] type='image/vnd.microsoft.icon'/>

Monday, March 09, 2009

Brave and The Bold: "Game Over for Owlman!"

sg
Aquaman made yet another appearance--albeit a brief one--in last Friday's episode of Brave and the Bold.

This episode picks where last week's left off--with Batman, having returned to his world, now a wanted criminal (thanks to a dimension-hopping Owlman, who has been operating as Batman)
.

After escaping from the GCPD, a bunch of heroes take up the search for Bats, including Aquaman:

sg
Batman manages to elude Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, Red Tornado, and Green Arrow, but when he is cornered, it seems like this the end!

But he is saved at the last minute by an unlikely ally--The Joker!
:
sg
...I really like the show's take on the Clown Prince of Crime. He has a deeper, more mellifiulous voice, and he looks like a Dick Sprang drawing come to live. I dig it.

Batman reluctantly teams-up with the Joker, convinced that an Owlman with all of the Dark Knight Detective's resources will be impossible to defeat alone.

Like the Batman of the comics, we learn that this Batman is always, always prepared. He has scenarios gamed out on how to defeat each of the other heroes in case they go rogue:
sg
...I would've loved to have read what Batman has written there. (I also would've loved it if Cartoon Network hadn't run a banner ad over this part!)

Eventually, Batman and Joker confront Owlman, who has teamed-up with other super-villains and is holding all the heroes in death-traps, like poor Aquaman here:
sg
Owlman offers Joker the chance to betray the truce he had with Batman, and take him out once and for all. Of course Joker accepts, and seemingly offs Bats.

But Batman escapes, with the use of a handy wormhole-creating device. And while he was traveling, he went to other dimensions and rounded up some reinforcements:
sg
...seems like we've got Cowboy Batman, Dark Knight Batman, Demon Batman, Azrael Batman, Pirate Batman, and Hector Hammond Batman.

They take on Owlman and the villains, and in the chaos Black Manta takes the opportunity to ramp up the power level on the doohickey currently baking Aquaman to a crisp.

Azrael Batman steps in, smashes the machine, and gets some water splashed on our hero:
sg
...re-energized, Aquaman busts free of his manacles, steps up to the plate, and delivers one mean-looking wallop on Black Manta:
sg
...it looks like Black Manta's helmet is cracked in two. Ouch!

Of course, all the baddies are defeated, and Joker is carted away, in a style similar to Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs (his face ensconced in a cage).

Batman thinks to himself, maybe Joker can be rehabilitated (recalling his experiences with The Red Hood last episode). They even share some dialog lifted from The Killing Joke. But after Joker reiterates his commitment to killing Batman, Bats' optimism fades.


Like last episode, Aquaman never gets any actual dialog, so VOA John Di Maggio isn't heard.

But that changes next week:
sg
...Batman, Aquaman, and Adam Strange!

3 comments:

Dixon said...

I'm so surprised, and so pleased, at the frequency with which Aquaman keeps appearing on this series. Could we be any luckier? After seeing the ad for next week's team-up with Adam Strange I joked to a friend of mine that they should retitle the show Aquaman: The Brave and the Bold!

Doug said...

Maybe Aquaman will get his own series once more.
After all, look at the string of DC charcters and series that have spun out of the 1990s Batman: the Animated Series.
Aquaman seems to be well suited for an animated series. Big adventure, crazy creatures and foes, does a cartoon get much more toyetic than Aquaman?
Seriously, after Batman, is there another character that would have as much range in toys? Tub toys, pool toys, action figure sets and whatnot?
My nephews (and even my girls, to an extent) would go nuts for a slew of Aquaman gear.

Anonymous said...

Actually, that Demon Batman is Vampire Batman, from the time he fought Dracula.

Yes, folks, Batman fought Dracula, and became a flying vampire.