Brothers can be a pain in the butt.
But at the same time, I know that any squabbling that has happened between me
and either of my two brothers pales in comparison to the brothers of fiction. King Lear, Hamlet, and Richard III are
three examples of sibling rivalry gone wrong. The story pretty much every time
is of a younger brother, fed up with being number 2 or 3, attempting to take
out the big kahuna(s). And modern royal families of fiction seem to have similar
problems.
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| Hm... Another Ray themed costume. You're no Black Manta, Ocean Master. |
Aquaman’s half-brother Orm was born
to an Inupiat woman, the illegitimate son of the Atlantian demigod/wizard
Atlan. Apparently this was part of an Ancient Atlantian prophecy about two
brother’s fighting for the throne. Right, I’m sure that’s why Atlan bit the
bullet and sired another son. Orm spent most of his life not realizing his
Atlantian heritage, growing up with a traditionalist Inupiat family. This
changed when his globetrotting brother came to town. He saved Orm’s adopted
cousin Kako from a polar bear. Aquaman sticks around for a while, and he and
Kako got real close. Orm is very
irritated by this and later attacks Kako in a jealous rage. She better be on
his mother’s husbands side, or else EEEWW Orm. That’s just icky. She survives
the experience, but apparently had no memory of Orm attacking her. Aquaman
leaves a short time later, and then Orm follows. He spent several years
pirating, amassing a large fortune, and learning of his Atlantian heritage. He
got his Ocean Master costume together and attempted to overthrow his brother.
Aquaman bests Orm, banishing him from Atlantis forever. Which in comic book
time is probably about six months.
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| Evil wizard uses Trident to strip a queen of her power. Sounds awfully Freudian to me, especially with such a phallic object. <Slap> Stop psychoanalyzing this. |
Orm, being a persistent son of a
gun, continued to attack Atlantis from time to time, usually with the aid of
some of Aquaman’s other foes like Black Manta. Despite the aid of other
villains, they were never able to best Aquaman. Orm resorted to extremely
desperate measures to beat his brother by selling his soul to Neron, a powerful
Demon Lord. I’m gonna have to cover this guy soon, Neron keeps popping up in
these DC villain profiles. In exchange for the low, low price of one
Human/Atlantian soul, Orm got a powerful magic trident. With it, he could use
immensely powerful magic attacks, but the major downside is that if he’s ever
separated from it he’s suffers agonizing pain. Despite this, Orm continues to
use the Trident to seize the throne, which he feels is rightfully his. Which is
odd, when you think that Aquaman’s mother was the royal, and not their father.
At least Edmund in King Lear was the
illegitimate son of the right parent to complain about not getting the
inheritance.
Orm has the same Atlantian powers
as his brother. Immense strength and a resistance to the pressures of the deep
ocean. He can swim at immense speeds, and breathe air and water. Since getting
his magic trident he’s become an accomplished spellcaster, able to manipulate a
tsunami’s worth of water, lightning, and wind.
Orm has appeared opposite his
brother a number of times in the DC expanded universe.
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| Such brotherly love. |
Orm appeared in the Justice League TV series. In this
continuity he was a member of the Atlantis royal court, but is not mentioned to
be Aquaman’s brother. He does his best to depose Aquaman when they first begin
to interact with surface dwellers. He had Aquaman and his son on the side of a
cliff, intent on wiping out Aquaman’s bloodline to legitimize his take over.
This might have worked, had he not had the two imprisoned to the same big rock,
thus giving Aquaman the mad energy and parental fury to slice off his own hand.
Aquaman tossed his down that same fissure, killing him.
In Batman: the Brave and the Bold he appears in several episodes,
again trying to take the Atlantian throne. Aquaman continues to give Orm second
chances, because they are family. I’m all for forgiving family, but Matt or
Scott, if either of you ever tries to kill me, I’ll disown you. And I’d
expect the same of the two of you.
He has appeared in the background
of the Justice League: The Flashpoint
Paradox, supporting the much more brutal Aquaman’s attack on the surface
world and Amazons. I’ve read that he and a few of the Amazonians orchestrated
the entire plot to take control of the two kingdoms. It’s not mentioned in the
film, but an interesting subplot to note.
It’s too early to know who is going
to be playing Ocean Master in the live action movies, but it better be someone
who is up to Jason Mamoa’s sheer awesomeness.
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| I can't take him seriously in that get up. |
The whole, two royal brothers
fighting for dominance thing is one of the oldest tales in the book. Remember
Cain and Abel? Or Hamlet Sr. and Claudius in Hamlet? Or Scar and Mufasa in the Lion King? It’s common enough that it’s kind of amazing that a
king/queen wouldn’t have the presence of mind to make all kids feel special, to
avoid the whole conflict. That’s pretty much what it comes down to, a younger
sibling feeling slighted that they were born second or third. Such a silly
thing to hate someone over. I imagine the holidays would be tense with Orm in
the Atlantian feasts. Probably have to triple check Aquaman’s food for poison
before he eats it.
The Aquaman/Orm dynamic is an old
one, but at least it makes a bit more sense than say the Lion King or Hamlet set
up. For me it’s a lot more believable that two brother’s that have never really
had any bonding time hate each other. But that’s just me. In many way’s Orm
strikes me as a poor man’s Loki, especially when the magic element is added to
it. But, he is tenatious enough that I’m willing to overlook such comments.
Particularly since for Loki magic is a honed skill, one to make up for his lack
of physical superiority over his brother, while for Orm it was meant to give
him an edge over the sibling that presumably equaled his strength. He’s the undersea
wannabe king, Orm, the Ocean Master. Next time, we discuss the Unstoppable
Juggernaut…whom does get stopped on several occasions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Master
http://aquaman.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ocean-Master%27s_Prisoner.jpg
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/storm-vs-ocean-master-new-52-1550939/
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/File:Ocean_Master_bb1.jpg
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