Superhero Smash Season I—Audio Issue #18: Aquaman

Original Air Date

January 2, 2024

Part 1 Begins

Hero Opening Song (3:42)

“Aquaman” by Grandpa Griffith from the Electric Scooter Holiday Blowout album

Superhero Smash (0:30)

You’re listening to Superhero Smash!
Featuring the best in “Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore”
Focusing on current superhero movies and popular culture events
I’m your host, Dr. Gian Pagnucci, a.k.a. The New Professor X
Playing great music about superheroes as well as music that is featured in superhero movies and shows
Also talking about comic book history and heroism
But no matter what cool stuff I discuss on the show, you don’t have to worry because this is a NO SPOILERS show!

Audio Episode Theme: Aquaman (2:00)

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom came out two weeks ago for the holiday season
I saw it just last night, but don’t worry, this is a NO SPOILERS show!
Release Date: December 21, 2023
I found the movie pretty entertaining
Some interesting sets, although there is lots of CGI
It’s a fun buddy movie with Aquaman paired up with an unexpected partner
Lots of humor
Jason Momoa is excellent as Aquaman
Some nice family messages in the film too

Heroic Instrumental Theme Music (1:59)

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” movie theme song by Rupert Gregson-Williams

Collector’s Item Classic Comic Book (3:00)

First Appearance: More Fun Comics #73
Aquaman didn’t even make the cover
Instead it featured Dr. Fate’s smashing, two-fisted exploits
The Green Arrow also was introduced in this issue
Publication Date: November 1941
Publisher: National Comics Publications which later became DC Comics
Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger
Value: The last time a copy was sold, it went for $104, 575!
There are only believed to be 30 unrestored issues in existence

Aquaman Song #1 (4:00)

“Aquaman” from Walk the Moon

Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)

WIUP FM 90.1
The best alternative music in the DC Cinematic Universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and our Universe too!
Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
I love to get listener’s input

Origin Story (5:00)

Aquaman narrates his own origin story in More Fun Comics #73
“The story must start with my father, a famous undersea explorer—if I spoke his name, you would recognize it. My mother died when I was a baby, and he turned to his work of solving the ocean’s secrets. His greatest discovery was an ancient city, in the depths where no other diver had ever penetrated. My father believed it was the lost kingdom of Atlantis. He made himself a water-tight home in one of the palaces and lived there, studying the records and devices of the race’s marvelous wisdom. From the books and records, he learned ways of teaching me to live under the ocean, drawing oxygen from the water and using all the power of the sea to make me wonderfully strong and swift. By training and a hundred scientific secrets, I became what you see—a human being who lives and thrives under the water.”
This was the Golden Age Aquaman
I’ve talked on the show before about other Golden Age superheroes, like Dr. Fate and Hourman
Those heroes were members of the Justice Society of America, but Aquaman turned down membership in the JSA
In 1959 during the Silver Age, Aquaman was reintroduced in Adventure Comics #260
He didn’t make that cover either!
In this comic, Aquaman’s real name is Arthur Curry
He is the son of a lighthouse keeper named Tom Curry and Atlanta, who is an outcast from the underwater city of Atlantis
This is the story told in the first Aquaman movie
In both cases, Aquaman can breathe underwater, communicate with sea life, and is a powerful swimmer
Over time, we also learn that Aquaman has super strength since the Atlanteans have bodies which are adapted to live under the intense water pressure at the bottom of the ocean

Aquaman Song #2 (4:31)

“Arthur Curry” by Ookla the Mok

Aquaman and the Justice League (2:00)

Aquaman was one of the founding members of the Justice League of America, a successor to the Justice Society
The JLA debuted in the 1960s during the Silver Age of comics
Since Aquaman was a member of the group, the writers had to find excuses to have the supervillains fight in the oceans
The team was always splitting up into groups and someone would pair with Aquaman and chase after some henchmen who had headed seaward
The song also gives us a nice homage to Batman and Wonder Woman’s theme TV theme songs

Part 1 Ends (@26 minutes)

Part 2 Begins (@24 minutes)

Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)

WIUP FM 90.1
The best alternative music in the DCU, the MCU, and our U-niverse too!
Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com
I love to get listener’s input

Long Lost Heroes: Aqualad! and Aquagirl! (5:00)

At the beginning of the new film, we learn that Aquaman is now a father
- In the movie, the baby’s name is Arthur Jr.
- Arthur Jr. has the ability to telepathically talk to fish, just like his dad
He doesn’t get called Aquababy, but there is a hero named Aqualad in the comics
Aqualad was introduced in Adventure Comics #269
His name in the comics was Garth
- Garth had purple eyes and the Atlantean’s considered him evil because of this, so he became an outcast
He became a sidekick for Aquaman and eventually changed his name to Tempest
3 issues before Aqualad was introduced, DC Comics introduced Aquagirl in Adventure Comics #266
Originally, she had the same outlandish costume as Aquaman, green pants with an orange metal mesh shirt that was meant to look like fish scales
In Adventure Comics #266, Aquaman even comments that she has copied his costume
Aquagirl’s name was Lisa Morel, but that character was not used for long
The definitive version of Aquagirl was introduced in Aquaman Issue #33
Her name was Tula and she was the half sister of Aquaman’s half-brother Orm who was featured in the first Aquaman movie as the supervillain Ocean Master
Orm turns up in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, too, but you’ll have to watch the film to find out his role in the story since Superhero Smash is a no spoilers show!
Aquagirl is not in the film, which is probably just as well because tracing the Aqua family tree can get a bit confusing
- In the comics, both Aquagirl and Aqualad were members of the Teen Titans
Sadly, Aquagirl perished during the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline which meant great sorrow for her lover, Aqualad
- Aqualad also was a minor character on the fabulous Teen Titans Go! animated series
He was voiced by Will Wheaton of Star Trek fame
And I’ll give a shout out to Will for his amazing work as the reader of the wonderful audiobook Ready Player One, a book which far surpasses the film
Aqualad first appears in the episode “Starliar” on Teen Titans Go!
And that’s more than a good enough excuse to feature a quick Teen Titans Go! song!

Aquaman Song #3 (1:38)

“Go!” from Teen Titans Go to the Movies!
It’s such a funny show and the episodes are only about 10 minutes each, so they make for quick watching

Black Manta (3:00)

The character of Aqualad was later updated by well known comic book writer Geoff Johns
In this later version, Aqualad is the son of Aquaman villain Black Manta
Black Manta is played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the films
- He was always a rather laughable villain the comics with his red bug-eyed underwater costume, but in the films Yahya manages to give him some real menace
- And those red bug eyes shoot lasers which gives him s0me power as well

Aquaman Song #4 (2:25)

“Ocean to Ocean” by Pitbull and featuring Rhea
- An updated spin on the old Toto sign Africa

Save the Planet from Global Warming (3:00)

I’m not going to spoil the movie for you, but I will say that part of the plot involves Black Manta trying to heat up the world and cause a global warming catastrophe
It’s actually never really explained why this is Black Manta’s objective, but the warning about climate changes is one we should take to heart
Melissa Denchak has written a helpful article on “How You Can Stop Global Warming” outlining 12 simple steps you can personally take to make a difference with climate change
For more information about climate change, read this article: “Scientific Consensus: Earth’s Climate Is Warming”
- The scientific community is unified in its warnings about climate change, with 18 different scientific associations making statements about the world problem
But if you still have doubts, you will enjoy the character Dr. Stephen Shin in the Aquaman movie
Shin only slowly comes to be aware of how bad Black Manta’s disruption to the climate is and because he turns a blind eye to what Black Manta is doing for so long, there’s little he can do to stop the impending catastrophe
Shin is played by Randall Park who does a fine job of acting as a helpless scientist caught up unwillingly in Black Manta’s evil plans
He also appeared in the groundbreaking show WandaVision which I highly recommend
Shin only teamed up with Black Manta because Shin was single-mindedly trying to prove to the world that Atlantis existed and hoped Black Manta could help him find it
This obsession led Shin over the deep end, which is the title of our next song

Aquaman Song #4 (3:01)

“Deep End” by X Ambassadors

Part 2 Ends (@45 minutes)

Part 3 Begins (@45 minutes)

Show ID: Superhero Smash (0:30)

WIUP FM 90.1
The best alternative music in the DCU, the MCU, and our U-niverse too!
Check out pagnucci.org and click the big Superhero Smash button
Or email Professor X using the address superherosmash2023@gmail.com

The End of the DCEU (3:00)

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom marks the end of the DC Comics Extended Cinematic Universe, which was called the DCEU
At least now we can switch to calling it the DCU
DC has had a rough time of it, with most of its films being critical bombs and many being box office bombs as well
Especially problematic were this past summer’s The Flash and Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle was just a lousy film and The Flash’s lead actor had far too many legal problems to make it easy to buy him as a superhero
While I enjoyed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, it really doesn’t break any new ground, although I think it works well as a buddy movie
There are a lot of funny moments and good action sequences
And Mamoa truly does embody the character perfectly, just as Gal Gadot has been so fantastic as Wonder Woman, Henry Kavil has been so great as Superman, and, personally, I really would have enjoyed seeing Ben Afleck get his own Batman movie since he did so great with his version of Daredevil and he is a huge comic book fan
And if you have not yet watched the Zach Snyder cut of Justice League, you really owe it to yourself to watch it on Max
It is a true masterpiece and worth the 4 hours it takes to watch it
At that length, you gain a real sense of the characters and what Snyder was trying to do
But DC is moving on with James Gunn now in charge of the DCU
Hopefully the future movies will have some vision too them, rather than just random seeming veering from one film to the next with no real sense of universe building
Since we’re talking about vision, this is the perfect time for our next song

Aquaman Song #4 (3:20)

“Ocean Eyes” by Billie Eilish

Romantic Interlude (2:00)

Aquaman and his wife Mera have a long romantic history in the comics
Unfortunately, Mera actress Amber Herd’s own marriage to Johnny Depp was far more troubled
I won’t comment on the legal back and forth between the two, but just as with Ezra Miller who played the Flash, Herd’s real life problems impact the film and how we receive it
If this is likely to turn you off to the film, let me say that DC really limits Mera’s presence in the story
They have clearly worked hard to all but remove her from the film to do the kind of damage control they really couldn’t do with Miller to save The Flash
Although Michael Keaton is so fantastic as Batman in The Flash that I do think you would enjoy it
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is dominated by Mamoa and he is what makes it a good film so don’t let the real world stuff keep you from seeing what is a solid film
And, at least in the films and comics, Aquaman and Mera have a good marriage which is worth celebrating with a romantic love song

Aquaman Songs

I want to thank the (unlisted) author of “Aquaman in Popular Music”
- This website helped me discover a bunch of good Aquaman songs I had never heard before

Aquaman Song #5 (3:16)

“Everything I Need” by Ween from the Sponge Bob Squarepants Movie

To Be Continued Next Issue (1:00)

Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel–Captain Cold coming up
Contact me, the new Professor X, via email: SuperheroSmash2023@gmail.com
And remember…
“You don’t need superpowers to be a hero. The only thing it takes to be a hero is the courage to do what’s right when someone needs your help.”–Gian Pagnucci
Shout out to Jordan and Adam who run the IUP swimming pools as well as good luck wishes to lifeguard Aiden who is moving on to pursue EMT training
Now, we have just a enough time for 2 last songs about the seven seas where Aquaman reigns as King!

Aquaman Song #7 (3:15)

“Under the Sea” by Samuel E. Wright from The Little Mermaid

Part 3 Ends (@60 minutes)