Joe Atlantis (Earth-616)

Joe was one of the several Atlantean soldiers sent to live on the surface world and to pose as an immigrant to the US, until his orders came through to act. Joe was a sleeper agent who was modified to breathe air and live on the surface. His skin was altered to become Caucasian and he had a new personality and memories imprinted in his brain, as he had knowledge of his true origin.^[1]

Joe lived a very simple life with his wife Maria. The couple owned a shop called Joe's Marine Marina, a shop that specializing in fish. His background remained a mystery to both his wife and his friends, but they were impressed by his knowledge of fish and other sea life.^[2]

One night after they served a customer called Karen Mason, the elderly couple did what they did most nights, and they shut up the shop and went upstairs to watch television. That night though Maria was shocked when Joe just got up and walked away without saying a word. He was reacting to a strange noise coming from a nearby fish bowl. He then resumed his true Atlantean form and his memories returned.^[1] Norman Osborn was looking for these sleeper agents and tried to draw Joe out by blowing up the building, but killed his wife Maria instead.^[3]

Joe escaped from the building by donning a fireman's uniform and hid in the store's wreckage. He heard two nearby detectives, Keith Dixon and Donna Altieri, discussing the incident and how it happened.^[1] Wonder Man was assigned the job of hunting down the escaped sleeper agent.^[4]

Joe hid in a nearby river, and the made his way to the meeting point at a warehouse where the other agents would gather. By unbeknownst to Joe, Wonder Man followed him. All the sleeper agents were killed when Norman ordered the building to be blown up, which knocked Wonder Man unconscious as well. Keith Dixon and Donna Altieri were assigned to investigate the incident.^[5]

Joe possesses the conventional attributes of Homo mermanus: gills that extract oxygen from water, superhuman physiology to withstand extreme pressures and temperatures, and acute vision. He can swim at approximately 30 miles per hour. He can remain out of water for approximately nine minutes before beginning to suffocate. However, he can operate on the surface by wearing a water-filled helmet or using a chemical that enables him to draw oxygen from the air.