Aquaman (Earth-Two)

Aquaman
Mainstream Universe‎, 1930s-1950s
Gallery
Real Name	Aquaman
Main Alias	Aquaman
Other Aliases	Mr. Waterman
Relatives	Unnamed father Unnamed mother (deceased)
Affiliation	All-Star Squadron
Base Of Operations	Mobile in or near Earth's oceans
Status
Alignment	Good
Identity	Public Identity
Citizenship	American
Marital Status	Single
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Blond
Origin
Universe	Earth-Two
Creators	Mort Weisinger · Paul Norris
First Appearance	More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941)
Last Appearance	All-Star Squadron #60 (August, 1986)

The story must start with my father, a famous undersea explorer — if I spoke his name, you would recognize it. My mother died when I was a baby, and he turned to his work of solving the ocean's secrets. His greatest discovery was an ancient city, in the depths where no other diver had ever penetrated. My father believed it was the lost kingdom of Atlantis. He made himself a water-tight home in one of the palaces and lived there, studying the records and devices of the race's marvelous wisdom. From the books and records, he learned ways of teaching me to live under the ocean, drawing oxygen from the water and using all the power of the sea to make me wonderfully strong and swift. By training and a hundred scientific secrets, I became what you see — a human being who lives and thrives under the water.

— Aquaman

Aquaman was an aquatic superhero from Earth-Two and a member of the All-Star Squadron.

History

Given superhuman strength and the ability to live underwater and communicate with marine life by his scientist father, this young man grew up to fight for justice as Aquaman. In the Spring of 1942, he briefly joined the All-Star Squadron but preferred to work alone.

During the World War II, Aquaman fought with Nazi submarine commanders and several Axis members. His adventures led him to deal with several maritime criminals, including the pirate Black Jack, who became his enemy. He was also dealt with having to fight off the likes of various criminalized mariners as well as other various threats to sea life.

Aquaman as "Mr. Waterman" in 1947.

In 1947, Aquaman adopted a temporary secret identity as "Mr. Waterman", in order to enroll in college in the U.S..

This version of Aquaman was subsequently erased from existence by the events of the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Unique Physiology
  • Amphibian
  • Enhanced Strength
  • Superhuman Agility
  • Animal Empathy: Aquaman could communicate with sea life, but not exactly control it; happily, he was sufficiently charismatic.

Abilities

• Ichthyology
• Swimming
• Weaponry
• Charisma
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Trident

Notes

• Unlike his Earth-One/New Earth counterpart, Aquaman was not a true denizen of Atlantis.
• Aquaman was presented as the human son of a human scientist who gave him the ability to survive and breathe underwater, and super strength, but had no other powers whatsoever.
• Aquaman's real name is "Aquaman", per his (unnamed) father's remark: "My son is a true dweller of the deep -- his name shall be Aquaman."
• This version of Aquaman was, in later years (after the establishment of DC Comics' Multiverse) described as being the Aquaman of Earth-Two, an alternate Earth. In Adventure Comics #461's Justice Society story's introduction, Paul Levitz even states that Aquaman is a character who is exclusive to Earth-One, implying DC had either forgotten about him, retconned the Earth-Two Aquaman out of existence, or retconned his adventures into being adventures of the Earth-One Aquaman. However, seven years later DC confirmed that the Earth-Two Aquaman did still exist with his appearances in All-Star Squadron #59 and #60, just before he was retroactively eliminated from existence due to the changes wrought to DC's history by 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths when Mekanique allowed the sweeping changes caused by the Crisis to take effect in 1942.
• In 1946, Aquaman's adventures moved from More Fun Comics (Volume 1) to Adventure Comics (Volume 1), where he remained through the rest of the 1940s, the 1950s, and early 1960s as a backup feature to the book's star, Superboy.
• Most of Aquaman's adventures in the 1940s and 1950s consisted of Aquaman dealing with various criminals, pirates, and so forth, as well as threats to aquatic life and sailors. The first recurring supporting character Aquaman gained was Topo, his pet octopus, in Adventure Comics #229 in October 1956.
• In 1959, Aquaman saw his first major revisions to his mythos since his introduction in the Golden Age, effectively marking the debut of the Earth-One Atlantean/human hybrid.
• The original Aquaman can be differentiated from his Silver Age counterpart by the fact that he usually wore yellow rather than green gloves. The green gloves first appeared in Adventure Comics #211 (April, 1955).
• This version of Aquaman, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.

Related

• 142 Appearances of Aquaman (Earth-Two)
• 12 Images featuring Aquaman (Earth-Two)
• 7 Quotations by or about Aquaman (Earth-Two)
• Character Gallery: Aquaman (Earth-Two)

Footnotes

All-Star Squadron member This character is or was a member of the All-Star Squadron in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "All-Star Squadron members" category.