
Written by: Kevin Hopps
Directed by: Dan Riba
Original Air Date: December 10, 2001
The previous episode of Justice League ended with Aquaman the victim of a palace coup, orchestrated by his brother Orm.
Orm, disgusted over his brother's supposed "treachery" by trying to live in peace with the Surface World, has taken this opportunity to take over and launch an attack. Mera asks if her husband has returned, by Orm lies to her, telling her that his brother is probably dead.
Mera is horrified when she learns Orm has stolen her son--under the guise of protecting the royal heir--but Mera quickly realizes something is very, very wrong.
Moments later, the JLA arrives, and Orm has his army fire at them:

They wake up in chains, each of them wearing some sort of mental control device that Orm controls, subduing them all--even Superman. Orm chains them to a wall in an antechamber, and it begins to fill with water.
Mera watches all this from afar, and takes matters into her own hands, taking out two of Orm's flunkies with a giant mace:

We then see where they are: both of them--father and son--are chained to a cliff face. Orm blasts the hunk of rock they are hanging from, hoping to make their deaths look like an accident. As Orm leaves, the rock wall begins to crumble:



The JLA begins to leave, and Aquaman is ready to join them:

The Atlanteans are, for the most part, no match for the JLA, but their numbers are so vast that it takes all the JLA's efforts just to fight them off. Aquaman leaves that task to the JLA, deciding to go after his brother personally.
He smashes his way into an ice cavern containing the doomsday weapon, and he and Orm have it out:

The ice bridge collapses under Orm's feet, and he hangs on by grabbing the edge of the cliff where Aquaman is standing. Orm begs for mercy, but all Aquaman is concerned about is his trident, which Orm had appropriated.
Orm can't hold on any longer, and plummets to his...death?:

Back in Atlantis, some of Orm's men beg for forgiveness, and Aquaman tells the traitors to get out of his sight. Disgusted by his own blind hatred for the Surface World, Aquaman recommits to finding a way to live in peace with the rest of the world.
Superman states it won't be easy. Aquaman agrees, but looks at his family and says, "I know...but some sacrifices are worth it."

This episode is probably the best example of the old phrase, making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. As I have stated too many times in the past, I was never a fan of the whole hook-for-a-hand look, but Justice League presents the best possible, most bad-ass reason for it to exist than I could ever imagine.
I mean, wow: Aquaman cuts his own hand off to save his son. If you have to do the whole hook-for-a-hand thing, this is the way to do it.
Scott Rummell makes a fine Aquaman, and he would return to the show a couple times more as the Sea King, and we'll cover here on the Shrine sometime in the near future...
6 comments:
Still my favorite episode from the first season, but I always wished Orm's armor could have been a *little* more Ocean Master inspired.
Still though, very nicely done.
Apparently the voice of Mera was supplied by Kristen Bauer who plays vampire Pam in True Blood!
Yeah, the whole "hand for a son" thing was just flat out awesome. What dad WOULDN'T give his life (let alone his hand) for his son?
Much better than the DCU comic version.
Chris
I'm in agreement. Even though I prefer Silver Age Aquaman, this rendition of "arrogant Arthur" managed to demonstrate true nobility and heroism that was seldom seen during the moody hook and beard era. JLU did a great job with redeeming this incarnation of the character.
This was one of those episodes that was simply moving. The way Aquaman sacrificed for his son...wow. I remember watching that and thinking, in the same situation I would do the same thing. As Earth 2 Chris said, what dad worth his salt wouldn't do that? This was a great rendition of the Sea King.
It was all kinds of heroic. In fact, when I first saw it I remembering thinking it was one of the top 10 superhero moments I'd read or seen.
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