[1] Originally portrayed as a supporting character to her husband, the superhero Aquaman, possessing the formidable hydrokinetic power to create and control water, modern writers have given greater emphasis to her superhuman physical strength.

[6] During the 2011 "Brightest Day" storyline, Dimension Aqua was revealed to be the extradimensional penal colony known formally as "Xebel", a place of exile for an ancient faction of Atlantean people, banished along with their descendants after one of the many civil wars among the survivors of Atlantis following the sinking of the city.

A few years later, Aquaman's mortal enemy Black Manta kidnaps Aquababy and seals him inside a translucent tank designed to suffocate him.

[12] Although their son's death created a rift between Aquaman and Mera, they agree to leave Atlantis forever and travel to a flooded city on the East Coast, intending to start over as a normal couple.

[13] During Peter David's Aquaman run in the 1990s, Mera is revealed to be in the hellish dimension called the Netherworld, where she is brainwashed by Thanatos,[14] an old enemy of her husband.

Mera and Arthur eventually reconcile, living in Atlantis and continuing to have adventures together, including a trip to Skartaris, where they team up with Travis Morgan, The Warlord.

Unfortunately, the Aqua-family's happiness is cut short due to the events depicted in DC's "Obsidian Age", Infinite Crisis, and "One Year Later" storylines.

Members of the JLA visit Atlantis to give their condolences and Mera is not referenced in DC comics until the "Prelude to Blackest Night" story in Titans #15, where it is revealed that she is in mourning for Arthur.

[21] Shortly after, Mera, now rampaging in a frenzy, encounters Wonder Woman again, who had been transformed into a Star Sapphire by a duplicate of Carol Ferris' ring, and attacks her.

Instead of being the Queen of Dimension Aqua, Mera is now the older princess of Xebel, a forgotten extradimensional penal colony for an ancient group of separatist Atlanteans, banished behind a sealed portal in the Bermuda Triangle.

[7] Trained since birth, along with her sister Siren, Mera was sent by the King of Xebel, who was unable to send more than one soldier at a time through a small fissure in spacetime to the main universe.

However, the plan backfired when Mera fell truly in love with Arthur, deliberately choosing to keep claiming her cover story as her real past to avoid frictions with him.

[7] However, on several occasions, like Aquababy's death, Mera's deep-seated hatred for Atlantis and its royal family was re-ignited, sparking the bouts of apparent insanity and angry lashing at her husband for his "weakness".

It is also hinted that Black Manta had a long-lasting feud with Xebel's people; despite Aquaman believing for years to have been the cause of Aquababy's death, Mera still thinks that her son was killed to get back at her birth family.

[25] Following the "Blackest Night" storyline, Aquaman ponders the mystery of his resurrection, disturbed by the recent events, despite Mera's attempts to comfort him.

She also hints that, despite the long-lasting exile of her people, Xebel's soldiers had been enemies of Black Manta himself from a distant time, even preceding the first public appearance of Aquaman, and states that, despite Mera's original mission being a "solo" one, Siren is now backed by the entire "Death Squad", elite Xebel soldiers at the orders of the acting princess.

However, after being impressed by Arthur's nobility, and after uncovering a secret message from her late mother encouraging her to find her own path away from Xebel's restrictive society, she falls in love with and marries him.

Aquaman tells Atlantean to fall back using his physical force ability to summon the Kraken that attacked Scavenger's men.

Initially unpopular, she wins the support of Atlantis' Council of Elders and the respect of the people for her courage and competent handling of domestic issues.

To marry Arthur, Mera is required to spend months in seclusion with the Widowhood, an order of priestesses whose husbands and sons died in service to Atlantis.

Mera stars in a limited series that began in February 2018 and concluded in July 2018 in which she defeats Ocean Master and becomes Queen of Atlantis.

With the aid of Superman and the Flash, she heads to Arion's secret tomb, and recovers the Tear, creating a sword of water which can harm the alien gods.

As the group attacks the Triumivrates flagship, Mera realizes that the Clarion has been contaminated with darkness, but that Arthur can restore it to the symbol of hope it was meant to be.

Although Vulko loyally carries out her wishes, she is met by reluctance and outright resistance from her other counselors, who accept the considerable inequality of Atlantis as part of the natural order.

This abandonment by the authorities fuels resentment and allows the returned Ocean Master to recruit followers and stir up discontent among the people with impunity.

Arthur journeyed into the city's heating vents to meet with the Fire Trolls who lived in the tunnels below Atlantis, hoping they could be an ally against the Frost King.

Originally Mera agreed to stay behind to guard Andy but quickly followed him, arriving in time to save Arthur from a Fire Troll with a hydrokinetic attack.

[41] In addition to her superhuman abilities, she is an expert in Atlantean-based martial arts and use of weaponry,[40] assassination, and is a natural, proficient leader and politician.

[45] Mera also has access to advanced technology and resources that allowed her to construct the Central Core, a secret facility housing a supercomputer she built and a spacecraft which is powered by the Speed Force, the same energies present in DC Comics' speedsters such as the Flash.

To a general audience that still held the average girl and a growing number of teenage boys, a pretty heroine in a green jumpsuit was more appealing than a magical imp named Quisp.