Changes: Mera

Revision as of 17:31, 12 August 2018

Aquawoman

General Information
Real name:	Mera
First Appearance:	Aquaman #11 (October, 1963)
Created by:	Jack Miller Nick Cardy
Affiliations:	Atlantis Formerly Red Lantern Corps
Portrayed by:	Diane Maddox (Voice) Kristin Bauer (Voice) Sirena Irwin (Voice) Elena Satine Amber Heard

History

Origin

Mera was once an undersea queen in an alien otherworldly dimension commonly referred to as Dimension Aqua. Several years ago, a criminal named Leron seized control of the kingdom and deposed Queen Mera. Exiled from her kingdom, Mera fled Dimension Aqua for the Earth dimension whereupon she met the Atlantean sea-king, Aquaman. Aquaman and his sidekick, Aqualad, vowed to assist Mera in any way possible. Leron pursued Mera to Earth, and managed to capture her along with Aquaman. He brought them back to Dimension Alpha where they were imprisoned. Aided by the water sprite known as Quisp, Aquaman managed to free Mera and defeat Leron. However, rather than return to the throne to her kingdom, Mera elected to return to Atlantis with Aquaman.

Wife of Aquaman

As Mera continued to share in adventures with the sea-king, the two began to fall in love. The two were soon wed and Mera lived with Aquaman at the Atlantean Royal Palace. Before long, Mera gave birth to Aquaman's son, whom they named Arthur Curry, Jr., aka, Aquababy. Less than two years later, Mera suffered the greatest tragedy in her life. Aquaman's nemesis Black Manta kidnapped Arthur Curry, Jr. and confined inside of a translucent tank filled with poison. The child lapsed into a coma and Mera embarked upon an ambitious crusade to save him. She found the means to return to Dimension Aqua and fought against the tyrant Leron in order to learn the location of a special healing device. She discovered that Leron had taken all of Mera's possessions and cast them away into the Great Pit. Mera braved the pit and fought against elemental monsters in order to retrieve the device. Her quest proved successful, but as she returned home to Atlantis, she found that she was too late. Arthur Curry, Jr. had died.

Death of Her Son

This ultimately led Mera to suffer a nervous breakdown. She abandoned her husband Aquaman, blaming his "weak genes" for Arthur, Jr.'s death. It was her belief that had her son been born of a man from her dimension, then he would have been strong enough to survive Black Manta's attack. Their marriage dissolved, Aquaman left Atlantis, but Mera stayed behind. Her mental state continued to deteriorate until finally, one of the interim rulers, Lord Wexus had her committed to the AHARD-1 hospital center. She remained there for several months until such time that Aquaman returned to repel an invasion force of giant jellyfish. Aquaman tried to make peace with Mera, but she savagely attacked him. While attempting to defend himself, Aquaman accidentally pushed Mera too hard, impaling her upon an upturned piece of metal.

Believing her dead, Aquaman had her placed inside a coffin and taken to the royal palace. However, as Mera is not native to this dimension, her vital organs are not located in the same position as a normal human's. She in fact survived being impaled and rose from her coffin. With nothing more to say to Aquaman, Mera left the Earth realm and returned to Dimension Aqua.

Death of Her Husband

Atlantis was sent back in time by Tempest during the Imperiex war. When it was restored with the help of the Justice League, Mera became queen of Atlantis, while Aquaman was in exile. After the events of One Year Later, Mera regained her water breathing abilities, if not her full strength, and became the leader of a small rebel army, taking under her protection some refugees from the lost Atlantis, and the new Aquaman. This small group was determined to rebuild Atlantis after it had been destroyed by The Spectre. Unfortunately, Mera had to deal with the death of her beloved Aquaman, an event that forever changed the Queen of the Seas.

The Blackest Night

During the Blackest Night, Mera, Tempest, and a few Atlanteans attempted to relocate the body of Aquaman and return it to the royal tomb in Atlantis. Mera and the group were shocked to discover that her beloved's burial ground had been desecrated and that Aquaman had seemingly returned to life as a Black Lantern. He was soon joined by Tula and Dolphin, who were bent on the group's destruction. Believing this to be some sort of mind trick, a battle began between the Black Lantern Aquaman, Tula, Dolphin and Mera, Tempest, and a few Atlanteans. Mera was able to seemingly murder Dolphin, only for the zombie to regenerate. In the end, Tempest and the Atlanteans were killed, which allowed them to become Black Lanterns. Aquaman demanded that his love stand by his side so their deceased child could also be with them. Mera ignored this and fled into the ocean. She later met up with The Flash (Barry Allen) and The Atom, helping them to fight off more Black Lanterns.

As war with the Black Lanterns continued, Mera was driven into a rage, allowing her to become a deputy Red Lantern when a power ring latched onto her finger. With a heart full of hate, Mera continued the battle against death and briefly held her own against Wonder Woman who had become a deputized Star Sapphire after being freed from the control of the Black Lanterns. In the aftermath of Blackest Night, Mera witnessed Aquaman rise from the dead through the white light, and thus allowed her rage to subside. When the Red Power Ring leaves her, Mera immediately went into cardiac arrest since the power ring acts as the heart of a Red Lantern. With the help of Saint Walker and Carol Ferris, the effects of the red ring were reversed and Mera was reunited with her husband.

The Brightest Day

Brightest Day began with Mera and Aquaman rekindling their love at the lighthouse on Amnesty Bay. Though she tried to get Aquaman to enter the water, he was fearful since he had yet to return to it since his return from being a Black Lantern. Mera and Aquaman later appeared in front of a pirate ship that had taken children hostage. Mera unleashed two serpent dragon constructs made from the water and shouted that "Anyone who hurts children will feel my rage!" The Navy also came to rescue the children but as more pirates sailed in to protect them, Aquaman ended up summoning a zombie Giant Squid which killed everyone on board the new ship. As they were about to get harpooned, Arthur again summoned a zombie Great White Shark who devoured the marksman. Confused, they returned the rescued children to shore, and entered the water.

Off the coast of the North Atlantic, Mera watched as Aquaman again summoned a zombie Orca who attacked him. Mera attempted to console him and suggested they return to Atlantis. Arthur refused and Mera notes that her people would also be of no help. Mera later admits that she is home with Aquaman after the two embrace in a hug. Sometime later, Mera and Aquaman attempted to stop an oil spill, but were attacked by a woman who not only looked like Mera, but used similar powers as well. Mera referred to the woman as "Siren," and urged her husband to escape with her. Once they were safe, Aquaman asked Mera about the woman. Mera admits to Aquaman that she knew this day would come, confessing that she was originally sent to kill him.

DCnU

The Trench

Mera, often referred to as Aquawoman by the public, joined her husband, Arthur, when Deputy Wilson asked Aquaman to come to Beachrock and help them against The Trench.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Amphibian: Though not overtly visible, Mera possesses a set of gills, which allows her to extract oxygen from the surrounding environment enabling her to breathe underwater. Mera can also breathe in an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere, but only for limited periods of time. Prolonged exposure in an above-water environment will cause Mera to weaken, and ultimately die.

Telepathy: Mera possesses a limited degree of telepathy, which allows her to communicate with other Atlantean beings. Unlike Aquaman however, Mera cannot use this ability to communicate with lower order marine life.

Hydrokinesis: Mera possesses the ability to increase the density of water within her immediate vicinity for a wide variety of effects. This ability allows her to create "hard water" objects, reshaping volumes of water into simple geometric shapes. Mera commonly uses this power to create water missiles, which she projects towards a selected target.

Dimensional Travel: Mera has the ability to travel between her native world of Dimension Aqua and the Earth realm. Her aptitude with this power has not always been consistent, and there have been occasions when Mera has been forced to find an alternate recourse for crossing the barriers.

Abilities

Coming Soon

Strength

Enhanced Strength: In addition to her ability to perpetually exist underwater, Mera also possesses enhanced density and muscle mass, allowing her to survive at ocean depths that would prove unsafe for normal humans. This additional muscle mass also grants Mera enhanced speed and reflexes, ideal for underwater combat, though she can apply these skills for surface usage as well.

Weakness

Mental Instability: Throughout her adult life, Mera has had to deal with bouts of mental instability. This began after suffering a nervous breakdown following the death of her son and continued for many years. She was remanded to the care of the Atlantis Health and Rehabilitation Department and remained a patient at one of their facilities until finally returning to her native dimension. It has also been suggested that prolonged exposure to this reality may have altered Mera's brain chemistry, exacerbating her prolonged mental health issues. As later Dimension Aqua was retconned to be Xebel, a penal colony of Atlantis, and Mera never had shown signs of mental instability in the past, it can be safely assumed that the torn loyalties between her duties to her father (that implied kill Aquaman in retaliation for the imprisonment of Xebelites) and her love for her husband took a toll on her mind, further enhanced when, with A.J.'s death, she "finally" found a reason to hate the man she was literally sired to battle.
Vulnerability to Lead: Exposure to lead will rob Mera of her hard-water powers.

Equipment

Former Equipment

Red Lantern Power Battery

Weapons

Former Weapons

In Other Media

Mera appeared in the 1960s The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure TV Series voiced by Diane Maddox.
Mera appeared in the 2001 Justice League Animated Series voiced by Kristin Bauer. Her origins are not elaborated on, nor is she shown to have the ability to forge structures from hard water as in the comics, so she is presumably an Atlantean. She appears in "The Enemy Below", "The Terror Beyond", and "Hereafter" (attending Superman's funeral with her husband). Bruce Timm's design for Mera is inspired by her Silver Age comics look, but adds elegant touches of regality such as gold jewelry and transparent green draped fabric, as well as a midriff-baring halter.
Mera is featured in Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by Sirena Irwin. She made a brief cameo as part of Atlantis' royal family in the episode "Evil Under the Sea" where she is seated next to Aquaman and Orm (Ocean Master). Mera also appears in "Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure" where she demands her husband take her and Arthur Jr. on a land-based vacation. Mera has greater-than-human strength when helping to fight Penguin's henchmen, but she is not shown to have the ability to forge structures from hard water as in the comics.

DC Extended Universe

See: Mera (Amber Heard)

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