Atlantis (Aquaman)

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Atlantis is an aquatic civilization appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics associated with Aquaman. It is one of many versions of Atlantis in DC.

The version of the city first appeared in Adventure Comics #260 (May 1959), and was created by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon.

The kingdom of Atlantis made its cinematic debut in the 2017 film Justice League, set in the DC Extended Universe, and was later more prominently featured in the 2018 film Aquaman.

Publication history[]

While Golden Age of Comics version of Atlantis exists, the version in the "Aquaman" tales first appeared in Adventure Comics #260, in a story by writer Robert Bernstein and artist Ramona Fradon.^[1][2]

The history of Atlantis was detailed in The Atlantis Chronicles, a 7-issue miniseries published by DC Comics from March 1990 through September 1990. It was written by Peter David, and illustrated by Esteban Maroto. The series focused on a series of Atlantean historical manuscripts, also called The Atlantis Chronicles, and chronicled the rise and fall of Atlantis. Each issue dealt with a separate era or event in Atlantis' past, beginning with its sinking, as told through the royal historian's point of view.

Fictional history[]

Map of Atlantis from Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis #42 (March 2007), art by Ricardo Villagran

Atlantis[]

The continent of Atlantis was settled 65,000,000 years ago, by a humanoid extraterrestrial race known as the Hunter/Gatherers, who proceeded to hunt the animals to extinction. One million years ago, Atlantean society flourished alongside Homo erectus, the precursors of modern man. This apparently occurred long before the intervention of the genetic tampering with the Metagene.^[3]

Thousands of years ago, magic levels on Earth began to drop due to the sleeping entity known as Darkworld beginning to awaken. The Atlantean sorceress, Citrina, struck a deal with the Lords of Chaos who ruled Gemworld, so she would be allowed to create a home there for those Homo magi and magic dependent species such as the Faerie, Elves, Centaurs, and so forth who wished to emigrate from Earth. Gemworld was colonized by Homo magi emigrants from Earth made up of the 12 ruling houses of Atlantis.^[4]

Darkworld was a dimension formed by the body of an unnamed cosmic entity who later fell into a deep sleep. This entity's dreams were responsible for creating the first Lords of Chaos and Order, Chaon (chaos), Gemimn (order), and Tynan the Balancer.^[4] These beings and others were worshiped as gods by the citizens of Atlantis. Darkworld was tethered to Atlantis by a massive "chain" created by Deedra, goddess of nature.^[4] Some Atlantean magicians such as Arion and Garn Daanuth later learned to tap the mystic energies of Darkworld, enabling them to wield nearly godlike power.

Eventually, Atlantis came to be the center of early human civilization. Its king, Orin, ordered the construction of a protective dome over the city simply as a defense against barbarian tribes, but shortly afterward a meteor crashed into the earth, destroying most of the upper world and sinking the city to the bottom of the ocean. Orin's brother, Shalako, departed with a number of followers through tunnels in order to reclaim another sunken city of their empire, Tritonis, whose inhabitants had not survived. After a few years, Atlantean scientists developed a serum that would permanently let their people breathe underwater; as a consequence of the magic used by Shalako in settling Tritonis, the Tritonians were further mutated to have fish-tails instead of legs. Some descendants of Shalako's son Dardanus also inherited his telepathy, which was marked by blonde hair, extremely rare among Atlanteans. Dardanus's son Kordax further had the ability to command sea creatures. After he led them alongside the Tritonians in a revolution against the king, he was exiled, and children born with blond hair, the "mark of Kordax" were generally viewed as aberrations and abandoned to die.

New Atlantis[]

The Atlantis Chronicles #1 (March 1990), pencils and inks by Esteban Maroto

Atlantean survivors of the city of Challa-Bel-Nalla, then ruled by Lord Daamon, an ancestor of Deimos, moved to Skartaris and formed an alliance with an extraterrestrial race they called the Red-Moon Gods. These aliens provided the Atlanteans with advanced technology that Travis Morgan would later discover in New Atlantis.^[5]

Lemuria[]

In DC Comics, the Lemurians are a scientifically advanced race of blue-skinned humanoids covered in part with large green scales. They live in the underwater city of Lemuria, based on the fictional continent of the same name.^[6] Zanadu the Chaos Master professed to be a sorcerer from Lemuria.^[7]

Venturia and Aurania[]

Queen of a crumbling Atlantean outpost named Venturia, a subsea realm situated somewhere beneath the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean (Comics Cavalcade #18, December/January 1946/1947: "The Menace of the Rebel Manlings" until she is deposed by Wonder Woman in Spring 1944), Queen Clea enslaved the men of her realm and amused herself by putting many to death in gladiatorial combat. Desiring extended rule, Clea repeatedly attacked Venturia's flourishing sister city of Aurania unsuccessfully. Despite this failure she expanded her ideal towards domination over the entire lost continent of Atlantis. In order to do this, Clea stole the fabled Trident of Poseidon to make herself virtually unstoppable.

Sub Diego[]

Sub Diego is the new name of a portion of the city of San Diego, California which was submerged during an artificially generated earthquake, part of a plan which changed part of the surviving population into sub-aquatic beings. The city had a recent increase in population due to an influx of refugees from Atlantis, following the destruction of that city by the Spectre.

Roughly 50 weeks after the Infinite Crisis, an unknown event caused part of the Sub Diego population to be changed back into air-breathers. Thus, Aquaman had to use magic to make a huge part of the city return on the surface, joined to the rest of San Diego. It is still unknown how much of Sub Diego stayed submerged.

Xebel[]

Originally, Xebel was an otherdimensional kingdom formerly ruled by Queen Mera, currently ruled by her nemesis Queen V'lana. Mera's twin sister Hila also stayed behind in Xebel. The Aquaman villain known as Thanatos also originated from there. The kingdom of Xebel is located within "Dimension Aqua".^[8][9] Currently. Xebel is a forgotten extradimensional penal colony for an ancient group of separatist Atlanteans, locked behind a sealed portal in the Bermuda Triangle. Mera's sister, now named the Siren, has been sent to kill Aquaman.^[10] It was later revealed by the Entity itself that it was the Entity that freed the Xebel soldiers from the Bermuda Triangle in order for Aquaman to learn the truth about Mera. Meanwhile, Aquaman's alliance sends the soldiers of Xebel back to the Bermuda Triangle, therefore finishing Aquaman's task.^[11] Afterwards, Aquaman discovered that the Xebelians' weapons were effectively made of Atlantean technology.^[12] Currently, Xebel is under the leadership of Nereus.^[13][14]

Destruction of Atlantis[]

Aquaman had discovered a holographic transmission from an Atlantean who said that the underwater city was in danger and that his forces had pursued an unknown enemy to the oceans. Before the transmission ended, the Atlantean further said that this enemy was planning to sink Atlantis and claimed that the monarchs of Atlantis had hidden the truth.^[15] Aquaman returned home and asked his wife Mera to seek out this enemy of Atlantis.^[16]

Following Aquaman's fight with the Dead King Atlan, the Ocean Master has settled in Louisiana. He is later approached by Nereus, who states that he has found the other four kingdoms.^[17]

The Seven Seas[]

As of The New 52 and DC Rebirth, Atlantis has been established as one of seven Kingdoms under the sea. So far, five other kingdoms have been discovered, while one more is briefly hinted at:

• Xebel - Located in the Bermuda Triangle, the underwater penal colony of Xebel is reportedly inescapable by those trapped within the dimension. Xebel is the home to Mera, Hila, Nereus, Leron and Lucia Hyde.
• The Trench - Located in the Mariana Trench, home to a race of vicious, cannibalistic ocean-dwelling creatures with a fish-like humanoid appearance.
• The Brinedom - a kingdom of bulky, anthropomorphic crustaceans
• The Wrights - humanoid rodents
• The Kingdom of Sea Lights - green haired, bioluminescent humanoids
• Deserters - A hidden kingdom located within the Sahara Desert, secreted by the powerful and ancient magics of its resident mystics. Nereus located it while in service to Atlan.

Additionally, a new kingdom, the city of Dagon, was recently founded by Orm. It is primarily inhabited by refugees and migrants from the Ninth Tride slum of Atlantis and has a high proportion of "mutants" (Atlanteans with a more fish-like appearance and sometimes additional abilities compared to baseline Atlanteans) among the population.

Homo magi[]

In the DC Universe, the Homo magi originated on the lost continent of Atlantis. The continent was a focal point for unharnessed magical energies (wild magic), and the local Homo sapiens evolved into Homo magi as a result of their exposure to these energies.^[18] Upon the fall of Atlantis, people who carried the predisposition for magic were scattered to the four winds. Today, every human being capable of casting spells is a descendant of the Atlantean Homo magi.^[19]

In other media[]

Television[]

• Atlantis appears in the TV shows that are part of the DCAU:
  • In Superman: The Animated Series, Atlantis was hidden for centuries until Aquaman came up to confront Lex Luthor after a recent LuthorCorp underseas construction project.
  • It is also featured in Justice League, where the League helped Aquaman deal with an attempted coup by Orm.
• In the Powerless episode "Sinking Day", Van Wayne and Emily Locke managed to close a deal with the Lost City of Atlantis to supply them with security solutions after Wayne Security loses their contract with Ace Chemicals.
• Atlantis is featured in The Flash. On Earth-1, it is a lost city. On Earth-2, it is above the water and is a play that nobody wants to leave. In the episode "The Darkness and the Light", Hunter Zolomon loves Atlantis and makes a reference to an unidentified friend of his that lives there. In "Welcome to Earth-2", the Barry Allen of Earth-2 was able to arrange for his parents to go to Atlantis on their anniversary. In "Escape from Earth-2", the Barry Allen of Earth-2 and his Iris West relocated to Atlantis after Flash freed Barry Allen of Earth-2 and Jesse Quick from Zoom. In "Death of the Speed Force" taking place sometime after "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and the formation of Earth-Prime, Atlantis is on Earth-Prime as Cisco Ramon mentions that he visited it. In "Pay the Piper", Cisco mentions that he noticed a component on Atlantis that might help to form a perpetual motion machine.

Film[]

• Atlantis appears in the films set in the DC Extended Universe:
  • Atlantis is featured in Justice League and its director's cut. The Atlanteans assisted the tribes of men, the Amazons, the Olympian Gods, and the Green Lantern Corps in fighting Steppenwolf's army. After the battle, Zeus entrusted one of the Mother Boxes to the Atlanteans for safekeeping.
  • Atlantis was featured heavily in Aquaman where there are seven kingdoms that formed after the original Atlantis sank into the ocean: Atlantis, Xebel, the Kingdom of the Trench, the Kingdom of the Brine, the Kingdom of the Fishermen, the Kingdom of the Deserters, and the Kingdom of the Valor. Xebel is a military power that rivals Atlantis. The Trench reside in the deepest part of the ocean. The Kingdom of the Brine consist of crustacean-like humanoids. The Kingdom of the Fishermen is inhabited by fish-like mer-people. The Kingdom of the Deserters died out when the Sahara Desert first became a desert when it was formerly an inland sea. The missing kingdom is an unknown one and it is said to have collapsed along with the Deserter Kingdom. The Ocean Master planned to unite the different kingdoms in his war against the surface world. After winning the favor of Mera's father King Nereus (portrayed by Dolph Lundgren) of Xebel, Ocean Master led him to the Fisherman Kingdom. He killed King Ricou (motion-captured by Andrew Crawford and voiced by Djimon Hounsou) of the Fishermen when he declined and the Ocean Master persuaded his wife Queen Rina (motion-captured by Natalia Safran) and daughter Princess Scales (motion-captured by Sophie Forrest) to take up his offer. When it came to the Brine, its king (motion-captured by Andrew Crawford and voiced by John Rhys-Davies) agreed to lend his army, with him not swearing his allegiance to the Ocean Master. Before the Ocean Master can kill the Brine King, Aquaman arrives with an army of sea creatures, the Trench, and the sea monster Karathen as Mera persuades her father to side with Aquaman. At the end of the film when Aquaman defeats the Ocean Master, Atlantis, Xebel, the Fishermen, and the Brine swear allegiance to their new king.

References[]

External links[]

• DCU Guide: Atlantis
• Cosmic Teams: Atlantis
• DCU Guide: Atlantis Chronicles Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
• Beek's Books: Atlantis Chronicles Archived 2016-08-22 at the Wayback Machine