WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Aquaman: Deep Dives #1, by Steve Orlando, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Adriano Lucas, and Wes Abbott, on sale now.
Aquaman and Wonder Woman are two of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe. Throughout their lengthy histories, they have regularly worked together as members of the Justice League, both as heroes of their own and as representatives of their respective civilizations, the Amazons and the Atlanteans. While both of those ancient peoples have histories that stretch deep back into the DC Universe, their respective histories may be more intertwined than originally seemed.
In Aquaman: Deep Dives #1, Aquaman battles Black Manta for possession of the Sporting Snare. During their battle, Aquaman discusses the origin of the artifact, revealing the previously unmentioned existence of the Mermazons, an ancient civilization of underwater warrior women that sits halfway between Aquaman's Atlanteans and Wonder Woman's Amazons.
In the issue, Black Manta tries from its hiding place, a traveling exhibition of Amazon artifacts where Aquaman has hidden it. While the weapon is blessed to draw blood from any prey it's used to hunt, the villain learns that it curses anyone who tries to use it for other purposes with eternal hunger when he tries to use it against Aquaman. At the end of the issue, Aquaman returns it to its rightful home in the skeletal hands of a long-dead Merazon Queen in the ruins of the Mermazon kingdom.
While this is the first time the Mermazons have appeared in a DC publication, their comic book history stems back into the '40s. Originally created by Henry Kiefer and featured in comics published by Quality Comics, the Mermazons were frequent allies of one of that publication's aquatic heroes, the Red Torpedo.
DC acquired Quality Comics's characters decades ago. While characters like Uncle Sam and the Human Bomb have become part of the DC Universe, this marks the first mention of the Mermazons.
But even though the Mermazons have spent decades out of view, they could have a much larger role to play in the DC Extended Universe.
As the missing link between Atlanteans and Amazons, the Mermazons could bring a new common history to Aquaman and Wonder Woman, who are both some of the DCEU's biggest stars. While Justice League established that these two races had some connection in the DCEU's past, the idea of a race of Amazons driven into the ocean or a race of Atlanteans inspired by the Amazons' model could bring their histories even closer together, especially in a potential Amazon spin-off film.
In comics too, the Mermazons' appearance strongly implies that there has been some kind of interaction between the two races in the past. Although the interaction between the two could have been peaceful intermingling, there also exists the possibility that one faction conquered the other. Considering that both Aquaman and Wonder Woman hail from fiercely defensive warrior races, there's no guarantee that the Mermazons isn't a sore spot in the history of either her.
In either comics or film, the idea could revisit the Flashpoint idea of a war between the Atlanteans and the Amazons.
From the brief comments regarding the Mermazons made by Aquaman in Deep Dives, it seems like there's still a lot that we don't know about the history of this ancient race. But with Aquaman returning the Sporting Snare to the final resting place of the Mermazons, that history may very well be explored and exposed.
While Aquaman and Wonder Woman are still some of the Justice League's mightiest members, the revelation of the Mermazons could compel both heroes to embrace or confront the history of their peoples, which could prove that blood is thicker than water in the DC Universe.