Aquaman

Active: 1941 –
Realm: DC Universe
Aliases: none
Affiliations: Justice League of America

Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Lord of the Seas, and one of the most maligned characters in comics history. Aquaman is as golden age as anyone; he goes back to 1941. He has superhuman strength, tough enough to survive the crushing pressure of the oceans’ depth, and can move through water with the speed of a torpedo. He is founding member of the Justice League, for Poseidon’s sake. Yet all he gets remembered for is that he’s the dude that talks to fish.

I suppose when you keep company with the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, it’s hard to stand out because you’re not out -fighting, -thinking, or -powering anyone.

Aquaman: I’m responding to the Justice League alert! Let me help with those overturned cars!
Everyone Else: We’ve got this under control, Aquaman. Why don’t you patrol the harbor?
Aquaman: I hate you guys! If we were on the bottom of the ocean, I could take you all!
Everyone Else: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah, you wish! Robin, go give him another wedgie.

But no matter how many sets of instant aquatic gear that Batman can whip out of his belt, when the Justice League needs to talk down the Meg they have Aquaman because that’s his thing.

Say what you will, even if it meant being a one-trick pony I think that control of sea life would be a reasonably awesome trick to have. It may not be very useful in foiling a typical mugging or a bank robbery but it would be much cooler than the party-trick power I remember from childhood cartoons. In most of those even when they worked the power into the story, it didn’t always work. (“I hope my aquatic telepathy works on these mutated / alien / prehistoric fish!”). The plot devices used on that series to make Aquaman’s most demonstrable power relevant were so forced that they soon gave up using them entirely and he contributed mainly by knocking over henchmen in rowboats. By the end he was just a Plus One, serving as ballast in the invisible jet. Even so he probably still got paid more than the pilot.

It is worth noting that even though they dress alike, there are at least three different dudes who go by the name. Although they obviously shop from the same online outlet, golden gloves golden age Aquaman is a different guy than Arthur Curry who took over throughout the silver, bronze, and most of the iron age, when for a time Arthur “Joseph” Curry took over.

I think continuity has settled on Arthur C. and his is the default identity for whatever Aquaman you see, be it this guy,

 

his guy                                              or even this guy   

but probably not this guy .

Everyone likes to try something new every once in a while, and Aquaman is no exception. In comics at least the poor guy received a clothing allowance every few decades that allowed him to get out of the orange Christmas sweater for a while.

He always ends up back in the goldfish and green, though, and for a purpose. There’s a reason that Arthur Curry Mr. Ripley’ed the outfit from golden age Aquaman  and passed it on this his one-time successor as well as every one-dimensional, one-shot animated Aquaman walk-on in history. That reason? Brand recognition. For example:

Who is that water hillbilly guy?

Oh, I see. it’s Aquaman.

 

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[DC Comics] [Dccomics.com]
[JLA/Avengers] [2003 – 2004] [Number 1-3]
[Super Friends] [1973 -1986] [Season 1, Episode 1, The Power Pirate; Season 1, Episode 2, The Baffles Puzzle; Season 1, Episode 3, Professor Goodfellow’s GEEC; Season 1, Episode 4, The Weather Maker; Season 1, Episode 5, Dr. Pelagian’s War; Season 1, Episode 6, The Shamon ‘U’; Season 1, Episode 7, Too Hot To Handle; Season 1, Episode 8, The Androids; Season 1, Episode 9, The Balloon People; Season 1, Episode 10, The Fantastic Frerps; Season 1, Episode 11, The Ultra Beam; Season 1, Episode 12, The Menace of the White Dwarf; Season 1, Episode 13, The Mysterious Moles; Season 1, Episode 14, Gulliver’s Gigantic Goof; Season 1, Episode 15, The Planet Splitter; Season 1, Episode 16, The Watermen; ]  [The All-New Super Friends Hour] [1977] [Episode 1, The Brain Machine / The Joy Ride / The Invasion of the Earthors / The Whirlpool; Episode 2, The Secret Four / Tiger on the Loose / The Mysterious Time Creatures / The Antidote; Episode 3, Invasion of the Hydronoids / Hitchhike / City in a Bottle / Space Emergency; Episode 4, Doctor Fright / Drag Race / Day of the Plant Creatures / Fire: amphibious; control of sea life including lobsters, sea horses, eels, but not giant squid; ] [Episode 5, The Monster of Dr Droido / The Vandals / Super Friends vs Super Friends / Energy Mass; Episode 6, The Enforcer/ The Shark / Planet of the Neanderthals / Flood of Diamonds; Episode 7, The Invisible Menace / Initiation / Coming of the Arthropods / River of Doom; Episode 8, Attack of the Giant Squid / Game of Chicken / The Water Beast / Volcano; Episode 9, The Collector / Handicap / The Mind Maidens / Alaska Peril; Episode 10, The Fifty Foot Woman / Cheating / Exploration: Earth/ Attack of the Killer Bees; Episode 11, Forbidden / Pressure Point / Lionmen / Day of the Rats; Episode 12, The Man Beasts of Xra / Prejudice / Tiny World of Terror / Tibetan Raiders; Episode 13, Frozen Peril / Dangerous Prank / The Mummy of Nazca / Cable Car Rescue; Episode 14, The Marsh Monster / The Runaways / Will The World Collide? / Time Rescue; Episode 15, The Protector / Stowaways/ The Ghost / Rampage; ] [The Challenge of the Super Friends] [1978] [Episode 1, Rokan: Enemy From Space / Wanted: The Super Friends; Episode 2, The Demons of Exxor / Invasion of the Fearians; Episode 3, Battle at the Earth’s Core / The World’s Deadliest Game; Episode 4, Sinbad and the Space Pirates / The Time Trap; Episode 5, The Pied Piper from Space / Trial of the Super Friends; Episode 6, Attack of the Vampire / Monolith of Evil; Episode 7, The Beasts are Coming / The Giants of Doom; Episode 8, Terror from the Phantom Zone / Secret Origins of the Super Friends; Episode 9, The Anti-Matter Monster / Revenge on Gorilla City; Episode 10, World Beneath the Ice / Swamp of the Living Dead; Episode 11, Invasion of the Brain Creatures / Conquerors of the Future; Episode 12, The Incredible Space Circus / The Final Challenge; Episode 13, Batman: Dead or Alive / Fairy Tale of Doom; Episode 14, Battle of the Gods / Doomsday; Episode 15, Journey Through Inner Space / Super Friends: Rest In Peace; Episode 16, The Rise and Fall of the Super Friends / History of Doom; ] [World’s Greatest Super Friends] [1979] [Episode 1, Rub Three Times For Disaster; Episode 2, Lex Luthor Strikes Back; Episode 3, Space Knights of Camelon; Episode 4, The Lord of Middle Earth; Episode 5, Universe of Evil: appearance; Episode 6, Terror at 20,000 Fathoms; Episode 8, The Planet of Oz; ]
[Family Guy] [1999 – ] [Season 8, Episode 2, Family Goy]
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[Justice League: Throne of Atlantis] [2015]
[Justice League: Dark] [2017]