Talking to someone yesterday, and superhero movies came up. Aquaman is the only member of the Justice League that I can think of who hasn’t gotten his own movie. Should they do one? More importantly, who should play him?
Ha
Hahaha
Hahahahahaha
It would only work if James Cameron directs, Adrian Grenier plays Aquaman and Mandy Moore plays Aquagirl.
What am I saying? It would score the biggest opening of all time!
No.
PS if that’s the only member of Justice League you can think of without a movie franchise, you’re not thinking particularly far down the ol’ hall of justice. <cue Ted Baxter> MEANWHILE Apache Chief Meets The Wonder Twins, staring Shia LeBouf in every role including the monkey, remains in development hell.
Superman was a franchise, ditto Batman, Wonder Woman WAS going to get made, but was scrapped, Captain America is coming out, Green Lantern just did. I’m 33, so I’m not up on my Justice League superheroes, who else am I missing? (Besides Iceman, another one who needs a flick)
Even if you’re restricting it only to the very first JLA lineup, there’s Martian Manhunter and the Flash (who had a TV series, but not a movie, right?). Captain America was a Marvel hero, not part of the JLA; you must have meant Green Lantern.
Right about the Flash. And Mavel and JLA run together at this point.
Only if Craig Ferguson plays the part.
Mr “Talks-To-Fishies”?
No.
Next question.
The most recent re-founding of the JLA I’m familiar with is the DC Animated Universe. The founding members were Superman, Wonder Woman, the Martian Manhunter, the Flash, the Green Lantern (John Stewart), Hawkgirl, and (under protest) Batman. We still don’t have movies from over half of that list (and I think they’d have to be pretty hard up to go for a Hawkgirl movie), and Aquaman isn’t even on it. If we look at the full League…well, there are hundreds of them, and some of them (like the Question, for instance) could actually be the focus of an interesting movie.
That said, I think they could make a pretty good Aquaman movie if they could get past the jokes and commit enough of an effects budget. The DCAU version of Aquaman is pretty badass–he’s tough enough to survive an assassination attempt with a rocket launcher, he rules most of the planet, and he cut his own hand off with a belt buckle to save his infant child. On the other hand, he’s also an arrogant jerk, which is tolerable when he’s a guest star, but maybe not so much as the protagonist of a comic book movie.
Marvel Studios is on a roll and will probably eliminate any chance of an Aquaman film by green lighting a Sub-Mariner project that’s already in development.
Jokes…maybe if it was a comedy…
Wasn’t there an attempt a few years back to reimagine him as less of a joke?
I can see him finally snap after fifty years of fish jokes and summon Cthulhu or some other Lovecraftian monstrosity from under the sea. Watch as he laughs while Batman’s brain sloshes out of his nose, unable to deal with the sheer alienness of the creature.
“Not such a joke now, am I, Laughing Boy!!” (Of course it drives Aquaman insane as well, although not quite to the extent it affects others.)
I’m trying to remember back to the JLA I saw as a kid. It seems to me that most of them haven’t got movies:
Aquaman
Wonder Woman
Hawkman (?)
Some black guy who maybe controlled electricity (?)
Casey Kasem
The Flash
The Wonder Twins
Gleek
To be fair though, I was never really sure what Gleek brought to the table.
Is there a Green Lantern movie? I thought it was the Green Hornet, but maybe there’s one of each.
Repeatedly. They keep raising his badass quotent.
It doesn’t come off at ALL like a geek with short-man’s disease investing heavily in karate lessons, nunchucks, and a gun collection.
NOT AT ALL!!
Actually, his animated version from Justice League Unlimted, was fairly cool, (though also a prick) which supposedly reflects the comics accurately. But a movie will need wider appeal than roughly 30% of comics fans. Maybe if DC was willing to cross characters over, he could get enough face time in someone else’s movie to get past the jokes . . . but they don’t want to.
–
He still gets more respect than Ant-Man. Non comics fans remember him for the SNL skit.
“I can shrink down to the size of an ant, while retaining my full human strength!” “Bet you really go to town on those other ants, huh?”
Whereas comic fans (and other superheroes) remember him as a wifebeater.
Wendy, Marvin, and Wonderdog should get a movie first.
The Atom hasn’t had a movie, either. He’s one of the old DCU heroes from the 60s who probably isn’t familiar enough to today’s general audiences. Green Arrow hasn’t had a movie, either that I can recall.
I have a hard time seeing a primarily underwater movie working at all, no matter how much fun they have with the special effects budget. So no, even though I don’t think he quite deserves the crap pop culture has piled on him from the Superfriends days.
Hence my caveat about the effects budget. It would probably take more than just budget, though–it would likely require some new CGI techniques, and lots of digital effects in general.
Depending on the plot, however, a substantial amount of it could take place on the surface, and/or on dry land; it would just require the major conflicts to be between the Aquaman and land-dwellers.
Taking a different tack on assessing the possibilities:
If, against all expectations, a serious Aquaman movie were greenlighted, what would you do with it? Which Aquaman, what’s the plot, and who would you cast in an attempt to make it viable? (Assume you’ve got a crack effects team who can make all the underwater scenes look good.)
I think the DCAU (and possibly current comics) version of Aquaman is the best bet. Offhand, I know of three major plotlines tied to him:
- Return of a Lovecraftian Horror.
- Palace revolution.
- Ongoing conflict with surface nations over their effects on the oceans (pollution, overfishing, etc).
I don’t think the third would be viable as a primary conflict, though it could serve as a complication, explaining why he can’t get any surface support for his other problems. The other two, however, could support a movie.
I would open with Aquaman–in his role as a king, rather than as Aquaman–addressing the U.N. General Assembly about global warming and pollution issues. This could be soft-pedaled or punched hard, depending on real-world circumstances at the time, but I’d give it a pretty good push: dead, bleached reefs, a major oil spill, and so forth. Enough to establish a legitimate grievance. He reminds them that together, their nations control about a quarter of the world; he controls the rest, and will act unilaterally if he must.
As he’s leaving, he would notice a street preacher waving a sign and ranting about the coming Apocalypse, and remark bitterly that the old man is more right than he knows.
Upon his return to his palace, he receives word that a ship–probably an oil tanker–has vanished from the surface. His people had nothing to do with it; in fact, making it disappear completely is beyond their ability–they could sink it, but not without leaving evidence. In light of his speech, however, some surface dwellers are already starting to jump to conclusions. Investigation of the scene (and other attacks, on surface ships and Atlanteans alike) leads to the conclusion that it’s the work of the ancient Horrors. (Cue Atlantean mystic/historian and scenes of Atlantis defeating the Lovecraftian Horrors, but sinking into the depths in the process.)
Aquaman’s brother blames the surface dwellers for the incipient return of their ancient foes; the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet is exposing the ruins of an ancient city to the sea, and its denizens are awakening. When Aquaman refuses to declare war on the surface, he takes advantage of the fears of the populace to stage a coup, capturing Aquaman and his infant son. Mera (the Queen) and a small group of loyalists escape and go into hiding.
The traitor has actually made a Faustian bargain. He’s working for the Horrors; promising them servants and sacrifices in exchange for the Atlantean throne and the destruction of the surface dwellers. To seal the deal, he stakes Aquaman and the kid out as a sacrifice, leading to Aquaman’s radical experiment in body modification. He escapes with his son, and is shortly thereafter found by Mera and her followers, who treat his wounds.
During his escape, he learned that only a small channel to the city has opened up; if it can be sealed again, it will stop the return of the Horrors. In the finale, he assembles an army of sea life to assault the channel. (Impressive stuff, not just a few schools of fish–though he might use a school of fish to cover his movements, commenting dismissively that it’s all they’re good for in a fight.)
While the battle rages, he quickly plants explosive charges in carefully chosen locations (probably using his new hook to reach places on the ceiling of the ice cavern). As he’s planting the last one, he has the inevitable confrontation with his brother, and ends up triggering the bombs to trap the villain inside with the Horrors, narrowly escaping himself.
The coda has him addressing the U.N. once more, this time haggard and with his stump of an arm exposed for effect. He assures them that all he has done is buy them time. Unless they all work together, eventually, the Horrors will eventually escape. If that happens, there will be no stopping them.