NY Comic Con ’14: ‘Justice League: Throne of Atlantis’ Panel

After the Birdman panel, I moved up closer for the very next panel in the Empire Stage 1-E, the Justice League: Throne of Atlantis panel (it comes out on Blu-ray next January).  The panelists were character designer Phil Bourassa, screenwriter Heath Corson, legendary voice director Andrea Romano, producer James Tucker, and Matt Lanter (the voice of Arthur Curry/Aquaman).  After their introductions, the trailer was shown to the audience.  Justice League: Throne of Atlantis is essentially an origin story for Aquaman.  When Justice League: War was made, Aquaman was omitted so that he could be saved for a future film.  The look of Aquaman was partially based on the new 52 continuity in the comics.  Bourassa shared that the story tends to dictate the character design.  It was revealed that the end of Throne of Atlantis teases the next film in the series.

It was also revealed that Atlanteans in this film can breathe underwater and have gills behind their ears.  Several cast members from Justice League: War returned (Jason O’Mara, Sean Astin, Steve Blum, Christopher Gorham, and Shemar Moore).  Romano mentioned that Shemar Moore was initially unavailable to voice Cyborg again, but 10 months after having to turn it down, he became available and Romano really wanted to have him in the film (he ended up replacing the actor who had already recorded all of the dialogue for Cyborg).  Moore had to match his dialogue delivery to the already-completed animation (dialogue is usually recorded before the animation).  Romano talked about hiring voice actors and getting the right group together.  Lanter talked about finding the character of Aquaman and putting his trust in Romano when recording his lines.

An exclusive clip from the film was shown afterward (not to be a spoiler, but Aquaman kicks ass in it).  The panel was opened up to audience question after the clip.  Lanter said he enjoyed playing an iconic character.  Tucker said he’d love to a Bat-family film (every Batman-related hero, including from Batman Beyond).  Tucker revealed that Throne of Atlantis originally received an R-rating, but not for violence (he wouldn’t further elaborate on the reason).  Romano talked about the difficulty in casting the voice of Batman (when she reads the script, she still hears Kevin Conroy’s voice as Batman).  It was mentioned that they’re always trying to introduce new characters in a Batman or Justice League animated film.  Another clip from the film was shown (Aquaman fighting with the Justice League for the first time).  The panel thanked everyone for coming afterward.