Justice League: Throne of Atlantis

In the recent first issue of DC’s “All In” Aquaman, the Atlantean king is learning how to use his wife Mera’s telekinetic power over water, when they shifted to him after the conclusion of the Absolute Power miniseries. (Long story short, everyone lost their super-powers and then they mostly got them back, but sometimes slightly differently). It is a bit of déjà vu, because he had to learn his original powers from scratch back when he thought he was a mere mortal named Arthur Curry. Aquaman’s origin story had a snappy DC animated treatment in Ethan Spaulding’s Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, which makes fitting viewing today (Curry’s in-world birthday) and this Friday (1/31, Mera’s birthday).

As the film opens, the relatively new Justice League has a lot of fancy infrastructure, but only Cyborg really takes it seriously. Consequently, he answers the call when a US Navy submarine is attacked by mysterious forces. Viewers soon learn it was destroyed as part of Prince Orn’s false flag operations to foment a war between Atlantis and the surface world.

Deep down, Queen Atlanna recognizes the Prince’s ruthless nature, so she designates Curry, her secret half-human love child as her heir. Slightly disappointed, Orm responds by killing her and framing land-dwellers. Of course, Black Manta is the Svengali pulling his strings.

Cyborg will need the full Justice League to deal with this problem. Mera understands Atlantis also needs Curry, so she goes rogue, revealing his birthright. He can breathe underwater and communicate with fish, but learning how to best apply his super-powers will take time he does not have.

Heath Corson’s adapted screenplay roughly follows the 2013 Throne of Atlantis comic arc, but some of the best parts focus on other JLA members. It often seems like Cyborg gets unfairly overlooked by casual superhero fans (as a sometimes member of both JLA and the Teen Titans), but he has a new licensed flavored coffee that sounds delicious. Cyborg also gets some of the best scenes in Throne of Atlantis, wherein he considers the effects of his constant robotic upgrades on his underlying humanity, nicely expressed by Shemar Moore.

In addition, there is a cool subplot following the burgeoning romance between Clark Kent and Diana Prince (a.k.a. Wonder Woman). Yes, they were an item for a while in some of the comic storylines, because fans demanded it and it made logical sense. After all, Wonder Woman might be the only love interest who can withstand the force of Superman’s passion, so to speak. Obviously, the film does not go there, but its depiction of their courtship is quite appealing. Both super-characters are well-served by the winning voice-over work of Jerry O’Connell and Rosario Dawson.

Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Shazam)’s juvenile persona (voiced by Sean Astin) could have been toned down a notch, but refreshingly, Corson and voice-over thesp Jason O’Mara embrace and emphasize Batman’s anti-social attitude. The JLA team dynamics might differ slightly from past films and series, but they work well within the film’s dramatic context.

Of course, it all builds towards a fight between Aquaman and Black Manta. Fans of the aquatic characters get just about everything they could ask for, including a major action-oriented role for Mera. No matter what happens to Atlantis in the comics (which mysteriously disappears at the end of issue #1), this Justice League venture into the deep delivers a lot of fun. Highly recommended for DC readers and viewers, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis currently streams on Max.