Aquaman: King of Atlantis...and the Box Office
Fri, August 21, 2009 
Well, he's no Box Office king, at least not yet. Aquaman, King of the Seas, and much maligned member of the Justice League. Perhaps best known as 'That guy who talks to fish'. Admittedly, at first glance, I admit, it does seem a rather stupid power. However, come with me a moment and imagine:
"The Black Manta, Aquaman's most famous villain, and sort of an underwater Iron Man with evil intentions, discovers Atlantis location. His mind fills with thoughts of the treasure and riches he can now lay claim to. SUDDENLY, his suits sensors pick up a faint sonar transmissions, as he looks up from the sensors on his arm, he finds himself surrounded by a dozen great whites, a giant octopus, and a few prehistoric sea creatures long thought extinct.
As he's scared still, a VOICE calls from behind. Manta's heart JUMPS! 'They won't attack you, but you should leave this place now.' The voice is calm yet authoritative. Black manta turns to face a man, unaided, blond, handsome, with a golden shirt the appeared to have a scale like surface, emerald and gold gauntlets on each wrist, green pants, and a belt connected with some type of crest best described as an "A".
This is our first glimpse of Aquaman! the King of the Seas. Once the shock of a man unaided speaking to him as if they were standing next to one another in an elevator wears off, Manta looks once more at the sea creatures, then again at Aquaman before taking off back to the surface at an incredible speed. He is equally fascinated and frightened.
Black Manta
Now, I'm no screenwriter, but I think that would be a pretty cool cinematic first meeting. There's drama, conflict, intensity and sets the stage for what is to become a legendary rivalry.
Aquaman is a film that would combine the best elements of sword and sandals features with Arthurian legend and Shakespeare. Think of him not as a superhero, but as an underwater guardian protecting a vast kingdom from surface dwellers who intend on stealing Atlantis secrets and treasures. Or protecting his throne from those who seek to usurp him.
Now, you might be thinking what's up with this Aquaman article, and why is it in the Movie&TV News section of TMT? Well, a few weeks ago, Hollywood Reorter reported that Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way. Could Leo himself take the lead role? Well, one could only hope. I mean that's INSTANT credibility, for a charcater known as nothing more than a lame joke to the general public. His presence would curb that immediately.
My thinking is this, even if Leo doesn't take the lead, and he probably won't, I don't think he'll produce something that is shit, as I'm sure he won't want his name attached. You can bet your ass, lead role or not if, and when Aquaman gets made, you'll be seeing "From producer Leonardo DiCaprio" all over the ads. He could use his sway to land a top tier director. That Cameron guy, might be ideally suited to the whole underwater adventure thing ;).
When I saw GI Joe with my brother, and a couple of friends about a week or so ago (we all enjoyed it, on a basic check your brain at the door level), what we all loved most and chatted most about afterward was the underwater scene(s). That was actually what inspired me to write this article. We just kept going on and on about how cool those underwater scenes were. Let's imagine again. What could a creative person do witht the idea of Atlantis? It could be a magnificent sprawling palace hidden from the human eye and technology by ancient sorcery, or it could be a palace made of coral designed to be wholly uninteresting to any outsider who happens to pass by unintentionally or otherwise. Those are just two ideas the came to my mind. I'm certain there are a plethora of other options. The possibilites nearly endless.
I've come to think of Aquaman as sort of a Holy Grail of comic movies. He's known, but not so known that you can't tinker with his origins without legions of fanboys complaining. Can you imagine if Krypton didn't explode or the Wayne's lived? The fanboy bitchfest would reach epic levels, and damn near break the net! Well shut down a few sites anyway.
Iron Man, Marvel's hottest franchise at the moment, was basically a completely unknown entity until Favreau's kick ass film. I love it, watched my DVD I'd say about 30x, and am eagerly anticipating the sequel. Yet, Iron Man was one of those comics I could just never get into. As a movie, though, it knocked my socks off. Aquaman can be to others what Iron Man was to me. A character you're not particularly fond of, at least until a quality movie comes out. Aquaman just may be more suited to the silver screen than the printed page. I showed a few (non-comic fan) friends the Aquaman appearances on Smallville, and hile the Aquadude personality was unversally hated, when he wa sin the water using his powers and swimming at incredible speeds the reactio "Damn that's cool!" and everyone wanted to see more of that.
In my circle everyone was and is thrilled with the underwater locations , bases, and seeing a version of Aquaman do his thing.
All it would take is one solid movie for Aquaman to go from lame joke in the general audience eyes , toa franchise people would beg to see more of. Aquaman battling a villain head on, while commanding some megalodons to tear apart the villains ship or face off an army the villain may have. Who wouldn't want to see that?
Even if DiCaprio's involvement is in name only, I'm hoping that's enough to get this franchise started. I think season two of Enterouge had it right. Aquaman CAN be the hugest grossing comic book movie given the respect it deserves, and not be turned into some lame comedy that weaker unoriginal writers might try. There's a uniqueness here that has yet to be seen on screen.
A plea to the comic film gods, please do yourselves, the character, and the general audience a favor and treat the property with respect and give us the amazing film that I, and many other fans of the character know it can be.
Reader Comments (9)
Should we rule out Brad Pitt as well? I remember an interview with ET or some other press junket covered by ET the other day about Pitt thinking of a 'superhero' type role.
I was thinking about Atlantis while watching G.I. Joe, too. Here's hoping that Leo can deliver us an underwater 300/Conan The Barbarian.
I wouldn't rule Pitt out, and his name would do the same as Leo's and he even looks more like the character, I'd be very pleased with him. Glad to see I was not the only one thinking about Atlantis while watching GI Joe
The big problem with doing a movie with Aquaman at present is a similar one to the one plaguing most of Hollywood's fare that flops: It's gonna be preachy. With most Hollywood A-listers' politics firmly to the left of left, it's almost a certainty that any Aquaman film would have as its central, or at least one of the central, villains in some sort of irresponsible corporation or the US government. Never mind that China pollutes far more, if they make it in Hollywood, the bad guys will be, or will be financed by, big bad companies or Republicans.
That kind of preachiness is not something the average movie viewer wants to see -- they just want to be entertained! The overwhelming trend of having a "social responsibility" in movies is part of why the movie industry isn't doing so well. If they could keep the heavy hand of social politics out of it, I tend to agree -- Aquaman could be an awesome franchise.
The sad thing is, however, I just can't see that happening.
Ah, yes. I liked the underwater scenes in G.I. Joe. Aquaman should be lik that, with more kinetic force.
Excellent article Michael; I've never read so much passion for Aquaman. I've been saying for a while that Sub-Mariner (he's cooler to me, sorry) could make a stunning looking film, representing something we've never seen before. But if Aquaman beats him to the screen then that's fine.
Thanks, Phil :). Don't worry, I'm a fan of Namor, too. I think both can coexist film wise and bring something unique. As Curmudgeon alluded to above, for Sub-Mariner I'd go with that whole polluting the ocean thing. It gives Namor a genuine reason to be pissed off and go kick the ass of the thoughtless surface dwellers. And instead of China or America or republicans etc, it would just be all humans that he's pissed off at for ruining his home and treating it like a dumpster. he'd kick some super villain ass along the way, too.
I was thinking more of Spartacus underwater for Namor. Aquaman can do the Captain Planet thing.
I am certainly sold on the idea of seeing a stunning underwater civilization onscreen, but I do agree they'd need to avoid some sort of preachy pollution "green" message and stick to an old fashioned action adventure. On a side note I love the design of Black Manta.