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garthofshayeris · 4 months

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"you're always so negative, what kind of Aquaman story would you NOT complain about?" so glad you asked. I have some thoughts, DC, on how to make things fun again. You can reboot everything at any time and I will only be a lil mad if you don't let me write it.

To begin, the info below would cover multiple arcs: I think too many Aquaman comics just start out putting him in Atlantis, but not this one. The journey to Atlantis will take some time, giving the reader the opportunity to know Arthur before he's a king and get the lay of the land (extra joke) underwater.

Let's start with Arthur. We're doing a little combo action here: Arthur is fully Atlantean, abandoned by a baby but found by a pod of dolphins. Since he's a telepath, and for Divine Plot Reasons, the animals know he is someone of great importance. However, he very quickly becomes too much for them to handle. They're just dolphins, after all. The dolphins, led by the iconic Porm, bring him to a lighthouse when he's around 5ish. There, he is discovered by Thomas Curry.

Tom Curry is no dummy. He knows this kid Is Not Human, but he also knows that revealing him as a non-human will just get the kid sent to some unknown lab to be experimented on. So he raises the kid as if he's a human and tries to keep him out of the water at all times.

Obviously, this doesn't work. Arthur is drawn to the ocean, and the dolphins who keep visiting him. There’s no hope in keeping him from the water. Tom doesn't reveal that Arthur is non-human, but he does coach him on never revealing any of his powers to people. Arthur becomes a local hero, mostly because he's often out swimming or on the fishing boat and ends up saving people.

Tom gets sick and, fearing he will die and leave Arthur unprepared for the world (he's in his 20s but just chills at home) he explains Arthur's origins and how Arthur is not his biological son, but a creature from the oceans.

Arthur always assumed he was a meta human; he knows now that he's not human at all. Arthur wants to learn about his people and Tom is like "we have no idea if they're dangerous, we have no idea why you were left here" and Arthur is like "how bad can they be?"

Arthur leaves home and tries to find Atlantis. This is no easy feat, considering he has no idea where to start. The dolphin pod is able to give him general directions to where they think they found him, but he still doesn't end up anywhere near a sunken city. Eventually, he finds the ruins of some kind of settlement, a cave...and a kid.

The kid is speaking a language that Arthur doesn't understand, but they quickly realize they are both telepaths! Slowly they learn to communicate; the kid will say something out loud and then convey the same message telepathically, and Arthur will do the same while responding in English. They slowly figure out how to speak each other's language, but the kid has a very limited vocabulary of his native tongue. However, he manages to explain some things:

The cave they are in used to be full of people, rejects from Atlantis for some reason or another; criminals, "mutants", etc. Atlanteans have a tendency to abandon their kids to die of exposure but people can be kicked out for any reason. This kid was the last baby they found, and were raising him as a group until Something Happened. They were attacked and all the adults died; he only survived by being hidden and has been alone in the years that followed the attack.

Here's the thing: the kid thinks his name is Baby, because that's what he was referred to as (aka "the baby") before everyone was killed. Arthur is convinced that the kid must have parents who are grieving him in Atlantis, and that they have a name for him. So he doesn't want to assign a name that's wrong, but he can't just call him Baby. So he starts using similar names, Baby Shark, Minnow, Tadpole, etc. as nicknames.

So! Arthur is convinced that he needs to find Atlantis and figure out who he is. The kid is like I was always told to avoid going there also they killed everyone, but I like your energy. Also you are my dad now. The kid doesn't know where Atlantis is, but he has seen some people like them nearby. So they start venturing off to find other Atlanteans.

Eventually, they discover an Atlantean man out in the wild, doing some kind of research. Arthur swims right up to him to introduce himself. The man is absolutely shocked to see Arthur (and the kid, who followed behind) and introduces himself as Vulko. Vulko works for the king as a scientist and advisor, but honestly hates that guy. The king is a real dick and only king because of marriage, not royal lineage. He believes the ocean is dying and they need to reveal themselves to the surface to save their home. Arthur is like omg no way, I'm FROM there can you introduce me to the king I can defend your case! :3 I'm somewhat of a folk hero on land, you know...

Vulko says no, and that Arthur and the kid are "throw backs" or undesirables in Atlantis. The people of Atlantis will not take kindly to someone like Arthur, but also implies that Arthur SHOULD try to win their affection because he likes his style. They decide to do that by "saving the ocean" they start taking on bigger, badder threats. Vulko provides them with some outdated Atlantean armor that he steals from the palace (orange for Arthur, red for the kid) and they begin to take on pirates, monsters, etc. They are not only gaining notoriety on land, but in the sea as well. Scouts from Atlantis are reporting back about a duo of mysterious Atlanteans taking out threats the king had been too cowardly to take on. They take on celebrity status.

Along the way they find Mera. She has fled her home dimension (unrelated to Atlantis at all, she's literally not from their world) who needs a place to crash. Arthur and Garth invite her to stay with them, in that destroyed settlement turned bachelor pad, and explain their plan to get into Atlantis. Mera, a princess, has the tact and manners that the others lack and joins the team.

Meanwhile, Vulko is stoking the rumor mill, trying to put in a good word for Aquaman and Aqualad, and he starts digging around for records of them. Vulko finds no record of Arthur's birth, and can only find ONE instance of a boy being born within the approximate age of the kid; the boy was named Garth and abandoned as an infant. There is no official record of him, or his parents (which is customary) and it appears this was done intentionally, and that information was destroyed. He only learns about this from talking to people who used to work in the palace. Vulko starts to suspect there is more to the story and also tries to dig into any of info on about Arthur…

And eventually he finds it; everyone knows the late queen had a son named Orm, but what they DON’T know is that she had a son before him with an unknown father. The people believe this child died during childbirth but Vulko finds a single woman who was around for his birth (the others involved have “mysteriously died”) who can confirm that the child was born, and born with blonde hair. While the queen rested, the king took the child out of Atlantis to leave him to die. The queen was told her child died shortly after childbirth but she never truly believed this. The queen bore a second son, Orm, and took her own life when Orm was a child.

So, why is the king so adamant about killing off the outsiders? Although he believed the baby had died, an oracle told him that the boy lives and would dethrone him (he’s VERY superstitious). He has been sending out soldiers to kill anyone harboring throwbacks and he has been training his son, Orm, to be a great fighter so he can defend his father and anyone who might claim the throne. He’s paranoid that the child he tried to dispose of will return and dethrone him.

So anyway. Arthur returns to Atlantis to try and convince the king to let him on as an advisor to the surface world. The king recognizes the blonde hair immediately but cannot react and give himself away. He tries to remove the squad by virtue of them being throwbacks but the people LOVE Aquaman and Aqualad, they are so excited about their visit that to avoid an uprising they are allowed to stay as guests.

They meet prince Orm during their stay. He's a little standoffish and not at all happy to see throw backs trying to get into the palace; his father had assured him that they were all dead, that throwbacks cannot survive into adulthood.

In an attempt to kill them off/make them leave and lose favor with Atlantis, the king starts making up increasingly dangerous tasks they must complete (like the trials of Hercules tbh) but of course Arthur is absolutely killing it! He’s having a great time and thinks this is very normal, but Mera, who is unfamiliar with Atlantis but very familiar with royal schemes, decides that something fishy (extra joke) is going on. She and Vulko investigate the events surrounding the queen’s suicide.

One of the “challenges” is for Arthur to fight Orm in a public arena. Orm gets his ass beat but Arthur, who had taken a liking to Orm, let’s him get a few punches in so he’s not embarrassed. Even after the fight he’s acting really buddy-buddy with him. Orm is confused and angry at being public ally defeated, but cannot help but think that Arthur is a really nice dude.

Once again, I’m imagining this taking a long time. It’s part monster fighting, part investigation, part hijinks in a new location, etc. They leave Atlantis occasionally to take on land-threats and visit Arthur's father. FINALLY, though, Mera figured it out; the queen didn’t kill herself. This is already long so I'm just going to say that she confronted her husband and he killed her to secure Orm's place on the throne.

The king has another very public venue in which to try to embarrass Aquaman. For example, having him fight some giant monster. But Arthur doesn’t like to kill innocent animals and he uses his telepathy to calm the beast down. Telepathy is not a common ability (and until now nobody had seen Arthur use it) but it’s also a mythical sign of the divine right of royalty in Atlantis. Only kings of yore have shown the ability, and even the late queen couldn’t manifest it. So ofc the king accuses Arthur of being some kind of freak or faking it. That’s when Mera, Garth, and Vulko come on the scene with their receipts: they’ve pieced together the king’s attempted murder of the baby, that Arthur is rightful heir to the throne, and that the king murdered the queen. The king initially claims they’re lying, but then they pull out the receipts and display them to the entire crowd. Enraged, he tries to kill Arthur and another fight ensues. Arthur manages to get the king pinned but refuses to kill him. The king takes this opportunity to break out from under the trident and flees the city. although soldiers pursue him it seems that he has completely disappeared. There is a bounty out for him, leaving the possibility of him returning as a major threat still in the air (extra joke).

Arthur is named king, as the oldest heir to the throne, to his absolute bewilderment. Orm is absolutely furious, as he thinks Arthur only came there to steal the throne from him, just like his father said he would. Arthur tries to explain that it wasn’t his intention, but Orm storms off and hides away in a wing of the castle. The squad lets him stay, but there’s animosity for sure.

Now that he is no longer in celebrity status, the people begin to poke holes in their love of the group; they did not have the full story (of them being throw backs) and now they're a bit suspicious about Garth and Mera, specifically (they don't realize she's not Atlantean, though you would think the flipper feet would give it away...) and there are some who loved the old king and want him back on the throne (conspiracy theorists essentially) Now that they aren't essentially there on vacation, they begin to notice how isolating it is in Altantis...and then we begin the more introspective plot lines, talking about feeling like an outsider and what it means to fit in!

Now Arthur has a new job, a reputation as a hero, and no idea what to do next!

Character's main traits/inspiration

Arthur: did NOT anticipate finding out he was a long lost king, he just wanted to learn about Atlantis! He's trying to balance being a hero, which he likes, being an adventurer, which he loves, and being a king which is...fine, I guess. This version will lean more into his Silver Age personality, which is my favorite, where he seems a little confused but excited about everything. Rather than try to sweep all the "uncool" things under the rug like some versions of Aquaman do, he's so genuine about his life that it's difficult to make fun of him. He is not actually that great at being a king, so luckily he has a lot of friends to help him.

Garth: he follows Arthur around like a lost puppy and is SO happy to be living in a place with real walls and a real bed. However, he still wants to know more about his parents and why records of him were destroyed... We are going back to the classic sidekick genre with him, something DC seems afraid to do. If DC also wanted to have the Titans, or the rest of the fab five be older, I could see him being significantly younger than the others but still part of the "first wave" of sidekicks so they're lumped together anyway. Like the Silver/Bronze age, he could visibly age during the run of the comic and be in his teenage years for any Titans-related plots DC wanted to run. I would be keeping his lost prince backstory, but that wouldn't come up for a very long time. I like the idea of having him age throughout the series, I think that's a very fun aspect of comics that has been lost. He would keep his post-crisis origins, but not learn about them for quite some time.

Mera: She never told Arthur the real reason she was exiled, and to be fair he didn't ask. She's excited to be in the political world of Atlantis and make changes for the better, something she couldn't do back home... I like the idea of Mera being from another world altogether, I think it adds to the overall theme of them being outsiders. She will be a combination of her very domestic original version and the feisty modern Mera. Since Mera doesn't have much of a personality usually (sorry girl) I'm going to make her very studious and politically minded. She LOVES politics and is passionate about making changes to help the everyday Atlanteans. She’s also worried about being sent back to her home dimension, so she tries to keep everyone pleased with her.

Vulko: the only one of the group who understands Atlantean customs. He is always so, so tired of shenanigans... Vulko is going to be a bit like Merlin, an advisor and advocate for Arthur taking the throne. and yes he WILL be old and he WILL be fat.

Orm: royally (extra joke) pissed about losing the throne, but conflicted about his father being Very Evil and hiding the existence of his brother/killing his mom. He mostly sulks and keeps to himself, making it unclear if he is friend or foe... I LOVE his Silver Age jealousy, but DC wants them to be related by their mother and I don't want to fight them on that. I actually prefer when Orm is at least partially human, but I don’t think I can have my cake and eat it too with the origins here, so he’s the biggest compromise tbh. I think Orm could be a shifty character, not outright evil but clearly angry about how things are going so he causes problems on purpose. But there's still the chance that he might sway to either side...

Manta: Honestly, he's the hardest one to introduce into the fray because he only recently started getting actual reasons to have beef with Arthur. Which I respect. Since Tom is going to be alive (for now) I think having Manta slowly develop a beef with Arthur that all comes to head by killing Arthur's father could be interesting. Or maybe Tom gets to live, and Manta does something equally terrible. It's unclear in my mind tbh. So! Manta is trying to develop his empire of piracy and Arthur, trying to win over the people of land and sea, starts really going after him. He sinks every single one of Manta's subs, thwarts every single plan, and is ruining Manta's reputation. He HATES Aquaman, and unfortunately Aquaman doesn't really know who he is or realize he's made an enemy... he would show up as a big threat in later comics, after Arthur has established himself in Atlantis

The former king: this could be Orvax, who was introduced in N52, but honestly if the writer wanted to make a new OC I wouldn’t mind. Orvax doesn’t have much in ways of background of personality because he only exists in flashbacks, but I know how sucky it is to just use the same name for a totally different character (looking at you, rebirth Garth!) so I’m just going to call him King for now. It would be interesting if he was corrupted like Orm in previous volumes into making a deal with an entity in exchange for power…perhaps even serving as a patron for Orm if he shifts to the dark side.

So. That's a quick rendition of my ideal Aquaman reboot. I think it s a fun combo of all the elements I've liked over the years without simply be a rehashing of the stories. Thoughts, opinions. etc?

#aquaman meta

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