# Why is Aquaman no longer a first-rate hero? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2005, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884 "2005-07-24T02:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884/61 "2005-07-25T13:45:10Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > What about Catwoman, who had a (horrible) movie of her own, a significant role in Batman Returns, and a recurring role (by three different actresses) in the '60s Batman TV show? She’s kind of a hero now. Still too much a bad guy to make the hero list. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884/62 "2005-07-25T13:49:31Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > What about Hawkman? He may not be the best known DC hero, but, c’mon, he’s got to at least be ahead of the frickin’ Wonder-Twins. He was #10 on the list until I thought of those damn WT rings! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884/63 "2005-07-25T16:33:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, he was never a regular on a TV show, and he doesn’t have a catchphrase. But he had an incredibly cool mask and he carried a mace. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884/64 "2005-07-25T17:05:28Z")
I just don’t think you can hold a hero that high in the pantheon when he’s just a notch above The Incredible Mister Limpet. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2005, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884/65 "2005-07-25T17:21:28Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > He was #10 on the list until I thought of those damn WT rings! The characters didn’t actually have rings; they just needed physical contact (and apparantly the dumbest catchphrase of all time) to use their powers. The rings came later as merchandising, referenced in an episode of _Family Guy_. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884/66 "2005-07-26T21:18:57Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > I think, as is, he’s kinda boring. How long can he stay out of the water? > > He needs the right writer/artist team to revamp him. Take the telepathic powers he uses to communicate with, and control marine life, and do a Pheonix-style power up. Give him the “psionic” ability to stay out of the water longer. Let him camouflage himself like an octopus so he can be invisible. Give him the power to regrow limbs (losing his hand was lame). Give him sharp poisonous spines like a lionfish. Do something with the costume. Make him Dark Aquaman for awhile. Aagh! Nonono! OK, here’s the thing. Aquaman does not fit into the same superhero mold as Spider-Man, Superman, whoever. Suggestions like that, or giving him psychic control of water (which I think I saw done in the comic _gag_), are attempts to turn him into a land-based traveling superdude. Which he’s not. He’s a character who belongs in his own alien setting. Frankly, Aquaman belongs in the JLA & that superhero paradigm approximately as much as Adam Strange; or marginally more than the Warlord. But to fans (& unfortunately writers & editors) who expect all superheroes to be like Spider-Man, Superman, & Captain America, Aquaman seems puzzling, deficient. But it’s their defects, their limited expectations of what a superhero comic is, that are the problem. (Also, Namor is cooler, but that’s another story. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884/67 "2005-07-26T21:38:04Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > What about Hawkman? He may not be the best known DC hero, but, c’mon, he’s got to at least be ahead of the frickin’ Wonder-Twins. Actually, I’d put the Wonder Twins ahead of the Flash, but only for those of an age to have watched cartoons in the 1970’s & 1980’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-aquaman-no-longer-a-first-rate-hero/313884.md?page=3)