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AQUAMAN : King of the Seven Seas

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came."--John F. Kennedy
Swimming around the smallscreen in Smallville its time to know more about the CBM Character - AQUAMAN. This feature answers the questions - Who he is? What are his abilities? What are the changes he underwent? Who has portrayed him in Comic Book Movies?

AQUAMAN is Arthur Curry and to the atlanteans Orin. He is a superhero, king of the seven seas and ruler of Atlantis.

AQUAMAN was created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, and inspired by a book by the Russian Soviet science fiction-writer Alexander Belyayev (Amphibian Man, 1928), the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 (Nov. 1941). Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, AQUAMAN later starred in several volumes of a solo title.

What are his powers and abilities?


Amphibious Nature: AQUAMAN, as an Atlantean, and the son of a wizard and Atlantean queen, can breathe both water and air, but must return to the aquatic environment at various intervals; this length can be prolonged by the humidity in the atmosphere.


Enhanced Hearing: several times more acute than human capacity.

Enhanced Smell: several times more acute than human capacity.

Superhuman Strength: AQUAMAN possesses superhuman strength on the order of 150 times human maximum.

Superhuman Endurance: AQUAMAN possesses strength and stamina that allows him to swim up to 150 mph for at least a 4 hour period without significant breaks for rest or recuperation.

Superhuman Durability: AQUAMAN's enhanced physiology enables him to withstand impacts that would kill and ordinary human, and critically injure an average Atlantean.

Energy-Heat Resistance: AQUAMAN is extremely resistant to energy/heat based attacks.

Superhuman Speed: Said to be the fastest thing underwater, he is capable of swimming at a consistent speed of 150 knots (175mph) for several hours. AQUAMAN can travel at much faster speeds for short "sprints." He has also been seen swimming at 10,000 feet per second. It's unknown how long he can keep up that amount of speed though. With his incredible speed in the water, AQUAMAN is able to create giant whirlpools.

Superhuman Reflexes: While no speedster, AQUAMAN's reflexes are on the order of 12-15 times faster than a normal human.

Marine Telepathy: AQUAMAN has the ability to communicate directly with sea life and has done so throughout most of his life.

Access to the Clear: AQUAMAN has the ability to sense the primal emotions of aquatic creatures through "The Clear". The Clear seems to function as a universal consciousness of all sea life. Via it he can communicate or command sea life on the other side of the planet. He can see what they see and much more what he is only beginning to realise. He can also push his telepathic powers to reach out to the higher land creatures to find that element of their brains that was once an aquatic dwelling creature. This may account for AQUAMAN's facility with language.

Sonar Location: A sonar power which allows AQUAMAN to detect things when blinded. A possible side effect of his gift from Poseidon or from the nature of his advanced mental powers, AQUAMAN can use this sonar-like sense to detect objects much as a dolphin might.

Water Sense: He has a sixth sense of "feeling" flowing water over 47 feet away through any known surface or material and in any direction.

Superhuman Equilibrium

Master Swimmer: AQUAMAN is a master swimmer. Perhaps the greatest there is.

Expert Combatant: AQUAMAN excels at hand-to-hand combat and overall martial ability.



What are the changes in look he underwent?
1. Fun Comics
More Fun Comics Vol 1 #73 (November, 1941)
AQUAMAN debutted in More Fun Comics but only as a back-up feature, he never graced the front cover of that comics. He had his adventures in More Fun Comics until 1946. He already wears the iconic orange green costume that we are all familiar with but he wears a yellow glove and the fins at the back of his legs are also colored yellow.

2. Adventure Comics
Adventure Comics Vol 1 #103 (April, 1946)
AQUAMAN then move his adventures to Adventure comics which lasted until 1961. He is still a back-up feature, now for Superman who generally graces the front cover of Adventure comics. His costume is still generally orange and green, but changes the color of his gloves from yellow to green and he got envious of Superman's boxers so he tried one in black.

3. Justice Leaguer
Justice League of America Vol 1 #1 (November, 1960)
He became a founding member of the Justice League of America, and a constant member in different iterations of the league until this day.

4. Showcase
Showcase Vol 1 #30 (February, 1961)
AQUAMAN then have four main adventures in Showcase, and he finally got the spotlight on the frontcover, along with aqualad. His costume has been standardized by then.

5. Detective
Detective Comics Vol 1 #293 (July, 1961)
AQUAMAN also had a stint in Detective Comics, back in being a back-up feature this time around for Batman. By then AQUAMAN no longer goes out adventuring without his trustee sidekick aquarobi… aqualad.

6. World's Finest
World's Finest Vol 1 #125 (May, 1962)
It's not enough that he's a backup feature of Superman and Batman, now he's backup feature on them teaming up and along with Robin. You could see below that Aqualad has become an accesory of AQUAMAN's costume.

AQUAMAN Vol 1 #1 (February, 1962)
Rejoice as AQUAMAN finally got his own series, years of sucking ti in has finally payed of. In his first adventure Aqualad is still firmly in tow, but sooner or later they have to grow and move away. In this series we see him get married have a son, and lose that son (it's not all fun being AQUAMAN). The first volume of his series ended in 1978.

8. Blue
AQUAMAN Vol 2 #1 (February, 1986)
In his next series, we will see the first radical costume change by AQUAMAN. He now wears a largely deep-sea blue, costume with some wavy design. This series added some mystical elements to AQUAMAN's mythology. The costume look so great that it lasted for four issue, then he is back again in his old duds.

9. Back to Classic
AQUAMAN Vol 3 #1 (June, 1989)
The Blue costume did not work out, people under the sea ignores him a lot because he blends in the water, and the king does not want to be ignored so he went back to his Secondary colored costume. Now wiser, and thinking that only sissyboys in capes wear their boxers outside their costume, he removed his black boxers.

10. The Dreaded 90s
AQUAMAN Vol 4 #1 (December, 1991)
What it would be like if you're a comicbook character and you didn't have any drastic change in the 90s, remember the 90s was a darker time in the comics and AQUAMAN's answer to these dark times - longer hair. And with longer hair comes badass attitude. Note: his costume is still the same than before.

11. Hook
AQUAMAN Vol 5 #1 (August, 1994)
The 90s is not over yet, The long hair is not enough, we need to add a beard. In exchange for all that hair, AQUAMAN has to lose something, andso he loses a hand. But a one hand man is not scary, so a harpoon in exchange for the hand. Then we are back again in looking for something to subtract out of AQUAMAN. Well he already has the hair and the beard, what else do we need to do to make him look more like a rockstar, remove the shirt. Perfect! (90s how we love you). This look lasted until 2001 in the end of this series.

12. What the!
During the series above where he sports the long hair and the beard, we see a lot of What the! moments. We have the: Was it something I ate AQUAMAN, I feel so heavy in this bulky metal armor I can't believe that I am still able to swim AQUAMAN and an Ice Skating AQUAMAN complete with tiara.

13. AquaApe
AQUAMAN Annual Vol 5 #51999
Still part of the What The! moments. There was an event in DC universe that turned our heroes into Apes. (You have to take note that in the DC universe there's a race of Gorillas living in Gorilla city, thinking that they are smarter than humans, and this is one of their doings making people bananas...err... apes).

14. Waterbearer
AQUAMAN Vol 6 #1 (February, 2003)
AQUAMAN returned again to his magical roots. Visited by the famous Lady of the Lake of Arthurian legend, AQUAMAN’s missing hand was replaced by mystical water that gave him healing abilities. He gradually returned to wearing his traditional costume, he cut off his hair and shaved his beard as well.

15. Black Lantern
In the Blackest Night event every character who is dead, or have experienced death comes back to life as a Black Lantern. As I've said almost everybody in comics has been dead one time or another, so we meet this delightful version of AQUAMAN.

16. White Lantern
After the Blackest Night event we have Brightest Day, where we get a glimpse of AQUAMAN as a White Lantern.

17. AQUAMAN again
In Brightest day we see an AQUAMAN returning to his old self. Wearing his slightly modified traditional costume and he has complete hands. Unfortunately the hand doesn't stay up that long as its been cut-off again by one of AQUAMAN's villain. To be fair this time its the right hand, his left hand could breath a sigh of relief.

AQUAMAN in Live Media
1. Alan Ritchson
AQUAMAN is a recurring character in Smallville. He is part of Green Arrow's group of superheroes.

2. Justin Hartley
The CW Television Network had announced a live action AQUAMAN television series called Mercy Reef but on May 18, 2006, it was confirmed that CW did not pick up the show for the 2006/2007 schedule. But a pilot episode was shot and available in iTunes.

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Article requested by:

an AQUAMAN featurette would be the out of this world.

This is the 18th article in my Know Your CBM Character series. Any requests and suggestions for an article for this series write it down in the comment section BELOW.


For AQUAMAN fanatics out there, try to guess on what show did this AQUAMAN costume appear.
1 Yes
0 No



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