The first issue of “Future State: Aquaman” quickly illustrates a couple of key major differences between the new hero Aquawoman and her father.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Future State: Aquaman #1 by Brandon Thomas, Daniel Sampere, Adriano Lucas & Clayton Cowles, on sale now
The DC Universe of Future State is one where the next generation of heroes have had to pick up where their predecessors left off, protecting the world from all sorts of dangers and threats. While some of these heroes have been eager to throw off the histories they bring with them, others have surprising similarities with the previous heroes — even if that comes with their own unique twist.
The grown-up Aquawoman of Future State has a lot in common with her father, but two important elements of the character — her ability to speak with sea-life and a major injury she suffers at her own hand — are uniquely tweaked for the character.
In the Future State era, Jackson Hyde has taken over the role of Aquaman from his former mentor. He’s taken Aquaman and Mera’s daughter Andy under his wing as his partner — with the young woman eventually becoming Aquawoman and serving alongside the Justice League. However, their time together reveals two major differences between Andy and her father. Firstly, Andy initially appears to have the same abilities as her father to speak with sea-life. However, while her father can communicate with sea-life and give it commands, Andy’s power is more akin to fully controlling the creatures’ actions — more akin to telepathy than anything else. It’s a difference that unsettles Andy, with the young woman keeping the abilities a secret from Jackson.
Andy believes that Jackson would judge her for this distinction, and it’s something she hates about her abilities. She also ends up with another distinct similarity to her father. While lost in the Confluence, the two end up chased by a monstrous leviathan. Although Jackson is able to break free thanks to his abilities, Andy isn’t able to be freed the same way. Grabbing onto her leg, Jackson tries to pull Andy free. Realizing that she still has a chance to cut Jackson free, Andy creates a blade out of water slices through her leg under the knee. This sends a tearful Jackson falling back to the ocean, where he’s eventually found and captured by a mysterious alien force, who’ve held him for years by the time Future State: Aquaman takes place.
Losing an appendage isn’t out of the ordinary for the Aquaman family. This bears a striking similarity to how her father lost his hand during his career as Aquaman in the Post-Crisis DC Universe, although she seems to replace the lost limb by the time of Future State: Justice League. Her father didn’t get his own hand replaced for some time, instead opting to use a hook and eventually magic to replace his lost appendage. But thanks to the future technology present in Future State, Andy’s leg may have been fully restored or replaced — which is why it hasn’t been obvious before that she’d lost the limb. The fact that it was a sacrifice to save a loved one is also consistent with the DC Animated Universe version of Aquaman, who cut off his hand to rescue his infant son.
It’ll be interesting to see if there are any other differences in her abilities that could give her an even larger edge over her father — especially if the Future State incarnation of the DC Universe remains a major setting. It’ll also be interesting to see how quickly the former Aqualass adapted to the loss of her leg — and how she overcame that pain.
