But I would say that David isn't a supervillain in my mind so much as he's just a selfish bastard overall. (as far as I know YJ never gives us a backstory on *why* Sha'lain'a breaks up with him and chooses Calvin nor does it give us a reason for Calvin's abandonment of Black Manta's cause. Because you look at how the men in Black Manta's crew treats each other and Kaldur, you get a sense they're not...terrible? They're not awful people. Dudes' just clocking in to make a buck.
So like without that foundation other than " cause he's Evils!" and ect. it doesn't really help understanding Kaldur himself and his complicated relationships. Because the parents are a foundation for him even when he's older.
And it's definitely something he wrestles with even if we don't get enough seen onscreen. )
Like, I say this as a black person with an interest in this dynamic (lmao as IF MY USER NAME DOESN'T GIVE IT AWAY), the fantastical racism and being blind to actual racism actually hurts this specific story in a way that having black writers in the room more would've solved.
Because here's my very thoughts (they don't make sense I'm sorry):
Kaldur should've had more issues with this.
Because it's not like his biological father, David, abandoned him. Not only that, he's VERY aware that Kaldur is his son from the start. So why didn't *he* tell Kaldur about his parentage in the first place?
I find it deeply interesting that David doesn't do this. Like what's the most fucked up way to mess with Aquaman than just telling the sidekick about it? Like we get it in the game between the timeskip (stupidass decision ) but...he's met him before this. (I could be wrong but it feels implied?)
Likely David has always known about Kaldur and where he was anyway.
So why hasn't he done anything before this?
Is it because he was being respectful of Sha'lain'a and Calvin's wishes?
And then we need to address the idea that they did it to *stop* him from seeking his father.
There's some layers here that makes it both kinda messed up. Which means they didn't trust their parental skills to allow Kaldur- who is risking his life on his missions and the like every time there's a problem- to make this determination himself.
A thing some kids get to learn in their teens. (Is it because David is that charismatic? He really is, honestly. But we know Kaldur's moral fiber is quite strong.)
Between Atlantis's "enroll your kids into the military for mandatory service at 10" and his parents(that raised him) and the royal family keeping shit from him, and then he's given the mantle of leadership (which was mostly handed over to him, though he has a strong talent for it both because of his Parents (lets not forget, Calvin himself is essentially military trained since Manta models some of his training off the military. Which, traditionally speaking, a LOT of black families have service members due to the historical reasons that vary.) and that CAN change how you're raised. (speaking as a person with a dad that had served. How the habits and punishments/household stuff happens still follows them after service. How they express or don't express that varies.) AND because the other Leagues for real lean on him to be the 'reasonable' one of the group-
the parentifciation is Real.
The racism/fantastical racism is such a wild thing for me because that's the CORE reason Manta managed to get most of his men and how he's able to manipulate them but it's also a Core identity binding thing. (the land is racist to us. We should take over the sea because it's the only way we can be safe. Kaldur not getting discriminated against more for the webbing and gills but we know La'gaan and others like him DEFINITELY do due to the subplot with Orm. That gets brushed aside. Because we cannot interrogate ourselves and our own biases. Nope. See nothing here.
Meaning I feel like Kaldur would've been more sympathetic especially considering both him and his mother have gills too. But Calvin could definitely fit in with average human atlanteans.)
Like, I find it crazy they don't touch on that. They give them very fun father-son advice thing but I also get the feeling they should've done more with that?
I'm rambling, though you can ignore this, but it kinda kills me that they had great story arcs and potential for this character that I just think got wasted and rushed.
He doesn't get to actually grapple enough with his feelings between his parents. We don't get an actual backstory with how this even happened. (like ??? In story we NEED this explanation. )
And like Rocks says, Kaldur pushes a lot down and keeps it to himself.
It just.. I really love these two characters and their relationship could be interesting and more fun to understand if the writers had more time, room and more black writers on staff.
Edit: (I forgot the part where society looks at Black kids and already thinks of them as adults despite them being children. So that plays into all that and into some other things that could've expanded Kaldur's world but we're not gonna talk about that.)
