The Problem with Aquaman

Aquaman can talk to fish, breath underwater and swim really well. This is all fine and dandy when he's in his own story. The plot will centre around underwater happenings and all will be well.

The problem is when he's in a team of land-based superheroes. Most of their problems are on the land. The villains have bases on the land. This leads to increasingly ludicrous situations. "Oh no, the enemy's underground base has been flooded!" "Wait a minute, we can ask the victim's pet goldfish for information." Without these sudden contrivances, Aquaman ends up trailing along behind, his fish-talking swimming powers rendered useless by the villain setting up in the desert*.

Aquaman stands as an example of why some characters do better on their own, or in a team of similar characters (such as an underwater division of heroes). On his own, adventures in mysterious underwater kingdoms are awesome! In a team, it requires a tendency for places to flood or for the villains to decide they'd like a sea view. That isn't good for the plot or Aquaman.

Some characters were just designed to go it alone.

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* Not that the desert is fishless, but it's not exactly known for abundant numbers of fish.