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flashfuture · 2 months

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What is Mera like? And what is her origin/story?

so Mera's origin comes about in the 1960s shortly after Aqualad came around. Mera is originally from an alternate dimension called Dimension Aqua. Mera was their rightful Queen and everyone there had her hard water powers. Which is Mera can turn water into a solid and use it very similar to how a green lantern makes constructs. This made her easily the most powerful character in the entire aquaman universe until they decided it had to be arthur because he's a man (he can talk to fish come on)

Mera at the start was only obsessed with getting to know Arthur. But then they explored a little bit about her exile from her homeland and trying to get her crown back. Arthur helped her defeat the interloper... but then Mera went back to Atlantis anyways. Garth did his very best matchmaking and Mera and Arthur got married. Had a baby all was well. Mera also has a younger twin sister named Hila who is an evil villain for undefined reasons just is one. Mera didn't have Much of a personality. To the point after crisis she wasn't rebooted at all she was the same woman.

But as her character grew rage became a large factor. Aquababy was kidnapped Black Manta killed him and Arthur after having tried to murder Garth had Topo the octopus bring the baby's body back to Mera. Aquababy wasn't even dead?? Arthur is the worst husband in DC by far. Mera went on a journey this is where her independent character started to develop. Anyways she went to get some healing tech but the guy who stole her original throne threw it all down a big pit or something. Mera went to get it but by the time she came back it was too late Aquababy had died. Almost like if Arthur had stuck around and helped her they could have saved their baby

Mera then is left alone in Atlantis because Arthur is a pussy bitch and can't face the problems he caused so Mera suffers a nervous breakdown. And years later Arthur comes back to try and make peace with Mera but ends up fighting her and spears her onto some metal and thinks he killed her. Mera plays dead in the coffin and then springs out at the funeral and goes home to dimension Aqua.

Some very confusing doppelganger business in the 80s but Mera came back ! And was there to fuck with Arthur basically publicly announce they're not married anymore at the funniest moment possible. During Blackest Night sees Garth dies and lost herself in rage becoming a Red Lantern. But then Arthur comes back they introduce Jackson Hyde and then boom Flashpoint.

So on Prime Earth Mera is still the rightful Queen of another kingdom just not one in another dimension. Maybe DC felt secondary dimensions was too Marvel Fantastic Four, and they wanted to stick with their universe shifting. But in this reality, Mera was raised to defeat Atlantis and kill their king. Who just so happened to be... Arthur. She called herself Aquawoman for like a minute. Then rebirth happened and she and Arthur got married again. She joined the justice league. Basically Mera became a hero in her own right. But then she had a baby and DC is sort of putting her back at home

So Mera is a queen of two nations. Mera is a mother. Mera is a Justice Leaguer. She is happy to fuck with Arthur. She is protective over both Garth and Jackson. She is angry enough to wield a red ring. she loves her friends enough to pull it under control. She loves the ocean but will defend the entire earth with her life.

And I am not all that familiar with all Prime Earth Aquaman stories due my distate for how they're treating Garth but the art is pretty and if you like Mera you'll find a lot more content than the previously timeline had

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pluckyredhead · 2 years

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Please Care About Aquaman With Me: Everybody Has a Bad Time in the Bronze Age

Thank you for returning to my irregularly scheduled Aquaman micro-hyperfixation! Last time, I talked about the first 35-ish years of Aquahistory. Now we’re up to 1975 and comics have developed longer plotlines and gotten angstier and more melodramatic - and major characters are fair game to be killed off. Gwen Stacy died in 1974, but the death this post kicks off with is even more shocking.

CW: Child death, comic book sexism.

The very short version of the setup is that Black Manta has captured Arthur, Garth, and Aquababy. He puts Aquababy in a glass ball full of air (instead of water), which he will suffocate in after a few minutes, and Arthur and Garth in an arena to fight to the death. Once one of them dies, he’ll fill Aquababy’s prison with water.

So just to make this absolutely clear: to save his biological son, Arthur will have to kill or be killed by his foster son.

He doesn’t hesitate for a second.

I know we talk about Bruce being a bad dad all the time, but at least when Ra’s al Ghul tried to make him chose whether Tim or Damian would die, he offered himself instead. Arthur had that option here! And yet.

The look on Garth’s face here absolutely kills me and this is the comic that made me start going feral over the Aquafam. Of course absolutely zero time is spent on his emotional reaction to this, but the only father he’s ever known not only just tried to kill him - he made it clear that he doesn’t actually consider Garth his child. “That’s my son up there! My son!!” THAT’S YOUR SON DOWN HERE TOO, ARTHUR. The fact that he calls him “Minnow” while he does it (one of his two long-running nicknames for Garth, the other being “Tadpole”) makes it hurt even worse.

I think this moment, too, is why Arthur and Garth basically never refer to each other as father and son. On paper, they have a similar relationship to Bruce and Dick and Roy and Ollie, who acknowledge their father-son dynamics all the time. But despite Garth saying Arthur’s like a father to him in his very first appearance, after this, they just...don’t say those words. Arthur is Garth’s liege and his friend, but he is not his father.

(Mera is still his mom. He loves Mera so much.)

But wait! It gets worse!

Arthur and Garth escape the arena and shatter Aquababy’s prison, but it’s too late - he’s suffocated. He was only one year old. The panels aren’t graphic - it’s still only 1975, after all - but I’m still not sharing them because that is too sad to make anyone look at.

Black Manta flees, and Arthur tells Garth they’re going after him, but Garth refuses:

Oof.

Arthur - this is so horrible - gives Aquababy’s body to Topo, his pet octopus, to bring home to Mera, and takes off after Black Manta. This is basically like having your dog do it. He doesn’t even bother to break the news to her himself. In fact, he spends literally months away chasing Black Manta but then just, like, fighting crime. Like, he teams up with Batman at one point. What the fuck is wrong with you, Arthur? To make matters worse, it turns out Aquababy WASN’T EVEN DEAD and Mera spends several issues desperately trying to save him but fails, so if Arthur had spent more time thinking about his wife and son(s) instead of revenge, Aquababy probably would have lived. Arthur’s the worst.

Meanwhile, Garth decides to figure out who his real parents are, so he does some digging and discovers that he actually comes from a hidden society of purple-eyed pacifists called the Idylists, and his parents were actually king and queen, but his father went crazy and decided to start a lot of wars for no reason so his people, uhhhhh...killed him. And exiled the queen, hence Garth being born in Atlantis and not Idylist-ville (later named Shayeris). Weirdly this all makes him feel much better and he decides to make up with Arthur? Okay, Bronze Age, okay.

The Aquaman comic was canceled, then briefly uncanceled, then canceled again by the end of the decade. Arthur spent the remainder of the pre-Crisis universe leading Justice League Detroit, a low point for the team, while Garth lurked around the fringes of the Teen Titans but wasn’t a regular member at this point. (He did team up with them while attending boarding school in Scotland, though. He wore a kilt and the Titans fought the Loch Ness monster. It was great.)

Then Crisis on Infinite Earths happened and Tula became canon fodder, dying early on when the radioactive monster Chemo poisoned the water she was swimming in.

Garth was devastated by her death, to the point that he was still very actively mourning her a decade later.

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, new origins had to be established, and Arthur’s came in the 1986 Aquaman miniseries. (I’m going to be covering the rest of the 80s here, which is stretching the definition of “Bronze Age,” but...deal with it.) This miniseries brings in a high fantasy element to Aquaman comics for the first time, with a grandiose plot about Ocean Master stealing magical crystals from undersea cities like Atlantis and Thierna Na Oge. It also establishes the idea that "brother fighting brother” is a key element of Atlantis’s mythology and destiny. Anyway Arthur wears a blue wetsuit and has an emotional affair with the queen of Thierna Na Oge.

Bro, you’re still married.

This was followed by the 1988 Aquaman Special, which didn’t really bring anything new to the table, and then the 1989 The Legend of Aquaman Special, which...did. Arthur was no longer the son of an Atlantean woman and a human lighthouse keeper; he was a fully Atlantean child, abandoned at birth because of his blond hair, following in Garth’s proud tradition of “an all-white city is racist to people who are extra white in a super problematic metaphor for...something.” On the other hand, we do get this phenomenal panel of Arthur hunting:

As a teenager, he encounters a human fisherman who teaches him how to speak and read, but one day the fisherman is killed by Atlanteans for his connection to Arthur. Arthur goes looking for Atlantis, but is promptly thrown into prison, and we learn that his classic orange shirt and green pants are actually a prison uniform that he now wears to remind him of where he came from, which makes sense until you think about it for even a second. He could escape at any time, but he wants to find and speak to his birth mother, so he hangs out in prison, where he meets Vulko, who teaches him the Atlantean language. But then his mom dies before he can ever speak to her, so he breaks out and goes back to land and like, becomes Aquaman and hangs out with the Justice League and stuff.

Finally he’s like “I should go break all those other people out of jail,” but when he gets back to Atlantis he discovers that they’ve fixed all their political problems and he’s welcomed with open arms. Also, he’s royalty:

The current king does what no king would ever do and is like “Well, you should definitely have the throne instead of me,” and steps down. So these are the elements we’ll be working with until the New 52: no human heritage, royal on his mother’s side, abandoned at birth, foster fisherman dad. I wonder if that’s going to get super complicated?

(How do portraits work underwater??? Did this comic forget they were underwater? This comic definitely forgot they were underwater. This happens a lot.)

Then there’s the 1989 Aquaman series. Atlantis is temporarily conquered by giant alien jellyfish. So that’s a thing that happens.

More importantly, Mera abruptly goes crazy because her baby died...*checks notes*...14 years ago, and her delicate lady brain can’t handle it, so she attacks Arthur. I don’t mean to make light of the severe impact losing a child could have on one’s mental health, but the fact that she goes Comic Book Crazy while Arthur is basically completely fine is misogynistic as fuck.

While trying to fend her off, Arthur uhhhhhhh impales her and kills her. GREAT JOB, BUDDY. There is a very somber royal funeral.

LOL J/K. She’s from another dimension, so she’s immune to impalement, apparently! But decided to chill out in the coffin for a while anyway, I guess? This is the fucking funniest thing I’ve ever seen. Absolutely what you should do if your husband is as terrible as Arthur is, Mera is a queen in every possible way.

Anyway she zhwoops off back to her dimension like fucking Bugs Bunny unzipping reality and zipping it back up behind her, and Arthur cries. It’s great. (Oh, and also he steps down from being king, which is probably a good idea because he’s terrible at it.)

Next up: the nineties! Well, part of them. Also, my favorite Aquacharacter!

#aquaman #arthur curry #mera #garth #aqualad #aquagirl #aquababy #aquasplaining

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autisticcassandracain · 3 years

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black manta, since you've been reading thru his appearances and i hvan'et seen much outside movie/tv

Oh!! Him!!! Yeah something you should know is that Black Manta doesn't have consistent characterization. Like he just doesn't. There's not a single consistent thing about him except that he's an Aquaman rogue. His backstory and personality constantly change. As such, I can't really say that there's a singular way to write him 'in character', so these are mostly opinions on how I'd, personally, write him/like to see him be written. Under the cut because I really couldn't shut up on point 3 specifically, so summary:

Autism

Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

He Cares for Jackson

1. Autism

To my knowledge he's still DC's only prominent autistic character! And until they get off their ass and pick another one to hit with their autism beam, they better not forget the one piece of rep they have. No I don't give a shit that it was written in a terribly ableist way, there's a new continuity, fix it!!! Give the man autism or face my wrath!!!

2. Vengeance(TM) but like, Human

I won't lie, I do very much enjoy shithead "How's the wife and kids, Arthur?" completely irredeemably evil Black Manta a little, but he's just infinitely more interesting when he's actually, you know. Human. I think the N52 and onwards has done that better than ever before (even if, again, character and backstory still fluctuate a lot). I really like Higgins' take on him in Aquaman (vol. 8); I usually don't like 'cycle of vengeance' type stories (bc I think the concept's dumb), but in this case, I think it really works, because they go out of their way to show the ways in which Manta's character has broken down due to vengeance, to the point that he has completely lost sight of why he's even taking it, but also show a nuanced portrayal of how he got there. While obviously I'd also very much love a redemption arc for him (and honestly I'm not ruling it out with the way his solo has been setting his character up so far, though I'm not assuming they're gonna go there), I still think it's entirely possible to write him as a vengeance-driven villain while still being a human and sympathetic character. By extension,

3. His N52 Backstory is Simply Superior

It just is! It's not often that the N52, let alone anything Geoff Johns wrote in the N52, does something actively better than the preboot version, but like, even a broken clock is right twice a day. Death of a Prince is an iconic storyline and for good reason, but it was also written in the early 70's by people who were just beginning to experiment with darker storylines, and it really shows. The actual way Arthur Junior (who didn't even have a name other than Aquababy of all things for the majority of this storyline) died was kinda laughable, Manta had basically no motives other than 'is evil', and Arthur's quest for vengeance got routinely interrupted by a Villain of the Week. And while the influence of the arc has been undoubtedly enormous, I don't think it's all for the best. Mera has gotten repeatedly demonized because of this arc's influence (even though in the actual story she and Arthur made up), for example. Arthur's personal grudge and drive for vengeance against Manta as a result of the arc wasn't uncompelling, necessarily, but it was always doomed to go nowhere, since it's not like they could actually let him kill Manta (partly for hero morals, partly because he'd just come back), and it made writers heavily limited in how sympathetic they could make Manta himself.

By contrast, the backstory he was given in the N52, of watching Arthur kill his father in a misdirected fit of rage, works much better for Manta. I still don't feel like I've read enough of Arthur to fully grasp his character (though by now I've fully read Aquaman volume 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8, all of 7 except Bunn's run, and half of volume 5), but since Arthur has been predominantly portrayed as a very angry person, I think it's not really out of character, provided that it's a) before his career as Aquaman and b) something he immediately shapes up and learns from (which is where I think Geoff Johns really dropped the ball).

And it's just SO MUCH MORE COMPELLING for Black Manta. It gives him an actual concrete motive to go after Aquaman (rather then the weird wishy-washy stuff they tried before), and an inherently sympathetic one at that. And the fact that Manta's quest for vengeance is doomed to go nowhere actually adds to his character's story, since it's the nature of villains to fruitlessly struggle against the heroes, and it provides a very solid foundation for an actually good 'cycle of vengeance' story.

While I have mixed feelings on Abnett's writing of Manta in vol. 8 (since it really felt like it was trying hard to move him away from the motive/character vol. 7 had developed him into, which I think was shortsighted), I REALLY love one of the first scenes with him, where he and Aquaman face off and it becomes clear that neither can kill the other and forever put an end to their useless feud, but that only Aquaman is ultimately at peace because he has moved on from the earlier, more hateful version of himself, whereas Black Manta has clung to it. It's just!!! SO much more compelling than anything regarding Death of a Prince in preboot has ever been.

4. He's a Manipulative Shithead and Brilliant Tactician

Sure, Manta can hold his own pretty well in a fight, but what actually makes him dangerous are his plans. Manta is an very smart and cunning villain who, when some thought is actually put into his writing, pretty much always has a plan. He's also extremely charismatic man with a talent for manipulation, and he frequently uses this to his advantage to win followers. While I don't like the 'fake SJW' angle for him (it should really be obvious why I think the idea of a Black man specifically using ideals of racial and social justice to manipulate other Black people into supervillainy Has Some Problems), it reinforces what I'm talking about here: that Manta is a charismatic manipulator and brilliant tactician.

5. He Cares for Jackson

I DO NOT CARE this one is ENTIRELY subjective. I simply like it better when he's shown to have like, any affection for Jackson at all. I don't necessarily mind when it's overshadowed by his need for vengeance or something, but like, the way Manta's relationship was written in the Teen Titans series as a flat antagonistic one on Manta's end was really really boring. And also I just like it when he cares about his kid. Like don't get me wrong dude's not winning any Father of the Year awards any time soon regardless of how much he cares about Jackson, it just makes me soft whenever he shows affection for him. Manta's solo having the narration being a dying letter to Jackson >>> 'I don't care about you and I'm only using you to my advantage'

#my posts #long post #black manta #infodumping

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falllpoutboy · 3 years

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Honestly Amber is a great Mera. And her and Jason are really close. And have good chemistry. So I doubt he would be okay with them kicking her out after all she’s been through anyway. But glad she’s here to stay!

Me to all the d*pp stans. Sorry that an abusive and racist pile of dirty scarves that you loved as a 12 year old turned out to be a terrible person.

Anyway. What are you most excited about in Aquaman 2. Like any predictions on what might happen or what you would like to see?

I’d personally love to see more of Arthur and Orm getting to know one another and see their relationship change and grow. Also excited for more Black Manta!

And obviously more of Mera and Arthur being the ultimate power couple.

racist pile of dirty scarves LMAOOO youre not wrong and yeah jason was ready to go to bat for her like he deadass wanted to fight d*pp and honestly he should!

im pretty much excited for all of it tbh. i don’t have any specific predictions but i really hope they get to explore more of atlantis in the sequel, like go into xebel or the fisherman kingdom would be great! also more of arthur & orm ofc, i can see him being more of an antihero this time around if they were to team up against black manta and pilou asbaek’s character bc i know for sure he’s going to play a new villain? and i honestly wanna see more of aquamera, they’re my no.3 dceu ship (used to be no.2 until clois in zsjl). it’s probably too soon for them to be married and definitely too soon for the iconic aquababy but i’m sure we’ll see them in a steady relationship in this one!

#anon #asks

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tzigone · 5 years

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Aquafamily background questions (seeking opinions)

Or build an Aquafamily for me for my in-my-head-reimagining. I’m seeking help, folks.

I don’t know all the Aquas so well. I read some silver age Arthur, Garth, and Mera, Tula, and Aquababy. I’m intermittently looking at current comic, and I like Arthur and Mera’s personalities there. They’re having a baby, and I’m hoping it’s another Arthur Jr., because there are so many characters already, so having only one baby would help. Should I include everyone - everyone has some fans, right? But I don’t know how to fit them all together.

I have read Garth and Tula during the later 60s up through Crisis on Infinite Earths. Tula definitely didn’t get the development I’d have liked, but they had some cute scenes in their teenage romance. I have also seen like one issue with Tula since Rebirth, and understand she’s a step sibling to Arthur in that version, but I have no sense of her personality. I’m also not sure how old she and Garth are anymore. But I’d keep them in Dick’s generation so Garth could do the Teen Titan thing, and I’m keeping the age gap so that Dick is grown when Jason becomes Robin.

I have read a little with Jackson (his N52 intro and a couple more issues), but don’t have a real grasp on the character, and don’t know how much connection he has to anyone else in the family. I know he’s just about to meet Arthur.

I have read almost nothing with Dolphin. I looked at a couple issues of Peter David’s Aquaman and did not like. And I did not read any Aquaman again until Rebirth. I have never read an issue with Koryak or Lorena. I have only seen Lagoon Boy in brief when he appeared in Young Justice. I know Cerdian existed (and DC was confused over his sex for a while), but for these characters, really all I know are their entries from dc.fandom. I will not be keeping Sub Diego. It feels wrong not to keep Cerdian, though that does tie me to Garth/Dolphin pairing, at least temporarily. It will absolutely not play out like comics, because I am not cool with relationships with both father and son. And am not killing Aquababy, and not sending Mera crazy, and she and Arthur won’t be separated anyway.

How much of a father/son relationship do you see in Arthur/Garth? I’d say that was very heavy when Garth was introduced, but I don’t know if still held in later continuity.

So, if anyone certain personalities for the characters they like (personalities vary by era and writer) or certain origin they’d like, let me know. So many of the characters have various origins, so I am not tied to any one origin. I’d love some new and creative ideas. I guess I could make someone Orm’s kid, but I’m not sure I’m going to have Orm. And if I do, I’m not making him an evil brother. I hate evil siblings, so I’ll have to find something else for him to do.

#aquaman #mera #Lorena Marquez #Jackson Hyde #Aquafam #Orm Marius #Tula #Garth #Koryak #Dolphin #Cerdian #Aquababy #Arthur Curry #aquafamily

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megexpress · 5 years

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I honestly can’t wait for the sequel. Can you imagine arthur and mera?? Now that they’re closer and ugh all the scenes we could have

Anonymous #2: Do you have any headcanons about AquaMera’s relationship following the events of the movie?

I combined both these asks together. I hope the anons don’t mind~

I’m counting down the days until I am holding the Aquaman blu-ray in my hands. My family is going to hate me. I will be watching it 24/7. I can only speculate about a sequel (it’s probably >3 years away which hurts me), but I’m definitely hoping that James Wan returns (and he should considering how well it’s doing). I watched an interview the other day where Jason and Amber joke about an Aquababy in the sequel. No, thank-you. I don’t want Aquababy and Black Manta within the same movie (if you’re unfamiliar with the comics, let me just tell you that you don’t want it either). Not even that, but I don’t feel like AquaMera would be at that stage yet. In my ideal sequel, they’d be together and living the romantic partnership that I live for. I want that great balance between friendship and more. And give me that very physical AquaMera that I deserve. I don’t need them hanging off each other, but I will live for the unconscious touches, the comfortable physical intimacy, the unabashed passion. Most importantly, I want them to exchange I love you’s. I don’t care how or where, but I want to hear them say it. Maybe make it a running gag throughout the film of Arthur trying to spit it out but keeps being interrupted until finally he just blurts it out in the middle of battle. I would finally meet my death in the middle of the cinema. It would be a blissful death.

Most of my headcanons about AquaMera’s relationship after the movie center around a burgeoning romance, properly introducing the other to their world. There’s just so much that they can show each other and experience! Here’s a few headcanons (I swear I won’t elaborate too much and make them super long):

- When Arthur said being King was going to be fun, perhaps he didn’t take into account all of the meetings he’d have to participate in. They’re long. They’re tedious. He has better things to do. The only time they’re bearable is when Mera is there. He tried playing footsie with her once during a meeting. She just ended up kicking him. He really needs to teach her what footsie is. (Unbeknownst to Arthur, Mera knows what footsie is. She just doesn’t want to be distracted during important meetings, ARTHUR. She does have to bite the inside of her cheek from smiling every time he tries, though.)

- AquaMera sparring. (UNF, YES!) They practice both in water and on land so they alternate dis/advantages. No holds barred - they give it their all. By the end of each session, they’re breathing heavily, dripping in sweat (at least on land), all stress completely burned out of their bodies. It’s lead to steamy make-out sessions once or twice.

- He takes her to meet Diana and they click immediately. Diana is quick to tell him she approves - she likes Mera’s wit and strength. Diana introduces Mera to ice cream and it blows. her. mind. Mera swore her favourite flavour was rocky road until Arthur shows her sea salt ice cream. It reminds her of home - a bit of the water and a bit of the land - just like Arthur.

- As King, sometimes Arthur has to go long periods of time without seeing his dad (Atlanna visits Atlantis frequently, never going too long without seeing her sons). He misses him. When Mera notices him becoming glum, she asks Arthur to regale her with the same history his father taught him as a child. It helps him feel closer to his father. Just for her, he starts with Romulus and Remus, to remind her of their time in Italy.

- Mera plays the flute quite often, he finds. They stayed at the Lighthouse for a weekend and he couldn’t find her until he heard a melody in the distance. He looked out the window to see Mera sitting alone on the dock, playing her flute. What kind of nymph nonsense- Wait. He knows that song… It takes him a bit to figure it out, but the cadence of When You Wish Upon A Star is unmistakable. He doesn’t intrude, but he does listen to her play. He knew she liked Pinocchio!

- As their romance progresses, he leaves flowers for her to find. She doesn’t even know where he finds them all. One day it’s a lotus on her (their) bed. Another time it’s a water lily next to her morning coffee (she somehow gets addicted to the stuff). For their first date, he bought her a bouquet of red roses. He once tried to make a bouquet with seaweed in it. It was hideous. The way his eyes lit up when he handed them to her, though, melted her heart. (SN: I saw an arrangement of submerged flowers and nearly screamed - all I could think about was an AquaMera wedding.)

There you go, anon. Hope you enjoyed them~ Thanks for the asks!

#AquaMera #Aquaman #no spoilers? miracle.#i have another headcanon that Mera somehow finds flavoured chapstick #and she becomes obsessed with them. idk where this headcanon came from #but it hasn't left my mind in days. A GIANT DORK. (his fave is cake batter btw)

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aquarad-a · 6 years

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Tempest’s Really Cool Magical/Mystical Powers

hey what’s up it’s ya girl, here to rant obsessively about a new atlantean topic: magic!!! mostly about garth’s magic (and his other abilities) but with some general aqua-magic as well in order to set the scene!!

so let’s begin with a disclaimer that I’m speaking almost entirely about pre-boot canon here. Because I am way more familiar with that canon, it has way more material to work with, and a lot of that material explains the magic. I will probably add to this post once we have learned more about reboot magic, but at the moment I have no idea how much of the original canon the dc writers are using in rebirth. Overall, it doesn’t seem to be similar to the older stuff.

In regards to Tempest’s powers, those will all be only in regards to preboot. His current backstory has gone through some major changes and, as you’ll read later on, this significantly affects his abilities.

another disclaimer: I probably didn’t proofread a lot of this/was drinking at times so I probably forgot stuff and will add things later.

so...an overview:

magic exists. this is an established fact. Atlantis makes use of technology and magic for their defenses. But Atlantis actually relies mostly on science than magic, unless the threat against them is also magical in nature. There are also religious groups -- Religion and magic, however, are not necessarily related concepts to Atlanteans. It’s important to note that magic users in Atlantis aren’t all that common.

Magic is hereditary, but it's not guaranteed

According to Tempest #3, the reason Garth is magical is because his “magic energies of his sorcerous ancestors” mixes directly with his genetic makeup. Unlike his forebearers, this means Garth is born with the ability to “manifest” some of his magical abilities. His abilities beyond “normal Atlantean abilities” (eg: underwater breathing, enhanced vision/hearing, etc) are caused by his genetic makeup.

Why is this interesting? Because essentially Garth hit the genetic lottery and managed to unlock some magical/mystical abilities before unlocking his birthright. This is weird. Nobody else in his family could do this.

Garth comes from a line of sorcerers-- both his father and uncle can use magic, and use it well. Atlan states that the abilities are already in Garth, however he cannot access all his powers without completing his training as well as performing a special ritual.

Additionally, his powers did not manifest until he was grown (as established by "Oceanus" in Brave and the Bold #10) which implies that the training had to come at a certain time to “unlock” those powers, even if he was “born with them.”

So this isn't like Harry Potter, where without Atlan's help Garth could have made glass disappear on Shamu's tank all willy-nilly. It takes a deliberate attempt to be trained in the art of magic at a specific age (it's unclear if it's always 18 years of age as it was with Garth) in order to gain magical abilities. Garth showed absolutely no signs of being magic when Atlan rescued him and whisked him away to train.

Had Garth not completed his birthright, he would not have been able to unlock all his magical abilities (I’ll talk more about those in a bit) This is an established canon fact. So while he had the potential, Garth may not have developed any control over his “natural” powers or even developed them at all!

This is also why everyone was so put off by Garth’s eyes -- it implied he had the potential to be a great sorcerer (and...other stuff. we’ll get to that in a bit) which is why the Idylists spread rumors that babies born with purple eyes were genetically inferior and should be put to death. Because Atlantis loves killing babies, they were all on board.

Additionally, this might explain why Arthur does not/cannot use magic-- assuming he does possess the potential for magical abilities (also assuming Atlan is his father-- obviously in other canons he is only Atlantean/Human and therefore nothing suggests he would be magical) then he may have missed the training threshold and lost his potential powers. He does gain a magical hand later on, but it was given to him by another magical entity and therefore doesn’t count in for this discussion.

The Idlyists had a magical king, but the kingdom of Atlantis has never claimed that their royalty can use magic. So royal blood is not an indication of magical abilities.

Back to training...there was an secretive Atlantean school city B’Miria (destroyed in the Black Baptism storyline) and its location was nowhere near Atlantis. B’Miria was the home of many powerful magic users, but it also appears tht their families live in the city as well. Yet another piece of evidence supporting the idea that you must start your training at a specific time in order to gain powers. Plus, almost every magic user seems to be an adult...it is possible that most magic users begin training upon reaching adulthood.

B’Miria was destroyed as were all its inhabitants. However, Garth is visited by every magical spirit who ever lived in the magical city so they could pass on their wisdom and knowledge to him and it could live on.

Now birthright rituals are probably all different. Garth’s birthright involved him stabbing himself in the heart, but that was only added because his people thought nobody would actually fucking do that (they were pacifists, so violence was not in their nature...unfortunately they didn’t take Garth’s self loathing and willingness to stab himself into account here) Presumably most others aren’t as intense and they just involve spells and reciting readings off scrolls and such. No idea. We literally only ever see Garth’s.

Some magic is based on spells, some on “energies” and others aren’t as clearly defined. But powers are defined by your genetic makeup -- someone not related to Garth or his ancestral line couldn’t shoot energy blasts for their eyes, for example.

Just because an Atlantean has unique abilities, does not mean those abilities are magical.

So this is where it’s a little weird, because there are characters who have abilities that are out of the norm, but don’t have magical origins. Again, it’s been established that magic is based on bloodlines and being lucky in your roll of the genetics dice.

Mera is not a magic user. The ability to manipulate water the way Mera and others from Xebel (Dimension Aqua for us die-hard Silver Age fans) do is actually an incredibly common ability in that dimension. Mera happens to be way more powerful than most people in Xebel, but because everyone there can do it, it’s not considered magic. You could call it hydokinisis.

Hard water constructs made by someone with connections to Xebel would not be considered magical powers. This is why Aquababy/Arthur Jr. can use hard water, but he possessed no magical abilities as far as we know.

This is also why Jackson Hyde can use hard water. He, too, possesses no magical abilities, but was given the powers of hard water.

Koryak does have the ability to control water, but has no connection to Xebel. This would be an example of water manipulation that is potentially magical. It may also be due to a really lucky genetic lottery like Garth, since he has the magical ancestry of Atlan.

Garth does not have the ability to use hard water, but he can manipulate water due to psychic powers he possesses. More on that later.

Telepathy is another ability that some Atlanteans possess that is not magical. Only certain characters display the ability and they are not connected by bloodlines or familial relation. Their telepathy also varies in power without explanation. It is most likely a dormant trait that expresses itself in some rare cases.

Aquaman has the most powerful telepathy. He is able to command sea life and even cause seizures with telepathy.

Garth has similar telepathy, but is nowhere near as powerful when he’s Aqualad. He also loses his abilities briefly (due to a mental block/mental illness) and is able to communicate with sea life but cannot command them. This does change later, but due to an increase in his mental abilities later on.

Tula has what is described as "limited telepathic abilities" and seems to be he only telepath with no royal blood which would eliminate the theory of telepathy being a royal trait (Tula was adopted by a royal family before Arthur took the throne, but has no royal blood)

Mera seems to also have a limited ability to communicate with sea life. As Mera is from Xebel (and generally considered an alternate dimension and not Atlantean) I don’t want to make any assumptions on her abilities in this case.

Additionally, neither Garth's nor Arthur's parents are shown to have telepathy. Again, proof against a "royal telepathy" theory. It's honestly probably just an ability that some Atlanteans are lucky enough to possess.

Garth && his really neat powers

Garth is an incredibly powerful wizard. He is often described as having incredibly potential, so everything he is shown doing in canon is implied to be only part of what he is truly capable of. He is also considered the most powerful sorcerer in Atlantis (and imo is one of the strongest magic users in the entire dc universe) In fact, Garth is said to be more powerful than his ancestors in terms of magic due to his powerful genetic makeup and the power of his ancestors. Basically he got a super lucky break. Although he had the potential for greatness, the reason he became so skilled as due to training. His mentor was Atlan, the Wanderer.

His training with Atlan lasted an undetermined amount of time in an alternate dimension where time passes differently -- Garth returns to his home dimension having aged years without more than a few minutes going by. We know it took several months for him to master is optic blasts alone (Tempest #1, 1996)

His training began shortly before Garth turned 18 -- we know this because it takes Slizzath 18 years to return to his home dimension, and Slizzath was killed when Berra, Garth’s mother, was with child. Since it’s later implied that Atlan has been monitoring Garth throughout his life, it’s safe to say Atlan picked the opportune moment to start training Garth. More evidence for powers manifesting only at certain ages.

Now, Garth had to perform a magical ritual in order to fulfill his birthright and receive the “energies of his ancestral energy pool” (Tempest #2) It involved plunging a dagger into his (pure) heart. This also happened to free his evil uncle, Slizzath who stole Garth’s powers. Garth had to defeat his uncle in order to rightfully gain access to all his abilities.

It should be noted that Garth is so much stronger than any of his ancestors. He literally just got lucky and became the most powerful Atlantean. Go figure.

All of these power descriptions are based on Tempest #3 and #4

What’s interesting is Tempest’s magical powers are specifically defined as non-Atlantean. Contextually, it means these are powers other Atlanteans do no possess (the issue before featured his “Atlantean powers” thus the distinction)

However, we know the following abilities were unlocked before claiming his birthright. As I said before, these are just his “you’re really fucking lucky” powers that he got before doing the ritual.

Optic Beams, which are powerful enough to stun something the size of about a grey whale (50 feet, 36 tons) or kill an average human. He can, however, adjust how powerful the blasts are. They are approximately one inch wide at the source, and can span up to 4 feet wide. Their max range is 320 feet. He cannot control the width (yikes!) and he cannot change their path (meaning they literally only go in a straight line, and only move if he moves his head)

Spells. Tempest claims that an invisibility spell was one of the first things Atlan taught him. He also claims to be able to turn people into other objects/animals, and can perform spells found in spell books. He can also “will things” to happen, as shown with his creation of his costume. It was a magical event that Garth didn’t actually seem to consciously attempt to do.

Abilities that came after he claimed his birthright fall into several categories:

Water Control:

Current Manipulation: Garth’s power over water is based on psionic (psychic) abilities. He can create and manipulate three different types of currents: drifts (slow moving and broad); streams (quick and narrow); and upwelling (bringing cold water from the bottom of the ocean upward). He can change the direction and temperature of currents, which also can affect the weather/create rough seas. He can also ride the currents, which allows him to move faster than he would be able to on his own (and why he’s faster than any Atlantean ships) or send objects along the currents.

Whirlpools: Tempest can essentially force two tides or currents together to create whirlpool that can reach about 12 feet wide. He can also create rapidly-moving funnels of water for various purposes. The example given in Tempest #2 is a battering ram.

Heat Generation via his left hand. This is also a psionic power, but it’s why his left hand is usually draw glowing yellow/orange. He can heat bodies or water or areas with a lot of moisture present. He can boil water approximately 5ftx9ft in area (and 12 ft below sea level) to about 320°F. His range is about 60 feet on this one...anything farther away and he doesn’t have much affect.

Cold Generation via his right hand. Same as his heat powers as they are psionic, but Garth is better at using cold than heat. He basically can remove heat from water until it freezes. He can create shapes such as spikes or walls and has way more control over his ice creations. His “signature creation” is an ice prison made of bars that can hold an average Atlantean captive. Again, his range is about 60 feet on this power. Basically Garth was the original Elsa, complete with anxiety issue and depression!!

Mystical Powers:

Mythical Detection of changes in the mythical fields around him. Garth can sense other magical uses, other magical events happening, or events that are going to happen. Sort of a “sixth sense” that he doesn’t have direct control over.

Occultism - this is referring more to Garth knowing the inner workings of secretive societies/cultures. Specifically, Atlantean magic (especially the information gained from B’Miria) and the knowledge of Atlan the Wanderer.

Postcognition. You know, the opposite of precognition. Garth is able to “see”/sense magical entities or even spells that have been cast nearby up to seven hours prior. This is useful in finding ways to reverse or counteract spells, or to track other magic users.

Telepathy. Talked a little about this before, but specifically after he completes his birthright Garth’s telepathy gets a huge power surge. He can use interpersonal as well as broadcast telepathy. They’re not technically considered magical, but maybe mystical? It’s still unclear why some Atlanteans can do this at all.

Telekinesis. His powers in this respect are limited, but Garth has been shown to be able to use his mind to draw poison out of somebody’s bloodstream and through their pores. So, like, that’s pretty badass.

Astral Projection. Super badass imo. Garth is able to not only astral project himself but can do it to others as well. Basically transferring consciousness to another body or form. Garth does this to himself and Arthur and then they swim through Arthur’s water hand. Super underused power imo.

Dimensional Travel/Portal Generation. Basically Garth can create or maintain portals to different dimensions. He can move himself through these portals, or move other people (or objects. like.........Atlantis, for example) They are incredibly difficult to keep open for long periods of time, especially if Garth himself didn’t create the portal. Tends to be a “if you ask me to do this thing, don’t ask me to do anything else for a while” type of power.

Demonic Summoning: For all your demonic summoning needs. Presumably needs a summoning spell. I guess in theory Garth knows how to do necromancy because his uncle learned that and Garth learned all his family secrets. But using necromancy turns you into a gross demon thingy and it’s Bad so Garth wouldn’t do that. He might summon a demon tho. That’s different.

Other Spells In theory, Garth should be able to perform nearly any spell given to him, and create his own. He does this several times (sometimes better than others) and obviously prefers more structured spell casting.

Communication with the “spiritual essence” of the planet itself -- the energies of all the seas, oceans, rivers, any body of water. As well as the protector of those energies, the Naiad.

AND MORE! We know Garth continues training even after Atlan, and he has access to spell books from all over. Even the writers acknowledge that the powers he possesses are just a sampling of what he is truly capable of.

Thanks for reading through (or skimming!) and I’m always open to discussions if you have any questions or feel I’ve missed anything!!

And again, this is only discussing pre-boot. Because Garth has a completely different backstory in rebirth, I have no idea if he can use any of those powers, or how powerful he can become. @ dc comics give garth his curly hair and his origin story back you fucking COWARDS.

#|🐠| out of water { ooc }#headcanon #ask to reblog pls!!!!

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lizartgurl · 7 years

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Sons of the Father (Kaldur’ahm)

Word Count: 700+ Characters: Kaldur’ahm/Aqualad, Joseph Curry/Aquababy (please don’t kill me if I got his name wrong), Shal’lain’a Durham. Last one of the night, I promise. or do i? hmmm

---

Kaldur was beginning to have his doubts on whether he could pull this off on his own. It had been his plan, he had to see it through.

And it would be the death of him.

"Aqualad?" Five-year-old Prince Joseph of Atlantis looked up at him, the bright green eyes of Queen Mera staring up at him. Kaldur never thought he'd see those eyes so round and full of fear.

"Aqualad, I'm scared." Joseph said, his bottom lip quivering. "What's going on?"

Kaldur hushed the child, brushing blond hair out of his face.

"It will all be fine, Joseph." He lied.

"I will protect you." Not a lie.

Explosions, sounds of gunfire echoed in the distance, and Joseph looked the man his parents trusted him with up and down, taking in the new look.

"What happened to your old costume?" He asked innocently.

"I changed," Kaldur replied quickly, trying to keep Joseph silent as he tried to sneak the boy out of the palace without anyone seeing.

Joseph's face scrunched up in disgust. "I don't like it."

"Tato said you were upset, that you ran away. What were you upset about?"

Kaldur pushed Prince Joseph behind him, shielding him from view.

"I was mad at him, and at my parents."

"That makes sense," Joseph said, with wisdom beyond his years. "Sometimes I get mad at Matim and Tato too, when they won't let me have dessert, or I have to dress up and let Lady Sechal pitch my cheek."

Joseph continued rambling as they finally reached the palace's outer wall. The sounds of fighting were much louder now.

"I try to go off and hide too, but then I start missing Matim and Tato and I can hear them calling for me. They always sound so scared. Lady Lori said it was because they would miss me if I left, because they love me so much."

Settled in the grip of Kaldur's black metal armor, Joseph stared up at Kaldur's face. "Aqualad, did you miss your parents when you were hiding?"

Kaldur looked down at the boy in the wonder, before hugging him tightly. "Yes, Joseph. Yes I did.

"Hold on to me now. I am taking you someplace safe."

"Okay," Joseph held on tight, completely trusting in Atlantis' champion.

The sounds of fighting faded as they reached the outskirts of Poseidonis, a place Joseph had never been before. Kaldur took hem to a small, coral- colored home, taking them inside quickly, before they could be seen.

"Hello!" Joseph greeted brightly, smiling at the house's other occupant.

Sha'lain'a stood pale-faced and frozen in the middle of he hallway, taking in her son dressed in his father's armor, holding the prince of Atlantis in his arms.

"Are you Aqualad's matim? You're pretty." Joseph told her.

Flustered, Sha'lain'a quickly thanked the boy before starting on her son.

"Kaldur'ahm, what is going on?" She demanded, anger contorting her face.

"Mother, I need you to take him." Kaldur handed the prince to her. "You and Tato- Calvin, keep him safe. Let no one know he is here. I will let you know when it is safe to take him back to the king and queen again." He turned, his hand on the door.

"Kaldur'ahm, I demand to know the meaning of this!" His mother shouted.

Kaldur froze on the spot, gripping his hands into fists.

"I can't explain it Matim, but all is not as it will seem." He promised. "Please, trust me." He begged.

Kaldur could see his mother's heart break as her face fell.

"I will." She said quietly, sounding broken and defeated for the first time in Kaldur's life.

He hugged her quickly. "I love you, Matim."

"I love you too, Kaldur." She whispered, kissing his forehead. "Stay safe."

Kaldur couldn't promise that, so he just nodded, heading back out the door.

Joseph waved as his old friend left. "Bye Aqualad!"

The door slammed shut.Kaldur swam as fast as he could to the rendezvous point, Joseph's belt gripped in his fist.

"Well?" Manta asked as he arrived.

With a dozen laser guns trained on him, Kaldur held out the belt as proof, covered in fish blood to complete the ruse.

"The prince is dead. Call off the attack."

Manta stared at him for a long time, before taking off his helmet so that Kaldur could see his face. "I am proud of you my son."

Kaldur nodded and remained stoic, but the thought made him sick to his stomach.

#kaldur'ahm #aqualad #sha'lain'a #black manta #david hyde #young justice #aquababy #don't hurt me please #how else was kaldur gonna prove his loyalty to manta????

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garthofshayeris · 2 years

Note

Why do you think comics haven’t tried to bring aqua baby back?

And before new 52 happened and rebirth as well, what storylines do you think they could have done?

Until New52, Aquababy did exist and his death had narrative consequences and influenced character development. Vol 5 didn’t need to bring him back because him being dead was relevant to the plot and that’s why all the characters are Like That. He does get some cameos and there’s the other Arthur Jr. who sucked but like points for creativity I guess?

New52/Rebirth condensed the storyline so much that they already cut out the majority of characters, there was no way to give Arthur and Mera a kid (plus DC is against any characters being married) let alone a murdered toddler. They have a kid now and I’m sure they realized that having a toddler-aged character is actually not super interesting for any of the plots they have. They literally went right back to the 1960s with benching their female characters to babysit lmao

DC loves to threaten another “murdered child of Arthur and Mera” plot but they don’t have the balls to do it nor the emotional foundation to make a toddler murder meaningful to the plot rather than being just edgy shock value (the tragedy of Death of a Prince isn’t JUST that Aquababy died. It’s a lot deeper and had ripple effects for decades)

Arthur and Mera have had a lot of kids in canon that they never utilize and they just keep inventing new ones so they can pretend they’re going to have Manta kill them off. They literally never do. It’s boring. I’m not against having kid characters but wow DC doesn’t know how to utilize them

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pluckyredhead · 2 years

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Please Care About Aquaman With Me: The Golden and Silver Age

Friends, I made a mistake. I have spent these Plague Times (TM) reading just truly ridiculous amounts of comics, shoving them into my mouth like Cookie Monster, and generally going by franchise. So I read all the Green Arrow and all the Green Lantern (minus most of the Golden Age, sorry Alan) and all the Flash (again minus most of the Golden Age, sorry Jay) and all the Titans and all the JSA and then I stopped and went, “Hm, what next?”

And then I said “Why not Aquaman?”

And now I have read several decades of Aquaman comics, and I have feelings. And opinions. And no one else has read any Aquaman or cares even a little!!!

I did this to myself, I know.

I’m not going to ask anyone to read All Of This Aquaman because to be perfectly honest, a lot of it’s...not very good. (Caring deeply about bad comics is my hobby.) Instead, I am going to tell you about important characters and key storylines and then hopefully someone else will feel feelings about Koryak or, like, Rodunn. (I LOVE RODUNN.)

Since there are 81 years of comics, today I’m just going to start with an overview of the Golden and Silver Age because not much happened besides Aquaman’s octopus companion, Topo, playing the banjo:

Oh, and I guess Arthur became king and stuff.

Read on for Arthur, Garth, Mera, Tula, Vulko, Black Manta, Ocean Master, and AQUABABY, THE SENSATIONAL CHARACTER FIND OF 1965!

Aquaman first debuted in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941 (the same issue that Green Arrow and Speedy debuted in!) and he was a big awkward weirdo:

He doesn’t have a real name at this point, he’s just a guy who lives underwater and talks to dolphins. He can breathe water and swim real good because his dad...taught him to...look, it doesn’t make sense and that’s fine. He punched a lot of Nazis and that’s the important thing!

Aquaman soon moved over to a backup feature in Adventure Comics which he held pretty consistently well into the 70s. I’ve only read a handful of these (I was focusing on comics with “Aquaman” in the title) but they do establish a proper origin for him: he is Arthur Curry, son of a human lighthouse keeper and an Atlantean named Atlanna, hence his ability to breathe underwater and talk to fish. However, he can only be out of water for an hour, or he’ll die.

Adventure Comics also introduced THE SWEETEST LITTLE TADPOLE, Aqualad:

He’s so tiny!!! Aqualad was exiled from Atlantis a little bit because he has purple eyes, which are a Bad Omen (Atlanteans are obsessed with bad omens, and also abandoning children) but mostly because he’s afraid of fish, which is just precious. Arthur teaches him not to be afraid of fish and then just kind of...lets him hang around? They ride around on giant seahorses named Stormy and Imp, it’s great.

(Astonishing fun fact: despite debuting in 1960, Aqualad didn’t have a real name until the 80s, when Marv Wolfman and George Perez randomly named him “Garth” for a guest appearance in The New Teen Titans. ARTHUR NAME YOUR CHILDREN CHALLENGE.)

In 1962 Arthur got his own series, and soon met Mera:

LOVE HER. Mera comes from another dimension and can control water which makes her laughably more powerful than Arthur. She makes frequent trips to Arthur’s dimension to flirt with him, to the delight of Garth, who adores her. I love themb.

Then the king of Atlantis dies and Arthur is elected their new king, which he accepts - but they require him to get married, which makes no sense if king is an elected and not hereditary title, but whatever.

No one has ever shipped Arthur/Mera harder than Garth. He’s getting a new mom!

AND THEN THEY HAVE A BABY:

HAIL, AQUABABY!

(They do not refer to this child by his name until literally the issue where he dies (spoilers!). It’s Arthur, Jr. ARTHUR NAME YOUR CHILDREN CHALLENGE, AGAIN.)

Everyone is very happy about this and I agree with them, I love Aquababy very very much, but I’m also extremely fascinated by this brief moment:

Don’t worry, Garth...it’s actually going to be much, much worse than this.

But in the interim, Garth and Aquababy are actually very close! Garth is often shown holding or babysitting Aquababy, to the point that he comes across as his primary caretaker.

Other important Silver Age introductions:

Vulko, who starts out as just sort of a generic Helpful Inventor type and eventually becomes Arthur’s closest advisor and one of the longest-running and most important Aquaman characters.

Tula, aka Aquagirl (or “Aquachick” up there), the adopted princess of an Atlantean royal family (please do not ask me to explain how "the royal family” isn’t Arthur’s family, Atlantean politics are nonsense). Tula is spunky and adventurous - in her first appearance, as you can see, she gets herself and Garth jobs as go-go dancers - which makes her a great first love for shy, timid Garth.

Black Manta, who at this point is just a generic bad guy in a funny helmet but will soon become Arthur’s greatest enemy.

And the absolutely hilarious-looking Ocean Master, who has a great backstory - he’s Arthur’s fully human half-brother Orm (yes, Orm), who always resented Arthur for having superpowers and then got amnesia and went evil, so he’s constantly trying to kill Arthur, who can’t bring himself to harm his baby brother. Charmingly, Aquababy takes a shine to Orm, who because of his amnesia doesn’t know that Arthur is his brother and therefore Aquababy is his nephew but is still like “Why do I love this baby so much???” It’s very cute.

And that takes us through to the 70s! I hope everyone is having a nice time, because there will be zero nice times for the Aquafam after this.

Next up: the deaths of Aquababy and Tula. 😭

#aquaman #arthur curry #garth #mera #tula #aqualad #aquagirl #aquababy #aquasplaining

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garthofshayeris · 2 years

Note

Hi~ I was just wondering if you have any info or thoughts on Garth and Arthur's relationship? Or maybe where to look? I'm having trouble finding anything because I don't know a lot about the aquafam thank you! Also I love your blog

Sorry this has been sitting in my inbox forever lol

Arthur and Garth have a very complicated relationship. You really can’t reduce it to father/son because that really isn’t how either saw the relationship for a while.

From the jump, Garth chooses to be in Arthur’s life: in silver age, he opts to leave Atlantis so he can live with Arthur and post-crisis the story is that Arthur and Garth find each other out in the open ocean and decide to stick together. Garth is an orphan with no socialization and Arthur is a young man who, for much of the continuity, has animal socialization.

Arthur doesn’t adopt Garth. We know this because, although Garth does appear to act like he’s Arthur’s ward, Aquababy is regarded as Arthur’s only kid. In fact, Aquababy calls Garth his uncle. This mindset is confirmed in Death of a Prince where Arthur directly tells him that he is choosing Aquababy’s life over Garth’s because Aquababy is his son. Garth, who just learned about his own biological family’s origins, is hurt by this and it causes a major rift in their relationship.

From there, the two act a bit more like brothers for a while; Garth doesn’t really care about Arthur’s royal status so he has no issue calling Arthur out for doing stupid shit. Meanwhile, Arthur grows increasingly volatile and strains their relationship further. Enter Koryak: Aquaman’s biological son who is jealous of Garth, who he perceives as having the father/son relationship he never had. This isn’t how Garth perceived things, of course, but it lays some groundwork for later events.

Arthur’s ex hooks up with Garth and it’s not treated as weird. Garth also specially says he never had a father, so he doesn’t want his son Cerdian to grow up the same way. At the same time, Arthur is treated like Cerdian’s grandfather. Garth calls Arthur out for being too aggressive with him as a child, they both laugh it off. Garth let’s Arthur do stupid things because he thinks it’s a little bit funny. Drama comes up and gets smoothed over and then more drama comes up.

By the 2000s, Arthur actually refers to Garth as his son and he’s the first person Arthur wants to see after coming back from the past. At some point, Garth is named heir to the throne and takes over when Arthur dies. It’s an odd relationship that I don’t think either of them define; I don’t think Garth would be comfortable calling Arthur “dad” but he enjoys being called Arthur’s son. I don’t think Arthur realized Garth was his son until Garth was an adult, and then he looked back at his past behavior with a little bit of regret. I don’t think either of them would change anything.

As for where to start: if you want stories where it just kinda feels like Arthur is a 20-something who accidentally found a kid, read silver age. If you want really dramatic family drama, read Vol 5. Don’t read rebirth, it doesn’t exist ❤️

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tzigone · 5 years

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If Koryak wasn’t Arthur's son...

I am really asking Koryak fans in particular. Would you still want him to exist? I’m playing with my own mental reboot. I didn’t care for 90’s Aquaman (sans hand and with anger issues, raised by dolphins, Atlan as Arthur’s father, Arthur being named Orin, and the same woman dating both father and son (Arthur and Garth) and so forth) and read so very little of it (and only two issues with Koryak).

I am enjoying current Aquaman, and did read some pre-crisis Aquaman. So I’m building my own version. Where Aquababy doesn’t die and Mera doesn’t go crazy/evil. But I’m having some trouble with timelines and fitting things the way I want.

Koryak, as Arthur’s son, really doesn’t have a place. The relationship with his mother doesn’t even fit into the background I’d have Arthur have. Not to mention the Orm connection is a no-go once he and Arthur are no longer Atlan’s children.

But all I really know about Koryak is that he loves his mother, has a lot of anger towards his father at first, and resents Garth’s relationship with Arthur. The second two don’t hold up without him being Arthur’s son. So is it worth having the character if so much of what he was is lost? Or were those only early aspects of the character, and there were more elements later?

Or does anyone just have a good idea for a new origin/depiction of him - like Tula’s much different in those respects from her pre-crisis self. If a new origin is acceptable, I am trying to come up with a good one.

#Aquaman #Koryak #Arthur Curry

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megexpress · 5 years

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i definitely think that the dceu version of aquamera should have a daughter. i feel like a little girl would suit them so well :3

Hello~

I wholeheartedly agree with you, anon.

I would like DCEU AquaMera to have a daughter rather than a son. Atlanna herself had two sons so I feel like it’s only fair that her son have a daughter, lol. More females in the DCEU is welcome. Arthur has such high regard for women (particularly for strong-minded, independent, bamfs like Atlanna, Mera, and Diana) that it would make perfect sense for himself to have a daughter. I can only imagine Arthur and Mera teaching Aquababy the wonders of both the surface and the waters. Unlike her parents who had absent parents/unconventional childhoods, she would grow up in a way healthier household. Loved by both her parents, grandparents, an uncle (who would 100% dote on her, too, don’t @ me), and all of the citizens of the Kingdoms. The entire world would be her playground - land, sea - she’d learn from heroes, “villains” (Orm), the Justice League, etc. Aquababy would be loved regardless, but a giggling baby girl with shining eyes, luscious locks (lbr, if she gets Arthur or Mera’s hair, she’s got it made), the backbone of her mother, the compassion from her father, a blend of both her parent’s powers… she’d grow to be a forced to be reckoned with and I would love if she just so happened to be a female. But, that’s just my opinion.

Arthur and Mera would make fantastic parents. Regardless of what the baby is or is not, that still stands. And, really, it doesn’t make much of a difference if Aquababy is a girl instead of a boy. Aquababy doesn’t have much canon associated with him. In the comics, as I’m sure we all know, he dies at the hands of Black Manta as a toddler. The DCEU can create their own narrative with Aquababy in which Aquababy (female/male/etc) lives a happy and healthy life, growing up to be a bamf just like Arthur and Mera are. The genes that kid will have in its arsenal… hoo boy. Assuming Aquababy lives, we also get to ignore the entire comic story that happened after he died and that would be A+ in my books.

Also, we all know Arthur mentors Aqualad (Garth). If they introduce Garth into the DCEU, which I hope they do because I think that would be a riot between him and Arthur, then he is the son-like figure for Arthur. To have Aquababy be female, it would create a better balance of the female:male ratio in the DCEU (which is already suffering as is). I would love for DCEU AquaMera to have an older “son” (Garth) and a younger daughter (AquaBaby). It warms my heart just thinking about it! Who needs a kid to be named after them, anyways? Name Aquababy after Mera’s mother who passed. I think that would be just as sweet and more natural than naming Aquababy after Arthur.

I’m really just trying to come up with excuses now because I want Aquababy to be a girl, lol.

#AquaMera #Aquaman #thx for the msg anon~#i love posting in the middle of the weekend when no one is on tumblr but that's ok

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megexpress · 5 years

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What do you want to happen relationship wise with Aquamera in the Aquaman sequel? Also how good of a chance do you think we have of seeing Mera in the next Justice League movie?

Hello, anon~

I briefly mentioned what I wanted to happen relationship-wise with AquaMera in a sequel here. Hopefully that link works. If not, blame Tumblr.

What I want for AquaMera in the sequel is to go at the same pace they did for the first film. I don’t want them to be rushed. I want their relationship to continue with that natural progression. I want their friendship to always be apparent - nothing annoys me more than when a ship progresses romantically just to have them always being physical and sacrifice their communication. AquaMera have great communication and, while it can be non-verbal, I appreciate the verbal so much more. (So does Arthur, it seems. He isn’t afraid to speak up about how he feels. I really enjoy that open dialogue). I do also want to see the non-verbal, of course. The type of physical intimacy that comes with affection and love - unconscious touches, close proximity, shared knowing looks, etc. Comic AquaMera from what I know are quite up on the PDA and I definitely won’t mind seeing their, uhm, passionate side, but I really crave that balance. Romantic! Partnership! I’ll keep saying it! (SN: I don’t want TPTB to sacrifice Mera’s personality for her relationship with Arthur. She is a whole person apart from Arthur and she should continue to be treated as such. Amen.)

My logical side comes out on how WB/DC should handle the Aquaman franchise. After the previous DCEU films flopped (I may have liked them but they were an unequivocal failure), Wonder Woman and Aquaman serve as the soft reboot that DC needed. Once DC realized WW was successful, the sequel was quickly green lit and its became priority #1. The same, I feel, will go for Aquaman. From what I’ve read, Jason has already proposed an idea for a sequel himself and ideas have been thrown around for future films after that. Which means not only a sequel, but a third film, possibly a fourth, depending on how much DC wants to milk it (and also on how well their other films are doing). Yes, DC, give me all those Aquaman movies! I’m a fan of the FatF franchise, no amount of sequels will appease me! Lol. If they’re smart, they’ll want to progress the Aquamera relationship naturally so they will remain interesting and fun. I can’t see TPTB creating dramatic friction between AquaMera because it takes away the reason why I (and many others) like them. AquaMera are communicative and playful without sacrificing passion and love - they don’t need the drama. If they rush them, it runs the risk of making them insincere and off-putting. Honestly, though, who can really tell with DC?

As for my own take on AquaMera in those theoretical sequels, my ideal would be a milestone per film. The first film was the big kiss. Done (and beautifully so)! The second milestone should be saying “I love you,” because that is obviously a huge milestone for any romantic relationship. (Also, I want them to deal with the whole fact that she was previously betrothed to his brother and that Arthur is now King - what does that mean for them? Are they betrothed by default (lol)? Can they even be in a relationship? If they give me an angsty “I love you” because of all this I might pass out. I’m up for it.) The third milestone would be an engagement and I will accept nothing less than one of them proposing to the other on-screen. I’m still salty that we didn’t get to witness a proper Clois engagement. I don’t want another of my DC OTPs to be treated so flippantly. (The DCEU tends to be pretty dark and dismal, but Aquaman isn’t like that. The film was fun and playful - it leaned into its oddness and made it charming. Because of that, I feel like AquaMera will be treated much better than poor Clois. Also, the Clois relationship progression was flung from one film to another whereas AquaMera’s relationship will mostly be progressed through the Aquaman films. There will be less time jumps and more room to actually focus on them.) The fourth milestone would be their marriage, of course! (Do I want their wedding to be grand or subtle? Who knows? Give me both.) And, lastly, Aquababy (who will be nowhere near Black Manta and who will be alive and well by the end of the franchise, you hear me?!). I’ve basically just outlined the next four Aquaman films, lmao. Get on it, DC.

As for a future Justice League movie… I don’t even know how much its progressed. The first one flopped so I feel like DC is putting a sequel on the back-burner. They should release a Cyborg, Flash, and Batman movie before it is released. (That’s what they should have done before the first film but whatever.)It could be many years before we hear of another JL movie. But, yeah, Mera will definitely be in that hypothetical sequel. She was in the first film and I don’t even remember if they mentioned her name. Now that she has an actual name for herself thanks to Aquaman, she will definitely star in the JL sequel with more substantial scenes. Do I think she will be in it a lot? No. But I do believe she will be in it. Don’t fret! We’ll probably see an Aquaman sequel before the JL sequel anyways. More Mera is on the way!

#AquaMera #i really do ramble huh?#thanks for the msg anon~

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