I've been reading Aquaman since near the start of the New 52. And its probably one of my favorite series. But it also got me wondering a bit about the character's history.

I have absolutely no experience with Aquaman aside for his current series. But I've seen different interpretations of him in animation (Justice League TAS, Young Justice, ...Superfriends).

So I'm wondering, which interpretation of Aquaman is most true to the character from a historic standpoint?

@sockman19: much the same as he is now

^ I agree with you !

Pretty much this. The appearance might have changed through the decades but the current interpretation is pretty much in line with the character history.

More or less the same character. However he was a full Atlantean, the son of Atlanna and an ancient Atlantean wizard, Atlan. He wasn't raised very long by Tom Curry, who adopted him for a while, and spent most of his time in the ocean. Most people wonder why he always seemed so angry pre 52. Easy. His infant son was murdered, his wife blamed him, tried to kill him, and went insane. Not to mention he lost his hand, and Atlantis betrayed him, multiple times. He had every reason in the world to be grumpy. However Geoff Johns is doing something Peter David didn't: Explaining Aquaman's origins very clearly right from the start so there is little confusion.

@comicfan11: could not be more wrong. the New 52 version completely changed everything about him. it scrapped the origin story established in the 80s, reverting to the original 40s origin, did away with most of his powers, and nerfed the few they left him with, altered his personality/character completely...New 52 Aquaman is in no way even recognizable as Aquaman...it's not supposed to be the same character of course, but it doesn't even resemble him in anger way, except his outfit- which has changed probably more than any other hero's

the best Aquaman, the one who decapitated Cerberus, knocked down the gates of Hell, defeated Cthulu countless times, mind-controlled most of the JLA, including Superman, condemned Tiamat to Hell, demolished Ares, etc., was an Atlantean demigod conceived by a spell cast thousands of years ago by a demigod sorcerer. he wasn't some whiny brat obsessed w/ his mom, and always concerned with "doing the right thing" and whatever. he was gritty and nihilistic, and real.

Hmm, this is very interesting. I'm glad Johns made the changes he did though.

@xfukboix: The 90s version of Aquaman, the Peter David version of Aquaman, was a completely different version of himself. Peter David invented a whole new mythos for Aquaman that worked for the time, but was for the most part retconned the way in the early 2000. And the Silver Age origin was completely back in full swing by the time of the brightest day storyline when Geoff Johns started writing Aquaman again.

As I mentioned before, that grittiness wasn't there because that's who Aquaman truly was inside himself. It was due to all the frustration and despair that had been going on in his life. Similar to how Batman went off the rails for a bit, getting super violent once Jason Todd died. The real Aquaman isn't a brute or some hardcore savage. He's a man caught between multiple conflicting responsibilities, but always trying to do right by all of them.

@blackwind: let's not jump to conclusions about who he "really" is or strip everything that makes him cool by claiming he's not a brute or a savage lol. i've been probably the biggest aquaman fan on earth since i was like 5, and the new 52 is the worst thing that's ever happened to him.