Wonder Woman

[Christopher R Taylor]

Which is kind of sad, since the "angry badass Aquaman" is a Namor rip off

[Lord Liaden]

It depends on the era and interpretation of both characters. I mean, does Jason Momoa's Aquaman really seem much different from this?

 

 

[slikmar]

Right. Similarly, you don't eat creatures you have a relationship with. As they say in Schlock Mercenary, "Food that can talk is not food." (Seriously, dude lives under the ocean; of course he eats seafood!)

 

Actually the whole issue was like that, bordering on meta-commentary. Aquaman catches a fleeing criminal and people ask why he's there since it's not a "water crime." The cops kvetch about "I can't believe we got upstaged by Aquaman, they'll never let us live this down." Later someone asks him how it feels to be "No one's favorite superhero." A lot of it is clearly meant to address fan expectations, but it also does a great job of setting up Aquaman as someone who genuinely doesn't care about his reputation and just goes on being a hero because he can and it's the right thing to do.

IIRC they also addressed the fact that no one realized he was bulletproof, uber strong etc. They have basically made him be the SubMariner.

 

In recent years, Namor has been more associated with the X-Men then anyone else, even stating he is one of the earliest mutants.

[bigdamnhero]

IIRC they also addressed the fact that no one realized he was bulletproof, uber strong etc. They have basically made him be the SubMariner.

Right. He's essentially a flying brick who can also breathe underwater and not-talk to fish. I'm not enough of a DC junkie to say how far back that goes or if that was part of the original character concept.

 

Totally off-topic, but speaking of the Submariner my group has what I call "the Namor Rule" in reference to early Defenders comics, in which every other issue had to devote at least a page to "How do we convince the Submariner to work with us this week?" The idea is that if you insist on playing an Antisocial Lone Wolf Who Doesn't Work With Others, then it's on you to come up with reasons why he keeps showing up with the rest of the team, or else you're likely get really bored. (One player suggested calling it the Wolverine Rule, given how many teams he shows up on despite supposedly being Mr. Antisocial Loner.)

[Christopher R Taylor]

 I'm not enough of a DC junkie to say how far back that goes or if that was part of the original character concept.

 

 

Never was part of him until recently that I know of.  He was strong but not Namor-strong.  Namor is more cultured and dignified than Submariner and he can fly, Aquaman can't do that yet, as far as I know.  There are differences but DC has really blurred the lines trying to make Aquaman more interesting.

[zslane]

It is amusing to see how much they had to change Aquaman for the movies, compared to how he's been drawn and portrayed for most of the seven decades of his published existance. Clearly the producers felt they had to include him in any team called the Justice League, but couldn't bear the thought of giving him his signature costume, short blonde hair, and cheerful demeanor. They really should have just invented a new character name for him, cuz what we have now is basically Conan of the Deep, not Arthur Curry the Aquaman.

[Christopher R Taylor]

Lord Liaden is right, for a while there he had long hair and was pretty cool, after he had a hand chewed off and replaced with a harpoon.  He was actually interesting and distinct back then, I thought it was a good move.  I think it was Peter David did the writing for the series then and he handled it well.  If they'd gone that route, it could have been great without needing to be Barbaran Namor.

 

I would not be surprised if their first concern was "he's too caucasian!" though

[Bazza]

If it is Aquaman or not, is Posiedon the point.

 

(Beside the point)

[BoloOfEarth]

Technically, Namor should come with Captain America...

 

Ewww....

 

If it is Aquaman or not, is Posiedon the point.

 

(Beside the point)

 

It's all water under the bridge at this point.  Or are you fishing for a compliment?

[aylwin13]

Ewww....

 

 

It's all water under the bridge at this point.  Or are you fishing for a compliment?

 

Do you think that was really the porpoise of Bazza's post?

[bigdamnhero]

It is amusing to see how much they had to change Aquaman for the movies, compared to how he's been drawn and portrayed for most of the seven decades of his published existance. Clearly the producers felt they had to include him in any team called the Justice League, but couldn't bear the thought of giving him his signature costume, short blonde hair, and cheerful demeanor.

The movie folks didn't invent that version; he's been portrayed that way in the comics on-and-off at different times, not to mention the animated Justice League series.

[Pattern Ghost]

Never was part of him until recently that I know of.  He was strong but not Namor-strong. 

 

Aquaman was Superman-strong at his introduction. He seems to have missed out on the massive power creep Superman has enjoyed over the years, though. I think his first appearance could be classified as "Aquatic Superman." Strong because he comes from a higher-pressure(gravity) world, has issues with both being an alien and human (original Aquaman was a human by birth, raised in the ocean, Supes a Kryptonian raised by humans), swims and talks to fish instead of flies and has weird alien powers. Two versions of Doc Savage, really. Especially the "my dad taught me the ways of the sea after learning Atlantian secrets" original origin.

[Hermit]

Aquaman has been chucking Polar bears a good fair distance for awhile now

[zslane]

The movie folks didn't invent that version; he's been portrayed that way in the comics on-and-off at different times, not to mention the animated Justice League series.

 

Huh?

 

[Old Man]

Aquaman was Superman-strong at his introduction. He seems to have missed out on the massive power creep Superman has enjoyed over the years, though. I think his first appearance could be classified as "Aquatic Superman." Strong because he comes from a higher-pressure(gravity) world, has issues with both being an alien and human (original Aquaman was a human by birth, raised in the ocean, Supes a Kryptonian raised by humans), swims and talks to fish instead of flies and has weird alien powers. Two versions of Doc Savage, really. Especially the "my dad taught me the ways of the sea after learning Atlantian secrets" original origin.

 

This is completely counter to my understanding of Aquaman's origins and original portrayal.

[Pattern Ghost]

His Golden Age origin from Wikipedia:

 

Aquaman's first origin story was presented in flashback from his debut in More Fun Comics #73 (November 1941), narrated by the character himself:

 

The story must start with my father, a famous undersea explorer — if I spoke his name, you would recognize it. My mother died when I was a baby, and he turned to his work of solving the ocean's secrets. His greatest discovery was an ancient city, in the depths where no other diver had ever penetrated. My father believed it was the lost kingdom of

Atlantis

. He made himself a water-tight home in one of the palaces and lived there, studying the records and devices of the race's marvelous wisdom. From the books and records, he learned ways of teaching me to live under the ocean, drawing oxygen from the water and using all the power of the sea to make me wonderfully strong and swift. By training and a hundred scientific secrets, I became what you see — a human being who lives and thrives under the water.

[Greywind]

At least they passed on the "bitten by a radioactive flounder" origin.

[Lord Liaden]

Huh?

 

 

 

More like in Justice League Unlimited.

 

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah that's the Peter David incarnation, king of the seas, he was cool.  But too blonde

[bigdamnhero]

More like in Justice League Unlimited.

At the risk of being slightly pedantic: the first two seasons (2001-2 and 2003-4) weren't called JLU, just JL. But we're talking about the same show. Aquaman first appeared in the 3rd episode of the 1st season "the Enemy Below" and he looked like the pictures LL posted. IIRC that's the episode where he lost his hand. (Tho they had previously done that in the comics I think?)

[Christopher R Taylor]

Yeah Black Manta I think it was beat him up and shoved his hand into a pool of piranhas, they ate his hand.  It was pretty gruesome but it did set up that cool harpoon hand.

[Lord Liaden]

At the risk of being slightly pedantic: the first two seasons (2001-2 and 2003-4) weren't called JLU, just JL. But we're talking about the same show.

 

Quite right. But with all the animated series and movies under the general heading of "Justice League," I thought it simpler for reference purposes in answering zslane's query to use that more identifiable specific title.

[NuSoardGraphite]

So apparently Aquaman is considered to be a "super Atlantean" because of his royal heritage. He can lift 150 times what a human can. What does that mean? If we say peak human strength is 1000lbs, then Aquaman can lift 150,000lbs or 75 tons. The "average Atlantean" can apparently lift 2 tons, so a super Atlantean being able to lift 75 tons seems reasonable. Pretty strong there

[Lord Liaden]

And just to try to steer this thread back on topic :

 

 

[Bazza]

Aquaman cheated.