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.
Val Armorr was the original “Karate Kid,” predating the 1984 movie by almost
twenty years, from the 31st Century. The member of the futuristic
Legion of Superheroes was never a marque DC character. Presumably, that is why
they never litigated the title (for which they were thanked in the credits).
Unfortunately, Armorr makes a real dog’s breakfast of things in the future,
causing trouble for the Justice League in the past at the outset of Giancarlo
Volpe’s JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, another animated DC film coming
to Tubi this Saturday.
In
the present, for now, the Justice League foils an attempt by the Legion of Doom
to counter-intuitively build up the polar ice cap, to profit from the resulting
environmental disruption. Unfortunately, Lex Luthor is buried within the ice, where
he remains lost until the 31st Century.
In
the future, Karate Kid and Dawnstar, a more responsible prospective member of
the Legion of Superheroes gawk at his display in the superhero museum. Unable
to control his rash impulses, Armorr accidentally releases Luthor from the ice.
The dangers compound when the mastermind steals a cosmic hourglass bound to the
mysterious Time Trapper.
Using
the Time Trapper’s powers, Luthor first returns to the present, with Karate Kid
and Dawnstar secretly following him. He then sends Bizarro, Solomon Grundy,
Cheetah, and Toy Master back to the past, so they can send Kal-El back into
space. The Flash, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman manage to follow them—but maybe
Aquaman isn’t perfectly suited for the Kansas terrain.
Unlike
the R-rated Justice League Dark, Trapped in Time tries to deliberately
evoke the tone of the 1970’s Justice League/Super Friends Saturday morning
cartoons. However, screenwriter Michael Ryan offers some clever time travel
twists. In fact, it is much smarter in the way it handles potential time
paradoxes than the 2001 Justice League series.
