Aquaman/YMMV

Complete Monster: Black Manta. Who else would brag about killing a child?
- Of course, post-Flashpoint, Geoff Johns has given Manta a legitmate reason for all the horrible things he's done to Aquaman. Aquaman killed his father in a fit of revenge.
Growing the Beard: Literally.
Memetic Badass: During the 2000s run in an Ostrander Aquaman was described by several people. Each one described him in a different way: an even grittier version of the Scraggy Bearded Barbarian of the '90s; the old, clean cut Aquaman of the '60s with an extended Aquafamily; a powerful humanoid composed of water and as a perfect lover.
- Mera, instead, in Johns' 2011 series discovers to her utter dismay that the large public knows her as Aquawoman, a red haired mermaid who gains human legs whenever she's dry.
Never Live It Down: His stint in the Superfriends cartoon means that even now he's still known as the useless one.
- In-universe Black Manta likes bring up the fact that he murder Aquaman's infant son.
- In-universe Aquaman and Mera enjoy some sort of "floating reputation", being both described as useless mockery of heroes or as powerful beings on their own. See Memetic Badass and Memetic Mutation.
Nightmare Fuel: The Trench. When you realize that we still have no idea just what lives in the bottom of the ocean, there's an equal chance that those things may or may not be real.
The Problem with Licensed Games: "Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis" is universally considered one of the worst videogames ever created. So bad it even inspired its own special category for awful video games on gaming show X-Play: The "Golden Mullet Award."
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Basically, this is the single thing that DC has been trying to do with the character since Superfriends came out. Amongst many hardcore comics fans, it's worked (particularly with Peter David's run), but as far as pop culture as a whole is concerned, he's a joke character.
- At least until Batman: The Brave and the Bold came around, in which ~~Aquaman~~ AQUAMAN actually manages to get fans, he's even the freakin' Ensemble Darkhorse!
  - Don't you mean Ensemble Seahorse?
- Don't forget the Justice League incarnation of Aquaman, who was awesome. He cut off his freaking hand to save his son!
- He even uses Summon Bigger Fish to call forth Cthulhu. Enjoy.
- Recently, his resurrection in Brightest Day has resulted in him saving children from pirates with Mera by summoning undead sea monsters. So perhaps getting rescued again.
- The Smallville version even got a pilot for a live action television spin-off after the numbers for the fifth season revealed that his debut episode was the most watched episode of the season.
- Really, Aquaman's been a pretty solid character since the late seventies, it's just that nobody notices because people think it's funnier to remember him from Super Friends. Try picking up the classic Jim Aparo run sometime, it's awesome.
- The first issue of the recent Aquaman reboot seems to have this as its goal: it mostly involves Aquaman being Badass and addresses a lot of common misconceptions about him.
  - And four issues in it seems to have worked. Aquaman is being praised as one of the best series DC has, and Aquaman himself has gotten a big boost in appreciation without using more badass aspects like the harpoon hand and beard.