Aquaman:
STATISTICS
F: IN(40)
A: RM(30)
S: RM(30)
E: RM(30)
R: EX(20)
I: IN(40)
P: RM(30)
Health: 130
Karma: 90
Resources: Gd/10
Popularity: 10
BACKGROUND
Real Name: Arthur Curry
Occupation: Adventurer, Former Lighthouse Keeper, King
Legal Status: Dual citizen of the United States and Atlantis.
Identity: Public
Other Known Aliases: King Arthur, Orin, Arausio, Andy
Place of Birth: Amnesty Bay
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Atlan (The Dead King; ancestor, deceased), Orin (ancestor, deceased), Cal-culha (ancestor), Majistra (ancestor), Arion (ancestor), Uvian (ancestor, deceased), Tom Curry (father, deceased), Atlanna (mother), Orm (Ocean Master, half-brother), Tula (step-sister), Mera (wife), Andy Curry (daughter)
Base of Operations: Amnesty Bay; Formerly Atlantis
Past Group Affiliations: Aquaman Family, Justice League, The Others, Atlantean Royal Family
Present Group Affiliation:
KNOWN POWERS:
Atlantean Hybrid Physiology: Aquaman is from an offshoot of homo sapiens who are biologically adapted to the deep ocean environment. This means they can breathe underwater, endure the pressures of the deep, and can only spend a very limited time out of water. However due to either Aquaman's hybrid nature, he possesses a number of traits others of his mother's side of the species do not.
- Invulnerability: Poor (4), Tough enough to resist small arms fire with minor injury, the teeth of most trench dwellers break upon contact with his body.
- Water Freedom: Increase Strength & Endurance +1 CS while in water
Limited Telepathic Abilities: He can 'Hear' the voice of the sea and 'Communicate' with its many denizens living within it along with those who spring from it. Being capable of sending out worldwide telepathic broadcasts with ease, and when necessary. Across space & time beyond mere oceanic psychic ability. Something Arthur has been able to do since when he was very young.
- Animal Communication & Control – Sea life: Am/50
EQUIPMENT:
Trident of Poseidon: A divine blessing bestowed upon him by its previous wielder Poseidon. The trident given to Arthur blessed him with a host of mystical powers and enchantments.
- Weather Manipulation: Aquaman states control over the storm, rain, wind, thunder, and lightning at Amazing (50) rank
- Electro-Blast: Aquaman could project powerful bolts and arcs of Incredible (40) electricity from his trident.
- Hydrokinesis: Through both his blessings and the Trident given to him, Arthur was able to bend and manipulate water around himself at Amazing (50) ability.
- Hydroportation: With an extent water source, Arthur could teleport Unearthly (100) distances at will.
- Cryokinesis: Aquaman was able to use his trident to summon large icicles from the ground, and freeze an Atlantean with Incredible (40) inten-sity.
- Magic Resilience: The trident provides Aquaman with Remarkable (30) protection against magic.
- Flight: By Poseidon's bless-ings, Arthur could fly at Remarkable (30) airspeeds unaided.
(defunct) Water Hand: This mystical ‘Water Hand’ grants him some new abilities when he focuses his mind powers through it. Currently he has shown the following abilities:
- Gateway: Allows Un/100 travel to the Secret Sea and back
- Density Manipulation: Rm/30 rank and applies to the ‘Water Hand’ only
- Magic Control - Negation: Allows Aquaman to negate the effects of magic with Am/50 ability. He must be physically touching the target with his Water Hand to use this power.
- Special: It is a misuse of the water hand to use it as a weapon. Doing so can unleash the “Thirst”, an ancient evil bent on destroying the Secret Sea and all its sources.
TALENTS: Diplomacy; Leadership; Martial Arts: B; Melee weapons; Mystic Background; Pilot - Water, Land; Underwater Combat
CONTACTS: Atlantis, UN, JLA
HISTORY
Arthur Curry was born the son of the Atlantean queen Atlanna and the Amnesty Bay lighthouse keeper Tom Curry. Atlanna returned to Atlantis, so Tom was forced to raise Arthur alone. As a child Arthur began to show that he had inherited his mother's gifts. Tom turned to Doctor Stephen Shin, a scientist he saved from a storm, so he could better understand Arthur's abilities.
During the time of Arthur's graduation, Shin attempted to release his research to the public, so Tom destroyed all of it except a phial of Arthur's blood, which he took. Shin paid a treasure hunter known as the Black Manta to retrieve the phial from the Curry household. However, there was a struggle and the stress caused Tom to suffer a heart attack, and he died in the hospital soon after. Arthur then tracked Black Manta down and killed his father, believing it to be Manta himself. He then fled civilization until he was brought to Atlantis by his mother's royal adviser Vulko.
He ruled over Atlantis for a while until he abandoned his role, and his brother Orm took the throne. He went on to form The Others, a team made up of outcasts who would search the globe for the Dead King's Atlantean Weapons so they could be safe guarded. After retrieving the artifacts and keeping the Trident of Neptune, Aquaman parted ways with the Others. At some point between leaving the Others and joining the Justice League, Arthur met and fell in love with Mera, a Xebelian princess sent to kill him.
After leaving Atlantis and coming across a demon-like being activating a device that opened a portal, dozens of the demon-like creatures emerged from the portal and headed to the surface. Upon reaching the surface and witnessing what could only be an invasion force, he then met up with other superheroes such as the Green Lantern of Sector 2814; the Amazonian princess Wonder Woman; the fastest man alive The Flash; the dark vigilante Batman; and Superman who hailed from a dead planet. The group then proceeded to kill any of the invaders who got in their way as they attempted to stop the invasion force. The group then met up with a Cyborg. The Cyborg told the group that the leader of the invasion force comes from world to world harvesting any organic material. At that point, an-other portal opened and the ruler of the invaders, Darkseid, stepped through.
The tyrant used his telekinetic power to crush the whole group, rendering a majority of them un-conscious, including Arthur. Upon awakening, the Flash told the group that Superman had been taken by Darkseid's forces. Coordinating their attacks, the group attempted to blind Darkseid so his energy beams would be ineffective. While the team was distracting Darkseid, Batman traveled to the home base of Darkseid- the planet Apokolips- to save Superman. Cyborg then used his built-in mother box to open several portals. All of Darkseid's minions were pushed back through the portal. Wonder Woman and Arthur then blinded Darkseid, and with the help of Superman, the team were able to push the tyrant back to Apokolips. After saving the world from Darkseid's invasion the superheroes were heralded as heroes and given the name Justice League.
Arthur took on a ward in the form of a boy named Garth who became the first Aqualad. Aqualad would go on to join the Teen Titans and have many adventures until the world's mind was erased by Mister Twister making them forget about the Teen Titans. This included Aquaman, who forgot about raising Garth and taking him on as Aqualad. As such Garth became oblivious to his history and joined the Atlantean Army, unaware of his past with Arthur and the Teen Titans.
As Aquaman, Arthur Curry began protecting Boston, having decided to completely abandon Atlantis to pursue a life on land with Mera. Boston was attacked by a carnivorous underwater species called The Trench, and Aquaman and Mera fended off the invasion.
Chasing the Trench, which had taken hostages, to the Marianas Trench, they discovered the predators dying out and desperately trying to feed their children in the remnants of an Atlantean craft. The heroes saved the captives, and Aquaman reluctantly caused the Trench's extinction to prevent further loss of human life. During the U.S. Navy's investigation of the hideout after the fact, Aquaman came in contact with the ship's black box, discovering a centuries-old warning inside.
Reuniting with an old ally of Aquaman's named Ya'Wara from his days with the Others, Aquaman and Mera were informed that Black Manta had killed Kahina the Seer, another former member of the Others, and had taken one of the Artifacts of Atlantis—the Seal of Clarity which she was guarding. In order to ensure their safety, Aqua-man and Ya'Wara began to work together to contact the Others in case Black Manta had gotten to them. First they traveled to the United States Health Center in Heidelberg, Germany in search of Prisoner-of-War before Manta am-bushed them, stole Ya'Wara's necklace, and escaped.
Once the Others were finally assembled, one of their members called the Operative informed them that Black Manta planned to steal the Dead King's Scepter. Although the Others tracked down the villain's location and Aquaman managed to defeat Manta, the he-roes did not succeed in time to stop Manta from delivering the scepter to a mysterious stranger and Vostok-X was killed.
Arthur and the League took down the villain Spore, an A.R.G.U.S. employee who had been exposed to a virus when an unknown individual stole the Orb of Ra. Over their next few missions the League was followed around by Aqua-man's frenemy Green Arrow, who insisted he should join the team, however the League wasn't opening ranks due to their last new addition Martian Manhunter. The Jus-tice League realized soon after this that someone was attacking the League's enemies such as the Key and the Scavenger, to find out the Justice League's weaknesses in both body and mind. After interrogating several of the villains they all gave a single name- Graves.
Shortly after this, Aquaman was saving the inhabitants of a sunken cruise ship when he was called to the Watchtower by Cyborg. The Justice League discussed the threat that this "Graves" faced when Graves entered the Watch-tower with Steve Trevor's codes and attacked the League. The entire League was defeated by the spirits Graves controlled. Graves then vanished from the scene. They then went to Tracy Trevor's and she explained that Graves was the author David Graves who had previously praised the League after they saved his family during Darkseid's invasion. However, Graves's family had gotten sick and died, and he went missing after he gained the sickness. Graves believed that the League caused the illness. After a brief skirmish between Lantern and Wonder Woman over the League's priorities, they all headed to the Valley of Souls where Graves had been imbued with his power. They were then set upon by illusions of their biggest losses. The League were soon snapped out of the illusion as Trevor arrived. They then fought off Graves and his Asuran masters, and Aquaman was able to break Graves' connection to the Asuras, ending his terror.
After the defeat of David Graves, Batman and Aquaman were having arguments about which one of them should lead the Justice League, as the team needed greater stability after Green Lan-tern left. These arguments were postponed due to the emergence of Wonder Woman's enemy Cheetah who had defeated her enemy and disappeared. The League tracked Cheetah to a jungle where she ambushed them and bit Superman. Superman then fell under her control and attacked the League. Cheetah fled the scene as the tribe of the Cheetah fled. After helping to secure Superman and return him to normal, the leader of the tribe explained the origin of the Cheetah. The League then chased Cheetah around the forest until Aquaman apprehended her.
After a series of aggressive moves made by the U.S. government on the area surrounding Atlantis, the underwater state declared war on the surface world. Though Aqua-man wanted to stop the conflict peacefully with the help of the Jus-tice League, he soon learned that his own half-brother Orm was leading the invasion.
Conflicted between his loyalties to the Justice League and Atlantis, Aquaman learned by investigating into the matter that Orm had not caused the mysterious attacks by the United States in order to start the war, instead, the culprit was Vulko, who was exiled from Atlantis after Curry's departure and wanted revenge.
Battling Orm's oncoming fleet in Boston, Aquaman tried to explain to his brother the conspiracy brought on by Vulko, though Orm refused to stand down. Usurping Orm and declaring himself king once more, Aquaman ended the war on the surface and declared the arrests of both Vulko and Orm.
Once king again, Aquaman soon received news that Mera had dis-appeared inside the Bermuda Tri-angle. He traveled to the Triangle and reached the kingdom of Xebel, Mera's homeland, where he came face to face with the Dead King, who had imprisoned the entire city in ice. After freeing Mera and fighting the Dead King, Aquaman and Mera retreated to Atlantis to find the city under attack by the villainous Scavenger's fleet. Aquaman summoned Topo, a massive underwater monster, with his telepathy to destroy the Scavenger's forces, but the strain of con-trolling the beast caused him to go into a coma just as the Dead King arrived to reclaim Atlantis.
Aquaman awakened six months later under Vulko's care in Antarctica. Returning to Atlantis, Arthur commanded the Trench to liberate his home from its tyrant. After a lengthy brawl, Arthur killed the Dead King, being acknowledged as the king of Atlantis once again.
Aquaman was reunited with the Others when Vostok-X's helmet was stolen from The Living Room by a twisted version of animals. The Others tracked the helmet to the location of the thief, where it was revealed that the helmet was stolen by Morgaine le Fey, an im-mortal sorceress, member of the Immortal Men and sister of Madame Xanadu.
Morgaine wanted the helmet due to its magical properties; the helmet rid the user of the need of sustenance which would allow her to finally leave the Earth. When Arthur and the others arrived Morgaine cast illusions on each of the Others, giving them the chance to join her or die. Arthur, Operative, Prisoner-Of-War and Sky Alchesay all denied but Ya'Wara opted to join her as she believed Morgaine could help her save the Amazon Rainforest. Morgaine was defeated by the Others and Ya'Wara was brought to her senses shortly after.
Sometime after defeating Morgaine, the Others came under at-tack from a covert military force trying to retrieve the Artifacts; all of these attempts were futile as Aquaman and the Others were able to fight them off each time. The operatives then kidnapped Kahina the Seer's sister Sayeh wanting access to her Precognition. Arthur and the others were then ambushed by Anton Solokov and his sister Darya who were behind the attacks. They then transported the Others to their castle in Trezygstan where they met the true enemy, Legend.
Legend revealed that he was from the time of the Dead King and that he had stolen his father's enchanted gold and then murdered him. Atlan then used the Gold to forge the Atlantean Weapons, and Legend had been trying to get the gold back since then. Ya'Wara was tele-ported to the moon in the conflict and discovered a clone of Vostok which after returning to Earth helped Aquaman and the Others defeat Legend and the Solokov twins, killing Legend in the process. Sayeh and Vostok 2 joined the Others after the battle.
After the fight with Legend, Opera-tive was ambushed during a deal by the KGBeast who threw him off a building. Operative was saved by Vostok and continued to fight with the KGBeast until he was over-whelmed by both opponents. Cheshire then helped the Beast escape as Aquaman appeared on the scene. Cheshire and KGBeast then met up with the rest of their team, a group of villains known as Mayhem whose members includ-ed Maelstrom, Strangehold, Braze, Cheshire, KGBeast and NKVDemon.
With the drive retrieved from the conflict with Operative - which contained nuclear launch codes - Mayhem planned to threaten the World and usurp whatever they wanted from it. To make matters worse for Arthur the Prisoner-Of-War became possessed by one of the soldiers he absorbed. However, Aquaman and the Others were able to contain the soldier and free the Prisoner-Of-War. Operative corrupted the launch codes before Mayhem could fire any Nuclear Missiles. The Others and Mayhem then fought on an abandoned Prison Island ending the threat.
Months after Orm's invasion of the surface the Justice League began considering opening their ranks to new membership. After a semi-audition of the heroes who had assisted the League during the invasion the League picked three new members- Firestorm, Element Woman and The Atom (Rhonda Pineda).
Around this time the League watchtower was hacked with a message- have a nice day. On the day of the new members' introduction the Batcave was attacked by a mysterious figure who had defeated Red Hood and Alfred and taken a Kryptonite Ring. Upon investigation Batman and Aquaman weren't able to find a possible culprit, meanwhile the new members were fighting off the villain Despero who had entered the Watch-tower- causing it to crash down to Earth, however the heroes were able to defeat the alien when they discovered that it bore the kryptonite ring.
After the League arrived on the scene Batman and Cyborg noticed that a microscopic slither of kryptonite was missing from the ring. While Superman and Wonder Woman were imprisoning Despero they were met upon by the woman who let evil upon the World Pandora who gave Superman her box as she hoped that his pure heart would activate the box sealing all evil up once again, however this failed so she vanished. Shortly after this the League received a message that a superhero had entered Kahndaq which was against the law. The Justice League entered Kahndaq and attempted to apprehend Shazam with the help of Zatanna before the situation escalated. Soon after this the government supported Justice League of America arrived on the scene, the arrival of this team quickly lead to conflict after Superman killed Doctor Light with his Heat Vision. Superman quickly ended the fight and ordered the Justice League of America to arrest him.
While Superman was in custody Wonder Woman met with the Jus-tice League Dark, as she believed they could help her find Pandora's Box which she thought had corrupted Superman. Believing nothing good would come of Wonder Woman finding the box, Amanda Waller sent the JL and JLA to apprehend Wonder Woman. Upon locating Wonder Woman she was able to convince several members of the JL teams to help in her search, including Aquaman. Eventually, the team tracked Pandora down to Lex Luthor's cell where the box began corrupting the League members one by one. John Constantine was able to get the box and teleported away before any more harm could be done. Upon tracking down the box to where the team was thrown into turmoil once more. At that moment the mysterious leader of the Secret Society of Super-Villains known as the Out-sider took the box. Atom then revealed that it was her that planted Kryptonite in Superman's brain- causing him to kill Doctor Light, as she was a mole for the Outsider called Atomica. Cyborg was then expelled from his body by one of his programs calling itself Grid who was working for the pair and had hacked the Watchtower. Outsider then activated the box revealing it to be a portal to another world and a figure who looked like Aquaman came out and instantly died. Then more evil versions of the Justice League came out of the portal with Outsider and Atomica joining them, they attacked the heroes claiming the World as the property of the Crime Syndicate.
As the Justice Leagues began fighting the Syndicate Deathstorm, the evil counterpart of Firestorm, blasted Firestorm causing him to have a nuclear reaction. This reaction dragged almost every hero present into the Firestorm Matrix including Arthur. The Syndicate then put Firestorm in the hands of Despero who created illusions for each hero so they wouldn't have a chance of escaping the Matrix and stopping the Syndicate. Aquaman was thrown in an illusion where all sealife had been killed by humans that put him in an endless cycle of sorrow and rage. Months later Batman was able to take down the Crime Syndicate with the help of a group of villains including Black Manta called the Injustice League and free the League. As a result of the conflict Black Manta, Ocean Master and many other villains escaped imprisonment and all the Crime Syndicate members had died apart from Grid, Ultraman, Owlman and Superwoman. Also Lex Luthor and Captain Cold were taken into consideration for Justice League membership due to their heroic actions in the invasion.
Shortly after the invasion, the League began hunting various members of the Secret Society while trying to find evidence that Luthor hadn't reformed. Agreeing that they needed to know what had happened to the Crime Syndicate's Earth they began hunting down the ring used by the deceased Syndicate member Power Ring as it held information on the upcoming threat. Eventually the team were able to locate the Ring in Oregon where it had found a new host in the form of Jessica Cruz When they arrived on site Cruz was wreaking havoc due to the ring controlling her and their was an-other team on the site- The Doom Patrol. Upon approaching the team their leader The Chief said he would bring the girl in to keep her from hurting anyone. The teams clashed with Aquaman fighting Robotman, the fighting stopped when Batman was able to calm Cruz down- freeing her from the ring's influence temporarily. They then took Cruz back to base where Arthur and Barry watched over her. At the same time Superman, Bat-man and Wonder Woman decided to allow Luthor in the League to keep an eye on him.
After saving some Atlantean work-ers from lava vents an alert was triggered that a giant creature was attacking the coast. This creature turned out to be the Karaqan a legendary Atlantean guardian, despite this Aquaman killed the beast to halt its rampage. Aquaman tracked a piece of the Karaqan's brain to an underwater facility called Triton Base (that had siphoned a piece of the brain from the Karaqan's corpse) where he proceeded to save a diver named Coombs from some sharks although he was critically injured in the attack.
On a trip to the surface world the Trident of Neptune was stolen by a researcher named Daniel Evans so he could learn more about ancient Atlantis, Aquaman was not able to stop him from accidentally unleashing the dreaded Giant-Born upon the world from an artifact. The beasts, who recognized Aquaman's Atlantean royal symbol, attacked him for associating with the ancient family who once imprisoned them.
Though he managed to fend off the Giant-Born, also unleashed from that artifact was the ancient hero Hercules, whose mind had been warped after having such an extended stay in the hellish land-scape he was trapped in. He, too, was defeated by Aquaman, who sent him back into the artifact and swore that he would one day find a way to help the man reclaim his sanity.
Tracking the escaped Giant-Born to Carcassonne in France, Aquaman enlisted the help of Wonder Woman who with the help of Daniel Evans put a stop to the evil abominations.
An unstoppable Algae monster had begun terrorizing the ocean, killing everything in its way. Looking for a solution to the problem Aquaman and Ya'Wara went searching for the Swamp Thing in hopes of answers. However, when confronting the Avatar of the Green no answers were given and he simply fled.
When Aquaman returned to com-bat the monster Swamp Thing was trying to commune with it, he then had Swamp Thing eaten by Sea-cows before turning to the Algae monster. Aquaman called on his Atlantean forces to destroy the creature but then it fell apart. It turned out Swamp Thing had learned that it was a part of the uber-consciousness of all plant life that split off and formed a baby reality called Kreuzblütler, which Swamp Thing was able to destroy internally.
In Triton Base, one of the scientist's attempts to create a hybrid creature out of the Karaqan's brain and Coombs' remains was successful, however, the creature escaped the base and began its search for the King of Atlantis.
The creature, now calling itself Chimera, reached out to Arthur through marine telepathy and overpowered Aquaman's connection to sea life, making them attack him. The connection broke and Aquaman looked for answers about his experience which led him to a hospital boat where Stephen Shin was staying ever since Chimera escaped captivity. Chimera attacked Arthur on the boat and overpowered him, but the creature was defeated by an ignited fuel tank which blew it up.
Atlantis was suffering a chain of seaquakes so Aquaman employed the surface researchers Stephen Shin and Daniel Evans to assist in the investigation. It was soon dis-covered that the reason for the quakes was because the city did not see Aquaman as its true ruler; this meant that Atlantis never recognized that Atlanna had died. Aquaman discovered her body was not in her tomb. He then proceeded to open an investigation with the help of the Martian Man-hunter. This led him to the The Maelstrom Gate where he opened a portal in search of answers.
The portal opened in Gorilla City where he was greeted by Lord Solovar ruler of the city. He asked if anyone had come through the portal years ago and Solovar told that Grodd had the answers, after quickly dispatching Grodd he was told that a woman came through some 15 years ago. He then reentered the portal.
The portal led to the Polynesian seas where Aquaman and Mera were directed to a portal guarded by Fire Trolls. They defeated the Trolls and entered the portal traveling to a hidden island named Pacifica. They were then attacked by Atlanna and her Atlantean tribe who did not believe who Arthur was. After Aquaman was knocked unconscious by Atlanna, she at-tempted to sacrifice him to Karaku the Volcano God and ruler of the Island. However he escaped and Karaku attacked the tribe out of anger, sending legions of fire trolls on them. The God was then defeated by Mera and Atlanna realized Aquaman is her son. After abruptly departing from Pacifica Aquaman received a message in the form of a Shell of Sounds from his mother.
Arthur heard rumors of alien structures and poisoned water in the kingdom so lead an investigation team to one of the sites. The water it emitted stung to the touch so the team destroyed the structure. As they realized more structures were appearing Arthur speculated that it was an invasion force from another dimension. While investigating, Arthur determined that the particular structure harbored refugee Atlanteans who had escaped the torment of the other dimension and were led by a warlock named Extriax.
Upon returning to Atlantis, Aqua-man was attacked by Mera who believed not destroying the structures due to the possible refugees inside would cause the downfall of the World. Cast out from Atlantis, Aquaman visited Poseidon hoping to receive the strength to stop the invading dimension and take back Atlantis. As a response Poseidon gave him the powers of lightning, earth, water, ice and flight as well as a trident.
Continuing to destroy as many structures as he could on land and in the sea, while fighting off any forces coming through the portals, Aquaman continued to run from Atlantis and saved as many refugees as possible. He learned that the alternate dimension was known as Thule, and that during King Atlan's rule an organization of sorcerers known as the Coven of Thule orchestrated wars so they could rule in the shadows, however the King put a stop to this so they created a pocket dimension where they could rule indefinitely. The Coven then built up an invasion force, conquering worlds on their plain so they would be ready when the spell was lifted.
After escaping an Atlantean task force led by Garth Arthur visited Mera to try to convince her of his cause. However Mera revealed that she was not actually Mera, but her sister Hila who was working as ruler of Atlantis for the Coven of Thule. After escaping from Atlantis, the Justice League sought out Arthur as they wanted to know what was causing the worldwide calami-ty. After filling the League in, Arthur instructed them to destroy any invading forces in countries across the world. While the League was spearheading the defense, Arthur was to invade Atlantis.
Aquaman attacked Atlantis using sea monsters to help him topple the large quantities of enemies. After saving Mera from captivity the pair defeated Hila and headed to the Coven's lair. With the help of Garth, Murk, Swatt, his step-sister Tula and Mera, Aquaman was able to destroy the Coven and all portals across the World, sacrificing his blessings in the process. After the war was over Arthur inducted the refugees into Atlantis.
Sometime after the Thule invasion, Aquaman began to develop relations with the surface world by creating Spindrift Station, an Atlantean embassy on American soil. He appointed Mera as head of relations between Atlantis and the sur-face world under the guise of Aquawoman. Meanwhile, he assisted the F.B.I. in the investigation of multiple murders related to an unknown sea creature which the press was calling Dead Water.
During this investigation, he was attacked by the creature who could teleport through water bodies. He was able to defeat the creature and it was revealed that he was a nor-mal man who had worked for Scavenger named Jonah Payne and was lashing out against people who had wronged him as Dead Water. Aquaman, now knowing this, confronted Scavenger and defeated him. He was then in-formed that Jonah Payne had disappeared months earlier during a salvage op in a strange water body. Aquaman and Scavenger were then attacked by Dead Water and Payne was killed in the fight.
While making delegations with representatives regarding a Mutual Defense Pact between his home nation of Atlantis and the rest of the world, he made a statement of how it was little more than an excuse for people of power to study atlantean craft while their respective nations kept WMD's pointed at his waters.
As he reassured them Atlantis held no malice to the surface so long as the rest of the world left them in peace, Arthur received word of a foreigner in his kingdom searching for a way into Olympus. Reaching his kingdom, the emissary pro-claimed the time of false gods was over and that he was there to free Atlantis and it's people from their yoke. debating about the presence of gods whom Arthur didn't believe in. He left the prophet among his people, having faith that they would be no more interested in serving Rao than they were in the worship of the long abandoned Poseidon.
He quickly came to regret that decision however when he and his beloved saw a prophet convert a resisting citizen into one of their flock. After Mera worriedly asked about his leaving one of the prophets in Atlantis, Arthur immediately demanded him to leave. Only to find the situation had escalated and his people quickly turned on him when he reacted violently to the Prophets acclaiming Roa's sovereignty over his home. After the Prophets failed attempt at destroying what was left of Olympus, Arthur woke up alongside Wonder Woman on the newly restored home of the gods.
The latter stating since the mindset of Olympus's ruler shapes the environment, it reflected whatever she; as the Goddess of War and sole god remaining there, wished it to be. In the wake of current events, the two headed to the armory in order to prep for war against Rao and his followers. Heading into Ares' old munitions bunker, Diana took several weapons of the gods from the arsenal, even handed Aquaman the relic of Atlantis's former sea god.
As Superman battles Rao in the arctic circle, Diana managed to teleport herself and Arthur into the fray, and delivered critical blows to the would-be god with their divine instruments, but soon relented when Kal-El revealed that any damage the mad deity suffered killed all of those who were under his thrall, as it was their life-force which fed and sustained him. Through Batman's planning, use of Parasite teamed with the rest of the League, they were able to sever their adversaries link to the en-slaved populace of the earth. But at the cost of Clark's life. Aquaman did his best to console his team-mate, when Wonder Woman struck his body with the Bolt of Zeus; Arthur and the others were surprised and gladdened to find Clark was among the living again. Just as Rao reconvened with old world Krypton, bringing it back with him to present day in Earth's Orbit with an army of Kryptonians at his beck and call.
As the league struggled to deal with the steadily empowering Kryptonian army set against them, Arthur rebutted the invading Dwalu who dismissed him as a fish-man whose god long since abandoned him. Right around when he used the Trident of the old Sea Monarch to summon a tidal wave to sweep them all aside. With help from the Infinity Corporation execs, the yellow sun of the earth was turned into a Red giant through the Stones of Life. Depowering all the Kryptonian forces, while Rao was undone by his younger self as the Justice League assembled where the ty-rant met his demise.
Garth was reunited with his former friends on the Teen Titans and together they were able to defeat Mister Twister and get their memories back after years. This meant Arthur remembered adopting Garth and having him as Aqualad. With his new found friends Garth went on to form a group known as the Titans. During Wally West's attempt to escape the Speed Force Arthur brought Mera to Paradise Island near where they first met. Here he proposed to her and she said yes.
Arthur heard news of a threat to the surface world: a group of Atlantean extremists known as the Deluge led by Corum Rath, who wanted nothing to do with the surface world. The group was heading up stream to Boston with enough fusion charges to level the whole city. Fortunately, Aquaman was able to stop this from happening as he defeated the terrorists before they could cause another war between Atlantis and the Surface World.
During a diplomatic meeting in Spindrift Station a bomb went off and Aquaman was attacked by Black Manta, who was attempting to ruin Atlantis' negotiations with the surface world. Aquaman and Manta fought to a stand still until Aquaman allowed Manta to kill him, believing that Manta wouldn't as it would render his life meaning-less. Black Manta chose to surrender and Arthur met up with Mera to check on her well-being. When he returned to the embassy it was on lockdown by the U.S. army due to the terrorist attack.
Aquaman and Mera travelled to the White House and met with the Chief of Staff to get Spindrift up and running again. However, Arthur was arrested after a U.S. war-ship named Pontchartrain was sunken by a group of "Atlanteans" claiming to be the Deluge. In order to stop a war from taking place Aquaman agreed to go along with the United States' wishes. However tensions grew worse as the Drift had been caught investigating the wreckage of the Pontchartrain, causing U.S. forces to attack them. This prompted Mera to break Arthur out of jail and the two fought through battalions of U.S. soldiers in an attempt to reach the open ocean. However, this was stopped when Superman arrived and tried to convince Arthur to stand down. Not convinced by Superman's plea, Arthur began to attack him until the Atlantean forces arrived to protect him. After receiving an or-der from Superman to fix the conflict Aquaman retreated to Atlantis and began to look for a way to halt the forthcoming war.
Upon return to Atlantis, Murk dis-played one of the helmets used by the Deluge during the attack on the Pontchartrain, it was at this moment that Arthur realized someone was trying to start a war between Atlantis and the surface world and that they were surface dwellers as the Atlantean helm had breathing apparatus on it. After making this discovery Arthur interrogated Corum Rath about the helmet but learnt he knew nothing, so he had F.B.I. agents Reagan Irving and Arni Ajar investigate the gear on the surface world.
Aquaman learnt of a giant monster heading towards Atlantis that was believed to have been released by the organization behind the conflict. When Arthur went to investigate the creature it attacked him and laid waste to him and all of his forces. Arthur realized that the monster was a creature known as the Shaggy Man, an unstoppable being that had gone toe to toe with the whole Justice League at once. After carving a path through Atlantis the monster headed to the sur-face world where it began laying waste to Amnesty Bay. Arthur faced the creature alone for the fate of the world and managed to defeat it by teleporting it into space using his Justice League teleportation card, seriously injuring himself in the process.
When Mera visited him in hospital she told him that she had spoken to Lieutenant Joanna Stubbs of the British Navy who had told her that a shadow organization known as the National Enforcement Macrocosmic Order (N.E.M.O.) was behind the conflict. After receiving this information Arthur informed the Justice League who helped ease the tension by heralding Aquaman as a hero. As relations began to take a more positive turn, news of an Atlantean invasion hit the world.
N.E.M.O. had invaded several cities along the coast using Atlantean weaponry and tactics, making it seem like Atlantis was attacking the surface world. As a result of this America declared war on Atlantis destroying any Atlantean vessels they found. As the conflict rose and N.E.M.O. continued at-tacking American soil, the Justice League agreed to help Aquaman by attempting to prove N.E.M.O.'s existence. As the Justice League and Tula (The Regent of Atlantis) headed to the White House with the proof the F.B.I agents found, Arthur travelled to fend off U.S. forces invading Atlantis. Arthur discovered that his adversaries were actually N.E.M.O. and not Americans. He attempted to capture them as proof of N.E.M.O.'s involvement, however their heads exploded from a coral implant in their heads which was triggered by a strong signal.
After learning about the League's failure to negotiate with the President, Arthur consolidated with his council on what to do next but was attacked by a covert group of U.S. soldiers known as Aquamarines, who were biologically engineered to kill the King of Atlantis. Aqua-man survived the assassination attempt and incarcerated the Aquamarines, it was then that Aqua-man realized he could track the signal put off by the coral brain bombs to their source, leading him to the leader of N.E.M.O.. Aqua-man tracked the signal to its source where he discovered that Black Manta was the "Fisher King" who had orchestrated the entire war. After defeating Manta and his N.E.M.O. forces, the Fisher King blew himself and his men up in an attempt to leave no proof of N.E.M.O.'s existence, seemingly killing him and his lieutenant Black Jack. After having a meeting with the President and providing proof of N.E.M.O.'s existence, Aquaman was able to redevelop peaceful relations with the surface world.
After his conflict with N.E.M.O. and Manta, Arthur began a campaign of peace between Atlantis and the Surface World. This was going smoothly until he heard a mind in great pain, and after tracking it to its source at Beckman College, Aquaman found what seemed to be a machine. He was then at-tacked by people the Machine was controlling, and after he managed to defeat them the machine at-tempted to control Arthur. Aqua-man learned that the robot was a man named Siyu who was experimented on to become the cyborg known as Warhead. As Warhead, he was leased to the Kahndaqi military and sent to target rebels. When victory was achieved, the Kahndaqis ordered Warhead to wipe out all the rebels but he re-fused as he saw it as an act of vengeance. The Kandaqi military was not pleased that he didn't follow orders and tried to destroy him. Warhead escaped and traveled across the world, seeking safety. Eventually, he fled to New York to find a secure location to begin re-pairs. Now knowing the truth, Aquaman brought him to Atlantis where he could recover.
After negotiating with Warhead Aquaman was contacted by the Leader of the Aquamarines Major Ricoh of the reemergence of the Dead Water problem. She in-formed him that Scavenger had woken from his coma and told the government the location of the strange water, or 'H2.0' as it was being called. Unfortunately a U.S. base was already set up at the lo-cation and the research team had gone missing. Aquaman agreed to help and he, Mera and the Aqua-marines rendezvoused with Scavenger and the F.B.I. agents Ajar and Irving at the research base. Upon investigation the team dis-covered a device that the re-searchers had been building be-fore they went missing. Suddenly Specialist Ollie was murdered by a new Dead Water.
After fighting off the Dead Water Aquaman and Mortimer began finishing the device, which believed would hurt the new Dead Water. Meanwhile the Aquamarines prepared a mini nuke to blow the sinkhole in case the situation got out of hand. Dead Water reemerged so Aquaman activated the device turning back into a human who was then shot by one of the Aquamarines. After I.D.ing him as one of the researchers Laurence Quinn Aquaman decided to go investigate the sinkhole with Mera. Within the sinkhole Arthur and Mera discovered a portal to another planet, upon entering the planet told Arthur through Marine Telepathy that it was called Tethys. After analyzing water samples from the lagoon the team discovered that the other researchers were in the water shredded.
It turned out that Tethys was trying to make contact but was keeping any non-marine life out as a defense mechanism. It was doing this by generating fear in intruders, if they kept close to the border for too long and got too scared they would transform into a Dead Water. On the surface the Scavenger set the nuke to blow to stop the Dead Waters from coming. However this made Agent Ajar transform into a Dead Water, which in turn made Scavenger transform as well. To stop them from causing the death of everyone Aquaman threw the nuke into the portal severing the connection between Earth and Tethys. This ended the Dead Water problem once and for all as Scavenger and Ajar transformed back.
After the events of H2.O the people of Atlantis became slowly more upset with Arthur's actions. The people set Corum Rath free and he and his followers attacked Aqua-man and Mera. After being broken up by the high council, Arthur dis-cussed the necessity of connecting to the surface world for the Atlantean people. However the council disagreed and had Tula imprisoned while the people decided on Arthur's fate.
After Mera and Tula returned to the lighthouse, Arthur was voted out of the throne by the council and Corum Rath was crowned. Using an Atlantean artifact known as the Crown of Thorns, Rath placed a massive energy shield around Atlantis so that no one could get in or out. Arthur attempted to escape Atlantis so he could formulate a plan, but the authorities caught up with him and he was seemingly killed by Murk.
After being stabbed by Murk under Rath's orders, Arthur somehow survived and began defending people from Rath's regime in the Ninth Tride. During his time in the Tride he met a mutant named Dolphin who helped him escape the local authorities. Dolphin took Arthur to one of the mutant havens in the Ninth Tride where Aquaman listened to their strife. Meanwhile Mera was using all of her hydrokinetic power against the barrier to no avail, and Vulko was plotting a way to break down the barrier and get help after he escaped prison during Corum Rath's release. A mutant crime lord named Krush caught wind of the rumors of Arthur's survival and sent a rogue Magician named Kadaver after the Dead King.
Aquaman and Dolphin fought Kadaver but were eventually over-whelmed and captured. After learning that Krush intended to use Arthur as a power play with the King, Arthur and Dolphin escaped Kadaver and fled the area. At the same time Atlantean warlocks were attempting to arrest Mera and Tempest after she had employed him in helping take down the shield. Also Vulko had gained the alliance of the Widowhood who were trying to break down the Crown from the inside.
While Arthur was deciding his next move, Mera and Tempest fought off the Atlantean warlocks but were quickly overwhelmed by the war-locks' superior power. Tempest managed to grab a pendant from one of the warlocks which allowed the user to travel through the Crown of Thorns - with this pendant Mera was finally able to break into Atlantis. During this time Vulko was able to retrieve the Trident of Neptune which he intended to use against the Crown. When Krush went to meet with Corum Rath and tell him that Aquaman was still alive he was killed by Commander Murk.
Arthur rescued a group of rebels from drift forces who were led to the beastmaster of Atlantis Jurok Byss. Upon rendezvousing with the rebellion, Vulko returned the Tri-dent of Neptune to Arthur who be-came the figurehead of the rebel-lion. Meanwhile, a complication with the pendant made it so Mera couldn't breathe after she passed through the barrier, and she was captured by King Shark who in-tended to become the next big crime boss in Krush's place.
Aquaman and the rebel group- the Undercurrent continued to save people from Rath's rule, as he was now exterminating all life in the lower tides of Atlantis attempting to purge Atlantis of its petty people. Fortunately all the magical energy in the air empowered Arthur and his relic of power making him even more formidable then before. Aquaman and the Undercurrent concluded that to take back Atlantis they would need to bring down the Crown of Thorns so people would join their cause. Arthur and Dolphin travelled to meet with King Shark to negotiate a deal for his support. King Shark attacked Arthur but Aquaman was able to convince him to help the cause. He then noticed that Dolphin had let off her Photokinesis ability so he rushed to help her, Dolphin had discovered Mera with breathing apparatus. After breaking Mera out Arthur followed an Undercurrent member- Ondine to the Tower of the Widowhood. It turned out that Ondine was an agent of the Widowhood who was reporting back to Reverend Mother Cetea.
Cetea told Arthur that they were keeping Mera stable but the magic halting her breathing would kill her in ten hours, and that in order to stop this she would need to be taken to the surface to recuperate. Cetea said that Mera was to be the next Queen of Atlantis as she would be perfect for the role, but first they would need to save her and take down King Rath. With the Undercurrent and King Shark refusing to assault the Crown of Thorns, Aquaman went after the artifact himself. Aquaman ran into heavy resistance from Magister Loke's Silent School who served as the protectorate force to the Crown of Thorns, and were on the verge of being overrun by their magics. King Shark rallied his Ninth Tride gangs and came at the last second to aid the Undercurrent rebels and their leader, causing enough of a distraction for Aquaman to undo the enchantment holding up the Crown, but time was quickly running out for Mera. Aquaman, after being further empowered by the Quindent, managed to escort his wife away from the sea just in time to keep her from drowning. As she awoke he told her that he loved her and always would, just as Tula came up to them by the shore of their lighthouse at Amnesty Bay. His beloved now safe on land, Arthur told his half-sister that he was returning to Atlantis, seeking to dethrone Rath once and for all.
The Justice League were alerted of a unwarranted presence on American soil and went to investigate. They discovered that it was a malfunctioning mech piloted by the Justice League of China and after bringing the mech down the Chinese Superman told the team that he was looking for a Chinese artifact that would imbue him with enough power to take down the embodiment of Yang All-Yang. Superman and Superman travelled to the location while Aqua-man and the other Leaguers clean up from the battle. However this didn't go to plan as All-Yang was able to open a portal to the demi-god dimension causing Asuras to come through and reek havoc. Due to their nature the Asuras couldn't be harmed by anything either League could throw at them. How-ever the Chinese Superman was able to channel the power of both Ying and use it to defeat both All-Yang and the Asuras.
After saving Mera from Rath's regime, Aquaman helped Batman with saving a covert Wayne Enterprises research team from a natural disaster. He asked Batman what he was hiding from him and the League, a question to which he got no answer. A while later Arthur and the rest of the League were forced to fight in an arena for their lives by Mongul while wearing suits of armor fitted to greatly weaken each member of the League, how-ever this was not enough for them to lose the fight as they were able to defeat Mongul and get back to Earth. Upon return Arthur and the rest of the League travelled to Gotham where according to Alfred Pennyworth a giant mountain had uprooted.
After investigating the mountain Arthur and the League were greeted by the Blackhawk Squadron, a covert team created to deal with apocalyptic events. After travelling to Blackhawk Island, Lady Black-hawk (the leader of the team) explained that the island was once home to Carter Hall, a detective who was stabbed by a special dagger which made him and Lady Blackhawk immortal, who had been looking to discover the location of the impossible metal's (known as Nth Metal) origin. She said that during this investigation Carter Hall and his associates had discovered the existence of a Dark Multiverse much vaster then the Multiverse which housed an evil entity known only as Barbatos - it was at that point when Carter Hall disappeared. Learning that Bat-man would be the portal that would let the evil into the Multiverse, Aquaman and the over Leaguers tried to restrain Batman but Red Tornado interfered allowing him to escape. After failing to capture him a second time Batman accidentally opened the gateway to the Dark Multiverse allowing Barbatos and his "evil Batmen" to come through.
Days later Amnesty Bay came un-der attack by a mysterious figure who could command the sea. When Aquaman and Mera came to defend the town they came into direct contact with the strange woman. This being turned out to be an evil Batman from the Dark Multiverse calling herself the Drowned who intended to transform Amnesty Bay into the Gotham she lost. Mera and Aquaman attacked the Drowned but soon discovered she was superior to them in every way, using her strange abilities to dampen Mera's Hydrokinesis and summon an army of Dead Water's from her world which began to swarm Arthur and Mera. The Drowned then proceeded to infect Mera, turning her into a monstrous minion who began to attack Arthur. Just before the Drowned could kill Arthur he was teleported away by Doctor Fate and brought to the Oblivion Bar where remaining he-roes like the Flash and Green Lan-tern were taking refuge after they had been assaulted by evil versions of themselves.
Aquaman was then informed that an army of Demons led by Barba-tos and his Dark Knights has invaded and that the Knights were probably looking for the Bar. Soon after this Superman and Wonder Woman arrived at the bar and the remaining heroes devised a plan in which Green Arrow said that only items made of Nth Metal could harm the creatures of the Dark Multiverse. The heroes then fled from the bar as the Dark Knights arrived, with Nightmaster sacrificing himself so everyone could escape. After this Aquaman and Deathstroke were tasked with finding a piece of Nth Metal in the Marianas Trench.
While searching for the Nth Metal, Cyborg attempted to create a link between the search teams for better coordination, however Aqua-man was suddenly whisked through a portal to a nightmarish Batcave where the Drowned resided. After a brief struggle with the Drowned and the Dead Water-infected Mera, Arthur was captured and taken to the Cosmic Tuning Fork where the other members of the League had also been captured by their respective Nightmare Batmen. Barbatos intended to hook the League up to the Tuning fork which would provide enough energy to open a portal that would allow the full might of the Dark Multi-verse to come forth. However after tapping into the full power of his Mother Box, Cyborg was able to break free the Justice League, the Resistance, and Raven, leaving the Teen Titans and Task Force X be-hind. From this Aquaman and Deathstroke continued their search. They traveled to the tomb of one of Atlantis' first Kings Arion in search of Nth Metal. There, he and Deathstroke were attacked by Black Manta who revealed he had allied with the Dark Knights. After a short amount of time Arthur and Deathstroke were defeated and captured by the Knights alongside other members of the resistance. At this point Barbatos was able to successfully drag the Multiverse down into the Dark Multiverse.
Shortly afterwards Arthur and the others broke free and began fighting back Barbatos' minions. They then began clearing a path for Wonder Woman to make her way up the mountain and kill Barbatos with Hawkman's Mace. To-wards the end of the fight the Flash arrived with Batmen from around the Multiverse to face down Barbatos. At this point Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman emerged from the Forge of Existence with Tenth Metal. The trio then gave Tenth Metal to Arthur and Green Lantern while Doctor Fate freed the remaining heroes. Hawkman as the new guardian of the Forge battled Barbatos as the team defeated the Dark Knights, with Arthur killing the Drowned. The group came together and connected every mind in the Multiverse with their new powers. With the substantial might gained, the League dragged the Multiverse free of the Darkness and banished Barbatos to the Forge.
After the invasion the team gathered at Wayne Manor for a party where they discussed visions they had experienced while wearing the Tenth Metal, including visions of Atlantis rising once again. They also exchanged troubling words about the state their universe was in as the Source Wall had been broken during the conflict.
As the rebellion got underway, Aquaman was joined by Byss, King Shark and the Undercurrent movement in battling a contingent of the usurper king's Drift squadrons who were sent to purge the Ninth Tride. Aquaman soon lent his assistance when the necrotized Kadaver, who had been corrupted by the Abyssal Dark, similarly cursed the soldiers of the Drift, turning them into undead sea warriors. Arthur soon found himself assaulted by his former comrade Murk, whom sent the accursed Drift after what remained of the rebel movement.
The two got into a heated argu-ment about the current state of affairs, with Murk arguing that eve-rything in Atlantis had fallen apart because of Arthur's weak rule. While admitting he hated the way his former king ran the kingdom, Murk confessed that he purposely missed Arthur's vitals when he seemingly betrayed and killed him at Rath's ascent to the throne. He had hoped he would simply disap-pear and appease the corrupt council who had elected Atlantis' new king.
Instead of murdering his would be assailant, Aquaman chose to lend a helping hand; requesting his former confidant's aid in over-throwing Rath and his regime by using Murk's status as King's Guard Commander to sneak him into the palace as a prisoner of war. As Murk went off to assassinate the king, Arthur ran into Rath's right-hand Urcell fleeing the royal chamber having survived the vicious onslaught of the now hideously monstrous King Rath, who had been transformed by the power of the Abyssal Dark and slaughtered the council for their attempt to dethrone him. Rushing in at the last second, Aquaman saved Murk by engaging with the corrupted Rath. Aquaman was quickly overpowered by the abomination standing before him, even with his magical augmentations.
Murk soon aided Arthur but was grievously wounded in his attempt to save the former king's life. Seeing his ally's poor state of being, Arthur temporarily stunned the behemoth in order to escape with the wounded Murk. Back at the Widowhood's base of operations, Arthur was further chastised by the Reverend Mother Cetea for failing to take advantage of his weakened adversary's state and end Rath for good. Arthur argued that all of the magic in his ceremonial weapon still wasn't enough to deal with the Abyssal Dark-powered Rath, and lost hope in stopping him. Vulko and the rest of the Undercurrent returned to the fold having been backed by the spirits of former Atlantean elders and bringing the corrupted remains of Kadaver along with them.
Elder Null disclosed the full history of the power behind Corum Rath, and informed Aquaman and his allies that the Abyssal Dark entity was a negative byproduct of the Silent School's magical practice from the early days of Atlantis - a demon either born from or drawn by the first mystics of the lost continent, which sought to plague man-kind and the world. Having sealed it away after a ferocious mystic war, it sent out a sirens call to those susceptible to its influence for centuries, eventually finding the Atlanteans' new monarch to be the perfect recipient.
Just as the past elders endowed Aquaman's trident with the remnants of their own protective magics, Rath started laying siege to the Tower of The Widowhood, as it was the foundation of the under-sea capital. Knowing that if it were to fall all of Atlantis would crumble and die, Arthur moved out against his rival throne bearer. He was emboldened by the various enchantments bestowed upon his trident, but to no avail - the grotesque King Corum snapped Aquaman's ancestral keepsake like a twig. Having been cast aside by Rath, Arthur was soon met by Dolphin who had also been wounded by Rath when she tried to assist Arthur. Arthur apologized to Dolphin for failing to be the hero she wished him to be.
The fallen hero's hope was revitalized seeing Mera come into the fray backed by a Xebelian armada. Watching both his beloved and all of his friends fight side by side against Rath spurred Aquaman to stand back up and get into the fight. Arthur urged Dolphin to find cover and rescue everyone she could, before leaping into battle and plunging what was left of his broken trident right into the eye of Rath, driving the Abyssal Dark out of the tyrant monarch and leaving him more fish than man. As the Abyssal Dark died, it told Arthur that it was its magical influence that kept a tragedy from taking place.
As Mera closed in for the killing blow, Arthur instead used his marine telepathy to command Rath away into a deep crevice some-where. Mera questioned what the Abyssal Dark had meant when it delivered its final words, and Arthur and Mera were soon jilted by violent earthquakes that had begun taking place just as everything began to calm down. Aquaman soon remembered back to when he and the Justice League fought back Barbatos and his Dark Knights. In saving the Multiverse using the Tenth Metal, Arthur subconsciously wished he could have a place to call home, one that was both of the land and of the sea much like him-self. The reality-warping power of the Tenth Metal had caused his dream to become a reality, and Atlantis had risen from the depths to the surface.
Arthur waited down in the lower trides even after the continent's upheaval, not wanting to interfere with Mera's coronation as Atlantis' new queen. Arthur was approached by Vulko and revealed part of the reason he was staying out of the limelight was in anticipation for when the leaders of the land inevitably attempt a stealth attack to undermine the new queen and her country. This prediction was ultimately proven true when a surviving member of Rath's inner circle, Urcell, acted as a contact to Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad in a joint effort to depose Queen Mera and return Atlantis back to the ocean floor. Arthur became aware of these happenings through Murk; who still blamed him for raising their city, despite Arthur rebuffing the guard captain for aiding and abetting a madman who nearly destroyed it.
Despite their differences, Arthur implored Murk to keep him posted on the situation, but also to refrain from informing Mera about the incursion by the Suicide Squad in their midst. When the Queen of Atlantis eventually became aware of said events, she was furious that he had tried to sideline her in the situation, but they soon came to an agreement and moved on in finding their insurgents.
Aquaman and Mera were informed about the magically-augmented mini-nuke in the hands of Squad member, Lord Satanis. Though initially hesitant to his idea of calling up assistance from criminals in the Ninth Tride, Mera demanded her betrothed to gather an army of expendables and malcontents to address the situation, forming their own 'Suicide Squad' to confront the American black ops team. Arthur went to King Shark and his gang, and the crime boss was naturally antagonistic towards his former ally. However, when Aquaman mentioned Waller and her Suicide Squad's involvement, he willingly aided the former monarch in preempting their plans, knowing full well what his former employer and her task force was capable of.
Aquaman and his newfound allies were waysided by Satanis as his magical powers were jumped up to extraordinary levels by the magical power held within the Silent School. To cover his tracks as he attempted to finish the mission, the evil conjurer threw up a barrier that neither Arthur nor his own strike team could surpass. Unbeknownst to Satanis, Dolphin was on the other side of the barrier. The former monarch begged Dolphin not to engage Satanis and to let him take him on alone, but she gave him a tearful goodbye much to his heart-break.
Aquaman and his team were able to penetrate the magical barrier thanks to Master Jailer's efforts. Aquaman managed to subdue Satanis before he could murder Dolphin, but with no real means of stopping the nuke, Carl sacrificed his life using one of the Core Vault's artifacts to seal its explosion. The team was able to avoid a calamity and thanks to Harley Quinn, Queen Mera was able to secure evidence of the real culprit behind the day's events.
After witnessing their fight against the Legion of Doom for the Totality, both Aquaman and Wonder Woman predicted that Cheetah and Black Manta would soon make their move against them, which started with the mysterious death of Poseidon. Seeking to find truth from the dead Olympian himself, the two heroes decide to take on a mission: finding the legendary key for the Graveyard of Gods, which could be inside an ancient ship in Antartica. While out for the mission, Diana retrieved the key, but then both her and Arthur were hit by a mysterious force, dragged away from the place.
Arthur found himself in the Blood Reef, the headquarters of three alien gods of the ocean, the Triumvirate of Sea Gods, who out of revenge against Poseidon decided to use their powers to drown the Earth. But as part of their agreement with the Legion of Doom, in exchange of Poseidon's death, they would give Aquaman to his worst enemy: Black Manta. Not only that, but one of the gods, Tyyde, used her powers to strip from Arthur his connection with the Life Force, donating it to Manta instead. Now with the full power of his nemesis in his hands, Manta felt unbeatable, and condemned Arthur into being sent inside a cosmic whirlpool, facing imminent death.
Thrown into the whirlpool, Arthur was saved by Wonder Woman, who found a way to access the Graveyard of Gods thanks to the key she retrieved in Antarctica. Once there, they found Poseidon waiting for both: the Olympian, without apparent reason, decided then to attack Arthur, piercing him with his trident. Aquaman then found himself inside a legendary place, the Dead Sea, where it was told all great mariners went once dead. In there, he went through an odyssey, retracing his whole life, which made him realize he still held in his heart the memory of his father, something he had to let go to fully embrace his destiny. Com-ing back to his senses, Poseidon revealed that what Arthur just experienced was a test, to see if he was worthy of knowing the true history of Arion.
Poseidon then proceeded to tell him how Arion was tricked by the Olympian himself into killing the Triumvirate of Sea Gods, who were never invaders in the first place, just because Poseidon never wanted to share the Life Force with other beings: this gave birth to the terrible Tear of Extinction, a weapon able to void the Life Force. So both the attack by the Triumvirate which drowned the Earth, and Atlantis' own history of reclusion were consequences of Poseidon's selfishness. Poseidon felt guilty about what he did, but now the Tear seemed to be once again the only weapon they could use to turn the tides, and defeat the three sea gods once again. Poseidon told then that the Tear was still hidden inside the bones of old king Arion: Arthur should go and retrieve it, soaking in it Poseidon's trident and using it to kill the enemy.
As the Graveyard of Gods was falling apart, due to the actions of Cheetah and the Legion of Doom, Poseidon used the last of his power to let Aquaman and Wonder Woman escape. Getting back to Earth, Arthur told Diana he believed using the Tear once again would be a mistake, and that they should approach their enemy with another weapon: the truth Posei-don revealed the about Arion. Get-ting to the Tomb of Arion, they were able to save Mera, Superman and Flash from transforming into sea monsters, also informing them about what they lived through. Giving to all of them protections against the magic of the Sea Gods, Aquaman explained Mera his plan to stop the drowning: find a way to convince the Triumvirate to side with Life again.
Aquaman discovered the true story of Arion, and thought he could have a chance for parley. Mera did not agree with Arthur's approach, but gave him the benefit of the doubt. Soon after, they discovered Manta convinced the gods to launch the Death Kraken against Earth, as they feared to be struck again by the Tear of Extinction. After freeing Mera from the Tear, which was making her cruel, Aquaman and Mera were both able to convince the Triumvirate to side with them, but Manta, full of blood-lust, killed two of the gods and tried to take over the Death Kraken. After Tyyde gave to Arthur his powers back, Aquaman defeated Manta, who then realized the Kraken was going berserk, with no one able to control him outside of the dead god Drogue. To avoid the death of all life on the planet, Arthur sacrificed himself, hitting the Kraken with all his remaining Life Force.
Finding himself transported at the edge of the Multiverse after his fight against the Death Kraken, Aquaman found there the Anti-Monitor, who revealed to him the true nature of Perpetua. He was then sent on a mission from the Anti-Monitor to help Flash and John Stewart find a shard of the Totality in the past, in 1941. Aqua-man found his teammates, and guided them to Atlantis, where, after convincing Vandal Savage, he was able to use the Conch of Arion to send the Totality shard through Hypertime, so that it would reach the present, and being used as a weapon to counter Perpetua. In the end, the plan failed, giving the forces of Doom, commanded by Lex Luthor, the chance to attack the Hall of Justice.
In the final conflict between Justice and Doom, Arthur was able to fully control the Life Force thanks to the Justice Totality, and participated to the final battle against Luthor. In the end, Perpetua won, and the Multiverse was put under the control of Doom. Arthur, together with the other core members of the League, was saved by the Quintessence, then embarking on a last ride to gather the Anti-Crisis energy to face Perpetua. In the end, the League failed again, and once back to Earth, they found it trans-formed into the Batman who Laughs' Metalverse, as he was now the new right hand of the evil goddess.
After the Anti-Monitor sent him back to Earth, Arthur would first meet back up with his beloved Mera without the knowledge of the world at large. He would soon be-come fearful of the news she'd imparted to him about her maternity and opted to leave shortly after hearing it. Upon his refusal to heed her command in staying however, the Atlantean Queen outright murders him in a fit of rage. Jettisoning her love into the afterlife once again.
Found adrift upon another shore. Arthur; now going by the name Arusio, was welcomed to the re-mote island home of a gaggle of lost denizens located out in the middle of nowhere called Unspoken Water.
They would all trade stories about who they were and what life was like before coming to live there from time to time. Something which was difficult for Arusio due to having lost his memories from his transition to the Sphere of Gods. One night while Caille; the young maiden who found him and nursed him back to full health, was doing ceremonial dance to appease an angry ocean. She was almost swept up by the tide, Arusio moved in order to save her and the waters parted around the two of them in front of everyone who was present.
As Arthur/Arusio started to become restless in his lazy days, he would come to Wee for advice despite earlier friction between the two of them.
He would inquire as to just who and what he is to them, but Wee simply danced around the question rather than provide a straight answer, the old matron not really knowing the answer either. Time would come amongst the islander community to share their true names and greater history. When the time came for their newest ten-ant to take a turn, the fire they sat around exploded in a bright green flare.
Shortly afterward, Tang, Mann and Agwé come for Arthur and plunge him into the sea surrounding Un-spoken Water. As he washed back up on the shore, Caille would approach Arthur with the intent of visiting her mother. Against better judgement of course.
Arthur would head out to the private Isle of the Goddess Namma for the sake of appeasing Callie's mother. Having survived their boat capsizing while making it to the island they'd been looking for, Arusio's companion began to undergo a transformation into the final remnant of it's matriarch's form. A battle would commence as Andy attempted to try and reason with the human heart buried within the monster. When Namma appeared, Arusio curtsied to the goddess in his midst. Answering her questions as best he could while presenting her daughter to her. But the primordial laughed at such a notion, coldly stating that Caille was no kin of hers, but was little less than a living shell through which the manifest of the Goddess's missing power could grow and mature in.
When it was revealed that Nam-ma's reacquiring of the Callieach's life force would inevitably result in the former hosts demise. Arthur struck the irate divinity to prevent Callie's secession of existence. Namma would retaliate, admonishing Arthur for daring to defy her, but the amnesiac adventurer reject her claims to divinity & entitlement.
With coaxing from Arusio while holding off her malevolent sire, Caille would instead assume control of the beast within. Becoming a hybrid divine monster in and of herself, stemming the control over which Namma possessed for a while longer. Deciding to change tactics Namma reduced herself to salt particles at the exact moment Andy struck her and fled to the oceans embrace. Sensing that things were far from over, Arthur implored Caille to remain vigilant as he knew their adversary would return. Sure enough, the tyrannical supremacy would rise from the sea as a draconian monster whom would assail the duo while poisoning the worlds waters with a lethal influx of brine. The two would battle the monstrous Namma as she tried to coerce her beastly offspring to return to her embrace; instead Caille, now fused to the Callieach, wounded her dracolitch sire. Distracting her mother goddess long enough for Andy to hop a ride on the beastly serpentine entity.
This plan would backfire however, as Namma would drag her would-be pursuer into the salted oceans causing him endless discomfort due to it's tainted hydration. In a desperate plea for help Arusio projected a telepathic call to all denizens of the deep. One so powerful that it even reached all the way to Prime Earth from the Sphere of Gods and back. It wasn't long after sending out the call did Arthur get the most unexpected of responses, the denizens of Unspoken Water had come to aid Arthur in his time of need. Having reverted to their prior godly forms thanks to his unique abilities.
After the Sea Gods of the World make their presence known, Namma too reveals her godly identity as Mother Salt. The fear-less marine hero would do what he could to preempt the genocidal ancient divinity from carrying out her plans with help from his divine allies.
But he quickly finds himself to be out of his depth while learning from her progeny that their ancestors, her children, murdered Salt's husband after she'd told them of his infanticidal plans. Now she has returned with intent of murdering the world and everything living on it that spawned them as retribution for the loss of her beloved. Andy is dismayed to find the sea gods opting to surrender themselves willingly to the the venomous adept after stating doing so would bring about the end of all life on Earth as they know it. Arthur watches helplessly as Wee gives herself to the leviathan that has become of their matriarch, and tries fruitlessly to dissuade the others from doing the same to no avail. Realizing their sacrifice did nothing to assuage their murderous kin's entropic goals, Arthur moves to confront the complete Mother Salt in a final stand. Until the now deified Caille suggests he use his connection to the sea for contacting those whom are lost to Namma. Reasoning that it was his power that enabled them to resume their divine forms once before and perhaps it can do so again, but only if he concentrates on a singular focus while they are apart of their grand sire's being.
Taking her advice to heart, the champion of the deep uses his connection to the Life Force to reach out for his lost brother Tang. An extraneous process that yields results, as the vast resurgence within the mother goddesses being causes a massive explosive re-lease of power. Dispersing Mother Salt/Namma's form back into it's composite sodium particles and restoring the Sea Gods back to their original selves again.
But Arthur was far from finished as he remembers how easily their adversary reformed herself from such a state the last time. To make sure her plans for omnicide were stalled, if only for a short while longer, he continued to compel local depth dwellers to heed his command and scatter her sifting being throughout the ocean floor. The stress of all such monumental tasking however, left Arusio drained to the point of conscious-ness deficiency. As he began sinking into the ocean depths, Caille moved to drag him back to the sur-face. But she was soon waylaid in the task by the most unexpected of individuals to show up; Father Sea. Back in the open air, Andy would regain his senses and walk upright towards the land with all the gods and his good friend Caille beside him and the ancient ocean embodiment.
While the lost deities bow in reverence to their grandfather, Arthur and Sea meet each other eye to eye for a second before the latter heads back into the ocean.
In thanks to the oceans chosen savior with helping them stem the tide Tang the Vast would gift their nameless savior with body art to commemorate his commitment in defending the oceans majesty. They would also gift the wayward traveler knowledge of whom he really was as agreed upon after completing such a monumental achievement. Wee would secretly tell him however that what he was, is, and always will be was a hero and a friend; both to the hallowed forgotten and the sea.
Repun soon redirects their attentions back to the oceans, as Father Sea returns with Arusio's lost Trident.
When Mother Shark restores Arthur Curry's memories, it is revealed that Arthur actually survived the alien invasion and returned to Mera. However, they kept it a secret from the rest of Atlantis. Mera stops them from being romantic to talk about the politics of Atlantis and how the Widowhood wants her to marry. Arthur confesses his love for Mera once again, again proposing they get married, but Mera is hesitant with all the drama they've endured. However, she then reveals she's pregnant.
Arthur affirms that he loves both Mera and their unborn child but, afraid that he won't be able to give his child the life it deserves, asks to go home and think. Mera, unhappy that she and her love don't seem to be on the same page, loses control, "kills" Arthur, and is later found by the Widowhood and Atlantean guards.
As Mera's pregnancy progressed, Arthur returned to life and Amnesty Bay, however, he did not go to Mera nor she to him. Arthur's nemesis Black Manta destroyed an ancient Atlantean historical site to draw Mera to the surface, where she and Aquaman met and wordlessly reconciled. Manta attacked the pair with Mecha Manta, provided by Lex Luthor. Mera destroyed Mecha Manta but the huge amounts of hydrokinetic power she was forced to use put her in a coma, she was rushed to an Atlantean hospital and gave birth shortly afterwards to a baby girl, who was named Andy. Arthur was present for his daughter's birth, and fell in love with her instantly, losing all of his trepidation about becoming a father or the kind of life they could have together. Andy spent the first ten months of her life being raised in Amnesty Bay by her father and his extended group of friends and allies. She and Arthur would regularly sneak into Atlantis to visit the still-comatose Mera in secret.
Mera reawakens after 10 months in a coma. With the ruse of a fake wedding to Vulko she calls to Atlantis the leaders of the 7 underwater kingdoms. Prior to the wedding, she has the entire widowhood arrested. Once all 7 kingdoms are assembled, to their surprise, Mera announces that she was dissolving the Atlantean monarchy and that she intended to hand power to the people. Orm attempts to take power for himself, however, Orm and his forces are stopped by Aquaman, assisted by the Justice league and the Sea gods.
Following this Arthur and Mera settle down in Amnesty Bay with their daughter Andy. Soon after-wards Mera and Arthur marry in the presence of their family and friends, in what was originally planned as a surprise welcome back party for her by Arthur.
Following the abolition of the monarchy, Arthur and Mera intended to hold themselves apart from Atlantis to allow the city to govern itself, but they were forced to intervene when the Frost King's forces at-tacked the city during what was intended to be their honeymoon. The pair with Andy in tow, go to Atlantis and discuss with the Atlantean ruling council with is to be done to save the city. Arthur journeyed into the city's heating vents to meet with the Fire Tolls who lived in the tunnels below Atlantis, hoping they could be an ally against the Frost King. Originally Mera agreed to stay behind to guard Andy but quickly followed him, arriving in time to save Arthur from a Fire Troll with a hydrokinetic attack. The Trolls were in awe of this and swore loyalty to her. With her army of Fire Trolls, Mera and Arthur defeated the ice creatures attacking Atlantis.
A ramshackle ship of refugees from Warworld fled to Earth, pursued by alien fighter craft called Warzoons. Superman and Superboy rescued the refugees and destroyed some of the Warzoons, while the others fled. The Atlantean army captured and imprisoned the crews of the Warzoons and took custody of the refugee ship, which was powered by a mysterious piece of rock, known as the Gene-sis Fragment. Although Arthur was no longer king he was able to convince the Atlantean authorities to allow Superman to inspect the wreckage and try to interrogate the prisoners, although they did so only out of respect to Arthur and refused to let Superman take the power source or inform the surface governments that they had it.
Maric, the Atlantean scientist as-signed to study the power source, mutated into a gigantic monster and attacked the Florida coastline alongside strange sea creatures which were immune to Arthur’s telepathy. Arthur and some Atlantean soldiers tried to fight off the monsters but were overwhelmed, so he called the Justice League for help. Superman was able to freeze the giant from inside and the Atlanteans drove the other creatures back.
However, victory was short lived as Steve Trevor arrived and demand-ed that Atlantis hand the fragment over the the US Government. Arthur refused, telling Trevor that any attempt to take the fragment would be viewed as an act of war. A pair of Task Force X agents working for Amanda Waller snuck into the crashed ship and attempted to steal the Genesis Fragment, but were caught by the Atlantean army. In response, the Atlanteans blockaded all shipping lanes across the Atlantic Ocean.
The Justice League met to try to find a solution, but were unable to come to an agreement. Both Arthur and Batman were uncharacteristically belligerent and began arguing almost immediately, each taking the sides of their respective countries. Batman demanded that Arthur convince the Atlanteans to give up the Fragment, and Arthur replied that he could and would not do so. Arthur almost stormed out of the meeting when Batman accused Atlantis of starting an arms race, but Superman shut their fight down, saying he would not allow a war between Atlantis and the surface.
Arthur believed that Batman may attempt to take the Fragment and stood guard over the crashed Warzoon. Meanwhile the United States Navy sent a battleship to break the Atlantean blockade and despite Superman’s attempts to negotiate a peaceful solution the two sides fired on each other. Superman decided that the only way to prevent them going to war over the Fragment would be to take it beyond both their reach and dove down to the Warzoon where Arthur confronted him. He admitted that he could not stop Superman but warned him that it would change things between them. Despite this, Superman took the Fragment.