Arthur Curry was always meant to take his mother's throne as the rightful heir to Atlantis, despite being half-mortal. But Aquaman wouldn't have fulfilled his legacy if he hadn't been found and persuaded by Mera herself, the princess of another underwater kingdom, Xebel. That said, do Aquaman and Mera end up together?
Considering that they both spent the most time together in both underwater and surface worlds, it's no wonder they eventually ended up falling in love. But since they have had other love interests in the DC comics, will they end up together on the big screens, too?
Does Aquaman End Up with Princess Mera?
When Arthur has been convinced his whole life that Atlantis wanted nothing to do with him for being a half-breed (half-human and half-Atlantean), Mera came right after him to remind him that it is his birthright to claim the throne under Queen Atlanta’s absence.
Their chemistry almost always clicked whenever they had their first meetings in the DC comics, however, this doesn’t seem to be the case in the live-action film.
The first Aquaman film portrays their relationship as leaning more on banters and arguments rather than instantaneous chemistry, which quite frankly strengthened their eventual romance like many enemies-to-lovers tropes usually do.
Considering they ended up kissing right in the middle of the War for the Seas, with Mera helping Arthur again by making her father retreat from hurting the King of Atlantis, their love story can only expand from there.
It’s only a matter of time before we can watch them get married and rule the seas together. However, canonically, did they have any other love interests in the DC lore comics?
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Who is Aquaman’s Love Interest Besides Mera?
Aquaman and Mera got married together in the DC Comics. In fact, in almost every timeline that existed, they always had their firstborn to be a son named Arthur Jr.
But the thing is, Arthur Jr. also served as a weakness and the point where Aquaman and Mera’s relationship deteriorated.
The Black Manta sought revenge against Aquaman for killing his father. So, Black Manta ends up taking their son’s life to make it even. (Hint: This seems to be exactly what is being planned to happen in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom).
That said, did Aquaman have any other love interests in the DC comics aside from Princess Mera?
In the Flashpoint alternative timeline, Arthur and Mera were already married. However, when the Atlanteans formed an alliance with the Amazons, Arthur had an affair with Diana (aka Wonder Woman).
Though Aquaman visibly has had a secret attraction towards her in the main timeline, as well, it is in Flashpoint where Aquaman even went as far as to claim that Wonder Woman is the main reason he stayed in the Justice League.
There was also another DC mini-series called Time and Tide, where Arthur saved a woman named Kako from almost getting killed by a polar bear.
After they had grown close to one another, the duo ended up making love together in the snow, which led to Arthur’s illegitimate son being born.
But those two weren’t the only times Aquaman cheated. There was another surface dweller that captured his heart: a woman named Esther Maris, a journalist he ended up being more than friends with.
Perhaps the most evident love interest Arthur had that stuck with DC fans is a genetically mutated human with Atlantean powers named Dolphin (yes, her actual name).
It was one of those rare moments where Mera had caught her estranged husband having an affair with another woman.
It’s no wonder their marriage had to be dissolved at one point, given the multiple times they cheated on one another. That’s right, Mera did it, too.
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Who is Mera’s Love Interest Besides Aquaman?
In the live-action film, Mera was betrothed to marry Arthur’s half-brother, Orm, as a part of her duties as a Xebelian princess, whether or not she had feelings for him.
Since Mera’s political ideals clashed with Orm’s, there was no way she wanted to marry him. Thanks to that, she ended up falling for the true Atlantean King, instead.
Did you know that in the DC lore, Arthur and Mera’s first meeting wasn’t supposed to be romantic? Mera was actually instructed to assassinate the rightful ruler of Atlantis, seeing as this was what she was raised to believe and trained to do her whole life.
But after spending more time together and getting to know Arthur both as Aquaman and the Atlantean King, she fell in love.
What really drifted this couple apart began when they lost their son, and it didn’t help that Aquaman used this as an excuse to focus more on his heroic acts than tending to the family he was supposed to protect and nurture.
While Nereus was depicted to be the King of Xebel and the father of Mera in the DC film, he was originally Mera’s lover in the New 52 Comics. He wanted to rule the kingdom with her as his Queen once he ensured Atlantis had fallen.
This, however, is no affair at all, considering Nereus’ declaration of his feelings was not mutually felt on Mera’s end.
When Arthur had been going off to his other love interests outside his marriage, Mera also had her own affair. Although to be fair, she met this man after their marriage was revoked under Atlantean law.
Mera met and fell in love with Noble, the leader of an Atlantean splinter group. Unlike Arthur, though, she wasn’t easily reeled into the idea of committing to another man.
What turned into her last straw, though, was that Noble had the power to make any members of the opposite sex immediately attracted to him.
It's safe to say that the live-action film, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is likely dedicated to making Arthur and Mera get their own happy ending through marriage.
However, how the DC Universe plans to relay their romantic journey from the comics remains to be seen.
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