The DCEU's Atlantis/Amazon Alliance Gets a Comic Book Origin

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League #10 by Scott Snyder, Francis Manapul and Tom Napolitano, in stores now.

Despite Zack Snyder's Justice League garnering a lot of criticism, one aspect which worked well when it came to building Warner Bros.' DC Extended Universe was the alliance between the Amazons and the Atlanteans. There, we saw these two ancient races uniting to face an apocalyptic threat, which honestly could have been a separate film entirely, due to the grand scale and overall importance of the battle.

Now, in a bit of synergy, that alliance has spread to the comics. In Justice League #10, Aquaman reveals his people joined the ancestors of Wonder Woman in a similar bond eons ago. And just like Snyder's movie detailed, their alliance was formed out of necessity, with the goal of saving Earth from an invading army.

In Snyder's flick, the Amazon-Atlantis alliance was briefly shown, depicting the war that Steppenwolf and his Parademon's brought to the planet's doorstep on behalf of Apokolips. Steppenwolf came to conquer Earth and offer it as tribute to his lord, Darkseid, only for the alliance to repel him. We saw Diana's mother Hippolyta, and her aunt Antiope, in the flashback sequence, fighting on horseback alongside Greek gods such as Zeus and Ares. Joining the Amazons were King Atlan and his Atlanteans, who left the Seven Seas to join the fight on the surface. While the alliance had humans, Green Lanterns and several other races, the bulk of the army consisted of these two people, resulting in Steppenwolf's defeat.

Justice League #10, from Scott Snyder and Francis Manapul, follows a similar path, but with a few comic-specific tweaks. As the Leaguers seek a mysterious burial ground called the Graveyard of Gods, Arthur tells Diana of an ancient Atlantean character named Arion, "the first and greatest hero Atlantis ever knew." He actually built bridges with the Amazons and was a true ally to them, working with Greek god Poseidon (a key member of Diana's pantheon of gods on Olympus) to create a powerful weapon called the Clarion, essentially a mystical conch.

This would call out to ocean life across the cosmos, inviting them to potentially explore life on Earth. But sadly, in addition to hearing from some kindred spirits within the galaxy, the Clarion beckoned bloodthirsty invaders as well. As a result, the Amazons and Atlanteans formed an official coalition which ended up triumphant, leaving stories about their legendary battle to trickle on down to inspire generations of their descendants. The obvious difference in the comic here is that the alliance had to make up for its own mistake, as it was their Clarion that brought these invaders over, as opposed to the film where Steppenwolf came on his own merit, uninvited.

Nonetheless, in these two stories, after the alliance won, everyone went their separate way, having acknowledged the role the other played in "a great war" to safeguard all life. It's a pretty neat addition to DC lore, especially considering that on the big screen, we don't know if we'll ever see these two forces together again. With the Justice League film trilogy looking like it's shelved, it seems unlikely the DCEU will be revisiting this union anytime soon.

However, in the wake of Arthur's recollection here, it's worth remembering how both races partnered in the New 52 when Darkseid invaded, and several other comic arcs over the years. They even allied temporarily in the Flashpoint universe, before warring with each other, leaving us wondering about the potential for other stories that occurred in the past. Both Diana and Arthur expressed reverence over the plethora of adventures their people shared centuries ago, and Arion is a DC character with a rather storied past of his own (in the pre-New 52 universe, that is), so clearly DC can mine this history to further flesh out standalone stories.