‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’: Who Is Kingfish? Meet Martin Short’s Character

There are a lot of different characters who play various roles in the storyline of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.’ One minor character appeared in a few scenes but ended up affecting the events of the movie and Aquaman’s quest to find Black Manta and save the day. This character is Kingfish, who not a lot of people may be familiar with, even if they were fans of the comic books. So, who is Kingfish in ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’?

Martin Short’s character is an obscure pirate king

One of the many different things that we know about the storyline of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ is that it has a lot of different roles that were given to actors who are actually quite prominent in their craft. While we do know that Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry and Patrick Wilson’s Orm are the main characters of the movie, some of the most prominent actors in this film include Nicole Kidman (Atlanna), Dolph Lundgren (King Nereus), and Temuera Morrison (Arthur Curry). Those actors are well-known legends of the industry but were given secondary and even minor roles in this film.

But there is another character who a lot of people are familiar with, especially in the world of comedy. No one would guess that he was the one who played this character, especially because his role was almost entirely CGI. We are talking about Martin Short, who is a legend in comedy movies and TV shows.

Martin Short, however, plays a rather small role as Kingfish in the events of ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.’ Despite the fact that his role is quite limited, Kingfish was somewhat integral in the development of the movie’s narrative, especially in relation to Aquaman’s quest to save the day by finding Black Manta and putting a stop to his actions.

After Black Manta infiltrated Atlantis to steal orichalcum from the kingdom’s secret vaults, it became apparent that Aquaman needed to stop him because he was using orichalcum to damage the earth’s atmosphere and poison the waters. However, the problem was that he didn’t know how or where to find Black Manta. This required him to break Orm out of prison because he knew that his younger brother had a history with David “Black Manta” Kane, especially after their short partnership in the ‘Aquaman’ movie.

Arthur was successful in breaking his brother out of prison, and Orm was quick to agree to help Aquaman because he also cared about Atlantis. Orm wanted to stop Kane from destroying the seas, and it became clear that he had to work with his older brother despite their differences.

Orm took Arthur to a place called the Sunken Citadel, which is a place where all of the sunken ships in the world are gathered to create a city or a haven for the scum of the underwater world. In short, the Sunken Citadel was a secret home to underwater pirates, and not even Arthur was aware of the existence of this place despite the fact that he was king of Atlantis. However, Orm was familiar with it because he had previous dealings with the scum of the underwater world.

Even though Orm knew that Arthur didn’t do well with pirates, he still opted to take his brother there because he knew that the pirates would take them straight to their leader, Kingfish. Martin Short’s character is a fish creature who serves as the obese leader of the pirates of the sea kingdoms. He hated Atlantis because he thought that the kings of the sea kingdoms often ignored them.

As such, Kingfish sought to hurt Aquaman before Arthur decided to become more violent in his approach. He beat all of Kingfish’s lackeys before turning his attention to the pirate leader to force him to reveal Black Manta’s location. While Kingfish wasn’t certain where David Kane was, he still told Aquaman that there was a chance that he might be in a dormant volcano island called the Devil’s Deep. So, despite Martin Short’s minor role in the movie, his character was still able to contribute to the grander narrative and to the success of Aquaman’s mission.

Kingfish is a very minor comic book character

It is an understatement to say that Kingfish is a rather obscure character in the world of the DCEU. However, he is just as obscure in the comic books because not even avid fans are quite familiar with him. The reason why he might not be the most familiar comic book character is the fact that there are two DC characters who share his name. 

Kingfish is the first, but he is a Dakota-verse character who serves as a parody of Marvel’s Kingpin. Basically, Kingfish is a thug leader in the Dakota-verse instead of an Aquaman villain. 

The most likely character the DCEU’s version of Kingfish is based on is an Aquaman villain called King Fish. Not much is known about this villain except for the fact that he once tried to go against Atlantis so that he could take the throne for himself. However, Aquaman and his family defeated him as King Fish became an obscure character after his brief appearance.

So, in a way, it is likely that the DCEU’s Kingfish is an original character as he doesn’t seem to be similar to any DC comic book character who shares his name.

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