49 Fun Facts About Aquaman

Aquaman debuted in November 1941 in the same More Fun Comics issue as which other DC hero?

Green Arrow debuted in that issue too, and editor Mort Weisinger co-created both, Aquaman with artist Paul Norris and Green Arrow with artist George Papp.

Aquaman is the son of the queen of Atlantis and a human with what job?

Lighthouse keeper is right: Tom Curry tended a lighthouse, and his son with Atlanna also goes by the Atlantean name Orin.

Which HBO comedy gave its hero a record-breaking James Cameron Aquaman movie years before the real one?

Entourage did it: its hero Vincent Chase starred in James Cameron's Aquaman, which on the show broke the record for the biggest opening weekend.

During the Silver Age, Aquaman was a founding member of which team?

The Justice League is right: he was among the founders in The Brave and the Bold #28 (1960), and in 1984 he briefly disbanded and reformed the League with new bylaws.

In his earliest stories, how did Aquaman communicate with sea creatures?

By speaking their language, if they were near: long-range telepathy came later and became a comedy punchline.

Aquaman's first cartoon, a 1967 Filmation series on CBS, shared its title with which hero?

Superman shared the bill in The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, and Filmation later repackaged the Aquaman shorts as a standalone half-hour Aquaman show.

Jokes about Aquaman's wholesome, weak portrayal on which cartoon became a comedy staple?

Super Friends, the Hanna-Barbera cartoon that began in 1973, made him a punchline, and DC responded several times by trying to make him edgier, brooding or more powerful in the comics.

Aquaman's 1961 four-issue solo tryout ran in which DC anthology series?

Showcase is right: issues #30 to #33 in 1961 tested him as a lead, and his first solo series followed in 1962 and ran 56 issues.

In the 1990s comics, Aquaman lost his left hand when Charybdis forced it into a pool of what?

Piranhas did it: in the 1994 Aquaman #2, the villain Charybdis held his hand in their pool until they stripped it, and the maimed, bearded look defined him for the rest of the decade.

What did Aquaman attach to his arm in place of his missing hand?

A harpoon spearhead is right: he fitted a retractable harpoon where the hand had been, and years later swapped it for a hand of magical water.

Which writer's 1990 series The Atlantis Chronicles told the history of Atlantis up to Aquaman's birth?

Peter David wrote it, and four years later he relaunched Aquaman's monthly series, in which the hero lost a hand.

After which 1985 DC crossover was Aquaman's origin retold in The Legend of Aquaman Special?

Crisis on Infinite Earths, the 1985-86 maxiseries that collapsed DC's multiverse into one continuity, cleared the way for The Legend of Aquaman Special to retell his origin in 1989.

In The Legend of Aquaman Special, baby Orin was abandoned on Mercy Reef because of what?

His blond hair marked him: superstitious Atlanteans read the colour as the Mark of Kordax, a curse, so the infant was left to die on Mercy Reef.

Pitbull's Ocean to Ocean, from the 2018 Aquaman soundtrack, samples which Toto hit?

Africa is the sample: Ocean to Ocean reworks Toto's 1982 hit for the soundtrack, so a song about Africa ended up selling a movie about the sea.

Mera's home realm, originally called Dimension Aqua, was later renamed what?

Xebel is the later name, given when Brightest Day revealed the realm as a penal colony for a banished faction of Atlanteans.

Which 2009 Green Lantern crossover raised a dead Aquaman as an undead villain who attacked Mera?

Blackest Night raised him as a Black Lantern, and when the event ended in 2010, a White Lantern ring brought him fully back to life.

What is the distinctive feature of Black Manta's costume?

A large bug-eyed metal helmet is the trademark, its red lenses firing energy blasts, worn over a black wetsuit since his 1967 debut.

Ocean Master, who debuted in Aquaman #29 in 1966, is what relation to Aquaman?

His half-brother is right: Orm Curry was originally Tom Curry's jealous, fully human son by another woman; later versions made him fully Atlantean as Orm Marius.

The first Aqualad, Garth, has what unusual physical trait marking him as an outcast?

Purple eyes marked him: Atlantean superstition treated the colour as a bad omen, so Garth was cast out as a baby; he later took the name Tempest, and Jackson Hyde became the second Aqualad in 2010.

Aquaman's young partner Aqualad was a founding member of which superhero team?

The Teen Titans began as a 1964 team-up of three sidekicks, including Aqualad and Robin, and only took that name a year later when Wonder Girl joined.

Aquaman and Mera's son, Arthur Jr., was nicknamed what?

Aquababy was the nickname: the boy was suffocated by Black Manta in a 1977 Adventure Comics story, a death that haunted both parents for decades.

Which actor played Aquaman in the live-action series Smallville?

Alan Ritchson played him, first in the 2005 Smallville episode Aqua, and he later starred as Jack Reacher in Amazon's Reacher.

Justin Hartley's unaired 2006 Aquaman pilot topped iTunes downloads after which network passed on it?

The CW passed after The WB, which developed the pilot, merged into the new network; released on iTunes in July 2006, it became the No. 1 TV download.

In which film did Jason Momoa first appear as Aquaman, in a cameo?

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) gave Momoa his first appearance, a brief clip in Lex Luthor's metahuman files, and the character's live-action film debut.

Before Aquaman, Momoa was best known as Khal Drogo on which series?

Game of Thrones is right: Momoa played the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo in its first season in 2011, after Ronon Dex on Stargate Atlantis and a start on Baywatch: Hawaii.

Who directed the 2018 Aquaman film?

James Wan directed it: the horror director behind Saw and The Conjuring signed on in 2015, three years before the film's December 2018 release.

Aquaman overtook which film as the highest-grossing DC movie?

The Dark Knight Rises had held the DC record with more than $1.08 billion until Aquaman reached $1.15 billion, so a hero long mocked as a joke outgrossed the finale of Christopher Nolan's trilogy.

Where was principal photography for the 2018 Aquaman film based?

The Gold Coast, Australia was the base: Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland hosted principal photography from May 2017, with additional units in Canada, Italy and Morocco.

Who plays Orm, the Ocean Master, in the Aquaman films?

Patrick Wilson plays Orm in both films, and in the 2023 sequel Arthur has to break him out of prison and team up with him against Black Manta.

Which actress plays Queen Atlanna, Aquaman's mother, in the Aquaman films?

Nicole Kidman plays Atlanna, who washes up at Amnesty Bay, Maine, in 1985 and is taken in by Thomas Curry, Arthur's father, before Atlantis drags her back.

Who plays Nuidis Vulko, the Atlantean vizier who trains young Arthur, in the 2018 Aquaman film?

Willem Dafoe plays Vulko, whom Queen Atlanna trusts to train her son after she is forced to return to Atlantis.

Which action star plays Nereus, Mera's father, in the Aquaman films?

Dolph Lundgren plays King Nereus, whom Orm tricks into an alliance by staging a fake surface attack on their meeting.

Which actor plays David Kane, who becomes Black Manta, in the Aquaman films?

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays David Kane, whose father Jesse dies pinned by a torpedo in a flooding submarine after Arthur refuses to help, fuelling his revenge.

Which screen legend voices the Karathen, the sea monster guarding the Trident of Atlan?

Julie Andrews voices the Karathen, the colossal sea creature Arthur must win over to claim the trident, which grants command of the seven seas.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, Arthur and Mera find the Trident's coordinates after a clue leads them to which island?

Sicily is right: after the Sahara clue, Mera and Arthur travel to the hilltop town of Erice in Sicily, where they decode the route to the Trident before Black Manta attacks.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, what are the amphibious monsters that attack Arthur and Mera at sea called?

The Trench are the creatures: pale amphibians that swarm Arthur and Mera's boat at night, and Arthur later leads them, along with the Karathen, into battle against Orm.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom closed out the DC Extended Universe ahead of which director's rebooted DC Universe?

James Gunn and producer Peter Safran took charge of DC Studios in November 2022, so the Lost Kingdom arrived as the old universe's farewell.

In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which cursed weapon found in Antarctica possesses Manta?

The Black Trident is the weapon: forged by Kordax, brother of King Atlan, it possesses David Kane with Kordax's spirit and drives him to free the lost seventh kingdom.

In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, what is the lost seventh kingdom ruled by Kordax called?

Necrus is the lost seventh kingdom, frozen under Antarctica, whose ruler Kordax, brother of King Atlan, forged the cursed weapon that possesses Manta.

In 2026's Supergirl, Aquaman star Jason Momoa returned to DC films as which alien bounty hunter?

Lobo was the part: after years as DC's noble sea king, Momoa played the brawling mercenary and bounty hunter from the planet Czarnia.

In the Silver Age comics, Aquaman gained a weakness: he would die unless he did what?

Touched water at least once an hour is right: that rule was a Silver Age addition, since before it he could live in or out of water indefinitely.

Which writer launched the New 52 Aquaman series in 2011 with artists Ivan Reis and Joe Prado?

Geoff Johns launched the 2011 series and wrote it through issue 25, steering it into the Throne of Atlantis crossover in 2012 and 2013.

In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, what is the name of the giant seahorse Arthur rides?

Storm is the name, and it is a tribute: in the 1967 Filmation cartoon Aquaman already rode a giant seahorse called Storm.

In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, the drum-playing covert operative T.O.P.O. is what kind of animal?

An octopus is right: Topo, short for Tactical Observation and Pursuit Operative, is the drum-playing cephalopod updated from Aquaman's octopus sidekick of the 1950s comics.

Who plays Tom Curry, Arthur's father, in the Aquaman films?

Temuera Morrison plays Tom Curry, and the New Zealand actor is better known in Star Wars as the bounty hunter Jango Fett.

In 2015 the future director of Aquaman chose it over which other DC film?

The Flash was the other offer: the director felt the speedster had already been done on screen and preferred the untested underwater world.

Jason Momoa was born in Honolulu but raised in which US state after his parents divorced?

Iowa is right: he grew up in Norwalk, south of Des Moines, and graduated from Norwalk High School before returning to Hawaii, where he was cast in Baywatch Hawaii at 19.

During Infinite Crisis, Aquaman's ritual raised which sunken city onto dry land?

Sub Diego, the sunken half of San Diego, was raised back onto land by his ritual, at a price: he mutated into the amnesiac Dweller of the Depths, clearing the way for a younger successor to take the name.

In which country was the 2018 Aquaman film released two weeks before its US debut?

China got it first, on December 7, 2018, where it opened to $93.6 million and passed Wonder Woman's entire lifetime gross in the country within three days.