In light of The Dark Knight Rises and Man of Steel coming out later next year, we decided to take a look at the characters that many people choose to ignore- the villains. The villains were chosen not only on how famous they are (meaning portrayed in movies or comic books) but also just how evil they are.
Aquaman: Not really the best example of DC Comics, Aquaman is the son of a unknown famous sea explorer that has numerous superhuman abilities, including being able to breathe underwater and have a amphibian adaptation. He is telepathic, able to control marine life, and super healing (think of Wolverine-yes, I know that’s Marvel). Aquaman has superhuman strength, agility, toughness, speed, and he also has improved and enhanced senses; like super hearing, sight, heat vision, and can resist extreme cold.
The Black Manta is “a force to be reckoned with.” He’s like Kevin Spacey in the movie Se7en, who (and this isn’t considered a spoiler since you find out in the first 7 minutes) kills a person for each deadly sin, but in a way, he doesn’t kill them himself. Well, the Black Manta decides it’s Aquaman’s fault that he turned out the way he did, and whenever Black Manta tries to gain power and Atlantis, he goes out of his way to try to destroy Aquaman. Originally, it was thought that the Black Manta only wanted power of the water world, but in a controversial issue, the Black Manta’s mask came off to reveal himself to be African American. The Black Manta stated that his main goal was to take over water since African Americans have been repressed on land, but that turned out to be a lie so he could get Cal Durham on his side (Cal cannot breathe water and believed the Black Manta had a good point, but after seeing the terrible things he had done, Cal went to save Aquaman from a few of the Black Manta’s traps). The Black Manta later killed Aquaman’s son and is last “saved” by Aquaman when Aquaman turns him into a normal person for the rest of his life (although he still has a violent attitude).
King Shark is the son of the God of All Sharks, and hates Aquaman for spearing him in a battle. He at first was wanted for killing various people on Hawaii, and special agent Sam Makoa was to bring him to jail. Sam was hit and left unconscious while the Silicon Dragons came to free King Shark from jail. They wanted him to join their ranks, but King Shark declined and killed them. He was later recaptured and forced to help the Suicide Squad kill off the rest of the Silicon Dragons, so a bomb was strapped to King Shark’s waist and it would be blown up if any funny business occurred. Sure enough, King Shark easily killed off the Dragons, but his rampage let him kill Sidearm (a member of the Squad) and the belt was blown up. King Shark escaped the blast and later appeared in Superman comics. Upon returning to Aquaman’s world, a new Aquaman (a new series started) saved King Shark’s life, and that Aquaman brought him to another Aquaman who stated the King Shark needed to help protect that Aquaman’s life. (King Shark agreed, only because his father stated that he will kill Aquaman when the time is right). After Superboy (again, Superman comics) saved Aquaman, King Shark is sent to be a member of the Suicide Squad full time, and there he kills his partner, and is sent to be tortured in jail indefinitely.
The Ocean Master is Aquaman’s all human half brother, and grew up hating his brother since he was always in the shadows. He later developed amnesia and forgot about his past life- later disappearing. The Ocean Master officially became the Ocean Masters years after his disappearance when he began pirating ships and causing natural disasters. He even captured Aquaman (and Aqualad for that matter-think of Robin and Batman), but of course Aquaman and Aqualad escaped, although Aquaman couldn’t fight the Ocean Master after seeing his face to be that of his brother. The Ocean Master later regained his memory, but yet continued to plot against Aquaman and even created a special suit allowing him to breathe underwater. Through the various series that were made, it ended with the Ocean Master fighting Aquaman and using his magical powers (since both Ocean Master and Aquaman’s dad was a magical being) to switch his role to being Aquaman.
Charybdis is a man who decides he and his wife should kill Aquaman- ‘cause hey, they’re terrorists. When his wife is killed, Charybdis is driven mad with revenge and decides use his magical powers to absorb Aquaman’s powers. He receives some of Aquaman’s powers, although those prove too much for him and he falls into a pit of piranhas. He then became Piranha Man and his whereabouts are still unknown.
