Peacemaker Is The Quintessence Of Aquaman

Spoilers for Peacemaker season one: the final episode indicates that Aquaman has sexual relations with fish. Or, at the very least, it reveals that other characters, including Aquaman's Justice League comrade, The Flash, believe Aquaman has had sexual relations with fish. You haven't been paying attention if you're startled that an official DC production starring the official Aquaman actor would make such a joke.

Aquaman, like all superheroes of the time, had plenty of stupid stories during the 1950s and 1960s, but the major humiliation began with the Super Friends cartoon in 1973.

This Aquaman was continuously being apprehended by villains or even pieces of the scenery and had to be bailed out by other heroes. Worse, this was the show that solidified the notion that all he can do is talk to fish. During one of his hypnotic episodes, Aquaman sends some fish after Batman and Robin, who simply deflect them with some blow-up dolls of themselves.

Even if the Dynamic Duo had forgotten to bring their sex toys that day, we're confident they could have swatted those mosquitos.

Super Friends went off the air in the 1980s, but reruns kept it popular with kids. When Cartoon Network (which is owned by Warner Bros.) began broadcasting it in the 1990s, they made Aquaman even more of a running joke by having him do things like try to communicate with fish at the grocery store.

While the Justice League cartoon was attempting to convince viewers to take its bearded, hook-handed Aquaman seriously, Cartoon Network gave him his first solo animated series in 40 years: The Aquaman & Friends Action Hour, which depicts him as a has-been celebrity reduced to hosting a low-budget kids' show. He's simply Krusty the Clown, dressed considerably sillier.

In the 2000s, Adult Swim revived the aqua-bullying tradition, initially with its "Aquaman Dance Party" bumpers, which featured him executing proto-twerking moves in front of strange backgrounds.

Then there are Aquaman's appearances in Robot Chicken. Yes, every single fictional character received a terrible deal on that program, but Aquaman's treatment was exceptionally demeaning: we learn that the rest of the Super Friends often abuse him, so he tries to defect to the Legion of Doom, but they aren't delighted to have him either.

The Smallville creators shot an Aquaman pilot called Mercy Reef in 2006, but even they couldn't take the subject seriously.

One of Aquaman's low points was becoming a recurring story point in HBO's Entourage, where the Hollywood pretty boy main character signed up to star in an Aquaman film alongside Mandy Moore, James Woods, and Ray Liotta. The fact that WB cleared that premise is essentially an admission that they never intended an Aquaman film to be made in the first place.

Back to animation, we have to include the outlandish rendition of Aquaman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which was one of the show's highlights. Having said that, scenes like the one in which he stars in a sitcom with his family don't exactly contradict the idea of Aquaman as a slapstick character.

For a long time, DC Comics just ignored that view and focused on telling great stories and imparting fascinating lore to Aquaman, which was arguably the best strategy. However, when the character was redesigned in 2011, they began with a comic in which everyone around him was making fish jokes until he showed them how "badass" he was in true fashion.

The whole thing comes across as very defensive, and perhaps even sadder than Aquaman wiggling his butt in front of some cows.

But consider this, Aqua-fans: the character can't possibly go any lower! Until we came up with that pun.