"Justice League: Throne of Atlantis" Animated Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[James Harvey]

Blood is thicker than water! Discuss the latest animated feature from the DC Universe Animated Original Movie line!

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Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
Studio: Warner Bros. Animation, DC Comics
Release Date: Digital - January 13th, 2015; Home Video - January 27th, 2015

Synopsis: Cyborg discovers an imminent threat in the depths of the oceans so powerful that it rallies together the newly formed Justice League. Meanwhile, wandering thousands of feet above the ocean floor is drifter Arthur Curry, a man with strange powers who may be the last chance to bridge the ancient Atlantean world with our own. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Justice League must band together as they face off against warmongering Orm, an army of sea creatures, otherworldly weapons and perilous odds. In this all-new epic adventure from the DC Universe, mankind's only hope of escaping from the darkness lies with the guiding light of a man ... Aquaman!

The voice cast for Justice League: Throne of Atlantis features Matt Lanter (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 90210) at Aquaman, Sam Witwer (Being Human, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as Orm, Jason O'Mara (Terra Nova, Vegas, Life on Mars) as Batman, Christopher Gorham (Covert Affairs) as Flash, Nathan Fillion (Castle) as Green Lantern, Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds) as Cyborg, Rosario Dawson (Sin City) as Wonder Woman, Jerry O'Connell (Crossing Jordan, Stand By Me) as Superman, Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) as Shazam, Sumalee Montano (Beware the Batman, Transformers Prime) as Mera, Sirena Irwin (Superman: Unbound) as Queen Atlanna, and Harry Lennix (Man of Steel, The Blacklist) as Manta. Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is inspired by the acclaimed Justice League storyline of the same name, written by Geoff Johns.

Comments and thoughts? Discuss the Justice League: Throne of Atlantis animated feature in this thread!

And remember - there's a short scene after the end credits!

Discussion for content found on the Digital/Blu-ray/DVD release of Justice League: Throne of Atlantis can be found in the proper talkback linked below.

Related Threads:
-Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Digital/Blu-ray/DVD Talkback (Spoilers)
-Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Pre-Release Discussion (Spoilers)
-Justice League: War Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Justice League (2011 Ongoing) Comic Talkback (Spoilers)
-Aquaman (2011 Ongoing) Comic Talkback (Spoilers)
-Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Justice League: Doom Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Justice League: The New Frontier Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Injustice: Gods Among Us Video Game Talkback (Spoilers)

Note: Remember, this talkback thread is for discussion of the feature film. If you wish to talk about the home video release, please click on the appropriate link above. We appreciate and encourage discussion, but please keep your posts civil, relevant and insightful. Please do not post any improper or inflammatory material, as we will issue warnings if we believe it necessary. And remember to keep the discussion ON-TOPIC!

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

Downloaded it and stayed up late to watch it (probably generally a bad idea).

"Throne of Atlantis" has been my favorite Justice League arc in a long time, so I highly anticipated this movie. Is the movie as good as the comic? Sadly, I would say it isn't, but I find that usually the book is better than the movie, and I don't limit that to comic book movies.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this movie. I thought the Aquaman-centric segments had the pacing of a JL three-part episode, with the rest of the time filled out with personal stories about the other characters. Perhaps if this was a straight up Aquaman movie, it likely would've been a better movie, but I don't begrudge the use of the Justice League here.

I'm no fan of continuity for continuity's sake. By that, I mean if two episodes seem totally unrelated, and the order of watching them makes no difference whatsoever, I don't need to be reminded that they're in the same continuity. If continuity is going to be done, I hope that it's done in a smart way. I'm glad to say that this movie does it well. You don't have to have seen War to understand this movie, but if you have, it adds a little detail and answers questions you might have had, such as "What have the JL been doing since?" or "What are some of the repercussions?" I liked the Super Seven reference and the relative continuity in cast and art direction.

Some comments on various points in the film:

- Super Seven!

- I'm glad the creative team realized that if you're going to do a JL movie each year, along with a Batman movie in continuity with those JL movies (see the "Nightwing & Robin" featurette), you don't have to double dip and make Batman the main or second lead character in every JL movie. In prior years, I felt they couldn't get away from making these JL stories primarily Batman stories. Batman received little screen time in this, and rarely partook in the action scenes. He was still integral to the plot, but this movie was an example of how you can do a good story with Batman used somewhat sparingly.

- So Green Lantern was supposed to do something kind of stupid in this movie, and what better way to do something stupid than to borrow a scene from the 2011 Green Lantern film? I feel like that wasn't unintentional.

- I thought for a while that Orm and the Trident were too powerful, but then I thought back to his words to Shazam, something along the lines of "You also summon the lightning." Well, I guess I should've interpreted it as "You also summon THE Lightning," as in proper noun "Lightning," as in the power of the Wizard. It seemed wrong that Orm was on Darkseid's level, and that probably shouldn't have been the case, but if he wields a weapon that powerful, maybe it's not so bad. Plus, the first king of Atlantis had the power to change his people into marine life, so that "shrimp fork" must have a lot of juice in it. That said, Mera died while holding it, whereas the JL powerhouses couldn't seem to damage Orm very much, so that probably was an inconsistency in the writing.

- This is the first movie in a long time that had written Wonder Woman as an intelligent, reasoning hero. She's usually quick to battle, tough, and doesn't have any lines showing her ability to problem solve. Here, she shows her analysis skill, and at one point is the resident expert on a topic. Seriously, when was the last time that happened in one of these sorts of movies?

- There are three romantic subplots in this movie, which is probably too many for my tastes. I think Superman and Wonder Woman's was handled fine, and the comedy worked, too. In some ways, their reinterpretation of JL issues 12-15 work better than the actual books. Aquaman and Mera's worked alright, though I usually complain when two strangers meet in a short movie and end up kissy-faced at the end. Cyborg and Sarah felt completely superfluous to me other than the fact that it was used as Victor's personal story here, though I wonder if it'd be better if it was a continuation of his story with his dad, which was only alluded to once. I also originally thought that Sarah was much older than the high school-aged Victor, so it was kind of creepy for me. I figured Lois' comment that Clark should've taken Diana to a posh place was a subtle reference to the comic, and I also think it was funny, cutesy phrasing for Lois to say that it's "a wonder women" go out with Clark.

- It seemed as though half-breed Arthur seemed more durable than his purebred mother. I'm just going to assume Orm's blade had a special property for cutting/piercing that the Atlantean foot (fin?) soldiers' didn't have.

- The way they put in John Henry in this movie was a little cheesy, but I'm glad his "origin" got to be told, and they used no more time than was necessary. Hope to see him again soon.

- Classic Justice League logo!

- The movie was probably more violent than I would've preferred, and I'm sure the level of violence and the two S-words might bother some fans here, but I thought it was otherwise acceptable.

Overall, this movie felt like a better version of War. The battles in Metropolis (again!) and the end scene kind of parallel events in the prior movie.

EDIT: Oh yeah, saw an animation error. Can you see it?

Spoiler

EDIT 2: Is that you, Cassie?

Spoiler

 

[cjeromek]

I thought this movie was pretty good though I do feel this isn't MOI's best work. The fight in the middle of the film was pretty awesome. I do have a problem with the deaths in the final battle because the men who were fighting didn't really know Orm killed his mother so I don't think they really deserved to be killed. Also the Atlantians are incredibly naive to the surface world because no human could possibly kill the queen since she had the trident.

 

[Dusty]

It was a pretty good movie, a few moments were rushed and it had a couple cheesy lines, (but that's cool, cause cheesy is better than sucky) I really liked the designs and animation, a tad tighter and better than the last JL DTV. I am glad they handled WW with more respect, and made her intelligent along with being a warrior... I'm especially glad they made her a bit less enthusiastic about killing too, lol.
My only gripe is:... why were the league's power levels so low compared to JL: War? Even with Magic Cyborg was taken down pretty easily, same with Shazam and Superman, (Darkseid and Apokolips tech is not as powerful as Aquaman's Trident I guess. ) I know Superman is susceptible to magic, but still... he kind of was wasted in the movie (power wise,) but I really liked his and WW's scenes together.
Now, I know I'll get beat up for this... but I always thought WW and SM were better as a couple (even though I'm not a shipper when it comes to comics or shows.) It just always seemed like a good fit, and I'll say there are at least two things I think the NU 52 has done okay:
1.) Aquaman's design and stories are pretty cool.
2.) Superman and WW getting together.

don't tell Dan Didio or Geoff Johns I said any of that.

 

[Batman1]

Bought the movie for digital download yesterday and watched it. It was an excellent movie. My only complaint is that there should have more time allotted for the whole movie. Looking forward to more.

Sent from my iPad using toonzone

 

[RoyalRubble]

I liked this movie for the most part. I guess it's about on the same level as the previous Justice League: War, overall but I thought this one had a tighter story and better pacing, as well as the characters seemed more likeable. It works well as a sequel to War and does develop the characters some more and their interactions are handled pretty well. I liked the character designs, and seeing all of them in action scenes with some good choreography was cool. The voice actors did a good enough job with their respective characters, probably a better outing for them than the previous Justice League animated movie.

I'm not really a fan of the pairing of Superman/Wonder Woman, but I liked how it played out here. Seeing more of Lois Lane was a pleasant surprise as well and it would be interesting to see how things develop from this point on in any of the future movies. Also liked how the connection between Greek myths of Atlantis were mentioned by Diana. All in all, the heroes do seem to work better as a team than in their previous adventure, which is a good thing. I liked how each hero got a chance to show off his or her powers in this movie, while not stealing the spotlight from Aquaman. I thought the balance between characters here was great.

As an Aquaman story, I thought this worked. His character arc was good, and it was entertaining enough for me. By now there's relatively little that could be changed to make his already classic origin story more exciting, so there weren't really any surprises in his back-story. His romance with Mera seemed pretty rushed through but I didn't really mind that much - considering how she usually looks like it would have been weird if Arthur wouldn't have been attracted to her by the end of the movie. Cool seeing the highlights of their fight with some more Trenchers during the end credits.

The villain was pretty good, though nothing too special. I'd say Black Manta left a better impression on me than Orm. The Trenchers were pretty neat as well, with some creepy but cool looking designs, and made great targets for most of the fight scenes in the movie. Speaking of which, this movie was pretty violent - I didn't really mind, but there were a few more deaths than I expected. Kind of similar to how Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox played out.

Some more, random comments, in no particular order:

• I appreciated the Scarecrow mentions in Batman's first scenes. A shame we didn't see the real Scarecrow, though. Apart from some cameos on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and another mention in Justice League: Doom, he hasn't been seen in animation in years.
• Also liked the John Henry Irons cameo. Looking forward to him becoming Steel and eventually joining the other heroes.
• The "Outrageous" moment where Aquaman disposes of Black Manta made me laugh.
• Noticed the Cassie version of Wonder Girl as a Shazam fan-girl in a scene. First Young Justice, then Scooby-Doo: WrestleMania Mystery, and now this. Wonder what's next for her.
• The Super Seven gag was pretty amusing. I liked seeing the classic Justice League logo replacement.
• The power levels weren't really consistent for most of the characters, not only considering the previous movie, but also within this one, in various scenes. I didn't expect Orm to be that much of a threat for the heroes.
• Pretty great way to end the movie, and leave room for another sequel. I was wondering when we'd get to see Luthor in this new continuity.
• For a moment there, in the scene where Arthur gets his hand injured in battle, I was half-expecting him to get his hook-hand look. I'm kind of glad he didn't.
• I'm guessing the rest of the League found out about Shazam being Billy between the movies? It wasn't that clear but when he turned back into Billy during the fight I think others saw that as well.
• Hal at the Ferris base was a decent scene though I was expecting to see Carol there as well. Probably the most unexpected Green Lantern scene this movie had to offer though was the way he stopped the crooks Batman was chasing. Deifinitely a nod to the live-action movie from a few years ago.
• Cyborg's story here was pretty neat but it kind of came out of nowhere, with his crush on Sarah (or whatever her name was - I know on Young Justice she was known as Dr. Roquette). I liked how he's ignoring his dad though, a pretty good reversal of roles from the first movie.
• I'm glad they didn't decide to alter the story and have Darkseid be the villain again (they could have brought in his Deep Six warriors or something). I liked the small scene where the heroes actually wonder whether Darkseid is behind the attacks or not.
• The beginning, with the submarine reminded me a lot of how Justice League's "The Enemy Below" started - probably intentional.

I'll probably post more if I remember anything I haven't already mentioned. I'm also planning on updating the Aquaman in animation retrospective (but I think I'll wait until the movie is released on DVD). All in all, the movie turned out more enjoyable than I thought. It has some good animation, a good story and some neat action scenes and character moments. Looking forward to the inevitable sequel.

 

[Yojimbo]

I appreciated the Scarecrow mentions in Batman's first scenes. A shame we didn't see the real Scarecrow, though. Apart from some cameos on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and another mention in Justice League: Doom, he hasn't been seen in animation in years.

Scarecrow just had a cameo on the Assault on Arkham DTV after Joker let everyone loose. But yeah, not a major appearance in animation since The Brave and The Bold and that was an opener. The reference in this movie could be seeding a future appearance...

Cyborg's story here was pretty neat but it kind of came out of nowhere, with his crush on Sarah (or whatever her name was - I know on Young Justice she was known as Dr. Roquette). I liked how he's ignoring his dad though, a pretty good reversal of roles from the first movie.

Sarah Charles. Still wonder why they co-opted the Roquette design rather than adapt her design from the comics. Guess it was short on time and a supporting cast character wasn't a priority.

 

[Spider-Man]

It was a good movie for sure but not one of the best from the line. The character looked great and the boarding and animation were really good too. I got a laugh when Aquaman said "outrageous" and I even chuckled when there was an image freeze when Aquaman punched one of his bad guys similar to Brave and the Bold. However I didn't like how he just let a shark eat Black Manta. As always there was a bit too much killing, blood, and unnecessary language for my liking.

 

[Dudley]

"It's a a WONDER WOMEN go out with you at all."

I actually had to rewind that to make sure I heard that line correctly. Corny stuff!

 

[Frontier]

Just watched the movie, and I have to say I really enjoyed it! I definitely think this was one of the stronger outings for this continuity compared to War and Son of Batman. A story that was pretty faithful to the source material, with a few cuts for streamlining and expansion of certain elements notwithstanding, with some great action and better characterization of the League in my opinion plus some good character moments. All of that adds up to a pretty enjoyable movie I think .

I thought the VA work for the movie was pretty good all around Just to surmise my thoughts on several characters and their VA's:

- I feel Matt Lanter did a great job as Aquaman for this movie. At first I wasn't sure what to think of him in the role since I didn't see him as fitting my ideal vision of how Aquaman sounds. But in the context of the movie where he was playing a younger Arthur who was, at first, closer to his human side than his Atlantean heritage, he made sense and pulled out a good performance. This Aquaman struck me as more of a "dude" then a proper king of the sea, but now that he's embraced his role as king I imagine that might change for future films. He's also much more of a brawler, which led to some fun action-sequences. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more from this Aquaman and how he'll interact with the rest of the League, which admittedly there wasn't much of in this movie.

- Sumalee Montano was excellent as Mera, who had a stellar showing in this film as both a competent warrior and and equal to her eventual king and lover.

- On the one hand, a lot of Orm's depth from the original storyline was taken out and he was made a much more straightforward villain for the sake of the movie. But on the other, Sam Witwer does an amazing Megalomaniacal Supervillain, which made his performance as Ocean Master really stand out and be enjoyable to listen to. The sequence of Ocean Master taking on the League, while stretching credulity to a certain extent, was fun to watch as was his final fight with Arthur. Though I guess that level of strenght what you expect when they combine Aquaman's traditional trident with Orm's and apparently give it magic power on par with The Wizard Shazam....

- I think it's interesting that Fillion's portrayal of Hal here came off sounding a lot younger, to me at least, compared to his past work with the character. That may have to do with the fact that this is still a relatively young version of Hal and that he might be trying to match Justin Kirk's portrayal to a certain extent. Though overall I'd say he did a pretty good job of it for this movie and I hope he'll be back as GL for the next League movie.

- I'm iffy on Jerry O'Connell's Superman. I think he had a few good scenes but gave one of the weaker performances of the movie. At least Superman seemed a little bit more...Superman, in this movie, compared to War though still a little stiff for my liking.

- On the other hand, I think Rosario Dawson turned in a great performance as Wonder Woman and I thought this was a much better showing for Diana than War. The film had some good character moments for her as well as more scenes of Diana using her intelligence and heritage rather than just her Amazon and warrior nature. The only thing I'm iffy on is that she was the only Leaguer shown to actually kill during the final fight with the Atlanteans, which was a little jarring, especially when they later showed a scene of her just taking them out hand to hand without presumably killing them.

- Harry Lennix gave a very cool and sophisticated performance as Black Manta, who ultimately proved to be the real villain of the movie with his manipulations of Orm...which puts him in a much better position to be Aquaman's true Archenemy. I hope we seem him again eventually, as well as get more insight as to how he became affiliated with the Atlanteans, especially because I doubt that shark killed him.

- I guess Juliet Landau is our new animated Lois Lane? If so, I thought she gave a decent performance in this film and it seems she's very cushy with Clark despite not being in a relationship with him. Which might prove interesting to explore alongside the Clark/Diana relationship if the creators want to touch on that in a future movie, and it would be interesting to see how her relationship with Superman looks in comparison. Now all we need is a voice for Jimmy...

I thought it was cool that the movie managed to fit Dr. Shin into the film, but I wasn't expecting them to kill him off .

The Batman and Green Lantern sequence was neat, what with getting to see Batman dealing with Scarecrow's goons and Hal making a reference to the live-action movie (while making it look much better than the live-action movie). While Hal's interference may have hampered Batman's investigation into whatever Scarecrow was doing, in his defense he usually doesn't deal with the type of intricate investigations Batman gets involved with for his Rogues Gallery. Hal may be a space cop, but his villains are usually more straightforward in terms of modus operandi .

Lots of romance sub-plots in the movie, with Superman and Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Mera (of course) as well as Cyborg and Sarah. To a certain extent I agree the movie may have had a few too many, leading to those relationships feeling rushed overall. We're just launched headfirst into Superman and and Wonder Woman, as well as Vic and Sarah, while Aquaman and Mera could've used a few scenes to develop their relationship in my opinion. Still, they led to some cute scenes in the film between these various couples and furthered certain characters' development, which is a good thing in my book. And maybe it's just nice to see comic-book romances feature in animation considering how nonexistent romance is in the current Marvel cartoons. That, plus the film had some really nice kisses, especially between Arthur and Mera at the end .

So I take it from his comment to Superman that Batman/Bruce doesn't like journalism very much .

I'm glad the movie was able to fit in an Aquaman vs. Black Manta fight. The highlight of the movie was Aquaman calling a shark to attack Black Manta after his long-winded speech and then capping it off with an "Outrageous." That was perfect .

The Steel cameo was pretty cool, as was Sam Lane's, and I'm pretty sure that was Khary Payton voicing him. Hopefully we'll get to see John Henry again soon and in-costume .

The teaser was nice, though I would've liked it if the guard who Orm was complaining to had called him "Ocean Master" so as to work it in there. In the New 52 we have the press calling him that and Orm hating it, so I felt it would've been perfect to fit it in that scene. Oh well. After seeing his name in the credits but not remembering him appearing before the credits, seeing Luthor wasn't a total shock. It'll be interesting to see where they take that plot point and what it will set up. Could it mean the next Justice League film will be focused on Superman? Or maybe it's setup for a Forever Evil adaption? And does Steven Blum voicing Lex mean he's his official voice in this universe, or just a placeholder like he was for Orm in War ?

Overall, while I think the film juggled quite a bit and had to rush certain elements, I think in the end it turned out pretty good and was definitely a satisfying watch. Looking forward to Batman vs. Robin next!

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

I watched this movie again when I visited my sister and brother-in-law, who do enjoy watching these with me, but aren't quite up to speed with the goings-on in comics and animation. Here are some things they noticed:

First off, props to my sister who pointed out that the opening scene occurs in the Marianas Trench, but then one of the submarine personnel talks about how they're exploring the "middle of the Atlantic." I feel embarrassed now for missing it myself. Oops!

Cyborg calls Sarah "Dr. Charles," and Heath Corson in an interview kind of jokingly estimated that the movie takes place about one week after War, though I'm guessing it's probably longer than that. Anyway, that makes Cyborg almost definitively a high school senior, and unless Dr. Charles skipped many grades, she's got to be in her late twenties, maybe 30 or so. I'm inclined to believe that that's just a slight oversight on the writers' part, because I think that's kind of weird.

My sister makes some interesting observations and nitpicks in ways I don't think typical comic book fans would. Not being versed in Aquaman's comic origins, she pointed out that the movie made it seem as though the King of Atlantis was the true heir to the throne, probably based on Orm's line saying that his father was "your [Atlanna's] king," the frame in which Atlanna was standing beside the throne while the king sat on it, and various lines of dialogue. My sister said that if the monarchy of Atlantis was passed through Orm's father, then Aquaman had no stake in the claim. Therefore, if the plot follows most real world royalty succession, the deceased king would more likely be a consort to Atlanna, the true heir, unless Atlanna married her brother (hey, it's possible). I'm more interested now in finding out what the royal lineage was supposed to be, since it's slightly different from any of the comics continuity.

One thing I found hilarious was that whenever GL made an elaborate construct, my sister and brother-in-law would just ask why does he even bother? I explained to them that when the JL cartoon was on the air, the long-time fans disliked the bland and straightforward constructs and wanted fancier things. That made me wonder what would test better with the average movie-goer who knew nothing about DC Comics, fancy or dull constructs.

Finally, regarding the deaths of some of the Atlantean soldiers: I think a lot of them were renegades who were willing to betray the Queen and follow Orm. In the scene when Mera first saves Arthur, she tells the soldiers to stand down, but they ignored her order and were ready, willing, and eager to kill her. So, in my opinion, Orm recruited turncoats, and most (if not all) who died instead of being KO'd (remember in comic books, getting KO'd never has long term consequences!) were bad guys, not good guys conned by an usurper.

 

[Yojimbo]

Cyborg calls Sarah "Dr. Charles," and Heath Corson in an interview kind of jokingly estimated that the movie takes place about one week after War, though I'm guessing it's probably longer than that. Anyway, that makes Cyborg almost definitively a high school senior, and unless Dr. Charles skipped many grades, she's got to be in her late twenties, maybe 30 or so. I'm inclined to believe that that's just a slight oversight on the writers' part, because I think that's kind of weird.

The adaptation didn't do justice to Sarah Charles' origins simply because that sort of information was handled in special files. Organically, I guess there wasn't any time to fit in a quick exposition on her background. In the comics, Charles is a prodigy. She graduated Marion High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan at the age of 15. While studying for her Masters degree at the University of Michigan, Charles got the internship to S.T.A.R. Labs. At the time of the story itself, Charles was 17 years old. So if anything, Charles and Stone are about the same age. Stone might even be a little bit older than her.

I'm more interested now in finding out what the royal lineage was supposed to be, since it's slightly different from any of the comics continuity.

Yes, I wondered about this since the War teaser. If the dead king was a version of Atlan, Trevis, or someone else.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Just finished watching it, wow thought it was fantastic.


To be honest I am finding it hard to think of anything negative as there really wasn't anything I disliked. I thought all the voice work was top notch with Matt Lanter rightly stealing the show as Arthur Curry and on a personal note for me I thought Jerry O'Connell was excellent as Superman who I thought they showcased to perfection here. Sam Witwer was amazing as Orm, I really hope he's back in that role next time out. The rest of the casting was fine also with Jason O'Mara as Batman and Sean Astin as Shazam my only voices that weren't quite on par with everyone else but I still think they did a good job.


I thought it was nice to see Batman taking more of a back seat as to be honest I've had enough of him in animation for now. I really hope that they start to give him a break in the solos after the next one.


Thought the animation was some of the best work they've done and I thought the story was great.


I really hope that the Justice League films retain this quality, I'd say compared to the other Justice League DTVs it's only just behind The Flashpoint Paradox (which for me was a 5/5) but a massive step up from War. I'd probably rate this one a 4.5/5 for now.

 

[Frontier]

I

My sister makes some interesting observations and nitpicks in ways I don't think typical comic book fans would. Not being versed in Aquaman's comic origins, she pointed out that the movie made it seem as though the King of Atlantis was the true heir to the throne, probably based on Orm's line saying that his father was "your [Atlanna's] king," the frame in which Atlanna was standing beside the throne while the king sat on it, and various lines of dialogue. My sister said that if the monarchy of Atlantis was passed through Orm's father, then Aquaman had no stake in the claim. Therefore, if the plot follows most real world royalty succession, the deceased king would more likely be a consort to Atlanna, the true heir, unless Atlanna married her brother (hey, it's possible). I'm more interested now in finding out what the royal lineage was supposed to be, since it's slightly different from any of the comics continuity.

Yes, I wondered about this since the War teaser. If the dead king was a version of Atlan, Trevis, or someone else.

Oh man... I should know this, at least for the New 52 version, though it doesn't help that the movie royal dynamic is pretty different from how it was presented in the comics (that I have read) .

Spoiler

As best as I can recall, with the supplement of a few internet resources, Atlanna was Atlantean royalty who fell in love with Thomas Curry after helping save his ship at sea and then conceived Arthur with him. She left Arthur with Thomas rather than take him back to Atlantis (which she felt wouldn't have ended well). Then she was wed to Orm's father who was a member of the Atlantean Royal Guard and conceived Orm. Orm's father wasn't Atlan in the New 52 so I doubt it was the case here, but I wouldn't be surprised if in this continuity the marriage was meant to ensure royal blood was on the throne and that meant Atlanna and Orm's father were related to some degree.

As for Arthur's stake in the throne... well, in the comics, by the time Arthur had finally learned of and had been to Atlantis Orm was already king since both his father and Atlanna had passed away. But New 52 Orm, in contrast to movie Orm, actually respected and cared for his half-brother and gave him the kingdom without a fuss because he was Atlanna's first-born. So Arthur was king for quite a while before he grew tired of the mantle, responsibility, and of dealing with Atlanteans, and rescinded the position back to Orm. I think it was after he did that that Aquaman joined the rest of Earth's heroes in repelling Darkseid and helped found the Justice League.

For the sake of the film, it's probably because he was the only character with royal blood left who hadn't murdered their queen and seemed willing to take up the throne.

One thing I found hilarious was that whenever GL made an elaborate construct, my sister and brother-in-law would just ask why does he even bother? I explained to them that when the JL cartoon was on the air, the long-time fans disliked the bland and straightforward constructs and wanted fancier things. That made me wonder what would test better with the average movie-goer who knew nothing about DC Comics, fancy or dull constructs.

I thought the giant mecha-vacuum construct was both cool and practical for the situation at hand .

Finally, regarding the deaths of some of the Atlantean soldiers: I think a lot of them were renegades who were willing to betray the Queen and follow Orm. In the scene when Mera first saves Arthur, she tells the soldiers to stand down, but they ignored her order and were ready, willing, and eager to kill her. So, in my opinion, Orm recruited turncoats, and most (if not all) who died instead of being KO'd (remember in comic books, getting KO'd never has long term consequences!) were bad guys, not good guys conned by an usurper.

I had no problem with Mera killing since, like you said, she gave those soldiers the chance to stand down and unlike the League probably doesn't have a no-kill rule. Though I doubt the invasion force Orm was using were all turncoats considering how many were shocked at the revelation he had murdered Atlanna and listened when Arthur told them to stand down. Before then they were just loyally following the orders of their king, Orm.

 

[Yarharhar]

Liked everything but the final fight. It seemed like one of the big plot points of WAR was the Justice League learning to fight as a team. They fought Darkseid the first time one-at-a-time, and he smacked each of them down. Then they faced him again, with everyone working together for a choreographed butt-kicking. You would think that lesson would have stuck, but then they face Orm and what do they do? Fight him one-at-a-time and each of them get smacked down. It's irritating that the big point of the last movie was seemingly forgotten.

Really, the last fight should have been more along the lines of this:
1. Wonder Woman pulls the trident away with her Lasso (as did happen)
2. Green Lantern now steps in and restrain's Orm's hands and feet with constructs keeping the trident out of his grip
3. Superman comes in and punches the crap out of him. Battle won! Yay teamwork!

 

[accookies]

I liked this film a lot. The things I did have a problem with where the final battle as Atlantean's begin to get killed don't know if I'm ok with that. I like seeing aurther especially after Geoff has done amazing work to turn his character into someone that has become one of my favorites now

 

[coluanprime]

Well, I got an early copy, and my faith in the DCDTVs is cautiously restored.

Spoiler

It made my day seeing Aquaman say "Outrageous". The cast and the characters seemed much less abrasive and the story really benefited from pushing Aquaman. He was really well done. After the pathetic attempt at Wonder Woman in "War", Mera and Atlanna were nice breaks and WW was improved. The Lex storyline seems interesting.There were some flaws though, Ocean Master was way too powerful. Since when can he defeat every member of the League one-on-one?

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

[TheVileOne]

Spoiler

Ocean Master was way OP because of the Atlantean scepter and only royalty can touch it.

 

[BigFatHairyDeal]

Spoiler

Ocean Master was way OP because of the Atlantean scepter and only royalty can touch it.

I'm mostly okay with saying the trident is ridiculously powerful, and only Atlantean royalty can handle its power, but then we have that moment when Orm stabs Atlanna. If Orm can take punches from Superman and Wonder Woman while holding the trident, I'd tend to think that Atlanna is going to survive a blade. Oh well.

 

[TheVileOne]

Not sure if this and the new live action films will serve in making Aquaman an A-list character, but we shall see.

I was really expecting the push for Green Lantern would've gone better. Boy, was I wrong.

However, just case in point, after promising an animated Aquaman movie, this film was marketed and released as a Justice League movie and not an Aquaman movie.