Aquaman's Super-Strength

Why is it that Aquaman's official strength level is being reported as far less than his feats have demonstrated? Aquaman is listed as being able to lift about 60 tons (roughly equivalent to two tractor trailers stacked on top of each other), but has been shown moving an oil platform which is in the neighborhood of a megaton (1,000,000 tons). I have seen some ill-chosen weightlifting benchmarks in characters bios before, but Aquaman deserves better representation due to his reputation, historical significance, and total awesomeness.

Please write your local congressman, DC executive, or whoever else you can think of to get this issue addressed.

Epic ending

Maybe whoever wrote that was basing it off the armored truck he flipped in issue #1. Has he lifted anything else so far in the New 52?

The super-human strength of Aquaman has long been underrated or ignored but him lifting a megaton takes it to far in the other direction.

Okay so maybe a megaton is a bit much, but consider the actual feat itself...

Compared to say Superman...

So if you consider that an oil platform weighs 1 megaton ( 1 ton x 10 to the power of 6), and the earth weighs 6 zettatons (6 x (1 ton x 10 to the power of 21)) you can see how Aquaman's greatest feat is still dwarfed by just one of Superman's greatest feats (I'm not even counting the time he pushed a star by blowing on it). Obviously both of these examples are over the top, and I'm not really debating what is plausible and what is impossible, or even suitable, but the DC Wikia accurately lists the fluctuations and ambiguous limits of Superman's strength level, but they do not acknowledge Aquaman's.

Personally, I am not opposed to a story that has over-the-top feats of strength, Silver Age Superboy comics are in fact my all time favorite stories, and I am an electrical engineer. The fact that most of the science is nonsensical does not bother me, in fact I love that aspect!

Aquaman comics are awesome, Aquaman is awesome, he needs representation from the powers that be, representation that will do him justice when he's put opposite other comics icons.

@Superboy171 said:

I get that Superman is powerful, but where did he get those super-strong chains? :P

@Superboy171 said:

I get that Superman is powerful, but where did he get those super-strong chains? :P

I think he forged those chains inside the fires of Mt Doom, out of- oh... let's say... adamantium.

@Danial79: It was the silver age he probably had super chain making ability for that issue. This is back when he had a new power for every situation

I agree Aquaman is possibly the most underrated hero around, I love Aquaman and can't seem to get enough of him. I think the 60ton bench mark is to show how much he lifts on land, most writers tend to show he can lift much more weight while underwater (like in the sub-diego story line). The example shown above though is inaccurate though, if you read that issue or even that picture you see Aquaman is actually rocking a ship (no small feat of strength by the way) and he's perched against the oil rig to give himself the necessary leverage. As far as other feats of super strength they've shown in the New 52 the only other one I can think of is Aquaman pushing a large piece of earth on top of the underwater volcano that the creatures from the Trench were in.

I never really got why Aquaman should have super-strength in the first place. I mean, really hard skin (making him impervious to gunshots) kind of makes sense to withstand undersea pressure. But being really strong always seemed like it was just thrown in.

I'd rather see an Aquman who struggles lifting two tractor trailers than one who moves an oil platform without breaking a sweat.

@SupBatz said:

I never really got why Aquaman should have super-strength in the first place. I mean, really hard skin (making him impervious to gunshots) kind of makes sense to withstand undersea pressure. But being really strong always seemed like it was just thrown in.

I'd rather see an Aquman who struggles lifting two tractor trailers than one who moves an oil platform without breaking a sweat.

He'd need super strength for two reasons:

1. The water pressure, which he'd need super endurance for, should also require super strength or else I'd imagine that the ultra dense water will just be restricting his movements.

2. Swimming faster than a torpedo would require some super muscles too.

You have a point though about making his strength so excessive, but I don't know the science of how strong or durable someone would need to be to function normally at the ocean's bottom to say what it should be.

@DEADPOOL said:

@SupBatz said:

I never really got why Aquaman should have super-strength in the first place. I mean, really hard skin (making him impervious to gunshots) kind of makes sense to withstand undersea pressure. But being really strong always seemed like it was just thrown in.

I'd rather see an Aquman who struggles lifting two tractor trailers than one who moves an oil platform without breaking a sweat.

He'd need super strength for two reasons:

1. The water pressure, which he'd need super endurance for, should also require super strength or else I'd imagine that the ultra dense water will just be restricting his movements.

2. Swimming faster than a torpedo would require some super muscles too.

You have a point though about making his strength so excessive, but I don't know the science of how strong or durable someone would need to be to function normally at the ocean's bottom to say what it should be.

He would definitely need super strength to move around at great depths of the ocean. Water, like any liquid, cannot be compressed, so it doesn't get any denser as you get deeper, there's just a lot more resting on top of you so it crushes things that can't support the weight. So in order for Aquaman to move up through the water from a great depth it would require him to have an enormous amount of strength. As for how much strength; well that's actually not that hard to calculate. If we assume Aquaman can walk on the bottom of the Marianas Trench then we can do some quick math to figure it out. The Marianas Trench is about 6.85 miles deep or roughly 11 kilometers for some easy and quick math I'm going to do here. So we take the depth in meters (11,000) and multiply that by acceleration due to gravity (9.8m/s^2) and multiply that by the density of the fluid (1.025 because saltwater is a little denser than pure water) and we get the total number of kilopascals (110495) which we can then convert to psi (approximately 16025). So if we assume that Aquaman's broad shoulders have a surface area of about 10 square inches then we know that just to stand or walk along the bottom of the Marianas Trench his legs have to be able to lift a bare minimum of 160,250 lbs or 80 tons. If you assume he can lift anything while at that depth then he needs to be even stronger.

@The_Judge_since_83 said:

@DEADPOOL said:

@SupBatz said:

I never really got why Aquaman should have super-strength in the first place. I mean, really hard skin (making him impervious to gunshots) kind of makes sense to withstand undersea pressure. But being really strong always seemed like it was just thrown in.

I'd rather see an Aquman who struggles lifting two tractor trailers than one who moves an oil platform without breaking a sweat.

He'd need super strength for two reasons:

1. The water pressure, which he'd need super endurance for, should also require super strength or else I'd imagine that the ultra dense water will just be restricting his movements.

2. Swimming faster than a torpedo would require some super muscles too.

You have a point though about making his strength so excessive, but I don't know the science of how strong or durable someone would need to be to function normally at the ocean's bottom to say what it should be.

He would definitely need super strength to move around at great depths of the ocean. Water, like any liquid, cannot be compressed, so it doesn't get any denser as you get deeper, there's just a lot more resting on top of you so it crushes things that can't support the weight. So in order for Aquaman to move up through the water from a great depth it would require him to have an enormous amount of strength. As for how much strength; well that's actually not that hard to calculate. If we assume Aquaman can walk on the bottom of the Marianas Trench then we can do some quick math to figure it out. The Marianas Trench is about 6.85 miles deep or roughly 11 kilometers for some easy and quick math I'm going to do here. So we take the depth in meters (11,000) and multiply that by acceleration due to gravity (9.8m/s^2) and multiply that by the density of the fluid (1.025 because saltwater is a little denser than pure water) and we get the total number of kilopascals (110495) which we can then convert to psi (approximately 16025). So if we assume that Aquaman's broad shoulders have a surface area of about 10 square inches then we know that just to stand or walk along the bottom of the Marianas Trench his legs have to be able to lift a bare minimum of 160,250 lbs or 80 tons. If you assume he can lift anything while at that depth then he needs to be even stronger.

Fair enough on both accounts. I hadn't thought of it that way. On a slightly different note, I suppose this would mean that all Atlantean would need to be that strong. Interesting imagining Atlantean children being able to lift over 80 tons.

@The_Judge_since_83 Thanks for the science lesson.

@SupBatz Indeed, I wonder how strong in canon Atlanteans are? Because they would need to be as strong and durable as Aquaman, which kind of makes Aquaman less special and Atlanteans far too powerful.

That is the strength required for the deepest depths of the ocean. Atlantis would not be near that depth, so Atlanteans would not require that much strength to survive, although they would still be much stronger than humans.

If memory serves, the average depth of the ocean is 4km (2.5mi), so about a third of the trench, but that would still make any Atlantean much stronger than a human :)

@ExtraLarge said:

That is the strength required for the deepest depths of the ocean. Atlantis would not be near that depth, so Atlanteans would not require that much strength to survive, although they would still be much stronger than humans.

@Danial79 said:

If memory serves, the average depth of the ocean is 4km (2.5mi), so about a third of the trench, but that would still make any Atlantean much stronger than a human :)

That satisfies me a little, Atlanteans are only at best about half as powerful as Judge_Since_83's calculations indicated and that still makes Aquaman a super Atlantean.

So is 60-70 tons about right? So that would put Aquaman on same level as Attuma or Tiger Shark. That makes sense

@Kallarkz said:

Epic ending

QFT

@Superboy171: could that be because maybe he can lift 60 tons outside of water and more than that in water

@WaveMotionCannon said:

So is 60-70 tons about right? So that would put Aquaman on same level as Attuma or Tiger Shark. That makes sense

Possibly around 80 tons, according to .Judge_since_83's calculations.

Aquaman can lift two humpback whales and leap a small island in a single bound!

@DEADPOOL: he is well above the 80 tons,he was capable of supporting a building.

@matchesmalone21 said:

@DEADPOOL: he is well above the 80 tons,he was capable of supporting a building.

I wonder if someone that can lift 80 tons could support a building?

I don't think many writers put a lot of research into many of the things they write, since often times we're shown characters lifting more than they are canonically stated to be able to lift.

But yeah, Aquaman could be way up there. Like Judge_since_83 said, Aquaman needs to be able to lift at least 80 tons to function on the sea floor, but to lift anything down there he'd need to be able to lift more than 80 tons.

@DEADPOOL: Exactly,often he already proved to be able to lift weights in excess of one thousand tons, both on land and at sea,especially into the sea how everything in the sea weighs more than twice on the ground, not only by water, but also by the pressure of the depths

you gotta give him his props. he has more responsibility than most superheroes!!! definitely a pimp!

@Hyperlight said:

you gotta give him his props. he has more responsibility than most superheroes!!! definitely a pimp!

LOL

@cattlebattle: lol

Super-Strength

Super-Speed

Super-Leaping

Invulnerability

Didn't AC lift a good portion of San Diego? I think that puts him at a strength level well in excess of a megaton.

@Onemoreposter said:

Didn't AC lift a good portion of San Diego? I think that puts him at a strength level well in excess of a megaton.

Yeah PreReboot.

But the feat from JL is where he lifts the Ocean Liner is more easily quantifiable ans is PostReboot. Ocean Liners weigh in the 100.000 of tons.

And he was pretty casual lifting it.

But the Sub Diego feat was pretty impressive also.

LOL! Superman's not even breaking a sweat!! Look at the smile on his face when he's lifting everything on earth including Earth, itself. It's so realistic and definitely sets the boundaries for the feats Superman's capable of. I love it! Aquaman is more my type of hero. A die-hard super human being who has his ups and downs, but pulls through no matter what situation it is. Unless he going up against someone like Galactus or Doomsday then it's just a matter of how long he can withstand the brutal force or if he actually has the time to use his intellect to out-smart them. Whatever situation it is, you can see how he overcomes the fear of death and uses his will to come up on top which increases the intensity from the stories told of Aquaman.

@Superboy171 said:

Okay so maybe a megaton is a bit much, but consider the actual feat itself...

Compared to say Superman...

So if you consider that an oil platform weighs 1 megaton ( 1 ton x 10 to the power of 6), and the earth weighs 6 zettatons (6 x (1 ton x 10 to the power of 21)) you can see how Aquaman's greatest feat is still dwarfed by just one of Superman's greatest feats (I'm not even counting the time he pushed a star by blowing on it). Obviously both of these examples are over the top, and I'm not really debating what is plausible and what is impossible, or even suitable, but the DC Wikia accurately lists the fluctuations and ambiguous limits of Superman's strength level, but they do not acknowledge Aquaman's.

Personally, I am not opposed to a story that has over-the-top feats of strength, Silver Age Superboy comics are in fact my all time favorite stories, and I am an electrical engineer. The fact that most of the science is nonsensical does not bother me, in fact I love that aspect!

Aquaman comics are awesome, Aquaman is awesome, he needs representation from the powers that be, representation that will do him justice when he's put opposite other comics icons.

By my caluclations (based on judge's calculations from above) if we assume that Aquaman can lift a 10 ton cube (120 square in x 120 square in) at the bottom of the Mariana Trench (which I think is a reasonable assumption), on the surface, Aquaman should be able to lift a minimum of about 116,000 tons. This doesn't make him as strong as Superman who, according to the DCU RPG (which I think is the most reasonable estimate of Superman's strength, ridiculousness aside) can lift 800,000 tons. Superman is about 7 times as strong as Aquaman, but Aquaman is no slouch - easily equal to Marvel's Namor, who is one of their strongest characters. Aquaman's speed and durability should also be quite high, given how dense he'd have to be to have that level of strength. I agree: people SORELY underestimate Aquaman because they think of him as the stupid guy who talks to fish.

Here he's tossing a submarine off the ocean floor and out of the water in Issue #21, which by the looks of it is about 100+ tons of weight:

Here's another recent feat from Aquaman #22 showcasing his super strength when he's able to lift and throw a sunken ship at the Dead King which is depicted of being greatly over 1,00 tons of weight.

Full scans could be seen here: http://www.comicvine.com/aquaman/4005-2357/forums/new-52-aquaman-respect-thread-670936/

This is a really cool forum. Aquaman ftw!

But what I don't understand from comics is (I'm a swimmer, so I have to know something here) Is that everything on land is quite proportionately heavier underwater, like maybe 6 or 7 times. So why would he be stronger underwater? (Besides his cells being fully hydrated)

@orin_theaquaman: Personally I honestly wouldn't be opposed to the idea of just believing that while underwater he gains an increase for no other reason than home field advantage.

Does AQUAman need any other reason to be better in water?

Im sorry to say this yall really dont read into his powers if aquaman can swim to the deepest part of the sea and the sea holds about 65% of the worlds weight lifting a megaton shouldnt be that hard becuase the pressure of the sea at its lowest point is 15,750 psi that is enough too flatten metal like paper more than enough too implode the human body enough too flatten just about anything even break diamond he endures this pressure on a daily basis so his body should be more durable than most heros harpoons shouldnt be able too enter his body not even most attacks he should be stronger on land and he if he is able too travel at super speeds in that kind of pressure his strength should be off the charts not as strong as superman but around he should be able too give him a good run for his money i think dc really dropped the ball with him he needs a defenite strength increase and please fix his attributes in and out of water

@elijahwoahtee: Most people are unaware of the science being underwater pressures.

Aquaman can beat the Thor's ass

I do like when Aquaman displays his super strength. I think at times he may get over shadowed by some of his fellow JLers, but he is still very powerful which I love. I also like the fact that he is essentially the power-house of the Others.

@nj06: Aquaman is in that odd strength class where he is above mostly everyone else, but below the insane heavy powerhouses. Which is just where he should be.

@blackwind: I agree. I think it works perfectly for him and I'm kinda glad that he isn't as over-powered as some heroes like Superman. While I do like Superman too, I feel like his power-levels lead him to being written inconsistently way too often. I also feel like it leads to too many CIS & PIS moments.

Aquaman's strength level is perfect because he can still do a ton of damage. However he can still be injured and killed much easier than the more over-powered heroes which makes him more vulnerable than them. I think this leads to better story telling and makes for more interesting character and story drama.

Well said and in this day and age, it's pretty ease to look up this info by simply doing a google or Youtube search.

@lsrotj: Nope. That would require work, buddy

If anything we should be questioning Aquaman's reflexes and such. Of course he is faster in travel and movement speed in water, but like PAD Aquaman said, on land, where there isn't thousands of tons of pressure on him, he should be far, far quicker on the reflexes.

The 60 ton limit has been his stated strength level since the Silver Age if I'm remembering right. Naturally he's become a more physical oriented hero over time and ended up exceeding that limit. However no one has updated any of the wikis and databases for some reason, resulting in this awkward situation where everyone thinks he can only lift 60 tons when in realize he can lift a few hundred thousand tons.

The lifting 80tons is to walk on the bottom of the trench not lifting capacity, just walking.

definitely above 100 tonner

Aquaman: 160 000 tons

Superman: More than the weight of the earth

Wonder Woman: Same class Superman