Arion (character)

Arion, also referred to as Arion, Lord of Atlantis, Arion the Immortal, is a sword and sorcery superhero and antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He debuted in Warlord #55 (March 1982), created by Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema. The character is commonly associated within Aquaman and Power Girl, his stories and history having retroactively been connected to the former's version of Atlantis.

An immortal wizard and demigod from ancient Atlantis, Ahri'ahn served as its ancient protector, the era's Sorcerer Supreme, and a ranked member among the Lords of Order. Unlike conventional DC Lords, Arion is one of the few (alongside Amethyst) to possess a natural human form. The character's magical exploits, scientific discoveries and heroism in the fictional mythology of Atlantis makes him a revered figure and the cultural progenitor of the Homo magi race and their descendants. Surviving into the modern day, he is the ancestor of several notable heroes and villains such as Zatanna, Aquaman, and Ocean Master. The character was also once retroactively a relative to Power Girl, until this change was later also reversed, and has acted as both a hero and villain.

Arion appears in Young Justice, voiced by David Kaye.

In 1978, while working for Charlton Comics, Paul Kupperberg created a proposal for an ongoing series entitled Atlantis, based on Plato's metaphorical concept of Atlantis. Kupperberg stated, "I really tried to make my version of Atlantis as close to his idea as I could, although I changed plenty." When developing the plot of the series Kupperberg drew inspiration from Larry Niven's The Magic Goes Away, stating "When I steal I steal from the best." This proposal laid dormant until editor Laurie Sutton was looking for a new backup feature for Warlord. Once artist Jan Duursema got involved she suggested changing the hero's name of Tynan to Arion, with Kupperburg commenting that "Tynan sucked! it was always intended to be a placeholder name"

Arion began as a back-up feature in the DC Comics book Warlord with issue #55, in which ran until issue #62 when Arion gained his own series, Arion Lord of Atlantis, beginning with #1 (November 1982). The series lasted for 35 issues plus a special which wrapped up the original storyline, running from November 1982 to September 1985 with the special shipping in November 1985. Concurrently between April 1985 - March 1986, Arion was one of the many characters involved in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover title, with his history of Atlantis inserted into the main DC continuity. Arion also appeared in DC Comics Presents in a crossover with Superman.

Years later in 1991, Kupperburg sent in a proposal for what would eventually be Arion the IMMORTAL, a sequel to his original series. Originally titled Arion: Darkworld and Arion, Lord of Order, due to elements similar to characters presented in Doctor Fate and Sandman titles, the draft was reworked as to make the characters involved in the book independent of the Lords of Chaos and Order and the concept of Arion's magic different from the framework established in these other two DC Comic titles, as to not interfere with their direction and depiction. In 1992, Arion starred in a miniseries that established him in the modern era and he would also make appearances in several Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Justice League crossovers.

During the early 2000s, despite the efforts to ensure the characters and concepts in the series were dissimilar to both titles, many references books and encyclopedias later connected Arion's character, supporting cast, and villains to the same Lords of Chaos and Order characters referenced in other titles. Arion's character would play a role in the JSA title, where the character is involved in a conflict connected to the other characters involved in Lords of Order and Chaos and is killed off in the fiftieth issue of the series. Despite the character's death, a past version of the character hailing from the 1600s would appear in 2006 in the "Camelot Falls" storyline in the Superman title and is depicted as an antagonist to the story. Concurrently, a new incarnation of Arion appeared whose real name was William Knightly.

Eventually, a new version of the character was introduced in the Secret Six 2014 run by Gail Simone; while making a silhouetted appearance, the character's children, Uvian and his unnamed sons, formed a cult known as the Children of Arion and appeared in one of the main antagonists in the Gauntlet storyline in the series. The character would eventually make a full appearance in the Blue Beetle series, acting as the main antagonist. The book connects Blue Beetle's mythos with other magical characters and concepts such as Arion and implies his scarab Khaji Da to be magical in nature.