The long shadow of the Super Friends

February 24, 2015 9:42 AM

Why Are People Still Surprised That Aquaman Is A Badass?
posted by Brandon Blatcher (64 comments total)

Hi Aquaman.
posted by GuyZero at 9:48 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

UNITE THE SEVEN
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:51 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

I just wanted to mention that the Korean word for 'dictation' is 'badasseugi', (받아쓰기). Not particularly relevant, but then neither is Aquaman.
posted by benito.strauss at 9:52 AM on February 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

I'll fear the Dothraki the day they stop fearing water...
posted by kmz at 9:53 AM on February 24, 2015 [13 favorites]

Aquaman is a badass especially with his yearly beatdown of NotCthulhu with the aid of the Demon but he definitely suffers under the weight of Superfriends and honestly the weight of being way less cool than Marvel's version of the undersea prince Namor.

Namor in recent years has way surpassed Aquaman in being a legit anti-hero especially in regards to his work with the Illuminati. Sometimes Aquaman gets a little pissy at the surface world but he's not exactly gone full out war mode in my experience.
posted by vuron at 9:56 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Don't mess with Aquaman - he'll throw a polar bear at you.
posted by zamboni at 9:56 AM on February 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

As much as DC would like to rebrand Aquaman as Namor (the undisputed king of Atlantis), the bottom line is that the name "Aquaman" sets the character at a disadvantage. It's a goofy-ass name I'd expect to see in a lineup with other wonders of the 1940s like Radioman or Hologram-man.
posted by belarius at 9:56 AM on February 24, 2015

Aquaman would also never show up at Sue Storm's door like this.
posted by almostmanda at 9:57 AM on February 24, 2015 [7 favorites]

All I can say is that I can't WAIT to see Jason Momoa in the role! Aquaman should have always been a Pacific Islander, IMO.
posted by magstheaxe at 9:59 AM on February 24, 2015 [11 favorites]

he's not exactly gone full out war mode in my experience.

I got the impression that in DC Comics, Atlantis invades the surface-world semi-annually.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:00 AM on February 24, 2015

There's one thing that really cemented my impression of aquaman

"Aquaman! you go.... Talk to some fish!"

via The State- Alas, I cannot find video online...
posted by MysticMCJ at 10:02 AM on February 24, 2015

"It's not semen, it's SeaMan!"

This article is great; I like that the new badass comic Aquaman is also a hottie. Here's hoping Jason Momoa gets to do some interesting acting and not just be another scary half-savage.
posted by Nelson at 10:02 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

My Ability to Talk with Fish is of No Help, Wonder Woman!

And then there was the time Aquaman cut off his hand to save the ugly, annoying AquaBaby, earning ugly babies everywhere the nickname "Aquababy" (at least, that's the story my wife tells me).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:02 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Aquaman would also never show up at Sue Storm's door like this.

"I'm on a whale!
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:04 AM on February 24, 2015 [13 favorites]

For the record, the credit for the recent image of Jason Momoa goes to Clay Enos, Clay does the majority of the still photography for Snyder's movies.
posted by HuronBob at 10:04 AM on February 24, 2015

Jason Momoa looks fantastic as Aquaman. Unf.
posted by Kitteh at 10:08 AM on February 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

Every week there's a canal.

Or an inlet.

Or a fjord.
posted by ckape at 10:09 AM on February 24, 2015 [13 favorites]

Here's hoping Jason Momoa gets to do some interesting acting and not just be another scary half-savage

Yeah, I feel kinda bad for him. He was approached to do Guardians of the Galaxy, I think, and turned it down because he wanted to do more thoughtful/complex roles. He's done enough simplistic killer stuff, and so he did that short-lived cable thing Red Road (?), which apparently went nowhere.

And now he's back doing genre fight-em stuff again.

I'm sure he'll be good--I really liked him on Stargate Atlantis--but I doubt it's really the way he wanted his career to go.
posted by suelac at 10:10 AM on February 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Having your face smashed and cut with a pint glass kind of screws up your movie star career.
posted by Nelson at 10:12 AM on February 24, 2015

Didn't Aquaman just get straight up shot in the head once? I feel like that happened once in one of DCs goony grimdark crossovers.
posted by boo_radley at 10:12 AM on February 24, 2015

Aquaman was probably the single best thing about Batman: the Brave and the Bold, a show that was constructed of pure, unleaded awesome. (The series finale of that show managed to both choke me up a little *and* have someone say the line, "Thank you Neon Talking Super Street Bat-Luge.")

The problem isn't the character, not really. Get some good writers in there, it'll be fine. As someone in the (surprisingly readable) comments pointed out, Batman was a joke for ages after the Adam West version, and he's considered a badass now.

I'm sure he'll be good--I really liked him on Stargate Atlantis--but I doubt it's really the way he wanted his career to go.

Yeah. I really liked him in SGA too, and would like to see him get stuff with a little more heft.

Upon preview:
Having your face smashed and cut with a pint glass kind of screws up your movie star career.

Wow, that's awful. :(
posted by mordax at 10:14 AM on February 24, 2015 [7 favorites]

Can't say I ever found the character slightly interesting, but yeah that's due to the Super Friends.

The photo of Momoa as Aquan Man is interesting, but I can't help but think "Oh, Khal Drogo rides dolphins instead of horses now. Huh." Hopefully the movie is good, but the serious slant that Synder keeps pushing doesn't sound like it'll work with everything.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:17 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Namor in recent years has way surpassed Aquaman in being a legit anti-hero especially in regards to his work with the Illuminati. Sometimes Aquaman gets a little pissy at the surface world but he's not exactly gone full out war mode in my experience.

Namor started out as an anti-hero; his early appearances were about him trashing New York City because Atlantis blamed all surface people for damage to the city causes by unwitting icebreaker ships in the Arctic Sea. Heck, he was revived the same way in the 1960s before being softened into more of a pompous, regal hero in the Mighty Thor mold.

Of late, I'd say he's just plain villainous, albeit vaguely sympathetically villainous, what with his murderous war with Wakanda and killing entire worlds alongside the likes of Thanos and Terrax to save his own universe because no one can stop arguing long enough to work out a superheroic solution. Well, and because Jonathan Hickman wants to do a story where the heroes don't get to be heroic because...well, because the superhero genre isn't really a good fit for him, is it?

Aquaman, on the other hand....he wasn't even from Atlantis until sometime in the 1950s. He was originally more of a Doc Savage type, a human raised by a scientist father to be an amphibious being. And he has exactly two good villains and one good supporting cast character. It's not about "badass," it's about character development. Even "badass" Aquaman usually seems more like a guy trying way too hard to be cool than an actual cool guy.
posted by kewb at 10:18 AM on February 24, 2015

Aquaman should have always been a Pacific Islander, IMO.

Pacific? With that beard and trident, he looks downright bellicose.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:19 AM on February 24, 2015 [5 favorites]

"Aquaman" sets the character at a disadvantage. It's a goofy-ass name I'd expect to see in a lineup with other wonders of the 1940s like Radioman or Hologram-man.

And "The Sub-Mariner" isn't?
posted by murphy slaw at 10:23 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

LOL moment reading Andy Weir's The Martian recently -- one of the stranded astronaut's random musings is "LOG ENTRY: SOL 61: How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense."
posted by aught at 10:28 AM on February 24, 2015 [7 favorites]

'Aquaman' does have the advantage of less ambiguous pronunciation over 'Sub-Mariner.'
posted by postcommunism at 10:28 AM on February 24, 2015

Regarding Aquaman's perception, I'll just leave this here.

Hey it was 2005 and crap like that was how we comic book bloggers rolled back then
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 10:29 AM on February 24, 2015

> 'Aquaman' does have the advantage of less ambiguous pronunciation over 'Sub-Mariner.'

Plus, he can dance like a mofo.
posted by davelog at 10:29 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

ckape: Every week there's a canal.

Hey, that's a different cross-over! That's not canonical! /fakefanboy
posted by filthy light thief at 10:32 AM on February 24, 2015

I liked the 2006 Aquaman pilot by the Smallville folks. I thought they had a good take on the character. And Lou Diamond Phillips as his land-dad.

I'm not actually looking forward to the JLA stuff (I don't trust Zack Snyder not to betray my heroes), but I think the Unite the Seven poster looks good.
posted by Mad_Carew at 10:34 AM on February 24, 2015

What a lovely opportunity to post one of my favorite bits of short fiction:

Aquaman Written So He Does Not Suck
posted by Myca at 10:42 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure I'm down with this desperate need to make Aquaman out to be a badass; he's always been at his best when they just let him be slightly bland.

And the best Aquaman was of course the Steve Skeates/Nick Cardy version from the sixties/early seventies. Closely followed by the Bob Haney/Jim Aparo version from Brave and the Bold.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:43 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

None of the other Superfriends have an EP about them by the Gothsicles, Caustic, and team-up collab band The Causticles, so that's a point in favor of Aquaman.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:47 AM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

> Don't mess with Aquaman - he'll throw a polar bear at you.

I love the expression on that polar bear's face; puzzled, but angry.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:53 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best Aquaman, obviously.
posted by lydhre at 10:53 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Since you brought up the Super Friends, everyone one should know the Hall of Justice is in great danger!
posted by entropicamericana at 11:02 AM on February 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

I'd reimagine his backstory as being from Innsmouth, Mass and have him struggle against his inevitable transformation into a Deep One. Ia Dagon!
posted by Renoroc at 11:10 AM on February 24, 2015 [6 favorites]

Ultimately, the difference in treatment of Namor vs. Aquaman comes down to Kirby.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:31 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

The article sort of provides the answer to the title question: because for the first few decades he was played as a 3rd-rate superhero and this became the mainstream perception of him. If you haven't been a faithful DC reader for the last, what, 20 years? How would you have any idea that he is a badass?
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:35 AM on February 24, 2015

My favorite Aquaman is the adventure-lovin', Bender-voiced Batman The Brave and the bold Aquaman, though I think the idea of a Pacific Islander Aquaman is so blindingly obvious and brilliant that I'm frustrated it hasn't been done before.

What I want is a combination of the two. Aquaman as a benevolent sea-king and lover of battles and stories who is both modern but pays homage to the Doc Savage-esque history. I want him to care deeply about ecology and protecting the world's oceans but also want to regale you with tales of face-punching.
posted by sleeping bear at 11:37 AM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Y'all dissing the big A need to step off and listen to Aquaman's Rousing Song of Heroism.

After the Brave and the Bold got done with him, they needed to invent a new letter that comes before A to describe his status.
posted by ursus_comiter at 11:48 AM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

OUTRAGEOUS
posted by ckape at 12:28 PM on February 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

I, too, blame Super Friends for Aquaman's weaksauce rep -- his PSAs were about leaky faucets and the like, while Superman looks downright murderous in this anti-smoking one.
posted by Iris Gambol at 12:46 PM on February 24, 2015

Knight Boat... there's always an fjord, inlet, or canal
posted by cirhosis at 1:10 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ha... noticed that I was well beat to that joke...
posted by cirhosis at 1:13 PM on February 24, 2015

What I want is a combination of the two. Aquaman as a benevolent sea-king and lover of battles and stories who is both modern but pays homage to the Doc Savage-esque history. I want him to care deeply about ecology and protecting the world's oceans but also want to regale you with tales of face-punching.
sleeping bear

Your wish was granted in 1996's Amalgam Comics event!
posted by Sangermaine at 1:22 PM on February 24, 2015 [3 favorites]

Aquaman's Rousing Song of Heroism
posted by yeolcoatl at 2:01 PM on February 24, 2015

Trying-Too-Hard-Man, more like.
posted by Artw at 2:03 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'll fear the Dothraki the day they stop fearing water...

The Seahorse that mounts the world!
posted by nubs at 2:23 PM on February 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

Y'all dissing the big A need to step off and listen to Aquaman's Rousing Song of Heroism yt .

A little less Brave and Bold there and slightly more Johnny Bravo somehow.
posted by GuyZero at 2:28 PM on February 24, 2015

By far the best Aquaman.

"Three years of winter assault the world. Giant monsters devour the sun and moon. The tree of the world trembles. Fenrir, the greatest of wolves, snaps a chain made from the sound of a cat’s footfall, a woman’s beard, a mountain’s root, and a bear’s sinews. Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, the Ragnarok bell rings!"
posted by kyrademon at 4:07 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

The Seahorse that mounts the world!

And then carries the eggs in a ventral pouch for 9 to 45 days.

Anha vaddrivak mahrazhis fini ondee khogar shiqethi ma vohharak okrenegwin mori!
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:11 PM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Two words to this article: IMPERIOUS REX!!!!!!! (then a fist in the face)
posted by triage_lazarus at 5:01 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

Namor bones squid princesses, and is beyond your petty human judgement.
posted by Artw at 5:17 PM on February 24, 2015 [2 favorites]

Is Black Manta the villain in this movie or what

ARE YOU GONNA WASTE MY TIME OR NOT HOLLYWOOD

Aquaman has a few redeeming qualities but chief among them is having Black Manta as his archenemy

God just make the movie about Black Manta ffs
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:04 PM on February 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm kind of hazy on what Black Manta has going for him except a cool design, but it is a very cool design.
posted by Artw at 10:08 PM on February 24, 2015

Don't mess with Aquaman - he'll throw a polar bear at you.

"You're not here for the hunting, are yooooou!!!"
posted by Artw at 10:10 PM on February 24, 2015

1. The Brave and The Bold has a glorious and outstanding Aquaman.

2. To quote Grant Morrison's Aquaman: "Sworn protectorate of over fifteen thousand submarine states. My territory surrounds every continent on the planet. I rule most of this planet's surface and almost all of its depths. So don't even think about picking a fight with the King of Atlantis."
posted by Pronoiac at 11:21 PM on February 24, 2015

Ultimately, the difference in treatment of Namor vs. Aquaman comes down to Kirby.

Damn, how badass is Atlantean that "avenging son" is like five phonemes long?

And Lou Diamond Phillips as his land-dad.

I would buy a comic called, like, INCREDIBLE LAND-DAD pretty much sight unseen.
posted by No-sword at 1:44 AM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

When the Young Justice cartoon was cancelled, Greg Weisman pitched Black Manta's Celebrity Hot Tub as a spin-off.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 3:27 AM on February 25, 2015 [2 favorites]

The difference in treatment of Namor vs. Aquaman is that Aquaman was severely lame until DC rewrote his backstory, persona, and setting in 1989 to hew as closely as legally possible to Namor's.
posted by snottydick at 10:05 AM on February 25, 2015 [3 favorites]

To be fair, the new Aquaman has much better hair than Namor.
posted by entropicamericana at 10:30 AM on February 25, 2015

The difference in treatment of Namor vs. Aquaman is that Aquaman was severely lame until DC rewrote his backstory, persona, and setting in 1989 to hew as closely as legally possible to Namor's.

And then gave him a beard and a hook for a hand long before the NuMetal movie Aquaman. And still it seemed more desperate than cool.
posted by Artw at 10:54 AM on February 25, 2015 [1 favorite]