The next hero under our Romantic microscope is the King of Atlantis, Orin Atlan-Son, Aquaman. While Aquaman is usually referred to as the laughing stock of the superheroes and absolutely useless, I disagree for many reasons, but this blog is not dedicated to that. Just know that I'm right, he's cool, and you are wrong if you laugh at him. Anyyyyyywayyys....
Aquaman again displays the Romantic ideal of individualism and heroism, just like the Flash. He's the King of the Seven Seas for crying out loud. He is the savior of 70% of the Earth's surface. If that isn't heroism and idividualism, I don't know what is.
For his origins, we will be using the first backstory (before Crisis on Infinite Earths). We are using this one because his second backstory involves impregnation in a dream by an immortal wizard... Yeah. But in this first universe, Arthur Curry is the son of lighthouse operator Tom Curry in Amnesty Bay, Maine. As he grew up, he began showing superhuman strength and speed, as well as the ability to communicate with fish and breathe underwater. As his mother dies, she reveals that she was the Queen of Atlantis, and Arthur would take the throne as King.
In this origin story, we see a certain innocence in Arthur's childhood. He is more or less ignorant of his powers and his true heritage. When his mom dies, Arthur kind of crosses into adulthood and enters into a cruel world where he fights crime.
One area that Aquaman diverges from the Flash is in nature. Romanticism and Transcendentalism focus largely on nature and how nature is higher than humanity. Aquaman is in tune with nature, specifically the sea. He is basically a personification of the sea. So every criminal apprehended by Aquaman is the Romantic ideal of nature over humanity.
That's about it for Aquaman. The Ruler of the Sea is a wonderful example of nature over imperfect man. Join me next time for our next hero, the God of Thunder, Thor.
Yeah
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