Aquaman

Queen Atlanna ruled the oceans for thousands of years, after Atlantis sank beneath the waters, until a great war broke out between Atlantis and Xebel. Seeking an opportunity to gain power, the sorcerer, Atlan, advised the Queen that she should give birth to an heir. Fearing that her death would leave the throne of Atlantis vacant, Atlanna bore a son to the sorcerer and named him Orm. Her son grew to become a great warrior and fought the armies of Xebel until they were all but defeated. His successes, along with the devious advice of his sorcerer father, caused him to demand Atlanna step aside and declare him King. When she refused, Orm rebelled, turning his armies against the Queen.

Atlanna narrowly escaped Atlantis to the shore of Maine. Badly injured, she was rescued and taken in by a lighthouse keeper named Tom Curry. She recovered and fell in love with Tom. They married and had a child, naming him Arthur, even though Atlanna gave him the birth name Orin after her father, the first ruler of Atlantis. While Atlanna was happy with Tom and her young child, she felt obligated to return to Atlantis to reclaim the throne for the good of her people. Though Tom pleaded with her to stay, she wandered back into the sea.

Arthur Curry grew into a young man of meager means, intrigued by the abilities that he alone seemed to possess. His closest friend, David, gave him the nickname Aquaman. At first, he thought he was merely a skilled swimmer, but as he grew he began to realize that he was much stronger than others at his school, he seemed to be able to make sea creatures obey him, and he could remain underwater for a limitless amount of time. His father refused to tell him about his heritage.

One day, the ocean rose up against the land. Massive tidal waves crashed into the coast, the first step in an invasion of the surface world by Orm, the Ocean Master. The waves destroyed Tom Curry’s lighthouse. Arthur managed to rescue his father, but he had suffered mortal wounds. Tom told Arthur about his mother and his half-atlantean origins before dying.

Alone on the shore, facing the destruction of his world, Arthur managed to calm the waves. He plunged into the cold waters of the ocean to find his mother and to end the war. The fate of the surface and the deep would depend on who claimed the throne of Atlantis, the Ocean Master, or Aquaman.