Aquaman, born as Orin to Queen Atlanna and the mysterious wizard Atlan, was abandoned on Mercy Reef as a baby because of his blond hair, which was seen by the superstitious Atlantean as a curse, The Mark of Kordax .Raised first by dolphins, then by a lighthouse keeper who gave him his own name, Arthur Curry, you could say he had an unusual childhood. Sometime in his teens he met and fell in love with an Inupiat named Kako. He left (was driven away) before he knew she was pregnant with his son.

He discovered his Atlantean heritage by dropping in on an oppressed Atlantis, and becoming a prisoner. He learned the language and who his mother was during that time, as well as forging a lasting friendship with Vulko, an Atlantean scientist.

Sometime later he was introduced to hero-hood by the Flash. He didn't like it much, but eventually learned to deal with it, as evidenced by his eventual leadership of the Justice League.

He also was able to claim his birthright as King of Atlantis, though he was surprised to discover that Vulko had led the overthrow of the oppressive religious regime, inspired by Aquaman. He met Aqualad, who became his friend and almost-son. He married Mera, a queen from another dimension, and had son with her. Life was going great!

Then, of course, came the bad times. He lost his son to a vindictive Manta, and lost the trust of Aqualad at the same time . After rocky times, starting with Aquaman's quest for revenge on Manta and ending with his absence when his city was attacked and conquered ,Mera left him for her own dimension. His people slowly lost faith in him, and too eagerly followed his son into disaster . And he even lost his hand, too.

In madness and grief, he was slowly brought back into the world of heroes by Dolphin and Aqualad. After learning the secret of Poseidonis, he fought off an alien invasion by uniting Earth's underwater heroes against them. He met his father, Atlan, and learned more about his mystical heritage.

And then he went mad after his dolphin mother was killed by a Japanese dolphin hunter seeking revenge. He lost control of his powers, which he learned were more formidable than he suspected. He endangered the world enough for the Earth Elemental, Swamp Thing, to step in and wake him up .

After finding himself again, he asked the sea life to forgive him, and accept him again as their King. In his insanity, though, the sea had fled to the protection of Poseidon, and he had to fight Poseidon's son Triton to regain his status. When he won, a ticked off Poseidon gave him the power of a god to show him that he can't handle it .

Blind, he stumbled onto Animal Man and helped him out . He learned how to control his sonar abilities and to reach into "The Clear" with Animal Man's help. He then returned to his home in time to greet his returning people, who had to get used to living on the surface of the ocean .

But Triton wasn't done with him. After killing Atlan and Poseidon, Triton killed Aquaman and took over the city. Aquaman, in the mythical underworld of Hades, saved Poseidon and returned to life, defeating Triton with Poseidon's help. Then Aquaman went off to another dimension to save Mera, returned and exiled his son Koryak, and had a birthday party.