The promotion machine for the highly anticipated new season of Young Justice: Outsiders premiering January 4 on DC Universe keeps on rolling. After the unveiling upcoming episode titles and official images this week, today courtesy of an Entertainment Weekly exclusive we get some exciting news regarding Kaldur’ahm better known as Aqualad timed perfectly with the new Aquaman film release. A new character to take on the Aqualad moniker created specifically for the show who eventually made the splash into comics, the noticeable absence of Kaldur in footage and promotion for Young Justice has had fans clamoring to learn what role he would play in Season 3.

Looks like Kaldur is joining the big leagues when he officially takes on the mantle of Aquaman sporting his mentor’s colors and a new costume. As many will recall, during the majority of Season 2 Kaldur worked as a double agent joining his villainous father Black Manta before eventually revealing his true allegiance. Sidekicks taking on their mentor’s is certainly old hat especially in DC Comics whether it’s Dick Grayson’s brief time as Batman or Wally West’s decades long run as The Flash. With the entertainment industry’s ongoing commitment to diversity and representation, it seems like a natural progression for the Kaldur character (voiced by Khary Payton) to come out of the sidekick shadow, especially after proving himself as team leader in Season 1.

 

“We established back in season 1 that King Orin was training Kaldur to take his place as Aquaman,” producer Greg Wiesman says. “Aquaman was also King of Atlantis, which to most people would be a full-time job, and yet he also had to be in the Justice League as Aquaman, which was a lot on his plate. His game plan was to train Kaldur’ahm to be the new Aquaman so he could go back to being King of Atlantis, which was plenty. What you’ll see in this season is that after everything that’s happened in season 1 and season 2, and the leadership qualities that Kaldur has shown, Orin looks at Kaldur and says, ‘You’re ready.’ It’s a pretty momentous year for him.”

Additionally, EW provided some new details on the Young Justice tie-in comic that will see writer/producer Greg Wiesman re-teaming with artist Chris Jones who collaborated together on the previous YJ tie-in comic.

The first half of Young Justice: Outsiders will hit DC Universe in January, with the second half to follow in June. Those who want to know more about what happened in between season 2 and the new season can check out two new issues of the Young Justice tie-in comic. Written by Wiesman, these comics exclusively hit the DC Universe service on Jan. 2 and Jan. 3, and will fill in the gaps specifically about what Superboy and Miss Martian have been up to since we last saw them.