Aquaman (Arthur Curry)

In 1985 Maine, lighthouse keeper Tom Curry finds a wounded woman on the rocks during a storm. It's Atlanna, queen of Atlantis, who fled an arranged marriage. They fall in love and have a son, Arthur. When Atlantean soldiers come for her, Atlanna returns to the sea to protect her family and promises to come back.

Arthur grows up knowing he's different. On a school trip to an aquarium, kids pick on him, and a shark slams against the glass to defend him. As a teenager, royal adviser Vulko secretly trains him to fight. What Arthur hears is that his mother was sacrificed to the Trench as punishment for having a child with a human. He grows up angry at Atlantis.

Years later, Bruce Wayne finds Arthur in a fishing village in Iceland, where he shows up in winter bringing fish to the villagers. Bruce invites him to join a team. Arthur says no.

But Steppenwolf attacks an Atlantean outpost and takes the Mother Box kept there. Mera, of Atlantis, presses Arthur to take responsibility, and he goes after the invader. Arthur joins Bruce, Diana, Barry and Victor, helps revive Superman and fights in the final battle, in an abandoned Russian town.

Arthur becomes Aquaman in the papers after saving a submarine from pirates. He lets their leader, Jesse Kane, die, and Jesse's son, David, swears revenge. Meanwhile, Arthur's half-brother Orm, king of Atlantis, wants to unite the undersea kingdoms against the surface. Mera asks Arthur for help, and Vulko tells him only the Trident of Atlan, the first king, can win him the throne.

Arthur challenges Orm and loses. He flees with Mera on a quest through the Sahara and Sicily, faces David, now Black Manta, and crosses the Trench to a hidden sea at the center of the Earth. Atlanna is there, alive. Arthur faces the monster Karathen, proves himself worthy and claims the trident. With an army of sea creatures, he defeats Orm, spares his brother and is hailed as king. Atlanna reunites with Tom at the lighthouse.

Years later, Arthur is married to Mera and has a baby son, Arthur Jr. He hates council meetings and splits his life between the throne and his father's lighthouse. David Kane returns, possessed by the Black Trident, and steals orichalcum, an ancient fuel that heats the planet.

To find Manta, Arthur breaks Orm out of a desert prison. The brothers bicker along the way and pass through the Sunken Citadel, a pirate haven. Orm learns the trident belonged to Kordax, Atlan's brother, imprisoned in the lost kingdom of Necrus. Manta kidnaps Arthur Jr. to free him. In Necrus, in Antarctica, the brothers fight side by side and destroy Kordax and the trident. Arthur then reveals Atlantis to the world and asks for a seat at the UN.

Created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris, Aquaman debuted in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941. For decades he was the blond hero in orange and green, and he became a pop-culture punchline. Jason Momoa's long-haired, tattooed version was meant to flip that image. Momoa tied the role to his own Native Hawaiian heritage.