Smallville serves as a great original tale for not just Clark Kent but also the rest of the Justice League members. The younger version of Arthur Curry (aka Aquaman) starts out as a college swimming champion, who finds himself caught in a world full of superpowered villains and brainy conspirators like Lex Luthor.
Since Arthur Curry is only a supporting character appearing in limited episodes of the critically acclaimed CW show, his storylines are fewer and easier to memorize compared to those of Clark Kent. However, there is a profusion of extra hidden information about the future king of Atlantis both on the show and in other media.
Important Details In His Profile
Soon after Toyman is hired by Lex Luthor, he acquires files on most of the future Justice League members. Arthur Curry's file shows that he is 6'1 and his eyes are conveniently described as aqua blue in color. As for his place of birth, it's listed as Mercy Reef. These details are once again confirmed in Sylvester's yearbook.
This version of Aquaman is also a little shorter than the current one portrayed by Jason Momoa, who is 6'3 tall. However, Arthur is also 6'1 in the comics hence the Smallville version is more comic-accurate in this regard.
Aquaman Colors Align With Those Of The College
Arthur is revealed to be a student of the University of Miami, which has orange and green as its main colors. These are also the colors of Aquaman's costume not only in Smallville but in all kinds of DC-related media.
It's possible that the writers chose the University of Miami as Arthur's school because its colors match those of Aquaman, hence it would feel like a natural home for him away from Atlantis.
A Major Vulnerability To Water
This version of Aquaman is portrayed as extremely weak when deprived of water. He almost dies when Lex Luthor keeps him out of water for too long and is only saved when Clark activates a water sprinkler on his body. The DCEU version of Aquaman operates fine both on land and water since he breathes water while in the ocean and oxygen while on land.
Removing this vulnerability for the DCEU version of the hero was important since most of the action on Justice League (the movie in which Momoa first appears as Aquaman) takes place far away from water bodies. Despite this weakness, Arthur remains one of the most gifted heroes in the show as it's revealed he can swim way faster than Clark.
A Spin-off Series Almost Happened
After the first episode featuring Arthur Curry got extremely high ratings ("Aqua"), a spinoff series titled Mercy Reef was greenlit. A pilot was made in which Justin Hartley starred as the water-loving hero.
Unfortunately, it became one of the planned TV spinoffs fans never got to see and Hartley was cast as Oliver Queen (aka Green Arrow). DC fans can't help but wonder what would have become of the show. It would take years before another Aquaman project was greenlit.
A Series Exclusive Power
Arthur Curry is one of the fan-favorite characters in Smallville because he is just as powerful as Clark. One of his unique powers is the ability to create water balls and use them to attack foes, with the ability having the power to knock people out. Other versions of Aquaman lack this specific power.
In the show's perspective, it feels like Arthur is granted the power in order to give him the means to defeat the overpowered Clark during their first interaction. The two aren't on the best of terms when they first meet, since Arthur is also seeing Lois. It's only using the water balls that Arthur is able to knock Clark and destabilize him.
His Age
Arthur's age is never revealed on the show, but by Season 11, he is 25 years old, just like Clark and Victor (Cyborg). This is according to Smallville writer Bryan Q. Miller.
In the comics, most of the Justice League members also fall within the same age bracket. Batman is always portrayed as the oldest and more experienced of the bunch, hence the reason why he serves as the leader. The superheroes are around the same age is no coincidence since most of them were created around the same time during the Golden Age of comics
His Phone Number
In another "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" moment on Smallville, Arthur Curry's phone number is revealed to be 429-555-0169. This little detail emerges in one of the best episodes of Smallville's Season 8 ("Odyssey") where LuthorCorp uses an encoded signal from a telecommunications satellite to establish the phone number of each Justice League member in order to track them down.
The number is entirely a fictional one since the North American Numbering Plan Administrator hasn't assigned "429" to any region. Given that Arthur Carry is from Miami, fans would have expected his phone number to have the area's code. Nevertheless, it's safer to give a fictional character a fake number so as to avoid real-life clashes.
His Aliases
A closer look at Sylvester Pemberton's notebook in season 9's "Absolute Justice, Part 1" reveals some of the aliases that Arthur Curry goes by. These are "A.C.," "The Ocean Wizard," "The Sea King", "The Sea Mariner," "Orin," and the "King of the Seas."
All of Arthur's nicknames are fitting since they are linked to his ability to maneuver water bodies. Fans are much more familiar with A.C. (short for Arthur Curry since it's used several times on the show). Orin is Arthur's birth name, which even he isn't aware of at first. It's his wife Mera that helps him discover this detail.
Details In His Costumes
Arthur's Aquaman costume is a little different in the series. On occasion, he wears green pants and an orange top with a hood. One version of the hood has a sleeve while the other is sleeveless. There's always a dagger saddled to his left leg too. An outline of the letter "A" is also stitched onto his top.
This suit is nowhere near as detailed as that of the DCEU version of the character. While the young Arthur Curry appears to be wearing normal orange and green outfits, the DCEU's Aquaman inherited his suit from the first rule of Atlantis—Atlan. The suit is much more refined, with customized gills, scales, and gloves.
Alan Ritchson's Role
Alan Ritchson portrayed Arthur Curry in Smallville, though he was to miss out on the part in the spinoff series that didn't take off. This isn't his only DC role as he always portrays Hank Hall aka Hawk in Titans. Like Arthur, this role has been short-lived since he has quit in order to work on the upcoming Jack Reacher series.
Ritchson isn't the only actor to be in both Smallville and another DC show. Dean Cain, who portrays Vandal Savage, also appears on Supergirl as Jeremiah Danvers. Teri Hatcher, who portrays Lois Lane's mother Ella in season 10, also appears in Supergirl as Mon-El's mother Queen Rhea.