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When Mera took the title of Aquawoman, DC decided to sideline her as a ‘woman alternative’ to Aquaman, which made her a simple sidekick.
When DC created Mera, they set her up as Aquaman’s love interest. But as Aquawoman, she evolved into so much more before she was sidelined. Recently, comics have become to reverse how female characters have been treated in the past. Mera is an example of this, as she once had a much weaker role.
As Queen of Atlantis, Mera has a lot of power behind her name and has quickly become one of the most well-known women in the DCU. Her prominence and ability to protect Atlantis earned her respect in a lot of heroes’ eyes. Even now she makes waves in her kingdom by being a very proud and powerful leader of her kingdom alongside Aquaman.
While the name “Aquawoman” is not used that often, Mera has used it before in the past and the name is still associated with her. It was first given to her in Aquaman #49 by Dan Abnett, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, and Andrew Dalhouse. She was given the title as a direct counterpart to Aquaman, and to solidify their link she was even given a costume that looked nearly identical to his. She was no longer “Mera” when she was fighting for her home, she was the “alternative” to Arthur and suddenly a sidekick.
Mera’s Time As Aquawoman Undercut Her Growth As A Character.
Mera becoming Queen of Atlantis was influential for many reasons, one of which was that she came from a province that many Atlanteans considered beneath them. The House Xebel is not as widely respected as the other provinces, which made accepting Mera as Queen a lot harder to do for many civilians. However, Mera proved herself worthy of the throne by showing her devotion and loyalty to Atlantis, alongside her strength. She was officially crowned in Aquaman #33 by Dan Abnett, Stjepan Sejic and Riccardo Federici through the good will of the people and her husband, Arthur Curry. Though many associated her with Arthur, she is beyond capable of holding her own and making a name for herself that is respected and revered throughout the kingdom.
Her name, Mera, is a source of power for the Queen of Atlantis. Compared to a lot of other heroes, she doesn’t use an alias when she fights off attackers, and instead makes her name well known to them. Many of her enemies know her simply as Mera, the Queen of Atlantis, until she was given an alias by DC. In Aquaman #50, when she got the name Aquawoman, she was still able to hold her own on the battlefield, but her enemies knew her as Aquaman’s sidekick, or an alternative to Aquaman. She lost her individuality and was reduced to a smaller role simply because of the name change. Shedding the name “Aquawoman” completely helped her regain respect to her own name and managed to bring her back into the spotlight as just Mera.
By making Mera a sidekick, DC put a prominent female character into a supporting role once again, one that was used as a prop for their leading man. She isn’t simply a “female alternative” to Aquaman, and claiming that she is disrespects all that her character stands for. Giving the Aquawoman title to Mera dismisses her progress in the DCU, but now that she doesn’t use it as much, she has room for more evolution.
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