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Aspen Matthews
The main character of the Fathom series. She was found onboard a cruise ship called the Paradise by Captain Matthews when she was eleven years old.
- Ambiguously Brown: Aspen herself. It doesn't help that her skin tone tends to fluctuate from volume to volume. The novelization has the Navy fabricate the cover story that her mother is Polynesian so they don't have to explain to the public how a girl mysteriously appeared on a cruise ship.
- Apparently Human Merfolk: She descends from ocean people who look like regular humans.
- Identity Amnesia: Of sorts. She clearly knows who she is (as her name was the first word she uttered when she was found on the ship by Captain Matthews), but everything before that point was lost. She does regain some memories over the course of time, and members of the Blue help fill in others.
- Happily Adopted: Aspen is very close to her adoptive land dweller father.
- Hopeless with Tech: Being a member of the Blue in her childhood and a marine biologist who spends a lot of time in and under water, this is to be expected. She got better about it in later volumes, even making a broadcast from her laptop when her identity gets exposed in Volume 7.
- Living Weapon: Killian's plan was to use her to power up his constructs for the Blue Sun using her unique physiology and turn her evil. Of course, she never knew what she was to begin with, and it took Cannon and his followers crashing Killian's base to realize that she was being manipulated.
- Magical Barefooter: Like all Blue, Aspen largely goes barefoot as dermal contact with water is required for her powers to kick in. She also seems to prefer not wearing shoes as sandals are just about the only shoes she'll wear, and even those she tends to ditch whenever she feels like it (which is quite often). Even without her powers coming into play, she spends almost the entirety of Volume 3 barefoot.
- Making a Splash: Aspen, being part Blue, can manipulate water on command, turn herself into water, and has no problem dealing with the depths of the ocean. She can do this to a much greater degree since she's also part Black, which also brings the added powers of energy blasts, electricity control, weather generation, telepathy, and the ability to heal wounds (even fatal ones).
- Most Common Superpower: As a superheroine, specially from the Nineties, she's very curvaceous, and the series frequently uses it to make Fanservice Covers.
- Non-Human Humanoid Hybrid: Aspen herself, being both part Blue on her mother's side and part Black on her father's side.
- Super Mode: In the 2008 volume of Fathom, she gains an upgraded suit of armor courtesy of Rahgar helping her tap into her true lineage of being part Blue and part Black. Her power is massively upgraded to the point where she can calm the storms that the Black had made to ravage the surface world, take a combined attack from the Black, and even dissipate Kiani into pure energy after she killed Cannon.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Aspen's reaction when she found out that people online were not talking so much about the fact that she battled a supervillain on top of a tsunami, saving an entire city in the process, but that they instead were arguing about what she was wearing during the battle and if she was an illegal immigrant or not.
Kiani
- Broken Bird: Kiani runs away from her home after losing her sister, and becomes a soldier.
- Heroic B So D: The abduction of her younger sister causes this in Kiani and she runs away from everyone/everything she ever knows to avoid the pain of being reminded of her loss. She gets better later.
- Humble Hero: Kiani views herself as an average soldier in the ranks of the Blue's army, despite the fact she's very much aware of her skills in combat and her innate Blue powers being superior to most other Elites.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Kiani switched sides many times during her solos and the general run of Fathom, so much so that it was hard to tell which side she was on at any given point. Fathom: The Core seems to have her on the side of good permanently.
- Promoted to Parent: With the death of their mother and their father choosing to go into seclusion, Kiani has to take over the role of raising her sister Anika.
Cannon Hawke
The unofficial liaison between the Blue and the surface world.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: His first appearance is in a formal suit. Although some people do question why he doesn't dress more casually at times.
- Line-of-Sight Name: His surname Hawke was inspired by the first living creature he saw that was not from the ocean, a hawk.
Secondary Characters
Finn/The Stranger
- Long-Lost Relative: It took Finn a long time to find Aspen and even longer to reveal he was actually her brother.
Anika
Akiko Nigata
Originally working at the Deep Marine Discover, she now serves as Cannon Hawke's assistant.
- Blind Without Them: Can't see anything without her glasses.
- The Atoner: Although she doesn't clarify what they were, she tells Aspen there are some things she did that were unpleasant and is trying to redeem herself for committing those acts.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Akiko's reaction to the fact that Cannon's brand new ocean cruiser didn't even last two days before sinking at sea. And it's the sixth one he's purchased...
Chance Calloway
Aspen's on-and-off-again boyfriend, and a former member of the US Navy.
- Ironic Nickname: Chance's backstory has him mention that, at least at first, this was the reason for his callsign in the Navy (Joker). By the time of the story proper, though, he has grown into being a regular Class Clown (by Navy standards).
Captain Matthews
Aspen's adoptive father, who took her in after finding her aboard the Paradise.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Aspen only ever calls him "Captain Matthews". His full name has never been mention in the comics.
Casque
Matilda
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Her ability to determine whether or not a human is trustworthy is so accurate, that she'll flag a person as nice or not within seconds of meeting them. She practically jumps all over Chance with displays of affection, but backs away and growls menacingly when she meets his nefarious older brother Chris.
Tyler Kincaid
Villains
Killian
- Give Him a Normal Life: Killian gave his firstborn daughter Kiani to his mentor to raise, to avoid her being shamed by the traitorous actions of her parents. Kiani was told she was an orphan.
- Heel–Face Turn: Killian goes from being the main villian to a trusted ally once the Blue reveal their existence to the land dwellers. Aspen even gives him supreme command of their military forces.
Admiral James Maylander
A high-ranking official of the United States military who will stop at nothing to protect the humans from the Blue.
- General Ripper: He's so consumed by patriotic paranoia that anyone who isn't American he classifies as the enemy and tries to have them eliminated before they can attack him first. This includes trying to murder Aspen, dropping a armed nuclear warhead into Muria, then ordering a Navy Destroyer to obliterate a civilian village with missiles simply because Kiani and Anika were helping that village purify their unclean water supplies.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Drawing Kiani's attention with the aforementioned attack ends up with her executing him, because she's unable to cure his paranoia and a clean death is the only way to stop him causing more casualties for both sides.
Chris Calloway
Rahger
Leader of the Black, and Aspen's biological father.
- Archnemesis Dad: Considering his plans involve the total annihilation of all land dwellers, Aspen fights against those goals as often as she can.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He's Aspen's biological father, although nobody knew that until he revealed it much later.
- Only You Can Repopulate My Race: In order to save the Black from dying out, he sought to reproduce with the Blue. His mating with Eilah of the Blue was the only successful one, producing one child: Aspen.
Other Characters
