Could A Serious Aquaman Movie Role Save Him?

[CMWaters]

By save him, I mean the public perception of him.

Let's face it, despite roles in the various animated works, the upcoming Injustice video game, and the comics, Aquaman is mostly seen how he was seen in Superfriends.

Saying that, however, there was another character that, before a major movie came out, was seen in a certain light by the general public as well, and that was Batman.

Until the release of the 89 Batman movie, most of the public still saw Batman as the one we saw in the 60s TV series...slightly campy and stuff. The 89 Batman (and the comics, yes, but I'm talking general public here) changed the view from most people on that matter.

Could the DC King of Atlantis get similar respect if, either in a solo movie or a Justice League movie, he was given a similar serious role so the movie-going public could see him in a different light?

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

I'll be honest, it can certainly be done. but no matter how good it is, I doubt it'll change peoples' perceptions. I've been trying to tell friends of mine how awesome Aquaman actually is in pretty much everything but the Superfriends, and I've never gotten them to believe me.

same reason some people never let go the "Iron Man's a drunk" or "Ant-man's a wife beater" crap. a punchline's more important to them than the truth of the matter.

[Kevin Hamilton]

It'd have to be an AWESOME movie as it's a much harder swim upstream (sorry) for him than Batman as there's way more elements that can skew silly even when well written than for a Batman.

[Sephiroth]

Which version of Aquaman would we be talking about? Who would be the villain? What storyline would it draw off?

[CMWaters]

Mar 7, 2013 11:02:49 GMT -5 Sephiroth said:

Which version of Aquaman would we be talking about? Who would be the villain? What storyline would it draw off?

Probably a mix of his origin story and the story from "The Enemy Blow" episode of Justice League...dealing with his brother and such.

[stevieboy]

That picture sold him for me.

img7.joyreactor.com/pics/post/cthulhu-superheroes-aquaman-they-said-400577.jpeg

[Goldenbane]

I dunno. I know they'd want to go with the dark, grim, and gritty one handed version with the long hair and beard, but to tell the truth, my favorite version of Aquaman was the one used in Brave and the Bold. He was a happier kinda guy, and reminded me more of Hercules from Marvel. I doubt that version would change people's opinions from what they are now, but that's the version I'd rather see, personally.

[CM Parish]

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

If it's good enough, yes it can. I think fans often underestimate just how much impact a lot of recent superhero films have on these character's perceptions and stocks.

The somewhat closer to earth comic Iron Man is now largely overshadowed by RDJ's cocky snark machine, and before TFA Captain America was seen as a bit of a jingoistic goof until Joe Johnston and Chris Evans turned him into more of a common sense everyman. Marketing wise, both were midcarders to Spider-Man and Wolverine's main event status until their movies came out. And likewise, a lot of people see Spider-Man through Tobey Maguire- I've come across a lot of folks who think he's a bit of a milquetoast, unless they've seen Andrew Garfield's.

A both well made and high grossing Aquaman flick could finally heal his image, but it'd have to be a franchise-worthy success that can at least hit a 70% RT rating.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

Mar 7, 2013 11:21:53 GMT -5 CM Parish said:

I'm going to say this, that "joke" is just plain not funny. not because it's another "lol Aquaman is useless" joke, but mainly because it's one of the most tasteless, unfunny rape jokes I've ever heard. I still watch Family Guy but this is one of the biggest creative misfires they've ever done. seriously, did anyone watch this and actually find it funny?

[H-Virus]

^Co-signed.


And why is it that only Aquaman gets shat on because of Superfriends. Wasn't pretty much everyone in that show rather pathetic compared to their comicbook counterparts? I seem to recall an episode in which a villain defeated Wonder Woman by digging a hole in the ground, and when she fell into it she couldn't get back out. Granted, this was back in the time when she couldn't fly without her jet, but the freaking hole wasn't even that deep!

[darbus alan]

Convincing people Aquaman really is a legit badass would be a lot easier with a movie that portrays him as such.

[Red Impact]

I think making a purely Aquaman movie would be a hard sell. Not just for public perception,but also the fact that, well, he's an ocean based hero. He's having adventures under water, where we don't live. There's plenty to work with in his superpowers to make him look badass, but convincing the public to see a movie about a guy who swims around for the entire thing would be pretty difficult.

If it was as part of a Justice League movie, then it could. But I don't see Aquaman as a starring role.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

i think the best bet would be to have something like what happened with the Hulk in the Avengers move. the first 2 Hulk movies didn't really work (even thugh IMO the Ed Norton one was pretty good). Marvel had pretty much written off doing another Hulk movie but because of how he was handled in the movie they're apparently thinking of doing some new Hulk movies. Aquaman would need something like that, where he first appears in an ensemble but gets a chance to show how awesome he is, and then maybe from there he can get a solo movie.

[Deleted]

Problem with Aquaman is this; you can depict him as a badass and present him as actually being a very impressive hero (and he actually is)

But... some things are better remembered than others, and that is for the worse, especially since people remember trainwrecks better than masterpieces. And, people also prefer to remember the goofy stuff over the serious moments, which is what Aquaman suffers from.

Having pop culture today comment on how useless Aquaman is (the constant character bashing on "The Big Bang Theory", the very tasteless rape joke on "Family Guy", among others) is something that I believe it too tall to overcome.

[Brother Nero....Wolfe]

I hope not. I kind of like that no matter how badass he acts, he'll always be DC's Yamcha to the general public.

[mizerable]

[Cela]

If Batman can be transformed from whatever the hell the Adam West version was into The Hypocritical Paranoid Dark Douche we all know today, anything can happen.

[Deleted]

Admittedly I'm not an Aqua Man expert at all so I may be ill informed, but unless he can walk around on dry land and function in society as a normal human in between his Oceanic adventures he's best used as some other superheroes Naval support system.

In the interest of finding out how uninformed that I am, can he function on dry land? If so he should be the World's leading Marine Biologist.

[Red Impact]

Mar 7, 2013 17:25:21 GMT -5 @akeem said:

Admittedly I'm not an Aqua Man expert at all so I may be ill informed, but unless he can walk around on dry land and function in society as a normal human in between his Oceanic adventures he's best used as some other superheroes Naval support system.

In the interest of finding out how uninformed that I am, can he function on dry land? If so he should be the World's leading Marine Biologist.

Well, he's not a mermaid. He still has superpowers on land, it's just that his unique ones require water. Without water, he's basically a less powerful version of a standard Superhero. Strength, reflexes, agility, etc. Also, he has a magical trident.

He also has this sort of Superman-Yellow Sun dichotomy with water and has to return there after a while or he will weaken.