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A story in DC’s Aquaman 80th Anniversary Special sent Arthur Curry back to the early days of Atlantis to fight alongside Arion its legendary king.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Aquaman 80th Anniversary Special, on sale now from DC Comics.
2021 marks the 80th anniversary of Aquaman. To commemorate the aquatic hero’s auspicious anniversary, DC released Aquaman 80th Anniversary Special – a 100-page anthology collecting 11 stories that explore the King of Atlantis and his compatriots’ impressive history in the DC Universe. Stephanie Phillips, Hendry Prasetya, Ulises Arreola and Travis Lanham’s “Multitudes” takes Arthur Curry back into ancient Atlantian history to introduce him to the legendary king, Arion.
“Multitudes” finds Aquaman in a particularly pensive mood. He is struggling to balance his complicated identity as a superhero, an underwater king, a family man and an occasionally brutal warrior. But, Arthur’s reverie is interrupted when he finds himself falling back in time into the fabled history of Atlantis. Aquaman is alarmed to find his kingdom above sea level and practically abandoned. Before long, he encounters a mysterious figure practicing magic and preparing for battle.
The figure reveals himself to be none other than Arion, the one-time king of Atlantis who also happened to be one of the most powerful wizards in history. But, Aquaman doesn’t have time to be awestruck by the presence of his famous predecessor. The two are attacked by malevolent wolf-men who appear to be hell-bent on dethroning Arion and taking control of Atlantis for themselves. Aquaman grabs a trident from a nearby statue and the two kings manage to fend off the first wave of wolf-men. The next batch threatens to overwhelm the prestigious duo, but Arion is able to unleash a burst of magic energy that defeats the wolf-men and proves that the ancient king was as powerful as the stories said. After their battle, the two Atlantians talk briefly before Arion helps Arthur return to his time. When he arrives back home, it is with a new sense of clarity and purpose. Fighting alongside the ancient king has helped him to reconcile the many aspects of his life and put his numerous responsibilities into perspective
Arion’s life story is the stuff of legend to the people of Atlantis. First appearing in Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema’s 1982 Warlord #55 – his brilliant mind and almost unlimited magical abilities earned him a reputation as both a statesman and a warrior in the early days of Atlantis. This impressive reputation attracted the attention of the god Poseidon. In 2019’s Justice League #12 by James Tynion IV, Frazer Irving, Bruno Redondo and Sunny Gho – the god of the sea explained to Arion that the magical “life force” was only present in Earth’s oceans. So, Arion put his impressive intellect to good use and found a way to reproduce the life force on other planets. He tried to share this knowledge with cosmic gods, but Poseidon grew jealous and tricked him into believing that the gods were planning to use his invention to destroy the planet, so Arion helped Poseidon fight and imprison the gods before descending into madness.
Arion’s meteoric rise and fall prove just how capable he was as both an inventor and a fighter. It is no wonder that a figure of his abilities remained influential long after his death. For a time, his brilliance gave him god-like power over the entire cosmos, but Poseidon tricked him into abandoning his goal of spreading the life force. Aquaman’s encounter with the legend, humanizes Arion while illustrating that he was every bit as impressive as the legends suggested.
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