Written by Heath Corson
Directed by Ethan Spaulding
Orm (re Atlanna's murder): "I am your king...! I did this for YOU!"
Aquaman: "Is this the king you want, Atlanteans? A coward who lies to you? You need a light to guide you in the darkness, people of Atlantis. My people."
Following the events of Justice League: War, it was time for the Super Seven to get a name change and a new member and with this movie, both of those things happened without too much resistance. Based on the comic with the same title, this would be a rather suitable origin story for Arthur Curry (Matt Lanter).
In the present day we see Arthur get into a bar fight over a lobster while Mera (Sumalee Montano) observed from afar at the behest of Queen Atlanna (Sirena Irwin) as the latter decides that her estranged son is ready to rule Atlantis over her more volatile other son, Prince Orm (Sam Witwer) who has formed an alliance with Black Manta (Harry Lennix) to declare war on the surface world.
Orm and Manta's union seems to be more on an equal footing compared to the 2018 live action Aquaman movie, at least until the final reveal that Manta was pulling the strings all along, manipulating Orm into going to war as well as putting Stephen Shin into Arthur's sight before Shin himself was killed.
Arthur's journey here isn't quite as compelling as the DCEU equivalent but it's still executed rather well as Mera introduced him to his homeworld before the League members themselves made their presence known to aid Arthur and Mera in taking out Orm and Manta, which naturally happens as Arthur then becomes King of Atlantis while Orm finds himself encountering Lex Luthor (Steven Blum) at his prison in Belle Reve, clearly setting a further movie down the line.
The Aquaman storyline is the main focus of the movie but there are still other moments for the League themselves. Shazam and Cyborg's friendship is still rather endearing to watch as well as the latter getting a love interest with STAR Labs scientist Sarah while Superman and Wonder Woman also get romantically involved, which I was a little keen on. Then there was Batman and Green Lantern who spent most of the time bickering while Flash didn't do too much but was still entertaining enough to watch.
- Nice cameo from Steel as a steel worker during the big battle sequence. Lois also managed to get in a sneaky comment about Clark and Diana's date.
- Atlanna was not a part of the comic this movie is based on but the movie also excluded several characters who were.
- There was also a brief cameo from the Scarecrow during the first scene with Batman and Green Lantern but that story was abandoned as well.
- Chronology: Not too long since the events of the last movie.
Justice League: Throne Of Atlantis is a solid opening for Aquaman and his underwater world. While some League members could've gotten some better storylines, they're all reasonably utilised and both Orm and Manta are satisfying villains in this one. Not my favourite of the animated movies but still a good one though.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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