Justice League

Screen Shots

Synopsis

Previously in Superman: The Animated Series:Fish Story: Lexcorp weapons tests had unwittingly caused damage to the legendary underwater city of Atlantis. The Atlantean King, the superhero known to the surface world as Aquaman, had been captured by Luthor’s scientists. Aquaman escaped with Lois Lane’s help and together with Superman they managed halt further testing. Luthor refused to acknowledge his complicity in almost starting a war with the Atlantean Navy – even after their retaliation destroyed his own vessel. Aquaman ominously warned Superman that further abuse by the surface world of Atlantis’s underwater sovereignty would not be tolerated.A violent storm lashes the surface of the ocean, but far below a nuclear submarine, the USS Defiant, glides unperturbed through dark ocean depths. The first sign that they are not alone comes from a sonar contact directly in their path. The newcomer, who refuses to identify itself, keeps up a collision course. The Defiant’s Captain orders his crew to take evasive maneuvers, but the hostile submarine circles around to ram the Defiant. Aboard the attacking submarine Aquaman, the King of Atlantis, welcomes news that the Defiant is disabled and tells his crew to “let them sink.”

The surface storm still rages as the Justice League’s Javelin responds to the Defiant’s distress call. Aboard it are Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, and Superman. They lock on to the Defiant’s beacon, but come under fire from a trio of the massive Atlantean submarines. They manage to ground the first submarine by fancy piloting, but sacrifice the Javelin in order to fight the Atlantean forces directly. The League easily overwhelm the heavy submarines, but they are then confronted by Aquaman who charges them with violating Atlantean waters. He hears their plea and then allows them to rescue the crew of the USS Defiant, but mandates that the wreck of the submarine should stay where it lays.

Green Lantern, in particular, is angered by the King’s conditions because it leaves him in possession of the Defiant’s nuclear weapons, but the emergency prevents him pressing the case further. Lantern then creates an air bubble to carry the surviving Defiant submariners to the surface. The League and survivors are escorted by an Atlantean patrol. Superman reprises his early conversation with Aquaman (from S:TAS Fish Story) and tells him that all this could have been avoided if Atlantis had engaged with the World Assembly. Aquaman says he will not grovel before them and Superman retorts that he should “stand before them as a King”.

Later, in the Atlantean throne room General Brak passionately argues that the surface dwellers are barbarians and that Atlantean safety can only be guaranteed if the surface dwellers are completely wiped out. That brings a sharp response from the King who reminds Brak of his place, nevertheless he agrees to consider on Brak’s protestations. Aquaman is torn between the same warlike anger that Brak demonstrated and his love for his baby son for whom he wishes to create a better world. On his own initiative Aquaman travels alone to the surface world’s World Assembly and forces his way into their meeting. His conditions for a peace settlement cause consternation amongst the diplomats, but his pride prevents him from negotiating.

As Aquaman leaves the Assembly he is shot at by a sniper with a rocket launcher. The League are instantly on the scene and Superman rushes the King to hospital. The doctors are unable even to understand Aquaman’s physiology and the media report that he is in a critical condition. Batman’s dramatic entrance with a salt water tank stabilizes Aquaman’s condition and he rapidly recovers. Green Lantern immediately challenges the King about his discovery that somebody has removed the Defiant’s nuclear warheads. Aquaman states that he had left orders prohibiting just that. He is more interested in who tried to kill him and this time its Batman who challenges him to trust them.

Batman lays a trap for the mysterious sniper by leaking information that Aquaman is being moved to another hospital. The sniper, a mercenary called Deadshot, returns to finish his kill, but the League are waiting for him. He tries to escape on a motorbike hidden in the sewer-system and for a time actually manages to evade the League, but Superman eventually captures him. After a short talk with the Batman Deadshot reveals that, although he doesn’t know the identity of his backer, he was paid in treasure from a sunken ship. The method Deadshot’s payment suggests that somebody in Atlantis is responsible for the attack on Aquaman.

The Atlantean King escapes from the secure hospital before the League can warn him of the Atlantean connection. Back in Atlantis, Lord Orm, Aquaman’s brother, uses the pretext of the attack to seize control of the Atlantean military and overrides General Brak’s objections. Orm tells Mera, Aquaman’s wife, that he expects that Aquaman is already dead. By the time that Aquaman storms back into Atlantis Orm has consolidated control of the royal guard with his own men. He then has them arrest Aquaman on charges of betraying Atlantis to the surface world.

Commentary

Aquaman and Atlantis

The animated Aquaman appeared once before in the Superman: The Animated Series episode Fish Story. In that episode the producers reacted against the bearded, harpoon-handed Aquaman who was then appearing in the comics and deliberately created a version based on the classic 1960s Aquaman. Atlantis was mentioned in that episode, but wasn’t shown.

This episode does a u-turn on the STAS styling and significantly alters the Aquaman model sheet. The characterization isn’t altered that significantly and preserves intense personality, but here he’s put in the context of Atlantis and is shown with his family and subjects. The biggest addition is the Peter David era beard – the hand get addressed next episode.

In his original appearance in Superman: The Animated Series Aquaman was voiced by Miguel Ferrer, this time he’s voiced by Scott Rummell (you’ll recognize him as the voice over on many a movie trailer and promo including some for Spider Man 3 and The Dark Knight).

Mera is Aquaman’s wife and first appeared in Aquaman #11, (Sept 1963). She isn’t an Atlantean and originally came from an extra-dimensional water world. Aquaman saved her life in her first appearance and they were married in Aquaman #18 (Nov-Dec 1964). Their son Artie Junior as born in Aquaman #23 (Sept-Oct 1965), but was murdered by the villain Black Manta in Adventure Comics #452 (1977). That was the start of the slow evolution that transformed the classic version of Aquaman (the version seen in STAS) into the bearded version that’s been adapted for this episode. Mera’s model here is very reminiscent of the designs that Alex Toth used for Lara, Superman’s biological mother, in the old Super Friends cartoon

Orm is a character from the comic books and is one of Aquaman’s reoccurring foes. He is Aquaman’s brother, but he usually goes by the name of Ocean Master and isn’t really that different than a normal costumed super-villain. As Ocean Master he first appeared in Aquaman #29 (Sept 1966).

Misc

Those Javelins are pretty nifty craft. In the last two-parter we saw that they were capable of interstellar travel and this episode they are shown with a submersible capacity. However, just how disposable/durable are they. Last episode they left one on the alien world of Ajuris 5 and this episode one appears to get toasted by the Atlantean Navy just to be shown flight worthy several minutes later.

As usual for the first season not all the Justice Leaguers appear in this episode. Hawkgirl and the Flash do not appear, but Michael Rosenbaum, the voice of the Flash, does supply the voice for the mercenary Deadshot. He was cast in that role after the producers heard his impersonation of Kevin Spacey and wanted to use it for an episode. This is Batman and Wonder Woman’s first appearance since the pilot three-parter. Jason Marsden reprises his role from Secret Origin as TV news presenter Snapper Carr.

The mushroom shape of the Atlantean Palace is based on the body of a cuttlefish or squid complete with giant red eye.

Oddities

Why, when Aquaman is in the medical tank, does he have an electrode over each nipple? Is this a unique feature of Atlantean physiology or just one of Batman’s fetishes?

My thoughts

Aquaman was one of those characters that many people thought should have been part of the normal League line up so its fairly logical that he should be the first superhero – baring variations of Green Lanterns – to guest appear. The carry over from Superman: TAS Fish Story is thematic, rather than literal, but a little more acknowledgement of it could have been interesting. Aquaman’s presence and the entire Atlantean back story make for a rich vein that the series will return to in later seasons. The first part of this story is hampered by having to retread so much of the same set up as Fish Story, but it does so so that you aren’t required you to have seen the Superman episode.

Where the episode suffers is from the little lapses in logic that usually populate cartoon shows. Normally these aren’t big deals, but they don’t sit so well with the increasingly cinematic aspect of the Justice League stories. Green Lantern, Superman, and Wonder Woman do a pretty effective job of slicing up the Atlantean submarines. Sure the Atlantean sailors can breathe underwater, but but are we really expected to believe that nobody died when those boats exploded. Also, Wonder Woman tries to bury Deadshot by collapsing the entire street down into the sewer tunnel. Again, it looks cool, but that’s a massive amount of public property damage to cause for a failed stunt.

3.5