Aquaman's age in the New 52

Thanks to the knowledge that Arthur just attended his 10 year high school reunion, we can surmise that Aquaman is about 28 years old. There were a few clues about his timeline just before that, however. In a flashback while Aquaman was battling the Karaqan (in Aquaman #27), we learn about Tom Curry's grandmother.


According to Tom, his grandmother took over the lighthouse on Amnesty Bay in 1938, after her husband was killed in the Great New England Hurricane, which hit the coast on September 21, 1938. She then ran the lighthouse for more than 40 years. We can guess that to be almost 47 years, because of Arthur's age.

In 2014, Arthur's graduating class celebrates its 10 year reunion. That means Arthur graduated in 2004... if he was 18 when he graduated (like many American high school students) then he would have been born in 1986, give or take a few months.

Tom says he met Atlanna soon after taking over the lighthouse from his grandmother, and roughly nine months to a year after meeting Tom, Atlanna had Arthur. Let's say Tom came to the lighthouse in 1985. Give or take a few months. So if Tom's grandmother took over in late 1938, she ended up running the lighthouse for about 47 years before she passed away.

Also of note, Vulko told Aquaman (in Aquaman #0) that Tom and Atlanna met during a storm called "The Raging Eye" that encompassed the entire mid-Atlantic. While the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 is a historical storm in our world, Vulko's description of The Raging Eye makes it seem like it's not one that happened anywhere but in the DCU. The closest thing to that sort of major storm in 1985 is Hurricane Gloria, and that wasn't as big as the storm Vulko describes (although it was plenty big enough).

Of course, all this could be off by a year or a few, depending on when the events in the book supposedly happened in the DCU (since the timelines are a little... flexible). Remember, in some DCU books the Justice League is still trapped and the Crime Syndicate is still in charge. So who knows what the actual year is in the DCU books?