aquaman

Movie Night: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Dr. K1 Comment

Released: 17 March 2023
Director: James Wan
Distributor: Warner Brothers
Budget: $205 million
Stars: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Temuera Morrison, and Amber Heard

The Plot:
Desperate to find the means to avenge himself against Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Momoa), pirate David Kane/Black Manta (Abdul-Mateen II) stumbles upon the mythical Black Trident, which possesses him and compels him to unleash an ancient threat so powerful Aruthur is forced to join forces with his deposed brother, Orm Marius (Wilson).

The Background:
Back in 1941, Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris created the character of Arthur Curry as part of DC Comics’ (then known as National Comics) desire to capitalise on the success of Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman. Although subject to unfair ridicule over the years, Aquaman ultimately had the last laugh when, after years of Development Hell and aborted projects, his live-action debut was met with critical and financial success. Following a short-lived animated spin-off on HBO Max, a planned horror-themed spin-off was thankfully cancelled and a sequel was quickly greenlit; both Momoa and director James Wan were enthusiastic to explore other kingdoms and regions of Atlantis and the vast underwater realm, though the film attracted unwanted media attention when star Amber Heard was accused of abusing her husband, Johnny Depp. Many called for her to be recast and, while Warner Brothers initially shot this request down, it was reported that her role had been significantly reduced as a result of the circus of a trial that followed. The production also stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed the release date numerous times but did give the visual effects team more time to work on the film. This apparently also involved excising cameo appearance from one or more Bruce Wayne/Batman actors as James Gunn geared up towards completely restarting the DCEU, with Gunn apparently providing some notes to the filmmakers. After much drama and delays, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finally released to largely negative reviews; critics attacked the brainless plot and clunky pacing, though Wan’s direction and Momoa’s enthusiastic performance were praised. As of this writing, the film has currently grossed $340.6 million at the box office but it’s largely academic; Momoa isn’t expected to reprise the role in Gunn’s new DC Universe and no new Aquaman projects have been announced yet, leaving the character essentially dead in the water no matter how much money the sequel makes,

The Review:
I was pleasantly surprised by Aquaman; it was big, colourful, mindless fun in an era when the DCEU was unnecessarily dark and bleak, and it altered Aquaman’s characterisation in a way that made him so much more entertaining and relatable. Jason Momoa attacks the role with such relish and natural charisma that it’s easy to overlook flaws in logic or pacing, and that same charm returns in this sequel. Of course, it helps that he’s disgustingly good looking and absolutely shredded, but Momoa’s Aquaman has the kind of Dude/Bro mentality and whimsical childishness that really brings a smile to my face. In this film, a lot has changed for the slovenly brute who once shunned humanity and responsibility; he’s now the King of Atlantis, doting father to Arthur Junior (Various), and loving husband to Y’Mera Xebella Challa (Heard). First, let’s address the elephant in the room: yes, Mera is in this movie but no, she does not have much of a role. In fact, given all the controversy surrounding Amber Heard, I was expecting Mera to be killed off and it does seem like that almost happened; instead, she’s merely severely wounded by Black Manta and taken out of the second act of the movie, only to make a minor reappearance at the end to help Arthur and Orm and get the baby to safety. I can fully understand this, and it’s not like her presence is really missed; she still impresses in her skin-tight outfit and gets to show off her hydrokinetic powers, but the plot doesn’t require her presence and it’s better she was given less prominence considering everything that happened. Interestingly, much of her character development from the first film is repeated with Orm; he’s prejudiced against the surface world like Mera was, confused by their words and ways, and slowly comes to enjoy some of our customs by the movie’s end, though these lessons are reframed in the context of Arthur encouraging a stronger bond between them and him pulling pranks on his relatively naïve younger brother by tricking him into thinking cockroaches are a delicacy!

Now a father dissatisfied with the crown, Arthur teams up with his brother to face a powerful threat.

So, there’s not much focus on the romance here; even Arthur’s father, lighthouse keeper Tom (Morrison) and Queen Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) don’t share a scene together until the start of the third act, and Arthur’s initial conversations with his father even somewhat imply that Atlanna is dead. She’s not, but her role here is equally minimal and simply the catalyst to unite her two estranged sons into joining forces. Instead, we’re left with Arthur, but that’s more than enough! Despite his big victory in the first film, Arthur is bored by the crown, his duties, and the endless politics of the Atlantean council, which handicap him with bureaucracy. A child of both worlds, he spends as much time out of the sea as he does in it to care for his son, something with many of his kingdom resent, and his desire to reveal Atlantis to the surface world and work with them to reduce pollution and climate change are continuously shot down. Frustrated by self-doubt about his role as a leader, Arthur is almost giddy when David Kane returns armed with a powerful trident of his own and wielding forgotten Atlantean technology. Kane’s plot to steal Atlantis’s highly volatile stockpiles of Orichalcum and exacerbate the heating of the world (which also causes a deadly plague to kill many Atlanteans, including Arthur’s mentor, Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe), between movies) causes Arthur great distress. With no way of tracking Black Manta, Arthur enlists the help of King Nereus (Dolph Lundgren) and Topo the octopus to sneak into the desert prion where Orm is held captive and enlist his help since he’s the only one who may be able to lead them to Kane. Arthur jumps at the chance for some action, even if it risks all-out war breaking out, as he’s desperate to get into the thick of it again, to say nothing of trying to connect with his brother and settle the score with his old rival.

Orm is disgusted by his brother’s childishness but proves surprisingly trustworthy.

This dysfunctional dynamic is where the heart of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom lies, and where much of its entertainment value comes from. Emaciated from his time in prison and embittered by his brutish brother’s lack of decorum when it comes to the throne, Orm is depicted as a conniving, untrustworthy bigot who lusts for power. Yet he agrees to help Arthur, and even stats he will willingly return to custody afterwards, out of loyalty to Atlantis, and never misses an opportunity to chastise his brother’s buffoonery and overreliance on his muscles. Orm emits a more stately persona, attempting to use diplomacy rather than brute force; he’s able to lead them to an underwater den of debauchery and an aquatic crime boss, the appropriately named Kingfish (Martin Short), to get information on Black Manta’s location and even drops condescending advice to Arthur about what it means to be a king. The banter and bickering between Arthur and Orm is great; Orm is visibly disgusted by his older brother, and the humiliation he felt at his hands, while Arthur tries to win him over with his boisterous personality and surface world benefits such as beer and cheeseburgers. Although King Nereus cautions about trusting Orm, the former Ocean Master proves surprisingly reliable; he never runs from a fight, doesn’t attempt to kill or sell out Arthur, and doesn’t even show envy at learned Arthur married Mera. Although it seems like Orm is happy to leave King Nereus to die, he saves the king and earns his respect in the process, and even readily joins Arthur in battling Black Manta when he could easily slip away and let them kill each other. Orm proves equally invaluable in delivering exposition about the Black Trident and the titular lost kingdom of Necrus, though the two brothers are briefly set against each other in the finale when Orm claims the Black Trident and briefly falls under its malicious sway.

Possessed and empowered by the Black Trident, Black Manta’s threat is significantly increased,

Established in the first film as a vengeful, sadistic mercenary, David Kane has become obsessed with discovering the secrets of Atlantis so he can repair his Black Manta suit and avenge himself on Aquaman. Kane’s fascination with Atlantis is shared by his reluctant scientific advisor, Doctor Stephen Shin (Park), who’s longing to see Atlantis is manipulated by Kane into helping him figure out Necrus’s ancient weapons. Once he finds the Black Trident, Kane is bombarded with visions, promises of power, and a superhuman lust to free the imprisoned King Kordax (Pilou Asbæk), who’s dark magic slowly infests Black Manta and drives him to the brink of insanity. Even Orm is stunned to learn of Black Manta’s newfound viciousness, which sees him threaten the entire world with climate instability simply for the sake of it rather than for any kind of ransom, and Kordax’s influence means Black Manta can now go toe-to-toe with both Aquaman and Orm without his power suit. However, he still utilises his technology, blasting his enemies with beams of intense energy and combines both science and magic (and a massive disrupter cannon on a repurposed Necrus ship) to showcase his new might. Black Manta’s need to awaken King Kordax and his list for revenge are so powerful that he targets Arthur’s family, critically wounding Mera and Tom and even kidnapping his son with the intention of using his blood to destroy the magic seal imprisoning the undead king. As for King Kordax, he’s more of an ethereal spirit, a ghastly skeletal wraith who whispers in Kane’s ear, possesses any who touch the Black Trident, and formally commanded a legion of undead warriors in battle against his brother, King Atlan (Vincent Regan). Desperate to return to unlife once more, he feeds the ego of whoever wields the Black Trident, compelling them to spill the blood of Atlan’s bloodline so that he and his army can ransack the entire globe!

The Nitty-Gritty:
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom charts the natural next chapter in Arthur’s story; this loveable manchild feels increasing pressure on all sides to grow up and be more responsible as a husband, father, and leader, roles that he attacks with his usual juvenile vigour but which he finds himself questioning at times. Though devoted to his family, he finds the politics of the crown tedious and expresses dissatisfaction with the role, which he only fulfils out of obligation to his mother and his people. There’s no question that he’s a good father (indeed, Tom encourages Arthur to have more children!) or that he wants what’s best for Atlantis, but he desires a worldwide unity that the council aren’t willing to risk and struggles to balance both sides of his life. These issues are explored through his tumultuous relationship with Orm; both were denied a childhood together and are wary, if not frustrated, by each other, with only their love for Atlanna and Atlantis keeping their fragile alliance alive throughout most of the film. They’re two halves of the same coin, though, and both learn a lot from the other; Arthur learns more about what it takes to be a king and Orm learns to not be such a dick and enjoy other cultures. However, while they’re one of the best parts of the film, I would’ve liked to see a little more of this; perhaps a scene or two where Orm does abandon Arthur, or one where Arthur’s knowledge of the surface world helps Orm, or seeing Orm’s stoic disdain crack upon learning that he’s an uncle. The galvanising love show to them both by Atlan helps fill these gaps, as does the presence of King Nereus and the Brine King (John Rhys-Davies), who have their own issues with Orm, but it does feel like some scenes were left on the cutting room floor to keep the pace up.

The visuals and costumes continue to impress, and the fight are more personal this time.

Not that that’s a bad thing; Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has a very brisk pace that doesn’t waste too much time, but it’s also learned to not interrupt every character moment with a dramatic explosion (there’s even a tongue-in-cheek reference to that at one point. The underwater realms are as captivating as ever, being a neon-drenched wonderland of strange, almost monstrous undersea races and futuristic technology alongside rusted apparatus and long forgotten ancient ruins. Aquaman’s ridiculously good orange/gold armour returns, looking better than ever, and he even gets a sleek, form-fitting black/blue suit and makes him invisible for a few moments at a time, perfect for sneaking into the arid desert prion and battling the dried-out, horrifying guards who dwell there. Although Orm is shafted in the costume department this time around, Mera still catches the eye in her tight little number and Black Manta steals every scene in his ludicrous saucer-like helmet. The fight sequences are much more intense this time, too; moving away from full-scale undersea battles to focus on gritty melee combat, the fights between Aquaman and Black Manta are great now that Kane has received a power boost and is a significant threat able to hideously burn even Atlantean flesh. There are a fair few visually interesting locations on offer as well, from the throne room and market square of Atlantis to the scorching desert and the overgrown, hazardous forest on Black Manta’s island (complete with volcano lair) thanks to the presence of polluting Orichalcum. A fair bit of the film involves ice and frozen locations, too, with Necrus and his army encased in an icy tomb, but overall I found the CGI and action sequences to be really well done; perhaps a bit less bombastic at times, but the focus on crafting meaningful fight scenes benefitted the plot greatly, I feel.

Arthur and Orm come together to defeat Black Manta and repair their relationship.

Despite working surprisingly well as a team, Arthur and Orm are unable to defeat Black Manta; they disrupt his operation, with the help of the remorseful Dr. Shin, but find Kane is willing to sacrifice Arthur Junior to set King Kordax free, leading to a more concentrated assault against Black Manta and the quickly rising undead army of the entrapped king. Determined to save his son, Aquaman battles Black Manta once more, only to find Kane has been fully overtaken by the malicious Kordax. Luckily, Mera and Orm are both on hand to get the baby to safety, but Orm falls under Kordax’s spell when saving Mera and his nephew from certain death. Although it seems like the two brothers are about to fight once more, Arthur tries a different approach, one influenced by his time with Orm and his desire to build bridges between them. Instead of fighting, Arthur also grabs the Black Trident and tries to reason with his brother, with both struggling against Kordax’s influence, and successfully talks Orm down. Orm then provides Arthur with the means to destroy the awakened undead king and finally acknowledges him as his brother in the aftermath, where all involved agree to say that Orm perished in the battle as thanks for his help. With Orm out exploring the surface world for the first time, Arthur makes the decision to finally reveal Atlantis to humanity, directly addressing the United Nations and calling for a global effort in reversing the damage done to the environment and thus ending the DCEU on a surprisingly hopeful message. Sure, the climate change aspects of the film are a little ham-fisted, but I think they’re to be expected in an Aquaman story, especially as suspicion of humankind is such a prominent aspect of the mistreated Atlanteans.

The Summary:
I was excited for an Aquaman sequel; I’ve loved Jason Momoa in the role right from the start and really enjoyed the first film, so it bugged me that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was delayed and pushed back and mired in controversy and said to be awful. It really isn’t, to be fair; it’s not as good as the first (though repeated viewings may change that opinion) but it’s not an incomprehensible mess, an ugly noise of awful CGI, or a lacklustre bore-fest either. It’s a fun, thrilling, and surprisingly intense adventure; Black Manta’s vendetta against Aquaman is deeply personal, as are the issues between Arthur and Orm, and the performances of those three actors really sell that. Kane is a cold-blooded, merciless pirate who blood on his mind; Orm is a bitter and resentful fallen king; and Arthur is just trying to do the right thing but struggling with his suitability to the throne. While the actors all do a fantastic job of embodying their roles, the visual effects are absolutely top-notch; I love seeing these characters come to life, Atlantis is a gorgeous undersea society, and the various dishevelled ruins and repurposed technology really give a sense of scale and time to this world. The bickering between Arthur and Orm more than makes up for Mera’s dramatically reduced role and makes this more of a dysfunctional buddy comedy at times, but the more personal and fierce fight sequences are just as appealing to me. It’s shame that the DCEU died out so quickly; I don’t relish having to restart Aquaman’s story and find a new actor for the role, but at least we have these two movies to show us what the character is capable of in the right hands. Ultimately, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom may not be the best DCEU or superhero movie you’ll ever see, but I think it’s definitely high in the ranks and worth your time for the lead actor alone, but there’s plenty to enjoy beyond that if you’re simply looking for a fun and surprisingly intense action film.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom? How do you think it compares against the first film and other DCEU movies? Did you enjoy Jason Momoa’s performance and Arthur’s relationship with Orm? Were you glad that Arthur Junior was spared the fate of his comic book counterpart? What did you think to Black Manta and his newfound power boost? Were you annoyed by the climate change plot, or did you find it suitable for the film? Who would you like to see portray Aquaman in James Gunn’s new DC Universe? Whatever your thoughts on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and Aquaman in general, drop a comment below or on my social media.

Back Issues: Aquaman #35

Dr. K1 Comment

Story Title: “Between Two Dooms!”
Published: August 1967
Writer: Bob Haney
Artists: Nick Cardy

The Background:
In November 1941, readers of More Fun Comics were introduced to Arthur Curry/Aquaman for the first time; while superficially appearing to be a knock-off of writer/artist Bill Everett’s Prince Namor McKenzie/The Sub-Mariner, the two aquatic supermen are actually very different characters. Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris created the character as part of DC Comics’ (then known as National Comics) call for new costumed heroes to captialise on the success of Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman, and Aquaman proved popular enough to prominently feature throughout the 1950s and beyond. In addition to seeing his cast of supporting characters expand to include a wife and ill-fated son, Aquaman amassed quite the gallery of nautical rogues; while his half-brother, Orm Marius/Ocean Master, tops most lists as his archnemesis, one of his most persistent antagonists is David Hyde/Black Manta. Initially debuting without a definitive origin, Black Manta was revealed to have a deep-seated hatred for Aquaman (and the sea as a whole) and proved to be a malicious and dangerous adversary;. Utilising a number of weapons and technology built into his distinctive battle suit, Black Manta was responsible for the death of Aquaman’s aforementioned son and frequently clashed with the Atlantean King alongside the Injustice Society. Black Manta has proven persistent enough to appear in DC’s animated ventures and videogames and made his live-action debut in Aquaman (Wan, 2018), where acclaimed actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II shined in the role of secondary antagonist and promised to further explore the character in the sequel.

The Review:
Our story begins deep beneath the ocean at the long-lost underwater city of Atlantis, now prosperous and protected by an impenetrable dome and home to the Atlantean Royal family: Aquaman, his wife, Mera, their babbling baby, Arthur Curry, Jr./Aquababy, and Aquaman’s teenage sidekick, Garth/Aqualad. Like their fellow citizens, the three are startled when a menacing submarine begins orbiting their city, but both Mera and Aqualad are aghast when Aquaman volenteers to investigate alone; he states, very plainly, that it’s his duty as the Guardian of Atlantis and that he relies on Aqualad to safeguard the city in his absence, and then torpedoes himself towards the sinister-looking craft. Upon latching onto the submarine, a slew of comically expressive mutated Manta-Men burst forth, cluing Aquaman in that it’s the work of his old enemy, Black Manta. Black Manta has come more than prepared, trapping Aquaman to the ship’s hull through “bio-magnetics” and leaving him an open target for the Manta-Men’s deadly stun blasts and unable to intercept the villain’s assault on Atlantis. In an altogether different, far sleeker underwater craft, Black Manta heads towards Atlantis; garbed in an armoured outfit and sporting two enormous, glowing eyes on his helmeted head, Black Manta mocks Aquaman’s foolishness as he attaches a strange tube to the outer dome that protects the city. Within, Atlantis’s leading scientist, Doctor Nuidis Vulko assures Queen Mera and Aqualad that the dome cannot be penetrated, but both of them are horrified to see Aquaman under attack on their “radar-video” and, despite Aquaman’s orders, marshal themselves to go to his aid, with Mera using her command over water to open the heavily-guarded main lock and Aqualad commanding two giant seahorses, Imp and Storm, to carry them to their king.

Black Manta leads a life-changing assault on Atlantis and even kidnaps Aquababy!

They arrive just as Aquaman is heaving the ship into a spin, thereby making himself a more difficult target, and Mera promptly destroys Black Manta’s craft with a massive hammer made from “hard water”. Despite Dr. Vulco’s assurances, Black Manta throws Atlantis into chaos by using a “photon transducer ray” to bombard the dome with concentrated light particles that flash-boil the city’s water, forcing Dr. Vulco to empty Atlantis of the life-giving liquid and dooming its inhabitants to death as they cannot survive outside of water for longer than one hour. Although grateful for the assistance, Aquaman chastises Aqualad for leaving Atlantis undefended and orders the three of them back to the city to intercept Black Manta, where Aquaman is aghast to find the city empty of water. Black Manta’s efforts have succeeded all too well; Dr. Vulco’s attempts to refill Atlantis with water are met with disaster and he’s equally unsuccessful at removing the chemical substance the villain has affixed to the dome, potentially dooming the Atlanteans. With no options left, Aquaman orders Dr. Vulco to employ “Project X”, a radical solution that sees every Atlanetan administered with a serum that enables them to breathe air, with the exception of the Royal Family as they’re needed to protect the waters. The serum has a near-instantaneous effect, thereby nullifying Black Manta’s threat and temporarily causing his tactical retreat. Aquaman takes Aqualad into the ocean to ensure that the threat has finally passed and, mere moments after they’ve gone, Black Manta threatens the city once more, this time by launching a missile at them and kidnapping Aquababy after rendering Mera unconscious with a strange mist emitted from his craft. With the leverage swung back in his favour, Black Manta orders Aquaman to surrender in return for his son’s life and Aquaman has no choice but to give in to the villain’s demands.

Surprisingly, it’s the villainous Ocean Master who comes to the aid of Aquaman and his son.

Although Black Manta goes back on his word and attempts to have both Aquaman and his child as his prize, the villainous Ocean Master just happens to be passing by, himself swearing revenge against Atlantis and his half-brother, and intercepts Aquababy simply to have the pleasure of destroying Aquaman for himself. Helpless within Black Manta’s strange, unbreakable capsule…thing…Aquaman can only watch as his two foes wage war on each other using their crafts, with Aquababy at risk from the devastating missile salvo. Following an underwater dogfight, Ocean Master lands a crippling blow to Black Manta and causes his craft to crash into a coral reef. However, Black Manta scuppers Orm’s ship with one final missile, leaving him unconscious and at the mercy of his monstrous Manta-Men. Thankfully for the would-be despot, Aquababy has taken a shine to him and uses his own command over hard water to fend off the mutated monstrosities, much to Ocean Master’s chagrin as he’s humiliated to owe his life to the son of his worst enemy. Meanwhile, Aquaman asks two whales to free him and he engages Black Manta head on, only to be wounded by the villain’s harpoon gun and left staring death in the face. At the last second, Aquaman’s life is spared by a begrudging Ocean Master, who grapples with Black Manta and the two engage in a brutal fist fight even as they’re being carried away by a powerful (and convenient) current. Black Manta’s fate is left ambiguous, but Ocean Master returns to find Aquababy crawling alone, so he delivers him to his unconscious foe; however, this one act of charity is accompanied by the promise of one day battling and ending Aquaman in the near future. When he comes to, Aquaman is overjoyed to find Aquababy safe and sound; Mera and Aqualad are equally happy to find them both alive, and the threat having been ended, but none of them notice an envious Ocean Master glaring at them from the murky depths and swearing to conquer Atlantis.

The Summary:
A lot has changed between Aquaman’s debut story and this issue; Atlantis is now a thriving underwater community, a city inhabited by sea-breathers and protected by its impenetrable dome. Aquaman also appears to be somewhat revised, now installed as king of Atlantis and having bolstered his social circle with friends and family. His overall demeanour remains unnervingly chirpy; his dialogue is a little too “hip” for my tastes at times and it’s a little cringy to see him refer to Aqualand as “Tadpole”, but this is nothing compared to Aqualad’s excited exclamations. In the style of quintessential boy sidekick Dick Grayson/Robin, Aqualad is not only impulsive and eager to battle at the side of his mentor and king, but also prone to spitting out such cries as “Holy Haddocks!”, “Suffering Swordish!”, and “Wailing Wolf Fish!” While he doesn’t really get much to do in this story, Aquaman clearly trusts Aqualad to safeguard Atlantis in his absence and he appears to share many of the same abilities as his mentor, but he’s not depicted nearly as capable as the water-bending Mera. While Mera is largely defined by her role as a wife and a mother, and thus has some of that air-headed demeanour that was commonplace in female comics characters back in the day, her ability to create hard water constructs and willingness to battle at Aquaman’s side show there’s more to her than just being a bit of arm candy.

A dramatic debut sadly somewhat overshadowed by Aquaman’s extended cast and villains.

Aquaman himself is generally depicted as a proud and dutiful defender of his city and its people; at the first sign of danger, he volunteers to meet it head-on, but his impulsiveness leads to him falling for Black Manta’s trap and almost being blasted to smithereens by his ridiculous Manta-Men. Although this is Black Manta’s first appearance, the dialogue indicates that this isn’t the first time he’s battled Aquaman or Ocean Master; we don’t get any kind flashback hinting at the villain’s origin or true name and appearance and he’s largely absent for most of the story, represented mainly by his various armoured crafts and his monstrous underlings. When he does appear, he’s a pretty intimidating figure with his armoured outfit and distinctive helmet, and he makes quite an impression by constantly fooling Aquaman, boiling Atlantis’s water and forcing them to undergo physiological (and presumably permanent) changes in order to survive, and even stooping so low as to kidnap Aquababy all to get his hands on Aquaman, who he injures and drives to the point of exhaustion. Black Manta also goes toe-to-toe with Aquaman’s half-brother Ocean Master, whose appearance somewhat pads this story be is actually quite beneficial to his character; though he has every reason to hate Atlantis and Aquaman and is as driven to destroy both as Black Manta, Ocean Master actively opposes Black Manta simply to have the honouring of conquering Atlantis and killing Aquaman. Him going out of his way to save Aquababy also shows that Orm has a code of honour unlike most villains and he ends the story being reasonably well-rounded as a character rather than just mercilessly evil for the sake of it like Black Manta. Unfortunately, this means that the story does more for Ocean Master, overall, than its debuting villain but I still think Black Manta came off pretty well here and proved himself to be a cunning and vindictive new foe for Aquaman.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What did you think to Black Manta’s debut story? Were you impressed by his cunning and guile or were you put off by his lack of physical presence? What did you think to his attack on Atlantis and the last-second intervention of Ocean Master? Are you a fan of Aquaman’s family and extended cast? What are some of your favourite Black Manta stories and moments and are you excited for his return to the big screen? Whatever you think about Aquaman and Black Manta, feel free to leave a comment below or start the discussion on my social media.

Back Issues: More Fun Comics #73

Dr. K2 Comments

Story Title: “The Submarine Strikes”
Published: November 1941
Writer: Mort Weisinger
Artists: Paul Norris

The Background:
In April 1939, writer/artist Bill Everett introduced readers to Marvel Comic’s first Mutant, Prince Namor McKenzie/The Sub-Mariner, the superpowered prince of Atlantis who could live on land and in the sea and was just as likely to wage war against humanity as he was to defend it. While, on the surface, Arthur Curry/Aquaman appears to be another instance of blatant borrowing from their competitor, Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris’s aquatic superman couldn’t be more different. Aquaman was co-created by Weisinger after he moved to National Comics (the precursor to DC Comics) and was charged with coming up with some new costumed heroes to captialise on the success of Clark Kent/Superman and Bruce Wayne/Batman; after More Fun Comics changed its focus from superheroes to humour, Aquaman switched to Adventure Comics and was prominently featured throughout the 1950s. In addition to getting the cover spot on issues of Showcase and backup features in Detective Comics, Aquman had his own self-titled series, which saw him gain a wife, an ill-fated son, and undergo some pretty radical changes (including losing his hand). Often the subject of unfair ridicule for his ability to talk to fish and presumed uselessness, Aquaman has been part of DC’s biggest stories and proved popular enough to feature in numerous DC cartoons, a poorly-received videogame, and very nearly got his own teen drama show before Jason Momoa made a huge impression in his live-action debut as the character, portraying him as a bad-ass king of the deep and helping to change the character’s perception.

The Review:
As the story begins, a helpful text box informs the reader that many, especially those at sea, are well aware of the legend of the Aquaman, a water-dwelling do-gooder who emerges from the dark depths of the sea to battle evil and injustice, though even they consider him to be just that, a legend. While out on a mission of mercy, an unarmed ship is suddenly scuppered by a torpedo fired from an unseen submarine, the U-112; immediately, the captain orders an evacuation and stays behind to ensure that the crew and their consignment of refugees and hospital workers gets safely off the ship before he himself boards a lifeboat. At first, it’s not made clear where the enemy submarine is from or why they targeted the ship but it’s soon revealed that they’re goddamn Nazi sons-of-bitches who are determined to leave no witnesses to their heinous act. Luckily, just as the Nazis open fire upon the lifeboat, the scaled figure of the Aquaman arrives to help; his strength tempered by the crushing ocean depths, it’s no trouble at all for Aquaman to shunt the lifeboat out of the path of the submarine’s torpedo. Aquaman then turns his attention towards the “metal fish” and its maniacal crew.

Aquaman saves a boatload of refugees then delivers a startlingly different take on his origin.

Aquaman leaps aboard, sending one Nazi overboard with a good kick to the chin, but the commander sends the sub into a dive and makes a getaway. Although Aquaman vows to track them down and make them pay, his first priority is the safety of the ship’s compliment; to that end, he commands a pod of dolphins to help push the boat to dry land. The porpoise purpose of this seems to be to demonstrate Aquaman’s ability to clearly and openly communicate with sea life as he could have easily pushed the lifeboat to shore himself, and while that works the cynic in me also views it as him kind of making slaves out of the dolphins. Anyway, once on dry land, the captain begs to know Aquaman’s secret and he freely relates his origin story: his father was a famous undersea explorer who vowed to discover the secrets of the ocean after his wife’s death. This eventually led to him discovering the lost kingdom of Atlantis and constructing a water-tight home within its ruins, where he read up on ancient tomes and learned the secret of living under the ocean from Atlantean science and writing. Somehow, by “drawing oxygen from the water and using all the power of the sea”, the man who would come to be known as Aquaman was able to thrive underwater and continues his father’s work at the bottom of the ocean. So…quite a different Aquaman origin than I am familiar with, and one that’s absolutely full of plot holes and unanswered questions.

After escaping from the Nazi’s death trap, Aquaman puts an end to their threat.

With his story told, Aquaman dives back into the sea to get on the trail of the U-112, determined to do his share of punishing the evil that dwells on the surface world. By this point, the submarine has docked at a small island where the captain tells tales of his success and the strange sea-man who attacked them. Although his commanding officer balks at such an unlikely story, he’s forced to eat crow when Aquaman comes riding in on the back of a dolphin! Aquaman dives under the waters to avoid their bullets and, with a single powerful blow, sinks their submarine before their horrified eyes, trapping the Nazi bastards on their island. When Aquaman confronts them, he effortlessly swats away the commander’s pistol and chastises them for thinking him a “helpless refugee woman” but…somehow…the U-112 captain and his commander escape to their munitions house and then, even more startlingly, knock Aquaman unconscious by dropping a mallet on this head! Patting themselves on the back for their victory, the two tie Aquaman up, clamp weights to him, and toss him into the ocean, where he plummets into the mouth of an extinct sea-volcano. The sheer crushing depths restricting him, Aquaman desperately signals his dolphin friends by rubbing against a bulb-like plant and secreting an inky liquid (why he didn’t just shout for help isn’t clear; I guess he’s too deep?) The dolphins rush to his aid and allow him to easily break his bonds and return to confront the two Nazis. He knocks the submarine captain out with a stiff uppercut but the commander manages to slip back to the munitions room again; this time, he lobs a grenade at Aquaman’s head and, out of sheer instinct, he tosses it right back, blowing up the munitions storehouse and sending the commanding hurtling into the sky with comedic effect (but killing him nonetheless…) The deed done and the wicked punished, Aquaman returns to the sea, ready and willing to fight for justice in all its forms in the future.

The Summary:
So, yeah, Aquaman’s first story is decidedly different from his Marvel Comics counterpart; for one thing, Aquaman isn’t a murderous, ignorant fool ready to wage war against humanity but, and perhaps most strikingly, he’s not a native Atlantean and his powers don’t come from his heritage but are instead mysteriously and vaguely manufactured through a combination of “training” and “science”. It’s left incredibly vague exactly how Aquaman survives and breathes underwater or how he communicates with dolphins “in their own language” and, is so often the case in these early tales, we don’t really learn what his limits are (he can survive underwater but was effectively powerless when dumped in that sea-volcano because it was too deep; he can swim super-fast but is also seen riding dolphins, and he exhibits some superhuman strength but is knocked out by a mallet!) or even what his true name is! Garbed in a striking orange-scale outfit with green, fin-like gloves and a generally jovial personality, Aquaman stands out against his peers for lacking a cape and operating exclusively underwater; depicted as a highly trained and superhuman man, Aquaman is seen as the defender of injustice in all its forms, but especially out at sea, rather than being the Prince (or even King) of Atlantis.

A whimsical tale, despite some holes in the plot and Aquaman’s limits and origins.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the story’s choice of antagonist; no one’s going to mourn the death and destruction of Nazi soldiers and munitions and depicting the Nazis as openly firing upon innocents and mocking their foes is a great way of depicting them as morally reprehensible, if a little cliché (both the captain and the commander wear monocles and snigger about their superiority over others). The action is almost as haphazard as the artwork, however; Paul Norris shines in depicting the Greek-God-like Aquaman, panels at sea, and scenes that take place underwater, but the Nazi island is a bit bland and it’s jarring that the Nazis are able to just run away from Aquaman, especially as he’s right there in front of them! They even get the drop on him, again making me question his powers and durability, but this also seems to just be another excuse to reinforce Aquaman’s knowledge of the sea and command over its denizens. When Aquaman does leap into action, it’s with a cringey pun or taunt and he’s swift and efficient, easily knocking grown men out cold and tossing back grenades even if he doesn’t understand what they are. In the end, I was a bit surprised that Aquaman’s origin didn’t originally tie him as a native of Atlantis; this skewed my perception of the story somewhat as it raises a lot of questions that naturally aren’t answered here, but it was a pretty whimsical and enjoyable little tail tale that stands out against those of other superheroes, if nothing else.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to Aquaman’s debut story? Are you a fan of the character and, if so, what is it about him that you like? Were you also surprised by his differing origin and what do you think about his ability to talk to fish? What are some of your favourite Aquaman characters, stories, and moments and are you excited for his return to the big screen? Whatever you think about Aquaman, feel free to leave a comment below or start the discussion on my social media.

Back Issues [JLA Day]: Justice League of America #9

Dr. K1 Comment

To celebrate the release of Justice League (Snyder/Whedon, 2017), DC Comics named November 18 “Justice League Day”. Sadly, this clashes with another pop culture holiday but, setting aside all the drama surrounding that movie, this still provides a perfect excuse to dedication some time to talking about DC’s premier superhero team, which set the standard for super teams in comics by bringing together DC’s most powerful heroes.

Story Title: “The Origin of the Justice League”
Published: February 1962
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artist: Mike Sekowsky

The Background:
All Star Comics (1940/1941) brought together eight superheroes from different publishers for the first time, birthing not just the Justice Society of America (JSA) but also the first ever superhero team in comics, allowing readers to see their favourite characters interacting all for the same price as any one comic. The JSA’s roster expanded and changed over the years but the team underwent their most significant change in the late-1950s when then-editor Julius Schwartz tasked writer Gardner Fox with reintroducing and rebranding the team as the Justice League of America (JLA) to capitalise on the popularity of the American Football League and Major League Baseball’s National League. The Clark Kent/Superman, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Barry Allan/The Flash, and J’onn J’onzz (or “John Jones”)/Martian Manhunter debuted as the JLA in The Brave and the Bold #28, a title famous for featuring superhero team-ups. However, the team’s actual origin wasn’t revealed until this issue of their self-titled series, which became one of DC Comic’s best-selling titles. Over time, the JLA’s roster has also changed and many splinter groups and spin-offs have been introduced, but perhaps there is no more iconic line-up than this original roster of DC’s heavy-hitters.

The Review:
I was going to open this review by saying how odd it was that the Justice League’s debut story wasn’t actually a bumper tale about how these seven characters first came together, but quite a few first appearances of famous comic book teams and characters simply started with them already in their superhero role or somewhat established as a team, so I guess it wasn’t completely against the norm. “The Origin of the Justice League” gets off to a rocky start with perennial hanger-on, Lucas “Snapper” Carr, racing to the Justice League’s cavernous headquarters, the Secret Sanctuary, to celebrate a birthday, though he can only imagine which member of the team is to be honoured. When he gets there, he finds Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Oliver Queen/Green Arrow in the midst of getting the place and spik-and-span for the party; there’s something a bit odd about seeing Amazonian warrior and peacekeeper Diana Prince wiping down a table like a scullery maid but it’s great to see them making Snapper do menial chores like mopping the floor and cleaning out their display cabinets since this aggravating hipster youth really isn’t fit for anything else. It doesn’t take Snapper long to get distracted, however, when he spies a display case filled with wooden splinters that is directly tied to the team’s first mission. Wonder Woman has the entire Justice League pitch in getting the Secret Sanctuary ready for their event, which is of course to celebrate the anniversary of the first time they came together, and each of Leaguers take it in turns to share the story with their overexcited mascot.

J’onn and Aquaman are the first to encounter alien beings and to be transformed into trees!

J’onn J’onnz starts things off since it was he who first discovered the threat that would unite the world’s greatest heroes. After hearing a “queer report” about people spontaneously having turned to stone, J’onn investigated and found an entire town full of people turned to stone and confronted the source of the petrification: a massive stone giant that proves impervious physical assault. Using his “Martian vision”, the Martian Manhunter learned that the giant came from the alien world Appellax and was one of seven contenders to the throne who came to Earth in a meteor storm with the goal of conquering the planet to earn the title of Emperor (or “Kalar”) of his home world. Although the giant briefly sapped J’onn’s strength after learning of his weakness to fire, J’onn easily used his “Martian breath” to suck up some water from a fire hydrant to extinguish the flames and then attacked the giant’s weak spot with his great Martian strength. With the giant rendered unconscious, his victims returned to normal and J’onn summoned the police to “take the giant into custody” (apparently leading to them smashing the alien rock monster with sledgehammers!) but was transformed into a tree when he investigated the meteor that brought the being to Earth. While swimming through the Indian ocean, Aquaman learned from a dorado of another meteor, one causing panic in the seas after spawning a strange alien creature made of glass who turned underwater life to glass. Although also turned to glass the moment he investigated, Aquaman was still able to call upon his fishy friends to attack the creature, first attempting to shatter it with brute force and then succeeding in defeating the alien by causing massive sonic vibrations. However, when learned of another meteor and raced to oppose its threat, he too was transformed into a tree.

Wonder Woman and Green Lantern overcome their limitations to defeat their alien threats.

Wonder Woman’s arrival on Themyscira was ruined by the presence of strange glittering globs all over the island that unleashed a living blob of mercury that transformed the Amazons into liquid. Calling upon Hera for strength, Wonder Woman whipped out her magical lasso to ensnare the blob-like alien; although she was unable to simply fling it into space since her strength was divided between fending off the creature’s “queer radiation”, Wonder Woman was, inexplicably, able to swing the creature around so fast that it was destroyed by the resulting friction heat. Although this caused her great strain, Wonder Woman was ultimately successful and returned her sisters to normal, but she too was turned into a twisted tree-like being when she investigated the other meteor. Around the same time, Green Lantern was returning to Earth and was startled by the sudden appearance of one of these meteors, and even more shocked when it spawned a gigantic golden bird that systematically began transforming humans and animals alike into ghastly winged creatures using a “white ray”. Since his Power Ring is useless against anything even remotely yellow, Green Lantern was powerless and being partially transformed into a bird-man himself before luring the creature into a nearby waterfall and using his Power Ring to freeze both solid. With the winged terror effectively subdued, all of its victims returned to normal and Green Lantern got them to safety but found himself becoming a gnarled tree at the same time as Wonder Woman!

The Flash and the others help to free their comrades so Wonder Woman can finish off the wood alien.

While in Europe acting as a representative to an Interpol meeting, the Flash learned of a strange meteor falling near Italy and raced out to investigate, finding a flaming humanoid creature transforming humans into similarly blazing monsters. His attempts to whip up a strong wind, douse the flaming alien with water, and snuff it out with sand were all unsuccessful, however, when the creature proved powerful enough to turn these to steam and glass. The Flash quickly discovered the solution was the same as almost every situation he ever finds himself in and he simply ran around super fast to create a vacuum that extinguished the flaming beast, returning its victims to normal, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid becoming a tree like his fellow costumed heroes. Their great powers rendered mute and their strength inert by the meteor’s radiation, the fledgling Justice League were powerless to stop a massive wooden alien from emerging from its cocoon and compelling them to follow its bidding. Did I say powerless? Well, not quite as Aquaman (of all people) summoned the strength necessary to chip a small piece of wood from Green Lantern’s hand, exposing his Power Ring and enabling him to free J’onn’s face. J’onn then used his Martian breath to free the Flash, who then helped to free Wonder Woman, thereby allowing her to regain just enough control over themselves to easily destroy the wood-like alien by stripping it to splinters with her magical lasso.  

Superman finishes off the last alien with little to no help from the other heroes.

This wasn’t the end for the colourful heroes, however; one last meteor landed in Greenland but, when they flew over to confront the final claimant to Appellax’s throne, they found Batman and Superman already clashing with the alien, this one a jagged, slender ice being. Although the other heroes were content to leave this last alien to the World’s Finest, Superman ran into a spot of bother when the meteor turned out to be made of Kryptonite, leaving him weak and vulnerable. Although his arms and legs were rapidly turning to diamond as a result of the creature, the Batman was able to use his Batplane to get the meteor away from the Man of Steel, allowing Superman to instantly destroy the creature by using one of his many crazy super powers to turn it into harmless coal. In the aftermath, despite none of the individual heroes even remotely learning anything about working as a team or coming together to destroy a threat greater than any one of them with the exception of Batman and Superman (who had already worked together numerous times by this point), the seven superheroes agree to form a the Justice League to oppose any threats to the sanctity of peace and justice. Back in the Secret Sanctuary, Snapper is blown away by the story, and Superman’s solution to the problem; although awestruck, he wants to know even more of the team’s secrets, like how the Secret Sanctuary was built, but is content to set these questions aside and join his masked friends in celebrating their anniversary.

The Summary:
Have I mentioned how much I detest Snapper-bloody-Carr? Jeez, I mean, of all the jive talkin’, hipster teenage characters in comics from this era, he’s got to be the dirt worst. At least he’s not constantly snapping his fingers like a moron throughout this story, but the way he talks just grates on me. Did the writers really think kids would appreciate seeing a character like this mooching off their favourite superheroes? It really blows my mind to think that this was ever considered a good idea; I mean, if you want to toss in a teenager for the young ‘uns to relate to, just use Dick Grayson/Robin! Anyway, luckily, Snapper is hardly in this story and he doesn’t get to take all the glory for himself like in the Justice League’s first issue, but that doesn’t make this story any better, to be honest. Like in their first issue, the Justice League is painfully divided here, and the focus is more on the less popular superheroes, meaning Batman and Superman don’t show up until the very end. To be fair, though, I don’t actually mind this; especially in today’s world, where Batman is everywhere, on every team, all the time and massively overexposed, it’s nice to see guys like Green Lantern and the Flash get a bit more of the spotlight (Hell, all Batman does is get the Kryptonite away from Superman; he’s probably in the story less than Snapper Carr!)

The combination of Snapper, a weak threat, and lack of teamwork make for a mediocre origin story.

Unfortunately, this isn’t really a compelling origin story. The idea that these seven elemental aliens have landed on Earth and are causing havoc has a lot of potential; seven threats for seven heroes to unite against. Instead though, each threat is dealt with individually; while this does showcase the power of Wonder Woman and the extent of Aquaman’s telepathy, it’s really not a good way to justify them forming a team. The only time they even remotely do anything even slightly team-orientated is when they free each other from the wood-alien’s control; they don’t get overwhelmed and need another hero’s help and they don’t come together to face off a greater threat. They just dispose of their individual menaces, get turned into wood like idiots, and then watch on as Superman finishes off the last alien since he doesn’t need their help. How much better would it’ve been if, say, one alien was boiling or freezing the sea, so the Flash had to use friction to help out Aquaman? Or if Wonder Woman had to bail out Green Lantern after his Power Ring proved useless? Or if J’onn faced the fire alien and Aquaman helped him out with water? The primary appeal of this story is paying the same price you would for a solo book and seeing seven superheroes in action, but the action and narrative really isn’t all the compelling; the aliens have no personalities or characterisations or motivations beyond this throwaway desire to rule the world, and they’re all pretty weak. The wood one is built up as this major threat, but it’s disposed of pretty easily, and the ice/diamond one is similarly undone in the blink of an eye by Superman. Honestly, I feel like Starro the Conqueror was a far more credible and League-worthy threat and, if you recall from my review of that story, he was basically a joke as well, meaning I can’t really take this menace that seriously or find the idea that these heroes would ever want to form a team after this lacklustre experience.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the JLA’s origin story? Were you satisfied with the explanation of how the seven came together or, like me, did you find the threat and motivation incredibly weak? What did you think to the aliens the heroes faced off with and would you have liked to see the heroes interacting a little more? Are you a fan of Snapper Car and, if so, why? Which era or incarnation of the JLA is your favourite and what are some of your favourite JLA stories? Who would you like to see in the JLA some day? How are you celebrating Justice League Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on the JLA, feel free to share them below or join the discussion on my social media.

Back Issues: Flashpoint

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This review has been supported by Chiara Cooper.
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Story Title: “Flashpoint” (comprised of “Chapter One” to “Chapter Five”)
Published: July 2011 to October 2011
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Andy Kubert

The Background:
Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino introduced readers to Barry Allen/The Flash in Showcase #4 (1956) and heralded the “Silver Age” of comics; this new incarnation of the Scarlet Speedster may have taken the place of his predecessor, Jay Garrick, but it wasn’t too long before the two were coming face-to-face thanks to the concept of the multiverse. Barry fast became one of the most popular and iconic characters to carry the Flash mantle, and his death in Crisis on Infinite Earths (Wolfman, et al, 1985 to 1986) was long-regarded as one of the few permanent fixtures in comics. However, in the ridiculously confusing Final Crisis event (Morrison, et al, 2008 to 2009), DC finally brought Barry back and reinstated him as the Flash, a decision that irked (and continues to irk) many fans of his replacement, Wally West. Though Barry was returned to a world that had largely passed him by, a series of retcons enabled him to slip back into his old role; however, despite having already torn apart and rebuilt the multiverse just five years prior in Infinite Crisis (Johns, et al, 2005 to 2006), writer Geoff Johns decided to shake up the DC Universe with this five-issue event, which was bolstered by a number of tie-in stories. Flashpoint saw massive changes to DC’s timeline, characters, and continuity; it directly led to one of my least-favourite eras of the comics, The New 52, and both compressed, altered, and confused many of DC’s storylines. The story proved quite influential, however; not only was it partially referenced in The Flash (2014 to present), it was also adapted into a well-received direct-to-DVD animated feature, and served as significant inspiration for the Flash’s big-screen solo film.

The Review:
Flashpoint begins and is punctuated by narration from Professor Zoom, Eobard Thawne/The Reverse-Flash, Barry Allen’s long-time nemesis who has a warped hero worship of the Flash that compels him to cause the Fastest Man Alive nothing but pain and misery in a twisted attempt to make him a better hero. A series of little flashbacks establish Barry’s close relationship with his mother early on; he adored Nora as a child and the mystery of her strange and brutal death haunted him even into his adult life, where he became a forensic scientist. Once he was struck by that errant lightning bolt and gained his superspeed, the Flash found a happiness that was missing from his life: friends and colleagues in the Justice League, love with his own wife, Iris West, and a family of fellow speedsters. However, all of that randomly changes for Barry when he’s roused from sleep at the Central City Police Department to find that Central City is under the protection of a questionable hero, Leonard Snart/Citizen Cold, the Flash’s rogues gallery doesn’t exist and, to Barry’s horror, he no longer has his superspeed or identity as the Flash.

Barry finds the world has changed for the worst and that Bruce has been replaced by his violent father!

If that wasn’t bad enough, Iris is in a loving relationship with another man; however, on the plus side, Nora Allen is still alive but, while Barry is overjoyed at being reunited with his beloved mother, his analytical mind immediately sets to work trying to figure out what’s happened to the world; he still remembers heroes like Clark Kent/Superman and the Justice League, but neither of these aspects appear to exist anymore…with one exception: Batman. The story jumps over to Gotham City, now a bustling metropolis with neon billboards promoting “Wayne Resorts and Casinos” and haunted by a far darker and more violent version of the Caped Crusader. While this Batman is far more callous than his mainline counterpart, and perfectly happy with tossing costumed baddies to their deaths, he’s just as driven to hunting down the Joker, and especially motivated as the Harlequin of Hate has kidnapped Mayor Harvey Dent’s twins. His investigation is interrupted by Victor Stone/Cyborg who, rather than judging Batman’s violent methods, invites him to align with a motley crew of alternative heroes and villains in order to oppose Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, whose warring nations threaten to destroy the world in their conflict. Batman, however, is uninterested in joining their cause since none of them stand a chance at fighting the Atlanteans and the Amazons, and his disinterest causes many of Cyborg’s followers to cut out as well, leaving the man-machine despondent. Confused and desperate for answers, Barry is forced to endure the frustration of traffic jams in order to travel to Gotham City to ask Bruce Wayne for help. However, when he arrives at Wayne Manor, he finds Alfred Pennyworth missing, the stately home in disarray, and is shocked to discover that this Batman isn’t Bruce…but his father, Doctor Thomas Wayne!

Barry goes to extreme lengths to regain his powers before he loses his memories of the original timeline.

In this world, it was young Bruce who died that night in Crime Alley, turning Thomas into a brutal and sadistic bat-themed vigilante. Believing Barry to be delusional, and angered at his knowledge of Bruce, Thomas breaks Barry’s finger and puts a beating on him, unimpressed with his claims to be the Fastest Man Alive. The conflict with Thomas not only assaults Barry’s body, but also his mind as his memories start to change to align with this new world, one caught in the middle of a war between Atlantis and Themyscira that has devastated large parts of the world. One year previously, the hostile Aquaman and his half-brother Orm Marius/Ocean Master flooded much of Western Europe and, before that, Wonder Woman and her Amazons attacked and conquered London, re-christening it New Themyscira. Barry finds his Flash ring in the Batcave but is shocked to find Thawne’s Reverse-Flash uniform in there instead of his Flash costume and theorises that the maniacal time-traveller must be behind the changes to the timeline. Although initially sceptical of Barry’s story, Thomas is intrigued by Barry’s tragic and twisted history with Thawne, who purposely travelled back in time to cause him anguish by killing his mother and hounding his superhero career, and spurred to help him since restoring the timeline will mean that Bruce never gets murdered. However, the only way they can hope to achieve this is to restore Barry’s superspeed before he forgets everything about the previous timeline, but his initial attempt to recreate the accident that doused him with chemicals and saw him struck by lightning leaves him a charred and scarred mess. Although left in agonising pain from third degree burns over seventy-five percent of his body, Barry is adamant about trying again, with an even bigger bolt of lightning, before his new memories completely override everything he used to be and know. Thomas, of course, thinks he’s a madman for risking his life in such a desperate attempt, but the second bolt of lightning does the trick and Barry’s superspeed and connection to the Speed Force is restored, which has the added effect of speeding up his recovery time. Barry whips himself up a fresh new Flash costume and sets to work trying to figure out what else has changed in this new timeline and who else is available to help; he explains the dangers and mechanics of time travel to a cynical Thomas, that Thawne is afforded additional abilities thanks to his “Negative” Speed Force and has no compunction about screwing up the timeline, which can have serious consequences even if only small changes are made.

Since Superman’s no help, Batman joins the Resistance, but they’re hopelessly outmatched against their foes.

Believing that Thawne purposely orchestrated this new timeline to take the world’s greatest superheroes out of action, Barry discovers that the Kryptonian rocket carrying the infant Superman crashed into Metropolis and killed thirty-five thousand people, and Thomas agrees to be Cyborg’s strategist in exchange for access to classified government information on the rocket that only Victor can supply. Thomas has absolutely no problem with deceiving Cyborg since, if they’re successful, time will be forever changed and none of their strife will have happened or mattered, which is perfectly fine with this jaded, semi-suicidal version of Batman. Cyborg leads the two to a secret underground facility beneath Metropolis, the home of “Project: Superman”, which they sneak into and discover the skeletal remains of a Kryptonian canine and an emaciated, terrified Kal-El who has been routinely tortured, experimented on, and kept out of the sun’s rays his entire life. Batman is less than impressed with Barry’s so-called “saviour”, who has little to no control over his powers and deserts them the moment that General Sam Lane’s soldiers close in. Thankfully, they’re saved by Emily Sung/Element Woman, who chemically incapacitates the soldiers, but Barry continues to be plagued by the physical pain and seizures his new memories cause him; these show a life where his mother was constantly by his side encouraging him, even after his father’s tragic heart attack, and a version of Barry who continuously struggled to find a woman to settle down with. After Colonel Steve Trevor fails to liberate reporter Lois Lane from New Themyscira, the United States President is left with no choice but to employ the full might of the U. S. military, which results in Hal Jordan (who never received the Green Lantern ring in this world and resents the world’s superheroes for not getting involved in the greater conflict) being shot down and killed by the Amazon’s invisible jets. With the entire world on the brink of all-out war, and the United Kingdom threatened by a devastating tidal wave, Barry berates Thomas for writing his world off; arguing that, at any moment, Barry could completely forget Bruce and the former timeline, Barry encourages Cyborg to make contact with the superhero community to defend the world and, although their ace in the hole, “Superman”, has literally flown the coop, they’re joined by Billy Batson and his adopted family, who are collectively known as Captain Thunder in this world. Such is the allure of Batman’s urban legend that all it takes is his involvement and leadership to unite the world’s superheroes in interceding in the battle between Aquaman and Wonder Woman, however they’re betrayed by June Moon/The Enchantress, who forcibly transforms Captain Thunder back into his mortal form so that Diana can run him through with her sword.

Reverse-Flash’s boasting is cut short and Barry is seemingly able to set the timeline right…

It’s here, in the midst of a brutal war with the fate of this alternative world in the balance, that the Reverse-Flash finally makes his physically appearance. Naturally, a vicious fist fight breaks out between the two, but Barry is devastated to learn that it was he who caused this dark new timeline and not Thawne. Thawne “[resets Barry’s] internal vibrations” to reveal that Barry was so distraught after learning that Thawne killed his mother that he pushed himself further than he’d ever gone before, travelled back in time, and called upon the entire power of the Speed Force to prevent that event from ever happening. The result was a fracturing of the timeline in wild and unpredictable ways, and also that Thawne has been “removed from the timeline” so that, no matter what happens in the past, present, or future, he will continue to exist to plague his foe. This means that Thawne no longer has to rely on Barry being alive to ensure his creation in the far future, and nothing Barry does will prevent Thawne from existing. However, just as it seems like Thawne has achieved his ultimate victory, Batman stabs Thawne through the back and kills him, admonishing him for turning his back on the battlefield. Even though Superman makes a dramatic reappearance to join the fight, the war escalates uncontrollably; Atlantis plans to sink the United Kingdom and Enchantress mortally wounds Batman, who begs Barry to set things right. Reluctant to leave the world to its fate, Barry first stops by to talk to his mother, who encourages him to do the right thing since he’s literally sacrificed billions of lives and made the world a complete hellhole just to save her life. Heartbroken, but galvanised by her blessing, Barry intercepts his past self and knocks him from the Cosmic Treadmill but, when he returns to the time stream, Barry finds that there are three separate, competing timelines and a mysterious, hooded woman warns that time has been splintered and that only Barry can help merge them back into one unified timeline. When Barry awakens at his desk, the world appears to be back to normal; the first thing he does is race to the Batcave to talk with Bruce, who is once again Batman and who, surprisingly, reassurances Barry that he’s only human and couldn’t have known that saving his mother would have screwed the world up so badly. In an interesting twist, Barry retains his memories of the “Flashpoint” universe, and leaves Bruce in tears when he delivers him a letter rom his father. However, Barry fails to notice a few changes that have occurred as a result of his time meddling; not only is his Flash suit different, but so is the Batsuit, and all of the world’s heroes have been altered into their God-awful “New 52” forms, but the extent of Barry’s actions wouldn’t be revealed for some time and, for all intents and purposes, this is now the “real world”.

The Summary:
If there’s one reason to read Flashpoint, it’s the gorgeous artwork by Andy Kubert; stylistically similar to Jim Lee and John Romita Jr., Kubert really emphasises the kinetic energy of his characters, which is perfect for the Flash, while still balancing the many secondary characters in a way that’s bold and striking and crafting a far darker and more fearsome rendition of Batman. Each issue is accompanied by supplementary materials about this changed world, such as a world map that shows who controls which territory and where these new groups of alternative characters operate, and line art showing Kubert’s process. Sadly, though, just reading the main five issues doesn’t give you the entire story of Flashpoint; like pretty much every big Crisis and crossover event these days, Flashpoint was accompanied by four one-shots, two preludes, and no less than seven additional tie-in titles that further explored this alternative world and these far darker, less hopeful characters. I haven’t actually read any of these as I never felt compelled to explore it further as I subscribed to Thomas Wayne’s philosophy that it really doesn’t matter what happened to him, Aquaman, Hal Jordan, or any of the other characters changed by Barry’s actions as the timeline is reset at the end of the story. That and I really can’t afford to by the omnibus edition that collects all these issues, I don’t want any of the tie-ins taking up space on my shelves, and I really don’t care for the story enough to want to read any more about it.

Barry really comes across as a hypocritical, selfish asshole in this story.

This really isn’t a great story, or look, for Barry Allen. For someone like me, who grew up reading Wally West’s adventures as the Flash, it was already quite the insult to have him so readily supplanted by his predecessor, but to write a story where Barry’s so selfish that he screws up the entire timeline and, not only that, hesitates to set things right because he can’t stand to lose his mother? Yeah, that’s not a great look. And I get it; he’s grieving and in pain and not thinking rationally, but it’s especially odd that Bruce reassures him that he (as in Bruce) probably would’ve done the same thing…despite the fact that he turned down the chance to see the world and timeline reorganised in his favour in Infinite Crisis. The message seems to be that we have to sympathise with Barry but, while he’s obviously suffered a terrible loss at the hands of one of his worst enemies, it kind of seems like Geoff Johns wrote this twist simply because it’d be too predictable to have Thawne be behind the changes to the timeline. On the plus side, Barry certainly suffers for his selfishness; he’s nearly killed by the lightning bolts he attracts to himself and endures an unimaginable amount of agony from their impact, which is the least he deserves to go through. It’s interesting, though, as Barry feels morally obligated (or, perhaps, guilty enough) to help save this world and even has the gall to lecture Thomas Wayne about condemning the world to die. He even hesitates to undo his actions and is desperate to find a way to save his mother and the world at the same time, but finally being convinced to do, y’know, the right thing and prioritise the greater good and he doesn’t even do that right as it births the New 52 world.

Thomas Wayne’s violent, jaded Batman steals the show and delivers a heart-warming end to the story.

Flashpoint’s nightmare timeline is very different from the mainline DC Universe; it’s full of conflict, loss, and despair. A world constantly on the brink of war, under threat by two warring superpowered nations, and suffering without the world’s greatest superhero. This is a world where the public has lost faith in costumed heroes since they’re reluctant to stand against the forces of Atlantis and Themyscira and many of them have either been killed, maimed, or forced to make unlikely alliances and rely on subterfuge to survive and try to take a stand. However, the allure of Batman’s reputation remains as strong as ever; while Cyborg doesn’t approve of Batman’s violent methods, he knows that the Resistance will only really commit to fighting if Batman is onboard and goes out of his way to try and recruit the Dark Knight in order to spark some small sliver of hope. Thomas Wayne, naturally, steals the show here; his darker costume and demeanour show an alternative version of Batman who’s much older and far more cynical than Bruce Wayne. It’s consistently hinted that Thomas Wayne is in such a dark place that he’s not only completely given up on the world, but he also doesn’t really care whether he lives or dies. For him, nothing really matters anymore as not only was his entire world ripped away from him when he watched his son die before his eyes, but everything could be wiped out at a moment’s notice. He is compelled to help Barry, despite his cynicism, not to save his world, but to undo it entirely, fulfilling both of these goals, and really makes an impression with his surly demeanour, willingness to kill, and glowing red eyes. Sadly, despite appearing to die here and this timeline being erased, Thomas Wayne’s Batman would return later down the line and actually oppose his son as yet another dark analogue to the Caped Crusader, but I have to admit that he was one of the few highlights of this Crisis.

As if besmirching Barry’s character wasn’t enough, Flashpoint resulted in the dreadful New 52 era!

Overall, I really don’t care for this story specifically because it spelt the end for the DC Universe as I knew it and the beginning of my least favourite time in DC Comics, the New 52 run. I just didn’t understand the need to even do this and reset things in such an extreme way when Infinite Crisis had already done that not too long before this was published. As a self-contained, throwaway Flash tale that taught Barry a serious lesson about dealing with his grief, it could’ve worked; hell, even as a longer story the stretched over a few of the Flash titles and shook up the status quo for the Flash might have been more enjoyable, but it falls pretty flat as a reality-warping Crisis event because it’s a mere five issues and is lacking the expansive scope of these events. For me, it just doesn’t work since it paints Barry in such a poor light, and it feels completely pointless to dip into any of the tie-in stories since this was obviously never going to last as a timeline. I absolutely feel this could have worked much better if the Reverse-Flash had been the mastermind behind it and had cropped up a bit more in these five issues; this could’ve been a great showcase to show how depraved and twisted he is and could have presented a nightmare timeline where he’s the hero and the Flash is a villain, but he shows up far too late in the story to really make much of an impression and, despite boasting that he’s effectively immortal, is dispatched pretty easily by Batman and his trusty sword. In hindsight, now that the New 52 has finally been undone, Flashpoint isn’t as bad as it was when I first read it and was struggling to cope with all the rubbish decisions made in that era, but it’s still easily skipped over, I think. Just the idea that Barry, who lectures Thomas on how dangerous haphazard time travel can be, would make such a poor, selfish decision without thought to the consequences really doesn’t warm me to his character and, in many ways, makes him as reprehensible as Hal Jordan was back when he was Parallax. These are the actions of a misguided villain, not a sympathetic hero, and all the heart-warming letters from dead fathers and grief over lost mothers in the world can’t save this utter dreck of a story.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Are you a fan of Flashpoint? If so, what did you like about it? If you read the tie-in stories, which ones were your favourite and what did you think to this alternative timeline? Were you a fan of DC’s decision to reset their continuity again? What did you think to Barry’s decision to save his mother? Did you sympathise with him or did it paint him in a bad light? Were you a fan of Thomas Wayne’s Batman? Which Flash or speedster is your favourite? What’s your favourite Flash story? Which of DC’s infinite parallel worlds is your favourite? Feel free to sign up and share your thoughts on Flashpoint below or drop a comment on my social media.

Back Issues [Robin Month]: The Brave and the Bold #54

Dr. K7 Comments

In April of 1940, about a year after the debut of arguably their most popular character, Bruce Wayne/Batman, DC Comics debuted “the sensational find of [that year]”, Dick Grayson/Robin. Since then, Batman’s pixie-boots-wearing partner has changed outfits and a number of different characters have assumed the mantle as the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin have become an iconic staple of DC Comics. Considering my fondness for the character and those who assumed the mantle over the years, what better way to celebrate this dynamic debut than to dedicate every Thursday of April to celebrating the character?

Story Title: “The Thousand-and-One Dooms of Mr. Twister”
Published: July 1964
Writer: Bob Haney
Artist: Bruno Premiani

The Background:
All Star Comics (1940/1941) brought together the Justice Society of America (JSA) for the first time, birthing the first ever superhero team in comics. While the JSA’s roster expanded and changed over the years, they were rebranded entirely in the late 1950s when editor Julius Schwartz tasked writer Gardner Fox with breathing new life into the team as the Justice League of America (JLA). The JLA brought together eight of DC’s heavy-hitters and their origin issue became one of DC Comic’s best-selling titles; a mere four years later, DC would assemble a new team, one that specifically targeted their younger readers by bringing together the sidekicks of three DC Comics’ most powerful superheroes. Under the leadership of Dick Grayson/Robin, the trio would later be expanded considerable and come to be known as the Teen Titans, with runs by the likes of Marv Wolfman and George Pérez being notably influential, and the team has seen success in both animated and live-action ventures.

The Review:
Our story begins in the town hall of Hatton Corners, where an “unusual” public meeting is taking place; specifically, Mayor Corliss is leading the charge against the disruptive and workshy youth of the day by calling for a curfew to help solve the town’s teenage problem. At the same time, in a dilapidated barn across town, the Mayor’s son, Eddie, is rallying the town’s teenagers, threatening that they’ll go “on strike” if they don’t get their new clubhouse, and both mobs are vehemently against the other. Robin, colourful partner and ward to Bruce Wayne/Batman, is on the side of Hatton Corners’ youths; while the Batman believes that the kids are acting like spoiled brats, Robin believes the kids’ voices need to be heard and accepts their invitation to join the Hatton Corners Teen Club (with Batman’s permission, in an amusing bit of irony). Barry Allen/The Flash is equally disturbed by the teenagers’ unruly attitude but his young partner, Wally West/Kid Flash, believes that adults have forgotten what it’s like to be a teenager and also agrees to join the club (again, with his mentor’s permission). The Hatton Corners Teen Club is so adamant about recruiting teenage heroes to their cause that they’re even able to extend an invitation (via an eel carrying a note in a bottle…) to Gar/Aqualad at the bottom of the ocean! Although Arthur Curry/Aquaman believes that kids shouldn’t dispute with their elders and warns Aqualad that he can’t survive out of the water for longer than an hour, he also allows his youthful companion to attend, and the three arrive at the club astonished not only to see each other there but also to find the barn demolished and deserted.

Mr. Twister kidnaps the rebellious youths of Hatton Corners and delivers a bizarre threat.

The trio go to Mayor Corliss for answers and he shows them a note form Eddie that reveals he and his fellow “cats” decided to “skip” until the adults “get hip” and build them a new clubhouse. While the Mayor and the town’s other adults believe it’s a ruse to get attention, Robin believes the note is phony since it didn’t use a more appropriate word for “music” (like “jive”); realising that the town’s elders won’t be of any help, the Boy Wonder takes charge and tasks Kid Flash with scouting around the area and Aqualand with checking out the surrounding waters for any sign of a clue. Robin stays in town and is thus on hand to help get the townsfolk to safety when a twister suddenly comes barrelling into Hatton Corners; despite his best efforts to resist the wind, Robin is tossed into the tornado and faces certain death courtesy of Bromwell Stikk/Mister Twister. Thankfully, Kid Flash is able to use his incredible speed to brave the winds and bring Robin to safety, but the young speedster is knocked for a loop when he tries to confront Mr. Twister and gets a blast from his odd staff. Mr. Twister takes credit for the missing children and threatens Mayor Corliss that the youths won’t be returned unless he bows to his demands; in the unspecified amount of time that follows, the townsfolk express regret at how quiet and lifeless it is without the kids, much to the trio’s disgust (though we never see the reactions from any parents except for the Mayor, who seems more bothered about Mr. Twister’s return than the loss of his son).

Mr. Twister’s threat to the kids is all-too-real, necessitating the intervention of Kid Flash.

Mayor Corliss sheds some light on what Mr. twister’s beef is; back in colonial days, Bromwell’s ancestor, Jacob, allowed settlers to build Hatton Corners on his land in return for him and his descendants being paid one passenger feather a year or forfeit one of their youths. Since the demand was so ludicrous, the town’s founders never honoured the agreement and, when Bromwell showed up looking claim on the unpaid debt, he was laughed out of the Mayor’s office and vowed revenge. With passenger pigeons having gone extinct in the intervening years, Robin decides to do a little detective work to find the missing kids and discovers records of “unidentified flying objects” heading southwest to…Goat Island…the same night the teenagers vanished. Aqualad arranges them some transport to the island on the back of a manta ray; along the way, he and Kid Flash get into a bit of a dispute over the appeals of the sea and super speed and Kid Flash even questions Robin’s tendency to bark orders considering his lack of superpowers. Still, they arrive at the island and find the missing teens being put to work by Mr. Twister to build a massive stone tower in his honour. Although Eddie tries to fight back by…throwing a rope at their captor…his efforts are easily subdued thanks to Mr. Twister’s staff and he (as in Eddie) and his fellow teens are suddenly longing for the safety and security of their town and its adults. Mr. Twister leaves to run an errand and threatens them with punishment if his tower isn’t completed by the time he gets back; while Robin goes to uncover the source of the villain’s powers, Kid Flash uses his superspeed to build the tower in no time at all, thereby sparing the youths the wrath of their kidnapper.

Despite being touted as invincible, Mr. Twister is defeated with a ridiculous amount of ease.

Back on the mainland, Robin discovers Mr. Twister using “long lost Indian medicine” to empower his staff; when he’s discovered, Robin leaps into action, tossing sand in the villain’s face and landing an uppercut to his jaw. However, his eagerness backfires; as long as Mr. Twister is in possession of his staff, his body automatically repels any force used against it. Mr. Twister uses a tornado to dump Robin back into town with a further threat to destroy the town unless his debt is paid, but the Boy Wonder is clueless how they can meet the villain’s demands or oppose the power of his staff. Jealous of the adulation Kid Flash receives from the town’s kids, Aqualand returns to the ocean to revitalise his strength and discovers that Goat Island is…somehow…held aloft by an extremely narrow piece of earth under the sea. Using his command over marine life, Aqualad has a bunch of whales literally transport the island out of Mr. Twister’s grasp, bamboozling the villain and earning him the admiration of the kids. Although the teenagers are safely returned to town, Mr. Twister makes good on his threat by conjuring a cloud of dust to bury the town; however, Kid Flash is easily able to disperse it with his superspeed. When Mr. Twister tries to flood the town in torrential rain, Aqualad is able to drain the water by commanding a narwhal to bore a hole into the ground but, when the villain rains literal fire upon the town, Kid Flash and Aqualad are incapacitated by bolts from his staff and the town is slowly consumed by fire (…despite the fact it was just half-submerged under water). Robin pulls his friends to safety and hops into a fire engine; he climbs up the fire ladder and is able to disarm the villain with a ridiculous amount of ease simply by tossing his Bat-Rope and because Mr. Twister was apparently unable to get a clean shot…even though he hit Kid Flash mere moments earlier! Anyway, Mr. Twister is depowered and apprehended, the trio put out the fire, the adults agree to build the teenagers their clubhouse, and everyone celebrates their newfound appreciation of each other.

The Summary:
Holy God! I was expecting this to be pretty bad but, somehow, the first team-up of the proto-Teen Titans managed to exceed my wildest dreams. I’ve said many times how much I dislike the dialogue and characterisations of teenagers and women of this era of comics, so it’s no surprise that I wasn’t best impressed by all the lame attempts to be “cool” by shoehorning in language and anti-adult attitudes all over the story. I liked that the story kind of acknowledged this when Robin noticed the note was clearly written by an adult; it’s ironic as this story, and all other teenage characters, was written by adults trying to capture the speech and beliefs of the younger generation and it just comes across as awkward and out of touch. The whole “teenagers against adults” thing is pretty overplayed throughout comics, especially in the pages of Teen Titans and its successors, but it’s paper thin here; we’re never seen what the Hatton Corners teenagers do that’s deserving of a curfew and the kids only rally against the adults because they won’t build them a clubhouse. There’s no discussion about the relationship between Mayor Corliss and Eddie, no reaction from any parents, and the kids immediately start praising the ground the adults walk on when they’re forced into slavery by Mr. Twister.

Although portrayed as a threat, Mr. Twister’s motives are paper thin and he’s easily defeated.

Speaking of whom…what the fuck is this villain? He’s the descendant of some landowner who made a bonkers agreement that was immediately welched on and yet he somehow stumbled upon some poorly defined “Indian” magic to empower his staff and gain control of the elements. I mean, I’ve seen some pretty wacky villains in comics in my time, but Mr. Twister takes the cake! He’s literally willing to kidnap a whole bunch of kids, force them to build him a monument, and destroy the entire town, killing all of its inhabitants, unless he’s given a bunch of feathers! He makes the pompous Mayor Corliss look reasonable by that measurement, but the worst part is that he’s portrayed as a credible threat! And that’s a really weird thing for me to complain about as I’m normally bemoaning the fact that the villains of these team-ups aren’t enough of a threat, but Mr. Twister makes mincemeat of both Kid Flash and Aqualad with his staff’s power and could’ve easily killed Robin when he had him unconscious but chose not to for no bloody reason! And yet, despite his vast power, the heroes have to triumph so the story pulls some of the most ludicrous explanations out of its ass to facilitate that; Goat Island is held aloft by a thin perch of earth? A goddamn narwhal? And the fact that Mr. Twister can “kayo” the two superpowered teens but can’t hit Robin because he’s climbing a ladder?!

Thanks to Kid Flash and Aqualad’s bickering, it’s easy for Robin to stand out and take charge.

The whole story is just a complete mess of a fever dream. The three teenage heroes are brought together in the most contrived way possible and, for all their high and mighty talk of the troubles of the youth moment, only go to Hatton Corners when their mentors give them the go-ahead! The dynamic between the three isn’t very developed, but there’s definitely potential here; the rivalry between Kid Flash and Aqualad doesn’t get a lot of play but it was kind of fun seeing them out-doing each other to impress the girls and bickering about their respective powers. If there’s a standout of this story, it’s Robin; he takes command of the three easily and naturally and they listen to him without question (save for one inconsequential remark from Kid Flash). As the far more logical and level-headed of the three, it’s fitting that Robin discovers where the kids have been taken and the source of Mr. Twisters power, and the remarks about his lack of superpowers mean he was obviously going to be the one to topple the villain…I just wish it had been in a more impressive fashion. In the end, “The Thousand-and-One Dooms of Mr. Twister” is indicative of the storytelling of its era; it might seem unfair to hold that against it, but I’m going to. There are certainly far better Teen Titans origin tales out there and you’re really not missing all that much if you skip this one unless you’re a big fan of outdated slang, outmoded opinions on both age groups, and nonsensical storytelling.

My Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

Have you ever read “The Thousand-and-One Dooms of Mr. Twister”? If so, what did you think to it? Do you own a copy of the original comic or do you remember reading it when it was first published? What did you think to the first team-up of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad? Were you also put off by the outdated slang and attitudes or did you enjoy these aspects? What did you think to Mr. Twister, his motivations and powers, and the way he was defeated? What are some of your favourite Teen Titans stories? Whatever your thoughts on the Teen Titans, and Robin, drop a comment down below and check back next Thursday for more Robin content.

Game Corner [JLA Day]: Justice League Heroes (PlayStation 2)

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To celebrate the release of Justice League (Snyder/Whedon, 2017), DC Comics named November 18 “Justice League Day”. Sadly, this clashes with something else I have planned for that date this year but, setting aside all the drama surrounding that movie, this still provides a perfect excuse to dedicating some time to talking about DC’s premier superhero team, which set the standard for super teams in comics by bringing together DC’s most powerful heroes.

Released: 22 November 2006
Developer: Snowblind Studios
Also Available For: Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and Xbox

The Background:
After coming together in November 1959, the Justice League of America (JLA) quickly became one of DC Comic’s best-selling titles. This shouldn’t be entirely surprising considering the team came to be comprised of DC’s most popular characters: Clark Kent/Superman, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Barry Allan/The Flash, and J’onn J’onzz (also known as “John Jones”)/Martian Manhunter. The team saw many members come and go over the years but was a constant staple of DC’s library of comic books and soon expanded into other media. Interestingly, the Justice League’s success hasn’t always resulted in the best videogames, though, meaning developers Snowblind Studios faced a bit of an uphill battle right from the start when creating Justice League Heroes. Built out of a modified engine of their critically acclaimed title Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance (ibid, 2001), the developers ending up removing features from that game and engine to focus on extending the length of Justice League Heroes, which has more than a few similarities to Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Raven Software/Barking Lizards Technologies, 2006), which released about a month earlier. Reviews of the game were mixed across platforms, though, and the game was generally regarded as a bit of a mediocre and mindless beat-‘em-up.

The Plot:
The Earth is under attack from the robot forces of Brainiac, who has coerced many of the world’s most notorious supervillains into helping him consolidate the power afforded to him by a mysterious box from the stars. In response, the world’s greatest heroes, the Justice League, leap into action and team up to oppose Brainiac’s plot in a globe-trotting adventure that requires all of their individual abilities and skills.

Gameplay:
Justice League Heroes is a top-down action brawler in which you (and either another player or a computer-controlled partner) battle through a number of recognisable locations from the DC universe as various members of the Justice League. The game’s story is split into a number of missions that see two members of the Justice League teaming up at any one time; a second, human player can join the game at any point from the pause menu, a solo player can freely switch between the two heroes at will by pressing up on the directional pad (D-pad), and you’ll also be tasked with assembling one or more custom teams of two characters later in the story but you’ll never get the opportunity to switch out characters completely or replay missions with different characters. Gameplay in Justice League Heroes revolves almost entirely around beating up endless hoards of robots and aliens and solving some very light puzzles; characters can jump with a press of the Triangle button (and double jump or fly/glide with subsequent presses depending on who you’re playing as), attack with strong and fast attacks with Circle and X, respectively, and can grab enemies or objects with Square and block incoming attacks by holding R1. By entering different button presses (X, X, O, for example), players can pull off simple combo attacks to take out enemies but there are, sadly, no team up attacks to be found here.

The Justice League’s various superpowers are at your disposal and can be upgraded to be more effective.

While every character controls the same except for their ability to fly or glide, each one is made slightly different from the other through their individual superpowers. By pressing L1 and either Triangle, Square, Circle, or X, players can pull off their character’s signature super moves as long as they have enough energy stored up. This allows you to blast enemies with Superman’s heat vision, for example, or turn them into rabbits with Zatanna Zatara’s magic, or smash them with John Stewart/Green Lantern’s massive sledgehammer. Pressing L1 and R1 will see each character (with some exceptions) pull off a more powerful  super special attack which, again, varies per character; Superman, for example, will become stronger while Batman unleashes a swarm of bats to damage foes and Martian Manhunter briefly becomes intangible and invisible. They’re all pretty useful and different enough in their own way, with most characters having a projectile of some sort, a move to boost their attack or speed, or being able to stun or otherwise incapacitate enemies and you’ll sometimes (very rarely) need to use a specific character’s superpowers to bypass obstacles in order to progress. When playing alone, you can also issue simple commands to your partner using the D-pad; this allows you to increase the aggressiveness of their attack or have them focus on defence, which can be useful when teamed with Zatanna as she’s able to heal all team members.

Rescue civilians, activate consoles, and destroy certain targets to progress amidst the mindless brawling.

Overall, I found the computer to be surprisingly useful and competent; if your partner gets downed, however, you’ll have to rush in to revive them but the game automatically revives any downed characters when you reach one of its numerous checkpoints and enemies will often drop health-restoring orbs to keep you ticking over. Furthermore, if you’re able to attack enemies without taking damage, you’ll build up your “Heroic Meter”, which will increase your damage output until you get hit, and you can alter the difficulty of the game and its enemies by selecting different difficulty settings from the main menu. Despite the game being extremely linear, the developers included a helpful mini map, which you can expand by pressing in the right analogue stick. This isn’t always necessary but, as many of the environments are rather drab, grey, similar, and somewhat labyrinthine at times, it’s a welcome addition to keep you on track even during the game’s shorter and more straightforward missions. Unfortunately, the top-down view can be rather restrictive at times; many areas are filled with debris or obstructions and it always seems like you can only see just enough of the area, which can lead to enemies catching you off guard or hiding behind parts of the environment with no way to see them as they don’t show up on the map. It’s not all mindless brawling, either; occasionally, you’ll be tasked with rescuing a number of civilians or hostages, faced with a time limit, or directed to activate consoles to lower barriers in order to progress. As alluded to earlier, these very rarely require you to use the Flash’s superspeed or the Martian Manhunter’s intangibility to get past obstacles and stop fans, lower energy barriers, or deactivate Kryptonite hazards so that you can progress further. Sometimes you’ll also need to destroy a wall or use a character’s flight to progress across rooftops and, in the final portion of the game, you’ll not only have to protect Superman as he smashes through Darkseid’s fortress but you’ll also be faced with an extremely frustrating and confusing teleport puzzle that was the only time I had to actively look up a solution online.

Graphics and Sound:
Thanks to its zoomed out, top-down perspective, Justice League Heroes is, largely, able to get away with hiding any inconsistencies and defects in its in-game character models. Since you never really see your characters up close, the developers can have them talk and drop hints and quips without really needing to animate their mouths and the simple beat-‘em-up action of the game means that characters just need to look somewhat decent when they throw punches, grab cars, or blast out energy beams. And, for the most part, they do; there’s some neat little touches here and there (like Martian Manhunter being able to transform into his true, more monstrous form and the Flash being accompanied by a speed force double and lightning) and characters are always talking so you know when you need to drop or combine Boosts or have a vague idea of how the story is progressing.

Sadly, the game’s environments and enemies tend to be quite dark, bland, and boring.

Sadly, enemies and environments don’t always live up to the colourful and eye-catching depiction of the titular Justice League. It takes a long time for you to battle anything other than Brainiac’s generic robots or explore areas beyond the wrecked streets of Metropolis or the cold, grey corridors of Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories (S.T.A.R. Labs) and the like. Eventually, though, you do venture into more visually unique environments like the subways, a honeycomb and sap-encrusted hive, the ruins of J’onn’s civilisation on Mars, Gorilla City, a Lovecraftian dimension populated by strange rock creatures and living tentacles, and a version of Apokolips created on Earth but there’s very little variety offered in terms of the enemies or puzzles and hazards you face as you progress. No matter where you are, it’s the same thing every time: defeat all enemies, maybe activate a console, and reach the end of the stage.

Even Ron Perlman can’t salvage the blurry, rubbery graphics of the game’s cinematics.

The bulk of the game’s story (which is about as generic as you can get for a Justice League videogame) is conveyed through CG cutscenes featuring the traditional rubbery-looking graphics you’d expect from a PlayStation 2 game. I did notice some slowdown when there was a lot happening onscreen and, in terms of music and sound, the game is very unimpressive; the voice cast isn’t even the same one as in the popular Justice League animated series (2001 to 2006) and, while I love me some Ron Perlman, he just sounds bored whenever his Batman speaks (I’m also not really a fan of how often Batman is shown in broad daylight).

Enemies and Bosses:
As I’ve mentioned a bit already, you’ll wade through numerous disposable enemies in your mission to stop Brainiac and his lieutenants but none of them are particularly interesting. You’ll battle robots of varying sizes, humanoid wasps, White Martians on the surface of Mars, Gorilla Grodd’s gorilla forces, and Parademons but, once you’ve fought one lot of enemies, you’ve fought them all as they all feature regular foot soldiers who shoot at you and both flying and bigger variants that can take a bit more punishment. Honestly, the only enemies I even remotely found interesting were the weird crab and toad-like enemies you face later in the game and the instances where you battle Brainiac’s skull robots and failed clones of Doomsday because they at least looked a little different.

Many of the game’s bosses require you to fend off minions or destroy or activate consoles to attack them.

Before you can defeat Brainiac, you’ll have to battle a number of bosses; some of these are simply bigger, more dangerous versions of enemies you’ve already fought or Brainiac’s more deadly robots and duplicates. You’ll battle a Brainiac duplicate in S.T.A.R. Labs, for example, but this fight isn’t just about throwing punches. Instead, you have to activate consoles to lower barriers and rescue the scientists against a time limit all while “Brainiac” fires lasers and energy blasts at you. You’ll also encounter some of the more obscure villains from DC Comics’ gallery; Queen Bee has established a hive in the Metropolis subway and is transforming civilians into monstrous insect hybrids and, when you confront her in her throne room, she shields herself from your attacks and rains missiles into the arena that make the floor sticky. She’s only vulnerable when she leaves her throne but your window of opportunity to attack her is hampered somewhat by her minions, her energy blasts, and her tendency to dart across the screen like a madwoman. You’ll also butt heads with the Key, of all people. Like with Brainiac’s duplicate, you have to rescue some scientists against a time limit during this battle but the Key proves to be a particularly elusive and versatile enemy as he teleports around the place and causes hazards to blast out from his dimensional portals.

Grodd and Brainiac use their powers, technology, and minions to keep you at bay.

Similarly, when fighting Doctor Louise Lincoln/Killer Frost, you’re given one minute and forty seconds to destroy three missiles (and five seconds to get away from each before they explode) in addition to battling her and her icy minions. Killer Frost can conjure grunts, form ice shields, and blast at you with ice and icicles, all of which can make battling her quite tricky and annoying as your attentions are constantly divided. After reaching the core of a pyramid-like structure on Mars, Superman and the Martian Manhunter have to battle the White Martian leader; this guy is also accompanied by disposable White Martian grunts and you’re tasked with activating four nearby power nodes to defeat him. Things get noticeably more interesting when the Justice League splits into teams; while one team flies through the upper atmosphere destroying generators on invading spacecraft, another destroys power turbines in Gorilla City and gets into a confrontation with Gorilla Grodd. Grodd primarily uses his staff to attack and is joined not only by an inexhaustible supply of gorilla minions but also a series of energy-firing turrets so it’s probably best to try and keep your distance and stay on the move to emerge victorious in this fight. After battling their own security system in their Watchtower space station, the Justice League then faces off with a larger, more powerful Doomsday clone that, unlike pretty much every other boss in the game, boils down to a question of who can attack hardest and fastest rather than distracting you with tricks and puzzles.

Of course Darkseid turns out to be the true final boss of the game!

Eventually, you’ll breach Brainiac’s main base and be forced to battle his three robot guardians before you confront him; Brainiac is completely protected by an energy shield and is only vulnerable when he rises from his throne and only for a brief window of time. He also likes to teleport you to the far end of the arena, where you’re forced to destroy the generators that power his barriers and take out some minions just to get back up to him, so it’s more a question of patience than anything. As you might have guessed, the moment you defeat Brainiac he is immediately usurped by Darkseid, who teleports you away to a hellish dimension and then converts Earth into a new Apokolips. You’ll need to assemble two teams of four to confront Darkseid, who stomps around his throne room creating shockwaves and plumes of fire along the ground and blasting at you with his powerful Omega Beams. Being an all-powerful New God, his health also regenerates over time, meaning you’ll have to keep pummelling him again and again in order to keep him down. This was, honestly, a bit of a confusing fight; you can grab the “Apokolips Hypercube” nearby, which seems to weaken him and make him vulnerable to your attacks but I also found myself running around with it in my hands and not doing any damage to Darkseid at all and then he just suddenly succumbed to my attacks and was defeated.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
In almost every area in the game, you’ll find objects that you can grab and use as weapons; some of these are limited to the specifics of your character, though, meaning that you won’t be lifting cars over your head as, say, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, for example. Still, you can grab post boxes and parking meters and cars and such to bash over enemy’s heads, which adds a bit of variety to the otherwise relentless combat. You can also pick up temporary power-ups throughout each environment to give yourself and your team mate a bit of a power boost so it can be worth exploring a little bit and smashing destructible objects wherever you see them.

Level-up to increase your stats power-up your attacks with Skill Points and Boosts.

The game also features some light role-playing elements; as you defeat enemies, you’ll gain experience points (EXP) and level-up once you’ve earned enough EXP. This will increase your stats and abilities but you also earn Skill Points that you can spend upgrading your character’s superpowers up to five different ranks to increase their effectiveness and duration. Additionally, enemies will also drop various “Boosts” that you can equip at any time; you can also combine Boosts together to create new, more powerful Boosts and equipping these will also boost your superpowers, increase your damage output or defence, or increase the range and duration of your attacks.

Additional Features:
Although the game is extremely linear, there are often some rewards to be found through exploration; generally, these will just be stockpiles of health, energy, or Boosts but you’ll also find be civilians in danger who need rescuing who will drop “Justice League Shields”. Shields can also be found by destroying parts of the environment and you can spend these on skins and additional characters. While you can select any of the unlockable costumes at any time, they won’t actually load until you reach the next checkpoint/area and you can only select to play as the unlocked characters when the game allows you to pick a team of your own. The skins available are quite impressive, though; while not every character gets a skin, some offer bonus boosts to your stats and there’s some fan favourites available here, like Superman’s black suit, Batman’s traditional blue and grey suit, and the Jay Garrick version of the Flash. You can also unlock the likes of Green Arrow, Aquaman (sporting his water hand), Helena Bertinelli/The Huntress, and what I assume is the Kendra Saunders version of Hawkgirl.

Unlock additional characters, costumes, and modes by finding Shields and completing the game.

You’ll notice, however, that neither Huntress, Aquaman, or Hawkgirl have an L1+R1 special move, though I’m not entirely sure why. You can also unlock Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner but, despite these two being separate characters, they control exactly the same as John Stewart, which is a little disappointing; none of the unlockable characters have alternate costumes either, which is a bit of a missed opportunity in my book. Initially, you can select from Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulties but you’ll unlock two more difficulty levels (Elite and Superhero, on which most enemies will kill you in one hit) and be given the option of starting the game over from the beginning with all of the upgrades and EXP you amassed during your run upon completing the game. Sadly, there’s no option to free play any mission with any character, no versus mode, and no option to play online or with more than one other player but there are a number of cheats that you can activate from the pause menu to give yourself invincibility, infinite energy, all upgrades, and a bunch of Shields to quickly unlock all of the game’s skins and characters.

The Summary:
Justice League Heroes isn’t going to really offer you anything you can’t get from any other mindless beat-‘em-up; the stages and enemy designs can be very bland and boring and there really isn’t much asked of you other than to mash the same buttons over and over and activate a few consoles. Still, as a fan of beat-‘em-ups and brawlers, I found Justice League Heroes to be a pretty decent way of spending an afternoon; there’s a lot of characters available to you and I like that the story mixes the teams up quite often and allows you to put together your own teams, and the game is probably even more enjoyable with a friend to play with. There could have been more options and unlockables available (such as free play mode, maybe some challenges, and a boss rush), the music and graphics can stutter a bit, and the game is awash with dark, boring, grey locations, but, as a repetitive brawler featuring the Justice League, it’s decent enough, though probably not very appealing to those that aren’t fans of the source material and characters.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Have you ever played Justice League Heroes? If so, what did you think to it? Were you disappointed by the game’s presentation, selection of villains, and the inability to freely pick characters on the go? Which of the available characters was your favourite and preferred duo? What genre do you think would work for a future Justice League videogame? What version of the Justice League is your favourite and are there any DC superheroes you’d like to see added to the team someday? How are you celebrating Justice League Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Justice League Heroes, and the Justice League in general, feel free to drop a comment below.

Game Corner [Crossover Crisis]: Injustice: Gods Among Us (Xbox 360)

Dr. K2 Comments

In April of 1985, the first issue of the ground-breaking, twelve issue Crisis on Infinite Earths (Wolfman, et al, 1986) was published. This event, which was easily the biggest in DC Comics at that point (and for many years), saw the destruction of the “Multiverse”, an infinite number of parallel worlds, and the awkward establishing of one unified DC canon. Over the years, DC have returned to this concept again and again, retconning it, expanding upon it, and milking it to the point of excess but that doesn’t change how influential this massive crossover was. To celebrate this momentous event, I’ll be taking a look at multiversal crossovers every Wednesday in April in an event I’m calling “Crossover Crisis”.

Released: 16 April 2013
Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Also Available For: Arcade, Mobile, PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One and Xbox Series One X/S (Backwards Compatible), Wii U

The Background:
When it was first released, Mortal Kombat (Midway, 1992) was a phenomenal success for Midway because of its focus on gore and violence, and it offered some real competition for Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Capcom, 1991) in arcades and on home consoles. For a time, the series seemed unstoppable during the 2D era of gaming but struggled to find a footing in the emerging 3D fighter arena and Mortal Kombat seemed to be in jeopardy after Midway went bankrupt in 2010. The main reason for this was the poor reception of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (Midway Games, 2008), the first collaboration between Midway’s Mortal Kombat and the DC Comics characters owned by Warner Bros. Interactive, which was hampered by age-related restrictions. Luckily, Warner Bros. Interactive stepped in and the team, now rebranded to NetherRealm Studios, immediately set about getting their violent franchise back on track; Mortal Kombat (NetherRealm Studios, 2011) was subsequently very well-received for its “back to basics” approach and, bolstered by the reboot’s success and eager to take advantage of the vast library of characters of their parent company, NetherRealm Studios sought to expand upon the game’s mechanics with a new, all-DC brawler. Although the game wasn’t as bloody and violent as its sister series, Injustice: Gods Among Us was a massive critical and commercial success that was followed up by not only a bunch of additional fighters and skins added as downloadable content (DLC) but also a sequel in 2017 and a critically-acclaimed comic book series.

The Plot:
In an alternate reality, Clark Kent/Superman has become a tyrant and established a new world order after the Joker tricked him into killing Lois Lane before destroying Metropolis with a nuclear bomb. In an effort to stop him, Bruce Wayne/Batman summons counterparts of the Justice League’s members from another universe to join his insurgency and end the totalitarian regime that threatens to subjugate the entire world.

Gameplay:
Just like Mortal Kombat, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a 2.5D fighting game; however, this time you’re able to select one of twenty-four characters from the DC Universe and battle it out in the game’s single-player story mode, one-on-one against another player or computer-controlled opponent (both on- and offline), tackle numerous arcade-style ladders, or take on character-specific missions in Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories (S.T.A.R. Labs) training scenarios. Just as you’d expect from a Mortal Kombat videogame, Injustice’s fights take place in a best-of-three format (although there are no longer announcements or screen text between each round) and against a time limit, though you can alter these settings (and many others, such as the game’s difficulty) to your heart’s desire in the game’s options to suit your playstyle.

Attack with strikes, grapples, and combos to pummel a number of DC’s most recognisable characters.

If you’ve played the Mortal Kombat reboot then you’ll be immediately familiar with this game’s fighting mechanics and controls, although there are subtle differences: X, Y, and A are assigned to light, medium, and heavy strikes, for example, and may be either punches, kicks, or weapon-based melee attacks depending on which character you’re playing as. You can still grapple and throw your opponent with the Left Bumper (or X and Y and a directional input), dash towards or away from the opponent with a double tap of the directional pad (D-Pad), but now you must hold back on the D-Pad while standing or crouching to block, which can make blocking a bit trickier as sometimes you’ll simply walk or dash backwards when trying to block. If your opponent is crouch-blocking, you can land an attack by pressing towards and A for an Overhead Attack, and string together light, medium, and heavy attacks with directional inputs and your various special moves to pull off quick and easy combos. As is the standard for NetherRealm Studios’ releases these days, you can practise the game’s controls and mechanics as often as you like and take part in a very user-friendly tutorial to learn the basics of the game’s simple, but increasingly complex, fighting mechanics. You can also view your character’s moves, combos, special attacks, and “Character Power” from the pause menu at any time, allowing you to also see a range of information (such as where and how to pull of certain moves, the damage they inflict, and frame data).

Utilise Character Powers and the always-annoying Clash Breakers to whittle down your foe.

Each character has a range of special attacks that are unique to them; these mostly consist of certain projectiles or grapples and strikes but can also include various buffs for your character or to slow down your opponent. Each character also has a specific Character Power that is performed by pressing B; this sees Batman summon and attack with a swarm of bats, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow fire different trick arrows at his opponent, Doctor Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn gain various random buffs, and allows characters like Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and Rachel Roth/Raven to switch between different fighting styles and thus access different special attacks. While some Character Powers have a cool-down period, others don’t, but they can also be detrimental to you; for example, Slade Wilson/Deathstroke can briefly give his shots perfect aim but, once the Character Power is expended, he’ll miss every shot until it refills. Another new addition to the game is the annoying “Wager” system; when the Super Meter is filled up by two bars, you can press towards and RT when blocking an attack to play a quick mini game where you and your opponent select how much of your Super Meter to gamble. If you win, you’ll regain some health; if you lose, the opponent regains health; and if you tie then you both lose. Personally, if find these “Clash Breakers” even more annoying than the usual “Breakers” seen in the modern Mortal Kombat games as I never win them and they generally just unnecessarily prolong a fight (and, even worse, there’s no option to turn them off).

Different characters attack and interact in different ways according to their strengths.

In a bridge between the differing character movesets of Mortal Kombat and the “Variation” mechanic seen in Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios, 2013), Injustice features a limited “Class” system whereby characters are split into two camps: Gadget- or Power-class characters. Gadget characters are generally smaller, faster, and rely on various tricks and weapons in fights while Power-class characters are typically bigger, often slower, and rely more on brute strength. One of the main ways you’ll notice the difference between playing as, say, Barry Allen/The Flash and Cyrus Gold/Solomon Grundy is that they interact with the game’s fighting stages in different ways. As in Mortal Kombat X, you can press the Right Bumper when indicated to use (or attack your opponent with) various environmental hazards, such as firing missiles at them or knocking them into the background. But, whereas Superman will wrench a car out of the air and slam it on his opponent, someone like Dick Grayson/Nightwing will rig the same car to explode or somersault off the environment to get behind their foe rather than try to crush them with a wall.

In addition to powerful Super moves, you can bash your foe into new areas using stage transitions.

As you might naturally expect, there are no Fatalities or gruesome finishing moves in Injustice (not even “Heroic Brutalities”). However, when your Super Meter is full, you can still press LT and RT together to pull off a devastating Super Move; while you won’t see bones breaking and organs shattering like in Mortal Kombat’s X-Ray Moves, it’s still pretty fun to see Hal Jordan/Green Lantern transport his opponent to Oa to pummel them with his constructs, Ares shower his foe with arrows and stamp on them while grown to gigantic proportions, Arthur Curry/Aquaman force his enemy into the jaws of a ferocious shark, and Bane demolish his opposition with a series of throws and grapples, culminating in his iconic backbreaker. Another way the game separates itself from Mortal Kombat is stage transitions; when near the far edge of certain stages, you can hold back and A to wallop your opponent through the wall or off into the background where they’ll be smashed up, down, or across to an entirely new area of the stage which often allows more stage interactions and new stage transitions available for your use.

The story involves multiverse shenanigans against corrupted heroes and features some QTEs.

You might wonder exactly how someone like Louise Lincoln/Killer Frost can survive being blasting through the brick walls of Wayne Manor or go toe-to-toe with the likes of Doomsday but the game’s entertaining story mode explains that, on this alternative world, the tyrant-like Superman has developed special pills that bestow superhuman strength and dexterity to his generals. As is also the standard in NetherRealm’s titles, the story mode is broken down into twelve character-specific chapters, which is again a great way to experience a wide variety of the game’s roster (though Batman does feature as a playable character in two chapters, which seems a bit lazy). You can replay any chapter and fight you’ve cleared at any time, which is great, and skip through the cutscenes after they’ve loaded a bit, and the story mode isn’t all constant fighting either as you’re asked to pull off a handful of quick-time events (QTEs) at various points, such as blasting cars with Superman’s heat vision. The story is a fairly standard multiverse tale of the main canon heroes fighting against their corrupted or misled counterparts but it’s pretty fun and easy to blast through in no time at all.

Fight to earn XP and level-up, unlock additional perks and modes, and take on a series of challenges.

Every time you win a fight, you’ll earn experience points (XP) that will eventually level-up your character profile. This, and performing a certain number of specific attacks, playing through the story mode, and tackling the game’s other modes and mechanics, unlocks icons and backgrounds for your profile card as well as additional skins in certain circumstances. You’ll also be awarded “Armour Keys” and “Access Cards” to spend in the “Archives”, which allows you to unlock concept art, music, more skins, and certain boosts that will increase how much XP you earn, to name just one example. Like in Mortal Kombat, you can also take on ten opponents in arcade ladders in the “Battle” mode; these range from the basic tournament-style ladder to specific challenges against heroes, villains, or battling while poisoned, injured, or with certain buffs (such as a constantly full Super Meter or health falling from the sky). We’d see a similar system be incorporated into the “Towers” modes in later Mortal Kombat games and similar scenarios exist here, such as a survival mode, battling two opponents, or being forced to fight against the computer set to the hardest difficulty.

Graphics and Sound:
Like its violent sister-series, Injustice looks fantastic; there’s almost no difference between the high-quality story mode cutscenes and the in-fight graphics (which, again, makes it all the more frustrating that NetherRealm Studios insist on having character’s endings represented by partially-animated artwork and voiceovers), though it has to be said that the graphics are much more palatable when in a violent fight. I say this purely because I am not a big fan of some of Injustice’s character designs: The Flash looks a bit too “busy”, for example, and Batman’s suit (and cowl, especially) look really janky to me, though I love the representation of Green Lantern and Thaal Sinestro.

In addition to various intros, outros, and Wager dialogue, characters also take on battle damage.

Each character gets a nice little fitting intro and outro for each fight and, between rounds, will perform and quip a variety of taunts to the opponent. In a nice little touch, different character skins get different intros and outros; when playing as the evil Superman, for example, he enters and exits the fight differently to his more heroic counterpart. When playing as different skins, like John Stewart or Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman, you’ll also be treated to slightly different dialogue and animations, which is a much-appreciated touch on the developer’s part. Although there aren’t any character-specific interactions in the intros, there are during the Wager cutscenes and, even better, both characters and the arenas will accrue battle damage as the fight progresses! This means that you’ll not only see Selina Kyle/Catwoman’s cat suit rip and her skin be blemished by bruises and blood but arenas will degenerate or change around you the more damage you dish out, which can also allow different intractable options to become available to you.

Stages include a range of recognisable DC locations and take damage as you fight.

Speaking of the stages, Injustice really goes above and beyond to make the best use of the DC license; while it’s a little disappointing to see Arkham Asylum and Wayne Manor feature twice in the game, they are made distinctive by having Joker-ised and night-time variants, respectively (and also being clearly modelled after, and featuring cameos by, the Batman: Arkham (Rocksteady Studios/Various, 2009 to 2015) videogames and villains). Additionally, the use of stage transitions really helps to add a whole new dimension to combat, with some stages featuring more than others (or even none at all), to help ensure that every fight can be a little different. Stages also feature a bevy of other little cameos and DC references, such as the Fortress of Solitude being clearly modelled after Superman (Donner, 1978) while also featuring a portal to the Phantom Zone and a cameo from Starro the Conqueror. Similarly, J’onn J’onnz/Martian Manhunter floats in the background of the Watchtower space station, Floyd Lawton/Deadshot is just hanging out at Stryker’s prison, and Amazons are preparing a boat to launch on Themyscira. Every single stage has a number of intractable elements and changes as you fight, cause damage, or smash foes around, with Gotham City being my favourite as you can battle on the roof with the Bat-Signal and then down to the grimy streets below and then blast your foe back up to the roof using a nearby truck!

Enemies and Bosses:
Injustice helpfully separates its character-selection screen into heroes (on the left) and villains (on the right) but, despite their different alignments (and that their loyalties change due to the multiverse shenanigans of the story), every single one of them will be an enemy of yours at some point as you play through the story, Battles, S.T.A.R. Labs missions, and on- or offline. Consequently, it’s worth keeping track of which character suits your playstyle as some have easier combos and special moves to pull off compared to others, or more useful Super Moves and Character Powers.

Play as, and against, the game’s characters to learn their strengths, weaknesses, and skills.

Additionally, the Class system should also be factored in; Lex Luthor, Doomsday, and Solomon Gundy may be powerful and capable of gaining armour to tank through attacks but they’re also a lot slower on their feet and with their jumps. Superman and Shiera Hall/Hawkgirl are much faster Power-class characters but can also have their own drawbacks at times depending on your playstyle (Superman’s Character Power, for example, simply powers up his attacks rather than being a more offensive move like, say, Areas being able to conjure massive magical weapons). Personally, I tend to lean more towards Gadget-based characters, like Nightwing (who can switch between using quick batons or a longer bo staff to attack) or Green Arrow (whose arrows and bow allow for both ranged attacks and blindingly fast melee attacks).

Take on the corrupted Superman and banish him to the Phantom Zone for his crimes!

Unlike Mortal Kombat, Injustice doesn’t really feature any secret or hidden fights or unplayable sub-bosses or boss characters; the story mode and basic arcade ladder culminates in a battle against the corrupted Superman that is a far fairer and more competitive fight compared to the finales of NetherRealm’s recent Mortal Kombat games. While Superman is definitely a bit more of an aggressive foe, even on the game’s easiest difficulty, he doesn’t gain inexplicable armour, can be stunned, and doesn’t deal ungodly amounts of damage or spam his attacks like a cheap bitch. Additionally, he doesn’t transform into some monstrous final form and, instead, the final battle is a far better use of the skills you’ve built up through regular gameplay rather than forcing you to resort to cheap tactics and tricks.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Because it lacks a “Test Your Luck” mode and “Kombat Kodes” for multiplayer fights, there aren’t really any in-game power-ups available to you outside of the various status effects seen in the Battle mode. As before, though, some characters can gain in-game buffs with their special attacks and Character Powers: Lex Luthor, for example, can erect a shield, Doomsday can cover himself in impenetrable armour for a brief period, and Solomon Grundy slows time down and drains his opponent’s health with his swamp gas. However, you’ll earn yourself additional XP if you mix up your fighting style and take advantage of stage interactions and transitions, which will allow you to unlock further customisation options for your profile card, and you can also earn additional skins and rewards by playing and linking up to the mobile version of the game.

Additional Features:
There are fifty Achievements up for grabs in Injustice, with three of which being directly tied to the story mode (50- and 100% completion and succeeding at all of the QTE mini games). Others are tied to the game’s online modes, levelling-up to specific levels, customising your profile card, and finishing Classic Battle with one (and every) character. There are also some character-specific Achievements on offer, including performing every character’s Super Move or a ten-hit combat and winning a fight using only arrows as Green Arrow, or landing at least twelve shots without missing as Deathstroke. Batman is the only character to have two specific Achievements tied to him, though, as you’ll get some G for winning a match using all of his special moves and his Super Moves and for defeating every villain as him.

Injustice included some surprising DLC fighters; even Scorpion showed up!

Another standard of NetherRealm Studios is their addition of further skins and characters through DLC; you can get skins to play as John Stewart, Cyborg Superman, and the Flashpoint (Johns, et al, 2011) Batman, among others, and they’re all easily applicable when selecting a character (no need for extraneous “Gear” here). While the game’s DLC characters have no additional Achievements tied to them, Injustice included some fun and interesting extra fighters; Lobo, General Dru-Zod (who also sports his Man of Steel (Snyder, 2013) look as a skin), Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, Zatanna Zatara, and the Martian Manhunter were all great choices to add to the roster and it was nice to see NetherRealm Studios exercise a little restraint and not overload the DLC with additional Batman characters. By far the most exciting DLC fighter was the inclusion of Scorpion, who sports a Jim Lee redesign and began a trend of DC and Mortal Kombat characters appearing in each other’s games.

Take your fight online or complete a series of increasingly tricky S.T.AR. Labs challenges.

When you’ve had enough of the story mode and regular battle options, you can take the fight online in a series of matches; here; you can participate in ranked and unranked fights and “King of the Hill” tournaments where you watch other players fight until it’s your turn and bet on who’s going to win. The S.T.A.R. Labs missions will also keep us offline, solo players occupied for some time; these are expanded upon when you download the DLC fighters, which is much appreciated and, similar to Mortal Kombat’s “Challenge Tower” mode, basically serve as extended tutorials for each of the game’s characters. You’ll take on ten character-specific missions, with each one getting a little bit of text and maybe a picture to set the context of the mission, and these range from performing certain combos or attacks, winning fights, or completing tricky challenges (such as guiding Catwoman’s cat through laser trip wires, avoiding damage or debris, or racing against Superman).

The Summary:
Injustice: Gods Among Us is a far better marriage of Mortal Kombat and DC Comics than Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and a fantastic expansion of the gameplay mechanics and features NetherRealm Studios revitalised their violent fighting game series with in Mortal Kombat (2009). While Injustice is obviously not as gory or violent as its sister-series, that doesn’t make it any less fun and it’s still a very brutal fighter; the Super Moves, especially, and certain character’s outros (such as the Joker’s) are definitely in the Mortal Kombat mould. With gorgeous in-game graphics, a fantastic amount of variety thanks to all of the character’s different special attacks and gameplay mechanics and the stage transitions, and a simple to learn, easy to master fighting system, Injustice is an extremely enjoyable game for anyone who’s a fan of either franchise or fighting games in general. The story is a breeze to get through (thought it is essentially every basic multiverse story ever told in comics) and nicely varied with some QTE sequences; the S.T.A.R. Labs missions and different arcade ladders are much more enjoyable and challenging than in its sister-series and there are plenty of character options, variety, and unlockables to keep you busy. Best of all, the game isn’t bogged down by endless grinding to unlock Gear, skins, or other perks and is a much more user-friendly and accessible fighting game, and overall experience, than its sequel.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Were you a fan of Injustice: Gods Among Us? What did you think to it as a blend of Mortal Kombat and DC Comics? What were your thoughts on the game’s story and its depiction of a parallel world terrorised by a corrupted Superman? Which of the game’s fighters was your favourite and why? Did you buy the base game and all the DLC packs separately or did you pick up the Ultimate Edition when it released later? What did you think to the additional DLC characters and skins? Were there any characters or features missing from the game for you? Which DC Comics videogame, movie, comic, or other piece of media is your favourite? Are you a fan of multiverse stories and crossovers? Whatever you think about Injustice, leave a comment down below and be sure to check back in next Wednesday for more Crossover Crisis content!

Back Issues [JLA Day]: The Brave and the Bold #28

Dr. K13 Comments

To celebrate the release of Justice League (Snyder/Whedon, 2017), DC Comics named November 18 “Justice League Day”. Sadly, this clashes with another pop culture holiday but, setting aside all the drama surrounding that movie, this still provides a perfect excuse to dedication some time to talking about DC’s premier superhero team, which set the standard for super teams in comics by bringing together DC’s most powerful heroes.

Story Title: “Starro the Conqueror!”
Published: 29 December 1959 (cover-dated March 1960)
Writer: Gardner Fox
Artist: Mike Sekowsky

The Background:
All Star Comics (1940/1941), brought together eight superheroes from a number of different publishers for the first time as the Justice Society of America (JSA). This not only heralded the birth of the first ever superhero team in comics but also allowed readers to see their favourite characters interacting all for the same price as reading any one comic. The JSA’s roster expanded and changed over the years but the team underwent their most significant change when, in the late 1950s, then-editor Julius Schwartz asked writer Gardner Fox to reintroduce and rebrand the team as the Justice League of America (JLA) to capitalise on the popularity of the American Football League and Major League Baseball’s National League. Though the team debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28, a title famous for featuring team-ups between various fictional and superheroic characters, the team’s actual origin wasn’t revealed until the ninth issue of their self-titled series, which became one of DC Comic’s best-selling titles. As with the JSA and other super teams, the JLA’s roster has changed over the years and many splinter groups and spin-offs have been introduced but perhaps there is no more iconic line-up than the JLA’s original roster that was comprised of DC’s heavy-hitters: Clark Kent/Superman, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Barry Allan/The Flash, and J’onn J’onzz (referred to here as “John Jones”)/Martian Manhunter.

The Review:
“Starro the Conqueror!” begins with the odd choice to not detail the first time these superheroes joined forces and, instead, starts off with the seven heroes already having agreed to come together in times of crisis (they each have a signalling device to summon the others). I kind of like this on the one hand as it suggests that DC’s top superheroes already set aside their differences for the greater good without any real fuss and it helps speed things up but, on the other hand, it feels a bit out of place to not detail the first meeting of these heroes. Anyway, the first member of the team to become aware of an impending threat is Aquaman who, thanks to information provided to him by a puffer fish, is learns of the arrival of the gigantic extraterrestrial starfish known as Starro.

Aquaman’s summons is answered by some of DC’s greatest superheroes.

This monstrous being has travelled across the depths of space to Earth with one goal in mind: conquest. To that end, Starro…somehow…transforms three of Earth’s starfish into replicas of itself and spreads them across the world to begin its mad scheme. Aquaman’s summons are immediately picked up and answered by Wonder Woman (who is in the middle of an awkward conversation with her beau, Steve Trevor, regarding marriage), Green Lantern (who, as Hal Jordan, was in the middle of a test flight), the Flash (who quickly disperses of a potentially life-threatening tornado), and the Martian Manhunter (who was simply about to start his vacation…). Each of these introductory panels immediately gives the reader and idea of what each character is capable of: Aquaman can breath underwater and talk to fish, Wonder Woman has an invisible jet, Green Lantern’s ring allows him to perform virtually any task, the Flash is super fast, and the Martian Manhunter can shape-shift. Aquaman’s signal also reaches Superman and Batman but the two are unable to respond right away since Superman is busy taking care of a potentially dangerous meteor shower and Batman is in the middle of stopping a crime spree. You might think that Superman would have spotted Starro’s arrival from space but he was dealing with a great deal of meteors (it’s also entirely possible that Starro caused the meteor shower specifically to distract Superman) and I guess it’s in character for Batman to prioritise Gotham City’s safety over a JLA summons (though a JLA-level peril is surely more threatening for Gotham than a crime spree…)

Green Lantern is able to defeat the Starro duplicate with relative ease.

Regardless, the five heroes meet at the “modernistically outfitted cavern” that serves as the JLA’s headquarters. Having been informed of Starro’s threat and where it intends to strike, the Flash, as the JLA’s chairman, orders the team to split up and it is at this point that the story diverges from the team-based format and instead switches to cover each individual mission. The first sees Green Lantern battling one of Starro’s deputies in the skies above Rocky Mountain National Park; Hal arrives in time to see the gigantic creature but is too late to stop it from attacking a passing air force jet-bomber and relieving it of its payload: nothing less than an atom bomb! Green Lantern is able to save the aircraft when it goes into a deadly freefall but is unable to keep the Starro duplicate from detonating the atom bomb! Thankfully, Hal’s energy shield protects him from the blast and he watches in horror as the creature absorbs the energy released from the bomb. Hal pursues and is nearly blasted from the sky by a scorching beam fired from the creature’s tentacle. However, Green Lantern is easily able to avoid the creature’s thrashing limbs and attacks and reduce it down to a regular starfish by scoring a direct hit on its massive eye.

Starro’s duplicate falls before the might of Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter.

Next, the story switches to “Science City” where Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter (why Diana has to team up with another hero is beyond me…) find another of Starro’s deputies abducting the “Hall of Science”, where the greatest scientific minds of the United States are gathered. The creature intends to bring the scientists into the upper atmosphere so it can absorb their brainpower and knowledge; Wonder Woman attempts to use her magical lasso to prise the creature’s tentacles from the building but ends up being yanked off of her invisible jet and onto the Hall of Science thanks to the giant starfish’s incredible strength. Meanwhile, J’onn uses his super-breath to bombard the creature with fragments of the meteors Superman is destroying and uses the same technique to cause a torrential rainfall when flames from the building threaten his life. Starro’s deputy then attempts to destroy them both by firing bolts of nuclear energy their way but Wonder Woman is, of course, able to deflect them with her magical bracelets and J’onn shields himself using the building’s conveniently lead-lined roof. Diana then whips her lasso around her jet and uses the momentum to forcibly drag the building out of the sky. The effort of battling both heroes at once soon takes its toll on the creature, which plummets from the sky and begins to revert back into a regular starfish.

The Flash makes short work of the final Starro duplicate.

When then join the Flash as he confronts another of Starro’s deputies at Happy Harbour; this part of the story is easily the worst simply because it introduces one of the most annoying and aggravating characters ever conceived: the JLA’s “mascot”, Snapper Carr. Snapper is a hip, super cool teenager with the annoying habit of constantly snapping his fingers all the God-damn time who is shocking to find his family, and the entire town, enthralled by Starro’s trance. For whatever reason (possibly due to being high, judging by the way he speaks!), Snapper is immune to Starro’s influence so he needs to be saved from certain death by the Flash. Despite Starro’s best efforts to vaporise the Scarlet Speedster, the Flash (literally) runs rings around the creature and ultimately defeats it when it tries to hide in the sea. In the process, the townsfolk are freed from their trance and Snapper’s family are able to tell Flash where they were ordered by the creature to head to: Turkey Hollow.

The JLA defeat Starro with ridiculous ease and make Snapper an honorary member!

The final part of the story sees the team reunite to take on the real Starro at Turkey Hollow; despite the defeat of its deputies, Starro remains confident since it was still able to absorb the power of that atomic bomb, the knowledge of Earth’s scientists, and…whatever it is the townsfolk of Happy Harbour contributed to its mind (local Earth knowledge, I guess?) Starro plans to use all that it has learned to force humanity into destroying the world with nuclear weapons and then use the influx of nuclear energy would then allow it to conquer other worlds across the universe. When the JLA arrive, Starro immediately puts its abilities to good use by reading Hal’s mind and turning itself yellow to render itself immune to his power ring but the Flash notices that Starro’s awesome energy ray has absolutely no effect on Snapper (who he, of course, brought along for the ride!) Flash orders Wonder Woman and the Martian Manhunter to distract Starro while Hal uses his power ring as a spectroscope to discover that Snapper is covered in lime from when he was mowing the lawn earlier. Apparently, lime is deadly to starfish so Hal dumps a whole bunch of it onto Starro to weaken it. Martian Manhunter then uses his super-breath to blow a load of calcium oxide (which is, apparently, also lime) onto the creature and thus imprison it within an unbreakable shell of lime. With Starro’s threat ended, Superman and Batman return just in time to see the Flash making Snapper an honorary member of the JLA and…boy, do they look thrilled to be there!

The Summary:
I don’t mind telling you that I am a bit disappointed by “Starro the Conqueror!”; the story started pretty strong but fell off a cliff pretty quickly at the end, becoming little more than a science class rather than a big old fight between Earth’s greatest heroes and an alien menace. I suppose it speaks to the intelligence of the JLA (specifically Barry) to come up with a way to outwit, rather than outfight, the creature and the sudden introduction of lime as the might Starro’s one weakness is arguably no less lame than fire being J’onn’s weakness and yellow being Hal’s and there is a lot of action prior to the finale but still…the entire point of the comic is to see these heroes joining forces and we don’t really get that.

Aquaman is unfairly side-lined and does nothing except alert the JLA to Starro’s presence.

You might be wondering where the hell Aquaman was during this story; despite appearing to be a pivotal member of the team in the early panels, Arthur is little more than an early warning system to alert the team to Starro’s threat. Hell, when Barry is divvying out the JLA’s individual missions, Aquaman doesn’t even get to fight one of the creatures as he’s sent back to the ocean to watch out for any more of the duplicates and, when he does return to the story for the finale, he does absolutely nothing. It’s pretty sad considering the JLA were light on power with Superman out of the equation and when you consider that Arthur might have actually been really useful at Happy Harbour so could have easily teamed up with the Flash for that mission…but then we might never have gotten Snapper-fuckin’-Carr now, would we!?

Hal and J’onn are severely underutilised, with their powers reduced to the bare minimum.

Honestly, Snapper could have been dropped entirely from the story; he’s only there so the teenager readers can act like they’re fighting alongside their favourite heroes, after all, and it’s legitimately sad that he’s more important to the story than Aquaman! Seriously, drop Snapper, have Aquaman and the Flash go to Happy Harbour, and have Arthur get covered in lime while battling the creature in the water and reveal the key to Starro’s defeat. Seems like a pretty simple solution to me. Similarly, it’s pretty disappointing that Superman and Batman don’t play any part in the story at all. I can understand why as Superman’s power alone would probably be able to end Starro’s threat but it’s a bit of a let down that they don’t even join the team for the big climactic battle. Instead, we’re left with the likes of the Martian Manhunter, who is probably just as powerful as Superman if not more so and yet is reduced to simply puffing away with his super-breath. Similarly, Hal’s potential and power is also significantly reduced; his ring allows him to do virtually anything but, in the end, all he really uses it for is to fly about, rescue a falling plane, and zap at Starro with energy blasts.

Starro seems like a threatening villain but end sup being a massive disappointment.

Still, at least Wonder Woman gets a lot to do; she basically does all the work in her team-up with J’onn which, again, makes me question why she has to have a partner and no one else does. The implication may be that it’s because she’s a woman but she’s easily the most dependable and capable superheroine I’ve seen all year; she doesn’t even get bound or anything, which is refreshing. The Flash also gets far more chances to show off his abilities and competence; beyond his super speed allowing him to easily best one of Starro’s duplicates, Barry is portrayed as a decisive team leader and his intelligence is what ultimately wins the day over brute strength. Overall, Starro is just another in a long line of potentially dangerous foes that really don’t amount to a whole hell of a lot. It openly admits that its plot to conquer Earth is the first time it’s ever tried anything like that, exposing its naivety and inexperience in world conquest and battle. Its scheme seems pretty good to start with as it creates duplicates of itself and absorbs power and knowledge but it fails to really do anything with this beyond making itself yellow; it could have spewed flames at J’onn, bound Wonder Woman’s wrists, subjected Aquaman to intense heat, or slowed the Flash down with quicksand but it never does any of that. For all the power and knowledge it has, Starro ends up just being a giant alien punching bag that, arguably, the Flash alone could have defeated and, because of that, it’s simply a piss-poor excuse to see all these heroes band together and even then they spend the majority of the story working separately!

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the JLA’s debut appearance? Were you happy to see five out of the seven joining forces for the first time or would you have liked to see all seven of them getting in on the action? What did you think of Starro as the principal villain and the introduction of Snapper Carr? Which era or incarnation of the JLA is your favourite and what are some of your favourite JLA stories? Who would you like to see in the JLA some day? How are you celebrating Justice League Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on the JLA, feel free to leave a comment below.

Movie Night: Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Dr. K11 Comments

Released: 18 March 2021
Director: Zack Snyder
Distributor: HBO Max/Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Budget: $70 million (on top of the original $300 million production costs)
Stars: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ciarán Hinds, Amy Adams, and Henry Cavill

The Plot:
Following the death of Clark Kent/Superman (Cavill), Bruce Wayne/Batman (Affleck) scrambles to bring together a team of super-powered heroes when the disgraced New God Steppenwolf (Hinds) arrives on Earth and begins violently searching for the mysterious “Mother Boxes”.

The Background:
Oh God, where to start with this? Okay, so, after the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) became this super successful juggernaut, Warner Bros. scrambled to try and catch up and craft their own cinematic universe. The first step was Man of Steel (ibid, 2013); Zack Snyder was picked to helm the project and steer the direction of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and, initially, the results were promising. Despite some mixed reviews, Man of Steel was a financial success but the cracks in Snyder’s vision started to form with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (ibid, 2016). Despite the presence of acclaimed superstar Ben Affleck and reaping a hefty box office, the film divided many due to its pace and bleak tone and Warner Bros. started to get cold feet regarding Snyder’s vision for the DCEU. As a result, they brought in Joss Whedon to lighten the follow-up’s tone and ultimately replace Snyder after the tragic death of his daughter. Despite a similar box office gross to its predecessors, Justice League (Whedon/Snyder, 2017) released to scathing criticism and the film was disowned by even DCEU collaborators. The DCEU chugged along regardless but, very quickly, reports of Whedon’s reprehensible behaviour surfaced alongside rumours that a “Snyder Cut” was all but completed in Warner’s vaults and fans all over the world began campaigning hard for the release Snyder’s original version. While this did lead to a toxic community that I cannot condone, the movement gained serious traction when members of the cast voiced their support and Snyder finally returned to complete the film and was even afforded additional money and resources to film new scenes for his four-hour epic for the HBO Max streaming service. To the delight of Snyder’s fans, Zack Snyder’s Justice League finally released and drew a lot of attention to HBO Max. The general critical consensus, however, was mixed; though reviews praised the film as a coherent story and the culmination of Snyder’s vision, its length and excess were criticised. After the film’s release, Warner Bros. made the decision not to capitalise on its success and fans immediately campaigned to complete Snyder’s vision for the DCEU, despite his lack of interest in returning to the property, proving that some fans are just never satisfied.

The Review:
When I reviewed the original, theatrical cut of Justice League (no, I will not call it “Josstice League”), I gave it a ten out of ten. This was primarily because I am a massive DC Comics fan and, after years (literally decades) of DC’s live-action characters always existing in their own self-contained bubbles, I was just happy to see them all onscreen together and co-existing and felt that this was the most positive thing to take away from Snyder’s rushed attempt to build DC’s cinematic universe. Time, however, has changed this perspective; Justice League is by no means perfect but it was honestly never going to be. Warner Bros. scrambled about trying to play catch up to the MCU and, in focusing on cramming everyone together as quickly as possible and sucking the fun out of many of their most popular characters, they lost me a little along the way. So to say I was excited for the Snyder Cut is to lie, honestly. As much as I enjoyed Man of Steel, Snyder really dropped the ball with Batman v Superman, which was more a collection of ideas and themes than a coherent movie, and I took massive issue with his grandiose vision of the DCEU which jumped from Superman’s origin all the way to Multiversal shenanigans in, like, two films. Still, as a rule, I generally do enjoy a longer director’s cut as you get more bang for your buck and, in that regard, Snyder certainly goes above and beyond to present the closest version of his vision for Justice League as possible, even going so far as to present the film in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

Superman’s death cry activates the Mother Boxes and calls Steppenwolf to Earth.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League begins with an egregiously slow-motion recap of Superman’s dramatic (and, in my view, unnecessary) death in battle against Doomsday. His death rattle (which seriously goes on for about six minutes), echoes all around the world, activating the Mother Boxes stored in Atlantis and Themyscira and sending a beacon out into the void of space with a simple message: Earth is vulnerable. Steppenwolf (now dramatically redesigned into a hulking creature wearing razor-sharp armour that honestly looks just as ugly as his original design but for different reasons) once again arrives to reclaim the Boxes; this time, however, his slaughter of the Amazons is much more brutal, featuring far more Parademons and presenting Steppenwolf as a formidable and imposing force. Indeed, compared to his theatrical counterpart, Steppenwolf is a much more well-rounded and interesting character; in the original cut, he was little more than a means to an end, an obscure and generic bad guy for the titular heroes to unite against in order to save the world but, here, he’s a driven, focused, and aggressive foe who is motivated not just by loyalty to his master and devotion to bringing about “the great darkness” but also desperate to regain his place among the New Gods after losing favour centuries before. Owing Darkseid (Ray Porter) a debt of fifty thousand worlds for his failures, Steppenwolf has been ostracised and forced to toil in endless conquest to regain his place at his master’s side; this desperation and motivation transforms Steppenwolf from a mere disposable hulk and into a surprisingly complex villain who seeks redemption and validation in the eyes of his master and will do anything to appease the will of Darkseid.

Superman’s loss affects each of the characters in different ways.

While the Man of Steel’s loss was felt in the theatrical cut, Superman’s death is a much bigger aspect of the Snyder Cut; carrying the guilt of Superman’s death on his shoulders, Bruce Wayne sets out to build an alliance of metahumans to combat this threat. While Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gadot) is reluctantly onboard with the plan and Barry Allen/The Flash (Miller) signs up immediately and enthusiastically, Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Momoa) basically laughs in his face and Victor Stone/Cyborg (Fisher) is busy struggling to reconcile his humanity after a horrific accident leaves him part machine. Furthermore, Superman’s loss is embodied here not just in Bruce’s guilt and desire to honour Superman’s legacy with a team of superheroes but in both Lois Lane (Adams) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane), both of whom struggle to adjust to life without Clark. Since Bruce has already been told that “Lois [is] the key” to reaching Superman, it makes sense to give Lois and Martha a little more prominence in the film, especially as her death is what causes Superman’s corruption in the dark future that looms over Snyder’s films.

Batman is now absolutely focused on bringing together a team to honour Superman’s memory.

Bruce Wayne is, of course, extremely different compared to his characterisation in Batman v Superman. Now driven by an obsessive desire to make good on his promise to unite Earth’s heroes in Superman’s name, he works himself tirelessly to track down the metahumans from Lex Luthor’s (Jesse Eisenberg) file, much to the continued chagrin of his faithful butler and father-figure, Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons). Since he works closely with Diana to find and appeal to these metahumans, there’s even a little (microscopic, even) bit of romantic chemistry between the two and there’s now a nice little scene of Alfred making tea with Diana and showing her Batman’s new Parademon-absorbent gauntlet (which replaces the original cut’s side plot regarding Batman luring the Parademons out with “fear”). Mostly, though, Bruce remains the same character as in the theatrical cut; he’s still blinkered in his focus on bringing the team together, resurrecting Superman, and preparing the world to face escalating threats but all of his weird little attempts at humour are thankfully gone (sadly, that God-awful “I’m rich” line remains but, thankfully, we get the return of his “I’m real when it’s useful” line).

Wonder Woman now warns the team of Darkseid’s intentions for Earth.

Wonder Woman, however, is noticeably different this time around; more time is spent showing her as a willing ally of Bruce’s and she is also part of a pivotal extended scene that explores Steppenwolf’s previous campaign against the Earth. This sequence, which expands upon the prologue seen in the theatrical cut, shows the forces of man, Gods, Atlantis, Themyscira, and beyond uniting not just against Steppenwolf and his Parademons but also their exalted and imposing leader, Darkseid. Darkseid received only a passing mention in the original cut but, here, Diana’s obvious fear of the New God helps to establish early on that an even greater threat looms behind Steppenwolf’s actions. Furthermore, when out in the field with the team, Wonder Woman directs the fledging Justice League in the best way to attack Steppenwolf and his Parademons, which places greater emphasis on her capabilities as a warrior and leader.

The Snyder Cut retains Aquaman’s characterisation but explores a little more of his world.

Aquaman is largely the same as in the theatrical cut except, unsurprisingly, more haggard and bleak rather than being an obnoxious jock. Though he claims to have no interest in Bruce’s crusade or working with others and has turned his back on Atlantis, he continues to do good and help those in need in his own way to get his hands on more whiskey. Bruce’s warning, though, compels him to return to the ocean and converse with Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe), his former mentor, and ultimately to arrive all too late to help Mera (Amber Heard) defend the Mother Box from Steppenwolf. A couple of odd continuity issues are raised with all this, however, that fly in the face of DC’s directors wanting to align their movies with the Snyder Cut; first there’s Mera’s accent, which jumps from British to American to whatever the hell she likes, and second is the Atlantean’s ability to communicate using dolphin squeaks rather than just talking underwater as they do in Aquaman (Wan, 2018). Regardless, this version of Justice League does a far better job of setting up Aquaman’s solo film by showing more hints towards his world and Aquaman remains the film’s breakout character for me for me thanks to Momoa’s charismatic portrayal of the character.

Though still very neurotic, Barry plays a pivotal role in the film’s events and finale.

Barry Allen also gets a bit more time to shine this time around; this includes the restoration of his encounter with Iris West (Kiersey Clemons) and just more time to explore his awkward, energetic, and socially inept character traits. Barry was very much the comic relief of the theatrical cut and those who disliked many of his annoying character traits will be disappointed to find most of them intact and given more prominence in his increased screen time but I can’t fault Snyder’s attention to detail in showcasing Barry’s superspeed: his shoes and clothes disintegrate, the street is wrecked by his footfalls, and he experiences time in extreme slow motion when utilising the Speed Force. While the Flash loses one of my favourite scenes from the original cut (the “Just save one” moment), he plays a far greater role in not just the rescue of scientists from Steppenwolf’s clutches but also the film’s finale where, faced with defeat at the hands of Steppenwolf’s forces, he summons all of his super speed to travel back in time using the Speed Force and ensure that the invasion is halted.

Cyborg’s role is greatly expanded, making him the heart of the film and fleshing out his character.

Of course, the character who benefits the most from the Snyder Cut is Cyborg; in the theatrical cut, Cyborg is a stoic, confused young man who resents his father, Doctor Silas Stone (Joe Morton), for transforming him into a machine-monster in order to save his life. While this remains at the start of Cyborg’s character arc in the Snyder Cut, Snyder restores not just Cyborg’s importance to the film as the “heart” of the Justice League but also his eventual reconciliation with his father and showcases excised scenes of his promising career as a college football player, his natural aptitude for hacking (which he used to help those in need), and the horrific accident which left him near death. While I’m personally not a fan of Cyborg being on the Justice League, it was clear that there was originally more to his inclusion and importance to the film’s plot; since he’s literally comprised on a Mother Box and Apokoliptian technology, he is afforded numerous abilities and insights into the invading New Box forces and, here, Silas actually guides and mentors him in exploring these abilities (which includes his ability to access every technological device and network and essentially makes him the most powerful man on Earth).

Superman returns, now in a black suit, and galvanises the team.

Finally, there’s Superman; as you might expect, Superman is absent for a massive amount of the film on a small account of being dead. Like Darkseid, Superman looms over the film but as a hero lost and much needed as a symbol for the world’s heroes to properly rally behind. Bruce’s plan to resurrect Superman with the Mother Box is discussed (and edited) far more competently this time around; although there’s doubt about the moral and ethical implications of the plan (mainly from Alfred this time around), Bruce and Diana don’t come to blows like in the original film but the outcome remains the same. Like before, Superman is disorientated upon returning to life and attacks the fledgling Justice League in his confusion; his confrontation with Batman is a little different (and not as good as in the original cut, in my opinion) and there’s more to his return to the Kent farm but, upon regaining his senses, he returns to action as the team’s ace in the hole for the finale. Cavill is an absolutely fantastic Superman and Justice League finally got the character to a place where he is the charming symbol of hope and strength that the world needs and, despite his new black suit, Zack Snyder’s Justice League only expands upon that (of course, Cavill’s natural charisma and the absence of a horrible CGI face play a huge part in that).

The Nitty-Gritty:
One word to describe Zack Snyder’s Justice League (apart from “long”) would certainly be “epic”; Snyder pads the film’s runtime out with not only an abundance of never-before-seen footage, alternate takes, and new content but also an overuse of slow-motion and long establishing shots. To help make the film more accessible to viewers, the film is also split into six chapters, which was probably a great way to view it on HBO Max, and the DVD version of the film is split across two discs but, either way you slice it, this is a slog to get through and I have to believe that Snyder simply milked the extra time and money he was afforded just to capitalise on all the hype surrounding his version of the film. The closest comparison I can make is with his director’s cut of Watchmen (Snyder, 2009), which was similarly epic and ambitious in its scope, presentation, use of music, and its presentation of its costumed adventurers.

Some shots effects, and inconsistencies negatively affect the Snyder Cut.

It has to be said, though, that Zack Snyder’s Justice League has quite a few faults; some of the new special effects shots understandably look worse than others (and Cyborg still looks like dog shit), it’s pretty crazy that Darkseid and his forces just forgot where Earth was for hundreds of years (especially considering how badly he wants the secret of the Anti-Life Equation), the score has been completely reworked to remove Danny Elfman’s contributions (though, thankfully, Wonder Woman’s kick-ass musical theme remains), and many of the new scenes shot exclusively for the film suffer from poor lighting, inconsistent editing, and stand out like a sore thumb to the point where I’d much rather Snyder hadn’t bothered including the likes of the Joker (Jared Leto) when it makes little sense narratively (you’re telling me that in a grim, apocalyptic future where Superman has gone bad the Joker is alive but Aquaman isn’t?) Personally, I have never been a fan of Snyder’s “Knightmare” timeline; it made no sense in Batman v Superman and, thanks to Warner Bros. having no interest in allowing Snyder to fully explore this alternate timeline in Justice League sequels, it makes even less sense to me that he chose to continue pushing this dark vision of a future ruled by Darkseid and a corrupted version of Superman in the Snyder Cut (but, at least, it’s mainly confined to the film’s final moments rather than being awkwardly wedged in the middle of the film like in Batman v Superman).

Snyder’s cut expands and recontextualises many of the film’s existing scenes and characters.

Although many scenes and sequences may be familiar to anyone who has seen the theatrical cut of the film, the Snyder Cut expands upon every single one of these and, in many cases, recontextualises them into this larger narrative. This includes a longer scene of Bruce Wayne meeting and attempting to recruit Aquaman (accompanied by a lengthy song of reverence for the Atlantean), an expanded version of Wonder Woman’s introduction (including the first of a handful of pointless f-bombs), a longer version of Steppenwolf’s attack on Themyscira and the recap of Darkseid’s defeat centuries ago, more scenes of Steppenwolf and his Parademons’ search for the Mother Boxes (including torturing Atlanteans for information and a far better sequence where he acquires the final Box), and even recontextualising the interactions between Lois and Martha with the reveal that General Calvin Swanwick (Harry Lennix) has been J’onn J’onnz/Martian Manhunter all along.

The Snyder Cut restores and dramatically changes excised characters.

One of the main selling points of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, however, is the restoration of scenes and plot threads excised from the theatrical version. This includes characters removed from the original film, like Doctor Ryan Choi (Ryan Zheng), Vulko, Iris, DeSaad (Peter Guinness), Cybrog’s mother, Elinor Stone (Karen Bryson), and more time devoted to side characters like Silas (who now gives his life to mark the final Mother Box) and the origins of the Mother Boxes. One of the benefits of this is that we actually get to see an in-depth look into Cyborg’s expansive abilities (which includes a deep dive into the way he now perceives reality). Much of the Snyder Cut’s hype was also built around the inclusion of Darkseid but, in truth, the character is little more than a cameo; he simply takes Steppenwolf’s place in the flashback of the war between the allied forces of Earth and Apokolips and looms over the film like an ominous shadow as the ultimate threat for the united Justice League. Sadly, despite Snyder choosing to push his Knightmare future throughout the film and concluding it with a tease of Darkseid’s impending retaliation against the Justice League, it seems like we won’t be seeing Darkseid (or any of the New Gods for that matter) in the DCEU again any time soon.

Thanks to the team, and time travel shenanigans, Darkseid is left humiliated.

Snyder’s vision of the DCEU remains extremely bleak in its presentation; for all the characters’ talk of “hope” and the better nature of men, Snyder continues to suck all the life and colour out of these vivid characters. One thing I liked about Justice League was that it did a fantastic job of bringing some life and colour to this world, allowing the costumes to pop out on screen but, here, everything retains the same muted look and sombre tones of Batman v Superman. This is best exampled in Snyder’s instance on garbing the resurrected Superman in his black suit; Superman wore this in the comics after returning to life for about three issues and it was later stated to have helped aid his recovery but, here, no real reason is given for his choice of attire and it honestly would have made more sense for the evil Knightmare Superman to have worn the suit instead. Additionally, Snyder removes the red tint and tumultuous skies from the finale of the film, which admittedly does make the climatic battle against Steppenwolf’s forces easier to see but I feel the original colouring worked a lot better as a reference to the red skies that were are of DC’s various Crises. Speaking of the finale, Zack Snyder’s Justice League slightly recontextualises the ending. Although there’s still an implication that Batman is heading into battle with the intention of dying, it’s not as explicit as in the theatrical cut; what is much more explicit, though, is the feeling of team work between the Justice League as they each play their part in breeching Steppenwolf’s defences (Flash, again, gets way more to do in using his Speed Force charge to help Cyborg interact with the Mother Boxes) before Superman dramatically shows up to again completely lay waste to Steppenwolf. I’m glad that this beatdown is maintained as it was always a glorious showcase of Superman’s return and of the team coming together against a common enemy but, here, things go slightly differently as the heroes fail to stop the unity between the Mother Boxes and prevent Darkseid’s arrival. With no other choice, the Flash enters the Speed Force and reverses time in a beautifully surreal sequence, allowing Cyborg to reject the Apokolips’ influence and Wonder Woman to decapitate Steppenwolf right before Darkseid’s eyes.

The Summary:
I went into Zack Snyder’s Justice League with low expectations. Toxic fans and a rabid, almost cult-like online community had beaten any sort of excitement and wonder out of me. I quite enjoyed the theatrical cut; it wasn’t perfect but, news flash: none of the DCEU has been perfect and few films really are. Knowing that Snyder got so screwed over by Warner Bros. stung and it definitely frustrated me that we didn’t get a concise and more accurate version of Justice League years ago so that maybe the DCEU would be in a slightly better place but it was hard for me to feel invested in the film when it was so self-indulgent and so clouded by negativity and entitlement. In this case, though, I am glad to be wrong; there are many benefits to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. For one thing, it actually feels like a coherent story (even more so than Batman v Superman) and each member of the team is given so much more time to shine and showcase their powers and personality. Thus, when the Justice League unite for the finale, it means that much more as we actually get to know them all a little better and see them grow as a team through their interactions; it’s still a rush job as so much had to be crammed into so few films but, as a big fan I am of DC Comics and these characters, it remains a real thrill to actually get to see Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg all in a big budget, live-action film rather than constantly existing in self-contained bubbles (which seems where the DCEU will be heading again going forward). I’m not a massive fan of Snyder’s vision for the DCEU or many of the decisions he made but it’s better than nothing and not seeing an interconnected series of DC films so, while I was initially hesitant to enjoy Zack Snyder’s Justice League, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised in the end. Had Warner Bros. not interfered and screwed things up, we probably would’ve gotten a two-and-a-half-hour long film that would have satisfied everyone enough to justify at least one more team effort but it is what it as and at least we got to see the closest approximation of Zack Snyder’s true vision of the film in the end and that’s something to be celebrated rather than simply, selfishly, demanding more.

My Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Fantastic

What did you think to Zack Snyder’s Justice League? Do you think it lived up to all the hype or was it all style and no substance? What did you think to the additional, extended and recontextualised scenes from Justice League and how do you feel the Snyder Cut compares to the theatrical version? Which of the characters was your favourite and what did you think to their extended screen time? How did you watch the film; in sections or as one long movie? Would you like to see more from Snyder’s DCEU or are you happy with the direction Warner Bros. is taking? What did you think to the whole Knightmare timeline Snyder tried to push and were you a fan of Superman donning the black suit? Whatever you thought about Zack Snyder’s Justice League, good or bad feel free to leave a comment below (even if it is super toxic).