Superhero Aquaman went from being the butt of all jokes in pop culture to becoming arguably the most popular superhero in the DCEU, thanks to being played by confirmed hottie/badass Jason Momoa and being directed by James Wan in his billion+ dollars grossing origin movie.
Back before Aquaman became confirmed hot stuff in the minds of the public, he was mostly known for being the butt of all jokes whenever someone wanted to make fun of a DC hero. Here are among the 10 most hilarious memes the internet has conjured up about the King of the Ocean.
Aquaman Summons Your Favorite Underwater Characters
Since Aquaman is the King of the Seas, he would have the ability to summon and command all your favorite underwater characters in the most epic crossover of fish since MegaShark Vs Giant Octopus. Imagine a sequel with Aquaman commanding the little mermaid Ariel to go forth and kick ass, backed up by Nemo, Dory and the sharks from Sharktale.
The team-up might not have the raw power of the Justice League, but it will have several more adorable moments as Ariel and Arthur Curry teach Nemo the wonders of the world beyond the ocean, hopefully with the help of a musical number or two.
Anyone But Aquaman
Back before Jason Momoa took off his shirt in the movie, Aquaman was the last hero anyone wanted to save them during an emergency. According to the meme, whenever the cry rose, ‘Who will save this drowning victim?’, it was inevitably followed by, ‘I mean besides Aquaman.’ Never mind that Aquaman was specifically tailored to attend to water-related emergencies.
You still trusted Batman to be of greater help than the Atlantean. To be fair, Batman would doubtless have a bat-submarine built for just such an occasion, whereas Aquaman would probably rely on a school of sharks to drag you to shore or something.
Friendly Green Goblin
Willem Dafoe is comic book royalty, so to speak. He played the iconic role of the Green Goblin to perfection in Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man film, which is arguably the first successful solo superhero film of the modern age. Naturally, fans were pumped to see Dafoe back on the big screen interacting with another superhero, although it was a slight shock to see him play the good guy for a change.
Certainly, many fans who know Dafoe best as the Green Goblin were expecting him to turn on Aquaman at any moment and reveal himself as the secret bad guy of the film.
Aquaman got Punk’d
One of Robot Chicken’s most popular superhero gags, this meme comes from a short sketch where the Super Friends are preparing to go fight evil in Wonder Woman’s invisible jet. They wait patiently while Aquaman slowly runs up to the jet and leaps dramatically into the remaining invisible seat, only to discover there was no plane, and the others had been merely hovering in mid-air pretending to be in the plane.
The skit ends with Aquaman landing on his butt on the ground while his teammates laugh and zoom off without him. It would be sad if it wasn’t so hilarious.
Aquaman Gets Revenge
The comics have long been trying to fight the stereotype of Aquaman being a useless hero by showing him commanding a badass army of sea monsters. A side effect of this approach is that comics featuring Aquaman always seem to be trying way too hard to look cool. Sure, it is pretty awesome that he can command a giant shark to do his bidding, but this is the Justice League universe.
Aquaman’s teammates are godlike beings like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern. Calling in the Kraken to do your dirty work while you stand in the background with your arms raised like a fan at a grateful dead concert seems kind of lazy compared to Superman shooting lasers from his eyes or Batman donning the Hellbat armor to kick butt.
The Costume Upgrade
When Aquaman first appeared in Justice League, he was dressed in a darker version of his superhero costume. There was still the gold and green theme, but it was all very muted, as though the makers thought Aquaman’s original costume was too flashy to suit a live-action film.
Fortunately, James Wan did not share this worry, and his take on Aquaman’s suit ripped directly from the comics, giving us a vividly bright gold and green suit that was better in every way to the earlier look.
Return Of Drogo
The comic version of Aquaman is much closer to Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones than Khal Drogo was. And yet, it was the actor behind Drogo who was ultimately chosen to play Aquaman, and the makers of the film and comics even changed the look of the hero to suit Momoa.
The end result is an Aquaman who looks like Drogo himself. Imagine if Aquaman showed up on the HBO show as the reincarnated Drogo, this time with fish powers. To be fair it wouldn’t be the silliest thing to be shown on the show.
When Besties Fight
Considering the army of sea creatures at Aquaman’s command, it makes sense that he would befriend some of them. So what happens when Aquaman gets into an argument with a shark buddy? Would the shark forget his loyalty towards the King of Atlantis to such an extent that it would charge after the superhero with the intent of eating him?
Maybe Aquaman stopped the shark from eating a boatful of humans, and that made the shark abruptly decide it has had enough of his majesty’s split loyalties between the sea world and the land world?
Family Guy Gets In On The Joke
As we said, there are a lot of jokes about how useless Aquaman is floating around in pop culture and this joke from Family Guy is one of the darkest.
While a woman is getting molested a few feet from the ocean, Aquaman can only watch helplessly and plead with the attacker to stop. This is the type of content that the internet has been looking at on a loop for the past decade, which is why so many viewers unfamiliar with the comics were quick to dismiss Aquaman until they got to see Jason Momoa in action.
The Parody And The Reality
Finally, we get this triumphant meme about Aquaman saying take that to his haters, who were so quick to label him the lamest superhero.
You see the parody of Aquaman that is so popular online contrasted against Jason Momoa standing in all his glory, clutching his golden trident and fitted out in his golden and green armor, muscles bursting from every pore while those penetrating eyes stare out from beneath fiercely bushy eyebrows. Read em and weep, haters.
