Aquaman was a proposed television program that was to be aired on the CW network in 2006. The character of Aquaman made his live-action debut on the season five episode of Smallville entitled "Aqua". Played by Alan Ritchson, Aquaman became allies with Clark Kent and even struck up a brief relationship with Lois Lane. After a harrowing incident involving the machinations of Lex Luthor, Aquaman took his leave of Smallville, with the intent of returning to his base of operations in Florida. The episode proved popular enough that WB Network executives decided to test the water with a spin-off series tentatively titled Mercy Reef. Casting agents passed over Ritchson to revive the role of Aquaman, ultimately bestowing it upon soap opera actor, Justin Hartley. A pilot episode was filmed, but studio executives ultimately decided to discontinue the program. The unaired pilot is available for purchase from the iTunes music store.
In September of 2006, Justin Hartley became a recurring character on Smallville, but not as Aquaman. Beginning with the season six episode "Sneeze", Hartley plays the DC Comics hero, Green Arrow.
Actress Adrianne Palicki also appeared in an episode of Smallville as a character named Kara (a proto version of the more popular Supergirl). Palicki appeared in the season three episode, "Covenant".
A.C.'s boat, The Quint is named after the character Quint, played by Robert Shaw in the 1975 Steven Spielberg thriller, Jaws.
