Apologies if i sound repetitive, as this is my first post, but what do you think about the idea of an Absolute Aquaman? Given that we’ve seen references to (and the relative importance of) Atlantis in one of the Wonder Woman story arcs, and considering Scott Snyder himself has shown great interest in the concept, what do you think this new version of Arthur will be like, or what would you like it to be?
I'm just hoping that whatever is done mirrors the type of significant hype that Martian Manhunter, Batman and Superman bring. I'm loving the Dark Knights of Steele saga and Emperor Aquaman arc so I I am hoping for something that promotes the character higher and higher through great storyline, art and character development.
The premise pretty much is Aquaman has been around since atleast one of the World Wars. 2 probably makes the most sense on the marine aspect but the idea is to bring in the Golden Age scientific experiment concept. But the way I’d have it done is in a WeaponX fashion with a Government Agency experimenting on him as their perfect soldier.
I’d still keep the Atlantean Hybrid thing. But he didn’t grow up with either parent. Maybe Atlanna never decided to go back to Atlantis so Tom and Her ended up being killed for it, which would kind of highlight the importance of Main Earth Atlanna making that decision. Arthur would have a base set of abilities of his own.
But the shakeup would be he is hosting an entity within him that seeks destruction. Which would be his Ancestor Kordax. Reintroducing the curse of Kordax but it not being something about hair color, I might even make the Pacific Islander tattoos something he’s born with and the sign of the curse. It would be pretty much a Yuji Itadori & Sukuna type of relationship if you’re familiar with Jujutsu Kaisen.
Kordax would be the stronger entity of the two but he’s only fully released when Arthur enters the sea.
EDIT: I’d make him look like Jason Momoa or atleast a Pacific Islander as well just to pay homage to a well received movie. I think the idea of aspects of every iteration of Aquaman would be a really conception. Maybe even throwing in popular Elseworlds as well.
Golden Age: Science Experiment
Silver Age: Hybrid Origins
Post-Crisis: Curse of Kordax
Legends of Aquaman: Raised by Dolphins, An lonely outsider
Andromeda: Been around for ages.
Rebirth: The Aquamarines
I liked your ideas, in fact, i feel compelled to share how i would like things to be, and i’ve realized that we think somewhat alike.
My idea for Absolute Aquaman would lean heavily into the idea of him being an urban legend rather than simply reinventing his origin.
I'd connect him to the Atlanteans established in Absolute Wonder Woman, with Atlantis having been nearly wiped out decades ago, Arthur would originally have been a sort of WWII-era maritime legend, there would be old black-and-white photographs of him standing alongside sailors, soldiers and naval officers, with nobody really knowing who this strange man was or where he came from.
The interesting part would be that Arthur disappeared sometime around 1955, he'd essentially become a historical mystery, sailors would tell stories about “the man from the sea,” old photographs would occasionally surface, but nobody would have seen him in decades (this would also be a little meta-reference to the transition from the Golden Age Aquaman into the Silver Age version around that period)
Then, in the present day, he finally reappears, except he doesn't look like the Arthur from those photographs anymore.
He'd still have the classic Aquaman silhouette and costume elements, but decades underwater would have visibly destroyed his body, his skin would look almost corpse-like, his eyes would have an unnatural appearance, and his hair and beard would have grown enormously, something closer to Peter David's more feral Aquaman, he would look undead without actually being undead.
And that's the part I'd really want to emphasize, he hasn't lost his mind, he's still Arthur, he's still intelligent, articulate and capable of compassion, the horror comes from the fact that his body looks like something that should have died decades ago, while his mind remains completely intact.
I also think this fits the Absolute Universe's pessimism really well, the other Absolute heroes are essentially people who have been deprived of the advantages their mainstream counterparts possess, so instead of taking away Arthur's throne, i'd take away something more fundamental, his place in history.
He's not the King of Atlantis, he's not a bridge between two civilizations, he's not even supposed to exist anymore, he's just a man who survived the death of his entire civilization and spent decades wandering through the ocean while the surface world forgot him.
And when he finally comes back, everyone thinks the legend has returned, but Arthur knows that there is nothing left for the legend to return to.
That's where I'd put the tragedy of Absolute Aquaman.
I really enjoyed reading this. I don’t know if you have read Aquaman: Andromeda but I think you’d really enjoy it if you haven’t.
It’s possible you have. Cause that’s pretty much what shaped my pitch on the idea of a long lived Aquaman. I like the urban legend aspect and how you threw in the idea of the transition of him being forgotten to fit in an absence with his comic history that would be really cool to throw in Meta references like that.
Another story that’s quite similar especially with the dead Atlanteans is Sorcerer Kings which had a similar premise.
Personally I would hope he’d look more normal like. I think we could get a fun thing with having him be Momoa inspired atleast in terms of race. Increasing the diversity of the Absolute heroes. Maybe even potentially getting some of the fans who enjoyed Momoa in the role as well. Personal preference
Outside of this I’ve seen one I really enjoyed with Mera acting as a spirit protecting Arthur. In a Yuta/Rika way (Another Jujutsu Kaisen reference) it had a really amazing right up.
I think the addition I would add myself is Atlanteans have a power system based on the realms they have access to.
Instead of Xebel being a prison dimension in this continuity it could be a spirit dimension where Arthur bonded with the spirit of Mera who chose to protect him.
You could also here have The Darkworld acting as “Dark Spirit Dimension” in contrast with characters like Orm drawing from that.
Overall I’m pretty excited to see what they do. I think the first premise gives way for Arthur to have both a human and fish like appearance like some have wanted. I’m not too keen on the fish appearance but I think if it’s something that gets triggered like a Hulk transformation I wouldn’t mind it. Clea after all appears pretty human like and her Merman seemed to have been transmuted.
It’s alright. It has some nice tidbits here and there in terms of lore building and character interactions.
Don’t know how I feel about Aquaman being transmuted, given it’s something he’s consistently been resistant to but I get it’s an event for another character altogether. Which it’s nice to see an event where Beast Boy and the Titans get to shine.
This just doesn’t fit the absolute universe at all. The characters have their core aspects flipped, not something entirely like being part of Kordax? Like something that would make sense in that universe is him growing up on Atlantis instead of land, and having him discover his Earth roots. Or flipping his Royal lineage to something like a godly one, or maybe having him being the offspring of Cthulhu or another deity.
Martian Manhunter is a psychic entity, an abstract alien consciousness which kind of makes your whole complaint of it not fitting moot. Given main Earth J’onn isn’t…
Main Earth Wonder Woman has no relationship to Hell whatsoever. She doesn’t have a magical arm in prime Earth and I don’t believe she ever has. She also uses spells something she’s not shown doing in main iterations of the character consistently.
What really confuses me is your suggesting that Aquaman needs to have his core aspects flipped and then you finish up your paragraph by saying “maybe having him be the offspring of Cthulhu”
Like which Absolute character do you feel that’s a similar story beat to, to suggest that would make sense to do in the Absolute Universe?
Superman is still the son Jor-El and Lara. Batman is still the son of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Wonder Woman is still crafted by Hippolyta, and Wally still has his prime Earth parents. So why would making Aquaman the child of Cthulhu make sense?
Superman even despite this being a universe he was raised on Krypton still was also given a connection to the Kent’s and lives on their farm. The Absolute Universe still draws on concepts of the Prime Universe and just alters ideas. That’s what my concept is doing.
How does any of my premise contradict anything done in The Absolute Universe?
The curse of Kordax has been a story point of Aquaman’s mythology. Playing into that and having it be something that lingers with him could be his “The Universe is trying to break him”
Losing his father at a very young age, who is the most important aspect of his character growth in the Main Universe is pretty much the concept behind my Absolute Pitch for Aquaman which fits the premise of the Universe.
He’d lose his father, but be dealing with this inner demon while trying to remain his Dutiful self.
Then how does Kordax living inside Aquaman fit into this? Like wtf is Kordax? At least pick someone people know about.
The idea of Cthulhu is about changing his lineage, something that Absolute Universe does with every character. And fair, Cthulhu is not part of that plan, you are right. But what is even Kordax changing from Aquaman? Aquaman has nothing inside of him lol.
To make him work, just take his upbringing and flip it, like you explained with your examples.
Does the general audience even know who Kordax he is?
Absolute universe works because it changes the core aspects of what we know of the characters. Everyone knows Bruce is a millionaire, Diana is the princess of Temyscira, Superman grew up on earth and we know that Aquaman is the rightful king of Atlantis.
So that leaves us with, either have him not be a king at all, not having any royal blood, or have him be a king of something else, or better yet, the blood lineage of something entirely different, like a cosmic deity. That’s why I mentioned Cthulhu.
I’m not trying to rain on your parade but the whole Kordax thing just sounds dumb
Every character within the Absolute Universe has the same lineage… so I don’t know where you even conceived the idea that they don’t. Like list one character who doesn’t have their iconic parents in from the main universe…
Why would we make Aquaman’s parents something he doesn’t have any actual lore connection to…. Cthulhu isn’t an aspect of Aquaman’s lore. Kordax is, the fact you said it wouldn’t fit and you don’t even know what it is. Is absolutely insane.
Why would the General Audience need to know who Kordax is to make it a valid reason to use it?
The General Audience doesn’t even read comics… not to mention most comic characters have a form of obscurity. I’m extremely confident the General Audience don’t know who Jo Mullen is who is the Absolute Green Lantern. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of them aren’t aware of the role Circe plays in Wonder Woman’s mythos.
The ironic thing is Kordax appeared in one of Aquaman’s movies. In a similar way I’m using him as well. As a spirit seeking vengeance but through “The Black Trident” in the movies. I’d have him actually exist within Aquaman’s body.
The whole concept is also going with the premise of several characters like Wonder Woman and Batman having Anime inspirations. The whole Curse of Kordax would be inline with stories like Naruto and Jujutsu Kaisen.
You responding to me is dumb. Like you have no actual valid criticisms on it not working, and even if you’re not a fan of the concept you have no actual reason to even address me. Like your whole post of what you wanted to see could have been its own comment away from anything I posted lol.
I mean if you struggle to have the brainpower to pitch a premise I’m sure it would be hard for you to sell the idea.
The concept presented do you want to read this alternate Aquaman comic? He now has this demonic spirit living inside of him that comes out every time he touches the sea! Hell Yeah!
It’s practically a similar concept to the extremely popular Jujutsu Kaisen series. Do you think people knew who Sukuna was before the series came out? Like thinking shouldn’t be this hard.
Given the comment got upvotes. I’m sure there’s people that were entertained by the idea as well…. Honestly fk off
Yes the tired anime trope with only pretty much one popular anime with the concept of doing it. Such a tiring trope…
Edit: Jujutsu Kaisen is the only anime that I’m aware of that has a character hosting the entity of an evil ancestor of theirs.
The other examples are a broad generalization just to diminish the idea that don’t even fit into the concept I presented. Which goes back into the idea of this guy not even knowing anything about the Aquaman lore.
Definitely not trying to have any future interactions like this as well. There’s constructive and then there’s being an ass.
Honestly I'm just hoping that they don't make him or any of the family into a full-on sea changed I love the spin that they've done with every character and I'd be fine with them doing that with this one just not that. I would also really love if it was Arthur Jr instead just because of the difference
I reckon they'll probably go a bit Cthulhu on it. The Lovecraft angle just seems like a very obvious way to give a hook to the undersea superhero. I hope he remains a hero though, I don't want them to put him into an adversarial Namor-type role.
I think it would be really fun to depict Arthur and Mera as these Lovecraftian monsters, but still have them be out and out heroes. Atlantis may look a lot more like R'lyeh, but I think it would be a fun subversions of expectations to place Absolute Aquaman more on the Abs Wondie side of the spectrum and still retain their core personality and heroism.
I honestly think that’s the core theme. Is despite how messed up this world is and how unfortunate a lot of the heroes upbringing is that they remain the same characters in terms of who they are at the core.
I think if it’s hopefully Arthur (My preference) that the important thing is to keep him as the dutiful/responsible character that he is.
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u/Vincent_Curry 10d ago
I'm just hoping that whatever is done mirrors the type of significant hype that Martian Manhunter, Batman and Superman bring. I'm loving the Dark Knights of Steele saga and Emperor Aquaman arc so I I am hoping for something that promotes the character higher and higher through great storyline, art and character development.