Justice League: Throne of Atlantis continues the saga of DC Animation’s shared universe, which was rebooted by Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox, with a new origin story for the super hero team in Justice League: War. The events of War (Darkseid attacking earth and disrupting the oceans) led right into Throne of Atlantis, as the mythical underwater city seeks vengeance on the surface world, and the Justice League must take on a new ally (Aquaman) to stop the threat.

In this clip, we see Cyborg and Col. Steve Trevor assessing the Atlantean threat. Interesting note: the voice of Cyborg has been much more mature in War and Atlantis (Shemar Moore and Sean Patrick Thomas, respectively). That’s possibly being done to get fans familiar with the older version of the character that will be played in live-action by actor Ray Fisher – as opposed to a younger version, as voiced by Michael B. Jordan in Flashpoint Paradox.

Featuring a mix of new and returning voice actors, Throne of Atlantis will serve as the test run for Aquaman as feature-film brand, the same way that DC’s recent release, Batman: Assault on Arkham, was a test-run for what is now the star-studded supervillain espionage film, Suicide Squad. The question is: will Aquaman be a hit?

The animated feature is based on the 2012-2013 comic book storyline by DC Entertainment creative chief, Geoff Johns, with some updates or tweaks for the animated shared universe (namely, Aquaman not yet being an established hero). The comic book story re-affirmed Johns’ overhaul on the Aquaman character, who has gone from being a pop-culture punchline to one of the more respected and badass characters in the DCU.

Of course there is still the trick of getting Aquaman to have that Iron Man-style catapult from second-tier hero to mainstream fixation. Actor Jason Mamoa will tackle that feat in the live-action movie universe, starting in Batman V Superman and continuing through Justice League 1 & 2 before headlining his own Aquaman franchise in 2018. Needless to say, there will be plenty of time to process the positive and negative feedback from Throne of Atlantis before settling on an approach to the Aquaman live-action movie.

Justice League: Throne of Atlantis will release on Blu-ray/DVD on January 27th, 2015.