Aquaman
Entry updated 26 May 2025. Tagged: Character, Comics, Publication.
A DC Comics Superhero, created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger in 1941. While variant origin stories have appeared, the best-known account is that he is the son of a princess of Atlantis, whose residents adapted to breathing water when their continent sank Under the Sea. She had an affair with a lighthouse keeper, Tom Curry, and gave birth to their son, Arthur Curry, although the adult Aquaman does not use that name as his secret identity, preferring to spend all of his time underwater. Reflecting his mixed heritage, Aquaman can breathe both air and water, and he naturally is an excellent swimmer; but his most striking Superpower is that he can control all undersea creatures using Telepathy. In early stories, he relied most frequently on his commandeered aquatic assistants to battle evildoers, but they were featured less often in his later adventures, since to make him a more effective hero while on land, it was announced that his power to endure the enormous pressures of the deep sea gave him a sort of super-strength and a degree of invulnerability. His original weakness was that he must immerse himself in water every hour or die, a limitation that was later forgotten, though it is still said that he becomes less energetic whenever he is away from water for an extended period of time.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Aquaman was a supporting character in stories that appeared primarily in Adventure Comics and Detective Comics, and he guest-starred in a few Superman adventures. But he grew more prominent when he became a charter member of the Justice League of America, and he soon was given his own comic. When it was cancelled, he was featured in various comics and limited series while continuing to serve in the Justice League, a role he has mostly continued to play to this day, briefly as its leader. At times, he has also served as the king of Atlantis, since he was the son of a royal mother, though he generally comes to feel uncomfortable with the job and abdicates. Over the years, he has had several companions: an unusually intelligent octopus, Topo (see Super-Pets); a young refugee from Atlantis who became known as Aqualad and was a charter member of the Teen Titans; a mischievous water sprite, Quisp, who playfully bedevilled Aquaman in the manner of Batman's Magical admirer Bat-Mite; Mera, a red-headed princess from another Dimension with the power to control water, who Aquaman eventually married; Vulko, a sympathetic Atlantean Scientist who once succeeded Aquaman as the king of Atlantis; and a young princess from Atlantis given the name Aquagirl who became Aqualad's girlfriend, though he eventually married the superhero Dolphin after he adopted the new name of Tempest. Aquaman has also encountered a number of Supervillains as regular adversaries, including his half-brother Ocean Master, master thief the Fisherman, and the ruthless Black Manta, who notoriously killed Aquaman's young son.
In recent decades, like other lesser DC heroes, Aquaman has experienced a dizzying number of reinventions. His appearance has changed, as he donned a new costume, grew a beard, and lost one hand, which was replaced by a hook. He also broke up and reconciled with Mera, died and was resurrected, suffered through a period of Amnesia, and gained a magical Weapon, a trident crafted by the god Poseidon (see Gods and Demons), reflecting an increasing tendency to shift this once-scientifically explained superhero into the realm of Fantasy. There have also been other heroes who have called themselves Aquaman, as DC kept trying to come up with a version of Aquaman that would prove enduringly popular.
In other media, Aquaman has been featured in numerous animated series, including Super Friends, as well as animated films and Videogames, and a younger version of Aquaman surfaced in episodes of Smallville (2001-2011); he is also the centrepiece of a few Theme Park rides. He has recently appeared in live-action films in the DC universe, most prominently Aquaman (2018) and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) In comics, the classic Aquaman was a slender blond man with a swimmer's physique, but in these films, he was refashioned as a bearded, dark-haired muscleman to counter the widespread perception that he was an ineffectual, even silly superhero. [GW]
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