed during post-production. They have now been corrected for future airings of the episode, as well as for the Season One, Volume One DVD release. The timestamp of August 4 is from "Schooled".

Cast and characters
! colspan="3"| Uncredited ! colspan="3"| Non-speaking roles
 * Jesse McCartney
 * colspan="2" | Robin
 * Danica McKellar
 * colspan="2" | Miss Martian
 * Nolan North
 * colspan="2" | Superboy
 * Khary Payton
 * colspan="2" | Aqualad
 * Jason Spisak
 * colspan="2" | Kid Flash
 * Nick Chinlund
 * Sportsmaster
 * Miguel Ferrer
 * colspan="2" | L-1
 * Bruce Greenwood
 * colspan="2" | Batman
 * Danny Trejo
 * Bane
 * Arnold Vosloo
 * Kobra
 * Miguel Ferrer
 * colspan="2" | L-1
 * Bruce Greenwood
 * colspan="2" | Batman
 * Danny Trejo
 * Bane
 * Arnold Vosloo
 * Kobra
 * Arnold Vosloo
 * Kobra
 * Arnold Vosloo
 * Kobra
 * Nolan North
 * L-6
 * L-6
 * colspan="2" | Mammoth
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado
 * colspan="2" | Shimmer
 * colspan="3" | Red Tornado
 * colspan="2" | Shimmer
 * colspan="2" | Shimmer
 * colspan="2" | Shimmer

Continuity

 * Miss Martian refers to the rule that she can only read the minds of villains, imposed on her in "Welcome to Happy Harbor".
 * Kobra Venom is a composite of Venom and the Project Blockbuster formula created by Mark Desmond, seen in "Independence Day" and used in "Fireworks".
 * L-6 alludes to the Team's running interference in Cadmus in "Independence Day" and "Fireworks", and their thwarting Mister Twister in "Welcome to Happy Harbor" (thus revealing they were involved with the latter).

Ratings
"Drop-Zone" garnered an average of 963 thousand viewers among kids and boys between 9 and 14.

Trivia

 * Main title scenes:
 * Bane staring (01:41)
 * Kobra Venom on a computer screen (12:21)
 * Mammoth tackling Superboy (15:29)
 * Kobra looking suspicious (15:18)
 * Robin spots something (14:34)
 * Aqualad taking cover (14:38)
 * When the Team are discussing the new stealth-tech costumes being worn by Aqualad and Kid Flash, Superboy explains his refusal to wear a costume by saying "No capes, no tights". This is probably a reference to the Smallville TV series, which originally operated under a "no tights, no flights" rule imposed by the producers.
 * This was a featured episode in Young Justice: Season One, Volume One.
 * The DVD closed captioning for this episode reveals the identities of L-1 and L-6, months before they were revealed in "Revelation".

Cultural references

 * Kid Flash calls Bane "El Luchador", a reference to his Lucha libre mask.
 * L-1's line "Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action." is a paraphrase of one of Auric Goldfinger's lines in Goldfinger: "Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

Answered questions

 * What happened to Mammoth and Shimmer? (Answer)

Partially answered questions

 * Who are Mammoth and Shimmer? (Answer)

Unanswered questions

 * Is Mammoth's mutation irreversible?
 * Why is the Light (via Sportsmaster) procuring means to go "mano-a-mano" with the Justice League?