Why Current Aquaman Beats Marvel's Hercules, Even Though Herc Wins on Strength

In a fight between today's Aquaman and Marvel's Hercules, Aquaman wins. Hercules is stronger, tougher and arguably a more dangerous grappler, and he is strong enough to keep it close, but current Arthur Curry has way too many ways to win and way too much power.

This matchup pits the king of Atlantis, avatar of the blue and one of the most slept on powerhouses in DC Comics, against the prince of power, a guy who consistently holds his own against gods like Thor and monsters like Hulk. Before the verdict, here is what each of them brings.

Aquaman doesn't talk to fish, and his strength is monstrous

For years people joked about Aquaman talking to fish. But the truth is, "Aquaman doesn't talk to fish. He commands the ocean itself." Arthur Curry is half human and half Atlantean, a hybrid whose bloodline grants him strength, speed and endurance far beyond anything on the surface. He is often overlooked next to names like Superman or Wonder Woman, but when Aquaman decides to fight, he is one of the most dangerous beings in the DC universe.

His strength isn't just enhanced, it's monstrous. He has traded blows with Wonder Woman, gone toe to toe with Superman, and overpowered foes like Martian Manhunter and Black Adam under the water. He has thrown tanks, shattered submarines with a single punch, and flung sea monsters the size of skyscrapers across the ocean floor. He has lifted cruise liners and broken Atlantean alloy, a metal tougher than anything found on land.

In his element his power spikes even higher. He has crushed enemies using the water pressure of the deep ocean, and one punch from him down there can hit with the force of a torpedo barrage.

Arthur Curry is fast and built to survive the Mariana Trench

Aquaman moves faster than the human eye can track, and not just in water but on land too. He has dodged machine gun fire at point blank range, swum through volcanic eruptions and blitzed opponents before they could even raise a weapon. In the ocean he is faster than almost anything that lives there, capable of swimming over 10,000 feet per second and outrunning torpedoes and submarines like they are standing still.

He is also durable. His body can withstand the pressure of the Mariana Trench, which is over 16,000 pounds per square inch. He has shrugged off point blank explosions, heat vision, magical attacks and strikes from beings who can shatter mountains. He has survived blades that can pierce Kryptonian skin, tanked lightning bolts and walked away from orbital reentry through the atmosphere.

Aquaman's real danger is his dominion over 70% of the planet

The real danger of Aquaman isn't just his strength, it's his dominion. He rules 70% of the planet. Every ocean, every current and every creature beneath the surface listens to him. Through telepathic command he can control and communicate with every form of marine life on Earth, from tiny plankton to colossal beasts like the Trench or the monstrous Karathen. That telepathy is psionic communication powerful enough to stagger minds on a planetary scale, and he has used it to shut down opponents mentally, overwhelm psychic barriers and influence creatures across continents.

Then there is the Trident of Poseidon, a divine relic forged by the gods of Olympus and capable of channeling elemental forces. With it, Aquaman can summon tsunamis, manipulate lightning, control magical currents and even pierce magical barriers that stop Superman cold. He has cut through Atlantean steel, deflected omega beams and struck beings far beyond mortal comprehension. Some versions of the trident grant him near omnipotent control over the seas.

Beyond the feats and weapons, his greatest strength might just be his resolve. He is a king who fights for both the human and Atlantean worlds and carries the burden of uniting them. He has led armies against the surface, fought off alien invasions beneath the waves and stood beside the Justice League as their equal. He is not just the king of Atlantis, he is the king of Earth's last greatest frontier.

Marvel's Hercules is a living demigod who picked fights with Thor

Most people know Hercules from the myths and the 12 labors, but the Marvel version isn't a myth. He is a living, breathing demigod who has been operating in the present day for decades, drinking, brawling, carousing and somehow still finding time to save the universe on a regular basis. He is significantly more dangerous than people give him credit for.

He is the son of Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, and a mortal woman. Born in ancient Greece, forged through the 12 labors and given immortality through his divine heritage, he landed in the modern Marvel Universe, where he immediately picked fights with Thor and the Avengers and eventually became one of them. He has been alive for thousands of years, fighting monsters, gods and cosmic entities, and through it all he has stayed the Prince of Power, the strongest of the Olympians.

Hercules held the Axis Mundi, and his strength is rated immeasurable

His strength is genuinely staggering. He dragged the entire island of Manhattan with a chain, an island that conservatively weighs over 2 million pounds, and did it casually enough that it was barely noted in the comic. He lifted Godzilla from underneath him and threw him with one hand. He lifted the heavens, the actual sky with stars and planets visible inside the burden, and held it.

He has gone toe to toe with Thor across decades of comics, and their fights are always competitive. In their very first encounter, Hercules actually overpowered the God of Thunder and won outright. Together with Thor, they have generated enough force to demolish worlds and knock planets out of orbit. He matched World War Hulk in direct combat, and he defeated the Sentry, widely considered one of Marvel's most powerful heroes, stopping his punch in the palm of his hand and turning the fight in his favor.

Then there is the Axis Mundi. When Atlas needed a replacement to hold the burden of the heavens, Hercules took it. The Axis Mundi is the Greek cosmological equivalent of Yggdrasil, stated to contain infinite universes across all infinite planes of reality, and Hercules held it on his shoulders. That is why his peak lifting strength is rated as immeasurable.

Hercules invented pankration and belongs in Marvel's top five

His weapon is an adamantine mace forged by Hephaestus himself, explicitly stated and shown to be the equal of Thor's Mjolnir. He trades blows with the god of thunder using it regularly, though he prefers his bare hands.

His fighting ability is what gets slept on most. Hercules invented pankration, the most complete ancient Greek martial art, a combination of boxing and wrestling refined for lethal combat, and he has used it for thousands of years against monsters, gods and cosmic entities. Thor has acknowledged that their combat skills are essentially matched, which is not something Thor says lightly.

The drinking, the boasting and the chaos of his personal life obscure the fact that he is one of the most genuinely elite physical heroes in Marvel Comics. Not top 10, top five. The company he keeps, Thor, Hulk and Sentry, is the company of someone who has spent thousands of years proving the title of prince of power isn't just words.

Strength goes to Hercules, even though Aquaman can hurt him

So who wins? Aquaman has always been way more powerful than people give him credit for, and recently he has got some pretty insane upgrades, so this fight is a whole lot closer than it would have been just a few years ago.

Strength is definitely Hercules. But Aquaman is ridiculously strong. He has thrown around King Shark, battled Despero, hurt Superman and fought Wonder Woman, and he has even punched DC's version of Hercules across an island. Arthur is easily one of the strongest members of the Justice League, and I think you can argue he is top 10. He is more than strong enough to hurt Herc.

Hercules is just on another level, though. He has wrestled evenly with Thor, arm wrestled him without either able to overpower the other, and restrained Thor in a hold he couldn't simply muscle out of. He has overpowered Ares, fought Hulk, and overpowered Doc Samson, She-Hulk and Spider-Man at the same time. He has helped level a mountain, helped shift the Earth, pulled Manhattan and taken Atlas's place holding up the heavens. If these two are just trying to overpower each other, Hercules is winning.

Hercules also edges durability after thousands of years of god punches

Honestly, I think Hercules takes durability too. Aquaman is very tough. His body is adapted to survive the pressure at the bottom of the ocean, bullets bounce off him, and he has taken attacks from Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Despero, Superman and plenty of other heavy hitters. Current Arthur has gotten even harder to put down, especially with everything going on with the blue.

But Herc has spent thousands of years getting punched by gods, taking attacks from Thor, Hulk, Ares and other Olympians and surviving massive explosions and magical attacks. His Olympian physiology makes him insanely difficult to kill. He heals, he barely ages, most weapons do nothing, and he can basically keep fighting through sheer will. If Arthur just stands there and trades punches with him, that is probably not going to end well.

Aquaman has the speed, but Hercules controls a close fight

Speed is where Aquaman starts getting advantages of his own. Hercules isn't necessarily slow and can react to Thor and Iron Man, but Aquaman is consistently an insanely fast and agile fighter, especially underwater. He has dodged gunfire, torpedoes and energy blasts, and he can cover huge distances across the ocean incredibly quickly.

I want to give props to Arthur on skill, because he gets really underrated as a fighter. He is trained in Atlantean combat, has spent years fighting Black Manta and Ocean Master, has fought Wonder Woman, Superman, Martian Manhunter and entire armies, and is ridiculously skilled with swords and tridents. He even fought the elite assassin Cheshire and, once he stopped holding back, basically disarmed her and beat her in three moves.

The problem is that Hercules might be one of the worst possible people to fight hand to hand. He is a master boxer, wrestler and grappler, he invented and mastered pankration, and he regularly fights gods as strong as he is. He is skilled enough to get Thor into holds and keep him there. Basically, "Aquaman does not want Hercules getting his hands on him" because then Herc controls the fight.

As avatar of the blue, Aquaman can attack the water inside Hercules

Powers and weapons are where the whole fight swings Aquaman's way. Herc's powers are straightforward: unbelievably strong, unbelievably durable, basically never tired. He sometimes carries his golden mace, but more often his biggest weapon is himself. Aquaman has much more. Even before his upgrades he had telepathy, mentally controlling sea creatures, commanding the Trench and using it on normal people and powerful minds. I don't think he can just mind control Hercules and instantly win, since Herc has dealt with too many gods and telepaths, but it is still something to worry about. He also has the trident and a magical weapon connected to the Lady of the Lake.

The biggest problem is that Aquaman is now the avatar of the blue. He can control water itself: move massive amounts of it, weaponize it, protect himself with it, manipulate any moisture around him and bring the pressure of the ocean down on his opponent. Herc really has one way to win, getting close, wrestling and overpowering Aquaman. Now Aquaman can control the battlefield, keep his distance, attack with water and use weapons when Hercules gets too close.

Under the water this is not a fight, and outside it isn't much better. When Aquaman fought Hawkman, Hawkman tried to get him away from the ocean. It didn't work. Arthur manipulated the moisture around him and then realized Hawkman himself was a source of water, using the water inside his body to take him down. Hercules' durability mostly protects him from things hitting him from the outside. Aquaman doesn't have to punch him; he can attack the water already inside him.

Current Aquaman fights gods of gods, so he wins

At this point Aquaman is the living embodiment of every ocean across the multiverse, with every tide, storm and drop of water that has ever existed flowing through him. He has gained the power to freeze oceans and forge weapons of ice, and electrokinesis to summon lightning. He has fought armies of Kryptonians, stabbed the Kryptonian sun god and even fought an aspect of the Great Darkness that controls literal gods. That is where Aquaman is right now: fighting gods of gods.

"This was classic Aquaman, I'm going Hercules." But current Aquaman has way too many ways to win and way too much power. Hercules is strong enough to keep it close, but at the end of the day, Aquaman wins.

Do you think Hercules could close the distance and grapple his way to a win, or does the avatar of the blue have this one locked up?