10 Weirdest Aquaman Villains in DC Comics History

Aquaman is an incredibly powerful DC character, but despite this, he’s very rarely given the same respect as characters like Batman or Superman. Part of the reason why Aquaman is rarely respected could be because of his history of fighting truly absurd villains — far more than Batman or Superman have ever had to contend with.

Aquaman spends the majority of his time in the deep ocean. Because he is the King of Atlantis, Aquaman’s enemies often revolve around deep sea creatures. This has led to some truly bizarre enemies that have challenged Aquaman over the years. Plenty of people know about Aquaman’s more famous villains, like Black Manta or Ocean Master, but few are aware of the Awesome Threesome, the Human Flying Fish, and even more strange enemies.

10

The “Awesome Threesome” Is an Early Example of Aquaman’s Strange Villains

Aquaman #36 by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy

The Awesome Threesome were some of the first villains that Aquaman faced, showing up just a few years after his debut. They were led by Torpedoman, who commanded Klaw, and Magneto, who were machines. These villains weren’t very notable, with them only having a single appearance in Aquaman’s comics and only ever reappearing as a joke in much later series. The only notable thing about them, aside from their hilarious name, is that they did actually defeat Aquaman in their first appearance. In a surprising show of strength, they managed to bring down both Aquaman and Aqualad, though they were later defeated pretty quickly.

9

The Aquamarines Were Specially Trained to Take Down Aquaman

Aquaman #12 by Dan Abnett, Philippe Briones, Gabe Eltaeb, and Pat Brosseau

The DC version of the US Government has to constantly take precautions against superhero-run nations, such as Khandaq or Atlantis. Because of this, in Aquaman #12 by Dan Abnett and Philippe Briones, the US Government revealed the existence of the Aquamarines: soldiers specifically trained and genetically altered to not only be able to reach Atlantis, but to be able to take down Aquaman as well. Due to the manipulations of the shadowy N.E.M.O. organization, Atlantis was blamed for an attack on the United States, and the Aquamarines were sent to assassinate the King of Atlantis, Aquaman.

8

Dead Water Was Aquaman’s Own Version Of Venom

Aquaman #49 by Dan Abnett, Vicente Cifuentes, John Dell, Juan Castro, Guy Major, and Tom Napolitano

A strange symbiote-like being from another dimension, the Dead Water was a predatory, possessing entity hailing from an alien planetary system composed entirely of water. It could infect and possess people with a negative mindset, causing it to completely take over the victim’s body. The first time it did this was to a rig worker known as Jonah Payne. The Dead Water has a list of terrifying abilities, such as the ability to teleport through water, allowing it to emerge from any body of water, even one as small as a glass of water. Strangely, during Dark Nights: Metal, an evil version of Batman called Bryce Wayne seemed to command her own version of the Dead Water.

7

Dr. Starbuck Was the Strangest Scientist Aquaman Has Fought

Aquaman #28 by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy

Dr. Starbuck was a man obsessed with Atlantis, and through his experiments, managed to grant people and animals the ability to breathe underwater. This allowed Starbuck, along with his pet gorilla and giant eagle, to visit Atlantis. While there, he manipulated Aquaman and Aqualad to leave their own city. From there, he captured Queen Mera, with the only ruler now being Aquaman’s baby. Starbuck ruled the kingdom through the baby, trying to start a war with the surface world before Aquaman returned to stop him.

6

The Iceberg Head Was the One Villain Aquaman Couldn’t Beat

DC Special Series #6 by Gerry Conway, Arvell Jones, Bob McLeod, Jerry Serpe, and Ben Oda

The comics industry has changed a lot over the years, and one of the major featured that’s mostly been lost to time is having superheros part of advertisement campaigns in their own comic books. There used to be entire comics — or at the very least, little comic side stories — dedicated to this phenomenon. One such situation introduced the Aquaman villain known as Iceberg Head, and as the name implies, he was a living Iceberg intent on freezing the world. This villain was far too powerful for Aquaman, who easily shrugged off his powerful blows. But even this terrifying villain couldn’t resist a Hostess Cup Cake, which succeeded in melting his cold heart and turning him into a harmless water spirit.

5

The Malignant Amoeba Was Just a Huge Amoeba

Adventure Comics #135 by Otto Binder and John Daly

Aquaman once encountered a giant Amoeba that consumed anything it came in contact with. A group of fishermen tried to kill it using bullets, glass, and other oddball weapons, but it survived them all. After escaping, it began absorbing sea life and growing in size, and it eventually became a threat to the entire planet. Thankfully, Aquaman eventually killed the Malignant Amoeba by leading it to the site of an atomic bomb test. The residual radiation from these tests was finally enough to end the Malignant Amoeba for good.

4

Karla Was a Fearsome Aquaman Villain With Flaming Hair

Aquaman #24 by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy

Since Aquaman is a man of water, many writers have attempted to give him fire-based enemies. One of the weirder versions of this is Karla, a woman whose hair is perpetually on fire, which she can control at her will. Not only this, but her hair never extinguishes, even while underwater. As ridiculous as this sounds, her flame hair proved to be pretty destructive and very nearly killed both Aquaman and Aqualad. Eventually, she was defeated by Mera using her power over hard water, — and then Karla, Aquaman, and Mera teamed up to fight invading aliens in a true Silver Age plot twist.

3

Octopus Man Sadly Isn’t Actually an Octopus

Adventure Comics #259 by Jack Miller and Ramona Fradon

Aquaman fought a lot of evil scientists back in the day, but one of the scientists who nearly got the better of him was Roland Peters. Roland wanted to mimic Aquaman’s power to control marine life and built a machine to do it. Everything was going great — until Aquaman appeared to rescue the kidnapped animals from Roland. It’s here that Roland revealed that not only did his machine let him communicate with animals, but it could also transfer someone’s consciousness into an animal. Using his machine, he trapped Aquaman’s brain in various different sea creatures, but Aquaman still rallied the marine life to bring Roland down.

2

Aquabeast Was a Twisted Version of Aquaman

Aquaman #34 by Bob Haney and Nick Cardy

It’s not hard to see why some might be jealous of Aquaman’s life: he rules his very own kingdom and has an especially beautiful wife. This led Peter Dudley to become intensely jealous of Aquaman, and wanting to steal Aquaman’s true love, Mera, Peter Dudley conducted a scientific experiment to replicate Aquaman’s looks and powers in the hopes it would make Mera fall in love with him. Unfortunately, and of course, it didn’t work. Instead of becoming the next Aquaman, Peter Dudley mutated into a horrible monster, becoming the Aquabeast. Aquabeast was so strong that Aquaman couldn’t beat him. The threat only ended when Aquabeast sacrificed himself to save Mera from another threat.

1

The Human Flying Fish Was Aquaman’s Most Bizarre Villain

Adventure Comics #272 by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon

Of all the evil scientists and bizarre villains that Aquaman has faced, absolutely no one is weirder than the Human Flying Fish. The Human Flying Fish was a man named Bragg, a disgraced ex-swimming champion. With nothing better to do with his time, Bragg agrees to let a scientist experiment on him and transform him into the Human Flying Fish. Not only was Bragg capable of outswimming Aquaman, but he could also take to the air and fly away. This made him an especially slippery foe for Aquaman, but the Human Flying Fish’s reign of terror was eventually ended when Aquaman tricked him into flying into a bunch of electric eels.