How Strong Is Aquaman? Compared to Other DC Heroes
Aquaman is one of the most iconic DC characters. He came into prominence in 1941 and since has been an active member of the Justice League and other superhero alliances. Throughout the years, DC fans questioned how he fares against other superheroes and what are his strengths. Don’t worry, we at Fiction Horizon decided to analyze how strong is Aquaman compared to other DC heroes.
Arthur Curry a.k.a. Aquaman is really strong – his Atlantean-demigod abilities make him one of the strongest Earth protectors. When it comes to raw strength, Aquaman with his Atlantean and superhuman strength has 150 times the human maximum strength but he did have astonishing feats that we will mention in the article. In comparison to other characters, like Wonder Woman and Superman, that is not enough to beat them. Superman, being powered by Yellow Sun, and Wonder Woman having Amazonian strength, makes them stronger than Aquaman.
We will go explain further Aquaman’s strengths and compare them to other DC characters – their strength to lift things. Moreover, characters like Wonder Woman and Superman will be compared the most since they are considered as one the most powerful beings in the DC Universe. Without further ado, let’s start!
Is Aquaman the Strongest DC Character?
Even though Aquaman is powerful, possesses an ancient weapon in Trident of Neptune, and has superhuman and Atlantean abilities, he is not the most powerful character in the DC Universe. If we include the foes on that list, Arthur Curry would not be in even the top fifteen. The Presence is canonically the most powerful DC character who is responsible for giving The Spectre powers, and literally created DC Universe.
When it comes to more “regular” superheroes, Aquaman is also behind the likes of Doctor Fate, Shazam, The Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, and others. This does not paint a bad picture about Aquaman at all – these superheroes are just on another level, not just Earth’s heroes, but in the Universe as well. One is an ancient being reincarnated in mortals, the second one is powered by six gods, the third one is literally the extension of God’s fury, and the fourth one is a radioactive being that can manipulate reality and destroy a whole world if he wants to.
We can argue that Aquaman is most powerful underwater where his powers get even more enhanced and powerful, which makes his foes struggle against him. He can beat Batman and other meta-human superheroes if odds are good for him.
However, this is not underappreciating Aquaman because we compared him to the most powerful beings in the DC universe. In the next paragraphs, we will compare Aquaman to his Justice League compatriots, Superman and Wonder Woman.
Is Aquaman As Strong As Wonder Woman?
Comparing superhero strength to others is most of the time a futile feat. Writers of the comics always mix something up and change the superhero’s abilities or strengths to fit a story they are creating. With that said, we do not think that is bad at all – it only shows the versatility of the comics and their ability to attract fans to new stories.
Wonder Woman’s abilities, powers, and strength were discussed amongst the fans for decades, and Diana was compared mostly to Superman, against whom she sometimes has the upper hand, sometimes she just doesn’t. In the case of Wonder Woman versus Aquaman, if we compare their raw strengths, Wonder Woman beats Aquaman easily.
Even though Aquaman is an Atlantean-demigod, and draws power from there, Wonder Woman has a mystical link to the Earth itself which was granted by Demeter, Hade’s sister. Also, Wonder Woman is an Amazonian with Hellenistic roots which were first introduced during the Silver Age of Comics. After the Flashpoint event, it was revealed that Diana’s father was Zeus, so it is not outrageous for her to lift literal mountains. In the New 52, she is close to Superman in strength and fights god’s in her comic book runs, so she is not that shabby. We also need to mention that once she helped Superman move a planet, so yes, Diana is really powerful.
Aquaman can lift over 10,000 tons, which is much more than his fellow Atlanteans – his superhuman and Atlantean strength combined makes him one of a kind. If we put it into perspective, Aquaman can lift a mountain and survive being hit by a small one.
Wonder Woman showed much more in the comics, and for that, we need to give her an advantage over Aquaman. Besides, Diana is considered one of the most powerful beings in the DC universe, and she does fit into that top 15 list of most powerful DC characters.
Is Aquaman As Strong As Superman?
We do know that Superman is a Kryptonian and that he draws his powers from the Yellow Sun. He is impenetrable and invulnerable to most dangers thrown at him. Moreover, we know by now that Superman is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, arguably takes place on some top ten lists, and is the strongest member of the Justice League.
This means Superman is stronger than Aquaman. Again, during fights, Aquaman can harm Superman with his Trident and throw a few punches underwater, but unhinged Superman is just too much for Arthur. That means, Superman’s raw strengths are so much greater than Aquaman’s – he literally moved planets!
Pre-crisis, young Superman, in the comic Superboy #140 from 1967, literally dragged Earth from a dying galaxy to another, which only few can accomplish. Now imagine his strength when he is an adult. To present Superman’s strength even more, in one comic issue, more specifically in Superman #13 after New 52, Veritas created a bench press for Superman to become even stronger against the threat to planet Earth. He benched Earth’s weight for five days!
On the other hand, Aquaman is strong but not strong enough to lift planets. Maybe you can argue if he is surrounded by water, he would be much stronger but that is a reach at this point. Superman is overwhelmingly strong in comparison to Aquaman.
Aquaman’s Strength Feats
Enough of Aquaman’s inferiority to Wonder Woman and Superman because in this paragraph, we will list Aquaman’s strength feats. His strength was upgraded in the New 52. The first comic book run after New 52 called Aquaman: The Trench showed multiple displays of Arthur’s strengths – he lifted a heavy truck with ease and threw it in the sky.
He also managed to lift buildings with water pressure which made the feat even harder pre-New 52. Arthur still managed to hold it on his own – there were also people in it.
Aquaman managed to lift a cruiser as well, full of people, and managed to hold it until everyone was safe.
The awe-inspiring feat comes in Aquaman throwing 50,000 tons of steel and metal in the shape of a nuclear submarine. He pushed it out of the water and threw the submarine in the air – for that only he gets points in the enormous strength department. That occurred in the Death of the King comic book. However, there is one more that we need to mention in a separate paragraph.
How Strong Is Aquaman In the Water?
We did mention that Aquaman’s strength comes mostly from the Trident and the water. His enhanced powers and abilities were presented against the toughest of foes, and even fellow superheroes – for example, Wonder Woman and Superman. Aquaman’s superhuman ability and Atlantean strength are also highlighted and the next comic book panel, more precisely, is from Aquaman’s, The Trench comic from 2011.
Arguably, his biggest and most impressive feat came again in The Trench comic book run where he, while fighting beings from The Trench, really deep parts of Atlantis, managed to move tectonic plates and stop the lava from going through – he essentially sealed the volcano, which was threatening Atlantis.
According to sources, the average tectonic plate weights forty sextillions, seven hundred quintillion kilograms, which well… you could figure out on your own that it is pretty heavy. Considering he was in the water, Aquaman showed again he has enhanced strength and powers underwater. All in all, this is definitely an impressive feat that should be mentioned more.
In the end, we need to at least mention one more Aquaman feat that occurred in the post-Crisis era – that time when he moved the whole Atlantis up so Atlan would not be able to sink it. Even though Aquaman is not the strongest DC character, he is one of the most powerful Justice League members, and one of the strongest Earth’s protectors.