Atlanna

Queen Atlanna in Aquaman v7 #39.

Atlanna is a female comic book character that features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Atlanna was the daughter of the monarch of one of the leading city-states of Atlantis with her being one of the foremost scientists and a leading chemist. Her sister was the beautiful Atlena who was the priestess of the Delphius Oracle. During this era, Atlena received a vision that showed a coming cataclysm that would destroy their homeland. Despite this warning, she stated that no steps be made to avert this upcoming disaster as the Oracle of Delpius told her that this upcoming destruction was for the greater good of Atlantis. However, Atlanna worked on a serum so that her people could survive this cataclysm. Upon learning of her experiments, Atlena attempted to dissuade her sister from her creation of the serum but Atlanna refused to do so. Instead, she took her findings to the Atlantean Prime Council and attempted to warn her father of the disaster but he refused to believe her. He instead sought to believe Atlena as her prophecies said that Atlantis would prosper for ten thousand years. As such, none believed in her when the first tremors began and led to her taking the serum herself which saved her as well as made her one of the few survivors of the cataclysm. (Action Comics v1 #519)

Over the years, she developed a constant desire to visit the surface world even though it was forbidden. On one such attempt, she was caught trying to escape with Atlanna being punished with exile from Atlantis. Around twenty years ago, she was on a raft during a storm by a lonely island when she was rescued by ex-sailor Tom Curry who had left his lighthouse and braved the weather to save her. It was said to had been love at first sight between the pair and within two weeks they had married whilst a year later she gave birth to their son Arthur Curry. Tom Curry had felt that there was something different about his wife who had not told him anything about her past and noticed that she sat for hours staring at the sea. During this time, their son from 10 months old to three years old had demonstrated unusual affinity for water allowing him to swim with sea animals not harming him. Eventually, she became fatally ill and on her deathbed she revealed her history to her husband and their son. (Adventure Comics v1 #260)

The New 52

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

During the Raging Eye, a powerful storm in the mid-Atlantic, Atlanna was nearly killed but saved by a human fishermen named Tom Curry. She fell in love with him and their union led to her becoming pregnant with his child. Atlanna decided to live with her love and intended to leave the Atlantean throne where she journeyed to Atlantis to declare her intentions when she was pregnant. However, the rulers of Atlantis refused and had her imprisoned though Atlanna managed to briefly escape back to the surface in order to give birth to her child who was named Arthur Curry. (Aquaman v5 #0) By Royal Decree, she was brought back to Atlantis and her people where under the old customs she betrothed to a naval captain named Orvax in order to keep the royals and military bonded. Atlanna attempted to make the union work but Orvax was cruel and abusive with him using the Atlantean navy to sink surface vessels which enraged his wife. (Aquaman v5 #36) From their marriage, Atlanna's second son Orm was born who was the half-brother of her eldest child on the surface. (Aquaman v5 #0) During these years, Orvax had made many enemies in his thirteen years as king of Atlantis with him eventually being assassinated by one of them. On Orm's 12th birthday, she intended to flee Atlantis with Orm and had orchestrated a plot to do so. (Aquaman v5 #36) She had sought to flee and take her second child with her but this failed with it believed that Atlanna was killed in the attempt. (Aquaman v5 #0)

Notes

• Atlanna was created by Robert Bernstein and Ramona Fradon where she made her first appearance in Adventure Comics v1 #260 (May, 1959).

Alternate Versions

• In Superman/Batman v1 #14 (2005), the timeline was altered by the actions of the Legion of Super-Villains who sought to change history by raising Superman and Batman. Their actions included the trio attacking the mother and father of Aquaman on the day the pair met thus preventing Arthur Curry from ever being born.

In other media

Film

Queen Atlanna in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis.

• In Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, the character made an appearance where she was voiced by actor Sirena Irwin. She was an Atlantean royal who lived in the underwater city of Atlantis when she was betrothed to the king. Unhappy in the union, she would flee and go to the surface where she met a human by the name of Tom Curry. The two would fall in love and she would bear his child who was named Arthur Curry. However, she could no longer deny her responsibilities to Atlantis and reluctantly returned leaving her son with Tom Curry. She would marry her Atlantean betrothed and have another son who was known as Orm. During these years, she would secretly watch her firstborn son Arthur as he grew up and unaware of his heritage. By the modern day, she ruled Atlantis as its queen after the death of her husband during the invasion from Apokolips where her bodyguard was Mera and she had to reject Orm's constant demands of conquering the surface world. To stop hostilities, she sought to bring Arthur Curry to Atlantis in order to serve as a bridge between Atlanteans and Humanity. This became even more important when a seemingly human submarine attacked Atlantis. In order to achieve this, she dispatched Mera to accomplish this task and rejected Orm's demands again of conquest where she revealed that she knew he along with his ally Black Manta were responsible for the attack. She would effortlessly defeat Black Manta with the power of her trident only to be murdered by her son Orm who took the throne before Arthur Curry could arrive at Atlantis.
• In the DC Extended Universe, Atlanna made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting:
  • In Justice League, Atlanna was referenced in the 2017 live-action film where she was Queen of Atlantis. She was the mother of Arthur Curry but had to leave her son in the surface world in the care of his father as she sought to protect him. At some point, she was a participant in an Atlantean civil war where she found Mera and took the warrior under her wing who became fiercely loyal to the queen.
  • In Aquaman, Atlanna appeared in the 2018 live-action film where she was portrayed by actor Nicole Kidman. She was shown as being a royal from Atlantis who had an arranged marriage to Orvax who she did not love and led to her fleeing the city. Atlanna was caught in a storm leading to her being washed ashore by Maine in 1985 where she was rescued by Thomas Curry who nursed her back to health. She came to reveal that she came from Atlantis and had fled capture with her eventually falling in love with the lighthouse keeper with her becoming pregnant with his child who they named Arthur. When Arthur was a young boy, Atlantean soldiers stormed the lighthouse seeking to forcibly take her back to Atlantis. She managed to kill the squad sent after her but decided to return to Atlantis in order to protect Thomas and Arthur as she believed the Atlanteans would always seek her out which would place their lives at risk. Thus, she returned back to Atlantis and married Orvax where she was forced to bear him a male heir named Orm. During these years, she came to mentor the young Xebellian princess Mera who came to admire Queen Atlanna. However, Orvax came to become jealous of Atlanna having fallen in love with a surface dweller and bearing his child with this eventually turning to resentment whereupon he declared her a traitor to be sacrificed to the Trench. It was believed she was killed but she managed to survive by escaping into a portal into the Hidden Sea by the Earth's core where she discovered the tomb of King Atlan. She was unable to escape as the portal only allowed the wielder of the Trident of Atlan to leave but the relic was guarded by the fearsome monster known as the Karaqan with Atlanna attempting many times but failing to get the weapon. Thus, she remained trapped in the Hidden Sea over the years with no chance of going back home to her family.

Appearances

• Adventure Comics v1:
• Action Comics v1:
• World's Finest v1:
• Aquaman:

External Links

• DC Database Entry

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.