Ocean Master: Aquaman’s brother and forsaken heir to the throne of Atlantis. Black Manta: DC’s Captain Ahab, with Arthur Curry his white whale. Both of Aquaman’s greatest villains are present and accounted for in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. But when you’re the protector of 70% of the planet, it’s hard to imagine your list of enemies is limited to just two guys. So, who are the other finny felons who give our Aquaman a tough time from week to week? For those who haven’t kept up with current events, here are some of the other bad guys who keep Aquaman busy.
 

Black Jack

Alias: Unknown (Jack, presumably)
First Appearance: More Fun Comics #74, 1941

Captain of the pirate vessel The Nemesis, Black Jack was Aquaman’s oldest recurring foe and greatest enemy through his Golden Age adventures. He’s your typical pirate captain who gets into all sorts of maritime crime—the kind of stuff that Black Manta would eventually start doing later, but with a cooler helmet. A new incarnation of Black Jack would appear in Dan Abnett’s 2016 Aquaman run as a member of the criminal organization N.E.M.O., but the original remains the historical antagonist of the original Aquaman, revealed recently in The New Golden Age to be an entirely separate character from Arthur Curry.
 

The Eel

Alias: Mort Coolidge
First Appearance: Aquaman #21, 2004

Introduced in the “Sub Diego” era, where Aquaman was mainly situated in the sunken half of San Diego, Mort Coolidge was once a common Gotham City criminal who refocused on maritime crime after stealing an experimental diving suit which gave him control over water and other powers. These days, the Eel is probably most notable as one of the first villains Aquaman took down along with the Aquagirl of the 2000s, Lorena Marquez. Coolidge would be one of the many casualties of Infinite Crisis, but he’s since returned as a mercenary under the occasional employ of Ocean Master.
 

The Fisherman

Alias: Fisher King
First Appearance: Aquaman #21, 1965

Known for his indestructible fishing rod, arsenal of gimmick lures and his distinctive helmet, the Fisherman was introduced as one of the many land-dwelling criminals of Aquaman’s Silver Age who chose to cast their criminal nets at sea. In Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis, it was revealed that there have in fact been several Fishermen over the years, and that the helmet is actually a living parasite which moves from host to host, continuing the mantle’s legacy and allowing its wearer to speak and breathe underwater. We’ve seen hosts of the Fisherman parasite shot by Gotham police in Infinite Crisis, gutted by Black Manta in Dan Abnett’s Aquaman series, and going down in the 2022 War for Earth-3 crossover event as a member of the Suicide Squad, but we likely still haven’t seen the last of him.
 

Human Flying Fish

Alias: Victor Bragg
First Appearance: Adventure Comics #272, 1960

A former champion swimmer turned smuggler, Victor Bragg worked with mad scientist Dr. Krill to undergo an experimental operation which incorporated flying fish DNA into his own physiology, somehow granting him not just amphibianism, but the power to literally fly both in and out of water. Human Flying Fish is notable as one of the few comic villains to appear in the Super Friends tie-in comics, truly demonstrating how far the team had to reach at the time for a second recognizable Aquaman villain after Black Manta.
 

King Rath

Alias: Corum Rath
First Appearance: Aquaman: Rebirth #1, 2016

Corum Rath is a man of the people—or at least, so he claims. A denizen of the Ninth Tride—the poorest, most downtrodden section of Atlantis—Rath rises from obscurity to lead a revolt against the throne, which he then claims for himself. Rath’s tenure as king is characterized by isolationism and xenophobia, unleashing a “Crown of Thorns” to separate Atlantis from the rest of the world before losing his mind tapping into the deep ancestral magic of Atlantean history.
 

Qwsp

Alias: Quisp
First Appearance: Aquaman #1, 1962

1959 saw the first appearance of Bat-Mite, Batman’s well-meaning omnipotent, but blundering, ally from another dimension. And not one to miss out on a trend, Aquaman followed suit with its very first issue by introducing Quisp, a similar imp who did his best to help out Aquaman and Aqualad, but found his powers hindered as often as helped. As these all-powerful scamps are wont to do, Qwsp eventually returned decades later with as a villain, reflecting the darker turn Aquaman himself had taken in the Post-Crisis era. It took the entire Justice Society of America to bring him down, making this weird little guy one of Aquaman’s most powerful adversaries.
 

Scavenger

Alias: Peter Mortimer
First Appearance: Aquaman #37, 1967

Scavenger was introduced in the tail end of the Silver Age as a diving suited sea plunderer with a barracuda theme, colluding over the years with the likes of Kobra and Ocean Master. In the ’90s Hawkman crossover “Eyes of the Hawk,” Mortimer obtains mystic barracuda powers which warp his mind, driving him to endanger children until Hawkman tracks Scavenger down and kills him. Scavenger would return in the New 52, this time with a much cooler diving suit, as the captain of a fleet of stolen former Soviet submarines stealing Atlantean artifacts and technology to sell to the highest bidders. Recently, Scavenger made a bid of his own to emerge from C-Level in 2022’s Aquamen, after amassing a trove of artifacts that required the whole Aquaman Family to team up with Black Manta to overcome.
 

Siren

Alias: Hila, “Mera”
First Appearance: Aquaman #22, 1965

Mera’s wicked twin sister from Dimension Aqua originally appeared in just one issue of Aquaman’s Silver Age series, but returned to Aquaman’s life in Brightest Day, where she was briefly revealed to be the mother of the recently introduced Jackson Hyde, with Black Manta as his father. (This particular parentage would be redacted in the post-2016 “Rebirth” era.) In the New 52, Siren would return to impersonate Mera and usurp the throne of Atlantis by driving a wedge between Aquaman and his people.
 

Thanatos

Alias: Aquaman
First Appearance: Aquaman #54, 1970

As we know from the myth of Narcissus, and as demonstrated previously by Siren, the danger of the water is often in how it provides a dark reflection of the self. Such is the case of Thanatos, a deadly entity from “Netherspace” which assumes Aquaman’s form along with his own powerful telepathic abilities. Impersonating Aquaman, Thanatos once lured Mera and their child into Netherspace, forcing Aquaman to abandon our world for a time to retrieve them. Ironically, Thanatos would eventually be killed by Major Disaster, who had been hired to kill the real Aquaman, but was equally fooled by his doppelganger.
 

Torpedoman

Alias: Torpedo Man
First appearance: Aquaman #36, 1967

Torpedoman rules, dude. He’s a sentient torpedo and his only purpose is to explode in Aquaman’s face. That’s all you really need to know. He was originally introduced as part of a trio of evil robots along with counterparts Claw and Magneto (no, a different Magneto), all three of which would appear in the 1960s Aquaman animated series—but only Torpedoman would come back for multiple appearances, determined as ever to blow Aquaman up. Torpedoman is possibly the only thing on the planet more determined to kill Aquaman than Black Manta, and he doesn’t even really have a particularly good reason. That’s just how he is. Who sent Torpedoman to do it? To what end? It doesn’t matter. Maybe it was Black Manta himself. Who knows? But the fact remains that Aquaman might be able to repair his family trauma with his brother, and perhaps Black Manta can one day get over his own parental issues, but Torpedoman will always be out there somewhere aimed directly at our hero, launching at top speed. Prepare evasive maneuvers.
 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, directed by James Wan and featuring Jason Momoa as Aquaman, is now in theaters. For news, trailers and other features on the King of Atlantis, visit our official Aquaman hub page.

Alex Jaffe is the author of our monthly "Ask the Question" column and writes about games, movies, TV, comics and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @AlexJaffe and find him in the DC Community as HubCityQuestion.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Alex Jaffe and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.