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Aquaman

Origin - Arthur Curry was the son of a lighthouse keeper named Tom Curry and a woman named Atlanna. He manifested incredible strength and speed at a young age, as well as the abilities to breathe underwater and talk to fish. On her deathbed, his mother revealed that she was an exiled Queen of Atlantis and he would someday inherit rule of the seven seas. His father gave him an education and taught him to control his powers, eventually allowing him to grow up and become the super-hero Aquaman. Aquaman would go on to be one of the seven founding members of the Justice League of America. Aquaman would briefly become leader of the Justice League and was forced to disband it when breakdowns within the team made it no longer function. Arthur would take a young boy who was abandoned under his wing. This boy would eventually become the first Aqualad. Arthur also met a woman named Mera who he would marry. Their first child together they named Arthur Curry Jr. After discovering that his greatest nemesis Ocean Master is really his half-brother, he begins spiraling into a depression. Aqualad pulls him out of this to investigate an undersea radiation leak, but it turns out to be a trap and they are kidnapped alongside by the terrorist Charybdis. They fight their way to escape but Charybdis holds Aquaman's hand down in a piranha pool before getting thrown in himself. Progressively nursing back to health in the Aquacave, Arthur emerges with a harpoon over the stump of his left hand. At different periods of his life he has tried to perform the duties of both the King of Atlantis as well as a super hero. Discovering it is not easy to do this he decides he will follow the path of superhero as it affords him the ability to help all people of the world not just his own people. The JLA learned that Aquaman had long ago planned a contingency should anything ever threaten to obliterate Atlantis -take the citizens into the ancient past, to the golden age of Atlantis about 3000 years before. The city was still under the sea at that time, and the belief was that the people would welcome them there as lost kin. Tempest triggered the spell, but instead of a paradise, the Atlanteans encountered sorrow and suffering. In the past, they found a lost piece of history, when a blond-haired sorceress had raised Atlantis. She enslaved the future Atlanteans and submerged (literally) Arthur's consciousness into a pool of water. Fifteen years passed before the JLA showed up but by then, the evil sorceress had prepared a line of defense. The league battles in both the past and the present. Finally, Aquaman is freed, and as King of Atlantis he exacts a punishment upon those in the past, forcing the island back beneath the waves and reverting the people back into water breathers. When everyone is returned to the present, Mera announces that there must still be a reckoning even though he did it with good intentions, Aquaman is still responsible for the sinking of Atlantis and for much of the suffering endured by its people. He agrees to be put on trial for treason. This caused displeasure among Atlantis' denizens, and they drove Aquaman out of Atlantis; Aquaman afterward spent some time in Ireland, including meeting the Lady of the Lake, who gives him a new prosthetic hand composed of magical water. From there he returned to his more classic look: orange shirt, clean-shaven, and short hair. Unfortunately the magic that was used to create Arthur's water based prosthetic hand was used against him in a magic ceremony meant to save non water breathing survivors of Atlantis. Aquaman was horribly mutated into a creature known as the "Dweller of the Depths". His son Arthur Jr. would become the new Aquaman. Arthur Sr. is eventually executed during a battle by Narwhal. Arthur was revived as one of the Black Lanterns whereby his hand has been restored to his corpse. Aquaman was among the twelve people revived by the White Lantern Central Power Battery at the dawning of the Brightest Day. Aquaman reunites with Mera and during a battle he discovers that he is still able to control the undead sea life, a power given to him by the Black Lantern power ring. It is at this time Arthur meets Jackson Hyde. The teenager is the son of Arthur's long time enemy Black Manta but unlike his father, Jackson has decided to use his powers for good and had decided to take up the mantle on Aqualad. His mission completed, the Entity restores Arthur's life back to him completely and then vaporizes him. He is converted into one of the four Elementals representing water, alongside Firestorm representing fire, Hawkman and Hawkgirl representing wind, and Martian Manhunter representing earth. The Entity explains that his greater purpose was to bring them together so they could protect humanity from the Dark Avatar, a version of Swamp Thing whose connection to the Green had been tainted by Nekron. Their presence staves him off long enough to resurrect Alec Holland . Holland is transformed into the new Swamp Thing and destroys his evil counterpart, becoming the new avatar of the White Lantern Corps. Aquaman is returned to normal with his hand repaired.

Powers and Abilities - The Atlanteans are an offshoot of humanity that is biologically adapted to the deep ocean environment. For most Atlanteans, this means that can breathe underwater, endure the pressures of the deep, and can only spend a very limited time out of water. He also possesses superhuman levels of strength, speed, endurance and durability, all by-products of his body being adapted to survive unprotected in the tremendous pressures of the ocean depths. Although other Atlanteans possess similar adaptations, Aquaman is super-Atlantean as well as super-human, and as such he has greater physical capabilities than does a typical Atlantean. Aquaman, as an Atlantean, but also human, can breathe both water and air, but must return to the aquatic environment at various intervals; this length can be prolonged by the humidity in the atmosphere. His ability to see in the murky depths of the ocean allows him exceptional night vision while on land. He has claimed that his eyes are adapted to see at 6,000 fathoms (or 36,000 feet below the surface of the water). He also has enhanced hearing and smell as well as superhuman endurance and durability. Aquaman possesses superhuman strength on the order of 150 times human maximum, but his strength is always underrated, considering the company that he keeps. His strength is more than a match for most barriers such as wood, metals, brick or concrete walls. Only extremely durable metal reinforced barriers, have any chance of slowing him for any length of time. Aquaman frequently displays feats of Super-Atlantean (the average Atlantean can lift/press approximately 2 tons) and Superhuman strength. While not on par with Superman, he has proven capable of performing standing high jumps of 4 stories (both on land and from water), lifting and throwing a tank (at least 25 tons), and even managed to hold out for an incredible length of time against Wonder Woman in combat. His strength would appear somewhat dependent on how hydrated he is. An approximation of Aquaman's strength would put his lifting/pressing capacity of at least over 60 tons while on land, depending on how long he has been out of water. While hydrated sufficiently, Aquaman has twice proven capable of lifting weights in excess of 10,000 tons. He has a natural resistance to energy-heat related attacks. Aquaman's regular speed is approximately 100mph swimming underwater, although slightly less on the surface. In times of distress this has shown to drastically increase, and he has reached 1,000 knots. While no speedster, Aquaman's reflexes are superior to even near meta humans such as Deathstroke the Terminator, and his reflexes are on the order of 12-15 times faster than a normal human. Aquaman is probably the greatest swimmer in the world. Aquaman has the ability to communicate directly with sea life and has done so throughout most of his life. Lately he possesses a greater range of control that can actually force sea creatures to obey his whims. Currently, he requests their assistance and they comply. He has chosen to continue to request since, if he forces them to comply, they will ultimately lose respect for him. He now also has access to a quantum field phenomenon called "the Clear". "The Clear" quantum phenomenon has been observed with the subject called the Swamp Thing who called it the Green or the Morphogenic Field of Animal Man (also called the Red). Aquaman is also an accomplished telepath in general and can perform such telepathic feats as mind to mind communication, mind probes, mental domination of a non-aquatic mind, and mental attacks. The potency of such mental domination is unclear but he has been seen to use his powers to great effect. Aquaman excels at hand-to-hand combat and overall martial ability. He has an advanced strategic sense, and has natural leadership qualities.

Weaknesses and Limitations - Aquaman must return to water after a period of time or he will weaken due to water deprivation.