Evil Under the Sea! - Recap

The sorcerous Felix Faust is using a ruined temple as his base of operations and has captured Batman. Faust is preparing to cast a ritual from a mystic tome to open Pandora’s Box and unleash its evils upon the world. When Batman taunts him, Faust conjures a mystical clamp to bind his mouth, then begins the ritual. As the evil starts to emerge, Batman simply concentrates and the clamp unfastens itself, floating off into the air. Faust throws a fireball but the chains unlock in similar fashion and Batman dives for cover. He then raises his hand and summons the mystic tome to him with a simple gesture. When Faust throws another fireball, Batman uses the tome as a shield, destroying it and closing Pandora’s Box. Faust can’t comprehend how Batman can so easily use magic without elaborate gestures or incantations. Batman floats into the air above the astonished villain, who thinks he’s a god. However, Batman demonstrates the source of his “powers”: the Atom, shrunk to invisible size and using his weight negation. The Atom grows to human size and the two heroes dispose of Faust.



Afterward, Batman is flying back to the U.S. when he spots seismic activity in the vicinity of the sunken city of Atlantis. He converts his Batplane into a sub and descends into the ocean depths.

At Atlantis, its king, Aquaman, is having a court scribe chronicle his most recent adventure. Batman arrives and spots a sniper hidden in the undersea mounts nearby. The sniper fires an explosive trident and Batman moves to intercept. He gets Aquaman out of the way but the Batplane is destroyed. The boisterous Aquaman is glad to see his old friend, as is his aquatic friend, the dolphin Fluke. Batman isn’t quite as happy to see Fluke.



Aquaman dismisses Batman’s concerns about the attack, noting that villains try to kill him every week. Aquaman’s brother Prince Orm arrives: Batman has fought him in the past and doesn’t trust him. Orm apologizes for his prior actions and Aquaman insists that his brother has reformed. Orm promises to locate the sniper and Batman tells Aquaman about the seismic activity he detected. Aquaman observes that seaquakes happen all the time, but goes along with Batman to investigate.

The heroes are unaware that Orm is outside of Atlantis with his ally… Black Manta. Black Manta was the sniper, and Orm chastises him for failure. Black Manta, unconcerned, assures Orm that Aquaman will soon be dead, Orm can take the throne, and pay Black Manta for his services. However, when Black Manta learns that Aquaman has left Atlantis, he suggests that Orm expedite his plans.



As they go toward the source of the seismic vibrations, Aquaman passes the time by telling Batman his newest adventures. Over… and over… and over again. As they approach the seamount that’s the source of the seismic activity, a sperm whale and two narwhals attack the heroes. The whale swallows Batman while the narwhals try to skewer Aquaman. When the King of the Seven Seas tries to telepathically command them to stop, they ignore him. Inside the whale, a squid similarly swallowed attacks Batman despite his best efforts. Meanwhile, Aquaman manages to immobilize the narwhals and spots control devices on them. He destroys them and is able to regain telepathic control of the whales. He then swims after the sperm whale, destroys its control device, and commands it to free Batman.

Batman figures that Orm is responsible but Aquaman defends his brother, believing he deserves a second chance. He also notes that Orm doesn’t have the knowledge to build high-tech control devices and they’re the work of his enemy Black Manta. Batman notes that Aquaman is protecting Orm because he feels guilty that their mother chose Aquaman to rule, and Aquaman irritably tells Batman to drop the matter.



The heroes don’t find anything where the seismic scanning device indicates the disturbance and Aquaman says he’s going back to Atlantis for his royal celebration. Batman reluctantly goes along with him… unaware that a controlled squid is watching them from the shadows.

At the royal banquet, Aquaman speaks to his people. Batman, observing from the shadows, sees Orm putting deadly sea urchin venom in Aquaman’s goblet. Batman knocks it outside but Aquaman says that Orm was merely seasoning his drink. He takes a sip of the liquid and explains it’s only a poison to surface-dwellers. Insisting that Batman is too suspicious, Aquaman orders him back to the surface before he further disrupts the celebration. As guards escort Batman away, Orm asks his brother for a word in private.

Two sharks take Batman to the coast past the area the heroes examined earlier. In Aquaman’s private chamber, Orm shatters the glass and sea creatures flood in. When the waters recede, Orm reveals that he has telepathically commanded the creatures to make a suit of battle armor for him. Wielding a trident energy-blasted, Orm proclaims himself the Ocean Master and attacks his brother. Aquaman knocks him back, unable to comprehend how Orm could betray him. Black Manta strikes from the shadows, stunning Aquaman. Orm sends a signal to the sharks escorting Batman, commanding them to attack.



The sharks go after Batman, who stuns one and lassos another. However, he loses his rebreather in the struggle and he runs out of oxygen as the sharks move in for the kill.



Orm and Black Manta chain up Aquaman in the dungeon, and use a telepathic suppressor to prevent him calling any sea creatures for help. Orm is confident that he’s in command despite Aquaman’s warnings of betrayal… and Black Manta stuns Orm as well, then chains him up with a suppressor. The villain explains that he has a destabilization device and he plans to use it to destroy Atlantis and plunder it at will.

Fluke comes to Batman’s aide, pulling him away from the sharks and getting him to his rebreather. Batman captures the sharks in an energy net, destroying the control devices and rendering them harmless. Back in Atlantis, Black Manta projects an image of himself to the citizens and says their time is at home. Earthquakes rock Atlantis, cracking open the protective dome. As the Atlanteans flee in terror, Orm has given up hope. However, Aquaman is confident they can handle it even without his telepathy. He whistles for some crabs, which free the brothers. Orm agrees to fight at his brother’s side for the sake of Atlantis and Aquaman telepathically summons the denizens of the deep to aid them.



Batman goes after the destabilization device but Black Manta is waiting with an army of scuba-diving henchmen. Orm and Aquaman arrive and the two sides fight it out. When Black Manta fires an energy blast at his one-time, Aquaman saves Orm, surprising him. The henchmen defeated, Batman goes after Black Manta while Orm and Aquaman attack the destabilizer. Batman grabs Black Manta’s trident blaster and uses it to jam the villain’s wrist-blasters, causing them to explode. Working together, they destroy the destabilizer and save Atlantis.



Rather than exile his brother, Aquaman imprisons Orm in the dungeons and decides to teach him a valuable lesson: the King of Atlantis reads him his biography, telling how he became a hero. Batman, satisfied, decides that Aquaman knows how to handle his brother.

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