Plot summary: Tensions between Atlantis and humanity rise after Aquaman brings down a nuclear submarine.
For background on the creation of Justice League and info about how I’ll be covering it, check out the Series Primer.
Notes and Trivia
Episode: 6 (S1.E6)
Original Air Date: December 3rd, 2001
Directed: Dan Riba (3)
Written: Kevin Hopps (1)
Animation: Koko Enterprise Co., LTD (6)
Music: Michael McCuistion (2)
Aquaman looks a fair bit different to how we last saw him in ‘A Fish Story‘. This new design is far closer to his then-current comics look in the 90s, versus the more Golden Age appearance from his debut.
Kristin Bauer lost out on the role of Wonder Woman, but was remembered by the producers when it was time to cast Mera.
Black Manta was originally the hired assassin in Deadshot’s place, but the writers felt this would be somewhat out of character for Manta. Not entirely sure I agree, but I’m no Aquaman expert.
When Superman is going after Deadshot there is writing on the wall behind him. These are animation/colouring instructions to Koko. No clue why they put them in the episode.
Speaking of the chase scene, Kevin Conroy said that the inaudible ‘extreme’ thing Batman says to make Deadshot talk was simply “I know where you live, Floyd.” It’s usually better to leave these things to the imagination…
Recap
A submarine is forced to take evasive action when an unidentified object approaches at speed. This turns out to be an Atlantian vessel, sinking the sub on the orders of Aquaman!
Green Lantern, Superman and Wonder Woman arrive on the scene but Atlantis immediately opens fire on them too. After a brief battle the trio of heroes are forced to stand down.
Aquaman states all involved have encroached on his nation’s borders, but permits them to rescue the submarine crew. Before they leave, Superman suggests Arthur seek official UN recognition.
Frustrated to have left the submarine behind, John later goes rogue and stealthily returns to investigate the wreck, learning someone has removed its nuclear material.
Arthur takes Superman’s advice, strolling into the UN by force and making some extreme demands, which are summarily rejected. He storms off but is shot by a sniper on the way out!
Batman saves Arthur’s life with a saltwater tank, and then sets up an elaborate sting operation to catch the assassin, who eventually turns out to be Deadshot.
Bruce realises Deadshot was paid in Spanish doubloons, tying the plot back to Atlantis, where Lord Orm has seized the throne in his Aquaman’s absence.
Arthur returns to scold his brother, accusing him of treason. Orm claims he is doing what Arthur didn’t have the stomach for, and the royal guard agree, raising their spears to their former King!
To Be Continued…
Best Performance
Replacing Miguel Ferrer would ordinarily be a tall order, but thankfully the writing for Aquaman in STAS was mostly bad, so Scott Rummell has no difficulty sliding in to assume the role. He did a tremendous job conveying both Arthur’s regal position and massive frame. He’s gruff and measured throughout, getting the better of basically every verbal confrontation. I personally enjoyed him shit-talking John Stewart. However what sealed this for me was his private moments with Mera and their son, softening the character and demonstrating a pensive side befitting a King.
Michael Rosenbaum claims his Deadshot voice is a Kevin Spacey impression. I can hear it a little, I suppose. It definitely suits a guy that happily kills people for money. Make of that what you will. Anyway, I enjoyed him being a sleazy, sarcastic little shit, but it was far too brief to challenge Rummell for the top spot in the episode.
All the regulars are decent, and there’s a lot of macho posturing in Atlantis. It’s fine.
Episode Ranking
Another solid Cold Open following on from accusing John Stewart of heinous crimes last time; Aquaman deliberately sinking an American submarine without remorse is a bold way to kick off their story. A first time viewer may have expected Orm to be the one sitting in a shadowy throne giving orders, acting as a rogue agent, but remember the last time we saw Arthur he was sinking Lex Luthor’s ship as a warning to humanity.
They keep their foot on the gas by moving straight into Atlantis shooting on sight when the JL trio arrive. I suppose the small breathing masks are less ostentatious, but I kind of miss Superman’s big goofy sci-fi suits for underwater and deep space. The battle is fun, and I particularly enjoyed Clark and Diana using their immense strength to just shove two ships into each other, while John uses his laser to slice one in half. I liked their creative use of John’s powers for the rescue mission too, crafting an elaborate construct rather than taking the easier, less visually interesting option.
In his previous appearance I talked about how interesting Aquaman can be due to his more neutral position, placing his kingdom over superhero antics. Like a lesser version of Doctor Doom, really. They play in the same space here, delving into the idea of ‘heroes’ overstepping their jurisdiction. Atlantis may not be an officially recognised nation as far as world governments are concerned, but Clark immediately backs down and apologies. This is the stuff I wished they’d gone even further with in ‘Absolute Power‘, where he was unwilling to do anything about Jax-Ur and Mala’s governance of an alien planet. This is where the ensemble aspect of the show shines, as Clark and Diana act as calming agents, negotiating a truce with Arthur… but John Stewart is of course a bootlicker at heart and re-escalates tensions by refusing to leave the submarine behind. He’s easily goaded into hostility by Aquaman being unimpressed by his (and subtextually America’s) bluster, with Superman having to hold back his teammate. Good shit!
Turning back to Aquaman and Atlantis, they play some of my favourite pathos cards here: palace intrigue, and the ‘heavy is the head that wears the crown’ thing. Arthur is deeply conflicted about what’s best for his people, embodied by his baby, and seeks council from his wife, Mera. Its a nicely written and performed little scene that doesn’t go into any specifics but endears both characters to me and makes their ‘world’ feel real. That’s important, because he spends the rest of the episode butting heads with our main characters, particularly John, who he punches out near the end. Yet I’m not mad at him! John was being a dick. His life is made more difficult by General Brak putting pressure on the whole ‘just fuckin’ nuke ’em all!’ concept, while Lord Orm tries to usurp the throne. I would have liked to have seen them taken the latter even further, but hey, only so many minutes to go around.
Batman’s arrival in the third act is pretty funny, stepping out of the shadows triumphantly and framing ‘try putting him in saltwater’ as a uniquely brilliant idea. I don’t blame them though, Bruce is who most viewers tune in to see. Using J’onn to pose as Aquaman to lure out Deadshot is fun, but it’s probably not a great look for the team that the assassin proves so difficult for them to catch. They could probably have used The Flash in such a situation… But yeah, resolving the whole thing by having Batman take Deadshot aside and convincing him to give up his employer with nothing more than inaudible dialogue is simultaneously ridiculous and perfect. Perfectly ridiculous, if you will.
I’m still mixed on the look of this show. The opening scene on the submarine boasted some great lighting effects fitting of the location. The action sequences all flow very nicely. Plus they give all the underwater scenes a solid shimmer/smear effect. That stuff always looks better in animation. But it’s the outlines of the characters, specifically when the ‘camera’ zooms out, that end up very janky. I commented in the opening three-parter that the characters often look like they’re not actually part of the same world as the backgrounds, and that is unfortunately holding true. I’m not sure how they can improve and also get worse on the smooth animation front at the same time, but that’s where I’m at. Perhaps it’s that by tightening up the visuals most of the time I notice the uglier stuff more easily. There’s for sure more detail than ever before, and while good use of shadows was one of the biggest strengths of BTAS, I’d say they’ve achieved a more natural lighting effect here. I guess these are the pros and cons of moving away from stylisation.
Perhaps not the BEST ‘Part I’ they’ve ever done, but easily the most complete, as they give you a little bit of everything. Strong opening, compelling action sequences, juicy character tensions, Batman being the chosen one, solid world-building, and an appropriate cliffhanger. If Part II is as good as this I think it could take the top spot from ‘In Blackest Night’, but for now I’ll place it just below in the number two spot. I don’t think it does anything tremendously, but everything it does is good.
- In Blackest Night
- The Enemy Below (NEW ENTRY)
- Secret Origins
Rogues Roundup
Orm (Richard Green) (first appearance)
This guy could never eat a cockroach burger…
Orm runs a classic false flag operation to seize the throne, and then does a convincing enough sales pitch to win over the royal guard. Unfortunately he’s got no personality whatsover. That’ll have to change in Part II if he’s going to get out of the bottom spot.
Deadshot (Michael Rosenbaum) (first appearance)
Before we get into his character and whatnot, I really enjoyed him opting to wear a disguise over the top of his incredibly distinctive supervillain costume. A red deerstalker, green bomber jacket and slacks over a red spandex suit and his signature mask? Love it. Not quite luchadors wearing formal suits, but in a similar ballpark.
Electrifying the manhole cover he escapes down after the League thwart his second attempt on Aquaman’s life has to be one of the most egregious ‘Superman taken down too easily’ moments in the show, but it does lead to a bombastic sewer chase sequence where Clark is the one to catch him in the end. If only he’d kept to the speed limit when he made it to his getaway van, he’d probably have escaped. All in all he did extremely well to evade our heroes for as long as he did, giving everyone but Superman the slip.
Rosenbaum crams in as much character in 30 seconds as possible, sassing Superman, hitting on Wonder Woman, and then even when Batman ‘breaks’ him, he doesn’t actually have anything to give up. It kind of blows my mind they never did more with him as the look and personality are solid, but I’m never mad about these kinds of secondary villains.
- The Imperium
- Deadshot (NEW ENTRY)
- The Manhunters
- Kanjar-Ro
- Orm (NEW ENTRY)
The Matt Signal 
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