Following Aquaman making over $1 billion at the box office back in December 2018, Warner Bros. is keen to expand what you might call the Aqua-verse. Aquaman 2 is believed to be shooting later this year, with horror-themed spinoff The Trenches also in the works. And as per the studio’s ongoing aim to generate more movie tie-in content for HBO Max, animated series Aquaman: King of Atlantis is on its way to the streamer, too.
This Wednesday, the company unveiled our first look at the show (see below) via their presentation at the virtual Television Critics Association summit. The image showcases a reimagined Arthur Curry and Mera and reveals King of Atlantis‘ animation style. And, er, it’s not really what we were expecting.
Given director James Wan’s involvement as producer, fans were under the impression that King of Atlantis would either be part of DCEU canon or else be similar in tone and style to the Jason Momoa movie series. Going by the looks of it, though, the show will be much more cartoonish and potentially more kid-friendly, too. The project shares some of the same production team as Cartoon Network’s divisive Thundercats: Roar!, which sports a very similar visual style.
Somehow, this is the first time in history that Aquaman has had his own animated series, so there’s a lot riding on King of Atlantis to deliver the goods. Unfortunately, initial social media reaction is pretty critical, but fans have blasted many a piece of superhero entertainment before only to have them turn out to be great, so we’ll just have to wait and see with this one.
Aquaman: King of Atlantis is a three-part miniseries which will explore Arthur’s very first days as monarch of the oceans, as he battles with unscrupulous surface dwellers, elder evils from the dawn of time and his own treacherous half-brother, Prince Orm. A release date has yet to be announced, but it’s swimming onto HBO Max sometime this year.
Published: Feb 17, 2021 04:30 pm