Atlanteans (DC)

The Atlanteans are an aquatic offshoot of Humanity that feature in DC Comics.

History

Origin

Magic was the heart of the Atlantean civilization millennia ago with Twelve Mystic Crystals being the source of this power. (Aquaman v2 #3) Under the direction of Orin the First, the doming of Poseidonis that was considered the greatest city of Atlantis. The process was opposed by Shalako who said it was incur the wrath of the goddess Suula but the construction continued where it took many long months where patrols protected it from barbarian hordes. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #1)

Shalako would take his followers to the underground tunnels that connected Poseidonis to its sister city of Tritonis. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #1) Meanwhile, Orin and his followers would seek to survive but ultimately thought to thrive whereby they create a serum that allowed them to survive as aquatic beings underwater. This heralded a new golden age for their people who went to Tritonis to offer this serum to Shalako's followers. Shalako would refuse claiming that this was the result of accursed science that angered the gods but his followers desired the serum. An angry Shalako would call them damned and in secrecy he cast dark magic to mutate his followers and cursed them with scaly fish legs. He would blame Orin's serum for this effect but his son Dardarnus would reveal his fathers treachery with the people turning him Shalako where they killed him. However, the people of Tritonis began to mutate slowly with their legs fusing into giant tails where they became a race of mer-people who were known as Tritonians. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #2) They were content with the rule of King Orin but as he could not be everywhere - he would appoint a chief magistrate among the Tritonians to govern in his place. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #3)

Centuries ago, an offshoot group of Atlanteans known as the Sher'hedeen who allegedly engaged in arcane rituals to gain power over the oceans and even the dead. As Atlantis entered into a period of enlightenment, the magic worshipping Sher'hedeen struck out on their own where they left the city and took up residence in the black depths. (Aquaman v5 #5)

The attack from the Spectre effectively destroyed Atlantis leading to the death of thousands with many of the ruling aristocracy and governing classes. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #42)

The New 52

Following the Flashpoint, the Atlanteans emerged in the new timeline with a changed history. Their civilization grew millions of years after the fall of the older society of Nan Madol. (Justie League Dark v1 #26) Atlan was considered the first and greatest king of Atlantis who was the architect of their civilization when it was on the surface. (Aquaman v7 #24) When Atlantis ruled the surface, they established a distant colony on the surface that was known as Katangala with travel being achieved by way of mystical world gates. A desired good was a kelp that grew on the shores of Atlantis that boosted cerebral capability in animals. Such a capability led to the Atlanteans feeding it to aquatic creatures but at Katangala they would use it on the native gorilla's that populated the area. The minds of these apes thus arose and the became more capable leading to them being relegated into a servant class among the Atlanteans. In time, the apes came to believe that they were more than equals than their masters and rebel. Despite the kelp being kept from them, the gorilla's had achieved the highest state of intelligence among their kind that became permanent. The Atlanteans would drive the apes into the forest and would later pursue them but were brought down by their former servants with one ape making a meal of a general from Atlantis. By this point, the apes were still a developing society who had no place within the forests not did they have a concept of organized battle. However, the gorilla that consumed the brain of the Atlantean general absorbed his knowledge leading to them developing strategies after which they took Katangala as well as its secrets. Among the Atlanteans, many were killed by the apes but a few managed to escape through their portal and the gorilla's were unable to make use of the gateway. These apes would later form their own settlement that would become known as Gorilla City. (Aquaman v7 #38)

During the reign of Atlan, the people of Atlantis were at war with the inhabitants of the desert until a peace was forged whereby the deserters would share their power of the sands. The king would seek to unite all nations of the worlds as Atlan had done with the old lands leading to him having a greater tolerance to outsiders as he invited all people to join this great nation. It was in this era that Atlan's brother Orin and his wife began to lead a sect that opposed the unity with other civilizations at it would destroy Atlantean culture. As such, he would led an attempt assassination over King Atlan who was wounded and managed to flee but his wife Sala along with his children were murdered. This forced Atlan to become a hunted man with his loyalists similarly being pursued. As a result, Atlan would seek the arcane knowledge of the deserters to forge the six Artifacts of Atlantis that took years to create. The deposed king would take a vow of silence and return to Atlantis where he slew his brother Orin and his wife whereupon he battled his followers where he broke his vow by uttering the word 'die!' and plunged his trident into the ground. Such was the power of the blow that it shattered Atlantis causing it to sink into the sea where 90% of the population was killed. The sinking led to the formation of the Seven Kingdoms of Atlantis with four being lost and the survivors each evolving under the ocean into new forms. Among these were the Atlanteans, the exiled inhabitants of Xebel and the beastial Trench. (Aquaman v7 #24)

Overview

Atlanteans were divided into a number of subspecies that included:

• Poseidonians : these bipedal aquatic inhabitants of Poseidonis that resembled surface dwelling humans but were considered throwbacks by mer-people.(Aquaman v5 #12)
• Tritonians : inhabitants of Tritonis that neighbored Poseidonis who evolved into mer-people with fish tails but tended to be a superstitious group. (Aquaman v5 #12) They were held as being a high handed self-smug people whose bodies were mutated into a mer-form by dark magic whose 'deformities' allowed them to swim much father than other Atlanteans. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #3)
• Lurkers : blue skinned humanoids greatly different from the other Atlanteans who lived for centuries. (Aquaman v5 #50)
• Neos : coleoid humanoid that had squid-like heads that could emit an ink cloud and who lived at Dyss until they could no longer serve the Deep Church whereupon they went to forge their own city of Neos as free citizens ad used teleportational pathways known as Hatches for quick movement. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #50)

One custom among their people was to betroth a princess to a naval captain in order to keep the royals and military bonded to one another. (Aquaman v7 #36) In Atlantis, it was not uncommon to have multiple wives particularly amongst the nobility. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #3)

On a child's twelfth birthday, they young Atlantean went through their Meritunus which was a celebration of adolescent ascension. (Aquaman v7 #36)

There were a number of deities and figures worshipped by the Atlanteans that included

• Pallais : the goddess of the sea. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #1)
• Suula : the goddess of the sky who was said to adore children. (Atlantis Chronicles v1 #1)

Governance was held by the Atlantean Sovereign Council. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #51)

There were numerous groups within the Atlantean civilization. Among them included the Nudibra Cults who sometimes traded fermented spinefish venom in exchange for scarce Narwhal marrow or the Pearling Tribes who highly prized klarps. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #46)

Members

• Atlan :
• Atlanna :
• Garth :
• Tula :
• Vulko :
• Thesily : He was also known as Thesily the Unready. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #43)
• Juvor : a previous monarch who Vulko served and was known as Juvor the Good. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #43)
• Jonar : eight year old son of Anigar Kalva who became a refugee after the destruction of Atlantis. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #44)
• Jesset Clesion : male who was the duly appointed trading agent and emissary of the Atlantean throne to the Coral Sea and Adjacent Waters. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #46)
• Juriti : a male member of the Mer who sought out Arthur Joseph Curry after he defeated the Aurati Raiders in order to bring him before Mera. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #41)
• Tejaia: a female Mer who seduced Arthur Joseph Curry with the intention of killing him. (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis v1 #42)

In other media

Television

• In Justice League, the Atlanteans made a number of appearances through the show where they were linked to Aquaman. The episode "The Terror Beyond" showed that in ancient times their civilization was based on the surface where they were led by King Poseidon. During this time, their people came under attack from other-dimensional beings known as the Old Ones that were led by Icthultu. To defeat them, King Poseidon summoned all the mystical energy on Earth to create a powerful trident that he used to banish the Old Ones back to their realm. However, this came at the cost of the magic that kept Atlantis afloat causing it to sink beneath the ocean where in time they became aquatic Atlanteans. In the episode "The Enemy Below", a secret conspiracy in Atlantis was based in deposing Aquaman that was headed by Lord Orm who hired the surface dweller assassin Deadshot to eliminate the Atlantean monarch. After his plot was discovered, Orm kidnapped his nephew in order to force Queen Mera's cooperation and stole plutonium from a United States submarine in order to use it to arm a doomsday device to melt the polar ice-caps but were defeated by the Justice League whereupon Aquaman was restored to the throne. Notable characters in the series included Aquaman, Queen Mera, Orm and General Brak.
• In Teen Titans, Atlanteans made minor appearance in the episode "Deep Six" where the only representatives seen were Aqualad, Tramm and Trident. They were said to keep a low profile and kept their existence hidden from the rest of the world. Trident was a noted criminal among their kind who sought to conquer Atlantis and later the world. After attacking numerous shipping vessels, he stole chemicals that he used to replicate himself in order to achieve his goal. Aqualad would assist the Teen Titans and had his friend Tramm repair their vessel after it was damaged in a fight with Trident.
• In Young Justice, the Atlanteans were shown as a varying degrees of aquatic races that resided beneath the ocean and represented the various city-states of Atlantis that consisted of mermaids, some with octopus styled heads and others that were more fish-like in appearance.

Films

Atlanteans from Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox.

• In Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox, the Atlanteans featured in the animated feature that was an adaptation of the Flashpoint storyline. Within this altered timeline, the Atlanteans were led by Aquaman who saved Wonder Woman's life after she nearly drowned in the ocean outside Themyscira. As a result of this encounter, it was decided that both the Amazons and the Atlanteans should unite their kingdoms to become a combined force in the world by marrying Aquaman to Wonder Woman. Mera who was in love with Aquaman would attack Wonder Woman but Diana would behead the Atlantean. As a result of her death, Aquaman became distraught and declared war on the Amazons which saw Themyscira sunk beneath the ocean but not before the Amazons fled it. This saw the Atlantean and Amazon war continue where it rampaged across Earth with Aquaman capturing Captain Atom to power an earthquake machine with the view of destroying Wonder Woman's empire now based in England. During their journey, the Atlanteans would encounter a ship crewed by Lex Luthor and Deathstroke who were overwhelmed and killed. Afterwards, the final battle would erupt in London between the Atlanteans and Amazons who both faced heavy casualties as Emperor Aquaman was killed by Wonder Woman. The Flash would go back in time to avert this timeline and return reality back to normal.

Video games

Atlanteans in DC Universe Online.

• In DC Universe Online, the Atlanteans feature as one of the factions that resided on Earth and were active during Brainiac's invasion of the planet. Hero players were called to help civilians being attacked by Atlanteans in Metropolis with these ones claiming war in the name of Aquaman and Mera. These Atlanteans consisted of Tigersharks, Kitefins, Cancer Makos and others where it was later revealed that they had been tricked into waging war against the surface world when Circe disguised herself as Queen Mera who enchanted Arthur into creating hostilities. During the Tides of War mission, Ocean Master incited a mutiny among the Atlanteans in an attempt to claim Aquaman's throne. Loyalist Atlantean and Mutineer firgates were battling once another in the strait between Metropolis and Little Bohemia. Oracle would instruct the new hero players in assisting Aquaman in quelling the coup whereas Calcaulator aids the new player villains in supporting Ocean Master's mutiny.
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Atlanteans led by a ruthless Aquaman of a parallel Earth that was dominated by the One Earth Regime led by a tyrant Superman. These Atlanteans were shown as his allies in enforcing his rule over the world when the heroes of the regular Earth arrived on it. Their Aquaman would journey to Atlantis to consult their records to find the One Earth's version of history that led to a confrontation between the two Aquamen. Afterwards, the Atlanteans led by the One Earth Aquaman were dispatched by the corrupt Superman to punish the people of his Earth starting with Metropolis by drowning the inhabitants. They would be opposed by Wonder Woman from the regular Earth who had taken control of the One Earth's version of the Amazons who battled the Atlanteans.

Appearances

• Aquaman:
• Atlantis Chronicles: v1 #1 (March, 1990)
• Justice League:

External Links

• DC Database Entry

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