Pitbull’s Aquaman song “Ocean to Ocean” provides the musical setting for Thor’s dramatic Avengers: Infinity War entrance in a new fan-made mashup video. A song that samples the 1980s Toto hit “Africa,” Pitbull’s cheesy tune was a surprising addition to the Aquaman original motion picture soundtrack, even though the film’s other 1980s inspirations have already been acknowledged by director James Wan.

Some were slightly perplexed by the use of Pitbull’s tune in Aquaman, but Wan later explained his reasons for including the track, saying he wanted a “cheeky” song to play during the sequence where Aquaman and Mera emerge from the water in slow motion. As Wan explained, he just wanted to “have fun” with a moment he considered reminiscent of the Fast and the Furious movies, a franchise he himself has been a part of. The moment proved so memorable that fans have begun placing the Pitbull track over other dramatic superhero moments, like Wonder Woman’s No Man’s Land scene.


In the latest “Ocean to Ocean” mashup, fan Jenna Anderson has used the track to create a slightly different tone for Thor’s arrival in Wakanda in Avengers: Infinity War. Thor dramatically thundering to earth amid the carnage in Wakanda, seeking revenge on Thanos, was already one of the most talked-about movie moments of 2018 before it received new musical backing courtesy of Pitbull.

Indeed, the use of Pitbull's song creates a very different feel for Thor's big Infinity War moment. Instead of being overpoweringly dramatic as it was when backed up by Alan Silvestri's original score, it takes on a tone that Wan might describe as "cheeky." With Pitbull as musical accompaniment, the scene in fact becomes closer to something that might have been featured in Thor: Ragnarok, a movie that definitely had a lot more fun with the Thor character than Infinity War.

As was amply demonstrated in 2018 however, there is no one specific tone that is automatically better or worse for a superhero movie than any other. The year saw the arrival of arguably the most emotionally impactful superhero movie ever in Infinity War, but also had room for a much more traditionally comic bookish and humorous movie like Aquaman. And of course there was also Black Panther, a movie that in many ways transcended the genre by becoming a true cultural touchstone. The conclusion is that being free to try out different tones and approaches, even "cheeky" ones accompanied by Pitbull, will only help creative directors make more and better superhero movies as the years go on.