Atlantis (Aquaman)

Queen of a crumbling Atlantean outpost named Venturia, a subsea realm situated somewhere beneath the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean (Comics Cavalcade #18, December/January 1946/1947: "The Menace of the Rebel Manlings" until she is deposed by Wonder Woman in Spring 1944), Queen Clea enslaved the men of her realm and amused herself by putting many to death in gladiatorial combat. Desiring extended rule, Clea repeatedly attacked Venturia's flourishing sister city of Aurania unsuccessfully. Despite this failure, she expanded her ideal towards domination over the entire lost continent of Atlantis. In order to do this, Clea stole the fabled Trident of Poseidon to make herself virtually unstoppable.

Sub Diego is the new name of a portion of the city of San Diego, California which was submerged during an artificially generated earthquake, part of a plan which changed part of the surviving population into sub-aquatic beings. The city had a recent increase in population due to an influx of refugees from Atlantis, following the destruction of that city by the Spectre. Roughly 50 weeks after the Infinite Crisis, an unknown event caused part of the Sub Diego population to be changed back into air-breathers. Thus, Aquaman had to use magic to make a huge part of the city return on the surface, joined to the rest of San Diego. It is still unknown how much of Sub Diego stayed submerged.

A kingdom recently founded by the formerly ousted Atlantean king, Ocean Master. The kingdom primarily consisted of refugees and migrants from Atlantis's Ninth Tride, an area of Atlantis considered the poorest district. The population of Dagon, save Ocean Master, consists of Atlantean "mutants" (Atlanteans with a more fish-like appearance and sometimes additional abilities compared to baseline Atlanteans). While Ocean Master would steer the population against the mainline Atlantis kingdom with intent on making it the eventual new capital and to politically secure a place on the throne once more, he is eventually forced to relinquish his hold after his crimes against Mera (kidnapping her child with Aquaman, Andrina Curry) were made publicly known and Aquaman's triumph in combat with Orm causing Dagon to become a democracy. Dagon would also formally join Atlantis as one of its official city-states.[7]

Lemuria is an underwater city based upon fictional continent of the same name.[8] The city is inhabited by a scientifically advanced race of blue-skinned humanoids covered in part with large green scales.[8] [9]

After the New 52 reboot, Atlantis is considered one of the seven major kingdoms with others affiliated with it, each kingdom existing as a major super-power in their own right. While the New 52 initially only introduced four of the seven kingdoms, DC Rebirth would later introduce three more:

Originally, Xebel was an other dimensional kingdom formerly ruled by Queen Mera until she was deposed and was ruled by her nemesis, Queen V'lana. Mera's twin sister Hila also stayed behind in Xebel. The Aquaman villain known as Thanatos also originated from there. The kingdom of Xebel is located within "Dimension Aqua".[10][11] Later revisions to its history reveal Xebel to be a forgotten extradimensional penal colony for an ancient group of separatist Atlanteans, locked behind a sealed portal in the Bermuda Triangle.[12] In modern continuities, Xebel is typically under the leadership of Nereus.[13][14] Considered a formidable kingdom, Xebel has less resources than Atlantis due to being sealed behind a portal, forcing the population to gather materials through unlikely shipwrecks in the Bermuda Triangle.[15]

Located in the Marina Trench, the kingdom is home to a race of vicious, cannibalistic ocean-dwelling creatures with a fish-like humanoid appearance. Initially, the Trench were characterized as being hostile to all other ocean-dwelling races, including Atlanteans.[16] Later, it was revealed that the Trench was once a kingdom, a fact previously unknown. Over time, the Trench is later seen to be in more neutral terms with the other kingdoms. The Trench Kingdom is ruled by the Trench Queen.[7]

A hidden kingdom in the Sahara Desert, it is the last kingdom to be accepted prior to the sinking of Atlantis from Atlan shortly after the end of his reign. The kingdom was known for its metallurgy and the use of rare, mystical metals such as Nth metal and orichalcum, metals with enhanced durability and mystical properties.[17] The Kingdom's inhabits originated from Africa and during Atlan's reign, the Deserters would return to their homeland along with most of their technology weeks before Atlan would sink the continent. Due to this, the Deserters population did not become biologically adapted to the sea like others, remaining human/homo magi. Eventually, the Deserters themselves dissolved though their descendants still passed their technology.[18] Descendants of the Deserters tribe would include mystic sorcerer Doctor Mist, Aquaman's archenemy Black Manta, alongside the paternal line of his family, Jackson Hyde, and Aquaman villain Devil Ray.[18]

• Kingdom of the Brine: A kingdom of bulky, anthropomorphic crustaceans.[7] Originally, the Brine was introduced in the Aquaman 2018 film prior to being brought to the comics.
• Kingdom of the Wrights: A kingdom consisting of humanoid rodents with the ability to breathe underwater.[7]
• Kingdom of the Sea Lights: A kingdom consisting of green-haired, bioluminescent humanoids with the ability to breathe underwater.[7]

The former capital of ancient Atlantis long before it sunk. Like its successor Poseidonis, the city once served as the administrative center of ancient Atlantis and is named after the city's golden-like appearance as well as having a gate notable for fending off invaders. The Golden Gate City would serve as the main base of operations and setting in several story arcs of the Arion, Lord of Atlantis series.

In DC Comics, Mu is one of Atlantis's former city-states and a major location in the Arion, Lord of Atlantis series. The city was once ruled by the titular character's estranged family members, Garn Daanuth and Dark Majistra, the former using force in order to suppress and supersede the rulership of his successors after a political movement caused Atlantis to use science instead of magic and replaced its sorcerous rulers. The inhabitant's culture, appearance, and architecture would resemble ancient Egyptians. The city would eventually fall into decay during Garn's rulership as he sought to invade the City of the Golden Gate and rule the entire kingdom of Atlantis and fell into antiquity.

The Homo Magi (sometimes synonymously referred to as Atlanteans) are a fictional race of humans who evolved in a parallel but separate line and were acclimated to possessing and controlling magical energies innately.[19] Originally, the history of the race was depicted to be considered to be unknown, having been said to have first emerged onto the continent of Atlantis on Earth over a million of years ago and their abilities to wield magic having been attributed to the abundance of magical energies on Earth during that time. When magic waned on Earth, various sects of the Homo Magi would migrate to other places and dimensions, including extradimensional locations such as Gemworld and Skartaris.[20]

Others who would stay in Atlantis and their descendants would eventually evolve into the sea-faring race known as simply "Atlanteans", who biologically adapted to survive and live in the ocean although those who used magic often had ancestors of pure Homo Magi origin.

After the events of Flashpoint and the New 52 reboot, the Homo Magi are presented with a similar origin although with a few differences: some were tied to the Rock of Eternity, having once learned magic there before early Homo Magi founded Atlantis and other ancient civilizations such as Kor.[21] However, it is also expressed that the Homo Magi's inclinations towards magic (and therefore spawn the "Atlantean magic" variant) were owed to the energies originating from the realm known as Darkworld, a dimension of magic with a consciousness of its own whose energies are innately known for being considered uncontrollable to most except to beings in which it spawned (i.e. Calculha, Arion). Over time, exposure to the energies evolved ordinary humans into the Homo Magi. Due to Darkworld's connection to the cosmic entity known as simply the Great Darkness, the cosmic opposite of the Pressence, this fact is considered a tightly-kept secret among most sects of Homo Magi and magical community, including the sea-faring Atlanteans.[22]

The Atlanteans are a fictional race of humans who evolved to survive and live in the ocean. In their depiction after Crisis on Infinite Earths onwards, the Atlanteans were known to be the descendants of the homo magi race who evolved after the cataclysmic event known as the Deluge, which sunk the continent and its survivors adapted. Like their ancestors, they shared a natural inclination of magic and often combined it with technology.[20]

Atlanteans in Aquaman titles are typically depicted as having often xenophobic views for the "surface world", isolationist foreign policy, and constant strife among their treatment of others whom they considered outcasts, which is characterized as running contrary to ancient Atlantis's diverse history; more recent stories explained this as having originated from a combination of Atlantis's history with foreign invaders and the grim historical precedence progressive monarchs faced when they respectively sought to encourage and promote foreign policies closely resembling liberal internationalism.[23] At various points over time, Atlanteans relations between ordinary humans became more relaxed and tolerate albeit typically tense dependent on the ruling monarch (i.e., Mera, Aquaman, Ocean Master, Corum Rath, etc.).

• Atlantis appears in the TV shows that are part of the DCAU:
  • In Superman: The Animated Series, Atlantis was hidden for centuries until Aquaman came up to confront Lex Luthor after a recent LuthorCorp underseas construction project.
  • It is also featured in Justice League, where the League helped Aquaman deal with an attempted coup by Orm.
• In the Powerless episode "Sinking Day", Van Wayne and Emily Locke managed to close a deal with the Lost City of Atlantis to supply them with security solutions after Wayne Security loses their contract with Ace Chemicals.
• Atlantis is featured in The Flash. On Earth-1, it is a lost city. On Earth-2, it is above the water and is a play that nobody wants to leave. In the episode "The Darkness and the Light", Hunter Zolomon loves Atlantis and makes a reference to an unidentified friend of his that lives there. In "Welcome to Earth-2", the Barry Allen of Earth-2 was able to arrange for his parents to go to Atlantis on their anniversary. In "Escape from Earth-2", the Barry Allen of Earth-2 and his Iris West relocated to Atlantis after Flash freed Barry Allen of Earth-2 and Jesse Quick from Zoom. In "Death of the Speed Force" taking place sometime after "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and the formation of Earth-Prime, Atlantis is on Earth-Prime as Cisco Ramon mentions that he visited it. In "Pay the Piper", Cisco mentions that he noticed a component on Atlantis that might help to form a perpetual motion machine.
• Atlantis is featured throughout the series Young Justice with a history specific to the show's Earth-16:
  • Atlantis began as a tribe once led by Vandal Savage where he and his metahuman offspring lived in harmony. Following an assault by a lord of chaos, the tribe and its inhabitants, save for Savage, were destroyed.
  • Years later Atlantis rose again ruled by Vandal's grandson, Arion. Arion was later bequeathed a crown from the lords of order and with it birthed the ancestors of the world's Homo magi. Atlantis became an advanced metropolis bustling with both Homo magi and Metahumans. Upon returning to Atlantis, Savage suggested that his grandson sink the city to further Atlantean evolution. Realizing the potential casualties, Arion objected to the idea. Savage, however, remembered that he had a thousand-year contract with Klarion the Witch Boy, the lord of chaos who had previously decimated Atlantis, that was due to be fulfilled soon. Vandal used his agreement with Klarion to sink the continent of Atlantis, allowing Klarion to ring chaos upon the earth. The sinking killed thousands but unlocked the metagenes of the Homo magi of Atlantis, allowing the Atlanteans to begin an orderly rule over the depths of the sea.
  • In the present day, it is revealed King Arion had survived his apparent death when Atlantis fell. He returned to the Atlantic capital of Poseidonis to thwart Ocean Master and purge the chaotic red magic poisoning the sea. In doing so, Arion unknowingly fulfilled a prophecy between he, Ocean Master, and Mera, that of which would determine the true king of Atlantis. Arion arose as the victor in the eyes of the Atlanteans much to his dismay as Arion believed himself to be a failure because of Atlantis' sinking.

• Atlantis appears in the films set in the DC Extended Universe:
  • Atlantis is featured in Justice League and its director's cut. The Atlanteans assisted the tribes of men, the Amazons, the Olympian Gods, and the Green Lantern Corps in fighting Steppenwolf's army. After the battle, Zeus entrusted one of the Mother Boxes to the Atlanteans for safekeeping.
  • Atlantis was featured heavily in Aquaman where there are seven kingdoms that formed after the original Atlantis sank into the ocean: Atlantis, Xebel, the Kingdom of the Trench, the Kingdom of the Brine, the Kingdom of the Fishermen, the Kingdom of the Deserters, and the Kingdom of the Valor. Xebel is a military power that rivals Atlantis. The Trench reside in the deepest part of the ocean. The Kingdom of the Brine consists of crustacean-like humanoids. The Kingdom of the Fishermen is inhabited by fish-like mer-people. The Kingdom of the Deserters died out when the Sahara Desert first became a desert when it was formerly an inland sea. The missing kingdom is an unknown one and it is said to have collapsed along with the Deserter Kingdom. The Ocean Master planned to unite the different kingdoms in his war against the surface world. After winning the favor of Mera's father King Nereus (portrayed by Dolph Lundgren) of Xebel, Ocean Master led him to the Fisherman Kingdom. He killed King Ricou (motion-captured by Andrew Crawford and voiced by Djimon Hounsou) of the Fishermen when he declined and the Ocean Master persuaded his wife Queen Rina (motion-captured by Natalia Safran) and daughter Princess Scales (motion-captured by Sophie Forrest) to take up his offer. When it came to the Brine, its king (motion-captured by Andrew Crawford and voiced by John Rhys-Davies) agreed to lend his army, with him not swearing his allegiance to the Ocean Master. Before the Ocean Master can kill the Brine King, Aquaman arrives with an army of sea creatures, the Trench, and the sea monster Karathen as Mera persuades her father to side with Aquaman. At the end of the film when Aquaman defeats the Ocean Master, Atlantis, Xebel, the Fishermen, and the Brine swear allegiance to their new king.