99 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.

Which actress plays Mera, the warrior princess who seeks Arthur's help, in both of Jason Momoa's Aquaman films?

Amber Heard plays Mera as a princess raised by Queen Atlanna and groomed to be queen, with powers that let her bend water to her will.

Years before Aquaman, Jason Momoa spent four seasons as the military specialist Ronon Dex on which sci-fi series?

Stargate Atlantis put Momoa in a lost city years before he became king of DC's Atlantis, and he learned martial arts for the role.

Aquaman artist Ramona Fradon later worked on SpongeBob Comics stories about which elderly undersea superhero?

Mermaid Man stories came to Fradon because of her Aquaman years: the semi-retired hero of Bikini Bottom also breathes underwater and talks to its residents.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, which disaster does King Orm unleash on the surface world, nearly killing Arthur's father?

A tsunami is Orm's reply to an attack on Atlantis that he secretly staged himself to win King Nereus over to his war.

Which comedy veteran voices Kingfish, the fish-like ruler of a pirate haven, in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom?

Martin Short's Kingfish rules the Sunken Citadel, where Arthur and Orm go looking for a lead on Manta's hideout.

In DC's Flashpoint storyline, Aquaman's Atlantis wages a war that devastates western Europe against which hero?

Wonder Woman and her Amazons fight Aquaman's Atlanteans in a changed timeline where Thomas Wayne, not Bruce, is the one wearing the cowl.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, the fallen Kingdom of the Deserters, where the Trident was forged, lies beneath which desert?

The Sahara hides the Deserters' ruined kingdom, and the production filmed on location in Morocco, around Merzouga and Erfoud.

Jason Momoa, the future Aquaman, landed his first acting job at 19 on which beach-set TV series?

Baywatch Hawaii cast Momoa, then living and working in Honolulu, as Jason Ioane, a part he played from 1999 to 2001.

At the end of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Arthur reveals that Atlantis exists in an announcement to which body?

The United Nations hears Arthur declare that he intends to make Atlantis a member state, ending its secrecy from the surface world.

Which actor plays Dr. Stephen Shin, the Atlantis-obsessed scientist who rescues Manta in Aquaman's mid-credits scene?

Randall Park's Dr. Shin returns in the sequel, working with Manta as the pair hunt for Atlantean artifacts.

The 2018 Aquaman film opens in 1985, when Queen Atlanna is rescued on the shore of which US state?

Maine is where Thomas Curry finds the queen and falls in love with her; their son Arthur grows up there able to communicate with sea creatures.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, David Kane swears revenge on Arthur after his father dies trapped aboard what vessel?

A submarine hijacked by the Kanes' pirate crew is where Arthur leaves Jesse Kane pinned by a torpedo, refusing to save a man who had murdered innocent people.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, King Orm wants to destroy the surface world as punishment for which human offence?

Polluting the oceans is Orm's grievance, and he courts King Nereus to help him unite the undersea kingdoms and earn the title Ocean Master.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, a wormhole carries Arthur and Mera to an uncharted sea located where?

The center of the Earth hides the sea where Queen Atlanna, long thought executed, has survived for years, unable to find her way back.

Ben Affleck and which earlier Batman actor both shot cameos that were left out of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom?

Michael Keaton filmed a scene as his 1989 Bruce Wayne, but it reportedly confused test audiences and neither cameo survived to the final cut.

Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis, a 2003 release that drew generally unfavourable reviews, was what kind of product?

A video game for the Xbox and GameCube, it sent Aquaman swimming through ruined buildings to save his city from Black Manta.

Aquaman: Power Wave, which opened at Six Flags Over Texas in 2023, is what kind of attraction?

A roller coaster built by Mack, Power Wave replaced an earlier attraction named for the hero, Aquaman Splashdown.

Aquaman: King of Atlantis, a three-part animated comedy from 2021, premiered on which streaming service?

HBO Max launched the miniseries, set after the 2018 film but outside its continuity, with the film's director as executive producer.

Jason Momoa voiced an animated Aquaman in which big-screen sequel built around a famous toy brand?

The Lego Movie 2 finally let the brick-built hero talk: his appearances in two earlier Lego films were non-speaking cameos.

Aquaman joined the lineup of cosmetic outfits in which hugely popular online battle royale?

Fortnite added the hero as an outfit, and he is also a playable character in the Injustice series.

Tula, an orphan adopted by one of Atlantis's royal families, fights beside Aquaman's sidekick under which name?

Aquagirl was the name Tula used on missions; she never left the royal palace until she met the young hero Garth at fifteen.

In the 1967 Filmation cartoon starring Aquaman, the pet named Tusky is what kind of animal?

A walrus, Tusky shared the cartoon with Mera, Aqualad and a seahorse named Imp.

Jason Momoa made an uncredited cameo as Aquaman in the first-season finale of which DC streaming series?

Peacemaker's title character spreads a crude rumour about Aquaman; Momoa found the joke funny and agreed to appear in the episode.

The 2018 Aquaman film was shot under which working title, the name of a famous fictional sea captain?

Ahab was the code name when cameras rolled in May 2017, borrowing the whale-obsessed captain of Moby-Dick for a film about a ruler of the seas.

Which animated series created Kaldur'ahm, the Aqualad who leads its covert team of teenage sidekicks?

Young Justice invented Kaldur'ahm for the screen, and a comic-book version named Jackson Hyde reached print several months before the show premiered.

In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the friendly, bombastic Aquaman is voiced by which Futurama cast member?

John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, played the role again in a later Scooby-Doo crossover film and in the sketch series Mad.

In Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Manta raids Atlantis to steal which ancient fuel that is overheating the planet?

Orichalcum comes from Plato, whose Critias describes it as a metal mined in Atlantis and second only to gold in value.

Aquaman star Jason Momoa played on his high school soccer team alongside which actor who also became a DC film hero?

Brandon Routh, a teammate at Norwalk High, wore the red cape of the Man of Steel in a 2006 film, a decade before Momoa's first film appearance as Aquaman.

In DC's Brightest Day comics, Mera confesses she was first sent to Aquaman's world on what secret mission?

To kill him was her father's order, but Arthur's nobility impressed her, and she fell in love with and married the man she was sent to remove.

In the comics and films alike, Arthur Curry's human father raises him in which fictional coastal town?

Amnesty Bay later becomes the site of an Atlantean embassy in the comics, with Mera appointed as its ambassador.

Garth, the Atlantean outcast who became the first Aqualad, later abandoned that role for which new alias?

Tempest was Garth's grown-up identity; superstitious Atlanteans had banished him to a barren seabed before Aquaman befriended him.

In the 1980s comics, Aquaman moved his superhero team from a destroyed satellite base to a bunker in which US city?

Detroit became home after a Martian invasion destroyed the satellite, and Aquaman rebuilt the roster with untried recruits such as Vibe, Vixen and Gypsy.

In DC Comics, which sunken city is the capital of Aquaman's kingdom of Atlantis?

Poseidonis takes its name from the Greek god Poseidon, and in one retelling of his origin it is where Queen Atlanna gave birth to the future king.

Jackson Hyde, the Aqualad introduced in 2010, was raised far from the sea in which landlocked US state?

New Mexico kept him far from water: the parents who raised him taught him to fear it so that his Atlantean abilities would never awaken.

In the comics, which figure of Arthurian legend gave Aquaman a magical replacement for his lost hand?

The Lady of the Lake gave him a hand made of water that could heal, shoot scalding or freezing jets and open portals to mystical dimensions.

The unaired 2006 Aquaman TV pilot recast the hero as a young dive-shop owner living in which US location?

The Florida Keys version of Arthur runs the shop with his friend Eva, and the story begins with his mother being taken over the Bermuda Triangle.

In the 2018 Aquaman film, which actor voices King Ricou of the Fishermen, killed by Orm to win his people's allegiance?

Djimon Hounsou gave the king his voice while Andrew Crawford performed the motion capture; a year later Hounsou played the wizard in Shazam!

Which singer co-wrote and performed Everything I Need, an original song on the 2018 Aquaman soundtrack?

Skylar Grey wrote the song with Elliott Taylor, and it shared the album with Rupert Gregson-Williams's score and a Pitbull track.

Which filmmaker was twice approached to direct the Aquaman film released in 2018 and turned it down both times?

Peter Jackson declined both times; the studio also developed the film on two tracks, hiring two writers for rival scripts and planning to move forward with only the better one.

Santiago Cabrera was cast as Aquaman in a DC team-up film cancelled in 2008 that was to be directed by whom?

George Miller's project collapsed after delays from the 2007–08 writers' strike; it would have been Aquaman's first appearance in cinemas.

Which comics crossover sees Ocean Master declare war on the surface after stray Navy missiles hit his undersea kingdom?

Throne of Atlantis ran through six issues in 2012 and 2013, and elements of its story were worked into the 2018 film.

Which artist drew Aquaman's first story in 1941 and shares the creator credit with Mort Weisinger?

Paul Norris soon had to give the feature up over an exclusive contract he had signed elsewhere, then spent 35 years drawing the newspaper strip Brick Bradford.

Which artist drew the first 39 issues of Aquaman's 1960s solo comic and co-created Black Manta and Ocean Master?

Nick Cardy also drew every cover through the last issue in 1971, as well as the stories of Aquaman's wedding and the birth of his son.

After his first home title dropped its superheroes in 1946, Aquaman spent the next 15 years in which DC anthology?

Adventure Comics kept him in print as a backup feature, making him one of the few DC superheroes published continuously through the 1950s.

In the New 52 comics, Aquaman once belonged to which loose-knit team whose members each hold an Atlantean relic?

The Others include the jungle fighter Ya'Wara and her panther, the Russian Vostok-X and an Iranian seer named Kahina, and they earned an 11-issue series of their own.

In his Golden Age stories of the 1940s, Aquaman lived on the seabed in which unusual home?

A wrecked fishing boat kept underwater was his base in those early tales, when most of his foes were wartime Axis villains and modern-day pirates.

After his resurrection in DC's Brightest Day comics, Aquaman finds he can summon only what kind of creatures?

Dead sea life answers his call when he and Mera intercept a pirate vessel, a grim twist on his most familiar power.

Which actor, later a sitcom star, narrated Aquaman's 1967 cartoon and also voiced Black Manta in it?

Ted Knight went on to play the vain newscaster Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and the judge in Caddyshack.

One retelling of Black Manta's origin made him an orphan subjected to cruel experiments in which DC institution?

Arkham Asylum staff restrained the boy in that version, and one treatment cleared his head but left him violent enough to escape.

In 2009 an Aquaman film was reported in development at Appian Way, the production company of which actor?

Leonardo DiCaprio's company never got the project made, and the hero waited until 2016 for a first live-action appearance in cinemas.