The Trench

The Trench are an ocean-dwelling race of evil creatures that take on Aquaman. The Trench rise from far beneath the ocean floor in search of one thing, food. With their first attack, they demonstrate a complete lack of empathy, relying on only the primal instinct to feed, even eating their own slain brethren. All the creatures seem to be similar with the exception of the king and queen of the race. When the King marks it's food, the others back off. After massacring a boat and local fishing community, the police call in Aquaman and Mera to help investigate. The police divers eventually find what looks to be a cocoon in the water, which contains many creatures of the Trench. While fighting off the creatures' attacks, the King marks Aquaman as food to be brought back to the ocean floor, where they originated.

Aquaman fiercely battles the King as Mera holds off the rest. The King calls for a retreat with their captured food as they dive back into the deep. Aquaman takes one of their fallen to be further examined. Mera and Arthur dive into the Marianas Trench to save the townspeople. They discover a crashed Atlantean ship that had been attacked by the creatures. They also find the spawn of the Trench creatures to be sick and dying. Arthur and Mera then discover the throne room/breeding chamber where the Queen and her King are. The Trench creatures were just trying to gather enough food for their Queen's children. Aquaman rips off the roof of the cave containing the cocooned townspeople and heads to the surface. The Trench, their King and Queen follow them as Arthur triggers a volcanic reaction with his trident. The Trench begins to collapse as Arthur seals it with another large rock.