Warning: spoilers ahead for Justice League #64!
In the latest issue of DC Comics’ Justice League, even the team’s newest and youngest member Naomi is already making fun of Aquaman. While Aquaman offered his time and expertise to help train the new Mega-Power hero – who is incredibly strong despite her lack of control – Naomi can’t help make a joke which Hawkgirl very much capitalizes on to mock Arthur Curry.
Justice League #64 comes from writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Steve Pugh – with a Justice League Dark story from Ram V and Sumit Kumar – and sees the Justice League trying to recover from their time on Naomi’s homeworld, which caused their powers to go haywire in the midst of trying to battle the villains Brutus and Zumbado. After disabling the villains’ means of following them back to their world, the League officially induct Naomi into their ranks (alongside former villain Black Adam). Following that honor, Aquaman and Hawkgirl are shown training with Naomi while also trying to help her control her temper and the massive surges of power that come with it.
The inexperienced Naomi is wary when Aquaman tells her to throw a punch at him and take her very best shot, seeing as how her powers are incredibly strong and she doesn’t yet have a handle on them. Arthur counters that he still wants her to do so, as combat is the only sure-fire way to learn how to fight. Naomi admits she is also worried that Aquaman’s own skills as a warrior will catch her by surprise, saying, “I throw a punch at you and you’re going to do some Miyagi fishman judo and toss me up to Apokolips,” with Hawkgirl helpfully observing, “Miyagi fishman judo… is a better name than Aquaman.”
If that wasn’t hilarious enough, Hawkgirl and Queen Hippolyta almost immediately have to work together to restrain Naomi once she does attack Aquaman, as her temper and connected powers flare beyond her control despite his calls for a time-out. Clearly, the young Leaguer still has a way to go before she has full control over her powerful abilities, but at least she’s already fitting in by making fun of Aquaman. Strangely, the previous issue did see Aquaman give Naomi a potential codename when he called her “Powerhouse,” so perhaps this is just Naomi returning the favor by offering an “improved” name for Arthur.
It’s a funny moment of bonding between new teammates, but it’s also one that shows that Aquaman will never escape jokes here and there, no matter how much inspiration his character takes from Jason Momoa’s epic DCEU version of the character. Unfortunately, it seems the fun may be over as Superman villain Synmar Utopica arrives to take on the Justice League, though no matter how much Naomi clowns on Aquaman, she can rest assured he’ll always have her back.
