While much ado is made about Batman’s iconic enemies being clever inversions of his own neurosis, or how the Flash’s rogues are everyday career criminals who’ve deliberately rebranded themselves with a fun gimmick, it seems Aquaman’s are rarely discussed in the same positive breath. We’re here to make the case that a pantheon of ocean-themed celebrity stalkers are every bit as worthy as the regulars of Arkham Asylum or Iron Heights. Submitted for your approval are 10 of our very favorites.
Black Manta
Towering over his foes in that amazing, too-tall helmet that should really have eyeholes in the neck, Black Manta (civilian name, David Hyde) has remained Aquaman’s most iconic foe since his introduction almost 60 years ago.
Born an autistic child who felt at home under the crushing depth gauge and icy waters of the ocean, Manta developed an unhealthy obsession with Aquaman after seeing him on television. An alternate origin story posits the young David Hyde was kidnapped by pirates who forced him to work on their ship, before he killed them all, one by one. Either way, Manta’s bizarre appearance and beaming red eyes make a great visual counterpoint to Aquaman, whose much-discussed gold-and-green costume evokes freshwater koi fish and tidal pools, next to Manta’s benthic depths.
A third origin story—a variation of which appears in the first Jason Momoa movie—posits that Aquaman accidentally shot Black Manta’s father with a harpoon gun during a failed arrest. For the New 52’s aggressive rebrand trying to make Aquaman a hyper-competent diplomat, that was a weird choice.
The Awesome Threesome
This strange group is lead by the Torpedo Man, who can retract his armor into a cigar-shaped projectile and launch himself at Aquaman, Aqualad, or Mera like an underwater battering ram. In the Filmation cartoon, Torpedo Man was voiced by Super Friends narrator Ted Knight, essentially doing a huskier version of Skeletor. In his final appearance, Torpedo Man accidentally launched himself into a twisting underwater cave and became stuck there.
Whether Torpedo Man is actually a man or some sort of malicious robot is left ambiguous. It’s like how Batman had the Spook, or Hawkman has Gentleman Ghost—except, instead of wondering if their enemies are legitimately supernatural or merely faking it, eerie clues and impossible feats have Aquaman questioning if his mysterious adversary is secretly mechanical.
His entourage, Magneto and Claw—both definitely robots—are serviceable henchmen. One is magnetic. One has claws.
The Fisherman
The Fisherman is a thief who uses fishing poles, lures, and other items from the outdoor department of L.L. Bean to steal hi-tech equipment and sell it on the black market. That’s pretty lovely as it is, but in the Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis miniseries, it was revealed the Fisherman’s yellow helmet is actually a sort of parasitic mollusk—and the true brains behind the Fisherman’s leech/host body double act. The identity of the Fisherman’s “underhuman” has never been revealed, but may I point out DC already has a mustachioed character with a penchant for wearing things on his head known to disappear for decades at a time? Just an idea…
Dead Water
Able to hide and emerge from pools of water of any size, the hulking, eel-like mutant known as Dead Water was once marine engineer Jonah Payne, before a mysterious substance changed him into an omnifarious anguilliform. A later appearance from the character involved the creation of a second Dead Water (leading to a third, fourth, and fifth) named Lawrence Quinn, scuttling an underwater research station aboard a submarine in the style of Alien or DeepStar Six—but that’s thinking small. Dead Water could reasonably leap from dewdrop to dewdrop in the fields outside the Kent farmhouse, or lurk inside the bead of sweat that’s currently dripping down your forehead. Though the character might be a little busy, design-wise, Dead Water’s unique abilities offer unlimited visual gags and interesting set pieces.
Un-Thing
This bizarre character is an invisible misogynist in a Victorian diving suit. While the invisibility trick only works underwater (which is pretty scary when you think about it), one would think old Un-Thing had enough weird, disparate traits to become a classic DC Comics antagonist in the vein of Gorilla Grodd or Mr. Mxyzptlk. Regrettably, the character hasn’t “resurfaced” since his single appearance in Aquaman #24, way back in 1965. Un-Thinkable.
The Trench
The debut antagonists of Aquaman’s 2011 rehabilitation period (“You guys have got me all wrong—I don’t talk to fish, I manipulate them!”), the Trench are a race of deep-sea humanoids, similar to Anglerfish, but with transparent craniums. Their sole purpose is to collect enough food for the offspring of the Trench King and Trench Queen. While it’s super cool that they trap their prey in cocoons alive, their toned, humanoid bodies make no sense below the photic zone. Still, Warner Bros. briefly considered letting them star in their own spinoff horror movie following a brief appearance in 2018’s Aquaman.
Wackyman
Wackyman was a seafaring clown who decided he’d increase revenue by parodying Aquaman. His act, which included pratfalling from a leaping swordfish, riding a robotic octopus, and spelling his name with a string of electric eels, caught the attention of pirates, who conscripted him into their services. More of a victim than a villain, Wackyman is worth a 21st century reevaluation in the face of demonic clown sightings, the financial recession, and cryptids like the Ningen. Imagine being lost at sea, and here comes this waterlogged figure, drifting in the ocean, reeking of salt and brine. First, you think it’s Aquaman. But then he floats a little closer…
The Thirst
The most interesting thing about the Thirst is that’s he’s a golem made of dry river mud. Naturally unstable, he needs to absorb moisture to stay packed into his humanoid form, which he often does by leeching the fluids from water-nutrient humans. The Thirst’s victims can then become his desiccated henchmen, much like the vampires in Lifeforce, but they are—naturally—flimsy and easily dealt with. Despite being a golem, the Thirst is essentially a mummy who can build himself back up like a sandcastle. He just needs to stay wet.
Aquabeast
One day aboard his yacht, rich douchebag Peter Dudley caught Mera in a net and decided the two were destined to fall in love. After writing a million dollar check to a hospital in Africa, Dudley was able to convince a geneticist to give him an experimental treatment altering his DNA into an exact duplicate of Aquaman’s. Of course, the procedure went awry, and the mutated Dudley came out looking like Aquaman after falling into a nuclear reactor.
Enraged, the newly christened “Aquabeast” beat the kelp out of Aquaman and kidnapped Mera, but was then sucked down a whirlpool after saving Mera’s life from the occupant of a crashed spaceship, a la The Abyss. Aquabeast has only returned once since his single appearance in 1964, and that’s a shame—a distorted Aquaman is an unsettling image—and an antagonist who willingly remodeled himself into a giant, mutated version of the man married to the woman he’s projected unreasonable fantasies upon is not a bad idea for a recurring villain.
Ocean Master
The self-styled “Ocean Master” is really Aquaman’s dweeby half-brother, a jealous Milhouse type egregiously named “Orm”—what must be the Atlantean equivalent of “Wendell” or “Egbert.” Constantly clutching his enchanted trident, no means of revenge against his more popular sibling is too petty for poor Orm, making him a darling foil to have mincing away in the background while Aquaman deals with more pressing concerns, like sponge poachers or the Human Flying Fish.
Thirsty for more? This is merely a sampling of the strange, varied world of Aqua-tagonists. There’s still numerous additional weirdos with a vendetta against the King of Atlantis—including Scavenger, the bottom-dwelling treasure hunter; Charybdis; the terrorist who forced Aquaman to feed his left hand to piranhas before falling into piranha-infested waters himself; and OGRE, the bizarre arms-trafficking group whose acronynm stands for the “Organization for General Revenge and Enslavement.” Not to mention Liquidator, a rival undersea vigilante who incredibly looks like this.
Who’s your favorite member of Arthur Curry’s enemy list? Isn’t it time the Fisherman and Un-Thing enjoyed their own Max limited series, or is that best left to the likes of Kite Man? Let us know in the comments.
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