History Main / AwesomeUnderwaterWorld

** Rick Veitch's 2003 run on Aquaman was pretty good, too. This was partially due to the work Peter David did over the previous decade and partially Veitch's addition of a sword-and-sorcery undertone (c'mon, he's a ''king'' named ''Arthur''). Tad Williams amped up the fantasy elements in his run in 2008.

** Creator/PeterDavid's run is often lauded as an example, in which Aquaman became a badass with an extensive supporting cast, complicated cosmology, and lengthy story arc.

* ''Franchise/TheLittleMermaid'' is able to maintain a fairly interesting underwater setting. While ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' takes place on land a lot (kind of a given, since the story it adapts is about a mermaid becoming human), ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'' are far more focused on the underwater adventures.

* Partly played straight, partly averted in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri''. While the sea only has a couple kinds of terrain, the same goes for the land. For most factions, the deep sea is useless; the Pirates, however, find it highly useful and productive.

For related underwater tropes, see WaterIsAir, ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman, FlyingSeafoodSpecial, and UnderTheSea. SubTrope of SceneryPorn. Compare OceanOfAdventure.

* ''Franchise/TheLittleMermaid'' is able to maintain a fairly interesting underwater setting. While ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' takes place on land a lot (kind of a given, since the story it adapts is about a mermaid becoming human), ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidArielsBeginning'', and ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'' are far more focused on the underwater adventures.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeep'' is about the Nekton family, who live on a submarine and devote their lives to exploring wonders of the deep.

For related underwater tropes, see WaterIsAir, ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman, FlyingSeafoodSpecial, and UnderTheSea. SubTrope of SceneryPorn. Compare OceanOfAdventure. However, contrast AtlantisIsBoring.

For related underwater tropes, see WaterIsAir, ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman, FlyingSeafoodSpecial, and UnderTheSea. SubTrope of SceneryPorn. Compare OceanOfAdventure.

* Inverted in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', where (reflecting real life wildlife) there are more Water-types than any other type. They are also extremely diverse, as the Water-type has been paired with every other type in the game. ''VideoGame/NewPokemonSnap'' has a reef level and a underwater level and both have some pretty gorgeous graphics and an array of water-types. There’s things like the massive Wailord, swimming Mantine, singing Primarina and Lapras and bullying Sharpedo, and the predators like Frillish actually drag away Magikarp and others for a meal. The underwater level also has a cave alternate path where you can find Lugia.

* Oddly enough, ''WesternAnimation/{{Jabberjaw}}'' has one of the best-developed "colonized ocean floor" settings you'll ever see. The show still gets [[CatchPhrase no respect! No Respect!]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Koral}}'' uses this as a selling point. You're a plankton, and spends the whole game exploring the depths of the ocean through various coral reefs, anemone beds and ocean floors. Allegedly the game's designer got the idea during a scuba-diving trip in Southeast Asia.

* The first few ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' games include an Atlantica level based on ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid''. Fans are pretty divided on the first one and its swimming mechanic, but most prefer it to the musical mini game in ''II''. ''Chain of Memories'' simply had the characters walk around on the ocean floor unimpeded, which sort-of made sense as they were in a memory world rather than physically there.

* ''VideoGame/PoseidonMasterOfAtlantis'' naturally seeks to use this (one of the main differences with the Greek civilization from ''VideoGame/ZeusMasterOfOlympus'' is that athletics, philosophy and theater [[ProudScholarRaceGuy are replaced by science and learning]]), though of course it all takes place ''before'' Atlantis goes under (there exists a species of FishMen with [[UnderwaterCity Underwater Cities]], but these are never seen or visited, though they can be conquered with land troops... somehow). The campaigns are an AlternateHistory in which Atlanteans conquer most of the Mediterranean before finally being destroyed.

* Willard Price's ''Diving Adventure'' (part of a ValuesDissonance-rife series about teenage animal trappers) takes place in an [[UnderwaterCity undersea town/experimental community]] and does make [[ShownTheirWork full use of its setting]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Spyro 2|Riptos Rage}}'' has a level half-set in an underwater cavern, half in a huge ocean city, and entirely underwater.

* ''VideoGame/TheOceanHunter'' thanks to the twitch-inducing gameplay.

** Vashj'ir, the first fully underwater zone introduced in ''Cataclysm'', is one of the most colorful zones in the game thanks to abundant use of coral reefs. It is divided in three subzones, roughly correlating to kelp forest, tropical reef and deep-sea. Overall, Vashj'ir at least subverts the most common signs of this trope. The zone is varied, has interesting races, a story that doesn't seem like it belonged above the water and was definitely created with swimming in mind. And yet, players ''still'' complained, making it one of the least favorite zones of ''Cataclysm'' -- not because it was boring, but because 3D movement underwater was disorienting and too different from the rest of the game. Plus the very first spell you get takes care of the breathing issues, and after a quest you get your very own seahorse mount.
** Something about being able to swim ''over'' the entire zone if you so choose makes it feel less threatening to some players. True, you can fly over the land-based zones on your flying mount, but when you're underwater, you're always kind of flying. It seems like most humans have a tendency to think of sea level as "home", which is high above the action in the case of underwater gameplay. It helps that one of the lead designers for the game is a former marine biologist, which leads to ShownTheirWork as well.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', compared to VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 which barely cares about naval units, Red Alert 3 makes water travel easy, many land and air units are amphibious and naval units can travel in land. Plus certain buildings such as refinery's and power plants can be built on water.

* Somewhat subverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'' -- the Elemental Plane of Water was actually one of the more hospitable planes (at least compared to most of the Inner Planes, or the Lower Planes), and was recommended as a setting for low-level adventurers.

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* There is a scene in ''[[Fanfic/TheUrthbloodSaga The Crimson Badger]]'' where Winokur, a river otter, gets to swim in the ocean for the first time. The author does a wonderful job making the underwater world interesting and colourful.

* ''Film/Aquaman2018'' is the best-grossing film in the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse on the international market, with a significant chunk of the movie taking place underwater in the kingdom of Atlantis.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has several books centered around deep-sea action. Exaggerated when the characters travel to the mostly aquatic planet Leera. There the scattered islands and lone continent are mostly dull, barren rock, while the sea is filled with bizarre, colorful lifeforms everywhere you look.

* The Literature/HumanxCommonwealth novel ''Cachalot'', by Creator/AlanDeanFoster, is set on [[SingleBiomePlanet an ocean planet]] called Cachalot, which is inhabited by both its own unique set of lifeforms and a large population of whales and dolphins transplanted from Earth. Most of the novel takes place on and under the waters of Cachalot, several parts of which are described in loving detail. And it is, indeed, awesome.
* {{Inverted|Trope}} in Rupert Brooke's ''Heaven'', which imagines Christianity from a fish's point of view, ending with "And in that Heaven of all they wish / There shall be no more land say fish."
* Creator/HPLovecraft was terrified of (among other things) the ocean, and ended up creating a mysterious, terrifying world where the seas held [[TimeAbyss ancient secrets and]] [[EldritchAbomination monsters]], providing inspiration for non-boring ocean-related stuff for years to come. So awesome in the Biblical sense of the word (meaning terrifying.) That said, the main character of ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' is absolutely delighted to learn that [[spoiler:he will be able to live forever in an UnderwaterCity]] at the end of the story.
* Willard Price's ''Diving Adventure'' (part of a ValuesDissonance-rife series about teenage animal trappers) has the setting of an undersea town/[[ForScience experimental community]] and does make [[ShownTheirWork full use of its setting]].
* ''Literature/{{Uplift}}'': ''Startide Rising'' is a fast-paced exciting book which takes place primarily in an alien ocean (it helps that the protagonists' ship is one primarily manned by sentient dolphins). Of course, the other half of the book is about a space battle, but it still works.

* ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'': ''Starfish'' has this spectacularly -- its deep-sea vent setting is stunning, with every excursion by its genetically modified protagonists a brush with death, darkness-induced telepathy, undersea robots, and giant versions of "regular" vent creatures... which aren't nearly as dangerous as their [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters land-based counterparts]]. Its sequel, while still having an [[CrapsackWorld interesting, land-based setting]], isn't nearly as astounding. Of course, ''Starfish'' can't help but include this trope, what with the author Creator/PeterWatts being a [[ShownTheirWork marine biologist]] and all.
* Creator/LFrankBaum's children's novel ''The Sea Fairies'' deals with a young girl and her [[CoolOldGuy crusty seacaptain friend]] being temporarily transformed into the titular mermaids/mermen. They tour the queen's kingdom, meet all kinds of magical sea creatures, and end up captured by an evil sorcerer. This is actually the dominant plot of the book, so despite its scientific inaccuracy there's a lot of interesting things that happen.
* ''Amphibian Man'' by Russian SF author Alexander Beliaev gives a breathtaking poetic account of undersea beauty as experienced by a young man with gills, which naturally force him to spend most of his life in the ocean. Beliaev, who was paralyzed and ill for much of his life, had nothing but his imagination to take him to incredible places, and he clearly put a lot of thought into a picture of the young man's underwater environment, a cavern that he furnishes with seashells, pearls, and various plant life.
-->He placed the table in the middle of the grotto, the vases on the table, poured the earth into the vases, and planted the aquatic flowers. The earth, washed by the water, clouded for some time above the vases like smoke, but then the water cleared. Only the flowers, stirred by light ripples, swayed quietly, as if in a breeze.
* One scene in the ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber Nine Princes in Amber]]'' books sees the characters going into a Castlevania-style inverse version of their own castle, which goes even further than most inverse castles by being under water. They initially go with WalkDontSwim (and they can breathe, for some reason), but eventually one of the characters gets sick of a particularly long spiral stair and swims down the bottom.
** Most of the time Rebma ''is'' on the placid side, however, and deliberately so as its ruler favors stability and usually is too busy trying to cope with the reflections of changes in Amber (which Rebma is both a literal and figurative reflection of) to do much that's noticeable on her own.
* The trope is analysed to some extent in ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', when Lucy observes some mermen on the sea floor and reflects that human concepts do not apply directly to the sea and some are inverted--for example, the safe, homely places are on the tops of 'mountains', nearest the surface, while heroes go to fight monsters in the dark, dangerous 'valleys' where the sea is deepest.

* ''The Deep Range'' by Creator/ArthurCClarke. You'd never expect a novel about underwater whale herding to be exctiting, but then again, Clarke specializes in putting mundane ideas into interesting seetings and making them awesome.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Aquaman|2018}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aquaman_atlantis.jpg]]]]

-->-- '''Sebastian''', "Under the Sea", ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}''

For related underwater tropes, see WaterIsAir, ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman, FlyingSeafoodSpecial, and UnderTheSea. Subtrope of SceneryPorn. Compare OceanOfAdventure.

* While it's true that comics writers often have trouble making ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} and [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] interesting, there have been notable aversions.
** Creator/PeterDavid's run on ''Aquaman'' is often lauded as an example, in which Aquaman became a badass with an extensive supporting cast, complicated cosmology, and lengthy story arc.
** Aquaman as LITERALLY 'King of the Seas' makes for a potentially fascinating badass backstory character, too. Imagine if he has access to enough military power to limit or stop oceanic cargo transport or interdict the movement of national navies.

* [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor's]] Atlantis features plenty of underwater machines and strange sea life. While the political elements [[YoYoPlotPoint often repeat themselves]] (Namor keeps being elected king, abdicating for various reasons, doing superhero stuff on the surface, returning to Atlantis or a remnant made of his most loyal followers, rinse and repeat), it's still a classic part of Marvel's mythos and keeps being revisited. He is one of Marvel's oldest superheroes, and his ByronicHero elements maintain him a cult following. As of recently, he has also quarreled with other superstates (such as Black Panther and Wakanda, as well as Doctor Doom and Latveria.)
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': For a while in the silver age there was a fascinating merpeople town in the waters right off Paradise Island. The town itself was hidden under a bit of false seafloor by a giant clam entrance making it underwater and underground, was the site of near constant dances, home to oversized sea creatures, and frequently attacked by ''underwater centaurs''. They also had "Chlorofleur Vines" that produced a knockout drug.

* ''Franchise/TheLittleMermaid'' franchise's prequels were able to maintain a fairly interesting underwater setting. While [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 the first film]] took place on land a lot (it was kind of a given, since the story it was adapting was about a mermaid becoming human), [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea the sequel]], [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidArielsBeginning prequel]], and [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992 spin-off TV series]] were far more focused on the underwater adventures.
* During the lesson spent as a fish in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'', Merlin comments that there are all different types of underwater environments, each with their own challenges. Though we never see any of them, knowing Merlin, it's probably true.

* ''Film/{{Aquaman|2018}}'' is the best-grossing film in the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse on the international market, with a significant chunk of the movie taking place underwater in the kingdom of Atlantis.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has several books centered around deep sea action. Exaggerated when the characters travel to the mostly aquatic planet Leera. There the scattered islands and lone continent are mostly dull, barren rock, while the sea is filled with bizarre, colorful lifeforms everywhere you look.

* Inverted in Rupert Brooke's ''Heaven'', which imagines Christianity from a fish's point of view, ending with "And in that Heaven of all they wish / There shall be no more land say fish."
* Creator/HPLovecraft was terrified of (among other things) the ocean, and ended up creating a mysterious, terrifying world where the seas held [[TimeAbyss ancient secrets and]] [[EldritchAbomination monsters]], providing inspiration for non-boring ocean-related stuff for years to come. So awesome in the Biblical sense of the word (meaning terrifying.) That said, the main character of ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'' is absolutely delighted to learn that [[spoiler: he will be able to live forever in an UnderwaterCity]] at the end of the story.
* Willard Price's ''Diving Adventure'' (part of a ValuesDissonance rife series about teenage animal trappers) has the setting of an undersea town/[[ForScience experimental community]] and does make [[ShownTheirWork full use of its setting]].
* David Brin's ''[[Literature/{{Uplift}} Startide Rising]]'' is a fast-paced exciting book which takes place primarily in an alien ocean (it helps that the protagonists' ship is one primarily manned by sentient dolphins). Of course the other half of the book is about a space battle, but still. It works.

* ''[[Literature/RiftersTrilogy Starfish]]'' has this spectacularly: its deep-sea vent setting is stunning, with every excursion by its genetically-modified protagonists a brush with death, darkness-induced telepathy, undersea robots, and giant versions of "regular" vent creatures... which aren't nearly as dangerous as their [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters land-based counterparts]]. Its sequel, while still having an [[CrapsackWorld interesting, land-based setting]], isn't nearly as astounding. Of course, ''Starfish'' couldn't help but include this trope, what with the author being a [[ShownTheirWork marine biologist]] and all.