# How strong is Aquaman?



## Sebastian Francis (Dec 30, 2004)

Over the years, I've heard three theories:

1. Aquaman is super strong, strong enough to punch holes in oil tankers and throw around blue whales.  His physical strength rivals that of Wonder Woman or Superman.

2. Aquaman is remarkably strong, but not in the same league as WW or Supes.  His strength rivals Spiderman or Wolverine.

3.  Aquaman is a guy who can breathe underwater and isn't superstrong at all.  In fact, he's a pussy.

What's the truth?


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## CrusaderX (Dec 30, 2004)

> 2. Aquaman is remarkably strong, but not in the same league as WW or Supes.  His strength rivals Spiderman or Wolverine.




I dunno about Aquaman, but Spidey can lift 10 tons.  Wolverine, on the other hand, has no superhuman strength at all.  Wolvie simply has peak human strength for a human of his height and weight.


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## Lord Pendragon (Dec 30, 2004)

As far as I know, Aquaman is superhumanly strong, but not on the level of WW or Supes.  From what I recall, it's due to his physiology.  You have to be very dense and strong to withstand the pressures of living at the bottom of the ocean.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Dec 30, 2004)

I'd put him between 1 and 2. Not up to Supes level of strength, but more than Spidey. Though that's just me guessing, I don't really know what the true 'truth' of it is.


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## Piratecat (Dec 30, 2004)

Aquaman being relatively strong (about 2, iirc) is not mutually exclusive with him being a wuss.  

Incredibly funny case in point.


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## Klaus (Dec 30, 2004)

Aquaman is about as strong as SpiderMan, which also allows him to leap a considerable distance (although less than the Hulk-leaps).

His skin is also about as hard to pierce as steel, capable of withstanding the pressure of the ocean floor.

His swim speed is remarkable, faster than any known sea vessel.

He can see in the darkness and his hearing is capable of detecting subsonics.

His ability to talk to marine creatures is limited by said creature's intelligence (dolphins and whales can relate much, but sharks tend to forget what they talked about a couple of minutes ago).

Since all living creatures on Earth evolved from the sea, they all carry similar brain patterns at some primitive level. Aquaman can push his telepathy into influencing this sections of the brain.


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## Staffan (Dec 30, 2004)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> Aquaman being relatively strong (about 2, iirc) is not mutually exclusive with him being a wuss.



The best description of a special ability EVAH is the description of Water Breathing from Marvel Super Heroes, Advanced Set:
_This is a wimp Power. Face it. When the great hero parties take place, and Ulterior-Motive Man asks you what you do, if you say, "I breathe water" you end up wearing a full fishbowl._


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## Geoff Watson (Dec 30, 2004)

It depends on the writer; whether the writer has bothered to flip through previous issues; and mainly, what strength does he need for the current plot/scene.

Marvel is very rarely consistent.

Geoff.


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## Umbran (Dec 30, 2004)

Geoff Watson said:
			
		

> Marvel is very rarely consistent.




Which just goes to show how incredibly powerful Marvel comics have become, seeing as Aquaman is a DC character.  The Marvel comics analog would be Namor, the SubMariner.


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## Psychic Warrior (Dec 30, 2004)

Piratecat said:
			
		

> Aquaman being relatively strong (about 2, iirc) is not mutually exclusive with him being a wuss.
> 
> Incredibly funny case in point.




Beat me to it!




			
				Umbran said:
			
		

> Which just goes to show how incredibly powerful Marvel comics have become, seeing as Aquaman is a DC character. The Marvel comics analog would be Namor, the SubMariner.




Beat me to this as well!

Arrgh!  Why'd I even post ?!
 :\


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## Lord Pendragon (Dec 30, 2004)

Umbran said:
			
		

> The Marvel comics analog would be Namor, the SubMariner.



Well there's one thing you can say about Arthur.  At least he never had _little wings on his feet._


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## taitzu52 (Dec 31, 2004)

I don't care how strong he is.  I'm still pissed off that when I was a kid, I got lame old Aquaman Underoos instead of getting a REAL superhero.

TZ


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## JackGiantkiller (Dec 31, 2004)

I like the new JLU Aquaman..who seems to be behind Supes and WW in Str, but ahead of everyone else. Plus, he's much cooler.


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## Man-thing (Dec 31, 2004)

From Who's Who:

Aquaman has the ability to directly communicate with most sea life. He is the only Atlantean possessing this trait. This telepathic power varies with the creature he is communicating with: for instance, a guppy will react as if it was given a command, but a dolphin may argue with him. He cannot make any creature do anything against its nature. Aquaman can receive thoughts within certain intelligence levels. Mostly he has the ability to sense primal emotions. 
     Aquaman can swim underwater over 87 n/mph (nautical miles per hour) or approximately 100 mph, slightly less on top of the water. Because of his dense body structure, Aquaman can withstand great pressure and changes in temperature. On land, Aquaman is much stronger than average humans, but his strength diminishes the longer he stays out of water. Under average conditions, Aquaman is at peak strength for about an hour, after two hours he is very weak, and will drop into a coma and be near death at the end of three hours. He is able to survive longer in a tropical rain forest than in a desert. To replenish himself, Aquaman must "breathe" water. This means anything from a quick shower to a long swim.

I would have to say about 2.

He should not be as strong as the current Disassembled Spider-man
He should easily be as strong as Wolverine or stronger.

Regardless he's still a loser.


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## CrusaderX (Dec 31, 2004)

I found it funny that Aquaman has always been one of the "Big 7" in the Justice League, yet was replaced by Hawkgirl in the Cartoon Network show.  Hawgirl is cool, but since they wanted more females on the team, they should have just created a new and interesting _Aquagirl_.  Make her super-strong, give her a trident that enables her to fly and shoot energy blasts, and make her sassy and sexy (well, as sexy as a Cartoon Network superheroine can be), and the Aquaman mythos would have been well represented.  Arthur could still make appearances on the show, retired as a superhero but still ruling Atlantis as its king.


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## Richards (Dec 31, 2004)

*covers Eric's Grandma's eyes*

Don't click on Piratecat's link, ma'am!  It's got some nasty language not in keeping with the normal EN World rules about posting links to other websites!  I don't know what that silly moderator was thinking!"

Regardless of its appropriateness here, though, Seanbaby's Superfriends site is hilarious.  Just as long as you know what you're getting into ahead of time.

Johnathan


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## Viking Bastard (Dec 31, 2004)

JackGiantkiller said:
			
		

> I like the new JLU Aquaman..who seems to be behind Supes and WW in Str, but ahead of everyone else. Plus, he's much cooler.



 That's the Peter David revamped Aquaman. It's been the mainstream version of him
  throughout the 90s, or until very recently when Rich Veitch re-revamped him (and
 he then got re-re-revamped by Will Pfiefer 12 issues later).


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## Cthulhudrew (Dec 31, 2004)

Man-thing said:
			
		

> He should not be as strong as the current Disassembled Spider-man
> He should easily be as strong as Wolverine or stronger.




Aquaman should definitely be stronger than Spider-Man. Most estimates I've seen place him in the 60 ton range, while Spidey is only in the 10 ton range. He's definitely stronger than Wolvie, but not as strong as Namor. 

In any case, it's hard to gauge Marvel vs. DC characters, as on average, DC characters are much more powerful than Marvel characters. That has always been the case, and in fact, is one of the reasons Marvel comics were created in the first place, as their emphasis was to create more "believable" and "like human" characters, as opposed to legendary beings.


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## Klaus (Dec 31, 2004)

Aquaman reallt needs to get rid of that silly water hand.

Grant Morrison wrote him best in JLA. IMHO, King Arthur (aka Aquaman) would be the one hero destined to rule the united Earth, seeing as he already rule 2/3 of it and, as Morrison said, his territory surrounds every single nation on the planet.


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## JoeGKushner (Dec 31, 2004)

Don't want to beat a dead horse but can someone give me a quick run down on the different changes?

I know he lost the hand to some dude who ate it.

I know the water hand is tied into some new story arc their going into.

Has anything signifigant changed since then?


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## WizarDru (Dec 31, 2004)

Cthulhudrew said:
			
		

> In any case, it's hard to gauge Marvel vs. DC characters, as on average, DC characters are much more powerful than Marvel characters. That has always been the case, and in fact, is one of the reasons Marvel comics were created in the first place, as their emphasis was to create more "believable" and "like human" characters, as opposed to legendary beings.



 Ha!  Maybe in 1964, that was even true.  By the 70s, that was all out the door. I mean, have you seen how many beings wield Cosmic Power, these days?  

 The truth is that Aquaman is as strong as the current writer wants him to be, and can survive out of water in the same way.  The problem is that many writers never know what to do with him, since he is more of a specialist.  In a lot of ways, he was a victim of power creep.  Consider, for example, a character like the Angel, from the X-men.  His big power is....flight.  Yeah, not exactly thrilling stuff, these days.  So, like Aquaman, they buffed him out, in several ways.  He becomes amazingly manueverable (90 deg. turns), very fast and has the ability to anticipate and perceive spatial relationships far beyond a normal person, and his fabulouse personal wealth.  Still not enough, so then Apocalpyse gets him and turns Archangel, and he gets ranged attacks and still more powers.  Then they scale him back a little, and so on, as every new writer gets him.

 Aquaman's the same way.  His biggest personal asset has always been his kingship, which was the source of lots of really excellent material in the late '60s/early 70s, when he had Neal Adams for his artist, and some really trippy stories running.  Then he got cancelled (like many of DC's big heroes) and then came back in the 80s/90s, getting reworked several times, getting killed, disappearing, getting rebooted, and so on and so forth.

 The animated versions are probably my second favorite version, behind Peter David's iteration.  The 60's Adams version is pretty cool, too.

 And like Seanbaby points out, prior to the character reboots of the 80s, Superman made everyone redundant.


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## Klaus (Dec 31, 2004)

I like the cartoon explanation for Arthur losing his hand better than the comics' (A bad guy named Carybdis plunged Aquaman's hand into a river full of piranha... Wait! Isn't Aquaman capable of withstanding the pressure at the ocean floor?!?)

Since then Aquaman had a harpoon installed that he could mentally shoot out (it had a trailing cord). The harpoon then got changed into a cybernetic hand that could change into a harpoon. Then comes Obsidian Age (urk!), and Aquaman is booted off Atlantis for it. He is cursed so that marine creatures automatically attack him, and he has to flee the ocean (urk!!). He is then visited by the Lady of the Lake and is appointed the Waterbearer of the planet, capable of chanelling the Secret Sea (some mystical mumbo-jumbo) through his newfound water-hand (urk!!!).

More recently the mystical stuff has been scaled back a bit. In the newest direction, an earthquake sinks most of San Diego, which is renamed Sub Diego (urk!!!!). Thousands die, but some inexplicably develop the ability to breathe underwater, and Aquaman now has to play sheriff in this subaquatic No Man's Land.

And he's no longer attacked by fish again.

My favorite Aquaman? A mix of the cartoon version, the Grant Morrison version and the Paul Dini version from JLA: Liberty & Justice.


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## WizarDru (Dec 31, 2004)

Wow.

 I knew there was a reason I'd stopped buying comics on a regular basis...and that seems to have summed it all up, right there.  Yikes.


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## Villano (Dec 31, 2004)

Cthulhudrew said:
			
		

> Aquaman should definitely be stronger than Spider-Man. Most estimates I've seen place him in the 60 ton range, while Spidey is only in the 10 ton range. He's definitely stronger than Wolvie, but not as strong as Namor.
> 
> In any case, it's hard to gauge Marvel vs. DC characters, as on average, DC characters are much more powerful than Marvel characters. That has always been the case, and in fact, is one of the reasons Marvel comics were created in the first place, as their emphasis was to create more "believable" and "like human" characters, as opposed to legendary beings.




Marvel has always tried to define the powers of their characters.  Barring a few stories over the years, they tend to be consistent.  DC, otoh, is very vague.  I doubt that most writers or editors could agree on what their characters can do.

With Aquaman, half the time he's portrayed as Spider-Man level or less.  The other half, he's ripping open subs and dragging beached whales back into the ocean.  The same is true of his invulnerablity.  He'll survive beatings by guys like Darkseid and getting zapped by lasers, but will get dropped by a handgun bullet to the leg or a baseball bat to the back of the head.



			
				Klaus said:
			
		

> Then comes Obsidian Age (urk!), and Aquaman is booted off Atlantis for it. He is cursed so that marine creatures automatically attack him, and he has to flee the ocean (urk!!). He is then visited by the Lady of the Lake and is appointed the Waterbearer of the planet, capable of chanelling the Secret Sea (some mystical mumbo-jumbo) through his newfound water-hand (urk!!!).




If I need to remind myself why I stopped collecting JLA, I'll come back and reread that.


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## Viking Bastard (Dec 31, 2004)

Hey, Kurt Busiek just took over JLA. The dark times of Joe Kelly are over!


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## Klaus (Dec 31, 2004)

And yay for that!

Joe Kelly had potential, but he bled too much real-world issues into his comics (like when he wasted an entire issue to a "should we make a preemptive strike" dream argument between Superman and President Lex) and had some thoroughly uncharacteristic moments (Batman + Wonder Woman?).

I also fault every writer responsible for Our Worlds At War.

And Ed McGuiness crafted THE most stoopid look for Imperiex (who had a stoopid name to boot).

And this coming from someone who actually likes the Parallax = Ancient Embodiment of Yellow Fear Energy...

And while I'm ranting (wow! my first rant!), Identity Crisis was gratuitous and a waste!

>phew!<

... carry on.


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## Cthulhudrew (Dec 31, 2004)

JoeGKushner said:
			
		

> I know the water hand is tied into some new story arc their going into.




He got the water hand from the Lady of the Lake after being exiled from Atlantis and having his harpoon hand destroyed. There was some sort of change involving him not being able to communicate with saltwater animals or regain his strength in saltwater (only freshwater, after getting the hand), but that may have changed.



> Has anything signifigant changed since then?




The only thing I'm aware of is that San Diego sank into the sea and is now under Aquaman's protection as Sub Diego.


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## Villano (Dec 31, 2004)

Klaus said:
			
		

> Joe Kelly had potential, but he bled too much real-world issues into his comics (like when he wasted an entire issue to a "should we make a preemptive strike" dream argument between Superman and President Lex) and had some thoroughly uncharacteristic moments (Batman + Wonder Woman?).




Regardless of the political stuff, the fact that he created some kind of "What If?" machine and wasted time with imaginary stories is enough reason to hate Joe Kelly's run on the book.




			
				Cthulhudrew said:
			
		

> The only thing I'm aware of is that San Diego sank into the sea and is now under Aquaman's protection as Sub Diego.




Why does DC screw with real places?  They blew up Montevideo in JLA.  It might be just me, but things like this really take me out of the "reality" of the book.


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## mr_outsidevoice (Jan 1, 2005)

Villano said:
			
		

> Why does DC screw with real places?  They blew up Montevideo in JLA.  It might be just me, but things like this really take me out of the "reality" of the book.





When people can fly and shhot lasers from their eyes, "reality" does not enter the picture.

It sets the world up as real, and it creates a believable scenario. I have no clue where Gotham, Metropolis, Opal City, Fawcet City, or Bludhaven are. I know where Sandiego is. I've been there. that adds more "punch" to the story.


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## Viking Bastard (Jan 1, 2005)

Well, it works the exact opposite way for me.

 Every time I see Bush as the US president or some horrible thing 
 happen to some real world place (other than New York, Washington 
 DC and Los Angeles because Hollywood has made me completely 
 numb to them) I drop out of my sense of disbelief. Why? Because it 
 reminds me it isn't true. I can completely accept the DCU as a real 
 place, like I can accept, for instance, Tolkien's Middle Earth, but when 
 it’s mixed in with reality, my reality, it feels like it’s trying to say: 
 Hey, this is real! And my brain answers: No it frickin’ isn’t!

 Australia got totalled in Invasion! but Neighbours is still on the air? 
 WTF? Bush orders Captain America around? No he doesn’t! Magneto
 tortured his daughters on live TV? I’d have heard about that!

 Get my drift?


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## Lord Pendragon (Jan 1, 2005)

mr_outsidevoice said:
			
		

> It sets the world up as real, and it creates a believable scenario. I have no clue where Gotham, Metropolis, Opal City, Fawcet City, or Bludhaven are. I know where Sandiego is. I've been there. that adds more "punch" to the story.



I agree with Viking.  Using a real place just reminds me that the comic isn't real.  I can engage my suspension of disbelief to easily buy into Metropolis, Gotham City, or Coast City, but when you start telling me Aquaman is the policeman of an underwater San Diego, you've lost me.


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## Klaus (Jan 1, 2005)

Let's not forget the Topeka, Kansas bit in OWAW.

It was different from the Australia attack on Invasion!, because the heroes were shown helping rebuild the country in the aftermath of the invasion. It was a bit of a drift from reality, but status quo was restored (as it should be when events involve real places, or else disbelief spreads).

And hey, who remembers that the DC Earth has a mutual protection pact with Daxam?



And my favorite bit is how some fans figured out Superman's age in the comics:

- Let's assume Pete Ross and Clark Kent are the same age;
- Pete runs for Vice-President alongside Lex Luthor;
- Minimum age for VP is 35; We'll assume he barely qualifies at 35.
- Pete served a 4-year term;
- Pete and Clark are 39 years old.


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## Psychic Warrior (Jan 1, 2005)

Cthulhudrew said:
			
		

> The only thing I'm aware of is that San Diego sank into the sea and is now under Aquaman's protection as Sub Diego.




Please tell me you are joking. 
 :\ 

On a related note (well not really but I feel likeposting it) my brother-in-law constantly makes fun of Marvel for having low powered superheroes and villians (guys like Hawkeye for example).  He really seems blind to the vast fields of stupid characters on both sides of the fence.  

But he sure does love those Marvel superhero movies


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## Viking Bastard (Jan 1, 2005)

Actually, the Sub Diego stories have been pretty good, really.


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## Klaus (Jan 1, 2005)

Check out this sample of the first issue in the Sub-Diego storyline, the opening panels are pretty powerful.

http://www.dccomics.com/features/aquaman/intro.html

Also, there's a new Aquagirl on the way.


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## JoeGKushner (Jan 3, 2005)

Psychic Warrior said:
			
		

> Please tell me you are joking.
> :\
> 
> On a related note (well not really but I feel likeposting it) my brother-in-law constantly makes fun of Marvel for having low powered superheroes and villians (guys like Hawkeye for example).  He really seems blind to the vast fields of stupid characters on both sides of the fence.
> ...




At least Marvel was brave enough to give us Scourge! Too bad that storyline passed before it could start on the lame heroes!


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## Ubertroy (Dec 16, 2013)

Sebastian Francis said:


> Over the years, I've heard three theories:
> 
> 1. Aquaman is super strong, strong enough to punch holes in oil tankers and throw around blue whales.  His physical strength rivals that of Wonder Woman or Superman.
> 
> ...



/
/
Aquaman has long been overlooked by writers who write inconsistent stories.  In the past 20 years he has been written well, as opposed to years before when he often took a back seat to other more popular characters. 

As he is currently and usually written, Aquaman would be somewhere between your 1 and 2.  He's not as strong as Superman or Wonder Woman but he's clearly stronger than Spiderman.  This is how it should be when you consider that he lives in the ocean.  DC usually lists him at weighing abound 325 lbs., which again makes sense.  He would have to be dense to live in the pressures of the deep.  

Aquaman is not quite as strong as Marvel's Namor but if you go by Marvel's "Class 100" chart, he would be just below the 100 ton range.  The Marvel chart is not very consistent though.  This is because writers keep ramping up the HULK's strength and power levels.  Now they have him breathing under water.  It's as ridiculous as pre-chrisis Superman.


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## Scorpio616 (Dec 17, 2013)

I like the notion of Aquaman is super strong in water, only remarkably strong out of the water. I like what DCAU did with Arthur / Aquaman. Not much else has come close IMHO.


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