Justice League(-TV Series) - The Enemy Below • An Part 0II

"**The Enemy Below**" is the sixth and seventh episodes of *Justice-League* . It depicts the reappearance of ***Aquaman***, as hostilities increase between ***Atlantis*** and the surface world, while at the same time, a plot by his brother threatens Aquaman's life.

## Episode guide

### Entirely Next Produced

"In Blackest Night"
"Injustice For All"

### Entire Aired Next

"In Blackest Night"
"Paradise Lost"

## Plot

The Justice League hurries to Atlantis to warn Aquaman, but they are ambushed and taken prisoner by Brak's soldiers. Orm says that he plans to destroy the surface world to keep Atlantis safe, and sentences them to death by drowning. They are held in a chamber filling with rising water, kept passive by headbands that make them unable to use their powers. Then Mera appears and knocks out their guards, and frees them. She says she suspects her husband is still alive, and asks for their help.

Elsewhere on the ocean floor, Aquaman is chained to the side of a rock outcropping, above a lava fissure. As he struggles to get free, Orm arrives and shows how he plans to ensure his succession to the throne: he has brought Aquaman's infant son, and pins him to the rock beside Aquaman. With a mocking goodbye, he uses a blast from the trident to send the outcropping on a slide down the cliff face toward the lava.

Aquaman wrenches desperately at his chains, managing to free one arm, but the other is held fast. He grabs the sharp metal buckle from his belt and hacks at the chain, but without effect. As they draw nearer to the lava, and his son cries, Aquaman raises the buckle, and brings it down with a roar...

At the Royal Palace, the League reports to Mera that Aquaman is nowhere to be found. Then he returns, carrying their son. Mera embraces him and he hands her the baby. It's then that she looks down and gasps in horror: his left hand is gone, the stump of his wrist wrapped tightly with the baby's blanket as a tourniquet. Aquaman then tensely asks where his brother is.

While Aquaman is being fitted with a prosthetic, Batman calls from the surface and tells them that the temperature at the Arctic Circle is rising dramatically; if it continues, the ice cap could melt, causing catastrophic flooding all over the globe. Aquaman resurfaces from his operation and reveals the source of the trouble: the ***Doomsday Thermal Reactor***. He admits that he had it built as a weapon of last resort if it ever came to war with the surface world. But he never armed it; instead, Orm has done that, using the nuclear material from the submarine, and activated it. Aquaman swears to stop his brother, and the League insists on aiding him.

At the Arctic Circle, the League is joined by Batman in the ***Batwing***, before clashing with Brak's forces. The Atlantean soldiers manage to hold the League at bay, but Aquaman breaks through, as do Lantern and Batman.

In a glacier cavern, Aquaman reaches the reactor and confronts Orm, who has the advantage, with two good hands and the royal trident. Orm destroys the controls with a blast from the trident. While Aquaman engages him in a brutal fight, Lantern and Batman try to shut down the reactor. Batman quickly determines that he will have to shut it down manually from the inside. Lantern creates a body shield with his ring, and Batman climbs inside the reactor. Orm deliberately wanting to doom the surface world tries to stop Batman, but is held at bay by Aquaman.

As they fight, Orm loses the trident, but lightly wounds his brother with a knife. Suddenly, the ice beneath them crumbles, and Orm is left dangling off a ledge, with Aquaman standing over him. Orm begs for his brother's help, but Aquaman simply picks up his trident, coldly stating, "I believe this is mine." Orm loses his grip and falls with a scream into the abyss.

Batman closes the manual shutoff valve, and the reactor shuts down. The world is safe.

At Atlantis, Brak and his men plead that Orm forced them, and they would never have otherwise gone against their king. Aquaman coldly orders them to be locked up.

With the League present, Aquaman reflects on his mistakes but resolves to go on working for peace between Atlantis and the surface world, for the sake of his son.

## Continuity

* Aquaman does not appear again until "***The Terror Beyond***".

## Background information

### Home video releases

* ***Justice League - Justice on Trial (VHS)***
* ***Justice League - Justice on Trial (DVD)***
* ***Justice League Collection (DVD 3-Pack)***
* Justice League - Season One (DVD)
* ***Justice League - The Complete Series (DVD)***
* ***Justice League - Season One (Blu-ray)***

### Production notes

* Atomic Cartoons, who were also working on ***The Zeta Project***'s second season, did a test storyboard for this episode. "I had the opportunity to ink the board and design a new villain they were going to introduce on the show called Deadshot," said Ridd Sorensen. "He was a blast to design because I'm a huge fan of Bruce Timm, and it was a great exercise to reference the old comic books and design him in Timm's style. Ultimately we didn't get the gig for whatever reason, but I'm really happy with what we turned in."
* According to ***Rich Fogel***, ***Bruce Timm*** was originally against the idea of using Aquaman's hook hand until he pitched the idea of cutting his hand off during the episode.
* ***Bruce Timm*** insisted that the blanket in which Aquaman's son was wrapped had to be colored red so when Aquaman uses it to wrap his arm after severing his hand, the blanket disguises the obvious fact that he is bleeding into it.

### Production inconsistencies

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* During the battle in the Arctic Circle, after Aquaman dives into the water he's shown to have his left hand instead of the harpoon.
* In the DVD commentary for Part II, Bruce Timm admitted that the rogue Atlanteans happening to have a drowning chamber "doesn't make any sense" considering the fact that they already live underwater. For that matter, it's a mystery as to why J'onn appears to be drowning despite earlier not needing a rebreather under water.
* Orm leaves his knife embedded in the rock formation when he hangs Aquaman's son on it, yet has it later (and uses it) during his duel with Aquaman at the North Pole.
* ***Mera***'s belly button keeps disappearing and reappearing in between shots.

### Trivia

* ***Flash*** and ***Hawkgirl*** do not appear.
* First appearances of and ***Mera*** in the DCAU.
* Right after Batman foils Deadshot's attempt to kill "Aquaman" (who is really J'onn in disguise), there is a female reporter whose manner of dress resembles ***Summer Gleeson***.
* Orm is better known in the comics as Ocean Master. In the producers' commentary for Part II, creators mentioned that the name "Ocean Master" works in the comics, but it was too hokey for the story they wanted to tell. Thus, they simply called him Orm.
* In the same commentary, the creators also noted that Orm's death was ambiguous enough that he easily could have been brought back in the series had they wanted him to return.
* In the comics, Aquaman's hand is lost to a swarm of piranha in a confrontation with a supervillain named Charybdis, who had stolen his ability to command sea life. Bruce Timm stated in an interview that, since Aquaman had the ability to command fish, it was felt the cause didn't make much sense. So, they decided to change the scenario to what is shown in the episode; him cutting off his own hand to save his son. It was felt that not only was this a more sensible scenario, but it also spoke a great deal about Aquaman's character. The prosthetic hook-hand he adopts here is modeled on the one used in the comics.
* Aquaman's appearance is revamped from the "classic" appearance used in his last appearance on *Superman: The Animated Series*, in "***A Fish Story***", the long-haired and bearded look stemming from his own revamp in the early-to-mid-1990s comics, during Peter David's run. Also, ***Scott Rummell*** replaces ***Miguel Ferrer*** as his voice actor.
* The episode shares its title with a classic 1957 film about submarine warfare during ***World War II***.
* In Part II, ***Batman*** is shown alerting the rest of the League to the rising temperatures from the ***Batcave***. On the commentary, the producers said that during the first season, the idea was for Batman to be spending most of his time in ***Gotham City*** and having little to do with the League hands-on. Batman is likewise shown "at home" in the Batcave in "***Paradise Lost***". Producers joked that Batman evolved into a more active role almost immediately, pointing out that "for a 'part-timer,' he was in almost every episode."
* ***Kristin Bauer*** originally auditioned for the role of ***Wonder Woman***, but was beaten to it. When ***Mera*** had to be cast, producers remembered her Michelle Pfeiffer-like voice.
* In Part II, the death of Orm is a reference of *The Lion King*, the roles however, are reversed, with Orm asking his Brother for help as opposed to the The King begging his Brother for help.
* In an interview, Kevin Conroy (Voice Of Batman) said that the words he whispered during the recording session were "**I know where you live, Floyd"** In reference to Batman's private convo with Deadshot.

## Quotes

**Orm:** Well, I'm off to avenge your deaths.

**Superman:** ***His*** own hand... I can't believe it.
**Green Lantern:** I told you he was a madman.
**Mera:** Is it madness to sacrifice all for ***someone you love***?

## References

1. ↑ "RIDD SORENSEN INTERVIEW" - The Character Design Blogspot (Sept. 02, 2006)
2. ↑ "Aquaman, Creeper, and...a LADY FIREFLY? Oh My! (Writer Rich Fogel)" by Watchtower Database (May 23, 2021)

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