Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom arrives in theaters soon with a surprising amount working against it. Despite the previous entry being DC’s biggest live-action success story with a billion-dollar worldwide box office, the sequel has been overshadowed by controversies both in and out of the franchise and by all accounts is the next box-office victim of general audiences’ growing apathy with the brand.
Despite, or perhaps because of, all this, Aquaman as a character has been on my mind a lot lately. More specifically, I’ve been thinking about the best way to approach the character and how whatever the next film incarnation may be could take that to heart. And believe it or not, I think I’ve found the answer in a criminally under-appreciated late-2000s Batman cartoon.
Batman: The Brave and The Bold might not be people’s first thought when it comes to a definitive version of anything in the DC Universe, but not only is the show itself a lot of fun, but its version of Aquaman is still the best adaptation to this day. Now, let’s explore exactly why that is.
The Basics on Aquaman
First, a little context. Debuting in More Fun Comics #73 all the way back in 1941, Arthur Curry, better known as Aquaman, is a founding member of the Justice League and one of the DC Universe’s strongest heroes. Born to a human father and an Atlantean mother, Arthur would eventually become not just the king of the underwater city of Atlantis, but also its strongest and most courageous defender.
In addition to extensive training in hand-to-hand and trident-based combat, Aquaman possesses super strength, increased speed and durability, hydrokinesis, as well as his most famous abilities of breathing underwater and telepathic communication with sea creatures. He has a loving relationship with his wife Mera, multiple sidekicks, and a fairly solid standing amongst his fellow heroes.
Amongst his many foes, Aquaman most frequently comes at odds with the power-hungry Black Manta and the traitorous Ocean Master, his own half-brother; with both characters featuring prominently in the Aquaman movies. Across DC Comics history, Aquaman has performed some of the most impressive feats of strength and heroism while balancing his royal duties and family life. So, why does his public perception not reflect that? Two words: Super Friends.
Debuting in the late 1960s, Super Friends was many people’s first introduction to Aquaman and it was not a good first impression. The show portrayed him as feeble and often useless outside of water, making him an easy punchline for decades to come. In the years since, DC has attempted to correct these issues by portraying Aquaman as serious, dark, and brooding; even giving him a hook for a hand in the 1990s.
While this take isn’t inherently bad, it has often come across as overcompensating and rather tiringly edgy; losing the sense of fun and whimsy inherent to the concept of “Super Strong Guy With Laser Trident That Rides Seahorses.” For me at least, the best version of Aquaman would be someone that can strike a good balance between both of these takes. Enter The Brave and The Bold.
What Batman: The Brave and The Bold Brings To The Table
Named for the iconic Silver Age team-up book, Batman: The Brave and The Bold spent the entirety of its three season-run teaming up The Caped Crusader with other DC heroes in a colorful, adventurous love letter to that classic era of comics. Given Batman’s status as one of the most popular superheroes, the show-runners made it a point to platform lesser known and underutilized heroes for the team-ups. And the punchline that was Aquaman certainly fit the bill.
In fitting with the show’s overall light-hearted tone, this version of Aquaman embraces comic book silliness. His dialogue is filled with ocean and fish-related puns, he shouts his catchphrase “Outrageous!” whenever he’s surprised by something, and his passion for his superhero duties is exaggerated to the most extreme degree possible; with him naming his adventures and regaling people with the stories of them being one of the show’s most common running gags.
Additionally, he has a tendency to value brawn over brains, sometimes to his detriment. He tries and fails to match Batman’s detective skills in Scooby-Doo & Batman: The Brave and The Bold and creates science-fiction flavored messes whenever he’s paired up with the Ryan Choi incarnation of The Atom. Yet at the same time, he’s not incompetent nor is he the butt of the joke. Far from it.
In addition to possessing all the same superpowers as his comic counterpart and pulling off similar feats, Aquaman is noble, surprisingly adaptable, and makes fast friends with almost everyone he meets. He has a loving relationship with his wife and son, even taking them on a family vacation in “Aquaman’s Outrageous Adventure!” and even gives his half-brother Orm a shot at redemption in “Evil Under The Sea!” And he can deliver a mean right hook to bad guys with the best of them.
Much of this can be attributed to the excellent vocal performance of John DiMaggio as Aquaman. Though he’s more known for slacker characters like Bender from Futurama or Jake The Dog from Adventure Time, DiMaggio’s powerful baritone captures both the strong leadership and child-like glee of the character perfectly, even giving him some memorable musical numbers in episodes like “Mayhem of the Music Meister!” and “Powerless!”
DiMaggio’s impact on the character being a breakout success was even directly acknowledged by the show itself. In the series finale “Mitefall,” fifth-dimensional imp Bat-Mite attempts to get The Brave and The Bold canceled and replaced with something more dramatic by making the show jump the shark as much as possible. And one way he does this is by recasting DiMaggio’s Aquaman with infamous sitcom actor Ted McGinley; only restoring the original voice after Ambush Bug tricks “Aquaman” into breaking character.
In Conclusion
At time of writing, I have yet to see Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and while based on the trailers, I think it could still deliver on the same wacky sense of fun the first film did it, it does look like it will probably make the same mistake that its predecessor did and that many other adaptations have regarding the title character: trying too hard to get people to take him seriously.
Almost everything about the DCEU Aquaman has felt like an overcorrection for years of punchlines. The Jason Momoa casting, the drinking, his weirdly gray Justice League outift, the extreme emphasis on how strong he is, it all just seems very desperate. A pathetic cry by the studio to general audiences to think he’s cool without really earning it.
And since Lost Kingdom will likely be the last time Momoa plays Aquaman, and maybe the last DCEU movie for real this time, I hope that when the movies try the character again, they let him have fun. Don’t turn him into a joke of course, but let him be silly. Let him take joy in what he’s doing, let other characters be frustrated by him, let the family dynamic be wholesome. He’s a guy in an orange jumpsuit who talks to fish, it’s okay to acknowledge that it’s kind of silly!
In short, I hope the next movie version of Aquaman is a lot more like Batman: The Brave and The Bold‘s version of Aquaman. Because that incarnation got all this right and then some back in 2008 and no one since has even come close.
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