Aquaman in popular media
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Aquaman has made several appearances in numerous media and has been referenced beyond the scope of traditional comics superhero entertainment.
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[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Television
[edit] The Filmation animated series
Aquaman's first media appearance was as the star of his own animated series, The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, from 1967 until 1968; the series failed to find a large audience. The series featured Mera, Aqualad, a pet walrus named Tusky, and Aquaman and Aqualad's large seahorses, Storm and Imp. In addition to his usual array of abilities, this version of Aquaman had the power to throw "water balls" which had considerable concussive impact. Aquaman was voiced by Marvin Miller, better known as the voice of Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet.
[edit] Super Friends
He was also a major character in the original season of the animated television series Super Friends (1973). Super Friends is often credited with having exposed Aquaman to a much wider audience outside of the comic book community. In this series, Aquaman was shown to display superstrength and encyclopedic knowledge of oceanography and oceanology, in addition to his more familiar water-breathing power and aquatic telepathy.
However, the various successor series (Challenge of the Super Friends, The World's Greatest Super Friends, Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show, The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians) have been blamed for making Aquaman unpopular and even laughable alongside other heroes. They are accused of having portrayed him in an unflattering light, as they focused almost exclusively on his water-breathing and telepathic powers, thus reinforcing a weak image of the character.
During his Super Friends tenure, he was often paired with Wonder Woman, leading some fans to speculate on a possible romance between the Atlantean King and the Amazon Princess. When Grant Morrison took the JLA title, it was specified that both characters share a special friendship bond.
[edit] DC animated universe appearances
The character made an appearance in one episode of the 1990s animated television series Superman: The Animated Series, where he was voiced by Miguel Ferrer. He was drawn in the "classic" Aquaman appearance as having an orange shirt, green gloves, green pants with green boots, a gold belt with gold "A" insignia belt buckle, short hair, and a clean-shaven face, but he had a fairly intense personality. In the episode, Aquaman, regarded as an urban legend, comes into conflict with Lex Luthor when an undersea construction plan of Luthor's starts causing damage to Aquaman's home, Atlantis. He tries to stop the tests peacefully but his "peaceful" attempts to stop them are "met with violence and capture." Lois Lane finds him a prisoner of LexCorp's institute, and she is in turn captured and taken to be killed with him, but Aquaman manages to escape with Lois and returns to stop the tests under the ocean. He almost attacks the surface world with his army, but Superman dissuades him from doing so. When Aquaman tries to leave peacefully, one of Luthor's men tries to shoot him in the back, unsuccessfully, and Aquaman's army in turn destroys Luthor's vessel. Aquaman advises Superman to make sure the "surface dwellers" show more respect to the oceans in the future before disappearing.
As seen in the Batman Beyond episodes "The Call: Part 1" (airdate November 11, 2000) and "The Call: Part 2" (airdate November 18, 2000), Aquaman's daughter Aquagirl is a member of a future Justice League. During the episode, Terry McGinnis/Batman goes over profiles of the current Justice League members. According to Aquagirl's profile, Aquaman is currently missing.
Aquaman has guest-starred in several episodes of the animated television series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, where he was voiced by Scott Rummell. This version was based closely on the hot-headed anti-hero persona of the 1994 – 2001 Aquaman comic book series, with the Viking-like appearance and hook, but some feel his animated appearances gave him even more depth than his Viking phase had given him. Here, he sacrificed his hand to save his infant son from being killed in a plot against his life by his evil brother Orm (Ocean Master). Though he was a founding member of the Justice League in the comic books, he was left out of the main line-up for the animated series in favor of the tomboyish Hawkgirl so that the team could have another female character opposite Wonder Woman. While the Justice League series remains popular, a number of Aquaman fans were genuinely disappointed that their hero was not included as a regular character. According to the website Television Without Pity, producers created Devil Ray and removed Aquaman and Black Manta from the series before the episode "To Another Shore" because the rights to Aquaman were no longer available.
[edit] Smallville
Arthur "AC" Curry appeared in an episode of the television series Smallville titled "Aqua," which aired on October 20, 2005. The episode features Arthur investigating the devastating effects on marine life from a project Lex Luthor has been developing for the U.S. military. In the process he also manages to date Lois Lane before leaving to continue his pro active fight for the echo system. Like his Filmation counterpart, this version of the character is shown to have the powers to throw water-based energy balls at his opponents; he could also swim faster than Clark Kent. It is also revealed that Arthur wears an orange and green costume because he attends the University of Miami, whose Miami Hurricanes team colors are green, orange, and white. Arthur was played by former American Idol contestant Alan Ritchson. In an allusion to the HBO program (below), when Arthur is asked which environmental group he is working for, he responds "I don't travel with an entourage." Aqua was Smallville's highest-rated episode that season.[1]
Ritchson reprised his role in the 2007 episode "Justice", as a member of Green Arrow's unnamed superhero team. Along with Victor "Cyborg" Stone and Bart "Impulse" Allen, they fought to stop Lex Luthor from creating an army of superhumans which he has kidnapped. During this second appearance, he is now using the codename of "Aquaman", and wears a costume similar to his traditional one.
[edit] Mercy Reef; Self-titled TV series
The CW Television Network had announced a live action Aquaman television series called Mercy Reef (or Aquaman), but on May 18, 2006, it was confirmed that CW did not pick up the show for the 2006/2007 schedule. Recent reports (beginning after the upfronts) say The CW is still considering Aquaman for midseason due to interest piqued by the leaked promotional trailer. The pilot episode is available at Apple's iTunes Music Store and the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.
[edit] Entourage
A fictional Aquaman movie played a central role in the second season and part of the third season of the HBO show Entourage. The show has movie star Vincent Chase playing Aquaman/Arthur Curry in a big-budget film production of the comic book, directed by James Cameron. In the episode "One Day in the Valley", Aquaman premieres to much fanfare and opens with a three-day weekend record of just over $116 million (barely beating Spider-Man's $114.8 million). HBO even took out a very realistic looking two-page ad in "Variety" magazine after the episode, promoting the show by saying Aquaman earned $116 million in its first three days. This appeared enough to fool CNBC, which reported that the three day weekend box office gross of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 had beaten the previous record of Aquaman [2], but Joe Kernan later stated he was a watcher of Entourage and was completely aware that it was fake[3].
[edit] Video games
Aquaman also appeared in the Justice League Task Force Super Nintendo and Genesis video game as well as in Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis for Xbox and GameCube.
Aquaman has been revealed as a playable character in the Justice League Heroes game.
[edit] Cultural references
- Seanbaby often used Aquaman as the butt of many jokes on his website.
- Thomas Farr and Jeff Klein made a fan film starring Aquaman entitled "The Cast of the Angler" in 1984. Running for 21 minutes, it was never released commercially.[2]
- In an episode of the sitcom Seinfeld (1989 – 1998) called "The Deal" (airdate May 2, 1991), George and Jerry debate Aquaman over lunch. "What's the deal with Aquaman?" asks George. "Can he go on land, or is he restricted only to water?" Jerry replies, "No, I think I've seen him on land a couple times."
- In Episode 202 (1994) of MTV's sketch comedy show The State (1993 – 1995), Aquaman is belittled by the other members of the Super Friends for his comparably uninteresting powers. Superman assigns all of the other members difficult tasks, and then flippantly tells Aquaman to "go...talk to some fish."
- The song "Arthur Curry" by the band Ookla the Mok on their album Less Than Art (1997) talks about the grimmer and grittier portrayal of Aquaman in the comics.
- In an episode of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995 – 1999) called "Electric Bike" (airdate June 29, 1997), Dave Chappelle discusses Aquaman with Dr. Katz, asking why anyone would want to be Aquaman. "What the hell would you want to say to a fish?" The episode points out that a fish's lack of short-term memory (a common myth) would make Aquaman's conversations with them rather uninteresting.
- The political blog IMAO.us frequently makes jokes about Aquaman's uslessness as a superhero.
- Aquaman has been referenced on two occasions in the animated television series The Simpsons (1989 — ). In "Treehouse of Horror VIII" (airdate October 26, 1997), in a sequence entitled "The Homega Man," the Comic Book Guy is shown reading an Aquaman comic as he states aloud, "But Aquaman, you can't marry a girl without gills. You're from two different worlds." In "Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder" (airdate November 14, 1999) when Homer is drowning at the beach, he shouts out to his infant daughter, "Maggie, help! Call Aquaman!"
- In an episode of the sitcom Home Improvement (1991 – 1999) called "Believe It Or Not" (airdate April 29, 1998), Tim explains what happens when he gets high on fumes while working in his garage: "Have you been inside shellacking all day? If you don't get enough ventilation, it can really... [Tim points to his head] Y'know. I do that, I think I'm Aquaman!"[3]
- The 1998 hit song "One Week," by the Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies, includes the line, "You think you're lookin' at Aquaman." It then goes on to explain that the singer would use this power to make sushi, with an apparent aversion to anything that has "touched a frying pan."
- In the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants (1999 — ), the characters of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, first introduced in the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy" (airdate August 21, 1999), are parodies of Aquaman and Aqualad.
- In an episode of the animated television series Drawn Together (2004 —) called "Lost in Parking Space, Part One", Captain Hero is depicted as having caught fin rot from fellow superhero Aquaman.
- An episode of the animated television series South Park (1997 — ) called "Super Best Friends" (airdate July 4, 2001) includes a superhero character named "Sea-Man" (pronounced "semen" by the other Super Best Friends), who is a spoof of Aquaman and the only non-religious icon in the team.
- The video game review television show X-Play (1998 — ) often refers to the Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis game (2003) as "the worst game ever." The game was so bad, that they named their worst games ever awards — The Golden Mullet Awards — after Aquaman's mulleted appearance in the game. In a later episode, the show is an extended parody of the horror film Saw, with a killer named Memory Card murdering the G4 hosts in videogame related deathtraps. It is revealed that Memory Card is Aquaman, who went insane following the critical panning of his game.
- In an episode of the animated television series The Fairly OddParents (2001 — ) called "Power Pals" (airdate May 18, 2004), Timmy Turner wishes for "the best friends ever," and receives spoofs of several superheroes, including an analog of Aquaman named "Wet Willy," who summons whales to crush things. He is continuously made fun of by the others for his useless powers.
- In an episode of the stop motion animated television series Robot Chicken (2005 — ) called "The Deep End" (airdate April 10, 2005), Aquaman is one of seven housemates in the fictional parody of The Real World called The Real World: Metropolis. Here, Aquaman is repeatedly put down by Superman. He also has all the mannerisms of a homosexual, and even his own fish don't listen to him.
- In HBO's series Entourage (2004 — ) the main character Vincent Chase is given the role of Aquaman in a movie directed by James Cameron.
- In an episode of the animated television series Family Guy (1999 – 2002, 2005 — ) called "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz" (airdate December 18, 2005) the opening scene shows the Griffin family watching Aquaman (on television) portrayed as a lazy, unfair ruler who abuses his powers to command sea-life by giving them trivial errands.
- One Cartoon Network promo had Aquaman and Wonder Woman captured by the Legion of Doom. Tied together, Aquaman tells Wonder Woman: "My ability to talk to fish is of no help, Wonder Woman!" She rolls her eyes in response. They are then rescued by the Powerpuff Girls.
- The titular character in the 2005 movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin owns a vintage Mego Aquaman action figure, as well as exclaiming "I am Aquaman!" when he places a Magnum condom on his arm, simulating webbed fingers.
- Captain Squid, an ally of Radioactive Man in Bongo Comics continuity, is a parody of Aquaman.
- The Atomic Sub of Big Bang Comics is a tribute to Aquaman.
- In the adultswim series The Venture Bros., Hank sleeps in clothing similar to Aquaman's (specificially, green briefs and socks with an orange shirt). Similarly, his brother Dean wears pajamas styled after Spider-Man.
- Jason White wears Aquaman pajamas in Superman Returns.
- WWE superstar and pro-wrestler turned superstar The Rock insulted the superhero-gimmick-carrying wrestler, the Hurricane, by saying that even Aquaman, "the dude who talks to the little fishies, can whip that little candy-ass, just like that!"
- In one of Frank Caliendo's jokes he proclaims that, "Aquaman can't do shit."
- In Chris Rock's 'Bigger & Blacker' HBO comedy special, he refers to people calling Hillary Clinton a hero after the Monica Lewinsky scandal and says she is no hero. "Aquaman's a hero! He can talk to the fishes! What the f*** can Hillary do?". Later he speaks of Christopher Reeves' paralysis saying "Superman can't walk. What's next? Aquaman gon' drown in the tub?"
- In October 2006, author Glen Weldon published a short piece in the internet magazine McSweeney's titled Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas, Has Fucking Had It With You, Man, an imagined monologue in which Aquaman angrily dismisses the popular meme representing him as lame and useless. The monologue is available here [4].
- In the Duck Dodgers episode, Till Doom do us Part, a parody of Aquaman, Sea Man is present at the Martian wedding of Queen Tyr'ahnee and Marvin Martian.
