Aquaman's Stunning New Powers Revealed

DC's King of Atlantis is back to trying to figure out how his own superpowers work - and all because they were never his to begin with.

Aquaman #1 finds the titular hero rushing to save a passenger jet from crashing down in the middle of the ocean. Though Aquaman has no problem racing to the scene, harnessing the ocean itself to ease the plane into an otherwise tragic landing is far more difficult. Thankfully, he has his beloved Mera by his side to talk him through the process, one she knows all too well considering the powers Aquaman now wields belonged to her in the first place.

Aquaman #1

• Written by JEREMY ADAMS
• Art by JOHN TIMMS
• Colors by REX LOKUS
• Letters by DAVE SHARPE
• Main cover art by JOHN TIMMS
• Variant covers by IVAN REIS, DANNY MIKI & BRAD ANDERSON, TULA LOTAY, BRAD WALKER, ANDREW HENNESSY & MARCELO MAIOLO, SALVADOR LARROCA & PASQUAL FERRARA, CHRISTIAN WARD, and DANIEL SAMPERE & ALEJANDRO SÁNCHEZ

Introduced all the way back in 1963's Aquaman #11 by Jack Miller and Nick Cardy, Mera made her debut as the queen of her own undersea kingdom in another dimension, not all that unlike Atlantis. After encountering Aquaman and his kid sidekick Aqualad for the first time, Mera became a prominent figure in the pair's lives, especially after making the move to Atlantis for herself. In the years that followed, Mera and Aquaman fell deeply in love, eventually giving rise to their son, Arthur Curry Jr.

Rather than hailing from an alternate dimension entirely, the modern-day Mera instead lived as the reigning monarch of Xebel, which had long ago broken off from Atlantis as a whole. Like her previous incarnation, the current Mera is a brilliant ruler and powerful warrior all the same. Apart from her superhuman physiology and the powers afforded to her as an Atlantean, Mera was trained in the secret art of hydrokinesis due to her status as royalty in Xebel. This power not only allows Mera to wield water as an offensive and defensive weapon or tool, it allows her to create complex liquid constructs that give her the chance to take on opponents from multiple directions at once.

When Amanda Waller's army of Amazo androids were stripped of the powers they stole from the world's heroes at the end of DC Comics' Absolute Power crossover event, Mera's were among those superhuman abilities that should have been returned to their original owner. Like so many other sets of powers, for whatever reason, Mera's hydrokinesis never made its way back to her. Instead, it was her superhero husband who ended up being imbued with her astonishing abilities, which he has since begun learning to harness in concert with his own incredible powers.

Aquaman #1 is on sale now from DC Comics.

Source: DC Comics