The Smark Avengers - Vol 4, Ep 18: We Sat Through a PowerPoint on Aquaman Villains… It Changed Us

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

🌊🐠 We Sat Through a PowerPoint on Aquaman Villains… It Changed Us | Smark Avengers Ep. 18 Aquaman’s villains are… something else. In this week’s episode of Smark Avengers, Corey takes Jon and Dylan on a deep-sea journey through the strangest, silliest, and most baffling Aquaman villains from the 1950s to the 2000s — all presented in glorious PowerPoint form. From The Human Flying Fish to the infamous Awesome Threesome, and the utterly inexplicable Un-Thing, this episode is a comedy deep dive into DC Comics history you won’t believe is real. It’s weird, it’s hilarious, and it somehow makes us love Aquaman even more. 🪸 In this episode: Corey presents his cursed Aquaman villain slideshow Dylan and Jon try to survive the madness Actual comic book panels that will make you question everything Debates over which villain is so bad they’re good And more underwater nonsense than you bargained for 👇 Tell us in the comments: Which Aquaman villain was the worst? And should we do this for more DC or Marvel characters? Click the link for Dylan's radio show!: http://www.bouncedigitalradio.co.uk 🧠 Like comic book history, obscure trivia, and watching grown nerds suffer? 🎯 Like, Subscribe, and smash the bell for weekly comic chaos! #Aquaman #AquamanVillains #DCComics #SmarkAvengers #ComicBookPodcast #DCDeepDive #WeirdComics #GoldenAgeComics #AquamanRoguesGallery #HumanFlyingFish #AwesomeThreesome #ComicBookHistory #PowerPointFromHell #DCUniverse #FunnyComics

over everything as well. Like, it's just, I don't know, it's movies made for idiots. Technically, like, that would technically make him an autore, but it feels like it would cheapen the word autort. Well, I feel like words are very cheap these days.

Nobody, nothing means that anymore. Don't you mean? Well, speaking of something that means nothing. Hi, everybody, welcome to Smart Avengers. My name is Corey, and with me is Dylan and John. How's going, guys? Hello. Hello.

Hello. Well, we are not going to be talking about the works of a certain Zach Snyder in this. What we will be talking about is a character that has appeared in a Zach Snyder film. Isn't that exciting? Thank you, John. I mean, yes. Thank you, Dylan. I talked about this a while ago, and the idea came from way back when we were going over some...

I don't even remember what the episode was. on. But I mentioned a DC Comics villain's name, and Dylan got such a fucking kick out of it. It's always stayed in the back of my mind. And of course, we're talking about Gentleman Ghost. Gentleman Ghost,

notoriously a villain for Hawkman. Notoriously. We have sort of taken that and combined that with one of our very other fun episodes we did, which is the Smart Avengers Kill Aquaman. We're going to be talking about Aquaman villains today.

So, off the top, you guys know who the big two Aquaman villains are, right? Pancake Man. And who's the only, John? Cartwheel Boy. Pancake Man and Cartwheel Boy? Hard to eat pancakes.

Pancakes and water? Terrible combination. and cartwheels, damn near impossible to do underwater. That's why they don't like them, because they're like, why don't you come up on land and find us, you fucking bitch? Get a little stocky. So I guess that answers my question on, when it comes to the world of Aquaman,

are you familiar with his rogue's gallery? I would say, I know, is it Black Manton? Black Manta, definitely. And his brother was Orm, I want to say, or something like that? Yes, Orum, Ocean Master. There you go. That's it. That's all I know. All right. Well, those are the big two.

Now, they have introduced tons of other Aquaman villains over the years, of course. You've got to fill out the Rokes Gallery. There are, you know, rulers of other sea kingdoms. there there are mutated creatures from under the coral surfaces and stuff they're all over the place what I have done though is I have a collection a modest collection of about 21 or so Aquaman villains that I find to be notable in one way or another and I want to also say this is all pre-flashpoint continuity so I'm gonna talk about somebody and they're gonna sound like a real

fucking dork, I'm sure. And I don't want someone in the comments to go, well, yeah, but if you write it in Flashpoint or in New 52 or in Rebirth, this character is actually really cool. I don't care about that. I'm only doing pre-flashpoint. Okay? Yeah, you fucking nerds. We already do a pre-flashpoint.

None of this fucking other bullshit, all right? We don't want to see... Well, we do want to see your comments. Please leave us some comments. But we're not going to read them. We're not going to read those in particular. You're shouting to the void. Do you write the comments, so that really helps.

Yeah. I really appreciate it. You write the comments. So I did something fun this morning, and rather than just telling you about these characters, I decided to make a PowerPoint presentation. Okay. Okay. Or the free Google Chrome associated Google slides version.

So as soon as you guys are ready, I will go ahead and switch over into that. Do you have any questions before we get started, though? I don't think so. Oh, I'm just eager to get to some Aquaman villains. God damn, how long have we been waiting to see some PowerPoint slides? Right. You've been doing this show for like 15 years. Not a goddamn PowerPoint slide.

Finally, today's day. All right. Give me just a second to switch over into that. All right. So, of course, we have to meet the villains. So this is an image of Aquaman as of right now, from his most recent number one. He's got short hair, he's got a beard. He can now control water telepathically.

They've given him a new power. So that is a sword made out of water. Isn't that exciting? I thought that was his magic hand. We will actually speak a little bit about the magic hand. So, John, you mentioned him. Our very first villain we're going to discuss is Black Manta. Black Manta debuted in Aquaman number 35 back in September of 1967.

He is his greatest foe, because as the PowerPoint slide will show you, he killed Aqua Baby. I can see that. Which inadvertently caused Aquaman and his wife Mara to get divorced. Because it was hard to rebound from the death of a child. and not only did he kill Aquababy, he also destroyed Aquabody's grave. He desecrated the grave of Aquabody. Pretty rude.

Bit of a dick move. But he's a skilled swordsman, marksman, genius-level intellects. He's obviously built this suit that he wears, the eyes that shoot off these sort of like laser beams. He can go toe-to-to-to-in armed combat with Aquaman. He has a vast army of like super-powered ships and shit. Black Man also has a really strange kind of backstory

in the sense that like So Black Man has a black man Underneath the Helmet And when they revealed this Because he was a villain for Aquaman For years and years before they revealed who was under the helmet And when they did His motivations for why he hated Aquaman so much

Came down to racism In that he felt that his people The African American community were distroupes were discriminated so much on land, he wanted to claim Atlantis for the African American and black populations of the world to be in instead.

That sounds pretty lame. Pretty weird to say this. How was he planning for everyone to breathe in Atlantis? Well, I mean, he made his own suit that allowed him to breathe underwater. I'm sure he could do the same. He was going to make a suit for every other black person on the planet.

Sounds like it. Also, I think it's pretty on the nose, the character Black Manta is a Black Man. Right. I'm like, that's, I feel like that's bad writing. I think it was the Bronze Age

when that happened, that big reveal. And if so, that was pretty standard for the Bronze Age to be very on the nose when it came to social commentary. I'd say one more thing about Black Manta real quick. By all means. So a moment ago, we were laughing at Cartwheel Boy being impossible to do

cartwheels underwater. Yes. Well, not if possible. Difficult. To do a cartwheel underwater. I would argue that being a skilled swordsman

underwater is probably not very useful. Yeah, you would think. Good point. You would think. You would think. Unless he's skilled

it being a swordsman underwater, but even then, you're like, a lot of resistance underwater, dude. It's going to slow that. You're going to slow that blowdown. Not going to make a whole lot of difference, man. Yeah, thrusting weapons seem to be more. You know, that's why Tritons usually.

It's more of a thrust than a swing. He's a marksman. How good is a gun underwater? I mean harpoons. Harpoons, sure. Yeah. Gun? I think that's what it means is more of like in the harpoon world.

But yes, I understand. Missiles, technically. I suppose you'd have to be a good marksman to shoot a missile successfully. I'm just saying, I feel like a lot of Black Manta here. I don't think he's figured it out. He's still a work in progress. Yeah. He's like, I made a suit that can go underwater, great.

I haven't figured out how to make this suit available for all of the other African-American people or all the other black people. I haven't figured out how I single-handedly are going to take over Atlantis. I haven't figured out how to use a sword underwater. I'm going to kill Aquaman. I killed his baby, though.

Well, I can't kill Akamon, but I can't kill a tiny defenseless version of Aquaman. Yep. Put them in an oxygen bubble. Which is, if you look at it in the ground scheme of things, not that impressive. Bit of a dick move, but yes. Yeah. Anybody can kill a baby.

Charles Xavier showed it. You don't even have to be born to kill a baby. He killed a baby while he was a baby. So are you guys ready to move past? He wasn't even a baby. You guys are ready to move? move past Black Manta? Oh, boy.

Yeah. Dylan, just so you know you're having this much fun, this is the best of them. This is his arch nemesis. But that's the thing. I suspected if this was his arch nemesis and he was this bad that we're like,

okay, this is a slippery slope right here. Yep. All right, John, you mentioned him. Next up is Ocean Master. He debuted in Aquaman number 29 in September of 1966. he is Aquaman's half-brother in the former king of Atlantis, expert in hand-to-hand combat,

of course underwater combat. He can also command marine life, and he has a magic trident that can control weather and command electricity and magnetism. Also, a bit of a genius as well. So he is basically an evil version of Aquaman that was born and raised in Atlantis. A bit of a corrupt ruler, didn't care for his brother returning to Atlantis, and having a claim to the throne. And that's the origin of their feud and rivalry.

You were to Cape? Yes. Underwater? It's billowy. What the fuck? Also, his Trident can control the weather. Yes. Underwater.

Yes. Well, I mean, that's like the tides and shit. I'm going to make it rain. Oh, shit. But electricity as well, isn't that? I'm just going to... Transfer in the water. Magnetism, underwater.

What's he magnetizing? By the way, don't get your electricity and magnet jokes out of your system. There's going to be a lot of that coming up. Is that electric eel probably? There's a lot like that going on. Don't worry. So Ocean Master and Black Manter are considered

Arthur's two most iconic rivals. They were both in the Aquaman movies that came out a few years ago, starring Jason Mamoa. Any further thoughts on Orm before we move further? This guy looks way more badass. Like, he looks like, you know what?

I see this guy, I'm like, he's on his part set and stuff. He feels like more like legit. He feels like, yeah, all right, I can see that guy being arch nemesis of Akamont. Yeah. Right? And the only thing I'll make a comment about regarding the Cape is he is born and raised underwater.

If the cape is anything, it's probably adapted using Atlantean whatever to make sense underwater and not work the same way as a cape above groundwood or above seawood. I think it still doesn't make sense. I would agree. It's a little, like you would get tangled up like a dog falling into a tarp-covered pool. Yeah. It doesn't seem logical. All right.

Are you guys ready to begin the decline? Yes. Now, mind you. This is a mix of villains who have had a major impact on Aquaman, or were just fucking absurd. There are a lot of villains and stuff that have, you know, been adequate and weren't as silly. They didn't make the cut, obviously, because we have something to be, we have to entertain. But still. Next up, Charbitist.

There's a lot of words on this panel, but it was the best picture of him I could find. He first debuted in Aquaman number one in August of 1994. He has the ability to steal powers, has superhuman strength, durability, speed, and agility. He has sharp teeth. He has a magma hand, as opposed to a water hand, can teleport, and he stole Aquaman's ability to control marine life and made a school of piranhas. So, harpoon hand, Aquaman that we got in the 90s is because of Charbitus. What's wrong with his face? He is that way.

He's a weird fish man. He used to be known as Piranha, man. by the way. Okay. I don't think fish have a face like that. He's got little fins on his four of us.

I don't have a skull face. Why is he ripping a book and have? Well, these are the Atlantis Chronicles. But apparently they showed they exposed Aquaman's weaknesses for him.

So it looks like neither one of his hands are made of magma in this. So what exactly is a magma hand? I don't know. Couldn't find a good picture of it. And also, once again, I don't want to be that guy.

But when you're underwater, I would argue magma hand potentially useless. Well, he did fight Aquaman above out of the water before. Like, that's how he got the whole, that's where the whole feeding of the hand came from.

Otherwise, he would have just had the piranhas eat him entirely. Does he have to put a plastic bag around his magma ham when he goes under the water? Well, no, no, because there's volcanoes underwater. They just don't, you know, leak lava like that. Right. So when the lava does go under water, like he would. His hands wouldn't work.

Yeah, but I don't think the hand is necessarily the thing. The main issue with him is he can steal other people's powers. I think that magma hand is something they just gave him later on, probably around the time that Aquaman had his magic water hand. So we should disregard the magma hand. I would just, at least in this image. Oh, well, yeah. He seems to be doing a lot of he-he-heing and ha-ha-ha-hying in his dialogue as well.

I mean, he is delivering a villainous monologue. It's very long. I mean, but the pranhas did give him tender kisses. Well, congratulations to him. Yeah, you got little tender kisses. All right, you guys raised. Oh, go ahead. He got piranus to bite off Aquaman's hand.

Yes. And Aquaman replaced it with the Triton. The harpoon slash hook, yes. The harpoon. So the magic hand was a different thing. That's later on. That's later on. So somebody caught off his hand again.

No, no, no. He replaced the hand with magic water from the lady in the lake when he visited the United Kingdom. Okay. That's fair enough. Do you even listen to our Kill Aquaman episode? How many years ago was that? It's been over a year.

You know, I drink a lot. Yeah. Are we ready to move past Churbitus? Yes. I would also like to say that he's a stupid name. There you go. Well, if you thought that's stupid, here's the Thirst. The Thirst debuted in Aquaman number five.

in June of 2003. He's a golem made of dry river mud. He can absorb energy. He's immune to magic. And he preyed on deities that watched over the secret sea, a metaphysical realm composed of the shared imagination of humanity. Ooh. And he was defeated when Aquaman allowed the thirst to absorb Aquaman,

but the holy power of the magic water hand destroyed him. So immune to magic, but not faith. And as you can see at his feet are the bodies of people. he is absorbed. The thirst. What? I will tell you, this is the most of most villains, this is the most recent of them. I just saw the name and I was like, well, I got to put the thirst in there.

So how do you... How he's immune to magic, but he gets destroyed by a magic water hand. Yeah. Because it had God powers because of the lady in the lake. But he prayed to the deities. that watched over the sea, right? So he's... No, he prayed on them.

So he was consuming them. So he should have that kind of fief power in him already. Yeah, different kind of faith. That's heathen faith, it sounds like. Whereas the faith of a proper one true Lord and Savior was enough to kill him.

Not the George Michael kind of faith. Did you buy it? Sounds like bullshit to me. This is Magic Waterhand Era Aquaman, which is... A little scuffed to begin with. I'm not buying it. Are you ready to move past the thirst?

Yeah, let's get away from this stuff. All right, it's only going to get weirder. Next up, the fisherman. This makes sense. The fisherman debuted in Aquaman number 21 in June of 1965. His abilities are fishing. He has basic...

One would suggest. He has basic hand-to-hand combat. He's an accomplished thief. He can swim real good. He's got a titanium fishing rod and gimmick fishing lures. So basically he has some that will make the water really cloudy or explode and stuff. And the current version of the fisherman is a parasite that latches on to people and controls them through fear. Traditionally, though, he's just a guy.

See, whenever you were talking about the fishing rod and the fishing lores, I'm like, now this is comics, right? This is fun, so comic bullshit. As you can... Then you're like... Then you're like, oh, now he's... The latches on the people. I'm like, oh, that's modern comics, isn't it? So as you can see here, he's got Aquaman all wrapped up in his fishing rod.

Right, but that's fun. Yeah. Look at those boots. He's got little waiters on. Geez. Yeah. Fancy. Why would somebody look at this character and go, we got to turn him into some sort of parasite?

Like, you know, how is that going to make him more... modern and up to do it is like we'll just fucking turn him into something different

you know well there you go that guy does the parasite have fancy boots I think the parasite is meant to I think

somebody saw the little hood on his head and they said that looks like it could be alive so I think that's what the

parasite is in the the more recent stuff yeah his little hood he has on oh I don't like it yeah

so has he ever a cool Aquaman when he's going fishing well I mean he looks like he did there at the bottom what bait do you put on the hook to like acriman's like ooh I gotta get on the hook yeah corn dogs yeah corn dogs I never get

corn dogs and he's perfect you know any food that's not seafood is that a fucking steak it'd be all wet though sloppy steaks time to slap him up yeah

Your dog. That's what I want, you know. Falling apart in the fucking sea. Yum, num, num, num, num. All right, you guys are ready to move past the fishermen. Okay. Yeah. The giant jellyfish.

Oh, God. First debuted in Aquaman number one in June of 1989. They are a race of highly evolved sentient jellyfish. They hate the notion that the sea is ruled by humanoids. They're able to commandeer ships and operate machines and weaponry, and they successfully captured it

and had the original royal family executed. The king at the time, they had drawn and quartered in particular. So ruthless little fuckers, they were defeated by Aquaman's return to Atlantis and have not been seen since. How did they have the concept of drawn and quartering somebody? Yeah. I mean, they're highly intelligent. There's no way they could know that. You could be as smart as you want.

There's no possible way they could know that people did that. well I mean it's a royal they I think the Atlanteans were kind of based on sort of like traditional king and queen royalty kind of stuff in like a fantasy setting and I mean drawn and quartering was a traditional form of execution

so maybe that's what it's just they were already doing that at Atlantis and Jolly Fish are like fuck yeah I can get into that that that feels like a weird thing to do under water well in the bubble it's not like it's there's a bubble that like the Atlanteans

can just like walk on, you know, walk inside. There is like a level of gravity, too, I agree. But yeah, no, it would be very unpleasant to draw and quarter someone and their inner just float up. Yeah. I mean, it would be unpleasant anyway. Yeah. I mean, look at his little face, though.

I was going to say, why does his face look like a cat? I mean, don't all cats also wish to know how long until they're able to eliminate them also? Yes. Very few cats I know can draw and quarter somebody. I'm getting cranky vibes as well.

It's a bit crangy. A little bit crangy. Yeah. The big frame. Yeah. It's quite unsettling. Let's move past the giant jellyfish and we'll go to the scavenger.

Scavenger debuted in Aquaman number 37 in January in 1968. He is a... a successful inventor, commands a highly advanced ship called the Scorpion Ship. Guess what it looks like? In one appearance, saw him take an alien artifact that made him de-age into a baby before he blinked out of existence. So that seems on par with what we do here.

He got better and eventually reformed himself, but then he became an avatar for the barracuda that gave him power. He then used that power to become a pedophile and a child pornography before all. Aquaman, or not Aquaman, but Hawkman killed him. That took a turn. Yep. That's the 90s for you. Holy moly.

How do you use the power of a barracuda? Apparently, the barracuda powers involved mind control. Barakutas are the pita powers of the sea. That's what they say. That's what they say. But yeah, no, I was like pulling up this guy I'm like, oh yeah, he looks like a fucking ridiculous dude. And then I got to that part of his profile.

I went, holy shit. I am devastated because right up to that point, I'm like, this is the coolest one so far. Look at this guy. He's got a suit. He's got an angry face. He's like, his face has like teeth around it. Yeah. There's this scorpion ship there at the bottom.

We got a real ass fucking villain here. And then it's like, oh, by the way, he stole somebody else's power. after he became a baby and disappeared, he then got better and then stole somebody else's power to become a pedophile. They're like, oh, man. That's the part of it.

I found, like, the pages from the Hawkman comic where this happened. And basically, like, because he had reformed himself, Hawkman was confronting Aquaman, he was like, I got to go bring, like, I'm going to go stop your fucking friend. And he's like, no, he's reformed.

He's like, he is not reformed. In fact, he is somehow worse. So, yes, he was using his mind control powers to rape children and then sell the videotapes to fellow perverts. That's the 90s for you. Why was this in the comic? It was the 90s. Yeah, man, Hawkman in the 90s.

What are you going to do? Again, right? Who was like, I got to update this character. Make a moderate. I know what I'll do. I'll put it on the cutting edge of what people are interested in reading right now. Like, who, what? Was it Zach Snyder?

write in this comic. Well, any final thoughts on the scavenger before we move forward? I think we should move on like 10 minutes ago. We could get off this guy. All right, next up is Quisp. What the fuck? Keep him away from the scavenger. There was strategic placement in the slide for this one.

Oh. Old Quisp debuted on Aquaman number one. Their legs again? That's not cool. Quisp first statement of Aquaman number one in February of 1962. Quisp was a water sprite and magical in nature from the fifth dimension. He's a former ally of Aquaman who turned on him and became a dark version of himself that started a war between genie princes that endangered Earth.

When it was resolved, he was sentenced to one million infinities in an eight-dimensional maze by a court in the fifth dimension. See, this is the problem with the justice. well that's a good point but like the problem with our justice system today is that a guy like this didn't really appear to do anything

that makes any sense gets a sentence to the illogical prison sentence of a million infinities which itself doesn't make any sense one million infinities and an eight dimensional of years whereas fucking steely

power to become a pedophile guy gets nothing? Well, he got killed. I mean, to be fair, Hawkman killed him. Okay, but I'm just you can see where I'm coming from here. Yeah, yeah.

This guy debuted in Ackerman 1 as well. Does that mean he was like the very first villain, the Aquaman face? Well, no, no, so he wasn't a villain originally. Yeah, he was an ally of the Aqua family in the Silver Age. It wasn't until the

90s that he became an evil version of himself because he saw right because Peter David was in the 90s yep we gotta we gotta keep an eye on

whoever wrote Aquaman in the 90s because he was what the fuck up what the fuck is he doing well he did so that the scavenger stuff happened in Hawkman it's a different writer on that one but yeah

was that right what the fuck basically Peter David Peter David Peter David Peter David's objective for Aquaman in the 90s, he was just like, we're gonna have, like, Aquaman is like a joke character, everybody makes fun of him, we're gonna completely overhaul everything about him.

Get rid of the kingdom, get rid of his fucking hand, he's gonna change his look. But yes, by the way, recently you could buy a Silver Age Aquaman figure that comes with a tiny little quisp, and it was the first time I really saw that character, and it was mortified. I was just like, what the fuck is this little thing? What's wrong with that? I mean, look at him. He's only like two feet tall, by the way, as well.

Like, he's... He looks better than the jellyfish. Yeah. Oh, he's from that same place that Mr. Mixelplick is from, the fifth dimension. So, yeah, that's fun. We're going to move forward? Maybe we should stop letting people from that dimension come over here. Yeah.

Maybe we should tighten a little bit. Well, we're up next. We're up next to the Creature King. First debuted in Showcase Number 32 in April, 1969. He's a scuba diver who manipulated Aquaman and Aquilat and helping him find a sunken treasure. Inside of that treasure chest was a potion that turned him into a 20-foot-tall purple monster man. And this was his first and last appearance.

Did he die? I don't know. Not a lot of information about the creature king is made available. That looks like a cool fucking villain, right? Yeah. A chubby purple man? Yes. The big fucking monster that kills He looks like he beat you up, right? Can I tell you my favorite part about it Is he did not have a name

They did not name the scuba diver So it's just as if this random guy was like Hey Aquaman and Aqualad Can you help me find this box? And they did And they were like, what's your name by the way? Well now it's Creature King As he turns it to a 20 foot tall purple monster

What was your name before that? I don't remember It's don't worry about it Ironically it was Creature King It was a fulfilling prophecy Yeah One day It's unfortunate

First name to have Isn't it? Creature? Yeah All right We want that So these next ones Will be quick

Just to give you an idea Of the direction This all turns Next up The Liquidator The Liquidator first debuted In Aquaman number 38 In March of 1968

He's invulnerable Superhuman strength He's considered a mutant His first and last appearance are in the same comic, could find no other information about him except there's a Darkwing Duck villain with the same name that is a dog

who can control water like Hydroman. That's interesting. Yeah, there's just a water dog. Yeah, there's a water dog and Darkwing Duck. John, do you remember Waterdog and Darkwing Duck? I do not know. No, I don't remember that. I'm going to have to watch it again. This guy,

again, this guy looks badass. Why we see Only one episode or one issue look at him what the fuck is wrong with his right arm it appears to be a series of barbed tentacles he looks

cool as hell and his other arm is like what are the circles on his head as well they appear to be emitting electricity I like his belt it's important to you know

keep your pants on lots of pouches yeah yeah unfortunately Not a lot of information about this guy. He doesn't have any fucking hands. What the parts is for? Hand sanitizer.

Laundering. Doesn't have hands. Well, those tentacles get dirty. You don't know where they go. We're under water. Close the water. Your hand gets dirty. Just like we were to ride a little bit.

Insane. I like to look at this guy. He's so far. Liquid. write liquidator dine so I can look up the Dark Queen Duck one, but I think he looks cool. I like him. So far he's not a pedophile, so there we go. The bar is that low, huh? Yeah, yeah. So another thing I want to point out is there's a lot of these characters that were only around for like one story, and the reason being is that it was the Silver Age, and like long-form

storytelling wasn't really a thing. It was more of like, all right, in this issue, Aquaman's going to fight this guy, and in this issue, Aquaman's going to fight this guy. So they kind of had to make up a lot of like monsters and villains on a regular basis so they could like sell stories essentially. So this is where there's not a lot of depth in some of these. Well, I like him. All right. Well, next up, we've got Carla. Just Carla. Carla first debuted in Aquaman number 24 in December of 1965. She has pyrocanesis. Her hair is living fire, and she's the leader of the second incarnation of the terrible trio.

She can't breathe underwater. That's why she's wearing an oxygen mask, and I'm not sure how her hair works. Again, her first appearance and her last appearance were in the same comic. I very clearly was going to have a lot to say about the fucking fire to water. Yeah, don't trust me. When I was putting this

together, I was like, she can't breathe underwater. How the fuck does her hair work? Why would anybody think that somebody whose power is fire would be great to fucking fight Aquaman? I mean, clearly it's doing the trick because she's like almost incinerating Aquilad down there.

Well, nobody gives a shit about... The shark by the looks of it. Yeah. Yeah. Are they hiding behind the shark? That appears to be the case, doesn't it? Are they using the shark as a shield? And they're like, oh, burn the shark, that's fine.

Use your underwater fire to burn a shark, fork away. Just don't burn us. Like, I don't fucking know. You would feel that they would be immune to fire underwater, wouldn't you? Can I tell you my favorite part is just that they couldn't be bothered to actually give her a villain name? She's just Carla. Yeah.

Who are she in the terrible trio with? Was it like Tracy and Steph? Well, you won't have to wait for long to find the next person. But yes. Are all three of them on the list? No, only two out of the three. One person, they seemed a little more competent than the other. who was the other one

well we'll get to him in just a sec no the one that the one that was confident but when it's not on the list let me pull that up you make sure I get their name right yeah

it was so the terrible trio is more synonymous with Batman the original are like basically villains who wear like animal masks so it's like fox vulture and shark

so that's like the traditional Terrible Trio. The Aquaman Terrible Trio is Carla, well, actually, no, all three of them are on there, my apologies. Carla, the Fisherman, and then the next person on our list. Oh, the fisherman? Oh, man, great character. Yep. All right, so next up.

Unthing. Unthing debuted in the same storyline as Carla, Aquaman number 24 in December 1965. His powers is he can turn invisible underwater. Once he's out of the water, however, he's completely visible. He is a member of the second incarnation of the Terrible Trio, and his first appearance and last appearance are the same comic.

He can breathe underwater. Well, no, he's wearing a suit. Okay. But he can only be invisible underwater. The second he's out from the water, completely visible. So the suit also turns invisible. That seems to be the implication. How does that work?

I don't know. We're 19... It's 1965. I can't even make out like what he is in that image. Oh, wait, he's like... Yeah. He's like a scuba diver.

He's like a scuba diver right there. I was like, what the fuck? I thought it was like a guy, something with a big eye and then like a big, a cowboy hat or something. Right. I can see that.

I can. Yeah, it took a long time for me to... He's invisible underwater, that's probably what threw us. But the ships, the way that they kind of drew it, it's not immediately recognizable. Can I tell you... I don't understand how it's ruining the fact that he's invisible underwater by shouting out, I'm here, Aquaman.

Can I tell you, I'm right here? Of the three people in the terrible trio, Fishermen? Understandable. Unthing? His whole powers work when he's underwater. Totally makes sense that he would take advantage to that. Carla, though. She's somebody's little sister, I'm betting. What of these villains's parents are like, you got to bring Carla with you.

We can't have her sitting alone thinking that you're avoiding her. I like how they were like, we're the terrible trio, but there's only two of us. Ah, fuck. What do we do? We scheduled to fight Acoman, like, today. We need to find a third. What was Firegirl? I'm like, I don't know if that's going to work. He's not going to work.

Let's just bring her, put a little, give her a little scuba mask suit that somehow doesn't melt with her immense firepower that's all around her. Yeah, just do that. Stick her under water. What's the worst that could happen? What's the worst that can happen? All right. This Unthink was the one I was really excited about.

I love the whole concept of his powers only work when he's underwater. Like, of the villains, of the Aquaman villains, he's the one of makes the most sense. I think that's a great. Yeah, exactly. For Aquaman, that's a great idea. It's a great angle. I hear his name. The name is terrible. Yeah, it's a terrible name. What does that even mean? All right. Well, up next.

Bugala. Oh. Debuted in Aquaman number 44 April of 1969. Bugala is a sea serpent. A superhuman strength, stamina, and durability. And after being defeated by Aquaman and Aquilat on several occasions, he was replaced for the robotic version of himself.

Who replaced him? A scientist. Okay. So a scientist is like... They still have Boogalah's brain in or... No, just a robot. It looked like him. What?

The dread boogala. So somebody was like, I got to make a big robot sea servant. A robot that works underwater in the six. Listen, robots were still brand new. Yeah, I don't think they have water-resistant technology in the 60s.

I'm going to say that right now. I don't know a lot of it in the 60s. I don't believe they did. I just feel, it's just weird that he was like, he was a thing and he died and he got replaced by something. I'm like, well, how would that scientist know that he was there? Why would he replace him? doesn't that seem like a weird waste of resources?

Well, it was an evil inventor named Visebog who replaced him. Visebog. Yes, an evil Atlantean scientist. Okay. Yep. And, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Just a second.

Okay. He was in Atlanta. Atlantis, yes. well right atlantis whatever right and he and he created this giant ass fucking robot yes and nobody noticed

apparently not what the fuck wouldn't somebody be like hey are you building a giant robot of that thing that Aquaman beat up a bunch of times no no no

with the sheet over the nose you know Meanwhile, the remaining 35 feet of this monster is completely uncovered. It really looks like it. I'm like, no, you're thinking of something else. Listen, I recognize a Bugolo when I see one. Right. That's that fucking thing. All right.

Up next. The awesome threesome. Fucking what? Are they robot? They're a robot. Yes. So they first debuted to Aquaman number 36. in December

1967, there are three sentient robots named Torpedo Man, the claw, and Magneto. Torpedo Man has

super speed, the claw has super strength, Magneto can control magnetism and electricity. And oddlyly enough, they recently

showed up in an issue of world's finest as background characters for Kid Flash and Wonder Girl to beat up.

But let's address the elephant in the room. Why do you think he's called the claw? Thank you. I'll never know.

But, John, how do you feel about Magneto? I mean I am not happy about this I'm not happy about one being called the Chlor as well Alright

Correct Also a rip-off What do you think about Magneto Not having any hands But having a little stub Oh let me see you real quick What See the thing in the back of his head

Is this like a fan Is this like a It looks like a shoe Oh It's a magnet, isn't it? Yeah, it's supposed to be a giant magnet. So that he can get attracted to something else? I mean, look, I mean, he's in the awesome threesome.

He's clearly attracted to two other people. But he's a robot. I'm not seeing it all today. Carver 3O awesome threesome. Wait a minute. If he can control magnetism and he's beside two robots. He can control it. That's to imply that it's not controllable what you're suggesting.

By the way, he... is a robot? This came out... He is a robot. He was created four years after the first issue of X-Men number one. So they're like, we need a name for a magnet-based villain. I don't know. The name Magneto's is coming to mind for some reason.

I don't know why. I would argue that if somebody was like, we need the name of a magnet-based villain for Akaman, the other guy should have said, we don't need him at all. We don't need that fucking guy at all. Trapetoman, right? If you had a terrible torpedo man,

is that what you would make him a fucking robot? I don't think so. The only one of the three that has hands? Well, and he's also the only one of the three that went on to be featured in something else. There was an Aquaman cartoon, by the way, that there was an episode dedicated to the awesome threesome. So that's out there somewhere.

but Torpedo Man was eventually recruited to be part of a super villain faction led by an alternate universe Lex Luthor but Magneto and the Claw were not given that same invitation. I like how Lex Luthor is like one of the smartest people in the DC universe and he's like, yeah, I want this fucking guy. I want Torpedo Man to be part of my secret society of villains. Because everybody else is... I have to think we've got another Pido villain as well. That's a good job.

joke. Great joke. A plus. That's a good joke. Oh, boy. I hope the comments is just that now. It's just like, I'm stamping it and going, that's a good joke. Oh, boy.

All right. You ready to move forward. Yeah, all right. Electric Man. What? Electric Man first debuted in Action Comics number 280 in September of 1961. He's the. escaped convicted felon who decided to keep a low profile by opening his own aquarium.

He gained his powers by constantly handling electric eels, which were the main attraction of his aquarium. He has the ability to absorb electricity and shoot it out of his hands. He only commits crimes during thunderstorms because that's when he'll get struck by lightning. And he was defeated by Aquaman's pet octopus, Topo. Oh, geez. is that because octopuses are immune to electricity I think they were implying that big Gustopo is kind of rubbery that it made him immune I don't know

again it was 1961 this is what I'm saying if they don't know how octopuses work then they definitely don't know how robots underwater work well that's why there's so many of them underwater wouldn't there that's what I'm saying they don't understand I still love that he's a convicted felon who escaped from prison and then immediately

thought, you know what's going to keep me out of the newspaper? Opening a business. Showing my face everywhere. And then he got his powers because he couldn't stop touching electric eels. Thank God you said electric eels. All right, well, any comments on? He didn't even get beat by Aquaman as well. He got beat by his pet.

By old Topo. What a fucking wuss. All right. You ready to move forward? from Electric Man. He only commits crimes during thunderstorms. Yeah. Doesn't that, like, really give the game away?

I mean, it definitely is a calling card, huh? Yeah. It's just, Aquaman's at home. He's at home, and he just sees, oh, what's the weather? For a guy? Thunderstar, fuck, that guy's going to try to rob a bank. He has to, like, get up and walk out.

Well, I like the idea with the other way, Ryan, we're like, um, fucking, electric man is in his house eating cereal, he looks at the window, and he's like, oh, fuck, a thunderstorm! I'm going to go! And he just like, puts his clothes out right quick, like, oh, I've got to rob a bank or something.

It's the only chance I got. Got to comb his head with right. It's the only chance I get. I got to go. All right. Well, moving forward. It's my favorite part. The human flying fish. Okay.

He first debuted in a event. Adventure Comics number 272 in May of 1960. He's a former swimming champion who turned to a life of crime. He's surgically enhanced so that he's amphibious, and he can fly for short periods of time with the aid of a power suit. He can also use weaponry and shoot on electric charges from his power suit. What is it with electricity? Again, I warned you earlier, I'm like, it's going to keep coming up, that magnetism.

Which one of those octopuses is his pet? neither of them those are not topo oh he's oh okay he has a favorite yeah he has a favorite octopus that's got to make the other octopuses feel really bad it does

I say human flying fish holding a giant tomato as well I thought it was a bowling ball maybe it is listen Akam I'm going to beat you up and then I'm going bowling because we're in the championships and I can't fuck this up.

So, yeah, the idea... The idea behind the human flying fish was important that the person who surgically enhanced him so that he was amphibious was that Aquaman keeps stopping us because we have to be underwater to commit these crimes. What if we could get out of the water

into the air for a short period of time? That'll do it. Because Aquaman can't stop us if we fly. Yep, exactly. why didn't somebody else stop him Aquaman's too proud he didn't want to ask for help why are these criminals

committing crimes under the sea as well why not go on land and commit crimes instead I think it's implied going with a whole buried sunken pirate ships and there's a whole royal family and stuff down there there's like treasure

right but this guy is like I'm going to use my powers to fly and commit crimes. Above the sea, where there is nothing. Well, no, no. He's going to commit the crimes underwater

and then go out into the air when he's getting pursued by Aquaman and his aquatic friends. So the bowling ball slash tomato is like a jam that he stole from the treasure. I believe so. Okay.

Okay. He's a triple threat villain of land, sea, and air, the man known as the human flying fish. Okay, if you say so. I don't know what to think of with this guy. I think we should move on. All right.

I feel like he's an idiot, you know? All right. Well, moving forward, we have Big Jim Mason. Big Jim Mason first debuted in Adventure Comics and number two. It's just some fucking guy. You're correct. He debuted in Adventure Comics number 263 in August of 1959.

He's a corrupt politician, insanely wealthy, and attempted to poison the sea creatures, which led to Aquaman putting him in a whirlpool and threatening to have his octopus topo eat him unless he confessed to his crimes. As you can see there, he's got the bottle of poison. ready to go. And of course

his Yeah, he reckons this tiny bottle will probably kill all of the sea creatures. All of them. This is it. I mean, this is triple X stuff.

Like, this will kill anybody. So in the story, basically, like, Aquaman makes friends with this rival politician to Big Jim Mason. And Val, he knows that

Jim Mason is a corrupt politician, but Vow's not going to interfere and only interferes once Jim Mason tries to poison his fish. And then he's like, motherfucker, it's personal now. I'm going to put you in a whirlpool and have my octopus threaten to eat you. That doesn't sound very heroic.

No, but it was 1959. 1959 feels like this is one of the older villains that we've talked to. I think he's the oldest villain on the list. Yeah, because the other ones are like 1960 plus. 1959 is like, how early for Akamans villains

you mean where it's like the Black Manta and then fucking regular guy Just a dude Yeah Yeah All right Old white man Yeah

Old white wealthy politician man What did they get the idea from All right Nothing ever changes Does it Moving forward We've got Cutless

Charlie. Finally, somebody cool. He knew that was going to be a pirate in him. There had to be a pirate. He first debuted in Justice League of America number 61 in March of 1968. He's a pirate. His sword shoots fire. He was introduced as a known enemy of Aquaman, despite it being his first appearance,

implying that they're untold Cutless Charlie stories out there. And surprisingly, he was last seen in 2010's Justice League Cry for Justice. We bring this guy back. It sounds like James Robinson tried to you in 2010. I think out of all the crappy Acommon villains, this is a guy that needs to come back. Look at him. He's doing a little jig. He looks a bit like Captain Pugwash.

He looks, he does look like a little bit like Captain Pugwash, actually. I don't know who that is. I don't, but he looks like the mascot for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He'll Captain Pugwash real quick. Captain Pugwash. Okay. Yep, he looks like Captain Pugwash. There you go.

Are you impressed by our... Look at the culture. The culture. Cutless Charlie, I like the alliteration. Yep. You know. I don't like that it's sore chites fire. I'm like, we're going around in circles here, guys.

Fire underwater. Robot's underwater, electricity underwater. Do you know why this shit doesn't work? Because of the underwater bit. But nobody's prepared to fight this guy underwater. Do you mean? Like, what the fuck? Well, I mean, it's Black Manza and Ocean Master,

for the most part that we've really been talking about, who are prepared. Like I said, we started with, like, his stronger villains or more infamous ones, and we've worked our way down to some of the more interesting ones, in my opinion. Yeah, I feel like this, Pirate and the fishermen are the only two so far. They're like, we're actually well equipped to fight this.

We can handle this. We're related to the water in some way. All right. Up next. Cuechwegg. You picked him because of the name, didn't you? Well, that and the fact he's named after a Moby Dick character. He first debuted on Aquaman number two in January 1992.

He's a whaler. He hates anti-whalers like Aquaman, and Aquaman barely noticed him in their first fight. and of course he was named after a character in Herman Melville's Moby Dick quick quick That art is from 1992

Sure is It does not look like it's from 1999 too Yeah Um The we have not been off as there with this guy Yeah No he was there for the name

And the fact that I was like Is this guy named after a Moby Dick character He absolutely is Because I had to look up and like Is this like a Star Trek holodeck situation where it's like this guy actually thinks he's quique, no. Did he do anything? Not really.

He grew a sweet Abraham Lincoln beard. And a shaved head with a ponytail. I was going to say, I hate the ponytail. Like a little like Reno situation going on. I do not like. It looks like Reno. Oh, boy. There is one for you.

Put that one in the comments. That's a great one. all right well after him sea thief first debuted in justice league of America number 14 in September in 1962

this is all that I could find out about him he's good at swimming and his first appearance and last appearance are the same issue and you can see that he's a villain because his helmet has a dollar sign on it also because he's shooting something

he's shooting off of him I thought that was an S for sea thief It could very well be multi-purpose as That would have made a lot more sense Well, he shot him with the dememirizer So he forgot that that was there Demerizer Yeah

All right Well I think this is our last one coming up Wacky Man Debued in Adventure Comics Number 233 February of 1957 Technically this is the oldest Character that we have on the list he's a clown who used

He's a clown who used Aquaman's costume for inspiration He faked Aquaman's powers by using robotic aquatic creatures And he was forced by pirates to use his robots to commit crime What the fuck were robots? Robots were still a new concept We weren't really sure what to do with them

It's kind of like how every business in America right now is like, we have to start using AI It's like to do what I don't know, but we'll figure it out. What the fuck's wrong with that kid's face? Well, he's super jazzed because Wacky Man used electric geels to spell out Wacky Man. That seems like an inappropriate use of electric geels.

Well, they're robot electric geels. But don't let... What? Don't let Electric Man find out about it, though. He'll get jealous. I don't understand any of this. This is the golden age of comics, my friend. This is not even silver age.

This is older. What You know, it cut it off here But it shows here on the left-hand side Him riding water being squirted out of a robotic whales blowhole Right, but where is he? I assume he's on like the docks Okay

And the wheel is just there and everybody's like that's fine Also, proportionally, that wheel seems really small How high up in the air is he? His particular artist didn't learn perspective. I could see that by that kid's face. He does seem to have an awful lot of face in one particular part of his head, leaving a lot of real estate up here unaccounted for. That kid is the scariest thing we've seen all the old PowerPoint.

Oh my God Why wasn't he a villain? Weird face kid Well I mean I was excited how he is about the electric yields Maybe he grew up to be electric man Weird face kid Akamaz's like how do I beat him?

What the fuck? I just stop He keeps looking to me and I don't like it Makes me feel uncomfortable Yeah And like I don't Like he swims away

But then weird fierce kid Just like tracks him down time. He's like, stop it, leave me alone. I don't like it. And he's like, why? Do you see it? Elective Eels? He's like, you know, his face. I don't like him. Wacky man.

John, do you ever have him to save a wacky man? I mean, I kind of hope Petless Charlie was the pirate who forced him to use his robots to commit crime, because then that would tie into, you know, Aquaman having

encountered him before. Well, I mean, we do have, he was introduced as a known enemy of Aquaman, despite it being his first appearance in the comic. So he very well could have been just in the shadows influencing the other pirates to force Wackyman to use his robot Aqualife to commit these terrible crimes. Yes, there's a good chance that whenever they introduced Cuthless Charlie and they're like, hey, he's got prior with Aquaman. They just didn't reference this story because, you know, what the fuck?

all right well let me go ahead and we'll end our slideshow presentation here well uh so yeah what was your now i guess what were your takeaways from this uh sort of guide through aquaman villains oh i hate wackyman med i hate that i think the thing we can say wall to wall categorically and even the exceptions are still not exceptions at all still in this

categorization I Chikorri you know this is that they're all terrible that was the objective I was like like you said there's other villains out there there's like the trench and they're like an army of these sort of mutated like fish monsters that are like primordial

there's some like decent kind of villains out there. But the objective was to find more gentleman ghosts. Yeah. Like, even the good ones I like, like, the fishermen, you're like, you still kind of talk. Right?

Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like, you're still garbage. You're still garbage. But, like, a different breed of garbage. You're the, like, the garbage on top. Yeah. Of the, the truck that

takes the garbage away. Sure. I was going to do like a garbage barge, but then I'm like, do people use garbage barges anymore? Probably not. So that's not a good. Maybe that is a perfect metaphor. Maybe it is.

There you go. Nobody uses any of these fucking clowns anymore. So there you go, you know. Did you have a favorite of the ones we discussed? I like the pirate. Cutless Charlie. Yeah, I was going to say cutlass Charlie. It was pretty cool.

I thought the fisherman was good. because like I like the ones that like make sense with Aquaman you know what you mean I don't like the really stupid because you're like

what's like the robots or the fire lady you're like what does this have to do with Aquaman I don't see the tie-in between Aquaman and McNur McNeererer

the armless robot like I don't get it oh I really I think I really like to un-thagued like what's wacky man got to do with Aquaman

He's a clown Oh well that makes sense Don't worry what it did I just want to Can I tell you my favorite detail About Wacky Man Is that it was like he was pretending To be Aquaman

He just copied his costume entirely Including the A on his belt Yeah They couldn't even Yeah But a W on there Exactly So he had Aquaman's costume

But he still wore a clown face paint And the little like clown wig You know the thing with face paint it's very easy to wash off. True. And he's like, I'm just going to jump in the water. Yep. I like to, I think of the people's powers,

Unthing was probably one of the better ones. It's very one note, but it's an effective one note. It makes sense, right? It makes sense. Yeah, yeah. Everything about Carla made me laugh. The fact her name is just Carla, that she has, like, fire hair,

that she can't even breathe underwater. Yeah. it was all she was somehow the leader of the group that had fishermen and unthing in it I mean fishermen must have been livid

exactly the shift and tone that happened with scavenger was something else entirely yeah I think we should just stay away from that guy that was a dreadful disappointment

so I will put it to you like this Like, if you want to put a pin on this, creating villains for Aquaman seems like it could be very challenging. I feel like we could do it. Maybe that'll be an episode one day. Well, we kind of did... We did kind of kill Aquaman, and we didn't create a new villain for it.

Didn't need them. No. So is that our objective, is we're going to create a new Aquaman villain? Yeah, I think we can do way better than this shit. Okay, sounds good. so that's a really good idea for um for episode all right let me jot that down real quick um yeah would you be interested in me doing this with other uh characters yes definitely although i don't know if we can get worse than some of the people we saw all right uh john where do you sit now

for your movie count for the year. I have just watched my 400th movie of the year. Hey, nice round number. Yeah. Getting to that dirty Chicago 401. Indeed. It was a chord

Rise of the Viking. It was like a Danish movie which randomly had Jonathan Banks from Breaking Bad in it. But it wasn't right. It was no the Northman. Let's put it that way. He's a real wacky man of a film. Absolutely.

Ackerman is barred. He's bound from the show. There's a black man here. That's not weird kids going to be here. And I want no part of that. So, Dylan, go ahead and tell us about your radio show. I've been including the link in the description of the last few videos. So people should have a very good way to get to you. Yeah, I hope it makes a difference.

If you listen to that show, if you click that link on Monday nights from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock UK time, which I think we said was like 4 o'clock. Yeah, 5 hour difference. You can hear my radio show. Finds digital radio.com.com. I play loads of rock music that I like. I don't play music that anybody else likes. that's the rule because

I listen to you know when you work in retail you have to listen to like the radio and have to listen to everybody else's play this so I have to listen to music that I hate all the time so I think it's only fair music that everybody else hates

well there you go if you like rock music you're gonna like this show what I play last time a perfect circle Megadeth Earl Jam Fief No More Stoto Pilots Blind Malin classic stuff like that

Plus some other stuff you've never heard. There you go. So I brought back large old cup this last weekend, which if you're listening to this now, it's been back for a little bit, complete with the new royalty-free song, which I was pretty happy with finding because I felt it's a little more appropriate for me.

So by all means, check that out. Until then, though, I suppose we should wrap it up and say goodbye. I guess. Farewell. Goodbye. Bye. There it is. It's a ghost.