Class-- Atlantean

Occupation-- warlord , usurper

Affiliations-- Namor/Avengers villain; leader of his own barbarian hordes, ruler of Atlantis; former ally of Byrrah, Red Ghost, Dr. Joe Jennings and Tiger Shark, Ghaur; father of Andromeda

Scale of Operations-- Atlantic Ocean

Powers: Attuma enjoys the benefits of his Atlantean nature, including complete freedom of movement in the water, increased resistance to injury, and the ability to breathe above and under water. Attuma possesses a high degree of super-strength, beyond that of even his fellow Atlanteans.

History: Attuma was born into the tribe of Homo Mermanus who eschewed civilization to live as underwater nomadic barbarians. By some unrecorded method, Attuma was endowed with strength far surpassing that of his people. Nearing adulthood, Attuma learned of a prophecy, in the lost Atlantean Chronicles, of a conqueror who would take the empire of Atlantis by force. Believing himself to be that conqueror, Attuma moved to a position of leadership over his barbaric brethren, and launched an attack on the city of Atlantis and its ruler, Prince Namor, also known as the Sub-Mariner. Attuma was helped by the betrayal of Lady Dorma, who was seeking revenge for Namor's dismissal of her love. Dorma then sought rescue for Atlantis and Namor by eliciting help from the hero team Fantastic Four, who with Namor ousted Attuma's troops.

Attuma turned his attention to conquering the surface world. In his first early attempts, he employed huge engines of destruction, namely the giant transport Robotron (defeated by Wasp and Giant-Man) and the so-called "tidal expander" (defeated by the Avengers).

Soon, Attuma returned to invading Atlantis and fighting Namor. His schemes involving stole alien robots, an alliance with the Atlantean traitor Byrrah, framing Namor for borrowing under Manhattan (thwarted by Namor with help from Stingray and Triton), the creation of Octo-Meks (octopus-shaped fighting machines) all failed, largely due to Namor's heroics. Attuma's early success at ruling Atlantis came when Namor was banished by his countrymen. Attuma and his forces easily moved in, and Attuma sat on the throne only briefly before Namor returned to rescue his city and receive the offer to rule once more.

Attuma later began teaming up with surface-dwelling scientists and criminals. His first such team-up with the Red Ghost, in order to control the world's porpoises to invade Atlantis, was defeated by the Defenders, of whom Namor was a member. Another time, Attuma succeeding in capturing Namor with the help of Dr. Joe Jennings and Tiger Shark, but Namor was freed by Doctor Doom who at the time wanted Namor as his ally. Attuma at one point captured the Avengers so that he could mind-control them into capturing Namor for himself, but the Avengers were freed by Doom and they joined together to defeat Attuma.

In one of his most ambitious plans, Attuma captured the mutant Jean Grey in hopes to begin a plan to create a barbarian mutant army by breeding with mutants. Grey (who at the time was bodily replaced by the Phoenix Force) easily escaped capture.

When Namor abdicated his throne and later joined the hero team Avengers full-time, Attuma convinced Atlanteans that Namor preferred the surface world. Coupled with the fact that Attuma's hordes helped Atlantis defeat a civil war faction, the Atlanteans agreed to have Attuma and his forces serve as Atlantis' troops. Attuma quickly seized the advantage to rule Atlantis entirely. Namor was also married to the hero Marrina at the time, and Attuma captured her set a trap for his archenemy. Namor confronted Attuma, who convinced Namor that the Atlanteans preferred Attuma's rule. Namor returned with the Avengers and Alpha Flight to rescue Marrina and Attuma was left on the throne.

Eventually, Attuma's Atlantis and the Lemurians, another undersea-dwelling race, found themselves at war. Each civilization believed the other was responsible for attacking the other, but in reality the weapon in question was fired by the High Evolutionary, hoping to sterilize what he perceived were "dead-end" races. The Avengers helped the two races discover the truth, and they both launched attacks on the Evolutionary's forces, helping the Avengers ultimately defeat the villain's plans. (The sterilization of the race has since been disproved.)

Attuma later joined the Deviant Lord Ghaur in forming an alliance to take over the world through the re-creation of the Serpent Crown. In preparation for this, Attuma led Atlantean and Lemurian armies against the surface world to weaken the United States, in which battle Namor confronted them and appeared to have died. Attuma was also confronted by the hero Andromeda, who revealed that she was Attuma's daughter before escaping to lead rebellion forces against Attuma. Soon, Attuma's forces begin to loose their war against the surface world. After a final defeat, Attuma was captured and taken into custody to stand trial at the United Nations' World Court, the outcome of which remains unrevealed.

Months later, Attuma resumed his attack on the surface world, claiming that humans (specifically, a Japanese whaling ship) were disrupting Atlantean food supplies. He was stopped by Namor and his ally Sunfire, and returned to Atlantis, content that he was able to at least destroy the Japanese ship.

Attuma was defeated by the villainous Sea Leopard, who since 1915 was guarding a research vessel that was lost searching for a valuable metal ore near Atlantis. Attuma was forced to band together alongside Namor and Andromeda (who were searching for the ore) to fight the Sea Leopard and another searcher, the Black Moray. Andromeda helped Attuma survive the encounter, but refused to return to Atlantis with him, to Attuma's anger.

Later, Attuma's ship recovered the monstrous Hulk who was found dying in the ocean. Hulk was given a serum that allowed him to survive underwater, and he escaped, but not before Attuma's scientist learned to replicate Hulk's gamma ray-induced superhuman powers. After testing it on his assistant Vashti, Attuma was given Hulk-like powers and he began a rampage through Atlantis. Attuma was confronted by both Namor and the Hulk and defeated, leading to Namor reclaiming his throne shortly afterward.

Attuma returned to leading his barbarian brethren, until he decided to attack Atlantis once again. At the same time, Namor and his fellow Defenders Hulk and Doctor Stranger were magically cursed by Yandroth, their former enemy. The curse transported Namor away, leaving Attuma's forces free to conquer Atlantis. Namor tried to recover the throne, but each time was foiled by the Defenders' curse.