Poll: Would You Say Aquaman Is No Longer Considered Lame?

[PapaGreg096]

Count me in amongst those who think whenever they try to make him "dark" or "cool", then he becomes super lame.
BATB Aquaman on other hand... Is friggin amazing and I wish he was characterized in that directiom more often.

The weird part is by embracing the camp he becomes 10x more heroic imo then when he is angry aqua superman, that rousing song of heroism is truly rousing. In that version he could have no super powers but still be an amazing super hero through sheer charisma.

Don't you mean outrageous

 

[DefunctTheory]

Count me in amongst those who think whenever they try to make him "dark" or "cool", then he becomes super lame.
BATB Aquaman on other hand... Is friggin amazing and I wish he was characterized in that directiom more often.

The weird part is by embracing the camp he becomes 10x more heroic imo then when he is angry aqua superman, that rousing song of heroism is truly rousing. In that version he could have no super powers but still be an amazing super hero through sheer charisma.

Don't you mean outrageous

No, he means...

The 100% capitalization, exclamation mark, and smile are what sell it.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

I like Aquaman for the same reason I like DBZ: he has an insane amount of potential combined with a writing staff that's lucky to use 10% of it.

Aquaman shines when the writers try and make him more than "brick that commands fish". His sunny optimism from Brave and the Bold matched with his Jason Momoa looks contrasting with the otherwise sober DC movie verse? It'd be glorious, and I'll eat my socks and buy 20 tickets to the movie if they do it.

And Warner Bros won't.

 

[happyninja42]

Uh, hello?

Spoiler: Jason Momoa

I'd say if nothing else they found a way to translate Aquaman to something that would be well received by the fickle cinematic audience. Genuinely can't wait for this.

No way. That's even lamer then the Justice Friends version ever was. Now I want to make fun of him more : P

Aquaman will never be one of the cool kids. He will never be superman or batman. Trying to look cool is the least cool thing you can do. Making him look like Rob Zombie, or making him summon sharks, doesn't do him any favors. But that's okay. Because we love Aquaman just the way he is. Choking to death on a soda can wrapper.

You're right, it's totally lame to try and look cool when you aren't cool.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Trying to look cool just makes you look dumber.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Including sharks is totally lame too.

Spoiler

Trying to re-imagine a lame character into something cooler is totally lame, and just makes them look lamer, and totally has never worked ever.

Good thing the cool kids like Superman and Batman were 100% serious and totally not lame from their inception. Yep, no lameness ever in their past, no siree bob, newp.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Aquaman shines when the writers try and make him more than "brick that commands fish". His sunny optimism from Brave and the Bold matched with his Jason Momoa looks contrasting with the otherwise sober DC movie verse? It'd be glorious, and I'll eat my socks and buy 20 tickets to the movie if they do it.

And Warner Bros won't.

I'd pay 1,000 dollars to see the Brave and the Bold Aquaman (The personality, not the look specifically, though orange and green would be great too) brought to the big screen. Seriously.

Anyway, I was cruising through some Calvin and Hobbes, and like all things in life, there's a comic for describing the difference between 'Try Hard' Aquaman and 'Actually Cool' Aquaman.

 

[Stemer]

Somehow Batman managed to overcome the Batusi and Bat-Shark Repellent, but Aquaman is forever defined by that clip of him riding a giant seahorse.

It's a pretty major double-standard.

You say that like it didn't take 20 years for people to stop viewing Batman as a comedy character and for another Batman film to be made.
Also I don't really know why people ITT think Superman isn't viewed as campy anymore, Man of Steel hasn't taken off anywhere near as much as the Nolan Batman films.

 

[Michael Dunkerton]

I never understood Aquaman being seen as lame. Few other Leaguers have more going for them on the cool side than him, and not in a dark edgelord way, not really. He's the king of the sea. He's got a harpoon hand, abs, and a beard. That's just part of his character. As much as it's part of Batman's to wear black (not blue and light grey). Just because his Superfriends version was lame is no reason he has to stay that way, anymore than Batman has to keep wearing blue and telling kids to eat their vegetables. I definitely get wanting the JL to have a lighter member, but that spot is taken so well by Flash already. Honestly, the Justice League and JLU cartoons were so perfect I really can't see myself preferring any other versions of those characters. But I never understood why Aquaman, easily as powerful as most members of the League, can't get out of the shadow of a single version of him from a time when all superheroes were really lame.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

I'm a fan of Aquaman, I liked him in Justice League as a warrior king and I liked him in Brave and the Bold as the mother-fuckin' life of the party. He also has memorable cameo in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths where he seems a fusion of the two.


I don't think he's lame, and most people that do (not all, some fans know him backwards and still hate him) are fairly ignorant of his laundry list of powers - and that includes military power.

Also his wife is like the most hardcore waterbender fucking ever, and she's got a cruel streak too.

Mera is bae. So sexy, so scary at the same time. She's awesome and a great counterpart to Arthur.

 

[Misterian]

Let me tally my non-Superfriends exposures of Aquaman;

Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited (He was awesome, if abit grumpy)

Superman: The Animated Series (yeah, he appeared in that too, he was decent here too)

DC Universe Online (gives a fun, if slightly tedious questline during the summer. He also gave one heck of a boss fight in the vanilla hero questline.)

Injustice: Gods Among Us (Cool,)

Yeah... I'm fairly convinced Aquaman is cool hero, Not sure why there are people that still think of his Superfriends incarnation whenever his name is brought up.

 

[Fox12]

Uh, hello?

Spoiler: Jason Momoa

I'd say if nothing else they found a way to translate Aquaman to something that would be well received by the fickle cinematic audience. Genuinely can't wait for this.

No way. That's even lamer then the Justice Friends version ever was. Now I want to make fun of him more : P

Aquaman will never be one of the cool kids. He will never be superman or batman. Trying to look cool is the least cool thing you can do. Making him look like Rob Zombie, or making him summon sharks, doesn't do him any favors. But that's okay. Because we love Aquaman just the way he is. Choking to death on a soda can wrapper.

You're right, it's totally lame to try and look cool when you aren't cool.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Trying to look cool just makes you look dumber.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Including sharks is totally lame too.

Spoiler

Trying to re-imagine a lame character into something cooler is totally lame, and just makes them look lamer, and totally has never worked ever.

Good thing the cool kids like Superman and Batman were 100% serious and totally not lame from their inception. Yep, no lameness ever in their past, no siree bob, newp.

Hey, I like campy batman/superman. Heck, I like campy Aquaman too. I certainly like him more then serious Aquaman.

In any case, the reason batman is more respectable today is because he's actually had talented writers handle his material. He's had Alan Moore and Christopher Nolan handle his work. His animated series managed to be mature without being grimdark. There's a nuance to the character that Aquaman doesn't have yet.

The thing is, if you want to make Aquaman cool, then you have to stop trying to turn him into batman or superman. We don't need emo Aquaman. We don't need an Aquaman that has a spear arm and beard. We don't need a darker and edgier backstory. We don't need desperate attempts to make him look like an action hero. We just need him to be a well written and relatable character. DC doesn't seem to understand that. The harder you try to make him "cool," the less seriously I take him. Focus on writing a natural story instead. Heck, I'd take a lovable doofus over Snyders abortion any day of the week. It's not that Aquaman can't be interesting, it's that people are handling his character all wrong.

 

[MercurySteam]

So far all we've seen of this Aquaman is him staring at a camera for a couple seconds before doing the Superman flying away thing, but underwater. There's no reason to assume he'll be any good, especially given the Goyer/Snyder-verse isn't very good in the first place.

The first step to having a not-crappy hero is nailing the look otherwise no one will take them seriously. I'd say they're not doing to badly for early days.

No way. That's even lamer then the Justice Friends version ever was. Now I want to make fun of him more : P

Aquaman will never be one of the cool kids. He will never be superman or batman. Trying to look cool is the least cool thing you can do. Making him look like Rob Zombie, or making him summon sharks, doesn't do him any favors. But that's okay. Because we love Aquaman just the way he is. Choking to death on a soda can wrapper.

Hate to say it, but there's no reason he can't be interpreted differently. As far as the films go they could have done worse, aka, a bright orange outfit. This is DC's cinematic universe which means dark and sombre, pathetic heroes wouldn't last a day. So yeah they could have made him a throw-away character but it seems the end result is way better.

 

[Cicada 5]

James Wan has said the Aquaman movie will be bit more lighthearted so we'll probably be getting the best of both worlds.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

No, he means...

Spoiler

The 100% capitalization, exclamation mark, and smile are what sell it.

Would you recommend Batman BATB to someone who saw BatmanvSuperman for the first time yesterday and found it an overly dour and rather boring affair?

Because what I've seen from it so far in this thread, it looks like it might be exactly what I need right now. Also, recommendations for especially fabulous episodes would be much appreciated.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

No, he means...

Spoiler

The 100% capitalization, exclamation mark, and smile are what sell it.

Would you recommend Batman BATB to someone who saw BatmanvSuperman for the first time yesterday and found it an overly dour and rather boring affair?

Because what I've seen from it so far in this thread, it looks like it might be exactly what I need right now. Also, recommendations for especially fabulous episodes would be much appreciated.

Let me put it this way (and hope I get the analogy right); if BvS gave you temporary diabetes, then Brave and the Bold is your insulin.


This is an Aquaman I could get behind. Like it's only a brief clip but he does the stoic king thing but then he gets that grin on his face when he gets punched and then spinning pimp-slaps a *****.

 

[deadish]

Batman is situational. Similar to heroes like Black Canary, he has training and tools to help him hold his own against people like Superman (He wouldn't win in a fight without preparation, but he can easily stall out a fight), but his main forte is pretty much detective work and stopping petty crime.

Aquaman is about as strong as most other heroes when on land. The point of Aquaman is that he could potentially rival Superman if he's in the ocean. In any serious comic, he's always been able to be a force of nature on land. But he's the reason that villains don't fuck around in the ocean.

Bats is the brains of the JL. His investigative skills and chronic over preparedness makes him the ideal intelligence/counterintelligence operative of the League. His ninja skills are just icing on the cake - no one expects him to duke it out alongside the likes of Supes or WW.

Aquaman is only in play when fighting on/in water with his vaguely defined powers. Nothing Supes or WW can't do themselves frankly. He has limited and situational abilities but doesn't really have much of a unique role.

 

[deadish]

Somehow Batman managed to overcome the Batusi and Bat-Shark Repellent, but Aquaman is forever defined by that clip of him riding a giant seahorse.

It's a pretty major double-standard.

You say that like it didn't take 20 years for people to stop viewing Batman as a comedy character and for another Batman film to be made.
Also I don't really know why people ITT think Superman isn't viewed as campy anymore, Man of Steel hasn't taken off anywhere near as much as the Nolan Batman films.

IMHO the Batman:TAS did more for Batman than any of the films did.

It brought up an entire generation of viewers on a serious "back to film noir roots" Batman - despite being limited by what they can do as a cartoon.

 

[springheeljack]

Yeah Aquaman is still a lame hero because at the end of the day his Superpower still only boils down to being able to talk to fish

It would be interesting if the people who write for Aquaman would introduce something Lovecraft related into there stories because part of the appeal of the Ocean is that not everything is still known about it.

 

[Michael Dunkerton]

I can't help but feel like if you rank JL heroes by their powerset, you're doing it wrong. Heck, my two favorite, from the cartoon, anyway, are Flash and Question. They certainly contribute more to the story than a lot of stronger characters. And if we are going to nitpick powers, than why not say Wonder Woman's powers boil down to making people tell the truth? That's the only *unique* thing she does. But Aquaman is also super strong, one of the heavier hitters in the League, as well as being super-durable and commanding an army of one of the most technologically advanced societies on earth. That also has sorcerers.