Do people no longer think of Aquaman as a joke?

[Vordan]

Aquaman hadn’t been a joke to comic book readers for a long time but Momoa’s portrayal of Arthur completely changed the general public’s perception of the character.



That wouldn’t be a bad idea. Aquaman could still be “King of the Oceans” because he was chosen to wield Atlan’s trident and he has a telepathic connection to sea life unlike any other Atlantean.

On a related note, I always found it odd that Black Panther’s Wakanda is supposed to be one of the most advanced civilizations on the planet but they still don’t have democracy.

Aquaman isn’t King anymore. Hasn’t been since Rebirth.

Why would they? History isn’t a straight line where we’re all “developing” towards some endpoint. The Roman Republic gave way to the Roman Empire which is viewed as the height of Rome. The French Revolution ended the same way with Napoleon. China has become one of the major players on the world stage without loosening its authoritarianism a bit (and part of what fueled its rise was the mistaken belief in the West that China would end up adapting their political structure while it adopted their economic structure which ended up being false).

Coates did try to make Wakanda a constitutional monarchy in his run but that got abandoned after the movie came out and now we’re back to T’Challa being more or less an absolute monarch.

[Frontier]

Aquaman isn’t King anymore. Hasn’t been since Rebirth.

Why would they? History isn’t a straight line where we’re all “developing” towards some endpoint. The Roman Republic gave way to the Roman Empire which is viewed as the height of Rome. The French Revolution ended the same way with Napoleon. China has become one of the major players on the world stage without loosening its authoritarianism a bit (and part of what fueled its rise was the mistaken belief in the West that China would end up adapting their political structure while it adopted their economic structure which ended up being false).

Coates did try to make Wakanda a constitutional monarchy in his run but that got abandoned after the movie came out and now we’re back to T’Challa being more or less an absolute monarch.

I know monarchies can be a touch subject in real life but they feel like a staple of the fantasy genre in my opinion, and certain characters holding that kind of absolute power, responsibility, and weight to them without it necessarily being a bad thing can be appealing.