How come Ariel has a tail but Aquaman doesn't?!?

Question

Wondering (I'm not up on the Aquaman origin story). Sorry.

Answer 1

No need to apologize, it’s hard to keep track of all this. According to Superman’s one-time girlfriend Lori Lemaris (another mermaid, with an LL name) Atlanteans took treatments to adapt them to undersea life after their city had sunk beneath the waves and was protected by a plastic dome (similar to Argo City—see Supergirls’ origin.) Thus, Lori and her people had fishlike tails. (I always suspected that they were actually dolphinlike tails, but that the artists got it mixed up.)

But that didn’t match with Aquaman, who could breathe water with his lungs and had human legs instead of a tail. (Aquaman was the first superhero in all of comics to get married, to Mera, so he obviously did get his share of tail at some point, but that’s another story.)

Furthermore (to complicate things just a wee bit) a Justice League story of the 70’s [Plague of the Pale People] revealed that there was another humanoid Atlantean race, only they were sickly white, a fish belly white instead of a ‘Caucasian’ white. They developed weapons based on nerve gas, which the surface dwellers (us) had dumped into the sea to get rid of it. They attacked the ‘Caucasian’ Atlantean race and demanded racial equality. (Hawkman led them to peace, in a story which was very touching and meaningful.)

So, there were several separate sections of Atlantis (DC gives each one a name, but I don’t recall them.) In one area, the people developed tails and in the others, they did not. I am sure it was not an intentional distinction on the part of the writers and editors of Dc comics. It was probably just a fluke.

18 FEB 07, 0350 hrs, GMT.

Answer 2

Different Atlantians. Disney vs DC comics. There are merpeople in the DC universe from Atlantis, just different grouping from Aquaman. Different groups adapted differently to the delunge.

Answer 3

It's all about genes. He's half Mer-Whatever, and half human. Ariel is all Mermaid, all the time. Aquaman's human half just took dominance in his DNA makeup. That's why he can breathe both air & water, too.

Answer 4

Aquaman isn't a Merman.

Answer 5

Because she is cool enough to have a tail, Aquaman is lame!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

He'd be an human, she's a mermaid, with dinglehoppers.