Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
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I would like to use Peter Dinklage and Charles Dance in a comic book film, but I don't have any idea where to use them as of yet. Dinklage could possibly be Oberon in Justice League 2--Oops, I think I spoiled the plot.
There could be a Lannister family reunion, but there's no hope of a Stark family reunion at all, since most of the OTL Stark kids made their debut in acting with GoT.
The record for "longest game of gay chicken ever played" will therefore go to people other than Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, since they'll probably never meet.
Dinklage could possibly be Oberon in Justice League 2--Oops, I think I spoiled the plot.
He's got a better face for it than Warwick Davis, anyway. Have you already cast Scott and Barda, then?
What are their TTL lives going to be like instead, then? And whom does TTL get to take their places?
Iron Sun
Banned
Given that it was Eastwind 517 that helped the NTSB solve the cases of United Flight 585 and USAir Flight 427, this could have some negative repercussions.
(Paging @thekingsguard, hope you like this
After Justice League made its mark on the cinema with critical and fan praise, many wondered how the studio would follow up on that success. Curiously, the studio had only one superhero film on its slate when two had been becoming the common genre practice. Even more curious was that it was the King of the Seven Seas, Aquaman. While a venerable part of the DC stable for years, the character’s portrayal as “the guy who talks to fish” from the days of Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends cast a long shadow of the character. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s portrayal in Wonder Woman: Underworld Unleashed and Justice League softened that perception, many within the film and comic book industries doubted that the character could compete with Spider-Man and X-Men, both releasing films that year.
Warner Bros. signed on Kenneth Branagh whose background included film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s plays as director with a screenplay credit as well. The Bard’s influence would make his way to the conflict, which was essentially brother against brother for control of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. Many critics compared Orm, Aquaman’s half-brother and known as the villain Ocean Master in the comics, to Iago from Othello as the seemingly loyal right hand of the king who engineers a coup behind his brother’s back. Gerard Butler, who had played the character in Justice League returned role with Dijmon Hounsou (whose credits included Gladiator) as Orm’s ally: the treasure hunter and mercenary, Black Manta.
Though less pronounced, some fans compared the romantic subplot between Mera (played by Lena Headey) and Aquaman to Romeo and Juliet. While there may have been some parallels, with Mera originating from the exiled Kingdom of Xebel, Branagh outright denied such claims. Rounding out the cast were Jeremy Irons as Aquaman’s mentor and advisor, Vulko with Kevin Costner and Kim Cattrall as his parents: Tom Curry and the Atlantean Queen, Atlanna.
While the film does include a partial origin story, it is told mostly through flashbacks at the beginning of the film where Tom Curry finds an injured Atlanna washed up on shore and bring her back to his lighthouse. He nurses her back to health and the pair fall in love. Their son, Arthur, is born a year later, but their happiness is short-lived when Tom returns to find the lighthouse ransacked and Atlanna missing, he hears Arthur’s cries and the heartbroken Tom raises his son alone.
The film cuts to present day where a group of high-tech pirates hijack and ransack a cargo ship in the mid-Atlantic. While the implies that they are Atlantean renegades, it is not until Black Manta emerges from the submarine to confront the captain of the vessel. The captain claims that the (surface) world’s navies will stop them, Black Manta coldly replies that, “They are free to try” and impales him with a harpoon. Attacks like these have been happening on all of Earth’s oceans with tensions between the surface powers and Atlantis. While King Orin AKA Aquaman pledges cooperation, many of the representatives question whether he actually has any control over his kingdom, causing tempers to flare.
Meanwhile, a mysterious redheaded woman watches Aquaman at the podium and approached his and dispatches his security detail before making an attempt on his life. She uses her aquakinetic powers to draw all the water in the room to fashion into a weapon. Despite her prowess, Aquaman (barely) subdues her and allows the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit (with Gwendoline Christie making her cinematic debut as Maggie Sawyer and Robert Loggia as Dan Turpin) to apprehend her.
Aquaman returns to Altantis where Vulko informs him that his would-be assassin, Mera, hails from the exile colony known as Xebel though her motives and if she was working with anyone is working unclear. It would take time as the Atlantean diplomatic corps are negotiating for her extradition. The film treats the audience with court intrigue as a group of Atlantean generals (led by Marius, played by Michael Shannon) petition King Orin to take a more aggressive stance on the surface world, citing humanity’s non-stop polluting of their sovereign waters. Something Orin refuses to do and references Despero’s invasion in Justice League. While Marius protests, Orm--acting as his brother’s right hand--rebukes the general for his insubordination.
However, things are not as they appear as Orm and Marius’ body language imply that this is all an act for the king. The subject of the raiders ransacking surface world ships reemerges and Aquaman decides to investigate the matter personally despite Orm’s attempts to “persaude” him not to. In the next scene, Orm and Marius meet after Aquaman’s departure and agree that now is the time for the “true king” to take the throne.
Aquaman confronts the raiders when they attempt to hijack an oil tanker, only to come into direct conflict with Black Manta who escapes after an inconclusive battle. Though Aquaman tries to pursue, he gets a distress call from Vulko who urges him to return to Atlantis immediately. He answers his adviser’s call only to discover that Orm and Marius staged a coup in his absence and declared martial after. Marius’ forces push Aquaman into retreat to the surface world where he is no longer Orin of Atlantis, but Arthur Curry.
He ruminates on his life before he became king when he was the son of a fisherman and how that changed when Vulko came into his life. It was Vulko who informed him that his mother was an Atlantean princess who fled the kingdom rather than consent to an arranged marriage with an Atlantean noble. The Atlantean Royal Guard eventually located her and forcibly returned her to Atlantis where she was forcibly married to her betrothed, and gave birth to Orm. Upon taking the throne upon her death, Orm drew plans to begin a war with the surface world, forcing Vulko to seek Orin and convince him to seek the throne to maintain the fragile peace.
Likewise, flashback reveal that while Atlantean law forced Orm to abdicate the throne in favour of his older half-brother, he had always resented Orin. While he kept up the appearance of the loyal right hand of the king, he had long plotted to retake the throne. Orm accelerated his plans for his war by ordering an attack on a US carrier group.
Though Aquaman considers asking his new surface allies for assistance, he ultimately decides that he needs to reclaim his throne without outside help (the the film later mentions that Superman is off-world.) So he decides to to free his assassin from prison in a daring break in. Mera is uncooperative at first, but he tells her that Orm and Marius would have freed her if they considered her more than expendable. She reluctantly allies herself with him and the pair escape just as Orm executes his plan.
“King” Orm addresses the World Assembly, telling them that the surface world has to answer for its crimes against the seas and that he--not the surface dwellers--is the true master of the oceans. He orders strikes against all of surface world’s major cities with the Atlantean fleet to keep Earth’s other heroes [1] busy while he wipe out the eastern seaboard of with an Atlantean superweapon that would generate a megatsunami. With the Justice League occupied, it is up to Aquaman and Mera to confront Orm and his troops.
Aquaman devises a plan to confront Orm AKA Ocean Master, as the surface world’s media dubs him, alone. It is a lopsided battle where Ocean Master and Black Manta defeat him, but them Mera arrives to reveal that Ocean Master and General Marius plotted with her to assassinate Aquaman so Orm could retake the throne, which creates dissension and chaos in the ranks where many of Marius’ soldiers turn on him. With the tide (no pun intended) turning, Black Manta abandons the battlefield and leaves Ocean Master to face Aquaman in a rematch alone while Mera duels with Marius.
In an emotionally-charged battle, Ocean Master loses his grip on his sanity, accusing him of always loving the surface world than the oceans and calls him a “filthy half-breed.” This angers Aquaman enough to summon a giant squid to attack the superweapon. He then wrests Poseidon’s Trident from his brother’s grip and incapacitates him with it. Mera likewise bests Marius and prepares to finish him off when Aquaman steps in and tells her that Marius will face “Atlantean justice.” While annoyed at first, Mera relents and even remarks that he sounds like a true king.
Despite reclaiming the throne, Aquaman is left with a surface world that distrusts Atlantis with Orm’s loyalists still causing problems for his kingdom. The only bright spot is that Xebel is prepared to restart relations with Atlantis for Aquaman’s part in freeing Mera from the surface. Unfortunately, that means Mera will have to return as an emissary between to the two kingdoms. Having developed feelings for her, King Orin sits melancholy on the throne until Mera enters the room to thank him for pardoning her for her part in Orm and Marius’ assassination plot. Before she leaves, the two share a passionate kiss and part ways with the promise that they will see each other again.
Aquaman received a positive reception from both critics and fans with some critics giving it better reviews than Justice League for the Shakespearean flourish Branagh gave it. Many of them also lauded the stunning visuals used to make Atlantis come to life and a great deal of effort when into bringing the lost city to life. Indeed, former Aquaman writer, Peter David and several DC artists and writers crafted a design bible that detailed the history and culture of Atlantis. Such efforts gained the recognition of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with nominations in the Best Costumes and Best Production Design. Despite this and the increased marketing push it received after Justice League, the film released in the wake of both Spectacular Spider-Man and Star Wars: Episode III and opened to $65 million on the weekend of June 7, 2005 with $180 million total domestic gross.
While the film failed to make the kind of splash DC/WB wanted, the praise and recognition it received satisfied the studio. Even if the King of the Seas could not overcome Marvel’s Web Slinger and Children of the The Atom, fans considered it a worthy follow-up to Justice League and the general public saw him as more than “the guy who spoke to fish.” 2005 was not a banner year for the DC Expanded Multiverse, but the 2006 showed more promise as the studio sailed into R-rated waters with Suicide Squad, an animated Shazam! feature for the family, and a sequel to 2003’s The Flash.
-Tales From The Superhero Wars, sequentialhistory.net, October 28, 2010
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[1] The comic book adaption shows Wonder Woman fighting Atlantean troops in Europe, the Flash on the West Coast, and Martian Manhunter in Sydney.
You were a Lobo cameo away from me having to bill you for new shorts.
Scott, yes. Barda, no. If anyone has any suggestions, I am open to them. One more detail that I will reveal is that Steppenwolf and the Female Furies will be the main antagonists of Justice League 2.
Since it's 2005, I think we can discuss about the Sonic comic book issues (100 to up)?
We're getting close to the beginning of Ian Flynn's run. I wonder if that gets butterflied away.
I'd have a perfect suggestion if you hadn't already cast Gwendoline Christie.
As predicted by their appearance in Darkseid's court at the end of the first film (I found it while searching the thread for earlier mentions of Steppenwolf). Is Granny Goodness going to show up?
I hope that the legal issues with Penders that ended up contributing to the comic's death this year will be butterflied away. It was literally the only comic I cared about growing up. And, as cheesy as it may sound, hearing about its cancellation made me feel like a portion of my childhood had died.
So? He's the main villain of the comic. That's kind of the point behind the character. He's the obstacle the heroes need to overcome.
Just pointing it out. Archie Eggman is a pretty nasty bad guy.
Well considering that Ken Penders has been a consultant for the main sonic games since Knuckles Renegades, the legal troubles could either be butterflied or even more brutal depending on whether he's creating any character in the game.
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