- Arc Fatigue: A common complaint about the King Rath storyline of the Rebirth run. While the writing as a whole is solid and most of the artists working on the book have been great (particularly Stjepan Šejić), many have decided to just wait for the trade since it's taking so damn long to end. It doesn't help that before the storyline began Aquaman was shipping bi-monthly but started shipping an issue a month once the arc started, which didn't help the story's pacing compared to the rest of the run.
- Audience-Alienating Era:
- After the Continuity Reboot of Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC tried to retell the origin stories of their flagship titles to flesh out New Earth's lore. Aquaman got Keith Giffen's The Legend of Aquaman, a Darker and Edgier reinterpretation of the character where Aquaman was actually a full Atlantean abandoned as a baby by Atlantis due to his blond hair and grew up like a Tarzan of the seas until Arthur Curry Sr. adopted him. The following Aquaman (1989) miniseries, by the same author, involves giant jellyfish who have taken over the kingdom of Atlantis and Arthur comes back to free it—which would be standard if not for the treatment of Mera, who was left in an asylum after the death of Aquababy and lost her mind, even going so far as to try to kill Aquaman upon seeing him because she still blames him for their kid's death, and she was originally meant to die fighting him until the editor convinced Giffen to spare her. The odd retcons, Conflict Ball and generic plot made both comics rather controversial and while later writers attempted to work with what they were given, the retcons it made to Aquaman's history were ultimately ignored and are firmly Canon Discontinuity post-Flashpoint.
- After Infinite Crisis had Atlantis get stepped on, destroyed, and its people scattered, Aquaman got Put on a Bus and was replaced by a completely new Legacy Character named Arthur Joseph Curry for Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, while the original stuck around as a sea monster before being killed off. So disliked was the decision that it rendered the entire franchise largely unusable for several years, until Blackest Night finally saw the original get resurrected and the franchise getting a successful relaunch in the New 52's Aquaman (2011) written by Geoff Johns.
- Cullen Bunn's run on Aquaman (2011). The story is generic pulp fiction which Bunn himself even admits did not suit the character. At the same time, it also did its best to undo all the work the Johns and Parker runs did before it. Arthur is now hated by Atlanteans again despite the entirety of Johns' run focusing on his gaining acceptance. Mera is now hunting Arthur, destroying all the development their relationship went through in both previous runs, particularly Parker's. Literally none of the supporting cast return, not even Tula, who had been consistently used since being introduced. Arthur now has weird powers like teleportation thanks to Poseidon, who literally no Atlantean before this run made mention of, and who Arthur outright denied the existence of over in JLA. The reveal that Mera has an evil twin sister is laughed at for its incredible soap drama-esque nature (however, see Older Than They Think below). The mere cover of the first issue pissed fans off for very obviously trying to incorporate aspects of the movie design in with Arthur's classic look, the result being an incredibly ugly costume. One of the only redeeming factors of the entire thing was introducing the New 52 Garth (though this also ignores Johns' run which mentions him being a newborn), and even then, Bunn didn't do anything with him, and this was likely Executive Meddling since DC began pushing the original Teen Titans at this time (complete with their own miniseries), meaning anyone could've done it. The other is Mera breaking out on her own and declaring that she doesn't need to be saved by Aquaman, but will gladly fight by his side. The backlash to Bunn's run was so strong that Bunn wanted to leave the book before his first issue even shipped, and was convinced to at least finish his arc by his editor.
- Broken Base: You'd think a rather small fanbase would get along. Though considering Aquaman's long history in the comics—and the many, many different genres he had a foray in—it's no wonder everyone has a completely different view on the character, his powers, his supporting cast and even which genre his stories should be.
- For starters, his very appearance is contested. Some prefer the Classic Aquaman clean cut look, others prefer the beard and harpoon hand, others prefer the beard but find the harpoon too much. Then there are a few fans who prefer Artie Joe's Bishōnen, Alucard-esque look (youthful, long haired and clean shaven), which they believe would fit mainline Aquaman best as well.
- Some fans prefer Aquaman as a team player and JLA member in land-based adventures—with Atlantis Out of Focus and a convenient backstory for his outsider nature and Combo Platter Powers, and the source of the occasional invasion led by the likes of Ocean Master. Others prefer Aquaman as a solo hero a la Spider-Man in exclusively underwater adventures—with the surface world Out of Focus and a convenient backstory for his outsider nature and Audience Surrogate appeal, and the source of the occasional invasion led by the likes of Black Manta.
- In general, the attempts to move the character towards "badass Aquaman" and trying to actively combat his image as a Memetic Loser—perhaps best personified by the first arc of the New 52 era, which had Aquaman explaining at length to people in-universe that he's a powerful, effective hero who does not "talk to fish." Some fans consider it a moment long coming, others dislike it for believing it strays too far from the character's concept
. - It could be said there are exactly three types of Aquaman stans: those who won't shut up about how he does not talk to fish and the crushing pressure of the deep sea made him superstrong, superfast etc. etc. and consider Geoff Johns' run required reading for non-fans, while pretending his Silver Age incarnation never existed; those who actually prefer the relatable Badass Normal Guile Hero Aquaman starring in Flash Gordon-esque underwater adventures in early comics; and those who actually prefer Aquaman as a Joke Character, believing the very concept of "superhero merman" to be a joke and finding all attempts to edgen or toughen him up equally ridiculous if not moreso, so they believe everybody else should just embrace the joke he is. These folks really don't get along well.
- Most of the fanbase is split between those who prefer Geoff Johns and those who prefer Peter David. Fans of the former hail him for turning a Joke Character into a badass, streamlining his lore and giving him a strong supporting cast, criticizing the latter for trying too hard with the '90s Anti-Hero retool, underutilizing most of the cast (especially the female characters) and the convoluted, overly ambitious storylines; while fans of the latter hail him for turning a Joke Character into a badass, fleshing out his worldbuilding via tying the work of previous writers together and Canon Welding with other DC proporties, criticizing the former for trying too hard with the infamous "I don't talk to fish"-type rebuttals, oversimplifying the lore and neglecting its underwater setting for the most part. Then there are those who Take a Third Option, with some fans preferring the early "Ocean Opera" adventures of the late Silver Age/early Bronze Age, and fans of more typical superhero stories preferring Will Pfeiffer's "Sub Diego" run.
- The Magic Versus Science debate. Some fans prefer the magic and cosmic horror of later runs, going so far as to say Atlantis and its inhabitants should embody "the magic and mystery of the oceans"; some fans prefer Atlantis as an Enlightened Sci-Fi civilization inhabited by otherwise ordinary people as in earlier runs, but are fine with the magic as long as it's used very sparingly and internally consistent; and some fans would rather have Aquaman to be strict sci-fi and Atlantis Out of Focus in favor of more typical superhero stories. This debate has been going on since Aquaman (1986), as seen in this angry fan letter to Neal Pozner
. - Garth's tenure as Tempest. Either he was "the weakest Titan" who got a huge glow-up under the pen of Phil Jimenez who finally put him in equal footing with his teammates, or he got too many powers, some of which border on Story Breaker.
- Aquaman with hydrokinesis. While some fans believe this will make him more of a heavy-hitter on land, better embodying Morrison and Waid's concept of "Elemental Hero" and going so far as to say this is how a "water-based hero" should be used, others deride it for being cliché, missing the point of the character and making Mera pointless.
- In the Dan Abnett run, Mera adopting the identity of Aquawoman and wearing a version of Arthur's outfit. Some think it removes her identity and reduces her to a Distaff Counterpart to Aquaman, and doesn't fit the character. Others think it's a good look for her and it'll allow her to move beyond being just a supporting character for Arthur. Abnett seems to be aware of it, as Mera and Arthur themselves think the name is lame, and they admit to it being a marketing gimmick, albeit one that surface-dwellers seem to like. She ditches the costume by the Rebirth series and even calls it embarrassing.
- Jackson Hyde becoming the new Aquaman. While some greatly welcome a gay black man becoming one of DC's heavy-hitters and a member of the JLA, others take issue with Jackson needing to live in the steps of a more well-known hero rather than being able to craft a whole new identity for himself.
- Can't Un-Hear It: When fans think of a suitable voice for Black Manta, Kane Jungbluth-Murry of Injustice 2 comes to mind.
- Character Perception Evolution: Thanks to his Adaptational Wimp treatment in Superfriends and its impact on how other incarnations of him were seen, Aquaman has garnered a reputation as a pathetic superhero, whose powers were perceived as either impractical at best or outright useless at worst. While comics like Aquaman (1994) or JLA (1997) have tried to distance the character from the campy portrayal of the '60s by making Aquaman Darker and Edgier and analysing how aquatic powers can actually be quite useful on land, this didn't necessarily fix his image in the eyes of casual audiences. Starting in the late 2000s, the idea that this was true of mainstream Aquaman began to diminish and eventually disappear almost entirely for a number of different reasons, such as Superfriends fading from popular consciousness, multiple well-received new takes on the character appearing in adaptations (the DC Extended Universe, the DC Animated Movie Universe and Injustice portray him as a hardened stoic warrior king, while Batman: The Brave and the Bold has Aquaman be a bombastic larger-than-life superhero without giving up the sillier aspects of his lore), Geoff Johns' Aquaman (2011) serving as a Gateway Series for new readers and greater awareness of the delineations between various DC continuities among the general public. Aquaman is generally regarded with far more respect; while the Superfriends version of Aquaman still gets a lot of mockery, it's largely confined to that particular iteration of the character, and he's seen as the exception rather than the norm.
- Common Knowledge:
- The assumption that Atlanteans don't talk underwater and communicate via telepathic signals. In reality, Aquaman's Atlanteans have always talked underwaternote . This may be a case of mixing Aquaman's human Atlanteans with Lori Lemaris' ilk, who indeed couldn't talk underwater early on, and communicated telepathically. Granted, DC Comics trying to merge the two versions of Atlantis into the same universe post-crisis—and Aquaman's ability to talk to animals later retconned into a form of telepathy—certainly didn't help.
- The assumption Arthur and Garth are father and son. In reality, the comics have always treated them as brothers-in-arms, with Garth even getting excited about being Arthur Jr.'s unclenote . The relationship between Arthur and Garth is something closer to the likes of Obi-Wan and Anakin than Batman and Robin. (Or more accurately, that of King Arthur and Lancelot, who also inspired the formers).
- The assumption Mera is an Atlantean, particularly common among fans who believe Mera is more qualified to rule Atlantis than Arthur is. Mera has never been Atlantean—in the Silver Age, she was a Human Alien from Another Dimension (though Arthur made her an "honorary Atlantean" when he married her, as in Atlantean culture a King needs a Queen by his side), and post-Flashpoint she's an inhabitant of Xebel, a Pocket Dimension inhabited by an offshot of Atlanteans who did extensive genetic engineering on themselves to the point they're now considered a separate subspecies (growing twice as fast, for example). Being a foreigner, she's even less qualified to rule Atlantis than Arthur is (other than by marriage, that is), as at least Arthur has Atlantean blood and Depending on the Writer has been educated in Atlantean culture by Vulko since his infancy.
- The assumption Aquaman and Tempest always had hydrokinesis, which they did not. It's actually Mera, who had the power to shape hard-water constructs with her imagination. This misconception stems from Aquaman (1967), which gave the title character the ability to throw hard water projectiles. This depiction was influential enough that subsequent adaptations, such as Smallville and Batman: The Brave and the Bold (not to mention parodies such as Mermaid Man) also gave Aquaman this power, and Teen Titans (2003) had Garth able to manipulate water at his will. Post-Flashpoint, it's common for Aquaman to have hydrokinesis through his trident and for Tempest to have it included among his roster of magical powers. In the DC All In era, Arthur gets Mera's powers in the fallout from Absolute Power (2024).
- It's commonly thought that Aquaman (1994) turned him into a '90s Anti-Hero, with Grimdark stuff like his losing his hand to pirahnas, and then it being replaced with a harpoon-hand for stabbing people. And while there's a bit of truth to this, the comic is actually pretty light-hearted in a lot of places, and Aquaman rarely uses the harpoon offensively (mostly extending a rope from it).
- Complete Monster:
- Post-Crisis:
- Black Manta, real name David, makes his living as a brutal pirate, often in the employ of others, and is obsessed with destroying Aquaman at all costs. To this end, Manta killed Aquaman's infant son by trapping him in a chamber that suffocated the boy, despite Arthur's best efforts to save him. Manta continues to torment his nemesis by targeting and murdering those he can, proving himself to be a ruthless sociopath who has attempted to raze Atlantis as a means of spiting Aquaman. Not even Manta's own family is exempt from his cruelty: his own son, the new Aqualad, was the target of Manta's wrath when Manta attempted to murder him with zealous hatred, for no other reason than rejecting the path Manta wanted for him. In Brightest Day, Manta tries to go straight, opening up a fish market, but when the customers rejoice that Aquaman is alive, Manta murders them with a knife, before burning down his own house and resuming his quest for vengeance. He later aids Siren in an attempted genocide of all surface dwellers and personally spearheads an attack on California. Manta is a vicious, hateful murderer who would poison the entire ocean just for the chance to hurt his nemesis.
- Prime Minister Hagen, "the Heinous", is the leader of a caste of sorcerous Atlanteans who came to power during the rule of Gamemnae who weasels his way into control of all Atlantis. Hagen exiles Aquaman to die upon the Traitor's Reef, drugging his wife Empress Mera into catatonia to use her as a figurehead ruler and purging any part of the populace that didn't agree to his xenophobic rule, even ordering Dolphin and her infant son murdered solely due to their connection to Aquaman. Hagen dabbles in dark sorcery to mutate sea life into twisted abominations—-even fusing some of them with falsely-accused convicts—-planning to use an army of them to spill up from the ocean and eradicate all surface life.
- Rebirth: Corum Rath is an Atlantean terrorist who leads the Deluge. Imprisoned for attempting to sink huge swaths of the US, Rath is later freed, overthrowing Arthur Curry to become Atlantis's new monarch. Ruling as a mad tyrant, Rath steadily grows more and more unhinged, even trying to have the 9th district of Atlantis burnt and purged to kill all the mutant sea-touched innocents there. Finally succumbing entirely to lust for power, Rath unleashes the Abyssal Dark, a demon long sealed below Atlantis and embraces its power, carrying out its suggestion to attempt to sink Atlantis itself and kill all its inhabitants, sacrificing his humanity in his lust for power.
- Post-Crisis:
- Crosses the Line Twice:
- Black Manta lying to Aquaman that autism is to blame for his evil acts and getting him to cure it is seen as one of the pettiest things the character has ever done and cemented his dickery to his fans.
- There was also the time Manta let Aquaman beat him up in front of a crowd to make him look like a racist for beating up an unarmed black man
◊. This works because apparently, no one in the crowd have ever heard of Manta. It's so ludicrous one can't help but be amused. - Manta murdered Aquaman's young son, Arthur, Jr. This is awful. But then subsequent writers had Manta bring it up constantly like some kind of gallows Running Gag which probably peaked with this
◊ infamous scene from Aquaman (1991) #6, where he interrupted a press conference just to ask Aquaman "How's the wife and kid," knowing full well what happened to them. Then he destroyed Mercy Reef, where Aquababy was memorialized. - Manta once captured Aquaman, and revealed to him that he was going to blow up all of Atlantis. When Aquaman asked why he would do that, Manta's response was simply, "To be perfectly frank—I'm doing it out of simple spite... I really hate your guts, you know..."
- After cutting off Aquaman's hand, Manta quipped, "What are you crying about, Aquaman? You should be used to that."
- Manta only joined the Suicide Squad after they altered his helmet so that it would make all enemy combatants look like Aquaman.
- Evil Is Cool: Black Manta is well-liked due to his cool design, technology and fighting ability. All of which allows him to take on Aquaman despite being just a Badass Normal.
- Fan Nickname:
- "The Savage Sword of Aquaman", for the Conan the Barbarian-influenced Peter David era.
- Jackson Hyde has been dubbed 'Blaqualad', after his ethnicity and his superhero name.
- There's people who spell his Batman: The Brave and the Bold version's name in all caps, as AQUAMAN.
- Franchise Original Sin: The Aquaman cartoon was the first to feature Aquaman with mild hydrokinetic powers in the form of throwing hard-water balls, which was acceptable at the time as it wasn't a major upgrade, didn't diminish his power of talking to fish, and was mainly done to appease censors disallowing Aquaman to punch people. In the comics, however, hydrokinesis for both Aquaman himself and characters like Aqualad became an increasingly common sight, diluting what made Mera unique as well as the ability itself, which was now used in complex ways and could potentially carry a story by itself, with Aquaman talking to fish to solve problems being comparatively rare.
- Harsher in Hindsight: Early stories featuring Aquababy called attention to how adorable and innocent he was, while Aquaman, Mera, and Aqualad all envisioned him growing up and taking the throne someday, whether as a superhero or a scientist. All of this becomes extremely hard to read knowing of his eventual murder by Black Manta, especially a storyline where Aquababy was caught in a crossfire between Manta and Ocean Master and saved Orm's life, putting the villain in debt to the infant.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In the Silver Age, a lengthy arc ended with Aqualad and Aquaman speculating on whether a prophecy that Atlantis would eventually breach the surface was true, and whether the people could survive if they were forced to breathe air. Aquaman brushes it off by saying it wouldn't happen until at least the year 2000 and they'd have plenty of time to prepare. In the real-life 2018, the Atlantean Civil War in Aquaman (2016) ended with Atlantis rising from the sea and becoming an island nation again.
- Mera wearing the Aquawoman outfit as a show of good faith despite her annoyance towards the nickname. Come Future State, her now adult daughter Andy is called Aquawoman, wearing a somewhat similar outfit.
- Iron Woobie: In the Post-Flashpoint continuity, both Arthur and Mera are stuck between two worlds, estranged from their biological parents and/or considered a traitor to their homeland (definitely in Mera's case with Xebel), put up with everything from assassination attempts and Cthulhu-scale threats, and face frequent distrust from surface and undersea dweller alike. And yet they both remain heroic throughout and are rewarded with the goodwill of Arthur's hometown of Amnesty Bay, the Justice League, and a happy, loving marriage with their new daughter Andy.
- It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: A number of fans have admitted to dropping Aquaman (2016) due to a perceived lack of originality during Kelly Sue DeConnick's run. Two major plot points are Black Manta's grudge against Aquaman, and Ocean Master trying to claim the throne of Atlantis; both of which were also driving forces behind the narrative of Geoff Johns and Dan Abnett's stories.
- Jerkass Woobie: Atlanna in Aquaman (2011). She was forced to leave her beloved husband and infant son, marry an abusive dickhead and have his child. Her second husband told her he had tracked down and had Tom and Arthur murdered. Believing that she had no reason to stay in Atlantis, she faked her death and fled to a hidden island with a handful of outcasts and undesirables, only to years later learn that Arthur and Tom had not been killed and she could have gone back to them. She initially refuses to believe Arthur is who he says he is and tries killing him multiple times even though he came in peace and even saved her from the Volcano God Karaku, her island's main occupant because that means admitting that it was All for Nothing and she missed out on decades with him.
- Just Here for Godzilla: Some fans only read Aquaman comics for the underwater scenes or to see Aquaman talking to the fish.
- Love to Hate: Black Manta rivals Professor Zoom in terms of dickery but is loved for both this as well as his coolness.
- Memetic Badass:
- During the 2000s run in a fill-in comic by John Ostrander, Aquaman was described by several people. Each one described him in a different way: an even grittier version of the Scraggy Bearded Barbarian of the '90s; the old, clean cut Aquaman of the '60s with an extended Aquafamily; a powerful humanoid composed of water and as a perfect lover.
- Mera, instead, in Johns' 2011 series discovers to her utter dismay that the large public knows her as Aquawoman, a red haired mermaid who gains human legs whenever she's dry.
- Black Manta, a Scary Black Man whose dickery rivals that of Professor Zoom. The kicker? He is just a Badass Normal with Powered Armor who is enemies with the ruler of Atlantis, who is naturally more powerful than him.
- Memetic Loser: For decades Aquaman had this reputation in pop culture, mostly due to his memetic Superfriends incarnation. A trope was even named for the contrived ways supervillains would all have some form of water-based trap so a character who mainly stars in fantastic underwater adventures would have something to do when he's in a land-based superhero crossover team. (His Guile Hero tendencies tend to be downplayed, as it's Not Badass Enough for Fans.) While his appearance in Darker and Edgier fare like Injustice: Gods Among Us and the DC Extended Universe more or less shifted him to Memetic Badass territory, his Joke Character stigma still lingers.
- Memetic Mutation: "Mother Shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo!"Explanation
- Memetic Troll: Black Manta is up there with Professor Zoom as one of the biggest dicks in the DC Universe, and he is very well known and loved for that.
- Misaimed Fandom: It's common to find discussions in the fandom about "Atlantean biology" as a form of Bizarre Alien Biology and how they could be depicted as having more aquatic animal traits and customs "humans wouldn't understand", as well as "fish jokes" made in expense of characters like Arthur, Garth or Orm. Even though the whole point of the Atlanteans in the mythos is that they are supposed to be human beings, in no way different from us other than living and breathing underwater (Continuity Snarl aside).
- My Real Daddy:
- Aquaman dates back to the Golden Age, but it was Robert Bernstein who gave him his most iconic backstory as the son of an Atlantean woman named Atlanna and lighthouse keeper Tom Curry; and Nick Cardy and Bob Haney who came up with characters synonymous with him such as Mera, Black Manta, the Ocean Master and Tula.
- Phil Jimenez has this reputation in regards to Garth, since he was the one who gave him the Tempest name and power upgrade.
- Geoff Johns's successful relaunch of the character in the New 52 served as the basis for all modern depictions general audiences have come to known.
- Narm: The understandably ignored and decanonized retcon that Black Manta was evil because he was autistic and Aquaman subsequently curing his autism is only brought up by fans who enjoy the hilariously poor taste and the unintentional ridiculousness of such a backstory.
- Never Live It Down:
- Thanks to the influence of Superfriends as an Audience-Coloring Adaptation for decades, Aquaman himself acquired a Memetic Loser status in pop culture in a way fans and haters alike have hardly forgotten. DC has since tried to distance reception of the character from being "the useless one who talks to fish" in a very public (and controversial) effort, but the jokes and arguments have not died down.
- Garth fans will never let go about Arthur trying to kill him in Death of a Prince. Despite extenuating circumstances (being forced into a duel to the death by Black Manta for Arthur Jr.'s life) and the fact that the characters reconciled during the story itself and later on in Aquaman (1991), fans tend to paint Arthur as an abusive guardian or parent while Garth is an innocent victim—ignoring that he tried to kill Arthur as well.
- Mera fans will never forgive her treatment in Aquaman (1989), often painting the story as a textbook case of an Unstable Powered Woman who succumbed to despair because her husband abandoned her — often ignoring the fact she's still grieving her child, as well as how in Death of a Prince she was actively trying to save her baby son's life while Arthur succumbed to a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Black Manta. In fact, Arthur became similarly unstable until Aquaman (1986) when he was forced to reevaluate his emotions, the strained relationship with his brother being the catalyst.
- Aquaman attempting to cure Black Manta's autism Explanation (to no difference) will forever go down in history as either one of DC's most unintentionally hilarious moments or an exercise in poor taste. It's even implied that Black Manta was faking it and that the autism backstory Aquaman heard was a lie.
- Newer Than They Think:
- The Atlanteans being a potential surface world threat had been teased in Bronze Age comics beforenote , but only became a reality post-Flashpoint as the entire species became militant and powerful, with Orm able to make moves on the entire world. Before then, for most of Aquaman's long history in the comics, they were treated as quirky, peaceful human beings living in Crystal Spires and Togas, whom the surface world saw as a curiosity.
- Likewise, Aquaman is often assumed as always having had telepathy, Super-Strength or other "Required Secondary Powers". He didn't. He was originally simply a human being (albeit with Charles Atlas Superpower) who happened to live and breathe underwater like every other Atlantean, and he outright just talked to the fish, even as far as Peter David's run.
- Aquaman is often characterized as one of the few superheroes who wouldn't hesitate about killing. However, this is a result of retcons made in Peter David's run—earlier on, Aquaman was an All-Loving Hero who opposed killing in any circumstances. He upheld Thou Shalt Not Kill to such an extent he couldn't even bring himself to kill Black Manta (who had just killed his son) in the Dénouement of Death of a Prince. This trait lasted as far as Aquaman (1991)—any time anything was killed under his watch, he'd feel horrible about it.
- Aquaman having no problem with eating fish is also a much newer development, no earlier than the New 52 reboot. Originally, he was a Virtuous Vegetarian who "wouldn't touch sea-food with a ten-foot fishing pole"
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- Older Than They Think:
- The concept of giving a Half-Atlantean hero a Race Lift to become full Atlantean was previously seen with Namor expy Prince Triton in The Fantastic Four.
- Mera having a twin sister was a thing since the Silver Age—Hila has first appeared in Aquaman (1962) #22. What is new, is making her unambiguously evil.
- Also, Mera losing her ability to breathe water in the 2016 Rebirth series happened in the final pre-Flashpointnote series.
- One True Pairing: Arthur has had a few love interests (or at the very least Ship Tease) over the years, but for all their ups and downs, Mera is his true love.
- Parody Displacement: Many more people are aware of Mermaidman & Barnacleboy than they are of the 1960s Filmation Aquaman series it was an Affectionate Parody of.
- The Problem with Licensed Games: Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis is universally considered one of the worst video games ever created due to extremely repetitive gameplay, ugly environments, and a confusing combat system that's easier to just button-mash with.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: DC has been trying to change the public perception of the character since Superfriends came out:
- His incarnation from Batman: The Brave and the Bold actually managed to get fans and become one of the show's most popular characters.
- The Justice League incarnation of Aquaman has many fans, for being a legitimate badass who could go toe-to-toe with the League's best. His absence in the show's final season is even seen as a major negative.
- The Smallville version got a pilot for a live action television spin-off after the numbers for the fifth season revealed that his debut episode was the most watched episode of the season.
- The New 52 reboot addresses and refutes Aquaman's Memetic Loser reputation, granting him a big boost in appreciation without having to resort to stereotypical badass aspects like the harpoon hand and beard.
- Aquaman's appearances in Injustice: Gods Among Us and its sequel were very well-received, both for his portrayal as a Reasonable Authority Figure and his stylistic Super Moves, which showcase lethal use of his powers by having him command an army of sharks and abyssal monsters.
- His appearance in the DC Extended Universe has been very well-received, as it shows him fighting on equal ground with other heroes and generally being a badass. The fact that he's played by Jason Momoa certainly helps. His solo film helmed by James Wan has since become the highest-grossing DC superhero movie in January 2019
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- Salvaged Story: While Black Manta's status as Aquaman's Arch-Enemy was never unpopular and he was quite well-liked, fans critiqued that the various backstories used to explain his hatred of Aquaman were poorly written and unintentionally made Manta's vendetta come across as an Irrational Hatred since Aquaman was only tangentially related to Manta's latest Freudian Excuse. The New 52's new backstory where Aquaman accidentally killed Manta's father was widely hailed as an improvement, and making Manta's motives much more understandable.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- There exists a small number of fans who prefer the pre-crisis incarnation of Aquaman, who talked to animals and didn't have Super-Strengthnote , because he was essentially a Badass Normal underwater, using his guts and guile rather than solving all his problems with a punch. They dislike the changes made by writers like Peter David and, later, Geoff Johns, due to what they perceive as essentially turning a rather unconventional superhero into a more generic '90s Anti-Hero in the case of the former, and doing away with the animal talk elements as well as neglecting its underwater setting in favor of more generic superhero fare in case of the latter, seeing it as a reverse case of Uniqueness Decay. In general, they resent the changes due to not liking Aquaman as a "stone-cold badass" or the idea his powers should be useful on land, as they feel it inadvertently proves the point brought by the hatedom that "talking to fish" was not enough — when the classic version being an ordinary human who happened to live underwater and converse with animals, and whose greatest gifts were his brains and his kindness instead of something more traditionally badass, were a big part of his appeal.
- Atlanteans being changed from human beings who happened to live underwater into a human-hating Superior Species in the Turn of the Millennium has left a sour feeling with a few fans, considering earlier stories set Atlantis (not the surface world) as the main City of Adventure, and the underlying point in many runs (particularly Aquaman (1991)) was that surface and sea peoples were Mirroring Factions of Human Subspecies with very similar ways of life, and little to no differences — a point that is lost once Atlanteans were given several physical and magical powers as a species later on.
- Fans who prefer the post-crisis version of Atlantis dislike the post-Flashpoint version, due to doing away with most of the worldbuilding and simplifying the cast to the point Atlanteans now come across as a Token Aquatic Race in the DCU.
- Some fans dislike the Fantasy Creep the comics underwent through with time, feeling the Lovecraftian Kitchen Sink of later installments is so different from the earlier, pre-crisis Science Fantasy Sea Western adventures it veers on being In Name Only. This perception is exacerbated by what they perceive as an overuse of nautical clichés and Public Domain Characters such as Poseidon or Dagon, in lieu of Aquaman's long enduring main cast.
- Fans who enjoyed the New 52's depiction of Ocean Master as a Noble Demon have expressed their distaste for the way he is portrayed in Abnett and Kelly Sue's stories, as he loses almost all of his sympathetic traits (namely his love for his half-brother and his attachment to the family he met in Forever Evil (2013)) and becomes a Card-Carrying Villain.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Mera got the short end of the stick for decades. Silver Age writers very clearly didn't know what to do with her and her Story-Breaker Power, and a lot of times she became a Damsel in Distress as the Standard Female Grab Area (and lead) prevented her from using her powers. After she received a pretty divisive portrayal in Keith Giffen's run, she pretty much got put on an interdimensional bus in the comics, with Dolphin soon replacing her as Arthur's Love Interest in Peter David's runnote . It's not until Geoff Johns reestablished her as an ex-assassin from Xebel (retconned from a Pocket Dimension populated by Human Aliens to a lost offshoot of Atlantis in the Bermuda Triangle) she became prominent once more in the Aquaman mythos.
- Lorena Marquez, the second Aquagirl prior to Flashpoint. Debuting in the Sub Diego arc, she was one of the more memorable characters, and would later join the Teen Titans, and showed up in Aquaman's story in Brightest Day, alongside the debut of fellow minority replacement sidekick Jackson Hyde, the new Aqualad. But whereas the latter would eventually reappear post-Flashpoint as a Teen Titan and ally of Aquaman, Lorena would not reappear in the New 52/Rebirth continuity. (She only makes a cameo as part of the Multiversity.)
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- Aquaman's ability to talk to animals is a good opportunity for Xenofiction, with Arthur as the human Audience Surrogate going into the strange, alien minds of sea creatures of all kinds. Unfortunately, other than his octopus sidekick Topo, Shaun McLaughlin's dolphins and Peter David's sharks—and a two-page story told from the point of view of a little butterfly fish making a journey through the whole sea to discover "what is an Aquaman" in Aquaman: The Secret Files—the animals are usually portrayed as nothing more than "primitive", mindless beasts in service of Aquaman.
- In Aquaman's post-crisis status quo, the wizard Atlan is revealed to be Arthur's biological father. Other than giving a prominent excuse for Atlanna to never go to the surface world and Arthur being Raised By Dolphins, as well as doing away with the one hour limit out of the water, absolutely nothing came from this. It gets egregious when Atlan becomes Garth's mentor, while pretty much ignoring his own son.
- The Sub-Diego arc in Aquaman (2003) had a solid premise for a post-apocalyptic setting, with the collapse of a civilization under the waves (and the amenities that had once sustained it), and its survivors forgoing their old ways of life in favor of some old-fashioned "survival of the fittest"—No Man's Land underwater! Unfortunately, the writers were more interested in giving a Standard Super-Hero Setting for Aquaman (once again, after previous attempts to turn Poseidonis into this in Aquaman (1994) have failed). Granted, Atlantis became basically unsalvageable as a setting after Rick Veitch's run (due to Atlanteans suddenly getting hit with a Self-Defeating Villain Ball that would later explode in Infinite Crisis, courtesy of a Timey-Wimey Ball turning them into Absolute Xenophobes), so Pfeiffer et al were basically tasked with resetting the status quo in some way.
- In Geoff Johns' run, The Reveal of Mera being an ex-assassin from Xebel who was sent to kill Arthur is forgotten as soon as it's revealed, without any flashbacks or stories fleshing out her new past and how her feelings changed towards Arthur.
- In Death of a King, Murk and Tula venture into the surface, hoping to free Orm from his prison and restore him to power. Unfortunately, after much build-up, this plot goes nowhere: As soon as the two reach Belle Reve, they receive a distress call from Atlantis, causing them to immediately abandon their operation and return home.
- Uncertain Audience: In general, any attempt at "making Aquaman cool":
- Peter David put a heavy emphasis on retooling the character into a '90s Anti-Hero in a Heroic Fantasy setting in his run — but longtime Aquaman fans were alienated by the changes made to the character and his mythos, such as deemphasizing his long-enduring supporting cast and the underwater world of Atlantis in favor of the surface world (though to be fair to Peter David at least, it was Executive Veto preventing Aquaman from even being in Atlantis. No, really
). His run was also heavy on Canon Welding and picking up loose plotlines from not only previous Aquaman runs but other DC properties as well, which created a huge Continuity Lock-Out problem for newer fans. - Related to the above, the retooling of Aquaman's powers so he could be a heavy-hitter both on land and in water. Except readers interested in that type of superhero already had Superman and Wonder Woman (who for a long time could survive underwater as well, despite Peter David's beliefs—until that was retconned because of... Aquaman), and they don't tend to have a big interest in underwater scenes either way. Meanwhile, readers actually interested in the underwater stuff feel alienated by the increased focus on the surface world.
- While Geoff Johns' run fared a bit better due to streamlining the lore (thus getting rid of the Continuity Lock-Out problem), it still suffered from the above problems—as well as the forgoing of the sci-fi elements that were always part of the mythos, Atlantis being Out of Focus for most of his run and the infamous "I don't talk to fish" rebuttals alienating longtime fans, while also alienating fans of the post-crisis era due to what they saw as oversimplifying the lore.
- Peter David put a heavy emphasis on retooling the character into a '90s Anti-Hero in a Heroic Fantasy setting in his run — but longtime Aquaman fans were alienated by the changes made to the character and his mythos, such as deemphasizing his long-enduring supporting cast and the underwater world of Atlantis in favor of the surface world (though to be fair to Peter David at least, it was Executive Veto preventing Aquaman from even being in Atlantis. No, really
- Unintentionally Unsympathetic: In Aquaman (2011), Atlanna had good reason to be wary of Atlanteans finding her hidden isle, but that does little to excuse her multiple attacks on her son Arthur, who came in peace to finally reconnect with her. She doesn't even apologize for nearly killing him, even though he saved her from the Volcano God Karaku.
- Vanilla Protagonist: While Aquaman's New 52 run is generally well-received, Arthur Curry himself is a rather unremarkable character (lacking interesting qualities such as the Hair-Trigger Temper and Guile Hero tendencies of his pre-crisis self, the edgy appeal of his '90s Anti-Hero version, or the Crazy Is Cool appeal of his Batman: The Brave and the Bold incarnation), surrounded by far more interesting and fleshed out supporting characters in Mera, Orm Marius and Black Manta. Detractors of the run (and the character in general) went as far to say he's not a person, he's a set of powers.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Ymmv/Aquaman
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