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In some modern works and films however, mermen are portrayed as handsome, strong and brave. They are almost always portrayed wearing no clothing, no matter what the temperature of the water is, with the exception of armour or cloaks in some settings.
- King Triton is a prominent character in Disney's The Little Mermaid franchise.
- The Thirteenth Year (1999) is about a teenage boy turning into a merman.
- In the DC Comics mythology, mermen are a common fixture of the Aquaman mythos, often showing a parochialistic rivalry with humanoid water-breathers. Their origins are described in the Atlantis Chronicles, the metafictional collection of atlantean lore. When Orin the First, ancestor of Aquaman and first king of Poseidons (an underwater city born after the submerging of Atlantis) perfected a serum to turn human beings into water-breathers (the current humanoid water-breathers, ancestors of Aquaman himself and his people), his sorcerous brother Shalako spitefully tampered with the serum, using dark magic to turn his fellow citizens of Tritons into mermen and mermaids. One peculiar merman, the villainous Kordax the Accursed, Shalako's nephew, exhibits a strength exceeding his brethren and the ability to telepathically commune with water life, somehow passing both gifts to Aquaman, making him a superhero and an outcast at the same time.
- The Creature from the Black Lagoon could be seen as a modern adaptation of the merman myth.
- One of the main villains in the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series was named Mer-Man; he was the lord of aquatic beings of similar appearance.
- In an episode of Family Guy, after falling overboard from a cruise ship, Lois Griffin is saved from drowning by a merman who, in reverse of tradition, has the upper body of a fish and lower body of a man. The merman, believing all women fantasize about making love with mermen, is incensed when Lois rebuffs his advances, despite his use of logic in stating that the traditional merman would be unable to have sex. The merman attempts to force himself upon Lois before she pushes him down and leaves him flapping helplessly in the sand.
- In Kamen Rider Kiva, Bassha is a Merman who takes a form of a young boy, and provides one of Kiva's weapons. He can spit deadly water bubbles.
- Matthew Arnold's poem "The Forsaken Merman" is based on the story of a merman marrying a human.
- Jimi Hendrix sings about himself escaping from a war torn world with his love Catherina and becoming a merman in the sea in his song "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)", from the psychedelic album Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
- In season 3 of Eastbound & Down, Kenny Powers pitches for the Myrtle Beach Mermen and the baseball jersey depicts a cartooned mythical creature
- In The Cabin in the Woods, a merman is a possible "cellar option" being consistently bet on by the character Hadley, who is later killed by the monster after encountering him.
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