We all grew up hearing stories about legendary Disney Princesses, and Ariel was one of the most well-known. Aspen Matthews is the lovely and magnificent Princess of the Oceans, and this film is all about her. Imagine Ariel in superhero form, a female Aquaman, if you will.
Fathom is an original comic book tale written by Michael Turner that follows the narrative of Aspen Matthews, a clever and merciless assassin with a profound connection to the oceans. Michael Turner went on to work for both Marvel and DC Comics as a comic book artist.
During this period, he also released his own Fathom and Soulfire stories, which turned out to be gripping and underappreciated tales full of magic, massive worldbuilding, and memorable protagonists. Let us take a deep dive inside Aspen Matthews’ universe!
Tracing her origins: a swimmer and marine biologist to a superhero
Aspen was born into a race called The Blue, a species of aquatic beings capable of controlling water with their minds. As a Blue, she lived with the rest of her people underwater in the great Oceans. However, even under the sea, there are power struggles for the throne and things get ugly. Her parents were members of a school of thought that felt their people should remain submerged and away from mankind, with a peaceful coexistence of sorts.
There were others who disapproved, but they could not do anything because Aspen’s parents had the support of the community and were loved and respected by the people. On a fateful day, when Aspen and her elder brother, Finn, were only eleven years old, they returned home from a late-night swim, only to find that their parents had been assassinated by a group of rebels led by Killian – the leader of the opposing faction.
They escaped by seizing a ship and fleeing as quickly as they could, however, they were pursued by Killian’s men. In the process of trying to escape, their ship exploded, and they were assumed dead by all, giving Killian the throne.
However, Aspen’s latent abilities luckily came to life, and she was saved. On the other hand, her sibling was struck by a beam and sadly, vanished for good. Aspen then ended up on a ship named Paradise after the harrowing incident. The ship’s crew discovered her, helped her up, and contacted Captain Matthews, who was a passenger on board because their own Captain was preoccupied with the other passengers.
It turned out that Aspen had no recollection of her prior existence – she had forgotten everything she knew, so Captain Matthews adopted her and raised her. A child of waves being raised on land was bound to raise complications in her life and they did as she grew older.
It is important to note that she never lost her affinity for the ocean, even though she couldn’t remember who she was or where she came from – her love for the sea and water remained constant. Also, even though it was overly formal, Aspen seldom called Captain Matthews “dad” or “father,” preferring instead to refer to him as “Captain Matthews.”
Captain Matthews was a good father but he was generally absent owing to his military service with the United States Navy and Aspen spent a lot of time alone with the water as her safe place. She was a fantastic swimmer who, at the age of fifteen, qualified for the 1988 Olympics in Korea.
The panel in the Olympics, unfortunately, compelled her to take a drug test after she won a gold medal and broke the world record by thirty whole seconds. And although she tested negative for performance-enhancing substances, blood tests revealed that she had produced Erythrocythemia.
This is also known as blood doping and is an unlawful kind of performance enhancement in which a person injects oneself with their own blood to boost red blood cell count, endurance, and oxygen capacity. However, this anomaly was most likely due to her being a Blue, not because she had taken steroids.
Her career as a professional swimmer thus came to an end as a result of this. Aspen was disqualified from the 1988 tournament, was barred from competing in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, and was accused of “dishonoring her country.” She then became a Marine Biologist after this catastrophe in order to have a job that allowed her to stay in and around the water for most of the time.
Aspen was recruited by a federal research agency stationed at Deep Marine Discovery, an underwater research facility (DMD). The DMD was a collaborative initiative between Japan and the United States. The facility was erected on top of a weird undersea vessel of unknown origin that both countries were investigating. However, because the Americans and the Japanese no longer trusted one other, they relied on Cannon Hawke as an intermediary to trade scientific data.
(Hawke was also a Blue himself and that makes one think, how many of these water creatures are walking amongst us?) They also had a mysterious alien ship in the research facility there, as well as an extraterrestrial prisoner called Killian. However, the entire DMD station was razed to the ground shortly after Aspen Matthews met Killian, leaving behind just a few survivors.
Killian later abducted Aspen after the demolition of the facility and informed her about her mysterious past and origin. He told her that she was not human, but actually was a member of the Blue race, an evolved aquatic species with skills and abilities far beyond anything she’s ever seen before, according to Killian. Not only that, but Aspen Matthews was much stronger than the other Blues for some reason that was unknown to many and would come to light later.
Since the humans had unwittingly destroyed a Blue city with a hydrogen bomb test, Killian persuaded her to assist him in powering up a series of weaponry known as the “Blue Sun” to battle the humans. Three underwater stations on Earth fuelled the blue sun, which was a massive ball of energy out in space. Killian planned to use this weapon to bore a hole in the Earth’s crust at Chanarnay, or the “Valley of Stairs,” as the Blue called it.
The objective behind creating this hole, which only Killian knew about, was to drain much of the world’s oceans. However, the “Blue Sun’s strong energy bursts alone would also be sufficient to wipe out the human species – and this was his true aim.
Aspen only realizes she’s being duped when she meets Killian’s daughter Kyla, and she refuses to harm anyone by helping power the Blue Sun. It’s too late by the time she understands the truth and she wants to disarm the weapon. But to everyone’s horror, while Aspen stands right under the energy beam, Killian activates the Blue Sun.
For a brief moment, it appears that all hope has been lost, as everyone believes Aspen has been killed by the beam. But, in a magnificent triumph, Aspen emerges undamaged from the beam, stronger than ever. She utilizes her incredible strength to destroy the Blue Sun weapon, effectively ending the conflict, for the time being.
Aspen Matthews is a delicate balancing act between two worlds. She is the peacemaker between the human race and the Blue. She attempts to keep them both safe and wants to protect the people she cares about on both sides of the conflict – making her an outstanding, complex hero.
However, there were more wars than the humans and even the Blue ever imagined. Another race known as the Black began plotting their move from the depths of the ocean. Rahger, their leader, contacted Aspen Matthews and informed her of their existence.
The Black are an ancient race that the Blue believed to be a myth and even equated them to the ancient gods. The Black are gods in comparison to the Blue when it comes to sheer power. In fact, the Black gave birth to the Blue race, and they are far more powerful than the Blue. For millennia, the Black had lurked far away from all other civilizations, but they were going extinct.
As a result, Rahger devised a strategy for their race’s survival and that strategy was none other than, Aspen herself. Ragher explained that Aspen was his daughter and that she was part Blue and half Black. This was also why she wielded so much power. He assures her that carrying on the race and his intentions is her destiny. However, it turned out that he, too, wanted to harness her might to battle the humans, but she refused to be used once more.
Aspen tries to maintain the balance among these worlds as much as she can through her experiences and with the help of her powers. Throughout it all, she demonstrates that she is educated, powerful, caring and brave as she puts her life on the line to ensure that a full-scale war doesn’t take place on her watch. Her complicated birth and origin put her in the eye of the storm and she carries that responsibility with impeccable grace.
What makes her so powerful?
Aspen inherited capabilities from both sides of her family; therefore, she possesses both Blue and Black abilities. She is undoubtedly the most powerful of them all because she can combine the abilities and capabilities of both races. Let us have a look at all of her insane skills.
Aspen’s capacity to convert her entire body into pure water is her most notable ability. She can’t take any damage in this form because well, you can’t exactly cut or maim water. She also has the ability to float like a liquid and fit into any area, this is a skill that all Blues possess. She can, however, transform her body into pure energy because she is part, Black. When she combines both of her abilities, she transforms into an unstoppably powerful and indestructible entity.
Aspen has a higher ability to control water than any other Blue or Black. The ocean’s temperament frequently changes as a result of her actions. Her wrath alone has the power to produce tsunamis in an instant. She has the ability to manipulate the tide and summon storms. Water can also be condensed and solidified by Aspen, who can make water change states at will. She has the almost limitless ability to freeze the ocean. Interestingly, her talent for controlling water isn’t restricted to just the sea. Because the human body is mostly made up of water, she can even manipulate the blood in someone’s body.
As a Black, Aspen Matthews can cure any wound in minutes, regardless of how terrible it is. She was able to entirely regenerate her body from almost nothing even beneath the Blue Sun. She has the ability to manipulate, absorb, redirect, and fire energy. She can also communicate with others through telepathy. She also possesses amazing strength, speed, reflexes, and other abilities.
Apart from her superhuman abilities, Aspen is also in impressive physical shape. She was an Olympic swimmer and always kept in shape before she discovered her abilities. Her basic biology differs from that of ordinary humans in that she has greater brain tissue, has double the red-cell density of the average person, has the more supple bone structure of a child, and has 5 times the aerobic capacity of an Olympic swimmer. Because of her considerable education and expertise as a marine scientist, Aspen is also incredibly brilliant and informed about all things relating to the water and the ocean.
James Cameron was supposed to make a movie on Fathom!
Fathom was once given the green light as a feature film in 2002 due to the success of the comic and the sheer creativity that was seen in the entire Fathom universe. Director James Cameron and his production company Lightstorm Entertainment were supposed to make the picture. However, this did not pan out and hype around the film has died down, especially because it has been 20 years since the announcement was first made.
Fathom has a terrible history when it comes to adaption to the big screen. It was previously explored for an animated feature by Top Cow Productions and Fox Studios, but that project fell through as well. There has also been a squabble with NBC’s Surface TV show. The TV show was originally titled “Fathom,” but due to a copyright violation on the comic book name, the producers switched it to “Surface” at the last minute.
The wonderous world and deep lore created by Michael Turner is an absolute pleasure to dive into. It has given us a badass superheroine like Aspen who does much more than simply talk to fish and ocean creatures. She maintains the balance between the human race and all the species under the sea. Remember, the oceans are largely unexplored by man and many things lurk underneath and it is Aspen who keeps all these dangers at bay. Do you think a feature film on Aspen would make for good cinema? Let us know in the comments section below!