Aquaman
| Aquaman | |
|---|---|
| File:Aquaman.jpg Aquaman as painted by Alex Ross | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941) |
| Created by | Mort Weisinger Paul Norris |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Arthur Curry |
| Team affiliations | Justice League, All-Star Squadron (Pre-Crisis only) |
| Abilities | Adapted for underwater environment; command of all marine life via sonar abilities; can swim 100 m.p.h underwater; super strength and toughness; left hand is made out of enchanted water which gives him some magical powers. |
Aquaman is a DC Comics superhero. Created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 (1941).
Like Marvel Comics’ Sub-Mariner, Aquaman is an undersea hero originating from the mythical kingdom of Atlantis. His alter ego is Arthur Curry, an Atlantean orphan found and raised by a human lighthouse keeper. He learned about his origin in adulthood and vowed to defend the kingdom of the sea.
Aquaman was a minor but durable hero during the Golden and Silver ages of comic books, appearing in back-up stories of more popular heroes and becoming a founding member of the all-star Justice League. He was featured in Super Friends, (1972-85), a cartoon adaptation of the League, increasing his visibility.
Although the premise of a sea-based hero has provided fodder for comedians (both Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock have referenced the character in routines), writers who penned Aquaman’s series in the 1990s and 2000s have portrayed him as a grim hot-headed anti-hero.
Other characters
Aquaman's closest companions include Mera, his wife who can form structures made from hard water, and Tempest, an outcast orphan whom Aquaman took under his wing. Other supporting cast members include Vulko, the chief scientific advisor of Atlantis and Tula, who later became Aquagirl and was Aqualad/Tempest's girlfriend.
His enemies include Black Manta, a would-be conqueror of Atlantis and the murderer of his son, Arthur, Jr. There is also Orm, the Ocean Master, his half brother who is consumed with an insane vendetta against his brother.
Post-Crisis history
Aquaman, born as Orin to Queen Atlanna and the mysterious wizard Atlan, was abandoned on Mercy Reef as a baby because of his blond hair, which was seen by the superstitious Atlanteans as a curse, The Mark of Kordax. The only one who spoke up on his behalf was Vulko, a scientist who had no time for myth or superstition, and while his pleas had no effect, Vulko would later become a close friend and advisor of Orin's. Orin was found on the reef by dolphins, and taken in by Porm, who became his mother. As a child, he was found and taken in by a lighthouse keeper who gave him his own name, Arthur Curry. One day Orin returned to the lighthouse and found Arthur gone, so he set off on his own. Now in his early teens he ventured to the far north, where he met and fell in love with an Inupiat named Kako. He also first earned the hatred of Orm, the future Ocean Master, who would prove to be his half brother. He was driven away before he knew Kako had become pregnant with his son, Koryak.
Orin returned to the seas; he crossed paths with humans from time to time but for the most part he stayed well out of the reach of humanity. Until one fateful day Orin happened on the city of his birth. Quite by accident he had found Atlantis. He was captured by the then dictatorial government of the city and placed in the prison camp. He was helped by Vulko, at the time also a prisoner of the state, who taught Orin the language and ways of the Atlanteans. While he was there he realized that his mother was also being held captive, but once she was killed he broke out and fled. He beAurther returned to the seas; he crossed paths with humans from time to time but for the most part he stayed well out of the reach of humanity. Until one fateful day Aurther happened on the city of his birth. Quite by accident he had found Atlantis. He was captured by the then dictatorial government of the city and placed in the prison camp. He was helped by Vulko, at the time also a prisoner of the state, who taught Aurther the language and ways of the Atlanteans. While he was there he realized that his mother was also being held captive, but once she was killed he broke out and fled. He became much more involved in the surface world, and the media took an immediate liking to him. The Flash (II) was the first to call him Aquaman. Aurther became a founding member of the Justice League. At first he had a very rough adjustment to life on the surface, but came to feel at home with his fellow members of the League.. He stayed with the team for quite some time, after it had moved to its space station in orbit. With the destruction of that station, Aquaman dissolved the Justice League, citing that the senior members could no longer fulfill their obligations to the team. He reformed it then with only J'onn J'onzz, becoming the leader for a time.
When he finally returned to Atlantis, he found that the citizens had been inspired to free themselves by his daring escape and that Atlantis was now a free city. He was recognised as the son of Queen Atlanna and so he became the King of Atlantis. He began a policy of slowly reintroducing Atlantis to the surface world, though after being ousted by Shark, he decided to become a more traditional superhero, even though with Shark's defeat he could have ascended the throne again. Around this time, Aurther met and married Mera, a queen from another dimension, and they had a son, Arthur Jr. Tragically, Aquaman's most hated foe, the Black Manta, kidnapped and ultimately murdered the infant, causing a rift between Aquaman and his wife that would never heal. Mera had been driven insane by grief and had been committed to an asylum in Poseidonis. Shortly afterwards, an alien force took the city. Arthur was forced to save the day, and in the process was hampered by an escaped Mera who personally blamed Aurther for the death of their son. In a fit of rage she left this dimension. After Atlantis was freed, Aurther knew he had to remain. He resigned from the Justice League. For a time he served as Atlantis's representative to the United Nations but always found himself thrust into the superhero role. Becoming more and more of a workaholic and solitary figure he returned to the oceans. He became tangled up in Black Manta's latest attempt at destroying Atlantis by dragging it into a war with a surface nation. In the aftermath of the war, Aurther received the Atlantis Chronicles, learning all about the history of his people and discovering that Ocean Master was really his half brother Orm. With all the chaos in his life, Arthur fell into a bout of severe depression.
About the time of Zero Hour, Arthur was forced to return to action, compelled by his long time partner Aqualad. Shortly into his new adventures he lost his hand when the madman Charybdis stole his ability to communicate with fish and stuck Aurther's hand in water teeming with piranhas. The shock seemed to have caused him to be a bit unhinged and he began having prophetic dreams. He fitted a harpoon for his missing hand. First, it was just a crude "pigsticker," but after having it melted to slag he had it replaced with a cybernetically controlled replacement from STAR Labs. This new harpoon had a retractable reel that he could fully control.
Aquaman had met the heroine named Dolphin when he lost his hand. She became very infatuated with him, and he longed to have someone close, as Mera was long gone and Vulko began to not trust him anymore. Aqualad, driven by what he thought was visions of his lost love Tula, struck out on his own quest and was gone for several months, falling in with Aurther's father Atlan. Aurther took Dolphin with him back to the Inupiat village of his youth where he discovered that he had an illegitimate son, Koryak, a young man who could breathe underwater and had hardwater powers. After dealing with the Six Pack from Apokolips and several other minor threats, Aquaman went back to Poseidonis with his son. While he was away at STAR Labs, earthquakes began to rock the city. One tremor killed King Theisily and so the city was leaderless. Theisily had been trying to murder both Aquaman and Koryak because of their appeal with the common people. Against Aquaman's advice, the people of the city followed Koryak away from the city. Aurther was left totally alone--except for Dolphin. During a little tryst of theirs, Mera suddenly walked in, knowing nothing of her insanity and attempt to kill her husband. Aquaman and Dolphin followed her into another dimension where he learned that she had been manipulated by Thanatos. He also learned that Mera had had another son while in "netherspace," which was a place where time worked quite differently. Mera told him that she had A.J. nine months after arriving, so she was either a parting gift from Arthur or a welcoming present from Thanatos. Arthur was not sure how to react to this news, remembering the prophecy about two brothers always fighting for control of Atlantis. Aquaman managed to contact his father, Atlan, for the first time ever to facilitate their escape. However, Mera and A.J. were left behind. Aquaman and Dolphin ended up beneath Poseidonis where Aurther learned the source of both the earthquakes and his prophetic dreams. There was a huge alien spacecraft beneath the city that had been there since Atlantis was sunk. Aquaman managed to achieve mental contact with the sentient ship and learned the full history of the people of Atlantis--and why the island nation was sunk beneath the waves so long ago. The ship broke from the sea floor and rose to the surface of the ocean (with Poseidonis resting on top of it). The Justice League came to investigate the city (after Thanatos, posing as Aquaman, had sent a declaration of war to the surface world). Having no patience for his former teammates, Aquaman fought them off, telling them to leave him alone.
Aquaman had learned of the impending return of the Hunter/Gatherers and knew that their return did not bode well for Earth. He and Dolphin set out to reunite the lost cities of Atlantis, including the mage city of Thiena Na Oge and Hy-Brasil, populated with a race of manta-people. Along the way he had to battle his brother, Ocean Master, but was reunited with his old sidekick, Garth, who had undergone intensive magical training under Atlan and was now the hero Tempest. Aquaman rallied all the allies he could get, including Tempest, Atlan, Tsunami, Deep Blue, Power Girl, the Sea Devils, Arion, Neptune Perkins, as well as the people of Hy-Brasil and Thiena Na Oge. Unfortunately, Koryak had led the people of Poseidonis into the lost tunnels and awakened the villain Kordax from his tomb. Kordax mentally controlled the people and had them raze Tritonis, killing, maiming, or scattering all its merpeople. Now Aquaman had to contend with Kordax too, who had joined up with the Hunter/Gatherers as they made their return. They were not the same people who had left Earth long ago, but their intentions were hardly benevolent. All out war erupted with the final battle ending at the White House. In that conflict, Aquaman learnt that Dolphin had been manipulated by Kordax to try and kill him, but she was able to break free of his control. Aurther struck down Kordax and exposed the evil of the Hunter/Gatherers to the world (they had tried manipulating the general populace into thinking that they had only the best of intentions). During the battle with the Hunter/Gatherers Aurther had become more and more the Monarch of Atlantis. All the people of Poseidonis accepted him as king immediately. He commanded that the people work as servants to the merfolk of Tritonis until the city was completely restored. Koryak, overwhelmed with grief of what had happened, stayed with the people as well. During the Final Night, Arthur's dolphin mother Porm was murdered by a villain named Demon Gate, a former fisherman whom Arthur had left to be killed by sharks for killing other dolphins. The conflict nearly caused Aquaman to declare war on Japan to fight the maniac. Eventually he managed to bring him to his knees, but a plea from the ocean life caused Aquaman to spare Demon Gate's life. Instead of death, Demon Gate was exiled to a remote island.
In the course of the battle with Demon Gate, Aquaman had to fight with the sentience of the alien ship beneath Atlantis. With the help of J'onn J'onzz, he forced the ship to obey him again. Aquaman was becoming more ruthless and edgy. While investigating a trench with the Sea Devils, Aquaman encountered his greatest foe, Black Manta, now in the terrible mutated form of a manta like creature. Their battle took them even deeper into the trench. Aquaman had to use all his power against an ancient ghost there. When he returned, his body was covered with flesh like scales. His behaviour became more and more violent. Dolphin, his constant companion during all this, refused to be with him now, too afraid of him. Aurther's transformation became ever more extreme, his scales turning green, his hands webbed. The Swamp Thing helped Aquaman come to terms with all that he had become and what he had done. Aurther went on a mystical voyage which healed him of his mutant condition. Still hoping to regain the trust of the sea life, Aquaman pleaded to Poseidon himself. Poseidon had Aquaman battle his son, Triton, and when Aurther won Poseidon bestowed on him a part of his godhood. More powerful than ever, Aquaman could now tap into the Clear, communicating with sea life over even greater distances. He returned to Poseidonis, the people now back from their servitude, and kept the city on the surface of the ocean. Dolphin no longer loved Aurther, for she had found her love in Tempest, now returned from his long journeys. Aurther gave his blessing to their relationship.
Two great threats came to Aurther's kingdom next. The Millennium Giants ravaged much of the world, including the ocean. Thiena Na Oge was completely destroyed. Not long after, Triton, vengeful of his defeat at Aquaman's hands, stole the power of his father and attacked Poseidonis. The ship beneath the city was destroyed and Poseidonis was returned to the sea floor. Aquaman journeyed into the Underworld to save Poseidon and defeat Triton. Shortly thereafter, Aquaman traveled to an alternate dimension where he found Mera and A.J. (now fully grown). Mera went with her former husband back to our world, where Poseidonis prepared for their king's official coronation. Mera was to be recrowned queen, but she announced that their marriage was annulled and she would not be queen. Koryak was banished from Atlantis when he tried to usurp his father's crown.
Earth was endangered by yet another alien menace. A horde of White Martians attempted to overtake the Earth. In the aftermath of their defeat, the Justice League was reformed as the JLA, and Aquaman became a senior member. The JLA dealt with such threats as the Injustice Gang (which included Ocean Master) and the threat of the rogue angel Asmodel.
All of Atlantis began to flourish under Aquaman's guidance. Much to his overwhelming joy, Mera and he reconciled, becoming husband and wife again. Unfortunately, Atlantis began to be harassed by the despotic nation of Cerdia. While Aquaman attempted to plead with the surface to aid him against Cerdia, the nation launched an all out sneak attack on Atlantis. They were being secretly aided by the Ocean Master. Aquaman rallied his armies and an all out war erupted. The JLA was called in to intervene. In the aftermath of the war, Cerdia was annexed by Atlantis.
Adaptations in other media
Aquaman appeared in his own cartoon series from 1967 until 1968 which failed to find a large audience. He was also part of The Super Friends (1972-1985), and guest-stars in several episodes of the current Justice League animated series. An Aquaman movie has been announced yet no details of it actually coming out any time soon have been addressed.
References
- In MTV's sketch comedy show The State, Aquaman is belittled by the other members of the Superfriends for his comparably uninteresting powers. Superman assigns all of the other members difficult tasks, and then flippantly tells Aquaman to "go...talk to some fish."
- In HBO's series Entourage, the main character is asked to do a superhero movie about Aquaman, directed by James Cameron.